《Dungeon Maker》 Chapter 0 Prologue Ever felt like dying? I did but I am so hating the way I died. Why? The answer is easy, it was cliche as fuck! Yeah, the fucking truck took another fucking victim, and I even saw the bastard coming and dodged, but he veered and smashed me into a concrete wall. Just to spite me more, my soul didn¡¯t move on immediately so I could see that the truck put itself in reverse and didn¡¯t even have one fucking scratch after the smash besides the blood from my crushed body and when it sped away my soul was finally pulled into the great white light in the sky. Just kidding, that would have hurt since I was actually flying into space heading for the fucking sun, but then a really awesome looking magic circle array appeared and I was instantly swallowed by it. Everything went dark until I found myself waking up in a cold damp room with around 10 or 15 other people. Then a shit load of knights in armor came in and spoke in a strange language pushing us along until we were in a throne room where some old coot shot a ball of light into each of us which seemed to be a translation spell that was permanent. The next lines made about half the people in our group laugh and the rest sighed. I was the lowest minority who sighed and chuckled. ¡°Greetings heroes! I am King Trace Wharton Heavenlight the Second and we have summoned you to help us defeat the demons!¡± the king said. When he saw our expressions, he frowned. ¡°What is so funny! This matter is of urgent importance!¡± he shouted. ¡°My colleagues don¡¯t mean disrespect, sir!¡± The words came from a prince charming with blond hair tied in a sissy ponytail. The hair clearly dropped down to his shoulders, or he wouldn¡¯t be able to have so much hanging back. On top of that he had a charming smile and an athletic body, plus shining white teeth. The king instantly smiled as he looked at the idiot. I rolled my eyes. ¡°Great, a narcissist that likes to do the prince charming hero act,¡± I said out loud. More than half the men in the group almost started to laugh while the prince charming¡¯s smiling face twitched as he forced himself to keep it up. I knew I didn¡¯t look good, but still I was a cut above the rest and could say I was at least his equal. Though I may have been a NEET, that is, not in education, employment or training, I still left my house. I did lots of exercise and had a sculpted body, with a somewhat refined face with black eyes and hair. Still, because of my closed pessimist personality I had no friends and couldn¡¯t open up so I was a loner. Unlike prince charming, I stood with my arms crossed and no smiling face. ¡°Don¡¯t be rude to this young well refined gentlemen,¡± the king shouted my way. ¡°I act how I please to who I want, if you want my respect you need to earn it, but I need to thank you all,¡± I said with a bow, leaving everyone curious. ¡°Thank us? Why?¡± the king asked. ¡°Because I had died in the most cliche way. You wouldn¡¯t understand, but my fellow ¡®heroes¡¯ might,¡± I said bluntly and the nerdier ones began laughing and explained to the others. ¡°Alright enough! Let us get to it, this world is known as Altgar, this world possesses several sentient races and we humans are one such race with the protection of several dozen deities who keep us safe from the demons. Demons themselves have their own deities that conflict with us and most other races besides the dark ones. Most races have agreed to summon heroes so your groups aren¡¯t the only ones. The reason being, because the demons are much more powerful. Like us they also summoned their own heroes, and we are forced back because of the sudden extreme push they gave,¡± the king explained. At that point I lifted my hand, and he looked my way. ¡°I want to get this out of the way from the start, who started warring first? Was it the demons or was it the humans or whoever that wanted to ¡®cleanse¡¯ the demons because they are aligned with the ¡®evil¡¯ gods?¡± I asked. A number of people scowled deeply at the question but no one moved. ¡°This war has been going on for over a thousand years. Even we no longer know who started this, and things have reached a point of no return a long time ago,¡± the king said. I nodded, more or less understanding that I would have no way to judge who was right and wrong in starting the war. ¡°Now then, unlike us natives, besides those blessed for it, heroes are all summoned with a unique class and artifact. All you need to do is say ¡®summon,¡¯¡± the king said. We all looked at each other and shouted, ¡°Summon!¡± in unison. Fifteen lights shone from our bodies and formed balls of light that slowly condensed and took shape.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Looking at mister prince charming, his artifact turned into a sword with gems embedded into it. The people around us were really excited by that. Following that, all the others formed different weapons from staffs, to bows, sabers, spears, daggers, and all forms of weapons. Mine was the slowest to form and kept gathering more light released by my body. ¡°This must be a very powerful artifact for it to take so long?¡± an elderly wizard said. He was the old man who cast the translation spell. Soon the light stopped flowing and took the shape of a white book, a pen, and a short sword. All three floated down and I took the book in one hand, and the pen and sword in the other. On the book¡¯s cover were some words that said, ¡®Book of the Dungeon Maker.¡¯ The name gave me a bit of a sinking feeling. ¡°What sort of artifacts are those?¡± the king asked. The mage walked up and looked. ¡°Dungeon Maker?¡± The mage muttered and quickly ran over to a pedestal with a rather large book and began to slowly flip through the pages. ¡°While he is doing this search, everyone say ¡®Status¡¯ so you may see your strengths and weaknesses as well as your class.¡± Saying so, a blue window appeared in front of me.
Status:
Name: Ace Cross Class: Dungeon maker
Level: 1
Health: 500 Mana: 650
Strength: 50 Intelligence: 65
Agility: 45 Wisdom: 65
Endurance: 50 Vitality: 50
Skills
Dungeon Archive: Level 1
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon Maker and make copies. Can currently make layouts for 3 dungeons. You can store only 5 different corridor layouts. You can store only 2 room types. You can store only 5 different traps.
Magic Hole Formation Level 1
This skill allows the caster to open a magic hole into a separate dimension where the constructed dungeon exists, it allows monsters in and out openly. The magic hole draws mana from the air making the dungeon more comfortable. Eventually, if seeds are planted or brought in by the dungeon targets, it can make natural drops like magic plants spawn,. Can currently make 1 small magic hole.
Crafter Level 0
This skill allows you to learn all craft skills for the purpose of making a dungeon. This skill level will grow with the overall skill of all crafts learned. Current crafts learned: None
Short Sword Mastery Level 1
Your master with the short sword. Increases damage by 1%
Short Sword Arts Level 1
Arts that only masters of the short sword can learn. Level 1: Double Slash
Runic Writing/Language Level 1
This skill corresponds to the level of comprehension of the Runic Language and how many runes you have learned and can use properly. Current runes known: 11 Can be found in Runic Dictionary within the Book of the Dungeon Maker.
Looking at the stats, it was rather uninteresting, though I found it funny how my mental stats were surprisingly high. ¡°Wow, fire mage! Epic, I wonder how strong my fire can be. I can¡¯t wait to cause widespread mayhem!¡± one mage said. ¡°Heh, I got high priest, so beat that!¡± another man said. ¡°Hey look I got knight, and there is information saying it can be upgraded if I get some requirements!¡± someone with a spear said. I kept hearing the irritating cries from the others who got a random common class that seemed to be upgradable. I saw none of that, meaning mine had no upgrade options. I looked at the guy that got the sword and saw a hidden smirk. ¡°Oh joy, what a surprise, he got the hero class,¡± I thought. ¡°Alright, all of you call out your class in an orderly fashion,¡± the king called glancing at his court mage who was shifting though that old book. One by one, people called out the name of the class ranging from knight to monk. Finally, the last two were me and pretty boy. ¡°My class, is hero!¡± the pretty boy said making the king¡¯s eye shine and smile. Then he looked at me with a cold look. ¡°What is yours?¡± he asked. ¡°Dungeon maker,¡± I replied. Chapter 1 The room was suddenly thrown into a deep silence before the king stood up. ¡°A maker of the dens of monsters! Arrest him!¡± the king shouted. ¡°HERE!¡± the court mage shouted startling everyone. ¡°What is it?¡± the king asked. ¡°The class of the boy, it is written above his artifact, Dungeon Maker, also titled, ¡®the trapper of monster kind,¡¯ as well as, ¡®maker of the monster killing labyrinth.¡¯ This is a rare hero class that has a very low chance to appear and in its early stages is rather weak, and resource consumption is large, but in larger stages it can tip the scale of the war from his efforts in hunting huge numbers of monsters while aiding the businesses of the region he passes through,¡± the mage said. ¡°So he does the opposite to dungeon lords?¡± the king asked. ¡°His dungeons are very different. Dungeon lords settle in one location such as a cave and become a crystal and hive mind for its monsters and spawning new monsters. His dungeons do the opposite and attract nearby monsters, depending how it is built within his book and how it is set up. The traps are made to keep them inside and allow us humans to pass through and kill them, if we were to put it bluntly, the monsters are the invaders and we are the monster minions in the dungeon so traps don¡¯t activate for us,¡± the court mage said. ¡°So, I''m a money drain at the start¡­ just great,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°Not really, you will just need to go train in crafting skills for a time, but that is even heavier lifting than what the other heroes will face. You also have short sword training and magic training to learn,¡± the court mage said making me sneer. ¡°Since he isn''t a dungeon lord that is fine, prepare the trainers for all the heroes by tomorrow. Escort them to their rooms, if any of them still want to look around, assign a maid to guide them,¡± the king said and stood before leaving as the knights saluted. I watched him leave and looked at the three objects in my hand. ¡°Hey old wizard guy, what do I do with these?¡± I asked the court mage. ¡°My name is Havorine Cloak, the Court Wizard of our Heavenlight Empire, not old wizard guy,¡± he said, but aside from a bit of irritation he didn''t show signs of rage. ¡°Yeah, still is there a way to put these away or something?¡± I asked. ¡°Normally heroes only summon their artifacts the first time and stay with them due to the summoning time being lengthy. Normally we make some equipment that can hold each artifact. In your case, by tomorrow you will be given a sheath and a tome chain. The pen can simply be stored in your pocket due to its size,¡± Havorine said. I looked at the pen, it was a metal tip quill with a white body behind the metal point. It looked like an exquisitely crafted pen that would normally need an ink well, but not a quill that is normally the metal tip and a feather tail tip and a feather behind it. Of the three artifacts in my hand, the pen gave off the most energy, second was the book then the short sword. ¡°Since I will get something to hold them, then it''s fine, though can you take me to the library, I want to look up the runic language. I have the skill but it''s still Level 1.¡± I ask. The face of the old wizard frowned, and he forced a wry smile. ¡°The runic language is a rather complex thing, it''s known as the Language of the Dungeons, and we humans only know a small number of its words and uses. Not to mention, no one knows how to put them into practice,¡± he replied. ¡°But do you have a book with the ones that are known?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, there is one within the library, since it is a single book I will have the librarian find it tonight, so that you can study it tomorrow after your training,¡± Havorine said and I nodded. ¡°Alright, please guide our heroes to their rooms.¡± At Havorine¡¯s order, the knights gestured to follow them to the lower floors where there were more rooms. One by one, we were put into different rooms and when I got mine I wasn''t shocked at what I saw. The room was simple, about 10x12 meters with three windows with stained glass, giving it a rather interesting glow inside. There was a bed on the left side near the middle of the wall, it was rather big probably a queen sized bed with some nice covers. A wardrobe was on the other side of the room and there were some rugs and random stuff decorating the room. I walked to the bed and dropped my artifacts on the bed and looked around. Walking to the wardrobe I opened it and found it empty. ¡°Probably will get clothes tomorrow with maids invading my room and taking all the measurement like crazy,¡± I said to myself. I had seen far too many anime to not know the cliche pathway of everything. I could guess that either the top fighters would break the group of heroes up into a few parties or each hero would go their own way. I returned to my bed, picking up the book and opening it. The first page was somewhat blank. It had one large slightly darker square on the upper half, and on the bottom was a table with seven boxes. Remembering that dungeon archives skill I was at, it showed three pages for layouts with five boxes for corridors and two rooms. After the third page was a single page with the words Runic Dictionary at the top. There were 11 words in total. Fire, water, air, earth, light, dark, ice, lightning, ball, spike, and enchant. I looked at the words and wondered what they were for. A moment later I looked at the pen on my bed. Picking it up, it started to lightly glow at the tip as the runes in the book also began glowing. ¡°I see, the pen is made to write these runes,¡± I muttered. Since it was dangerous, I did the safest one and looked for a surface to write on when I realized, ¡°This is magic, screw surfaces!¡± I held the pen up, pushing down with the intent to write. I felt an energy from my body flow into the pen, followed by a resistance at the tip. Slowly, I began to write the runes for ¡®Light¡¯ and ¡®Ball.¡¯ When the first rune was done, I wrote the second next to it. It took ten minutes to write both runes, and at the end of it all, they crumbled into dust. ¡°Fuck! Piece of shit! This is harder than I thought,¡± I cursed and looked at my stats and saw it took 50 mana to make both runes. There was probably something else behind the failure, let''s see, normally knowing the principles of an element could always make it stronger and easier to cast. So in this case, light is a luminous energy source made of seven or different colors mixed together as well as many different kinds of light waves invisible to the human eye. Ball, so simply a sphere, round all around. As I thought, I began to write and soon the two runes were drawn. When finished they vibrated, before they were swallowed into a vortex. From it, a ball as big as my fist made of pure light emerged. As I put the pen down, I noticed that the ball followed the movement. I rotated my hand, and it moved to intersect with the line of the pen. I then flicked it to the left, and it began rotating around me. With the thought of it going away the ball vanished. ¡°This is costly but convenient magic, the ball is clearly brighter than those in the hallway. This is getting interesting.¡± I smiled as I saw it. Still looking at the mana in my stats, I had lost 15 extra mana for executing successful the spell. ¡°So 25 for each rune, plus the energy needed for the spell. It seems inconvenient, but if the runes could be left on paper to activate I can make charms and talismans. Might even make a profit off selling them,¡± I muttered while chuckling. It would require experimentation because I doubted talismans were so simple to make. I would probably need to learn to delay the activation and all that. Putting all that at the back of my mind, I grabbed the sword and examine it. I noticed an interesting feature as there were runes on the hilt. I didn''t know to activate them since, up until then, the pen had forcefully pulled my mana out so I couldn¡¯t test if these runes have any real effect.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. After looking it over, I suddenly began to feel sleepy. I frowned at this and looked around, not once had I trusted those in this place. ¡°Let''s see, unsummon... put away... store. Oh?¡± I muttered as the three artifacts turned to light and returned to my body. I stood up and walked to the door and tried to open but found it was locked. I shook my head and looked around spotting several vents that actually looked like air conditioning vents, but I knew otherwise. I went to the one closest to the door, and bent over to hear. ¡°Are you sure we should do this? The king might get angry?¡± a man said. ¡°Shut up, the king doesn''t need to know anything, also he disrespected everyone so if we don''t show him the error of his ways, it will tarnish our reputation,¡± another said. From the sound of the footsteps, there weren''t any more than three and one seemed to be a higher ranking knight. ¡°I think the sleeping gas should have taken effect by now, come on,¡± the leader said. Seeing as they were going to enter, I got behind the right door, the door being a double one but since my dominant side is right, I hid on the left side since the punch would be stronger. As they opened the door, they covered me from view. ¡°Where is he?¡± one of the men asked as the three slowly walked in. As the final one passed the door, I closed it and ran to the last one giving him the strongest chop to the unprotected neck. The space wasn''t more than an inch, but my hand hit full on making him drop like a sack of potatoes. The door closing and the man collapsing alerted the other two, but I was already mid punch to the other guy, and the punch was a hook. The helmets weren''t complex, it covered the top of the head down near the bottom on the sides, but didn''t cover the chin or neck, though the neck had chainmail protecting it. My fist connected with his chin, sending him reeling back before I gave him a punch on the waist in another space left open by the armor. All in all, he fell down dazed and immobile. Finally, the leader reacted and rushed me throwing a right punch. He seemed to be at least in some control since he didn''t pull his sword. Still I faced him and with my right hand I caught his wrist while I kept turning and pulling him along. When I had done a 180 degree turn, I leveraged him on my back while grabbing him on the shoulder before flipping him and jumping, letting my weight crush him for additional damage. Boxing and judo were rather useful combat styles especially in a medieval world like this. As the three were sprawling on the ground I stretched my arms and legs causing the sound of cracks to sound out from my body. ¡°Damn, much stronger than normal, at least by a third,¡± I said nonchalantly and looked at the worms at my feet. At that time, a group of guards entered my room. ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡± he shouted and glared at me. ¡°What are you staring at me for? Don''t you know this is my room and these worthless piles of shit invaded it. I was defending myself, these idiots even used sleeping gas to try and make me weaker so they could teach me a lesson. You better keep your mutts on a leash, or next time it won''t end with just a few broken bones or a single hit to knock them out,¡± I said bluntly and began to summon my artifacts. The leading guard was bright red, but he ordered his men to remove the others and left. I went over and found the key next to the door, it was hanging on a hook, so I locked the door and walked to my bed as my three artifacts appeared in front of me. I took the book and pen and just kept playing with the least dangerous combos to figure them out. As night fell, a maid called us for dinner and I went to eat while ignoring everyone. It failed unfortunately, as a girl that looked around 10 walked up to me. She was a Lolita with green hair tied in two drill ponytails. She looked rather arrogant, but as she walked up it turned into innocent curiosity. ¡°Hey, hero guy? Why are you so quiet unlike the blondie?¡± she asked bluntly. ¡°Marian? Don''t speak so disrespectful about the hero!¡± the king said from the end of the table where the queen, elder princess, crowned prince, and two other princes were sitting. The queen was a beautiful middle-aged woman though she didn¡¯t look a day over thirty. Yet, she had a mature aura around her, offset by her dark purple hair. As for the elder princess, she was beautiful with fiery red hair and ruby eyes. She had similar drill twirled hair going down to her waist, sadly she showed an innocent smile, but had the aura of a viper and was doing far too well with the narcissist hero. The two looked like a lovely couple, but any man with common modern day sense would feel like vomiting to this love act which is how all the summoned males felt while the women were mostly indifferent. Now the princes, first the youngest prince, he was the twin of the current girl next to me, and had similar green hair, but timid unlike his sisters. The second eldest had sharp features and wore glasses in front of his purple eyes, inherited from his mother. He had the same hair too.. Finally, the crowned prince was a decent fellow. It was a surprise to see a crowned prince that wasn''t conceited due to his position. He had pure black hair and eyes, and a pale skin tone with a small golden crown on his head about a third of the size of his father¡¯s. Unlike the king though, he didn¡¯t shown any negative qualities and had been rather impartial about everything. ¡°Hmpf, why should I respect a no good lady killer like him,¡± Marian, the youngest princess, said. I almost spat out what I was eating when I heard that. Forcing my food down I started laughing readily and turned to her before patting her head. ¡°You¡¯re really smart for someone so young,¡± I said with a smile. She gave me a toothy grin as she pulled up a chair next to me. ¡°Marian! Get back to your seat here this instant!¡± the king said. ¡°Hmpf! What¡¯s so fun being over there, all I hear is sis trying to brainwash that blondie. So, hero guy, what¡¯s your name and class? What can you do? How strong are you? Did you know you look hotter than blondie?¡± she asked rapid-fire questions. ¡°I''m called Ace Cross, I''m a dungeon maker, I can beat up the guards in this castle like I did to the three idiots that came to my room a few hours ago, and yes I know I am hotter than him,¡± I said in one go. I took a glass of grape juice and poured a bit for her then grabbed a part of a huge boar near my seat. ¡°Marian sweetie, please come back to your seat, you¡¯re making your father look like a joke and disrupting the heroes dinner.¡± The queen spoke in a crystal clear voice that felt nice to hear. Marian, unlike with the king, just pouted and nodded before returning to her seat. I looked over with a curious look at the two royals at the end of the table. ¡°From her actions, the one with the pants in the pair is the queen, I wonder if this nation is a queendom instead?¡± I thought, but then my eyes turned to the crowned prince with his dashing almost frail good looks. Looking at the clothing, I noticed how he was wearing more than a normal amount of clothes for the time of year. Looking even closer, it was possible to see a bit of sweat on his head. ¡°It¡¯s totally a princess, good disguise, but with enough brains people can see through it,¡± I thought. I smiled at all the political bullshit going on at the table and finished my current plate. Feeling no more desire to remain there, I simply got up. Marian reacted as she saw me stand as did the others. ¡°Ace! Where are you going?¡± Marian asked. ¡°Sleep what else?¡± I replied. ¡°Mr. Ace, please remain until after everyone eats, because of the number of people summoned this time we need to decide how you will split up,¡± the queen said making a suggestion. but the feeling it gave me said that I sit, or I would regret it. ¡°If Your Highness requests me, then I shall remain a while longer,¡± I said, but looked out the corner of my eye at the shadows that had gained eyes but now returned to normal. This world wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed. Sitting down, my senses sharpened after what had happened, the king didn¡¯t look happy about it, but I couldn¡¯t care less. After a while everyone finished up and soon looked toward the royals. ¡°It seems everyone is finished, we shall proceed to the main topic today. You heroes need to decide if you will go alone, pair up between yourselves or go in one large group. If you go alone, we can provide a few recruits to join your party,¡± the queen said. All the heroes looked at each other, and as expected, pretty boy stood up and in a most glorious fashion he began his speech. ¡°I believe we, as heroes, must work together and accomplish our objective to return home and see ou¡ª¡± ¡°I''ll pass!¡± I cut him off. Cutting his flow left him frozen for a long moment before he looked at me. ¡°Why?¡± he asked but his expression was dark. ¡°I said it when we first arrived, I died and was caught by the hero summoning spell. I was pretty much reborn into this world, got nothing left in that world anyway. Parents are dead, my little sister is married and happily living in a different country, no cousins within reach to even care about me, so I don¡¯t give a rats ass about returning,¡± I replied. Some of the people, including the princes were a bit surprised by my words. ¡°I kind of agree with him,¡± a young girl with dark silky straight hair and a petite figure said. She looked around 16, but I knew better than to judge sizes especially toward a Japanese girl. On her lap was a katana in the plain white sheath it came with. Its guard was basic and round, while the hilt had just simple white leather straps. She wore a shrine maiden¡¯s clothing and had part of her hair tied in the front hanging in front and not behind her. ¡°What exactly do you agree with?¡± the queen asked. ¡°I died after being attacked by a tiger and my soul was picked up as well, I see no reason to return,¡± she said stone faced. The pretty boy¡¯s eye twitched, most likely he had his eyes on her because she was a grade A beauty. ¡°It seems this incident isn¡¯t isolated, please raise your hand if you died before being summoned?¡± the queen asked. Several people including the two of us raised our hands. In total, besides me and the girl, a swordsman, a male mage, a male and female archer pair, and a woman with a halberd raised their hands. ¡°Any of you feel like traveling with the hero?¡± the queen asked and everyone shook their heads. Of the 15 summoned, 7 had already broken away from Mr. Hero. ¡°Do any of you plan to partner up?¡± the queen asked. ¡°I am still 17 and wish to be with a responsible adult. I wish to follow Mr. Ace if you will allow me?¡± the Japanese asked, and I shrugged. The others formed a single party. As for the remaining people they all looked at each other before finally looking at the pretty boy and then turning to look at a man at the furthest end of the table. He was tall and was someone that got a longsword. It looked like a katana with the curve but it was almost two meters long and needed to be swung in large arcs. It was two-handed sword like a greatsword, but it was lighter and allowed fast combos. I remembered seeing similar things inside a game back on Earth. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to follow such a hypocrite like that guy, I''ll go my own way,¡± the swordsman said. Within the group of heroes, it goes without saying that some had fierce personalities, and others with weaker ones; but the ones with the biggest egos were myself, pretty boy, and this extremely dangerous swordsman. Even I felt cautious around him. He clearly did some kind of field work or was a war veteran. At that point, a girl with fake cat ears stood up and walked over and asked to join his party, followed by a really skittish girl holding a staff. This was the only healer that appeared and had a rather weak personality, but it fit her. I almost laughed when only one guy, a mage, wanted to join pretty boy while the others formed a separate group. Mr. Hero¡¯s face was bright red at the shame of being so ignored. ¡°Are we done?¡± I asked. ¡°We just need to write down who is with whom, and then we will arrange the rooms so teammates are near each other. Starting tomorrow, the training for each of you will begin, Mr. Cross, you will join weapon training in the morning, magic in the afternoon and gain basic understandings of crafts in the evening. Our librarian has already found the book on the runic language. It has been transported to your room. Please refrain from using the pen and runes to do magic unless you are in the training rooms,¡± the queen said. ¡°So I was seen, as expected,¡± I thought and nodded. ¡°Now, you are all free to enjoy your evenings and good night,¡± the queen said and got up. At her orders we all left. The queen was by far the scariest person in that room but at least she was more impartial than the king who only wanted to favor the one with the class designation hero, instead of different classes. Returning to my room I found several dozen maids who measured me before leaving, and returned with some sleeping clothes I could change into. I stepped out of my jeans, black shirt and shoes. I knew they would be gone by morning and sighed before falling into bed. I fell asleep after storing my book, pen and sword beside my bed, and the book on runic language next to my own artifact. Chapter 2 ¡°So¡­ why did you want to join my group?¡± I asked the girl in front of me. Clack! A short sword and a katana collided in front of me and the Japanese shrine maiden. ¡°I may be young, but I am well studied and since modern day has few people visiting the shrines besides during festivals, I had time to enjoy modern entertainment and know craft classes are weak at the start but provide the best long term benefits,¡± she said bluntly. Peng. I side stepped to the left after pushing the short sword to deflect the katana. ¡°That is true, I will need to learn to build my own dungeons or parts of the layouts, but there is more to this right?¡± I asked and stepped forward swinging horizontally. She ducked, and with her left hand she swung the katana sheath at my leg, but I jumped trying to catch it under my feet. I missed and had to jump again as the katana followed. Swoosh. ¡°You spoke of runic language, whenever there was something similar, it meant magic writing. As a shrine maiden I have heard of mystic writing which allows the talismans to gather spirit energy in the air and cause mystical phenomenon around them. I personally want the talismans as a weapon and for the purpose of furthering my training as a shrine maiden,¡± she said. I took several steps back after the swing and distanced myself from her by taking extra steps back. ¡°You have quite good reflexes,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you and as for the talismans, I had thought the same, I did discover a bit about the class but haven¡¯t experimented with magic so much,¡± I told her. ¡°It''s the pen right?¡± she asked and I nodded. ¡°Alright you two, stop talking and get serious!¡± the instructor knight said. He was an elder man in his fifties and wore light plate armor over riveted leather armor. ¡°Sir, my skill with this weapon already surpasses most of your soldiers, I am simply aiding my companion so I do not want to injure him without letting him grow accustomed to danger,¡± the girl said. Her name Shinigumi Misaki¡ªa shrine maiden, and a true blue spirit medium. She could see Earth''s spirits and aided them in passing on, but she also had extensive knowledge of anime and manga. She was a prodigy with the katana as shown by her holding back. A normal person would take 20 years to learn the proper forms of the katana, but she took 10 years starting her training when she was 6. I was quite fond of her blunt personality which was similar to my own. She was quite honest in her responses, and if she didn¡¯t want to answer something she would bluntly reject answering it instead of making up a lie, because, in her own words, ¡®Lying taints the soul allow the Akuma (demons) to invade your soul and corrupt you.¡¯ It seems the translation spell still allowed slip ups and revealed the true language of one''s origins. ¡°Yeah yeah, just keep fighting and less chatting,¡± the instructor said rather bored. We both rolled our eyes at this display of caring for our group. My eye moved to the pretty boy¡¯s group across the field. He was surrounded by knights cheering as he fought a weakling knight and danced around him. The fake cheers made me nauseous. The king clearly favored him, but at that moment an interesting pair walked out of the castle. It was Marian and the crowned prince. Looking at him, the knights turned and bowed. He didn¡¯t react as Marian looked around and a smile crossed her face as she ran over to us followed by the crowned prince¡­ or should I say princess. My eyes flew to the most distinguishing locations of the body that indicate a woman. The height, breasts, waist, hips, feet, and hands. Breasts, wearing less clothes so I could see the breasts tightly held by something hiding them beneath the clothes, but much easier to see than at the table. Waist is slimmer than a male of 15 to 18 should be, hips a bit wider, forming a slight hourglass shape which wasn¡¯t perfectly concealed by the clothes, the hands are hidden in white gloves like those of butlers but they were small with thin fingers, and from the looks through the glove, long nails. Feet are small and height is around 160cm. ¡°Hey Ace, why are you looking at him?¡± Marian asked me as she got near and noticed me looking at the crowned prince. ¡°Just trying to figure out if its crowned prince or princess. I am tilting toward princess,¡± I said while holding my chin and moving my eyes up and down. ¡°I must agree with Cross-san, crowned princesses features are far too feminine, and the improperly concealed breasts give it away. If you wish to hide them better then you should wrap bandages like this,¡± Misaki said and moved lift her arm showing the bandages through the gap in her clothes. The crowned princess¡¯s eyes quickly widened before instantly her face turned bright red. Marian was giggling the whole time. ¡°Big sis, seems Ace can see right through Dad¡¯s stupid facade he forced you to do,¡± Marian said. ¡°So, it was his scheme. Tell me, is this a kingdom or queendom?¡± I asked. ¡°Queendom, how did you guess?¡± the crowned princess asked. ¡°Simply by the way Princess Marian acted toward your mother, and the chill I felt from her last night,¡± I said. ¡°I see, the hero has been buttering up father, and my younger sister has been trying to take advantage of him to get a higher position by trying to get married to the fabled hero but then again all he has is the class hero and hasn¡¯t saved anyone yet,¡± she said. ¡°Although this seems rather blunt crowned princess, may we get your name since we did not received it last night,¡± Misaki said. ¡°Oh how rude, I am Charlotte Venus Heavenlight, crowned princess and 17 years of age. As you know, this is Marian Venus Heavenlight.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I am Ace Cross,¡± I said. ¡°I am Shinigumi Misaki, Shinigumi is my family name,¡± Misaki said. ¡°Princess Charlotte, isn¡¯t your father''s name Wharton, why is yours Venus?¡± I asked. ¡°Heavenlight is the name all royal family get due to the empire''s name being so. Venus is our mother''s name, and since this is a queendom the daughters inherit the queen''s name which has been Venus from the founding of the empire. Wharton was my father¡¯s surname before he married into my royal family,¡± she said. ¡°I see¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°Crowned Princess, are you sure about saying all this to them at this point?¡± the instructor asked. ¡°No need, they already deduced my identity as female so why bother hiding it, also¡­ Misaki¡­¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°In my culture, those we don¡¯t know refer to us by the family name with honorifics so please refer to me as Shinigumi-san,¡± Misaki explained as soon as it came up. ¡°Alright Shinigumi-san, I am quite interested in that bandage tying around my breasts, I would prefer to be kept hidden from more¡­ undesirable people until I am officially crowned once my royal mother and father step down,¡± she said. ¡°Your Highness!¡± the instructor said aghast, but one look from the princess and he became quiet. ¡°You are dismissed, I have come to guide these two to magic training. These are my royal mother''s orders as well,¡± Charlotte said. The instructor looked shocked before clutching his fists and bowing to leave. Only after he was out of earshot did Marian show her real emotions. ¡°Stupid old man, father really is biased, he had such a crappy knight come train big bro, hmpf, hmpf!¡± she said pouting. ¡°I figured as much. If he was actually serious, he would have been drilling us seriously,¡± I said. ¡°Please follow me, I wasn¡¯t lying about taking you to study magic, I had one of the maids pick up the runic language book in your room Sir Ace, it''s in the magic library. Also, Mother is waiting as our teacher is yours as well. She has a keen interest in your class. Come,¡± Charlotte said, guiding us into the castle. The eyes of the other hero groups followed us as we walked into the castle. Pretty boy was frowning, but then called for a better challenger. Inside the castle, we walked through corridors with maids sweeping or doing some other task. The chain on my side kept making a bit of noise in the quiet corridor. The Book of the Dungeon Maker was held by it. The chain was a magic artifact made for wizards who require books for large scale incantations or magic, so they hold their tomes by these chains. The chain¡ªwhen magic was used to control it¡ªcould lift and hold the book open for me as a third arm. I wore a white button up shirt similar to a butler¡¯s, paired with black pants and shoes. They wanted to put me in some clown clothes that nobles used, but I instantly rejected them and would only compromise to this or armor that is easy to move in. As we reached the library in the southeast tower of the castle, we were greeted with a huge room that was around three meters high with many shelves reaching the roof. They covered our view, but I spotted a stairway in the back showing that there were many more floors to this library. At the side there was a space with tables that was empty aside from Havorine and the queen. ¡°Mother, I have brought the Dungeon Maker and the eastern swordswoman,¡± Charlotte said. Like in our world, the Japanese culture of Altgar was from the eastern area. The queen looked up from the book she held and smiled. Her vibrant violet eyes looked as though they were piercing through us and seeing everything. ¡°Greetings Sir Ace and Miss Shinigumi, I am glad you have come,¡± she said. ¡°How could we not come to the true ruler of this nation, if it was the king I wouldn¡¯t think twice to ignore him,¡± I said bluntly and Misaki nodded. ¡°I am sorry for my husband''s conduct. He used to be such a wise general when I married him, but it seems power has gone to his head.¡± The queen sighed before opening a fan and covering half her face and fanning herself. ¡°Now about what I have called you¡­¡± she said and held out the book she was holding. The runic language book. It was rather thin compared to other books in the library. ¡°This book of the dungeon¡¯s runic language, my spies saw you used it to for a magic spell,¡± the queen said. I lifted my book and opened to the rune page. ¡°It takes a combination of runes to make a word to make a spell. I have only used Light and Ball to make a glowing ball,¡± I said. ¡°And yet, that light is stronger than our current light source which are torches and candles or the rare mana crystal,¡± she said. ¡°From your words, you wish for me to research runes and try to form a kind of research around them,¡± I asked. ¡°Quite smart I must say, yes that is correct. Dungeon runes can be considered magic writing, we have too few people that are interested, and even fewer that can actually make this function,¡± she said. I nodded and looked at the book she held. Making a gesture to take it, she handed it over and I looked at the first pages. There were some runes that had several meanings all undetermined.
You have discovered 4 new runes. Forward, Accelerate, Spin, and Harden.
You have leveled up Runic Writing/Language to 2.
¡°Wow, four runes in one go, I''m up to 15 now,¡± I said. Misaki looked over from the side. ¡°The symbols look like a mix of Japanese, Korean and Chinese,¡± Misaki said. ¡°So you can understand?¡± I asked. ¡°Nope, I said it''s a mix, as in one rune is a mix of strokes from each language. Also, the three languages normally have more than one character to make up one word while here it¡¯s a single rune for each,¡± she said. ¡°So, it¡¯s a language on its own. Well, as we experiment it will slowly be deciphered,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°That is good. That said, we don¡¯t have much time on our hands, Havorine will be your magic teacher, we have already determined Miss Shinigumi to be extremely talented in her combat, and you, Ace, need to train crafting and magic more so we are changing your schedule to have more of those two studies while Miss Shinigumi will train you in swordsmanship herself is that fine?¡± the queen asked. ¡°It seems better. I am confident I can train him beyond what the instructors here could,¡± Misaki said. ¡°Good,¡± the queen said and turned to the mage who nodded. ¡°I shall take my leave and will leave you to it then. Havorine, try to aid them in any ideas they may need for magic, and teach them basic control of mana,¡± she said. ¡°Of course, Your Highness,¡± he said, and the queen left. ¡°We shall be joining you as this is also our time for training,¡± Charlotte said and sat down. ¡°Alright now, Crowned Princess Charlotte and Princess Marian already know how to manipulate mana, but you two don¡¯t. Do you know the feeling of mana?¡± he asked. ¡°I have used the pen, and it seems to forcibly remove mana from my body but I have no control of its flow,¡± I said. ¡°You two, please extend your hands for a moment,¡± he said. We did that and he placed his staff down and touched both our hands. The next moment we felt a new energy, it was similar to gas and passed through everything. It felt vague. A condensed feeling similar to this energy appeared in our chests near our hearts, and began to spread through our bodies until it reached our skin and then we both felt this energy in the air itself. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Misaki muttered. She pulled her hand back and felt the energy, I did as well and began to feel it and control it. The movement of the energy was natural like a third arm. On my waist the chain had gone from dull to shimmering, and with a thought it lifted the book and opened it to the runic index where the four new runes were placed. I moved the mana to my finger, and looking at the book I wrote the light ball runes with my finger. With my control of mana, I still wasn¡¯t quick and used 40 mana per rune and 20 to activate it, but it made the ball. ¡°As expected, I can write it with my finger but its cost is more.¡± I said and took the pen. Controlling the flow, I found I used 10 mana for each rune, and 10 to activate the same spell. ¡°So, runes can be used for spells,¡± Havorine said. ¡°What is the mana cost for light ball?¡± I asked. ¡°Around 15 mana with 1 mana every 5 minutes to keep it going,¡± Marian said. ¡°It takes 10 mana per rune and 10 to activate. If I put this on a stone maybe I can do constant casting,¡± I muttered and the next moment a sheet of parchment was in front of me. ¡°Try it out,¡± Havorine said. I took a piece and wrote the runes on the page. Then I activated it and the runes glowed but didn¡¯t vanish. Stopping the spell, I tried to activate it again and it glowed, but this time it vanished. ¡°It has a limited number of uses it seems. Interesting,¡± I said. ¡°This is as it can be used more than once,¡± Misaki said. I nodded and remembered something. I took my sword out. I looked at the runes and started to cause my mana to enter it. The runes began to glow and a series of runes appeared on the blade. I was startled to see the runes, but suddenly I felt dizzy and the glow vanished. ¡°Careful, hold him up.¡± Havorine¡¯s voice reached me as my vision cleared up. As the dizziness passed, I saw the others looking at me. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s called mana exhaustion. You activated too many runes of conflicting natures on your sword. It caused a huge amount of mana to drain from you,¡± Havorine said. ¡°Sword?¡± I muttered then lifted my hand and noticed the short sword. ¡°I see¡­¡± I muttered and as I was looking, I noticed all 11 runes vanish. I looked around it but found no runes. Suddenly, a test tube shaped glass vial appeared in front of me. ¡°Here, this is a mana regeneration potion, it will aid your body in gathering more mana,¡± Havorine said. I looked at the tube absent minded for a moment then drank. It was then that I felt like I was parched and the mana potion was like water in a desert. My head cleared up a moment later and then I looked around at the others. ¡°Good, take that as a warning to not use all your mana at once,¡± Havorine said. ¡°I didn¡¯t have control to choose which runes I wanted to activate,¡± I said. ¡°Weapons with enchantments or attack skills activate them all when mana is inserted. Naturally, your sword held your runes which acted as enchantments,¡± he said. Looking at the sword, I grabbed the pen and on one side I wrote fire enchant. I wrote on the blade but once it was written it vanished and appeared on the bar on the hilt. ¡°I see, my sword is a medium for attack magic,¡± I said and put mana in it. The next moment the sword burst into flames stretching the blade to a meter long but it was loose flames. When I stopped putting mana in, the flames died leaving the sword unscratched or even heated up. The runes were gone, but it was already good to know how the sword worked. ¡°From now on, I will call this the Rune Sword!¡± I said smiling. ¡°Come let''s go down to the magic training room so that you can study more runes,¡± Havorine said. He stood and walked to a door with a winding stairway heading down. We followed to get ready to learn magic. Chapter 3 I looked at the book with runes. In truth, my objective was trying to find a rune to delay the effects. Sadly, the known runes weren¡¯t correctly translated and didn¡¯t get registered in my own book so I actually had to experiment. Maybe, I needed to check out Altgar¡¯s magic circles as well. Getting up, I watched as Misaki slowly drew her katana, and wind rapidly gathered on her blade just before she rapidly did the iai, the technique of drawing, slashing and sheathing, sending a wind blade that is almost five times sharper than the common spell. I walk to Havorine who was aiding Marian. ¡°Havorine, I have a question about the magic system of this world?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh? Please ask,¡± he said. ¡°Have you ever heard of magic circles?¡± I asked. ¡°Circle¡­ ah you mean magic formation. Yes, I have. We still use them but what we have are only things we could find in ruins and old archives. We have teleportation formations, but they take up a massive amount of mana to activate so they aren¡¯t used often, and they are basically all built by the elves.¡± he said. ¡°Are they by chance run by runes?¡± I asked. He smiles wryly and nodded. ¡°Awesome, just with this already makes things better,¡± I said and began to think how I should continue. ¡°Most of the runes are unknown to us and only one or two we can identify in the entire teleportation ruin, so it''s not like we can actually do more with them. Even so, we have been able to copy, and make new ones since we simply need to place the circle formation down,¡± Havorine said. I raised a brow and nodded. ¡°Oh, and the summoning spell we used for summoning you all also runs on runes. Unlike us, only the most ancient empires who are too powerful to even care about the common nations on this world still know the full extent of runes.¡± ¡°Is that way the queen had such a keen interest in me?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course. Runes are considered the magical language, even if you aren¡¯t sent to fight the demons, the queen will put more resources to help your own research so that our overall military and magical strength will increase,¡± he said. ¡°I see, well I got what I needed, I just need to start training now,¡± I said. He pulled out a book. ¡°This is a book on how to manipulate mana and elements. Before you start, you should learn this so that it will further help you,¡± he said. ¡°Alright, thanks you for the help,¡± I said, taking the book and walking to the corner. I opened the book and started to read it over. Mana is the most common energy in this world, and more than 95% of the creatures incorporate this into their being and use it every day with only a few rare beasts that use unknown powers. Mana being present in all beings means it can be controlled. Controlling mana requires imagining your desire then putting forth your will onto it. When mana exits the body you will require imagination to turn the pure mana into a spell. Normal people use chants to help them focus on an image, but those with clear thoughts can manipulate the mana as they please altering spells to different power levels and strength. One requirement to be called a master mage, warlock or any sort of magic user is the ability to cast without chanting because only then will you be able to fight to your fullest and bring out the most potential of your mana and that of the surrounding mana. Meditation can help in control. As such¡­ Step 1: Imagine your desire. Step 2: Control it with your will. Step 3: Put forth your image and expel your mana with said image. Reading the introduction, it pretty much explained it all, but in the following pages it went into the detailed knowledge that had been picked out in the subject. ¡°So just imagination is key,¡± I muttered and began to imagine a fireball. I slowly formed the image in my head. I didn¡¯t notice how the book had begun floating and opened to the rune page. When I opened my eyes, I put my hand forward and the runes for fireball appeared and vanished in an instant as it hung in the air. I blinked and wondered if I was seeing things. I looked at my mana and saw it had dropped by 30 mana. ¡°Havorine, how much mana does it take to make a fireball spell?¡± I called out. ¡°Around 30 for professionals and 45 for an adept mage, novices usually use around 60 mana until they learn mana control.¡± I thought for a moment and looked at the floating book. The ¡®Fire¡¯ and ¡®Ball¡¯ runes were shimmering. I began to imagine something a bit different. With a football shape spinning. I keep my eyes on the book and notice how the ¡®Fire,¡¯ ¡®Ball,¡¯ and ¡®Spin¡¯ runes lit up. Then I put the intent to accelerate forward, and both respective runes lit up. When I stuck my hand out the five runes appeared for an instant before spinning themselves into a football shaped fireball that was spinning and rapidly accelerated forward and slammed into the wall causing the fire to spread to around three meters around the impact area. Havorine looked my way shocked. ¡°You were able to cast a spell so soon?¡± he asked. ¡°Tell me, when you use magic, do runes appear before making the spell?¡± I asked. ¡°No, since I use a staff my spell appear from the tip but I never saw runes appearing,¡± he said. I looked at the staff in his hand and then at the orb in his hand and saw nothing engraved at the top. I nodded then took out the other book that remained untranslated. ¡°Let''s see¡­¡± I muttered. The others had their eyes on me.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Let''s go with ¡®Water¡¯ and ¡®Ball¡¯ plus this one that is supposed to mean ¡®Compress,¡¯ and ¡®Accelerate¡¯ plus ¡®Forward,¡¯¡± I said taking out my pen. In the air, I carefully wrote each rune in the following order. ¡®Compressed Water Ball Accelerate Forward.¡¯ As the final rune shone, it spun and formed a water ball that became as small as a pebble and shot forward making a ¡®plop¡¯ sound like a droplet hitting the ground as it hit the wall.
You have discovered the ¡®Shrink¡¯ rune.
¡°Okay not what I expected¡­¡± I muttered but looked at my index and saw the new rune flash into existence. I thought for a moment and flipped through the book finding ¡®pillar.¡¯ I started a new spell. ¡®Air Pillar Spin.¡¯ I wrote facing up, and quickly got out of the way, but what I got was dense wind balls rapid firing upwards in a spinning fashion from the runes that cast them.
You have discovered the ¡®Shards¡¯ rune.
¡°Shards huh¡­¡± Next I wrote, ¡®Earth Shards Accelerate Forwards Spin.¡¯ I felt a bit dizzy, but I saw a group of five earth shards springing out, spinning and hitting the wall. ¡°Ace, please calm down with the spells, you''re using too much mana,¡± Havorine said. ¡°Focus on control training first. Leave experiments for a little later.¡± ¡°Fine, later can you get someone to bring any books about magic formations to my room. I am searching for a rune to delay the activation for now, but once I do I want to make projectile formations,¡± I said. ¡°That is fine, here drink this and try to control yourself a bit,¡± he said and I nodded. For the next few hours, I alternated between meditating, reading through the books, and controlling my mana trying to make effects with the mana like making a fireball without the runes. I could make a mana ball but any of the elements I had runes for needed a rune before the spell activated. That said, I compared it to Misaki''s own fireball when she learned it and it seemed that mine always came out about 10% bigger and stronger. It might be the effect of runes as a magic symbol, and it was a good thing to know since I would naturally be a stronger magic user the more I studied. After that, I split up from Misaki and was led out of the castle into a different building at the back of the castle area where a large workshop was located. Inside was a blacksmith. ¡°This is our royal blacksmith, Grunt Drift. He will be your blacksmith master,¡± the maid that was leading me said. The smith in question was a giant of a man. A huge belly, about one and a half meters wide, muscular arms that looked to be as big as my head, and he was over two meters tall. ¡°So squirt, you''re my new prot¨¦g¨¦? Looks a bit squishy for my taste? Ever forged?¡± he asked. ¡°My world was already industrialized so forging was something near extinction already,¡± I said. He sighed. ¡°I heard you¡¯re some dungeon builder or something,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s different than what is commonly known, I guess I make a dungeon to kill monsters with traps to kill them and not people,¡± I said. ¡°How do you build something like that?¡± he asked. I shrugged and pulled out the book. ¡°Said I needed to store the layouts, so I think I am supposed to build corridor sections, then in the book I plan out the layout. Same for the rooms,¡± I said. ¡°I see. In other words at this moment you need blacksmith basics to learn to make basic stuff like nails for just a basic room and corridors,¡± he said nodding. ¡°Good, I get that I am not getting some master crafter so let''s get started.¡± He pulled me inside, and until long after the sunset I worked back breaking work with him before returning to my bed and falling asleep.
Your previous day¡¯s training has rewarded you with status points. For figuring out a few function of the world''s magic system, +2 wisdom. For training magic control, +2 intelligence. For doing manual work in Blacksmithing, +2 strength and +3 endurance.
You have learned your first craft. Skill Crafter has leveled up to level 1, Blacksmithing has been added to crafting skill repertoire.
For training magic control and meditation you have gained the skills ¡®Mana Manipulation,¡¯ and ¡®Meditation.¡¯
Mana Manipulation Level 1
A skill that shows your skill in controlling mana and using magic. Decreases mana consumption by 1%. Increases control of magic by 1%.
Meditation Level 1
Meditation is the art of calming one''s mind and controlling the flow of energy in one''s body. When used properly it allows you to gather mana from the air at a faster pace and counter the effects of mana exhaustion. Increases rate of mana recovery by 1%.
I woke up with a strange window about new stat points. After blinking a few times and waking up, I read it carefully and understood something new about this world. You didn¡¯t immediately receive stats or skills unless it was knowledge based like runic writing/language skill. You needed to rest and let your body recuperate, and the system would cause your body to strengthen during your sleep so that you could adapt better to your work. The harder you worked during the day the more you would gain. That must explain why I didn¡¯t get anything for the sword skill. Frowning, I got out of bed and felt the morning chill. I got up and put my clothes on¡ªit was still the butler like clothes¡ªand grabbed my artifacts. In the dining room, the maids were setting up food for the already awakened heroes. The longsword guy was there and so was Misaki. Most of them were eating rather quick, so I did the same. As I finished and looked at the waiting Misaki, I got up as did she and we headed to the training ground. ¡°Try and guide me and fix my form, let''s put our all in to sparring from now on,¡± I said. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. We found a corner where I started trying to attack her, and she used a wooden blade to attack me while correcting me in a painful manner, by hitting all the weak points. By the end of the sword training, I was hurting all over. ¡°Did I go too far?¡± she asked ¡°You''re asking that now?¡± I asked. She simply diverted her eyes with a blank expression. I sighed and forced myself up on slightly trembling legs. ¡°I will simply learn some healing magic to deal with this then,¡± I said as we both headed inside while the others remained outside. Only those that gained close range classes were actually outside, but we had extra time for magic approved by the queen. We reached the training room and I went to a corner where I opened the book of runic language. ¡°Heal, heal, heal¡­ oh regeneration¡­ wait the system didn¡¯t record it so that means it''s not it. Hmm maybe I can be creative in this,¡± I muttered and took my pen. ¡®Regeneration Light Ball.¡¯ I wrote and the runes crumbled into dust. ¡°Not it huh¡­ let''s see¡­ how¡¯s about just regeneration light,¡± I muttered and wrote the runes. They collided forming a single rune that began to release a gentle green pulsing light, and when it washed over my body, I began to feel relief from my injures.
You have discovered the ¡®Slow Healing¡¯ rune.
¡°Nice, an AOE heal spell,¡± I said and began to move around it, finding it had three meter diameter, so one and a half meter radius. ¡°Small scale but useful,¡± I said. I moved my pen and found that I could move the ball around. After a minute, the rune crumbled to dust. When it ended, I finally noticed how the others were looking at me. ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°That was healing magic right?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°The system called it the slow heal rune. The combo I did was regeneration and light runes in this book so yeah it was healing magic,¡± I said. ¡°Slow heal is the lowest class heal over time magic that lasts one minute,¡± Havorine said and cast it in the same manner. ¡°So, the runes for it are that one and the light rune, interesting,¡± he said and walked over to examine them before casting the spell again. At that time, I noticed the two runes appear, merge, then release a strong gentle light hiding themselves inside. ¡°Interesting, the runes stabilize the magic. Yes, quite interesting,¡± he muttered. I pulled away my book because I didn¡¯t feel comfortable with him getting free knowledge and getting stronger. I ignored his inquisitiveness and sat down to begin meditating and doing mana control until he left. I recovered my mana a bit before getting back to experimenting. By the end of the day, I found three more runes successfully. Explode, lunge, and upwards. Also, it seemed that every five runes I discovered gave me a level in runic language. I had a basic list of spells, but I still hadn¡¯t found a delay rune. I also got a magic formation book to see how they made it, and found it was a large number of unknown runes so I could only sigh and look at the structure to see if I could make a small scale one. At night, I reported to Grunt the blacksmith Grunt and began another night of gruelling work learning to forge. Chapter 4 It had been a week since we were summoned, and I had finally understood what made the hero group exceptional over common folk and why Altgar had the custom of summoning them instead of dealing with their own problems. Take a look.
Status:
Name: Ace Cross Class: Dungeon Maker
Level: 1
Health: 780 Mana: 800
Strength: 75 Intelligence: 75
Agility: 52 Wisdom: 85
Endurance: 92 Vitality: 64
Skills
Dungeon Archive Level 1
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon Maker and make copies. Can currently make layouts for 3 dungeons. You can store only 5 different corridor layouts. You can store only 2 room types. You can Store only 5 different traps.
Magic Hole Formation Level 1
This skill allows the caster to open a magic hole into a separate dimension where the constructed dungeon exists, it allows monsters in and out openly. The magic hole draws mana from the air making the dungeon more comfortable. Eventually, if seeds are planted or brought in by the dungeon targets, it can make natural drops like magic plants. Can currently make 1 small magic hole.
Crafter Level 4
This skill allows you to learn all craft skills for the purpose of making a dungeon. This skill level will grow with the overall skill of all crafts learned. Current crafts learned: Blacksmith Level 6 Carpenter Level 5
Short Sword Mastery Level 4
Your master with the short sword. Increases damage by 4%.
Short Sword Arts Level 3
Arts that only masters of the short sword can learn. Level 1: Double Slash
Runic Writing/Language Level 5
This Skill corresponds to the level of comprehension towards the Runic Language and how many runes you have learned and can use properly. Current runes known: 40 Can be found in runic dictionary within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. Decrease mana consumption when using Runes by 3%. Increase magic control when using Runes by 3%.
Mana Manipulation Level 1
A skill that shows your ability in controlling Mana and using magic. Decreases mana consumption by 1%. Increases control of magic by 1%.
Meditation Level 1
Meditation is the art of calming one''s mind and controlling the flow of energy in one''s body. When used properly it allows you to gather mana from the air at a faster pace and counter the effects of mana exhaustion. Increases rate of mana recovery by 1%.
Rune Index
Elements Shapes Unique Directions
Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning, Sand, Iron, Mana, Wood Ball, Spike, Shards, Pillar, Chain, Sword, Spear, Lance Enchant, Harden, Accelerate, Shrink, Explode, Trapping, Lengthen, Shorten, WidenFind this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Forward, Upwards, Curving Left, Curving Right, Backwards
Weak effects Action
Slow Healing, Slow Poison, Weak Antidote Lunge, Spin, Revolve,
My stats had risen by a shocking degree, I was told that we had different growth rates for leveling, but we would get between 1-6 stats in all stats for each level. It all depended on each class, but training stats still improved our strength and we were only training stats. I had expanded my magic repertoire making me quite strong and being beaten by Misaki had made my body rather durable. I learned carpentry as well, it was rather easy after the first day and I leveled rather quickly. With the help of the two masters, I was even able to start planning how I should build the layouts and ways to keep them from collapsing. That said, we had all been gathered in one of the war rooms for some kind of meeting. The room was wide and at the center was a large round table with a 3D carved map of the land. I could only see a single glowing pillar over one point. The table was almost 4 meters in diameter and had plenty of space for everyone to be spread around the table while giving the royal family members space to remain near and gather everyone¡¯s attention on them. Before going, we were given different kinds of armor and I got some riveted leather armor with padding on the inside so it was rather comfortable. Misaki also got leather armor, but she had hers look a tad bit more like a samurai while having leather armor that looked like her shrine maiden outfit. ¡°Now then, thank you all for joining us so quickly. As regretful as it is, we would have preferred to allow you all to train more before this happened,¡± the queen said. ¡°What happened Your Highness?¡± pretty boy asked. The queen suddenly shut her fan, did a small tap on the table and a line began to stretch around a specific area circling it. The rest of the map vanished before the space stretched like a zoom. ¡°Wow¡­¡± I muttered. The area became more detailed and I saw that the light was falling on a city. ¡°This table is an artifact left behind by a hero. Using his knowledge from his world plus our own magic he created this. The function is to allow heroes, who possess blessings from the gods, to teleport quickly to places in danger, naturally other people can use it as well. At the start you can only see a single ray of light which is where we currently are, this room. Whenever danger arises within the nation this table displays it,¡± she said tapping the table again causing several balls of mana to gather and turn into moving stone monsters. One was a huge almost gorilla like monster with two huge tusks jutting out its lower jaw. Another was several small wolf statues and next to it were short scrawny men with swords dressed either in rags or different types of armor. Some statues had the little men on the wolves. Another looked like a fat cyclops, while others looked like the little men only they were naked and held three tipped tridents and had bat wings on their back. They all came from the same direction. ¡°Each piece or pieces shows different demon tribes that are moving through our nation. The area in black where they passed is where they have already caused damage or passed through,¡± the king said clutching his fist and grinding his teeth. ¡°So we are being dispatched?¡± the longsword guy asked. ¡°Precisely. We have determined several tribes that are moving toward key cities that need to be stopped. These towns all possess a stone platform that allows you to teleport, but unless you drop your blood inside it won¡¯t activate,¡± the queen said. ¡°How do you expect us to reach those towns before they are attacked?¡± someone asked. At that exact moment several lights fluctuated on the table. ¡°We had our spies use sleeping drugs and extract blood from all of you and run to all the sites that are known,¡± she said. Everyone frowned at this but considering she was thinking about her nation it was obvious they would take measures to do such things even if we got pissed off. ¡°We are sorry for what we did, but we needed it urgently so it was done on the day you were summoned while you were still unconscious. Sleeping drugs were administered to lengthen the time you stayed asleep so we could ensure we got the blood,¡± she explained. ¡°Enough about that. There are seven parties between us all, considering the number of tribes each party will go to one location?¡± I asked. The king frowned hearing me talk, but the queen didn¡¯t even blink. ¡°Exactly. Obviously, we have our own armies there, but each party¡¯s specialization was taken into account so we know which party is best to fight which tribe,¡± she replied. ¡°Understood,¡± I said. ¡°Any more questions?¡± she asked. No one asked, and after a moment she nodded. ¡°Okay, now starting with our hero Richard, your party shall help lead the offensive on this one. This is a tribe of ogres, they number around 200, and you will be leading our elites. Ogres are powerhouses and use brute strength and are from two to three meters tall. Their leader is a low ranking demon commander and a unique variant of ogres called a red ogre. He will be hard to fight, but the 500 elites will be there to help,¡± the king said. ¡°So pretty boy¡¯s name was Richard, could have sworn it would be something like Azriel or Michel after some archangel or something,¡± I thought. ¡°Sir Nickelous will lead his group against this group,¡± the queen said looking toward the sword guy. She pointed toward the small imps with tridents. ¡°These are imps, and the lowest class devil race. They are about two times stronger than a common male human, but they move in swarms from a few hundred to a few thousand. Their leader is a lesser devil,¡± she said. In between the group of imp pieces, a larger human sized one appeared, but it was still scrawny, though he wore something that looked like bone armor. ¡°This lesser demon is cunning and a coward, but he is at least at a commander''s strength level, his stats should be no more than 100 in any stat,¡± she said. ¡°Understood, it will make a good first blood for my blade!¡± he said, and a fierce light flashed past his eye. ¡°Now, Sir Ace, you shall fight this group, it consists of the low ranking demon tribe of goblins. This particular tribe is called the Dire Wolf Tribe due to their skill at taming the wolf that follows them. They use them as mounts and specialize in hit and run tactics, but they number in the upper hundreds which is why we are sending you there,¡± the king said. ¡°So set a trap for them? I can do that, I have already read up on basic dungeon traps, and just need to build the layouts now,¡± I said. The other parties were given the other weaker groups. ¡°Good. Now then, there is a two-week period before any of these groups reach the towns. You will need to go to, so you will have that amount of time to train, and kill them or push them back,¡± the queen said. ¡°How do we get there exactly?¡± I asked. ¡°Just touch the light. It will teleport each of you to the place you touch. If you wish to return here, you must put mana into the platform, but it needs to be charged with a lot of mana for the teleportation spell so as soon as you get there, you should already start charging it or you want be able to return so soon,¡± the queen said. ¡°Understood,¡± I said. ¡°Good, so Mr. Richard, please touch this one.¡± She pointed to one light near the center close to the first one. He moved around the table until he was closer to it and touched the location of the light. The next moment his body was covered in light before he broke into particles of light and was absorbed. ¡°Now can his party please follow,¡± the queen said. The few that were in his group made a worried expression, but touched the location one by one. When they were finally gone, the queen looked at me. ¡°Mr. Ace, this is the location you shall go to. It isn¡¯t as large a town, but it should offer a good location for you as the area is rocky limiting their movement. It will be easy to set up traps,¡± she said. I nodded and looked at Misaki who nodded. I walked over and touched the light. A large suction force held me in place as mana covered my body before a light blinded me. After a moment of feeling as if I was being tossed around, my vision cleared up. What appeared, was a forest filled mountainous zone. I stood on a huge stone with a five meter wide plateau that had a circle loaded with runes on the top and seven pillars also covered with them. It began to glow as light particles appeared and gathered before forming Misaki. Right in front of us was a stairway down into a road. Down the road we could see a stone wall about seven meters tall. ¡°So, this is where we will be staying for the next few weeks,¡± she said. ¡°It''s a good location for sure, the demon tribes will definitely not have an easy time around here,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, do you believe that the demons started to war or was it the other races?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know, could be either, if the war is really over 1000 years old, then that knowledge would already be lost unless someone used magic to leave a recording or something,¡± I replied. ¡°Guess so,¡± Misaki said. ¡°Let''s head to the town and get working, I need to start building the traps and building a decent enough dungeon to kill a large number,¡± I said. ¡°Sure,¡± she replied and we went down the teleporting stone to head to the town. ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± a voice called from the walls. ¡°My name is Ace Cross, we came from the capital on order from the queen. We are part of the summoned heroes that came to aid in getting rid of the advancing demons heading this way,¡± I said. ¡°Oh! Come right in sir hero!¡± the man said and turned. ¡°OPEN QUICK!¡± he shouted. Soon, the iron gates slowly rose and we were able to cross through before it closed. We found a humble town with the main roads paved with gravel and some stone houses with the rest being log cabins. ¡°Great heroes, it is good you came, we have been encountering numerous scout parties of the Dire Wolf Tribe,¡± an older guard said. ¡°We know. The main force is around two weeks from here,¡± I said and kept looking around a bit before looking at the man in question. He was dressed in plate armor. ¡°I need the help of all the carpenters and blacksmiths, can you call them and if possible is there a place we can spend our time?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, since we had heard the heroes were summoned to every village, town, and city, we built a house for the heroes to stay. I shall lead you there while my men call the men you requested,¡± he said. We followed him to one of the few two story houses and entered. It was furnished with pelts on the ground and filled with all kinds of pots and pans for us to use, and the furniture was all wooden. ¡°The carpentry work here is rather high class,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, we have a large supply of wood. And with that, a number of our youths work as carpenters. Our merchants sell the goods in the bigger cities and even the capital,¡± he said. ¡°Good, I will be needing good carpenters more than blacksmiths so this works for me,¡± I said. ¡°What exactly do you need them for?¡± he asked. ¡°My class isn¡¯t hero, it is dungeon maker. I make dungeons to kill monsters and not spawn them. This is why I was sent here because the tribe in question is large of number, so I must thin them down before they reach the walls so that the dispatched men coming this way will be able to handle them easily,¡± I said. His face showed shock, but he nodded smiling. ¡°Yes. Yes. This will help greatly, having such hero killing a large number of demons. We will support you as best as possible,¡± he said. ¡°Good, now where are the men?¡± I asked. Knock! Knock! Hearing the knocks, the guard captain opened and with a young guardsman walked in a strong man with lots of soot from a furnace and a hammer at his side. Oh right, I forgot to mention he was one meter tall with a large beard. Yep, a dwarf through and through. Next to him was a middle aged man wearing leather clothes and an apron with lots of tools on his tool belt and in the pockets of his apron. ¡°Sir, I brought the head smith and carpenter,¡± the young guard said. ¡°Good, you are dismissed,¡± the captain said. ¡°Oi Gerald, why ya call us ta this place?¡± the dwarf asked. ¡°This is Ace Cross, he is part of the summoned heroes group and he was assigned here to help deal with the Dire Wolf Tribe heading this way,¡± the captain said. The dwarf looked at me and scoffed. ¡°Looks a bit squishy to me,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°I wonder, is that a blacksmith saying because my smith master, Grunt Drift, said the same thing,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, you know old Grunt,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°So what ya need Greenhorn?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, he is like this, but he means well,¡± the carpenter said. ¡°I prefer it like this, I hate people that like to butter up others since it¡¯s too fake. As for what I need, I need help building the layout and traps I need to use in my dungeon.¡± I said pulling out blueprints on parchment and spreading it for them to see. ¡°This is a straight section of corridor. This is an L turn. I need one for left and right. A T section, and finally an X section. Then, I need a single dead end room and a corner room. As for traps I need a floor spike trap, pressure plates that launch the targets toward other traps. Another one is like this, a wall trap that rises and a wall trap that closes both sides of the corridor crushing whoever is inside, and one for the rooms to lower the ceiling on them,¡± I said. Everyone just looked at me as if I was speaking gibberish. Then the dwarf walked up and began to look through everything. He then split the pile in to traps, rooms, and corridors. ¡°Johnson, get yer men to do the rooms an corridors while I get my boys to make the parts fer the traps. Brat, yer gonna need to help construct these though, we will probably only be able to make the parts for these,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°I expected as much. At least we have two weeks to make these and set up the dungeon so even if we have time, we don¡¯t. If it takes too much resource you can talk with the royal family or if you want, when we survive this, the prey caught in the traps in the dungeon I will give you equal compensation for the work in loot gathered,¡± I said. The dwarf¡¯s eyes shone hearing that. ¡°Hehe, yer a rather reasonable fellow. Last time I met a hero some 80 years ago, he was some stuck-up prick,¡± the dwarf said and walked over and stuck his hand out. ¡°Glad ta work with ya kid.¡± I grabbed it and shook. ¡°Likewise,¡± I said and looked up. ¡°Now let''s get to work,¡± I said. ¡°What can I do?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°You¡¯re quick on your feet so why not scout the region with some of the hunters and learn the lay of the land. I have plans for traps that we can put in the woods for both hunting and catching any scouts they have,¡± I said. She nodded. ¡°Come on miss, I will call some men for you to take out and show you the land,¡± the captain said and left with Misaki while I left with the two craftsmen. Chapter 5 ¡°Pull!¡± I shouted, and with the help of several carpenters we pull up a four meter high wall. There were ropes on the other side and when it began to tip the other side pulled until it was perfectly centered. Then some men came in with metal hammers and began to hammer them in on the bottom boards connecting it to the ground structure below. ¡°How do you plan on getting the top part in?¡± Johnson, the lead carpenter, asked. ¡°The top will be built beam by beam. You made that structure I showed you a basic blueprint of right?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah, we had some of the boys build six and are moving it over,¡± he said. ¡°Good and the rope?¡± I asked. He pointed behind him and I tilted my head to look behind him and saw a horse drawn carriage filled with it. ¡°Good, the tool that goes on the structure is already built correct?¡± I asked, and he nodded. ¡°Perfect. This pulley system will make construction a bit faster and allow us to lift heavy loads up.¡± ¡°Can a little wheel do that much difference?¡± he asked. ¡°Trust me, when I say that more than half of the construction in my world exists because of this system. I am not joking. I come from a technological world different from this magical one so things like tools have been heavily improved,¡± I said. He shrugged it off hearing me say that and turned to see the men bringing the structures. One by one they were placed. The supports, which were long wooden beams attached in an X shape was placed first, then the main body was placed in the middle with four beams at an angle holding it up. There were fewer chances it could tip over like that. The structure was over the size of the corridor I was building and after a rope had been passed through the pulley at the top, he tied it around the needed beams. Also, yes, someone climbed up, but the carpenters were also lumberjacks and they climbed up trees to cut the top which is too thin before cutting the base so they already had skill at doing it. ¡°Hey kid, the tree branch braided net is ready,¡± someone called. ¡°Great have someone stretch them hanging along the wall on the outer side then stretch it tight and hammer some nails to hold them tight,¡± I said. ¡°Kid, what is the plan exactly?¡± Johnson asked hearing my instructions. ¡°This is the most basic kind of corridor I can make without draining resources from town. Once the braided branch net is firmly placed along the floor and walls, I will have them board up the back and then see if I can¡¯t get some dirt and water mixture and cover the walls. If the walls are smoothed out, but still left a bit rough the corridor at the end will look like a really wide mine shaft and allow for a lot of possibilities to trick the goblins. I read that they search for such places as homes,¡± I said. ¡°Oh I see, goblins are simple minded so a simple thing like this truly will trick them, but the size of the dungeon to attract the entire force inside would be huge right?¡± he asked. ¡°At the moment I am having the hunters make a map of as much of this mountain range as possible. Also, I am getting alchemists to make bombs, we will be blocking off as many passages to this village through valleys and mountains. There is one specific cave that with the widest passage that crosses the largest mountain, and they will be forced to pass through that if they want to get such a large force through,¡± I said. ¡°And by then you will already have your dungeon in place to thin the herd,¡± Johnson finished and I nodded. ¡°Well thought, but this is the wilderness we are talking about. How many passages do you think you can actually close before they arrive and not be warned about it?¡± Johnson asked. ¡°Well, I obviously will be timing the blockades, not like I will give them the time to unblock them. Goblins aren¡¯t so bright, even if they can tame monsters for mounts. If I leave a few passages I can slowly split them up and have them run in circles. If I know the geography of this region, and have my dungeon confront smaller groups then I have a higher chance to kill a higher number,¡± I replied. Seeing how my plan was rather good, Johnson spurred his men on. At this time, Misaki entered the village from the east gate, there were two gates, east and south. ¡°Shinigumi-san, did you look into what I needed?¡± I asked as she approached. ¡°Mn! We did a preliminary search of a 50 km radius of the town. I got my hands on a map of the area, but there aren''t many details besides the actual paths and a few of the more dangerous areas where some monsters live. The area is relatively safe,¡± she said. She pulled off her leather bag and pulled out a parchment. I opened it after she handed it over and was rather glad at what I saw. While the map was rough, it marked each separate mountain within a 50 km range, and had a detailed layout of the roads and all caves that the road was part of. The east gate led to a route heading into the mountains while the south gate led toward flatter lands where farm villages were located. I noticed several smaller roads leading to some villages within the mountains. More than half were mining or hunting villages, and most of them had two or three roads coming toward the town and heading deeper in meaning they could be targeted. ¡°These villages within the mountains ca¡ª¡± ¡°Already spoke with the captain about sending men to evacuate them except for a few villages near the town which are needed for supplying food, wood and metal to this town,¡± Misaki said cutting me off. Looking at the map, I saw the several dots that showed each village. ¡°If you''re wondering, the villages will work as outposts for the army, when they get here next week more than half the forces will go to these towns as a buffer against the goblins,¡± Misaki said. I nodded, but frowned more. ¡°I''m more worried about how the army men treat the villagers. Unlike modern day where everything is monitored this was the medieval era and it could be considered a lawless era in far off places,¡± I said. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± she asked. ¡°Have the women and children evacuate to these villages behind the town. This town is the only safe route out of the mountains and is also probably the objectives of this tribe,¡± I said. ¡°Alright, that is probably the best option,¡± she said nodding. ¡°I''ll get to warning and moving them then.¡± I rolled up the map and handed it back to her. ¡°Don''t forget to search the area along all the roads of the village for places we can booby trap so that the goblins can''t advance along those roads. I don''t want them flanking us along some unknown path,¡± I said. She simply nodded and stored the map before leaving. I turned to the structure and went to lend a hand to finish the building. ***
Due to extensive work in Carpentry and Blacksmithing you have gained a level in both skills.
Due to intensive physical labor yesterday you have gained +1 Strength and +1 Endurance.
Waking up the following day, we all got to work early in the morning to cover the floors, walls, and ceiling with mud. This would give it the feeling of being a mining shaft. After an hour, the corridors were done. To keep the mud and ground separate the corridor had been placed on a slightly raised platform, and wooden boards were put below to hold the dirt. This had been done from the start, and the same was done for the walls so that we could keep the mud from crossing over and falling. I wrote down four fireball runes and controlled them to hover over the floor for an hour at one meter in height to dry it sufficiently, then we began the walls. The ceiling was built more loosely and we used wooden beams above the wooden supports where a fire lamp would be hanging. Then, leaving that to dry naturally, we finished the walls before noon and had them dry, but I sped up the ceiling drying so we could remove the supports. When nothing fell apart, I felt elated. Soon enough the blacksmiths arrived. There were four wooden support beams on the walls and ceiling. The smiths had made eight metal torches and four hanging lamps which were hammered into place. ¡°Alright, it''s done... now let''s see how to get the layout in the book...¡± I said and the book opened.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°This is yer first time doing this boy?¡± the dwarf smith asked. ¡°Yep, first dungeon so I''m still learning,¡± I said. ¡°Then use the help system. Say ''Help: Advanced skill Description for...'' then the skill name,¡± the dwarf said. ¡°Help: Advanced skill description for Dungeon Archive,¡± I said. *Ding
Dungeon Archive Level 1
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon Maker and make copies. The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen on the structure and say ''Archive Corridor/Room/Trap.'' Can currently make layouts for 3 dungeons. You can store only 5 different corridor layouts. You can store only 2 room types. You can store only 5 different traps.
Seeing the activation procedure I took my pen out of my pocket and walked to the structure. Not really understanding what I needed to do I just touched the tip on the closest wall. ¡°Archive layout,¡± I said. At once, the book began to flip wildly as a bright light sprang out. I felt my hand move on its own as runes flew from the tip of my pen into the wood and moved along the structure as it wormed its way through the corridor. Soon, some runes ran down along the walls as well as a few climbing on the torches. To my shock, a few runes went to the end of the torches and they caught fire. Still, at that time I suddenly felt dizzy and quickly took out a mana potion with my free hand and downed it. I didn¡¯t get worse, but I didn¡¯t get better. This thing was sucking up mana like a drain. When all the runes were on the wooden parts and several were along the floor, they all suddenly shone and the entire corridor section turned into light particles and was sucked into my book. As soon as the last bit vanished, the glowing light that was my book returned to being a book and it filled to the first page. On the first layout box was ¡®Straight Corridor x1,¡¯ and it looked like a button. I downed a second potion and wait for my head to clear. ¡°Boy, what in blazes was that?¡± the dwarf asked. ¡°I stored it in the book, I can make more but will need to see a bit more about this,¡± I said. ¡°That was some light show for sure,¡± Johnson said coming up to us. I nodded and after my head cleared I took my pen and poked the button.
Would you like to place a Straight Corridor or make a new one?
¡°Make one,¡± I replied
To make a new Straight Corridor you need 28 support beams, 12 branch nets, 200 kgs of dirt, 8 metal torches, 4 hanging lamps.
Looking at the message I found it was interesting how the material requirements were properly laid out. ¡°Alright, let''s move on to the next, in two weeks I need all the rooms and corridors, and I need a crap ton of resources,¡± I said. ¡°We aren''t going to make more of those?¡± Johnson asked. ¡°I can make it by magic by simply having the resources. Only the first one is needed to be made but the rest no,¡± I said. ¡°Alright then, since it''s like tis, let''s get em working. Let''s split up in groups to work faster,¡± the dwarf said. *** ¡°Miss, as much as we want to follow you, we can''t just abandon our homes,¡± a large man said. I had been going from one village to the next since Ace-san had asked, but I never knew people could be so stubborn. ¡°So you wish to risk your family at the hands of both the Dire Wolf Tribe coming as well as the royal army who might get ''restless'' after traveling so long? I replied. ¡°Hero missy, I know you mean well but our wives aren''t going anywhere, our kids will definitely be moving to Jagged Mountain town but we will fight to protect our homes,¡± the man said, and the other men nodded. I sighed. ¡°Stubborn people are so hard to deal with,¡± I thought. ¡°Fine, since you wish for this, I won''t stop you, but I won''t leave without the younger generation. Anyone below 16 HAS to come,¡± I said. ¡°That is fine,¡± the village leader said. For the next half hour the younger generation was brought before me and with some village guards we moved them to the town. As we returned near dinner when the sun was nearly setting, we passed the gate and saw two finished L sections, one to the left the other to the right, a T corridor section, and over to a side was a large room made fully of wood. The men were finishing the room by adding plain wooden double doors and moving some crude tables and chairs inside. Before I could locate Cross-san I notice a blinding light from the T section. Runes were shining along the corners and the torches inside came to life before it was covered in light and absorbed into a small figure. Standing there was Cross-san. I walk over with a slight bit of surprise showing on my face. I saw him pull out a mana regen potion. ¡°Did that take so much mana?¡± I asked. He turned around, noticed me and nodded. ¡°I need to use mana potions to counter the drain with a higher regeneration or else I would blackout,¡± he replied. ¡°Won''t that kill you?¡± I asked. ¡°As long as I have potions I will be fine, also I will only need to do this once for each section since I have limited space at the moment. Later on I might change them or just improve them,¡± he replied. ¡°Did you do as I asked?¡± ¡°I was able to get the children under the age of 16 out of three villages, the rest are as stubborn as the ore they mine and the trees they cut.¡± I sighed. ¡°Why do they have to be so hard headed?¡± I complained. ¡°No need to fret, the alchemist was rather smart and has already produced five barrels of gunpowder like I asked. He can set up traps on the roads to blow them up while causing a landslide to split their forces. Let¡¯s leave that for later, I need to get these sections and tomorrow finish the X section so that I can start playing out the dungeon and gather the necessary material,¡± he said and turned. ¡°If you want to go and rest up and wash up you know where the house is. I will be over soon and get some sleep,¡± he said. ¡°I will be going first, if you can¡¯t find me, don¡¯t you dare enter the bathroom,¡± I said with killing intent in my voice. All the men in the surrounding area that heard me should have felt a chill run down their spines and the young blood looked me over and gulped, but as I looked their way I quickly grabbed my sword, drew, swung and sheathed. The wind blade released by it was much more compact thanks to my training and passed right above four young boy¡¯s heads leaving them pale. ¡°Am. I. Understood?¡± I asked. ¡°VERY!¡± they said straightening up like soldiers. I put my guard down and walked home. *** ¡°Bahahahah! That''s quite da fierce missy you brought with ya boy!¡± the dwarf smith said after she had fully entered the house. ¡°Oh that is for certain, the man that can tame such a lady would most likely be able to kill a dragon alone,¡± the guard captain said. The younger gentlemen forced a laugh, but the older generation were laughing. ¡°Come on, you guys can go home. I just need to put these in the archive and I will be done with it.¡± I said. ¡°Aye, I''ll be going then. Today¡¯s work will sure to boost a few stats. I doubt I can compare to you heroes, but after his prime can still work up a good sweat and get more stats,¡± Johnson said. ¡°You said it! Come on boys, let''s go!¡± the dwarf said and everyone started to leave. I headed to the other things I needed to archive and began the next one. After half an hour I had finally gathered them all and returned to the building that I shared with Misaki. As I opened the front door, I was welcomed by a surprising view. Standing in the room while half naked and putting on her shrine maiden clothes was Misaki. I froze for a long while as I looked at her still wet hair and long slender legs. ¡°Wow¡­ so cute¡­¡± I said without thinking. The normally calm Misaki turned bright red before her hand moved to the katana. I instantly felt killing intent and instantly grabbed my sword and activated the runes on it which was ¡®Sword Iron Harden Enchant.¡¯ Although ¡®Harden Enchant¡¯ could increase defense just as well as ¡®Iron Enchant¡¯ adding them all together and specifying the ¡®Sword¡¯ boosted the strength by three times than if I just put ¡®Iron Harden Enchant,¡¯ though it lost three times its strength if it was not on a sword. Peng! I was shot out the door into a tree. ¡°You bastard! KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING!¡± Misaki shouted. ¡°THEN DON¡¯T CHANGE IN THE LIVING ROOM!¡± I shouted back. I pointed at my feet and two runes appear and give off a green light on them. ¡®Air Accelerate¡¯ for speed and the hardening was still active which increased the strength a bit. She soon launched out just with her top on and swung her katana in rage but I moved like the wind and dodged her. I grabbed her left arm and threw her inside the house. I shut the door only to have the katana appear on the door right next to my nose. ¡°This crazy girl! Does she think she lives alone? Maybe she planned that just to kill me,¡± I thought. ¡°If you dare enter this house I will castrate you!¡± she shouted and I heard a bang. I blinked several times and sighed dejected. As I looked down, I saw the book hanging and I got an idea. I ran to Johnson¡¯s home and workshop and knocked. He appeared quickly. ¡°Did you need something?¡± he asked when he saw it was me. I explained the situation. ¡°So you want a bed and a bucket so you can make a small room out of your dungeon¡­¡± He looked at me for a moment before bending over laughing. ¡°Boy you really have it hard with the girl. Go find a place and put down the dungeon whatever and I will bring over some spare beds and bedding for you,¡± he said wiping a tear that appeared. I walked back toward the house which was on the west side and was a bit empty over there. I walked to the side and saw out a window that Misaki was watching, but I didn¡¯t care. I opened my book and pressed the only room I had and pressed right next to the entrance.
Dungeon layout has been complete from entrance to end where all possible corridors end. What would you like to name this dungeon layout?
I smiled wryly, ¡°Hobo Dungeon Maker¡¯s Room.¡±
The dungeon has been named ¡®Hobo Dungeon Maker¡¯s Room¡¯ to place the formation to enter this dungeon you must say, ¡®Magic Hole Formation: Page 1 Dungeon open.¡¯ Good luck dungeon maker.
For some reason that last part was a bit annoying, but I shrugged it off and put my hand on the ground. ¡°Magic Hole Formation: Page 1 dungeon open,¡± I said. At once, in front of me a blue flame burned out from my hand and spread into a one and a half meter diameter circle. The fire spread and condensed on the edge where it formed a single line before it moved closer forming a second one. Then runes began to form. Most I didn¡¯t know, but I noticed that there was a compass like shapes on the side as some runes went to four sides outside of the circle. I drank a potion in case, and soon the flames brightened and soon died leaving a glowing magic circle burned into the ground. Slowly it lit up purple and the mana in the air began to gather into the circle. As it grew stronger the purple circle turned a gentle blue, and the excess mana gathered into a ball floating above the formation.
You have learned eight new runes. These runes are ¡®North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest.¡¯ By putting these runes on a magic formation, it will stabilize the formation by using the energy from the magnetic field of the planet.
¡°Well this looks fun,¡± I said and walked into the circle and appeared in a dirt corridor with a similar circle behind me. In front of me was a familiar door and when I opened it, I found the room we built with the same crappy furniture. I sighed as I looked at it and waited for Johnson to bring me my bed for the night. After a while he actually came with a wooden bed frame and a bed for me with the help of some men he set it up in the corner. I lay down and fell asleep in the bed for the night in this lumpy old bed instead of the comfier one I might have had in the house if not for that weird Japanese girl. Chapter 6 Kick ¡°Ouch!¡± I said as I felt a kick on my sore back.
Due to learning about your class skills you have gained 2 Intelligence.
For constantly using mana to near exhaustion you have gained 5 Wisdom.
For doing intensive manual labor yesterday you have gained 3 Strength and 2 Endurance.
For leading the construction of several wooden structures, you have gained 2 levels in Carpentry.
For placing your first Magic Circle Formation to open a dungeon you have gained 1 level in Magic Circle Formation and can now make dungeons with two openings or two dungeons with one opening.
When I turn to look at who kicked me, I saw Misaki behind me. ¡°Get up,¡± she said coldly. I blinked a bit. ¡°Mind waiting outside the room so I can change,¡± I said pointing at the armor next to the bed. Yes, this was completely an indirect reference toward her actions the previous night, and she knew it since she blushed, frowned and left the room. I got up and put the cotton clothes on before the leather armor and finally the boots before walking out after picking up my artifacts. Opening the door, I didn''t find her, so I walked out of the one room dungeon where I found her waiting. As soon as she saw me, she breathed deeply and held her katana straight and did a perfect 90-degree angle bow. ¡°I''m sorry about what I did last night, I didn''t think you would return so soon and had dropped my guard for the first time since coming here and had undressed in the living room instead of the bath,¡± she said. ¡°No need, I more or less guessed since you were picking up your clothes,¡± I replied. She straightened herself but averted her eyes. ¡°You should go bath since you couldn''t last night,¡± she said. She turned and left, but not even three steps later she tripped on a rock and stumbled for several steps before she fixed herself. She stopped and stared my way, then left. Once she was out of view I sighed. ¡°Is she clumsy or is she developing clumsy habits. I did notice her airheadedness though from a few comments the maids at the castle, but to think it was this far. Is she sure she dropped her guard only once?¡± I asked myself. Seeing as there wasn''t much else I could do, I walked to the blacksmith workshop. We needed to start building traps like walls that dropped down, spring traps, spike traps, ceiling drop traps. The latter would use some kind of piston if I could figure out how to incorporate it. Reaching the place, I was surprised to find a floor full of spike traps. There were thick spikes coming out diagonally, square platforms with thin spikes that could nail you to the ground. Even one raised sideways so that it was fixed on the wall. On another side was a wall that looked similar to the ones from the corridors, but there were small cracks on the surface, and looking behind I found arrow traps which were long tubes with a circular metal case with arrows around it and a spring at the back pushing them forward so that when the arrow fired the next would load automatically. ¡°Damn, that dwarf is crafty, even I would fear this kind of setup that looks rather advanced for the time period,¡± I said out loud. ¡°It ain''t advanced, I just gone and seen one a these traps before. As for the spikes. Hehehe, let¡¯s just say I have dabbled in those as well.¡± He grinned evilly. I raised my brow to that and thought a bit. He was the first dwarf I saw, I heard there was a nation so maybe there were mountain villages underground which would make sense if he aided in making traps to protect the cities. ¡°So, did you get to any of the others?¡± I asked. ¡°The room dropping and wall moving are hard ta make. Though I know how it''s done, but it would take ta long for me ta make somethen like that at the moment,¡± he said. I could understand, to make a mechanical moving wall you needed lots of gears and mechanisms and I couldn¡¯t be sure how to activate it quickly when there were enough goblins in an area. ¡°How are the spikes activated?¡± I asked. ¡°Pressure plates, how else?¡± he said. I nodded and looked around putting my pen against one spike trap. ¡°Archive trap,¡± I said. At once the runes started to fly out but, it rapidly spread to all the spike traps that were almost attached. I drank a potion and the runes kept spreading and after 10 minutes of the runes flowing, every last spike trap turned into light and was absorbed.
You have archived a new Trap. You can now place Spike Trap of any present types. You have 20 different spike trap variants.
¡°What do you know, I don¡¯t need to archive them all separately, they all fall under spike trap. Convenient,¡± I said. ¡°Boy, yer lucky fer sure with that book,¡± the smith said. ¡°Maybe, still don¡¯t know the limits to this class yet though,¡± I told him.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°True, now get the other one and let¡¯s get to maken that last corridor so we can get to finishen up,¡± he said. I nodded and walked to the arrow trap to archive it too.
You have archived a new Trap. You can now place Arrow Trap on any corridor wall of dirt. Other wall types or inside rooms are prohibited until an adequate variation is built and archived.
I nodded understanding a bit more about the principles of the trap archive. The book stored trap types, and since that trap could come in many different forms or materials then it didn¡¯t consider random variations a different trap unless it was very different. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s still early and I didn¡¯t get properly cleaned last night, so I will at least take the morning to rest and wait for the others,¡± I said and bid the smith farewell. I headed to the house I was allowed to return to, but just as I was about to enter I stopped and knocked. When I got no reply, I opened the door and walked inside and headed to the bath and again knocked only to find the house was empty. I walked into the bathroom and find a large stone tub already filled half with cold water. I though a moment and pulled out my book and pen. ¡®Fire Shards Revolve,¡¯ and ¡®Water Ball.¡¯ The first spell made five small fireballs revolving in a set diameter and the second one made a water ball in the center. After about a minute, the fire went away and the water was already letting off steam. When the force holding it up in the air vanished, it splashed down into the cold tub. I put my hand on the sides that were still cold and mixed the water until it got warmer. I made one more ball and found it satisfactory, so I checked the living room again before closing the door and stripping to take a bath. After several long minutes of washing myself then another dozen minutes relaxing and almost falling asleep, I reluctantly got up and looked around. I found a moist towel made of linen or yarn, probably from sheep or something, and a dry one next to it. I took the dry one and dried myself and got dressed while taking both of the bath towels out to put them on some chairs to dry so they would not get moldy. Walking outside, I could already see a group of men raising the third section of the wall which meant that one the first leg of the X shape was almost done and just needed the ceiling ones. I looked to the side and saw a group of carpenters piling up support beams separately from the pile already set near the structure. Next to it were people gathering and dumping lots of dirt and another with some piles of braided branches. These were the supplies I needed for making the other corridors and rooms. There was one pile with planks as well but that was still rather small compared to the others. I got off my ass and headed to help the construction that had long since been underway. *** Over the next few days, carts upon carts of wood and ore traveled into Jagged Mountain Town as well as carts exiting and going to many paths and stopping for extended periods of time. Several times explosions were heard from these areas and when people checked, a massive wall of stone blocked the passage into the mountains. Caves used to pass into the mountains toward small villages also faced explosions and collapsed. Slowly the paths through the mountain were sealed, and it didn¡¯t go unnoticed by the goblins as the scouts also rapidly died off with their mounts. It was rare for one to return alive anymore because the forests had traps for the mounts such as meat placed near a bear trap that snapped off the leg of the mount. Those were paired with a nearby rope trap set to a bent tree that would activate simply by stepping in the middle. This left the goblins almost blind and when the scouts that didn¡¯t completely enter the region through the main road caves that were still left, they found more than 90% of the paths blocked by stone walls that couldn¡¯t be scaled from their side as someone had come and cleared any significant boulders that could serve as a step over it. This left the goblins with four paths left to take and with a scout they found all the paths were dangerously booby trapped and the villages were fortified with a part of an army each. The leader of the goblins was left in a bind, he was already an elder of nearly 30 years old, which is very old for a goblin whose lifespans are shorter than humans. ¡°We need to attack the main post, Jagged Mountain town. We take big road and strike!¡± he shouted. They were still a day away from the last cave before the town and they would be slowed down by needing to let a small number of goblins at a time through the cave. At this time, Ace stood at the entrance from their side. ¡°Magic Hole Formation: Page 1 dungeon open,¡± he said.
You are about to open the magic hole within a cave. Because this cave possesses two openings, do you want to make an entrance and exit at the furthest end from the opening?
He raised his brow, since he didn¡¯t know about this. ¡°Yes,¡± he said and soon his mana flew and formed a magic circle formation and mana began to gather as the formation turned light blue, and a small ball of mana began gathering over the circle. He stepped through and traversed his dungeon without tripping the traps that were set only for monsters and demons. Over the last days he had consumed such a huge amount of resources that it made him worry about the future, but he was able to set up a three floor dungeon with arrow traps, spring traps, spike traps, and spear traps which were similar to the arrow traps and shot spears from the ground or walls. The floors was a complete death trap and if he didn¡¯t have the map in his book even he would get lost. To attract the goblins even after they were killed in large numbers, he made a few safe rooms and asked for some things like ale barrels just to tempt the stupid beasts. With three floors, it cleared out quite a bit of trees around the villages but luckily it was far less than it was thought due to the book reducing losses by 20% after Ace found out that just absorbing the complete tree directly after chopping saved a huge amount of material but took more mana to produce each section so he spent almost three days meditating after setting up the entire diagram of the dungeon¡¯s three floors and gathered the material for it so that he would have the mana to make everything. When he looked, the well-hidden runes all over made him wonder what a real dungeon looked like and how different his dungeon was. Coming out the other side he found some knights at the door, swords drawn. ¡°The dungeon is up. It converted the entire cave into a dungeon so entering means you can get lost in the maze. Block it. The goblins should be within a day''s run of us. Send the message to the three remaining roads and have them ready to detonate the bombs,¡± I ordered the knights, they headed off after saluting. The next day, the entire tribe of goblins appeared in front of the cave entrance. The sensitive goblin chief noticed something was off as he entered the cave and saw the back completely black without a hint of light. To the targets of the dungeon makers dungeon, when in a cave or any enclosed structure they don¡¯t see the magic hole formation and all they see is endless darkness until they enter the other dimension of the dungeon. The chief could feel the dungeon because much like a regular dungeon it was gathering mana slowly to power itself. He pointed to three nearby goblins. ¡°Check cave,¡± he said. They nodded and ran inside. As soon as they stepped through the magic hole, they were transported into the dungeon and sound was cut off. They looked around and saw nothing and started to walk forward when suddenly¡ª *Click* ¡°Grawh!¡± ¡°ARGH!¡± A mount and goblin pair were instantly killed as three long metal spikes shot out impaling the wolf and goblin from below driving all the way through the wolf into the goblin and one from behind and the front. The three were shocked and the mounts jumped back, but the second pair stepped into another trap. This one caused a small platform under both to activate and suddenly fire them right into the ceiling that had suddenly pushed out several dozen long spikes. Both goblin and wolf were impaled and slowly slid down. The final pair looked in terror and ran back shouting ¡°Trap!¡± but Ace had expected as much and made a specific spring trap that only activated when the first step came from the pressure plate on the inside of the dungeon. The pair were instantly flung back, and before they could react or even register what happened, they fell on the ground the goblin being partially crushed by the wolf and what followed was a ceiling spear trap stabbing down on both and killing them. As they all died, the four bodies burst into blue light that was absorbed into the walls and the traps were all returned to their previous states. The only proof that something had passed through was the armor and weapons left behind by the goblins. After a while the goblin chief was getting suspicious. He pointed to one of the goblins. ¡°Follow,¡± he said and walked personally followed by the goblin and dire wolf pair. Inside, he pointed at the corridor. ¡°Go,¡± he said. The goblin looked fearful, but with the chief pulling out a glowing red axe he spurred his mount. As they dashed inside they were met with a spike shooting out from the front killing the mount and bucking off the goblin who landed on a spring trap that shot him into the same ceiling spike trap as the second wolf from the first group. Seeing this, the chief frowned and walked back out. ¡°TRAPS! Scouts, search for path!¡± the chief shouted. This was the start of a nightmare that would result in the near extinction of this tribe of goblins. Chapter 7 Within Jagged Mountain Town, a robed figure came flying in. As he flew around the city, he found his target and soon landed in front of him. ¡°Sir Cross, I have watched the goblins movements on the other side of the mountain. They have not entered your dungeon and instead have sent out scouts to find alternate paths,¡± the man said. This was an adept level wind mage who was someone that could fly using wind magic and worked as a strong long ranged unit. ¡°Good, it seems the chief is just as smart as the report sent by the scout party. Alert the mages on the three remaining pathways that the goblins will soon be arriving at any of the three at any time. Cause the landslide only when they are almost on top of the trap,¡± Ace said. The mage nodded and walked off and soon three wind mages flew off in different directions. Misaki was beside Ace and looked with an emotionless face toward the flying mages then back to the man next to hero. ¡°How close to expectations is everything?¡± She asked. ¡°Hmm, around 90%, if what the report says is true. Aside from around 100 archer units within the goblin ranks, they consist almost entirely of cavalry units. They have wolves, so forest areas and flatlands are their field of battle, but an enclosed cave with traps will have them wry. I made the first five traps really showy to make them split up and decrease morale after decreasing their forces,¡± he said. ¡°What are the chances they choose to retreat and bring more forces?¡± she asked. ¡°That is not a problem Miss Shinigumi-san. All demons are born with something known as the Demon Lord¡¯s Seal. It is a curse he placed long ago on every tribe after beating their strongest warrior. It forces the tribe¡¯s loyalty to the death. They can''t disobey his orders unless he calls them back through a telepathic link the seal gives him access to,¡± A royal mage explained making a flame appear on the ground and burning an image of the seal. Ace looked at it carefully and was surprised. ¡°The runes here are correct?¡± he asked. ¡°No, every demon is born with a different one because demons have what is called a true name, the seal is the outer rim runes which are also wrong but I wrote random ones as example and the inner ones are the runes making up the true name of the demon the seal is on,¡± the mage explained. ¡°This is good information, at the very least we don''t have to worry that they will retreat and make a base in the mountains or something unless given orders to,¡± he said. He nodded and smiled as he looked at the circle before passing his foot over it ruining it. In the other three towns, the three mages arrived and warn the people before flying to the location of the ambush. On one side, mages were on the trees with archers, and on the other were some large boulders along the other side that hid the bombs. But a single one was exposed in a barrel between the rocks that an archer and mage had in their sights. Getting the warning, the archers pulled their arrows while the mages begin to prepare their magic for one large assault after the ambush. The objective was to ambush, seal the passage and damage their numbers then get out of there before they reorganized and attacked. On the goblins side, they had retreated a fair distance from the cave out of the chief¡¯s caution against surprise attacks from the deadly cave. His forces were around eight hundred around him, while two hundred were searching. As they waited, he heard a shout as a goblin came shouting on his mount. ¡°Path found!¡± he shouted. A moment later two more came saying the same thing. The chief was cautious and wouldn''t move all his forces after seeing the trap. Looking at the low-ranking goblins he shouted. ¡°150 goblin each path! Attack! Rest stay here!¡± he shouted. The goblins roared and soon split into three groups of 150 and split into the three pathways following the scouts. After an hour, the goblin¡¯s shouting could be heard once they found the pathway cut between two mountains in all three paths. The readied mage looked over. ¡°Get ready!¡± he shouted, and the archers lifted their bows. He lifted his staff and the small fireball in front of him grew from the size of a nail to the size of a human''s head. As they waited, the goblins came from the bend in the path and they rushed. Being smart, and as long range fighters, both the mage and archer calculated the distance just right so that when they fired their flaming arrow and fireball, it was too late for the goblins to stop and even those that noticed¡ªthe dire wolves who were fierce beasts that didn''t fear death¡ªdidn''t stop and rushed forward. So when the resulting chain of explosions rang out, more than half the forces were already within the danger zone of the landslide that came washing down on the goblins. Trees, rock, dirt, all this fell over the goblins, and only about 50 got away but it was split between those that passed successfully and those that didn''t. Obviously, each path had different success as one path had 70 goblins that passed but the rest died while another blocked all the goblin but only killed 20 since they fired too early. After that, came the ambush by the archer and magic. The ones with too few survivors were destroyed. The one totally blocked was hit hard. Before the humans ran away they took another 30 goblins down. The group that passed more the 70 goblins in it hit dead center taking 40 goblins before they ran. The paths with goblins that passed were soon run over by knights that finished them off. The surviving goblins ran back injured and told the chief what happened. The chief was exploding in rage, to think those paths were left on purpose. He spread scouts to search wider but after hours of searching they came back with the same answer. ¡°Blocked Path found.¡± Finally, the chief realizes the people they were fighting were even more disgustingly ruthless than demons and used trickery like high demons. At that time, a faint pain came from his chest. This was the demon seal over his heart. The demon lord''s orders were to move and attack this city, but they had retreated a distance to search for a way through. This momentary retreat attributed to activating the seal¡¯s command after a time to make them move forward. The chief solemnly looked at the cave. ¡°Forward, slaves at front!¡± he shouted. The slaves were goblins of weaker tribes that were brought for such cases to snuff out traps that may appear. They slowly entered, and one by one the goblin slaves walked on already knowing they would die, but even so a few grabbed a large branch and dragged it inside and kept probing the ground but still five died to the five traps, but after them nothing. The goblin troop slowly moved forward with the slaves at the front, and the few remaining archers aiming at them should they run. For several turns, no traps appeared and soon they came to a section where a door was found, and the slaves opened it after the chief neared but kept a distance. Slowly opening it they found two large barrels in an empty room.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The slaves slowly walked in moving around the room stepping on everything, but no traps were found and when they reached the barrels, a sweet and sour smell attacked their noses and they started to drool. ¡°Beer!!!¡± a slave shouted. At once, a ripple spread through the nearest goblins. Goblins and all their higher ranks had an instinctive love for all ales. Even the chief swallowed his own drool, but he shouted to quiet. ¡°Slave! Drink!¡± he pointed to one slave. He wouldn¡¯t want to drink poisoned drinks, and he would wait for a day to drink it. A small bowl was passed, and the barrel was opened filling the bowl halfway. The slave was trembling as he took the drink to his mouth. After finishing, his face showed a blissful look and he looked distantly at the barrel but held back. ¡°Close barrel, no drinking, will be dead if drink,¡± the chief shouted. ¡°You go back, poison tester, stay back.¡± The slave that drank the ale ran to the back of the tribe with him the barrel aided by another slave. The other barrel was taken as well after testing. ¡°Move!¡± the chief said and spurred the slaves on. Outside in the town, Ace stood while watching his book which showed his dungeon. To the next page was an interesting thing written.
Invading Party Dire Wolf Goblin Tribe 600+ Death Count 4 Dire Wolf Tribe Goblin Rider Scout: Mana earned: 35 x Death Count 4 Dire Wolf Tribe Dire Wolf: Mana earned: 50x Death Count Pending deaths 5 Dire Wolf Tribe Goblin Slave: Mana earned: 10x Death Count
This page appeared after the first death. This showed how much the dungeon gathered. It seemed even his own dungeons accumulated mana to run themselves, but he wondered what it would be like later on. He knew that the mana gathered rearmed the traps. Ace just though he would figure it out later. At the moment, the map showed all the movement in the dungeon and most of the leading figures were watching the movement of the goblins. ¡°They are rather cautious for a small tribe, it goes to show that the goblin chief is definitely a goblin elder,¡± a mage said. ¡°Is there a difference between an elder and normal one?¡± Ace asked. ¡°Demons are similar to monster in that they grow by ranks, goblins can become hobgoblins by accumulating mana in their bodies and growing stronger. Goblin elder is a rank up gained when a goblin lives almost to 20 years before ranking up. Elders live for around 60 years while hobgoblins live around 80, but elders are wiser but without the major boost hobgoblins get, the mage said. ¡°Why are goblins called demons and not monsters?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Demons are monsters who gained human form. Some religions even consider beast men demons, but because they don''t have the demon seal, they are ignored but there are beast men tribes that were born from monsters which is why that contradiction exists,¡± a knight explained. ¡°Alright, the goblins have passed the third room. Now for some fun,¡± Ace suddenly said. Looking at the map of the dungeon they saw the twenty some slaves approaching the traps. ¡°Let''s see how they like this, set all traps to ignore goblin slaves,¡± Ace said while chuckling. Another man laughed at this. It was a pale man with black hair and leather armor with a hood. This was a man in charge of assassins. He was definitely not on par with the beings in the shadow, but he could easily get through the dungeon even if they targeted him. ¡°You are quite an evil man for a hero,¡± the man said cackling. ¡°Why must I be honourable to those who will soon be dead? If I let them, they would kill me.¡± Ace replied. The man''s grin widened hearing that. Men of similar views will always get along, and Ace''s view of the big picture greatly appealed to the man. Unlike him though, the knights frowned due to their belief in the honor of battling face to face. They did not particularly like the act of using traps as it made them feel like cowards. ¡°How many do you think your dungeon can kill?¡± the mage asked. ¡°Considering how packed the goblins are, each trap could kill two or three, at least 200 should exit as long as they get lucky and get the correct path from the start, but I made a maze with many twists and turns. As long as the tribe remains as a long line they may find their way back, but if I do something like deactivate the traps and wait for the goblins to spread out and activate them all to do a rapid killing spree then I doubt many will survive,¡± Ace said. The assassin laughed because Ace''s hand didn''t stop moving as they talked. On the map, all the blue dots showing traps dulled as they deactivated and the tribe moved slowly inward. Most rooms had some coin or barrels of ales, but no traps activated. This slowly made the chief worried, but the goblins behind him weren''t as cautious and were simple minded so they dropped their guards. They soon encountered separate paths, the bends were confusing and with the cave splitting in four ways, the goblin elder didn''t know where he should go. He pointed to the slaves and told them to split up and search. As such they split and walked slowly as some archers went behind. When they were able to turn at a bend the archer approached and they turned. The corridor was a bit straight and they walked slowly and when the archer was out of view a trap activated. From both behind and from the front arrows flew and stabbed them all and killed them, including the archers, before they made noise. Five slaves and archers died. Others met spring and spike traps killing them before they made sound. After a while, the chief called but received no answer, so he told others to go check and they came with the thing he dreaded. They were dead. He wanted to claw at the seal in his chest at that moment. He focused, the stale air had no breeze even at the entrance. He turned to the left and began to walk. As he took his twentieth step, he heard a large number of shouts. Looking back, he saw goblins and wolves being thrown and being impaled. From the wall a spike came out killing the nearby goblins. ¡°Traps!¡± he shouted. At this time, chaos ensued as the dungeon¡¯s traps activated. Some ran through the other paths running but then started dying. The previously tense army of goblins was completely destroyed as trap after trap activated and in an instant more than 200 goblin died from all the activating traps. Unlike what you expected, the chief didn''t run and moved over near an active trap after testing the ground. Standing near it meant no other traps appeared. Still, he cursed the gods and the demon lord for sending his people to their deaths. Outside, the red dots showed the goblins had scattered through the dungeon dying one after another. ¡°They are really mad when chaos happens,¡± Misaki commented. ¡°Goblins are simple minded, if they face something beyond them then they will run. The smart ones though remained still or near active traps. They will probably wait to walk through all the active traps,¡± the assassin said. ¡°Doesn''t matter, three floors of traps isn''t something they can surpass with just their remaining numbers anymore,¡± Ace said. The knight, mage, and assassin looked at the book and nodded. ¡°Complete domination without shedding our own blood. I really don''t know how this will be seen but it will surely attract attention toward you,¡± the assassin said. Ace sighed and nodded. Killing 1000 mounted goblins with superior tactics goes to show his intelligence and killing over 600 of them on the first floor of a three-floor trap dungeon really made you wonder the resource needed to build such a dungeon. Still though, the exit was guarded and until the final goblin died no one moved. That didn''t happen though as all the traps on the first floor were activated leaving 123 goblins alive, so with Misaki and Ace leading, they took the knights to the first floor and slowly killed the remnants until only the chief was left and Misaki took his head so she could level. When none were left, the villagers were allowed to come and butcher all the wolves for their pelts to get money to repay them for the materials and work. When they were all removed the bodies were left inside. Everyone left and Ace bent down over the exit portal. ¡°Magic Hole Formation Close,¡± he said. At this time the magic hole released a ripple. The ripple went all the way through the dungeon to the other side and hit the ball of mana there. It slowly descended into the magic formation before it vanished inside. The magic formation cracked and broke into mana particles and vanished into the air. The mana ball, though, appeared on the other exit and the two balls began to revolve around the center. The next moment the book opened and a screen everyone could see was seen.
Dungeon Results until closure
Invaders
Dire Wolf Goblin Tribe 647 Goblins: 100 Goblin Archers x 35 mana 547 Goblin Riders x 60 mana 1 Goblin Elder x 120 mana 647 Dire wolves x 50 mana 1 Dire Wolf Alpha x 100 mana 48 Goblin Slaves x 10 mana
Death Count
647 Goblins: 100 Goblin Archers = 3,500 547 Goblin Riders = 32,820 1 Goblin Elder = 120 647 Dire wolves = 32,350 1 Dire Wolf Alpha = 100 48 Goblin Slaves = 480
Total MP gathered from Goblins = 69,370
Equipment dropped
378 rusty swords 69 wooden clubs 100 old wood bows 647 old leather rags 1 old demon leather armor 48 rags
Dungeon success 100% Reward to dungeon maker = ? of mana is converted into Exp = 13,874 exp earned
At once Ace gained 12 full levels, but before everyone could leave a new screen appeared.
Damage to Dungeon 0% Requires first floor traps to re-arm. 10% of remaining mana used for rearming = 8439
47057 mana remaining. Splitting in half and crystallizing.
As it said that, the two little balls no bigger than a pinky finger¡¯s top digit began to glow as a small rough skin formed over it and slowly it became two crystals. Another window soon followed.
Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystals formed
Like that, we just stared at them as they dropped into my hand and the windows vanished followed by the magic formation shattering. Everyone remained in silence for a long while before I looked at the mage. ¡°What are Exp Crystals?¡± Chapter 8 ¡°An... Exp crystal is a type of mana crystal that... can give you exp to level up your base level, skill level or even other things depending on your class...¡± the head mage said from behind me. ¡°Kid what class does the crystals work for?¡± the knight captain asked expectantly. ¡°Dungeon maker so my own class. Guess I will keep these on me until I figure out exactly what to do with this,¡± I said as I pocketed both crystals. All the men looked a bit depressed hearing me say that, but if it wasn''t for my class, I would probably need to hand them over with the kind of strength these guys have that I still couldn¡¯t fight against. If I could, I wouldn¡¯t hand it over even if the queen told me to. ¡°So, I guess this is mission accomplished,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, you have done a great service to our nation by stopping the swarm. The mages have already charged the teleportation stone, we will remain here longer to make sure everything returns to how it was as well as push forward towards the areas attacked by them,¡± the knight captain said. ¡°Then let''s go,¡± Misaki said not caring much. The last two weeks were a bit rough on her as she had done a rather large number of clumsy things and even walked into the bath without knocking which was the biggest blow to her especially when I didn''t pursue the matter. Truthfully, it was funny seeing her clumsiness. It reminded me of that classic anime joke with airheads. Also, her blushing embarrassed face was really cute. The villagers took care not to address her about the clumsiness and just looked out for her, but she seemed to take it to heart. Truthfully, I imagined her in a maid outfit once, the thought was very stimulating, but I kept it to myself out of fear for my own safety. Since we had fulfilled our purpose, we headed to the town for a final goodbye before going to the stone and stepping on the middle. It activated instantly and we were both teleported. *** Far in the east stood a black castle over a massive badlands filled with magma pools. From these pools, occasionally small scrawny imp infants would crawl out before they began to attack their brethren for food. Normally five survived and left to hunt soon after. The air smelled of sulfur and was covered in black clouds. Demons ran amok eating imps and lesser demons. Within the castle, sitting atop the throne, was a single man. His look was almost purely human except for the two black horns protruding from his forehead. He wore a simple black silk shirt and black dragon hide pants. His skin was ghostly white while his hair was abysmal black. His eyes were like two black holes sucking in all light. The aura released by this man screamed only one word. Death. This man with the aura of death was none other than the Demon Lord. His name lost in history, only he could tell you. Within the desolate chambers, a small pool of shadow formed and took a humanoid form with head arms and legs but no distinguished features except for the pure white eyes. This was a demon from the shade race. ¡°Your highness,¡± it said bending over. ¡°Speak,¡± the man said bored. ¡°I have come to report on the new generation of heroes,¡± the shade replied. ¡°Speak only of the ones with the class hero or those who show great promise. ¡°Yes, Your Highness. From the elven nation, the hero is a female minstrel. Her world was one of peace and, she trained her magic with music and upon using it in combat she fought alone, and her music formed vibrating blades which is a unique magic to her world. There are four others that show promise, but far too little to be of interest to you your highness. ¡°The dwarven hero is a giant of five meters, but in the world he comes from, he is like a dwarf compared to other races. His skin is harder than tempered steel and he wields a hammer that can cause earthquakes. He was summoned alone due to his size and power. As a giant his limits are 150 all around, and in two weeks it rose far more. ¡°The beast men summoned forth a werewolf from Hell''s pits. A descendant of Cerberus but due to the summoning ritual, his power was restricted to the max value of 80 all around, but in two weeks his power rose to over 150 all around and he decimated our 50 minotaurs that were sent... alone. As you may have guessed but his power made him be summoned alone. ¡°Finally, the humans... to be honest, the human hero is pathetic even in human standards. He has no strategic thinking and during the battle against ogres he was easily blindsided and only got out alive due to the human knights killing the ogres and getting him out. ¡°That said, the humans have two powerful men, one is a swordsman that decimated half an imp swarm alone and killed the rest with strategic superiority while the other is a dungeon maker and used strategy in the Jagged Mountains to force 1000 goblins into a maze of death and lost not one life,¡± the shade said. The demon lord''s eyes seemed to glow as a small smile appeared upon his lips. ¡°Seems this generation has brought some interesting toys. The dungeon maker in particular will allow them to advance into my domain for the first time in centuries since I destroyed all information within my grasp of runic language. Let us see how much he can learn before he arrives,¡± The man spoke to himself out loud as his hands waved and runes appeared before him as, black book rose from his side. Flipping through the pages, he pressed a page and an icon that formed a magic formation in front of him forming a complex man of wood and glowing green through the cracks in his eyes. ¡°Master?¡± he said bowing. ¡°Travel to the human nation of Heavenlight, watch the dungeon maker and keep track of his progress, you don''t need to get near, just news that spreads is enough,¡± the demon lord said. ¡°As you wish,¡± the man said and he turned and left the room. ¡°Monitor all heroes as before. Not all of them have adapted to this warring state and when they do their mental processes will change. Now go,¡± the demon lord said and the shade vanished as it came. *** Within the castle throne room, both king and queen sat on their respective thrones with Marian, her twin and the crowned princess Charlotte on the right. Before Ace and Misaki reported their adventures, they were told the results of the other heroes that had finished earlier. Ace made a small smile when he heard the longsword guy was so powerful. A good rival was better than none. That said, he was unable to contain his laughter when he heard that Richard, the pretty boy hero, had been blindsided by a lower rank ogre and had sustained three broken ribs, and his left arm, which received the impact from the iron club in full, had broken in seven places. He was under heavy medical care and had received an elixir from the treasury to aid in repairing the bones. The second princess was watching over him which was why she wasn''t present. After that, the other parties were reported to still be fighting. Once the two had been informed they shared their own tale. The slow preparations, usage of materials, how deadly the dungeon was and finally how 60% of the resources were paid back in dire wolf pelts and they would most likely search for the remaining funds promised soon. ¡°That is quite a sum you used Mr. Ace,¡± the queen said with a slight frown. ¡°It is only this first time. Maybe. I already have a three-floor dungeon and many traps. Until I further level up, I will require fewer resources for small things such as my magic experiments and research,¡± Ace said. ¡°That is good, we will see to repaying the town smiths and carpenters for their aid as contribution to the war effort,¡± the queen said. ¡°Is it wise? It is a large sum,¡± the king commented. ¡°Bleeding our nation isn''t the way to make us strong. For now, you focus on growing. Shinigumi-san, since Mr. Ace will be training his magic, I can assign you to a guard unit for monster hunting missions. From what we gathered, Mr. Ace doesn''t get a hint of experience unless it is gathered from killing in his dungeon, and since there aren''t demons attacking we can''t deploy him as most monster attacks are handled by the army,¡± the queen said.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°If your highness would do such for me, then I will accept but I will still be regarded as part of Cross-san''s party. I will only regard this as a training trip,¡± she replied. ¡°Then it is settled. You two may leave to rest,¡± the queen said. ¡°One moment please!¡± Ace said as he saw the royal family getting up. ¡°Yes Mr, Ace, is there something else,¡± the queen asked. ¡°Actually, it''s about my dungeon, it may seem stupid, but I thought that since I have a dungeon maybe I should be able to summon minions or monsters to fight so that I can kill more monsters within. I was wondering if you had magic for this, or maybe something like artificial monsters or something,¡± Ace asked. ¡°We don...¡± she stopped midway as the crowned princess poked her. ¡°Mother, there is ''that'' in the treasury. Maybe he can use it,¡± Charlotte whispered. ¡°He has yet to earn such a thing,¡± she muttered back. ¡°Killing the 1000 members of the Dire Wolf Goblin Tribe means he killed 2000 beings in total without spilling the blood of our armies, and even worked to repay more than half the work and resources taken. I believe he deserves a reward,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°The reward would have been 100 gold coins which would have been reduced due to having to repay the workers. If you want me to give this to him, I will not pay him for his work,¡± the queen replied. ¡°This is on the account that he can use it right?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Yes,¡± the queen said after a pause and a smile appeared on her face. ¡°Um, is something wrong?¡± Ace suddenly asked. ¡°No, I was... negotiating with my daughter on something. It is like this, Ace Cross, I will lead you to an ancient tool in our treasury if you can activate it and agree to not receive the reward of gold coins then you can keep it. If not, we will simply give you your monetary reward. Do you agree?¡± she asked. ¡°This is only my part of the money and not Shinigumi-san''s right?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, this is your reward we are talking of,¡± the queen replied. ¡°Then I agree,¡± Ace said. ¡°And I don''t. You are actually allowing him into our treasury! What if he steals our treasures besides ''that?¡¯¡± the king blurted out, but he received a hit on the head with the fan from the queen. It actually made a strong thud showing it was made of metal as the king was clearly holding his head in pain. ¡°This is not up for you to decide, you already favored Hero Richard by giving one of the four elixirs we have despite him spectacularly failing his mission. Since I am taking Ace to the treasury, and if he can gain control of it then I plan to benefit the other heroes that do a satisfactory job this once,¡± she said and opened her fan and waved it. ¡°Come, Shinigumi-san may follow, and if you locate a treasure of your liking a similar offer to Ace''s can be given.¡± Misaki nodded and they followed the queen, Marian, and Charlotte while Marian''s twin remained with his father. We walked through the castle and soon arrived at a large door that had a large lock that could fit a human¡¯s closed fist inside. There were nearly a dozen teeth exposed inside and next to the door was an old man. ¡°Open all the seals up,¡± the queen said. ¡°Her Highness wishes to see ''that''?¡± the elder asked and the queen nodded. With the nod, the old man pulled out a large key and stuck it into the keyhole. With a turn it automatically pulled inward, a different turn as if unlocking a safe lock the key soon pulled into the third section. This went on until the final one where the key entered the lock completely and the door opened. ¡°Come!¡± the queen said quickly and walked in followed by everyone else. The door soon closed behind them and soon they found themselves in a room filled with mounds of gold bars and coin. ¡°Come,¡± the queen said not even batting an eye at this and walked on. There was a door in the back, and they walked through. There were ten other rooms filled with treasures, potions, medical herbs, magic weapons, magical artefacts, and more. At the last door it was open, and as they crossed inside there was a drastic rise in mana. Each room had been filled with more and more mana, and the final one made it feel hard to breathe. This place would be a magician''s dream training ground. As they walked inside, there was only a single thing standing in the room. Old, with a wooden body exposed and old dented metals covering a few places while the rest was on the ground after breaking off, was a large wooden puppet. He was two and a half meters tall with large arms and human hands. The face looked like some strange head with no eyes. ¡°This was once called a Dungeon Guardian. In ancient times, dungeons were regarded as a sentient race and these puppets guarded their entrances. Today, dungeons have the demon lord''s seal on them so we can do nothing, not even speak with them.. We have tried to activate it, but our knowledge of dungeon beasts such as this is small, and we will not put this inside a dungeon to test it,¡± the queen said. Ace walked forward and looked up at the puppet then down at the fallen pieces. His book slowly rose and opened before shining like the sun. When it settled down a window floated above the puppet.
Low Class Dungeon Guardian Level 75 (12) Damage sustained 95% of body corrosion. 50% of armor corroded and fallen off. Guardian unbound and without a power source. To bind this as a minion, place the Runic Pen over his chest in a small empty circular area found near where the human heart is located. A small crevice is found there. Insert the pen and slowly turn until it is pulled in on its own. Once all 5 seals are unblocked, replace power source and binding and repairs will commence.
Ace looked at the instructions above and looking at the book that was at an empty page, he removed the pen from his pocket and located the crevice. Putting the pen inside and slowly turned. It was like the key the elder used, but with his pen. As the final one connected, the chest trembled and the pen popped out so Ace removed it. Following it, a magical formation appeared on the chest as the black circular area moved out. What appeared before his eyes was a small gem. ¡°This is an exp crystal...¡± Ace muttered and put his hands on it and pulled it out. He could see it had no mana inside. ¡°Too bad, who knew it ran on exp crystals. Such an expensive fellow,¡± the queen said. That was until Ace pulled one of the ones he obtained. ¡°Now I get why my dungeon produced this,¡± Ace said with a grin. ¡°Where?¡± the queen asked stunned. Obviously, Ace and Misaki didn''t know the true value of this small low-class crystal. Low class exp crystals only came from killing dungeon bosses from a dungeon with 5 to 20 floors or breaking a piece of a natural dungeon¡¯s core. Normally, each of the crystals held at most 20,000 exp and had a 0.1% chance of appearing. Yet, because of his successful hunt and the closure of his dungeon, Ace gained two, it was obvious he wouldn''t think this was highly valued because of the words ''Low Class.'' He wouldn''t look down on it, if he had known that these crystals not only allowed base levels to rise but skills as well, and it was an extremely important tool for him in particular as some skills only leveled up through the crystals. ¡°When I kill enough monsters. I think these things condense from the magic hole used to open the way to the dungeon,¡± Ace said as he slid the new crystal into the small socket. As soon as it was inside it started to glow and the area on the chest closed sealing it. The table above changed instantly.
Place the Runic Pen over the empty circle and prepare for the binding ritual to begin.
Probably guessing something like the archiving was about to happen, Ace drank one of his last potions and put the pen over the chest. As the pen made contact, a shock wave was released and the body of the puppet shook as the book waved its pages until it ended on an empty page. Slowly, ink marks appeared and four new words. ¡°Minion page!¡± Ace exclaimed but another shock wave ran through the room. Then the armor pieces that were on the ground began to slowly lift up under the glow of the book and Ace removed his hand from the chest as a large piece chest armor slammed on and the runes appeared. He put his pen back on the empty space as the armor reattached. All the while, the runes were pulsing as mana ran through the creature. Slowly, faded or destroyed ones appeared again and when all of them appeared, a seal appeared on the space where the pen was placed. It glowed with strength. The next moment, lines along the body, head, eyes, and cheeks lit up. A line between the glowing cheeks formed a mouth that slowly opened and closed. It looked more or less like a skull. ¡°What master needs of me... I shall abide,¡± a deep powerful voice called.
Binding was successful. New minion has sustained heavy damage and will return to the minion page where it will feed off the mana within the Book of the Dungeon Maker.
The skill Dungeon Archive has been upgraded to archive minions. The activation words are ¡®Archive Minion.¡¯ You may only store 3 types of minion.
By obtaining your first Minion you have gained a new skill.
Minion Summon Level 1
A dungeon maker is a person who uses dungeons to combat monsters. As such, these people also possess their own minions. When minions aren''t within the dungeon performing a job for their master, they await within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. The dungeon maker can summon forth his minion to battle or do his bidding. Can summon 1 Minion Monster
Once all the messages vanished the puppet began to glow and became a bright light ball that shrank and entered the book. Where it entered, an icon appeared showing his image and beside it his health which was critically low. It was clear this puppet was nearing the point of unsalvageable. ¡°Wow, this was almost unsalvageable,¡± Ace said playfully. The royal family, girls, and queen had their jaws hanging a bit. Then the queen opened her fan and began to fan covering her face. ¡°Truly all the most mysterious items we possess are easily used by you,¡± The queen said in a playful tone. ¡°It simply makes it easier for your highness to reward me after each conquest. Still it might take some time for it to recover from the damage. As for the agreement, as you said, if I can activate the puppet, I can keep him but don¡¯t receive money. Since I got him then I don¡¯t need money,¡± Ace said. ¡°For me, I was interested in a set of armor in one of the rooms we passed. It looked like true samurai gear, and I would like to possess such honorable armor,¡± Misaki said. ¡°If you wish for that then I can still give you money since the armor isn¡¯t of use to our knights, and we really have no use for such armor,¡± the queen said. Misaki smiled and started running toward the room. Everyone started walking back and found her admiring the armor and slowly putting it on after removing the poor excuse of samurai armor. As the final part was put on her body¡ªall of them being too large¡ªthey began to glow a bit and floated over her body eventually shrinking to her body size. ¡°Neat,¡± Misaki said. ¡°All magic armor and swords have magic that resize to the wielder''s size though the weight doesn¡¯t change. Still, it is one of the appeals,¡± the queen said. ¡°Well we have what we wanted, I will be heading to the library to experiment with runes and study more,¡± Ace said. ¡°I shall go rest, and can go to the knights tomorrow,¡± Misaki said. ¡°If that is what you want then we may leave,¡± the queen said and soon after they exited the treasury with a monster minion stored and a set of samurai armor for a modern day shrine maiden turned samurai girl. Chapter 9
Exp Crystals
These crystals are unique items that can only be obtained in one way or another through dungeons. Either by killing a dungeon boss with a 0.1% chance of it dropping, or break a small part of a dungeon core if you can locate it. Another method is unique to dungeon makers and it is their only method for leveling up several unique class skills that don¡¯t get exp through usage such as Dungeon Archive. Exp Crystals can be used to increase the base level, as a power source for tools, materials, during the creation of magic items that can possibly grow stronger like a hero¡¯s artifact, and most importantly leveling up skills. There are even rarer types of Exp Crystals specific to a single class. *** (exclusive access) Dungeon Maker Magic Holes will only ever produce dungeon maker exp crystals and only after 20,000 mana is gathered or else the mana will be stored within the Book of the Dungeon Maker to instantly merge with the next magic hole you open to complete the crystal or to be used for other tasks such as repairing minions or fixing your dungeons. A unique feature of dungeon makers is that these can aid in upgrading and leveling up minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all known items contained within the book.
¡°So, this is why the royals were so shocked, this low-grade item is much more valuable than I had expected,¡± I muttered to myself in the corner of the magic training room. The window I had just read came from the help system when I asked what exp crystals were. The moment I saw the drop rate, I understood why the men were so hungry for the crystals. ¡°In other words, this thing functions for me as skill points for several skills,¡± I muttered. ¡°I wonder why?¡± I looked at the book and a theory crossed my mind. ¡°Maybe the book needs to be upgraded so that it can handle the skill, that makes sense,¡± I muttered and looked at the pen and sword. I had yet to figure out how the artefacts truly worked and all the other heroes were in the same position. ¡°Still, I need to upgrade the archive skill but¡­ ¡®A unique feature of Dungeon Makers is that these can aid in upgrading and leveling up minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all known items contained within the book.¡¯ I can upgrade my minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all items within the book. It''s a broken yet balanced system since I need to kill enough monsters to gather the mana to make these puppies,¡± I cursed. ¡°Ah whatever, most important part now is leveling up archive. Now how do I use this thing?¡± While examining it I tried to put my mana inside and pull some out.
You are about to use a Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystal. For what do you wish to use the Exp for?
Level up Base Level Level up Skill Level Upgrade Minion Upgrade Layout Upgrade Rooms Upgrade Traps
¡°Level Up Skill Levels,¡± I said.
Which Skill do you want to level up? (Warning all exp will go to this single skill and you can only level up dungeon maker exclusive skills).
Dungeon Archive Level 1 Magic Hole Formation Level 2 Crafter Level 5 Short Sword Mastery Level 4 Short Sword Arts Level 3 Runic Writing/ Language Level 5 Minion Summon Level 1
¡°Now that I think about it, how do skills and base level raise?¡± I muttered and call up the help.
Base Level Growth Chart Level 1-5 exp requirement increases by 100 = 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 Level 6-10 exp requirement increases by 200 = 700, 900, 1100, 1300, 1500 Level 11-15 exp requirement increases by 300 = 1800, 2100, 2400, 2700, 3000
Skill Level Growth Chart Level 1-5 exp requirement increases by 500 = 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000
I looked at the charts and frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t get the info from the levels beyond the ones I have. But if I add 600 for skills after level 6 then Archive will reach Level 8 in one go. This system really is broken.¡± I thought. ¡°Level up Dungeon Archive,¡± I said. At once, the crystal began to glow and rose up. It slowly moved to the now floating book and embedded itself on the cover before being slowly swallowed inside. The book began glowing and when it ended, I saw the book had gotten some golden trims and details on the spine and looked more detailed than the plain white book.
Dungeon Archive has been leveled up to level 8.
Dungeon Archive: Level 8
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon Maker and make copies. The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen in the structure and say ''Archive Corridor/Room/Trap.'' Can currently make layouts for 11 dungeons. You can store only 10 different corridor layouts. You can store only 10 room types. You can store only 2 boss rooms. You can store only 12 different traps. You can store 8 types of minion. Repairs to dungeon reduced cost by 5%. Repairs/Recovery rate of Minions is 5% faster. Mana Cost to cast Archive decreased by 10%. Dungeon attracts monsters and demons from two km away. Dungeon can gather naturally from the air up to 5000 mana to run the dungeon and to attract monsters. Dungeons can now support plant life if they are made of dirt or other organic materials. Runic Pen Option: You can now access ¡®Magic Circle Pen Mode¡¯ and can return to ¡®Runic Pen Mode¡¯ by speaking either name.
My jaw dropped as I read all the options and effects. ¡°Isn¡¯t this skill a bit broken?¡± I said. My eyes were soon drawn to the bottom option. Instantly I pulled out the pen and noticed it looked the same but¡­ ¡°Magic circle pen mode.¡± The pen shone a moment and I saw some movement on the metal tip. When I looked close, I saw runes on it. Taking a small sheet of paper, I began to write on it but as soon as I moved the pen from its original point a magic circle appeared but I felt a huge drain in mana. When I looked, I had already lost over 50 mana points. I started to sweat and then got a new piece of paper and ripped it into the size of a talisman in anime. I drew a circle from the center to the edge and sweated a lot as I saw the circle needed 100 mana to set up. ¡°The upgraded skill is good, but the upkeep is overkill. Fuck! I finally got the magic circle, but it still sucks due to the cost!¡± I cursed. Still, when I looked, the circle was still there which made me sigh. I could make 13 in a row and after I gathered enough I could start experimenting. As I looked at one circle on the paper, I noticed a rune I didn¡¯t write.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I looked at it but it didn¡¯t seem familiar so I did the most irrational thing you shouldn¡¯t do with something new and dangerous. I pulled up the fireball runes and put that one at the end to the see the effect. The result, the runes floated in the air for exactly 10 seconds before the runes converged making the fireball.
You have discovered the ¡®Delay Activation¡¯ rune.
I had a blank expression on my face from the shock and joy that it made my brain stop working for a moment. I quickly pulled out the human¡¯s runic dictionary and looked for it and found it among the unidentified ones. ¡°No wonder I never found it, it wasn¡¯t even part of those they had found any meaning for,¡± I said and began laughing. I looked at the circles on the paper, and then at the book on magic formations and began to read how the circles were made up. The method was simpler than it looked. First, you had to draw the rune for the element in the center of the circle. Then, around the outer edge you wrote the other runes. This was for simple circles that could allow you to cast spells with delayed effect, but the best benefit is for seals that require large scale circle formations. If anyone watched Naruto it is easy to understand the concept. Several dozen talismans would be placed strategically, and then the effect would be activated from a central one that spread out the seal connecting the effects slowing making the effect larger until it became a large-scale formation. ¡°At the moment, I can only make ammunition from talismans so I can fight in battle more efficiently since magic for me is more costly. Still...¡± I thought and looked at the books. I opened the rune dictionary and pulled out the runic pen. I set it to write runes then looked through all the words that had some form of translation arranging them into different categories of actives or effects. Put more simply, draw them alone or with an element. *** ¡°Urg!¡± I moaned weakly on the ground. ¡°Ace, you must be more careful with using your magic. Overcasting can drain your life-force to feed a spell,¡± Havorine said while casting a spell over me to help heal my health and mana regenerate. ¡°How the hell was I supposed to know a rune you guys translated with ''Appear'' actually meant ''Spawn!''¡± I cursed at him. ¡°Yes, we indeed poorly translated that one,¡± Havorine said with a forced chuckle. A screech was heard from behind. What had actually happened was this. I was testing the runes while using fire as the base element for the spell. Since just fire and a second rune wouldn''t cause much problem since I already knew the ''Explode'' rune. I wasn''t worried, but when I put this ''Appear'' rune I hadn''t understood what it meant. As you guessed, putting the two runes together ended up giving me ''Fire spawn'' which was a monster unique to volcanic places and dungeons specializing in fire monsters. It was a large ball of fire with two white eyes and a fixed grinning smile. Two other smaller fireballs below it took the form of claws. The best example is Hunter from Pokemon but on fire. As soon as the spell activated the fucker began to suck my mana dry. As he formed his body, he drained my mana even my health supplied its formation leaving me with only 230 hp when all was said and done. Thankfully Havorine was there to cast a spell called Water Prison which sealed a target in a large ball of water. To the fire spawn it was a death sentence, but it persisted. It had grown weaker and had also evaporated a lot of water. At that time some red robed wizards walked in. ¡°What is going on and why is a Fire Spawn in the training room?¡± the oldest man asked. ¡°Dorian, calm down, I have subdued it, it was due to a magic accident, but no one was hurt besides the caster. He had his health drained to a degree,¡± Havorine said. ¡°I see. This is the dungeon maker I presume. I had heard he was a rune studier due to his class. Still to summon a Fire Spawn is dangerous, making life or summoning it requires a high level of mana and control,¡± Dorian criticized me. ¡°Dorian calm down, the boy was experimenting and discovering the runes true effects. It was partially our fault due to poor translation,¡± Havorine said. ¡°Yes, I understand. Still what of the Fire spawn?¡± Dorian asked. ¡°Fire wizards use fire-based familiars and can harness their strength, right? If you can tame it, you are free to take it. It has already been weakened significantly. It shouldn''t be too hard, and since it just spawned it is newborn making a good familiar to raise,¡± Havorine said. Dorian''s eyes sparked, and even though I wanted payment for this I couldn''t speak with my pounding head. ¡°Since the boy summoned it I shall leave some compensation, 10 gold coins should be enough. Hand it to the boy when he recovers enough,¡± Dorian said and spoke no more as he walked to the ball of water and began casting a long chant. I stayed on the ground for a while until my mana recovered enough to stop the pounding. Then I looked at my rune list.
Elements Shapes Unique Directions
Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning, Sand, Iron, Mana, Wood, Ball, Spike, Shards, Pillar, Chain, Sword, Spear, Lance, Wall Enchant, Harden, Accelerate, Shrink, Explode, Trapping, Lengthen, Shorten, Widen Forward, Upwards, Curving Left, Curving Right, Backwards, North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest
Weak effects Action Trigger Beast
Slow Healing, Slow Poison, Weak Antidote, Weak Fear, Weak Paralysis Lunge, Spin, Revolve, Guard Delay Activation, Slow Charge Spawn
I had gained six new runes and had 55 after obtaining spawn. I had leveled up rune writing too. ¡°Ace, don''t practice more today, just rest now,¡± Havorine ordered. Even if he didn''t say it, I wouldn''t have done it. From then on I would take advantage of the ''Slow Charge'' rune, which I discovered actually pulled ambient mana and slowly changed the runes. It was a good way for me to set up several runes before they activated. It had become a very important rune for me. ¡°Don''t worry, I''ll just rest here for a bit and do something else,¡± I told him. ¡°Good, I shall take my leave for tonight. Here are the coins Dorian left you,¡± he said and tossed a small bag to me. I thanked him and deposited the money in the small pouch I had on my side. This world needed an inventory spell, seriously. ¡°Now what?¡± I muttered as I rested against the walls. I opened my book and flipped through the pages until I found the minion page. When I saw the health bar it was stagnated at 25%. Below it was a message.
Warning: Minion repair rate has caused the consumption of mana to be beyond what the Book of the Dungeon Maker can currently supply. Repairs still continuing but at a greatly reduced pace. Current minion condition has restored all skills. One of which will allow the minion to heal of his own accords. Suggested summon and self-healing be done.
I was a bit surprised to see that, to think the book had its own mana regeneration rate. ¡°Wait, maybe this puppet knows something, it seems to have some intelligence so maybe it can teach me something good,¡± I said out loud. I waited until my mana was full before summoning him. ¡°Minion summon, ¡®Low grade guardian puppet,¡¯¡± I said. A small ball of light came from the book and then expanded to the guardian''s size before taking his shape and it finally stopped glowing. The large puppet appeared upright, all the dents on his body were gone, but rust persisted. ¡°Master,¡± the guardian said and bent down on his knee like a knight. ¡°It is fine. Stand, I wish to ask you some questions,¡± I said. ¡°This servant lives to serve,¡± it replied in a deep tone. I sat and ordered him to sit as well. ¡°Okay then... tell me about your race, your strengths, and give a comparison,¡± I told him. ¡°This servant is a low grade guardian puppet, this servant¡¯s strength is currently at half its strength because Master¡¯s power has yet to restore all the runes within this servant''s body. This servant at full power can be considered a boss monster within a 50 floor dungeon, and a mini-boss within any dungeon of larger proportion up to the 75th floor. ¡°This servant has all skills restored, the skills are ''Natural Weapon Creation'', ''Planting Root'', ''Longsword Mastery'', ''Longsword Arts'', ''Runic Magic,''¡± he said. ¡°Besides the sword skills explain the other three,¡± I asked. ¡°This servant serves,¡± he said and three windows appeared.
Natural Weapon Creation: Level 1
A being made of magical wood can control nature. Using a unique magic this user of this skill can slowly raise trees he plants by spreading his roots and separating a branch to make a magical tree, he can shape it into his preferred shape and make a weapon. Current skill will cause weapon to take 3 days until it has fully grown.
Planting Root: Level 1
By spreading one''s roots into the ground, the user of this skill can absorb mana and other nutrients or energies to increase their normal rate of regeneration. This skill is restricted to beings of a plant-like nature. Current Regeneration Increase: 5%.
Runic Magic: Level 1
A magical being who is servant of a Dungeon Maker can use Runic magic using his master¡¯s knowledge of Runes to cast spells. Strength of skills depend on skill level. Rune magic consumption decreased by 1%.
The skills were rather impressive for a level 1 skill but still. ¡°Why are your skills level 1?¡± I asked. ¡°This servant¡¯s skills are reset when bound to a new master,¡± he replied. ¡°How intelligent are you?¡± I asked him. ¡°This servant has no intelligence, for this servant isn''t a living being and possesses no soul,¡± he replied. ¡°So, how are you speaking and how do you possess this knowledge?¡± I asked. ¡°This servant as a low grade puppet possesses basic levels of knowledge pertaining to this servant¡¯s self to aid Master,¡± he said. ¡°Do you know how to build others like yourself?¡± ¡°This servant cannot, this servant possesses only basic knowledge pertaining to my function, and how this servant works. This servant does not possess knowledge of constructing this servant¡¯s brothers,¡± he replied. I sighed since I wouldn''t find out how to make more minions. ¡°This servant does possess knowledge to make common grade servants,¡± he said. ¡°Common grade?¡± I said. ¡°Common grade servants are low ranking mob servants who serve within monster dungeons. Strength of lower-class minion and possess no personality unlike this servant¡¯s low grade one formed to better aid Master,¡± he said. ¡°How do I make them?¡± I asked excited. The runes on his body pulsed once and the book floated up and flipped through to an empty page. New works appeared, ''Artificial minion schematics.'' Below it was a single plan called ''Common Puppet.'' I pressed it and a screen appeared.
Common Puppet
A low-class dungeon monster with simple actions. Common puppets can be made with common materials. Materials: Wooden Puppet: 2.5 meter tall log of any wood type Low grade soul stone Rock Puppet: 100 kgs of common rock Low grade soul stone Dirt Puppet: 200 kgs of dirt Low grade soul stone
¡°There are three types of puppets in 1 schematic? And what are soul stones?¡± I said. ¡°Common puppet comes in three types. This servant has no other knowledge of different types. If Master wishes for more, it is best to search for dungeon masters within their dungeons for this knowledge,¡± the guardian said. ¡°Dungeon masters? What are those? I''ve heard of dungeon lord only,¡± I said. ¡°Dungeon lord is a corrupt dungeon maker who has conquered and enslaved countless dungeon masters. Dungeon masters, to Master¡¯s common knowledge, is referred to as the dungeon consciousness,¡± he said. My eyes widened at that. It was quite surprising information. I had thought they were the same, but it seemed it was not. ¡°How are dungeons enslaved?¡± I asked very curious. He lifted his right hand and poked the seal that appeared over the place the exp crystal was placed. ¡°By conquering the dungeon and binding them with Master¡¯s seal as you have done to this servant,¡± he said. ¡°Wait, doesn''t that create a demon seal?¡± I asked shocked. ¡°This term is incorrect and used by common mortals to signify the seal of the dungeon lord Master refers to as demon lord,¡± he replied. I was too shocked to reply and started laughing to myself. Who knew I would acquire such amazing information that pertained toward the demon lord himself. In this case though, wouldn''t that make my class the same as the demon lord¡¯s? ¡°From now on, never mention that a dungeon lord was once a dungeon maker or that the demon lord is a dungeon lord.¡± I said very seriously. The room was quite empty, and the fire wizards had left while I rested before I had summoned the guardian so the spread-out mage''s hadn''t heard anything. ¡°As you wish master,¡± the guardian said. ¡°Now, what are soul stones?¡± I asked. ¡°Soul stones are gems found within the creature''s Master knows as demons. It exists within their heart, it is a similar existence to what master used to make this servant function once more,¡± he replied. I turned solemn as soon as I heard that. Over 1000 of these were lost, since the dungeon had absorbed the bodies into mana. ¡°Damn, to think I had lost so many from killing the goblins,¡± I cursed. ¡°The bodies of dead prey are not converted into mana. Instead, only the being¡¯s mana was absorbed from when it was alive. Master¡¯s book should still be storing them as well,¡± the guardian said. Instantly the book opened to a new page and titled it ''Corpse storage.'' All the dead goblins appeared as did the butchered wolves. At the bottom was a button to ''Loot Corpses.'' ¡°Why didn''t the book show this earlier?¡± I asked. ¡°The Book of the Dungeon Maker is linked to Master''s own knowledge. As such, as long as Master doesn''t know of such things they will not appear,¡± the guardian said. I sighed deeply hearing that and solemnly looked at the page and pressed the loot button.
Loot Results Goblin ear: 427 Goblin eye: 685 Low Grade Goblin soul stone: 42 Dire wolf flank: 356 Dire wolf fang: 589 Alpha dire wolf fang: 3
Next to the corpse page a loot page appeared. ¡°42 only?¡± I said shocked. ¡°Masters abilities still lack and will not have 100% chance of extraction,¡± the guardian said. I sighed as he said that but was getting tired. ¡°I am getting tired, tell me how do you use ''Plant Roots'' to heal in the most efficient conditions?¡± I asked. ¡°If this servant was within a virgin forest, this servant could heal three times more efficiently and train said skill,¡± he said. ¡°Too bad, if we were still in the Jagged Mountains, we could have healed you quicker. Come, let''s find you a corner to slowly heal during the night,¡± I said and got up. He also rose and we left. I eventually settled for the far-left corner of the training field where he would be hit by the morning sun. I didn''t know if he needed to photosynthesize but if he did then better for me as he would recover faster. I also had him plant his weapon. The sooner the better I thought. He stomped his feet, cracking the ground and got on all fours. From his hand and feet the metal moved aside, and roots spread out. To his right soon a small sprout shot out. All his runes slowly glowed green and a faint pulse that could only be seen during the night spread out. I returned to my room and collapsed in it after calling back my artifacts. Chapter 10 *Bang* I was awoken by a sudden bang coming from outside. As I ran to the window which overlooked the training field, I saw a dust cloud on the left side of the field. Watching it, I saw a figure with blonde hair landing on the ground. It was the pretty boy hero, Richard. ¡°Ahaha, this attack doll the guards put up is awesome!¡± he shouted laughing. Veins almost burst on my head hearing his words and I got dressed summoning my artefacts as I did. On my sword, I put, ''Lightning Sword'' runes on the blade and ran outside. As I got nearer I started to run and he spotted me. My speed was much quicker compared to before and I swung. ¡°Bastard!¡± he shouted and swung. I activated the runes and a blade of electricity appeared coating my short sword. As soon as our swords made contact, the electricity rushed through his sword to his hand. ¡°Guardian restrain him,¡± I commanded. At my order, a brown pulse passed through the guardian''s body and into the ground. The ground trembled as earth chains shot out of the ground and began to bind the idiot there and soon pulled him down. ¡°You stupid moron! What the hell do you think you are doing!¡± I cursed at him. ¡°I should be asking you!¡± Richard shouted back. ¡°You attacked my minion and you want me to explain,¡± I shouted back at him. ¡°Minion?¡± he said confused. ¡°Yes, you dolt! My class is dungeon maker, I can make minions to move around my dungeons. He is one I got yesterday, and is currently in a healing process you idiot!¡± I shouted at him. ¡°How was I supposed to know!¡± he shouted back. ¡°Seriously, maybe being blindsided by an ogre damaged your brain more. God, why are heroes such idiots like you?¡± I said looking up. ¡°Guardian, did you receive any damage?¡± ¡°This servant did not. The attack power of this individual is too insignificant to cause damage to this servant''s body. This servant¡¯s physical power is limited until Master repairs them, but this servant¡¯s endurance has been recovering as this servant healed,¡± he said. ¡°It spoke!¡± Richard said shocked. ¡°Let this idiot go and if he attacks again, you can retaliate but not with deadly force but enough to make him think twice,¡± I said. ¡°Understood Master,¡± the guardian said. The idiot was released, and he quickly jumped up and took some distance, staring at me with narrowed eyes. ¡°How much health did you recover?¡± I asked. ¡°When this servant began, it was 25% and it has recovered 5% every hour since. This servant is currently at 65% almost gathered enough to rise to 70%, Master,¡± he said. ¡°Good, keep healing and raising your weapon. Oh, did you level up the ¡®Planting Roots¡¯ skill yet?¡± I asked. ¡°It is at around 25% of skill exp gathered,¡± he replied. ¡°Good, once you are 100% healed, focus on raising the weapon,¡± I said. He stayed quiet and I looked at Richard sneering before turning to leave. The man in question saw my sneer and his face darkened. ¡°What?! Going to leave like that?!¡± he shouted. ¡°Wasting more time on you will waste my training time, leave him alone and you will get beat up less. Also, guardian, when someone asks, tell them you are my minion who is part of my dungeon,¡± I said. ¡°Understood Master,¡± he replied and I left without listening to the buzzing noise the blonde idiot was making. At the door of the castle, I spotted a familiar figure who I hadn''t had time to talk with. ¡°Interesting pet. Is he strong?¡± he asked. The man who asked had a longsword on his back. This was Nickelous who stood to the side of the doorway. ¡°He is still recovering but at least squashing that idiot hero like a bug is possible even now,¡± I said and he snorted. ¡°You should start focusing on yourself,¡± he said and passed me to start his own training. I looked his way and walked to the dining hall. I pulled up the notifications that had been waiting to pop up since I woke up, but due to my shock they didn''t activate. What I got was three Wisdom and a level in mana control. From there I headed off to train my sword skills. I knew I was lagging in that area and one day it would bite me in the ass. I looked for a knight that actually cared about teaching me about the sword and we started sparring until noon. After, I went and experimented and did the same the next two days. On the third day, two important things happened. First, the guardian¡¯s first weapon was complete and his skill was raised by 25% exp. He would need to keep raising more to get better. The second was that Misaki returned at level 10, but she was furious. ¡°Can you believe it!? The first day I reach the army camp some random shitty knight cursed at me for wearing samurai armor calling me a disgrace for using such things,¡± she came in shouting. ¡°Yeah, I can understand, it depends how this world¡¯s samurai are,¡± I said. ¡°True. The queen gave me the history of this armor which was armor from a previous hero. When I told them that, they said, ¡®the man died a miserable death like all scum samurai!¡¯¡± she said. ¡°If we consider now, the period just before the industrial revolution, then Asia and Japan would have still been warring. In such times, samurai could be considered evil nobles, tyrants and more. True, a samurai follows the code but not all and I read a bit about the east. The place is beyond the demon land and it¡¯s said that unique demons to the region rage through the area and samurai consist of 80% criminal bandits and other scum who abandoned the samurai code and these were turned into monsters by phantoms the demon lord have all over the place. They become demons and it is that reason no one admires them,¡± I said trying to calm her down. ¡°No way...¡± she said sadly and looked at the talisman in front of me. ¡°Your variety rose a lot,¡± she said. ¡°I mostly experimented in getting element the last few days,¡± I said. I experimented in merging elemental runes to achieve a different element. What a surprise for me when I put fire and earth runes up and they merged into a new rune. I also discovered the rune for ''Hell,'' but it didn¡¯t work alone. When added to fire, it summoned hell fires and if added to ice it created a block of permafrost ice. Other element combinations were, air and Lightning which turned into storm. Seemed the mix was a branch of magic. One I really liked was light and dark which made space. Space was in other words, dimensional magic which meant inventory. I still needed to find the right runes for it. Maybe it would be interesting to add space to a bag or pouch and see the effects. Back on track though. ¡°So, what are you going to do now?¡± I asked. ¡°What can I do? Save people like a hero should while keeping to my teachings and customs. If we kill the demon lord, I will personally go to the east then kill every evil samurai and form a proper empire there to keep rogues like those from appearing,¡± she said passionately.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. She really was strong willed and emotional when she wanted. ¡°Want to help me test out these talisman spells, I''ve been making a number of random ones with unknown runes to figure out their meaning, but I get 1 out of 30 mostly,¡± I said, and she actually showed a surprised look. ¡°How do I start them up?¡± she asked. ¡°They all have a trigger rune for slow charging. Put a tiny bit of mana in and it will activate the slow charge, so you have time to throw it,¡± I explained. She looked them over and grabbed a random one that had ice as the main element. Adding mana, the circle flashed purple, and she tossed it skillfully making it flutter a few meters away without folding. I was using parchment paper so it wouldn¡¯t fold so much like industrial white paper. ¡°The paper is heavy, if you had some harder but lighter paper it would be better,¡± she said. ¡°Still haven¡¯t found any,¡± I said. At this time the circle flashed blue before being burned into ash. ¡°A dud, too bad,¡± I said sighing. ¡°Just keep trying.¡± Misaki said and took another one. *** Within the throne room the king and queen were receiving a messenger from the adventurer¡¯s guild. The adventurer¡¯s guild was an association formed by one of the hero companions from an old generation of heroes hundreds of years earlier. Because of it, the impact of demons and monsters wasn¡¯t as huge in any nation due to the adventurers who sought danger for fame and money. They possessed one of the greatest academies in the known world and trained new students to high standards in their most prestigious school, Five Hero Academy. This was founded by five generations of heroes from different nations. One was elf, one dwarf, one beast man and two humans. Each had a different field and class type for the hero class, but they were only outmatched by the demon lord. ¡°You call for us for a simple request that your ¡®adventurers,¡¯ heh, can deal with,¡± the king said criticizing. ¡°But there aren¡¯t high level adventurers around that can deal with an armed village of wild goblin led by a red ogre with the blessing from the war god! It requires at least a level 40 or someone of equal power such as the heroes whose growth is much higher than a common man,¡± the messenger said. ¡°Heroes have war potential, we can¡¯t be wasting them for petty monsters that escaped from a small dungeon. Some four years ago that couldn¡¯t be subjected even to this day,¡± the king shouted. ¡°Actually¡­¡± the queen suddenly said and covered her lips. ¡°Is there something you wish to say?¡± the king asked curiously. ¡°The adventurer¡¯s guild hasn¡¯t had many promising adventurers appear in the last dozen years. That is why monsters have been running rampant. Even now, the state of our nation isn¡¯t nearly as secure as the other nations,¡± she said. ¡°Where are you going with this?¡± the king asked. ¡°Fufufu, the adventurer¡¯s guild was made by heroes and the original disciples are all powerful, but that was because they fought with the heroes who aided them in growing. Yes, this is perfect, we shall have all heroes register as adventurers and move around the nation solving its monster infestation problems and maybe help the nation grow with the technology from their world, such as ideas for agriculture and production. Yes, this is splendid,¡± the queen said cheerfully. ¡°But, what of the war?! What if the demon lord sends more tribes?¡± he asked. ¡°Oh, stop it. The attack was clearly so he can gauge all the new heroes that were summoned, I''m sure he doesn¡¯t even put our ¡®hero¡¯ in his sights. I am sure he is more interested in Ace Cross or Nickelous Zondervan. Also, this will allow the heroes to get more combat experience. Plus, invite more people to their parties and slowly strengthen our war potential. It will allow the heroes to properly adapt to our culture and if we allow them to go to the other nations it will even help them gain more power from the technology and magic from the elves and dwarfs,¡± the queen said. ¡°But, how will we contact them and how will they move around or come back?¡± the king asked. ¡°Obviously, the same way we sent them off the first time. We can simply send the shadows to tell them, and they can come with the teleporting stones all over the nation. No more discussing this, you tell the guild master of the capitals branch that all 15 heroes will be joining the guild, but keep it quiet until they reach at least C rank. Aside from the higher ups, don¡¯t let others know about them being heroes,¡± the queen said. ¡°Mother, do you think Richard will be able to keep quiet?¡± Charlotte asked. The queen looked at her daughter next to her and frowned. ¡°I see your point. He won¡¯t be able to keep his mouth shut at all. I may even have to put a few people to guard the other hero parties since I don¡¯t exactly trust him since he is ambitious and until now, Ace has been a direct confrontation towards him. Still it will be as it is. Do you have something against this?¡± she asked. ¡°Even if I did, I can¡¯t change anything. That said, as crowned princess can I follow one of the parties as an adventurer using an alias. I wish to see how our nation is behind the veil of royalty and titles,¡± she said. It took a moment for the king and queen to process this before the two reacted totally differently. On the queen''s face was a mischievous grin hidden behind her fan while the king had a scowl. ¡°I won¡¯t permit it! You are the crowned princess, you will take your mother¡¯s place when you grow up! No, I shall not permit it!¡± the king shouted. ¡°Fufufu, I see how it is. I permit it fully, maybe I can even have Marian go with you, her magic talent is very high and with ''him'' she will be using and learning very large number of runes strengthening her magic,¡± the queen said. ¡°Let Marian be a child for now, let her get older and then she can join if she still wants,¡± Charlotte said making the queen laugh. ¡°You are really allowing her to do this?¡± the king asked. ¡°She needs real life experience or else she will only have a narrow view of the world. But Charlotte, you will have to depend on yourself and party for funds, gear and all that and no using your title,¡± the queen said. ¡°I am ready for this and should Mother need me back, I can come back at my fastest pace,¡± she said. ¡°You should have access to all the teleportation stones which is something we all have as descendants of heroes. You can easily return. Messenger, please go about your business and this you just heard, not even your superiors are to hear of it or else it is your head that rolls,¡± the queen said narrowing her eyes. ¡°Of course, Your Highness,¡± he said trembling and soon left. *** I walked hurriedly through the castle. I had just heard news from Julian that my sister was joining a hero''s party! Why did she get to? Bang! ¡°Mother! I wish to join the hero¡¯s party!¡± I shouted. Inside the room, my mother¡ªthe queen¡ªsat already looking my way. ¡°Marybell, I expected you to come already,¡± she said. ¡°If you know then that makes it easier, I want to become an adventurer with the hero,¡± I said. ¡°Do you believe your skills and talent allow you such a thing?¡± she said. ¡°Does it matter? The hero will invite even worse people eventually, and I can level up by following him. My pure fire magic affinity is very strong compared to older sister¡¯s fencing, and Marian or Julian can¡¯t compare with their nature magic. I am the most qualified to be the hero¡¯s companion,¡± I said proudly. I heard Mother¡¯s sigh and when I looked she was fanning herself. Her violet eyes were piercing me, and I felt a shudder while under her gaze. ¡°This is why I told your father to never spoil you girls, you do have talent but your personality is too immature to be an adventurer, can you imagine yourself sleeping in the wild or sleeping in an old inn, going a day or two without sleep to do a mission or run away from a powerful monster. I know your sister can, mainly because the person she wishes to follow can provide a base of operations at his leisure, but the hero can¡¯t. Are you willing to go through all that?¡± she asked. ¡°Of course, if I want to fight for the throne why would I back down?¡± I said. ¡°Fine, you are permitted so leave, I shall inform your father and you speak with Richard. However, as I told your sister, while acting as an adventurer you will have to rely on yourself and your party for funding and equipment, and you are not allowed to use your title. Even more so as a princess than the heroes, you cannot reveal your true identity while you''re out there. The second I hear that you are abusing your status, I shall have you recalled to the palace, by force if necessary,¡± she said. ¡°Yay!¡± I shouted and left. I smiled as my thought changed, my plans were going well. First I would level up really fast with the hero, then I would challenge Charlotte to a fight for the crown. With a slip of a drug to daze her, I could win and get the crown. Then I would marry the hero. I would be a very powerful queen, that even the other heroes couldn¡¯t compare. The person with the hero class is the only one that has a unique growth rate of 3-8 instead of 1-5. Normal people only got 1-3, but those of us from the royal family are descendants of a female hero which is why we are a queendom. We also possess a 1-6 growth rate which is slightly above the other heroes. Though I hate how my sister has a 2-6 growth rate instead. If I married the hero, my children would be born with that unique growth would pass to my kids and we would be even stronger. Still, to let such a man be king. Hmm, maybe I needed to figure a way to brainwash him instead of seduce him. He would ruin my nation if I let him. ¡°Still the crown is mine!¡± I said and walked outside where he was training and put on an innocent facade attempting to lull him into accepting which he did instantly. *** The following day the heroes were gathered and told about the guild including its rules and regulations, and then they underwent the test for joining and grading them. The system was F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. Missions were graded the same way, and to rank up each person needed to complete 10 missions of their rank, or three of a rank higher. For the ranking process, strength and stats were registered, anyone above level 10 with at least three stats over 80 instantly got to E rank. F rank were normally hunting animals or herb collecting while E rank already included monster hunting. The nation had dungeons, and a lot of the time monsters escaped into the wild. Adventurers were tasked to keep that number low or eradicate them. ¡°From today on, you all will be free to move through the nation, but we will have people nearby ready to call you back at any time when demons may attack. Until then, you should work to grow stronger. We will not restrain you if you wish to head to the other nations and meet other cultures as teleportation stones are in every nation,¡± the queen announced. Everyone looked excited. On the side, Ace and Misaki stood and with them was a new girl. This was Charlotte, she had let her hair loose, then tied it into a ponytail revealing her full feminine charm. She wore a simple white silk color button up shirt with tight blue pants which had a steel gauntlet, arm guards, shoulder guard, no chest plate or pants but metal boots that rose past the knee up halfway. ¡°You sure you want to come with us Princess?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Call me Charlotte. While I adventure, I am not a princess. Also, yes. I want to do this, I want to see the nation my family protects with my own eyes. The good and bad,¡± she said. ¡°Be careful not to get depressed if it¡¯s too hard for you,¡± Ace said. ¡°If I can¡¯t handle this, do you expect me to be worthy of the throne? My mother told me this was a learning experience for my own growth. Still, I didn¡¯t expect for my sister to foolishly follow that brainless man,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. For now, we just need to worry about what our first task is,¡± Ace said. ¡°True, considering we have you, we can deal with large scale monster hunting quests easily but that bares bad results for us two who will not get exp from that,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°All we need to do is kill them inside my dungeon. You will get exp from the kill while I get it after I close the dungeon. I can only improve my skills until then,¡± Ace said. ¡°Let¡¯s go. The queen''s speech is done and everyone is leaving,¡± Misaki said walking towards the door. With the two following behind they headed out of the castle and entered the town toward the guild where missions were waiting for them to pick up and move out. Chapter 11 ¡°F and E rank missions are near the lower left side, wonder what is available,¡± one of the several heroes that had gone to pick out missions said. I slowly walked to that corner while eyeing a B rank mission that was put near the mission on pure white paper with golden borders.
Goblin Troubles
Goblins that have escaped from a dungeon four years ago have formed a village in forested area. Currently possesses five villages throughout the forest and are all led by one variant red ogre with the Blessing of the War God. Level average 40-60 required or stats equal to this level. Objectives: The death of leader and higher evolution goblins to weaken their forces. 500 gold for the leader, 100 gold for every higher evolution goblin. Bonus: Destroy all Goblin Villages and kill all goblins, 2000 gold for total extinction.
¡°I wonder why this mission is B rank?¡± I asked. A nearby veteran adventurer looked my way as the words left my mouth and looked at the request. ¡°Kid, you don''t know? Monsters with a God¡¯s Blessing are always more powerful than the common breed and they even evolve differently. That ogre may be level 40, but strength wise he should be at the max of the request, level 60. Not to mention he is strangely intelligent for a monster with this blessing,¡± the man said. ¡°If he is smart then it shouldn''t be surprising since a god of war should also be a god of strategies. Shame the rank is so high, I have a summonable pawn that could fight and kill it,¡± I said. ¡°Heh, rank up quick then, a newbie with strength always has a corresponding rank,¡± the veteran said and took a C rank mission and went to his party. I moved on and looked at the lower ranked missions. F ranked was as expected, basic tasks like gathering herbs and job offers to do mining, hunt regular animals and so forth. E ranked missions were where you could mess with monsters. ¡°Hmm, gray wolf pack terrorizing hunting village, if I am not wrong gray wolf is the first step from common wolves followed by black then the rare silver, but then there are demon evolutions,¡± I muttered. Another one was similar to the B rank mission, but much easier and E rank.
Vagabond Goblins
A group of goblins have set up base near the Devian River, though they have only taken to hunting animals and fishing, they still attack nearby villages and caravans and kidnap women for breeding. Objective: Destroy the village. Bonus: Keep structured village intact. Hunting camps can be converted from the former.
¡°Another goblin request. Hmm... the wolf request and goblin request are both near each other. I feel irony is appearing, seriously I have only fought goblins and wolves until now,¡± I muttered but took the two posters and went to the girls. ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked after showing it to them. ¡°For now, it''s fine. We can get used to working together and we need to raise our ranks quicker anyway,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°No third mission near here?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Not that I noticed. Not unless we want to travel further away after these are done,¡± I said. ¡°They are fine then. Is this Devian River far?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°About a week away, but that isn''t a problem because it should already be registered for you and the adventurer¡¯s guild also has a teleportation table,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°How do they have one?¡± I asked. ¡°Easy, the maker of this teleportation device was one of the founders of the adventurer¡¯s guild. Of course, the guild branches will have them as long as they are in a town large enough for a branch to exist in. And these are a specific for adventurers,¡± she said. ¡°I see, is there a fee?¡± I asked. ¡°Five silver coins per person per use. This is a typical price range for the gains that E rank should be earning,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Not a problem then, let''s go, I will need to think heavily about how to attract wolves and goblins into my dungeons, and keep the number of traps low to keep them inside,¡± I said. ¡°Why not add traps near the entrance but not activate them unless the monsters try to exit,¡± Misaki said. ¡°True, the archive said I can also support life in the dungeon now, does that mean plant life?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe, dungeons regularly have patches of herbs and greenery and because they are rather full of mana, the herbs grow quickly. Now that you mention it, did you ever try archiving herbs and such? Or even potions for drops?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°No, after all I have no idea why I would need to unless I want to kill humans who have use for them as means to attract them. Though I guess goblins are smart enough to need them,¡± I said.
Your Archive skill has been upgraded after you realized a new function of dungeons. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Dungeons provide gathering points and plants as both a means to attract sentient creatures as well as wild monsters starting from herbivores and subsequently their predators. To archive vegetation and herbs say, ''Archive Vegetation.'' You can store 18 common non-medical plants, 13 common fruit bearing plants and crops, and 8 medical herbs. You may only place vegetation in dirt corridors or rooms with dirt floors.
¡°Thank you guys, for mentioning vegetation because I just unlocked a new archive type for vegetation,¡± I said smiling. ¡°Oh, that''s good, now we won''t have to worry about gathering missions. Let''s go to the market and fill all the slots for your book,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Don''t go overboard, we need potions, especially mana potions since this blockhead drinks it like water,¡± Misaki said and glared at me. ¡°Hey, I need to experiment and sometimes my spells over task me,¡± I complained. ¡°Think a bit before trying them then. Hmpf,¡± she replied and turned. I only sighed and walked with Charlotte out of the guild. The building itself looked like a high-class inn. Stone walls with high quality wooden floors on the bottom floor furnished lavishly. The first floor also looked like a high-class tavern. We exited and headed to a food market. It didn''t take long for me to see how bad the nation''s food problems were. ¡°You¡¯re joking with me, right?¡± I asked Charlotte when I saw the prices. ¡°Well we have been at war for over a century. Even if we wanted to, our food supply is stretched thin to maintain our army,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Still¡­ 10 silver for a box of 20 apples, 50 silver for a box of 20 potatoes?¡± Misaki said. ¡°The potatoes are reasonable, after all they are crops found in the borders of the demon land and don''t grow easily,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°They are crops that can handle rocky terrain, it''s a very easy crop to grow. The problem is most likely the farming techniques,¡± I said. I took out a page of parchment without even thinking and began to draw up the diagram for crop cycling and how to make fertilizer. ¡°Next time we visit the queen or some farm village that is open to ideas, we can pass this on,¡± I said as I showed Misaki. She nodded after making sure everything was correct. Then, with a bleeding heart, we purchased potatoes, carrots, edible mushrooms, and some nuts from bushes. It took more than two gold coins to pay for it. Then we purchased healing herbs x20, poison herbs x20, medical herb x20¡ª a unique herb that strengthens the effect of those it''s mixed with and has an alluring fragrance¡ªand x20 a special flower that attracts animals and monsters. These four were medical herbs as the flower was used to make hallucination gas and potions. It cost us over 10 gold, everything was sold in 20g. With the crops and medical herb part taken care of we went to buy potions, mostly mana since I could use slow heal. With our money dwindling we went to pay for the teleportation and appeared near the village in an area surrounded by a wooden palisade. We took out the vegetables and I archived everything. ¡°Can you girls go and find a place for us to sleep? An inn maybe, though if we don''t have the money, I can set up a room in a dungeon and we can put our sleeping gear inside,¡± I said. ¡°What about you?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°I will gather common plants and see what the wildlife holds. Also, I will set up a one floor dungeon so that I can reproduce those plants, we need to earn our money back,¡± I said. ¡°Come on Charlotte, no need to worry about him, he has the puppet,¡± Misaki said and started walking. ¡°Ah, wait!¡± she called and looked my way a moment and ran after her. After they were some way away, I moved into the forest and summoned the guardian. ¡°Help me gather lumber, two and a half to three meters in length. Look for the best wood. If you find a rare herb bring it with roots and all to me,¡± I ordered. ¡°Understood master,¡± he said and lifted his sword onto his elbow as his runes turned green. They pulsed from his heart though his body and down to his feet into the ground. He then turned and started to walk around. I looked for a good spot and pulled my sword out and cleared the bushes and foliage, then made a fire and opened my book to the dungeon layout. I cleared the death trap I made for the demons and began a new one. This one would fit best the wolves. In retrospect, I needed to attract them but since they were monsters they would be smarter than animals. Once they saw they were trapped they would just move around to find a place to live. Since this was for animals I mad it a maze with lots of twist and a few rooms at some endings. The first fifty meters possessed a high number of traps set to attack animals and monsters leaving the dungeon. The rest was clear aside from one or two traps just to give the dungeon the right atmosphere. Then, in several dead ends I put the alluring fragrance with some common herbs around it. I spread the remaining herbs in some spots. For potatoes and crops, I had the option of making buds from them tripling the number of buds I had and from the flowers and herbs I gathered seeds causing the flower and herb to wilt but giving me more herbs. All these seeds were planted in the dungeon and in the few rooms I put a few flanks of dire wolf meat. I figured that since animals grow by eating. The magic loaded flanks would attract meat eaters while the herbs would attract the rabbits and rodents. That done, I looked around and found a place with tall grass. I took several shoots and archived it. I gathered seed and spread it out. Tall grass wasn''t even 15 cm tall, but it was still good for rodents as it gave them places to hide. I wondered how this would affect the corridors though. I was done. I made a copy of it on the other page so I could place those two that night. The next day we could check to see if anything was inside and how the plants grew. Thump! Thump! Thump! Looking up, I saw the guardian dropping off three large logs 50 cm thick and three meters long. ¡°Guardian, including these three, only gather 42 logs of similar size,¡± I told him. ¡°As you wish, Master,¡± he said then he turned to leave. I walked over and put my pen on the top one. ¡°Archive material.¡± This was the command for storing building material. The three logs turned into a light and entered my book. Then I went to the schematic page and set the book to make three wooden puppets. The schematic turned gray and a number appeared.
23:59:40 until all minions are built.
I looked at the time and noticed a grayed button with a plus next to the number. ¡°So I can increase them along the way, but still eight hours for one puppet. Considering how the runes will be added it seems rather quick,¡± I said. I waited until the guardian returned with three more and ordered him to keep bringing them to the same location. I then entered deeper into the slowly darkening woods, and when I was a good distance away I cleared an area and set up the first dungeon. I would wait to see if we had an inn before placing the second since I had no idea if we could get a place to sleep. I could only open two magic holes even though I could have so many dungeons. As it turned out, I needed to speed level the class skills. ¡°Okay dungeon set, let''s have the traps be inactive for two days so that monsters and animals will be able to bring others in.¡± With that the settings were done. ¡°The next dungeon I will place the next day and for now we will work on the wolf problem and slowly look for the source and put a dungeon near so we can trap them inside and slowly finish them.¡± I moved back to the camp and found 12 logs so I archived them and then waited. When the sky was already dark, the final load of logs arrived and I archived them and dismissed the guardian before heading to town. Misaki was at the front furious. ¡°What took so long?!¡± she shouted. ¡°Was gathering material for mobs, I have them being made right now. Anyway, did you find an inn?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, we got one but due to low funds we only got one room with two beds,¡± she said. ¡°You girls stay in the inn. I will find a corner in the village to hide my magic hole and sleep there for the night,¡± I said. ¡°Alright, I asked around and there aren''t many people in town so finding a spot shouldn''t be hard but keeping it hidden may be, but it''s just a night so no biggy, just put up a sign is all. Night,¡± she said. I waved and began to look over the town. As expected of a hunting town, taverns were plentiful, two warehouses for food, around 100 houses, so maybe 300 to 500 villagers. Night shift guards numbered around 30. ¡°Truly a quiet village,¡± I muttered as I went to the south side. As it was a small village, trees and such were abundant even inside the village walls. After a bit of searching I found a clear spot behind some bushes and trees, and made my room there safe from view, but I still put the guardian in the first room to make others keep out and then went to sleep. Chapter 12
Congratulations, you have constructed your first minion with your own power. Because you understand the fundamental structure of your minions now your summoning skill has gained a level.
Wooden Puppet:
A puppet made of wood. This puppet is crude but its movement and strength are well balanced and similar to a common human. They are the ones that most easy look like humans as they are only human sized and possess all the shapes and forms and hands that are easy to hide. Their more complex hands allow them to hold weapons within and fight more efficiently and make very good workers. Depending on the skill set each of this kind of puppet obtains, it can evolve differently once it has gathered enough mana. When first built they require commands to function, but after teaching them or giving them orders they will do that task until destroyed. Puppets carefully taught will eventually develop a skill for the action and will perform the skill automatically when placed in a dungeon with proper tools for it to use. This is the only kind of common puppet that can learn crafting skills.
As I woke up I saw this prompt telling me about the automatic level up for my summoning skill. Then I felt a small pang of pain in my head as information about wooden puppets flooded my head. I learned about their capabilities like them having 25 across the stats board except for mental stats that are 0 due to the lack of a soul or simple programmed mind like the guardian. After getting up, I fixed myself and headed out after recalling the guardian and closing the magic hole. I soon arrived at the inn the girls were at, and found them eating breakfast. The men were staring at them and when I walked over and sat with them I could feel the glares of jealousy. ¡°So, sleep well last night?¡± I asked looking more toward Charlotte than Misaki. ¡°It was a new experience for sure, I am a bit sore since I''m not accustomed to such a bed, but I slept through it at least,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Cross-san, did you put a dungeon up last night?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°I did, are you curious about it?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°See if anything is inside?¡± she said. I nodded and was about to pull the book out when a waitress came over. I asked for a basic breakfast and after she left I pulled out the book and saw inside. ¡°There are quite a number of rats, this place must have a problem with them. Let¡¯s see, a small group of wild cats even made a little nest at one dead end. The herbs and all that don¡¯t seem to be totally eaten¡­ oh I see they continuously produce seeds after reaching adult sized in under three hours so when they are eaten the dungeon automatically replaces them,¡± I kept saying. ¡°Any wolves?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Hmm, there seems to be¡­ common wolves with a gray wolf leader. Seems they were attracted to the dungeon for the mana and food inside. Seems the dungeon isn¡¯t enough for gray wolves or even beyond yet,¡± I said. ¡°Can you add a second floor after the first? The deeper a dungeon the more mana it can gather at a faster pace,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°No need, we just need to go inside and kill them all and that mana will be used to attract bigger prey,¡± Misaki said between bites of her eggs. ¡°That is true, I still doubt the leader wolf will like any common room or corridor as his home,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°True, we need to go and gather enough mana to form a low grade exp crystal so I can upgrade a room into a boss room both for when I place a boss for the dungeon and as a trap for others,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s eat first,¡± Misaki said and took another bite. ¡°You''re going to get fat eating so muc... OUCH!¡± I shouted. ¡°Blockhead!¡± Misaki shouted pissed off. ¡°Ace, that isn¡¯t something you say to a girl,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Geez, it was just a warning from someone that was a NEET on earth and was fat until I went on extreme diet and fitness training,¡± I said rubbing my bruised knee and calling out a slow heal light spell near my leg to heal it up. ¡°Hmpf!¡± Misaki pouted taking an angry bite. They ate in silence and soon my food arrived. After I ate it, I led the girls to the dungeon. ¡°So are you entering?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Not now, I will look around deeper in the forest, closer to the river and put another dungeon down so that I can try my luck in more dangerous areas,¡± I told her. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s leave this idiot blockhead,¡± Misaki said glaring at me as she stepped into the magic hole and vanished. Charlotte waved and walked in. I looked at my book and set them as allies so that the traps wouldn¡¯t activate with them around. The total number of enemies marked on the map when the two girls entered appeared next to the map.
Allies: 2 Humans Invaders: 3 Gray Wolves = 25 mana 22 Wolves = 15 mana 12 Wild cats 10 mana 3 Wild cat kittens = 1 mana 142 Rats = 5 mana
After a bit of math, I found that all the animals together in mana equalled to 1,238. It was super far from the 20k I needed to make an exp crystal. Now that I thought about it, didn¡¯t my class have a huge restriction as long as I couldn¡¯t have prey dying in my dungeon. I couldn¡¯t earn exp from simply killing them, but only through the dungeons. That was quite a large drawback for me, but I could say that this is a good incentive for me to become an adventurer. I summoned the guardian and pulled out my runic sword. ¡°Hmm, what runes should I add to it. It¡¯s still rather early so using it as a torch isn¡¯t useful especially in the woods. Let¡¯s see¡­¡± I muttered and open my rune index. All the while, I kept walking while leaving the guardian on guard. ¡°Damnit, if only I had the compress rune. I bet it would take a huge amount of mana, but then I could compress something like lightning into a physical blade form. Energy compressed will turn to matter and vice versa, but damn it,¡± I cursed. Since I could do nothing about it, I took my pen and wrote ¡®Lightning Sword Harden¡¯ on the blade. The runes engraved themselves and vanished before appearing on the hilt as they were stored. I found that adding harden to energy elements like fire and lightning caused the normally loosely flowing energy to properly form the shape written out. Also it helped that the spell was continuous, and the longer it was active the stronger the blade became, because in this case, the spell produced lightning and being hardened into the shape the lightning gathered slowly making the blade stronger. I activated the spell to have it charge, normally it stopped using mana after 300 mana was sucked up. A thin bolt of lightning extended and slowly branched out like veins before they got thicker and branched out themselves. As it hit 300, a glowing white blade the length of a regular sword was in my hand. ¡°This will have to do for now,¡± I muttered and look around again. ¡°How far did we walk into the forest?¡± I asked. ¡°About 2.4 kilometers while Master was deciding on your runes, Master,¡± the guardian answered behind me. ¡°Tell me, are there any unique herbs or flowers around here?¡± I asked. A pulse of green spread through the guardian and hit the ground with a pulse. A moment later he looked around. ¡°Within 50 meters, there is not,¡± he replied. ¡°Can you feel what kind of wildlife is around here?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes Master. Forest rabbits, hares, wolves, and gray wolves are abundant. This servant had picked up traces of small springs with small two legged beings, but the distance keeps this servant from seeing their true form,¡± he said. ¡°Then we are getting close the Devian River which means I will probably even attract goblins into my dungeon now. Let¡¯s place a dungeon here,¡± I said and put my hand on the ground. The foliage in front of me slowly moved and grew a bit more lush forming almost a tunnel like entrance. This was probably an effect to disguise the magic hole for a dungeon entrance. Soon the magic hole opened and I looked at the first page and found the dungeon was nearly empty with the girls fighting the last three monsters, the gray wolves. At that moment, a dot vanished as a wolf died, then another, and then the last. At that moment on the side a notice appeared, it read, ¡®Dungeon Clear!¡¯ At once, all the pending deaths were absorbed and the mana was fully calculated. ¡°Let us return to the first dungeon and pick up the girls for now,¡± I said. ¡°This servant has noticed Master¡¯s agility is less than this servant, if Master desires, Master can get on this servant¡¯s back, and this servant can transport Master to Master¡¯s objective,¡± he said. I thought for a moment about it and nodded. He held his left hand out and I used it as a stepping stone and got onto his shoulder. As I sat down as comfortable as possible, I looked down at him.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Alright, take me to the first dungeon I laid down in the forest,¡± I said. ¡°As you wish Master,¡± it replied. When I noticed a glow from the runes on his body I felt a foreboding premonition, and instantly grabbed onto his head on some areas that were open. He bent forward and instantly accelerated causing the wind to cut past me. ¡°FUCK! THIS BASTARD IS USING ¡®ACCELERATE!¡¯ FUCK WHY DIDN¡¯T I THINK OF THIS!¡± I cursed, but I knew why. It took too much mana to constantly reset runes. In retrospect I really needed to learn armor smithing and engraving so that I could permanently put runes on my armor and use them better. *** ¡°This was much easier than I expected,¡± I said. ¡°Shinigumi-san¡­ how is this easy,¡± Charlotte said with sweat covering her face. ¡°What is there to not be easy, after all you reached level 4 and your stats are boosted beyond your level already,¡± I told her. ¡°Come on, I have no true fighting experience yet you rush into a pack of rats then wildcats one after another! Think of other¡¯s stamina!¡± Charlotte complained. ¡°Get used to it, dungeon diving is five times easier since we don¡¯t have to deal with the traps. Not to mention, who knew that we would be imprinted with the map of the dungeon and where every enemy is when Cross-san isn¡¯t here,¡± I said showing some awe. ¡°Dungeons are mysterious, we used to know a lot more before the demon lord appeared and dungeons were more open. All of them were beat by the demon lord and turned. They had his demon seal engraved on them and now attack us constantly. Only one elder dungeon resists in our nation, and only because he sealed himself off from the world,¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Really? There is still an untainted dungeon? He must be super powerful now after so long isolated,¡± I exclaimed, and she nodded. ¡°Originally, he was in the base of a mountain within the Fang Mountains. His dungeon was at the center within the largest mountain known as the Dragon Fang. But that changed about 400 years ago when the entire mountain began to morph and turned into a massive closed off castle. The walls were made out of black mithril mixed with Adamantine that is magically infused. It was said that when this happened the demon lord himself came personally to conquer it, but he couldn¡¯t even break the outer walls, which goes to show the strength. Not only that but before he had two large statues that looked like Ace¡¯s puppet but after the change they went from around three meters to over 10 becoming giant sized and their estimated level should be no more than 500. This wasn¡¯t isolated though, after this happened the two other elder dungeons that the demon lord had conquered were made to do the same and upgrade themselves into fortresses of immense power. The monsters inside are of unknown strength, but no one still knows how strong he has become,¡± Charlotte explained. ¡°Maybe we can visit it sometime even if we don¡¯t enter. I bet Cross-San will like it if he can examine the runes around the entrance and the puppets,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, I bet he would. Since we cleared out the dungeon let''s leave,¡± Charlotte said and we looked as the bodies vanished. We left the dungeon relatively easily since we knew the layout. As we arrived at outside we heard a rumbling and soon the large guardian puppet came rushing out and stopped a few meters away blowing a gust of wind over us. Ace was on top shaking while holding the head of the puppet. As he slowly got down his legs were shaking. ¡°A-Ace, are you okay?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°I-I''m fi¡­ urg!¡± He suddenly turned, ran over to a bush and vomited behind it, away from our view. As he slowly stood up after making sure to clean off the remaining spit and vomit, he sat back down at the base of another tree. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked him. ¡°Urg¡­ guardian suggested he take me on his back since his agility is higher but I never expected him to activate the ¡®Accelerate¡¯ rune on his feet. You judge the result of that,¡± he said, closing his eyes and resting against the tree. We both looked at each other and smiled wryly. ¡°I definitely need to make a mount puppet or minion. Maybe something more comfortable,¡± I heard him say and then I heard Charlotte giggling. ¡°It might end up the same way Ace,¡± she said. ¡°At least I will be safer since I would properly make him structured to have lots of places to hold on and by then I will have magic to keep the wind from blasting at my face,¡± he replied. ¡°Is it that bad?¡± I asked. He opened his eyes and thought for a long while. ¡°Have you ever felt or seen the winds of a tornado or a storm with a hurricane inside?¡± he asked. After a bit of thinking I nodded, Japan did indeed have a few so I could remember. ¡°Think of being on the shoulders of your father running wildly through the woods under that amount of wind rushing at you,¡± he said. A shiver ran down my spine but I hid that from my face. Looking at the stationary puppet, I couldn¡¯t imagine such a body moving so fast but knowing it had 75 levels did help to give me a warning bell to not mess with it. ¡°Did you guys harvest any herbs inside the dungeon?¡± Ace asked. ¡°Yes, we took a large number from those available. Around 10 alluring fragrance while we got around 30 of each of the others,¡± she said. ¡°We can already earn back the money we wasted, let¡¯s keep farming these for now but let¡¯s only enter the dungeon once a day, this will allow the animals and monsters to gather in larger numbers than today. I set up the other dungeon so I will definitely need a room now. So let''s return to town so I can rest a bit.¡± He said and we nodded agreeing. After a while he stood up and dismissed the puppet. We returned to town where he booked a room that was available, and he rested inside while we went to look around. *** ¡°Alright, since rats were the first things to appear in the dungeons it would be best to use the closer dungeon as a training ground for the common puppets. Come to think of it, I never checked out the stats of the guardian,¡± I said to myself and opened the book. After looking at the minion page settings, I found out that the next few pages showed me all the information of each type of puppet, but for specific information like skills there was an arrow that switched between each individual puppet.
Status:
Name: Unnamed Class: Guardian Puppet, Dungeon Minion
Level: 75 Exp: 0/60000
Health: 2125 Mana: 1250
Strength: 425 Intelligence: 125
Agility: 200 Wisdom: 125
Endurance: 425 Vitality: 425
Skills
Natural Weapon Creation: Level 1 Exp 900/1000
A being made of magical wood can control nature. Using a unique magic, the user of this skill can slowly raise trees he plants by spreading his roots and separating a branch to make a magical tree, he can shape it into his preferred shape and make a weapon. Current skill will cause weapon to take 3 days until it has fully grown.
Planting Root: Level 3 Exp 612/2000
By spreading one''s roots into the ground, the user of this skill can absorb mana and other nutrients or energies to increase their normal rate of regeneration. This skill is restricted to beings of a plant-like nature. Current Regeneration Increase: 7%.
Runic Magic: Level 3 Exp 10/1500
A magical being who is servant of a dungeon maker can use runic magic using his master''s knowledge of runes to cast spells. Strength of skills is dependent on skill level. Rune magic consumption decreased by 3%.
Longsword Mastery Level 4: Exp 574/2500
You are master with the longsword. Increases damage with this weapon by 1%.
Longsword Arts Level 2 Exp 940/1500
Arts that only masters of the longsword can learn. Level 1: Wide Slash Level 2: Crushing Fang
Status:
Name: Unnamed Class: Common Wooden Puppet, Dungeon Minion
Level: 1 Exp: 0/100
Health: 250 Mana: 0
Strength: 25 Intelligence: 0
Agility: 25 Wisdom: 0
Endurance: 25 Vitality: 25
Skills
Natural Weapon Creation: Level 1 Exp 0/1000
A being made of magical wood can control nature. Using a unique magic, the user of this skill can slowly raise trees he plants by spreading his roots and separating a branch to make a magical tree, he can shape it into his preferred shape and make a weapon. Current skill will cause weapon to take 3 days until it has fully grown.
Planting Root: Level 1 Exp 0/1000
By spreading one''s roots into the ground, the user of this skill can absorb mana and other nutrients or energies to increase their normal rate of regeneration. This skill is restricted to beings of a plant-like nature. Current Regeneration Increase: 5%.
¡°So, wooden puppets have two skills that the guardian has. That is useful, the weapon creation could also be interesting since the weapons are grown naturally. If I set up a dirt room just for growing weapons, I can make them nature weapon craftsmen. The longsword of the guardian, even now, is sharp enough that it compares to a copper sword. He needs a bit more training, but it could become possible to make weapons in bulk. If I train them differently like having some move around on all fours I could possibly make beast type minion mounts,¡± I muttered. I looked at the minion page and saw I had only one minion. I opened a new dungeon layout page and made just a small dungeon of only corridors and placed him there. In the settings, I instructed him to make weapons and grow them. I had my suspicions about how the book worked so after touching a spot and directing for him to plant roots and make the maximum number of weapons around him at different locations, I watched the dot. The order was to just plant and first then regularly move to a different location. When the blue dot appeared, I just watched it. Soon green dots appeared which were categorized as a minion weapon. It numbered two and then he moved. ¡°I knew it, the dungeons aren¡¯t just pictures but they are actually built and I can place minions to work inside them.¡± I touched the guardian¡¯s icon and put him inside the new layout after changing it to be bigger. Then, I put lots of crops. I had both the puppets take care of all the vegetation while raising the weapons and training their natural weapon creation skill. All the weapons were made around the bundle of herbs and crops. At a few dead ends I summoned the guardian, and the wooden puppet showed him a diagram of how to make a field in the corridor then sent them back to make those in places that crops were to be planted.
You have manually modified a dungeon corridor into a new type. Dirt corridor has been changed into field corridor and has taken up a new slot on your archive.
Straight Field Corridor A simple field has been made within a straight dirt corridor section of the dungeon. Crop plants grow more vigorously and healthier without competing for nutrients and water.
Looking at the field, I called the puppets and changed the form so that there was a small packed path in the middle so that the crops weren¡¯t stomped on and ordered the two to pass only within those but to not plant weapons there but pass there and help the crops grow. I also set the dungeon to automatically gather mature crops and replant them again within the fields. I needed to make a large dirt room to make a garden that could be larger in size so I could do larger scale farming. Still, I needed a lot of puppets for that and the construction speed for them was really slow. I set six dead ends with straight corridors to be made into fields and. Three for crops, two for herbs, and just as a test I set one just for weapon growing. You can already guess, but herbs cost a lot so two fields with herbs would very quickly cash in a boatload of money. I still needed to locate the extremely rare mana herb. Mana regeneration herbs used different herbs to cause the body to absorb more, but true mana herb contained abundant mana which made the instant regeneration. ¡°I am sure that it will be the slowest growing plant within the closed off dungeon where the puppets are currently farming. I can probably only set them in a dungeon that has already gathered substantial mana,¡± I muttered. After seeing to the details and checking the quantity of crops and herbs I had, which wasn¡¯t much because I had used most of them inside the other two dungeons, but they had a fast growth. Root crops left alone in a random corridor in an open dungeon grew to maturity in four hours, while it seemed that the speed was about one hour faster when the puppets were aiding them. Herbs took six hours to reach maturity but they give a substantial number of seeds in return, and they were sped up by two hours with the puppets. After seeing that, I checked the other dungeons and looked at the tall grass that had sprouted nearby shoots. I took several and put them around the farm dungeon. I was amazed when the puppet passed by, it stopped and did the growing. Within the five minutes it was aiding it, they spread to one tenth of the corridor. I was very amazed by it and thought why and came to the conclusion that common plants and bushes required less mana to grow and since that was common tall grass¡ªa weed¡ªthey had a much easier time to grow. I instantly moved the wooden puppet into the other dungeon and had it focus on spreading the grass on the corridors. Against my expectation it didn¡¯t make a grass corridor, but it turned into a variant dirt corridor with grass. The reason being, that if I removed the corridor, the grass and plants were ¡®harvested¡¯ and stored. I set a limit for the puppet to keep the tall grass away from the herbs gathering points but let it grow naturally in the corridors besides those mentioned. ¡°Well, it seems things are set up nicely. The puppet is set to return to the other dungeon if anything gets within the same corridor its inside and won¡¯t return until the dungeon is cleared out. Now then, I need to resolve my problem as a mana regen potion drinker. So to the alchemist!¡± I said and got up. I left the inn in search of said alchemist. Chapter 13 Staring at the single story wooden house, I could distinctly smell the strong smell of herbs and medicines inside. This was the alchemist''s house, and store of the village. It was surprisingly hard to find. The village was several hundred meters in diameter, and the alchemist¡¯s house was hidden near the center of the woods I had hidden my room the night before. I had to ask some villagers where it was and even needed to show me the little path that was cut to reach him. When I heard there were herbs all over the forest area planted by the alchemist, I suddenly felt an urge to search for it, but I knew any good medicine maker would hide the growing plants from prying eyes. Also, rare herbs had many conditions for growing and achieving such a thing. Inside the dungeon it was not currently possible. I walk up to the door and knocked. A moment later the door opened to a boy that looked around 13 with a pair of thick glasses. ¡°Can I help you?¡± he asked. ¡°I am looking for potions and to trade herbs,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, please enter, Master is in the other room, I will call him,¡± the boy said and opened the door for me to enter. Within the room was a huge assortment of herbs hanging to dry, and on several tables were lots of glass bottles and alchemy tools. ¡°So science class comes from this stuff huh?¡± I thought jokingly. ¡°So you¡¯re the one that wants to buy potions eh?¡± a voice called. I looked and saw a really old man with a cane in his hand wearing an old robe. He looked to be in his late 80s and had a long beard with thick round spectacles on his face. ¡°Yes sir, I gathered a large number of herbs, and wish to trade for potions,¡± I said. ¡°Let me see them then? Boy, get a box so he can drop them inside,¡± the old man said. The boy started to move around and began to empty some boxes and put them in front of me. All the while, I was flipping through the book until I reached the vegetation part of the archive, and I could remove them like I did with the minions. There were 35 healing herbs, so I pressed the icon, which formed new words below and removed 30 from the book. The pen began to glow and I touched it at the bottom of the box. The next moment, the 30 healing herbs appeared in the air above it and fell into the box. ¡°30 healing herbs, how much?¡± I asked. The two just looked at me surprised. ¡°Boy, what in the world is that book?¡± the elder asked. I smiled wryly and closed it. ¡°It¡¯s a class related book,¡± I said. ¡°Hmm, so an ancient class inheritance. I see, I will drop it then,¡± the elder said and walked over to the box and sat down on a stool. He picked up one herb and began to look at it. He took his time to examine it, and when he finished he put it back in the box. ¡°Boy, where in blazes did you find these herbs? They are high quality and filled with vitality,¡± he asked. I didn¡¯t answer for a long while, and scratched my head not knowing how to answer. ¡°This is related to your class it seems. Well just so you know, I can tell these herbs should only appear in a place with high mana concentration. That said, even then the vitality isn¡¯t that good. Is there at least one thing you can answer?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, that I can answer,¡± I said and summoned the wood puppet. ¡°This is a living puppet that can use nature magic, and I have it grow the herbs and crops,¡± I said and call the puppet back. ¡°A summoner? No, summoners work with living animals and not inanimate constructs. Not to mention, puppets are extremely rare in this nation and only elves and dwarves have the technology to make them. Still, if it''s like this, then with the base price of healing herbs being 80 copper per bundle of 20 I will give you one silver coin for each.¡± he said. ¡°Wait? 20 healing herbs in the capital cost nearly two silver!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°That is the capital boy, we are far from it in a place near the forest that is abundant in herbs. Also what are you complaining, you produce your own herb,¡± he said. I just sighed as I understood what he meant. ¡°Fine. Do you buy crops or is it only herbs?¡± I asked. ¡°Nah, the food market exists for that. I take herbs only,¡± he said. I nodded and after I accepted the 10 extra herbs back, I took the silver coins and brought out one by one the other herbs in groups of 20. I got around four silver for the herbs, but I got 12 silver from the alluring flower. The effects were extremely good it seemed and mine were even better with the high vitality in them. That said, for potions I was able to get five mana regeneration potions for two silver each. ¡°Hey, what are the ingredients for making mana regeneration potions?¡± I asked as I put 10 potions in my bag. ¡°That is easy, mana drop, flower petal, and medical herb,¡± he said. ¡°Mana drop¡­ flower?¡± I muttered. He turned and pulled out a flower with a large blue petal. ¡°This boy, this is a low grade medical flower. Its ability to absorb mana is far weaker than a mana herb but it¡¯s true strength is that its petals have the effect of causing living beings to gather more mana from the air. If you compare this flower to a mana herb then for something like a monster, this flower is more valuable as the effects grow stronger as the monsters eat them instead of the instant burst of mana from mana herb where a large portion of mana is lost. Also, it¡¯s one of the first few flowers that releases mana after reaching maturity so the air around it is purer and more abundant in mana,¡± he explained. Looking at the flower, I saw the interesting flower¡¯s shape and even felt a bit of the mana from it. ¡°Do you have seeds for this and mana herb?¡± I asked. ¡°Mana herbs are rare boy, but I do have them, but it will cost you five silver for one seed,¡± he said. I clearly frowned at that and he saw it but just grinned. ¡°This flower¡¯s seed costs how much?¡± I asked. ¡°One silver for a small pack of 10. I raise these myself so I have plenty and their requirements aren¡¯t as bad, unlike mana herb that needs constant mana being injected. If only there was a dungeon around here for me to find some mana stones,¡± he cursed. ¡°I''ll take two packets of Mana Drop flower seeds,¡± I said and took two silver coins out. ¡°Good boy, Hains get the packs for the boy,¡± the alchemist said.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The boy ran into a different room and after a bit he came back with a small leather pouch and handed it to me. I opened it and counted 20 seeds then took the pen out and archived the seeds to make sure they were mana drop flowers. ¡°Alright, I guess that is all. I will probably be returning more often as I get more herbs and such,¡± I said. ¡°Come back anytime boy. Oh and boy, one suggestion for improving your herbs more. Make some bone meal off some animal bones and sprinkle it on your fields. The quality will shoot to a new level,¡± he said and I nodded thanking him. I looked at the book loot, but sadly it hadn¡¯t gathered bones from the goblins or wolves. Thinking about it, wouldn¡¯t skeletons count as a bone puppet through necromancy? Nah don¡¯t need something that could get me in trouble. I look at the current prey and pressed to loot them.
Loot results 3 Gray Wolf pelts 1 skeleton of Gray Wolf 2 Gray Wolf flanks 4 Gray Wolf claws 13 Wolf pelts 4 skeletons of Wolf 14 Wolf flanks 25 Wolf claws 6 Wild Cat pelts 12 Wild Wat Claws 142 Rat tails 89 Rat incisors 142 Rat Skeletons
¡°Is this a joke, now that he mentions skeletons that it appears. Maybe I need to recognize something as a drop like the brains that can be used for making lye for leather processing, eyes for alchemy or something. Put simply, I need books on all crafts and materials,¡± I said pissed off. I walked back to the inn and entered my room a bit pissed by this stupid dungeon maker system. Sitting down on my bed, I opened my book and looked over my dungeons. The first dungeon I placed already had 40% of the corridors with tall grass on the floor. As a result, grass munchers and herbivores were attracted to the dungeon. Rats were already populating the dungeon where grass was making small trails in the grass. Nothing bigger had ventured inside though. I took three seeds from the mana drop flowers and planted them at the three farthest bunches of herbs. What came from it surprised me.
You have planted a flower that performs mana synthesis. Mana synthesis is the process of using mana to grow instead of sunlight. Once that plant reaches maturity it will absorb much smaller quantities of mana and release purer, richer mana. This plant must be protected or else invading beasts will take it to further their growth into monsters.
¡°Wow, who knew there was something like this. The old man said it released mana back into the air, but I didn¡¯t think it had this big of an effect,¡± I muttered then noticed something new. I have stated that the dungeon gathers mana before. The gathering of up to 200 mana was rather quick and happened within minutes, but after that it had a five mana gathering capability per hour. At that moment the mana gathering was at -10, but after planting the seeds it said +15 mana next to the flower icon that appeared. ¡°So they absorb five mana regeneration from the dungeon and then return it during the adulthood,¡± I muttered. ¡°Now that I think about it, the puppets gather mana from the planting root skill as well. Then the puppets being a monster also evolves, if they live in a high mana density area they would be able to grow faster right?¡± Wondering this I opened the farm dungeon and went to plant the plant, but a window appeared
This plant can¡¯t be planted as a seed in this dungeon due to the lack of mana in the air. If you wish to continue, the seed will use the mana from the Book of Dungeon Maker as its source of mana until it reaches maturity.
Reading it again I was rather surprised by that, but still added one in the herb field. When I looked at the mana regeneration of the dungeon, I was shocked because it was -30 mph. ¡°Wait what?¡± I muttered. Looking for something that indicated the mana gathered by the book I found nothing that could indicate what showed the mana. ¡°Damnit! Show me the fucking mana gathered already!¡± I cursed.
Book of Dungeon Maker mana pool: 3253/100,000 Mana regeneration: 50 (-60) mph
¡°FUCK THIS!¡± I shouted and slammed the book shut and dropped myself in bed. ¡°Fucking book and fucking system from this shitty book shitty world¡­¡± After a half hour of cursing the entire world to hell I finally got over the system¡¯s bitching and opened the book again and saw the mana slowly dropping. I summoned the guardian and told him to focus on the mana drop flower. I sent him back and watched him stop near that batch of herbs. When I asked about the mana regeneration, I saw it dropped by a third. ¡°So that is it, this thing absorbs two thirds of the mana from the air and one third from the dungeon. The others absorb five but this one ten, wonder what the difference is?¡± I muttered. I pressed on the plant and checked the counter but something different appeared. ¡°Three minutes until mana is gathered? Does this thing mature just with mana?¡± I asked myself. I kept watching the dots while cursing how there wasn¡¯t a decent video image out loud. Sadly when I wanted something to happen the fucking book ignored me. After three minutes were up, the -30 suddenly changed to +30 and the guardian moved away and returned to his duties. Not only that, when I looked at the regeneration of the book I saw it was 80 (-30). ¡°Nice, the flowers add to the book and the dungeon¡¯s regeneration. So that means that the dungeons will gather more mana and in turn exp for me. I doubt it¡¯s that easy, it says I should guard them. This clearly means that once they enter full bloom the attraction of true monsters into the dungeon will be larger. I wonder, what are the evolution paths for wooden puppets and or requirements?¡± I said out loud hoping for something to appear and to my joy it did.
Evolutionary Table
Low Grade Guardian Puppet
None Currently Available or known
Common Grade Common Wooden Puppet
Farmer ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Farmer? Is it because of the fields? I look at the single option and wondered if I should take it, I didn¡¯t have resources to make equipment from anything¡­ wait equipment. Summoning the guardian I looked up at him. ¡°Tell me, can you only make weapons with your creation skill?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes Master, this servant can only make weapons of the longsword variation as this is the weapon this servant knows how to use,¡± he replied. ¡°And what of the wooden puppet?¡± I asked. ¡°They as well can only make weapons, but they have the potential to learn to create different items if master is capable of showing them the form and correcting them in their craft,¡± He said. ¡°Do you know the evolutionary paths of the wooden puppet?¡± I asked. ¡°This servant does not, this servant only knows how to supply the basic knowledge. Afterwards it is for Master to experiment. This servant does know that puppets are highly adaptable and can learn any skill. Previous master had once made beast puppets but process of reaching such form is beyond this servant,¡± he said. ¡°Beast puppets! That means that the format of the puppet changes depending on what it knows. For a beast, does that mean quadruped? Did he really have a puppet train walking on all fours? That¡¯s a surprise, I wonder how it ended. Still he succeeded and it will bring me more joy if this thing is quick and large enough to carry me or at least I can make him large enough.¡± I thought. ¡°Show information of puppet farmer,¡± I said out loud.
Common Grade Wood Farmer Puppet
This puppet is a support class puppet, it has no fighting capabilities but instead it focuses on nature based magic. They possess a degree of farming knowledge that can always improve crops, and by using their Natural Creation skill which is converted to Nature Molding skill they can slowly alter crops for better production, taste, or effects. Their knowledge of farming stems from their master, so as long as the master can learn more about agriculture these puppets can implement it to a much greater degree. Also, with the knowledge of planting they can access the Book of the Dungeon Maker¡¯s gathered items to use items that could aid in improving the farming. Farmers can cultivate any vegetation from a forest tree to a flower garden.
Requirement for Evolution
Equipped with a Hoe Evolve skill Natural Weapon Creation to Nature Molding
¡°How do I have a puppet get Nature Molding skill?¡± I asked the guardian. ¡°As this servant said previously, Master must have it learn to grow different items,¡± he replied. I dismissed the guardian and sit there thinking about what to do with the puppets. At that moment I had one puppet and the guardian. It would take several more hours before the next one appeared and the current one was busy. ¡°I have to wait for now, can¡¯t overstep the bounds wanting everything with one worker. Let¡¯s first set up the dungeons carefully, then I will worry about the puppets as they slowly arrive. I only have 42 puppets that I can make and use right now until I can kill more demons so I need to be careful with my choices.¡± *Ding*
A new Wooden Puppet has been completed.
¡°Guess I don¡¯t have to wait after all. Let¡¯s get busy quick!¡± I said, and summoned him. Chapter 14 Currently we were sitting in the first floor of the inn with our breakfast in front of us and my book next to me. ¡°Looks like today is promising. 23 grey wolves, 10 Black jaguar, 80 savage rats, 54 horned rabbits. Quite a number of monsters.¡± I said. ¡°Strange, grey wolves are obviously our objective but the other ones aren¡¯t common in this area. Did something happen to the dungeon?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Happen? Well i did plant more plants and spread grass through the first dungeon i put, it says here that there are 12 grey wolves in the second one and looks just a bit more difficult than what the first dungeon was yesterday. Oh right i purchased some mana drop flowers and put three inside the first dungeon.¡± I said. ¡°WHAT! You didn¡¯t!¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Is that a problem?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course it is! Mana drop flowers may be the lowest class mana herb but once they reach adult size they release thicker purer mana. Inside a dungeon which is an enclosed place monsters naturally feed off that mana and grow stronger.¡± She said. ¡°Oh, so that explains it, that said because of that over 2000 mana was accumulated just from the natural absorption of the magic hole quite impressive more than 10 times the previous max it gathered in one day.¡± I said nonchalantly. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that! Take the flowers out of the dungeons, if you want leave only one so that it doesn¡¯t release so much mana inside. It doesn¡¯t do us any good to strengthen the grey wolves we want to hunt.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°We still need to gather exp for you guys and me, i need to make a exp crystal as well to upgrade a room into something else. I can¡¯t wait to have more puppets, i really need to make a proper dirt floor room so that i make that garden.¡± I said. ¡°Cross-san, please stop ignore Charlotte-sama.¡± Misaki said. ¡°I am listening but i have lots on my mind. I need to think of how to make them stronger, which to make workers, which become warriors, which becomes farmers, which become crafters. It¡¯s not really that easy you know I don¡¯t know shit about this system so i can¡¯t take some random beast so i need to do everything with my 42 puppets i can build.¡± I said. ¡°As i said, stop ignoring her. Remove the flowers now.¡± Misaki ordered. I roll my eyes but do indeed open the page and transfer one flower to the closed dungeon and one to the second dungeon since i didn¡¯t place them there. The current population of puppets are all working in the closed dungeon. One already had a wooden hoe. The guardian leveled up his weapon creation skill so he shaved 1 hour of his growing process and after a while i asked him to show me his roots without planting them. He only made long thick roots normally categorized as main roots. I told him to make shorter thinner roots that branched out more and do that with the plant tools and weapons he built. That went double for the other puppets. It goes without saying that the natural weapon creation skill was bumped up by 3 levels quickly with that and dropped 3 more hours. The other puppets happened the same but for them this caused their skill to morph into the Nature Molding since they were also building wooden armor and tools. ¡°There, i left a single flower as bait and left the guardian in front to keep it from being stolen.¡± I said. ¡°Good, now how many did you plant? In total?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Well i moved one to the second dungeon which currently has around 10 goblins exploring it and i have traps deactivated so they can leave, some monsters are inside but if compared, it''s like the dungeon yesterday before i added the mana drops. I also made a dungeon as experiment and found that they still exist within the book and can slowly be altered so i had crops, herbs and the flowers be planted there. The dungeon survives off the books own internal mana which has been steadily growing as i plant more mana drop flowers. Currently have 15 mature flowers inside that dungeon and each of them increase my books mana absorption ability by 30 per hour.¡± I said. ¡°15 times 30¡­ 450 mana regeneration?!¡± Misaki asked surprised. ¡°500 actually due to the 50 that is natural regeneration.¡± I said. ¡°That''s an impressive amount, have you ever tried to tap into book for the mana stored inside?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Too many questions about the book and too little time to experiment. For now i want to let it gather. I don¡¯t know if it''s true or not but i want to see if mana is gathered enough by the book if it can make exp crystals if not then i will test using its own mana for runes.¡± I said. ¡°Got lucky in the class¡­ i am still swordswoman hmpf hmpf! World is too unfair.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Well, classes aren¡¯t permanent, they evolve. Normally the Hero class is the least capable of actually changing but it can change chance.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°So class advancement? I can only see Hero turning into Fallen Hero though.¡± Misaki said. She took a large bit of her well filled plate. ¡°Well for more common classes yes, as a hero you probably have different options and your weapon is even more uncommon in our nation so it may give you a far eastern nation. I can¡¯t say what you can be though, Ace.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°No problem, this is already a pretty hard class to properly figure out. I really need to look into a book on all kinds of loot so that i know what can drop from animals and monsters and what is useful. That way my book can properly recognize what to loot from the dead creatures.¡± I said. ¡°You are a scholar type class. Research is your forte so figure it out yourself.¡± Misaki says and goes to stab her food but finds that it¡¯s empty so she lifts the plate and puts it on top of the three others. ¡°Waitress, another plate of roast pork.¡± Misaki said. ¡°You should stop eating so much, we can¡¯t support it financially yet.¡± I said. ¡°Lies, you just got 12 silver from selling herbs, go sell the crops to the inn owner and we can stay here for several dozen weeks i bet.¡± Misaki said. ¡°From your way of talking¡­ by chance are you trying to eat away the stress of coming to this world?¡± I asked. POW! ¡°Who is eating away what now!¡± She said angry. ¡°Ouch owowowowowow. I knew it! You really aren¡¯t handling the entire hero thing as calmly as you show!¡± I said.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°How can I! I was killed by a fucking bengal tiger! Then i was thrown towards the sun and only when the flash from the summoning happened did i realize what happened and could only shut myself off! You think i am like you, who was killed in the world''s most cliche fashion. Even if i was trained to use the sword i don¡¯t know how to kill! I am forced to kill monsters now and you''re still fine because you can just sit back and activate traps from behind your stupid book while i need to be in the front lines!¡± She said anger boiling and her face red. The others looked our way and the waitress was a few meters away. I looked at her and told her we are fine and we didn¡¯t need to last plate called and i ask for the bill. Paying we get up. ¡°Let''s talk about this where others can¡¯t hear.¡± I said and walked towards the door. Charlotte looked worried and looked at Misaki but soon stood and Misaki as well. Just as we were about to reach the door a large man walked in front of us with an arrogant grin. ¡°Oh missy, you¡¯re quite cute and your features and armor remind me of those from beyond the demon lands. I¡¯ve been there before, that cursed land, why don¡¯t you follow this uncle and he will talk with you about it.¡± He asked I looked back a bit worried now but when i looked, Misaki didn¡¯t have anger on her face and instead she looked like she had dead fish eyes. Her hands moved to the sword she held on her left hand. ¡°Shinigumi-san, please not here.¡± Charlotte whispered to her. Misaki stopped and smiled and handed the sword to Charlotte and she walked forward. ¡°My name is Misaki, what is yours?¡± She asked and with a sweet smile she stuck her hand out to shake. The man¡¯s brow raised and his grin widened as he took her hand. ¡°This uncles name i¡­ ARAHHHH!¡± He shouted and collapsed to his knees looking at Misaki who had gripped his hand. ¡°Okay Arahhhhh, let me tell you something, I am currently really annoyed at the moment. My life completely changed the last few weeks, stress has built up and i am forced to fight monsters to survive, now you appear¡­¡± her voice slowly filled with rage slowly with each word.¡± ...now you appearing trying to pick me up¡­..¡± CRACK! The man turns pale and yells with his full might as he frantically tries to remove his hand that is twice the size of hers but she held firm. ¡°... My patience can only handle so much and the humiliation you just gave me¡­ you truly seek death don¡¯t you?¡± She and tightened her grip more and broke more of his hand. At this point he was changing from pale to yellow and soon began to foam at the mouth as the killing intent she was releasing was to such a degree that he couldn¡¯t handle it and fainted. As soon as he collapsed she just held his hand in the same spot before letting it go. She looked at him with the same emotionless face as before and turned before taking her sword back. ¡°Let''s go.¡± She said in a quiet voice. We stepped over the body leaving the quiet inn tavern in the silence. ¡°I am sorry for the inconvenience.¡± Charlotte said before exiting. The walked through the town and left towards the dungeon soon after with Misaki already with her sword draw she only said one thing to me. ¡°Draw long lasting runes, Now!¡± *** ¡°Boy, what in blazes did you do to crush your hand so badly?¡± The crazy old coot in front of me said. ¡°Some bitch crushed my hand, fix it old man or give me some fast acting healing potions so it can heal.¡± I tell him. ¡°You need to find a priest first, you need light magic to heal your hand by at least half the damage or there will be irreversible damage left if you drink. I can only make inferior elixirs with what i have so i can¡¯t make something that can help you.¡± The old alchemist said. ¡°Shit, a priest''s services isn¡¯t cheap old man!¡± I shout. ¡°Boy, i am telling you what you need so you can keep working as an adventurer, if you want to retire then i can sell you the elixir but if you want to keep fighting with that hand then look for a priest. This village has a small church and a number of clergymen the skill isn¡¯t the best but with several waves of healing magic it should set them all into place again. Come back after you get it healed, it shouldn¡¯t cost more than 50 silver to heal it up oh and the elixir is 30 silver a vial.¡± The elder said. ¡°You''re fucking with us old man!¡± my subordinate shouted. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you right now brat, me and my apprentice are the only alchemists in this town, elixirs take 2 days to brew and need constant supply of flames and rare flowers and materials of high quality. Don¡¯t think that i will sell you even an inferior grade Elixir for less than 30 silver. If you insist on shouting i won¡¯t even make it. Now scram and if you still want it come back after 3 days.¡± the old man shouted. I held my hand as i left the house with my men. ¡°That bitch! She is costing us almost a gold coin! We will definitely make her pay, boys go check where the bitch went, track her down but don¡¯t let her see you. I want to beat her down myself then i will turn her into a fucking toilet!¡± I say in total rage. My group was a party of 20 and ten men ran off to search for them while the rest of us went to the chapel to get a priest to heal my hand. *** Wan wan wan The cries of grey wolves within the dungeon range all over. Me and Charlotte watched as Misaki fought alone with an expressionless face that had some blood splatter on her face. We had come to the dungeon with all the monsters and she had ordered me to lead her to through while kilg linall the monsters. The animals she didn¡¯t care about, just the monsters. Pack by pack she killed while venting and shouted and after each monster pack she would cry a lot then turn emotionless again until the next group of animals died. It continued until this last group which was the grey wolves. The animals Charlotte had been taking care of since we couldn¡¯t very well leave them or we would have a hard time to absorb the bodies. As the final wolf died, instead of crying Misaki let out a deep sigh and with her sleeve she whipped off the blood stain with a frown and did another sigh of relief. ¡°That felt good¡­¡± She said light heartedly. ¡°Are¡­ are you okay now?¡± Charlotte asked worried. ¡°I¡¯m fine, i vented all my emotions. I¡¯m still scared of what is going on with me but i guess after killing so many monsters already i think it helped me get what i was feeling a bit more in control.¡± She said clearly slumping and letting another sigh out. I open my book and look at the number of creatures still alive. ¡°There are still quite a number of rats and small animals left. I doubt we can kill them that fast so let''s head to the second dungeon where bigger targets with more exp live and i will put my puppets to kill. I found that small blade tools are quick to raise so i have a few weapons the puppets can equip and i feel safer with them hunting small animals instead of monsters since they only have 25 across the board.¡± I said. ¡°If that is so then we can go.¡± Misaki said as she swings her sword clearing the blood and sheathing her sword. We leave as 3 puppets walked out. Two were standing and one was on all fours. ¡°What¡¯s with that one that is crouching?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°I ordered it to train in walking on all fours until it can move as naturally as a quadruped. I found out that puppets have a large potential for evolution whether it is in a beast or into getting class like evolutions. I just need to research and train them properly.¡± I say. ¡°This to resolve the mount problem, isn¡¯t it?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Of course, i don¡¯t know how big it is though, i just hope i can choose between sizes. Welp, let''s go.¡± I say and they nod. The puppets pull out small sharp wooden daggers and each split up to search for their own prey and as mindless puppets they are completely controlled by the dungeon and orders and know where all the life in the dungeon is located. *** ¡°Boss, we found them, also we hit the jackpot! There are some magic formation things in the forest that leads right into a dungeon. There must be a new type of dungeon or maybe a magic phenomenon. We only entered a bit but left after confirming it!¡± One of my men said. ¡°Dungeon? There were some around here? They must be getting their money from there. Hehehe, boys keep watching the dungeon. I still need time for the elixir to take effect so tomorrow we will hit them.¡± I say with a vicious grin. ¡°Boss, since you want that eastern bitch let us have the other girl. Kehehehe.¡± One of my men asked. ¡°Sure thing, you guys can fuck the bitch as you like, kill the fucker following them and catch the girls.¡± I tell them and pick up a mug of beer and drinking it before slamming it on the table. ¡°Just watch it bitch, i¡¯m coming!¡± I mutter and shout for more beer. Chapter 15
Current Minion Overview
Low Grade Guardian Puppet: Level 75 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 3 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 2 Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 2 Common Wooden Puppet (Farmer): Level 1 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 1
Sitting a short distance away from the second dungeon we eat some dried meat and drink some water. The reason we are a bit away is because there are goblins guarding the entrance. I was reviewing my puppets stats while doing that. ¡°Amazing, just from killing some 200 some remaining rats a puppet reached level 3 and two reached level 2.¡± I said. ¡°Not too surprising since the first levels have low exp requirement. Common rats may give around five to twenty exp depending their size.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°They are already working to spread the grass all over the dungeon now while killing off any small animals that enter while they do that.¡± I said. ¡°What of this dungeon?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Changing a few things as we speak, the goblins seemed rather bored besides when attacking some wolves. I am fixing that by adding a few rooms since I want to attract them to move inside. Oh? Seems they found a herbal patch, I wonder if they would form an alchemist because of it?¡± I said pondering. ¡°No, they form shaman, it¡¯s breeds a magic user hobgoblin which can eventually become a shaman. They are rather hard to deal with since they learn magic as good as a mage and are intelligent.¡± Charlotte explained. ¡°Can¡¯t we just kill them?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°No, I understand why Ace wants us to ignore them at the moment, as long as they move inside we can slowly attack them while keeping them trapped inside. He can also slowly attack them when he wants with his puppets.¡± Charlotte replied. ¡°I¡¯m going to avoid the total death trap dungeons when in normal situations mostly because normal people may find them. Only towards demons I will use those, now than, it seems they gathered things up, not much else¡­ oh good they are heading back. Maybe because they were once dungeon monsters they seem to navigate the dungeon maze rather skillfully for stupid monsters.¡± I say. After about twenty minutes the goblin party comes out, I let them of course, and they return with some wolf and rat corpses, which the guarding party grab, and they go back the way they came. After a bit we finally entered. ¡°They didn¡¯t kill much, a few confrontations with common wolves. I do have to say though the grey wolf population here is a bit larger with 30 inside. This area here must be closer to the den of the wolves.¡± I say. ¡°Good! Cross-san, plan out a second floor that you can eventually attach to this one to attract the bosses.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll work on it at night, lots of small details I need to deal with to make the dungeon flow and to experiment with the puppets.¡± I said Walking inside we slowly move as I watch the book. In the invaders section dull red light signals that there is a very weak animal in front. When I looked it was just a fly. I frowned at that disgusting thing and wanted to fry it with a fireball but that is a waste of mana. As I look at the book I suddenly notice that the door was blinking and growing stronger. We drew closer and I saw the bug had stopped in the middle. ¡°Wait! Something is happening to that fly?¡± I said a bit pale. Stopping the girls watched as well as the tiny fly suddenly budges and grows a bit then again. With a third wave of growth the carapace bursts apart revealing a black darker green one. Another breaks that one and shows a larger one. The last one and an almost black carapace appears as the fly was now as big as a human''s fist. In the book it showed Flesh eater in the monster section while common flies were below. ¡°Mon-ster fly¡­¡± before I could finish speaking everything blurred. ¡­ huh why is it dark¡­ ¡°...n... ¡° *Slap slap* ¡°Ac¡­up!¡± ¡°ACE CROSS WAKE UP!¡± POW! ¡°OUCH! WHAT THE HELL!¡± I shout as my gaze instantly focuses with the overbearing slap to the face. I grab the burning side of my face that was stinging. ¡°Ace, are you okay? You suddenly fainted out of nowhere.¡± Charlotte said worried. ¡°Fainted? Why would I faint?¡± I wondered. ¡°What exactly happened?¡± I asked. ¡°We were walking down a corridor when suddenly a fly evolved into a monster. You collapsed soon after. What are you a sissy or something?¡± Misaki criticized me. ¡°Fly? Like the common blow fly? Turned into a monster?¡± I said extremely confused. ¡°I don¡¯t remember seeing any monster fly before I blacked out somehow." ¡°Did he hit his head too hard?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Ace, do you have trauma of bugs or flies?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Trauma? None that I can remember, I do feel uncomfortable around bugs but I don¡¯t really know if it''s at the level of trauma.¡± I reply ¡°His mind is totally erasing his worst nightmare!¡± Misaki said in shock. I get up and dust myself off and look around. I see a strange object cut in half on the floor but pay it no mind as I start to walk forward and open my book. ¡°Let¡¯s get going, the wolves should be further ahead.¡± I said. The two just smile wryly at each other and follow after me. We spent the afternoon cleaning out the monsters and then like before I called the puppets to clear out the rest of the bugs.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I got in the fight as well and worked on my sword skills. I wonder if there is a way for me to enter the third dungeon without me opening a hole. After we left we return to the inn and I sit on my bed and review the dungeons at the moment. Dungeon 1 currently has around 10k mana gathered Dungeon 2 has 7k since there were much less monsters unlike the first one And the farm dungeon generated around six thousand mana, that is from when I woke up in the morning to six at night. At the moment there is over 18k mana gathered in the book. ¡°Tell me the uses of the mana gathered by the Book of the Dungeon Maker.¡± I said out loud hoping for something.
Book of the Dungeon Maker
Gathered mana The Book of the Dungeon Maker is a magical artifact that slowly gathers the surrounding mana so that it can function and do its job of aiding its owner. The mana is used in many different forms from feeding minions to keep them from feeling hunger, repairing the dungeon, filling the dungeon for minions to slowly absorb to eventually evolve, mutate monsters and to overpower the mind of invading animals and monsters to kill them. The mana is incapable of forcing monsters to submit to the dungeon maker like a common dungeon can do by capturing the mind of the victim. Once enough mana is gathered it is possible to make several different crystal types as well. Exp crystal is formed naturally once more than 20k of mana is gathered and will appear on the books spine or cover and look like an ornament of the book and as more mana is gathered it will make more until there are enough to make a higher ranked gem which happens when 3 low grade gems come into existence. Another thing it can make is a dungeon soul gem. To make this dungeon, a dungeon maker simply takes a medium grade exp crystal still attached to the book and fuse it with a soul gem and it will make a dungeon soul gem which will allow you to leave the dungeon permanently in its present location and free the magic hole formation. The soul gem naturally transmits the mana it gathers to the Book of Dungeon Maker and every 10 mana gathered it produces 1 exp from the death of monsters for the dungeon maker. Methods to gather can come from natural generation and simple waiting, or killing monsters or by planting mana producing flowers and improve the generation of mana by having the flowers pull in more mana forcefully.
¡°Dungeon Soul gem, releases the magic hole so I can leave it permanently? ¡­ Doesn¡¯t this mean I can sell my dungeons. Wait, I doubt it is that simple, considering how much material goes into one dungeon I can only see nobles and the royal family even being able to afford it.¡± I say to myself. I reread the page and something appears that I find strange. ¡°I can¡¯t get minions from overpowering their mind? Does that mean I must raise them from infant or do they need to be born and raised by me personally?¡± I pondered. Looking at the last part, it pretty much confirms my suspicions on the flowers. If I can find a mana herb then I wonder how much of a boost it will have for my regeneration. Also to think the book made the exp crystals like that? This book is full of mysteries. I wonder if I can attach the gems into the book once the gems are made to fuse them? Considering my skill level at the moment the low grade ones are fine at the moment. I move on to the puppets in a good mood and eventually I go to bed as night fell. *** ¡°Boss, this is the place.¡± One of my men said. ¡°Have you guys checked inside?¡± I asked them. ¡°Yeah boss, it looks like a well structured mine shaft but full of tall grass and we found some herb gathering points. There also seems to be some strange puppet constructs walking around but there are very few but then there are animals all over as well.¡± My men tell me. ¡°Animals? No monsters?¡± I asked. ¡°Besides a very huge pack of grey wolves, maybe around 60 we couldn¡¯t spot anything larger. Only rats and other rodents.¡± he said. ¡°How many of the forests grey wolves are here?¡± I asked. ¡°I think at least a tenth of the silver nightmares pack.¡± he said. ¡°What is their movement pattern?¡± I asked. ¡°There are maybe 6 wooden rooms inside the dungeon and they are split into a pack of 10 each room. Also we found a massive¡­ thing guarding a gather point and all the monsters are completely clear of that area.¡± another man said. ¡°There must be something important over there, since even a pack of 60 grey wolves are avoiding it then it must be akin to a boss of the dungeon. Until we understand the strength of this thing avoid it.¡± I tell them. Although I want to teach that bitch a lesson but I still know dangers of dungeons and their infinitely dangerous traps and monsters and I can¡¯t risk my mates for that. I may be D rank but most of them are F rank besides my top three mates who were E rank and have been with me since the start. ¡°Alright men, four men keep guard at 100 meters away and keep hidden or in the trees. This place is getting dangerous with the wolves coming in. Other animals or monsters can be coming in eventually as well so stay away enough to not get caught up in them. Once you spot them run back while staying hidden and warn us.¡± I shouted. ¡±¡±¡±Yes Sir!¡±¡±¡± They shouted and we pulled back besides those staying the shift. They would switch out in a while. *** I look around the tavern for a while through the corner of my eye. The girls next to me were eating a smaller more balanced meal at the moment. Misaki had found that venting rage through killing monsters worked better for her then eating so her meals obviously decreased. ¡°Hey, is it just me or are there¡­ 20 guys watching us?¡± I asked. The two looked up and took a small look around. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Misaki said. ¡°They are an adventurer group around 20 to 25 people. The leader is most definitely that man Shinigumi-san crushed the hand of.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°You sure?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Yes, I had heard they came to take care of the goblins like us but have fought but haven¡¯t had progress.¡± Charlotte explained quietly. ¡°I could probably deal with it just by letting guardian crush everything but it would be boring. So they probably want to catch us. Most likely they already followed us to the dungeon and will wait for us to enter it.¡± I whisper. ¡°What is the situation for dungeon 2?¡± Charlotte asked. I open the book on the table and show them the now 2 floor dungeon. The 2nd floor was much smaller but it was less of a dungeon and more of a collection of rooms that was a bit spread in a not so complex maze. Inside were over 300 goblins. ¡°Yeah, I confirmed the presence of all the goblins. It seems the dungeon still appeals to them. On the first floor is a hunting ground for them with lots of rodents but they seem to war with grey wolves. I removed the mana drop flowers from this dungeon though. The other one attracted around 90 grey wolves that now dominate the dungeon.¡± I explain. ¡°That doesn¡¯t even come close to the full force of the grey wolf pack. I checked with the villagers and innkeeper and it seems that there are close to several hundred at the main pack. There is also an alpha and such wolves aren¡¯t as easily drawn to a dungeon with one floor and no large space inside.¡± Charlotte commented. ¡°How do we do this?¡± I asked. ¡°Ace, how many puppets do you currently have?¡± Misaki asked. A flip to through the pages as I take a bite from my food later I found ten besides the guardian. ¡°Ten besides guardian. One is farmer so non combatant.¡± I say. ¡°How many would you make farmer?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Planned for 3 crafter, 2 farmer, 5 fighters. Today is day 3 since weapons had begun growing, swords, spear, armor, etc, should be finishing in a few hours and will be sharp enough to cut.¡± I say. Misaki looked at Charlotte and began to think something over. ¡°Since the goblins are have already fallen into the trap we can attack now but the number could overwhelm us significantly so you can use it to train your puppets once they are ready. If there are still goblins left in the village we can finish them off. Us three go to dungeon 1 where they most likely followed us and there we kill the wolves and slowly kill off the pursuers with your dungeon and by our own hands.¡± Misaki said. ¡°That seems reasonable, they probably have other plans for us besides killing so they are getting off rather easy.¡± I said. Charlotte had a worried expression that showed concern for the plan. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ do we have to kill them?¡± She asked. ¡°Do you know what bandits normally do to women?¡± I asked her. She shook her head. I gesture to move closer and taking her ear I begin to explain all the R rated things that a girl that has angered a man could suffer. First her face turned tomato red before I reached the hardcore stuff and she paled and almost fainted. ¡°And that is why I take no mercy on others that will try to attack me since I will suffer the short end and die and they will make you both suffer greatly.¡± I sad. ¡°O-okay¡­.¡± She muttered. ¡°You overdid it.¡± Misaki said. ¡°What? We are in a magic medieval era world, how do I know that they don¡¯t have a caged up tentacle monster or a ogre that''s been injected with drugs.¡± I said. Misaki just sighed and shook her head and stood up before moving to Charlotte¡¯s side and comforting her saying that they are all fantasies from our world. Still it did put the necessary fear in Charlotte to slowly get rid of her naivety as a princess. It can be a slow process or it can be a fast one but it needs to go and just fighting monsters won¡¯t get us much. Eventually the war with demons will show her another face of the world if I can¡¯t push them through my dungeon. After a while we get up and leave while watching our backs and notice the men coming out as we pass the gate. ¡°Let''s go quick, they probably have sentries to make sure we enter or not.¡± I said. The girls nod and we run into the forest and soon into the dungeon where we were safest. Chapter 16 As we were coming to the dungeon I had been working with the puppets. First I examined all the tools, weapons and armor made by the puppets. First off, I had Guardian change his long sword for a new one made during the last few days. The new one could compare to a somewhat low quality iron sword but the blade edge was even better them before. Then came tools. I had my first farmer change his hoe for a new one. The old one had a poor edge comparable to a rock hoe. The new one formed a proper hoes head. Then I set two new puppets to care for the farm and let them loose. Eventually they will absorb enough mana to evolve officially into farmer. Now for fighters. I looked over the weapons and found there were 3 halberds, 5 spears and 12 swords, split into 4 sabers, 4 normal sized long swords and 4 katana. With the remaining 7 puppets I have two new puppets separated for beast and walk on all fours. Then I have the only level 3 take a halberd as a type of commander figure, the level 2 took spear and have a level 1 puppet take a long sword while the other takes the katana. Then I bring out the armor. 1 wooden helmets, 7 small chest plates made in two parts to put them on easier, 7 pairs of armor to cover the arms to the shoulder, 7 leg armor, 7 wooden boots and 7 gloves. It all looked simple and very much like plate armor. Strangely though, helmets seem to be hard to produce for them but that may be due to skill since it has to possess an opening mechanism where the parts slide open to allow for them to remove the helmet if needed. I had the harberd puppet put on full armor including the helmet. The others just got normal armor without it. For those marked for beast I tried something different. I know they won''t be able to use weapons later on so before the weapons and armor finished growing, I counted each piece and modified three gloves into gauntlets with claws. I had the future beasts put those and the normal armor on finally armor all my attack units. Similar to the guardian the runes on the puppets body flashed on the armor but not nearly as numerous and only those exposed. This included the seal on the chest. I checked the evolutionary table just out of curiosity towards what each set did.
Evolutionary Table
Low Grade Guardian Puppet
None Currently Available or known
Common Grade Common Wooden Puppet
Farmer Warrior ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
I had expected something like commander but I guess that is a title and not a rank up. Also spearmen should be their but then again it is a subcategory of warrior. After confirming my choices and having them fully armored I set them, with the guardian, loose at the entrance of the second floor where goblin guards were placed. As soon as the guardian appeared the puppets followed. I had set them to follow his orders and I told him to train them without having them destroyed. As of now he had begun to give out orders while goblins slowly flooded out of the second floor. "So how are things at the entrance?" Charlotte asked with a worried tone. Her question breaks my concentration as I was messing with the dungeons. We were already inside dungeon 1 and flipping to the other page I saw all the invaders and ''ally''. "Seems they indeed enter, want me to activate the traps or let them come this way for us to personally kill?" I asked. "Do manual activation of the traps. Leave them very scared of returning." Misaki said. "Terror induction it is then." I said and pressed on one trap just below a scout. It was a spring trap that shot to a spike trap. He was flung and after careful timing I activate the trap on his leg pinning him. A few moments later we heard his echoing yell. "That sounds painful." I said with a grin. "Your enjoying his pain aren''t you?" Charlotte asked shocked. "Well I injured him only, I wouldn''t get much mana anyway since only the boss guy is anything good... wait there are three mage so they may give me something but they still seem newbieish so I doubt any of them could be beyond E rank adventurers." I said. "Shut up blockhead and guide us to the first wolf den." Misaki said. "I am, I am." I said as I write ''Fire Sword Harden'' on my blade and activate it to be at full power when the time comes. I still actively watched the men moving slowly probing the ground. They do find several traps and avoid them. After all, they aren''t that deep underground. That said, I have arrow traps and wall spike traps for a reason you know. Unlike animals who seem to have a rather uniform mana gain from death, humans vary and unsurprisingly this showed up in the invaders section once I labeled them enemies. I singled out grunts from the heads by mana I gain. Mage gave twice what the boss guy gives and the head mage gave five times. There were four fighters just a bit below the boss while the rest are grunts. One was a scout or assassin class maybe and was in the lead mapping the dungeon while killing the monsters. Obviously how could I let him easily map my dungeon. If there is one thing I learned recently is that I can modify corridors when they are empty. As he moves on I slowly cut off several paths sealing off a section of the dungeon and moved it around a bit and connected it back. It¡¯s like a shuffling dungeon. A cruel joke of a dungeon that totally screws with the scouts. "We are here, the next corridor has 3 wolf sentry and the rest inside the room." I said. The girls nod and Misaki grabs her sword and her body starts glowing. "Katana art: Iai Slash" She said and stepped out before her body flashed and she appeared in front of a wolf before he sword exits the sheath and enters in a breath. The head of the wolf falls soon after. "Fencing art: Lunging Thrust" Charlotte was similar and bend forward and lunged out before her Epee dug into the neck of another wolf puncturing the organs. I came last with a jump. "Sword art: Heavy Slash" The flaming blade shines bright and it crashes on the wolves body burning him and cut into the body like a hot knife through butter. Well the hot knife is a fact though I expected the grey wolves to be stronger. Maybe the blade is just that much sharper with magic. With the three dead so quickly the others weren¡¯t alarmed but that didn''t last as we entered the room and a fight broke out. This time it was harder as the wolves were alert and dodged but they had a simple attack method of jumping on us so with our speed we could dodge and injure them before killing. I just injure them and let Charlotte kill them off since I won''t gain exp from killing them myself but it¡¯s a more efficient fighting style to weaken and let others kill. In a few minutes the wolves were eventually killed with the pups as well. I had no use for them and didn''t know how to make minions out of living creatures and since we needed to kill them off it is best to deal with them at the root.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Charlotte was against it telling us to sell them to monster tamers but we don''t have a way to keep them safe and they grow fast inside the dungeon. She resigned herself to that fact. Though I did do something to brighten her expression. "The last room we can take the pups, since we will leave soon after." I tell her. Even I didn''t especially like killing puppies but we can''t transport that many either. While we walked I checked on my puppets and saw they were fighting on the first floor stairway. It was easier to manage them and the guardian took the brunt of their attention while letting the puppets slowly attack and kill. About a third of their numbers were dead already and on the ground. I look and see a large mana surge in the back room where the hobgoblin was. There were two others with several times more mana than him. As mana gathered they had other goblins move the infants into the room. "Seems the hobgoblin got himself some mages and is trying to escape some how." I said. "There are many magics to evacuate from a dungeon, dungeon monster invading another dungeon may have a similar method." Charlotte said. "That¡¯s not good." I said and grinned. At once all the wooden puppets vanished and appeared above the mages. With my orders they can spring out from below and that is what they did and killed the mage and vanished back before the hobgoblin could react. "Done, no more escape route." I said and turned to look at the humans in this dungeon. They were moving in five groups of four. They were quite far back compared to us since we don''t need to fear the traps. I look at what is available near each party and find a grunt party drawing near an arrow trade. To my surprise they had gotten very close to the mana drop flower point. On closer inspection the group had a mage. Since the guardian was occupied, I definitely had to kill them off. With them cautious though it will be hard for the trap to actually hit since they have a large meat shield with a tower shield in the front. "Put on spring trap here and make arrow trap activate with the heavy impact in this area." I say. Pressure plates are an innate resource dungeons have and don''t need to develop. As such I can put them in different sizes shapes and formats with different settings. I watch as the group neared the spring and finish. The meat shield was sprung back heavily almost crashing on the mage and smashed into the plate. Next moment arrows flew out making the warrior, archer and mage become pin cushion. For extra effect against the persistent roach variety that don''t die I added a poison as a finishing touch. Dead, the three fall over and their mana instantly go to me. The knight guy who fell soon stood up and look at them before running but soon stepped on a trap I made for heavily armored people. A thick spike sprang out diagonally into his gut piercing his armor. Sure enough he died soon after as he tried to get it out but that made him bleed out faster. I had some tests in mind so I send a farmer and gather their equipment and take it inside the farm through the puppet then leave the naked corpses. Magic staff, robe, leather armor etc. All these will make good examples for stuff they can grow. But my experiment comes from my thought on the guardians strange armor. Back to my group we reach the next wolf den and clear it out before moving on. *** What the fuck kind of dungeon is this. We pass several safe areas of traps but as we backtrack new traps suddenly spring out. Its is pretty much pushing us deeper in. Its forcing us but at least I can thank the gods the traps we can spot are easy to avoid. There are also only animals while monsters are lacking. Those brats must have already passed through. "Boss, maybe we should teleport out. This place is really fucked up." My second in command says. "Let¡¯s move slowly for now. We can''t be sure how many men are dead and we have no way of calling them anymore." I say. Without a wind or space magic, talking long range is hard. Space mages are too rare and wouldn''t be found dead in an adventurers party. As we make a turn we find a room with blood all over. On the walls outside was written ''You fools better leave somehow or you will all die miserably.'' I swallow and my men turn pale. The mage says the blood is grey wolves blood and the room is filled with dead wolves. It takes a short while for monsters or victims to be absorbed by any dungeon especially when near intruders. "Let¡¯s get out, this dungeon is beyond our level." I said pale and take out a scroll and inject mana into it which makes me vanish into space. The others follow me. We all appear in front of the dungeon. Those scrolls are dungeon escape scrolls. An expensive tool that comes exclusively from the elf nation due to their rune knowledge. "Fuck, we underestimate the fuckers skills." I shouted. "Boss look!" One of my mates said. What he pointed at was the magic formation. "What the fuck! Where is that formation!" I shout. In front of us is an underbrush that forms a pitch black tunnel that looks like the mouth of a beast. "Boss, maybe we were imagining things when we entered, they probably did something." Another man said. "Let¡¯s leave while we can, we will wait for then men in town. I don''t want to imagine how badly things are." I say and retreat pale faced. *** "To bad, the leader suddenly left somehow." I complain. "They probably had dungeon escape scrolls. It¡¯s an elven produce that uses runes to form a rift in the dungeon and allow the user to escape the dungeons dimension." Charlotte said. A moment later a scroll appeared in my hand. "So this is what that scroll those mages had were. Quite useful study material." I said and opened it to see a magic circle formation. "This will definitely occupy my time for a while." I said slowly reading and spotting the directional runes plus all the element runes but there were around 15 to 20 other runes I had no knowledge of. "Focus." Misaki says. I store the scroll and we get back to hunting. In about two hours we finished the last den while the humans were all killed off. The total mana gathered already reached 30k+ the other dungeon was even cleared completely. The hobgoblin had been infuriated but had died miserably to the guardians blade. The rest tried to run but died by the blades or claws of my puppets or my traps. We leave the dungeon and I wonder if I should close it. "Hey let me try something." I say as we exit. "Absorb dungeon mana." I say. All of mana floating over the dungeon magic hole quivers and a large chunk splits off and flies into the cover of my book. The next moment a new ball appeared next to the first one and condensed into crystals. Checking the mana I found that thirty three thousand mana points were given and the dungeon stayed with roughly two thousand. "So I can absorb mana without getting exp. Interesting." I say. "Let¡¯s go to the goblin dungeon." Misaki says. We head there and close it so I can level. I was already behind the girls who were level 15 each.
Dungeon still possesses living creatures inside. If dungeon is closed they will be thrown out at the position equivalent to their position from the magic hole formation. Corpses present will be absorbed Do you wish to proceed
"Yes." I say. From the hole a massive number of small white lights shootout eventually landing and showing the rats that escaped the grasp of the puppets or insects.
Dungeon Results until closure Invaders 1 Hobgoblin x 200 mana 2 Goblin mage x 400 mana 472 Goblins x 45 mana 97 Grey wolves x 25 mana 32 grey wolf pups x 10 mana 276 Insect monsters: 10 mana 594 Rats: 5 mana 1652 Insects x 2 mana Death Count 1 Hobgoblin x 200 mana 2 Goblin mage x 800 mana 472 Goblins x 21240 mana 97 Grey wolves x 2425 mana 32 grey wolf pups x 320 mana 276 Insect monsters: 2760 mana 1652 Insects x 3304 mana Mana generated: 3425 Total MP gathered= 31,049 Equipment dropped Steel Sword 69 wooden clubs Dungeon success 91% Reward to dungeon maker = 1/8 of mana is converted into Exp = 3,881 exp earned
Seeing the result made me happy since I got 1 level and more than halfway to the next one. If I travelled to the demon land borders, wouldn''t I be able to spam my growth with all the dungeons.
Damage to Dungeon 0% Requires first floor traps to rearm. 10% of remaining mana used for rearming = 2716
24452 mana remaining, Splitting 4452 mana and sending into Book of the Dungeon maker. 20000 mana crystallizing.
Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystals formed
The crystal descends into my hand and look at my book as I thought about putting it in the cover as a place holding. In the end I put it and the crystal is sucked into place.
You have over 60000 mana, do you wish to combine 3 Low grade Exp crystals into a Medium grade Exp crystal
¡°No.¡± I decline since I would lose the ability to distribute this exp. I open up a the minion page next to see their levels.
Common Wooden Puppet: Level 8 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 8 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 7 Common Wooden Puppet: Level 7 Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5 Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5 Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5 Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1 Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1 Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1
With the Halberd and spear user were in the lead and it seems the ones I want as beasts had the most trouble due to the posture but still got kills in. I should probably make an obstacle course for them to train in. The next few puppets I will definitely need to dedicate to craftsmen. I need tool makers and those I can set up to build new types of rooms. It also seems the farmers finally officially evolved into farmers. Was it the new hoe? Maybe it was, maybe not but since it requirements were met their Planting Root skill rose and they automatically gained the skills, Farming which gives them access to my knowledge of farming and it seems they are now producing fertilizer and spread it as well as tilling the fields while they grow the crops and herbs. In all, I had a good day work. The last thing we do is turn towards the river and head to the goblin encampment where we find less than 50 goblins remaining and easily kill them off, place a dungeon dump them and get a bit more exp. Chapter 17 I sit on a table eating dinner with the girls while tossing up three small crystal marbles. On the far table was a bleach pale man who looked our way. In front of me is once more a similar screen that could change how I do things.
You are about to use a Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystal. For what do you wish to use the Exp for?
Level up Base Level Level up Skill Level Upgrade Minion Upgrade Layout Upgrade Rooms Upgrade Traps Upgrade Vegetation
¡°Ace, what are you doing? Also put those things away.¡± Charlotte said a bit worried. ¡°Charlotte, what do you know about the leading wolf of the grey wolf pack?¡± I asked. She sat down eating while humming while gathering her thoughts. ¡°If I am not wrong, it''s considered a type of spirit. It is said to be several hundred years old but it requires one of the most mysterious flowers in the world to keep his strength. It¡¯s called the Moonlight Azure Bloom. It''s a very unique flower that grows solely off of mana but it only blooms under direct moonlight from a full moon. It releases a unique type of mana when it blooms and it aids in grey wolves in evolving but they don¡¯t become silver wolves. I don¡¯t exactly know what they become but soon after about 30% of the wolf pack would vanish.¡± Charlotte explained. ¡°So it follows the logic we know¡­¡± I said. ¡°Mn, silver wolves always seem to accompany a rare flower. How do you plan on actually getting it or attracting the boss?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Oh that isn¡¯t a problem, Ace just needs to make an appropriate boss room that can feed moonlight into the room. As long as the room or dungeon is filled with moonlight then it will soon be drawn in.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°That''s a tall order, well let''s get the room done with, let''s see dirt floor, grass along the sides, big stone center back for a bed for the wolf, room should be 24 x 24 x 10 and plant some random trees on the edges. Ground should be fertile and the room filled with a bit extra mana then the rest. Does that seem about right?¡± I say. "How big is 24x24 meters?" Charlotte asked. "If you put three of the current rooms I have next to each other in three rows that would be the size more or less." I said. "That is a large room, you can even make a small trade plaza in such a place. Anyway, that is an appropriate size for a boss room. As for the details, it seems fine." Charlotte said. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the moonlight.¡± Misaki says. ¡°How do we get that effect?¡± I asked. ¡°Well runes I guess... maybe? I did hear once that during the night of a full moon, moonstone gemstones glow as bright even if they are stored away without contact to the moonlight." Charlotte said. "Are they expensive?" I asked. "Not overly so, 25 silver for a palm sized gemstone. 5 silver coins for an unrefined gemstone." Charlotte said. "Wow, did expect for it to be cheap to such a degree." Misaki said. "It¡¯s not cheap, 25 silver is 2,500 copper coins. In our worlds international currency that makes it 2,500 dollars for one gemstone." I said. "Oh I see, I''m also sure this doesn''t take into account the various varieties." Misaki said. "Moonstones aren''t that rare, when polished it does make a beautiful gem but in truth only the category of rainbow moonstone is considered valuable with unrefined gemstones costing 50 gold coins and refined ones varying by craftsmanship." Charlotte said and looked around before moving her shirt aside for a moment and pulling out a gem that was very beautiful with a blue color and wispy cloud like rock formation as well as some green and orange mixed in. The gem looked like glass that had captured pure moonlight inside and split its colors a bit to show them off. She quickly hid the stone and looked around carefully. "The reason gems aren''t rare is because of the earth mana veins. These are locations where earth mana is abundant is where minerals are gathered. The mana naturally regenerates the earth with minerals so when metals are exhausted we just need to collapse the tunnels and let the land rest. Earth mana veins are one type of vein, they are all part of what is called the great Dragons Veins that exist below the ground." Charlotte said. "I''m sure I will need these stones to finish the room. I will also need to get trees and shrubs from the forest and gather dirt. How long until the full moon?" I asked. "Maybe 4 days, I have not looked but the mana gathering around the moonstone usually warns me." She says. "Then let''s do this, you girls return to the adventurers branch and report the goblin mission as complete and get the reward. I will remain and gather the materials needed for all the rest while you girls get a few moonstones." I said. "That is fine with me." Misaki says. Charlotte nods as well. With that set I press upgrade room.
Which Room would you like to Upgrade?
Wooden room
With only one option I press it.
How would you like to upgrade this room?
Change appearance Change material Branch to new type of room
I hit the third option.
What type of room do you wish to branch this room to?
Boss room Large room Similar sized room with different purpose
I hit boss room and it tells me to specify the details and the pages flip and a room drawing appeared on the new page. The drawing was modifiable. I change the size of the room first, change the materials of the floor, raise the ceiling add moonstones to the ceiling making it look like stars in the night sky. Then adding a large stone on the middle back area followed by adding trees, grass, weeds, fruit bushes and flowers, some herbs and so on. It took roughly an hour of discussing with the others before we finally finished designing the room.
This room was signed as a boss room, as it was created by payment of exp stones the room construction shall be automatic. Only one wooden room can be converted to the boss room.
Time until room is built, please supply vegetation as there is a lack of several varieties. Moonstones will expend more time and mana to complete the room.
Estimated time until room a complete. 7:00:00:00 if construction materials are supplied the time will decrease.
Would you like to begin?
"Yes." I say and one exp crystal glowed and entered the book. "Good, seven days I can decrease this time by getting materials but to generate the moonstone will take the longest." I say. "Then let¡¯s get going Charlotte-sama." Misaki says and get us. Charlotte follows while I get up. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. We walk out while I take a look at the man that tried to attack. He looks down frowning but I don''t mind him and leave. We leave the town and split up. First I summon the three new puppets and order them to focus on crafting equipment and to start an experiment. "I will designate a location where you must bury equipment. Once they are buried learn nature molding then mix that skill into the equipment. Also craft some tools, axes, shovels." I say and send back the three new puppets. Craftsmen are important so I need to set up a base workforce. I also wonder what other crafts skills are. Walking into the woods I walk deeper into the woods and soon reach the goblin camp. The huts were made of timber like a log cabin. Yeah I really was going to do this. Putting the pen on the log cabin "Archive material". The runes spread around the walls and soon the burst into light and I obtained over 50 logs in one go. The boss room walls were set to be dirt like the corridors that made wood a necessity to set up the inner portions. I archive another hut to have surplus. "Now I need dirt." I say and exit the village and saw a small mound on the west side of the village. Looking inside the village and how flatish the land was I figured they must have flattened the land. I walk until the edge. "Archive material"
Dirt is ever present around everything. Please designate where you want to take dirt.
"Archive the small dirt hill in front of me." I say. The pen glows and two lines spreading opposite directions and circled the mound. When it connected the circle widened on its own until it reached the flattest land. Next runes spread out and soon the hill burst into particles of light. In one sitting I acquired around several tons of dirt. "This is a really good method for flattening land for construction." I said to myself. "Designate material to boss room construction." I say.
Dirt and wood materials present supplying construction materials to new room construction.
Wood and dirt demand satisfied. Time until construction completion 4:15:23:45
"Two and a half days speed up, not bad. I now need bushes and grass, trees as well." I mutter. I walk around and archive still planted trees and after taking around 20 as well as 45 bushes, I meet the demand for vegetation dropping the time by 2 more days. Going to the water''s edge I find lots of rocks but after searching I found several decent rocks and archive them dealing with the wolfs stone bed problem. Now only a day and a half before the room is complete. "Guess all that''s left now is the moonstones. Oh right, with two crystals maybe I can upgrade mana drop flower into something similar to the Moonlight flower the wolves like." I mutter. I return to the empty goblin village and sit in its center and open the upgrade for the vegetation. I then press the mana drop flower.
Evolutionary options for the Mana Drop Flower
Mana Flow Blossom Heavenly Light Mana Drop Flower Mana Blossom Self made flower
I was really surprised by the fact that last option. I press it and say the main features. "Flower that grows off mana in the air and earth and blossoms only under the light of the full moon."
Features correspond with existing flower, Moonlight Azure Blossom. Would you like to evolve a pair of Mana Drop Flowers into Moonlight Azure Blossoms. Warning, due to the very nature of this plant, the necessary mana needed for this evolution will use all exp crystals and all stored mana to produce and will incur a -500 to the mana regeneration of Book of the Dungeon maker so for each flower planted for 2 hours
"Holy shit! This is a fucking high demand flower. No wonder that damn mutt needs to keep moving around searching for good spots to plant this thing in, the fucking flower sucks the area dry." I curse. Before accepting I summon the guardian out of precautions since I had no idea how this would affect my skills and summons. Finally I accept and the two exp crystals instantly vanished and the book visibly dulled from its normal white cover. I open and find no dots in the still open dungeon and even the farm dungeon wasn''t working. The mana regen was zeroed by the suction, no it was five hundred negative since it is two flowers. This boss is seriously needy but at least I can harvest a rare plant due to it now "Great, it seem I can''t use my skills until the book finishes making the plants." I mutter. I send the Guardian out to patrol the village just to keep animals out. With the freetime available until the girls return, since we promised to meet here, I pull out a wooden carving knife I got from the puppets and looking around I found some wood and took a stick back to where I was before and begin killing time trying to sculpt. I did mention I was a NEET right, so obviously I know the benefits of being a sculptor. Hey if I figure out the moon rune I could play around as that class. The moonlight blade is OP like hell since it ignores defense. For the next hour I spent making several parts and when I noticed I had a hand sized wooden puppet but the marionette kind found on earth. "I really am fixed on puppets huh..." I mutter. "Well, what do we have here?!" A loud voice called out. I turned to look and find that adventurer guy and the four others from his party plus eight more grunts. If I remember correctly, they had around twenty grunts. I sure cleaned up. "You guys need something?" I asked just before a prompt saying I gained the sculpting skill and it mixed with my crafter skill. ¡°Yeah, your head!¡± The leader shouted. ¡°Once we kill you we will wait for those bitches and teach them a lesson. You were really lucky brat for surviving that dungeon but your luck''s run out.¡± The leader shouts. ¡°Boss, let''s not forget that rainbow moonstone one of the girls had, I bet she is loaded or from some rich ass family.¡± another man said. ¡°Heh, that little stone will let us all retire and this goblin village is a good place to make a base and hire some peasants to work the fishing business making us richer. But first, I want to torture this fucker until he cries for his mama!¡± The leader shouted with a vicious grin on his face. They pull out their swords and all grin as well with the mage already chanting to catch me. ¡°Guardian, front and center!¡± I shout. BOOM! Hearing my shout the guardian jumps over several huts before landing five meters in front of me with a loud bang. Obviously even with his bulky size you can¡¯t underestimate him at full strength. After all he personally said his strength was on par with a boss monster from the 50th floor of a dungeon. It goes to show his own power and because he doesn¡¯t need to think much he can use my rune knowledge in attacks more efficiently than I can. All the men ready to run at me stopped and even stumbled. After all the power behind the jump and his weight, which couldn¡¯t be any less than 2 or 3 tons, caused quite a strong tremor that even shook the nearby houses let alone the men standing some 15 meters away. I, who was sitting down, only felt the powerful vibrations and had no worries though it was a shock how he decided to appear. ¡°Boss¡­ that¡¯s the thing that was guarding the gathering point in the dungeon!¡± One man shouted. ¡°What the fuck is that thing doing here?!¡± the boss replied. ¡°Oh, you guys know about him, heh, it seems I don¡¯t need to introduce you then, I will make it short and simple. This is a Level 75 Dungeon Guardian Puppet that I have bound to myself through my class. Take care. Now guardian, besides the boss and those of the six upper ranked members of their group, kill the grunts.¡± I say simply. ¡°Yes master!¡± He said and gripped the sword on his back and pulled it out. With the long sword in hand the already pale men lost all fighting spirit when they heard level 75. ¡°It¡¯s a Middle B rank monster! RUN!¡± one man said. All the men ran and I wondered what they meant by B rank. I know the adventurer ranking goes from F to A then S to SSS. Could it be a level system for monster as well. If level 10 is E rank then 25 D, 40 C, 75 B. I need to check that, I remember there was quest requirement so I think the lower ranks of adventurers is just by contribution but other ranks probably require strength. With the men running the guardian gave only a quick push off the ground, that left man cracks and lifted up dirt, and soon reached the first one. ¡°Make sure to bring back the upper ranked men.¡± I shout. With one swing the man was split in half and the shock wave from the hit reaching the ground caused a quake and sent a shockwave at the other men. My jaw dropped as I watched, I really didn¡¯t expect him to be this powerful. Since I had him tank he didn¡¯t attack much but could take several goblins each hit but he was held back. I never expected him to possess such a degree of power. ¡°I really need to test out his max strength, speed and other aspects or else I will blindly send him out against someone too strong and get him destroyed or against someone to weak and look like I am bullying them¡­ everyone besides that retard hero though.¡± I mutter. In a matter of minutes the grunts were killed and the rest were beaten into submission and brought back. ¡°Now then, I will warn you all only once, leave me and my party alone and I will leave you alone. Next time you come pursuing us I will throw you inside my death trap dungeon for you to die miserable deaths. Also don¡¯t you dare speak a word of the fact that the dungeon you saw belongs to me because that will be your end as well. Am I understood?¡± I asked. The all bowed with their heads to the floor. ¡°YES SIR!! PLEASE SPARE US!¡± they all shout in unison. ¡°Good now beat it and take those dead sacks of blood my minion killed and begone.¡± I tell them. In an instant they were gone and reluctantly took the dead bodies as well. ¡°Sheesh, so much hassle, still didn¡¯t expect it was so easy to order the death of another human. Guess I just didn¡¯t care for people who were being a pain in the ass.¡± I mutter and sat down and begin to carve into a long branch which I wanted to make a sword. I wanted to see if I could have semi crafted wooden weapons made into the magically infused ones if so it would cut production time so much. An hour later I had two swords and a wooden axe all poorly made but it was made. It was then that a group walked into the camp lead by the girls. ¡°This is a good camp, it can make a good fishing village and soon port town in the Devian River.¡± A tall man said. ¡°I am happy to see you like it, since we obtained it by killing the goblins we can sell it to the adventurers guild for a small sum of 1000 gold coins. With the fish available and the woods abundant in wood this village will turn into a port in little time and make up that sum very quickly.¡± Charlotte said in a business tone. Two very full bags landed in her hand a moment later. ¡°You have accomplished the mission, good job girls, that young man is part of your party I presume so I will have someone check his adventurer card and register this mission as your accomplishment. Thank you for the hard work.¡± The man said. ¡°Thank you sir.¡± the girls say and bow. ¡°BOYS! Get working, the village is ours and we need renovations!¡± The leader says. I get up and go to the girls and like I had heard from far away someone came and asked to examine the card we got and he did so before leaving. ¡°So got the gems?¡± I asked. Misaki drops her bag and after searching a bit she pulls out a leather pouch about the size of a soft ball. ¡°We got several, not many.¡± She said. I open it and see the gems all palm sized. I put the pen to them and say archive material but nothing happens. ¡°Damn, still can¡¯t make use it. Seems making the flowers the wolves cherish so much takes a lot out of my book.¡± I said and explain what happened. They were shocked when they heard it. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take that much more time, let¡¯s go eat then wait for it to finish making the flowers so we can add the moonstones and fix up the dungeon. It may take a few days for the wolf to enter though but it shouldn¡¯t take long if you add the mana flowers and one of the moonlight blossoms in the boss room. After that there may even lack space in the dungeon for so many wolves.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Yeah, let''s go rest first then get this over with.¡± I said. We leave the village and return to the town inn and pass the rest of the day doing nothing until I could use the book again and added the moonstones. With them put it would take until midnight for it to finish since there aren¡¯t many gemstones I obtained. As for the dungeon itself, I added several more rooms in the first floor to become the wolves den and left it as so. Chapter 18 *Sniff* A change in the air... No! In the flow of mana. There is a great change. ¡­ My scouts tell me of a strange dungeon, some of the pack enter but get killed attempting to exit. ¡­ I have sent some to set up dens within the dungeon, I will need more minions after the ritual. ¡­ The blood of my brethren flows thick in this dungeon. Tonight, four nights before the full moon I appear in front of this dungeon. My body is but a half corporeal form. I sniff its entrance but find nothing so I enter and sniff the first room as my minions have spoken of, it is safe from traps. This smell... this familiar smell... a dungeon of a maker. One has appeared and... this smell... Moonlight Azure Blossom! It seems the maker hunts my kind¡­ ¡­ It has been a century... maybe this can be a good home for her... yes this maker is smart and cunning yet kind. I can feel that from the dungeon. I call my minions and tell them to not attack the maker when he comes, avoid him. I lead my minions inside but the torch flames injure my body. Flames have been an enemy of my kind since the the beginning. The flame is the symbol of the sun and of Yang, the moon is the symbol of Yin and we counteract each other. As I step forth three pairs of two runes appear before me. These runes speak of my very being. ''Moon'' and ''Light'' these runes hold my power and only those who have watched and studied their profoundness know how deep such simple runes can be. They float into the flames causing the ''Fire'' rune to appear. My runes merge with the other rune and instantly the red flames turns into a dull white flame. The sweet feeling of moonlight washes over me. The flames surprisingly release moonlight energy aiding in the reconstruction of my body. Walking forth the corridors eventually become dull as all the torches undergo my treatment. Soon we reach the final room. A large door with a small Moonstone at its center stood before me. Placing my paw upon the smooth round gem it glows and spreads to the sides revealing a fertile dirt room similar to an enclosed jungle clearing. At the back sat a cracked stone platform which seems to be a bed for me. The cracked platform will make a perfect location to plant the seeds. My eyes soon move up. On the ceiling were many small moonstones gently glowing like stars yet one in the very middle took my attention. The moonstone was as big as a human''s head and rests in the very center releasing dull moonlight. Under the strong moon light rays of this moonstone my body reaches full corporeal state much earlier. The mana within this room is much greater, he has truly prepared a trap I am unable to resist as this is the exact type of environment the blossom requires. Speaking of them, I shockingly locate two in the center of the platform with deep roots already ready to bloom. They were already shimmering as they absorbed the weak moonlight. The longer this flower sat under moonlight the greater the power held within. Closing my eyes I feel my power surge and soon a single seed appears from between my brows. My ancient race has always bonded with this plant and searches for others during their life to give to offspring but few are feasibly possible to locate. The seed moves into one of the cracks in the platform creating a triangular form with the other two. I feel the dungeons mana be sucked up drastically. If this was a common dungeon then it surely would have already sent a dungeon boss to finish me. In a matter of minutes the flower reaches full bloom. It is no wonder it could, with two other of its kind, it is impossible for this dungeon to not be completely filled with mana. I howl to my minions to disperse leaving only the elites to remain within the room. These are the ones that soon shall ascend and thus require moonlight. I lay down before the flowers awaiting the days until the maker comes. ***
Your dungeon has been modified by a wild boss monster. Change involves a known rune and an unknown rune.
The boss has settled into the boss room.
The dungeon is currently in control of the Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf, Veria. To take back the dungeon you must conquer the dungeon.
Due to the dungeon being under the Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf, the dungeon has adapted to her, all torches now burn with ******** flames and the strength corresponds with the phase of the moon.
"Wow, I never expected a boss monster could take your dungeons!" Misaki said. "If I''m not wrong, only highly intelligent monsters can take a dungeon, especially natural ones, as their den and take the position of dungeon boss and conscious allowing them to alter the dungeon to themselves." Charlotte said. "Seems I can''t activate traps against the wolves but they also won''t activate against us. Technically, I can''t put the dungeon away anymore but it still belongs to me. I just can''t attack the direct minions of the boss." I said. They both let out a sigh of relief for not having to be careful of the traps. "How will we fight them?" Charlotte asked worried. "These last three days I have been training my puppets. I already have two other dungeons open to train them. The mage in particular have been teaching me a lot of combos with runic magic." I said. Not to mention the massive bonus that was being stored up in the wolf dungeon and the practical bonus my book gained. I already have two exp crystals condensed on the book cover. I already used another one I got to make a large room equal to four wooden rooms. The walls were left wooden and the floor was changed to dirt. I put a second room in front of it were crushed bone, unusable organs etc were placed and I dumped some dirt over and the farmers would regularly move it around spreading it and piling it up. This was a fertilizer I was preparing. High mana concentration dirt created through nature molding, grey wolf bones, goblin bones, animal bones, cut tall grass that the puppets keep short, all waste items we take from the inn. Everything is there and is making a lot of heat as it decomposes but has been turned into a strong compost. The farm as well has been left alone until the fertilizer is covering the ground so that it makes good crops. The field corridors on the other hand are a different story. Back on topic, the new puppets I gained I set as fighters but each in different areas. I had 3 learn magic, or in their case runic magic, and train it with the guardian. It first I had no idea how to start until I simply had them draw runes with the ambient mana. First the basic elements, the elements with shape. When that happens they underwent an evolution into Wooden Acolyte Puppet. I took one of these and with the recently successful test of the nature molding, gave it the robe and staff from a mage I killed. The test had the equipment buried in the dirt and craftsmen puppets, who have yet to evolve since the requirement needed them to learn different crafts and they would be one type of craftsmen, anyway nature molding when used on crafted items causes them to slowly evolve into what I am calling nature items. Their capabilities raise from 5 to 15% and provide greater bonuses. The armor also has an awesome look that makes the equipment gain a kind of green vein like etching on its surface. The robe fell onto the puppet and the staff in hand soon glowed as the veins soon changed into runes and had a subtle pulse. This greatly enhanced the strength of the puppets magic and I found that mage class puppets gain wisdom and intelligence but can''t speak. Unless I upgrade them to low grade through exp crystals, which also has to be medium and above or they level up tremendously to cover the exp gap, I won''t have other low grade puppets. Other puppets were left with archery and craft skills. 3 archers and 3 more craftsmen were made but not evolved. As for my warriors, I found they needed nature armor made of iron to evolve plus the helmet. I was able to evolve all three and now the table of puppets is like this.
Current minion Overview
Warrior Acolyte Archer Swordsman
Warrior (Halberd) Level 13 Warrior (Spear) Level 10 Warrior (Spear) Level 9 Acolyte (Leader) Level 7 Acolyte Level 5 Acolyte Level 5 Archer (unevolved) Level 2 Archer (unevolved) Level 2 Archer (unevolved) Level 1 Swordsman Level 12
Farmer Craftsman Beast
Farmer Level 18 Farmer Level 17 Farmer Level 17Stolen novel; please report. Craftsmen Level 1 x6 Armored Canine Beast Level 14 Armored Feline Beast Level 15 Armored Rodent Beast Level 10
As probably guesses, Farmers and Craftsmen are kept away from battle but an interesting fact about this world is that craft or production classes gain exp through doing their jobs. As the craftsman haven''t evolved, they don''t get this bonus. Something else to notice are the beasts. I figured out the conditions for evolving them. They must have the skill ''Quadruped Movement'' and must be bathed in over four liters of blood from any four legged animals. The evolution causes their body to become similar to a small member of their group, the head becomes like the animal giving them jaws with fangs, the hind legs become animal like, triple jointed I think it¡¯s called and the front hands become paws but the human shoulders remain as they are monsters giving them the edge in movement. It¡¯s a pity though that the armor becomes their skin and can''t be removed. They all wore wooden armor and the evolution happened when I added a helmet which transformed into the animal head. The normal head is below and unchanged. "I am still worried we might not get far with these numbers." Charlotte said. "The corridors aren''t extensively large and Cross-san has added foliage which restricts their movement as much as ours. We can only hope for the best, pray and fight." Misaki said. "She is right, also I will simply put the guardian as tank which should scare them away." I say. "Alright, we should finish preparations and close the other dungeons before going." Charlotte said. We agreed and after eating we did just that. It allowed me to get level 17 since the puppets let not a single animal, bug or beast escape so I got the 1/5 exp reward. And 2 more exp crystals, 1 was formed by the mana in the book plus the others, the other was from the gathered mana combined with the previous dungeon. With four exp crystals I could work with I decide to bump up my skills. First was mana manipulation due to my class being heavily reliant. One crystal is 20k exp and mana manipulation is at the start of level 7 with 42/4200 exp. It jumped from level 7 to level 10 with 5646/6000. Also I felt knowledge spin in my head showing me a level of comprehension of that skill at that level. Next was crafter skill, the overall skill made me curious as to how it worked. The result shocked me, the skill didn''t level at all, instead a flood information rushed into my head. It was all the most basic information on many craftsmen jobs. Blacksmith, Carpenter, Sculptor, Engraver, Alchemist, Scribe, Tailor, Tanner, Chef, Farmer, Painter, Enchanter, Jeweler, even Bone Carver. Information on all these jobs entered my head and when it finally settled the crafter skill window appeared showing all the skills... no the jobs, the crafting skill encases all the crafting jobs into a skill, all of them were level 1 and my head was hurting as I organize the information. Following that I level the Runic knowledge. All my magic users depend on this skill so leveling it up will obviously unlock more runes. With this skill at Level 6: Exp 2340/3600 using the 20k exp in the crystal I punched the level to level 10: 4340/6000. Instantly the knowledge of 78 new runes flooded my brain and appeared in my book. One hundred and twenty was the amount of runes I got for getting 72% of level 10. It will take me a long while to digest all the new words and go over their combos. With so much information swirling in my head I didn¡¯t know what to do with the last exp crystal so I stored it back until I could get used to the new skills. Sword mastery is the most likely to get the boost though but still my magic has been boosted a lot by the new 78 words. "Urg..." I curse and lower my aching head. "Ace, are you alright?" Charlotte asked. "Upgraded skills... to much info, give me a sec..." I mutter. "Start meditating, it will help clear your thoughts and help control the flood of information." She said. I activate it and soon my head stopped hurting as I analyze the information. Tools, workshop sizes, processes to doing something, all the necessary information was put together and after a long hour I finally finish. I let out a sigh and open my eyes, I find the girls playing a board game and talking. The voices that I haven''t been hearing at all entered my ears and soon everything was back to normal. "So... what''s with the board game?" I asked the first thing on my mind. "Oh, you''re done, took you long enough, we got bored and the inn is in low movement hours and the waitress here just happens to have a chess board we can play." Misaki said. "How long was I out?" I asked. "One... no two hours." Charlotte said. "Damn, we should go get ready... also now with so much new info I know how to make so many crafting jobs." I say. "Do them later, go buy us potions and sell some herbs so we can have some spare money." Misaki said and moved her queen like a bishop checking the other king. I look at the waitress that was sitting watching really enthralled. I sighed and get up and she notices. ¡°Um sir¡­¡± She says and I look at her. She pulls out a small sheet of parchment and hands it to me. ¡°They said to hand it to you.¡± She said while pointing at the girls. I look confused and took the small piece of paper and looked at it. The next moment I froze for a very long time as I looked at the paper before I put it down and glared at the girls that were no longer playing and looked any other way but at me. ¡°75 silver in food and drinks!¡± I shout! ¡°You''re the man so man up!¡± Misaki shamelessly said proud of herself. ¡°You''re going to get so fat in the future.¡± I say bluntly to her face. ¡°Hmpf, my daily training leaves me really hungry, also if I do gain weight, it will naturally only increase my charm since it will only fill where it needs.¡± Misaki said with a smile. ¡°Shinigumi-san!¡± Charlotte exclaimed blushing. ¡°You were planning on me paying?¡± I asked anger very present in my venomous tone. ¡°Of course.¡± She said proudly. ¡°Miss, you can take this girl as a dishwasher or something.¡± I said. ¡°Eh?!¡± The waitress exclaimed. ¡°Hey! You have lots of crops and stuff! It wouldn¡¯t kill you to sell that stuff! Just pay them in crops!¡± Misaki said flustered. ¡°Oh~? So now you''re worried about it. I wonder what it would be like if I didn¡¯t have such a convenient class.¡± I said. She frowned and lowered her gaze as she realized I have actually been paying a huge amount of money for them to be comfortable. The next moment she looked up at me with a teary eyes but I just simply brushed it off. ¡°If you can¡¯t be responsible for your own screw ups then things may get complicated miss maid samurai.¡± I say. The moment I said that she gazed grew fierce. ¡°Alright alright, let''s end this, miss, would you take the bill in fresh crops?¡± I asked. ¡°Eh? Um¡­ only if they are quality goods or else father wouldn¡¯t accept it.¡± She said. I open my book flipping through the pages examining everything going through the crops which are quite numerous already. I pull a single one out of each crop and present it to her. Her eyes widen at the variety and she looked it over and asked to see the innkeeper. I was already preparing a good amount to sell them when the man came running out. ¡°Sir, are you the one that raised these amazing crops!¡± The innkeeper and chief said. ¡°It is, my class allows me to keep them fresh in a secure space.¡± I say. ¡°My daughter says that these young ladies built a debt of 75 silver coin. If I can have 50 of each of the root crops, not only will it pay for the debt I will pay you 2 gold coins extra!¡± He said excited. ¡°3 gold and I will accept it.¡± ¡°2.5¡± ¡°Done!¡± I said and he shakes my hand. ¡°Quick go grab some containers to hold them all.¡± The innkeeper said. ¡°Don¡¯t you want vegetables as well?¡± I asked. ¡°We are a farming village so we produce plenty of those but root crops are rather rare and hard to raise here due to the wildlife and having small farms.¡± The innkeeper said. ¡°If I remember correctly the farmers just plant the crops randomly on the field right?¡± Misaki suddenly said. ¡°Yes, is there a different method?¡± The man asked confused. Misaki and I looked at each other with a wry smile and then at the man and nod. ¡°We will look into spreading it soon enough but I doubt the nobles will agree to it if we suddenly spread it randomly so we will need the support of nobles before we can do anything.¡± I said. ¡°Ah yes, of course, if you are interested search for Lord Holenser. He comes from a humble background and is a man of vision and experiment with farming villages but he doesn¡¯t get much success in many ideas.¡± The innkeeper said. ¡°Thank you.¡± I said and when the girl returned with a few boxes I deposited the carrots and garlic first then the Potato and Onions next. The man¡¯s eyes were shining at all the root crops. Food truly is the greatest exchange token in small villages. A world that has been in war for over 1000 years, to get out of this we first need to upgrade all the nation''s infrastructure before trying to tackle the actual war. Once this was done I went to the alchemist. ¡°You want alchemy equipment? Why is that boy?¡± The Alchemist asked. ¡°I recently learned some about it and want to make my own potions without the need to worry about purchasing things.¡± I said. ¡°Sorry but I don¡¯t have equipment besides what I use here and what I have made or purchased for my disciple.¡± The alchemist said rather annoyed before his eyes suddenly shined as he got an idea. ¡°Here is something, boy take this brat as part of your groups alchemist. Though he can¡¯t compare to me in experience, his talent is far beyond this old man and knows almost everything this old man knows already.¡± ¡°What!¡± The boy shouted. ¡°What do you mean ¡®What?¡¯ Don¡¯t you see a golden opportunity to join a hero.¡± the old man said. ¡°Wait how did¡­¡± I say but he grins. ¡°Boy you think I¡¯m so dumb. I have heard tales of what a Dungeon Maker is, that is what you are right, it¡¯s written on that magic book of yours. A class that is rare even within the hero summoning.¡± the old man. ¡°REALLY! A HERO!¡± The apprentice said. ¡°Okay okay shut up both of you, I was told not to rely on that title so I need to push my own weight so come on, I need the equipment.¡± I said. ¡°Sorry boy, I was telling the truth, this brat¡¯s got the only other set of cauldron, beakers, and alchemy set we have, even the extremely rare elven magic formation which I have no way of using I handed over and the brat found out how to put it to some use. Want the tools, take the brat, don¡¯t want him, cough up the coin and herbs.¡± He said shamelessly. I sigh really deeply. ¡°I feel like I am surrounded by shameless people.¡± I say. ¡°Oi! Shameless is another word for honest! Don¡¯t confuse the two boy!¡± The alchemist said. ¡°Fine, if the kid wants to come along then I will take what I can get. Just know that it will get dangerous fast but I have some ideas that may work for you to make. I just need to go over the information I obtained to make sure alchemy in this world and the one I know are compatible.¡± I say. ¡°Awesome! I¡¯m going to be part of a hero''s party!¡± he said excited. ¡°Before anything kid, name.¡± I said. ¡°Hermes Tris Flamel at your service Sir Hero.¡± he said smiling. ¡°Holy shit, is this guy the resulting combo of Hermes Trismegistus and Nicolas Flamel! Doesn¡¯t that mean his talent is enough to make something like the fucking philosopher''s stone?!¡± I thought. Yes NEET wikipedia searcher has also researched alchemists due to interest gained by fictions, besides that¡­ ¡°Ace Cross, just call me Ace. I¡¯m not like that pompous moron with the Hero class.¡± I say. ¡°I can¡¯t, you are part of the Heroes summoned group. Then how¡¯s Sir Ace?¡± He asked. I rub my temple and then begin imagining when he discovers the identity of the two girls in the party. I can understand he won¡¯t be so shocked by Misaki but the crowned princess¡­ yeah. ¡°Just Ace, I need to hide the fact I¡¯m a hero anyway so just Ace.¡± I said. ¡°Okay, but when you are recognized or in the capital is it fine to say Sir?¡± He asked. ¡°I guess as a formality sake but only if necessary, I hate formalities.¡± I complained. ¡°Sure thing, now to gather all my things.¡± He said. I began to think of something as to how to transport that workshops worth of things. ¡°Is there an empty room here or one with some open space?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah there is the bedroom.¡± The old alchemist said. ¡°Good.¡± I say and walk inside. Then I open my book and move a single unused room into an empty dungeon spot but remember that the dungeons magic hole are all used. ¡°Damn it. Old man mind if we pick the stuff up later.¡± I asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t I bloody tell you not to call me old man, as for the other thing, sure, since you¡¯re not leaving there is no need to pack everything.¡± He said. ¡°Good now trade me.¡± I said and began trading for lots of goods while giving him the now even higher quality herbs he was drooling over. I got 10 gold off him from selling well over 100 herbs not to mention the large supply of Mana Drop Flowers which are growing splendidly in my dungeon with the fertilizer. After a while I fill my bag with mana and hp potions and me and Hermes leave the hut and meet the girls in the inn where we introduce ourselves and I explain how this happened making Charlotte giggle and Misaki just look at him rather curiously after hearing his name. From there we left town after distributing the potions, and making sure to tell Hermes where we were going and he choose to come as well. At the entrance I had already summoned the guardian, fascinating the boy, and the Halberd puppet, the leader Acolyte, and the canine beast. The more canine blood he is bathed in I believe he gets stronger. ¡°Okay, be ready for the wolves, Hermes, don¡¯t even think of running and don¡¯t fear traps, this is my dungeon so I command the traps.¡± I said. ¡°Alright.¡± He replied nodding his head. As we walk into the circle and appear in the first room a strong wind blows from the deep making the strange white flames burn brighter and all around us an ancient female voice appeared. ¡°You have come¡­ Dungeon maker¡­ ignore my kin and come to me.¡± it said sending a shiver down our backs. ¡°This is the Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf. A legendary spirit, no wonder, it can speak human tongue. Damn I wonder if we can kill it!¡± Hermes said since he was already filled in on the situation. ¡°Who knows but since we should ignore them it makes it easier for us.¡± I said. ¡°Mn, let¡¯s go.¡± Misaki said and we walked forward with the guardian at the back guarding our rear, Me, Hermes and the Acolyte in the middle, Charlotte and Misaki on the sides and the Beast and Halberd warrior in the front. Like this we move in to fight the Alpha wolf. Chapter 19 I stand smiling at the solid ball of light in front of me. It was strange because on side was black and the other was white. Obviously this was the result of me discovering the ''Moon'' Rune from the white flames. In truth these flames are ''Moonlight Flames'' they grow stronger and weaker depending on the phase of the moon and during the new moon the flames will become common yellow flames as the ''Moon'' rune loses effect and the flames become ''Light Flames'' which possess a purification effect against undead. In truth, this is a really dastardly trap for undead and beings that are weak to light because ''Light Flames'' are excessively bright. Towards beings of light it even has a healing effect and it may even make holy magic and light magic more powerful. Now i have 79 new runes decorating my book which i will need to take time to examine well. "Come on Ace, you can play with the runes later, let¡¯s get to the boss room quickly." Misaki said. "Sure." I said and cancelled the spell making the moon ball fade into nothing. "This is quite an interesting rune. I will need to do heavy training to learn the real secrets. In every story i read stuff that are ancient always have some profound meaning behind it." I said. "Wouldn''t that eat up a lot of time instead of us just leveling up?" Charlotte asked. "Charlotte-sama, it is that method of thinking that leads to great knowledge being lost with the ages. The demon lord is over 1000 years old, who is to say he doesn''t know every know rune and their true means and can use them in exquisite manners. There is plenty of time, the war has gone for 1000 years, several dozen more won''t matter and i for one don''t plan on just coming for this stupid job." Misaki said. "Eh?! Stupid! How is being a hero stupid?" She asked. "You may not know this but in our world there are countless story tale fictions that show the hero and demon lord fighting to the last breath and the hero wins but the natives of this world appear and kill him saying he sacrificed himself to injure the demon lord so that the knights of this world could be to ''true'' heros that killed the demon lord." I say as we make a turn in the dungeon. "My mother would never do something so despicable!" Charlotte shouted. "I don''t doubt your mother and your twins but your father and second sister i wouldn''t even get 10 meters close to her if she was in trouble out of fear of her pushing the danger to me and running off leaving me to my fate." I said bluntly. The young princess could only frown and look down in silence. "Still all we need is to gain power beyond what the knights of the world could threaten. All the while we slowly cause reforms in the infrastructure of all the nations to slowly strengthen them. It may even cause trouble from nobles but in our world an agricultural reform always followed with conflict unless someone with substantial power showed them otherwise. If the humans won''t accept the reform the elves and dwarves may." Misaki said. We take a final turn and reach a small room with a set of stairs in the back. That said the room was packed full of grey wolves completely blocking the view of the floor. AWOO! A powerful howl comes from the stairway and a large line of wolves descended creating a pathway two meters wide and the wolves sat down looking at us without any feeling of killing intent from them. "T-t-there are l-lots of the..." Hermes said trembling. "Don''t mind it, the big puppet behind you can massacres them if need be." I said. I still grab the handle of my sword as do the girls and puppets. We slowly walk forward but nothing advances until the voice calls again. "Do not fear... i only wish to speak, Dungeon Maker." She said. Hearing the voice i look around and we soon reach the stairs and climb down. The second floor is less windy and i put four field rooms without crops for the wolves larger dens as an attraction. They lack the moonstones but they do have torches which most likely is Moonlight flames as well. As we near the boss room, the wolves keep a 10 meter distance at all times both in front and back. The door was open and bright moonlight was exiting and once we enter i examined the room i had not been able to before attaching. The ground was soft and good for planting but was packed by the paws of the wolves. The forest was high around the edges and behind was pitch black hiding the walls under the veil of darkness. In the cleared center were twelve larger old wolves with much whiter fur than the common grey wolf and at the very back was a large stone platform where a wolf the size of a horse lay. In front of it were three still to bloom blue flowers that expelled a thick amount of mana while absorbing the moonlight from the moonstones. Looking up i was surprised and figured out why i still needed to wait a while before the room was fully built after the moonstones were added. At the very center of the ceiling which was pure black like the night sky, a moonstone that was perfectly spherical half embedded in the ceiling at the size of a basketball lay there like a makeshift moon lighting up the room in a dull white moon light. I look back down at the huge silver wolf that shined in the moonlight. It stood up and circled around the flowers in a lofty arrogant manner and walked over. None of the other wolves stood and as it got half way the body began glowing and the moonlight began to gather. We stood on guard but was amazed as the moonlight turned into particles of light and gathered first to form a long white gown than a human body a beautiful face with pure silver eyes and long shining silver hair. On her head soon appeared wolf ears and on her back through her hair a long silver tail stretched down long slender arms with a light tan skin formed followed by the legs. It was the most beautiful image that looked like a heavenly being you could imagine. Behind her the imposing image of the silver wolf burst into moonlight particles and entered the woman. "Welcome young Dungeon maker. I thank you for not attacking my kin and agreeing to meet me." The woman said as the glowing moonlight faded and her feet touched the ground. "What... is going on?" I asked and looked at Charlotte who shrugged. "I am a spirit beast child, the form you saw was a form i commonly use and this one when faced with those i wish to speak with. I am one of the few free Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf, my name is Veria and i have a request for you." She said. "What?" I asked her wryly. "I am sure you have studied to hunt us for the mission to kill my kin. My entire being revolves around the Moonlight Azure Blossom and must plant it once a month. The problem is that if i plant it too early or late hunters of the demon lord come and so i have never been able to benefit fully and so i am weaker than what i could be after living for over 12,000 moons. I am one of the oldest spirit wolves still free from the rule of the demon lord but i fear my time is coming as the power of the captured has always been growing." She says. "What exactly do you need?" I asked. "Within your dungeon the presence of the Moonlight Azure Blossom is blocked and the demon hunters cannot locate this place. I can finally benefit fully and extend my life longer and strengthen my forces in safety and completely stabilize my body even outside of the moon''s light but there is another reason." ... "Once a century we Silver Spirit Queen Wolves will birth a new child. The moonlight essence we gather from the blossom is completely removed to make my child. This moon is the one when i shall birth my 11th child and i do not wish to have another of my children to be at the mercy of the demons." She says and looks at the three flowers. "Not only that, you have created two more Moonlight Azure Blossoms. When my child is born my own blossom shall release a seed for her own blossom and she will bind with it but because there are two more she will bind them. She shall become the strongest child i have birthed yet i am uncertain i can survive through this. My life also carries the lives of millions of my spirit wolf kin as they are bound to me in the spirit realm yet should i die they shall follow and that is what i worry about." She said looking at me with pleading eyes. "So what do you want from me?" I asked. "I wish for you to bind me and my kin to your Book. Even if i were to die my soul is kept within your book and after gathering enough mana i may be able to reform my spirit body and slowly gather my strength. As long as my soul is safe, my kin are safe and you shall obtain not only me but my daughter as minions." She said. We were shocked beyond belief. How powerful would a being like her be at full power. Giving her a few more flowers will greatly restore her power once her daughter is recovered and with the flowers constantly planted my dungeon would always possess a huge surge of mana but...Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "I don''t have space to bind the grey wolves and you." I said. "Cross-san, such a thing you are too stupid to realize. Simply level up your archive skill. You would let such a powerful ally go." Misaki shouted at me. "This is such an amazing thing... but wait how has the demon lord been binding other creatures?" Charlotte asked as she realized this point. "The one known as Demon Lord has long since erases this knowledge but only those of old age know, he is of an ancient order of Dungeon Makers. Today he is but a dungeon lord, a corrupt maker who has long since diverted from the teachings of the true makers and can no longer even hold his Runic Pen and the Dungeon Banes Blade." She explained. The moment those words left her lips the room went quiet. The three party members looked at me in shock yet i don''t react. "You knew?" Charlotte asked. I put with my thumb over my shoulder. "Got basic knowledge he had but it wasn''t detailed. Veria, what is that Dungeon Banes Blade?" I asked. "It is the short sword artifact on your waist. A sword that can cleave open the sealed doors of a dungeon and cut dungeon cores like paper. It is the fear of all dungeons but it is also the nemesis of the demon lords protective barrier. Yours is still not in its awakened form nor is it close to it." She said. I nod. "Ace! Don''t ignore me so quickly, this is big! If father discovers this, he will undoubtedly imprison you." She said. "Then just don''t flap your lips and he won''t find out." Misaki suddenly said. "Shini...gumi..." Charlotte muttered. "I do not wish to be rude but i feel even if the three official heroes attacked this barrier together they will simple be killed. The saying goes, fight fire with fire, Ace has become the fire to fight the demon lord. His book can hold minions we really have a huge reason to spend tremendous amounts of time to bulk up our forces." Misaki said. "She is right, although this is all so shocking and i don''t get half of what is going on since i lack knowledge in this field, i can understand that in terms of importance, Sir Ace ranks even above the Hero Richard." Hermes said. At that moment my book began glowing. I had leveled up the Archive skill and as a result the book was upgrading. It instantly surpassed level ten and went to over 50% of level 11 with the 20k exp. At the moment the skill is like this.
Dungeon Archive: Level 11: Exp 4728/6700
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon maker and make copies. The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the Dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen I the structure and say ''Archive Corridor/Room/Trap/Material/Vegetation/Minion'' Can currently make layout for 14 dungeons You can store only 12 different corridor layouts You can store only 15 room types You can store only 5 boss rooms You can store only 18 different traps You can store 12 types of minion. You can store 25 common non medical plants and 20 common fruit bearing plants and crops, and 12 medical herbs Repairs to dungeon reduced cost by 10% Repairs/Recovery rate of Minions is 10% faster Cost to cast runes decreased by 15% Dungeon attracts monsters and demons from 4 km away Dungeon can gather naturally from the air up to 10000 mana to run the dungeon and to attract monsters. Dungeons can now support plant life if they are made of dirt or other organic materials. Runic Pen Option: You can now access ¡®Magic Circle Pen Mode¡¯ and can return to ¡®Runic Pen Mode¡¯ by speaking either name.
As i close the skill window a new one appears.
Dungeon Archive has surpassed level 10 initial level artifact awakening activated.
Dungeon Layouts can now be connected inside the Book of the Dungeon Maker forming one dungeon out of many but can be disconnected in the similar fashion.
You can now Archive killed dungeons and analyze their structure to make them your own dungeons and make corridors of the same type.
"I have upgraded my Archive skill and can accept your kin and you as my own. Do you by chance know how to bind living beings? I have only done it with this large puppets behind me until now." I said. "Do the same as what you did with the Guardian. Simply place your Runic Pen over my heart. Once the seal appears, a great deal of mana will be expended as a soul stone will form within my chest binding me to you. My spirit wolf kin are linked to me with a soul link and shall be also bound. The remaining wolves will be bound during the next lunar ritual when my child is born and they are bonded to me and my child." She said. Understanding the concept i removed the pen from my pocket. The pen had undergone some changes as runes were appearing on the black body and it grew a bit bigger. I gently place it on her left chest. "Bind Minion" On my command the book began to glow subtly. "I and my kin accept to become your minions." She said. At this the book glowed exploded as a shock wave was released followed by a powerful gust of wind which drew an amazing amount of mana into the dungeon. At the center the white gown on the wolf queen was shredded into particles of light leaving her body bare. Over her left chest a circle formation spread and soon followed were runes slowly building the the seal. As the outer seal was formed it released a strange tribal tattoo over her body. A bright red tattoo with runes formed a band around the neck, wrists, ankles, half way down the thigh and half way down the arm on the biceps. Then it widened as runes thickened the tattoos. At this point the second inner circle was formed. This caused a red triangle to form on her forehead. Lastly several runes formed in the center which was several runes at the center. It radiated power and an aura of nobility. This was Veria''s true name. As the book began to dull the light particles that had her clothes returned and soon reformed into that white gown.
You have binded the Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf, Veria level 423 (82) This being a boss rank monster she can only exist in a dungeon with a boss room.
By binding the Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf, Veria you have bound 869,750 Spirit Wolves. They have all been stored within the Book of the Dungeon Maker within a spirit realm dungeon within the book. This dungeon is unchangeable and open for this number of spirits. The Ancient Alpha Silver Spirit Queen Wolf will also move to this dungeon when her body is unstable and will reappear as the moon gets closer to full moon phase.
I remove the pen as the gown regrew over the tan chest covering her once more. Still, although there was a noble air to her, there was a distinct blush on her face as she realized what happened and her eyes spoke volumes. "It is done, once the ritual is complete you can close the dungeon and we shall remain safely inside." She said. "I have to ask, don''t you need food?" I asked. "My spirit kin do not but must eat to grow stronger. As for the mortal kin, they require the hunt. In particular rabbits are easy and good game but if master can evolve them it can become better as monsters grow with a fight." She said. "Do moon rabbits exist in this world?" I asked. "They are a similar existence to my own, you would be required to bind a rabbit to the same flower and have them live as i do. We would regularly need to fight to grow and they breed faster than we do in a dungeon." She said. "I will see to getting rabbits or something to make prey for the grey wolves. Also expect them to not remain stagnant and just move towards spirit wolf. I have my own intentions for some." I said. "It is expected of course. I hope that we can be of use in the future." She said bowing and turning to the flowers and becoming a wolf again. I look at the others and unsummon the puppets besides the guardian just to let Hermes feel safer as we leave. "I kind of noticed but how do we complete the mission now?" I asked the others. The others looked at each other and Misaki put down her back and took out the poster for the mission. "Mission: Grey wolf pack rampage. Request that grey wolf pack is subjected or the threat of the wolves is quelled by other means. If reason for attack is uncovered and resolved then we get a bonus." She said. "Oh so it was simpler. We just have to tell them i tamed the leader and the pack fell in line." I said. "Seems likely but we still need a reason for the rampage." Hermes said. "Then... how¡¯s about the alpha possessed high intelligence and was leading the pack to train and evolve faster." I say. "That is plausible. If you show them the spirit wolf queen then our rank may even skip a rank since the strength of the boss was beyond the level of the request. What level is she?" Charlotte asked. "Level 423 but her current strength is at 82 with how she weakened." I said. Charlotte and Hermes instantly turned ghostly pale and began to tremble. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°L-l-l-le-level 400+ are all SS rank monsters¡­!¡± Hermes stuttered. ¡­ ¡°I¡¯m somewhat afraid to tell you the number of spirit wolves she has under her control then.¡± I say. ¡­ ¡°How many?¡± Charlotte asked after a long pause. ¡°869,750.¡± I say looking away. Thump! Once Hermes registered the number he fainted. After that i made sure to show them the information on the wolves amazing the girls. Afterwards i released my puppets in one of the other dungeons and we did a run in the other before we closed them though i leveled up only once. We close both dungeons and then after Hermes wakes up we head back to the alchemist. When there i archive all his things. The main reason, i gained an exp crystal from the closing of the two dungeons and with his things plus lots of stone i got i made a Large room with stone walls and floors and inside i set up all his equipment and put that elven formation thing in the center. It was like a large rug with a formation and when i put it there the formation lifted off the page and landed on the ground. With that done all the rest of the equipment were in different spots which Hermes told me how to put to make it easier for him. I even set up a space for stone bins were herbs and medical flowers i plant will appear automatically in groups of ten as long as mana was put in them. I don¡¯t know the runes used for the process but they appeared but cost a lot of mana. When i was done all his gear was turned into a Large Alchemy Workshop which i had attached to my farm dungeon. In retrospect i feel this farm dungeon is the only one i will never destroy and it may even become my backbone dungeon for all goods i need. With that room in place i place the dungeon and at once a massive draw on mana came out the hole forming a ball. ¡°Wow, the mana density sure was full in this dungeon. I guess i should open it up more and collect that mana every so often.¡± I say. ¡°Absorb mana¡± I say and the ball entered my book instantly forming two exp crystals on the way to making the third. ¡°The workshop is near the entrance, it''s the only stone room. Go check it out and i will send some puppets for you to train as alchemists okay.¡± i say and explain how my puppets can learn craft skills with good teaching and since he understood he entered the magic hole that was placed in his room and we leave to handle the formalities of the mission. Chapter 20 "Aaaaahhhhh!" A shout came from the upper floors of the Adventurer''s Guild in the capital of Heavenlight. The shout came due to our group. The next days after we resolved Veria''s request we returned to the capital and explained the situation. A beastmaster took us upstairs and told us to show him the ''Intelligent Alpha'' obvious i summoned Veria herself causing said scream. "This human is quite loud and unpleasant to the ears." She said in discomfort. "Sorry i summoned you during the day." I said. "It is of no concern, i have been able to absorb great deals of mana and moonlight within your dungeon so appearing indoors during daytime isn''t an issue. That said i do indeed require a lot of mana and moonlight essence to be able to survive the birth of my child less i lose my 12,000 moons of cultivation of moon essence." She said. "It is quite quick what we need. We had a mission to stop the rampage of your pack, since i, in human terms, tamed you the guild wishes to known why your wolves were going wild." I said. "My kin wasn''t going out of control. They were hunting to increase their level to possess a higher possibility of ascending into the realm of Spirit Wolf. If such an occurrence happened were my kin has injured humans i ask leniency." She said. "S-spirit wolf?! You an Alpha Spirit Queen wolf!" The beastmaster said. "No, i am an Ancient one, my power has declined to only 1/8 of its power due to being unable to allow my Moonlight Azure Blossom absorb a full lunar cycle of moonlight. This time i get four days worth and it may still cause my eventual death or supreme weakening due to the birth of my 11th daughter." She said. "One eight so level 80 from a SS rank sentient magic beast. This already equals an high B or mid A rank mission. You kids were in so much danger if not for whatever reason made her accept your service. I will contact the headmaster and elevate you to C rank which is the max contributions are allowed. After that you require stats and skills at adequate levels." The beast master said and looked at me. "At least for fighting classes, classes that use animals and monsters can depend on beast handling skills." He said. "C rank is fine, also i would be happy if you didn''t tell anyone besides your superior about her. It won''t be fun for me if you did." I said. "I shall call him this instant." He said and ran out. Seeing the man leave Veria looked around and walked to the corner before laying down. "Ah, the mortal''s have so many worries, it shortens your lives." She said. "Isn''t it the same for you?" I asked. "My worries are to simply find a place of strong mana to plant my blossom. I do what my true nature and purpose always was." Veria replied. "You speak of death so easily? Do you not fear it?" Charlotte asked. "No, the concept of fear is different for spirits. Death only comes to the body, our soul will just wonder the winds of the world. My true death as an Alpha Spirit Queen Wolf comes when my blossom is stolen from me. I will lack the energy to reform my true corporeal form and gather mana and moonlight essence that sustains my spirit kin." She replied. At this moment the door opened to an old man with a heavy battle scar on the left side of his face going from the back of the head down over his eye to his chin. He had an eye patch over his left eye. He looked at us then at Veria and his eye widened. ¡°Veria, long time no see bitch!" He said grinning. "Indeed it has been many moons that i left that injury on your face. Seems to have healed into a nice scar." Veria said in a charming tone. "You bitch! Just seeing you makes my blood boil and this scar ache!" He shouted. "You say that but the moonlight essence you obtained from me from that attack has done you well, isn''t that right Moonlight knight." She said. He sneered and looked at us. "I will commission your ranks to rise to C. Taming this bitch is worthy of that. Just make sure she doesn''t die because i want to be the one to skin her after i shove my blade up her ass!" He said. "Vain, you''re so bold..." at this point her body began glowing and transformed into the human shape causing the beastmaster to fall on his ass. She appeared and walked seductively to the couch and sat down. "I didn''t know you liked me to such a degree but if i had to give my first it would be from the front. I find it so strange, a human''s sexual habits, like how you use the back." She said. "Hmpf, even if you haven''t been fucked in 1000 years it''s probably sagging and loose all the same." Vain said. "Alright that''s good, Veria i think it''s fine if you go back, the more time you spend there the greater the chances of you surviving." I said. "Very well." She said and winked at the guildmaster before a magic formation appeared below her and her body vanished. ¡°Tch, damn it. I search for revenge and when i find her she is some brats pet. Anyway, you''re the dungeon maker hero kid and swordswoman right? Crowned princess, excuse my tone before.¡± Vain said. ¡°Please i am not going under that title by mothers order, you can call me by name.¡± Charlotte said and he nodded. ¡°Anyway, as stated i will need to bump your rank up to C rank, know that the missions at this rank are normally for level 30-50. I can only give this to you because of her level, her forces, and the fact that i received word that you have something around C or B rank on you besides her.¡± Vain said. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a puppet minion i got as my first minion.¡± I said. ¡°Right, well you can take B rank missions and so on. I think only that fellow with the long sword had as much success as you and is already D rank after taking four E rank missions and two ended up being raised to D rank.¡± Vain said. ¡°Nickelous, i think was his name, he is a strong fighter i can say that.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Anyway, what do you plan on doing now?¡± Vain asked. We looked at each other. ¡°Well, we were going to take missions but as you said, C rank are around level 30-50 and i saw b rank is 40-60 with just that goblin mission with the red ogre.¡± I said making him nod. ¡°B Rank missions are between level 50 to 100.¡± Vain said ¡°Now i think we may take some time, rest up, train our own forces. I also had a huge burst of information i gained on Runes that i need to start training and understand.¡± I say. ¡°If it''s runes then i suggest you head to the elven nation. I heard their hero has been in a pickle with how to fix the nation since her own world was more advanced and her magic studies are better but the rune magic is hurting her.¡± Vain said. ¡°Maybe after Veria does what she needs. We also need to talk with the queen. While we were out we couldn¡¯t help but think how incompetent the agricultural advancement in this nation is.¡± I said. ¡°Good luck kid, if there is one sour topic in this nation then it''s the poor agriculture. Nobles are hard headed and won¡¯t change easy even with imperial decree. They will screw up your method to make it fail.¡± He said. ¡°I don¡¯t need them to work it, i already have a working field so even if they fuck up i can simply blame their incompetence at following orders.¡± I say. His brow raises and he chuckles. ¡°Alright, now hand your guild cards so i can pass on the order, i will be back in a bit and i will inform the queen you wish to speak with her.¡± He said. ¡°Much obliged.¡± I said He nods and leaves before looking at the beastmaster who was on the ground. "Get the blazes up man! If you are shocked from a simple thing like an ancient spirit taking a human form then you truly will never surpass B rank in your life!" Vain shouted. "F-forgive me sir!" He said getting up. "Now get these properly sorted, i need to get in contact with the royal family and see if the queen is still within the capital." He said The beastmaster salutes and walks out with Vain leaves us to leisurely rest in the room. I begin to look over all the new runes and find it surprising to find runes for numbers, living creatures, tons of actions and forms. But not many had actual combat capability that i could use as of now. "What the guildmaster said was true. I really need to looked for someone to teach me to properly use runes. There are tons of runes that i don''t see use for but i doubt they are useless." I said. "We can check with the guild to see if there are missions near the elf border, if there aren''t then we can simply go." Misaki said. I nod and keep looking them over but part way through the beastmaster came back and handed our guild cards to us updated to C rank. He left soon after and i put the book away and took out two normal books. One had the untranslated runes, the other was a copy of my rune dictionary. I began to write the new runes within this book. What the girls didn''t know was that i wrote them all with mana meaning the book could burst into flames. This so was that careless mages who would steal my book would get royally fucked by the backlash of so many runes activating. Obviously this includes the idiot hero and the trash king. A few minutes later Vain came in and told us the queen was expecting us so we packed up and used the teleportation table to enter the castle as a means to not allow curiosity into the public. In the study room we found the queen. She first asked about the wolves and we explained the situation shocking her but making a smile appear on her face. After that was out of the way i pulled out a large parchment and rolled it out for her to see. "I will be quick and clear, i want you to change the methods of farming within the royal families own farms, the ones you directly control, and use this farming method. Once the crops are gathered i want you to spread this method to the other nobles territory." I said bluntly. The queen took the parchment and looked it over. "Fertilizer to nourish the ground, straight line fields, crop rotation. Sir Ace, as mighty as these appear what use do they make?" She asked. "I expected as much, first off you all probably use some form of earth magic to nourish the infertilite fields right?" I asked and she nodded. "It¡¯s quite expensive though since earth mage aren''t exactly numerous." She said. "Exactly, fertilizer is simply compost, put in a simply term, all the waste goods, rotting food, tree shreds and dust, bones and other dead organic matter when piled high and mixed with dirt and cover them completely with dirt, will slowly be turned into nutrition for the ground. Cow dung or chicken droppings are even better when used on the field because they hold unneeded minerals the animals don''t absorb after eating but that plants need." I say. "Wouldn''t that cause a spread of disease, rotting corpses and trash indeed spread those." She asked.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Your highness, i would like to remind you of Cross-san''s words. You take all the waste and mix it with dirt and finally cover it with a thicker layer. The dirt will block rats and flies who are the true carriers of diseases from reaching the rotting materials." Misaki said. The queen ponders this a moment and nods. "I see, i still wonder how we can introduce it without many troubles." She said. "Your highness, does this world possess gods of elements such as an Earth god or a harvest god." I asked. "We have the species god who rule over each sentient race and we have element gods who rule over nature. The goddess of earth is named Terresa." Charlotte spoke in place of her mother. "If you were to say that this came as a message from her, that fertilizer was like an offering to the earth and the earth goddess do you think many people would find reason to object if the crops grow stronger?" I asked. At that moment the queen and Charlotte''s eyes widened before a bright glint appeared in her eye. "By saying this, you are ultimately giving the fame you would earn to the goddess you know?" She said. "I feel it is better, i have no need for so much attention. It would actually be an annoyance to me and my travels. Also it can spread faster this way as it will feel like the gods finally taking pity on this nation who has such a pathetic agricultural development." I said. Her brow twitched as i admonish the nation''s infrastructure but she knows she can''t refute my claims since i am from a world of technology. "Then please explain the crop rotation?" She explained. "This is easier, crop rotation means that you switch between select crops in different times of years. The reason is that some crops absorb certain nutrients while releasing others. If you take a bean stock for instance it should be planted in a spring to be harvested at the start of summer and afterwards plant potatoes because the beans absorb iron in the ground but release a different mineral but the potatoes absorb those minerals the bean releases but not absorbing the ones the bean needs. This allows the ground to recover that specific mineral during the fall and winter season before the planting season returns. Also potatoes are a great food during the cold making a good crop for winter rations." I explained. The look on the face of the queen and princess were of shock. It was obvious they didn''t know these facts since modern science had only recently been able to analyze the actual process of what was happening between each crop. "Amazing, all this is amazing but it will take years to completely implement this." She said. "Mother, we don''t need to worry, for now we can put the thirty farm villages under mother''s name to do this farming technique. This will eventually alleviate the starvation in the surrounding area of the capital. With this progress, word will spread and commoners from far off villages will surely think of leaving to where more food can be located and with that it will force nobles to adopt the technique." Charlotte said excited. My brows raise and a small grin appears on my lips as i think that this princess is quite open minded and smart enough to think of what would actually happen for the next few years. "Ah, i see, if i simply collect information on the crop gathering and propose it, those nobles who think of others will instantly move to follow while the arrogant ones will eventually suffer for their negligence and i can eventually strip them of noble title and give it to my own supporters. On my i shall examine this a bit more before putting this up." She said with a smile filled with bliss. "Don''t forget to take the geography and weather into account. Different regions can raise different crops. With all the surplus that will appear being sold afterwards you will have to think of what to do with it as well." I say. "Of course, now i cannot take your idea without a just reward but you have already taken the most precious treasure." She said. "If you can pay in gold coin it is fine. Charlotte was able to get us 1000 off the adventurers guild when we sold a river side goblin village that can eventually become a port town." I say. "This will clearly bring much more gold, is there anything else we can give you?" She said. I looked at the girls for a moment and remember my puppets. "If you can supply me 20 sets of knight armor, 20 leather armor, 20 sets of wizard cloth armor and 10 of swords, spears, low class magic staffs and other common weapons plus 200 gold i can accept it." I say. "This involves bulking up your puppets correct?" She asked. "Naturally!" "Okay, it may take a few days so please have at least one of you remain in capital at most." She said. With a nod and handshake, me and Misaki talk with her about the farming of both our cultures. Misaki spoke of rice fields while i spoke of plantations. After that we had each accepted to stay in the castle. For the next few days the items were gathered and I Archived them. It goes without saying that i planned to make nature armor out of them but i went above and beyond and made four field rooms in my Farm Dungeon planting weapons in one and part of a second while the rest of the armor were planted in sets under the dirt. Now we had gained all the items and informed the queen i had intentions of going to the elven nation so that i can study their runes and learn magic to a greater degree there once Veria has birthed her child. With that said we went back to Hermes village and closed the farm dungeon hole and headed into Veria''s dungeon. The dull moonlight flames were burning bright white as today was the day of the full moon. Countless wolves were near the flames sleeping under the moonlight. Eventually we reached the boss room where we found the giant wolf glowing almost white under the bright moonlight of the main moonstone. "Master, this giant moonstone is truly a precious item. With each passing minute it releases stronger moonlight that the blossoms greedily absorb. I feel they have each absorbed more mana than what one would gather within a single cycle." Veria said as her own body absorbed the moonlight. "Has your power been recovering?" I asked. "It has, my strength has reached the barrier of level 95 but does not grow more unless i take moonlight essence. Even now i feel i still cannot survive." She said. "When will it happen?" I asked. "When the moon reaches its highest peak. This will cause enough turbulence in the mana to attract hunters but master will have moved by then." She said. "Has master secured a food source for my mortal kin?" She asked "I have purchased several white rabbits and was able to bind them and made a large dungeon for them to live in. I will eventually need to make another boss room once i want to create a boss for them but for now just common rabbits are growing. I will regularly connect your dungeon and theirs to a third for you to hunt." I say and she nods. "Then all that''s left is time." She says. We nod and like her, wait. We wait in the room and talk with her about her past. We were shocked to discover she had been captured several times by demons but when she was caught she used almost 30 levels worth of moon essence, this is equal to 90 moons of her gathering it, to summon her spirit wolves who massacred the demons and set her free once more. She has seen the early days before the demon lord and told me that dungeon makers were once a noble sect. Remnants still exist but have long since moved away from the frontlines away from the reach of the demon lord. I may be the only Dungeon maker in this part of the continent. The four nations we know are but one region of the continent. Beyond are much more dangerous lands that the demon lord himself doesn''t venture. His plan may have always been to assault the four nations and merge them first before battling the other but these four nations have always been strong enough to push back after the situation grew desperate and has left this war at a stalemate. The only thing preventing the four nations from advancing is the barrier erected by the demon lord but the barrier has a flaw where it hinders the flow of mana making the development of extreme demons difficult without the demon lord willingly giving them his own mana which is why his full force doesn''t amount to much but with time they still grow with proper management. All of a sudden the moonstone suddenly intensified to a whole new level and Veria obviously noticed because at this time a faint beam of light was descending on the three blossoms and the flowers were starting to move as they began to slowly unfurl. ¡°It is time!¡± Veria said standing instantly. AWOO! Her ear shattering howl resound through the entire dungeon. From the corridor we could see the moonlight torches were burning stronger and releasing a powerful moonlight and each wolf stared at them while the oldest and strongest wolves ran rapidly into the boss room soon filling it with many wolves. Veria stood in front looking at the beam. Her body began glowing as a faint white pulse began to emanate from her body. As the moonlight beam grow more powerful and looked to be filled with more substance the flowers opened more and more. ¡°This is amazing, the dungeon is focusing so much moonlight into this point!¡± Veria said excited. DONG! Suddenly a strange gong like sound was heard as if the air itself rang. DONG! DONG! Two more songs sounded followed by a set of three. This happened until a total of seven gongs rang at one time without pause and at that time Veria howled. She howled first making a powerful vibration then the twelve elites further strengthening the vibration then finally every last wolf in the room and in the corridors howled at once like a chorus of singers. The vibrations in the air was so powerful the effect it had on us was staggering. All four of us lost our bearings from the sound as we covered our ears and collapsed in the corner we sat in hoping this will pass. When one howl ended another followed in the same fashion. One after another they howled until an almost solid beam of light was formed over the flowers who had splendidly opened in their full glory. I opened my eyes and at this time my eyes opened extremely wide. The reason was that within the beam of light was floating one massive rune. ¡°Moon!¡± i muttered and something in me seem to resonate as my hand left my ear and i drew a ¡®Moon¡¯ rune but the feeling it gave could only be called pathetic and there were many inconsistencies. Another, then another. I didn¡¯t stop drawing them because i wanted the same feeling i was getting from the giant moon rune in the light. I didn¡¯t even notice until something happened to Veria but over Veria¡¯s head was a similar rune. It was moving forward and touched that same rune. Soon it released a blinding light and spread through the entire dungeon. The moonlight flames extinguished leaving only the Moon rune that was floating to release the same light as its faults were made perfect. Natures rune was in true perfection. The light also hit me and that feeling from the rune washed over me as i began writing the rune once more but this time it was more perfect. Another, more perfect still. Under this light these moon runes were made and broken. This almost profound feeling i got from the rune seeped into my bones as i drew more and more runes. My book was open and with each correction and more profound knowledge of this rune i gained the moon rune in my book glowed brighter changing from a black ink drawing into a perfect silver that glowed with power. Eventually that rune lifted and moved to the first page where a section known as ¡®Comprehended Runes¡¯ was created while the rest remained black and obscure. As i reached a point where the rune no longer improved i pushed more slowly making more fixes until nothing else appeared yet the rune still wasn¡¯t perfect. But then i heard a powerful but also weak howl. It snapped me out of it as is saw Veria howling countless times. The light from the flowers was invading her body and pulses were spreading out. The twelve elites were being covered in mist as their grey skin turned silver and they became more transparent. More than half the wolves were the same and more still were reaching this point but Veria held my attention as the amount of moonlight essence her body gathered was insignificant to the amount her body was releasing and gathering into a small orb above her. Slowly her body began to lose its form and she began to turn transparent. I opened my book and found her image. I saw her HP was lowering at a rapid pace and no mana was left in her body. Her level was dropping steadily 1 level every 10 seconds. She howled again and three light rays came from the blossoms into her body stopping her level from dropping but soon the essence leaving her body grew even thicker and it continued to drop. The blossom she planted soon began to split in half as a new head of the blossom was literally splitting from her own. Hers was wilting while the other was growing vigorously. As her level reached 10 it stopped and i noticed the body of a human baby with silver wolf tail, wolf ear and silver hair began to form in the light but suddenly a powerful suction force came from her as the 10 levels were instantly stripped into the baby who rapidly began to grow until she looked like a 2 year old girl. Veria looked like a ghost as the pathways of moonlight essence moved to the baby now and not her. ¡°Take care of her master, until i return.¡± Veria said and let out a powerful howl once more causing one final massive wave different from the others. Instantly my minions page gained a new minion, Grey Wolf. This meant she bound her minions to her daughter and in turn to me at once. Her ghost body suddenly gathered into an adult male''s fist sized orb and it flew right into my book where her name showed ¡®Body dead, reconstructing. 50 infusions of Moonlight essence needed to begin.¡¯ As i saw that i nod, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she is in good hands.¡± I said and looked at the baby. At this time the wilted blossom turned into particles and became a seed which flew up and into Veria¡¯s image as well. Then slowly a small chain of moonlight was formed between the newest blossom and the girl. Following that from the girl''s body released two more chains and tied them into the other two flowers slowly invading them and binding them to her. Below Veria¡¯s image a second one appeared. ¡®Newborn Alpha Spirit Wolf Queen, Nameless¡¯ I walked forward and stood just below her and wait for this ritual to end but for 6 full hours she remained as most of the wolves in this room became spiritual wolves and kept howling to their new queen. As the sun slowly rose outside the moonlight beam slowly weakened and the blossoms wilted and like Veria¡¯s turned into seeds that entered into the child''s forehead. The glowing energy around her slowly began to fade and her body descended. I hold my arms out and catch her very light frame in my arms where she snuggled close to the new warm body holding her. I turned and looked at the wolves. They were nearly as big as Veria now but were transparent with glowing red eyes. One of the elites looked at me and at the girl in my arms. ¡°We serve the new queen, Name her, master of the queen, so we make bring glory to our new alpha!¡± He said. Unsurprised that the spirit wolf was speaking i began to think of a name for the child. After a moment i looked up. ¡°I shall name her Valery.¡± I say. They all howled and turned into a dense fog that was soon absorbed into the child leaving the room bare of any being beside myself, the girl in my arms and the three others. Everyone was in shock at what they just saw. I¡¯m certain no one has been able to witness this scene in such close proximity and live to tell about it. Looking at the girl in my arms, i look at the others. ¡°Come on guys! Let¡¯s close the dungeon and get moving before anything bad comes after us.¡± I said to snap everyone out of it. We soon left, i didn¡¯t recall the girl since i don¡¯t know what is needed but i did at least retrieve a blanket and wrap it around her since she was stark naked. With the girl wrapped a blanket in my arms we teleport back to the capital and once more teleport to the border of the elf nation on the north east border a safe distance from the demon lands which also happened to be the Jagged mountains i first landed in. From here, we must trek and face the wilds but that is after all what adventurers do so time to live as real adventurers. Chapter 21 ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve been gone only a week and you already got a brat! I must say you''re quite quick? So which lass is the lucky one?¡± The dwarf blacksmith said as he saw Valery. ¡°Shut it Fatnose! This is a monster in human form. She is the daughter of a minion I recently acquired.¡± I said. ¡°Oi! Who you calling fatnose! Mine is reasonable!¡± He shouted back. ¡°Calm down Brock, he is just teasing. So what did you need?¡± Johnson, the head carpenter, said. ¡°I need a carriage, or maybe a stagecoach. We are planning to go to the elves nation and walking all the way won¡¯t be fun and let''s not forget that this child was just born a few minutes ago.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s better a stagecoach then, they bounce around much less since they are wider and more well built. That said it will take at least 3 days to build one. Unlike those rooms of yours this is a more complex work and not to mention the cushions and all that must be ordered from the tailor.¡± Johnson said. ¡°Mr. Brock, do you mind making the axis and wheels out of iron or steel. This is more so that we don¡¯t have to worry about them breaking?¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I don¡¯t mind miss, boy got any improvements we can make for it, since yer a hero you must have stuff we don¡¯t know about.¡± Brock asked. Thinking a moment I think of a seriously important thing. I explain what I know about suspension system and how to use the spring to suppress the impacts. Obviously it won¡¯t be as good as modern day suspension but it¡¯s a start and just this is enough to cause a stagecoach¡¯s price to skyrocket since the jumping and bad roads will affect the passengers much less. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get onto trying ta make these with the boys. Johnson, get building the body.¡± Brock said. The two men soon left but before that Johnson turned to me and said something important. ¡°You should visit the tailor and make some clothes for the girl, it would be bad to leave her just wrapped in a blanket.¡± We do as advised and visit the tailor who was an old grandmother type and when we showed her the sleeping girl her eyes sparkled seeing how cute the silver wolf girl was. She was still asleep but with me holding her sitting up she could at least get the more important measurements of the shoulder length, waist length and such. I asked for her to make just a few one piece white dresses and a few fur blankets, I used wolf and rabbit pelts as payment and material for the blanket and paid in coin for the dress. I also asked for a few coats for her to us. ¡°Heh, Ace you do realize you''re acting like an expecting father.¡± Hermes said chuckling. ¡°Am I? I did promise I would take care of her so I don¡¯t think I am excessive or doting.¡± I said. ¡°Yeah but you¡¯re a crude blockhead yet you are caring for the girl with so much care and even taking care to not remove the blanket from the waist down when she was measuring.¡± Misaki said with a mischievous grin. ¡°Stop teasing him Shinigumi-san and Hermes. He is the diligent father type even if he tries to make himself seem really cold.¡± Charlotte said joining in the teasing. ¡°Hey, I just don¡¯t feel right leaving her without clothes.¡± I said. ¡°You should know Ace, a spirit remains in human form until their level rises to around 20 before they have enough power to change into their real form. In her case, similar to her mother, they use moonlight essence to make their clothing but she can only do that after she gathers enough power as well. If I had told you that she can make her own clothes would you have been angry?¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I would have said, warn me first. Still at least it was the right choice, until she wakes up I can¡¯t really just leave her in the book since she won¡¯t understand anything but I think it¡¯s best to plant Veria¡¯s blossom quickly.¡± I say and open my book. I look at Veria¡¯s image and press it with my pen making the adjacent page turn from blank to showing her main information. At the bottom was a ¡®plant bound soul seed.¡¯ button. I found that soul seed thing strange but as I press it the blossom seed came out again. I turn the page to the wolf dungeon and press at the boss room and put it on the rock. It enters and plants itself and I see the huge drop in mana regeneration once more. The gathered mana in the book handled it well enough though and I send the guardian and farmers to tend to it. I also press on Valery¡¯s and try to do the same but couldn¡¯t which meant she had to plant them herself. Grrrr A sudden growl caught us by surprise as it sounded like a beast''s growl. ¡°Wha!¡± GRRRRR! Sounding almost like a roar I look down as I pinpoint the source coming from the small wolf girl¡¯s stomach. Her face was frowning and her eyes were opening but rapidly forming tears. ¡°Muuu WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!¡± She suddenly started to cry and it goes without saying that her cry was extremely loud! The tailor came rushing out from the back as she saw the girl crying. ¡°What in blazes!¡± She shouted. ¡°She is hungry! Do you have any meat or food?!¡± I quickly asked. The tailor quickly nods and calls her assistants to get some of the salted and dried meat. Soon they arrived with some cut slices. The crying girl stops crying and sniffs the air with tears in her eyes and looks around and soons spots the meat and looks curiously and stands on my lap letting the blanket drop before in a single bound crossed the room and landed right at the foot of the assistant before strangely trying to grab at the plate. What was strange was that her jump crossed 5 meters but now she was hopping up like a normal little child wanting to take back her toys. ¡°Give it to her.¡± the tailor said. The assistant lowers the plate and she looks at the meat and puts her face near it and sniffs and makes a frown and takes a piece and begins to chew it but her eyes go wide and she spits it back out with a resounding ¡®patui!¡¯ right before she started to cry. She ran back to me and looked at me crying. ¡°What do we do?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°What type of beastman doesn¡¯t like meat?¡± the tailor asked. ¡°She is a silver spirit queen wolf. She isn¡¯t a common beastman.¡± I said. ¡°Oh why didn¡¯t you say so, spirits live off mana or magic beasts with their attribute!¡± The tailor said. ¡°Mana? Wait the rune!¡± I said and took my pen and opened my book and found the glowing ¡®Moon¡¯ rune which was releasing the profound feeling I was able to comprehend. I drew the ¡®Moon¡¯ rune and as soon as it took shape and released its mana the girl¡¯s eyes instantly shot up to it with a vicious glint. She did a small jump onto my lap lunged at the rune and in one felled swoop caught it in her mouth mid air and as she landed she kept chewing with her hands on her cheeks and a look of bliss. Everyone was caught off guard before the old tailor started to laugh. ¡°Boy, this child is quite interesting. Since her race is known to survive off moonlight you should regularly feed her a number of those runes things and make a place for her to slowly draw in that energy.¡± The tailor said. ¡°I have a place, I was just waiting for her to wake up.¡± I said. ¡°Papa! Papa! Food! Food!¡± the little wolf girl said. She was pulling my hand looking at me with pleading eyes. The words she said once more took me by surprise but my party were shocked before they started to giggle. ¡°Why did you call me papa?¡± I asked. She looks at me with her big silver eyes and tilted her head confused then made a big bright smile. ¡°Papa is papa, mama made Valery and papa named Valery so papa is papa!¡± She said and asked for food again. I make a few more moon runes before she jumped up and fell asleep in my arms. I wrap the blanket around her again so that she wouldn¡¯t be seen naked again. ¡°Well, she is spirited.¡± I say. ¡°A child must be. Now let us get back to work, you, boy, should start to learn how to take care of her.¡± the tailor said.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Yeah ¡®Papa¡¯ you need to take good care of your little girl.¡± Misaki says grinning. ¡°Come on Shinigumi-sama, ¡®Papa¡¯ has it hard since he is the only one that can feed her.¡± Hermes joined in. ¡°Can you idiots stop this already!¡± I shouted. ¡°Shh! You''re going to wake up Valery¡­ ¡®Papa¡¯.¡± Charlotte saying blushing but with a smile since she couldn¡¯t resist herself. I sigh and the three laugh together. We go out and walk to the same house we stayed before. I let them go in while I open the magic hole. I told them I need to have her plant her blossoms to get the most benefit since it''s still early. The longer they are planted the better the result. In the boss room I find the puppets bent over with their roots out tending to the flower. The area was pulsing green. As we arrive Valery opened her eyes and it shines. ¡°MOON!¡± She shouted and jumped out of my arms and began to look around and saw the big moon stone and looked mesmerized by it. After a long time she looked at the blossom and walked over. ¡°Mama¡­¡± She said. A small flash of moonlight from the flower made her startled but she took a step back and closed her eyes. A moment later three seeds came out of her forehead and planted itself form a square formation of four blossoms. At once I felt a rush of mana when they were planted as my book rapidly released a torrent of mana to supplement the flowers. ¡°Puppets, tend to all the flowers.¡± I say and instantly the flow dropped by 20% but I walk over and watch as the flowers readily suck up my gathered mana and the crystals on the book vanish until all four are planted causing the flow to stop and slowly begin to trickle out mana from within. ¡°Okay it¡¯s planted.¡± I said and pat Valery¡¯s head. ¡°Mn! Mama told me to plant them¡­¡± She said. ¡°That¡¯s good, once a month when these pretty flowers die you need to replant them okay?¡± I say and she nods with a smile and hugs me and I lift her up. ¡°Now, do you want to stay in the little house or here?¡± I asked. She looked at me and looked around and up. ¡°Can papa stay with Valery? It¡¯s feels nice here but I will miss papa?¡± She said teary eyed. I smile wryly and thought of how I could remain here and could only think of making a bedroom through upgrade but all my crystals were used up to make the flowers. ¡°I can¡¯t stay for now because I need to make a room for myself if I want to stay in here.¡± I say. ¡°Boo! I will stay with papa then!¡± She said and hugged me tightly around the neck then fastened her legs around my chest and tried her best to lock them behind my back but her legs didn¡¯t reach that far. ¡°Alright alright, not hugging so much, I won¡¯t leave you but for now you can play in here, the big wolves will listen to you but don¡¯t hurt them or do ridiculous things or leave this place with any of them. I will be in the little house just outside okay?¡± I said. ¡°Mn!¡± She said and jumped down and ran off but instantly stopped to watch the moonlight flames curiously. ¡°No wonder the other children were caught by the demon lord. They are too innocent early on and have no sense of danger.¡± I thought as I walked past her but after I was out of earshot I called several older wolves and ordered them to watch over her and if needed softly discipline them on my order or if she does something drastic, to bring her to me. With that I leave and enter the house where the others were just talking. ¡°Ah! Papa returned, did you leave your little sweetie in the doggy daycare?¡± Misaki asked with a serious expression. ¡°Shut up glutton! Now what are you guys doing?¡± I asked annoyed. ¡°Nothing much, I had just asked Hermes how he makes the health potions he brought us.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Oh, speaking of which, have you been able to train any puppets into alchemists? I haven¡¯t checked the minion page recently besides when planting the seed for Veria.¡± I asked. ¡°You should look yourself.¡± He replied with a grin. I did just that and opened up the page showing all puppet minions class and level.
Current Puppet Minion Overview
Guardian Warrior Acolyte Archer
Guardian Level 75 Warrior (Halberd) Level 13 Warrior (Spear) Level 10 Warrior (Spear) Level 9 Acolyte (Leader) Level 7 Acolyte Level 5 Acolyte Level 5 Archer (unevolved) Level 2 Archer (unevolved) Level 2 Archer (unevolved) Level 1
Swordsman Farmer Craftsman Beast
Swordsman Level 12 Farmer Level 18 Farmer Level 17 Farmer Level 17 Craftsmen Level x4 Armored Canine Beast Level 14 Armored Feline Beast Level 15 Armored Rodent Beast Level 10
Alchemist
Alchemist Level 3 Alchemist Level 2
¡°Oh, so you got two of them to evolve, nice. That said, I can¡¯t evolve any more since I already have 12 minion types. And here I wanted to make carpenters and blacksmiths.¡± I said. ¡°I think you can still make them. I did notice that one of the puppets you sent me learned alchemy but didn¡¯t evolve I am not sure but there may be something else beyond it. I am sure he learned the alchemy skill because he now works automatically which isn¡¯t the case before.¡± Hermes said. ¡°Maybe the puppets can learn skills without evolving.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°That is a possibility, but since we don¡¯t have the time for it now we can only wait for when we reach the elves nation. They shouldn¡¯t be any shabier in blacksmithing then the dwarves considering in our fantasy stories they are the only ones that know how to work with mithril.¡± I said. ¡°That is true in our world as well. That said, I have heard the elves have a somewhat eccentric personality as a whole no matter what type of elf they are eccentric in one way or another.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I heard that too. Though I heard from master that wood elves are some of the stranger ones. By that I mean they seem to love hoarding flowers and plants of high magic content that can cause effects to the body when brewed into potions differently. It¡¯s said they have even discovered how to make a true love potion which makes someone fall into a trance and makes them fall for the first person they see.¡± Hermes said. ¡°For me, I heard of high elves, they possess a supreme hearty personality and it''s said that towards criminals, they take pleasure in whipping them in public to humiliate them.¡± Charlotte said. My brows rose and Misaki¡¯s lips were parted from the surprise of hearing how elves acted. Still what they said seemed strange. ¡°For us, elves should normally be modest but wear really skimpy clothes due to their free nature loving ways. They are also virtuous even though they don¡¯t fear showing off a lot of skin.¡± I said. We talked a bit before deciding to go do our own things. For me, I went to my room to finally finish organizing the new runes. As a result this is the full list I have formed by category of Runes.
Elements Shapes Unique Directions
Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning, Sand, Metal, Mana, Wood, Lava, Space, Storm, Steam, Blood, Life Ball, Spike, Shards, Pillar, Chain, Blade Enchant, Curse, Harden, Accelerate, Shrink, Explode, Trapping, Lengthen, Shorten, Widen, Rise, Fall, Vein, Pocket, Seal, Void Forward, Upwards, Curving Left, Curving Right, Backwards, North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest
Weak effects Action Trigger Beast
Slow Healing, Heal, Slow Poison, Poison, Weak Antidote, Antidote, Weak Fear, Fear, Weak Paralysis, Paralysis Lunge, Spin, Revolve, Guard, Slice, Slash Delay Activation, Slow Charge Spawn, Wolf, Tiger, Rabbit, Lizard, Snake, Cat, Dog, Bird, Fish, Bear
Locations Objects Measurement Number
Hell, Heaven Moon, Star, Rock Centimeter, Meter, Kilometer, Inch, Feet, Mile Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine
Color Stats Weapons Vegetation
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Endurance, Vitality, Health, Mana Sword, Spear, Lance, Wall, Bow, Axe, Dagger, Club, Mace, Staff, Bo-staff, Javelin Vine, Tree, Flower
Minerals Insects
Iron, Copper, Tin, Coal Spider, Fly, Wasp, Bee, Worm, Ant
I seriously wish I could erase the Insect section. It makes my skin itch and feel uncomfortable for some reason. That said the rest are all interesting though not many are useable in combat but in dungeons they will bring me lots of benefits. Like the minerals plus the ¡®Vein¡¯ rune can make a mineral vein of those types and maybe I can even make a mana vein with the element rune plus the ¡®Mana¡¯ and ¡®Vein¡¯ rune. I wonder though what the beast runes are for. If summoning things weren¡¯t so mana costly I would make a summoning magic formation with ¡®Moon¡¯ ¡®Rabbit¡¯ runes and see if there is any success but I would need to add the slow charge so that I wouldn¡¯t suffer the backlash of having mana sucked out of me. The rabbits I have though are spreading rapidly in the dungeon with already some 100 or so each forming dens in the rooms but the floors and walls are undiggable so they can¡¯t make dens there. If I had Exp crystals I could probably upgrade a wooden room to large room and have it be filled with dirt which would allow the rabbits to make their den inside that dirt filled room. Doing nothing else important for the rest of the day I pick up Valery as it gets late and bring her inside and close the dungeon. She got tired quickly and fell asleep. Like this we spent the next three days with very little to do besides talk. I did have two puppets each help the construction since I wanted blacksmithing and carpentry skilled puppets but neither were of much help without someone commanding them constantly. Eventually everything was done and a large stagecoach was built within the small town. The little wolf girl was running around it excited in a pure white dress that made her tan skin stand out even more. We pay them for the stagecoach and as the other three enter Misaki looks at me. ¡°So where are the horses?¡± Behind me, a huge puppet with large metal armor skin rose from the magic circle and slowly walked to the front and grabbing the wooden beam sticking out the front. I jump into the Driver¡¯s box. ¡°Don¡¯t need one, I just need to control the guardian properly so he doesn¡¯t go overboard in his speed.¡± I said. We all waved the people goodbye and headed out the east gate heading towards the path that the goblins came through on the largest road where the stagecoach fit. Soon I had him going at a good pace similar to around 30 km/h and so we just maintained that with me at the front being careful about the speed we ran at and any possible obstacles. Chapter 22 Within the Heavenlight royal families castle war room. A group of lights flashed and Richard, Marybell Heavenlight, the second princess, a young mage with white robes and a tall man dressed like a knight with a spear on his back appeared. ¡°Finally home! I need to take a bath to get this filth off of me, MAIDS! Honey please wait for me.¡± Marybell said and waved to Richard. ¡°I¡¯ll be in my room.¡± He said proudly. The other two looked at each other and sighed. The party had been much larger but those from the heroes that had followed him couldn¡¯t stand him and split off and he found this young mage who was a light magic mage and this knight who was a merc but decided to join and started forming a personal party. They both sighed and shake their heads at the princess. ¡°Haha! Now that we are E rank we can take on D rank missions and slowly build a powerful party!¡± Richard spoke to no one out loud. ¡°Sir, where do we stay? I understand the royal family gave the heroes personal rooms but we aren¡¯t heroes.¡± The knight said. ¡°You¡¯re part of a Hero¡¯s party so don¡¯t worry, also Mary can easily secure some rooms for you since lots of guest rooms exist in the castle. Let''s go eat something better than that gruel we have been eating.¡± Richard said making the mage frown. ¡°Is my cooking that bad?¡± the mage asked whispering to the knight. ¡°No, he is just picky.¡± The knight replied in the same low voice. They followed Richard to the dining hall where breakfast had been placed. Arriving they found Nickelous¡¯s party, which consisted of him, the priestess girl, a wind mage, a beast tamer, a hero archer and a hero knight. ¡°Good morning Richard!¡± the priestess said with a smile as they arrived. Richard frowned as he saw her, he had wanted her to be in his party since she was a healer but she had gone to Nickelous. ¡°Hmpf. You all seem¡­ well.¡± Richard replied and walked to the other end. ¡°Don¡¯t bother with the prick Julie.¡± Nickelous said after eating a chicken. Richard stopped in his tracks and looked back. ¡°Who is a prick! I¡¯ll have you know i got E rank adventurer guild rank after one run of missions!¡± He shouted. Nickelous didn¡¯t even look up but the beast tamer did. On his arm was a monkey who was holding a peeled banana. ¡°We gained D rank already, we got lucky that one of the missions we did was difficulty in the lower C rank so we got D.¡± he said. ¡°What! How did you start a C rank mission!¡± Richard shouted. ¡°We didn¡¯t, the mission rank was wrong from the start. Hunting down a pack of Devil spawn from a dungeon got worse when we reached their nest and found a boss class.¡± The knight said. Richard clenched his fist and looked at the seat that Ace had sat in during the first day. ¡°If you''re wondering about Ace Cross, i heard he got C rank and didn¡¯t get B only because his strength wouldn¡¯t allow it because his mission had an even more extreme boss monster who he tamed and made his minion along with the boss''s own minions.¡± The archer hero in Nickelous¡¯s party said. Richard turned bright red and turned on his heel and went to the end of the table and viciously at quickly. The two men in his party just looked at each other and kept eating before following after him and asking where he went. *** ¡°What did you say!?¡± In Marybell¡¯s room she was taking a bath while her personal maid filled her in on her sisters movement and her success and she couldn¡¯t help scream hearing she had gained C rank status but hadn¡¯t chosen to do more missions until their strength fit their rank. They had told her mother they were going to train in the elven nation to strengthen their magic and skills. ¡°This is bad, my sister is advancing very quickly with that bastard since he can gather the monsters for her to hunt in peace.¡± Marybell said in the hot water tub. ¡°Crowned princess is currently on the way to the elf nation by stagecoach. As the queen cannot send our shadows over without endangering relations since their shadows are better, so they must locate the teleportation stones on their own. It should be about a week before they reach the nearest town within the elf nation.¡± The maid said. ¡°That is if they are moving with regular horses which i doubt is the case. That massive puppet the bastard had can easily pull them along and deter monsters by his presence so it could easily be less time. Send someone to the elf nation to keep me informed. I need to get Richard to high fame while they are away and spread rumors about the dungeon maker and that samurai girl. The girl is easy but the dungeon maker not so much.¡± Marybell said. ¡°His majesty does not see Sir Cross in a good light, maybe he may assist you in your endeavor.¡± the maid suggested.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°That''s it! Daddy can help me out!¡± Marybell said and got up revealing her very large mounds and alluring curves. She held her arms out and her maids began to dry her. Just like all spoiled nobles she had never done things on her own. She took pleasure in commanding other people from a high place. She is far different when compared to Charlotte which is the main reason Charlotte is the crowned princess. There is even a chance that if Charlotte died Mirian would become crowned princess before Marybell. The princess put on the now cleaned red silk robes and wizard clothes and quickly walked off in search of her father. After some searching she found him in her mother study reviewing several strange parchments. ¡°Daddy! I want you to suppress that stupid dungeon idiot and the samurai hussy! I heard they surpassed Richard¡¯s achievements! How am i going to marry an a hero with no influential power!¡± She shouts coming in the room. ¡°Sweetie¡­¡± He says solemnly. ¡°What?¡± she replies. ¡°As much as i would love to help you this time the boy had planned ahead and moved quicker than this old man.¡± He said. ¡°What did he do? Did he run away? Is he trying to do something that will take my chances to be queen?!¡± Marybell asked. ¡°He got a large amount of support from your mother. He traded farming techniques from his world, both him and Misaki Shinigumi drew out the original diagram in front of me and after spending nearly 3 days to get their payment they went through the geographical files of our nation and even helped your mother decide which regions should experiment with which crops.¡± The king said and hung his head. I walk over and start to read all the files and things that make up their plans. ¡°This is absurd! He wants to completely destroy how farmers work!¡± Marybell shouts as if what was being done was the correct. ¡°No, he is putting us in place, both me and your mother entered what he called his ¡®Farm Dungeon¡¯. He showed us exactly what we are missing, the fields in this method make gathering easier, he showed us how to make the bull-drawn plows to set up the farmers prepare the fields. Fertilizer to help get rid of a tremendous amount of the waste produces we have, in the capital and all the noble houses, make then use that on the fields as an offering to the earth goddess for her to bless the earth over the fields. It was simple, back breaking but it was work that would produce maybe five or six times more food then we make in one harvest and as the technique is perfected in our own ways it will only grow with time.¡± The king said. ¡°You saw his own field! Where did he get land?!¡± Marybell asked. ¡°He transformed his dungeon, he is like a walking plantation and as he gets more materials to build this dungeon he will only produce more and more. All extremely high quality crops, he even left a large amount with us since he did not need it and could obtain the same amount in about 3 days with his puppets using nature magic to rapidly increase the growth and quality.¡± The king replied. ¡°Father!... We need to stop him! I want you to send someone after them spread rumors about him being someone of the demon lord''s side or a spy or maybe a demon in disguise!¡± Marybell was frantic. ¡°I can¡¯t, your mother has ordered all shadow to ignore all your orders and any orders from me that you wish accomplished, if you haven¡¯t noticed already, there are some in this room watching. Don¡¯t think of doing anything to them.¡± The king stood and said sternly towards his daughter. ¡°It will only end badly if we try anything¡­¡± He got in close and whispered in her ear, ¡°for now.¡± She nods understanding and frowned. ¡°Where are they now?¡± She asked. ¡°I had heard they wished to go to the Elven nation to polish their magic and skills. I believe you must have heard that from your maids. They will most likely attempt to gain access to the elves extensive rune archive.¡± He said and chuckled. ¡°What is so funny?¡± Marybell asked. ¡°It¡¯s the elves, you have never met one before so you have no idea how eccentric one can be. Not only that but to learn a rune in the elf nation it takes adventure guild contribution points. To make it worse, foreigners races must pay at least 5 times the amount of contribution points as compared to the elves. They will truly face a predicament if they believe the elves are an easy race to deal with. It is a shame i am not there to watch but i can more or less guess how things will go.¡± He said grinning. ¡°I think we should follow them!¡± Marybell said. ¡°No, as much as i want to support Richard, he is a lustful fool who is easy to manipulate but in the elven nation he will be eaten by them as soon as he reaches the smallest of villages let alone the capital. If you want to go somewhere, i shall ask your mother to see for a dwarf Sky ship to take you to the dwarf nation but not the elven one. Not until Richard hardens up and forms a stronger will.¡± The king said. ¡°So just sit on our asses letting them grow stronger?¡± Marybell said furious. ¡°No, there are things we can do like giving you missions through the adventurers guild that will benefit in his growth. He needs to go through life and death situations to make his foolish nature mature more and for him to realize this isn¡¯t some playground. You also need to gain levels, you sister has already reached level 18 in this short time. With the C rank adventurers rank they will need to be cautious but not overly as they grow but they can¡¯t grow higher due to their levels and strength being too low so just build up a strong force and slowly manipulate the hero as we like.¡± He said in a low voice. Marybell nods and walks out in silence. The king lets out a sigh and looks at the parchments in front of him and shakes his head. ¡°Good job, to think you could actually contain our daughter. You have always been a weakling to her advances.¡± The queen said coming out from a hidden door behind a rotating bookcase. ¡°Why must i keep her away from Ace Cross?¡± The king asked. ¡°First off, if she chooses to abandon the hero then she will be thrown aside by Ace. Ace isn¡¯t a stupid man like Richard. Richard is a good man to have as a figurehead, the perfect prince-like figure but he is far from being a hero. Nickelous and Ace are the smartest of the heroes, Misaki possess immense skill, several others are very talented with magic and if i sent them to learn from Ace after he returns from the elf nation they will not only cause our nation''s magical prowess to boom but will also allow our nation to start developing magical artifacts like never before. The only ones we get from dungeons are too mysterious. Research is too slow and we have only been able to make the lowest trash level artifacts due to the engraving skill and we still lack the runes to improve them. You know Ace found out his puppets could make low grade artifacts from equipment which now equip his puppets.¡± The queen said. ¡°I had witnessed that yes, i saw the mages and warrior puppets with the metal armor yet it looked to have veins. He must have used some skill the puppets had but we already know we can¡¯t rely on that or else we will rely on him and the artifacts were low grade. That said, if he found out how to make true artifacts then we can only bow our heads and ask him to teach us.¡± The king said. ¡°I see you understand our current position. I doubt we can contain Ace within the borders of the four frontline nations.¡± The queen said. ¡°If he leaves that is one thing off my shoulders but i hate that his personality makes him the kind to not care about our situation.¡± The king said. ¡°He simply is low key, when the time comes he will help.¡± The queen said and looked at the bookshelf. In the inside was a simple room with a single pedestal. On top of it it was a short sword that was as dull white with some runes on its body but all of it looked to have lost life a long time ago and had nicks and a rust over it. ¡°Whether it¡¯s for his or for our own good, this sword will eventually reach his hands but when that day will come only the gods know and what comes from that¡­ maybe even they don¡¯t know.¡± The queen said and closed the rotating bookcase hiding the sword and walked out. Book 2 Chapter 1 Patapataptapta The sound of dirt and gravel under the stagecoach signalled the passing of travellers. For most they would think it''s a common traveller until they actually see said stagecoach. Although the stagecoach would rank as low grade to nobles, this one would still be accepted by lower ranking ones. What made this specific stagecoach different was the fact that a large muscular looking 2 meter tall living puppet was pulling said stagecoach as if it was a small toy. This was Ace and his party. They have already long since left the Jagged Mountain heading North East. The destination was the elven nation and they were already nearing the border town of Vine Grove City. This town was named as such because it was built at the border between the Sandtrap flatlands and the Dark Vine forest. The flatlands were a place that possessed numerous underground monsters with its top predator being the Sandworm. Giant half meter wide 5 meter long earthworms known to gobble up a grown man whole. ¡°PAPA!! I''m hungry!¡± shouted a small silver haired, tan skinned wolf girl that looked to be around three years of age. ¡°Didn''t I give you ten moon runes five minutes ago?¡± ace asked. ¡°Their getting boring make me something better!¡± she complained. Ace sighs and starts thinking. ¡°She is getting really demanding. Should cut this before it escalates.¡± I thought. ¡°No, you will wait inside with Char or Aunty and will only get a few more runes after lunch.¡± I said. ¡°Muuu~!¡± she becomes teary eyed but after a week of being with her and suffering through her tantrums I have developed a small bit of resistance to her cries. I flash a glare and tell the Guardian to slow down by half so I wouldn''t have to worry about driving ¡°Don''t give me that! Do you want to end up like Auntie, a glutton who will eventually be a big fatty?¡± I said loud enough for it to enter the stagecoach. Valery pouts teary eyed but gently shakes her head. ¡°Then go play with Char, we are going to take a break soon to eat.¡± I said and she solemnly jumps through the window. Being agile and small she naturally fits inside with room to spare. I spur the Guardian to go faster and we accelerate to 40 km/h again. As we reach the end of the forest opening to a wide, somewhat hilly but mostly flat, plains I stop the stage coach about one hundred meters from the forest. I summon some new puppets that hold wooden lumberjack axes and tell them to get a bit of firewood. Then I begin to gather rocks to make a fire pit. The others got out and began to stretch while Misaki came over glaring. ¡°Hey ¡®papa¡¯ what was that about calling me a fatty!¡± she said. ¡°Calm down ¡®Auntie¡¯, I was just making sure Valery doesn''t get taken down the wrong path.¡± I said with a grin. She sneered as I call up an archived Cauldron. Yes I need to cook in this thing because of a certain someone''s monstrous eating habits. I bring up the loot window which had a tremendous amount of butchered byproducts and I press on the rabbit meat then open the vegetable section and bring out some onions and Garlic to season. I really need to expand my repertoire of spices but sadly the human nation lack accessible food products. Let¡¯s hope that in the coming years the fields and rotation farming will drastically drop the price of food. Taking the meat out I begin to cut the meat along the muscle. This is a cooking technique which will allow the meat to remain tender and not make the meat hard when cooked. Then I make a water rune which causes a small stream of water to flow for 10 seconds like a faucet. With five runes the cauldron is filled halfway. The puppets return and I start to stack the meat and make a tripod with the sticks and tie the cauldron over it. Then in the middle of the pile of wood I sent a fire rune inside causing a few branches and the grass to catch fire and starts to burn the green wood. While the fire slowly grew I took out a pan and filled it with water and then retrieved some potatoes, washed than peeled them and returned to the cauldron and cut the potatoes inside then added the onions that were peeled as well followed by the garlic that was crushed then I mixed it. I know I am not the best cook and am pretty much throwing ingredients together but out of us three I at least make something edible. I''m sure I did something wrong but I was someone who survived off instant noodles so when cooking I go by the bits of knowledge of what I saw on TV. Valery was sulking next to me but when Charlotte came and began to play with her she brightened up. Her little tail kept wagging showing how much she liked to play. Soon after the food was ready, rabbit meat and potato stew. Once the potatoes thickened the broth and the water evaporated to a degree I served them. It was a bit better than I expected it to be but it was simpler as well. After lunch Valery came with a pleading gaze while gripping the white dress while embarrassed to ask for a rune snack. I smiled and pet her showing a sign that I will give her some. She smiles and sits on my legs that were crossed and acted as her chair. Thinking about it she likes the moon rune but her race lives off moonlight. I stick my hand out and draw the ¡®Moon Light¡¯ runes that merge and begin giving off a faint moonlight. Her eyes flash as she takes it and instantly makes a blissful face like the first rune she ate. ¡°Papa! More!¡± she said. ¡°No, that was a special one, if you want more then you need to be a good girl and I will reward you with them. If not then I won''t.¡± I said. ¡°I''m a good girl! I''m a good girl! Please papa!¡± she said standing and looking at me with determined eyes. ¡°Just one more.¡± I said. I drew another and she ate it happily and sat on my lap. ¡°She is really getting attached to you.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°¡®Papa¡¯ is a doting daddy. Of course she will like him when he spoils her.¡± Misaki said. I glare at her and an idea surfaced. She doesn''t like being called Auntie but she lets it pass but I wonder about hearing it in japanese. I bend over and whisper into Valery¡¯s ear so they don''t here.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The Valery hops off and walks over. ¡°Oba-sama, do you like Valery?¡± Valery asked. Misaki completely froze as if she heard the most destructive line. Charlotte was curious about what ¡®Oba-sama¡¯ means so I explained. ¡°Cross! Don''t teach her things like this!¡± Misaki shouted. ¡°But you are her Auntie right, I just taught her how to say it more respectfully.¡± I said. ¡°You bastard!¡± she replied. ¡°If it''s like that I can always teach her to call you ¡®Oka-san¡¯ or ¡®Saki-nee¡¯.¡± I said grinning triumphantly. She was grinding her teeth as she looked down at Valery. ¡°Don¡¯t do everything he says. Oba means old lady, do I look old?¡± Misaki asked and Valery shook her head. ¡°Then Valery from now on call her Saki-nee. Her name is Misaki and ¡®nee¡¯ means big sister.¡± I quickly said. Valery¡¯s eyes shined. ¡°Saki is my big sister then. I will also call Char, Char-nee since she is my big sister as well.¡± Valery said with a big bright smile. Misaki was about to reject it but when she saw that smile it was impossible for her to deny the little wolf girl her desire. BOOM At that moment a huge explosion came from the plains no more than two hundred meters away. When we looked we saw a man in the air followed by a 5 meter long worm coming out of the ground. The man was tossed our way and soon slammed into the ground not even 5 meters away. We all got up quick and pulled out our weapons. I ran over to the man and saw he was dirty and full of wounds. I use Heal Light making a strong healing light over us. This was one of the new runes I got and recently been testing. This rune is 5 times more potent than the weak heal rune. Very quickly the vitality of the man as he was under the light returned and his wounds slowly healed as the dirt was pushed out. Suddenly the giant worm shot out of the ground and began to fall over us two but at that moment the Guardian sprang out and gave a simple punch to the side of the head breaking several of the teeth inside and making green blood burst from the mouth as well as sending the worm to the ground. It was still alive as it landed and after a bit it got up and screeched. ¡°What the hell is that!¡± I shouted. ¡°It''s a Sandworm! An adult one at that! They are commonly in the level 60¡¯s range by adulthood!¡± Charlotte shouted. I frown and sent the Guardian to kill it. 15 levels may seem like a lot but when you put it on the table, the guardian is much weaker even if he is made of metal. The metal skin was actually weaker than common metal armor even with it restored. The day I make my own true Low Grade Guardians, it will most likely be stronger than this one and my knowledge of runes will also be much greater but then, that aspect will be spread to all puppets. The Guardian pulls the wooden long sword, one that had been made by the more skilled Farmers and craftsmen, who are still unable to evolve since I haven¡¯t leveled up my archive skill yet. The Worm jumps at us and the Guardian lunged out and with a horizontal slash he cut the right side of the worms head causing more blood to spew out but then he was bitten and acids began to fall on his armor. He dropped the sword and grabbed the worm before he started to pull until he completely stretched it and from the cut he made he ripped the worm open killing it. After it had finished it picked up the sword, sheathed it back and then walked over. His left side was half melted. ¡°Return to the book and restore yourself.¡± I said. ¡°Yes master.¡± He said and became a light before returning to the book. I looked at his icon and my eyes widen when I saw that the worm took more than 60% of his HP. As I looked at this, the man stirred. ¡°Urg¡­.¡± He said and slowly got up before he saw the runes. ¡°Oh thank you¡­ urg my sides.¡± He said. ¡°Hey calm down, stay laying down until you''re fully healed.¡± I said and made another Heal light over him. Thankfully it stacks so with two he was healing rather quick. He nods but he also takes some water and washes his face off and that was when I noticed the two long ears and after the dirt was off I saw he had sky blue hair and fair skin. ¡°You¡¯re an elf!¡± I exclaimed. When I said that he looked at me and noticed my ears. ¡°You''re a human? Since when did humans know runic magic?¡± He asked. ¡°Only I know, most wouldn¡¯t since it''s still not widely spread.¡± I say. ¡°So what was up with the worm?¡± ¡°I was out hunting in the flatlands when that thing attacked. I was able to lead it away before it pushed me underground hurting me so much before it came out here.¡± He said. ¡°Wow! Are those worms common?¡± I asked. ¡°Sadly it¡¯s more common than we would hope. They are the top predator on the Sandtrap Flatlands.¡± Charlotte said for the man. ¡°So we need to go through here? Won¡¯t that be too much of a hassle, the guardian took 60% of damage and would need at least 2 hours to be repaired.¡± I said. ¡°I can help with that.¡± The man said and pulled out a scroll and opened it revealing a magic formation. He put his hand on it and it suddenly a blood red light shot out climbing kilometers like a signal flare and then blew up making a very powerful shockwave and sound. ¡°There, my companions and guard troop should be heading this way now and we can escort you all for saving me.¡± He says. ¡°What were you doing out here?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°We were out hunting. Sand Hogs and Mole are staple food in Vine Grove city but to get it we need hunters and my troop are one such group. Although we are a guard unit, we need to help provide for the town but we get fantastic recompense for the dangerous work.¡± He says and makes a solemn laugh. ¡°We forgot to introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Ace Cross and this little one is Valery.¡± ¡°I am Charlotte Light.¡± Charlotte says and I look at her and she makes a gesture with her eyes for me to not question it. ¡°I¡¯m Shinigumi Misaki, Misaki is my given name but please refer to me by my family name.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Hermes Tris Flannel, alchemist of this group.¡± Hermes said. ¡°I¡¯m Zenos Trosvine. I am Vice captain of the 15th platoon of Vine Grove city¡¯s guard unit and am one of 10 platoons responsible for gathering food.¡± He said. ¡°Ace¡­ I saw that puppet as I woke up¡­ where did you find it?¡± ¡°I got it as a reward for helping the last invasion of the demons. I guided the villagers in the region to throw the demons in that herd into chaos and kill them without casualties.¡± I said but keeping the dungeon maker part out. ¡°I see, so you¡¯re one of the human heroes then¡­ no casualties¡­ Ah the dungeon maker hero! Your name was heard quite a lot in Vine Grove due to the people in Jagged Mountain town always talking about your charisma. After the tide settled some guards went that way to see the damage and found the town completely untouched and even in better conditions and told us about you leading the Dire wolf goblins into a dungeon trap.¡± He said after sitting up. ¡°Wait! My name is already circulating in the Elf nation?!¡± I said. ¡°Of course, the heroes were dispatched so obviously there would be news of them getting around depending on their performance. That said the humans main hero with the actual class Hero we didn¡¯t get information on, which means he probably messed up somewhere.¡± Zenos said. ¡°Yeah, he was blindsided by an ogre.¡± Misaki mercilessly said. Zenos looked at her trying to not believe her but Misaki was dead serious. ¡°Anyway, that puppet, I have seen one similar only once during the coronation of our crowned princess. There were five large ones about twice the size of yours and were functioning.¡± He said. ¡°Elves know a lot about runes so it¡¯s not that surprising you all can make them work to a degree. This puppet is a dungeon guardian that is linked to my skill so it works perfectly probably better than those others.¡± I said and he nodded. At this time the sounds of footsteps made everyone look at the source. Zenos stood up slowly and saluted as a group of 30 or so men ran our way like the wind and soon stopped. The leading man was a tall handsome elf with long blonde here and jade like skin. He wore heavy bronze colored armor covering his entire body and had a two handed bastard sword in his hand. This was clearly a High elf because that is the only thing that fits the blonde and noble aura of this elf. ¡°Zenos, are you alright? Who are these humans?¡± The man asked. ¡°I am fine captain, these humans saved me but it damaged one of their puppets which was probably pulling their stagecoach.¡± Zenos said. The captain looked at the corpse of the worm and sneers at it probably having a hate for the beast and it''s kind. Then his eyes shifted to me and he did a small bow. ¡°Thank you for saving my vice, it is hard to find decent and strong men like him.¡± The high elf said. ¡°It is nothing sir, we would have been attacked as well so we were protecting ourselves as well.¡± Charlotte said as the man spoke. The high elves eyes grow sharp as he spots her but it returns to normal the next moment. ¡°Zenos summon the horse puppets and help them hook up. We can take them safely to Vine Grove.¡± The high elf said and turned. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Zenos said and turned around. He pulled out two scrolls, each with a magic formation and as he activated them they released a large ball of light that turned into two full sized war horse puppets. He took the reins and lead them to the stagecoach where he began to hook them up for us rather skillfully. ¡°Are these the famed elven puppets? The degree of craftsmanship is high but there seems to be a large number of runes missing compared to the ones Ace has.¡± Hermes said. ¡°He has his methods of making his puppets while we have ours. His are dungeon minions so they are obviously better.¡± Zenos said. Soon enough the puppets were on and he told us to get on and then jumped onto the driver seat while we had cleaned up our things and jumped inside while I sat next to him though I made sure to secretly summon nature leather armor and put it under my clothes as extra precaution. From there we leave and enter the Sandtrap Flatland. Book 2 Chapter 2 With the elves leading us to the town we let Zenos drive the stagecoach while I sat next to him and the guards escort us. ¡°So a puppet is that hard to make? I hadn¡¯t expected it to be so difficult.¡± I say as I look at the two horse puppets. ¡°Unlike the puppet you just showed us that looks to be built with common wood but drenched in mana to make it easier to use, we have to use our elfwood because it has a strong ability to transmit mana. Not only that but puppet makers are hard to come by and those who can bind and transfer control of puppet are just as hard to come by. Puppet maker shops can only run if there are these two and both must be extremely well versed in runic language.¡± Zenos said. ¡°The book makes all the runes for my puppets to run properly, looking at your puppets there does seem to be a distinct lack of them.¡± I say. ¡°That is expected, your artifact was formed around the concept of using dungeon magic to make your puppets. It knows the runes but you don¡¯t it can take a lot of the work off but if you look at it in another perspective, the runes on your puppets are all weaker than it should be if you comprehend them.¡± He said. ¡°About that, how do you go about comprehending them?¡± I asked. ¡°Not everyone has that opportunity, one way is what we called secluded training. During this time, you rent a room that contains an immense amount of mana which is gathered by runes written on the outside of the room to gather mana and using that you repeatedly write the rune while looking for its secrets slowly improving it. Another way is for you to come in contact with a natural essence rune. Essence rune appear extremely rarely usually during a special event or ritual of a sort. Spirits that need to absorb a specific type of natural essences can sometimes cause an essence rune to form if they are in the correct place.¡± He said. My pupils shrink as I heard this. I had exclusive access to one of these essence runes through Valery and Veria. ¡°Are essence runes hard to come by?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course they are! Unless someone that comprehends them makes a statue or a location inlaid with their essence of the rune where you can study them you will need to search for them around the world. Our elf nation has its own method left behind by our great deceased Hero Daniel Rock who was like you, a dungeon maker at the time. He was a summoned hero at that time but he didn¡¯t have ambition to attack the demon lord and thought it was fruitless so he focused on cultural development making us as we are today.¡± Zenos said. I look at the elves and then at the captain. I had been wondering if the strange quirks of these elves are caused by this Daniel guy. I think this because when the high elf captain was fighting common monsters and killing and storing them in true blue magic storage rings, which I was totally going to search for, he would torture the monsters by cutting shallow wounds instead of outright killing it when he had the power to. Only the sandworms does he not pity them one bit and kills them in three slashes. The one that I had met Zenos with had caught them off guard and pulled Zenos underground before he could react but others now were cut down instantly. Worms are left to rot and aren¡¯t eaten even if they are huge. The reason was told to me that it was because their meat is toxic and gross. For the most part Zenos was normal, he is part of the wood elf subspecies and excels in earth magic. He said he is a bit uncommon since he can¡¯t use water magic which is what is needed to mix with earth magic to make plant magic which allows him to control plants. He is a frontliner whereas normal wood elves are more backliners and crowd control mages. Soon enough we spot the large walls of the city Vine Grove and when you look behind the city from afar you can see the sea of huge green that made up the Dark Vine forest. ¡°So Ace, what do you plan on doing once you reach Vine Grove?¡± Zenos asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know, I had plans to try and perfect and study runes from the elves to strengthen my own knowledge. I recently found out that I can comprehend runes after coming into contact with one of those essence runes you mentioned. Now I want to figure out how to comprehend some others.¡± I said. ¡°Which rune did you comprehend?¡± Zenos asked curiously. ¡°The ¡®Moon¡¯ rune. You know the little wolf girl is a spirit so when she was born the rune appeared.¡± I said. He nods understanding a bit of what happened. ¡°Well, it will be a bit expensive, Heavenlight money has a 5:1 exchange rate with our elven coin but we follow the same system of coin as to not make things confusing. If you truly want to learn how to do this you would be best to either rent a room for it or make a dungeon room that can accomplish the same effect to allow yourself to have constant flow of mana. Most rooms have higher density and the effect of the room replenishes mana faster which is why it works but you should have lot of water since most people don¡¯t eat during this time and so it''s a method that is dangerous for the health. Most elves only do this once they have prepared mentally. Puppet makers and Puppet binders have to undergo 60 years of comprehension studies of runes to be able to make the puppets to this level.¡± He said gesturing to the horses. ¡°If only there was a way to slow down time.¡± I say dejected. ¡°Well there is the method left by our Ancient hero. He comprehended the 700+ runes our elf nation knows and left us with a method to access the Essence runes he comprehended but because they are so important, the royal family has a system of contribution through the adventurers guild but that way is even harder for you who aren¡¯t elves because foreign races need to pay several times more contribution points to access the essence runes.¡± He said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem too strange. I wouldn¡¯t want other nations to have easy access to my nation¡¯s biggest secrets either. Not like it matters. As long as I purchase one of these puppets I can have access to at least 50 to 100 elven runes with quite a bit of profound knowledge.¡± I said bluntly and Zenos chuckled. ¡°You truly are an interesting man with an open mind.¡± He said chuckling. Soon enough we reached the town and at the gate we were allowed to enter but the horses were soon recalled. When I looked at the Guardian he was mostly repaired so I summoned it. ¡°Thank you all for the escort here. We might not have been able to arrive if not for the help.¡± I said. ¡°It is nothing. It''s one of our duties to aid those traveling these roads so it¡¯s not much.¡± The elf captain said. ¡°Before we go, how much do those storage rings go for and where can I get them? Also where do I go to exchange our money to the elven coin?¡± I asked. ¡°The exchange center is in the town center. As for the storage rings, there are several types of storage items. The lowest grade are storage bags which hold ten times its size as long as something fits through the entrance but you still feel the weight. The highest grade bags can remove the weight and holds 50 times its size. Next is the storage ring that has its own dimension, low grade ones normally have about a 3x3x3 meter wide space while the highest quality ones have around 30x30x30 space. Finally is the space necklace and there is only one grade because there is only one in the nation and it belongs to the royal family and it¡¯s unknown how large it is. None of these items can hold living beings.¡± he said. My eyes shine as I hear their explanations. I don¡¯t really care about the rings themselves but what I do care about is the runes used to make these things. A bag will clearly show me how to get the most basic stuff and if I practice making them manually it will only make my rune use better. ¡°I see, thanks for the advice. We shall be going then.¡± I say and wave them off. With an order the guardian begins to pull us in direction to the town hall. *** Deep within the borders of the elven nation, in the capital city, is a beautiful woman with long blonde hair wearing a set of mithril armor. She looked up towards the massive and beautiful tree that towered over all the others. This was the royal palace made inside an elder Treant who has always protected the elven royal family and the nation. Almost 300 meters up on the tree was a small floating magical target looking like a bullseye dart board or an arrow target, doesn¡¯t matter which you use. The young elf held her hand out and a long white bow materialized in her hand. The detail was beautiful and elegant and just above her hand on the bow was an open whole and in it were two lines crossing forming a kind of scope. Slowly she grabbed the string and pulled back and from that circle it absorbed her mana and released a small floating circle forward. This was the same as a magic formation. Slowly runes formed around it forming a phrase and in the middle the ¡®Sun¡¯ and ¡®Light¡¯ runes appeared. The phrase was as such. ¡®Hell Spawn Fall, Burn in Holy flame, Sun Light Arrow¡¯ She released the string and as it returned to its place the circle suddenly released a flash that flew too fast to see and impacted on the second circle in the middle and blew up. ¡°Young one, you must feel the wind, your growth is large and potentially even more so but your vision is blocked by the need to prove yourself.¡± An ancient and wise voice called to her. ¡°Grand elder, if I do not train, how can I do the same that human was capable of doing and make their side suffer no casualties.¡± She exclaimed. ¡°Child¡­ the human that performed that task, do you know how much work it took? 1 week of construction projects to have the layouts for the death trap. Traps and he had to clear enough land of wood to make a structured town of wood and dirt. Then he had to block off over 30 different pathways that have left the elves and humans with some trouble to clear it and reopen the pathways. There is a cause and effect for such a success.¡± The voice said. ¡°I understand but if a bad tide is blocked then damage is easy to restore.¡± She said. A long sigh filled the air before the tree side she was facing slowly began to reform as a large nose and chin began to form then a set of eyes opened on the tree. ¡°Yaniver¡­ I understand your honorable side personality¡­ it fills this old body of mine with warmth¡­ but you should know already that forcing you to fight the demon lord is not what we want. We summon to get a strong supporter who can help our nation flourish for the next century as we do not possess delusions that it is possible to fight the demon lord who possess power that would take any of us millenia to acquire.¡± The elder treant said. ¡°But didn¡¯t you say that the human that did that event was a dungeon maker. Someone who can rapidly learn about runes and even undo the protective shield of the demon lord?¡± The young elf hero Yaniver asked. ¡°And what would that result? The shields most major flaw is that it repels 70% of the mana around it from entering the demon lands. It is this flaw that has allowed us to survive the demon hoards that have not been able to grow so powerful for so long. Even then the slow progress has already reached a resounding peak. If the shield is opened, can you say that we will survive in one or two years time?¡± He asked She looked down dejected as she understood what it meant. It meant heroes were summoned not to fight but to improve the overall conditions of this world. It isn¡¯t a stupid idea, in truth it is a genius thought pattern that few races actually possess. The humans and beastmen think of the benefits military wise as well as consolidating the royal bloodline through them. Dwarfs look for craft knowledge but a protector, their current hero can only protect and isn¡¯t smart in the least to aid them and can only be called an idiot made to fight.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The elves summoned in hopes of once more improving their nations conditions and have been rewarded by the knowledge of the magic system that Yaniver brought but she is only a 200 year old elf, still too young to have known all there is to know and there isn¡¯t a significant improvement but it is her artifact that has allowed her a good result in training as a protector because of its ability to form magic formations as its main capability and improving the speed she learns runes. ¡°I can only train, I have never trained or learned more.¡± She said. ¡°Child¡­ you are a wood elf in our culture''s standards. You can learn to live with nature. You don¡¯t need to be so determined to fight. The last wave of demons was simply his test for you. The demons don¡¯t randomly attack unless it¡¯s for a true reason and they would send a force several times greater if he wanted to.¡± The elder said. Yaniver¡¯s face turned into a deep frown as she heard it and she sulked. She had previously stopped a pack of 500 harpy demons, Harpy demons are more monstrous than the beast man variety. Beast men harpy have human head and torso with feather making the hair. Human arms with wings formed from the pinky and ring finger covered in feathers and their legs are scaly like a birds with large talons on their feet. She had lead a group of elite archers and with her magic bow she took down more than two fifths of their number but she had lost more than a quarter of the elves in her command. She sighs and looks at the elder. He knew that look and he also sighed before his face vanished and more than 500 magical targets appeared in the air. ¡°Please time my speed.¡± She said and began another timed round. *** ¡°Wow I didn¡¯t expect to only have 400 elven gold. I wonder if it''s because the Heavenlight nation is so poor.¡± I said as I was sitting on a table outside of a restaurant in Vinegrove. ¡°It¡¯s still quite a lot. If we make lots of money here we will be loaded once we return to Heavenlight.¡± Misaki said while her eyes shined. I have to say that the elves are really surprising. In more occurrences than I could count I found Earth culture here. Even where we are now is another one. This is an english style restaurant with full blown maid dress waitresses and to my surprise there were even two elven waitresses. The head waitresses, I think, was a busty dark elves with sexy curves and wore square glasses and had a cold personality and the other another type of elf had a petite figure and snow white hair and had a baby face and on her head was a headband with cat ears and on her waist was a bent with a cat tail sticking out and had a cheery personality and in her left hand was an umbrella and for some reason it had a metallic shine, were the main waitresses and attracted a lot of attention. The men would sneak glances with blushing faces at her. ¡°These elves are like a collection of otaku culture.¡± I say bluntly. ¡°Um¡­ current elven culture is the result of the most famous elven hero from 400 years ago who was reported to have a unique class for the hero summoning and rose the elven nation from the brink of extinction. I believe Zenos spoke of him as a dungeon maker as well. He created the 5 great elven dungeons that is the main source of income for the nation. Dungeons that make a unique type of monster purely formed of mana and could make drops just like a regular dungeon.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Your order please!¡± The smaller head waitress said as she came our way. She had opened her umbrella before coming towards us as to not be touched by sunlight. ¡°Papa! Papa! This girl smells nice! She smells like me a bit!¡± Valery shouted while jumping around on my lap. ¡°Smells like¡­?¡± the little girl looked confused as she looked at the little beast girl. ¡°Sorry, this is Valery, she is a silver spirit wolf that was recently born so she lacks a bit of common sense. Valery you can¡¯t say strange things like that.¡± I scold her. ¡°But she does. She smells like that tasty thing you give me.¡± Valery said and I looked a bit shocked and looked towards the girl that had realized something. ¡°Ah now I understand. Excuse me for not introducing myself. I am Luna Lunor, my race is Moon Elf, it is most likely because of this that this little girl''s thinks I smell similar to her since Moon elves specialize in using darkness and moonlight magic. It¡¯s a unique type of magic unique to our race.¡± She said. ¡°Oh moon elves! I didn¡¯t think I would see one during the day! I heard moon elves receive damage under sunlight?¡± Hermes said. ¡°That is what this umbrella is for. It is made of Steel that has been enchanted with runes to reflect all sunlight back and when open it forms a small magical barrier so I do not have to worry about sunlight sneaking under it even if I am facing it directly.¡± She said and through a bit of mana around her revealing a sort of film like shield around her coming from below the umbrella. ¡°Wow!¡± Valery exclaimed with shining eyes. Then her stomach suddenly rumbled and she blushed. ¡°I¡¯m hungry! Papa!¡± She looked at me and I looked at the Luna. ¡°Do you have anything that survives off moon essence or something similar. I have had her living off the Rune ¡®Moon¡¯ but she got sick of it and doesn¡¯t like meat much¡­ we aren¡¯t the best cooks.¡± I said. ¡°We have a farm nearby that raises moon rabbits. It''s run by my family since moon elves have a similar problem of needing moonlight essence.¡± She said. ¡°Great, bring me some of that for her and some Black Bear meat roast and citrus juice for me.¡± I say. ¡°I will take the Vine wood wolf flank and gentle flower tea.¡± Misaki said. ¡°I will have the Vine wood wolf flank as well but I want the Darkvine thorn bush fruit juice.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I will have some Moon rabbit steaks and Maple Apple juice.¡± Hermes said after looking at the list ¡°Alright, I shall go prepare it!¡± she said and ran inside. We kept talking for a bit before she returned with a big tray. I sat Valery in her own seat and Luna put the plate with seven steak¡¯s of moon rabbit meat in front of her. Valery was drooling and took the first one in her hands but I slap her hand softly. Then I showed her how to properly hold the knife and fork but what do you expect from a newborn she just tossed them away and took the steak and began to eat it after sitting back down. Her face was drowned in bliss beyond what she got from the runes. We each ate our own and Luna went about her work but as things slowed down she came over. ¡°So? How was it?¡¯ she asked. ¡°Itsh amashing!¡± Valery said still eating her last steak with a small bulging belly. ¡°It is really good.¡± I say. ¡°Great! I had thought that my recipe was off but it¡¯s great that you like my cooking!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°You cooked it?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Yep, most maids have to cook the orders they get. Same for the butlers.¡± She said. Then her eyes changed and a glint appeared in her eye. ¡°Hey can I ask something?¡± She said. We looked at each other and shrugged. ¡°Sure what?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Well, I noticed you were humans and so you have different culture so¡­¡± She said blushing a bit and then looking at us with a very strong gaze. ¡°...Can you please tell me what kind of fetishes you guys have! Which are your favorites! How do you do it!¡± She asked blushing but a small bit of drool was on the side of her grin that looked to be in a bit of ecstasy. ¡­ ¡°W-what¡­¡± I mutter. ¡°F-f-f-fet-fetish!¡± Charlotte stuttered turning as bright as a tomato. ¡°Hmm? Papa what is ¡®Fedish¡¯? Is it food? It sounds tasty?¡± Valery said while innocently confusing the word. ¡°Valery go back in the book.¡± I say serious but she frowns but when I glare at her she shrinks back since I have only glared at her like this once when she wasn¡¯t acting properly and had spanked her to discipline her after she hurt me and Misaki in the dungeon while we were picking some crops directly from the farm. Her body flashed and she entered my book causing some people to look our way. ¡°Um¡­¡± Luna looked confused. ¡°Luna¡­ can I ask why you¡¯re curious?¡± Misaki said in a dangerously sinister tone. ¡°Huh? Because I am always curious about human fetishes but most that come usually leave! I already asked and know which fetish every regular elf customer has!¡± She turned and began to twirl and speak as if its common. ¡°The greatest fetish are the kind where there is mutual love and no matter the feti...urg!¡± She shouted and froze. The reason was that Misaki had just suddenly run around the table while she wasn¡¯t watching and kicked the loli elf cleanly in between the leg¡­ no wait right in the ass with her show facing up as well. I knew this because the elf fell forward and the dress flew up showing the very clear imprint of Misaki¡¯s foot on her ass over the soft pink panties. ¡°You horny elf! YOU DON¡¯T ASK PEOPLE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!¡± Misaki shouted flourished and blushing violently. Misaki kicks her in between the legs, this time more centered but what happened made me had a horrible premonition. *Moan* ¡°Kyaa~! Mistress! No~~~! Not so rough!¡± Luna moaned. Everyone in the restaurant looked at her. Then I heard some whispers. ¡°To think her fetish was actually that? She had asked everyone¡¯s but kept hers a secret but to think she was that easy!¡± An old elf said with a lustful grin. ¡°I know what you mean, I have been wondering what her fetish was but to think she was so compatible!¡± Another said. ¡°Mommy big sis looks cute! Can I have her as my kitty!¡± A blonde elf girl looking no older than 5. ¡°No sweetie, wait until you''re a big girl then we can see.¡± Her mother said. We were totally stunned by what had just happened and the response to the elves. Since Misaki had stopped Luna had also realized and looked around and back at Misaki with a pleading look. ¡°Why did you stop?¡± She asked. ¡°...¡± We had no way to reply to that. ¡°Miss Luna? Do you mind explaining why you are so¡­ open, about your *cough* fetish?¡± Hermes asked for all of us. She looked at us and realized we didn¡¯t know about their history. ¡°Oh *cough* shall we go inside and we can talk.¡± She said. We glare at her but get up and walk inside and upstairs. Sitting in one of the private rooms she sits in front of us. ¡°So explain to us what the hell just happened?¡± I asked. ¡°Well as you guessed I am a Masochist. Also Mistress, you have such great aim and even hit just right!¡± Luna said with a Lustful grin. ¡°Not that! We want to know why elves are so open about it?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh that? 400 years ago the elven nation was on the brink of collapse when the Hero summoning brought us our greatest king Daniel Rock. He was a Dungeon Maker and remade the nation with his powers but he was said to be very eccentric with his fetishes. He was from a world called Earth and was originally a human but due to the summoning was made an elf, this is written in the history classes but I don¡¯t know if it''s true. Anyway he was extremely diverse in his fetishes and slowly spread them making others enjoy. He spent almost 80 years to spread them enthusiastically as the nation was rebuilt from the ashes. He was a king that could single handedly push back the demons and was a powerful puppet master using dungeon puppets he made to keep our numbers growing due to elves having slow reproductive speeds. By the time he was assassinated by one of the demon lords shades, he had already sealed his Grimoire of the Dungeon Maker and would only allow elves or someone guided by elves to access its power which was sealed greatly. When he died he had already caused all elven kind to be very open about their love life though some, like myself, have a code to keep ours secret so we do not fall into the hands of cruel people.¡± She explained. ¡°So now what?¡± I asked. ¡°Obviously I will not leave my mistress!¡± she said with a bright smile. ¡­ ¡°Before you ask, I can only stay safe if I am with my ¡®love¡¯ that helps me control my urges. Although I am controlling myself I feel the needs already. We are very¡­ open as you say and we develop really strong urges once someone besides our family has done our fetish to us. Although I do not show it, I just want to jump on mistress and fill her with my love. It''s instinctual of us to love our partner and unless I stay confined for more than a year or more I won¡¯t be able to forget that partner.¡± she says. When I examined her I noticed her trembling hands and shaking legs. She was grinding her legs as well but kept a straight face. It was clear that she was holding back but I knew if she jumped Misaki she would get what she wanted. She also knew that as well. If it was an S she would probably beg while someone like Misaki she just needs to be clingy. ¡°Call your family for them to prepare the room. I will not permit you to travel with us and corrupt the little girl.¡± Misaki bluntly rejected her. ¡°Nope, my parents live deep in the Darkvine forest and I can¡¯t reach it alone. It would take 2 weeks of travel to reach it and by then the time would need to be put into isolation is over several years. My parents would openly accept you as my partner and if I needed a male¡¯s seeds I just need to use your boyfriend.¡± She said gesturing to me but that caused Misaki to freeze before her fist connected with Luna¡¯s gut. ¡°Let¡¯s go, if we stay here we will be contaminated by this.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Shinigumi-san¡­ is it okay to just leave?¡± Hermes asked a bit scared. ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ go!¡± She said glaring at us. I grin towards her and she notices. ¡°This is gonna be fun!¡± I thought and she paled when she saw my grin. It was the same grin she had when Valery called me papa the first time. ¡°Let¡¯s not forget to pay the bill ¡®Mistress¡¯.¡± I said grinning. Her eyes turn into dead fish eyes. It was even more effective than ¡®oba-sama¡¯. ¡°You call me that again and I will cut off your balls.¡± She said deadly serious. I shrug and look down at the panting elf who had just grabbed Misaki¡¯s leg. ¡°More mistress! More!¡± She said in glee but Misaki just shook her off and walked out. ¡°There is absolutely no escape anymore. At least now we have a good cook with us.¡± I thought and remembered that food she made and nod wholeheartedly accepting her into our party. Book 2 Chapter 3 As me and Hermes sat on top of the stagecoach we couldn¡¯t help but be covered in cold sweat because of the monstrous degree of killing intent gushing out of from inside where the three girls were located. Our destination is the Adventurer''s guild to regulate our registration in the elf nation. Now why all the killing intent, well when we left the restaurant Luna outright quit saying her fetish was found and she couldn¡¯t handle being far from Misaki causing the latter to be infuriated. Then when we entered the stagecoach, Charlotte sat in the back seat facing forward and Misaki sat facing her while Luna sat next to her but on the left side. That said she slowly moved closer and now the two girls are shoulder to shoulder. Oh I forgot to mention, Luna has been blushing while still dressed in her maid clothes. It goes without saying that the killing intent was coming from Misaki as Luna slowly inched towards her more and more. I really fear for Luna since she is rather cute and I wouldn¡¯t want to see some missing teeth coming from her since she has the feeling of a mascot type character even if a bit eccentric. ¡°Miss Luna, can I please ask you to sit next to Charlotte? I know you like Miss Shinigumi but for us normally craft type classes like myself this degree of killing intent isn¡¯t something good for my heart. Also it¡¯s scaring the locals.¡± Hermes said as he bent over to look out her window. ¡°Ah~~!¡± Luna exclaimed but looking outside she did indeed see lots of people had at least a 2 meter breath between the stagecoach so she got up and dejected she sat over on the other side of the stagecoach away from Charlotte pouting. The degree of killing intent instantly decreased and Misaki poked her head out and gave Hermes the thumbs up and she sat back down while still pissed off. ¡°Shinigumi-san¡­ do you have to disagree with Luna so much?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°You try being the target of her ¡®Love¡¯. I wonder, can you ¡®enjoy¡¯ giving her that type of ¡®Love¡¯?¡± Misaki bluntly said in the young princesses face making her blush. ¡°You just don¡¯t want to be part of a lesbian love scene, I bet it would be hot though.¡± I say with a mischievous grin from outside. The killing intent instantly surged but the damage was done because Luna began to fantasize and was looking at Misaki with a lovestruck and extremely lustful expression. ¡°SHUT UP! And you can talk you Daughtercon! Incest lover! Lolicon! PEDO!¡± She shouted and crossed her arms with a scarlet face from the tips of her ears down to the base of her neck. The people around had heard but instead of looking at me strangely, they just giggled at Misaki¡¯s outburst as if she was a tsundere fighting her love. Luna actually looked annoyed by something as if she had seen something that no one else saw. We travel in silence until we reached the adventurers guild and left the stagecoach with one of the helpers from the guild who managed them. ¡°Do I have to register?¡± Luna asked. ¡°You and Hermes have yet to register, we are adventurers so at the very least you should. I believe there are discounts depending the rank of the adventurer, or at least that''s how it works in the human nations.¡± I said. With that we go to the register and have the two sign up and then hand over our adventurer cards for it to be registered in the elven nation system. That said, they took it and put it on a magical formation and what came out was a silver colored card. ¡°There we go, we have altered it to the magical cards. The human nation ones are simple identification and are rather lackluster for a guild card. If only humans studied runes more then we wouldn¡¯t have to restrict the registration runic formation. It makes registration so much easier.¡± She said. ¡°How does that work?¡± I asked. "There is another side connect to this and your information goes on here and the card is made while transferring the registration information to the main HQ for archiving.¡± She replied. I sneer as I hear this. The human nation really are the same as medieval era on earth, lazy asses that don¡¯t like change. They have resources to work with but don¡¯t accept them, seriously how prideful are they of being poor as shit? ¡°Thank you for the help.¡± I say as I get my card back and the other two get their newly minted cards. ¡°The ranks are very different so if you do C rank missions, these two will only get one fifth of the credit. With them you are allowed to do up to D rank. In such conditions 1 D rank mission will raise their rank instantly to E and 3 D rank missions will make them D rank followed by the common 3 C rank missions to the next rank and equalize them.¡± She explained. ¡°Thanks you, I heard about the contribution thing to be able to access the runes for comprehending?¡± I asked. ¡°Contribution points are given for each mission. F rank gives none, E rank gives 10, D rank gives 50, C rank gives 200- 500, B rank gives 1000-3000, A rank gives 5000, S and above depends of the mission and can go from 10,000 and above. If a mission is higher rank than what is posted we give compensation points which normally is double the rank by how many ranks above the mission is. If you do a E rank mission but it''s actually a C rank then you get four times the contribution of a C rank mission.¡± She explained. I memorized that and thanked her for the help. ¡°So what now?¡± Luna asked. ¡°First I want to get some space storage bags and look for puppet makers to see if I can buy a few to research their working.¡± I say. ¡°I have a number of bags at home and I know a good puppet maker that can supply you with some puppets.¡± Luna said. ¡°Alright, please lead the way and once we get the things we need we can accept some missions to raise the ranks for you two.¡± I said. ¡°Ace, can I have a bit of money? I wish to search for a herbalist and potion maker to acquire Elven herbs that are known to contain more mana inside. It will surely aid you as well.¡± Hermes said. I nod and fish out 10 gold coins and point at Charlotte. ¡°Can you go with him and make sure he isn¡¯t ambushed. I will lend you 2 Warrior puppets as well.¡± I said. ¡°Sure, you can get the other stuff and I will guard Hermes.¡± She said. I thank her and we leave before I summon the two warriors and the Guardian. The warriors I put under Charlotte¡¯s control while the Guardian stayed with me to pull the stagecoach. Splitting up I take the stagecoach while Hermes and Charlotte go walking off. Luna¡¯s house was at the northern edge of town in the residential area and it was a one story house but after asking I found there was also a basement and the content of said basement should be obvious since the door was large and made of metal like a safe with locks. In Luna¡¯s words, ¡°My fetish is my weakness and I can be taken advantage of by others if they broke into my house and entered the basement.¡± Misaki was shaking while clutching her fists because Luna actually entered the basement and came back with five high quality space bags but inside were an amazing array of ¡®toys¡¯ including a dildo made of the slime from the monster with the same name in the shape of a dick for masterbating held by a membrane that reminded me of condoms but after asking about it I found out that this was a restriction magic that was held together by runes that were hidden after activation. The slime inside was actually alive but the magic is very high end. That said this can¡¯t be kept ¡®inside¡¯ for a long time or the slime will actually suck mana from her body amazingly. It is a very good torture tool for keeping female mages from using mana by having the slime suck it up. I did ask about butt plugs which made Luna a bit sad. ¡°They exist but they are made of materials that can¡¯t be kept inside for a long time similar to the slime dildo and would cause harm to the user. It''s the reason why I have this belt with the tail instead of a plug with the tail.¡± She said rather sad. At this moment Misaki left while her body was nearing the point where a demonic afterimage was starting to appear. ¡°Maybe we went too far?¡± Luna said after Misaki was gone. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fun teasing her.¡± I said with a grin and Luna nodded. She emptied her bags not really caring about the toys but she did store some whips, several metallic umbrellas including the one she had, and then came back with one that she said was given to her by her mother. It was made of mithril shockingly and what was even more surprising was that when she pressed a button on the side just below the one that releases the umbrella it popped out and she pulled out cane sword that glittered in the light. ¡°This is my family''s Moon steel cane sword. This sword can only be made during a ritual where we gather moonlight for the entire cycle and concentrate it and flood it over the sword when forging. We can forge four swords a month and they are extremely powerful in the hands of a moon elf swordsman or woman and deadliest during the night of a full moon as our magic is connected to the degree of moonlight we can gather and generate.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ve been meeting a lot of people that use moonlight recently.¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°OH RIGHT! There is a rune that is imperative you learn. It¡¯s almost a humiliation if you are found without having comprehended this rune.¡± She said and began to draw it in the air.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. When it finished it began to buzz like a bee and I looked at it carefully. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Is the ¡®Vibrate¡¯ Rune! You need to comprehend it to perfection or you will be considered a humiliation!¡± Luna said very seriously. I just look at her and face palm. ¡°You''re telling me that it has that use?¡± I asked. ¡°On yes, but it has combat uses as well if that is what you care about. If you are able to get one of those magic gun things that some of the royal marksmen have then you can add this rune to the compressed magic bullet they shoot giving it even more penetration power.¡± She nonchalantly said. ¡°Magic gun?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah! It''s something our great hero introduced by mixing our magic rune system with his old worlds weaponry. That said it was one of his last inventions so it didn¡¯t get much development as it could have and is costly to make and hard to maintain so very few exist but those that do are large cannon sized weapons or handheld ones.¡± She said. I really don¡¯t know why the human nation still exists with so much power this nation has but then again, they aren¡¯t warmongers, just horny treehuggers. Still, as soon as she explained the rune I obtained it and tried it out but obviously I had little to no experience with this and it could only be called a shadow of what she can do with it. Still I have time to train and all that so nothing to worry about. Still one of the bags I archive to have that kind of item inside then we take the rest of the bags and store some clothes, which is almost half erotic clothes and maid clothes. I was even tempted when she came out showing off a pair of pink underwear and white long stockings with garter-belt and long white silk gloves. Hey! No hot blooded teen wouldn¡¯t get a boner from such a girl showing off her assets. She is petite and looked like a 13 year old though so that helped me not do anything as long as I thought of her as underaged instead of being over 100 years old. When she stopped we just chat a bit more as she put away more of her clothes, including the ones I¡¯m sure she will have to throw away which were the S&M skimpy leather clothes, then finally load it onto the carriage. Then I opened a single room dungeon into her bedroom and she used some kind of magic to push them inside and arrange her room inside. Then I was forced by her to waste an EXP crystal and make a large empty room with stone walls and floor where she set up her ¡®toy¡¯ collection from the basement. When all was said and done the room actually got categorized as ¡®Torture Chamber¡¯. When we finally finished it was already getting a bit dark so we headed to the adventurers guild where we had agreed to meet up with the others. *** After me and the Crowned Princess split up from Sir Ace and Miss Shinigumi we walked around looking for the herbalists and alchemist shops. ¡°Erm¡­ where are those shops?¡± I mutter dejected since we have been walking around for over an hour. ¡°Maybe we can ask someone?¡± the princess said. I look at an elder elf sitting in front of a strange shop. ¡°Sir, we are looking for a herbalist or alchemy shop, can you tell me where we can find it?¡± I asked. Her looked at me strangely and raised his brow and looked at us both. ¡°You''re standing in front of an alchemy shop and you asking about it?¡± He said. We looked up but all we saw was a sign saying ¡°Pill Emporium¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this just a shop that gathers and sells the pills off alchemists?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°Nope, the market of alchemists is concentrated in these shops. We have 1 grandmaster alchemists, 20 graduated apprentice who can make their own stuff and 30 apprentice learning. Now what do you need kid?¡± He asked. ¡°Well, I am an alchemist and was hoping to purchase some herbs from here. If not the grown plant then at least the seeds. Oh and a book on the region''s wild herbs.¡± I say. The old man gets up and straightens his back making the sound of cracking come from his body. The next moment his body began to glow and he suddenly turned, in human terms, 40 years younger regaining the vitality in his body of a 40 year old man and looks quite dashing with the age. ¡°Much better, was getting tired of sitting here like that.¡± He said. ¡°Why were you in the form of an old man?¡± I asked only slightly shocked but quickly adapted since I have heard that elves are much stranger than that and I have already seen part of their strangeness from the little moon elf following Miss Shinigumi. We walk inside and the man walks to the back corner and behind the counter before looking at a large bookshelf back there. After looking he took out two books. ¡°Dark Vine forest herbal encyclopedia and Dark Vine plant monster encyclopedia both books is 50 copper.¡± He said bored. ¡°So cheap!¡± I exclaimed unconsciously. ¡°We aren¡¯t humans who live a dirt poor life half starved because of their pride. We have long since developed the art to quickly produce books and paper.¡± the elf scoffed. Charlotte frowned. The elf looked to be some negative guy and sure wasn¡¯t a wood elf¡­ not dark either since dark elves are tan and all have either purple or black hair. The man had light brown hair and slight tan skin that looked more like it was baked under the sun instead of natural. This made one type of elf appear in my head that match the negative or somewhat apparent prideful and reclusive nature he was showing, Wild Elves. Supposedly the most reclusive they are extreme experts at hiding. Wonder why this guy was here. I pull out a gold coin and he frowns. ¡°Well we do need the herbs and seeds.¡± I said and he shrugs. ¡°Seeds we don¡¯t sell. Doesn¡¯t go well for business to sell rare seeds since we need to plant them as well. As for the herbs and flowers, humans can get only up to tier 3 common herbs. Anything higher than you can scram.¡± he said with a sneer. ¡°Tier 3 common that''s it! We can''t even get mana herb which are tier 1 uncommon!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Well tough luck brat.¡± The elf said and grinned. That was, of course, until the next moment when a big meaty fist smashed into his face and sent him flying. ¡°You blasted racist bastard! Stop ruining our business! If you don¡¯t want to work than you can get out!¡± Shouted a burly man. My eyes instantly widened at the extremely rare half breed. This tall man was a dwarf elf hybrid and from the looks it''s a dark elf parent. ¡°Sorry about that kid. The bastard is already a fucking bastard to our normal customers but other races he is a total ass.¡± The man said. ¡°You fucking mix! You think you can boss me around!¡± The other elf shouted as he got up wiping the blood from his mouth. ¡°Get out of here you idiot. This is the last straw, I don¡¯t fucking care if your father saved me from that nature wyvern or if it was even a fucking full blown dragon, a fucker like you doesn¡¯t have a place in my shop.¡± The hybrid said ¡°You¡­ is this how you repay gratitude!¡± The wild elf said but what happened next shocked everyone. The bulky man sprang forth like a blur and sucker punched him deeply with his left fist in the gut before he pulled his right hand behind him and opened his hand into a wide palm. The sucker punched expelled all of the wild elf¡¯s breath and lifted him off the ground. Ironically he was also standing in front of a window. As he straightened up a bit in the air that palm smacked right into the wild elf¡¯s face and shot him out the window into the streets. ¡°If your father and mother want to complain have them come directly here instead of doing something else. I would love to tell them how you are acting.¡± The half elf shouted. With that he dusted off his hands as if he was removing dirt after hard work. Following that he waved his hand and several dozen runes appeared and connected to the shattered glass. It began to float and returned to their place before the whole window began glowing and the cracks vanished. ¡°Alright then, now what do you need?¡± The half elf asked. We explain and like the wild elf had done he said the books were correct but unlike the other guy the type of herbs I could buy was vastly different. Items are categorized by Tiers 1-3, or Low, Medium and High similar to Ace¡¯s guardian which is Low Grade, then by rarity which is Common, Uncommon, Rare, Extraordinary, Mythical, Godly. ¡°Alright then this shop isn¡¯t big but we have up to rare herbs but we are only permitted to sell those to certified master rank alchemists. So Up to Tier 3 Uncommon herbs we can sell.¡± He said and then brought out a book. Inside were pressed herbs and flowers which showcased their collection. Those with seeds packaged next to the flower showed which they were willing to sell seeds to. First and foremost Mana herb were obviously chosen with 3 bags which were 20 silver each, 100 silver in human coin. I flip through all the common flowers and herbs and get all those we were missing and was making a big dent in my productivity. A total of 4 gold went for common flower and plant seeds because of the sheer amount of different herbs. That said I took the most important ones since I know ace can¡¯t hold an infinite amount of types. Then I got some uncommon ones but not too many. The mana herb was already purchased so I took a different secondary ingredient that is optional for mana potions and normally had good effects for increasing its power if processed right. It was the seeds to a unique citrus fruit. The fruit itself was bitter sweet and had a distinct taste making it tasty but the bitterness vanished when mixed into a mana potion giving the normally dull potion a sweet flavor. Stronger and tastier potion a win win situation. With the new herbs we return to the adventurers guild to await them. I was already imagining putting all these inside that dungeon to be farmed, being Ace¡¯s alchemist truly is a blessing as there is unlimited herbs. I just need to supply the higher quality ones and he will grow them with even better quality allowing me to train as I please. With a grin I walk with a spring in my step. That was until we got about 5 blocks from the guild when a group of 10 men, one of which was the wild elf that was beaten. ¡°Bastard! Because of you I lost my job!¡± He shouted. ¡°That was your own fault that lost your job.¡± I replied He sneers and pulls a sword. ¡°Even if I go to jail I will kill you!¡± He shouted and the others pulled out bows or swords. That was until the warrior puppets suddenly stepped up and mercilessly did a preemptive thrust with his spear to his throat with the other one with the halberd coming at the waist. The speed was rather quick and the attack was precise and the man could only block the attack to the throat but was cut in the gut. BOOM! Behind the group the guardian fell shaking the ground. The street had been cleared up to 10 meters way and everyone was watching. ¡°Charlotte, Hermes let''s go. If these guys even think of following us they will die.¡± Ace shouted as he walked over from the guild¡¯s direction. At that moment several figures appeared on the empty streets. ¡°What is going on! And who dares to kill in this city under my watch!¡± A stone faced tan skinned with bronze hair elf shouted. One of the men from the attackers quickly woke up and pointed at us. ¡°Its them! Our boss was just walking on the street when they sent their puppets to attack!¡± He shouted. ¡°Cut the bullshit you idiots.¡± Ace said and the Guardian stepped forward. ¡°Call off your puppets this instant or you will be put in jail!¡± The woman shouted making Ace frown. ¡°Miss, that man on the ground had just lost his job because he was being highly rude and racist toward us being humans. Then he blamed us and came to attack. These puppets were left by our party leader to attack any confirmed threats that would definitely cause our untimely demise.¡± Charlotte said in a courteous tone. Instantly the eyes of that elf woman turned sharp as an eagle and she scowled. ¡°Take them away! As for you all, confirm this with those around her what happened. Now miss, what was your destination?¡± The woman shouted at her men then turned and with a gentle tone asked Charlotte as if looking at her own child. ¡°Holy shit! Don¡¯t tell me this woman is into that!¡± I thought. Looking at the woman''s eyes they were indeed discreetly roving the princess''s body. ¡°We were on our way to meet our leader who is that young man there at the adventurer''s guild.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Then I shall escort you while my men confirm everything.¡± She said with a gentle motherly smile on her face. ¡°Thank you.¡± Charlotte said with a smile making the woman blush a bit but her tan skin hid it unless you focus. With that we were escorted by the woman that kept next to the princess. I had to hold back a grin but Ace was already giggling as he also realized it. Truly elves are an interesting race. Book 2 Chapter 4 As we reach the adventurers guild with the guard captain, that kept checking out Charlotte''s body, we arrived quickly. ¡°Thank you for your help back there.¡± Charlotte said and gave a small bow. ¡°No need, after all the party of a Human Dungeon maker who is also a hero can¡¯t be bad especially with such a gentle girl in it.¡± She said gently and instantly I went on the alert. ¡°How do you know about me being a dungeon maker?¡± I asked narrowing my eyes. ¡°I am the guard captain of this town, of course all reports on anything important comes to me. Vice captain Zenos obviously told me about a human that was a dungeon maker with very advanced wooden puppets and one particular giant knight based puppet with the strength of a Vice general of the army. You think I wouldn¡¯t pay attention for such a person?¡± She replied. ¡°... Want me to answer that truthfully?¡± I asked hinting. She grinned. ¡°Okay there is that.¡± She muttered and looked at Misaki checking her out but shrine maiden clothes and samurai armor concealed most of the curves. ¡°What are you looking at!¡± Misaki said irritably. ¡°Nothing.¡± The guard captain said with a smile making Misaki even more irritated. ¡°Cross-san, let us go inside already, I am starving after such a long trip!¡± Misaki said. ¡°There goes our money.¡± I mutter and sigh. ¡°What was that!¡± She said as she flicked the katana out of its sheath letting 3 cm of the base shine in the dusk light. ¡°Yeah yeah, come on japanese glutton. Might as well buy our food with some quality crops.¡± I cursed as I walked inside. ¡°Hold on you! Is that how you treat a maiden!¡± The guard captain said. ¡°Hm? Do you by chance want to see how much she eats. You can¡¯t underestimate her body size, she can fit three times her stomach size worth of food in that petite figure of hers.¡± I said. ¡°CROSS-SAN!¡± Misaki¡¯s rage had was causing her hair to rise with the killing intent and her eyes seem to shine with murderous intent and wanting to torture me slowly. At this time the door opened and Luna popped out. ¡°Ah! Mistress! You¡¯re back! I missed you!¡± Luna exclaimed. Her attire was still the elven catgirl getup. I wonder how badly Misaki would take it if I told her I was carrying a torture room with all of Luna¡¯s things. ¡°Luna?¡± The guard captain exclaimed. ¡°Hmm? Auntie? What are you doing with Ace and mistress?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Huh?¡± Me, Hermes, Charlotte and Misaki said together. ¡°Auntie?¡± I asked. ¡°Ah right, this is my second aunt by blood, she is a bit of a strange half breed elf between my great uncle who married a sun elf. The mix caused made her into this tan amazon beauty.¡± Luna said. ¡°Who is an amazon you little brat! And you didn¡¯t answer me! Why are you with these four?¡± The guard captain said. ¡°Well¡­ Kyaa!¡± Luna blushed and cupped both hands on her cheeks and squealed like a little girl. At once the captain knew more or less happened. ¡°Which one of you claimed her?¡± She said with a sharp dangerous glint in her eye and a pressure that made us almost stop breathing and in an instant, Hermes, Charlotte and I point at Misaki. The pressure instantly vanished as a gentle smile appeared on the captain''s face. ¡°Oh my, if it¡¯s such a pretty girl then I will let you have my little niece. This girls fetish is quite troublesome to handle so at least I have the peace of mind that it¡¯s not with some stinky old man.¡± the captain said. ¡°Please take care of my little girl.¡± ¡°Mistress isn¡¯t this gre¡­ URF!¡± Luna had run forward to hug Misaki but before she got within 1 meter of her Misaki¡¯s sheathed Katana had down four swings on the left side of the neck, below the left armpit, left mid section below the ribs and before the waist and one in between the legs causing Luna to fall completely unconscious making it impossible for her to ¡®enjoy¡¯ the pain. ¡°Cross-san, it seems Lunar-chan has tripped and hurt herself, please have your puppets take care of her in the stagecoach.¡± Misaki said with an almost refreshed smile as she said that and openly waked into the tavern. We just look at her in shock as we open a path for her as she walks in. ¡°I guess there is a limit to everything.¡± Hermes mutter and the other two nod. ¡°Erm¡­ You two take her to the stagecoach and watch over her.¡± I order the two warrior puppets walk over to her and one of them takes her in a princess carry and takes her off. ¡°Well we are going to eat, are you going to go?¡± I asked the captain. She pondered a moment and shrugged. ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten anything in awhile so mind if I join?¡± She asked. ¡°I¡¯m not paying, just saying.¡± I say and walk in. Inside we easily find Misaki due to the table that had a maid and the samurai girl who didn¡¯t stop asking for more. I felt depressed by just seeing this and walked over and sat down. ¡°Do you want something sir?¡± The waitress asked. The others arrive and we ask for something light. After a bit, a trolley arrived and we took our simple trays before Misaki got her buffet and ate her fill cleaning all the plates without leaving anything but bones. ¡°Fuu¡­ that is good.¡± Misaki says. ¡°Seriously¡­ where do you put so much food. You don¡¯t even have large enough boobs to store all that.¡± I said. ¡°Shut up!¡± She shouted and kicked me from below the table causing a sharp sting. At this time one of the guards entered and looked around before spotting us and running over and saluting. ¡°Ma¡¯am, we have been looking for you! The previous culprits were apprehended and we confirmed the story of these humans.¡± The guard said. ¡°Good, if that is all then return then report back to the barracks and send the night shift patrol out and release the day shift.¡± the captain said. ¡°That''s not all ma¡¯am¡­ We got wind of a taboo felon!¡± The says and instantly the room became dead silent as everyone looked our way with almost bloodshot eyes. ¡°Um¡­ what is a Taboo felon?¡± I asked. The captain sour expression didn¡¯t hide her disgust as she began to explain. ¡°You know by now that elves hold true to their desires and fetish right?¡± She asked and we all nod. ¡°Well, while there are grey zone fetish like sadism which has a recipient for this fetish, from the start when the great hero Daniel Rock came he was keenly disgusted by Taboo fetish which are one sided fetish and remove the possibility for the partner from doing their true fetish. Obviously we can¡¯t control the fetish of everyone but we don¡¯t take kindly to those who perform said fetish if they know about it.¡± The captain explained. ¡°So why the serious atmosphere. It''s almost like it¡¯s a capital crime?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°It is a capital crime, the only thing worse is attacking the royal family, attacking the great Elder treant and attempting to corrupt the hero who wasn¡¯t raised in our culture so she is much more reserved than our worlds elves.¡± She explained. Our jaws dropped at the ridiculous explanation we just received. Having a fetish that is one sided is a capital crime¡­ how fucked up was that hero that did this.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°What kind of taboo is it?¡± she asked the guard. ¡°NTR, Ma¡¯am!¡± He reported and instantly the temperature in the guild hall dropped tremendously as the bloodthirsty of all the elves flooded out causing us to pale. She stood up slowly but the killing intent coming off of her caused even the strongest adventurer in the guild to pale. She walked away simply saying ¡°I have work to do.¡± and left. The guard was left as well. ¡°Um¡­ what happened?¡± I asked him. ¡°Erm¡­ well the captain was once subjected to that specific fetish. Whenever she hears of it¡­¡± He tries looking for the right word and scratches the his exposed neck. ¡°...well let¡¯s just say that the family of the felon are never able to find all the pieces of the body that is left behind.¡± We were all shocked by this revelation. ¡°We should go, maybe we can help her.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded. I get up and call the waitress and with a bleeding heart, hand over 97 silver coins to pay for the japanese pig. Then we run out and I call my puppets as we run after the captain. Who was half way down the road. Soon we encountered the guard troop that lead her to the western side of town were the nobles section of town was. Seems snotty nobles can¡¯t be helped. When we reached a mansion built from four large trees magically linked we were met with some guards blocking us. ¡°Who goes there!¡± One of them shouted. ¡°Move it or die!¡± The captain said and drew her sword. The men looked at each other and laughed. They wore mithril armor with several expert archers over 200 meters away and held several hundred years of combat experience. ¡°Fuck off bitch! Your little guard troop has nothing to do here!¡± The man on the left said. ¡°Yeah, that said¡­ if you want to enter you can strip naked and bend over like a dog to be fucked like the bitch you are!¡± The man on the right said and laughed. The entire guard corp shuddered and everyone took several dozen steps back pushing each other back. We watched from far and saw this expecting to see a spectacle but what happened next showed us how strong those of this world was. Like a blur the captain was already at the door of the mansion and as the men move to turn to follow her as the gale she made drew their gaze but mid way in the turn their body gushed blood from all the connections between the armor joints. A moment later the men began to fall apart as did the archers and mage watching everything happen. She didn¡¯t even care as she took a step forward and kicked the door in. The guard troops move in after her and we did as well but the next moment she came flying out and landed half way out. ¡°You little whore! To train so many quality soldiers takes money. You know how much of my money you wasted!¡± a feminized male voice called from inside. Walking out a blonde male dressed like a woman holding a fan in front of his face and having a dress on walked out. Next several dozen wooden puppets scampered out. They were all shitty ones but the armor was nice. If I could get all that I would be able to make some good warrior puppets. The bows some of them have are also nice. The captain just looked at the man in contempt and took out a scroll. ¡°You¡¯re under arrest for being a NTR fetish and exercising your fetish. While being under surveillance you have committed capital crime. Come quietly and I might give you a quick death.¡± She said. ¡°Really? That is too bad.¡± The man said and tapped his foot on the ground and the archer puppets fired before another gale happened and the puppets fell to pieces. ¡°It seems you have forced my hand. I am truly sad that it has come to this.¡± He says and removes a small sheet of parchment and tosses it on the ground. It suddenly began to glow and suddenly a magic circle formation formed and grew to over 2 meters. My jaw dropped since I know exactly how much mana it takes to make something so large. Not only that but inside the circle are more than a dozen smaller magic formations making an entire magic circle circuit with at least 200 different runes. It was only when the circle completely formed that I noticed what it was. How could I not know what it was, that circle appears every time I summon a minion. Slowly rising from the circle a girl with very light pink hair, smooth skin the color of a peach and a dress similar to a white gothic lolita she stood there motionless like a statue but her body slowly released mana as it gushed out. ¡°A Living doll! How did he get something like that!¡± One guard said. The captain¡¯s expressions didn¡¯t change as her body began to slowly radiate mana and her bronze colored hair began to shimmer and spreading out. As the rays of the sun hit her hair it turned the bronze hair a bright blonde and her skin turned white as polished jade. Her sword began to gather the light from the sun as runes appeared on her sword and her lips moved ever so slightly. ¡°Miss¡­ do you expect for low leveled arts like your own to surpass a living doll.¡± The elf trap said. The next moment she blinked out of existence and appeared behind the man. ¡°I don¡¯t need to beat her or even think of fighting it. All I need is to cut off your head and she will simply collapse.¡± the captain said. The next moment blades of light exit his body before he splattered everywhere. She slowly sheathed her sword as her hair and skin color returned. The doll also collapsed and the magic circle vanished back into a parchment before it the paper burst into flames leaving the doll. The captain walked to the doll and looked at it. ¡°Go inside and find the captives. It can¡¯t be one or two find them all. Kill anyone that resists, arrest everyone inside.¡± she shouted. As the guards advanced we moved forward and met with her. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re harsh to those with a strange fetish.¡± I said. ¡°To you it may be strange but to us it is a great taboo.¡± She replied. ¡°I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s bad, I personally find NTR a nauseating thing. My own fetish is in different areas but don¡¯t ask. Humans aren¡¯t elves.¡± I said. ¡°No problem.¡± She said. ¡°Miss¡­ what is this doll?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°This is a porcelain doll used as the base for what is known as a living puppet. They are extremely weak bodied puppets but they are capable of channeling tremendous magical abilities.¡± The captain said. ¡°I really should visit a puppet maker to get something like this. The magic power it has seems to surpass by far my wooden puppet mage. Maybe I can also get some magic and elf wood sprouts so I can grow better material.¡± I mutter. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, porcelain dolls are extremely hard to make and 1 doll can cost at minimum of 500 gold coins because their power is so high, the most expensive I have heard of was 10,000 gold coins and it was the masterpiece of Daniel Rock and one of the few living dolls with its own sentience and used a high grade soul gem.¡± the captain said. ¡°Ah now that you mention it, how do elves gather so many soul gems, if I¡¯m not wrong they are found in demons right?¡± Hermes asked. The captain smiled as she heard the question. ¡°Well this is from extensive research back during the hero era. He knew we wouldn¡¯t be able to actively produce soul gems like he could so with his puppet maker disciples of that era they slowly went on to discover the greatest advance of our Elven nation.¡± She said and bent over and began to remove the dolls clothes near the chest. The girls blushed because to our surprise, besides the lines showing where the body parts split, the doll was made extremely skillfully and the breasts even moved around naturally, from the looks the skin was also rather soft to the touch. She held her hand to the chest forming a magic circle there that reminded me of the demon seals and my own binding seals. After a moment a small gem came out and formed above it before the circle broke and she stood up again. ¡°Please look, this is over 80 years of research and studies of that time. This is known as a spirit gem. Before you ask, it is not a soul gem nor does it come from living spirits. The spirits in here are small nature spirits found in nature invisible to the naked eye. They are passive in nature and to make this you must slowly gather them over a special formation and gather them into a crystal gem. When one crystal is formed, it can be broken down into 10 gems of this size. Due to the lack of more runes we can only produce low grade spirit gems and there is no hope to ever produce sentient puppets without gathering the soul gems from the demons that attack.¡± the captain said. We look at the little gem in wonder and the small radiance it released caused us to feel a bit warm inside. As we watched I felt my book react and when I lifted it up it let out a similar radiance as the gem. The captain looked at the book in wonder but a moment later the little gem flew away from her hand and slowly entered my book. What happened next shocked all of us. Ripples like waves surfaced on the cover as the plain white cover with golden trim adornments on the corners began to squirm and slowly designs like flowers, fairies and other nature spirits began to form decorating and forming a second layer after the book''s trim.
The Book of the Dungeon Maker has come into contact with the research project of another Dungeon maker, a spirit gem. This gem is of much lesser quality and produced by gathering the spirits of nature to produce a single fist sized crystals to be refined into gems to be used as puppets. Due to having absorbed a spirit gem, the Book of the Dungeon Maker has been upgraded and will disperse the gathered spirits within its dungeons realms allowing for new spirits to be born. They are not considered minions because they are unable to fight in their current conditions as loose spirits. With time your book will slowly produce spirit gems alongside Exp gems
As the book finished changing it landed calmed down as the energy stopped and the prompt appeared. I read it to the others so they knew what was happening. ¡°Well that was lucky of you, still you will need to meet and play with these spirits, you also need to create dungeon rooms and other things to adhere to all their needs to make them like you more and more. As for the minion part, I heard that spirit beings appear as more and more spirits of the same type gather so that is just some food for thought.¡± She said and dressed the doll again before taking out a scroll and chanting something before the doll was absorbed into the magic circle. ¡°Like I said I can¡¯t really let you have the doll, but if you want really old ones, come by the barracks some other time I will sell you some of the older ones we have stored there. No one likes old dolls and very few people actually know how to maintenance them.¡± the captain said. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, thank you for the information and sorry to get in the way of your work.¡± I said as I looked at the house. I felt a bit of nausea as I saw more than 20 elven girls, extremely beautiful ones, come out with some rather dead look, their bodies tattooed and written on, pregnant and pierced like how see in porn where the men turn them into sluts no better them pigs. ¡°Urg¡­ just looking at that makes me nauseous.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see that we can agree on things. I will be taking my leave, I need to make sure everything''s running smoothly and I need to look through this trash¡¯s documents to see if there are leads to see if slavers were the ones have tempted him to do this. ¡®Trained¡¯ elves are quite a commodity outside the four main nations keeping back the demon lord. If it really is one of them then it''s another headache for our nation.¡± She said and waved us off as she walked inside the mansion. ¡°Let''s go back, I bet Luna is already awake.¡± I say and everyone nodded before we walk back to the inn and find the white haired baby faced elf maid. Book 2 Chapter 5 ¡°That¡¯s so mean Mistress!! Why did you knock me out after hitting me!¡± Luna exclaimed as we reach the adventurers guild. ¡°Shut up!¡± Misaki said coldly. ¡°Luna, mind showing us to a puppet maker now?¡± I asked to make this love comedy end quicker. ¡°They are already closed, doubt you will find anything open at this hour.¡± She said. I looked at the sky and the sun was already set and sigh. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s look for an inn to spend the night. I want to check out and buy some puppets and maybe that art of spirit gathering as well.¡± I said and walked out. From there we looked around and arranged an inn for ourselves. Charlotte and Misaki bunked together leaving Luna depressed in her own room. Since I wanted to do things privately tonight I got a separate room from Hermes so in total, 4 separate rooms but since there wasn¡¯t many people coming and going that didn¡¯t matter. The inns aren¡¯t overly full since this isn¡¯t a popular region like others were huge number of elven adventurers gathered. In my room I pulled out one of the exp gems and level up my Dungeon Archive skill since I was really needing to do this since a while back to allow the rabbits and puppets to rank up. The skill rose to level 13 and rose the minion type count to 18. I found that curious since before it was less minion spots per level. When I looked I even spotted that the Archer puppets instantly evolved the moment the spot was opened which shows that it is true, if I don¡¯t have the space for new species I can forget about evolving them. When I looked at the skill window for Dungeon Archive I noticed that Spirit gem generating spot and frowned. 1 gem per month, I really need to figure out how to make the spirits like me so that I can gather more. With five slots in the minion section left I was contemplating about leveling it up again. I don¡¯t want to level up the knowledge skills like Crafting and runic writing because even if had enough time to check out what I have let alone what having the time to try it out I don¡¯t plan on leveling them up by exp crystals until I can fully make a craftsmen room for each of them. Since I can later on teach them so they can do all the things I needed on their own. For now I need time to exercise what I have. As for the spaces for the puppets, I need to save one so I can make the moon rabbits for the wolves to eat. Since I have that I open up the page for the rabbit dungeon. It was fully covered in grass and herbs with trees and such forming a sort of grassland type dungeon and I put a few field rooms to work as the home for them since they can dig into them surprisingly. The dungeon seems to fill up the area as they dig but it¡¯s not bigger than the space of the room. First thing I do is bring up the dungeon settings and after looking it over I bring up I look carefully. After finding the runes that make up things like the torch fires and such I edit them adding ¡®Moon¡¯ and ¡®Light¡¯ runes on all of them. Then I use an exp gem to form a second boss room on the second floor and after looking through all the rabbits, I can see their stats so I can have a guess of which is stronger, I find the eldest and strongest rabbit. Then I have it go to the boss room and then I plant the Moonlight Azure Blossom and have the elder guard it from all other rabbits and kill other rabbits if they try to enter this room. With that done I more or less finish what I needed. The flower takes a huge chunk of my mana regeneration but nothing the other moonlight azure blossoms can¡¯t sustain. After all, I have 4 in the wolf dungeon. I found that I can¡¯t randomly plant them but that is fine. A rare plant can¡¯t be unlimited after all. Seeing as it was done with, I look at all the common puppets that were already built. The 42 puppets were fully built at last but 22 were still common puppets I made just walk around the dungeons to care for the plants and herbs without them turning into farmers. As I look at the number of puppets I have for others I start to disperse them through the ranks. Five was set to be swordsmen having them use different types of swords like Short swords, long swords, katana, saber. Five was sent to be Warrior spearmen, with one of the five being halberd. With the 12 remaining I felt I needed to keep some spares for when I need to replace something or to discover a new class for them. After all just looking at my crafter skill I can more or less guess that these wooden puppets will be able to do every single one of them. That said, I sent two of them to be farmers since the amount of space I need to farm was rather large and it took a bit of time for three farmers to do anything. Though the craftsmen are helpful in this regard since they remove the need for the farmers to visit the weapon growing farm. Now the last thing I did was use a third exp gem to upgrade minion summon since it''s something I need for sure. At the end of it all the skill ended up level 8 and I could summon 29 minions now. After doing the count I found that the skill increases the number of minions by 1 each level. 1+2+3+4 and so on. At level 8 I add seven on top of the previous ones ended up with 29 minions. After seeing the results I was happen that I could now summon a small raid party with my minions and head off to sleep. *** ¡°Captain, about the Dungeon maker hero and the swordsman girl hero. The information on them has arrived from the human nation adventurers guild and Royal family.¡± one of my men said and brought out some papers for me. After getting a report from one of my vice captains about two heroes from the human nation coming over I obviously sent a request to the human nation and adventurer guild for their record. It became even more important now that my little second niece has inexplicable become a party member. I rather pray for any soul that dares to hurt the girl she is calling Mistress. ¡°Hand it over.¡± I say and start reading over it. The request was more for personality traits, fighting style, background info, what is studied, how they act and achievements. We already know about Ace Cross¡¯s amazing achievements of completely destroying the goblin advance in the jagged mountains without casualties but taking a lot of resources. Dungeons are after all something that need a lot of resource to make but after the initial days he made most of it himself by gathering raw material. The girl is much less apparent due to being overshadowed by Ace. Initial class swordsman, original world culture is similar to our eastern nation but theirs is much less evil but they seem to have lived in a warring period similar to now. Highly skilled in swordsmanship and magic, she is comparable to ace in talent but due to him having access to the book he can store much more combat power than her. Then I get the report on the other members and my eyes widen when I see who the gentle little girl was and smile wryly at this. Then the file on that young gentlemen with the glasses makes me left me curious. A human alchemist has a lot to gain in our nation for sure, especially when together with Ace Cross. Nothing was really off besides the two heroes rather blunt personalities but nothing that wouldn¡¯t fit into our nation. Though it could cause quite a few incidents with hard heads. ¡°Nothing to really worry about these heroes. That said, please send a report to his royal majesty and the queen so they know human heroes are in our nation.¡± I said and handed back the report to the guard. ¡°Yes captain.¡± He said saluting and moved to turn. ¡°Also¡­!¡± I call out making him stop. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am?¡± He asked. ¡°Get someone to calculate the total price for all the living dolls in the storage.¡± I said. ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am!¡± He saluted and left. *** In the morning I sleeply descend the stairs before walking to the table with around 15 cleaned plates on it. ¡°I¡¯m going to start making you pay for it with your own money.¡± I said sleepily. ¡°Your money is my money!¡± Misaki says. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for me, you would have starved by now or you would plunged the royal family into a huge debt to pay your snacking habit and made the country go deeper into the ditch of starvation.¡± I said. ¡°Now now, mistress is just someone with a high metabolism you can¡¯t blame her Ace!¡± Luna said trying to split us up. ¡°Hmpf.¡± I sneered then asked for a small breakfast before turning to Luna. ¡°Luna, do you know any puppet shops, particularly those that can make living dolls, possibly very low quality ones.¡± I asked. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know any like that because living dolls are all high quality and follow a strict code to make. If you want old or low quality you would need to buy a broken and old one and repair it but that would make a really butchered doll.¡± Luna said. I click my tongue at this inconvenience. ¡°If I could get at least a low quality living doll then I would be able to make quite a good number magic dolls. Just from that doll I saw yesterday I could see that I could make the living dolls all to my tastes. I might even be able to make my favorite gothic vampire loli queen from one of my favorite light novel where the mc fell to the deeper floors of a dungeon and didn¡¯t go insane because of her. Then there is also maids, although Luna is cute but due to her fetish I don¡¯t see me getting turned on by such a baby faced masochist. Instead I want a beautiful busty dark elf maid with white eyes and silky black hair as a vice head maid and high elf maid as head maid. Both of which are using glasses and have that cold beauty atmosphere. If I could put some soul gems in them then I will be in heaven. If I can have them learn to do cooking and stuff then we might be able to handle all the food needs for the glutton but we need to get cattle and stuff.¡± I thoughtThe story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I let out a sigh as I think of all the stuff I need just to sustain this japanese glutton. After my breakfast arrived Hermes had already come down and asked for his own. He also handed me several bags of seeds and one of which was for mana herbs which I was greatly surprised about and archived them all. Mana herb, Bitter citrus, Hollow Root Flower and Red-Fruit Pitcher plant. The last one almost counted as a monster if it was larger in size but do to it being only the size of a human hand it was only a regular pitcher plant that produced a sweet red fruit to attract flies. The roots and fruit were missing components to mana potions meaning once these reach maturity then Hermes will be able to start producing mana potions. As he ate I fixed up a field for the flowers and herbs. With that done and everyone done eating we pay and I asked Luna to take me to any puppet maker. I wanted some puppet horses, even broken ones are fine as long as I can get the model, so that we could pull the stagecoach with ¡®real¡¯ animals. With that we walk outside after paying and walking around with Luna leading and looking around before we arrived at a rather large shop. ¡°Puppet Mausoleum.¡± I muttered then looked at her. ¡°You brought us to a puppet graveyard?¡± I asked frowning. ¡°You said you wanted the ones that are old and broken. It''s possible a doll can be located here. The owner is also a renowned puppet maker but he retired and simply gathers the old and broken ones to not let the city be cluttered with so many.¡± Luna said. I sigh at what she brought me to but I did ask for the junkyard so I got it. Walking inside, we found large bins with many mannequins. ¡°Wooden puppets of elfwood on the left, Mana wood next to the counter, dirt puppets you can just bury and it will be good fertilizer, rock puppets you can dismantle it at a quarry, anything else you can just leave!¡± A grumpy voice called from a back room. ¡°Uncle! We are here to buy some puppets!¡± Luna said loudly. After a moment a middle aged dark skinned elf with black hair that was turning white walked out with a frown. ¡°What the hell do you want from scraps?¡± he asked sneering. I looked around at all the puppets made of various woods. ¡°Got any living puppets?¡± I asked. ¡°Like hell I do, those are taken before they even reach the bins to be remade and fixed.¡± The elf said. ¡°Not even really broken ones?¡± I asked. ¡°If you want to piece together a doll with random parts you are free to do so. The bin is in the back room.¡± He said. I sighed seeing as I wasn¡¯t going to get a full living puppet today. ¡°Then can you arrange 2 horse puppets.¡± I asked. ¡°Follow me.¡± He said and walked into the back where we found a huge pile with bodies of animals made of wood. ¡°Choose your steed. If you can start it up you can take it for 10 silver.¡± he said My eyes shine as he said that and I summon two wooden puppets and my runic pen out and stab their chest and activate the mechanism to release the soul gem. Once I have two out, and leaving the shop keeper shocked I archive one before he snaps out of it. ¡°BOY! You''re a puppet maker! And one that uses soul gems!¡± He shouted. Then he looked at my book and his face paled. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry sir dungeon maker! This simple minded fool did not notice your grand class!!¡± he said bowing deeply. It shocked me extremely by his sudden change in demeanor. ¡°Um¡­ uncle? Did something happen?¡± Luna asked. ¡°What do you think! Every Puppet maker knows that dungeon makers are the ultimate puppet crafters! To meet one is akin to meeting a god of the craft! The Grimoire of the Dungeon Maker is the greatest artifact that any puppet maker would wish to have for its ability to make puppets so intricately that it''s regarded as a monster by the world system and can evolve like a monster growing more powerful and eventually gaining sentience even if you install a low grade soul gem inside it! The gem will eventually grow into higher ranks with each evolution until the puppet is a true living being! If I was a common puppet maker I would have instantly offered a trade of puppets, even the lowest ranking common wooden puppet if necessary because the runes on the puppet aren¡¯t all identified and to get a research sample would cause any puppet maker droll for the possibility!¡± He exclaimed at Luna¡¯s remark. I smiled wryly at the man''s enthusiasm and looked at the pile of animal puppets. ¡°If I give you a inactive Common wood puppet what would you give in return?¡± I asked. ¡°Your request!¡± He said. ¡°Besides the two horse puppets I need, do you know all the ingredients and refining process for the ingredients to make living puppet dolls?¡± I asked. His smile scrunched up into a frown hearing my request. ¡°The living doll recipe is very rare and while I do know it, even a chance to get a common wooden puppet off a dungeon maker wouldn¡¯t make me part with it.¡± He said. I looked back at the main store. ¡°What is the rarest wooden puppet material you elves use for making puppets?¡± I asked. ¡°Mana wood, those puppets are the most comparable to the dungeon maker puppets. That said if such a puppet was made in the hands of a dungeon maker then don¡¯t even say that its quality can¡¯t be compared.¡± He said. ¡°Then if I make you a mana wood puppet would you be willing to part with it? If not then I can upgrade the mana wood puppet to a warrior class.¡± I said. The elves eyes widened and his hands began to tremble a bit. He bit his lower lip as he began to weigh the pros and cons. ¡°That may¡­ surpass the rewards¡­.¡± He ruefully said. ¡°Does it have that much difference?¡± I asked. ¡°Mana wood is used to make staffs and the magic guns for the main reason that it aids in perfecting runes channeled through them which in turn allows the user to perfect their comprehension. If such an upgraded mana wood puppet was made, even at level one with a low grade soul gem it wouldn¡¯t become a common puppet and instead would be Low grade Warrior puppet.¡± He replied. My eyes widened as I realize that. ¡°Mana wood is really something, I should buy sprouts when I get the chance. Anyway if I trade for 2 mana wood horses and the recipe?¡± I asked. He thought a moment and nodded. ¡°I can do that but the mana wood puppets are uncommon even in these piles. I can find them for you but there will be broken parts and some missing even.¡± He said. ¡°That is fine, if it''s broken or missing I bit, the book can make them with mana even if I needed to use all the mana gathered.¡± I said. ¡°Good, let me gather the best puppets still in one piece.¡± He said. I summon another common puppet and remove the soul gem and archive it for when I can reactivate it. I need to check with the help system on how to produce them again. After that we go looking in the pile and soon we help him pull out two very heavy horse puppets made of mana wood. One had a half the chest area broken and splintered and the other had the hind legs broken. ¡°Well this is the best I can offer, the rest have limbs missing and most puppets are custom made. Each part is adhered to each puppet so mixing parts won¡¯t work well.¡± He said. ¡°It¡¯s fine, like I said the book will repair it. I have a guardian that was at the brink of breaking down so this isn¡¯t anything.¡± I said. I take out the pen and move to the chest area where I poke around until the pen reacted and I began to process of opening the chest and sticking it in and then binding the horse. When the binding was done it turned into a flash of light and entered my book and I found it I the minion page as Low Grade Mana Wooden Horse Level 1. When I looked at the exact category I smiled when I saw it fell under Wooden Puppet Beast. Since there are so many types of animal puppets this caused types to be categorized together. I do the same to the horse and normal human shaped puppet. ¡°Alright, it will take the horse around 10 hours to be fully repaired, once they can walk around they will appear in the dungeons and will use plant roots to heal faster as will the human puppet that is already doing that. He will take 30 minutes to reach fully restored.¡± I said. ¡°Good, while we wait then I will pass the ingredients list and refining method and production method of the living doll puppets.¡± He said and gestured to the stairs that were in the back to the second floor and we walked up and began to talk it over. For half an hour he explained and wrote down in detail the workings of making a living doll puppet. It was amazing how many magical wood and flowers needed to be grinded down to make the magical plastic like substance that would be almost like a human body. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a tree that makes rubber in this world?¡± I asked. ¡°Rubber? What''s that?¡± He asked. ¡°Its an elastic material, never mind, since puppet makers don¡¯t know it means your hero didn¡¯t locate the tree I was talking about since we are probably from the same world. Where can we find all this?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh Ace, I can help, I noticed many of these common and uncommon type flowers and plants in the herbalist''s shop I visited. We just need to sap of the Invita tree which we can get at a florist shop who sells it.¡± Hermes said. ¡°The real problem is the preparation state really. All these complex proportions and mixtures.¡± Charlotte said a bit worried. ¡°I won¡¯t be trying to make new living puppets any time soon. I will get a few from Luna¡¯s Aunt first and live off that for now until we can grow enough of the ingredients to make all of this several times over and do trial and error.¡± I said. ¡°Okay kid, the puppet should be repaired.¡± the shop keeper said. ¡°Prepare a spirit gem, I¡¯m not leaving the soul gem.¡± I said. ¡°Sure, I have plenty of them for when I need to move a puppet or to and use other puppets.¡± He said. He went and began to prepare it while I had the Puppet in my dungeon retrieve its roots and walk to the armor and weapon fields and retrieve a halberd and a full set of only wood armor. Then I thought a bit and walked him to a different field where trees were planted for materials for making the dungeons. I sent a farmer that way and inside I have the mana wood puppet spread his roots and break off several groups and then have the farmer connect to them and grow them as trees. Ever so slowly the sprout appeared making me smile but the next moment the mana in the entire book began to get sucked by the seven trees making me smile wryly and sigh. I send all farmers and the guardian to take care of this and after looking at the horses that weren¡¯t even mobile yet were forced into the dungeon to plant their roots due to the mana of the book being sucked in. ¡°Well I won¡¯t be having any mana regeneration for a while.¡± I sigh. ¡°Let me guess, you planted so mana trees right?¡± Misaki asked. I nod and sigh. I have the mana wood puppet put on all the armor that was slowly invaded by the roots of mana wood and slowly gained purple veins and the purple color from the mana wood began to spread like a plague and as it put the last piece, the helmet the prompt appeared.
Your Mana Wood Wooden Puppet has evolved into a Low Grade Mana Wood Wooden Warrior Puppet. He has gained basic level sentience and will be loyal to you.
As the prompt vanished I summoned him and he looks at me. I took the pen and touched the seal on his chest. All the runes began to glow and I undid the seal and removed the soul gem in his chest that was glowing purple unlike before. ¡°So a soul gem really dues evolve with the puppet.¡± I mutter as I store the gem. ¡°Wow! This is amazing!¡± The shopkeeper said as he looked at the chest of the puppet and put his Spirit gem inside and began the process of binding the puppet forming a small seal on the chest. ¡°Well, our transactions is done. Don¡¯t let me find out that you used the puppet I upgraded for evil.¡± I said looking at him sharply. ¡°Hmpf, don¡¯t look down on me boy! I only want research samples. If you¡¯re ever charitable then come back and hand them over. Hahaha!¡± He laughed. I rolled my eyes at his words and stood up. ¡°Let''s go, Luna please lead us to your aunts barracks then we can go to the adventurer''s guild and get some missions to rank yours and Hermes adventurer rank up.¡± I said. ¡°Alright!¡± she said and got up with us. We bid the shopkeeper farewell and left for the barracks. Book 2 Chapter 6 We easily find the barracks due to Luna but had to wait until the captain herself appeared. ¡°I see you¡¯re finally here.¡± She said looking at me. ¡°Well i am interested in the dolls so of course i will come.¡± I replied back. ¡°Of course, that said we also want to negotiate.¡± She said. ¡°Of course you do, the shopkeeper i just came from also negotiated with me and got a guard puppet now.¡± I said and sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside.¡± She nods and lets us through until we reach a large room with a round table. ¡°Okay, since we are talking about living puppets let me go on to say that low grade and broken ones would cost around 100 gold just because of the material but since few people can recycle this material it¡¯s hard to repurpose.¡± She said then whistled and her guards slowly began to bring in broken dolls that had arms missing, broken in half, had a half broken face or the skin had nick and cracks. ¡°These are common Low grade dolls, as you can tell, the skin and body are made by poor quality material and their maintenances was poor and the creation process was low quality causing it to be hard and cracks after a while without maintenance.¡± After that they brought in five boxes that looked like coffins and opened them showing beautiful life like dolls but there were still some faults to them like a broken eye or cracks slowly forming. ¡°These are Uncommon Low grade, the material is better and can last for around 5 to 10 years without constant maintenance but if maintenance is done regularly they can easily last 20 years.¡± Finally two jade coffins came in and when opened were two dolls in pristine condition, one of which is the one that we saw her fight. ¡°These are Common Medium grade dolls or Godly Low Grade there is a very thin line that can barely be distinguished and only the world system or an experienced eye can know the difference. Anyway, these can last about 100 years without repairs and are probably some of the highest quality items in the nation, if not for the fact that they came from taboo felons, nobles would want this but we possess quite a degree of superstitions towards possessing items of someone killed filled with resentment so we seal them in these coffins when they come from someone evil.¡± She finished explaining. We look at all the dolls, since there wasn¡¯t any more coming it mean that there were no more. I look at the pile of broken ones then at the better quality ones before returning my gaze back to the captain. ¡°So what do you want for each grade?¡± I asked. She shrugged, ¡°We don¡¯t know exactly what you have to trade.¡± She replied. Nodding i open my book and summoned one of all the types of common puppets. When i looked i could i see that the farmers had gained some traces of mana wood. I explain each one¡¯s features and who they work as they are but i don¡¯t know how they are if i remove the soul gem. She looked expectantly at the warriors, archers, acolytes and farmers. She asked me how many of each of these specific ones i had. ¡°I have only 10 spare common puppets that i can evolve into these types so up to 3 for one type and 2 of the other or 3 for three of them and one for the last.¡± I explained. Her eyes widen a bit before she begins thinking intensely. Her eyes go to the puppets then to the dolls before she gets up and walks over before starting to examine the puppets slowly then closing her eyes as if thinking a bit. ¡°Alright, for the entire pile of destroyed dolls, 3 Farmer puppets, for common low grade dolls, the 2 archer and Acolyte puppets and for the Low Medium Grade¡­¡± She paused and looked at the farmer. ¡°Do you have mana wood?¡± ¡°We only recently acquired some and it¡¯s growing at the moment.¡± I reply. ¡°These farmers have trace of mana wood.¡± She said. ¡°Seems so, i think that aiding in increasing the speed they grow is changing the wood type they are made from.¡± I reply. She nods and thinks a bit and looks at the two most precious dolls and puts up 5 fingers. ¡°Get me five mana wood warrior puppets and those two are yours. I can accept 2 of them for the older one but the one we just acquired we identified as better quality than the other.¡± She said. I frown but after remembering the amount of rare material it takes to make one doll, not to mention the time it takes to refine the materials to make such a high quality one at that, it made sense for them to want a large number of high quality puppets made from rare materials. Thinking a bit i look at the others. ¡°Your choice?¡± Misaki muttered bored. ¡°I think it¡¯s a good deal, they are better than the Acolytes not to mention that the weakest ones will already develop a more profound personality compared to the puppets.¡± Hermes said. I thought a while and remembered the two puppets i removed the core for the horses. ¡°Oh right i have two extra but to turn them into mana wood puppets will take a while¡­¡± I mutter. I let out a sigh, ¡°I will take those that i can at this moment, the really good ones¡­¡± i said pointing at the Common Medium Grade ones, ¡°I will pick up when i have completed the five puppets for you.¡± I reply. ¡°That is good.¡± She said and stretched her hand and i shook it. Then i recalled all my puppets and began to change the seven others into the requested puppets and summoned them out and began to remove the soul gems. ¡°Wait, what are you doing?¡± She asked. ¡°Removing the soul gems, what else? I only have 42 of them so obviously i will not let them go.¡± I said as i extract the first gem. She pauses and sighs before nodding after seeing they were all Low grade soul gems, the spirit gems will be able to handle the puppets to about 70 or 80% of their total capacity or it could be upgraded since the puppet is akin to a complete monster. She doesn¡¯t stop me from removing the others and she goes and inserts spirit gems in their place and has someone who knows how to bind them to do so with her. All the while i begin archiving all the dolls i acquired. ¡°Cross-san, just a warning!¡± Misaki said in a deadly cold tone making me look at her. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare make them look like Chucky!¡± Hearing her words i blanked out for a moment before i started laughing loudly and almost started to roll around but held back. ¡°If any of them turn out like that i will burn them to ashes myself.¡± I reply and smile as i collect the last few low grade ones leaving the rest for the guards to store for when i can. I instantly put five soul gems in the Uncommon Low grade ones causing them to slowly open their eyes and stand up and although a bit rusted and moving slowly they still make a slow cutsy.
You have gained Low Grade Living Dolls.
Living Dolls
A unique doll that possesses a soul gem in its chest. They have very fragile bodies but when they grow intelligent enough they will always walk around with it completely coated in mana causing it to be as powerful as magical metals. They possess tremendous magical capabilities and even low grade ones are intelligent enough to learn skills and talk, though emotionlessly. They perform most actions with magic such as lifting heavy weight by performing magic to lighten the weight or strengthen their bodies. Because their bodies are made by an extreme number of runes they can be considered a magical artifact.
Your five Living dolls have less than 60% of their health and lack 80% of their necessary runes, they will now be recalled.
As soon as the windows vanishes they turn into balls of light and are sucked into the book but their boxes in the minion box were red showing they weren¡¯t being repaired due to lack of mana which is being sucked up by the mana tree.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Well seems that is that, it will take a bit before i can bring you the last five some other time for the last two puppets.¡± I said getting up. ¡°Good, so what do you guys plan on doing now?¡± She asked. We look at each other for a moment. ¡°Well i need to train my fighting skills since i don¡¯t want to totally depend on the puppets, as for the others they need to help Luna and Hermes rise up the ranks in the adventurer''s guild.¡± I said after thinking a moment. ¡°Is that so? Then is Misaki Shinigumi going with her?¡± she asked. ¡°Just call me Shinigumi-san and no. From what i can feel Luna is strong enough and Hermes can act as the healer so they should be able to deal with small problems at the moment.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t one of us go at least?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I am trained with the sword so i can fight.¡± Luna said smiling. ¡°Now that we are on this, what are we going to do after this?¡± Misaki asked. I look at them for a moment. ¡°I was thinking of just exploring the elf nation, don¡¯t really have much plans besides training a bit and travelling until the waves of demons appear and we have to go fight.¡± I say. Most of the guards and the captain just looked at us a bit surprised. ¡°You¡¯re from the hero party so don¡¯t you guys take missions and help people in need or something?¡± The captain asked. ¡°Says who? The guards exist for what? If you want to call yourselves heroes that is also fine since you do save people day in and day out like you did with those girls that were saved from that NTR guy. It¡¯s simply a matter of perspective, if humans and elves were at war, your hero would be our demon lord and vise versa. Those who like to show off as heroes are just empty idiots wanting self recognition while those who don¡¯t care about being heroes can be called scum instead of heroes but they do their real work.¡± I say shrugging. The room was silent for a moment before the captain started laughing. ¡°I see, so that is your philosophy for heroes huh. I guess it¡¯s one way to go, it¡¯s true, depending on the perspective a hero can be a demon. Well i won¡¯t keep you all any longer, i need to transport these little guys to a quality puppet maker to see if he can research them and learn their secrets.¡± she said and led us out. We return to our inn rooms and inside i open up my book and look at the mana and progress of the mana tree.
Estimate time until Mana tree is fully grown. 02:22:14:12
¡°Three days huh?¡± I mutter and look at the map that showed the location. At the farm most of the trees had died off as the mana tree parasites their nutrients and mana and it had moved to the middle of the room itself while all the farmer puppets were helping to grow it. Seeing this i sigh and call out five common puppets that were deactivated and activate them and send them to help without changing them to farmers then command for all puppets to go aid them. As all 37, including the mana wood horses, plant their roots the books mana regeneration finally surpassed what is being used up meaning that the tree is no longer using the books mana completely. When i looked at the living puppets i saw their health rising at a steady pace. ¡°Wow, their bodies are so fragile that repairs is done so quickly.¡± I mutter as i watch and soon they were all in perfect condition but now on the side a new box appeared.
Rune insertion 20% complete 07:47:13
This was next to all of living puppets. ¡°So it will only take so long for all of them to reach full potential. It¡¯s quite amazing really.¡± I mutter as i look at the book. I was curious about the books secrets and then thought about Luna¡¯s advice about learning the secrets of the runes. I thought a long while and opened the rune section and saw the slightly glowing moon rune. ¡°I will probably get another chance to learn more about it every time Valery does her ritual.¡± I mutter and look at the totally black runes i had in my list. I look at the fire rune and after a moment i swing my legs up and sit up before pulling my pen out and slowly breathed. I tried to remember that feeling i had when i felt the ¡®Moon¡¯ rune. The feeling of being in a kind of trance then i wrote the rune that started to burn. I looked at it trying to glimpse at something. After a while it snuffed itself out and i called it out again and again and again. After twenty times i was getting annoyed. ¡°Oh come on! Fire is just fucking energy eating up oxygen and causing the air to vibrate due to the energy!¡± I shout as i throw the book with force onto the bed. At once the rune in the book began to shine and i felt a single wave of energy come from it and then form the floating rune before it was snuffed out. ¡°Wait¡­ do i have to learn its properties and how it works¡­¡± I mutter and take the book again and see that the black rune had turned into a blackish red. ¡°Fire is what i thought in general but there are different types of fire depending on the fuel and quantity.¡± I mutter. The rune glows a bit more but barely gets more red. ¡°So it does react to my own personal knowledge and comprehension of each rune.¡± ¡°I summon the rune and think, common orange flame is the weakest flame, blue flame is one of the strongest and is acquired by a lot of extra air into the mix causing the heat to rise tremendously.¡± I said and began to overcharge the rune with mana and very quickly the fire became blue. I felt another wave of energy hit me and the rune in the book began to brighten more. I smile and with each summoning of the rune i recalled another fact about different fires and how some fire burning with different materials could cause the fire to grow stronger like with white fire which is Magnesium Sulfate and when being burned, if it comes in contact with water it will erupt instead of being put out. By the time i went to sleep the Fire Rune was glowing but it was still lacking to go to the other page where it shows the runes i comprehended. Still it was alright. Just for fun i drew the ¡®Vibrate¡¯ rune while in bed. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ vibrations are waves of atoms transmitting kinetic energy from one object to another or through the air and can travel as long as it has energy and a strong enough medium to carry it. Voice is the most common vibration through the air. Vibrations through the body can also cause mass disorientation in the body due to disrupting the electronic messages travelling through the nerves.¡± I say while the rune was floating and humming as it vibrated. The rune glowed a bit and after thinking a bit i wrote it down on my arm and began to feel my arm vibrate a lot. ¡°Body vibration is irregular without¡­ control¡­ cells vibrate irregularly¡­ internal damage caused by vibration¡­¡± I mutter and soon it stopped and i felt my arm sore. ¡°Vibrations cause irregular vibration in the cells¡­ wait this makes me think of a fiction i read were if all the bodies cells ¡®breathed¡¯ together it would cause a powerful vibration together and no damage will happen.¡± I mutter and instantly the vibration rune glowed become light grey. ¡°Wait seriously! If i control my cells they will cause a powerful vibration¡­¡± I say in shock. I was amazed at the find, who would have thought reading light novels would actually bring out real facts but that is all. How the hell would i even begin to learn how to control the cells in my body. Pushing it out of my mind until i can discover a better way to explain it i go to sleep. ¡°Master¡­¡± A cold voice called in the morning. I didn¡¯t recognize it but i pushed it out. ¡°Master?¡± Another one called and this time i slowly opened my eyes and looked at the owner and what i found were five naked girls looking at me with indifferent faces. At once a jumped out of bed and fell backwards. ¡°Ouch¡­¡± I mutter in pain and look at them and only now noticing the small lines that signal the joints of dolls but they were very well covered by the skin as the interior skeleton was human like but there was still very small divides between them that are commonly hidden by clothing. Looking at the dolls, there was not a blemish on them and they looked almost human if not for the joint outlines and the small lines at the edge of their mouth that opened their mouth like a nut cracker yet they could stretch their mouth out to ¡®smile¡¯ and pursue them to kiss and it wasn¡¯t trapped in place. ¡°Master, are you alright?¡± The one in the middle asked. She had straight black hair and elf features with the long ears as did the others. ¡°Yeah, i was just surprised since i didn¡¯t expect you all to be able to exit the book without me summoning you.¡± I replied. ¡°There is no need to worry master, as long as you order us we will not exit if not summoned.¡± The one next to her. This one had blonde hair. ¡°Can i ask why you¡¯re not wearing clothes?¡± I ask. ¡°The previous garments were useless.¡± another one replied emotionlessly. ¡°And one more question, how can you all talk and show so much intelligence?¡± I aske. ¡°We are Low Grade Living Dolls with soul gems. We possess necessary intelligence to speak and learn but no sentience as we don¡¯t understand living beings emotions, joy or pain as our bodies are incapable of such.¡± Another one said. ¡°That shall change as we grow and learn from master and our bodies improve with time.¡± ¡°Alright alright, please return to the book for now, also wear the clothing you had on before until we can find something that works better.¡± i order and the five turn into light and fly into the book. At the same time the door opens to Hermes. ¡°Are you alright? I heard a crash?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a surprise is all.¡± I mutter and get up before stretching. I sigh and together with Hermes we go downstairs to eat while i suffer the fate of paying for Misaki¡¯s breakfast again before we head up to the room so i could show them the living dolls. ¡°Wow, they are even more lifelike than before.¡± Charlotte said shocked. ¡°We are not lifelike, we are Living dolls so we possess a soul, though young and immature.¡± One spoke. ¡°As you can tell, they are intelligent, now before anything, please explain why you removed your clothing before i woke up?¡± I asked. ¡°These are simple clothing with no use. We possess innate knowledge to create a perfect dress for ourselves to match ourselves. We simply request master to allow us to control the mana within your book for a short time while we produce them. Seven days, one day and 9 hours each to be precise.¡± the one with black silky hair said. ¡°Wait what! An entire week?!¡± I asked in shock. ¡°Yes, we require a large amount of time to produce the magical materials needed then to refine it as our bodies are still pathetically weak but when we finish our clothing our magical control will improve by almost triple and our strength by a similar amount. It is also a requirement for us to continue advancing to become higher quality living puppets.¡± She said. ¡°I see, well at the moment the mana tree is in need of the mana and it¡¯s hard to allow it since i have almost no mana stored because of the tree.¡± I tell them. ¡°We understand, we can still function at ? of our capacity and aid master in expanding your amount of minions.¡± The middle one said. ¡°How?¡± I asked frowning. ¡°One function of Living dolls is the capability to gather spiritual energy and form a soul gem. With our capabilities we can cause your book to produce 1 every 3 days or master can make his exp crystals be converted into 1 low grade soul gem at the cost of 3 exp crystals. If master also wishes to make exp crystals that are open for other classes you can at the cost of 1 extra to refine another.¡± another doll with green hair replied. ¡°I see, then return to the book and make them i will allow one of you to make your own dress only after the mana tree is completely grown but you must gain my permission first.¡± I say. They all bow to me and say, ¡°Yes master¡± before returning to the book. ¡°Well that was entertaining, let¡¯s go then. We need to decide what missions we can get for Luna and Hermes and one for us.¡± Misaki said getting up and we nod before leaving the Inn. Book 2 Chapter 7 As we leave the Inn on our way to the adventurers guild a sudden flash of light came from my book and flow in front of me before transforming into a familiar silver haired wolf girl who was falling with her arms stretched out towards me. ¡°Papa~~!! I¡¯m~ BORED!!!¡± She shouted and hooked her arms around my neck and wrapped her legs around my chest as she hugged and didn¡¯t let go. ¡°Play with Valery!¡± Her eyes were filled with determination to get what she wanted. ¡°I¡¯m busy right now Valery? Weren¡¯t you playing around in the farms or with your wolf friends until now?¡± I asked as i looked at the dirt coated girl who was in need of a bath. ¡°Buu~! Papa, they are boring, they can¡¯t keep up!¡± She complained. I sigh and look at the others in hopes of getting some kind of help but they all look away and were ¡®admiring¡¯ something in some shop nearby. I sigh, ¡°Let papa do what he needs to now, soon we''ll be able to play, okay?¡± I said. ¡°Okay.¡± she said and vanished into the book. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get to the adventurers guild quickly and find a mission for you both.¡± I said ignoring the teasing glances at me. We head to the adventurers guild and looked at the mission board. ¡°So an E rank mission¡­¡± I mutter. ¡°No a D rank if i go with them.¡± Misaki said. ¡°You would take most of the credit.¡± I replied. ¡°Don¡¯t worry mistress, I¡¯m quite strong.¡± Luna said. Misaki rolled her eye and we kept looking a bit before we pulled out three connected quests.
Orc Rampage
Orc¡¯s have set up a village within the Dark vine Forest and have been terrorizing the trade route. Several merchants have been attacked and females kidnapped by the tribe. Immediate resolution is required and rescue of the females alive if possible. Objectives: Destruction of the village 100 g, rescue of female 20g each rescued woman. Bonus: Destroy all Orc, 300g for total extinction.
War Shaman¡¯s Head
An overly active Orc village in the Dark Vine Forest was sighted with a very troubling creature. A War Shaman was sighted as one of the leaders of the village and is leading the creatures to grow stronger. Kill it and bring back its head. Objectives: The death of the War Shaman and bringing back the head for confirmation, 300g
War Chief¡¯s Fangs
An overly active Orc village in the Dark Vine Forest was sighted with a very troubling creature. A War Chief was sighted as the prime leaders of the village and is leading the creatures to grow stronger. Kill it and bring back its Fangs. Objectives: The death of the War Chief and bringing back the head for confirmation, 300g
¡°So three missions in one, why didn¡¯t they put them together?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Because each leader can be killed when out hunting while the entire orc extinction is harder to achieve. The two leader missions are upper D rank and the orc tribe one is lower D rank so their level range is 20-40 i think.¡± I said. ¡°That is about right.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°The best method to succeed is to slowly whittle down their number while they hunt until the chief and Shaman come out and kill them at that moment. Then you can search for us at that time and we can help you with the extermination mission.¡± she said. ¡°No need, I¡¯m quite proficient in magic to be both a Long and close range fighter.¡± Luna said happily. She took the missions and pulled Hermes to the register to book the missions and then headed back to the group. ¡°Alright we have notified the guild that we are on the mission so they will be on the alert as well.¡± she said. ¡°I should prepare more materials and potions.¡± Hermes said. ¡°I¡¯ll open the portal so you can head there to get ready.¡± I said and we head back to the inn and let him in. Veria didn¡¯t let me off now and i was made to go play with her so Misaki and Charlotte went to spar and train. After six hours, Luna and Hermes left the group and Veria was tired and went to sleep. I finally had time to train my runes and began to do that in an empty room in my dungeon where the mana quantity was much higher and easier to regenerate it. BANG! I slowly open my eyes and cough before rubbing the soot off my face, ¡°Urg¡­ never expected i would blow up my own fire rune so far in.¡± i said and conjured some water to wash my face off and used Heal Light to heal some of the damage. As i look at the rune page and looked at the glowing fire rune that was glowing. ¡°What am i missing for it to be comprehended?¡± i muttered. Both the ¡®Vibrate¡¯ and ¡®Fire¡¯ runes were glowing because i got a large amount of what it really is but it¡¯s not as advanced as the Moon rune. ¡°Let¡¯s try something else¡­ Light¡­¡± I muttered and drew the Light rune. It simply glowed and vanished after a few seconds. ¡°Light, a group of wavelength. The ones visible to the human spectrum are in several category of wavelength, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, when combined it makes white. Along with color there is ultraviolet and infrared light, X-rays, Microwaves, Radio waves and Gamma Ray.¡± I mutter and redraw it. The light was more intense and i kept making it and it was drastically growing stronger with each attempt showing i had as the range of the light waves expanded beyond the basic colors and were incorporating the infra and ultra rays than microwaves and x ray. At the end, i was making talismen and throwing them away to test them and after more than fifty tries, the rune finally lifted from the book and entered the comprehended section. A light shined from the book into my head and i felt i had complete control of the rune and used my hand to cast the light ball and the rune formed glowing powerfully and merged with the ball. It became a ball so strong that it was like looking at the sun. If any undead were there, they would burn to ash under the bright light and any dark creatures would be blinded as if looking at a flash bang grenade. After my eyes cleared up i knew that it wasn¡¯t a lack of comprehension but a lack of proper drawing the rune. I went back to the fire rune and kept drawing it many times. I did try to feel and chance small things each time and ones that grew stronger i kept and weaker i discarded until it also flew to the comprehended page. With a grin on my face i looked at all the elements. Air and Earth was just as easy and water even more so. Soon the four basic elements of the magic system was glowing their own color in the comprehended section. Of course, this was after almost a day of intense work. The room was filled with dirt, dust, water and burn scars all over. ¡°Heroes are such cheats.¡± i muttered and shook my head and looked at the other runes and simply thought that it was going to take a long time. I look at the directional runes. ¡°Directions shouldn¡¯t be hard either. North is the negative pole and South is the positive pole similar to how electricity runs. When compass are used, North is indicated as the positive pointer aims at north.¡± I said and drew the north. I kept drawing it and after the tenth one, it was perfectly comprehended. South as well. Each direction didn¡¯t even have description and was easy to comprehend. ¡°That took about half an hour, no wonder they were used to stabilize magic circles, they are easy to comprehend but have important purposes.¡± I muttered. As i used the Magic Circle Pen Mode, pulling the first circle automatically conjures the eight runes after a certain size surpassing 30 cm. ¡°As expected, comprehended runes each have their purpose and comprehending it makes them automatic.¡± I muttered. Happy about the increase in power i start to check out the spells and make FireBall and using only 10 mp to form both runes and 5 runes to activate, a ball of flame as big as a basketball was formed and held quite an imposing air.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Damn.¡± I muttered. The ball was nearly three times stronger than when i first started. This meant any spell using them would be more stable and stronger. ¡°I wonder how much i can sell this to the human nation for.¡± i muttered but knew that so few wouldn¡¯t give much besides an improvement in basic magic. That nation truthfully required complete reformation of the base as well as the magic system. Leaving the dungeon and closing it since no one was inside, i was about to look at my puppets when¡­
Your Wood Wooden Puppet has evolved into a Mana Wood Wooden Puppet.
Your Wood Wooden Puppet has evolved into a Mana Wood Wooden Puppet.
Your Wood Wooden Puppet has evolved into a Mana Wood Wooden Puppet.
¡­.
36 screens appeared telling me all the common wood puppets had completely converted into mana wood puppets after that came another message. All but the 5 common ones became Low Grade Mana Wood puppet of their class and gained some level of basic sentience. Seeing that made me grin as i was so happy. ¡°I can get the last two Medium grade ones.¡± I said happily as i run out and to the barracks. After asking for Luna¡¯s Aunt, i was able to meet her after half an hour where i presented the five Mana Wood Puppets. ¡°Like i promised, Five common Mana Wood Puppets.¡± I said. ¡°This is great, as agreed.¡± she said and soon the two jade coffin came out. I remove the Soul gem and using two of them i put them in the chest of the two Living Puppets and bind them. They both opened their eyes and stood up soon.
You have gained Medium Grade Living Dolls.
Your two Living dolls lacking 90% of their necessary runes, they will now be recalled.
As i saw the message the two shined and entered the book. Looking at them they each had the same rank and a time under it.
Rune insertion 0% complete 11:59:51
¡°This is great!¡± I laughed, ¡°Thank you for the business.¡± I said and call out three more common puppets and put the three remaining cores in them and sent them to help grow the mana tree with the rest and leave the barracks with my new living puppet that would surely bring me excellent help in the future. With nothing left to do i open my status to see how i had grown.
Status:
Name: Ace Cross Class: Dungeon maker
Level: 18 Exp: 205/4200
Health: 1255 Mana 1565
Strength: 158 (4) Intelligence: 170 (5)
Agility: 102 (2) Wisdom: 183 (4)
Endurance: 150 (5) Vitality: 155 (5)
Skills
Dungeon Archive: Level 13: Exp 2528/8100
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon maker and make copies. The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the Dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen I the structure and say ''Archive Corridor/Room/Trap/Material/Vegetation/Minion'' Can currently make layout for 16 dungeons You can store only 14 different corridor layouts You can store only 20 room types You can store only 7 boss rooms You can store only 22 different traps You can store 18 types of minion. You can store 40 common non medical plants and 30 common fruit bearing plants and crops, and 18 medical herbs Repairs to dungeon reduced cost by 13% Repairs/Recovery rate of Minions is 13% faster Cost to cast runes decreased by 20% Dungeon attracts monsters and demons from 5 km away Dungeon can gather naturally from the air up to 13000 mana to run the dungeon and to attract monsters. Dungeons can now support plant life if they are made of dirt or other organic materials. Dungeon Layouts can now be connected inside the Book of the Dungeon Maker forming one dungeon out of many but can be disconnected in the similar fashion. You can now Archive killed dungeons and analyze their structure to make them your own dungeons and make rooms and layouts of the same type. Your dungeon can produce Spirit Gems naturally 1 gem per month Runic Pen Option: You can now access ¡®Magic Circle Pen Mode¡¯ and can return to ¡®Runic Pen Mode¡¯ by speaking either name.
Magic Hole Formation Level 3: Exp 0/1500
This skill allows the caster to open a magic hole into a separate dimension where the constructed dungeon exists, it allows monsters in and out openly. The magic hole draws in mana from the air making the dungeon more comfortable and eventually can make natural drops like magic plants spawn if seeds are planted or brought in by the dungeon targets. Can currently make 3 small magic hole. Can open 3 dungeons or 1 dungeon with an entrance and exit.
Crafter Level 9: Exp 5183/5400
This skill allows you to learn all craft skills for the purpose of making a dungeon. This skill level will grow with the overall skill of all crafts learned. Current crafts learned: Blacksmith Level 9: Exp 4365/5400 Carpenter Level 6: Exp 2478/3600 Sculptor Level 1: Exp 50/1000 Engraver Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Alchemist Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Scribe Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Tailor Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Tanner Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Chef Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Farmer Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Painter Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Enchanter Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Jeweler Level 1: Exp 0/1000 Bone Carver Level 1: Exp 0/1000
Short Sword Mastery Level 6: Exp 597/3600
Your master with the short sword. Increases damage with this weapon by 6%
Short Sword Arts Level 5: Exp 15/3000
Arts that only masters of the short sword can learn. Level 1: Double Slash Level 2: Heavy Blade Level 3: Flower Dance Level 4: Scattered Flower Blade Level 5: Vacuum Blade
Runic Writing/Language Level 10: Exp 5,820/6000
This Skill corresponds to the level of comprehension towards the Runic Language and how many runes you have learned and can use properly. Current runes you know: 146 Can be found in Runic Dictionary within the Book of the Dungeon Maker Decrease mana consumption when using Runes by 6% Increase magic control when using Runes by 6%
Mana Manipulation Level 10: Exp 5646/6000
A skill that shows your ability in controlling Mana and using magic. Decreases mana consumption by 10% Increases control of magic by 10%
Meditation Level 5: 160/3000
Meditation is the art of calming one''s mind and controlling the flow of energy in one''s body. When used properly it allows you to gather mana from the air at a faster pace and counter the effects of mana exhaustion. Increases rate of mana recovery by 5%
Minion Summon Level 8 1750/4800
A Dungeon maker is a person who use dungeons to combat monsters. As such these people also possess their own minions. When minions aren''t within the dungeon performing a job for their masters they await within the Book of the Dungeon Maker at this time it is when a dungeon maker can summon forth his minion to battle or do his bidding. Can summon 29 Minion Monster
Looking at the hero class broken stats, because yes, i have checked the general stats for a level 18, which is between 70-100, this obviously doesn¡¯t include actual training done for extra points but it frankly doesn¡¯t even matter. Heroes have a higher growth rate, from what i know so no matter what, just general growth by level would result in higher points not to mention when someone puts their effort into training. Still looking at my skills, the most lackluster is Crafter skill. The skill encases all these craft classes so the exp from the exp gem is split between them all. ¡°I should probably level up Crafter skill.¡± I thought and take one of the exp gems and assign it to the skill. The result¡­
Crafter Level 10: Exp 76/6000
This skill allows you to learn all craft skills for the purpose of making a dungeon. This skill level will grow with the overall skill of all crafts learned. Current crafts learned: Blacksmith Level 10: Exp 400/6000 Carpenter Level 7: Exp 400/4200 Sculptor Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Engraver Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Alchemist Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Scribe Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Tailor Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Tanner Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Chef Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Farmer Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Painter Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Enchanter Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Jeweler Level 2: Exp 400/1500 Bone Carver Level 2: Exp 400/1500
As soon as the window appeared, a head piercing pain began as information started to flow into my mind. I sat down and began to meditate and organize the information by class for over an hour. The amount of information wasn¡¯t much more than what i get at level 1 but it was still a lot and was sure to only increase with time as i add it. I was happy though. Levels 1-5 tend to be basics and at level two the knowledge provided by the system was enough for me to perfectly work with, the skill i really wanted in truth is Engraver. Having long since seen what the puppets could do, i wanted to start engraving in armor as well and was honestly surprised by how engraving is actually a subcategory of magic and craft. Besides needing to know both blacksmithing and Tailoring, i needed to know enchanting and painting for several kinds as well as Jeweler because in some cases, gemstones were required as mediums for the mana to flow through the equipment properly. It was honestly an eye opener and i was happy about the crafter skill giving me all the craft jobs. It¡¯s only sad that i am a human and I¡¯m not like the old elf hero that was a human turned elf. They have much longer life spans after all. Besides that, i should probably spend more time in my Farm Dungeon actively farming as well to raise the farming skill but for now i need tools of the trade and so i get up and go look for tools required for Engravers, both blacksmith and tailor. Book 2 Chapter 8 A full two weeks passed while we stayed at Vine Grove, the town at the border of Dark Vine town. Luna and Hermes were away for that period of time and during that time i had focused on skill training, particularly those that i could already access. Although i gained tools for engraving, it was simply a sewing set for tailoring and several sets of needles and a mallet for metal and wood engraving. It was the simplest i could get and use with my skill at the moment. The other one i could train was Farming and Alchemy. With most of Hermes¡¯ books remaining in the dungeon, i had easy access to his work and learned a few basic recipe, such as how to make potion solutions and prep work. Farming was much easier to level up though, under direct management and using a Nature Item Hoe i had the puppets make after the mana tree was completely grown, i personally tilted the fields, planted and watered one of them alone. Of course i don¡¯t know how to do the same thing as the puppets to make it grow quickly but it was still quicker than normal. Also, the dolls were able to make their strange dresses. Amazingly, they used mana of the book and formed matter from it making threads and formed silk magical dresses. They were all Uncommon Low Grade after all and there was still low grade. Most likely the common Low Grade ones were even simpler after i could wake them up. There were over 20 broken ones still needing extensive repairs and formation of body parts. As for the two Common Medium Grade ones, they were in the process of making their own dresses. The dress of the Low Grade ones were very simple, they were White one piece dresses with a simple white headband, with no frills. Of course, they were far from simple, when the light shines on them, lines of mana could be seen flowing through them. Their magical abilities indeed did improve greatly with these clothing but the amount of Runes on their body were even more drastic. They already helped increase the rate of mana generation but were mostly emotionless, even the Medium grade ones were the same due to the inadequate gem that was only a Low Grade Soul gem. Since it needs 3 exp gem for a Low grade Soul gem it would be reasonable to say that it takes 3 soul gems for Medium grade. Of course, when they woke up they said that it would take about a month for them to upgrade their Soul gem to the proper grade. Until then, they have the quality of Medium grade and all its runes while having the power of only a Low grade. That is about 60% of their true power which is impressive in its own right. Anyway, my Engraving skill reached level 3 and Farming hit level 5 within the two weeks of training. Farming is obviously easier since i am using advanced techniques. Also each skill has its own bonus. For farming it¡¯s
Farmer Level 5: Exp 1750/3000
The skill of Agriculture. To domesticate the land and bring bountiful food to your own. Improves Crop Quality by 10% Increases Crop Growth Speed by 10%
Obviously, with each level through normal means, i didn¡¯t obtain knowledge like normal but that won¡¯t stop all the built up levels from flooding my mind when i actually use it on the skill. Still, a high skill level would be required later on when I have to force other people into using my methods. After two weeks, Luna and Hermes finally returned to Vine Grove with all three missions complete. What was most surprising is what they pulled along with them. Trapped in iron cages were five very young goblins and seven equally young orc. Behind that was a cart with many different spoils. Obviously there were puppet horse pulling, all rented, and pulled the carts back to the inn. ¡°Mistress! Mistress! Look what we found!¡± Luna exclaimed as she ran rapidly at Misaki and jumped to hug her only to have Misaki give her a roundhouse kick to the shoulder and sent her spinning to the ground. ¡°What is with the monsters and what is that pile of junk?¡± I asked. ¡°It isn¡¯t a pile of junk, this village was medium grade and had almost 400 orcs. They were quite well off and the chieftain even knew rare forging arts of the Orcs. Those are incredibly rare. He had spread it around and they were a rare forging village. It was much harder to kill them off because of their weapons being better quality. Thanks to Luna, we were able to even obtain the chieftain¡¯s forge.¡± he said and pointed to the huge round object in the pile. There were hammers and other items. ¡°These are Orc children, they hadn¡¯t undergone the sealing ceremony so they don¡¯t have the demon seal and these seem to be young goblins that were caught to become slaves. Amazingly four are female.¡± Hermes said excited ¡°Is that supposed to be special?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course, goblins and even orcs are a male predominant race. Look at the orcs, you see those three thinner ones, those are females. Most demons have a 1:50 female to male ratio which is why they kidnap humans, elves, beastmen and sometimes even wild animals to mate with.¡± Hermes explained. Misaki and my face showed an expression of disgust when the thought of these humanoid monsters fucking with animals. ¡°So exactly why did you bring them back?¡± I asked. ¡°Well¡­ you have so much trouble building minions, i thought it would be better to have humanoid monster minions, they are smarter than wolves and rabbits at least.¡± He replied. ¡°What is so good about stupid goblins and orc?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Fufufu!¡± Suddenly Luna appeared behind her with a bloody nose while rubbing her right shoulder and dusting herself off, ¡°Mistress and Sir truly underestimates monsters too much.¡± she chuckled. We looked at each other and looked at the dirty monsters. ¡°Sorry, we can¡¯t see it.¡± I said. ¡°That is because they are malnourished, first off, female goblins are said to be very beautiful if they have plenty of food and are fully grown. Secondly, goblins have a very unique sense of smell. It could even be said to be better than animal nose because they can smell the scent of herbs in the wild and have a curiosity to mix them to make potions and poisons. Of course, that is intelligent goblins, common ones are stupid for sure but tamed goblins can all be trained to be smart, speak human language, and are both great alchemists and craftsmen. Their only demerit is they are horny and take some time to properly start teaching but starting early is the best time for them.¡± Luna said. ¡°And Orcs?¡± I asked. ¡°Besides being great warriors, they can be trained to move heavy loads like rocks, trees, mineral ore and more. These in particular know the orc¡¯s unique forging techniques so they are also better at forging as long as trained.¡± Hermes said. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s finish talking inside.¡± I said but in truth, we pulled everything to the back and i archived all the items for safe keeping and the goblins were put down. ¡°So what kind of evolutions do they have? Hobgoblins?¡± I asked. ¡°That is one path, a very rare one, but the most common leadership rank is Goblin Warrior, Noble, Duke, King, Lord. Then there are class based ones and the equally rare Shaman Goblin. Those are only born through luck and when a smart enough goblin, usually the kind that are born from other humanoid races.¡± Luna explained. ¡°Alright, well i don¡¯t have a problem with getting more minions but that would later restrict me since i have a limit.¡± I said. I open the goblin cage and pull out the male that began to struggle feebly. I take the pen and put it on it¡¯s chest, ¡°Minion Bind.¡± I said. ¡°Gyakakaka!¡± he shouted desperately. It began to shout as a red circle appeared unlike the one that appeared on the wolves. ¡°It resisted but was too weak.¡± Misaki said surprised. ¡°That is probably more of a slave seal then a minion one now.¡± I said.
You have bound a new monster, Goblin.
Not minding it i turn to the female goblin but they were already waiting and i looked at them curiously. Cautiously i put it against their chest and say to bind and they nod. Unlike the red seal, this one was blue and was without pain at all. ¡°Seems females are smarter.¡± i said as i let them out. I looked them over properly, females wore rags on their upper and lower half while males had only a loincloth. The males looked like wrinkled men and the female had short messy hair and were much less wrinkled on their face.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I then look at the orcs and the males resisted until i beat them into submission and bound them. When i smashed the child of the chieftain, the others stopped resisting.
You have bound a new monster, Orc.
¡°Alright, you all go rest in the book.¡± i order them and they were all pulled into the book where I saw their information. ¡°Good, now go report the mission and get the money reward, you should go from F to E and then we can help you with a D rank mission.¡± I said. ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Hermes said. We follow the with the last cart while we were on the way i suddenly remember, ¡°Hey, did you get their Soul Gem?¡± I asked. ¡°We tried to¡­¡± Luna said apologetically and pulled out a small pouch and i tip it over and find 10 Low Grade. ¡°Most Soul gems from weak monsters are fragile so when a monster dies they break.¡± She explained. ¡°No problem.¡± I said still happy enough to get 10 more. I quickly call out the remaining of the inactive puppets that i had to use the gem to power the dolls and reactivate them and tell them to care for the mana wood tree. The remaining 3 i call out three broken archived Dolls and bind them.
Your three Living dolls have less than 1% of their health, lacking several limbs and lack 95% of their necessary runes, they will now be recalled.
The three instantly got recalled and i looked at their information.
Formation of missing limbs: 1% complete 23:59:55 Repairs: 1% complete 12:00:00 Rune Insertion: 5% complete: 15:00:00
¡°Shit, these are even worse than the actual Low Grade ones?!¡± i exclaimed. ¡°How bad exactly?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Originally the five that were somewhat intact had 20% of their runes but these have less than 5%.¡± I said. ¡°The runes broke down then.¡± She replied and i looked at her. ¡°Runes on a wooden puppet are usually engraved onto their bodies until they are activated where it is absorbed into the body. I believe that is what i was told once. For Living Dolls, it¡¯s ¡®enchanted¡¯ onto their bodies on the inside which is why they have greater maintenance cost.¡± Luna explained. ¡°I see.¡± I finally understood why. I understood why Living Doll created their own clothing, after looking it over on the dolls i had, it made sense when the one piece held on by a small choker. It was where the clothing connected most densely to the mana connections with the hundreds of runes and kept it fed. The fact that common Low Grade Living Dolls degraded in 20 years with the best maintenance was a fact attributed to the lack of Soul Gems and the ability to make their magical dresses that was what gathered an abnormal amount of mana to rune the dolls. We soon reach the adventurers guild where the two turned in the mission and brought out a small space bag that had the left tusk of all the orc as well as the head of the Shaman and Fang of the Chieftain. The three missions brought in 1,000g totallying for us a little less than 2500g in human gold. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking but the adventurer guild pays quite generously for even low level missions like these missions.¡± I said. ¡°They were 3 E rank miss but it was all low leveled after all. Still the damage monster villages like these cause is quite large, if it was a simple village deep in the woods, it would be much less but when it affects the trade routes, they aren¡¯t cheap on the money used.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°I see, well you¡¯re both E rank now, let¡¯s go do a D rank.¡± I said. We head to the mission board and begin to look around. ¡°So many low quality missions.¡± Luna frowned. There was only F, E and D rank missions but most were tedious with low return. ¡°Should we go into the Elven Nation then?¡± i asked. ¡°Sure¡­ OH!¡± Luna exclaimed. ¡°Let¡¯s pass by my families farm first! We raise moon rabbits and i want to rear some because it''s a very important diet food for us Moon elves, so i need tools! Also there are moon carrot, flowers and many other items i actually need to maintain myself.¡± She said. ¡°Are you really okay to be moving about during the day?¡± I asked worried. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, most of my clothing and equipment made for Moon elves are made to keep us safe during the day.¡± Luna laughed. ¡°Stop joking around.¡± Misaki hit the girl on the head making her kneel with a grin of ecstasy. ¡°Since there isn¡¯t much worth in this place left, let¡¯s go, i do remember the ancient wolf asking for Moon Rabbits as well so this is a good chance to get some.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Right, it''s also been almost a month so Valery¡¯s first Moon essence baptism will happen. If i remember correctly, there were around 60 wolf pups born, most are still not strong enough to evolve though but it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I said and looked at Luna, ¡°Can you lead the way?¡± I asked. She stood up and coughed, ¡°Of course, let¡¯s go get the carriage and i can lead you to my family¡¯s ranch.¡± She said. She opened her umbrella and we leave the adventurers guild without getting any mission and return to the Inn. The two puppet horse i gained had already rebuilt themselves through the book and healed up. I summon them out and hitch them to the stagecoach making it seem much less conspicuous since more than half the carts and carriages used puppets to pull. Before we leave we purchase some Elfwood Sprouts and plant them in the farm dungeon since this wood is very flexible and good for different goods. *** The Moon Elf Farm was around 30 kilometers into the Dark Vine woods. Luna¡¯s family had moved here when she was a child and cleared a section of the forest to raise the rabbits. To raise even one moon rabbit or any crop related to moonlight, there needs to be quite extensive setups. This is for gathering and concentrating the power of moonlight within the perimeter of the farm making the rabbits not want to run away. Entering the farm from the entrance, Valery instantly popped out and looked so happy to be in this place, her fur shimmered but what was more amazing was that Luna also shimmered under the concentrated moon energy that remained in the air even though it was day time. Luna even happily removed the umbrella and let the sun shine on her. It didn¡¯t affect her in this area which was built through special techniques of the Moon elves so that they could live natural lives during the day. ¡°Feels so good to feel sunlight again.¡± She mumbled. Soon they arrived at the house after passing the fields and pens. ¡°How do you raise them?¡± I asked looking at the pens. ¡°The fence have several Runes that work together to form a barrier above it to not let them jump out and those several stones a few meters away have the same thing but they block the underground.¡± She said. ¡°For food, we simply throw it inside.¡± As they arrived at the house Luna jumps out, ¡°Mom! Dad!¡± The shouts draw the attention of the people inside and suddenly a pair of twin moon elf girls and another of boys ran out. ¡°BIG SIS!¡± they shouted and jumped on her. ¡°WE MISSED YOU!¡± they shouted in unison. ¡°Alright you all! Calm down!¡± She said laughing and hugging and kissing them each. Then from the door, a beautiful pale skinned white haired woman walked out. She had curves of a mother and the demeanor that could even calm aggressive monsters. Next to her was a thin man with similar features of white hair and pale skin. They both smiled and walked out, Luna walked over and hugged them both. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you all again.¡± she said. ¡°Indeed sweety, why did you come visit and who are these young children?¡± Luna¡¯s mother asked. ¡°This is Sir Ace Cross, Mistress, the glasses one is called Hermes and the last one is called Charlotte.¡± She poorly introduced us. ¡°Mistress?¡± the two adults said together and focused on Misaki. ¡°Dear, did you find my daughter is an M?¡± she asked. ¡°By mistake when she began to ask about our fetish.¡± I replied for Misaki. She glared at me but the woman nodded, ¡°It knew it, dear i told you not to go asking such personal questions like that cause it would bit you in that adorable bottom of yours.¡± She said. Luna blushed when her rear was mentioned, ¡°I-I was just curious, if it was some old guy i would have been on guard.¡± She said. ¡°Nevermind all that, guess what mother! Sir Ace is a Dungeon maker and one of the Human Heroes and Mistress is also one of the summoned heroes and I¡¯m going with them! Can we get some Moon rabbits and crops?!¡± She asked. The two were incredibly shocked when they heard what she said and looked at each other worried. ¡°Is it okay for you to go along dear? Even if it¡¯s a few decades, it won¡¯t change much if you lock up.¡± her mother said. ¡°No way!¡± She said. ¡°But¡­ a human¡­¡± her mother muttered. Her worries weren¡¯t unfounded, humans have a limited amount of years unlike elves who lived much longer lives, almost three times longer. If she stayed with Misaki until she became old and died, then when she died, Luna would go crazy as her source of comfort vanished. ¡°I clearly remembered there are tons of potions for enhancing life spans in the far off nations. Also Sir Ace has a very high comprehension level, he already knows more than 100 runes and has many puppets and even Living Dolls he repaired. I¡¯m totally safe and I¡¯m not weak to start off with.¡± She said. The two adults sighed, ¡°Yes, we know that dear, we are just worried as parents should be. Come, let¡¯s see to some of the crops and rabbits for you.¡± Luna¡¯s mother said. They go to the shed and she brings out seeds for several crops, Moon Root, Moon Carrot, Lunar Radish and Midnight Root. Then she also brought out a pack for a type of grass called Moon Grass which grows only under in places with lots of energy from the moon. Lastly she gave us a vital herb for the Moon rabbit called Five Phases Moon Flower. It didn¡¯t come close to being as rare as the Moonlight Azure Blossom and grew in large number but they were very vital for the propagation of Moon Rabbits. Even the Wolves would greatly benefit from it to have lots planted for them. ¡°Alright, now the rabbits.¡± She thought and lead us into the pen and with a small whistle similar to a dog whistle, she called out. There was a single rabbit hole and from it, countless rabbits began to pour out from infant common rabbits to adult moon rabbits. ¡°They are born normal rabbits?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, the Five Phases Moon Flower is what aids them in the transition as long as they get lots of moonlight.¡± She said. ¡°Go ahead and choose ten.¡± She said. ¡°Um¡­ which are male and female?¡± i asked. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, if you have common rabbits, they breed all the same.¡± She replied. Nodding i choose ten at random and bind them, as unintelligent monsters they didn¡¯t resist, showing the training she did was incredible. I sent them to the rabbit dungeon and archived the seeds. ¡°Alright, that is done.¡± i said. ¡°Great.¡± She said and blew the whistle following specific blowing pattern that we didn¡¯t know and they all retreated back into the hole. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go inside, i have just finished baking some mooncakes and they have are just cooling now.¡± She said. Luna¡¯s eyes shined and looked at the party with shining eyes. He had to give in this time and went into the house where the children were happily and freely playing and running around us asking random questions. The cheerfulness was rather contagious which went to show how ¡®pure¡¯ elven children are when they are children. I ask for the recipe for the cake and some other treats related to the moon crops. The crops we gained were prime ingredients but it also used common ones such as flour. After asking about it, i even gained some Corn seeds to plant and make my own flour from. I began planting the flowers and seeds related to the moon in both dungeons so that they can both benefit and i could harvest more seeds quicker. Book 2 Chapter 9 After leaving Vine Grove, we took several stops as i strategically absorbed many trees without clearly too much land at once. This also included a lot of Dirt that i needed because i needed to construct a new dungeon for the goblin and Orc. Not only that, i need to make a very large ¡®first floor¡¯ to connect the rabbit and wolf dungeon as well so i would have several ¡®separate¡¯ dungeons connected. The materials was already being converted into the buildings but at this time, we set up the small and combined wolf and rabbit dungeon which had the moon rabbits already breeding with the common rabbits and the rabbit taking care of the moon blossom was already switched with real moon rabbits. The Five Phase Moon Flower was already grown and even in the wolf dungeon they were there. The dungeon of the wolves had an incredibly vibrant moon essence and a very thick pillar of moon light surrounded the Blossoms. We looked as the moonlight kept descending, it was already night time. ¡°I can¡¯t believe i get to witness a Silver Spirit Wolves Moonlight baptism!¡± Luna exclaimed in an eccentric tone. It goes without saying that during this ceremony, the Moon rune appears and because it''s directly associated with the Moon Elf, it could even have a profound effect on her, whose body and blood is filled with moon essence and possesses the moon rune upon herself. Levi was happily running around the flowers that were getting bathed and sucking up a tremendous amount of moonlight. As the moon rose higher outside, the brightness of the moon gemstones grew with each passing moment. At midnight, my book shined and a blue orb flew out. Levi looked at it and smiled brightly before the light began to dance around the light. Waves came off it and Levi¡¯s ears pricked up before she began to do some kind of dance that was really rough due to her lack of practice. Slowly it grew smoother until it looked like a tribal dance around some kind of totem pole. Awooo! Levi suddenly exclaimed like a wolf cub¡¯s imitating a wolf howl but with it, the countless grey wolves and normal ones as well as the several dozen wolf cubs all howled as well. The echo wasn¡¯t perfectly in sync but it began to react to with the Moonlight. At that moment, the glowing ball released a bright light and when it reached us, we covered our ears. AWOOOOO! A deafening howl caused all the wolves to synchronize and the fluctuating moonlight drastically changed as it formed an incredible moon rune. It was even more profound than the first one and like the first time, a blinding light spread out. The others covered their eyes but me and Luna stood there transfixed by the feeling. Her hair began to shine as a very dull Moon rune appeared on her forehead. Her hand stretched out just like mine and we began to make countless Moon runes. The rune on her head kept eating up each subsequent rune Luna made and rapidly grew brighter. For me, the rune began to grow at a much lower speed unlike Luna and as i reached even half of what she had, the Rune stopped shining and a new Rune appeared. ¡®Light¡¯ It appeared in all its glory and was even more blinding. The Orb and Levi was sucking up the mana like sponges while the wolves were eating up the residual energy and Luna was using it to form her runes. I was having trouble doing the same, i wasn¡¯t in a trance like before and was instead trying to do it manually. What is more, the Light rune was even added, one hand making each and trying to use the mana in the air to form them since it had the strange feeling of both. The Light rune in my comprehended section rapidly lifted from the lower position it had and quickly moved under the Moon rune leaving behind all the others. The two runes broke up into four groups and were absorbed by the four flowers that turned into balls of light. Three flew into Levi and one flew into the orb. At once i knew what it was, it was Veria. The orb began to take the rough shape of a human figure before it flew back to the book. I looked at it again and unlike before where it said 50 infuses now it was like this, ¡®Body dead, reconstructing. 10 Infusions of Moonlight essence needed to begin.¡¯ This mean that she underestimated the amount of moonlight she could gather in a month. I chuckled as the little girl also flew into the book to sleep. The wolves kept howling as several Grey wolves had grown twice the size of ones wolves. It made me think that this might be the true size of an unstarved Grey Wolf who got a full amount of moonlight. The other common wolves were all the same. They were bigger already. At this time, the Five Phases Moon Flower began to release glowing lights that were like seeds and they began to howl and suck in a few through some unknown force. I press in the book on both Spirit Wolves to plant their sprouts and place them once more. When i looked at Luna, she was unconscious while the others were getting up. I quickly pick up Luna and find she has a high fever. ¡°Did something go wrong?¡± I mutter and carry her while we go put her in a bed to rest for the night and then i head to the rabbit side. The rabbits were all jumping and catching the glowing lights from the flowers while many were in the boss room while being bathed in the light of the Moonlight Azure Blossom. As they finish absorbing it, many common rabbits had already undergone a strange evolution into white furred rabbits while the leading moon rabbit was almost twice their size. When i looked at the information it saw it had evolved as well. ¡°That is an Alpha version of the Moon rabbit.¡± I said and the rabbit turned to me and bowed before twitching its nose and the rabbits soon all spread out leaving behind only the Alpha who jumped and began to sleep next to the unabsorbed blossom that was closed once more and very dull. ¡°Seems the number of Rabbits increased dramatically after the moon rabbits appeared.¡± I said. ¡°From what i know¡­¡± Charlotte said, ¡°The more evolved a rabbit while still a monster, the more it will breed. Only if the rabbit become a humanoid or beastmen like Levi would it abstain from crazy sex and would only take one mate unless it dies.¡± She said. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± I asked her. ¡°Moon rabbits are closely related to a Moon elves diet and survival from their need of moon essence so it''s a basic knowledge I learned so that i would not make any mistakes when meeting them or when we have any noble Moon elves visiting the nation.¡± she replied. ¡°So you know what happened to Luna?¡± I asked. Charlotte shook her head, ¡°No, elves are a magical race and humans aren¡¯t, even mages aren¡¯t even close to what elves have. That said, there is said to have once been a ritual that allowed humans to infuse themselves with magic runes becoming something similar to elves and extending their lifespan but such a thing is no longer possible and may simply be something made by people wishing for longer lives.¡± She said shaking her head. This makes me raise my brow at the interesting words but don¡¯t go deeper due to lack of concrete knowledge. Even the old heroes couldn¡¯t discover much and one of them was my class and only had 700 runes at most. Frankly if i could get my hands on his Book of the Dungeon Maker, i am sure i could absorb all his knowledge. We leave the rabbit hole and got the well guarded farm dungeon where the guardian was in front like a miniboss blocking the path. Oh right, you all must be wondering how stairs exist right? I ranked up a wooden room into a large room with two doors. The ground is dirt making it like an arena and at the back was a wooden stairway that lead down to a connected room of the same format. We go down and each split up to do our own thing. There are still too few rooms so the variety isn¡¯t good. At the moment there are a few exp gems though so it is possible to change a room. It is what i am planning, or better yet, what i have planned already. I already used one to make a Large room called Village room. It''s a square dirt filled room with high ceiling, there are light and moon runes that stay at the top and alternate to form a ball in other words, there is a rock with both Moon and Light Runes but they are set up differently compared to the Moon gemstone since the moonlight vanishes during the day deactivating the Moon rune. The room is a large room so it''s 4 times bigger than the wooden room i originally made but with the idea i set up, these rooms would be perfect for making wooden huts. When put back to back, a door forms between them and when four such rooms are put back to back, the walls merge forming a ¡®Large Village Room¡¯ but because of this feature, this room sucks up a huge amount of mana to make. Anyway there aren¡¯t enough goblin or orc to require that many anyway. I will need only two of them and each creature will grow together. I want the make the dungeon of the goblins and Orc a jungle theme with herbs and plants in abundance so that goblins would learn to scavenge for their herbs. As for the other half, i plan to try out the ¡®Vein¡¯ Rune and see if i can¡¯t make Rocks, Iron and other metal veins. Even if it''s only a spawning point, having that would give them a place to gather ore so they can smith. I am unsure how i will teach them though but that is for another day. I get to work on my personal field before retreating to the room with the beds we are using for rooms. *** The following day, while riding the carriage, Luna was literally glowing in happiness. ¡°I can¡¯t believe i was able to absorb so much Moon Essence! Even my biological Rune evolved into a more pure and developed form!¡± She shouted. ¡°What is that?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°What? The biological rune? It''s what makes elves¡­ well elves. It''s what differentiates one from another. Like how there are Dark elves, Moon elves, Wood elves, Aquatic elves and High Elves. Each one has a specific rune that signify which race they are and which branch of mana their biology originates from.¡± She said. A moment later, her forehead shined and Moon appeared on it shining. ¡°Previously mine was really dull because my comprehension of what it meant was low but now it is super high and it is even making me stronger! Even my magic would have grown more powerful.¡± said happily. ¡°So elves were created by infusing runes into their bodies?¡± I asked. ¡°Not sure, the history before the great hero appeared is rather blurry. Only the Great Treant would know, the Elven Hero doesn¡¯t adhere to this though since she is from another world.¡± Luna said. It made sense that she wasn¡¯t like these elves after all. Still this is something to think about but not now. I open my book and see how the progress on the rooms is and find the Village rooms done and half the corridors so i begin to build the dungeon, adding a few field rooms in and have the puppets plant an orchid inside, then begin to spread tall grass, bushes and trees in the corridor before planting random herbs around and sending all the puppets to raise it. Due to all of them becoming Low Grade Mana Wood puppets, particularly the farmers, have an extended reach for their control of mana. Grass and bushes were grown quickly and herbs followed while trees were the slowest but soon reached the size needed. The fires were all made into regular fires but it didn¡¯t raise smoke and all the plants were made in a way to avoid the fire itself. When this small amount of work was finished, i released the orc and Goblins into their respective ¡®rooms¡¯. When they appeared, they were confused at first before their dungeon seal shined and in their mind the thought ¡®This room is your home.¡¯ appeared followed by the order, ¡®build your homes¡¯.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. After that, i dropped a few tools the puppets made for each of them. WOOSH! BOOM! At that moment, something shot out of the stagecoach into the woods causing a huge explosion. ¡°Ahaha! No wonder they say that those in the party of heroes are always abnormal.¡± Luna¡¯s voice traveled out. We looked at the destruction and i looked through the window as she had the blade from her umbrella out and she had just stabbed out. Looking at the target, we saw several trees with a huge hole in the middle. ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± I shouted at her. ¡°Sorry sorry! I was just too excited!¡± She laughed. I shake my head and spur the horses on to get away from that destruction to the next town as fast as possible before this hyper elf wrecks the stagecoach. Just before noon, we finally reached the next town that was at the other eastern side of the Darkvine Forest. It was called East Grove and similar to the other city, it had tall walls and lots of guards. The passage through the forest wasn¡¯t without problems though, several demon monsters attacked them along the way prompting me to question, ¡°Why are all monsters branded with the demon lords seal?¡± ¡°When a monster reaches adolescence, they will instinctively perform a self binding ritual because that is a powerful curse the demon lord put upon the land of our nations. His kingdom is at the edge of the continent and has to pass through us to get to the rest of the continent so to weaken us from the inside, he gathers monsters as minions to kill adventurers and the army. It is common for there to be monster waves every so often because of this.¡± Charlotte explained with a solemn expression. As we reach the gate, the guards did a check and let us pass when we presented authentic adventurers ID cards. We go and find an Inn so that we could eat and hear any rumors about anything. We didn¡¯t get anything though and went walking on the way to the adventurers guild to see if there were any missions. DING! DONG! DING! DONG! DING! DONG! Suddenly a loud bell began to ring from the eastern watchtower. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± i asked. ¡°That is the alarm bell!¡± Luna said with a frown. DONG! DONG! DONG! Suddenly a loud gong was struck three times and the faces of the three natives turned into scowls. ¡°It''s a demon raid!¡± Charlotte exclaimed. ¡°Demon? As in the demon army?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Yes mistress, the elven nation has lost a tremendous amount of forest land because of the demon raids, seems they have come to attack the Darkvine forest as well!¡± Luna said. ¡°Should we go help?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°Yes, look, the adventurer parties are heading out so it is a call to arms.¡± I said calmly. With a nod we all run towards the eastern gate. As we reach it, we find a stairway up the wall and quickly climb it where the archers were heading while the warriors were heading through the gate. Looking out with the archers and mage on the walls, we see a flatlands that had simple weeds and grass growing instead of forest that stood behind us. It was easy enough to see how much fire damage was required to cause this and in the far distance, such smoke could be seen. Looking out, suddenly figures began to walk out of the smoke. ¡°UNDEAD!¡± someone shouted from the watchtower and in his hand a telescope. When looking at the undead, they weren¡¯t simple humanoid skeletons. They number in thousands and were in the form of armored animals, humanoids, some were burning skeleton and some were frozen. It was a full on undead horde from all sorts of places. Zombies took the bulk as did weaker skeleton but the more powerful ones were riding undead beasts of war. At the back, appearing on the back of a skeleton drake, a very disturbing skeleton appeared. With a demonic skull that had many horns jutting out and a fiendish tail like a scorpion coming out of it''s robe, this was the leader. ¡°DEMON LICH!¡± Suddenly all the people began to panic and some took a step back. ¡°What is a demon Lich?¡± I asked Charlotte. ¡°It''s one of the demon armies Middle grade commander race. A Demon Lich is an even more fiendish than a common Lich, they are one of the more sensitive magical races undead subraces. Their moniker is called the Dungeon hunters¡­ they appear whenever a new dungeon is born.¡± Charlotte said. Everyone began to sweat at the words, they knew that it would be a hard battle, ¡°Their middle grade so their strength would be similar to the Living puppets we got right?¡± i asked. ¡°No, those puppets are only at 40% of their capacity if i remember what you said. These creatures tend to level above level 90, they¡¯re A class threat monsters.¡± Luna said with a solemn tone. ¡°This town shouldn¡¯t have any A rank adventurers besides the Guildmaster. There is also all those undead, more than half of them are C rank and common undead like skeletons and zombie when in a horde are ranked D rank.¡± Charlotte explained. ¡°Y-You can¡¯t forget¡­ elves aren¡¯t religious, holy magic is something many elves can¡¯t use and is a High Elf unique magic. To fight an undead army without priests¡­¡± Hermes said trembling. It was obvious that the young alchemist was out of his element here. ¡°Hermes, you should get back, try and find alchemists or some herb shops and get to making potions, help as support and stay away from the battle.¡± I said and summon a common puppet who was armored with everything but a helmet as his guard. The boy nodded and quickly ran away from the wall where the war was going to happen. ¡°We have no way around this, we need to start buying time.¡± I said. ¡°Filthy tree huggers! Surrender the Dungeon core you have acquired and ¡®wish¡¯ to plant!¡± A deep rough voice came from the undead horde. A chill ran down everyone''s spine as they heard this voice when suddenly a bright light shined out from the inside and slammed down onto the wall. An armored blonde haired elf stood there with silver and green colored armor. ¡°Filthy undead scum, you think you can simply come upon our land and take what you wish?!¡± the man roared. ¡°Even if we have to destroy the core we will not hand it to you!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the guildmaster!¡± ¡°The guildmaster must be worried about losing another dungeon!¡± ¡°At least we have a chance now!¡± At once, many comments began to spread and at that time, the vice guild master and the army chief of the town appeared. With the other two at B rank in strength, they were very strong compared the other people around here. ¡°Let¡¯s go down and prepare.¡± I said. ¡°You should stay up here.¡± Misaki said. ¡°I am a sword fighter as well.¡± I replied. ¡°One that doesn¡¯t level up. Think about it before you do something stupid like super leveling, use your puppets and guide them from above where it is safer. Your living puppets are leagues above the strength of the common one don¡¯t be an idiot and waste your life.¡± Misaki pointed at my face and turned around, ¡°Charlotte-sama, Luna-san come on.¡± Misaki said and ran down. Taking out her armor from her back, she quickly assumed the armor of the samurai and summoned her artifact. I frowned but nodded, I called out the Guardian, five warriors, five swordsmen and three armored beast puppets i had made and sent them to the gate before summoning the three acolyte and three archers before heading up to the wall. The acolyte were like mage apprentice, they weren¡¯t very powerful but as Low grade Mana Wood puppets, they were much higher quality but they lacked levels to accompany their power. I looked at my skill and used one of the exp gems on Dungeon archive so that my puppets had extra space to evolve.
You have leveled up Dungeon Archive
Dungeon Archive: Level 15: Exp 5,528/9600
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon maker and make copies. The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the Dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen I the structure and say ''Archive Corridor/Room/Trap/Material/Vegetation/Minion'' Can currently make layout for 18 dungeons You can store only 16 different corridor layouts You can store only 22 room types You can store only 10 boss rooms You can store only 26 different traps You can store 20 types of minion. You can store 50 common non medical plants and 35 common fruit bearing plants and crops, and 21 medical herbs Repairs to dungeon reduced cost by 15% Repairs/Recovery rate of Minions is 15% faster Cost to cast runes decreased by 22% Dungeon attracts monsters and demons from 6 km away Dungeon can gather naturally from the air up to 15000 mana to run the dungeon and to attract monsters. Dungeons can now support plant life if they are made of dirt or other organic materials. Dungeon Layouts can now be connected inside the Book of the Dungeon Maker forming one dungeon out of many but can be disconnected in the similar fashion. You can now Archive killed dungeons and analyze their structure to make them your own dungeons and make rooms and layouts of the same type. Your dungeon can produce Spirit Gems naturally 1 gem per month Runic Pen Option: You can now access ¡®Magic Circle Pen Mode¡¯ and can return to ¡®Runic Pen Mode¡¯ by speaking either name.
Dungeon Archive cannot advance past level 15 unless you achieve unknown conditions
Not having time to mind about the condition that just popped up, i looked out at the undead, the verbal showdown had gone poorly, obviously, and at this time the Demon Lich roared for the undead to advance. ¡°Attack!¡± the guild master said and jumped to the front as his body glowed and his sword burst into a glowing ray of light that swung out and released the powerful burst. The incoming horde was blasted and sent flying. I stared in awe but quickly got my focus back as i took out the book and thought, ¡®Minion control¡¯ hoping for some kind of control method and thank god the book flipped to an empty page before forming the writing that i wanted. It showed all my minions and how i wanted to control but i filter it down to those that were summoned out. I was only going to summon the Living dolls if things got serious, i am unsure of the power of the Living dolls at this time so i will use it as a trump card. That said, this plan went down the drain in a very short moment as three elven mage unrestrainedly called out their own Living doll. ¡°Strike them with Holy Magic! Aim for that section with them most grouped up!¡± they ordered. The puppets body shined and began to form a glowing ball and pointed her hands forward before it shot out all the way into the middle of the horde. BOOM! ¡°YEAHH!!!¡± The elves and few other races present cheered when Living Dolls appeared in the battle force. ¡°Since i can¡¯t be left behind¡­¡± I muttered and flipped to the minion page and pressed all of them. ¡°All 8 Low grade and the two middle should all be repaired and with dresses.¡± I muttered. Suddenly around me, ten large summoning circles appeared and the puppets appeared exquisite and beautiful women walked out with glittering hair. Eight of them had the same simple white one piece held by a choker at the neck but two of them were far different. The one my left was the doll that was recently captured. With Light pink hair and peach colored skin, her dress was a full on gothic lolita with a frilly hair band, her hair was silky and straight. Her dress was split into two pieces, a long sleeves silk upper piece with many white frills and a wide skirt while her feet had a simple pair of slippers and thigh high stocking with frills at the top. I saw because she came out with her dress waving around. The other one was a green haired girl and her dress was similar to the other one but in green color and the fact that her hair band was actually in the shape of a small light green hat with ribbons and a ribbon flower that hunt towards the left. ¡°You have called us master?¡± They all said together and bowed. Everyone was looking at me for calling out ten living dolls, all of which could talk. My face burned at the fact that i had not thought this through. ¡°Yes, can you all use Holy Magic?¡± I asked. ¡°We can master¡­¡± The pink doll said. ¡°Then attack the horde of undead with it.¡± I said. ¡°As you wish master.¡± They said together. I look at the puppet Acolytes, ¡°Work alongside them.¡± The puppets move behind them and the dolls raised their hands. BOOM! An incredible sight appeared. In front of the ten dolls, mana began to spin and form a magic circle. Their dresses waved in the wind as mana was drawn into their bodies and runes began to appear all over before some began to form in front of their hands. The puppets did the same but they could only supply mana because the magical ingenuity of Living dolls was leagues ahead. Runes flew out and formed a complex magic circle. ¡°Wes come the soul, dark and light arise. Wes come the dark, light shall fall. Wes light come, darkness shall be purged. ¡®Light Judgement¡¯¡± the dolls recited together. In the battlefield, not one person missed the chant that seemed to ring out across the land. The magic circle that was almost 5 meters across shined as a bright ball of light shot out and flew higher up into the air until it passed fifty meters. BOOM! At once, it burst and from it, a rain of light blasted from above. It was not a weak AOE spell either, if one lacked magical knowledge, they would not know but this spell was an attack type purification spell that requires what is called Choir chanting. In other words, it can only be cast when more than five powerful mage or sorcerers chanted in harmony. For humans, without years of training, it is impossible to achieve but with their first time doing it, these dolls were able to perfectly synchronize their mana and magic to the low grade strength and cast the spell. In one go, these shards of light slammed down into the middle of the horde. Roars from the pained screams of departed spirits could be heard as the persistent magic purified the land of darkness. Within the area of effect, the shards of light radiated a bright light that hurt the undead and weakened those uninjured. In the back of the Horde, the Demon Lich hissed, ¡°This is how you wish it to be, then this is how it shall be!¡± he roared. The undead Drake roared as well and suddenly the ground shook. A fear, almost primordial to man and beast, appeared. A desolate aura came and with the shaking of the earth, they finally saw it, a looming shadow in the distance, then another until ten were formed. Standing over 10 meters tall, what was called the Giant race and was lead to extinction by all the races of the continent, rebirthed as giant skeletons and armored with thick armor, Undead Giants walked slowly but firmly. ¡°This shall be your day of reckoning!¡± The Demon Lich roared. The already sentient undead roared along and rushed forward once more even through the aura filled spaces. My face was solemn, ¡°How long until you can prepare an even stronger spell?¡± I asked. ¡°Master, we cannot sustain too great a magical pressure, to do so would cause us to collapse.¡± replied the green doll. ¡°Can you, as a group, take down the giants?¡± I asked. ¡°With a single focused attack unlike before¡­ we can make it collapse¡­ but not kill.¡± the pink doll said. I frowned and looked at the Demon Lich. It was the leader and thus the source of their power and control. ¡°Seems we will have to aim for their head.¡± I muttered. Book 2 Chapter 10 ¡°Master is impressive but does not feel it. Enemy possesses layered magical barriers protecting him of middle grade and up. Even under focused magic, we cannot destroy it due to low level and lack of magical abilities due to our low grade soul gems.¡± the green haired one said. ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed but something suddenly rang in my head. ¡°Wait, low grade soul gems¡­ that¡¯s right! If you two had Medium grade soul gems, what is the chances of destroying the giants and leader?¡± I asked. ¡°We would be able to siege them as a group and eventually kill one within 5 minutes. Level up boost would improve killing rate.¡± the pink one said. ¡°That¡¯s good enough. You two release your soul gem and you archers and one acolyte release your soul gems.¡± I ordered. The six opened their chest and i took the gems and put it on the book cover. They sank in easily and i stored the deactive mana puppets before pressing the gem.
You desire to for a medium rank Soul Gem has been detected. You possess 6 low grade Soul gems. Do you wish to make 2 medium grade Soul Gems?
Yes No
¡°Yes!¡± i said and suddenly the six gems shined and merged in the book. The tiny gems combined and formed a complete gem but where it was a rough gem before, it became a perfect sphere this time. I quickly pull them out and put them in the Medium Grade Living Puppet. WOOSH! A sudden gust burst from them and suddenly all their magic runes appeared and shined immensely strong before sinking into their body. When they opened their eyes, amazingly, magic runes were swimming in their eyes. They did not even turn to me and quickly faced the enemy. ¡°Battle formation! Choire circle, Holy water magic spell formation!¡± the pink one commanded. At once i was pushed away by the acolyte and the ten living puppets got into a circle formation with the two medium grade ones at the center. ¡°Thy divine water pass the land, hells evil be cleansed, water of the blessed thy power beseech us thy divine might, Aquatos Wrath!¡± they chanted together. Suddenly a bright light surged from the circle of living puppets and into the sky. Clouds began to gather and suddenly formed a magic circle above one of the giant undead. ¡°Damned puppets!¡± the Demon Lich cursed. ¡°Protect the giant skeletons!¡± he roared but it was too late. Suddenly a downpour of golden colored water burst through the clouds and magic circle smashing into the giant skeleton causing it to roar in pain as it suffered from the countless needle like but heavy rain drops. Suddenly it collapsed as it fell to its knees. My eyes shined as i took command of the Low Grade Puppet Guardian and close combat puppets. ¡°Attack!¡± i shouted. Suddenly it jumped high into the air and falling like a bombshell onto the back of the skeletons skull. Its feet radiated with the Earth and Vibration rune merging into the incredibly destructive ¡®Earthquake¡¯ spell. The skull instantly burst and the skeleton suddenly began to break down. The elf side suddenly roared and joy. WOOO! Before they could react, a sudden surge of mana and moonlight came from another area where a close giant was located. These two beans were sword magic and focused together they smashed and the connection between the left knee and sliced the knee cap. ¡°Insolence! You little brats! Huh...!¡± the Demon Lich focused on the source of the irritations and suddenly laughed. ¡°You elves are so pathetic! To think you would hide behind the skirt of the human heroes!¡± he laughed. Everyone was shocked but suddenly their moral was spurred. ¡°Master watch out!¡± the living puppets shouted and suddenly a very large and powerful barrier appeared around me and a bright light smashed into the barrier sending a shockwave inside which sent me to the ground. The Demon Lich sneered as he found his attack had failed because of the Living puppets. ¡°As expected of Living Puppets, no wonder his majesty only has them as his maids. It is impossible to easily bypass these infernal things.¡± He cursed. ¡°Attack them!¡± He roared. Suddenly the Giant¡¯s began to walk faster and the undead horde surged forward like a tidal wave. ¡°Attack! The royal army is heading over on the back of flying beasts! We have to withstand this and survive for our nation!¡± the guild master roared as he jumped and slashed at a giant just in front. Bang! The bones were harder than magical steel and gained no injuries but the impact caused it to be thrown back into another giant and both falling on hundreds of undead. ¡°Fight!¡± Misaki said lifting her sword and leading the charge with Luna just behind her. The two were the first into the horde and instantly massive bursts of magic surged through the ranks leaving countless skeletons and undead in pieces. At the same time, magic of all kinds surged from the walls and fell like rain but these were much stronger then normal and numbered in tens of thousands. Casualties soon appeared as the giants stomped and swung their bony hands killing people in areas without any high rankers. ¡°Cover that area!¡± I ordered the puppets and then controlled the close combat puppets. The guardian suddenly jumped seven meters up and suddenly smashed the back of a Giant Skeleton with his sword. A huge surge of power smashed it causing it to collapse forward. Waiting for them, the several puppets jumped and began to attack the injured vertebrae causing it to crack further before the giant stood up. ¡°Darkness fall, smog of the dead rise from the faint smell of dead, corpses of the fallen, heed mine call! Undead Rise!¡± the Demon Lich roared and suddenly an eerie green light in a thick smog poured out of his hand and spread through the land. The dead elves, to the horror of the living, were covered by the smog and their flesh and blood rotted away leaving only the skeleton that stood up slowly. Ta! Tak! Ta! Tak! A sound drew my attention and looked at the source. A strange elf stood there with long blonde hair and a large hat and travelers cloak. His eyes crystal clear but his face without fear or worry. He waved his hand and a small stool appeared and he casually sat down. His presence seemed to blend into its surrounding. I looked at him strangely because, although an elf, his magical presence was extremely faint. Elves are the most magical sentient race in the racial alliance between, humans, beastmen, elf and dwarf. The countries further away were unknown because they had long since created a huge rift. A large amount of land separated them and such land was overrun by uncursed monsters. Still, this elf had little magical power coming from his body. What was strange was that he stretched out a small hand arm and pulled one string. Hummmm~!? My heart felt like something was pulled and at this time, a few others heard the strum and looked back. He slowly tuned the harp, slowly and casually. The strange feelings vanished as the tuning of each string reached the proper note but this made it stranger. As he finished the tuning, suddenly the Medium Grade Living Puppets froze while the common ones suddenly collapsed. The Low grade ones flickered and their limbs became stiff making my face serious. ¡°What did you do!¡± I suddenly shouted. ¡°Oh?!¡± He suddenly said and looked up startled, ¡°My apologies.¡± he said and strummed the last note he did and suddenly the Living Puppets were all freed. The two Medium grade ones looked back and walked over and gave a curtsy, ¡°Sir Bard, your magical prowess is well rewarded, would sir like to perform in a trio?¡± the pink haired one asked. ¡°Bard!¡± Someone exclaimed. The word suddenly shocked those around them and soon the many elves knew about him. ¡°Two misses flatters me to much, i am just useless apprentice who failed his master''s test to inherit all his knowledge.¡± He said. ¡°We would still be honored to play with sir.¡± the green one said. He nodded and pulled out a small flute and a Clarinet. Each one took one and began to try them, at this time i turned to one of the elves, ¡°Excuse me, what is a bard?¡± i asked. ¡°Bards are magical musicians, they can perform music magic which is very hard and taxing but very powerful because even magic barriers cannot stop sound.¡± one of them said. I looked at the puppets strangely wondering how they even know. ¡°Does sir know the Requiem of Purity?¡± the green one asked.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Oh? You miss puppets are knowledgeable in this Requiem? Indeed, demons are weakest to this so my master has indeed taught me.¡± He said. ¡°We are only gifted this knowledge by the grand laws of the world. Shall we play?¡± the Pink one said. ¡°Indeed.¡± He said and suddenly a faint flow of mana began to cycle into the harp and he closed his eyes. The puppets did the same as the instruments were lifted to their lips. At this time, a Giant had reached the wall and lifted his fist to punch the puppets. Roar! A deep ghostly roar came from skeleton but at that moment, they blew the first note and a suddenly wave of energy surrounded them and the bard strummed his harp and they began to play. The notes piled up and rapidly the light expanded where the sound was spreading further. ROAR! The giant roared in pain as it held its head in pain and collapsed back. As for the small undead, they were like it but were even worse off because they were weaker and black fog flowed out making them weaker and weaker until they became simple bones and began to collapse. ¡°GAAHH!¡± the Demon Lich roared in pain as he felt this energy hit it growing stronger. Waves of warm light and a calming song was slowly played like a life giving light yet countless undead kept falling while the giants could only thrash about. My eyes hardened, ¡°Attack while they are weakened!¡± I shouted and the puppets began to attack in the frozen battlefield waking up the elves who instantly attacked like a wave. The guild master took this chance and suddenly brought down a huge attack on the Demon Lich. ¡°NOO!¡± it roared as it weakened barrier was smashed and his skull smashed head on. The light energy flowed into his weakened body and killing him further and suddenly his soul came out. The light flowed into it and a black mark on it slowly burned and vanished before the soul slowly vanished. All the undead suddenly began to collapse and their souls flowing out and vanishing instead of returning to the demon nation. The Requiem kept playing and spread further purifying the land and magically the ground began to swallow the bones to form a sort if graveyard and green light flowed out slowly causing tree sprouts to grow were each skelton was buried to symbolize that life would form a cycle and bones would rebirth as trees filling natures. As the music stopped, no undead was left and the danger had vanished, The Bard opened his eyes and it flashed in awe, ¡°This is not the first time i have played but it is amazing how powerful the song became.¡± He said. He nodded at the puppets, ¡°You are both very powerful and have opened my eyes allowing me to further my music.¡± he said and turned to leave. ¡°Sir bard! Please a moment!¡± a woman walked over. She was one of the guild members. ¡°Please stay for the night as we do not know if there are unknown dangers.¡± She said and looked at the puppets before looking at me. ¡°You are one of the Human Heroes? You possess the class of Dungeon Maker do you not?¡± She asked. But simply looked at the book in my hands. ¡°Yes.¡± I said. ¡°Please call your party, we have seen your contribution and will have to properly pay you.¡± She said. I nod and recall the puppets and have one puppet call the girls back as well as Hermes and headed to the guild while the adventurers and city guard spread out to find stragglers. Eventually they met at the guild masters office where the man himself was smiling while a small floating crystal was floating over a special magical platform. ¡°I first have to thank this sir bard and from the report, Young Hero Ace whose marvelous Living Puppets had joined forces to end the undead siege.¡± He said. ¡°Sir, i am but a failed bard who with crippled magical abilities, the force of the requiem reached that scale only because of this sirs Living Puppets.¡± He said. ¡°Indeed, i do feel a weak breath of magic on you. Your racial rune is malformed and your mana pool was injured at a young age.¡± the guild master said. ¡°Indeed.¡± He nodded. ¡°Still, i would like the name of one of our heroes.¡± He said. The bard sighed, ¡°I am Raven, Raven of the Wind.¡± he said. The face of the guild leader froze and he coughed, ¡°Yes, i have indeed heard your name. We are grateful for your services and shall place 5000 contribution points for aiding in the killing of the demon Lich.¡± he said ¡°I thank sir.¡± He said with a bow. ¡°We are currently locked down so we will have to ask that you do not try to leave the city.¡± He said. ¡°Of course.¡± he said. Finally the guildmaster turned to us. ¡°Young human heroes, we have long heard of your exploits as well as your class. Dungeon Maker, the class of our most famous hero Daniel Rock. You should clearly know exactly how important this class is to us right? Without saying much, it''s considered the highest class to us Elves.¡± He said. ¡°I am very aware, even after 800 years, I have heard his name many times already.¡± I replied. ¡°Good, first off, i would like to thank you all for your aid, i shall give you all a B rank contribution of 3000 contribution points each for your aid in both treating wounds and battle.¡± He said We all thank him since this would greatly advance our progress to learn magic. ¡°Now, this is the most important subject. What you all see here is a dungeon core. As you saw, this is what attracted the Demon Lich to us, they wanted to bind it and use it as another source of monsters to further infiltrate the elven forests. We obviously cannot allow that but we have lost many trying to work with dungeons but fail as the demons invade whenever planted.¡± He said. ¡°So you want me to raise it and put it down so that you can have a new ally dungeon?¡± I asked. ¡°Exactly, Dungeon Makers are known best for this exact reason. Your books lack the ability to spawn organic monsters but can easily make artificial ones like wood, dirt and stone puppets and even repair Living Puppets but still cannot spawn new breeds. From records, this is because your book has not evolved enough and has not analyzed a Dungeon Cores complete make up. Only then can you spawn new creatures and rapidly expand your dungeons.¡± He said. ¡°I see.¡± I reply. ¡°Before you all arrived, we already knew you were coming because Vine Grove had sent a message to us. The royal family sent this core specifically for this, we just did not expect for it to attract a Demon Lich.¡± He sighed. ¡°Why does the elf royal family want me to care for their dungeons? Don¡¯t they fear i will place it in the human nation?¡± I asked. ¡°It is actually a good thing to place it there, the human nation, as it is, is the most likely one to fall causing the balance of the alliance to crash. Beastmen and Dwarf all have protected dungeons which they extract many magical items from dropped things monsters leave to medicine that is difficult to find. All nations are growing stronger while humans are growing weaker so they are actually not that against it. As the first Dungeon maker in the last 500 years where the beastmen were the last ones to summon one, only humans have lacked the presence of one and have only grown weaker.¡± He said. ¡°Why don¡¯t any of the alliance share knowledge with each other.¡± I asked. ¡°We have tried but negotiations don¡¯t tend to work out. Several times we even succeeded which was how the human nation has transport nodes but humans strangely, veer from magic even when it helps so much.¡± He said. Misaki and I look at each other and smile wryly. Thinking of Earth¡¯s history, the inquisition had been just that, hunting of anything magical. Humans avoided magic because they lacked knowledge of it. ¡°They lack knowledge of it¡­ hmm¡­¡± I mutter but was distracted by a cough. ¡°Oh right, um¡­ is there any conditions for raising this?¡± I asked. ¡°There is.¡± the guild master said and took out a scroll, ¡°the royal family wish for you to visit all the Great Dungeons and rebind them to your Book of the Dungeon Maker. They do not wish to think badly of the dungeon but they need a way to resist the Demon Lord who can bind them as long as he takes the core. No matter how powerful, it''s dangerous to leave them unbound after the death of Daniel Rock.¡± He said. ¡°Oh! I see.¡± I nodded, ¡°That is interesting, meeting the dungeons might also help me learn more about my class so i will accept.¡± I said. ¡°Great. Here.¡± He said moving the Dungeon core closer. I walked over and took it before putting it on the cover. It suddenly shined and sank into the center of the cover where it was firmly planted and no longer would come out unless i plant him down.
Dungeon Core detected. Dungeon system and biology has begun to be analyzed. Dungeon Soul has been allowed into the dungeons and has been assigned one slot to build his own dungeon with mana absorbed by his own power. As it builds, dungeon abilities will be analyzed. Dungeon Core has been bound to the Book of the Dungeon Makers Dungeon Archive conditions have been achieved and can now surpass level 15.
¡°Seems it came at the right time.¡± I said before putting the book away. ¡°Can i see a map to find the closest great dungeon?¡± I asked. The guild master nodded and showed them where the closest dungeon was which was the Great Tree Mira whose dungeon is under her roots. ¡°Great, so we will go there first.¡± I said. ¡°Sirs i shall take my leave as i shall be finding some establishment to rest.¡± he said. Before he could leave i called out, ¡°Hey, do you want to stay with us for a night. We have plenty of space.¡± I said. He turned back and looked at the book before nodding. We all leave and head to the carriage and find a spot to open a dungeon and head inside to rest. ¡°So this is a Dungeon Makers dungeon.¡± Raven said. ¡°Not really, we just built our own very simple originally. It''s a good place for magic training though.¡± I said. We soon reached the rooms, one of which was like a living room with kitchen which was outfitted differently for daily uses. ¡°So Raven, i heard a bit about bards but¡­ I¡¯m curious.¡± I said. ¡°Ah, so this is why you asked me to come?¡± he said. ¡°One of them.¡± I said. ¡°I see¡­ Well.¡± he said and his stool came out and he sat and began to strum a non magical song. ¡°The story of bards is like most classes, the original class was not magical, 600 years ago, a human hero was summoned with the Bard Class. He did not have magic or anything but was skilled with the sword. He trained with it and eventually left because he was of no use in the war since his music could not even do anything besides moral boosting. During that time, the elf hero Daniel Rock was still alive and the two met and using elven knowledge from the hero, they evolved his Class into Magical Bard.¡± He said while still playing the music like telling a bard''s folktale. ¡°To play this music, magical wood and metal as well as much more all had to be specially made to make instruments that could play the magic. The technique is to engrave the rune on your fingers where the magical will come and be giving sound by the magical strings.¡± He said and slowly the music began to turn magical. ¡°The power of the Magical Bard soon grew in fame as his power also grew, his requiems and songs spread far. He eventually founded the Bards Order which found and taught talented children as well as untalented. Tis my story as an untalented.¡± he said and finished the song. We stared at him frozen and only woke up a moment later and looked at him strange. ¡°You¡¯re untalented?¡± I asked. ¡°He isn¡¯t, it¡¯s because his racial magic rune is poorly formed, he is like a crippled elf with little magic. Maybe even calling him half human is better.¡± Luna said solemnly. ¡°The young Moon Elf with such a powerful rune is correct.¡± Raven said and lifted his hand causing a very weak wind to gather forming a cracked rune whose majesty wasn¡¯t even visible. ¡°This is a Air Rune.¡± I said. ¡°Indeed, I am an Wind Elf.¡± He said. ¡°Not just any Wind elf¡­¡± Luna said, ¡°... one from the Storm Family.¡± She said. ¡°Storm family!¡± Charlotte exclaimed. Raven looked downcast. ¡°Who is this Storm family?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°The Storm family were a family of Wind Elf who were unique in their magic, they would study wind and Lightning Magic and merge them into a very powerful magic. They were considered a very powerful family around 300 years ago but there was once an attack on the capital of the elf nation. They used their magic but because storm clouds were brewing already, their magic affected the climate and caused wild random Lightning to rain on friend and foe. Everyone knew it was an accident but they could not forgive the family. We would not kill our own kind since it is not the elves ways of doing it but their racial rune was crippled making them unable to use magic. They also had a curse which would prevent only that generation from reviving the rune and were exiled.¡± She said. ¡°Indeed, i am 3 generations from that same family.¡± He said. ¡°Three?!¡± I said, ¡°I thought elves had long lives?¡± I said. ¡°Almost all elves have around 300 or 400 years of lifespan but those with their racial rune crippled would have only a humans life span aging like them. He has a malformed rune.¡± Luna said. Raven nodded, ¡°I was born as such because my grandparents had crippled runes and causing malformation in the following generations. We can at least use magic but i as an elf, am a child of only 20 but look like an adult of 100.¡± He said. We all sigh but i looked at his rune and looked at Luna and thought of something. ¡°Want to travel with us? Luna has a powerful rune because we encountered a power Moon Rune which helped her improve her own racial rune, maybe in time, we can find a natural Wind rune and restore yours.¡± I said. His eyes widened and he frowned, ¡°A bard is a wandering man, always looking for inspirations. To be tied group¡­¡± He said. ¡°A bard also has a band or even bard caravans, there is nothing bad about travelling together.¡± Misaki said. ¡°I¡¯m a healer so many there could even be a healer remedy for it.¡± Hermes said. ¡°Also, your music is really nice.¡± He said. ¡°You might be surprised by what you see when travelling with others.¡± I said. He sighed and nodded, ¡°I shall see what there is to see, i am not good at combat but i shall say this, if we can find a cure, i shall help you on your journey.¡± he said. ¡°Great!¡± I nod, ¡°As a Dungeon Maker, maybe we can even be like dungeon maker and bard in the past.¡± I said laughing. ¡°Only you¡¯re a human and i am the elf.¡± Raven smiled and everyone laughed. We showed him around before going to sleep for the night. Book 2 Chapter 11 The following morning with our new member, the bard Raven, left East Grove for the Great Tree Mira. While in East Grove, we inquired with the guild information about it. It shocked us humans that the dungeon was nearly 200 floors deep and the most dangerous defense of the dungeon was the tree that sits on top of it. That tree was even more amazing, it stretched from the surface of the ground all the way to the 200th floor and although not sentient like the great treant, it was special. It released a special aura that was monstrously lethal to any form of undead. Secondly, the roots of the tree were themselves living and as long as the dungeon labeled a certain creature or being too dangerous, the roots would block paths and change passageways and lead the being into death traps filled with blood sucking vines and plants that released poisonous or hallucination pollin. This dungeon¡¯s self protection methods had reached the pinnacle when focusing on plant creatures. The demon lord actually lost a huge number of creatures to this tree before giving up on taking it. Driving the carriage with the horse puppets, Raven was sitting next to me strumming his lute. I was looking at my skills while frowning. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Raven asked. ¡°Sort of, one article of my archive skill is that i can archive killed dungeons. The words exactly are ¡®You can now Archive killed dungeons and analyze their structure to make them your own dungeons and make rooms and layouts of the same type.¡¯ that said i never heard of any killed dungeons.¡± he said. ¡°I see, well they aren¡¯t hard to find. Elves are one people with a close relation to dungeons so we know a bit more. We call them Dungeon corpses and you can find them very easily.¡± He said and put the lute away and asked for the map of the nation we purchased. He pointed to our present position. ¡°This is the road we are on leaving East Grove, we are going north west around the rest of the Vine Grove before going directly west to reach the Great Tree Mira, which also means going to the dungeon city Floresia. Along the way there should be¡­ i think 2 dungeon corpses unless more were born if the nation couldn¡¯t get dungeons before they were captured by the demon lord.¡± Raven explained. ¡°You are talking about dungeon corpses?¡± Luna suddenly inquired through the opening between the men. ¡°Yeah, you know where they are?¡± I asked her. ¡°Sure, hand me the map.¡± She said putting her hand out. Raven handed it over and after about a minute she handed it back and they looked at it. There were nearly six small X on the map along the road towards Mira. ¡°So many!¡± I explain and notice a small number next to each x. ¡°What is the number for?¡± i asked. ¡°That is the number of floors the dungeon had before being destroyed.¡± she replied. That was surprising that she knew this much information but it was also a good thing because from the looks, there was actually one close, most likely one of the reasons why the town¡¯s forest was pushed back to far back. ¡°Let¡¯s go visit one of these. I want to see what the book does and i also need a base material anyway to start building some kind of platform for the spirits which i don¡¯t even know how to start.¡± i said. ¡°I am also curious. I have never visited a dungeon corpse before.¡± Charlotte said really curious. Figuring out our exact position after finding a landmark, we took a short detour to the closest dungeon corpse. The specific dungeon corpse we went to in this case was once called the prisoner¡¯s keep. It had been an attempt at the nation to make an armored fortress dungeon on the surface and the dungeon below. Naturally the fortress was rubble now and the dungeon was left to waste. That said, not without its materials being extracted. Dungeons have two main purpose, resource and protection. Dungeons with contract with nations are the places they run to to hide from demons. Naturally the 5 great elven dungeons is also where nearly 80% of the population live at with 10% of the remaining population being at the capital under the protection of the Elder Treant and the rest of the 10% being those who exist in the rest of the nation. Naturally if a dungeon is ¡®corrupted¡¯ the alliance races can do nothing else except kill it but after doing so they will extract all the material possible. Iron, copper, gold and all the herbs they can get. It doesn¡¯t matter which but they will do it and leave the dungeon a true wreck after breaking all the special dungeon walls that normally would regenerate. This regeneration of course is only possible if the dungeon was alive, the reason for this is that entire dungeon is built with a network of energy channels along the walls which help transport mana from the entrance and the surrounding dirt to the entire dungeon. Naturally the energy network isn¡¯t so fragile that it would be destroyed but the elves know that dungeons are most likely to be born where once a dungeon lived so almost every month they would come and mine the walls to waste away at the stored mana in the network. After over a decade of this, the dungeon corpses currently in the nation are all but ruined caves with a very low chance of birthing new wild dungeons. When the party arrives, they were a bit surprised that the state of the cave and fortress was so devastated. ¡°And i assumed elves were the breed to love nature.¡± Hermes said. ¡°We do.¡± the two elves said. ¡°But this is the teachings of Daniel Rock. He was the first person in the alliance to actually discover the energy network that dungeons possessed. Even his own book dungeons were said to have hidden from him but he found out when he destroyed his first dungeon.¡± Luna explained. ¡°So from that day you elves worked to keep dungeon corpses no more than caves?¡± Charlotte asked in awe and horror. ¡°Would you want the land of corrupted dungeons to breath again corrupted by the demon lord or bringing his armies back? We can¡¯t do much else except this. We shouldn¡¯t find any dangers. At most some wild cave dweller animals and maybe one or two alpha who are leaders of their breeds but not something we can¡¯t kill.¡± Luna said. No one spoke back and disembarked before the carriage was stored and the low grade guardian was made to scout. The party made camp to sleep for the night while the living dolls and wooden puppets were the guards. They did not want to open a dungeon so close to a corpse so as to not affect it. The following morning the guardian appeared from the cave and told them that he travelled with little to no resistance to the 5th floor before returning while memorizing most of the paths. Naturally it took so long only to reach the 5th floor because he had to go through the maze like dungeon but they had the benefit of having him scout for them. Of course, they needed lights, unlike living dungeons that lit up their interiors, a dead one, especially one that has been drained to the extreme that it can¡¯t even be regarded as a breeding ground for monsters, would not be able to light up. This was handled very easily by me who had the much more perfect Light rune thanks to Valery¡¯s second moon essence ceremony. With the glowing orb of light over my hand, we head inside following the guardian with the living dolls at the back and the combat puppets in the front. Throughout the entire walk, we kept looking around and exploring following the discoveries of the guardian. From dried lake beds to rivers and high ceiling rooms double the normal height of the rooms, that is normally around 4 meters, they actually actively deteriorated until they reached the 5th floor. ¡°This is tiring to walk.¡± Luna complained as she leaned on the wall and rubbed her feet through her shoes. ¡°I do not feel as such, it is interesting to try and catch a glimpse of a dungeon¡¯s architecture when there is no real danger to come at you.¡± Raven said. ¡°I wonder, do we have to go all the way inside?¡± Misaki said in a somewhat bad mood to be in this dark cave. Everyone looked at me but i took out my pen. ¡°Archive dungeon.¡± I said but besides a small glow, nothing happened in their view. Naturally there was a screen in my own.
You cannot archive this Dungeon corpse from this location due to the intense damage to the mana network. You must locate the core of the network and archive it from there to reach all corners of the dungeon.
¡°Come on, i can only archive it at the location where the dungeon core once was.¡± I said. The others just complained but after finding a small easy to protect room, we set up a camp and fire to make lunch, or dinner, whichever it was since no one could tell the time at this point.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Dungeons sure are weird. We can start a fire in here but not suffocate from the smoke.¡± Misaki commented as she chewed on a roasted pork rig from the storage of the dungeon book. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to explain that either.¡± I said laughing weakly. The others laugh. ¡°It is probably just some kind of air cleansing magic that naturally exists.¡± Raven said. ¡°I sometimes wonder why dungeons don¡¯t just close off instead of open up?¡± Misaki asked. ¡°Because their purpose in the world is to control the balance of mana.¡± Raven said. Everyone focused on him when he spoke to which he smiled and took out his harp and began to play a gentle tune. ¡°This is the knowledge we bards have learned through travels. As we are not bound by the chains of a nation we have travelled far and wide. The strongest of our people have gone past the land of exiles and met the countless races beyond those cursed lands. Those beyond are powerful, knowledgeable and arrogant. The little we learned was immense to the point that even the demon lord would seem insignificant. Artifacts as big as castles that fly in the air are said to be the greatest weapons. The material and knowledge of which come from dungeons of these promise lands. Little did they discover beyond that but they learned dungeons gather and control the flow of mana above the ground and pull excess below to protect the surface world from breeding titans and catastrophe like the primordial days of the world long past.¡± Raven sang and finished. Everyone looked at each other a bit worried by the strangeness of the bard but the tale was very interesting. ¡°How much of that tale is true?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Most, there was indeed an expedition, close to 1000 bards pushed forward and only 50 returned with what little knowledge they could obtain from that place. They also brought a warning about the gap lands between the demon lands and the alliance. This gap is filled with the worst demonic beings one can imagine. The strongest of which alone might be able to destroy a nation alone with no one being able to stop it, maybe even not the demon lord himself.¡± Raven said in a much more serious tone compared to the store telling tone he used to sing. The others swallowed hard and the rest of the time they ate in silence before getting up and proceeding. This dungeon specifically has 12 floors before it was destroyed. Of these 12, more than half of the dungeon has already caved in slowly returning to the natural state of the earth after losing the effect of the magic of dungeons that harden the walls. The further down, the larger the floors but also the more cave ins they had to find detour for. Finally though, they made it to the center cavern which was a large cavernous room at the 12th floor coming down for a ruined stairway. ¡°So this is a natural dungeons dungeon room. It looks very different from the one the young dungeon built.¡± I say. ¡°Well you can¡¯t really compare a 1 floor dungeon to a 12 floor one you know.¡± Misaki said scoffing at me. ¡°True.¡± I replied and looked around until i saw a large fist sized indent at the back wall. ¡°That must be where the dungeon core was once placed.¡± We walk over and examine the perfectly round hole. That said, around it all were several deep blade scars on the wall clearly showing what had destroyed the core and in a very not to nicely manner. ¡°Now let¡¯s see what changes happens.¡± I said taking the pen and putting it into the hole. ¡°Archive dungeon.¡± WOOSH! Suddenly the book flashes and opens before rapidly spinning the pages that glowed brightly. It seemed like it had almost infinite amount of pages before mana gathered and shot out dozens upon dozens of runes. I took a step back while we watched those runes float around spinning and slowly gather and get surrounded by a film of mana. This glowing orb of runes lowered and fit into the hole on the wall suddenly releasing a pulse onto the wall behind it. After a few moments the room began to light up naturally as many jutting stones on the walls and ceiling began to break off a shell revealing a kind of crystal.
You have archived dungeon core room. Time until entire dungeon has been archived, 6 hours. Scanning dungeon core room.
¡°Wha! Six hours to archive the entire dungeon!¡± i exclaim. The others also begin to talk all together but the calmest was Charlotte. ¡°Guys. Maybe there is more to it.¡± she said. Her calm words caused everyone that was close to yelling to pay attention. ¡°Maybe it is because each corridor, each room and such need to be repaired or something.¡± She said. They others frowned but i suddenly thought of something, ¡°The network. It will probably take 6 hours for the entire dungeon to get enough mana to activate the energy network needed to archive the entire dungeon into the book.¡± I said. ¡°That indeed makes much sense.¡± Raven nodded, ¡°What do you pertain to do until that point?¡± he asked. ¡°Hmm, we already had a long annoying trek down, at most we can do is get a proper rest and wait. Guardian, what do you think?¡± I asked specifically the creature that sensed the dungeon best. ¡°The dungeon shall reactivate, many structural problems might happen, it might be best to leave to another dungeon. As the dungeon core room is already part of the dungeon, i would suggest master to leave the room for safety. It is unknown of the water of the lakes and rivers existing in this dungeon will flow naturally until the dungeon is completely repaired.¡± He said. As soon as he said these words, everyone felt a rumbling and sound of water. ¡°Shit!¡± i shouted and instantly open my hand towards the dungeon book that flew to my hand and disregarding the fact that they were in another dungeon, a gate opened up with a thought. ¡°Run!¡± i shouted and everyone, including the minions, ran into the newly opened dungeon entrance with me at the back closing it off somehow. Not 10 seconds later, a torrent of water suddenly blazed through the opening and quickly filled the room. Even though there was only one door, there was a kind of magic that allowed the air to flow into the walls meaning the water had free rein to rise to the ceiling. Very soon the room was filled along with all the floors up to the 6th where the first lake was formed. Inside the other dungeon, we all laid down huffing in fear as cold sweat covered our backs. We gasp for air to help calm our beating hearts. ¡°T-To think that water would randomly flood like that.¡± I said through breaths. Before anyone could reply a snort cold snort came from behind us towards the back of the room. It made me open my eyes and look around. We were in a small stone room about 6 meters in diameter and while looking around i noticed something at the back wall which made me blink before i looked at my book where i saw an identical version. One half of the dungeon core was on the wall meaning we had jumped into the dungeon of the newly bound dungeon core. The core on the wall began to give off a glow. ¡°You are very stupid for a dungeon maker aren¡¯t you.¡± a young child¡¯s voice came from the core. ¡°Huh?¡± i exclaimed. The voice also drew the attention of the others who looked his way. ¡°You mortal beings are all really strange, did you not hear my words or am i speaking in improper common mortal language?¡± he said again. ¡°No¡­ no i am just surprised we are here¡­ and that you can talk.¡± i said. ¡°Of course i can speak human, which dungeon core cannot? Still, once more, you are stupid, why would you reactivate a dungeon without accounting for the fact that you lack all the needed structures that once existed to properly run it.¡± he asked. ¡°W-what do you mean?¡± i asked. A deep sigh came from the core. ¡°You mortals.¡± he mumbled, ¡°All dungeon¡¯s aren¡¯t simply things pieced together at will. We can¡¯t say ¡®i want water to run here or fill this corner of the room¡¯ without having an entrance and exit that naturally flows to keep that level of water you desire. You also need a source and deposit route. Every dungeon is every respect is a masterpiece of nature balanced perfectly after countless experiments and countless failures to get the result we desire. Of course, small dungeons do not care for that in this environment and simple want safety so they don¡¯t focus on details and just grow until it is safe enough to start doing small detail changes to produce special creatures and improve the conditions of your dungeon.¡± He said. The young childish voice speaking about something no one understood was such a heavy contrast that it caused them all to freeze, naturally the dolls and puppets did not but the party was transfixed. ¡°Are you mortals dead?¡± the dungeon asked confused. ¡°Um¡­ sorry we were¡­ just so surprised.¡± Charlotte said politely. ¡°At what?¡± the dungeon asked. ¡°At¡­ everything you said.¡± She replied blushing. The dungeon sighed deeply, ¡°I figured mortals would not understand.¡± He muttered and began to mutter to himself a while, ¡°Fine, let me explain taking that mess up you did. The dungeon reactivated and in turn, things in the dungeon began to work but the damage had caused many collapses, you are all with me correct?¡± he asked. After seeing a nod he continued, ¡°Good, now imagine you have a dry spring block, suddenly water appears and comes out at full power but the collapse previously mentioned had covered the main exit that would have drained the water to another section of the dungeon. What will happen?¡± he asked. ¡°It will start to flood.¡± Misaki said. ¡°Correct, now imagine all the water in the dungeon suddenly start to flow once more at that pace.¡± He said. Everyone suddenly scowled as they finally understood partially what he was talking about. ¡°Good it seems your inferior brains finally understood what i am talking about. As mentioned, the dungeon¡¯s water flow was restored making it pull water from its source by the natural flow of water in the dungeon was heavy obstructed making it impossible to return the water outside the dungeon. This is one of the mastery of dungeons building. We build natural environments which can sustain life. Food, water, healing herbs, all the basic resources are all meant to breed life to provide protection for ourselves. We can¡¯t make a simple cave because nothing will be able to survive. Even the most basic dungeon has moss to sustain bugs and draw a few bug eaters until carnivores appear.¡± he said. ¡°You all must be really loved by spirits.¡± Luna suddenly said. ¡°Yes, more or less. My parents call them pesky because they appear around the 2nd floor constantly begging for us to make them a home. The easiest to deal with is those air spirits, they help produce the breathable air flow the dungeons have that keep the dust and musk from building up.¡± he said. ¡°Wait! Wait!¡± I suddenly get up and hold my head. ¡°We were talking about this before, do dungeons intentionally make themselves invadable?¡± i asked ¡°Invadable? No we make ourselves livable genius, did you not hear me before? The bard was correct when he told you the story. We gather mana to keep it from overfilling the overworld. How i know this is because my parents and I are a few century old and dungeons have special powers to connect to networks of other dungeons to obtain knowledge.¡± he said. ¡°Now the second reason is to preserve the races of the world and breed new ones to keep the cycle of evolution rolling.¡± he said. The information was all so complex that it completely baffled everyone. Feeling a headache, i personally decided that i needed a rest. After some experimenting i found out how to open and close doors between my own dungeons even when there is none open. This is a new ability gained after binding the first dungeon as a way to hide. Naturally other dungeon makers can possibly find us but since there are no others it is a great way to hide. We each went to our own rooms and waited for the dungeon to finish archiving before opening the dungeon from the entrance to leave. Chapter 12 A bright light shined from the dungeon entrance and slowly a magic circle appears and very slowly the cavern entrance closes by half the size. The dungeon corpse was slowly extracted into the book and in turn, the earth filled in all the space leaving only a small amount of space near the entrance. As for the magic circle, that is the new entrance to the dungeon through my book. We walk out somewhat refreshed¡­ well the others were refreshed, i sadly discovered the dungeon also seemed to figure out how to speak through its other half. So for close to an hour that guy bombarded me with his know-it-all nonsense before i literally unsummoned the book just to get some rest. Everything he was non stop talking about was how dungeons were the best but also about how their network was the centerpiece of the dungeon i kinda didn¡¯t get it until just now when the book finally scanned the entire dungeon unlocking several new rooms.
Dungeon Core room The centerpiece to every dungeon which allows higher degree of detailed control over a dungeon. It is also the center of all dungeon network and the starting point. This includes the dungeons made by the dungeon book which have previously lacked it. A dungeon core room improves the workings of a dungeon by a huge amount allowing it to absorb much more mana in a controlled manner like all natural dungeons.
It began to make sense why the dungeon was more controlled. That said when I pulled out the book to look at the map, i couldn¡¯t help it. ¡°Holy shit!¡± The others looked my way and came over and looked over my shoulder only to have their jaws drop. What was in front of me was a huge map holding not only most of the dungeon we previously explored but even more of the land around it which had once been the undestroyed dungeon. It was purely rock but all of that was absorbed and within that rock were many important structures such as the water source of the dungeon and more. It should be noted that the dungeon had not reset itself, it was still flooded from the 6th floor down and more than three fourths of the water source was empty because the water was in the dungeon. What was most amazing was the network. Yep, the book was perfectly displaying the network of the dungeon starting from the dungeon core room at the bottom all the way to the top. Each strand seemed to have a purpose but they were dried up at this time due to the lack of mana besides the natural mana of the book flowing through it. Of course a lot of mana from the other dungeon layouts was flowing into it to heal the network but still it was a semi slow process. ¡°Why is the dungeon still so damaged? Could it be that we will have to rebuild the entire layout?¡± Misaki asked. A snort came from the dungeon core on the cover, ¡°No you dimwitted human. The dungeon doesn¡¯t even have mana for basic use much less repairs. Even more, it doesn¡¯t even have monsters to do those repairs.¡± he said and cut us off before we could ask, ¡°And yes, monsters are simply pawns made to perfect our natural environment. Many of them are needed for a stable dungeon because they can do things others cannot. For you, dungeon maker, i suggest you start learning from the basics. Try building a natural dungeon from floor one and use the dungeon corpse as reference.¡± I was surprised that it gave actual advise. ¡°Okay¡­ i guess there really isn¡¯t much problem there but how do i create monsters?¡± i asked. ¡°How would i know? I am a dungeon and you are a dungeon maker, we work with similar things but on two different systems.¡± he replied. ¡°I believe the message you said when you bound him was that your book would learn from him when he worked so you simply need to wait for him to summon and you might be able to learn small spawns from which you can begin.¡± Raven said being the voice of reason. ¡°I see. That makes sense.¡± I nod and scratch my head. ¡°This entire detour turned out to be a pain in the ass but i guess it was very important, we should get going to the Great Tree.¡± i said and called out the carriage. The others weren¡¯t in the mood to remain in the bumpy cart though so i opened the gate to the farm dungeon and got on the carriage. ¡°Okay since i am going to try and make a natural dungeon, let¡¯s build a dungeon core room first.¡± i said as i got on the driver seat.
You need several ton of stone to produce the Dungeon Core Room (Cavern)
Before i could start i froze but looked around and saw all the stone rubble from the ruins of the fortress. ¡°Might as well make good use of this stone.¡± I said and got down before i archived all the stone of the old fortress completely clearing out the last traces of what was once the attempt of a fortified dungeon. Getting back on the carriage i have it set off as i create a new dungeon layout called Dungeon Maker Natural Dungeon. I took the time to look at the scanned layouts as well. I was surprised by how simple they were and how little i actually got. Naturally some were interesting but what i got was simple, Small and large room (cavern), the small and large are two separate sections similar to the wooden room and the Large field which is four times bigger. Dungeon core room, this is no surprise since i already mentioned it. Entrance room, this is the biggest surprise for something like this to exist but okay. The next three are the biggest surprise. Lake Room, River room and Water Source room. I had wondered why the book had brought the water source but this explained it all. If the water source was original to the dungeon then it made perfect sense that it was brought. The size of this room that said when i envisioned to add it to the new dungeon layout was huge. It was about the size of a massive lake 50 meters in diameter but it was filled from top to bottom with water. The room requirements to actually build it, that said, were even more surprising. It needed an actual working water system through the floor plan back to it for it to work as well as a dungeon network so that special effects like determining which channel pulls the water and which returns it can be determined. Naturally the water channels are the last of the amazing part which is water flow corridors. They are manipulatable channels by the fact that i can make them thick and wide or thin to make things like semi filled corridors or actual pumps. Beyond that there are just simple straight and forked cavern corridors. The dungeon never seemed to make a T section or X section only the forked Y section but as a result of this it made a very confusing maze. I set an entrance room and a dungeon core room as the most basic setup to start the dungeon. I still need to learn more about the system of dungeons so i can only start like all dungeons. As for what i placed inside the entrance room, the last of the new additions, Dungeon moss. A special highly attractive moss towards bugs which helps draw them in to start getting a basic ecosystem running. The problem with this one is that it needs to be planted which is a pain. Lucky enough, there are bugs in the dungeon corpse which are a good enough start up. Most surviving life is up to only the 2nd floor because there is nothing to help live after that. Water, plants and more was all destroyed beyond that and only the moss kept the bug and small bug eater life forms from starving. For some reason though i was extremely unnerved about putting them in. Something kept me from giving the order to push them in so i ended up not after a struggle i lost. I just left the dungeon with the moss growing and guided the carriage. What i didn¡¯t know is that dungeon moss is very special. There are two paths it can take, one is the bug rearing path but in the case where a dungeon is born in a place where bugs are more carnivorous over being herbivorous it breeds a new type of creature. The moss in the entrance room, being the only mana consuming thing in the entire dungeon was rapid in it¡¯s unhindered growth for hours as we travelled within me looking until finally a change happened. A section of it began to bloat before a slimy liquid started to form and drop down to form a small puddle on the ground. This wasn¡¯t the only one, soon after more and more of this green sappy slime spurred out and finally the magic happened which alerted me to the change.
The ¡®Dungeon Maker Natural Dungeon¡¯ has naturally given birth to a new monster race ¡®Slime¡¯. All individuals born in the dungeon are naturally bound to the dungeon and now occupy one minion section.
¡°Wha!?¡± i exclaimed and looked at the book. Slowly gathering up the puddles of green sap was a small fist sized slime with a little gooey nucleus. After it gathered up a bit, it jumped on the wall and began to melt the moss and slowly climb. The moss kept producing the green sap until there were about 5 slimes that worked to melt and digest the moss making it have to reproduce once more. Each slime was rounded and about the size of a hand ball. ¡°Slimes¡­ seriously.¡± i muttered and sighed. ¡°Dungeon core, do you know why slimes were born in my dungeon?¡± i asked. ¡°Really! You made slimes! How!?¡± he exclaimed. ¡°Wait you don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I have been in hibernation for centuries and was born directly into the elven palace where most dungeons are protected. I learned the theoretical knowledge of how to build a dungeon from my parents but they never told me all the secrets wanting to surprise me. Now speak, how was it made?!¡± he asked. ¡°Um¡­ okay, the dungeon moss began to produce a green sap. Let me see¡­¡± I mutter and check the details. When the event happened, the details on the dungeon moss was updated. ¡°Okay here, Dungeon moss, the most base living organism in a dungeon. If not eaten and controlled, it will produce slightly mana rich slimy sap which gathers and forms into slimes who in turn will eat the moss to control its growth.¡± i read the new description. ¡°Moss¡­ really so that was how slimes were born.¡± the dungeon said. ¡°I¡¯m surprised as you are, who knew slimes were born like this.¡± I said.
Slimes A monster born in dungeons. They appear from dungeon moss that has no creatures preying on it. As a natural control mechanism they produce the mana rich slime needed for slimes to form. Slimes are a base monster of any dungeon without insects. They eat moss, any dead, feces and more keeping the dungeon clean in the place of bugs that would do the same job. They are more beneficial as they release a special mana rich liquid that is naturally released from their body when they have excess and this slime is reabsorbed by dungeon moss and plants. Slimes generally have no predators.
Alreading knowing that no creatures actually ate slimes the rest of the knowledge was actually very surprising. It also made sense that it took the place of bugs when there aren¡¯t any. ¡°I guess that works in my favor¡­¡± i said and laughed dryly. The dungeon had gone quiet but a look at it¡¯s dungeon and i could see that it had planted dungeon moss instead of waiting to amass mana like it had been doing. I chuckled but before closing the book i thought momentarily and went to the first floor of the dungeon corpse dungeon and planted dungeon moss in different places down to the 3rd floor. This was in hopes that there would be pockets of slimes that were born directly under my control that i could use to clear the dungeon of the animals and to experiment with slimes as well. Closing the book i focus on driving until i needed a break from the jarring ride and let Raven take my place while i went to rest inside my dungeon. *** Far to the east, the demon lord sat in his throne with slightly narrowed eyes. After hearing the report from his shade on something a bit more irritating. The report is none other than the death of the demon lich and how Ace obtained the dungeon core. Furthermore the report from the puppet was also included showing that the party is heading to the Great Tree Mira and the puppet even followed them in the shadows when they entered a dungeon corpse which was absorbed. ¡°There seems to be someone competent this time at least.¡± the said simply and closed his eyes before smiling slightly. ¡°I think the weakening of the human nation has reached a good state. How are the dragons?¡± he asked. ¡°Your highness, i am pleased to report that the 50th child of the 3rd gold queen has actually become an elder Dragon. Furthermore it has unlocked the primal gene and gained scarlet scales of a Fire Dragon.¡± the shade reported. The eyes of the demon lord opened a bit wider and his smile formed a grin. ¡°It couldn¡¯t be a more perfect setting. Call the dragon, i have a mission. Also¡­ locate something for me.¡± he said as he looked to the south west where the borders of the human nation were located. *** The trip to the town of Floresia, and specifically the Great Tree Mira, was uneventful after the dungeon corpse incident. Maybe because the others didn¡¯t want anything more ¡®exciting¡¯ like nearly drowning or they were a bit afraid of what would happen so we just went ahead and travelled all the way without interruptions. That said i had quite a lot of fun discovering what slimes could actually do. First off i expanded the dungeon by taking some corridor and room pieces from the dungeon corpse. This wasn¡¯t really that bad since i planned to slowly assimilate the dungeon while learning the ways of how the network worked. I discovered that slimes are very versatile though weak. Slimes are made of two main parts, their nucleus which is all the most important parts of the slime as well as where their soul gem exists and the slime itself. Slimes act like single cell organisms so their slime actually isn¡¯t simply empty slime but it contains billions of microscopic digestive organs that help it break down food matter. Now what is food matter to them is the most important part. Dungeons who use slime generally don¡¯t have many monsters from the get go due to being in barren areas. This means slimes eat almost anything but most importantly, they can eat rock but not completely. They can break apart stones from walls and carry them while extracting the minerals important to them and deposit the rest in another area. How this was discovered was in the dungeon corpse.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. In the first 3 floors where slimes existed, trying to see if they could work and reopen some collapsed sections resulted in them jumping into the cracks and melting stone until they were bloated. It actually activated a section of network channels near a damaged hallway and the slimes slowly crawled to that section and climbed on the wall where they deposited the inedible stone while also repairing the damaged wall a bit. Like this a part of the slimes began to work on expansion and repairs at the same time and slowly fixed up the nearest hallways while digging out the collapsed corridors and rooms. Now, maybe the best part about slimes was, although maybe morbid a bit, but it is their short lifespan. Dungeon Slimes die after a couple of hours but they don¡¯t simply stop moving and that is it. They pick their ¡®grave¡¯ this specific grave is actually where once was materials like copper and iron. They dig their way into cracks and spread out. This even includes their nucleus, after they die, their slime begins to dry out leaving only the minerals they gathered during their life. Naturally once there is not enough slimes eating moss a new one will take its place in what could be called a cycle. Now with the slime part passed, arriving at the dungeon and actually reaching the core is a big problem for me. It is impossible to reach 200 floors down so we had to go to the adventurers guild and speak with the guildmaster of Floresia. To speak with him we had to use a recommendation letter we got from the other guildmaster in East Grove. ¡°So the human dungeon maker, you got quite the special class, boy.¡± the guild master, a high elf, said. ¡°I am aware of its important to the elven culture.¡± I replied. ¡°Indeed, well from the fact that you came pretty much directly and this letter which is both a recommendation and a letter of orders from the queen herself, you came to bind Mira right?¡± he asked. ¡°That is what the guild master in East Grove asked us to do.¡± I replied. ¡°Good, that will give her a lot of peace of mind.¡± the guild master said. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Misaki exclaimed. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What do you mean peace of mind?¡± She asked. ¡°Oh, you humans don¡¯t know. Well you see, a dungeon¡¯s binding can¡¯t be undone after it is bound until its binding ¡®master¡¯ dies. That is why the great dungeons always feel great relief when a dungeon maker appears because it means a number of years of peace from the demon lord¡¯s attacks to try and reach them.¡± he explained. ¡°I see. Do they get attacked often?¡± I asked. ¡°The others do but Mira, from an early age, she developed her dungeon to directly counter the demon lord. The Holy Tree above her dungeon protects us from all undead which is also the home to the most high elves as well. The trees roots encase every last inch of her dungeon meaning it can attack and capture anything. With centuries of attacks, she has also bred powerful monsters with resistances to pretty much anything the demon lord has to attack. It is probably one of the safest places in the alliance.¡± he said proud. We didn¡¯t say anything about his pride. ¡°So¡­ how do we actually bind¡­ her?¡± i asked. ¡°Yes Mira is a female dungeon and you simply have to enter the dungeon and call out to her while holding your book of the Dungeon Maker and explain your purpose. This letter is also needed as it holds a special magic inside which is used by dungeons to make sure it is true that you are who you are instead of an agent of the demon lord. Afterwards you will have to drop some of your blood on a root she extends which she will use to identify you by before she takes you down to her core.¡± he explained. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Just a word of warning. Mira is a bit eccentric like most dungeons. They take their dungeon¡¯s ¡®perfection¡¯ very seriously so when talking about it, use as much flattery as you can possibly think of.¡± he warned. ¡°We will try.¡± I said weakly and smiled. From there the guild leader actually lead them and watched over them to make sure they knew what to do during each part. Only after they were perfectly identified, a root appeared from below and opened a large hole before several smaller roots formed and made something like a basket. ¡°You should get on. That opening will close after you pass through it.¡± the guild leader explained. Before anyone could say anything, almost as if the dungeon was without patience, the roots appeared from the ceiling and grabbed the entire party and tossed it into the basket before the roots forming the basket rushed into the hole. The faint of heart, Hermes for this matter, instantly began to scream at the top of his lungs as we were rushed deep into the ground. After several seconds we broke through a floor and saw, to our amazement, a huge cavern with many thick roots as pillars and from the ceiling, large cascading waterfalls filled in the space around every root that had dozens if not hundreds of root hairs stabbed into each lake. From far away it was possible to see the columns of water, it was hard to imagine up close. Before we got a good look, the root struck the ground and drilled in. Like this, we held on for dear life to not be thrown off the root basket passing through what seemed like hundreds of different environmental giant rooms under the massive tree before the basket slowed down and gently dug out into a massive room. I was weak to the knees but then but had enough strength to look up and gasp as i saw the back wall. The root basket suddenly unwound under us and pulled back dropping us into the room and going back up. The hold it drilled through closed up like a wound sealing. We were all tired and even got injured to a degree while being knocked around and almost falling out several times before getting caught. Scratches and scrapes covered us not to mention the dirt from the drilling. ¡°My, how frail. It has been so long since i last spoke to a mortal surface dweller.¡± A confused woman¡¯s voice spoke. We all weakly looked up at the massive crystal that took up most of the back wall and was easily 20 meters in diameter if not more. It began to shine and released a tiny orb of light that flew down to the center of the room before it took the form of a woman. Her hair was emerald green as was her eyes, her skin was very light green and she was dressed in vines and leaves looking very much like an Alraune from earth. The most distinctive feature was the large flower blossom on her head that acted like a hat and the similar flower under her that was sprouting at a very fast speed and kept her feet from touching the ground. She sat down on the flower while the roots of the flower uprooted and turned into vines that began to move towards the party. ¡°So you are the newest Dungeon maker of the alliance.¡± she muttered while looking at me. ¡°Well i can¡¯t really expect much from humans. Daniel was much more interesting because of his quirks that drove him to fulfill his desires. That said, it really is a very annoying fact that without you makers we dungeons have no peace and quiet from that infernal demon lord.¡± she spoke without giving us time simply ranting about the frustrations. She gave a small wave of her hand and the vines of her flower moved and lifted everyone in the party making us stand up as well as giving her a chance to examine us all. ¡°Two elves, a human¡­ hmm a human princess considering i feel the energy of a hero from your body¡­¡± She pointed to Charlotte, ¡°The smell of herbs on you reminds me of an alchemist.¡± She pointed to Hermes and finally looked at the two heroes. ¡°Your armor is quite interesting. I never expected to see a human use the eastern demon land¡¯s corrupt warrior armor.¡± She said. Misaki instantly became annoyed. ¡°This armor resembles the one of honorable warriors of my world¡¯s past. I will do whatever it takes to reach those lands and beat every last one of them into shape.¡± She said grinding her teeth. ¡°A fantastic dream child. I hope you luck in your life.¡± she said and had the vine let go of everyone before looking at me up and down. ¡°Hmm¡­ not the best human specimen but not the worst. I can see a great deal of intelligence in you child.¡± She said. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± i replied and scratched my head. At this time, Raven walked forward and presented his racial rune. ¡°Great Tree Mira, i am Raven of the Wind. I come from what was once the Storm family of the elven capital. I am not sure if your grace knows of our small family but we once had our race ruin¡­¡± ¡°Ah yes, i knew i smelled something familiar from you. So you are from that family.¡± She said and took a glance at the small rune. ¡°Poor thing, although it is healing, it lacks the vital parts that prevent it from growing stronger even if you meet a natural rune.¡± She said but the pity in her voice was somewhat grating to Raven¡¯s ear clearly showing that although she knew of them, she did not care. ¡°Can you help me fix it?¡± he asked. ¡°I do not really see why i should.¡± she said. Because everything moved a bit to quickly, most of us were stuck on what to do but to reduce the awkwardness i put my hand on his shoulder. ¡°We can see to that later.¡± I whispered. He smiled weakly, ¡°I guess i just got my hopes up.¡± Just from this moment, one can see the true side of him. He really didn¡¯t accept that his rune was badly damaged and he had a lifespan only a little longer than humans. ¡°The young elf shouldn¡¯t be discouraged really. It isn¡¯t hard to fix that little rune. See, just strike here.¡± Suddenly Mira spoke before Raven could put his rune back into his body and a beam of light from the finger she pointed stuck the rune. ¡°URG!¡± the impact was by no means weak. He was sent flying all the way to the back wall and coughed up a lot of blood. ¡°Raven!¡± I shouted. The dust around him cleared and he was unconscious and bleeding from his ears, nose and mouth but over him a glow covered his rune which broke three spaces that were malformed and drew slightly better rune lines of the same kind. It also added several very hollowed lines missing from his own rune and the shadow of the true wind rune was formed before it returned to his body. ¡°That is the price and reward for my small kindness as well as a lesson to not interrupt me so suddenly. I do not like others interrupting me and my thoughts but i do not like to see such a perfect race such as elves be in such a miserable state such as having a malformed rune.¡± she said before her eyes turned to Luna and her eyes shined, ¡°As for you dear, your rune is simply gorgeous.¡± she said. When Luna looked at her, amazingly her moon rune formed on her forehead and floated out. ¡°Truly a work of art. Although not as perfect as a true moon rune but it shows promise. That smell of the ancient spirit wolf queen is also not bad.¡± She said and hugged herself trembling. ¡°From the smell coming from you child, it seems you recruited that old shewolf correct? Bring her out.¡± Mira ordered me. ¡°Um¡­ Veria met me when she was going to give birth to her 11th child¡­ she had to give up her physical form so she is currently unable to be summoned.¡± I explained. ¡°Ah¡­ i see. A shame such a powerful beast was pushed to the point that she almost died if not for you appearing in her last moments. How long until she is back?¡± She asked. ¡°About a year.¡± I replied. It wasn¡¯t wrong either, she required 10 more moonlight ceremony meaning ten months which is a year. ¡°Truly a shame. I was hoping to speak with someone my age about the good old days.¡± She sighed, ¡°Well at least she is bound to you so she can appear within my dungeon once we complete our part here.¡± she said. She snapped her finger, vines and roots began to come out from the ground and quickly it formed tables and even things like cups were formed. Small fairies appeared holding plant leaves which were deposited on the table before a small group of red glowing lights circled it making them dry up completely. ¡°Come, sit and have some tea. It will do you all very good.¡± she said. ¡°Um¡­ thank you.¡± I said and looked at the guys. Looking at Raven, i gestured to Hermes but before he could go, a root appeared and picked up Raven and sat him down at the table before it lifted his head and opened his mouth. From the roots tip, a tiny drop of sap fell into his mouth. ¡°You can leave the boy alone, that little drop of sap is as good as any elixir and it will help him adapt to the repaired racial rune.¡± She said. ¡°Um¡­ what did you actually do to his rune?¡± Luna asked worried. As an elf, knowing there was such a way to repair racial runes was a very important fact. ¡°Nothing i haven¡¯t done a time or two when a poor elf was born with deficiencies under my care. It is a process Daniel taught which is heal through breaking. If something was born or healed improperly due to poor medical treatment you need to damage that part to repair it. I broke the malformed sections and fixed them while adding only a tiny piece of what remained to complete the rune. His body will naturally fill the shadow of the rune naturally and should he find the true wind rune, he will be able to rapidly complete his rune. His lifespan as it is should be about half an elves but twice a humans now. He will be asleep for a while though and his physical features will begin to regress as his elven youthfulness appears.¡± she smiled. ¡°Now enough of that. Come drink.¡± she said. Crystaline water was brought and the dried leaves were used to make some kind of tea or drink with the little red lights heating it up. ¡°What are these?¡± i asked. ¡°These are physical manifestations of spirits. The same spirits that elves use to make their little puppet batteries.¡± she snorted. ¡°When enough elemental energy flows through an area, they become able to form a physical or semi physical form. Naturally a dungeon is a place with extreme flow of energy so they naturally appear here.¡± she said. ¡°We heard from Raven that dungeons keep the mana on the surface from becoming too thick and making things dangerous for the races there? Is that true?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Oh you know of this? Yes, it is true. We are the ones that fill the earth with mana so to speak. The mana we draw into our network is also what vitalizes the world, even the ones the demon lord bound cannot escape from this fact. It is our greatest purpose to keep the world in balance. Naturally the way we do it is our own.¡± She smiled. ¡°When you children were coming down, did you see much of the dungeon?¡± she asked. ¡°Not so much¡­ but when we were passing through those giant rooms we could see some things. The one that struck me the most was that no matter the room, there is a huge lake around the roots. Why is that?¡± i asked her. ¡°Tell me, do you know what a theme is?¡± she asked. I shook my head. ¡°Theme is more or less, a central focus. For us dungeons it is an object or idea we center our entire dungeon on. As you might have already known, my own dungeon¡¯s theme is centered completely around the tree over my dungeon. It is my greatest creature and protector whom i raised after discovering it¡¯s uniqueness when i had only 5 floors. Now can you guess why so much water is poured around it¡¯s roots?¡± she asked. I frowned and thought about the information i knew and raised a brow, ¡°Could it be that it requires all that water?¡± i asked. ¡°Exactly, the exact distance from this room to the surface is somewhere in the range of 70 to 100 kilometers. I know what you summoned children are going to say but i am still quite a distance away from reaching our world¡¯s upper mantle and yes, this i have learned from my first master Daniel who was also from the same world as you.¡± she said blocking off mine and Misaki¡¯s incoming words. ¡°Now tell me, don¡¯t you think a tree with such massive roots needs that amount of water?¡± She asked. ¡°If it needs that much water, how come there was a lake that could form around it?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Naturally the dungeon needs water as well. I have built a grand system to draw water but also flow it back to the world as well as make up any extra needed water with mana. After all, when you get to my size, mana is not exactly lacking. Even then i still give back to the earth much more mana than you children can even hope to understand.¡± She chuckled. We were all silent but i took the cup for the first time and started to drink.
You have drunk the Holy tree essence tea. You have gained a permanent increase in 5% of affinity and resistance towards holy and light magic.
My expression caused the dungeon to smile. ¡°It seems that the effect is just right those little holy elves will definitely love this.¡± she chuckled. The others were confused but after each of them drank the tea, they all received the benefits. Luna got even more and told us that it made her more resistant to sunlight which would allow her a short time under direct sunlight. ¡°Was this a test?¡± i asked. Mira chuckled, ¡°Sort of. Most of the elves living in my dungeon¡¯s lower floors have become used to my mana so the effect is actually not very good on them but those on the surface are not. What is more, this is a tea i have been planning to give to the high elves for a while since they last saved me when the demon lord actually almost breached past the 100th floor in his last attack. If not for them appearing and using nature and healing magic to remove a corruptive fungus from my roots, it would have been even worse. I spent the last years studying and strengthen my tree to resist that fungus and even bred far more dangerous strands just to make myself stronger. The tree itself has grown more powerful since then making it impossible for undead to come even 10 kilometers close to the tree.¡± She said. They all paled when they heard the kind of damage the demon lord had created. ¡°Well, i got the desired effect and even more thanks to the little moon elf. Your race will probably desire this even more than the high elves.¡± She said. Luna smiled weakly but was amazined when the roots appeared next to her holding three small sprouts. ¡°This is the tea leaf sprout. To rear them you need to plant them in a room with a lot of holy and light mana. It is a very demanding plant.¡± she said. ¡°Ah, n-no no! Please i can¡¯t rear such a plant without killing myself.¡± She said shaking her head quickly. She actually felt danger from these seedlings to the point her heart raced heavily. ¡°Oh my, i didn¡¯t think you would have predatory fear of it. I should put that down for the elves to know.¡± she muttered and took away the seedlings. Than she lifted the last cup and opened Raven¡¯s mouth and forced down the tea into his mouth and nodded. ¡°Alright, we are done here. Now boy, bind my dungeon core and give me a few years of peace of mind.¡± She said. My lips twitched at her words but i did indeed do that. Walking up, i follow the instructions that appeared as to how to bind a planted and massive dungeon which wasn¡¯t much different from when i bound the guardian. A binding seal appeared on the dungeon core¡¯s face and finished the sealing. ¡°Great, now i am bound to you and will be able to contact you through your book. That said, don¡¯t randomly call me because i am very busy with countless experiments to breed new babies of mine.¡± She said and snapped her finger. A new root basket formed from the ceiling making us all pale. ¡°D-don¡¯t you have some magical teleportation?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°What would be the fun?¡± she asked. ¡°For us, it was painful.¡± Misaki said coldly. ¡°Alright, i can teleport you out.¡± she and and clapped her hand as a glowing circle formed beside herself and the roots went away. We all sigh while i pick up Raven and put him on my shoulder to take. ¡°Oh right, do you know a lot about runes?¡± i asked. ¡°Not much, even with all my life experience, i use more of the dungeon system for most of the things needing magic unless truly necessary such as my tree but it is rare the times i actually needed that so besides being the keeper of the Daniel¡¯s Nature, Holy and Light full comprehension runes, i don¡¯t know much about the rest.¡± She said. I sighed in defeat. ¡°Thank you for the drink.¡± I said and with the rest we got on the teleportation circle and was set back to the surface. Chapter 13 A bright light shined at the large entrance room where many elven adventurers passed as they went to harvest the goods of the dungeon. The bright light suddenly made everyone cautious in case it was an attack but what happened next made them all take a step back. Our party came out roughly like being flushed out of a whirlpool but what was worse wasn¡¯t that. ¡°URG!¡± One after another we slammed on the ground and had time only to turn face down before everything in our stomach was ejected out. Once the entire party was out, the light vanished closing the portal to the dungeon core. We were all on the ground and our stomachs all clenched painfully as if someone was kicking it extremely hard making us react with each painful contraction. Strength left our limbs and we could barely keep ourselves from falling on our own vomit but that didn¡¯t stop us from feeling woozy and tremble. Soon the aftereffect ended and we stopped feeling the pain and some elves came over asking if we were alright. I weakly explained what happened and they helped us up and gave all of us water and used some magic to help straighten out the problem of the side effect. ¡°Why was the dungeons teleportation so crazy?¡± I asked and looked at the entrance were a teleportation platform sat linked to the dungeon¡¯s network and was constantly powered. ¡°The portal spell she used is very primitive, it is the base from which the platform teleportation magic is used to teleport using the platforms.¡± one adventurer explained. ¡°Will you all be alright?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ sorry to delay you all.¡± I said to the elves that stopped. They went on their way while we stayed there resting on the ground, while our brain and stomach settled. The teleportation spell was far from stable like the ones used by the nations. ¡°Urg¡­¡± I groan and get up. ¡°Get up everyone, we can¡¯t stay here forever.¡± I say but also take out a waterskin and drink more water despite already having some from the elves but still needed more. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like doing anything else.¡± Misaki complained almost childishly before slowly lifting her body up and sitting down. The teleportation had really taken its toll on the girls, their skin was an unhealthy paleness and the bags under their eyes were dark while their foreheads were covered in sweat. Hermes was a little better but that was because he took out some kind of medical scented stick that was helping him by removing the throbbing of the head. ¡°I doubt we can do anything today anyways so let¡¯s just rest for the day.¡± I replied. ¡°I¡­ urg¡­ I can make some food that is good for the sick and weak.¡± Luna said and got up slowly while using her umbrella as a crutch to stand on her weak trembling legs. ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked worried. ¡°Y- urg¡­ yeah.¡± she said and forced a smile after gagging a bit before giving an okay sign. ¡°Ah that is better.¡± Hermes suddenly sat up normally and stretched. Everyone looked at him but he smiled, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be an alchemist if i didn¡¯t have simple remedies for something as simple as vomit inducing dizziness.¡± He said and pulled out a few more of those sticks and walked steadily to each of us giving one to each. ¡°Now hold it to your nose and don¡¯t let it drop. Just breathe steadily and you will feel better after a few minutes.¡± He said. Everyone except the unconscious Raven did this. He was actually very lucky to be in his present state since he didn¡¯t have the backlash. After about a minute, the dizziness rapidly vanished and after about three minutes, the churring in all our stomachs subsided while strength returned our bodies. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked handing it back. ¡°It¡¯s called nausea repellent.¡± Hermes said with a smile. Me and Misaki looked at him with doubt but the strange thing is that Charlotte was in awe. ¡°So this is nausea repellent! To think it came in such simple form. The one our royal alchemist makes is a small pellet which must be placed inside an incense burner.¡± Charlotte said. ¡°Ah, yes those are the commercial version. Truthfully most alchemists can make them in this form. When it is like this, the smell is heavily contained and released over time after being removed from a special wrapping paper but the medical effects survive only very close up.¡± He explained. ¡°Why don¡¯t they sell this then?¡± I asked. ¡°Because they have a huge shelf life and their effects are weaker being used only close up. If this was spread, the medicine would lose a huge market value. We only make a number for self use or emergency use. For instance, if suddenly there was a disease that caused mass vomiting and diarrhea, most alchemists would take out these under the premises of being ¡®medicine we stocked for years¡¯. That way we can control the outbreak of plagues without breaking the market for alchemists.¡± he said. ¡°I see, this makes sense since the item is highly useful.¡± I nod but charlotte was less than happy. ¡°How many types of medicines are like this?¡± She asked. Hermes coughed and smiled weakly, ¡°Princess, as much as i would like to reveal all the secrets in the alchemy circle, i really cannot. Both because i don¡¯t know every last one of them and because that would cause major problems for alchemists.¡± he said. ¡°What could possibly be the problem?¡± she asked annoyed. ¡°Well¡­ how would novice alchemists sell their goods if the price of common medicines like nausea repellent was suddenly dropped down low?¡± he asked. ¡°Okay, okay that is fine!¡± I said getting between the two. ¡°Let¡¯s stop this before our comradery is injured. Everyone has their secrets so no use prying unless they want to speak.¡± I said to Charlotte. ¡°Fine.¡± She nodded. I sigh in relief and pick up Raven from the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s go find a place to put down Raven and then decided what we will do.¡± I said. Leaving the dungeon we enter the city and find an Inn where i open a dungeon gate and leave Raven inside to rest. Hermes also decides to stay inside and make medicine for the rest of the day while the rest of us plan out the future plans. The rest of us went to the adventurers guild where we examined the missions and over a few hours we planned out what we needed to do. ¡°So our main objective hasn¡¯t changed. We need contribution points to get the comprehended runes. Since we are here at Mira¡¯s dungeon and she has three of them. The holy and Nature one being ones i still haven¡¯t comprehended, even to basic degrees, I think it is best to start with them.¡± I said. ¡°It is good and all but you do know that the price to witness one of them is 10,000 points each time right?¡± Luna said. ¡°Wha! Nobody ever told us the price!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Ehehe¡­¡± Luna scratched her head, ¡°That is the price for humans. Elves pay 5000.¡± she said looking away. I sigh at the racial preference but do not complain as it is their national treasure. ¡°That doesn¡¯t exactly change what we need to do. Just how much work it will take.¡± I replied shaking my head. ¡°With most of us as C rank adventurers while you and Hermes are D rank, we need to work had to get a lot of missions done.¡± I replied. ¡°What about Raven?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°From what Mira said, he will be unconscious for a long time so we won¡¯t worry about him for now. We need to focus on the now. When he wakes up we will see about him and if he is registered with the adventurers guild.¡± i said. ¡°Makes sense. So me and Hermes will group up again?¡± Luna asked. ¡°Yes, until you reach C rank we need you two to work together while the rest of us will do our own part.¡± I said. ¡°So what is your part?¡± Misaki asked me. ¡°Skill training.¡± I said and pulled out my short sword. ¡°I have neglected that for a while and need to make up my sword skills for when it really matters. That and magic comprehension. A very large number of runes i can comprehend the basic amount through common knowledge and this information is important for when we return to the human nation. It will be a large contribution to the magical studies of human mages and could even unlock some the possibility of some magical classes.¡± I said. ¡°Like bard?¡± Charlotte asked. ¡°Actually no. I was actually hoping to see if we can¡¯t recruit or sponsor a blacksmith to try and teach magic to smith.¡± I said. ¡°Then you will probably want to go to the dwarven nation. They already have magic smiths so you could probably recruit a few to set up a branch in the human nation and expand the profession.¡± Luna explained. ¡°Have you been there?¡± I asked. She shook her head, ¡°No but they are one of the bigger spenders to obtain magical knowledge from us. It is for the exact same reason you just named.¡± She said. ¡°I see.¡± I nod understanding. ¡°Welp we should go pick out the missions. Misaki, Charlotte you two would group up while Luna and Hermes will go on their own party.¡± I said. ¡°Great, let¡¯s pick up the missions today and we can prepare the rest of the day.¡± Everyone agreed to the plan and so we got to it. To rank up the quickest, Luna picked a few C rank missions to complete with Hermes. As for me, i took D rank missions to fight hand to hand with groups of monsters without the interruption of the dungeon. Although it is an important part of my class, so is sword using since it spawned along with the book and pen. Like that we worked out for two weeks doing quite a number of missions daily taking several at a time to rack up the points needed. The annoying part is that one person can¡¯t transfer points meaning parties can¡¯t pool their points for one person to learn it. The time I spent training was very useful for me to start actually using the sword. Even when I trained at the castle it was safe and had no danger. Now i could fight in actual combat and put all my previous lifes skills and this ones together. The result showed very quickly as my skills caught up to my strength.
Short Sword Mastery Level 10: Exp 597/3600
Your master with the short sword. Increases damage with this weapon by 10%
Short Sword Arts Level 8: Exp 15/3000
Arts that only masters of the short sword can learn. Level 1: Double Slash Level 2: Heavy Blade Level 3: Flower Dance Level 4: Scattered Flower Blade Level 5: Vacuum BladeRoyal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Level 7: Energy Blade
Of course swords wasn¡¯t the only thing i trained, i studied my runes as well to improve my magical damage and how well I could use magic in general. The runes have a huge part in magic so this was highly necessary especially when using my sword arts which blend with the runes written on the blade. Previously I knew only Light, Fire, Vibrate and Moon runes which were all comprehended to what could be probably the initial knowledge. It took quite a lot of trial and error during the night to figure out more. Water for instance i had thought the substance of life or other mystical things but that was naturally wrong so i went with the scientific knowledge. A liquid formed from the gas Oxygen and Hydrogen, the compound name is H2O and comprises upwards of 70% of all organic living beings. This with some training of the rune itself completed the requirements. Earth was much harder because of how complex the composition is and i haven¡¯t figured it out despite being a basic element. It was only then that I realized just how complex it was and for the old dungeon maker to comprehend 700 of these is in itself amazing. Just the random words like ball is hard to explain besides thinking of just the item itself. I was able to figure out Water and Acceleration runes in two weeks. The only reason acceleration was figured out was because I linked it to the vibrate rune. Acceleration is the intense vibration of atoms producing energy to move quicker through the air. Well I¡¯m afraid that it is something that cannot be rushed. Well moving on, after these two weeks Raven finally woke up but he looks very different from before. Where he was tall and looked to be in his early 20s with long blond hair down to his lower back. Now he looks no older than 10 with short shoulder length sparkling blond hair that had taken a much lighter tone. If one saw it wrong they might think his hair was going grey already. What most changed was his aura. By that i mean the magical presence that elves have. Luna has a very strong aura during the night and it is very pronounced when she is under the moonlight but Raven barely had an aura to the point he blended into the surroundings before. Now his aura changed it was like a spring breeze and was very clear like a breath of pure fresh air of nature. He was probably the most elated when he saw his own form shrunk down that he didn¡¯t even notice his now oversized clothing fall off. This made him blush from neck to ears as he used his old large green travelers robe to hide himself. We had to take him to a tailor to make new bard clothing and resize both his hat and cloak for him. The reason being that they were actually magical and functioned to take the place of his magic pouch. The inner side had many pockets with many items reduced in size that he carried around. After he was fully fitted we went to the adventurers guild. He already had a guild card but it was D rank due to his weak magical power. Now that it had been partially repaired and he regained the magical aura of an elf and youthfulness, his stats also radically increased to match as mana naturally flowed through his body strengthening it as it should have been from the get go. Once explained, his rank actually went up to C just by the fact that his rune was repaired, though the fact that he was a storm family elf and regained his rune was also reported to the crown. It couldn¡¯t be ignored. Actually he did gain his families lightning magic as well but he can¡¯t use it without feeling pain from his rune since it had just recovered and could not handle advanced magic. ¡°I need to properly study the wind rune to complete the missing parts.¡± He said with a serious expression. ¡°We can take it slow.¡± I replied. ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to be so slow. Although we cannot get the comprehended rune, something i think i wouldn¡¯t be able to handle personally, we can still purchase books on specific runes at bookstores. The nation allows the sales of magical knowledge since it would still require you to actually research the results of another and understand them to be able to incorporate it.¡± he said. ¡°So that is how elves pass knowledge.¡± I muttered. ¡°I need to go get books on wind rune and wind magic. Not only that i need to find a branch of the bards guild!¡± he said very excited. Maybe because his youth returned, he was far more emotional like most young elves are. Elves are generally free willed as young but since he grew like a human he didn¡¯t have that time but it seemed now he regained that childishness. ¡°This is a good chance to get a basic encyclopedia. Do they sell those?¡± I asked. ¡°Libraries in major cities like this one do but they aren¡¯t cheap.¡± Luna explained. ¡°Yeah, I expected as much.¡± I sighed and shook my head. ¡°Let¡¯s leave it for now, we are too poor for that.¡± I said. From there we went to the book stores where Raven purchased a number of wind magic spell books and old research records that are commonly spread around. I was also curious since I needed to learn the wind rune as well. I personally got the earth and fire runes that I lacked for the remaining basic elements. Everything counted, it totalled up to around 500g in human gold, which is an amazing price for basic knowledge of three runes we picked out. More complex ones were even more pricey. ¡°Elves really have a great market for magic.¡± I said after we left. ¡°Yeah.¡± Raven agreed as he held the books he obtained dearly. I was even more happy because of a special book that alone was 600g but was totally worth it. ¡®Daniel Rock¡¯s Encyclopedia of Monsters and how to rear them for money¡¯. The title was very strange but the knowledge was extremely important. The book showed information a huge number of monsters between F to C rank that appear easiest in nature. All of them have a very distinct feature which actually explains specific items that can be obtained without injuring or angering said monster. All the mentioned items are all profitable as well as including items that can be butchered. Amazingly it even included slimes which actually had one item. Born and surviving in dungeons almost exclusively, slimes produce different minerals after dying but their core is the most important. Once enough gather within a small range, they will actually begin to change the rock and draw mana that is crystallize into their mineral turned bodies and form mana stone. The book is actually written by the elven dungeon maker and he describes slimes as the primary monster most important and most versatile for builders of a dungeon. That said, the peaceful attitudes we had ended when we arrived at the inn where a human wearing a mask and had a very threatening aura was waiting at the front. ¡°Dungeon maker, Eastern Hero i have come for you.¡± He said in an emotionless tone. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked coldly. ¡°I am an agent of queen Elizabeth Heavenlight. An emergency has happened in the nation.¡± he said kneeling down and giving the report. The face of everyone changed and Charlotte was the most worried. ¡°What happened?!¡± she asked worried. ¡°It is best to come to the portal and go back.¡± he said. ¡°Yes, at once!¡± she said. We pay the inn and run to the teleportation platform and standing there, we teleport back to the human nation with haste. The guards lead us to the throne room but even then there was a big difference. For one there was a threatening black cloud looming and every so often I could feel a faint tremble. Finally we arrive at the throne room where the other heroes were arriving in their parties until all of us gathered. ¡°I am sorry for pulling you all but this is the most urgent.¡± the king said. ¡°It is as he said, we are facing a full frontal assault from the demons.¡± the queen said not holding anything back. ¡°What!?¡± everyone exclaimed. ¡°As you, who have travelled, should have noticed, Heavenlight, despite having the largest army, is the least developed and so the ¡®weakest¡¯ nation in the alliance. This has probably given the demon lord confidence to finally destroy our territory and break the alliance by starting with us.¡± she said. ¡°How big is the attack?¡± I asked. ¡°Big enough that it attacks every major road and even ruin our very territory.¡± She replied. The king scowled, ¡°That damned demon lord somehow bred an ancient extinct breed of dragon known as Fire Dragons. What¡¯s more, it is an elder dragon, some of the strongest among the dragons. Using that damned beast, he actually made that fire breathing abomination form a blasted volcano on our most major trade route isolating a huge number of areas that need to be accessed through that road. It is also spewing out ash and lava that is ruining the surroundings making it similar to the demon lands.¡± the king cursed. ¡°A volcano? How can a single creature actually make an active volcano that keeps spewing out lava?¡± Richard asked. ¡°As much as I hate to agree with him, what he said is right. Unless the dragon is in the volcano keeping it active, of course.¡± Nickelous, the berserker, said. The queen sighed and shook her head, ¡°Sadly it is even worse, what they used the dragon for wasn¡¯t to power the volcano, they used a different item. A legendary treasure among magical fire items. It is called an earth fire, a special magical fire containing immense heat and mana concentrated into it. This type of treasure is created only under the earth¡¯s deep crust. The demon lord most likely bred this kind of flame using his stolen dungeons situated in a volcano itself.¡± the queen explained. ¡°So it is a magical treasure, why can¡¯t we just go and get it or destroy it?¡± Richard asked. ¡°It isn¡¯t that simple. An earth fire is far from a simple treasure. Even the demon lord himself is cautious around it, that is why he only used it now when he finally obtained an elder fire dragon and even that became a sacrifice as the Earth fire had gravely burned it when it placed the fire into the crater it created to become the chamber of the volcano. You should know that fire dragons have near immunity level of resistance to fire and it was gravely burned by the fire. The dragon was barely able to escape back into the demon lord¡¯s territory after doing it¡¯s job. This was witnessed by villagers who had to quickly run away when the volcano began to cause earthquakes.¡± The queen said. Everyone scowled at that. ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± I asked. ¡°We need to fight off the demons.¡± the queen said and looked very tired. We all look very uncomfortable, this was probably not the same ¡®fight¡¯ that we had when we first arrive. It would most likely be more like the demon lich attack. Demons far beyond our level and monsters that could crush us easily. Even Richard had matured enough to not underestimate the demons. He probably learned the hard way that this wasn¡¯t a game. ¡°We should probably think about the pressing matter of the volcano as well.¡± I suddenly said. ¡°What can we even do with that?!¡± the king, hearing my statement, shouted back in anger. The stress might have gotten to him. Without saying anything i lifted my book. ¡°You intend to build a dungeon to control the volcano?¡± the queen asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know but you said that the demon lord made a dungeon in a volcano. It made me think of the Great Tree Mira we visited. That is a ¡®theme¡¯ for the dungeon, volcano dungeon in this case. It might just be an emergency fix but maybe we can slow down the eruption frequency.¡± I said. ¡°How do you plan to do that?¡± The king asked. ¡°While I was in the elven nation, I unlocked a new skill after archiving the remains of a dead dungeon. It allows me to plant either a true dungeon or faux dungeon still under my direct control. It is safer to make the faux dungeon than a real dungeon.¡± I said. ¡°You plan to use a new dungeon to control the volcano?¡± the king asked with a sneering grin. ¡°No, what i want is to slow down how much it erupts and slowly work my way down adding more floors and gaining more control until the volcano doesn¡¯t erupt anymore. This will hopefully reduce the damage done to the kingdom and eventually make it safe again.¡± I said. ¡°It is a very dream worthy idea.¡± The queen said. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to humor this right?¡± the king asked. ¡°I am because dungeons have a very high control of many things in their surroundings. To use one to try and control a force of nature is a very interesting idea for sure.¡± the queen said. ¡°Alright, I agree to your request but your party cannot follow you on this mission. They need to help the armies where possible.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I nod and take my book out and begin to plan while following the rest to the war room that had undergone a massive change due to the new volcano forming and the countless demon armies moving all over. ¡°Our armies are already on the move and all the nobles have organized their own forces to protect their regions blockading important routes into the nation. We need to reinforce the areas in most danger. Can you inform us of your current capabilities?¡± The queen asked. At this point everyone began to update the king and queen and I even add that i have living dolls that I will send out to help my party. I planned to use only the wooden puppets and guardian to reach the volcano''s base and dig out a cave to start the dungeon. The queen was eccentric to learn that I had them, even if they were still only just barely over level 10 thanks to the lich battle. Despite using AOE spells, their experience gain is very small since it was during war where countless people were attacking together. ¡°Shinigumi-san you will lead your party to this blockade alongside the Living Dolls. This is a very dangerous point filled with undead moving through here. It is also blocking the demons from entering a very important farmland for the kingdom so it ¡®has¡¯ to be defended. I hope the noble elven bard will assist with that.¡± She said giving a bow to Raven. ¡°It will be my pleasure but you will need to send someone to give the final attack. If I combine my melodies with the two medium ranked Living dolls, we can very well impede them but higher ranked demon undead will not die so easily.¡± Raven explained. ¡°Of course, the giant skeletons was a big incident we heard about. Now with this attack, we have commissioned several A rank adventurers to help out in the most dire zones.¡± We will assign two to that battlefield and they will be the main attacks. One of which is a magician.¡± the queen said. Raven nodded. The queen continued distributing each hero parties section and after preparing themselves they teleported to the nearest portal until i was left. ¡°Ace, although it is important to control that volcano, do take care. Earth Fire will constantly melt the earth trying to return to the center of the earth and when it does that the volcano erupts as melted stone bubbles up.¡± the queen explained. ¡°It almost feels like you are talking about a living being.¡± I said. ¡°It isn¡¯t wrong. Given enough time, that fire can very well become a monsterous Fire elemental, a creature that can be said to be at the pinnacle of fire magic.¡± She said. ¡°I get it, I don''t plan to die anytime soon.¡± I said. ¡°Alright. Here take this.¡± She said pulling out a white scarf like cloth. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°It is called the Scarf of Purification. Those who wear it are said to be able to enter places filled with poison of any kind including toxic gas. The air around the volcano is ash filled and the inside of a volcano will surely have many poisonous gases. Just so you know, this was a gift to my great grandfather by the elves so its quality is assured.¡± She said. ¡°That is assuring.¡± I said and took it and wrapped it around my neck. A small light surrounded me as the item took effect and the air felt cleaner. ¡°Alright, I need to get this going as early as possible.¡± I said while holding my book and pressing the nearest teleportation platform on the war map. Appearing at the location, I saw the looming volcano as it roared like a hungry dragon in the distance. Clouds of black smoke and red burning chunks of lava spewed out. ¡°Come out guardian.¡± I summoned. The large guardian appeared holding his wooden weapon that had grown more complex and powerful. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we need to build a dungeon there.¡± I said pointing at the volcano. ¡°Yes master.¡± He said and let me cling to its back and run at his fastest speed at my order despite the roughness of the journey. Nonetheless it was my first major dungeon that i will have to build but it will have to be with the parts of the dungeon corpse to rapidly build it. Along the way we had to dodge falling rocks and magma and eventually reached the base of the volcano where no lava was flowing. The guardian was quick and decisive as he punched the mountain wall and using magic he punched open a cave. When it was deep enough to hide me i walked in and touched the back wall, ¡°Plant Dungeon ¡®Dungeon Maker¡¯s Natural dungeon¡¯.¡± I said planting my first natural dungeon. The cave walls began to shine before it began to expand growing deeper and forming lights like all dungeons. ¡°Good, now time to build.¡± Chapter 14 ¡°Okay with the dungeon made we need to get deeper quickly.¡± I said and clicked on the dungeon corpse and selected to move parts.
By choosing to break parts of the dungeon corpse, you will also break the energy network around it which will require a lot of time to rebuild once placed in a new location and adapted to the new dungeon. Do you still wish to continue?
¡°Yes do it!¡± I said. With that out of the way, the dungeon quickly became accessible and i began to implement. ¡°System tell me, is it possible to empty the source rooms and change the specific liquid it flows?¡± I asked.
Rooms adapt to theme and resource available making it possible for the rooms to adapt to different liquids as long as there is a source to which they can draw from.
¡°Perfect!¡± I grinned. I opened the book and there was a big ¡®scanning surroundings¡¯ on the planted dungeon and after five minutes a diagram of the entire volcano along with the magma chamber, which was already huge, could be seen. ¡°First let¡¯s make this section bigger so that we can have minions moving about.¡± I mutter as i take corridors and simple rooms before i take and empty some water source rooms and put down three large ones in a triangle position around the magma chamber. Then i have the book filter the flow corridors already made and made it point out the flow direction before I took them and started to connect them from the magma chamber to the source rooms to make lava source rooms. These channels were about 1 meter in diameter while i had a single 2 meter wide channel higher up in the empty area of the magma chamber where lava would go to spew out. I wanted it to work like a drain similar to how when humans make dams they channel the water out of the construction zone by diverting the river. This would open three large openings that would create a heavy downward flow. Most of the incoming channels were in the upper section of the room and from the lower section i made more channels that head out to the base of the volcano. Naturally , I checked where it would flow and pumped it out in a safe area where it could deposit and not cause as much destruction as wild magma. When I was done I nodded and confirmed.
Error! All dungeon corridors must be connected.
¡°Connected! Damn it!¡± I curse but then remembered the river and lake rooms and quickly thought of using them to connect the system together. It even went further, i had all three newly adapted lava source rooms connected with several circling channels and these along two of these i added a lake room with a simple shore that would connect two the flow channel going between source rooms and the land space was connected to two corridors moving through the dungeon. Another section would have a river room with more land with a river running through the back of the room. When I confirmed it this time, the system accepted.
Completed dungeon design accepted. It will take 48 hours to adapt all the fractured energy networks into a single complete network and 1 hours to prepare the sections for materialization into the physical world.
¡°Wha!? This is nuts! Why does it take so long?!¡± I shouted at the system but it didn¡¯t reply. I was left with a headache while I looked out the entrance where what could be called Armageddon was happening. ¡°If I try to adapt and properly connect the flow of energy will it go faster?¡±
Affirmative, dungeon network is within manipulation capabilities of the dungeon maker.
After that message the book shined and rapidly spun just after the page of the design I made before it literally projected the image of the volcano and the interior dungeon design before the network of energy formed. ¡°Shit!¡± Looking at the network, I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so simple still it was impossible to wait so long so I threw out the thought of leaving it and sat down under the faux dungeon core. As for what that is, it is a glowing orb of circling runes, the same one that formed when i archived the dungeon corpse and it had to have the network running again. Breaking that will be like killing the dungeon core so it is just as important. The network, naturally, also starts from this point so i had to first work from the dungeon core room towards the entrance room and then connect the rest of the directly connected rooms. This section was still easy because networks are like veins which have vein and artery, I just needed to discover which network was what and connect it to the proper channel of the already fixed network. The problem came at the flow rooms. There is a very distinct difference, flow rooms have only one direction. The reason for this is that the flow itself formed from a special magic that draws the liquid down the passage without letting it return even if it has to push it straight up. The irritating lake and river rooms were a pain to set up and but after that it was more or less a simple pathway to the source rooms. The ones connecting the three source rooms had the weakest flow and were all in the middle of each room in a circle. Thankfully I had systematically made the room so that it received flow from above and removed liquid from below. This helped a lot to let me find the necessary flow pattern to connect the flow corridors from the magma chamber to the source rooms and pump the lava outside. All in all, it took me half the time as the system but I literally worked 24 hours straight on the energy network.
Energy network flow adequately adapted. Scan has detected a theme of Volcano Dungeon. Is this a theme which you wish to implement?
¡°Does it change anything if I do?¡± I asked tired.
Theme
A major aspect of dungeons. Themes are a focus on a specific feature that greatly modifies your dungeon¡¯s outlook from corridors to monsters.
¡°Right, so it does. Well i planned for it anyways and thanks to the level up of dungeon archive to level 16 i have extra minion spaces so i accept. The theme is Volcano Dungeon.¡±
Confirmation granted. Adapting all corridors to be Volcanic corridors and rooms. Dungeon moss will not be modified.
Although the dungeon said it would modify the corridors to volcanic types, it did not specifically add them because they are simply volcanic versions of stone rooms, that is volcanic rock. It is simply taking the rock around the dungeon to adapt to the surroundings.
Time until dungeon design is implemented, 1 hour.
¡°Finally.¡± I groaned and felt exhausted. I spawn some food from my book, i don¡¯t even cook it and just eat the fruits raw as I fight to stay awake so that I can at least see the dungeon appear. I wanted to confirm everything worked as I hoped instead of overflowing. Still if not for a loud sound from the system waking me up i would have fallen and remained asleep sitting there. The change was a lot more major than i thought. The reason is that one dungeon had used water and this one uses lava. First off the rocks went from a darkish brown to grayish red, heat rose rapidly making me very uncomfortable. The air was stifling and hard to breath even with the scarf that filtered the air for me. What was amazing is that the dungeon drew some of the lava and made a small bit bubble out from the walls and droop down before hardening and leaving that organic look. I walked around and saw how the dungeon had rapidly expanded while the slimes that were in the natural dungeon and the dungeon corpse¡¯s first floor, where I used most of the pieces, had also appeared and were moving about. From the book from Daniel Rock, slimes are capable of adapting to nearly any circumstance, their bodies absorb material from their surroundings and they adapt as they eat even changing their habits in the process. For volcanoes though, there wasn¡¯t any information. This is natural since the elves have no volcanoes. Dwarves have it but they have no dungeons in volcanoes where they might find slimes so there is little to no information on this subject. I will need to be active but at this time I can''t do a thing. I just tour the dungeon with a sluggish mind while checking out the flow through the book. I was very happy when the flow channels showed an impressive amount of lava flowing out of the magma chamber. The heat from the earth fire caused it to become very liquidy and very fast moving lava compared to slow moving as seen in most movies and documentaries on earth. Very soon, the flow brought so much lava that it couldn¡¯t drain and finally reached the center space and began to circle between the sources. ¡°The expelling speed is weak despite having the pressure from the weight.¡± I frown as i notice this fact. Waiting at the opening of a lake room, i watch the magma flow until it neared the entrance when i looked up. I saw the red glow before it appeared and when it did, it gushed out like water onto the cold rock. The first bit released a bit of smoke, the rooms having humidity of the water flow it once was covered in. That water though quickly vaporized and the red glow of molten rock slowly spread as the lava gathered. The temperature started to become unbearable by the time the lava filled the lake and continued the flow. I couldn¡¯t even stay in the room but as i left i did notice a small strange slime appear from the other corridor and go to the exposed wall furthest from the lava and release it¡¯s slime on the newly transformed volcanic wall. It took a short time for me to realize that the slime it released actually had moss in it and it was using it¡¯s slime to keep it moist. ¡°That is strangely smart.¡± I muttered but shook my head from how tired I was. I check out the rest of the dungeon, the lake and river rooms in particular, and when I finally confirmed they weren¡¯t overflowing, I returned to the dungeon core room and opened an opening to the other dungeon and jumped in before closing it and going to bed. I left the Guardian as acting dungeon boss to protect the room. As if my bed called for me, i feel in and instantly fell asleep.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. While I did, the world outside was undergoing one of its worst turbulent periods but it also came with the rise of the heroes fame. After only one day four names resound the loudest. Ace, Richard, Nickolaus and Misaki. News was spread intentionally to the armies that Ace had gone to weaken the volcano while Misaki lead her party with Ace¡¯s Living dolls to cause massive damage to the undead horde. The fame of the dolls further added to his fame and with the countless kills, they would slowly grow stronger and more efficient. Amazingly, after the first screw up, Richard began to take things a bit more seriously and due to the ¡®heroes blessing¡¯ that made him grow faster than others per level he had become very high powered in a short time but still wasn¡¯t top class. The heroes were more of a moral booster as each of them contained strange and powerful abilities that caused many problems for the demons. In the records of all the known heroes, maybe this group of humans was the most varied and due to the chaos of the times and the people summoned, were the ones who matured most quickly. This fame naturally extended to the heroes party. It is unknown if heroes attract uncommon people or they make their allies uncommon but all the natives in a heroes party had some uncommon factor to them. In Ace¡¯s party, Luna was the brightest shining light for sure. Although she was very shocking during the day when the battle started, it wasn¡¯t surprising but when night came that changed. Maybe it was her presence or something else but the sky had become strangely clear during the night when the moon rose. When the light of the moon appeared the moon elf began to change and her attacks grew stronger. Battling undead was battling an unending force with no fear of death that felt no fatigue but as moonlight fell more and more on the moon elf, they learned of a new fear beyond the holy light of holy magic. With moonlight flowing like physical silk, and a glowing powerful aura like a deity under the moonlight, the moon elf had the undivided aid of the moon against the undead blasting intense waves of moonlight enhanced magical blades. It even shocked the A ranked adventurers and the leading demon commanders. She was far from their strength but that would hold for only a short while, no one knew how she gained such force but they knew that as she grew, she would surely equal that of the heroes or more. As for Raven, the magic bard could still not do as much as he wished. Even with the aid of one of the living dolls in a duet while the other lead the other living dolls, the magic they cast was great support but not war changing like the lich incident. Mainly because his rune in its current state, while healed up and in the proper form now, was in a state of recovery not permitting him to exert all his magical energy. Eventually the undead were forced to retreat under the unrelenting destruction that Luna produced while the A ranked adventurers occupied them producing the first win for the human side. In other battlefields there were many different results but they ended with the fame of the human heroes rising. At the end of the battle of Ace¡¯s party, Raven and the two puppets played the same song they played in East Grove purifying the souls of the dead and the land while sending them to rest and bringing new life to the land. As for what came after, well naturally it followed with the aid from the alliance arriving, shocked that the humans could still withstand such a massive wave. Sitting on his throne, the demon lord¡¯s aura of death was filled with irritation. His shade messenger relayed the battle report. ¡°It seems my own army is lacking. I guess it is normal when my barrier blocks so much mana from flowing naturally.¡± He said but nonetheless irritated. After a thought a black book floated in front of him and he touched a section and drew a circle with his finger. ¡°Tell the army to retreat. It seems the humans are still not weak enough to take by storm. We will wait for the volcano to destroy their lands and ruin their crops. Once their food supply is weakened they will not be able to sustain their large army.¡± He said. ¡°A-about that my lord.¡± The shade said very worried. The demon lord narrowed his eyes. Outside the castle, suddenly thunderstorms formed from his anger as he heard the news but eventually calmed down. ¡°Earth fire is not something a common human can control. Without massive runic knowledge to contain it, it will be a simple futile struggle.¡± He said with his anger now stored inside. ¡°Now I remember why I hate new dungeon makers appearing. Just like that accursed elf we now have to tolerate this human.¡± He said. ¡°Does my lord wish for us to dispose of him?¡± The shade asked. ¡°Yes, but I doubt we can get anything too powerful through without being noticed. With the alliance reacting it is even less likely we can pass the borders now.¡± He sneered and shook his head. ¡°The dungeon maker is safe but we will need to end his existence before he can strengthen the humans once more.¡± The demon lord said, his anger burning in his eyes. ¡°What of master¡¯s puppet watching him?¡± The shade asked. ¡°It cannot teleport using the alliances damned system.¡± The demon lord said simply leaving an awkwardness. Eventually the shade was dismissed. Back in the volcano, as nature would have it, basic changes happen very quickly. As i awoke refreshed after not sleeping for a day, I was met with a few messages.
You have gained two new minion breeds
Magma Slug A strange and miraculous evolution of slimes raised near lava flow. Constantly exposed to extreme heat and fire mana, slimes adapted by absorbing small bits of lava at a time blending it into their sappy slime to form a gelatinous magma slug. They are the favorite food of certain weak creatures and have near full immunity to fire. Warning, they are dangerous for leaving trails of lava where they pass.
Fire Wisp A fire-attuned wisp the most basic manifestation of a fire spirit. Formed when a mana rich area with high amounts of fire element achieved mainly in volcanic areas. They gather and process mana into fire mana and deposit them around lava flow.
I sat there looking dumb at the two messages before taking out the book of the monster rearing guide. Although it contained magma slugs, it didn¡¯t actually connect it to slimes for some reason. Magma slugs are known to be wall crawlers or even ceiling crawlers. They are live off fire mana and lava as well as moss to retain their gello constitution but do not shy away from meat when presented as they detach from the ceiling to fall on their prey. They are also mentioned to be the favorite food of salamanders and lava tube centipede. As for Fire wisps, they are spirits who have a mana rich elemental area formed of their element or conditions extreme enough to provide for them. The actual makeup of wisps is very simple in fact and it even showed a simple spell for producing a spell circle that can gather different types of spirits in a dungeon and provide them with mana to become wisps. That is how simple they are. ¡°Okay. Fire creatures are strange.¡± I said. Although other magic creatures aren¡¯t any less so but the idea of fire breeding life and creatures living in molten lava just seems strange. I decided to check the book to see if anything besides the slug and wisps, though i highly doubted there would be any creature that could invade given how active and new the volcano was. How wrong I was. Amazingly, there were a few salamanders at the lava lake producing nests with eggs already laid. My face twitched a bit by how quickly nature worked so to obtain a new and possibly important minion, I quickly jumped up and ate something before dressing up. Ready i quickly jump out only to stumble as i was stuck by a massive heat wave. ¡°Fuck!¡± i shout but still walk out into the dungeon core room. ¡°The heat raised so much!¡± i said and looked around. The small spurting lava on the walls had increased and the dungeon adapted by making a hole below it so that it would flow indefinitely. The sulfur rich fumes in the air was also just as bad as the heat and even the scarf around my neck was having trouble making breathable air. Not wanting to stay more than needed, I ran to the lake where the heat was even more intense but it did not affect the magma slugs crawling on the walls and floating through the surprisingly fast flowing lava. Taking the book out, i find where the nest is and looking in that direction, i also see three salamanders. Salamanders are half meter long yellow colored lizards attuned to fire. Their attack pattern generally is primitive with tail whipping and biting. They are a low rung F rank monster. Not caring about them all, I pull out my sword and run at them. They instantly go on the alert when i approach and his but i don¡¯t mind as I stab out and activate the lengthening rune suddenly making the sword extend into one of their skulls and following be returning it to normal and tossing the corpse away. I swing at the next one and also kill it. As for the last one, it hisses and jumps at my leg but i kick it¡¯s nose stunning it before grabbing it by the neck and lift it up. ¡°You will be useful.¡± I said and put the sword away and take the pen out as i bind it. There was surprisingly no binding to these meaning they were young and might have just recently become adults and being in the dungeon also protected it from the demon lord¡¯s curse. I got the prompt that it was bound before I let it go. It was no longer wary of me as I move to the eggs and bind each of them. I open the book and see if there were any more here but it was just this small group at this lake. ¡°Good now to get the hell out of here.¡± I said and ran off to the river room where another nest was nestled and i tamed them all. Getting the salamanders would set up the basic ecosystem but i didn¡¯t know how it would be like. After that was settled I ran back to the dungeon core room and jumped into the other dungeon only feeling relief as the normal livable temperature hit my body. ¡°Damn that was intense.¡± I said as I removed the scarf and took off my clothing that was soaked in sweat. ¡°Although it is obvious but why is the dungeon so hot?¡± I asked the help system. Sadly no reply came from it but it came from the dungeon core on the book. ¡°Idiot, of course the dungeon possesses toxic air and burning heat. You aren¡¯t properly filtering the air.¡± the dungeon said. ¡°Filter? Oh right, many dungeons somehow make it possible for their dungeon to flow air despite having only one entrance. How do you guys do that?¡± I asked. ¡°Spirits, of course.¡± He replied. ¡°You mean like fire wisps?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but what i mean are Wind Wisps. Under different circumstances, the purpose of spirits changes. For instance, if a dungeon, by some miracle, was born in the clouds, the wind and water spirits would gather wind and water mana to form more clouds that can actually be walked on while the fire spirit would instead gather fire mana coming from the sun to form a pocket of warm air that is livable. For a volcano on the other hand, a fire wisp actually absorbs fire mana and deposits it on the banks or in the lava itself keeping it from cooling but it doesn¡¯t clean out the air. Wind wisps are for that, Lava produces not only fire mana but death, earth and wind mana. When the following three are mixed, the air becomes highly toxic but in a volcano, wind wisps actually gather these three because they are mixed together and breaks their bond, keeping the wind mana while using the death mana to break the earth in the walls and form wind channels while earth is deposited on the walls. Of course, to make stupid wisp do such a complex task isn¡¯t easy and is probably even considered a miracle of nature that is needed in the volcano dungeon to make it livable for things besides salamanders and magma born monsters.¡± the dungeon said. ¡°Damn so complex.¡± I cursed but nonetheless i understood what was the problem now at least. The trouble came in the form of ¡®how do i fix it¡¯. I go wash off the sweat in a bucket with rags first before sitting down in bed where I looked at the book and tried to figure out the problem. Naturally, I also tried to make wind wisps which, shocking, were pretty easy to make and would reproduce by splitting, once it had enough wind mana. I released the wind wisp to watch what it did after binding it as a minion race. The place i released it at was the dungeon core room and not the rooms with lava flow. Surprisingly, the little wisp began to move in circles which actually made the network tremble slightly. After circling a bit, the weak green color was gone as it had turned dark green and it moved to the left wall near a small pocket of lava flow that had formed and somehow entered the wall. In that point was a flow of fire mana coming to the faux dungeon core. Amazingly the spirit connected to the network and pulled it into that pocket suddenly causing it to release fire mana into the dungeon core room. It was almost like a release valve but with the red fire mana was brown, green and black mana forming a cloud. The spirit came out after doing that and the lava flow actually stopped flowing and the hole sealed up with the remains of the lava on the wall. It went into the cloud and began to process the mana. After some time, fire wisps actually appeared and joined it and took the fire mana while it gathered the wind mana for itself and after a long while it headed to the next lava flow and did the same releasing what seemed like improper pockets of fire mana. The fire wisp took the released fire mana to the nearest lava flow and deposited the mana there. When the final pocket of fire mana was released, the dungeon core room actually visibly turned cooler. The bright red color in the walls seemed to darken as if the lava had cooled down. I even went to check it out and despite being hot still, it wasn¡¯t that unbearable heat from before. ¡°That is amazing.¡± I said. When i looked at the wisp, i noticed it was bigger and it was trembling until it burst apart and reformed into three wisps. ¡°So that is how it breeds.¡± I muttered. They quickly moved out and I went to check out the network. The small connection was just like a small escape valve to allow the elemental mana to escape while pure mana would flow naturally. Thinking about this fact i went and touched the faux core with the pen and closed my eyes. Like a dungeon when i do this i connect to the dungeon and let me sense the network. The flow was pretty normal all over but the core room was particularly good. ¡°Are elemental mana impurities?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes and no. Dungeons actually prefer pure mana over elemental one while mortal creatures use more elemental over pure.¡± the dungeon core replied from the book. ¡°I see, no wonder the wind wisp released the energy built up in the network.¡± I said releasing the core and walking into the corridor to see the wisps doing the same to all the flows of lava on the walls to stabilize the structure of the dungeon. ¡°Everything a dungeon does is to stabilize our network and make it run efficiently. One of the biggest rules of stability is ¡®accessibility of mortal kind¡¯. No dungeon is really sure why but we must provide a dungeon where creatures like humans and elves as well as wild beasts and such to be able to live within the dungeon.¡± he said. I just stood there in thought before turning around, ¡°Well that is good and all but i really wonder how it is outside and if we actually had an impact on the volcano.¡± I commented but sighed. ¡°I should probably keep expanding the dungeon to divert more lava out of the chamber and control the flow better.¡± I said and entered my farm dungeon where i can be safe and relaxed while working on expanding the dungeon more to make a better dungeon and make sure the volcano doesn¡¯t erupt as much. With that I begin planning out a better layout to build using the dungeon corpse parts that would need to be adapted to the newly formed network which will be yet another pain to deal with. Chapter 15 Spending an absurd amount of time awake straight to expand the dungeon to circle the entire volcano while actually letting my imagination take the better of me as I did things like lava waterfalls and such to give a much cooler appearance to the dungeon where the flow connected, i completely circled all the mountain. That said, it wasn¡¯t without danger, I learned the hard way when the volcano suddenly began to erupt. I had to run away into another dungeon while exploring the slowly changing dungeon after calling the guardian into my book while I watched the changes from the volcano dungeon¡¯s view. The magma rose quickly but as planned, it was drastically delayed when the lava reached the largest opening to the top of the three source rooms. The half filled rooms, something i worked hard to achieve, had lava spill down from above increasing the pressure and flow with the weight added which caused a lot of problems for the rooms to pump out but the job was achieved since there were more flow corridors on the upper half as well. The volcano erupted inside as all the gas burst while only half way out only releasing the ear shattering roar with the gas but not the balls of molten rocks flying. ¡°This is an improvement for sure.¡± I nodded but as i looked at the dungeon i noticed the energy network was going haywire for a while as a strong energy was coming from deep in the bowels of the volcano. ¡°Damn, the Earth fire even affects the dungeon network.¡± I scowled. The side effect was that the network was backed up with fire mana again. The spirits in the dungeon quickly began to move. Wind wisps pulled out the connections releasing a dense concentration of chaotic mana that needed to be processed and put back into the dungeon and flow. The heat of the dungeon also rose up very high and pockets of lava on the walls began to melt again. ¡°This is going to be a pain each time it erupts.¡± I said cursing how the thing was but at least this dungeon didn¡¯t collapse when the volcano erupted. ¡°At least the side effect isn¡¯t as bad.¡± I muttered and had a large group of wisps come to the dungeon core room. After a while it all cooled down again but the amount of fire mana in the network was worrisome. ¡°I need to figure out a way to prevent this build up.¡± I said and appeared in the dungeon core room and sat down while looking at the entire dungeon. I couldn¡¯t remain here forever i needed to deal with the problem at its core and prepare the dungeon to handle the pressure on it¡¯s own. It was when the smell of sulfur, strong enough to surpass the scarf and I smelled it. ¡°That smell¡­ right! Air ways! Maybe there could be a way to use it somehow.¡± I exclaimed but frowned again. ¡°Dungeon, how do i make airways?¡± I asked. ¡°So you finally asked.¡± It scoffed at me. ¡°You need to make energy ways with specific purpose to pump air in and out.¡± he said. ¡°I was afraid of that.¡± I said but nonetheless, i open the book and after a long time I finally figured out how to create a new network line. I wasn¡¯t sure how it worked so i just connect it to the wall, and pull it all the way along the network to outside the dungeon. ¡°It feels¡­ inefficient.¡± I muttered but before I could say anything a wind wisp reached that entry point.
You have developed an energy way with purpose to make air vents. Entering dungeon view, please prepare a natural wonder.
My vision went black and slowly i saw the dungeon from above. ¡°What is this?¡± I said worried and looked around but then looked down and noticed that glowing network which had begun to flow the toxic air out from that one point. The inefficiency of transport was very obvious. I didn¡¯t know how to make it work at all which irritated me a lot. My view drew closer and while I was watching. A wind wisp went to the wall at another point. Amazingly the loose vent network was pulled to the lava flow section it had entered along with the filled central network. Suddenly all that sections stored up fire mana burst into the vent and like finding an escape valve that fire mana burst out to the vent shooting out of the dungeon. ¡°Wha!?¡± I exclaimed. When I saw that, my mind went blank as a mysterious kind of feeling fell over me and I saw from the vision of the wisp how it drew the two networks together at that point and how a section of nearly 10 meters vented into that spot. When i saw that, my mind formed an idea and tested it as soon as it appeared making a new vent network appear connected only to one starting point but at a point five meters away, it connects to a lava vent and pulls the fire mana filled network into that point. An air wisp flew in as quickly as the system was formed and the vent worked. As soon as it confirmed my mind shook like an earthquake as the faux dungeon core began to shine releasing a totally new system of network from the core connecting every 10 meters to every lava flow point. It wasn¡¯t just one or two but many connected to all the walls and the main network also connected forming a stable venting network along the stone corridors. But when i finished and the wisps began to vent all the fire mana, I suddenly realized that releasing the fire mana instead of pumping it back into the lava was a very good method to weaken the volcano. The thought caused the vents to branch out even more into the lava flow channels into the source rooms before returning to the volcanic corridors and pumping the intense mana but it was raw mana with fire, death, wind and earth mana mixed. Both fire and wind wisps quickly flew into the network and began to break them to break all that releasing fire, wind and death mana out while earth mana was actually released into an exit valve under the lakes and began to produce rocks. There were sections that ended up transported earth mana to the place slimes died. Still the system wasn¡¯t totally stable and I figured out that it was because it was only outward flow and not inward. The faux core trembled again and began to connect to different locations to all corridors and rooms before spread out to outside of the walls which pulled in fresh air and released it into the dungeon. When that happened, the network suddenly seemed to become firm as if a final missing piece was achieved. The scene around me vanished and I found myself opening my eyes just to feel a cool breeze flowing into the heated room. I looked around for the source but like all dungeons, there was no visible vent but a magical vent formed in the walls. Looking in the book, I saw that, amazingly, pillars and stones grew out in the many lake rooms and the salamanders happily began to sleep on these stones in safety while some held magma slugs. Fire wisps also would go to these every so often. They weren¡¯t just in the magma and formed on the shores as well and were slowly growing rich in earth mana and might eventually become mineral outcrops of some kind. Salamanders that were once in the corridors retreated to only the rooms with lava while magma slugs also did the same and even went further beyond into the flow channels and source rooms. ¡°Well damn, did i make my dungeon worse for my monsters?¡± I muttered. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Congratulations! You have produced the natural wonder ¡®Volcano¡¯s Vents¡¯.
By living in an active volcano, you are always in danger of your dungeon collapsing or melting due to the intense eruptions filling the network. By building a specific network that will vent the toxic air and heat of the dungeon before it is released into the dungeon, you drastically improve the survivability of the living beings in the dungeon as well as resolving, in a small part, a major problem of the intense energy of the volcano that cause it to erupt. This will cause the explosiveness of the volcano to decrease by a small amount while making it require a little more time to erupt while securing the safety of the dungeon in the process.
Congratulations! For making your first natural wonder, the spirits of wind have acknowledged you as a friend for making a place of extremely horrible wind and air into a livable place. You will now be able to gather more spirits in the Book of Dungeon maker and make spirit gems.
Seeing the messages, i could only blink but felt immense relief that the gamble to control the dungeon wasn¡¯t some random fools dream. As long as the dungeon expands more, more lava will be able to be funneled out and the energy from the volcano will be used for other things besides letting it erupt. Now that i knew that it wasn¡¯t smart to return the fire mana to the lava, not completely at least, i knew the basic direction to take. ¡°Guardian.¡± I turn to the huge puppet. ¡°You will be the dungeon boss to protect this dungeon. Do everything you can at all costs to keep the faux core from being destroyed.¡± I said. ¡°As you wish master.¡± He kneeled before me before walking to the center of the room and planting his roots into the volcanic rock. ¡°Now I need to get out of here.¡± I mutter and go to the entrance were slimes had occupied the place already. I summon a puppet horse and mount it to be able to run away as fast as possible. I rush out of the dungeon and see the devastation of the land, the lava flows I created had already formed rivers of lava, not something I particularly liked but could do nothing about. Unlike when I arrived, the volcano wasn¡¯t spewing out magma boulders but the ground was destroyed and the lava more spread than before. Furthermore, there was dangers such as fires and lava flow i needed to be careful of. ¡°This volcano will totally be a pain in the ass until it fully goes dormant under my control.¡± I cursed as i finally free myself from the range of the volcano and head to the nearest teleportation platform and took out a exp crystal to charge it as quickly as possible and teleport to the castle. A guard was waiting there almost dozing off when I appeared with a shine. ¡°Dungeon maker!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°I am back with some success. Where is the queen?¡± I asked. ¡°I shall lead you to her.¡± He bowed. ¡°How is the war effort?¡± I asked. Under the helmet with the front partially revealing his face, a smile could be seen. ¡°We have successfully pushed back the demons.¡± Like that he lead me to the queen while giving me a basic run of the events. *** While this was happening, in the Book of the Dungeon Maker the dungeon was just waiting on the wall while half of its body was stuck to the book acting as the entrance. His dungeon had expanded only one room and one corridor and housed slimes. ¡°I have gathered enough mana, it is time for true expansion.¡± he thought.
Dungeon Shop
Rooms Corridors Spell circles Monster/Plant Spawn Trap/Special
Seeing the dungeon shop, the primary expansion method of natural dungeons, he opened both rooms and corridors. His view left the dungeon core in what was called Dungeon view. It was actually the same mysterious view method that Ace underwent when he was making his dungeon vents in the volcano but for dungeon¡¯s it is a natural view change which lets them explore their dungeons from behind the walls. The size of the dungeon was pitifully small. Besides the dungeon core room and entrance room, it had only added on corridor and room to his dungeon to give room to birth slimes that were his first naturally born creature. A few strange lines formed at the ¡®edge¡¯ of each section that the dungeon could freely manipulate in this view as it was a sort of mental image in its current state. Within his field of view he had a number of DP or dungeon points which actually represented how much mana he had gathered and could spend for expansion. He began by separating the dungeon core room and began to add corridors that forked starting from the second room. He was in a ¡®safe¡¯ situation so he actually did not care for extremely quick growth unlike the unfortunate others of his race.
Dungeon Shop
Rooms
Cave Room Water Source Room
These were the two options he had at this time but dungeons were different from dungeon makers. Makers had to have a clear blueprint of a room with little modifiable possibility besides where the entrances entered but dungeons had utmost control of their rooms and could mold it to their desires. That is to say, while Ace had a cavernous lake room, the dungeon only had a cave room but he could build and modify the size and proportion at will, add columns and more to everything and make certain details that could aid it¡¯s monsters such as adding spires on the roof that could fall, or not. Planning for a stable environment, he grabs the source room option and makes a size ranging more or less about the size of a small pond with 10 meters in diameter. He makes a sort of big room and modifies it to have a small lake and makes a single spring channel that pulls water from the room below and one to return the water after reaching his desired water level height. The source was placed under the room and would feed only that lake. The energy network he added focused on cleaning and recycling water to refill the lost water that will remain in the lake and keep it fresh, perfect for consumption. Even without saying it, his dungeon already had air vents, to him it wasn¡¯t a natural wonder but a basic necessity for a stable dungeon. After that was done he allowed the room to sit there as he connected the needed networking. That done he focused on the other corridor and kept expanding it and branched it several times slowly making a maze that usually ended with rooms, some with moss and others with water and moss. It was all he had to work with at this point but the last room he made just an empty room before closing the room and corridors and connected his dungeon core room to the last unused corridor. He then opened the ¡®Trap/Special¡¯ tab.
Dungeon Shop
Traps
Pitfall Rock Drop
Special
Treasure Chest
The pitifully few options were a clear indicator of a young dungeon but the thing the dungeon wanted was the special. Treasure chests were very unique items for a dungeon. They attracted adventurers and humanoid monsters. Adventurers loved the items inside while humanoid monsters were attracted to it because of their special abilities to make many items of the same kind that is put inside without much work from them. Treasure chests of a dungeon works specifically by sacrificing a base item to which the chest models off and by absorbing mana, it will slowly make more of the same items over a period of time. Only coins are ¡®perfect¡¯ because the system of dungeons produce them as a basic item. Also, treasure chests aren¡¯t completely perfect. Besides coins that the chests instinctively produce by starting with the lowest value coin and merging coins when there are enough to make a higher value coin, they produce items of lower quality then the one sacrificed. Of course, the chest stays like that as long as dungeon maker or dungeon leaves it like that but to fix this problem either of them would have to spend hours guiding mana to make a perfect construction of the original item so that the treasure chest learns how to properly make it. As for the ¡®learn¡¯ part, yes, dungeon treasure chests have a certain system of learning that allows them to identify an item over a living creature. Further they can also produce herbs based off of the model but unlike items, herbs cannot be improved and can only be made with the quality they come out as. The dungeon pulls out two and places them in the empty room happily and goes to the spell circles. Dungeons use the dungeon shop to produce magic circles like a dungeon maker does. The difference is that using the system they can make a perfect circle with specific effects but like every tab, there are almost no options.
Dungeon Shop
Spell Circles
Random Insect spawner Random Rodent Spawner Random small predator spawner
Not all dungeons live in a place ¡®safe¡¯ enough to draw in the bottom of the barrel ecosystem creatures. These special magic circles, after being hooked up to the energy network of the dungeon, will slowly gather mana and summon creatures randomly to populate their dungeons. The natural dungeon mana will entwine into their biology and after a short while, will become minions of the dungeon and slowly adapt to the new environment. Since he had nothing to feed anything else besides insects, he placed several insect spawners and only one rodent spawner, since insects needed very little mana. ¡°This is a good closed environment for now. Now i need to produce even more mana to expand more but now that i expanded the network, the efficiency should be better.¡± he said smiling inwardly to himself. Like all dungeons, he fell into a waiting phase to gather more mana. Chapter 16
Dungeon core has just accomplished a large expansion and due to the mentioned, the book of dungeon maker has analyzed a small section of the dungeon store. Book has entered a standby phase for the next 6 hours to evolve the dungeon maker skills and adapt them to the dungeon system as well as form a preliminary connection to the system of dungeons.
Seeing the sudden message, I froze in my tracks making the guard stop. ¡°Is something wrong, dungeon maker?¡± ¡°Ah no no. Please lead on.¡± I said reading the message while following and getting curious about the incoming changes. After another short walk the guard lead me to the dinning hall and pushed it open to reveal a feast in full swing. All the summoned were there happily chatting and eating when I entered drawing the attention of all. ¡°Ace!¡± Charlotte exclaimed happily. Besides the very childish wild elf and Misaki who kept her poker face, Hermes and Luna ran over while the living puppets that were sitting in the corner stood up elegantly and walked over. ¡°Ace! You¡¯re okay! Did you finish the dungeon!?¡± Hermes asked. ¡°Only the first floor, I will tell you all about it later. How was it for you?¡± I asked very worried. A silly smile appeared on his face, ¡°Um¡­ well we kind of got a taste of what it meant to be a hero¡¯s party.¡± he scratched the back of his face but it was clear that there was a bit of a change in him since he had to live through that type of scene and grew a bit more mature. ¡°A lot happened after the battle! Did you hear!? We really helped out!¡± Luna said excited. ¡°I heard only that you won but i will listen later.¡± I replied to the excited Moon elf and passed the two and met the Living Puppets. ¡°We have accomplished your desires to support the miss.¡± They said together. ¡°Good job, return to the book and rest for a while.¡± I said. ¡°As you wish.¡± they said but after a moment they froze. ¡°It appears we cannot as the book is undergoing a great change.¡± she said. ¡°Ah right, I just received a message. In that case please do what you were doing while I report my own progress.¡± I replied. ¡°At once master.¡± they bowed and headed off to the corner once more and sat down closing their eyes. Seeing the path cleared, I headed to the king and queen, giving a nod to Charlotte while Marian, Charlotte¡¯s young sister, happily waved my way which made me smile. ¡°Mr Cross, it is great that you have returned. How was the volcano?¡± The queen said. ¡°Hot and messy. I was able to build the first floor and slightly contain the volcano but i will need to constantly expand it to make it more assured. For now i was able to make several vents along the volcano to reduce the amount of lava building up and several large vents to funnel out lava when it is erupting. ¡°Unless there is a chain of eruptions, from what i have made, it can still deal with the large amount of lava building up but i still can¡¯t get rid of the huge amount of fumes coming out of the volcano. That said the air inside the dungeon itself is clean and i made it possible for life to be sustained within the vents with no current present danger to the dungeon. Later on as the dungeon makes the volcano safer to approach with fewer eruptions, it will be possible to enter and obtain special resources from it.¡± I said. The king, although not personally liking me, actually reacted to that statement. ¡°What kind of resources are we talking about?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I am not perfectly sure because the dungeon is only starting out but from what I saw, there are mineral veins slowly forming, not sure which kind yet, and in the lava surrounded by salamanders, lava slugs and fire wisps there seems to be forming some kind of magic items.¡± I explained. ¡°That most likely is fire crystals. Fire crystals are a mana reached crystal primarily used in boosting fire magic by placing them on staff.¡± the queen said. ¡°Mother, I have heard that dwarves use them in different ways.¡± Charlotte said. The queen frowned but nodded, ¡°Yes, from my time that I went to sign some trade agreements, that is true. They have something called a steam engine which uses not only fire crystals but water crystals to produce the energy needed to do many of their jobs from powering their drills to moving their trains.¡± the queen said. ¡°Wait dwarves already have the steam engine!?¡± I exclaim. My words draw the attention of all the summoned group. Although the people of this world don¡¯t know it but the steam powered engine was the starting point of the industrial revolution. It made human society on earth what it was in the present day possible by providing the basic form of power to run a machine and produce automated power that powered nearly all machines. The first practical steam engine appeared in 1663 while the first commercial steam engine appeared in 1712 during the Newcomer engine era. This was when the industrial era was starting up and went to 1780 but Watt¡¯s steam engine and maybe the most famous was produced in 1768 initially which took off as the industrial era reached its peak the patent of which lasted only to the 1800s when it become something used generalized and further improved upon by later generations. Amazingly, Richard walked over with a frown along with Nickelous. ¡°Why haven¡¯t any of you obtained the steam engine yet?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Yes, that is pretty much the basis of all alternate power machinery and work.¡± Nickelous asked. To the surprise of the summoned and even the royal family, the leaders of the three main hero parties actually stood together on this subject. The king surprisingly frowned upon seeing this but the queen was equally as shocked by the action of the other two. ¡°What is so important about this?¡± she asked. ¡°What isn¡¯t.¡± I replied shaking my head, ¡°For one, as you said, the engine powers their drills and moves their trains. This machine, if used properly, can eliminate a lot of heavy manual labor problems such as using it to connect to the mine carts and have it pull them out to waste less time and energy of the workers that could be mining instead of pushing the carts.¡± I said. ¡°That is a really basic use. If modified properly, it could make motorized carriages that won¡¯t need animals pulling it.¡± Nickelous said his biggest headache. The queen, that said, had a frown and was actually tapping her hand on the armrest. ¡°Um¡­ Ace, Sir Richard, Sir Nickelous. It isn¡¯t that we never wanted to obtain any benefits of the alliance, which are many as they have grown greatly over the centuries.¡± Charlotte actually began to speak on her parents behalf. ¡°But there has always been both internal and external problems.¡± The three looked her way but the queen took over. ¡°As my daughter has said. The most major problem are the nobles. As you saw during the war, the nobles protected only their regions and territories.¡± She said. ¡°You don¡¯t mean that the nobles reject advancements in technology?¡± I asked. The queen sadly sighed and nodded. This made all the summoned sneer. Even the dumbest among them would know that the situation this queendom was in was none other than the lowest point of medieval nobility. The most rotten period where people were left in poverty and had to pay absurd taxes and to live was to be tied to the ground they work with because they could not overcome the debts they build up to survive. ¡°Wait. If that is true then does that mean that the information of agriculture we brought was also ignored?¡± I asked. ¡°Sadly.¡± the queen said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just your¡¯s Sir Cross but everyone¡¯s knowledge was gathered up to build a basic reference of development to start from but while you were out training we called the nobles and pretty much all of them denied wishing to implement something they said ¡®had no fundamental basis to believe in¡¯.¡± She said. Veins appeared on my neck and head as I heard this but i was grinning in anger. Not just me but most of the summoned were either red faced or their eyes boiled with that absurd and ridiculous comment. ¡°It is no wonder this queendom has declined to such a degree.¡± Misaki coldly and bluntly criticized the royals making Charlotte feel red faced while the king personally turned red in rage. But I raised my hand to keep the criticisms from the others from passing just that. ¡°Don¡¯t you have any very close allies in the nobles? I mean, can¡¯t you also force the implantation?¡± I asked. ¡°Sadly we cannot. As ashamed as I am to say it but different from your world¡¯s nobility during the era similar to what our nation faces now, which we have records of from our founding father who was himself a summoned hero. Sadly there is a major difference in our nobility.¡± She said. ¡°It is strength based.¡± the king said. ¡°So you give any random muscle head noble titles?¡± Nickelous asked coldly. ¡°Of course not. All nobles to retain their titles must show merit so depending on their titles, they must accomplish a certain amount of achievements through the adventurers guild and reach a specific rank to be able to inherit but to improve their titles they need to do major achievements for our nation to improve their titles.¡± the queen explained. ¡°This system is shit. From what we can understand, only those born from nobles can benefit from this.¡± I said. ¡°Well¡­ naturally, their ancestors are already nobles. Why would we give titles to people without major merit within our armies and people?¡± the king said. Richard actually began to laugh, ¡°That is just like what nobles would do.¡± He laughed. Probably having favored Richard, he never expected the hero to laugh while pointing in his face. ¡°See, even he knows that it is completely stupid. I am also guessing that you cannot prosecute them and remove their titles for doing crimes such as abusing the populous or doing other things correct?¡± Nickelous continued. ¡°Alright enough!¡± the king slammed his fist down and stood up while releasing a powerful and oppressive aura that surprised everyone in the room. ¡°Do not think that we are weak either!? All royal family must be powerful so do not think we cannot do anything to you!?¡± he hissed in rage. ¡°He is correct isn¡¯t he?¡± I asked the queen. Her complexion had dropped to a pale color as the summoned were guessing the many corrupt facets of the kingdom. I sighed and looked at the king. ¡°You can calm down already.¡± I said. He ground his teeth and pulled back his aura that was oppressing the guards and summoned. ¡°Now, have you ever thought of using your own land to produce the techniques we provided?¡± I asked. ¡°Our land?¡± the king blinked. ¡°Of course your land! Do you expect to use the elves land? Of course the royal family has lots of spare land in reserve correct? Why haven¡¯t you tried to form villages or something to test the techniques and show the nobles that things we suggested work?¡± I asked. The queen looked even more tired, ¡°Sadly most of the land currently occupied is already used to reward most of the nobles.¡± the queen said. The heroes shook their heads at the depressing situation of the kingdom. ¡°Then we can only find an ally among the nobles and work from his territory.¡± I said. ¡°Why are you so persistent?¡± The king asked. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you?¡± Nickelous asked. ¡°Humans run on food, more food means healthier men and women and that means their work output is larger which in turn produces more food and goods which provide for an ever growing army and supplies strong healthy soldiers who aren¡¯t cocky and oppress the population for having a higher status.¡± ¡°It is probably useless to speak with the king and queen on this. Let¡¯s summon those stupid idiots and ask why they are being brain dead.¡± Misaki said coldly. ¡°That is a pretty good idea.¡± Another hero said.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Yeah!¡± Soon all the summoned agreed and stared at the queen. ¡°Mother¡­¡± Charlotte had a bad expression on her face but the queen just stood up. ¡°I shall relieve myself. Please enjoy the meal and please calm down. Once you have, we may speak with a calmer tone and clear thoughts.¡± she said and walked out. The king also walked out soon after but Ace was far from finished but he didn¡¯t pursue it at this time. The others were the same and in turn he moved to his party and began to hear about their battle. He was shocked to hear that the humans were calling Luna a moon princess. Jokingly I said, ¡°Imagine them find out about your fetish.¡± This made her pout but she fidgeted and made me realize something and look at Misaki, ¡°Now that I say that, I never saw you punching or hurting her. Wouldn¡¯t that be bad for her?¡± I asked. Flames almost burst out of Misaki¡¯s eyes making me back off and kill the subject. From there I explain my time in the volcano and what I did, what I discovered and how I made the volcano dungeon a bit more safe. Now i was just waiting for the book to finish the cool down to see the new changes and from there see if there is more I can do. After the pretty much ruined banquet we head to bed and the next day were called by the queen. For the following two days we all were persistent in wanting a clear reason from the nobles until she gave in but with a warning, ¡°Please do not act hot headed if¡­ when this goes bad.¡± She said and ordered a summon for the nobles. Three days later all the heads of the noble families arrived and the heroes were waiting at the side as many powerful men. ¡°Damn¡­ they weren¡¯t lying, these guys are strong.¡± Nickelous said. ¡°My queen, what do you summon us for this time?¡± A very powerful noble that was nearly 2 meters tall and his body rippled with muscle that made his suit look very tight. It was clear his was uncomfortable in it as he crossed his arms. He sat near her throne showing he was of high status most likely a marquese. ¡°Seems most of the important nobles have arrived. This was asked by the heroes really.¡± She said. Her eyes landed on us and she gestured for us to move forward. I looked at the others and as we planned, i would be the one to talk because I was the least likely for the nobles to push some major punishment if things went bad. ¡°Greetings sir nobles.¡± I said bowing as i was instructed. ¡°Speak, what is so important that you made us all come here?¡± the muscular noble took the reins of the conversation. ¡°I have heard from the queen that the suggestion for the improvement on the agriculture was rejected by all nobles.¡± I said. The face of many nobles instantly scowled. ¡°I wish to at least know the reason behind the rejection since we come from a world that has long since surpassed even dwarves in technology to the point that we even build vehicles that travel higher up into the air than dragons and faster than them.¡± I asked. ¡°What basis do you have to ask us why?¡± the muscular noble asked. A quiet sigh came from the queen. ¡°Exactly, what gives you the right to ask us our opinion of this subject.¡± Another marques asked.¡± I frowned slightly but continued, ¡°Well it was the queen who requested the information but was suddenly rejected without even being experimented with in small pieces of land to verify how legitimate the information we brought was.¡± I replied. ¡°Young man, you are the dungeon maker correct?¡± The second marques asked. ¡°I am.¡± I replied to him. ¡°Well you should stick to making those holes in the ground to be exploited and leave the political runnings of this nation to the nobility who were raised to run it. As you can see, even as we are, the demon lord is unable to reach it¡¯s hand deep into the nation as we have enough strength to push him back.¡± he said. My face grew dark as soon as his words fell and the other heroes were not any better because if any of them were to be in my place the insult would have been changed to match each of us. ¡°Sir says that but besides just dungeon making, I also possess skills in craft among which are farming. That knowledge I gave came not only from my previous world but some from this world¡¯s own knowledge which complimented it.¡± I said. ¡°And how high is that level?¡± He asked grinning. I froze and formed a frown. Naturally the craft skill was not heavily used due to the fact that there was not that great of a time to do that. ¡°See, you freeze at a simple question meaning it is but a new low level skill with little knowledge of the subject. This conversation is useless. As Marques Leon had said, leave politics to those who know it.¡± The muscular noble said. ¡°Your highness, if this is all, we will leave.¡± The muscular marques said and stood. ¡°Marques Conner, please return, since we are at it I would like to turn this talk into a war meeting as well as a conversation to figure out how to plan the new routes to now isolated regions caused by the volcano the demon lord made appear. The current situation of the volcano is positive thanks to the dungeon maker forming a dungeon that lowered the amount of eruptions and lava explosions. Now most of it will vent along the sides through vents reducing the risk greatly. Still we need to remake the trade routes and roads as well as help the citizens of the cities and villages closest to the volcano relocate.¡± she said. ¡°I see.¡± The marques conner said and sat down. The queen looked at me and the others and with a foul mood we left the throne room. In a somber mood, we all exit the castle to the training yard and actually began to vent on the poor training dummy. When they couldn¡¯t hold out, Richard, Nickelous and I looked at each other before we each pointed our weapons at one another. ¡°W-wait Ace!¡± Charlotte cried out when she saw us three. ¡°Sir Nickelous!¡± one of the party of the berserker shouted. ¡°Richard!¡± Marybell, Charlotte¡¯s sister, shouted. Just as they shouted we three jumped at each other and our swords connected. The largest impact was on me as my level was still 18 while the others had grown much greater since than. Still that didn¡¯t stop me as i pull out the pen and wrote on my hand the ¡®Accelerate¡¯ very quickly. Following that was ¡®Enchant Strength¡¯ The buff had an increase of 5% on my own stat of strength which at present is 158. That is an 8 point buff and seemed small but a little science lesson, Velocity + Mass = Force. This translates to agility + strength = very strong hit. Accelerate is a rune as well as a spell that gives a 10 second speed boost of around 20%. Looking at the others who saw me, they turned a bit more serious as I swung the short sword forward. ¡°Be ready.¡± I said. Taking a step forward, i rushed forward ¡°Heavy Blade!¡± I shouted and the sword began to glow and through magic, it became as heavy as a hammer. Taking three steps I appear in front of Nickelous swinging who blocks with his artifact long sword. BANG! This time it was his turn to be sent flying and furthermore the webbing on his fingers broke while the hand that held against the blade had the blade slightly dig into it. ¡°You got more skilled.¡± He said coldly but grinned as he looked at his bloody hand and passed it over his sword. Amazingly the sword began to vibrate and seemed to growl before magical red lines formed on the blade. I felt a deep tepedration as did Richard. ¡°Royal guard!¡± Richard shouted and pointed his shield in front of himself and formed a bright yellow shield. I used magic on the other hand writing ¡®Earth Shield Harden Guard¡¯ pushing it into the ground forming an earth shield that hardened into stone and released a faint yellow light. ¡°Blood Wave.¡± Nickelous chanted solemnly and took a step as he swung the overly large longsword releasing a bloody sword wave that slammed into both of us. The shields quickly cracked and we had to use our swords or shield to block being sent flying. We both coughed up some blood and landed far off on the other side of the training field. Forming a triangle we all stood up but it was finally Richard¡¯s turn who began to glow a bright white light. ¡°Hero¡¯s Blessing.¡± he chanted making the white light enter his body making yellow lines appear on his body. ¡°Hero¡¯s Avatar!¡± he shouted and behind the prince looking blond appeared a ghost of a giant knight appeared. It slowly superimposed on the young hero and formed a ghostly holy armor around him. I gulped and nodded ¡°Yeah, this is a hero¡¯s skill for sure.¡± I narrowed my eyes and began to buff myself. ¡®Harden¡¯ ¡®Enchant endurance¡¯ ¡®Harden Earth Shield Guard Enchanted Endurance¡¯ and more defence spells. Allowing the two time to guard up Richard struck as he lifted his sword. ¡°Now it¡¯s my turn.¡± he said. ¡°Holy Smite!¡± he shouted and swung sideways causing everyone to be blinded and the parties shouted. As for me and Nickelous, we prepared our strongest skills and attacked back after our defense was broken and the attack weakened but it was still a heavy burden. After the three attacks, the three of us were in a bad state but far more relieved and walked out from the pits we were in. ¡°You are weak Cross.¡± Nickelous said as he walked out all bloodied. I coughed as my body was covered in dust and was slapping it off. ¡°Oh shut up you berserker. I level slowly and need to gather mana through my book to make exp. I focus on my skills over my level.¡± I cursed at him and looked at Richard, ¡°And were you trying to kill me you bastard? I saw that more of that attack came at me! If I didn''t use the vibrate rune and my vacuum slash to split off most of the impact i would have been in bed for weeks you asshole!¡± I cursed at the hero. ¡°If you were that weak at this point you really should be in bed and retire.¡± he said but his face was pale clearly from the amount of energy or backlash that all hero skills have. I spit some blood in my mouth out while the healers or alchemists of the parties ran over and used magic or potions to heal us. ¡°You guys are stupid. Geez you are such brainless men. What was all that about?¡± Misaki criticized us. ¡°Venting.¡± the three of us said together. ¡°Also i was gauging what these two can do.¡± Nickelous said. ¡°Oh please, i was the one gauging you guys.¡± Richard said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who was doing what to the other, that was stupid.¡± Misaki insulted us and began to criticize us but we really didn¡¯t mind. ¡°You really should focus some exp into leveling and raising your base stats.¡± Nickelous told me. ¡°Yeah, with how things are going for this nation, we will be in lots of battles.¡± I sneered. ¡°Those nobles are annoying.¡± Richard said. ¡°They are.¡± me and Nickelous said. ¡°Still they are really strong. Even the weakest which are baron were probably as strong as us.¡± I said. This comment was a wakeup call to the others who began to think deeply about our actual position in the war. We eventually calm down and go take a bath and get the wounds treated while the queen had her meeting and as night fell we were all called to the throne room where we looked at each other with a somber mood. ¡°I see you all calmed down from your fits of rage. I could feel the tremors from here.¡± She said. ¡°Yeah.¡± We all said. ¡°Good, the nobles and us have planned for the repairs of the nation and remake the roads.¡± She said. ¡°Now from the talk, you realized why we didn¡¯t want you to meet the nobles right?¡± she asked. We nodded. ¡°Nobility isn¡¯t as simple as knowledge. Each person with nobility was once an adventurer and very strong ones. They are the pillars of the nation and despite their resistance to our control and maybe even plan to overthrow us if they get to ambitious but they are the powers of the nation and control a huge amount of strength. The marques, like myself are A rank adventurers at that.¡± She said. My hands ball into a fist. ¡°As you all saw that nobility are very proud and will not take orders of those outside of it. To them you are just commoners from a different world with no speaking power.¡± she said. A silence fell over the room before she smiled, ¡°Which is why Sir Ace Cross, Sir Zondervan and Hero Richard Arrowood will each be given the rank of Baron.¡± She said. The three of us turned wide eyed. ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°After the nobles left, I spoke with my husband. I remember you ask about our personal land correct?¡± She asked. I nod and she stood up and waved for us to follow. We enter the war room and the table that showed the entire alliance. She made the map zoom on only the queendom territory. ¡°This, that you see is the active territory populated by us.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± we nod and keep listening. ¡°This isn¡¯t the full size of the territory.¡± She said and activated a different setting zooming out towards the south and west until the territory exposed was nearly 4 times the size. ¡°Wha¡­¡± all of our jaws dropped upon seeing the expanse of land owned but unoccupied. ¡°As you can see, all this land is unoccupied but it wasn¡¯t always like this. When Heavenlight was founded, the capital was located here.¡± She pointed to the center of the map and zoomed in where the ruins of a beautiful capital lay. ¡°The fall of the original capital came from the demon lord¡¯s attack and was probably when the decline began. At that time the demon lord¡¯s forces were actually stronger but thanks to several summoned, many powerful demons were killed but many nobles that had very high honor and loyalty were also killed. The control of the land became very weak so we had to decrease how much land we could actually manage.¡± The queen explained the past of Heaven light. ¡°So by giving us a title, it means you are giving us land is this abandoned land?¡± I asked. ¡°Exactly. I wish to expand the queendom back even a little. Also, these lands are much safer from the demon lord. To the southeast is a very huge canyon and wall of mountains that is almost impossible to pass even by dragons because there are actually monsters living here that the demon lord cannot control or even kill. They are passive and don¡¯t care about the alliance of demon lord but they protect their territory viciously. The demons cannot invade from there but it was thanks to the old demons who are now dead, they could reach those lands from the current territory before.¡± she explained. ¡°This is all good and all for giving us an entrance to the nobility but there is a problem. One, there is no workers, two how dangerous is it, three where will we get the food to pioneer this place?¡± Nickelous said. ¡°That is true, i believe the nobles have farmers under debt like in our world. How will we get workers?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Slums.¡± the king said. ¡°Huh?!¡± we all exclaimed in shock. ¡°The slums are a cesspool of homeless and unemployed. They aren¡¯t bound by debt and since they don¡¯t do crimes, we also can¡¯t put them in jail.¡± he said. ¡°Will nobles let them go?¡± I asked. ¡°Most definitely, slums reduce the public order and is the place where bandits are born. If we can give them a place to live, we can improve public order in the current territory as well as send people to pioneer the land. Furthermore, we can obtain the help of the adventurers guild as they desire great amounts of missions to be able to raise the adventurers. This will be a great use of manpower as long as they accept.¡± the queen said. ¡°There is one more thing.¡± The king pointed out, ¡°There actually are villages surviving there. The passage to the south and west are both blocked in all the mountains but we do know that there were people who couldn¡¯t come here and remained. There most definitely are humans surviving there if they became strong enough to survive.¡± he mentioned. ¡°Hmm¡­ this might be good and all but i think it is best to start a new village. I don¡¯t think the abandoned village will take likely to our takeover. On the other hand, as we expand and grow, we can attract and negotiate with them.¡± I mentioned. ¡°This is a good thought process. Do you accept this mission?¡± the queen asked. All the heroes turned to face one another. There were four main groups and the leader of the four, Ace, Nickelous, Richard and one last boy who was the leader of the last group but his strength and couldn¡¯t compare to the other three, decided for their parties. ¡°We will accept but¡­ we will work as we want and implement our own techniques.¡± I said. ¡°Good. I will announce the new titles for your war efforts. Ace, for you the reward will be your effort for the new dungeon reducing the danger of the volcano. Please continue strengthening that control to eventually regain that land.¡± She said. ¡°Of course.¡± I nod. ¡°Good, as nobles, you will also be allowed to recruit and train your own personal soldiers and found your own noble families just like all the others.¡± She explained. ¡°All this will be explained once you get the title and we will send a teacher of noble etiquette with you so that you know what is expected of nobles. After the announcement of your titles we will also announce the pioneering of the territories. We will be recruiting those of the slums, skilled craftsmen and workers as well as order a teleportation platform from the elves to take to the south. That said, do you have a means to clear the blockade of boulders covering the passage?¡± She asked. ¡°I can achieve it all as material.¡± I replied with confidence. ¡°Good. We will proceed while the problems with nobility you leave with us.¡± She said. Like that, the first step of the heroes into the political world was taken. Epilogue The following day countless waves among the population were raised by the royal family. The three strongest summoned heroes during the war, Richard, Nicholas and Misaki, were raised to the status of Baron for their effort and effect on the war and helped push back the demons on their front protecting important areas of the kingdom. Ace on the other hand was given the title of Baron for minimizing the damage that the demon¡¯s volcano ruining the nation and hopefully creating a dungeon from which to draw immense resource from. Although a new noble isn¡¯t something rare and just a bit uncommon, what came next is what really shocked everyone. The territory known as the Lost regions, were given to the heroes to pioneer and under the name of the crown and the adventurers guild was helping to improve the chances of success by organizing the job requirements to rebuild the territory. After the announcement, the queen also sent the biggest notice, anyone can migrate as long as they have no land binding debt. Those she is looking for are those who can immediately move. The slums of the nation instantly bubbled up but naturally there was a need for organization so she made sure that all people who wish to move must undergo a census and give an overview of their skills so that they can be given proper jobs.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. She sent people to the entire territory and all cities with major slums and even towns with small ones. Naturally the nobles were not happy but like they did to the heroes, she did to them as she told them that they have no power over those people who are simply not being put to work so she is sending them where they can be put to proper use. Ace and his party were the first to leave to clear the path. The queen planned to make a large fortress at the path entrance that he will make but they never expected what they found. ¡°Fuck¡­ this is a fucking canyon.¡± ace shouted as he looked at the pathway where two mountains rise abruptly forming two huge cliffs and the area in the middle was covered in huge boulders. ¡°Well this is the shortest path from what the queen said.¡± Misaki said. ¡°At least we will have lots of stone to work with.¡± he said and began his job as he took the pen out and began to open the path by archiving the boulders into the book to slowly open a small path that will eventually be expanded while some earth magic was used to flatten the earth to make it possible for carriages to pass. As for the nobles, besides their outburst at not being the ones to pioneer the southlands, they simply left disgruntled after the event but after a while they found that it was better since they didn¡¯t have to start from scratch. As such, they simply forgot about it and simply ignored the ¡®so called heroes¡¯ that were sent to spearhead the lands. Like this, the kingdom began to try and move towards recovery while under a safe period after the savage attack from the demon lord.