《A Demon's Core》


 1. The Hotel Room

    When I first awake, my vision is dark and hazy. As it clears I can see that I am on the floor of an old dilapidated room. There is a broken TV hanging on the wall in one corner of the room, its form bent and cracked. A ruined couch faces the TV. A lot of the padding has been torn and shredded, though the frame looks intact. The coffee table between the two appears undamaged, there is even a coffee mug resting on it.


    To the right of that I can see a kitchenette. It does not appear particularly fancy, with only basic counter tops and cabinets and a small bar fridge to one side. On the opposite side of the room there are three doors, two of them are open. From my current position I can only see into one of the rooms. There appears to be a simple desk with a wooden chair that has been knocked over, but I cannot see anything else from this angle.


    On the wall by the kitchenette are windows, but all I can see beyond them is a dark empty void. That is...disconcerting to say the least. The more I focus on it, the more unnerving it feels. I turn my attention to the opposite wall, which has only one door that is currently closed. The wall either side of the door lacks any kind of decorations, making the whole wall look rather bland.


    Near me is a table that has been knocked over and is missing a leg. There is also a couple of chairs, or rather, one chair and the remains of another. It seems most of the furniture in the room is either damaged or outright destroyed. I cannot help but wonder how things ended up in such a state. There is also a thick layer of dust coating every surface. Clearly no one has been here in a long time.


    I do not know where I am or how I got here. This place feels strange and alien to me, yet also familiar. Such conflicting feelings leave me confused. If I had to guess, I would say this room is an apartment of some kind or perhaps a rented temporary accommodations. A hotel? Is that what they are called?


    I cannot shake the feeling that this is not where I am supposed to be, but try as I might, I cannot think of anywhere else that I should be. This only adds to my confusion, but there is nothing to be gained from worrying about it. I try to turn my focus to something more productive.


    I think I have spent enough time on the floor. I should get up and take a better look around... Only I can not. I do not appear to have arms to push myself up. Nor any sort of body to be pushed up. That is strange is it not? Or maybe it is normal. Why did I think I should have a body?


    This does complicate things though and also raises some questions. If I have no body, how can I be conscious? And what keeps my consciousness anchored to this one specific spot?


    It seems there is little for me to do other than continue observing my surroundings and hopefully spot something that can help me or at least explain my situation. It is only then that I take note of something odd that I did not register before now. I am currently observing everything around me in all directions simultaneously. That is odd right? Is it odd though? Compared to what? I am not sure.


    In my continued observations, the only thing I can see that I did not notice before is a fist-sized hole in the ceiling. Though I do not actually have fists so that is a difficult size comparison to make. Through the hole I can see the same black void that I see out the windows. I can not see anything else noteworthy, but there is something here, I am sure of it. If I concentrate, I can feel it. I do not know what it is, but it is right above me. If only I could reach out and touch it.


    Suddenly I am touching it. I think. I do not have a body to touch things with, but I feel like I am touching something. A rather unusual sensation. But something is wrong; I am starting to feel sleepy. I do not know what is happening, but I suspect it is draining my energy somehow. My vision is going dark again. I think I have made a terrible mistake.


    When I return once more to wakefulness, the first thing I notice is that I am no longer alone. There is a creature beside me, crouched down and staring at me. Maybe it is somehow aware that I am conscious again because it smiles. A wide smile that literally almost reaches from ear to ear. Seeing its teeth makes me think of a shark...shark? What is a shark? A highly feared marine predator with a mouth full of many pointy teeth. Why do I know that? I have never seen a shark before. There are certainly no sharks in here and I do not think I have ever been anywhere else.


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    I am shaken from my musings when I am suddenly picked up. That means I must have some kind of physical form right? One that is apparently small enough to be picked up. It looks around briefly then moves to place me on the mostly intact chair by the overturned table and I can see a clear divot in the floor where I had previously been. It then starts casually wandering around the room, inspecting its new environment I suppose, much as I had done.


    This gives me a chance to get a better look at her, for I can clearly see it is a her. She is bipedal, has reddish-pink skin, blond hair, two small horns protruding from her forehead and pointed ears. The sclera and pupil of her eyes are black with a red circular iris. On her hands she has short but clearly sharp claws. Her legs are digitigrade with muscles that appear toned, but also wiry, giving an impression of power. That combined with vicious looking talons on her feet could surely make them dangerous weapons.


    She has a long tail, thicker at the base and tapering to a point. It seems disproportionately long in fact. About three quarters as long as she is tall. Then again, I do not have any other examples of her species to compare to so maybe this is normal. While I am sure I have never seen such a creature as her before, she too feels familiar.


    Her stature is quite diminutive, at least if I compare to the furniture here. She is clearly much smaller than whatever creatures built this place. She has a well defined feminine form that is quite alluring. But overall, I find her to be cute more than anything else...She is also completely naked and that will not do.


    In a civilized society it is simply not appropriate to wander around in public without wearing clothes. Although, does this count as a society, or ¡°in public¡± when she is the only one here so there is no one to see her nakedness? Well, I am here and I can see it and I say it is unacceptable. Hey! You need to find some clothes... And now I realize I have encountered yet another problem. I can not speak. That will certainly prove an obstacle to communication. Maybe if I concentrate and reach out to her like I did with that invisible thing that brought her here? I definitely need to investigate that thing later. I can feel it is still there.


    But what if she sucks up all of my energy like the first thing did? I feel like I still have not fully recovered from that yet. But surely just making simple contact with her would not take as much energy as... Summoning her? Creating her? How did she actually get here? Worry about that later, I need to think about clothes now. I concentrate and try to reach out like I did before. It is a little harder this time, maybe because my target keeps moving. But I soon make contact. And I did not lose consciousness this time so I am off to a good start.


    You need to find some clothes to wear.


    She perks up and looks towards me, then starts searching the room again. Though this time with clear purpose instead of just casual wandering. That seems to have worked, which is good, it would be disappointing to not even be able to communicate with the only other living creature here. It did take a little bit of energy, but nothing like before. What even is this energy? Some kind of magic perhaps? I am going to call it mana for now I think. At least until someone tells me otherwise or I think of a better name for it.


    My little friend wanders through one of the open doors and after a couple of minutes she comes back wearing a shirt. It is tattered and far too big for her, almost dragging on the floor. While it does have some holes, it keeps her properly covered so it will do for now. Presently I am far more concerned with what else she brought back. In her right hand she is holding a bone and casually swinging it around like it is a toy. It is thick, straight and as long as her entire arm.


    Where did you get that?

 2. Beyond the Void

    She stops in her tracks and looks towards me questioningly, then holds the bone out towards me.


    Yes, that. Where did you get it?


    She simply points towards the room she just came out of. I guess that was a silly question.


    Show me.


    After a moment''s consideration, she places the bone next to me on the chair and then runs back into the room. Soon she comes back with an armful of bones in varying shapes and sizes, dumps them on the floor in front of my chair, then runs back to get more. It takes a few trips to, presumably, bring all of them. Leaving me with a messy bone pile before me. She stands there, looking at me expectantly, like a child waiting to be praised for completing a task.


    Thank you, good job, I guess.


    It probably would have been easier to take me to where the bones were, but she seems happy so I do not want to put a damper on her spirits by pointing that out. Though as I look at the bone pile, I realize I might have been able to get at least some idea of how this creature may have looked if I had seen how they were before they were disturbed. Instead, in a pile as they are, I can not even begin to guess. What I can see though, is that many of the bones are splintered and broken and the skull has been shattered. The largest intact piece of skull does not even account for half of it. Whatever killed this creature, it does not look to have died peacefully.


    My little friend has wandered over to the other open door. I guess she still wants to explore. As she steps through the door it becomes apparent that I know the layout of the room beyond even if I can not see it. Not that I know specifically what is in there, but like I have a mental map of the floor plan. And it is not just of that room, I can see the first room she entered as well in the same way. More than that, I can sense where she is on that map as she moves around the room.


    She comes back empty handed, apparently having found nothing of interest. She moves to the third door and opens it slowly before peeking inside. Seemingly satisfied that there was no danger, she pushes the door open more and walks inside. This room too is added to my mental map. She returns triumphantly wielding a broom. Excitedly she starts sweeping the area around my chair, stopping when she reaches the bone pile. After a moments consideration, she pushes the bones under the chair with the broom. I guess she wants to keep them close?


    When she is satisfied with the area being, well not cleared of dust, but at least being less dusty, she drops the broom and runs back to the room she got it from and then comes back carrying a large bundle of cloth, blankets probably. There is too much for her to carry it all so some of it is dragging on the floor behind her. She drops the blankets beside my chair and starts arranging them into what looks like a bit of a nest. Is that where she intends to sleep? Surely the room she got the blankets from also has a bed. But if she would rather sleep on the floor, I see no reason to stop her.


    Once she is satisfied with her nest she looks around the room again, perhaps looking for something more to do. There is another door to open and she decides on that as her next course of action. Like before, she opens the door slowly. I can already see what is beyond the door and it fills me with dread. It is the black empty void that I can see through the windows and the hole in the ceiling. Are we really confined to such a small space? Is there really nothing outside of this room? Am I trapped in some kind of purgatory? Immobile and trapped in a small dusty room with nothing else existing outside but an endless void.


    To my shock and horror, she pokes her head into it without any hesitation. She pulls her head back into the room, apparently unharmed, and walks back towards my chair to pick up the large bone she placed there earlier. She swings it around a few times like a club, testing its heft. Satisfied, she starts towards the door again.


    STOP! She immediately comes to a halt and turns towards me. You can not go out into the void.


    She looks at me with utter confusion etched on her face as she slowly walks back to me.


    If you go out there into the darkness, I do not know what will happen. You may become lost. You might disappear altogether. It is not safe. I do not want to lose you so soon after we have just met.


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    She gives me a warm smile and picks me up and hugs me close to her chest. I can feel her warmth all around me. I hear her speaking but the sound is muffled and distant and I can not make out the words. Even though I do not know what she is saying I feel like I understand the general meaning. She will be fine and she will return.


    OK. Please be careful.


    She places me back on my chair and heads towards to door. I am still anxious. She seems confident that she will be fine, but what if she is wrong? I guess I just have to trust her. Not that I have much choice, I can not force her to stay. Or can I? She did stop immediately when I told her to. Maybe I actually can control her with mana. No. No, even if I could, I do not think it would be right to do so.


    As soon as she crosses the threshold of the door I start to panic again. Unlike with the other rooms, my mental map was not expanded any further. She was no longer in my field of perception. I tried to reach out to her with mana, but I could not find her. She was gone. She disappeared, just as I feared she would and now I am alone. What am I supposed to do now? I can not move or touch anything or do anything for myself. Am I to just sit here alone until boredom drives me to insanity? What do I do? What can I do?


    The invisible thing that first brought her here is still there. Maybe it can bring her back? But what if it can not? What if it can only bring me something new? What if the new thing it brings me also decides to go out the door, then I will be no better off than I am now.


    After spending a few minutes spiraling deeper and deeper into a panic, I suddenly feel a familiar presence come rushing through the door. She is back! I try to calm myself as I see how excited she is. I can already feel the tension in my mind dissipating as my panic recedes. I am a little surprised and confused when she deposits a dead rat on the chair beside me, looking supremely pleased with herself.


    Uhh, thanks? I do not really need something like that though. At my response, she looks both shocked and dejected. Now I feel bad. Quick, I need to think of something to make her feel better. You can have it, if you would like. I guess that worked, judging by her wide toothy grin and elated squeal. She really is so adorable. She then shoves the entire rat into her mouth. I think I can hear a faint crunching sound as she chews it...That is slightly less adorable.


    After her snack she heads back out. I am still extremely nervous when she is outside of my perception, but I am not panicking this time, now that I know she has not been erased from existence or anything like that. Maybe that was the point of bringing back the rat. Rather than just showing off the rat that she caught, maybe she was trying to show me that she was okay, that she had not disappeared.


    I guess now I have proof that at least something must exist beyond the darkness. But what exactly is the darkness? It is clearly not just an empty void. Is it a barrier of some kind? Perhaps leading to some kind of extra-dimensional plane? Or maybe I am the one in an extra dimensional plane and that door leads to the real world. I do not have enough information to form any sort of real hypothesis.


    I continue to ponder my situation and the void for a little over half an hour without reaching any useful conclusions before my little friend returns dragging a suitcase behind her. She pulls it right up to my chair. I guess she wants to show me what she found again. The first things she pulls out is a rusty kitchen knife. I guess that could be useful and possibly a better weapon than her bone club. After the knife, the suitcase is full of clothes. Excellent, I doubt the tattered shirt she is currently wearing is going to last much longer. I am glad she took my insistence about wearing clothes to heart. These ones are even better sized for her. Still a little big, but much better than her shirt and in better condition too.


    Of course she wants to try some on immediately so does not hesitate in removing her tattered shirt and throwing it to the side, putting her body on display once again. It seems she still does not quite understand that part of the reason for wearing clothes in the first place is so that other people do not see you naked. But she soon selects clothes to put on from her new collection. A Blue t-shirt with dinosaurs on it and some black pants that almost reach her ankles with large pockets on the side. At first she could not find a way to make the pants fit comfortably with her tail so she used the knife to cut a hole in the back of them. Probably not an ideal solution, but it works.


    Over the next few days she spends a lot of time out scavenging. I still can not help feeling nervous when she is outside my range of perception. Even though she seems to be okay. But if something did happen to her I would have no way of knowing. Though even if I did know that something happened, it is not like there is anything I could actually do about it. I do my best not to think about it. Instead I often end up thinking about a growing list of unanswerable questions. Such as, why do I have knowledge of things that I have never seen before, like sharks and dinosaurs? Where does this knowledge come from? What am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here? Why am I here? Things are starting to get a little philosophical. But I feel like these are important questions, even if I have no way of answering them.


    She is always excited to show me the things she finds. More clothes and knives in varying sizes, a backpack that looks over-sized when she wears it but has definitely helped with her expeditions, various baubles and knickknacks that she liked, including some children''s toys and a book that I do not think she can actually read. But her favourite things seem to be brooms. She has brought back four so far. I am not sure why she wants so many, but she always seems so happy when she finds them so I do not see a need to discourage her, at least not yet. She often likes to talk to me while showing off her loot. I wish I could actually understand what she was saying, but everything still sounds muffled, like trying to have a conversation underwater.


    When not scavenging, she has spent a lot of time cleaning. She has gotten most of the dirt and dust out and has removed some of the broken furniture, though some things are too big for her to move on her own and I am certainly not in a position to help. I do like it better when she is around despite the difficulties in communication. It is just nice to have company. She does need to sleep occasionally, but only for a few hours a day. Some times I do watch her sleep, but not in a creepy way, there is just not much else I can actually do. She is cute when she is sleeping though. Actually, I guess she is just cute all the time.


    I have also had some time to think about the invisible thing. Last time I tried to touch it, it took almost all of my mana. Though I can not say that what I gained in exchange was not worth it. My mana does regenerate over time, though it is slow. But I think I am ready to try touching it again. Will I get another...Somehow it just occurs to me that I have not actually thought about what my little friend here even is. Usually I just seem to know things without having to actually think about them. A diminutive creature with a demonic visage... An imp perhaps? Yes, that sounds about right. So will I get another imp? Or will something different happen?

 3. New Friends

    Now that I think about it, I should also think of something better to call the invisible thing. Referring to it constantly as ¡°the invisible thing¡± just seems weird, even if it is descriptively accurate. But what is it actually? A spawner? A summoner? A portal of some kind? A rift in the space-time continuum? A tear in the very fabric of reality itself!? Okay, maybe I am getting a little carried away there. Or maybe I am not, who knows? I am certainly not an expert in whatever kind of physics would explain it, nor in any other kind of physics for that matter. I think I will just call it the rift for now. I should probably wait for my imp friend to wake up so I can inform her of my intentions before I actually try anything, in case something goes wrong. When she begins to stir, I reach out to her.


    I am going to try to bring another imp here, just like how you came here. I do not know if it will work, or what might happen if it goes wrong, so be prepared.


    She looks at me excitedly for a moment then has a more thoughtful expression as she looks around for her bone club. It is better than nothing I suppose. Club in hand, she moves to stand next to the rift. Can she sense it too? Or does she simply remember where she first appeared when she arrived here? She still looks excited, but also seems to understand the potential seriousness of the situation.


    As prepared as I can be, I reach out to the rift and start pouring mana into it. I can feel the energy building for about five seconds, then a light appears. It is small at first but quickly grows in size and soon takes the shape of an imp. Then the light dissipates and another imp is standing before me. Before the new arrival even has time to react to her surroundings, she is enveloped in a hug by my first imp who had dropped her club as soon the new imp appeared.


    Please find her some clothes. I should have expected that the newcomer would also be naked upon arrival. My first imp drags her over to the corner where she keeps her, now multiple, suitcases full of clothes. As they dig through the clothes I can hear them talking, but the sound is still muffled so I can not make out the words. Presumably they are discussing what kind of clothes she would like. As I watch them I notice the differences between the two.


    This new imp is smaller than my first in various ways. She is noticeably shorter, around ten centimeters as best as I can tell, it is hard to be precise without any sort of measuring tools. Ten centimeters does not sound like a lot, but by my estimate, they both look to be less than one meter tall. At that height, ten centimeters is a rather significant difference. And while she certainly appears feminine, she is less voluptuous than my first imp. There is also a significant difference in their tails. While my first imp''s tail is around three quarters of her body length, this new imp¡¯s tail does not look to be more than half of her body length. A less impactful difference also being that the new imp has black hair.


    I can not help but wonder if one of them is abnormal or if these differences are within normal variation levels for their species. Perhaps the new imp is younger and not quite fully mature yet? Though if there was an age difference between them, that would imply that they are actually being summoned from somewhere rather than just being created by the rift. So many questions, but I will need to see more examples of imps before I can really answer them.


    It occurs to me that this new imp cost a lot less mana than the first. It only took a little more than half of my total capacity. Which means I could get another one pretty soon if I wanted to. I think I will wait though. At least give my new imp time to properly settle in before trying to get another. During my musings, my new imp seems to have found some clothes that she likes. An over-sized yellow shirt with a belt securing it around her waist, making it almost look like an actual dress, instead of just a really big shirt.


    With clothes sorted, my first imp is showing the new one around. Not that there is really much to show in here. Though she does like showing off all the things she has collected during her scavenging expeditions, especially her prized collection of brooms. The new imp just seems a little confused by them, a reaction I completely understand. My first imp demonstrates not only that they can be used for sweeping, but also tries swinging one around like a weapon, but it is far too large for her to do so effectively and she just ends up knocking all her other brooms over. New imp seems unimpressed and First imp is disappointed that her new friend simply does not get the allure of her magnificent brooms. I do not get it either, so she is not alone there.


    Instead, she seems far more interested in the bone pile beneath my chair. After an animated discussion, First imp quickly leads her out into the void. I wonder what that was about. I do not have wonder for very long though, as they soon return with armfuls of bones. After depositing the bones under and around my chair, they immediately leave again, probably to find more. Is it a normal trait for imps to just like collecting random things? Or maybe they think I like the bones.


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    I guess I do not dislike the bones so I will not tell them to stop for now. They look like they are having fun and they are not hurting anyone so I see no reason to stop them from doing something they enjoy if it is not causing any problems. After several trips they have built a rather respectable bone pile and they seem satisfied with their efforts. It would have taken less trips if First imp had remembered to bring along her backpack.


    After taking a break, they grab some weapons and decide to go out again. First imp, of course, taking her bone club and Second imp taking one of the several knives that First imp had previously collected. This time First imp has her backpack. When Second imp sees the backpack she starts saying something while pointing at the bones, probably coming to the same realization that I did. First imp looks at the bones for a while then shrugs. Second imp puts a hand on her face while shaking her head slightly, then they both step into the void once more.


    They are gone a bit longer this time. Maybe they are actually looking for useful things this time instead of just more bones. While they are out I decide to examine the bones they brought back, though I do not have a good angle and can not see the ones directly under my chair. From what I can see, they seem to be mostly from the same species, judging by the skulls. They look to have had a similar head shape to my imps, though without horns and mostly rectangular teeth. Humans? Yes. I think these are human skulls. Though I can see one that is different. It looks more like my imps, with horns and pointy teeth. Though the horns are longer and the skull is definitely larger than my imp¡¯s head. So maybe it is not from an imp, but rather a similar, larger species.


    I am distracted from my thoughts by a rather strange sight. Up on the ceiling, from the hole with the void, a small reddish-pink hand has emerged and is waving. Is that one of my imps? How did they get up there? I guess if it is all part of the same void it is not unfathomable that they could find their way around to other entrances. I decide it is not worth pondering for too long as any hypothesis I might come up with, I would have no way of verifying.


    A little over an hour later, the two return. Second imp only carrying a few items in her hands with her knife tucked into her belt. First imp¡¯s backpack, while not full, was clearly not empty either, so they must have found something of value, at least by their standards. First imp was particularly happy as she, of course, found another broom. I think I might actually have to tell her to stop bringing back brooms soon.


    The next couple of days the two spend almost all of their time together. Perhaps imps are naturally social creatures. About the only thing they do not do together is sleep as First imp still likes her nest beside my chair where as Second imp has apparently chosen one of the smaller rooms to be her den. She seems to have settled in well enough now so I decide it is time to get another imp.


    I am going to try to bring another imp here. Please prepare a selection of clothes for them. I send to both of them and watch as they bring out clothes in a variety of sizes and styles. That seems good enough. I am sure the new arrival will be able to find something they like from among them. And if not, they can search through the growing clothes pile in the corner to find something themselves.


    I should probably have my imps organize those clothes a little better instead of just leaving them in a pile like that, especially if they are going to keep bringing back more. Maybe have them each choose their own personal clothes to keep for themselves instead of just having one large communal clothes pile. Not a big deal with only two imps, but if I continue to get more, things will quickly become quite a chaotic mess.


    With clothes prepared and both imps with weapons at their side, just in case, I reach out to the rift again. This time a male imp appears. First is about to step forward to give him a hug when Second stops her. She gestures to the clothes while speaking, instructing him choose some clothes, probably. With the three of them together, it is easy to see that this third imp is about the same height as Second and his tail is roughly the same length. He even has black hair, like Second. This leads me to suspect that First is, in fact, an anomaly among her kind.


    The clothes he chooses are some black shorts and a denim jacket that he leaves open at the front. That is good enough I suppose. Like most of the clothes my imps have found, these ones are also incorrectly sized, but they are close enough and the pants have a drawstring so they are not going to fall down. Now that he is clothed, Second does not prevent First from wrapping him in a big hug, which he struggles to get out of, but he can not escape her grip. Perhaps her larger size also grants her greater strength.


    Once she does let go they show him around as well as showing off their various collected treasures. First, of course, shows off her brooms again. But much like Second, he shows very little interest in them, much to First¡¯s disappointment. When he starts digging through the bone pile, he is quickly scolded by the other two, leading to an argument in which he is pointing at First¡¯s bone club. I assume he is asking why she gets to have a bone but he does not. After a little more arguing, the three of them go out into the void. I assume so that he can find some bones for himself. It seems to me like First and Second likely already collected the bones nearby so it may take a while.


    Eventually they return and I see Third has not one, but two bone clubs like First¡¯s and they even brought a few more back to add to the pile as well. They all seem happy now, so I guess that is problem solved. Later Third selects the room the original bones came from as his own. I tell them all to choose a few outfits each from the clothes pile to keep as their own. While there is a few more arguments over some of the more desirable items, eventually they each have a small pile. Second and Third take their clothes to their respective rooms while First has a single suitcase next to her little nest.


    I then instruct them to tidy up and organize the remaining, unwanted clothes. They give it some effort, and while it is certainly an improvement, calling it neat or tidy would be a bit of a stretch. We will work on that later.

 4. To Change Ones Point of View

    It has been a little more than a week since Third got here. Things have been going well, with only a few minor conflicts that are usually quickly resolved. Third is more independent than the other two, going out alone more often than not, while First and Second still do almost everything together. Second appears to be the leader of the group. Or at least, when she speaks, the others listen...usually.


    She does seem to be the smartest of the trio, perhaps that is why they listen to her. It is not uncommon to see her with an exasperated look after one of the others, usually First, has done something ridiculous. At some point Second found some sewing supplies and has been repairing and adjusting everyone''s clothes. The results look rather crude, but it gets the job done and the stitches seem to be holding so that is what is important.


    While observing the imp''s antics does provide at least some entertainment, I can not help this growing anger and frustration. Not at the imps of course, they have done nothing to earn my ire, but rather at my own lack of ability to do...anything really. I can not move, I can not touch anything, my vision is limited to only this room, my hearing is so limited that I might as well be deaf and I can not even speak without expending mana to do so. It is becoming unbearable. I would scream if I thought it would help at all, but even if I did, no one would actually hear it. Unless I spent the mana to make my imps hear it, but I would not do that. It would be terribly mean of me to scream at them for something that is in no way their fault.


    As I stew in my anger, I can feel it growing and then start pulsing. Wait, no, it is not anger that is pulsing, it is mana. It is not pulsing through the air, but through the floor, walls and ceiling of the entire room, including the three smaller side rooms. It feels strange, but also somewhat cathartic, so I do not try to stop it. I do start to get a little concerned when I feel my mana starting to be consumed. But nothing bad has happened any other time I have used mana and now I am curious to see what is going to happen.


    Several changes occur all at once and it is a bit jarring so it takes a moment to actually process everything. My field of vision has narrowed. Instead of being able see all around me, my vision is now limited to only one direction and my point of view seems to be higher. As I look around and am struck with the realization that I can look around. That means movement...I am actually moving of my own accord. I look down and see that I am standing on my chair. Standing! With legs and feet! My feet appear to look the same as those of my imps and have the same reddish-pink skin.


    Between my feet is a faintly glowing pink orb. Is that the body I have had until now? I raise my hand in front of me and- ¡°I have hands!¡± I exclaim and can actually hear the words. Not internally, but as actual sound. Can I not only speak but actually hear as well? My hands also look the same as those of an imp. Is that what has happened to me? Have I too become an imp? It is then that I hear two other voices behind me.


    ¡°It over?¡± The first voice asks.


    ¡°Seems so¡±, comes the reply.


    I turn around to see First and Second. It looks like they were preparing themselves for another expedition. Third is already out so it is only these two here for now. They look confused and nervous and perhaps even a little scared. I hop down from my chair and walk towards them.


    ¡°It is alright. There is nothing to worry about.¡± I try to reassure them. They do not react to my words. In fact, they do not seem to react to my presence at all. I reach out to put my hand on First¡¯s shoulder, noting that we seem to be the same height, only for my hand to pass right through her, like she is not even there. Or like I am not even there. All of my excitement from a moment before drained at that realization. This is further emphasized as they walk right through me, without even the slightest bit of resistance, moving towards the pink orb on the chair. They can not see me or hear me or even touch me in this form. This is far from ideal. But I can hear them clearly now and I can move around, so my situation has undeniably improved, even if it is not as much as I would like.


    ¡°You okay?¡± First asks, poking the orb. I can feel that, being poked. I guess the orb is likely still my main body. This one is merely an extension of it.


    Yes, everything is fine. I was just conducting an experiment. Yes, that is what it was, an experiment. It totally was not me just having a tantrum that just happened to result in something strange and unexpected occurring. I am sorry for worrying you. I send to both of them and see them visibly relax. First gives a small smile and starts lightly petting the orb.


    I feel a quiet nagging thought in my mind and I looked down at the clothes that I am wearing. It did not register before, but this form was created already wearing clothes, which I am glad for. But as I look at First then back to my clothes again, I realize what I am wearing is exactly the same as what she is wearing. We are also the same height and as I look behind me I see that my tail, like First¡¯s, is unusually long. It would seem this form may be simply a reflection of First. But why? Why copy one of my imps instead of having a unique form? Perhaps it is a matter of visualization and it is easier to visualize something I can actually see. Then why First? Maybe because she was my first imp and is the one I feel the strongest connection to.


    ¡°Come now. We have things to do.¡± Second says to First as she heads towards to door.


    ¡°Okay, we go now.¡± First whispers to orb before following after Second.


    Well, now that I am alone I take a more thorough look around the place. Starting with this orb. I walk around the chair to observe it from all sides and see that it is not just solid pink, but it changes colour between various shades of pink and purple. More pinks than purples though. But as I continue to circle the orb, at first just admiring the colours, I begin to suspect that the colour fluctuations are not random. I try circling it in the other direction and it looks like there is a definite pattern. It seems the colour of the orb changes depending on the angle from which it is viewed. How fascinating.


    I reach out to try and touch it and it is solid. I did not simply pass through it the way I did with First. Though I can not actually feel the contact on the orb the way I could when First touched it. Strange. Then I remember I was standing on the chair at first, so it must also be solid. I touch the chair to confirm and it is, indeed solid. Maybe it is only living things that I can not touch? I reach down to the bone pile and my hand does pass through some of them, mostly the ones on top. But towards the bottom of the pile the bones become solid and most of the bones under the chair are also solid. Now I am thoroughly confused.


    Why are only some of the bones solid? I try to pick up one of the solid bones only for it to not move. I try to grab it with both hands and pull, but I can not seem to affect even the slightest bit of movement on this bone. I try a few others but not even the smallest of them will move with my touch. Perhaps this form of mine lacks physical mass and without mass I can not affect other objects that do have mass? Though that would not explain why I can touch some things but pass through others. I do not think I will find answers to that just yet, so I should move on to the rest of the room and see what else I can and cannot touch.


    The floor is obviously solid. First¡¯s nest is not. The overturned table which still has not been moved is solid. The walls and windows are solid. The various benches and cabinets of the kitchenette are solid, but items that have been placed there by my imps are not, such as First¡¯s broom collection. The couch is strange, my hand passes through the padding of it but the frame on the inside is solid. The clothes pile I also can not touch. I think I am starting to get an idea of what is going on. All that is left is to check the three smaller side rooms.


    I will start with the unclaimed room, mostly because the door is already open. It appears to be a bathroom. Not much to it, a toilet, a sink and small shower cubicle. Everything except the shower curtain seems to be solid. There is a mirror above the sink; it is too high for me to see my reflection, but maybe if I climb on the sink. When I do climb up and look into the mirror, I see no reflection looking back. That is not entirely outside my expectations. If this body is merely a mental projection rather than any sort of physical form, it should not be surprising that it does not cast a reflection.


    As I move towards the room claimed by Second, I wonder if I will actually be able to get in. The door is closed and if it is solid and I am unable to move it, like the bones, then I will not even be able to open it. When I reach for the door handle, my hand passes right through it. I can literally just walk right through the door. I touch the door frame just to test it and it is indeed solid, so it is only the door. Inside the room there is two beds, each with a night stand and small lamp. There is also a desk with a single chair and a wardrobe against the wall. On the desk appears to be where Second keeps most of her various items she has collected.


    She probably needs the chair to get up there. The desk is solid, but when I try to climb on the chair to get a better look at her collection, I pass right through it...How curious. What is the difference between this chair and my chair? Is it just because my chair holds the orb, or is there something more to it than that? Both of the beds have solid frames, but the mattresses, I can not touch. The wardrobe door is also not solid, but the sides are, so I just stick my head in and see that this is where Second keeps her clothes.


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    Third¡¯s room is much like Second¡¯s except instead of two beds, there is just one much larger bed. Third does not use the desk, electing to just put all of his stuff in a pile on the floor. Except for his clothes, which are in a pile on his bed. Interestingly, the chair in Third¡¯s room is solid, like my own, as is the door to the wardrobe.


    I have an idea, but it still has holes in it. Hard objects, such as furniture and things that are part of the room are mostly solid. While softer things like the mattresses and couch padding as well as most of the items brought in by my imps seem to be intangible to me. But there are exceptions to both parts of this. The doors and the chair in Second¡¯s room are intangible, while some of the bones that the imps brought in are solid. Not even all though, just some. I feel like it is a good start on a theory, but clearly I am still missing something important. But at least I have plenty of time to think it over. It is not like I am going anywhere.


    Eventually I am interrupted from my thoughts by the return of my imps. All three of them, I guess they must have run into each other and decided to return together. First is wearing something very strange. It is a single piece of clothing, but it covers her entire body except for her hands, feet and face. She did have to cut a hole in back for her tail though. It is pink and fuzzy with a zipper down the front and even a hood with what looks like round fuzzy ears on top. She discards her backpack by the door and runs to my chair. Clearly excited to tell me about what she found.


    ¡°We see BIG lizard! Very big. More big than me. Very scary. We hide, it not find us.¡± she says, almost speaking too fast for me to understand her. Hearing about a giant lizard like that is a little concerning, but they were smart in how they handled it and were able to avoid danger so I am proud of them. ¡°Found biiiig room, lots of clothes. Find some fit good.¡± she continues, not having slowed down at all. ¡°Then saw friend. Bring to clothes room. All get new clothes. I fuzzy now.¡± With that she hugs herself, clearly enjoying the feel of her new fuzzy outfit. While she was explaining all of that Second and Third were emptying the backpack. Looks like they really filled it with as many clothes as they could fit in it. Now they were separating out their own selections. I am glad they managed to find some well fitting clothes that they all like.


    If there really are creatures like that big lizard out there I think you all need to be a little more careful when going out. I send to them. They all seem shocked for a moment. First turns to Second with a big grin.


    ¡°See. Can hear. Told you!¡± she says smugly.


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t believe you.¡± Second replies, looking down and frowning. I do not think she likes being proven wrong. Technically, she was right up until today. But First seems so happy to have confirmation that I can actually hear her and I do not want to spoil that happiness. I will talk to Second privately later.


    You also need to find some better weapons. I do not think those bone clubs are going to be particularly effective against giant lizards or other equally large enemies that may be out there. First looks absolutely horrified at the thought of abandoning her trusty bone club.


    ¡°But, bone good.¡± She pleads, holding her club tightly to her chest.


    I am sorry, but no. I am sure it is fine against smaller enemies, but do you really think it would work against that big lizard you saw today? I am not asking you to get rid of it altogether. I just want you to find something better to defend yourself against more dangerous enemies. First looks to be on the verge of tears. I guess I ended up spoiling her happiness anyway. Third does not seem too devastated though. I would say he even looks contemplative. Perhaps already trying to think of alternatives for his clubs. Unfortunately I have some bad news for him as well, but I wait until he goes into his room and follow him in so it can be a little more private.


    I also do not want you going out on your own anymore. It is too dangerous to go alone. This does seem to irritate him.


    ¡°Not danger. I strong. Lizard not scary. I not need others.¡± He retorts, apparently angry at the suggestion that he can not handle himself.


    No. It is dangerous. No matter how strong you are. Even if you can beat one lizard, there could be even stronger enemies out there. And there is no guarantee that they will be alone if you encounter them. I actually feel a little bad that I did not think of this before now. How many other dangerous threats might they have already encountered that I did not know about because I could not understand when they tried to tell me about them?


    Third just sits down on the floor pouting, apparently with nothing more to say. I just hope he will actually listen to me. They have never disobeyed me when I have given them instructions so far. But I do not know if I could actually stop them if they really wanted to.


    As I leave Third¡¯s room I look over to First. She is curled up in her nest, still holding her club close. I do feel bad that I have had to upset two of my imps today. But this is necessary for their safety. I do not want to lose them. I do not want to stop them from going outside. I do not know if I even could. But the least I can do is try to mitigate the danger and make sure they are properly prepared for what they might encounter out there.


    I still have one more imp I need to speak to. Hopefully this conversation will go a little better so I am not left with three imps all upset and sulking. I enter Second¡¯s room as she is putting away her new clothes.


    I would like to speak with you. There are some thing I wish to discuss. She perks up at the contact and closes the wardrobe.


    ¡°As you wish. Do I need to come out of my room?¡± She inquires, taking a few steps towards the door. She seems unsure, not surprising though, this is the first time I have tried to have a conversation instead of just giving advice or instructions.


    No, here is fine. First I wanted to say, you were right about me not being able to hear you. At least until today. It was only my experiment from earlier that changed that. She smiled a little at learning that she was not wrong after all. I also wanted to ask about how you came to be here. She seemed confused at that.


    ¡°You brought me here didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Yes, but what I mean is, were you somewhere else before that?


    ¡°I was in master¡¯s manor.¡± Well that confirms that my imps are actually being summoned from somewhere instead of just created by the rift.


    But what actually happened when you were brought here, from your perspective, what was the process? She does not seem sure how to answer that and takes a while before she speaks again.


    ¡°I was cleaning master¡¯s office, then I felt a strange mana pulling at me.¡± She frowns and goes quiet again. And now I am worrying that I may have done something bad.


    Did I bring you here against your will? She looks surprised at my question.


    ¡°No! No, it¡¯s just hard to explain. I wasn¡¯t forced here. It was more like an invitation. I¡¯m sure I could have refused, but I didn''t like master¡¯s manor very much.¡±


    So you do not regret coming here?


    ¡°Not at all. My master was not nice to me and there were no other imps around so I was always lonely and the mana was bad. But when I felt the mana pulling me, I could tell it was good mana and there are others here so I am not alone anymore and my new master is not mean to me.¡± Wow, that is a lot to process. To start with, I was correct in calling them imps so that is good. I wonder if the reason she is always with First is because of the loneliness she dealt with in that manor for however long she was there. Does she think of me as her new master? I do not know how I feel about that. I guess it is not a really a problem, but I do not want to be anyone''s master. I would rather she think of me as a friend.


    What did you mean by the mana being bad? She tilts her head at that and her brow crinkles slightly as she contemplates how to answer.


    ¡°It was like it felt a little bit wrong and always hurt just a little. Like breathing bad air that is not bad enough to kill, but still bad enough to notice that something is wrong.¡± I do not actually need to breathe so that analogy might be wasted on me, but I think I understand what she is trying to say.


    But the mana in here is good?


    ¡°Yes,¡± she replies, while nodding emphatically. ¡°Outside is very weak, but is not bad. But in here is very good. It¡¯s calm and relaxing and feels nice.¡± If mana can be good to the point of being relaxing or bad to the point of causing constant pain, it might be a far more complicated concept than I realized.


    Another thing I wanted to ask was about the way you speak. You seem to be much better with words than the other two. Is there a reason for that? This makes her frown again, but it looks like there is more anger behind it this time.


    ¡°I was chosen to serve master because I was smarter than other imps. But first I had to learn how to speak properly. It took many months and the lessons were...harsh.¡± Though she did not say it, I got the impression that her being ¡°chosen¡± is not something that she was given a choice in. I really did not expect my first real conversation with my imps to become so serious.


    I am happy that you accepted the invitation. I really do like having you here and I am sure the others feel the same. With that her entire body seems to relax. I did not realize how tense she must have been until that moment. She has a smile on her face, but also tears in her eyes. I am not sure how to interpret that.


    ¡°Thank you. I am happy here. More than I have been in a long time. I think I¡¯d like to be alone for a while, if that¡¯s okay.¡±


    Of course. We can talk more later if you would like. There are more things I want to ask her, but now does not seem to be the right time. They can wait. As I turn to leave I can see a tear rolling down her cheek.


    My conversation with Second has given me much to think about. It sounds like wherever imps come from, they are not well treated. It could be that Second¡¯s experience was anomalous. But something in her demeanor tells me that was likely not the case. Though it is sad to admit it, there is not really much I can do to help their situation. Even if I could give them a better life by bringing them here, I have no idea how many there are. At best I could probably help only a small, if not infinitesimal fraction of them. I still want to try though. Even if I can only help a few of them. It is still better than doing nothing. But I do not have enough space for many more in here.


    I walk towards the door that leads to the void. Holding out my hand, it passes through the door, just as I expected. If I am going to bring more imps here, I need to know what is out there. Then I step into the void.

 5. Into the Darkness

    Today I discovered that I can, in fact, feel pain. The pain I felt when I stepped past the threshold of the void was excruciating. It overwhelmed my senses and I could no longer focus on anything. It felt like my mind had shut down. When I could finally think straight again, I realized my body was gone and I was back to just being inside my orb.


    I know my imps have gathered around me and I can hear them talking, but I am once again unable to understand them. But now I can not even see anything anymore, so I am even worse off than when I started. I can still sense the general layout of my domain and where my imps are positioned within that area so it is not as bad as being completely blind, but it is still terribly vexing. Now I am even more frustrated than before.


    Wait...what happened before, maybe that is the answer. I try to calm down and remember when I first got my body. It started with my mana pulsing through the structure of the room so I try to emulate that. It feels strange trying to move my mana around the room without actually spending it on anything. It takes a few attempts to get it right and with each pulse of mana, it feels like I can sense the structure of the room more acutely, noticing finer details that I could not see before.


    After the mana pulsing, I remember some of my mana being consumed, but where did it go? It was not into the rift, I am sure, because my body did not appear at the rift but rather above the chair. Maybe if I release the mana into the air? But when I try that the mana just dissipates, so that did not work.


    Instead of just releasing the mana, perhaps I need to try and shape it. I try gathering mana in the space above my chair, but making sure to hold onto it rather than letting it dissipate. But how do I shape it? Do I start by visualizing how I want to look? How do I want to look though? Last time I just looked like First. I suppose I could do that again. Though, since no one could see me anyway it probably does not actually matter what I look like. So I will just do the same as before, that was plenty good enough. I can feel my mana draining for a few seconds, then suddenly I can see again. I look down and can see my body, it looks just as is did before, even the same clothes.


    I look to my gathered imps and can see they look quite distressed. But Second quickly calms down.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s okay now.¡± She says, reassuringly. First turned to her, looking like she was only one step away from full blown panic.


    ¡°Not okay! Heard pain. Now it gone!¡± First wailed.


    ¡°Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. You can feel it now, can¡¯t you? It¡¯s back.¡± Second instructs the others. First and Third both do as she said and soon relax.


    ¡°Oh, it back,¡± First says, now much calmer. What is this ¡°it¡± they are referring to? Are they talking about me? I did not go anywhere did I? Sure, I was out of my mind with pain, but I was still here. Obviously they could tell something was wrong though. Perhaps my ability to sense their presence is not a simple one-sided connection.


    Everything is alright now. I am okay. I was just conducting another experiment. This one, unfortunately, did not go well. I am sorry for worrying you...again. First turns to my orb with an angry expression.


    ¡°No scare like that!¡± she chastises. I am surprised to be scolded like that by First. But it is endearing to know she worries so much about me.


    I am sorry. I will need to conduct more experiments in the future. It is important for me to learn what my capabilities and limitation are. I can not promise that those experiments will never backfire. But I will be more careful from now on.


    ¡°Well now that we know that you¡¯re alright, would you tell us about your experiment?¡± Second queries. First and Third do not look that interested, but Second seems genuinely curious. How should I answer though? Telling them that I tried to walk into the void would not make a lot of sense when they can not see my body. They only see me as an orb which can not move independently.


    I was trying to see beyond the void. But instead I was temporarily blinded. They all look confused at that and are silent for a moment. Third is the first one to speak.


    ¡°What is void?¡± He questions.


    ¡°You say that before,¡± First interjects. ¡°I not know void, but you scared of it.¡±


    ¡°I also don''t know what you mean by ¡®void¡¯¡±. Second adds. Now it is my turn to be confused.


    The void is the black wall of darkness beyond the door that leads outside. I explain to them but receive blank stares in response.


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    ¡°Is not void. Is hallway.¡± First retorts.


    You do not see the black wall? What about outside the windows, what do you see there? They all look towards the nearest window.


    ¡°Outside widow is outside.¡± Third states confidently. ¡°See buildings and trees and bird.¡± So the void is something only I can see then. A barrier to my senses that I have no way of breaching...for now at least. ¡°All okay now? I go back to sleep. I sleepy.¡± He says with a yawn. First scowls at him but I interject before she can scold him.


    That is fine. I am alright now, no need to keep fussing over me if you have other things to do.


    ¡°Well if you do not mind, then I would also like to get some sleep.¡± Second says as she and Third return to their rooms. First just sits down in her nest and folds her arms, pouting.


    You do not also want to sleep?


    ¡°No. I not need sleep.¡± She insists.


    Then would you be willing to help me by telling me more about the outside, since I can not see it for myself? She thinks for a moment, then nods. Excellent, let us start with the hallway. What does it look like? Please tell me as much as you can about it.


    ¡°Long. Lots of doors. Big metal doors at end. They not open. Hmm, other doors, some broken, some not open.¡±


    And what was behind those doors, the ones that did open?


    ¡°More rooms. Like this one. But no pink orb. One door, near metal doors have stairs. Some stairs up, some stairs down.¡± So it seems we are on one of the middle floors in a multi story building then.


    So did you try go up the stairs? She nods


    ¡°Found more hallways. Highest hallway have less doors. Only one opened. Was bigger room inside. All hallways have metal doors. Never open.¡±


    What about down?


    ¡°More hallways. Bigger room with door to outside. More big rooms. Not like this one. Then very big rooms. Have metal boxes. Boxes have wheels. Lots of colours.¡± She yawns as she said this and I can see her eyelids starting to droop. It seems she is more tired than she claimed.


    You can go to sleep if you want. We do not need to talk about this now.


    ¡°No. Not sleep. I help.¡± She states defiantly.


    You can help more later, but sleep is important. She looks conflicted, but eventually decides to follow my advice as she curls up in her nest to sleep. I will ask Second more about this later. As much as I know First wants to be helpful, I am sure Second can give me much more detailed information.


    While the imps sleep, I have something new I want to investigate. When sending mana pulses through the structure of the room earlier, I was able to see much finer details than I normally can. I was too focused on my objective to really pay it much mind at the time, but now I think it is something worth looking into. I close my eyes and concentrate on my mana and send out a pulse and feel it move through the floor, the walls, the ceiling and the furniture, though only the frames of the beds and couch. But not the doors. That is odd. But the doors are not all that is missing.


    I focus on Second¡¯s room and send out another pulse. I can feel the desk, but not the chair that I know is in front of it...an idea strikes me and I turn my attention to the bone pile then send out another pulse. I can feel some of the bones, but not as many as I know are actually there. I think I am getting closer to an answer about why I can touch some things but not others. All the things I can not touch, I also can not feel through these mana pulses. I continue to send out more pulses while focusing on the bones and after several pulses, something changes. I can feel more of the bones than I could before. I open my eyes and look at the bones, but I can not see any visible difference in them.


    I send out another pulse, still focusing on the bones, but with my eyes open this time, looking at them in hopes of observing further change. I do see something. A faint shimmer, barely perceptible, but definitely there. But it only covered the bones that I can actually touch. I get closer so I can look at them as closely as possible then send out another pulse. The shimmer does not cover the bones uniformly. It seems to follow very thin strings that are covering the bones. Or perhaps filaments would be a better description.


    I send out a few more pulses and I can see the filaments growing ever so slightly with each pulse, covering more of the bones. I step away from the bone pile and look around the room as I send out the next few pulses. I can see the whole room shimmering. The filaments cover everything. Or at least everything I can touch. They seem to be radiating outward from my orb. It makes me think of mycelium. Except it is not actually a fungus. Or, at least, I hope it is not a fungus. That would be weird.


    So the things covered in these filaments are what is solid to me. Anything else is intangible. But it seems these filaments can grow and spread if I focus on it. I shift my focus back to the chair in Second¡¯s room. Focusing as much of my attention as I can, I send out another pulse and the filaments latch on the bottom of the chair¡¯s legs. I send more mana pulses and feel the filament slowly climbing the chair legs and I can feel some of my mana actually being consumed. So I can intentionally force it to grow, but it takes mana to do so. Only a little, but still noticeable to me. But what about the bones, they had filaments growing over them already and I did not do that intentionally, nor did it cost any mana. Perhaps it can grow naturally over time but it only takes mana to forcibly accelerate that growth.


    I wonder if I can make it go faster by expending mana in a stream instead of just pulses. I focus on the chair again and start sending mana through the filaments in a consistent steady stream and I can feel them extending up the chair legs much faster than before. I try sending the mana faster and the filament growth accelerates even further. In only a few moments the whole chair is covered. But straining my senses to their limit, I can feel that the filaments are not only on the surface of the chair, they have infested its entire structure.


    There are still some questions, such as why the filaments had not already claimed the chair in Second¡¯s room like it had others or why the doors are unaffected. But I have learned a lot of important and useful information.


    I walk up to the void door. I close my eyes and focus on the mana filaments along the edge of the doorway. I start pushing mana into them and try to force the filaments to grow outwards into the darkness. I can feel my senses slowly expanding beyond the doorway. The mana cost is extraordinary, far more than what it took to cover the chair in Second¡¯s room. By the time I have used enough mana that I feel like I am on the verge of losing consciousness, I have only gained enough area to take a single step past the door. Beyond it, I see the void all around and a small semicircle of floor extending outward from the doorway. It was a lot of mana for such little gain. But it means I can expand my domain. I am no longer confined. It will take a long time to make any significant progress. But every journey begins with the first step.

 6. The Best Weapon

    Without mana there is not much else I can do right now besides waiting for it to regenerate. While I do want to ask my imps more questions about what is outside, particularly about the other rooms on this floor since I will start expanding into them soon, it is not important enough to interrupt their sleep over. They may only need a few hours of sleep each day, but it is important that they get it. Besides, being out of mana as I am at the moment, I cannot do anything with that information right now anyway.


    Second is the first to wake a few hours later. Which is perfect, actually, because she undoubtedly is the best to ask for information. As I walk into her room, she is in front of her wardrobe in the middle of getting changed, so I quickly walk out again. I can wait a few more minutes and it feels rude to just stick around and watch, even if she can not see me, or perhaps especially because she cannot see me.


    Even if I am not watching directly I can still sense her location so I know when she moves away from the wardrobe. Before I can reenter the room though, something odd happens. I can no longer feel the chair. I walk in again and see her standing on the chair rearranging her collection of things. She appears to have moved it. I send out a mana pulse and see the mana filaments no longer cover the chair. But why? Perhaps they are fragile and easily broken when an object moves. That would explain why they have not covered the doors. They would break every time the door is opened. That is interesting, but ultimately not important right now.


    May I have a moment of your time? I have a few more questions I would like to ask.


    ¡°Of course, what would you like to know?¡±


    I would like to bring more imps here, but I am concerned about space. Since you have two beds, would you be amenable to sharing your room?


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Imps usually live in packs anyway. Most would be used to much more cramped sleeping conditions than what we have here.¡± She looks sad as she says that. No doubt remembering all the time she spent alone, isolated from other imps.


    Well technically we have an entire building to inhabit beyond this room that seems to be pretty large. So no one will really have to be too cramped when they can just go claim another room if they want to.


    ¡°I doubt any would want to do that. I¡¯m sure they will all want to sleep here, no matter how cramped it gets.¡±


    Why is that? I try to imagine just how many imps could actually fit in this hotel room if they packed in tight, probably a lot. But I do not know why they would want to when there are plenty of other rooms available.


    ¡°It¡¯s the mana. I told you before, the mana outside is okay, but it''s weak. The mana in here is much stronger and feels good. It''s much better being in here than outside.¡±


    Well then I guess it is a good thing I figured out how to expand my domain. Which actually leads me to the next thing I wanted to ask. I wanted to know more about the other rooms on this floor before deciding which way to expand, the closest rooms in particular. Are there rooms on either side of this one? And what do the other rooms look like?


    ¡°There are two rooms to the left and one to the right. Though the door to the right is locked so we have not been in there yet. There are the same number of rooms across the hallway, two of them are also locked. There is also a big metal door at the end of the hallway near the stairs, but we can not open that one either. On the inside, most of the rooms look very similar to this one.¡±


    What about other floors. Can you tell me how many there are or how high up we are?


    ¡°There are seven floors above ground, most of them have the same layout. We are on the fifth floor. There are also two floors that go below ground. They are quite different from the rest.¡± Before she can elaborate further, she is interrupted by First opening the door.


    ¡°We go out now. Go to river. You come?¡± She asks. Apparently there is a river nearby. Second looks conflicted.


    You can go if you would like. Do not hold back on my account. You have given me more than enough useful information for today. She continues to think on it for a moment more, then nods.


    ¡°I will come. Wait a moment for me to get ready.¡± She replies to First then starts gathering her clothes. More than seems necessary for a simple trip to the river.


    You are taking your clothes to the river?


    ¡°I will wash them. I know washing them in only river water is not the best, but it''s better than nothing. I will tell the others to do the same. They certainly need it.¡± She says. It is true that I have not seen them wash their clothes before so it makes sense that they would need to do so eventually.


    When Second informs the other two of her intentions, they seem displeased that their trip to the river has now become a laundry trip, but while they do complain a little, they do not argue. Left alone again, I use the time to ponder my future plans. I want to bring more imps here. At least two more. One can take the other bed in Second¡¯s room and there is also the couch. Though it is not in great condition, a few blankets to cover up the damage and it should be fine to sleep on. One could even possibly also move into Third¡¯s room.


    Even though there is only one bed, it is big enough that two imps could lie down fully splayed out and still have plenty of room without even being close to each other. Though from what Second said, they probably do not even need as much room as I am trying to give them, but even so, I do not want to pack them in too tightly when it is not even necessary. There is so much space beyond this room, once I can claim it, my imps will have plenty of room.


    Which leads to the next objective, expansion. I feel like my best option is to go left. There are two open rooms that way on my side of the hallway. I will not bother going right yet since the door is locked, so that is not particularly useful until we can find a way in. I will prioritize the imps first. It takes roughly a day to generate enough mana to summon an imp. So it will take two days for that, or three if Third is willing to share his room. After that I can focus on the expansion. Though given the exorbitant mana cost, that will be a long term project unless I can find a way to increase my mana regeneration.


    The rest of the day is uneventful as I wait for my mana. The imps return eventually, apparently having waited for their clothes to dry, but they seem happy, so I guess they still got to have fun. I asked Third if he would be willing to share his room, his response was an emphatic ¡°no¡±. I guess he likes his space. He does seem to be more independent than the other two. He certainly was not happy when I told him not to go out alone anymore. I wonder if it is a common trait among male imps to be more independent in general or if it is just his individual personality. Once again, I need more information to make a determination.


    The next day I inform my imps of my intention to summon more. First and Second are excited, Third seems somewhat indifferent.


    I am ready to bring the first one now. The next one will be tomorrow. I would appreciate it if you take them out to find clothes from the place you all got yours. From the way First described it, which was not really that descriptive to be honest, my assumption was that they found some kind of clothes store. But they do not have money as far as I am aware, meaning they are either stealing the clothes or, more likely, that place is as abandoned as this hotel.


    The newest imp is also female. She is the same size as Second and Third, but with dark brown hair rather than black. She looks around in wonder for a moment until Second hands her a large shirt.


    ¡°Please put this on,¡± Second instructs her. ¡°Then we will go out to find you some more clothes. You can also look through that pile later to see if there is anything that you like.¡± She says, pointing to the clothes pile in the corner. Fourth stares at the offered shirt for a moment before doing as she was told. The shirt reaches down to her knees. Almost as soon as she has put it on, First wraps her in a hug, which she happily returns. Well, it is good that she seems happy to be here. The four soon head off to the, presumed, clothes store.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    When they come back, Fourth is wearing a cute pink dress with cats on it. I see they also managed to find a second back pack. That will be useful in future expeditions. Second takes Fourth into her room, to show her where to sleep and store her clothes, probably. Afterwards First excitedly takes on the role of tour guide to show her around the rest of the room, including her brooms, of course. Surprisingly, Fourth actually shows some interest in them. She is not as enthusiastic about them as First, but certainly more interested than Second or Third were. While First is trying to demonstrate its value as a weapon by swinging it around, Fourth instead picks up a broom with a wooden shaft and tries thrusting it forwards like a spear. That seems more effective, but it is still unbalanced due to the broom head.


    ¡°Can have this?¡± Fourth asks. First looks horrified at the mere thought of giving away one of her precious brooms and snatches it back.


    ¡°No! Is mine. They all mine.¡± She says, hugging her brooms possessively. Fourth apologizes, looking quite dejected. First looks between her brooms and Fourth, clearly conflicted, then offers back the wooden broom.


    ¡°Only this one, can have. Others mine.¡± Fourth hugs her, then happily accepts the offered broom. I am genuinely surprised to see her giving away a broom, but I am pleased that she is willing to share something that is so important to her. Fourth runs off to her room, broom in hand, and I soon hear the sound of cracking wood. First does not seem to pay it any mind, but I go check on it. It would appear that Fourth, with help from Second, has managed to break the head off the broom, creating a very crude spear.


    That is not going to go over well with First when she sees it. She is practicing thrusting it forwards, with much more grace and balance than before. I suspect she already has some experience in wielding a spear. The rest of the day is spent with the imps chatting or playing with their various toys and knickknacks that they have collected, either alone or together. Fourth also finds another shirt that she likes from the clothes pile and Second helps her with shortening the sleeves to a reasonable length.


    After another day passes, I have enough mana for another imp. They gather around and when the new imp appears, a male this time, things go much as they had the day before. Second gives him a shirt, First gives him a hug and then they prepare to go out to find some clothes for him. When Fourth fetches her spear from her room, much as I predicted, First is not happy when she sees it. In fact, she is furious.


    ¡°What you do?!¡± She demands, angrily approaching Fourth.


    ¡°Make spear. Is good for stabbing.¡± Fourth replies, demonstrating with a few quick thrusts. While the others seem impressed by her little performance, it does nothing to abate First¡¯s anger.


    ¡°NO! You break it!¡± She accuses, almost yelling. I think I need to intervene before this escalates.


    Hey, it is okay, she just-


    ¡°Not okay.¡± She interrupts. That is a first. ¡°She break broom.¡± She sinks to the ground starting to sob quietly. Fourth now looks nervous and a little confused. She knows she has done something wrong, but I do not think she understands what.


    Listen, she did not know that the broom was so important to you. She should have asked you before breaking it the way she did. But you have lots of brooms and there are lots more out there to find. Is it not okay for just this one to be used to make a weapon? She does not answer and just crawls over to her nest and curls up despondently. Fourth looks guilty now, but the other three just seem confused. I reach out to Second and Fourth to explain.


    Her brooms are very important to her. They are basically her favourite thing. While she did give that one to you, I do not think she was expecting you to break it. That is why she is currently upset. Fourth is shocked, then looks sad. Second just sighs.


    ¡°You three go. I will stay and talk to her.¡± Second directs the others and they do as instructed while she walks over to First and sits beside her.


    After the others leave, Second spends some time trying to comfort First and eventually succeeds. Once First has calmed down the two decide to go out as well. When they return a few hours later, First¡¯s mood seems greatly improved and she is wearing a brown tool belt, though, even when tightened to its smallest size, she still has to actually hold onto it to keep it from falling down. Once she is inside, she takes the tape measure from the belt and lets it fall to the ground. She is thoroughly entertained with the tape measure, repeatedly extending the tape and letting it retract, extending it a little further each time.


    Second rolls her eyes and picks up the tool belt and examines the tools on it, which she probably could not before while First insisted on wearing it. She takes the hammer first. She swings it around a few times, testing its weight, apparently seeing its value as a weapon. Next is a pair of pliers. They are a little rusted and it takes effort to open them at first but it gets easier as she opens and closes them a few times. Looking around the room curiously, she does not seem to find any immediate use for them, but still likes them anyway.


    Finally, from one of the pockets comes a grey roll of tape. There are other loops and pockets on the belt, but whatever tools they may have once contained have apparently been lost. She rolls the tape around in her hands a few times, seemingly unsure of what to make of it, until she finds the edge of the tape and starts peeling it back. Seeing that one side is sticky she pokes it a few times. She uses her knife to cut a strip off the roll, but then seems unsure what to do with it. She looks around the room again but does not get any ideas so she wraps the strip around the handle of her knife. She then stops and stares at the knife for a moment before a grin spreads across her face. It seems she did get an idea from that.


    She takes the tool belt with the hammer and pliers to her room, then returns and approaches First, who is still playing with the tape measure, with the tape and knife.


    ¡°I have an idea to make your bone club better,¡± she says, excited. First looks at her suspiciously.


    ¡°Not break it?¡± I guess she is not over the broom yet.


    ¡°I promise I am not going to break, just make it better.¡± Second assures her. First seems satisfied with that and puts down the tape measure, grabbing her club and holding it out. Second holds the knife to one end.


    ¡°Hold this here like that.¡± She says. First complies and she starts wrapping the tape around it, securing the knife handle to the bone. She uses more than half the role of tape before she seems satisfied that it is properly secured. She has to go look for a different knife to cut the tape this time since it was hers that she just taped to the bone. She seems quite pleased with the end result. I do not know how effective that tape will really be, but it looks pretty solid at least. ¡°Now you do not need to find something new.¡±


    First gives it a few practice swings, but then instead tries a thrusting motion, seemingly trying to imitate Fourth¡¯s movements from earlier. She turns to Second, beaming.


    ¡°I thank. Bone is good. Best weapon. Now is better.¡± First squeezes Second in a tight hug. Second giggles and returns the hug.


    ¡°I''m glad you like it.¡± First lets her go then stabs at the air a few more times, then holds the weapon out to Second.


    ¡°You try.¡± First says. Second looks shocked and I am too. First has never let anyone else even touch her club, I guess it is a spear now, or maybe it is too short for a spear, short spear then, though even that may be a little generous, but I do not know what else to call it. But now she is not only allowing it, but actually encouraging it. Second takes the short spear and starts performing a few practice thrusts and jabs. Neither of them have the precision or grace that Fourth displayed. But they are good enough that they should be able to get the pointy end into their target most of the time and that is what matters.


    Meanwhile, First has gone back to playing with the tape measure. Or so I thought at first, but this time she is not playing with it. She is looking at the numbers and is slowly running an index finger along them. Then to my surprise, she starts counting on her fingers while pointing at each number. I assume she did not recognize the symbols, but she still understands the concepts of numbers and counting, so now she is trying to line up the numbers she knows with the symbols on the tape measure. It turns out she is smarter than I was giving her credit for. And now I feel terrible for having so greatly underestimated her intelligence.


    Now able to recognize the numbers, it does not take her long to figure out the actual purpose of the tape measure. Much to my amusement she starts to measure everything, starting with my orb. Though it is a little difficult to measure because of its shape, but it seems to be a roughly nine centimeter diameter. She measures the chair and then starts measure all of the bones, one at a time, but quickly gives up on that, probably because there are just too many. Her behavior has attracted the attention of Second, who is now watching her curiously. First takes the opportunity to measure the short spear. The bone is forty-four centimeters long and an additional fifteen centimeters for the blade.


    Of course she also insists on measuring Second, she is sixty-eight centimeters tall. She then takes the spear from Second and hands her the tape measure and asks to be measured, though first she needs to explain the numbers. It does not surprise me at all that Second understands them quickly. First measures in at eighty-one centimeters. So I guess I underestimated their size difference when I guessed it to be about ten centimeters. First takes the tape measure back and continues measuring almost everything else in the room. I do not know if she is actually keeping track of any of these measurements, but I doubt it. It seems more likely to me that she is just doing because she thinks it is fun.


    I start to wonder about the other group. I am sure it did not take this long for them get clothes for Fourth yesterday, so why have they not returned yet? Now I am afraid that something has happened to them. But even if it has, what can I do? I could send First and Second out to search for them, but that would mean potentially putting them in the same kind of danger. I think I will wait a little while longer before alarming First or Second. I continue to grow more nervous with each passing minute, wondering if I am making a mistake. If they really are in trouble and needing help, then every moment I wait could be lowering their chance of survival.


    After another hour I am almost ready start panicking when they finally return. As soon as Fourth enters, I think I know the reason for their delay. She has brought back three brooms. The other two look exasperated. They do not appear to have enjoyed the broom hunt. Fourth does not seem to concerned about that though as she approached First with the brooms.


    ¡°I sorry. I find these. You take.¡± she says sheepishly.


    ¡°I sorry too. You need weapon. Spear good.¡± First replies, accepting the brooms. Fourth just smiles and wraps her arms around First. I guess she is a hugger too. When she lets go, First excitedly deposits her new brooms with the rest of her collection then fetches the tape measure again. It seems she has some new things to measure now. Starting with Fourth.

 7. The Beginings of Change

    With my imps settled, it is time to focus on expansion. I was going to claim the entire hallway, but I concluded that that would be an unnecessary waste of time and mana, at least until I want to claim the rooms on the other side. For now I just want the room directly to the left. For that, I just need to take enough of the hallway to reach the door. The area that I can see does not reach all the way to the ceiling, for that I will need to spread my mana filaments across the ceiling as well. For now I just have a bubble that reaches around a meter above the ground. But that is enough for me to move uninhibited.


    It takes a more than a week to just reach the door. From there, I can easily walk through the door, much like all the others, once my filaments spread to the other side. In here will be a much greater task, not just because of the larger space, but because I actually intend to spread across the ceiling as well. I have found I do not actually like having the void hovering directly overhead. I can tolerate it in the hallway since I do not intend to spend more time out there than it takes to move between the rooms, but the new room is going to be a much more integral part of my domain when there are imps actually living in it.


    Before I decide how to start expanding in this room, I ask Second to give me a detailed description of the room''s layout as well as its condition. From her explanation, the condition of the room is not any worse than my starting room, but it is not any better either. Cleaning will be necessary. The layout is similar but mirrored, meaning the bedrooms of these two hotel rooms share a wall. I decide that is the best place to start, given the proximity and that gaining more living space is my primary objective.


    During my downtime, while I wait for mana regeneration, I mostly observe my imps, though sometimes I speak to them as well. Through these conversations I feel like I have a pretty good idea of the layout of this building as well as the surrounding area. Apparently there is an entire ruined city out there, slowly being reclaimed by nature. There are almost always at least two imps in the room at any given time now so I am rarely bored. First and Second still do almost everything together. Third and Fourth seem to be getting close as well, preferring to spend a lot of their time together. Fifth just floats around between them as he pleases. He seems to get along well with everyone, except when he tries to steal from Second.


    I have come to the conclusion that it is a common trait of imps to like collecting things and they all seem to fixate on different things. First, of course, has her brooms. Second seems to like shiny things as well as whatever practical tools she can find. Third likes bones, he has even managed to amass a respectable bone pile, almost as impressive as my own. I did consider letting him take my bones, but remembering how First and Second collected them all specifically for me, I have grown a little attached to them.


    Fourth is enamored with coloured glass, not that there is much to be found and most of what she has found is just brown. Though she did manage to find an intact blue glass bottle. It has since become her prized possession, she even bit First once for trying to touch it. First was shocked by this, but then looked as if she was planning to respond in kind. I was initially amused by the scene, then grew concerned that this would become a fight in which one or both of them would be injured. Luckily, Second intervened before things could escalate further and Fourth apologized. Fifth apparently just likes anything made of metal, which occasionally leads him to try to steal some of Second¡¯s shiny things. I have had to tell him multiple times to stay out of Second¡¯s room when I caught him trying to sneak in while she was out.


    It takes nearly a month to fully claim the first new bedroom. As I am about to start on the second bedroom, I feel an unusual presence has entered the claimed area of the hallway. Curious, I poke my head out to see what it is. There is a rat scurrying along the wall. This is the first time I have actually seen a living creature other than my imps. But it does not remain so for very long as it is soon impaled by a short spear with a shaft of bone with First standing over it with a predatory grin. Unfortunate timing on the rat¡¯s part to be out in the hallway just as two of my imps were returning from their latest excursion. But quite fortunate for me, it seems, as when the rat died, I received a sudden burst of mana. Not a huge amount, but still appreciated.


    Learning that I can gain mana by having things die within my domain is certainly valuable information. Perhaps I should ask the imps to start bringing things back alive so I can gain mana from their deaths. Only if it can be done safely of course, I would not want them to put themselves in danger just for a little extra mana. First picks up the rat and holds it out to Second, who I can not actually see as she is outside my field of perception.


    ¡°Do you want this?¡± She asks. I can not hear the response, but apparently it was a negative as First pops the rat into her mouth. I have rarely seen my imps eat or drink anything and I wonder if that is normal. Do they just not need to eat or do they simply eat whatever they manage to hunt immediately while they are out? Maybe I will ask them later.


    I have been noticing some rather interesting changes occurring among my imps. They seem to be getting smarter, to varying degrees, or at least better with their words. First now usually speaks in complete, though still simple, sentences. Maybe they have been learning from Second. By far the most fascinating change has come from Second though. She was already significantly smarter than the others to begin with, so it is hard to tell if she is continuing to improve on that front. However, her body now seems to be radiating mana. It is faint, barely noticeable, but it is there. More than that though, when she is around, I feel like my mana is regenerating faster. Not much faster. Just a fractional amount, but I can definitely feel it. I do not know what this means or what it might lead to, but I am excited to find out. She does not appear to have noticed it though, so all I can do for now is wait.


    But that is not the only change to my mana that I have noticed. As I have continued to expand, my mana capacity and regeneration both seem to be increasing. The difference is minuscule so far, but still very welcome. It gives me even more incentive to expand beyond just making room for more imps. Now that I think about it, I did just finish claiming a room. One with a single large bed like Third¡¯s. So I will take a little break from expansion to bring over another imp. I take a day to just let my mana recharge.


    The summoning of the next imp is uneventful. It is a male this time and they are soon preparing for his first expedition to the clothes store. I wonder how many clothes that place actually has. Surely it will run out eventually, but hopefully not too soon.


    Only Third and Fourth stayed behind this time. They are both in Third''s room at the moment. In fact, they have been in there for a while now. It is not the first time Fourth has been into Third¡¯s room, but they do not usually stay in there for so long. Unable to hold back my curiosity any longer, I walk in to see what they are up to. I am shocked and a little embarrassed to see them engaged in sexual intercourse. I immediately walk back out, not wanting to interrupt. Not that they would be interrupted by my presence since they can not see or hear me, but I would feel weird just standing around watching. I suppose I should not be too surprised. They have been spending a lot of time together and reproduction is one of the most basic instincts of all living creatures. My imps are no different I suppose. At least they seem to form actual relationships before moving on to sex. I am not sure how comfortable I would be with all my imps just hooking up for casual sex all the time. Or worse, massive imp orgies. That would just be too weird.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I think Fifth has been trying to impress First or Second or maybe even both, but so far he has been unsuccessful. With First being bigger and stronger than other imps and Second much smarter than others, they might be harder to impress as a result. But who knows, he might manage eventually as long as he does not give up.


    When the others get back I see that aside from clothes, Sixth has managed to find himself a hatchet to use as a weapon. It is a bit rusted and the blade looks dull, but it is far better than nothing. First plans to show him where he will be sleeping and tries to lead him to the new room. But he is displeased with that.


    ¡°Not sleep here?¡± He asks with a slight whimper.


    ¡°There is bedroom just for you. In the room beside this one.¡± First replies cheerily.


    ¡°Too far. Not want alone.¡± I can understand his concern. Even if it is not really that far in terms of distance, he would still be in a different room by himself. Of course it would be a little lonely and he might even feel like he is being left out or excluded, being the only one expected to sleep in another room all alone. So I reach out to speak to him.


    If you are willing to sleep on the floor in here then I am sure we can find some bedding from other rooms to make it a little more comfortable. He brightens up at that and nods eagerly.


    ¡°Yes, there¡¯s lots of blankets in other rooms. We¡¯ll bring them here.¡± First grabs his hand and heads for the door, Second deciding to go along as well. Fifth looks like he wants to follow as well, having seen both First and Second go, but ultimately decides to lay down on his couch for a nap instead. They are not gone very long anyway. Several minutes later and they are returning, all three of them with their arms full.


    ¡°Where do you want to sleep?¡± Second asks.


    ¡°Here¡± Sixth says, dropping his bundle of blankets next to my chair, on the opposite side from where First sleeps.


    ¡°No. You can¡¯t sleep there. That¡¯s too close to orb.¡± First declares. Sixth frowns.


    ¡°But that close.¡± He retorts, pointing at First¡¯s nest.


    ¡°That¡¯s my spot. I was here first. Only I sleep next to orb.¡± She glares down at him until he begrudgingly picks up is blankets again and finds a spot between the couch and the first cabinets of the kitchenette. First and Second deposit the blankets in their arms next to it and Sixth goes about setting up his own little nest.


    Perhaps it would be better if I wait until I have claimed more of the next room before summoning anymore imps so I have enough room to move multiple imps there at once so they will not feel alone. Or so I thought, but as the days go by, Fourth seems to be spending most nights sleeping (and doing other things) in Third¡¯s room. Eventually I suggest Fourth just moving into Third¡¯s room permanently. Fourth seems excited by the idea and Third does not object either. I guess he was willing to share his room after all, he just needed the right partner. But that once again left a spare bed in Second¡¯s room. I asked her if she would let Sixth move into the room, but she politely, though hesitantly, declined.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Please forgive my impertinence. But if I am to share my room again, I would prefer to do so with another girl.¡± She says, almost groveling. It is uncommon for any of my imps to refuse any requests I have for them, but none are as reluctant to disobey nor as apologetic about doing so as Second. No matter how hard I try to phrase it as a completely non-obligatory request and not an order. I wonder if it is just because of her devotion to me or the result of conditioning from her previous...¡±place of employment¡±.


    Please, there is no need to apologize. It was not an order by any means. Not even a request really. Merely a query.


    I wonder if First would be interested. Probably not, she has had the opportunity to move into Second¡¯s room before and did not take it. I decide to ask anyway, but much as I expected, she prefers to stay near my orb. I could try to summon another imp, but there would be no way to guarantee that the new imp would be female and if it was another male then I would need to find somewhere else to put him if he also did not want to go to the new room and the spare bed in Second¡¯s room would still be empty. But what if I could control it? I have never actually tried before, content for it to just be random. Maybe it is worth experimenting just to see if it is possible.


    Once my mana has regenerated enough for another summoning, I inform my imps of my plan. First is as excited as always and Second is also prepared to help as usual. Sixth is interested, probably because he has not yet seen the process from this side before. But the other three are less enthusiastic at this point. Which is probably for the best. If all of my imps gathered around the rift every time, things would eventually start to get a bit crowded and that might overwhelm the new arrivals.


    I touch the rift and start pouring mana into it. This time focusing all of my will and intent to try and specifically summon a female. The new imp is female, though that does not prove that my efforts actually influenced things since it was a fifty percent chance anyway. But that is definitely not important right now. What is important is the state of the new arrival. While the others were curious and/or confused when they first appeared, she is cowering. Bruised and bloody, she is looking around, terrified. All the previous excitement for her arrival has immediately changed to shock and concern. She collapses to the floor wailing and crying.


    First rushes forward to gently hold her and she clings to the larger imp desperately, sobbing into her chest. Sixth is confused and unsure of what he should do. The commotion has caught the attention of the other three and they come over to try to understand what is going on. Second waves them away then helps First very carefully lift her off the floor and lead her to Second¡¯s room. I am at a loss for what to do now. I never imagined something like this happening¡­ I follow them into Second¡¯s room, but I have no idea how to help so I reach out to Second.


    Can I leave her in your care for now? I want to help but I do not know what I can do. In her current state, I do not think hearing a disembodied voice speaking directly into her mind is going to be particularly helpful, no matter how soothing the words may be. Second just nods. They have managed to maneuver her onto the bed where First is now sitting with her, looking quite upset herself now. She still clings tightly to First, weeping.


    I walk back out to the main room where the other four are waiting. Confusion and concern written across their faces.


    I want you all to go out and bring back some clean water, as much as you can feasibly carry, and something for her to eat.


    They do not hesitate for even a moment and are soon out the door. I do not know if any of that will help, but it is all I can think of to do right now. I desperately want to know what happened to her, how she came to be in that state. But now is definitely not the right time to ask. I only hope First and Second will be able to calm her down enough to be able to explain. But that will take time. I am going to need to be patient.

 8. Patient Care

    It took over an hour for her to calm down, after which she fell asleep, still cradled in First¡¯s arms. The others came back during that time. Fifth and Sixth carrying large pots of water, I think the pots came from Fifth¡¯s collection. Fourth has a shiny red metallic canister also filled with water. I do not know where she got that from. I have never seen it before so they probably found it while they out just now. Given that is shiny and made of metal, Second and Fifth will likely both be interested in that later, after the current crisis is settled. Third managed to bring back some kind of animal. I do not recognize it, but it is much larger than a rat. A furred quadruped with well defined black and yellow stripes running along the length of its body.


    Surprisingly he brought it back alive and held it tightly in his arms despite its struggling, earning him quite a few scratches for his trouble. I did mention trying to bring creatures back alive, but did not want them to hurt themselves to do it. In the end it is probably better this way. She did not want to eat and only drank a little water before falling asleep. The animal is currently trapped in the bathroom so it will still be nice and fresh when she does decide to eat something.


    While she sleeps Second does her best to tend to her injuries. Though all she has to work with is water that probably came from the river to clean the injuries and bandages made from torn strips of unwanted clothing. It is so far from ideal and I am deeply concerned about infection. But then, my other imps have come back with injuries before and none of them have ever become infected. Nor have I seen my imps ever get sick at all. Are they simply immune to such things? I can only hope. It would be terrible to save her from whatever fate had befallen her before only to have to watch her die slowly from infection and disease.


    She must have been terribly exhausted because she does not wake at all from Second¡¯s ministrations. When Second is satisfied that she has done all she can for now, I ask her to tend to Third as well. There are scratches all over his arms, torso and face. It looks like he was even bitten several times. He winces a few times as Second ties bandages around the worst of his injuries. But he looks proud of himself for what he has accomplished and has apparently earned the admiration of Fifth and Sixth. And Fourth as well, of course, who insists on helping treat him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek while she cleans some of his scratches.


    Watching that interaction, I can see Fifth¡¯s and Sixth¡¯s eyes light up followed by a look of determination. It is not hard to guess what they are thinking. They want an opportunity to prove themselves and impress one of the females so they too can have a mate fawning over them they way Fourth is currently doing for Third. I hope they do not end up doing something too stupid or reckless and getting themselves hurt...or worse.


    Second checks on her regularly while she sleeps but First can hardly be convinced to leave her side. I sent the others out again to get her some clothes. Not having clothes in the way did make it easier to treat her injuries but she is still going to need something to wear when she wakes up and I do not think she will be up for making the trip to the clothes store in her current state. They took both backpacks with them and when they returned, not only were both of them full, but they were each also carrying bundles of clothes in their arms as well. Shirts, pants, skirts and dresses. She will have plenty to choose from when she wakes.


    They dump them all in a pile in Second¡¯s room, which annoys her. After shooing the others out of the room she starts organizing and folding the clothes. She selects a simple white dress from among them and puts it on the end of the bed for Seventh. It looks loose fitting and easy to put on which is good. Though I would imagine most of these clothes would probably be somewhat ¡°loose fitting¡± on her at the moment. Most of my imps did look a little underfed when they first arrived, but Seventh looks completely malnourished and emaciated. I do not know what her situation was like before coming here, but she clearly was not doing well.


    ¡°Is she going to be okay?¡± First asked when Second came in to check on her again. She was clearly worried and I was too. Seventh had been asleep for several hours already, almost twice as long as my imps usually sleep for.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I hope so.¡± Second responds with a resigned sigh. ¡°I did the best I could, but I don¡¯t know much about healing, so it''s hard to gauge the seriousness of her injuries and we have no real medical supplies. If all of her injuries are just on the surface, then I¡¯m sure she will be fine. But if she has anything deeper than that, I don¡¯t know if it will be enough...All we can do is wait until she wakes up.¡±


    ¡°What do you think happened to her?¡± At that, Second¡¯s eyes narrow and she looks...angry. I do not think I have ever seen her angry before. Annoyed, irritated, frustrated sure, but never angry, not like this. And for a moment even the mana radiating from her feels like it has taken on a hard edge.


    ¡°I can make a guess,¡± then she sighs and seems to relax and her mana returns to normal. ¡°But we won¡¯t really know until we can ask her.¡±


    She ends up sleeping for more than half the day. Much like First, I have barely left the room the whole time she has been asleep. First notices almost immediately when she finally wakes.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake! Are you okay? Are you better now?¡± First is speaking rapidly, not quite sounding like gibberish, but close.


    Slow down. Just be calm, you do not want to frighten her. I say to First, then I reach out to Second to let her know that her patient has awoken. Seventh does look a little scared, but she winces in pain as she tries to sit up. First looks concerned.


    ¡°Sorry. Where are you hurting?¡± First asks her, much more reserved this time.


    ¡°All.¡± Seventh responds, her voice cracking slightly. She then looks to the door as it opens, fear plain in her eyes, relaxing only slightly as Second enters the room and closes the door behind her.


    ¡°Hey, how are you feeling?¡± Second asks, trying to sound soothing.


    ¡°She says her all hurts.¡± First replies for her. Second nods.


    ¡°That¡¯s not surprising. You had a lot injuries when you arrived. I did my best to treat them. The bleeding did stop. But I think I need to change your bandages.¡± Seventh slowly looks down at herself, noticing for the first time the blood stained strips of cloth covering her many injuries. ¡°I can¡¯t promise that it won¡¯t hurt, but I will try to be as gentle as I can.¡± Seventh frowns.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°No more hurt.¡± She whines.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t want to hurt you anymore, but the bandages do need to come off at some point.¡± Second insisted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we want to help. Make you get better.¡± First tries to reassure her. She still looks hesitant, but eventually nods. Second starts carefully removing the bandages while First tears another shirt into strips to make more.


    The process is slow and there is a few pained whimpers from Seventh, but things go smoothly overall. Together, First and Second wipe away the dried blood with damp cloths. Some of the wounds had started bleeding again when the bandages were peeled away, but only a little. Those were re-bandaged, but the ones that were no longer bleeding were left alone.


    ¡°There, all done.¡± Second announces, smiling. Seventh has tears in her eyes, but is relieved that it is finally over. ¡°Would you like some water and perhaps something to eat?¡± Seventh nods. Second pours her a glass of water from the red metal canister then admires its shiny exterior for a moment. ¡°Can you go butcher that thing in the bathroom and bring some here. Cut it into bite sized pieces please and try not to make too much of a mess.¡± She instructs First. What counts as ''bite sized pieces'' for imps is still pretty large, considering I have seen First eat rats whole with no trouble. ¡°And throw out that water as well,¡± indicating to the pot with now dirtied water.


    First does as she is told and I follow her, curious to see how much of a fight this animal can put up. She places the pot by the bathroom door then fetches her bone spear and a knife. She opens the door quickly and rushes in, moving so fast she is almost a blur. The creature barely has time to react before it is impaled. I am a little shocked. I did not realize she could move so fast. Are all of my imps as fast as her or is she special? I actually expected more from the creature, considering Third¡¯s condition after he brought it in. Though I suppose that is probably from trying to hold on to it while bringing it back alive instead of just killing it.


    After pouring the water from the pot down the sink, luckily the pipes are not blocked, even if there is no running water, she holds the animal over the pot by its tail and slits its throat, trying to drain some of the blood I guess. It works a little bit, but as the blood flow slows she seems to have an idea and places the carcass on the floor and races out of the room. There is still a little bit of blood leaking from the creature, but most of it seems to be in the pot. She comes back with a cup and pours the blood from the pot into it, it is not quite enough to fill the cup. Then comes the knife. She starts hacking at it. She does not seem to be very good at this and the knife is not very sharp either, which is not helping. Eventually she manages to take the legs off and put them in the pot along with several other strips and chunks of flesh.


    When she walks out of the bathroom with the pot and cup of blood, the others look to her eagerly.


    ¡°The rest is in there. You can share.¡± She gestures to the bathroom and they do not hesitate to rush in and descend upon the carcass. They do not even bother with the knife, electing to just tear it apart with their claws instead. It is not a pleasant sight to behold, so I go back to Second¡¯s room. First has trouble with the door while holding both the cup and the pot until Second opens it for her. ¡°I have the good bits. Others share the rest.¡± Second looks her up and down, noting the blood smeared on her hands and clothes.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to need to bathe after this. The others too probably. And clean your clothes as well.¡± First''s expression sours at that. ¡°I know laundry isn¡¯t fun, but it still needs to be done. You can worry about that after eating, just try not to get blood on anything in here please.¡± The three of them share the meat in the pot, though Seventh does not eat very much. She does accept the cup of blood though and seems appreciative for it. Seventh starts asking questions while they eat.


    ¡°Where this?¡± She asks, gesturing around the room.


    ¡°This is hotel.¡± First responds cheerfully.


    ¡°Ho-tell.¡± She repeats slowly. Sounding out the unfamiliar word. ¡°How get here?¡±


    ¡°Our master has brought you here.¡± Second says, though Seventh flinches at the word master.


    ¡°Serve vukra?¡± She asks nervously. Vukra...this is not a term I am familiar with.


    ¡°No! Master is not vukra!¡± First insists vehemently. Second puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her.


    ¡°Our master is not vukra. Nor is she mean like vukra. In fact, she has been very kind to us.¡± Second assures. Second called me ¡°she¡±. Does she see me as female? I guess I have not really thought much about that. Obviously I know the difference between males and females. But I do not think such concepts apply to me. I do not think it really matters though. She can refer to me how she wishes. I am curious about what this ¡°vukra¡± is though, so I ask Second.


    Can you tell my what ¡°vukra¡± is? I have not heard this word before.


    ¡°It is a crude, derogatory term imps use to describe larger demons. Particularly those who treat us poorly. I don¡¯t know where the word comes from and I don¡¯t think it has any specific meaning beyond just a way to convey our disdain for them.¡± She explains.


    ¡°Who talk to?¡± Seventh eyes her suspiciously.


    ¡°Sorry. I was speaking to our master. She can speak to us telepathically and asked what vukra means.¡±


    ¡°Read mind?¡± Seventh asks, trying to cover her head with her arms, wincing in pain from the movement. I do not think that would be an effective strategy to protect her from someone who really could read her mind.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think she can read our minds, but she can usually hear us when we speak.¡± Second tries to reassure her. ¡°You should introduce yourself properly too, Master.¡± She reprimands me. She is not wrong. I brought her here and have been watching her the entire time she has been here, but have yet to speak to her at all.


    Right, sorry. I am the, uh, master of this domain. Though I do not really like the term ¡°master¡±. It was me who brought you here. But you looked pretty frightened when you first arrived, so I kept quiet because I did not want to add to that. I said to Seventh, though I made sure the other two could hear me as well, while Seventh is still looking around the room suspiciously, as though looking for the source of the voice in her head.


    ¡°No read mind?¡± She asks again, which makes First giggle.


    No, I promise I can not read your mind.


    ¡°I am sorry mas-...If you do not wish to be called master, is there something else we should call you?¡± Second interjects.


    ...That is a good question. What should they call me? That is something else I have not thought about.


    I do not currently have a name. I will take some time to think of one and I will let you know. Until then, you can call me whatever you wish, I suppose.


    Seventh had some more questions after that, mostly answered by First and Second...mostly Second. After that Second sent First and the others to bathe and clean their clothes in the river. They did make a mess of themselves much as she had predicted. But they did manage to completely consume the animal, even the bones, with not a scrap left behind. She also asked them to bring back more water.


    With the others gone, only Second and Seventh remaining. I felt it was finally time to ask.


    Would you mind telling us what happened to you?

 9. Despair and Frustration

    Seventh¡¯s mood immediately darkens. Not that she was particularly cheery before, but the sudden shift is quite obvious. I am not surprised, I did not expect this to be an easy topic to discuss.


    You do not need to talk about it if you do not want to. But if you are willing, I would like to know. She does not say anything and after a while I think she is not going to answer until she looks to Second determinedly.


    ¡°Want see Master first. Not like talk at air.¡± That is not unreasonable. I am sure it is difficult to have a conversation with someone you can not see. Once again, I lament the fact that this body that allows me to move around is merely some kind of mental projection that no one else can see or interact with.


    Are you able to walk? Seeing the deep purple bruising on her left leg, just above the ankle, I am worried something might actually be broken.


    ¡°Can walk.¡± She insists, moving to the edge of the bed. Second helps her stand but she cries out in pain as soon as she puts weight on her left foot.


    Wait, just sit down. I have a better idea. Please wait here. Once she is seated again I reach out only to Second. Please bring my orb in here. She nods and heads out to where my chair is. She reaches out to pick up the orb but then hesitates.


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s okay to move it?¡± she asks nervously.


    I do not see why not. It has been moved before. It should be fine.


    Reassured, she carefully picks up the orb. As soon as it leaves the chair, all of my senses become a bit fuzzy. Even my body has become translucent and hazy. It is a strange feeling. I do not think it felt like this the first time I was moved, but I suppose at that time my senses were less developed and I was less aware of my surroundings. Once she brings the orb back to her room, I ask her to place it on her desk. After a few seconds all of my senses come back into focus. Though I am shocked to see that the rift has also moved. It appears to have followed the orb and is now in the room with us. How curious. The rift did not move the first time. Maybe because the orb did not move very far or was still in the same room. Those are mysteries for later, there are more important things to worry about now.


    ¡°This is our master.¡± Second says, gesturing to the orb. Seventh just looks at it confused.


    ¡°But...is ball. How ball be master?¡± Now that I think about it, that actually seems to be a rather reasonable reaction. I am a little surprised none of my other imps reacted this way when they first arrived. They all just accepted that a sentient pink orb brought them here without question.


    I may seem strange to you, but I can assure you, this orb is actually me. Seventh is still eyeing to orb suspiciously.


    ¡°Master is the source of all the good mana in this place. We are all connected to her and it makes us better and stronger. You can feel it too, right?¡± Second explains.


    Wait, what? What does that mean? Are they actually changing in some way? I knew I was connected to each of my imps, but it did not occur to me that it could be having some kind of altering effect on them. Is that why they have been getting smarter? I am going to need to ask Second for more details about that later. Seventh does not speak for a while. She seems contemplative, perhaps trying to process what Second has said, or maybe just trying to come to terms with the idea that all the imps here serve a magical talking sphere. Though maybe ¡°serve¡± is a bit of an overstatement. It is not like I really ask them to do much for me, in fact I am the one who is trying to help them, by bringing them here. Second gives more orders than I do. She seems to have become leader of this little group.


    ¡°Not know stronger. But think mana good here. Okay, I trust.¡± With that, she finally begins to tell us her story.


    When she was a child, she lived with her pack. There was around twenty of them, living in an old, abandoned building on the outskirts of a small city. The building was run down and falling apart, not good enough for anyone else to want to live there. But her pack were just happy to have a place to call home. They preferred not to steal food if they did not have to, not wanting to earn the ire of the local populace of larger demons. They knew that would only lead to problems. Instead they would often catch pests and vermin within the city or hunt and gather what edible plants they could find outside the city limits. Sometimes they would even resort to digging through trash for anything still edible that might have been thrown away. Restaurants were the best for that, but it always seemed to make people angry when they were caught doing that. They could not understand why though, if it was just being thrown out anyway then why could the imps not have it? It was not always easy, but they survived.


    Most merchants would not deal with them, even if they had something of value to trade, preferring to either just shoo them away or try to steal whatever it was they had that was worth trading. But there was one merchant who dealt with them. He would trade food or other useful things for interesting things the imps brought him, though not all the things that imps found interesting were of interest to him.


    But over time things began to change. Food was becoming harder to find. The merchant had less food to offer. Even the vermin they once caught were becoming scarce. As their desperation grew, they saw little other choice but to resort to theft. They did not steal indiscriminately, only stealing from those who looked like they had the most to spare. The imps were fast enough and stealthy enough that they usually got away with it. But those who were caught were often beaten and sometimes even killed.


    Eventually things got bad enough that a particularly nasty group of vukra came to their home to get rid of them. Imps are faster than vukra, usually when imps flee, vukra can not catch them. But this was a large group and they were expecting the imps to flee. There were vukra ready and waiting to catch them as they tried to escape.


    Only Seventh and two others managed to get away that day. For those who were caught, the lucky ones were killed straight away. But some of the crueler vukra took joy in slowly torturing and beating their victims to death.


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    Life was much more difficult for them after that. The food shortage only increased as more time went by. Even some of the vukra started to go hungry and were soon resorting to the same strategies that the imps used to find whatever food they could. Those who had food were much more on guard against anyone trying to steal. Even the merchant who was once friendly stopped dealing with them.


    One day they were desperate enough to try stealing from a shipment of food that was being delivered to one of the larger estates in the city. But the shipment was well guarded and they were caught in the attempt. One of them was killed right there. Seventh and the other survivor tried to flee, but they were starving and exhausted and greatly outnumbered. When they were captured, they were not given the mercy of a quick death. As she was being beaten, in more pain than she had ever experienced and terrified that she was going to die, she felt a strange mana tugging at her. Desperate, scared and panicking, she reached out to it without thinking. Then suddenly she was here, in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar imps. In terrible pain, grieving the friend she saw die and feeling guilty and ashamed about leaving the other behind.


    It took a long time to get through it all. She had to stop many times to keep from breaking down again. I could see Second¡¯s anger rising as the story went on even as she did her best to comfort the traumatized imp before her. The mana radiating from her growing in intensity and being close to her I was definitely absorbing some it. It carried with it her emotions and I could feel her rage, her disdain and her hatred. I am actually becoming concerned for her as well now. It can not be easy to harbor such feelings.


    When she finished her tale, Seventh finally allowed herself to break down fully and Second just held her as she wept, offering what comforting words she could.


    When the others returned, the door to Second¡¯s room slowly opened and First slipped inside. Though the others did not follow, I could feel them standing by the door. Seeing Seventh quietly weeping again she was immediately concerned. I filled her in on what had happened to Seventh, though a heavily summarized version. Hearing that, First looked like she wanted to cry as well. I asked First to look after her for a while. There are some things I need to discuss with Second, preferably in private. Seeing the others hovering by the door, Second told them to leave her be for the time being. They dispersed, but their worry was quite plain.


    With her room currently occupied, the easiest place to find some privacy was out in the hallway. She is clearly still on edge while I am trying to decide how best to start.


    Is what she experienced...normal where you are from? Second leaned against the wall and slowly sank to the floor. I could see tears welling in her eyes and it took her a while to respond. I felt it best not to rush her.


    ¡°Her situation was rather extreme. But cruelty and persecution towards imps is not uncommon.¡± She finally answers.


    But why?


    ¡°Because they see us as inferior. In some ways they are right. But because we are inferior, most do not even see us as people. And because we are not people to them, they feel like they can do whatever they want to us. It¡¯s not like there are any consequences. If an imp was being attacked in the street, most would simply ignore it, those who don''t would be more likely to join in than try to stop it.¡± She put her head in her hands. I can not see her expression but I can feel her mana starting to flare again.


    In what way are you inferior?


    ¡°We are smaller and weaker than they are. And you may have noticed that most imps are not particularly bright either.¡±


    So that justifies them treating you like animals? I can feel my own anger rising now. I think this is the first time I have been angry before.


    ¡°Ha! You can¡¯t compare our treatment to that of animals. They actually treat animals with a reasonable amount of respect. At least the ones that are useful to them.¡± She slams her fist into to wall behind her and I can see that she is weeping now. ¡°I don¡¯t know why they hate us so much! It¡¯s not fair. I know some imps can be a nuisance when they start stealing, but we don¡¯t deserve this kind of treatment.¡± She wails and I can see cracks starting to appear in the wall behind her.


    Did you go through something like that as well? I am seriously concerned for her now. But not just about what she may have been through. She is definitely developing some kind of magic and I do not know if she is even aware of it. That kind of power could be very dangerous if she can not control it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about that. I¡¯m sorry.¡± She has gotten quite again and the mana flowing from her has subsided back to its faint, subtle radiance.


    That is alright. I will not force you to. She mentioned that a lot of problems were caused by a food shortage. Do you know anything about that?


    ¡°Maybe. I did sometimes overhear my previous master talking about droughts and famine in quite a few regions in recent years. But I don¡¯t know anything more than that.¡±


    So similar things are probably happening in other places as well. This is an unpleasant revelation.


    ¡°Quite likely. I know it¡¯s not my place to ask for favors after what you have already done for me. But please help them. I know you can¡¯t save all of them, but any you can bring here will be far better off than where they are now I¡¯m sure.¡± She pleads.


    Do not worry. That was already my plan. She sighs in relief at that. You should probably go check on the others. And maybe explain to them some of what is going on. She nods then stands up and heads back inside. When she enters the others are looking at her with nervous expressions. She takes the time to explain Seventh¡¯s situation to them, at least the important parts. Most of them look sad. Fifth looks angry. None of them look surprised. Fourth puts a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°You okay?¡± She asks. They probably heard her outburst even through the walls. Second does not answer. Instead she just walks back towards her room.


    ¡°You should probably come and introduce yourselves properly. Preferably one at a time.¡± She says before opening the door. They follow her advice and come in one by one, even bringing gifts. Third brings a small animal skull, it is about the size of his fist. Fourth brings a shard of red glass. Fifth brings his second biggest knife. Sixth, having not been here long, does not have much to give, but he brings in a nice looking round stone that he found at the river. Seventh is grateful for the gifts. She has calmed down now. I hope she can eventually be happy here, despite all that she has been through.


    I really need to hurry up and bring more imps here. For that I need more space. But my ability to expand is limited by my mana regeneration. Which is frustratingly slow. But my regeneration does seem to increase slightly as I expand. I think my best strategy for now might be to focus solely on expansion for a while. Not summon any more imps until I have plenty of additional space for them. At least the entirety of the next hotel room and maybe even the next one beyond that as well. That will give me not just more room but better mana regeneration so I can summon them faster. I wish it did not have to take so long. I want to help them now. But there is only so much I can do with so little mana.

 10. Functioning as (ab)Normal

    I immediately dive back into expansion. Not that I get very far before running out of mana again. When my imps returned to somewhat normal behavior, I asked Second to take my orb back to my chair, but First insisted that she be the one to do it. She seems rather possessive of me. I wonder if she was upset when she discovered that Second had moved it while she was not here. Well even if it did upset her, she was focused on more important issues at the time. After that First spent the rest of the day in Second¡¯s room watching over Seventh and keeping her company. When it came time to sleep she faced a terrible dilemma. To sleep in her customary spot beside my chair or to sleep in Second¡¯s room. She wanted to bring the orb back in so she would not have to choose, but Second rejected that idea. Seventh did not like the idea of me watching her constantly. It seems she is still not entirely comfortable with me. She will come around. I hope.


    It actually made me feel a little bad for not telling them that my vision is not fixed on where the orb is located. At least, not anymore. Some of them may have figured that out already, but Seventh clearly had not. Not that I am surprised by that given that she just got here. I will try to give her the privacy she desires, though I do still intend to check on her occasionally.


    First decides to sleep in Second¡¯s room and continues to do so for the next few days alternating between Second and Seventh¡¯s beds. First and Second spend a lot of time taking care of Seventh. Second tends to her injuries while First is mostly there for emotional support. Strangely, she seems to be healing much faster than I would have expected. In fact, on just the second day after her arrival she is able to actually walk around with some help. But the next day after that, though still limping, she is walking around unaided. Even the bruising has mostly subsided. Where I had once feared she may have broken something in her leg, she can now walk around without assistance.


    When I compare that to Third and the injuries he received on the day she arrived, his are far less healed. Despite his wounds being mostly superficial he is clearly not healing as fast as Seventh. I wonder if she might possess some kind of unique trait that allows her to recover faster. First and Second are also abnormal so it does not seem too implausible. But that would mean that three out of my seven imps are ¡°abnormal¡±. If that is the case, then maybe what constitutes ¡°normal¡± for imps is not as rigid of a standard as I had thought.


    Now that Seventh can walk again First wants to take her outside. Second is on board with the idea, but Seventh seems reluctant. She is afraid of encountering vukra. They reassure her that the entire time they have been here, they have not seen a single vukra anywhere in the area. It is safe.


    ¡°If safe why have weapon?¡± She asks, still not convinced.


    ¡°No vukra, but some monsters still. But they are no match for us. We scare them off.¡± First replies confidently, brandishing her bone spear.


    I am curious what she means by monsters. Is she talking about the big lizard she saw a while ago? She called that scary and said they hid from it but she did not refer to that as a monster at the time. I did assume there might also be other dangerous things out there as well. But I would like to know what First defines as a ¡°monster¡±. But that seems to have been enough to convince Seventh and she grabs her knife. The other four decide to go along as well turning it into a whole group outing. For the first time in quite a while I am left alone with naught but my thoughts for company.


    Later First, Second and Seventh return. Their hair looks a bit wet so I guess they went to the river. The other four apparently decided to stay out longer. Seventh is moving slower now than before they left. She still does not need assistance but walking it is clearly harder for her now than it was before. That is probably why they returned earlier than the others. I guess she still has a way to go in her recovery. But she seems more relaxed now so the trip was definitely good for her.


    The next day I think I have figured out why she is healing so quickly. I do not think it is anything unusual about her, but rather it is coming from Second. I was watching while Second was checking on her injuries. All but the worst of them are almost completely healed now even though it has only been a few days. Every time Second touches her, the mana that I can usually feel coming from her stops. But whenever they are not in direct physical contact Second¡¯s mana goes back to normal.


    What I suspect is that Second is using her mana to heal Seventh. Though she does not seem to be doing it consciously. If she was aware of it, I am sure she would be much more active in healing her, instead of just when she happens to be touching Seventh. Though I have not completely ruled out the possibility that maybe Seventh is the one who is somehow leeching mana from Second in order to quicken her recovery, but that seems less likely.


    But either way, this means that mana can be used to accelerate healing. I could probably test this out on Third. But is it right to experiment on my imps like that? If something goes wrong it could hurt him. I will ask for his permission to try it and if he agrees I will just have to be very careful.


    In Third¡¯s room, it looks like Fourth is trying to organize her glass collection. But she seems to be frustrated by something with all of her glass spread out before here. Maybe she can not decide how best to organize them? Third, on the other hand, is sorting his his bones into separate piles. It looks like his main sorting criteria is size.


    I would like to try an experiment if you are willing. I say to him and he perks up and puts down the bones he is holding. If it works as I intend it should be able to heal all of your scratches. I do not know what will happen if it does not work though. It might even hurt you. He thinks for a moment then nods.


    ¡°Okay, I will do it.¡± He says, which attracts Fourth¡¯s attention and she looks at him curiously.


    ¡°Do what?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Master will try to heal me.¡± Now her full attention is on Third with an expression that looks both curious and excited. I am not really sure how to go about this. Do I pour mana into his body the same way I do with the rift? Can I even do that? The rift is easy to interact with because, even though I do not understand it at all, it feels like it is a part of me. It even follows the orb where ever it goes. But my imps are different. Though I do feel like I am connected to them somehow, they are still separate from me.


    But I do have to connect to them with my mana in order to communicate. Maybe if I use that as a starting point, but instead of using it to speak, I use it as a bridge to send mana into him.


    I start slowly with just the faintest trickle of mana flowing through the connection. His body seems to be absorbing it without any problems so I start sending it a little faster. At first he does not even react but soon he starts fidgeting and his expression conveys discomfort. His entire body is now saturated with mana so I cut off the flow. I observe him for a while, but despite all the mana in his body, none of the cuts and scratches still visible on his arms or face appear to be healing at all.


    How do you feel?


    ¡°Really warm, a bit itchy and uncomfortable. But with lots of energy.¡± He says while punching at the air.


    Do you feel any pain? He stops punching the air and inspects his body, poking himself in various places.


    ¡°No pain.¡± He declares. He sees the scratches still on his arms. ¡°Healing didn¡¯t work?¡± He asks.


    It would seem not. We will leave it at that for now while I try to think of something else. You should probably find a way to work off some of that extra energy.


    I do not know if mana can be consumed through physical activity. But since I do not think he knows how to use any kind of magic, I can not think of any other way he could use the mana other than physical exertion. He thinks for a moment then grins. He approaches Fourth and whispers something in her ear. She giggles and then, with a coy smile, takes his hand and leads him to the bed. I think that is my cue to leave.


    So simply saturating their bodies with mana is not enough to heal injuries. But it does apparently give them an energy boost. While that was not the objective, it could be useful in its own way. Maybe healing needs to be done in small increments. Seventh certainly was not healed all at once, but that might be because that healing may have been done subconsciously rather than intentionally. Or maybe there are some other factors involved that I am missing entirely.


    I think it is time I talk to Second about her mana. Not only that, I still need to ask what she meant when she said they were all getting stronger. She is in her room at the moment and Seventh is currently napping. First is there too, as expected. I will ask her as well. She has been with me the longest, even if only by a little, so it is possible that she might also have some insight on the matter.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I have some more questions I would like you to answer if you can. I send to both of them.


    ¡°I will do my best to answer them.¡± Second replies.


    ¡°Yes, me too. I like to help.¡± First agrees excitedly.


    First I would like you to elaborate on something you said earlier about all of you getting ¡°better and stronger¡±.


    ¡°Well, since I have been here I have felt like I have been getting stronger and faster. Maybe not by an extraordinary amount, but enough to feel the difference. I spoke to some of the others about it, and they reported similar feelings.¡± Second explained.


    ¡°And I got big!¡± First adds. Second gives her a questioning look.


    What exactly do you mean by that? She looks confused by my question.


    ¡°I was not always big. I was the same size as others before. Then I come here and now I am bigger. Though didn¡¯t notice how much bigger until others arrive.¡± Second looks as surprised as I am by that revelation.


    ¡°So you were not always this tall? Did your body change in any other ways?¡± Second asks, while looking her up and down.


    ¡°Boobs got bigger.¡± she says excitedly while cupping her breasts with her hands. ¡°Hmm, also hips. And longer tail too. Made walking strange at first, but got used to it quickly.¡± First definitely has a much more voluptuous figure than the other female imps here, but why did she change like this? And perhaps more importantly is how? Based on her explanation it seems reasonable to assume that me bringing her here somehow caused this transformation, but then, why did it only happen to her and not the others? It is a little distressing to think that I forced these changes on her. Even if it was completely unintentional. But she has never complained or given any indication that it bothered her or I likely would have learned about this earlier. But she does not seem unhappy with the changes so maybe I am overreacting.


    What about your hair. Did it change as well? She is the only one here with blond hair. All of the other have either black or dark brown hair.


    ¡°No, my hair was always like this.¡± She states, running one hands through her hair. Should I take comfort in the fact that at least one of her abnormalities was not directly caused by me? Even if it is the least significant of them.


    Have there been any other physical changes?


    ¡°We have been eating and sleeping less I believe.¡± Second replies. ¡°But its not that we are forcing ourselves or anything like that. Rather, it seems we genuinely need less than we did before.¡±


    ¡°We eat less, but not feel hungry. We sleep less, but not feel tired. It¡¯s very good. Feels better than before coming here.¡± First interjects.


    ¡°Yes. Truthfully, I did not even notice at first. It was several days before I realized the difference. I was concerned initially, but I was also feeling better than I ever had before so I decided not to worry about it.¡± Second continues.


    I am not sure what to think of that. Obviously not needing as much food or sleep while also not facing any negative effects as a result is certainly convenient. But I can not even fathom the kind of alterations to basic biological functions that would have to occur for that to even be possible.


    I suppose that is good then. But please do not push yourselves if you do feel like you are not getting enough of anything. Have there been any changes besides physical? I have noticed some myself already, but it is still worth asking in case there are things I did not notice.


    ¡°Well you probably have noticed the others getting smarter. Even my own mind feels clearer and sharper than before. It¡¯s quite exciting really. Imps have always been looked down upon for their lack of intellect. But now that is changing.¡± Second states cheerfully.


    ¡°Yes. I am very smart now. Like a genius.¡± First exclaims, striking a triumphant pose. Second chuckles at her display.


    ¡°Indeed, you have improved greatly and I''m very proud of you.¡± First beams at the praise from Second. ¡°Even as smart as I was before, it was not easy for me to learn to speak properly to a standard my old master deemed acceptable. But you are learning all on your own.¡± She looks down sadly.


    I imagine she is probably remembering some of the ¡°lessons¡± she had to go through. She never elaborated on what those lessons were like for her, only that they were ¡°harsh¡±. Nor did I ask. With some of what I know now, I do not think I want to. First notices the sudden downturn in her mood and becomes worried.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn''t mean to learn so much. I will stop. Please don¡¯t be sad.¡± First pleads.


    ¡°No. You didn¡¯t do anything wrong. I was just remembering some unpleasant things from my past. You should never stop trying to learn.¡± Second reassures her. Then is a little flustered as First wraps her in a hug.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay now. There are no sad things here.¡± First croons.


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m alright now.¡± Second says with a slight smile. ¡°But back to the topic at hand, there is another thing that has changed, but I am not sure how to best explain it.¡± She is silent for a little while as First looks at her quizzically. ¡°It¡¯s like I can feel something different that I can¡¯t quite identify. I think the best why I can describe it is some kind of strange energy that I have never felt before.¡± So it seems she has noticed her own mana, but she does not know what it is. She does know what mana is in general and is familiar enough with it to be able to differentiate between good and bad mana. So it seems strange to me that she can not identify her own.


    Are you aware that your body has been producing mana? Second looks shocked at my question.


    ¡°What? How is that possible? A person¡¯s body can¡¯t just suddenly start producing mana, can it?¡± Second starts twisting around inspecting her body as though she expects to be able to see the mana. First is looking confused.


    I still do not know much about mana or how it works so I do not know what is or is not possible. It could have been just another change triggered by you coming here.


    ¡°But I have never heard of any imp being capable of using magic.¡± First¡¯s face lights up when she says that.


    ¡°You can use magic?! Show me! Show me!¡± First implores.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t. Even if I have mana, that does not mean I know how to use it.¡± Second explains, much to First¡¯s disappointment.


    But I think you have been using it for healing. Second looks confused for a moment. Then realization dawns on her and she looks towards Seventh.


    ¡°I did think she was recovering unnaturally fast. Did I really heal her with magic?¡± She looks like she is having a little trouble processing this. Is it really so unusual? I have yet to encounter any other magic users so I do not have any other point of reference. If Second does not know the answers, there is currently no one else I can ask.


    ¡°Magic healing. That¡¯s amazing!¡± First hugs her again. This time lifting her off the ground and squeezing tightly enough to make her uncomfortable.


    ¡°Too tight.¡¯ She wheezes.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± First apologizes sheepishly, gently putting her back down.


    That is not the only thing you have done though. You also left cracks in the wall in the hallway. A horrified look crosses her face and she drops to her knees.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to break anything. Please don¡¯t punish me. I-I¡¯ll fix it. Then there will be no problem.¡± She begs. She sounds actually afraid. I once again find myself wondering what she must have gone through to produce such an extreme reaction.


    It is okay. I am not angry. There is nothing to worry about. Please calm down. I know it was an accident. No one is going to punish you. First is looking worried again.


    ¡°Thank you. And I¡¯m sorry. I know you¡¯re not like my old master. But when you have been treated a certain way for a long time...It can be hard to move on. I will try to be more careful though.¡± She is calmer now, but still looks distressed.


    I think we should wrap this up unless there are any other changes you have noticed?


    Second shakes her head somberly. First looks upset now and reaches out to take Second¡¯s hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. Second looks to her and gives her a small smile. First¡¯s empathy for others is admirable. It is one of her most endearing qualities. But I worry for how it hurts her sometimes. I also feel bad for hurting Second yet again with my questions. I reach only to Second this time.


    I am sorry. It seem every time time I have questions I end up upsetting you. It is not my intention to cause you such distress.


    ¡°It is not your fault. You are not responsible for the things that happened to me in my past. I¡¯m glad I can be of help to you. Please do not be afraid to ask anything you need of me.¡±


    Thank you. You have given me a lot to think about today. And I am sure I will have more questions for you in the future.

 11. A Reason to Celebrate

    Expansion is progressing steadily. My imps are more often bringing back small animals alive before eating them which adds to my mana. I decided not to tell Second that her mere presence further increases my mana regeneration. I fear that if I did tell her there is a chance that she would feel it is her duty to stay by me at all times so I could benefit from her mana. I do not want to keep her or any others confined, even if it self-imposed, solely for my own benefit.


    After learning about her mana and potential for healing magic Second started trying to figure out how to use that power intentionally. She did have some success. She still could not heal Seventh all at once, but was able to further accelerate her recovery. She was fully healed within a week, though with some scarring remaining. I still have not made any progress with healing unfortunately.


    But it does seem to be getting easier to expand. I can claim a larger area now with the same amount of mana. Like I am getting better at it; more efficient with mana perhaps. I was able to claim the second bedroom and the bathroom of the new room in the same amount of time it took me to claim the first bedroom.


    The new area is going to need to be cleaned. Perhaps I can convince First to allow the others to borrow her brooms.


    I would like the room on the left to be cleaned. Would you allow the others to use your brooms to help with that? I ask her. She looks towards the others suspiciously.


    ¡°None of them are going to be broken are they?¡±...She is still not over that.


    There will be no need for any broom to be broken. They are just going to be used for sweeping. She still seems unsure. The only other option is for you to do all the sweeping yourself. Her face scrunches up at that.


    ¡°Fine, they can borrow. But if any of them break my brooms. I will make them regret it.¡± She actually seems serious about that threat. I suppose that is not too surprising. They are all quite protective of their personal collections.


    Thank you. I do appreciate your help. I then reach out to all of them.


    Everyone, I would like your assistance please in cleaning the new room to prepare for new arrivals in the future. If you gather in the main room you will each receive a broom. Some are less enthusiastic than others about being tasked with cleaning, but they obey without too much complaining. When they are assembled First hands each of them a broom.


    ¡°These are my brooms. I¡¯m letting you borrow them. If you break them, I will break you.¡± She threatens, glaring at them. All except Second looking nervous under her gaze. Her glare lingers on Fourth longer than the others. I ask Second to keep them organized and on task as best she can.


    ¡°I will try but can¡¯t promise it.¡± She says.


    They did a reasonable job cleaning and tidying the room and Second even managed to get them to clean the next room beyond that. I appreciate her initiative as well as the general effort of all my imps and I make sure to let them know. None of the brooms were damaged so First did not have to damage anyone else in turn. I do not know how far she would really go to avenge one of her brooms, but I doubt she actually would have hurt anyone. At least not seriously anyway.


    After another month I have claimed almost the entirety of the new room. I think I need a better way of referring to my rooms to make it easier to distinguish between them in conversation. Especially if I am going to continue claiming more. If this is a hotel, then there should be numbers on the doors. But my bubble of vision in the hallways does not extend high enough to be able to see them. But the doors open inward which would bring them into my field of vision. I could ask one of the imps to open them for me. First does not look to be busy right now.


    I need you to do something for me. Can you open the door to the hallway please. Always eager to be helpful she does not hesitate to fling the door open. I can see the number five plastered on it. Excellent. Now please do the same for the room on the left. She steps into the hallway looking confused.


    ¡°Okay. But why am I doing this?¡± She queries.


    I want to see the numbers on the doors, but I can not see them when the doors are closed.


    ¡°The next one is three.¡± She states without hesitation. So if this is Room 5 and the room to the left is Room 3, then beyond that is Room 1 and Room 7 is to the right. The rooms across the hall must be the even numbers.


    ...You can read the numbers?


    ¡°Yes. I learned from the extending tape...thing.¡± She states confidently.


    I actually forgot about that. I was extremely impressed when you figured that out so quickly. And it is called a tape measure.


    ¡°Of course, because I¡¯m a genius.¡± She brags quite smugly. I do not know if I would call her a genius, but her intelligence certainly should not be underestimated.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Have you taught anyone else to read the numbers?


    ¡°No. Should I?¡± She asks.


    I think it is worth trying. If numbers can still be found among the ruins outside then it may be useful to be able to recognize them at some point.


    ¡°Okay, I will start now.¡± With a look of determination she gathers the others around, tape measure in hand, to teach them to read numbers.


    I did not mean that she had to do it right now, but I guess this is fine. I am sure some of them already at least understand the concept of numbers. So for them it will simply be a matter of memorizing these symbols to represent them. Some of them are not interested in learning, but First does not take no for an answer. If Second is the leader of this group, First is definitely next in the hierarchy, so they all listen to her eventually. Whether they want to or not.


    <hr>


    As the days go by, Fourth is going out less. Or rather, she still goes out almost every day, but the amount of time she spends outside is lessening. But it is easy to see why. From the noticeable swelling of her abdomen it is clear that she is pregnant. When it initially became obvious everyone was excited. Third looked some combination of proud and smug. First looked so happy she might explode. She seems even more excited than Fourth. She has been doting over Fourth almost constantly. She would probably even sleep in the same room if Third was not against it.


    Congratulations on your pregnancy. You seem happy. I say to Fourth. She is currently in her room. Third is out at the moment, but First is still here and comes in to check on her frequently.


    ¡°Thank you. I am happy. I didn¡¯t think could have such a good place. It¡¯s safe here. Never hungry anymore. Have good pack. Have good mate. This is good place for children. Thank you for bring me here.¡± She replies.


    There are a few things I am curious about in regards to imp pregnancy. How many offspring do imps usually give birth to?


    ¡°One or two. Two is more common.¡± She says. One hand gently caressing her abdomen.


    Is there ever more than two?


    ¡°Sometimes. But is rare. Two is enough I think. More would be hard.¡±


    How long is gestation?


    ¡°Ges-tay-shun.¡± She repeats slowly. ¡°Don¡¯t know that word.¡±


    It means how long it takes for children to be born.


    ¡°I not really sure. Maybe half a year. This is my first time.¡±


    Are you nervous?


    ¡°I am bit nervous. But it¡¯s okay. Have lots of help.¡± It does seem like all the others have been going out of their way to be extra helpful. More than I think is probably necessary at her current stage. She is not so far along that she can not do things for herself yet. But Fourth does not seem to mind so I am not going to tell them to stop. Third does seem to be getting a little annoyed though. Perhaps because he is now getting less time alone with his mate.


    Everyone does seem quite excited about your pregnancy. It is at that moment that First comes in to check on Fourth again and ask if she needs anything. One more so than the others. Is it normal for everyone to be so eager?


    ¡°Is normal yes. Whole pack helps take care of children. So everyone gets excited. Sometimes get a little too excited.¡± She says, smirking at First.


    ¡°Can¡¯t be too excited. This is the most exciting thing. Even more special because it is your first time and these the first impies to be born here. Everyone else not excited enough.¡± First retorts. This is the first time I have heard the word ''impies''. Though given the context the meaning seems pretty clear.


    So impies is the normal term for imp children?


    ¡°Only when very little. After about two years they no longer impies. They just called children then.¡± First explains. ¡°But impies so cute. Everyone loves them. I can¡¯t wait to see them.¡±


    ¡°If you so excited for impies you could have your own. There are two other males I¡¯m sure be happy to be your mate.¡± Fourth suggests with a salacious grin. First pauses, actually seeming to consider the suggestion.


    ¡°Not right now. But maybe later. I¡¯ll think about it.¡± She definitely seems interested in the idea. Maybe there will be even more impies in the future if one of the males can manage to woo her. Fifth has been trying for a while now without success. But it might become easier for him if First decides that a mate is something she actively desires. I can sense that Third has returned and he soon enters the room carrying a bucket containing a few small lizards and a mouse-like rodent. His face sours when he sees First.


    ¡°You go now. She¡¯s my mate. I take care of her.¡± First looks hurt at the curt dismissal. Fourth does not let it slide though.


    ¡°Not need to be mean. She just want to help.¡± She scolds him. He sighs and looks towards First.


    ¡°Sorry. Thank you for helping.¡± First smiles and leaves the room. I follow quickly behind her, leaving the expectant parents alone.


    I can not deny my own anticipation for the impies to be born. Though it is mostly due to curiosity. I would like to learn more about imps and their life cycle. But I am also curious about how children would be affected by me. All of my imps are improving both mentally and physically due to their connection to me. But what would happen to a child that is connected to me from birth? I suspect they would experience much more potent changes than their parents as it would be occurring while their body is still developing.


    That is assuming, of course, that they would actually have the same connection to me as their parents. As I understand it the connection to my imps was forged when I summoned them. So it is possible that children born here will not actually be connected to me at all since I did not summon them. How should I respond if that is the case? Should I try to find some other way to forge that connection? Is it even possible to create a connection to a creature that already exists here that was not summoned? Or would it perhaps be better to let them grow up naturally without my influence? Is it right to force such an influence on a child, even if it is objectively beneficial? Well I am sure the parents will insist on it if it is possible. There is no point in pondering these ¡°what ifs¡± at the moment. I will not know anything for sure until the children are born. There is little to be gained from worrying about it now.


    <hr>


    I am almost finished claiming Room 3 now. Though as I walk down the hallway I wonder if an easier means of moving between rooms could be created. Having to traverse the hallway to get between the rooms feels inconvenient. The easiest method I can think of for achieving that would be to break a hole through the wall. Not through the bedrooms of course. The imps who sleep in them would not appreciate that. But the bathrooms are not currently being used for anything except storage space. So I ask Second to organize the others to get it done. I am learning to delegate.


    The walls, as it turns out, are not that strong. It does not take long for them to make a hole big enough for imps to fit through easily. Except for Fourth. In her current state she might be able to squeeze through. But not for much longer.


    Once the hole is finished Fifth, Sixth and Seventh leave to go scavenging. They return much sooner than expected though and I wonder if they even had enough time to leave the building. But I can see that they are out of breath and afraid.


    What happened? Did you see something out there?


    ¡°Four things. They were big. They see us as we go outside. They move closer so we ran.¡± Fifth explained, still trying to catch his breath.


    Did they follow you?

 12. Visitors

    The three look unsure.


    This is very important. I need to know if you were followed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t know. Didn¡¯t look back. Just ran.¡± Fifth says.


    Even if they did follow the imps into the building, they wouldn¡¯t know what floor we are on unless they were following right behind. But the imps would have known if that were the case. So if they are determined to find the imps, they will have to search the whole building floor by floor. That will take a while so we have some time to prepare. But I need to know more about them to know how to respond appropriately.


    What did they look like? Tell me everything you can about them.


    ¡°They tall like vukra, but not vukra. They have pale skin and no horns or tail. They wearing clothes and have weapons.¡± He reports. If they are wearing clothes then that suggests they are intelligent. We are not dealing with animals. I have a suspicion of what they might be. But I can not be certain until I see them.


    What kind of weapons?


    ¡°One has big shield. One has sword. Other has curved stick he holds in the middle. Last one has no weapons.¡± He explains.


    ¡°Curved stick is bow.¡± Seventh chimes in.


    Quite a variety it seems. I am sure the one without a weapon probably still has something even if it could not be seen. And the one with the shield likely also has some kind of weapon to go with it.


    Is there anything else noteworthy about them that you can remember?


    ¡°They all had backpacks.¡± Sixth adds.


    Are they scavengers looking for supplies? Explorers perhaps or maybe just travelers. But how best to deal with this? They might not be hostile. But I can not assume they will be peaceful either. We should be prepared for a fight, but not trying to start one. The first thing to do is let everyone know what is happening.


    We might have some visitors soon. Their capabilities are unknown as are their intentions. Be ready, but do not attack them without provocation. I would prefer to avoid a fight if possible.


    I need to know if they are actually coming though. Which means I need someone to go out and check. Preferably without being seen themselves. The stairs would be the best place for that. If they are searching the building, that is the only way up. If I have someone waiting in the stairway they will be able to hear anyone coming up long before they are close enough to be seen. I will send First.


    I want you to go scout the stairs. You do not need to go down looking for them. Just listen and come back if you hear them. With her bone spear in hand, she is out the door and beyond my perception in mere moments. I once again marvel at how fast she is capable of moving. Several minutes later and she is back.


    ¡°I hear them. Still a few floors down. But they are coming.¡± She reports.


    It will probably still be a while before they get here, but they are coming. So everyone get ready. I say to everyone and they are soon all gathered together with their weapons in front of my chair. All watching the door. I think I should have Fourth stay out of this. It is too dangerous for her to be fighting in her condition and I tell her as much.


    ¡°No. This is our home. I will defend.¡± She protests, but the others all agree with me.


    ¡°Too dangerous. Don¡¯t want you to get hurt. Too much risk for children. Please wait in room.¡± Third implores. That seems to convince her. Though she is clearly not happy about it. She allows him to lead her back to their bedroom.


    I decide to wait in the hallway so I can see them as soon as they enter my perception. The waiting is tense, but after almost an hour they finally arrive on our floor. The first one I see is the one with the shield as he slowly opens the door to Room 3. Though I can not see his whole body since my perception in the hallway does not reach to the ceiling. I warn my imps of their arrival. It is only once he enters the room that I can see him properly. He also carries a spear. I wonder how my imps missed that, but they may have been too focused on the shield. It is quite large. A circular shield that is bigger than my imps. Mostly made of wood but with metal around the outside. He enters with his shield raised, on alert for danger. The rest follow in after him. They are searching each room together as a group instead of splitting up to cover more ground. That is probably the smart thing to do when they do not know what might be living here.


    ¡°-were people here, don¡¯t you think we would have found them already?¡± The second one is saying as he enters. This is the one with the ¡°sword¡±. More of a machete really. He is followed by the one with the bow and finally the unarmed one, the only female of the group.


    My suspicions were correct. These are humans. And they are huge. I knew humans would be bigger than my imps from seeing their bones, but even that did not prepare me for just how big they would really be. Even the smallest of them is at least twice the height of First. As far as I can tell, these humans are young adults, perhaps even teenagers.


    ¡°If they¡¯re children then they¡¯re probably hiding.¡± The female says. Is that why they came? Did they see my imps from a distance and think they were human children? ¡°Wait, do you guys feel that?¡± She asks, frowning slightly. They all stop moving and tense up. Machete guy turns back to her.


    ¡°Feel what?¡± He ask nervously.


    ¡°The mana is different in here.¡± Se says, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.


    ¡°Different how? Is it dangerous?¡± Shield guy asks.


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely stronger here than it was out in the hallway. But I don¡¯t think it is enough to be dangerous. We shouldn¡¯t be at risk of mana poisoning.¡± So she can sense the mana here, but the others can not. Is she just more sensitive to mana than they are? And what is mana poisoning?


    I am then struck with a startling realization. These humans are not speaking the same language as my imps. Yet I can understand them just as easily. Though, now that I think about it, I realize that while I have always spoken to my imps in their language, my own internal thoughts have been shifting between the imp¡¯s language and these human¡¯s language quite fluidly. Both languages use the same basic phonetic sounds so maybe that is why I did not notice. How am I able to understand the human¡¯s language when this is the first time I have heard it. Though I suppose I could ask the same question about the imp¡¯s language. I knew their language from the start as well. What an intriguing conundrum.


    ¡°Should we search for the source of this stronger mana? It could be something valuable.¡± Bow guy speaks up for the first time.


    ¡°It may be worth looking into. But stay on alert. Dangerous animals can also be attracted to areas of higher mana density.¡± Shield guy declares. He seems to be the most vigilant of the group. Maybe that is why he chooses to use a shield.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What if this is a dungeon? I¡¯ve never been in one, but I have heard they are usually identified by areas of higher mana density than their surrounding.¡± The female states.


    What is a dungeon? A place to keep prisoners. But what do prisoners have to do with mana density? No. From the context, it seems like it means something different here.


    ¡°If this is a dungeon then it must be pretty small. It doesn''t even cover this entire floor and I don¡¯t see any dungeon crystals around.¡± Bow guy replies. Dungeon crystals? Now I am even more confused.


    ¡°If we have wandered into a dungeon, then we need to be extremely careful with how we proceed. Entering a dungeon always extracts a cost and they usually have monsters or demons defending them.¡± Shield guy warns. They slowly start searching the room. Not that there is much to search or anything to find.


    ¡°Is it just me or do the rooms on this floor seem cleaner?¡± Machete guy asks


    ¡°Now that you mention it, yeah. It¡¯s much less dusty in here.¡± The female replies, running her hand along the table top and then rubbing her fingers together. ¡°It¡¯s looks like the place has actually been cleaned.¡±


    ¡°If the rooms are being cleaned, doesn¡¯t that mean that people actually live here?¡± Bow guy adds, looking more relaxed now.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. Even if there are people here, there is no guarantee that they will be friendly.¡± Shield guy commands gruffly.


    An excellent observation. I like this guy. He is smart and cautious. Good traits to have. But that also makes him dangerous. I might even think he is the most dangerous of the group except that I still do not know what the female can do. The fact that she seems to have come here unarmed makes me more nervous than if she had actually brought a weapon. She can also sense mana. Who knows what else she might be capable of.


    ¡°Hey Jenna come check this out.¡± Machete guy calls out from the bathroom door. The female, apparently named Jenna, walks over to the bathroom and Machete guy points to the hole in the wall. ¡°Think you can fit through there?¡± She looks at the hole hesitantly.


    ¡°Hmm, I dunno. I might be able to squeeze through. Wouldn¡¯t want to try it though. Not without knowing what¡¯s on the other side. Besides, we¡¯re checking that room next anyway so it¡¯ll be easier to just use the door,¡± she says and they both move on to check out one of the bedrooms.


    Finding nothing of Interest in Room 3 the group heads back to the hallway. As each one steps out of my perception I gain a sudden burst of mana. Not an insignificant amount either. Only Jenna sticks close enough to the wall to not leave my bubble of perception. Though she does step out once and then back in immediately after and I gained more mana. She then stops and crouches next to the wall. I hear a muffled sound that I assume is one of the others speaking.


    ¡°The unusually strong mana extends a little into the hallway, but it does not reach the ceiling. It only comes out about this far and about this high.¡± She remarks. Indicating quite accurately with her hands the limit of my perception in the hallway. Her precision is both impressive and a little alarming. She stands up and they continue towards the door.


    They are at the door now. But do not attack until I tell you to. I warn my imps.


    They quickly position themselves between my chair and the door. Nothing happens for a while and if it was not for Jenna still standing within my perception, I would have wondered if they had left. I can hear the faint sounds of a muffled conversation. Are they discussing strategy? Or maybe they are discussing leaving. That is probably wishful thinking.


    They must have come to a decision though because Shield guy steps up to the door and enters the room with his shield raised. The others follow quickly behind him. They look a little more worn out than they did before. In front of them they see my six imps, with First at the front of the pack, glaring at them with weapons raised.


    ¡°I think these are the ¡°children¡± we were looking for. They even have friends.¡± Machete guy says with a nervous chuckle. For a while the two groups just stare at each other. Though Machete guy¡¯s gaze seems intently focused on First more than anything else.


    ¡°Is that the dungeon core?¡± Bow guy asks, gesturing towards my chair. The motion eliciting an aggressive hiss from First, causing him to flinch.


    ¡°Looks like it. But I don¡¯t think we¡¯re gonna get close to it without getting past them.¡± Jenna replies. Shield guy takes a step forward triggering various hisses and growls from my imps and First similarly taking a step forward.


    ¡°Do you think we can take them?¡± Bow guy whispers. Looking more nervous now. Shield guys steps back. First does not.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth the risk to try. We don¡¯t know that this is all of them or what their capabilities are. They¡¯ve not attacked us yet, but they clearly don¡¯t want us here. We should leave.¡± Shield guy commands and the others do not argue. Jenna is the first out the door followed by the other two. Shield guy backs out slowly. Keeping his shield raised towards my imps the whole time. Smart guy.


    I receive another burst of mana as each of them leaves. Is that what Shield guy meant about dungeons ''extracting a cost''? Does that mean I am a dungeon? They did refer to my orb as a ¡°dungeon core¡±. I actually like the sound of that. ¡®Orb¡¯ accurately describes it¡¯s shape. But ¡®core¡¯ is like a description of it¡¯s function. The heart of my and my dungeon¡¯s existence. I will refer to it as my core from now on and instruct my imps to do the same.


    The mana I got from the humans is nice. I am almost full now. More importantly, this means I can get mana from humans without having to kill them just by having them enter and then leave my domain. That is good. Humans generally do not like it when others of their kind are killed. And they can be extremely aggressive to those they deem enemies. It is better not to earn their ire if I can avoid it. I wonder if it works with other creatures besides humans. I do not gain mana from my imps leaving, but maybe that is because they are connected to me.


    <hr>


    Jenna and her friends hastily descended the stairs. They were all exhausted. Exiting a dungeon¡¯s territory takes a lot of energy out of a person and they had all experienced it twice. Despite their exhaustion, they did not want to stop until they were at the ground floor.


    By the time they finally reached the building¡¯s lobby Jenna could barely stand anymore. Mark and Seth looked just as tired as she was. Not Johnathan though. Despite having gone through the same as everyone else and carrying that huge shield the whole way, he barely looked half as worn out as the the rest of them. How does a person even develop that kind of endurance, Jenna wondered.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take a break here. Make sure to eat something. We need to regain our energy. But make it quick. I don¡¯t want to stay here longer than necessary.¡± Johnathan ordered.


    Jenna sank to the floor gratefully. The others soon followed suit. Seth placed his bow beside him and Mark laid his machete across his lap and they searched their packs for their travel rations. Not the most appetizing of meals, but quick, easy and convenient when exploring the ruins. While Johnathan did drop his spear, he never laid down his shield. Even though it made it harder for him to get into his pack. He never let it go. Jenna wasn¡¯t sure she could remember a time when she had ever seen him without his shield.


    ¡°So, those were demons right?¡± She asked, hoping to lighten the mood with some conversation.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve heard most demons are at least as big as an average human or larger. Those things were less than half our size.¡± Seth replied.


    ¡°Maybe they were demon children?¡± She suggested.


    ¡°That one in the front certainly didn¡¯t look like a child. If you know what I mean.¡± Mark said grinning, while cupping his hands in front of his chest. Jenna gave him a disgusted look.


    ¡°Trust you to notice something like that.¡± She chided.


    ¡°Come on. I can¡¯t be the only one who noticed.¡± He looked imploringly towards Seth and Johnathon. Johnathan just ignored him.


    ¡°Believe it or not, most of us were more focused on their weapons and clearly hostile attitude than ogling the breasts of the tiny red demon.¡± Seth retorted.


    ¡°You can¡¯t deny she was kinda hot.¡± Mark said, a little dejected. Seth gave him a blank look.


    ¡°You¡¯re seriously weird man. Please stop.¡± Seth said, shaking his head in dismay.


    ¡°What are we going to do about the dungeon?¡± Jenna asked. Trying to steer the conversation to a new, less disturbing, topic.


    ¡°We report it. We know where it is, where it¡¯s core is located, it¡¯s approximate size and what kind of creatures defend it. We should be able to get a decent reward with that much information.¡± Johnathan declared.

 13. Defensive Preparation

    I hope I did the right thing. We avoided a fight. Which sounds good in theory. But those humans showed an interest in my core. For what reason, I can not guess. But it is hard to think that it would be anything good. Now they know about us. They may come back with greater numbers. Or maybe they will tell others and who knows how they will respond. But what other options did I have? If my imps had fought they might have won. But I can not imagine that such a victory would come without casualties. If they can all move as fast as First then they surely would be quite formidable. But I do not know the humans capabilities. Bow guy and Machete guy did not seem all that impressive, but Shield guy looked like he had experience in combat. The evidence of some of that experience was clearly visible on his shield. It was definitely marked from past battles, but not enough to compromise it¡¯s integrity.


    The female though, Jenna, is still my biggest concern. Her ability to sense mana was remarkable. But she carried no weapons that I could see. Is that ability a useful enough utility to warrant the others being willing to escort a non-combatant as they explore potentially dangerous places? But even if someone does not know how to fight, it is foolish to travel to such places completely unarmed. They did not seem like fools. So I suspect she had some tricks up her sleeve. With her sensitivity to mana, my first guess would be magic of some kind. I can picture how the others might fight based on the weapons they wield. But my understanding of magic is far too limited to even begin to speculate what she might do.


    But what do I do now? My first thought is to hide my core. It does not seem wise to leave it out in the open like it is now. But where to hide it is the question. I do not think there are many good hiding places in here. Maybe Room 7. That room is locked, so it will be harder for the humans to get into. But a locked door will not stop me when I can walk right through it...But my imps can not. They are the ones who I will need to move my core. I could have them carve another hole through the wall. Through the wall...Maybe I do not even need to go through the door. My mana filaments do not just cover the surface of objects. They spread through the structure of them. So they should be able to go through the wall to the other side. That would prevent leaving a trail in the hallway that mana sensitive people like Jenna could follow right to the door, which would be a clear give away that there is something in there.


    But where to break through? Just making a hole in the wall would be too obvious. But if I were to go through one of the cabinets in the kitchenette the hole would be concealed. I ask First to open one of the cabinet doors and I see a slight obstacle to my plan. There is a shelf in the middle of the cabinet that will make moving through it difficult. Well it does not matter. My imps are going to break a hole through the wall anyway so it should not be too much trouble to break down this shelf as well.


    I inform First of my plan to break through the wall here and she quickly enlists a couple of others to help her. While they work on that, I try to push my mana filaments past the wall into the space on the other side and it works without issue. As I suspected, the room beyond is also mirrored to this one and my filaments emerge into another cabinet. I spread them throughout the cabinet but avoid the shelf in the middle since it is going to be broken soon anyway. I also spread into the adjacent cabinets and then a little beyond them to claim some of the floor space. I do not want to go too far into Room 7 yet. I just need to use it to hide my core, which I will just put in one of the cabinets for now. I do not know how long it will be until more humans show up. There are other things I need to prepare, so I cannot afford to be wasteful with my mana right now.


    Observing my imps work, I am surprised to see them digging at the wall with their claws. They had started by chipping at the wall with knives, but I guess they decided that was not fast enough. They are making faster progress now. Even though the wall does not seem to be made out of especially sturdy material, I still think about how effective those claws must be against flesh. And what of the talons on the feet. What could they do with those, I wonder.


    Once the imps break through they are eager to explore the room that was previously inaccessible to them. They squeeze through the hole one after another. But this hole is a little smaller than the one in the bathroom and Fourth can not fit through it currently, which leaves her disappointed. They could just make the hole a little bigger, but then I have a better idea. It should be possible to unlock the door to Room 7 from the inside, even without the key. I mention that to Third, who chose to stay with Fourth, and he quickly squeezes through the hole. Soon the main door to this room opens and Third strides in. Fourth brightens immediately and they both go to explore Room 7 together.


    If the doors can be unlocked from the inside, then they should be able to be locked as well. That could add another layer of defense to our position. A locked door may not stop a truly determined enemy, but it will at least slow them down. I will tell my imps to keep the doors locked from now on. That will require at least one imp being here at all times to lock and unlock the door when the others go out. But given the situation now I think I would prefer to have at least half of them remain here at any given time so it should not be a problem.


    When I asked First to take my core into Room 7 and hide it in of the cabinets there, none of my imps were happy about it. Apparently they like seeing my core on display. First especially likes to sleep next to it. She can still sleep next to the core. She will just have to move her nest into Room 7 as well. They accept the move eventually when I explain the threat the humans pose. Second is the first to understand and helps convince the others. They also bring in my bones to surround my core with them. By the time they are done my core is now hidden under the bone pile in the cabinet. Even the faint glow that my core emits can barely be seen through all the bones.


    My next concern is with my imps combat experience. Obviously I do not expect any of them to have fought humans before. But if they have ever fought the larger demons, some of that experience may be relevant. I know they are not the same, but for the imps it is still about fighting larger and stronger opponents so some tactics might work similarly for both.


    I ask my imps if any of them have successfully fought against larger demons before. Seventh recoils at the question. I knew it would be a sensitive topic for her, but this is important. Second¡¯s mood has also darkened.


    ¡°I have.¡± Third says. The others look him surprised.


    Can you explain how that went? They all gather around Third and gaze at him expectantly. Everyone is eager to hear this story it seems.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Three vukra who often chased and harassed pack mates. Tried to attack us sometimes, but we run. They too slow to catch us. Eventually they manage to follow us back to our home. We live in sewer tunnels beneath city. They very confident. Arrogant. They think we are weak and helpless and always run. But there were only three. Many of us though. They in our home. We live in tunnels. We know tunnels well. They do not. Makes easy to ambush. This time, they try to run. But they too slow. We catch them.¡± He excitedly tells his tale. They all look incredibly impressed and he swells with pride at their admiration.


    ¡°What you do after catch them.¡± Fifth asks.


    ¡°We eat them. They bother us no more.¡± Third replies with a wicked grin. The others cheer a little. ¡°Elders say was not the first time foolish vukra try to chase us in our home. But was first time I big enough to join hunt.¡± Relying on superior numbers, better knowledge of the terrain, ambush tactics and greater speed. An impressive strategy. Some of which will be useful here.


    I have no way of knowing how many humans will come so numerical superiority will never be a guarantee. But the more imps I can summon, the more likely it will be. The limited amount of area I currently have available and the rather simplistic design of the building limits the advantage I can gain from just knowing it better for now. But ambush tactics are certainly something we can make use of. They are already discussing places to hide to carry out ambushes here. It is good to know that speed is a common trait among imps. It will surely serve them well.


    I think I also need a method to detect incoming guests sooner. It does not leave me much time to react if I do not know they are here until they are literally standing at my door. But I can not just claim the entire hallway. That would be a waste of mana...and opportunity. I gain mana when a human leaves my domain and it seems to take a toll on them as well. I can use that to my advantage. Instead of claiming the entire hallway, I will just run little strips of my mana filaments across the hallway at regular intervals. That way, simply walking down the hallway will result in them entering and exiting my territory multiple times. By the time they reach my door, I will have gained a lot of mana from them and they should be at least a little worn down. Potential enemies will become weaker and I can feed the mana gained into my imps to boost their energy. That should give them a further advantage.


    What more can I do? What additional obstacles can I provide? Barricades. There is no reason why walking down the hallway needs to be easy. There is plenty of broken and unused furniture on this floor that my imps can use to build obstacles, even if all it amounts to is trip hazards. Combined with the exhaustion they will hopefully gain from entering and leaving my domain repeatedly, it should prove quite frustrating for them.


    The only other thing I can think of for now is to have a lookout posted in the stairwell. Hopefully Second can organize appropriate shifts for that. Though it should only be necessary during daylight hours. It seems unlikely to me that humans would risk coming here at night. Unlike my imps, they do not see well in the dark.


    With a plan in mind I expand down the hallway towards the stairs. I try to stick as close to the wall as possible. Only giving myself the minimum amount of space necessary to walk along. When I reach the door to the stairs I spread a strip of mana filament across the doorway. I lay another strip between the stairs and the door to Room 1 and another between Rooms 1 and 3 and the last between Rooms 3 and 5. While I do all that, the imps are building barricades. I can not see most of it, but they did take the tables and some chairs from Rooms 3 and 5. They probably did the same for the other rooms as well. Fourth is not helping with the manual labor at everyone¡¯s insistence. She is not happy about it though. She clearly wants to help too. I am glad she is not being unreasonable about it.


    The imps have also gotten more serious about arming themselves since the humans came. There are enough knives to go around so that everyone who wants one can have at least one. Sixth apparently found something outside to sharpen his hatchet with. It actually looks reasonably sharp now. Third was able to do the same with several of his bones, creating stabbing implements of varying sizes. Second uses a hammer now as her primary weapon, though she still carries a knife with her. Seventh still only uses a knife, but Fifth wields two. Even First willingly sacrificed two brooms, much to everyone¡¯s amazement, to make more wooden spears.


    They are taking safety much more seriously now that they know there are threats out there that will come find them. I actually feel a little sad for them. They thought they were safe here. But now they might have to fight for their survival again. It is time to start summoning more imps. If numerical superiority is something they rely on to win, then I am going to need more than seven.


    When I have the mana I perform the summoning. The new imp is given the customary shirt and hug, but now he is also presented with weapons to choose from. A knife or a wooden spear. He takes the spear. He is soon off for his first expedition to the clothes store. Only Sixth goes with him.


    When it is time for the next summoning something strange happens. It takes more mana than usual. It is not a problem though as I have been keeping some mana in reserve for emergencies. What appears is a female imp crouched down clutching a much smaller imp tightly to her. Obviously that is why it took more mana. I did not know I could summon two at once. I assume they are a mother and her child. I am glad I could bring both of them. It would have been terrible to have separated them like that. But what about the father? Was he left behind alone, wondering where his family has gone? I fear I have done something terrible.


    First almost explodes on the spot. She does not even wait for them to be given clothes before scooping them both into a hug. Resulting in a startled screech from the child. I have not seen her this happy since they all found out Fourth was pregnant. Second pulls her away from them and scolds her quite harshly. First apologizes sheepishly for her inappropriate behavior.


    They give the mother a shirt, but I don¡¯t think they have anything small enough for the child. She is barely half the size of her mother. Seventh gives the girl one of her shirts since she has the most to spare after everything that was brought for her when she was injured.


    The shirt looks as over sized on her as the big shirt does on her mother which elicits a giggle from her. The mother is also given the choice of a knife or a spear. She chooses the knife. The child also wanted a knife and pouted when she did not get one.


    Second volunteers to take them to the clothes store. Maybe I should get my imps to just bring back all of the appropriately sized clothes so they will not have to keep making these trips every time a new one arrives. First is torn between wanting to go with them and wanting to stay behind to take care of Fourth, who she is still doting on despite Third¡¯s continued insistence that it is not necessary. She ultimately decides to stay.


    Everyone''s mood has been lifted thanks to that event. That is until Fifth, whose turn it is to be on lookout in the stairwell, knocks on the door to be let in. He stumbles in when the door is opened for him.


    ¡°More humans are here.¡± He reports. It is time for our second confrontation with humans then. Barely eight days after the first.

 14. No Mercy

    I had hoped I would have more time. I wanted to have more imps so we could have a better chance of victory if we do need to defend ourselves. Second is still out with the two newest imps. But maybe that is for the best. I would not want the child to get caught up in a fight. Hopefully they do not get back before this situation is dealt with. Fourth is in no condition for battle either. Which leaves us with only six capable of fighting if it comes down to that. If we are lucky these humans will not want to fight either. My imps are hiding themselves in preparation to ambush these new invaders. Third and Fourth are in their room. Seventh is in her room. First is in the bathroom. Two of them are hiding in the kitchenette cabinets. One is under the clothes pile. Although it was mostly organized before, he had to mix them all together into a single pile again in order to hide under it effectively.


    I want to check on Fourth, but when I go into their room I am confused that can not see Third anywhere. I know he is in the room. I always know were my imps are when they are within my domain. Yet I do not see him. Then I notice the gouges running up the wall by the door. So I look up and there he is above the door. The claws of his feet and one hand digging into the wall to keep him in place with one of his longer sharpened bones held in his other hand. I did not realize they could climb the walls like that. While I am impressed, they probably should not do it too much as it is quite damaging to the wall.


    I head out to the hallway so I can get a look at the approaching humans. I know I will only be able to catch glimpses of them as they pass through the strips of my domain I have laid across the hallway. But it should be enough to give me an idea of what we are up against.


    Soon the stairwell door opens and the first human enters. He is holding a sword in one hand, an actual sword, not just a machete, and a shield in the other. Though his shield is much smaller than Shield guy¡¯s was. More of a buckler really. Others follow immediately behind. After the first few I am increasingly dismayed with each additional human that crosses the threshold.


    There are ten in total. With a variety of weapons between them. Swords, machetes, axes, daggers and knives. Some have shields, others do not. We are outnumbered. This does not bode well. But there is something more concerning than that. Though I only saw it for a moment, at least one of them has a gun holstered to his side. Even just a few of them having guns could be serious trouble. My imps may be fast, but I do not think they are faster than bullets.


    At least I gain mana as each one enters the hallway and then even more as they pass over the second strip of my domain. But then I do not see them for a while. Much longer than I would expect it should take them to reach the next strip, even with whatever obstacles my imps may have built. But they have not tried to leave yet so they must have stopped for some reason. Most likely they have noticed the drain of leaving a dungeon hit them twice and are trying to figure it out.


    One of the humans crouches down by the wall where I can see him and places his hand on the floor.


    ¡°Stick to the wall as close as you can.¡± He says. I wonder if that man is mana sensitive like Jenna. All ten humans are soon lined up along the wall. They slowly start moving forward and I can see the flaw in my plan. As long as they are even a little bit within my domain it still counts. Having run along one wall of they hallway gives them a way to easily bypass what should have been an effective defensive measure. This is inconvenient, but it is a mistake I will not repeat in the future.


    Their progress is still slowed when they have to move some of the barricades, but only slightly. At one point one of them trips and falls out of my vision, giving me more mana. It is still disappointing that I could not get even more from them.


    They continue past the door to Room 3 without even pausing. I guess they know what they are looking for. And they think they know where to find it. Moving on straight to Room 5 the one at the front tries to open the door only to find it locked. One of the humans further back tries moving around the others to get to the front. But there is not enough room for him to get past the others easily without stepping out of my territory. Eventually he gives up and takes the hit as he disappears from my perception. Soon reappearing by the door with lock picking tools. Irksome, but not entirely unexpected.


    I warn my imps of the impending breach and I sense First move through the hole in the wall into Room 3, then to the door of that room. Is she planning to come around behind them? The door is soon open and the humans stream into the room.


    I can not help but be amused at their confusion. They were obviously expecting to see my core and probably my imps too, but instead they see nothing. Just an empty room.


    ¡°Where is it? It¡¯s supposed to be here!¡± The lead human demands.


    ¡°Are you sure we have the right room?¡± One of the others asks.


    ¡°According to information from the client, this is where the core is supposed to be. Guarded by ¡®miniature demons¡¯.¡± The first human responds.


    ¡°And where did this client get their information?¡±


    ¡°He said he got it from his contact in the DMO.¡±


    DMO? What is that, I wonder. I can only assume it is some kind of human organization. That first human, who seems like he might be the leader if he is the only one who had contact with their ''client'', is starting to look frustrated now.


    ¡°Maybe someone else already took it.¡± One of the others suggested.


    ¡°No. We all felt the effects of the dungeon on the way here. That means the core must still be here somewhere. The way the dungeon has expanded in the hallway isn¡¯t normal and is a clear sign of intelligence. Meaning this dungeon has a controller. They probably moved the core after they were found before.¡± The leader explains.


    A controller? What is that supposed to mean. Nobody controls me. I am the only one in control of this dungeon. Maybe that is what they are referring to? I think I need to learn more about what the humans refer to as dungeons. But I do not currently have a way to communicate with them. But even if I did, I am not sure I would want to communicate with these specific humans unless it was to tell them to leave. They do not seem friendly.


    ¡°Spread out. Find the core. Kill anything that gets in your way.¡± The leader orders. Well that confirms that they are definitely not friendly.


    These humans are enemies. Engage them at will. Do not show mercy. I doubt they will. I tell my imps. I send all of them some of the mana I gained from the humans. I hope the extra little energy boost will help. First is moving down the hallway to the Room 5 door. Waiting for the right time to take action.


    The room is not big and there is not much to see in it so the humans have quickly spread out and are moving towards the doors and a couple of them heading for the cabinets. The only way this could be more perfect is if one of them went to inspect the clothes pile as well.


    The first to act is Third as one of the humans enters his room. He drops down from above the door onto the man''s shoulders. Stabbing his sharpened bone down into the side of the man''s neck and pushing it in deep. The man stumbles back, Third still on his shoulders, blood erupting from his neck as Third rips the bone out. As the man falls Third jumps off his shoulder with a savage grin. The mana I gain when the human dies is extraordinary.


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    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± One of the humans yells before the room erupts into chaos as the other imps attack.


    Fifth and Sixth emerged from their cabinets. Fifth slashing and stabbing at the human who was about to open his. The human pulled away but still suffered a rather deep cut on his forearm before bashing Fifth aside with his shield. Sixth charges at another human nearby and managed to bury his hatchet in the man''s calf, eliciting a pained cry.


    Eighth jumped up from under the clothes pile rushing towards the nearest human and thrusting his spear into the man''s thigh. First charged through the door and managed to stab one man in the lower back with her bone spear.


    Seventh came out of her room and leapt at the nearest human, catching him off guard. She gripped his shoulder with one hand, digging her claws in, while stabbing at his chest with her knife and kicking at him with her feet. Her talons tearing bloody gouges in his abdomen and upper thighs while he screamed. Her ferocity honestly surprises me a little.


    None of the others had managed to score a quick decisive kill like Third had but it was a good start. But now the humans have gotten over their initial shock and they are retaliating. For all the initial attack had injured several humans and killed one, there were still others yet unharmed.


    The man whose thigh had been speared by Eighth wielded a fire axe and he swung it wide enough to catch Eighth in the neck. The first casualty among my imps. Even though he had barely been here more than a day, I was still devastated by the loss. Apparently I even gain mana when my imps die. Not as much as humans, but still a significant amount. It is little consolation compared to what I have lost.


    The leader of the humans dropped his sword and pulled out his gun and pointed it towards Seventh who was still clawing and stabbing at her victim. He fired three shots. One hit the man she was attacking but the other two found their mark, hitting her in the side of her chest. She fell to the floor with a pained screech. She was not dead yet, but she was not going to last long and I still had not figured out a way to heal them so there was nothing I could do to help her.


    Two other men also have guns. One of them is near Third, who is charging at him. He only has time for one shot before Third leaps at him. Third was hit in the chest but it did not stop him as he started stabbing and clawing and biting at the man. But I can see his attacks are slowing down as blood oozes from the hole in his chest. He still manages to kill the man before slumping to the ground himself.


    First turns to the man with the axe and springs towards him, leaving her first victim still alive, but moaning and bleeding on the ground. She vaults onto the couch and launches herself at him. Plunging her spear into his throat. He falls backwards from the force of her impact. Gurgling as he tries to push her of. First pushes her spear deeper, then with a savage twist his body goes limp.


    The man Sixth is fighting slashes down with his sword slicing deep into Sixth¡¯s shoulder. Sixth screeches and stumbles back but before he can recover the sword pierces through his chest.


    Fifth ducks under a swipe from a machete then gets in close to the man before he can get his shield up. Jumping straight up he manages to thrust one of his knives up under the man''s chin burying it in a deep as it will go. As he falls there are several gunshots from another man. One of the shots catches Fifth in the head and he falls lifelessly to the floor.


    First pulls her spear from the throat of the man it is currently lodged in, but the knife comes loose, leaving her with only a bone with some tape on the end. She throws the bone at the nearest human who knocks it away with his sword, but in doing so leaves himself open for First to jump onto him and start biting at his neck and tearing out a large chunk of flesh with her teeth. Without hesitation she rushes towards the next closest human. But there is two still with guns and they are firing at her without restraint. Of course she can not evade the bullets and falls to floor right at the feet of one of them men who quickly steps back.


    I scream in rage and grief and despair and hate and pain. But they can not hear me. Most of imps now lay dead or dying and I can do nothing to help them. Only Fourth remains, still in her room. I only hope she can remain hidden.


    Four humans remain, though one is injured. Their leader is unfortunately one of the survivors. He and the other with a gun are reloading as they expended their clips trying to take down First. Then the leader begins cautiously searching the room again starting with the bathroom. Seeing the hole in the wall he scowls and hastily leaves the room heading for Room 3. Too bad the door is locked and unfortunately for him, his guy who could pick locks is already dead. Not that there is anything to find in there anyway.


    The other man with a gun is checking on the injured guy and trying to administer what first aid he can. He has lost a lot of blood though and it is clear he is going to need some real medical attention.


    The last man is also still searching and I am filled with dread as he heads towards Fourth¡¯s room. As he enters the room he is stabbed in the side of of the neck by Fourth who was hiding by the door with her spear. He stumbles back clutching at his neck. The man administering first aid reacts immediately. Aiming his gun at the wall by the door and firing several times. The wall is obviously not thick enough to stop the bullets and all I can do is watch on in anguish as Fourth¡¯s life is abruptly cut short.


    Their leader comes rushing back into the room, probably because of the gunshots.


    ¡°We need to go.¡± The other man says, pressing a now blood soaked rags against the injured man''s neck.


    ¡°Not without the core.¡± The leader growls back. He looks around for the man who picked the first lock and starts digging through his pockets.


    ¡°No Jack. We need to go now.¡± The other man pleads.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t bring back the core, we don¡¯t get paid.¡± The leader, apparently named Jack, yells back.


    ¡°Six people are already dead. We¡¯re going to lose two more if we don¡¯t leave right now. Is money really more important than their lives? We don¡¯t even know if there are other creatures waiting to ambush us.¡±


    ¡°FUCK!¡± Jack shouts, throwing the lock picking tools against the wall. He crouches down to lift the first of his injured companions from the floor, eliciting a pained groan. I am honestly surprised that Jack has more of a conscience than I thought. The other man picking up the second injured guy, still holding the rags to his neck, trying to slow the bleeding. They head out the door and I rage at my own inability to stop them. I try throwing mana at them, but it accomplishes nothing.


    On their way to the stairwell the man carrying the one with the neck injury stumbles and they both fall out of my field of view. I gain a rush of mana, the kind of mana I get from someone dying. The man reenters my perception, now without his bleeding friend and continues towards the stairs.


    I have failed. I may have survived, but I failed to protect my imps even as they gave their lives to protect me. Impotent, weak, pathetic...useless.


    I wanted to bring the imps here so I could give them a better life. Instead I just brought them here to die. What good am I if I cannot even protect them?

 15. That Which is Lost and That Which is Not

    Mana is not the only thing I gained from all the death that occurred here. With each death I experienced flashes of images, sounds and even smells. Running across a rooftop with other imps. Being in a city full of humans. Stalking vermin in dark alleyways. A party with friends with a cake and many candles. A loving embrace with family. Being viciously beaten by larger demons. Exploring a city in ruins that is being slowly reclaimed by nature. Playing with a dog.


    Are these memories of the deceased? Or at least fragments of memories. Does it even really matter now? I am sure this is something I would normally be curious about, but I just can not bring myself to care. Seeing the bodies of all the imps that I cared for is harrowing to say the least. I am sure I would be crying if I was capable of such a thing.


    My concern now is for Second. I am glad she was not here for this or she would probably be dead along with the others. But what is she going to think when she returns? Apart from the shock of coming back to a room full of corpses. These are her friends. Her pack. Now they are gone.


    She asked me, nearly begged, to bring other imps here so they could be safe. I said that I would, but clearly I cannot keep them safe. Maybe she will believe that she put her faith in the wrong person. I do not think I could disagree if she did feel that way. Maybe she will want to leave. I would not blame her for that.


    I continue to wallow in my misery until Second returns. She bursts through the door with panicked look. She probably saw the corpse still in the hallway. As she inspects the scene I expect her to grieve. Instead her expression becomes one of rage.


    Her mana flares and I can feel it pulsing from her in waves. The intensity is more than I have ever felt from her before and it is growing. The floor is cracking beneath her feet and broken fragments and splinters are starting to levitate around her. The mother imp and her child, who followed in behind her, start backing away looking scared. Under normal circumstances I would likely have been impressed. But right now I am just feeling concerned for her.


    Suddenly her mana returns to normal levels and the floating splinters drop. Her enraged expression fades and there are tears streaming down her face. The mother approaches her slowly and tries to comfort her. The other two imps are also distressed by the scene, but they are new here. They barely had time to even meet the rest of the imps, let alone actually get to know them. But Second has been here since the beginning. They looked up to her. She was their leader. They are dead now because I could not save them.


    She looks around the room until she finds First¡¯s body. Kneeling down, she gently cradles it in her arms sobbing.


    I am sorry I could not protect them. She does not respond.


    For a little while now I have been feeling something strange. It was faint at first but it has been getting stronger. It feels like First is here. But that does not make sense. I see First¡¯s corpse still being held by Second. Yet I can still feel her presence all the same. Just like I can always feel my imp¡¯s presence when they are within my domain. It is centered around the rift, which followed my core into Room 7.


    Does this mean I can bring her back? Is that even possible? Bringing the dead back to life does not seem realistically plausible. But if there is even the slightest chance...I have to try.


    I touch the rift and start pouring my mana into it while focusing on First. Mana flows into the rift faster. More and more, it takes my mana, but I do not care. If this can actually work then I am willing to give everything I have got.


    It has already taken more mana than was needed to originally summon her and it is still taking more. Eventually I run out of mana...and yet more mana continues to flow into the rift. I do not understand what is happening. Where is this extra mana coming from and why am I still conscious?


    Where the extra mana came from does not matter. Because it worked. First appears before me. She looks different. Her skin has changed colour. It has become a pleasing shade of violet. Her hair has turned white. Even her eyes have changed to match the colour of her skin. But despite all these differences, I know it is her.


    She looks around, appearing disorientated. That is not surprising. I expect coming back from the dead would be a jarring experience. She quickly regains her bearings though. Her face takes on an expression of savage fury and she dives for the hole into Room 5.


    Emerging out the other side she suddenly stops. She is looking around seeming quite perplexed. Was she expecting to just jump right back into the fight? Does she not realize it has been over for quite a while now? Does she even know that she died?


    The others in the room are stunned. Second is especially shocked looking between First and the body she still holds in her arms.


    First seems to have come to understand at least some of the situation as she starts bawling and slowly sinks to the floor. Second lays the body down and tentatively approaches First.


    ¡°Is it really you?¡± She asks, lightly touching First¡¯s shoulder. First launches herself at Second, clinging to her tightly while mumbling unintelligibly. ¡°How is this possible?¡±


    I was able to bring her back somehow, but I do not know how. I cannot make much sense of it.


    The mother imp looks frightened. A reasonable reaction. I am quite sure it is not normal for anyone to be able to come back from the dead like that. Even I find it unnerving seeing First alive in the same room as her dead body. Her daughter just looks confused. I do not think she understands the situation at all. That is probably for the best though.


    ¡°Can you bring the others back?¡± Second asks hopefully.


    I do not know. But I intend to try.


    Despite my determination, I fear it will not be possible for the others. Before I brought her back, I could still feel First¡¯s presence hovering near the rift. That is what inspired me to try. I can not feel any of the others. They are completely gone from my perception. Which I suspect means they are truly gone for good. But I do not want to give up hope. Not yet.


    First and Second spend some time just sitting on the floor clinging to each other while crying. I told the mother imp that she can take her child into Room 3 if they would like to get away from all the corpses as no fighting took place in there. They can even choose one of the bedrooms to claim as theirs and get settled in if they want.


    I was a little surprised to see that they actually managed to find clothes for the child. They are still a little big, but they are close enough. If, as I suspect, these are human clothes, then what my imps where must have been designed for human children. But to have clothes small enough to fit this imp child? It is astonishing to me that human children could start off so small.


    When First and Second calm down enough to pick themselves up off the floor I notice something else about First that has changed. She has gotten even taller. Previously the other imps were barely as tall as her shoulders, now they do not even reach that high.


    Second notices as well and looks up at First in awe. She is still tiny compared to the humans, but she towers over the other imps now. Her tail also appears to have gotten longer. It¡¯s length looks to be roughly equal to her height now. I wonder if there is some significance to tail length that I am not aware of or if it is just a random change. Her other body proportions do not seem to have been noticeably altered any further.


    First needs to put on some clothes. Because of course she came back without any. I just hope her old clothes will fit her new size. Surely at least some of them will still fit. She can always get more later if necessary.


    Before I try to bring the others back I need to wait for my mana to regenerate. First¡¯s resurrection took far more mana than summoning her. More mana than my full capacity even, though I am still not sure how that worked. I am not going to try again with anything less than full mana.


    I think I also need to claim more of Room 7 if that is where the rift is going to be from now on. I have barely claimed anything in there beyond the cabinets my core is hiding in. There is only just enough room for First to sleep. The rift is currently directly over her little nest. Or perhaps I will just have them bring my core back into Room 5, at least temporarily. If I can bring the others back, I would like to prioritize that first.


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    When I ask them to retrieve my core from it¡¯s hiding place they seem eager to comply. I guess they really miss having it in a visible location. Though when the cabinet door is opened we are met with an unexpected sight. Crystals have grown around my core. Quite a lot of them in fact. Some even growing over the bones. Most of the crystals are glowing faintly pink. About a third of them are black.


    I can sense mana from the pink crystals but nothing from the black ones. I try touching one of the crystals. It is solid and as soon as I touch it I can feel mana flowing into my core. The crystal darkens and eventually turns black and the mana flow stops. The one I touched was one of the smaller ones so it did not have much mana. But this explains where the extra mana came from when I resurrected First. This of course leads to the question of where the crystals came from. Are these the ''dungeon crystals'' that the first group of humans mentioned?


    During the fight I gained a lot of mana. Far more than I could hold. After that I thought the rest was just dissipating. Maybe it crystallized instead. This is something else I need to investigate, but it is not a priority right now.


    My previous chair was taken into the hallway so Second brings the chair from her room. Instead of waiting for my mana, I could use what is stored in those crystals. But what if it is not enough? I think I need to experiment a little in how the mana is stored and accessed.


    I took the mana out of a crystal before, but can I put it back? I touch the crystal again and try pushing mana into it. It seems to work. The crystal changes from black back to pink. So they are like rechargeable mana storage? That could be useful in the future. But how much does it take to fill my own mana capacity. Taking mana from crystals one at a time until I can not take anymore, it appears I have drained about one quarter of all the crystals. That should still leave me with more than was required for First¡¯s revival.


    While I was doing that First and Second gathered all the imp bodies and lined them up by the couch and covered them with a blanket. They have not moved any of the humans yet. Though I wonder if they would be strong enough to do so. If I can bring the others back I am sure they can manage by working together.


    I let my imps know that I am ready to attempt another revival and they gather around the rift. It is not in the same place that it used to be yet they had no trouble locating it. I guess they must be able to perceive it somehow to find it so easily. Maybe they can sense it the same way I do.


    First and Second look both hopeful and desperate. The mother imp seems curious, but also nervous. The child is just curious. I reach out to the rift and start feeding mana into it, focusing all my thoughts and will on Third and trying to bring him back. If this follows the same pattern as with summoning then this should require less man than First did.


    I start to grow concerned as the mana keeps pouring in, approaching the same amount of mana that it took for First. Then it went beyond that and still the rift continued to take more. When I have given it so much mana that finally I do feel like I am on the verge of losing consciousness, my vision starting to darken, a light appears and starts to take form. Only, it is not the form of an imp. It is much larger and quadrupedal.


    When the light fades, what stands before us is an enormous beast. The imps run in terror. Second directs them to the bathroom. They close the door behind them and then climb through the hole into Room 3. The beast watches them flee but makes no attempt to chase them.


    It just casually looks around the room then moves towards to nearest human corpse and sniffs at it. Then the starts biting and tearing at it¡¯s flesh. That is one way to dispose of the human bodies I suppose, though I doubt this one creature could eat all of them alone.


    The creature¡¯s head looks like that of a wolf, though with a wider muzzle. But it¡¯s body structure and musculature is more reminiscent of a large feline. It¡¯s fur is almost as black as the void and it has a row of large, sharp spines running down the length of it¡¯s back ending just before it¡¯s tail.


    It''s most striking feature though, is it¡¯s eyes. Or lack thereof. For in it¡¯s eye sockets, instead of eyes, I see nothing but flickering orange flames. Can this creature even see like that? Does the fire not hurt it at all? It does not seem to be in pain and it was definitely watching the imps as they fled. So either it can still see or it has some other form of sensory perception.


    The bathroom door opens slightly and I can see First peaking through the crack at the beast. It notices her too and stares at her for a moment, then goes back to chewing on the human.


    The door opens wider and First steps out and slowly approaches it. It does not even react to her approach at first. But when she gets close enough, it turns to her and she freezes. It then approaches her the rest of the way and starts sniffing at her. Only now that First is standing right next to it can I truly appreciate it¡¯s size. This thing is around one and a half times First¡¯s height and more than twice that in length from head to tail. This creature is both remarkable and intimidating. But that does not stop First from giving it a hug. I admire her bravery. It growls quietly, but it¡¯s tail is also wagging slightly. Is that a good sign or not? I really can not tell.


    First heads back to Room 3 and soon returns with the others in tow. They are nervous despite First¡¯s reassurances that it is safe. The child especially looks almost terrified. A reasonable response from one so small. This creature is absurdly large compared to her. It probably looks quite monstrous from her perspective. It sniffs each one of them in turn and even licks the child. After a few moments of stunned silence she giggles and reached up to gently pat it¡¯s nose.


    As wholesome as the scene may be, it does not detract from the fact that I could not bring Third back. I need to discuss with the others how to proceed from here. But I should wait for my mana to regenerate a little bit. It does still cost mana to communicate, even if it not much. I came very close to running out completely while summoning that thing.


    I do not think I can bring the others back. I got this thing when I tried. I could try again, but I expect it will likely lead to a similar result. I say to First and Second.


    ¡°But you brought her back. Why not the others?¡± Second demanded, gesturing at First.


    I do not know. I think the first time was a special case that I still do not fully understand. I do not think I will be able to repeat it. I am sorry. They both look dejected and Second has tears welling up again.


    ¡°So what do we do now?¡± She asks somberly.


    I am not sure. I was hoping to ask your opinion. We could keep bringing more imps here, but is it really worth if I can not keep them safe? Is here really any better than where they are now If we can be attacked like this. Second looks conflicted. But then First interjects.


    ¡°Yes, it is worth it.¡± She insist with absolute certainty. ¡°Things like this can happen to imps no matter where they are. This is still a better place than anywhere else I¡¯ve been. We can be happy here. I believe all imps can be happy here. But we need to improve our defenses. Get better at fighting. It¡¯s up to us to defend our home. It¡¯s not all your responsibility. This is a place worth fighting for. I want to fight for it.¡± That was a much more articulate speech than I would have expected from First. Was her mind also altered from the resurrection? Second is looking at her in amazement. It seems she was also astounded. But it snapped her out of her uncertainty and now she has a look of determination.


    ¡°Having more of those would greatly improve our fighting ability.¡± She states, pointing at the large furred quadruped.


    Do you know what that thing is?


    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely certain. But it looks very similar to a vahxa. A domesticated animal the vukra often use for hunting or just for companionship. They are...very good at hunting.¡± She stops for moment, lost in her own thoughts. She shakes her head slightly then continues. ¡°They are extremely loyal as long as you treat them well and they can also be trained. But they¡¯re not usually so big. The three that my previous master had were only slightly taller than me. The fire in it¡¯s eyes is also quite unusual I think. I¡¯ve never heard of anything like this before.¡± She explains.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen those before. Never knew what they were called so we just called them ¡®biters¡¯. They¡¯re fast like imps, but they¡¯re not good at climbing buildings so that is how we escaped them when they were after us. But I¡¯ve never seen one like this one either.¡± First says.


    It could be that this one was altered by the summoning similarly to how First was changed. I will have to summon more to know for sure though.


    I can summon more, but it will take a while. They take a lot more mana than summoning imps. In the meantime. What should we do with all these bodies? The ''vahxa'' seems content to eat the humans, but there might a few too many for it so we will need to get rid of at least a few. But how do you want to handle the imps?


    ¡°We''ll deal with them.¡± Second says solemnly. Their method of ''dealing with them'' was to call over the others and start eating the bodies.


    What are you doing? I ask. Totally aghast.


    ¡°We eat our fallen friends when we can. When we do, we gain some of their strength. That way they continue to help the pack even after death.¡± First explains morosely. It is going to take me some time to get used to her sudden new level of eloquence


    ¡°Okay for us? Not know them.¡± The mother imp asks.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s okay. Even if you never had the opportunity to get to know them, you''re a part of our pack now. Just as they were. This will benefit us all. It''s not something you should miss out on.¡± Second assures her.


    Are you going to be able to eat all of them? That is quite a lot for just the four of you.


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot, yes. It will take time. But we¡¯ll manage.¡± Second says.


    I find the idea rather gruesome, but if this is their normal method of dealing with their dead I do not think I have a reason to stop them if it helps them deal with their grief. Especially if what they said about ''gaining some of their strength'' is more than just a superstition. I do not know how that would work. But there is still a lot I do not know about imps and their biology so I can not discount the possibility. But I certainly do not have to watch.


    At one point the ''vahxa'' wandered over to investigate what they were eating only for First to gently push it away.


    ¡°No. You go eat the humans. This is only for us.¡± She says.


    I am certainly not over my imps'' death. I do not know if I ever will be. I do not know how to deal with this grief. But having a direction and plan will help distract me.


    We have to keep moving forwards. If we just give up then the same tragedy will simply repeat itself. I will not let that happen...Not again.

 16. Roses are Red. Violets are...Violet.

    I have a lot of things I need to do now:


    Continue spreading throughout this floor.


    Start spreading down the stairs in a similar manner to the hallway, though with a better design so it is not so easily bypassed.


    Learn more about the dungeon crystals and how to create them intentionally. Having more mana storage could definitely be useful.


    Learn more about the destructive aspects of Second¡¯s magic capabilities and find out if I can emulate that. If I could learn to move, or even break, things with mana then I could actively participate in defending our home. It would be a great advantage.


    Summon more ¡®vahxa¡¯ and learn more about them.


    And of course, after all that, bringing more imps here.


    The problem is that everything requires mana so I am still limited by my regeneration. I also need to get rid of the human corpses. But that is a task for my imps as I am not physically capable of moving them myself...at least, not yet.


    But the question is what to do with them. It would be great if I had some way to store them. Then they could be used as food. But that is not an option. I am already concerned about whether the imps will be able to finish their...¡±meal¡± before they begin to rot. They have already had to take a break from eating before they even finished off the first one. It hurts a little to think so dispassionately about my deceased imps; to think of them merely as food for those who still live.


    But what else could I do for them. It is not like I could bury them and mark the graves. What would I even put on a gravestone? Did they even have...names? ...Do my imps have names? Why has this never occurred to me until now? The humans have names. I heard them using them a couple of times. But I never thought about my imps having names. I have just been thinking about them with numbers...And I was concerned about being dispassionate about their corpses. I am ashamed now that I never even thought to ask.


    But in all this time I have never heard my imps using names when speaking to each other. So maybe they do not have any. The best way find out is to ask.


    Do you have a name? I ask First.


    ¡°What? A name? No. Should I?¡± She responds looking a little confused at my sudden question.


    I do not know. Is it normal for imps not to have names?


    ¡°I guess so. Most don¡¯t I think.¡± She says with a shrug. This catches the attention of Second who was nearby


    ¡°Does our master have questions for you? Is it anything I can help with?¡± She asks as she approaches.


    ¡°Master was asking about names.¡± First replies. Second¡¯s insight would be valuable here as well so I bring her into the conversation.


    I wanted to know if any of you have names. I have never asked before, which I feel kind of bad about. But I have never heard any of you referring to each other by name either so I was curious.


    ¡°Oh, I see. Typically imps do not usually have names. Sometimes if an imp accomplishes a suitably impressive feat, others may start referring to them by that achievement. At least the imps of my pack would do that before...I can¡¯t say for sure if imps in other places did the same thing.¡± Second explains.


    ¡°Yes, that happened in my old pack.¡± First exclaims excitedly. ¡°There was one old one the pack called ¡®Biter¡¯. Apparently when he was young he killed a biter by biting it. But that was before I was born so it is only the elders in the pack who remembered it.¡±


    Is something like that not more of a title than a name though? First looks puzzled.


    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± She asks.


    Well a title is usually given as a reward for some kind of accomplishment. Whereas names are usually given as children. I suppose primarily to make identification and communication easier. Are things never confusing with no one having names?


    ¡°Not usually. Imps are very good at understanding each other, even with limited verbal communication. So it is rarely an issue.¡± Second says. I suppose that makes sense considering the rather limited speaking skills of my imps when they first arrive. I wonder if there is a lot more to their communication than just verbal.


    Do you have a name? I ask Second and she frowns.


    ¡°My previous master used to call me ¡®pet¡¯. But I didn¡¯t like that. Do you want me to have a name?¡±


    I do not want to force it on anyone, but I do think it would be better if everyone had a name.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t object to you giving me a name.¡± She states with a smile.


    I do not mind giving you one, but you are welcome to think of one for yourself if you would prefer.


    ¡°No. I would be honoured to receive a name from you.¡± She insists.


    ¡°Me too! But I should be first because I have been here the longest.¡± First declares smugly.


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. I guess I don¡¯t mind you being first.¡± Second says with a small chuckle.


    First rushes over to my core, which is still in Room 5, and sits down looking at it expectantly. Second follows, though not in as much of a rush, clearly amused by First¡¯s excitement.


    I suppose it is up to me to give them names now. First¡¯s most distinctive feature is the colour of her skin, so maybe I could just go with that. It is not particularly imaginative, but it is descriptive.


    How do you feel about ¡®Violet¡¯ as a name? She just stares for a moment before slowly sounding it out.


    ¡°Vi-o-let. Violet. I love it.¡± She exclaims. ¡°I don¡¯t know what a violet is but I like the way it sounds.¡±


    ...She does not know what violet is? Has she not noticed the colour of her skin? Does she not know the word for that colour? Wait...did I use the human word for it by accident. It seems that I did. I probably should have given that a bit more thought. But she seems happy with it so I guess it is fine.


    But what about Second? Now she is looking at my core with the same level of excitement despite her earlier amusement at First. No, Violet now. I cannot name her for her skin colour because it is the same as all the other imps. They all have similar shades of reddish-pink with only a little variation. They would all end up with the same name if I did that. So what else can I come up with?


    Violet is a type of flower in addition to being a colour. Maybe I can go with a flower theme. But what flower should I use for Second? Roses are red, like her, so maybe that.


    What do you think of ¡®Rose¡¯. I say to Second. It is a type of flower. A particularly beautiful flower in fact. The colour of her cheeks darkens a little. It is hard to tell due to her normal skin colour, but I think she is actually blushing.


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    ¡°Thank you Master. It is truly a privilege to be granted such a name.¡± She says meekly. I am glad she seems to like it. ¡°Will you also be deciding on a name for yourself?¡±


    Huh. That is actually a good question. I did say I would think of something for them to call me back when I asked them to stop calling me ¡®master¡¯. But I have not given it much thought since then.


    My core is mostly pink. But that sounds silly as a name. Magenta! That sounds better and it is more or less the same as pink anyway. But maybe I need to try to move away from just naming things after colours. How about...Magentam.


    ...I am not very good at this. At least it does sound kind of impressive. And since ¡®magenta¡¯ also comes from the human language my imps will not yet realize how unimaginative I am at naming things. Both of them are staring now, waiting for my answer.


    From now on you may call me Magentam. So please do not call me ¡®Master¡¯ anymore. Violet lets out an elated squeal in response.


    ¡°As you wish Lord Magentam.¡± Rose says, bowing her head.


    Seriously? ¡®Lord¡¯ Magentam...At least it is better than ¡®Master¡¯. Whatever. She can do as she pleases.


    I was actually thinking about making some kind of memorial for the imps that died. That is what got me thinking about names. But it does not feel right to give them name after they died just so I can have something to put on a memorial. Do you have any suggestions?


    ¡°What¡¯s a memorial?¡± Violet asks.


    ¡°It¡¯s something the larger demons often build as a way to remember their dead. Shrines, monuments or sometimes just a simple stone with a name engraved on it. They can come in many forms. But imps don¡¯t make such things.¡± Rose explained.


    I did assume as much. But I would still like to do it if you would be willing to help me.


    ¡°If you wish it, I won¡¯t object. Perhaps some of the items they each have collected could be displayed as suitable memorials.¡± Rose suggests.


    ¡°Their weapons too. They died fighting. So the weapons they used would be fitting right?¡± Violet adds.


    Those are both excellent suggestions. Thank you. Could you please gather those items for me. I am going to talk to the other two about also giving them names. There is no reason why they should be left out.


    I find them in Room 3. To my utter astonishment, the child is riding on the vahxa as it paces around the room. Seated on it¡¯s neck just in front of the first of it¡¯s dorsal spines while her mother looks on nervously.


    There is something I would like to discuss with you and your daughter if you are not busy. I say to the mother. She jumps in surprise from the sudden contact. That does happen sometimes since they can neither see nor hear me approaching.


    ¡°Not busy. Come down now. Need talk.¡± She calls out to her daughter. The child whines but the vahxa lays down so she can climb of it¡¯s neck. ¡°What need?¡± She asks when her daughter is at her side.


    I wanted to ask you both if you would like to have names. If you do not have them already.


    ¡°Not have. Names important?¡±


    It is not vitally important and I do not intend to force anyone. But I do think it is better for everyone to have names. The other two and I have already chosen names.


    ¡°You name? What name?¡±


    What is my name? I am now called Magentam. You and your daughter are welcome to think of names for yourselves or I can give you names if you would prefer.


    ¡°You give. Choose good name.¡± She says after some thinking.


    You want me to give you good names? I will do my best to think of names that you will find acceptable. It might be easiest to just stick with the flower theme. Who does not like flowers?


    If you will accept them I will give you the name Lily and your daughter the name Calla. These names come from flowers that are both quite pretty, in my opinion. Not that I have ever actually seen them, but I am sure they are.


    ¡°Good names. I thank.¡± Lily says. Her daughter just looks confused.


    Your name will be Calla from now on. It is the name of a very pretty flower so quite fitting for you I think. She tilts her head and looks up at her mother.


    ¡°What name?¡± She asks. Is she asking what her mother¡¯s name is or just what a name is in general?


    A name is what people will call you from now on. You will be called Calla.


    ¡°Calla. Not imp?¡± ...This might be a little difficult to explain.


    You are still an imp. You, your mother and all the others like you are imps. But a name is something that just you are called and nobody else. Your name is Calla.


    ¡°I Calla.¡± she repeats. I am still not sure if she fully grasps the actual concept of a name, but at least she knows hers.


    ¡°Name friend?¡± She asks


    Friend? She points at the vahxa.


    You want me to name it as well? She nods.


    What would be an appropriate name for such a creature? I do not think a flower would be fitting this time. It has black fur. That seems like a good place to start. But I do not want to just name it ''black''. The night sky is black or, at least, I think it is. It is another thing have never actually seen. Yet I am sure that is correct. But just calling it ¡®Night¡¯ feels a bit mundane. I want something a little more majestic.


    Noctis. That means ¡®the night¡¯...I think. But where does such a word come from. A human language? But it is not the normal human language that I know, is it? Do they have more than one? Do I know more than one? I do not think so. But maybe I have fragments of others. No matter, it is a good name. It is majestic, but with a kind of mysterious feeling to it. I like it.


    This creature will now be known as Noctis.


    ¡°Noctis!¡± Calla squeals as she runs towards it and hugs one of it¡¯s front legs. Noctis licks the top of her head and she laughs.


    With the names sorted, I decide to check on Violet and Rose and see what items they have managed to gather to memorialize their fallen friends.


    Third liked to collect bones, but he also made them into weapons that he used in his last fight. So just those seemed fitting. From Fourth came her spear and her blue glass bottle. Her most cherished possession. From Fifth, his knives and a handful of coins from his collection of metal things. Sixth¡¯s weapon was a hatchet and he collected interesting rocks. His favourite ¡®rock¡¯ was actually a brick that he found somewhere. Seventh was a bit of an anomaly among the imps in that she did not collect any more things beyond what was gifted to her when she first arrived, which included the knife she used, so they brought all of her things. Eighth had not been here long enough to even start a collection, so all we have from him is his spear.


    Seeing all these items gathered before me made me feel somewhat disheartened. I ask them to put them in Room 7 on the countertops for now. I do still wish to arrange a proper memorial, but I do not think I am ready for such a grim task right now.

 17. Shifting Priorities.

    I think my first task will be making my way down the stairs. Preferably to the next floor down at least. This will give me earlier warning of incoming threats, which is important now as it is not feasible to maintain a constant lookout with only three adult imps. It will also give more chances for them to be weakened on approach.


    While I wait for enough mana to start on that, I task my imps with removing the humans; after gathering all of their weapons and any other useful items they can from the bodies, of course. Just taking them outside the building should be enough I hope. I know there is a risk that dumping them just outside the entrance will likely attract beasts, but the ground floor has more than one entrance so my imps can just use a different door until they are gone.


    Noctis is still feeding on one of them and has not finished with it yet so it would be foolish to try to take that one away, but the other six still need to go. I am impressed when I see Violet is able to move one of the bodies by herself. It is not easy, but she is able to drag the corpse without assistance. Rose and Lily working together struggle to do the same. Calla tries to help of course, but her contributions are not particularly impactful. I guess Violet¡¯s transformation also enhanced her physical strength quite significantly.


    When the three of them work together they can move the bodies without too much difficulty, all under the watchful gaze of Calla, who has elected to take on a supervisory role...Until she gets bored and wanders off to play with Noctis.


    The imps'' bodies are still a concern though. It turns out my imps are capable of eating far more than I expected, though my expectations may have been a little biased due to how little I have seen them eat previously; they did say they have been eating less than normal since coming here. Between the four of them they manage to fully consume the first one in only half a day. But there is still six more. Even if they can keep up the same pace, it will still take them at least another three days more to finish the rest.


    Are you sure you are going to be able to finish...eating before the meat spoils? I ask Rose.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean.¡± She responds.


    Before the meat rots and becomes inedible.


    ¡°Rotting meat doesn¡¯t taste as good, but it¡¯s hardly inedible. To not eat it just because of that would be wasteful.¡± She retorts.


    Will it not make you sick? Her face takes on the blank expression of someone who feels like they have just been asked a stupid question.


    ¡°No. Why would it?¡± That is a good question actually. Why do I assume it would make them ill? I have obviously never tried it myself. Yet I can not ignore the idea that it carries diseases and bacteria that should be harmful. It is one of those strange things that I just know for some reason.


    What of the larger demons. Do they ever become unwell from eating such things? She looks perplexed as she ponders the question.


    ¡°Now that you mention it. The larger demons don¡¯t eat rotting food usually. They would often throw it away if it got to that point. I always assumed it was just because they were picky eaters. But it makes more sense if it¡¯s something that could actually make them sick.¡±


    So does this mean imps are also carrion feeders then? But this may not be true for other varieties of demons. That seems a little unsavory to me, but I trust them to know what is and what is not safe for them to eat.


    After a day of waiting I feel like I have got enough mana to start working on the stairs. Going through the stairwell door I follow the wall to the left, trying to keep this strip along the wall as thin as possible. I only intend to use about three quarters of the mana I have gathered, but that is enough to reach the edge of the first step leading down.


    The rest of the mana I intend to store in the crystals. I plan to do this everyday from now on. When the crystals have enough mana stored in them I will use it for summoning. While I know it is not a good idea to spread resources too thin, it feels better to do this than to spend everything I have on only one task at a time.


    However when I check on the crystals I am shocked to see that none of them are black. They all turned black when I used the mana within them to summon Noctis and I later confirmed that turning black meant they were completely empty of mana. But now all of them have a dark purple colour. It is dark enough that it could probably be missed with just a casual look. But looking at them as closely as I am now the colour is clearly there.


    I touch one of them and am able to absorb a tiny bit of mana from it. I did not put mana into any of them. Yet they all seem have gained a little bit somehow. If these crystals are capable of regenerating mana on their own, then learning how to create them is suddenly much higher on my priority list. I will put off storing mana for summoning for now until I figure this out.


    But where to start? I know from experience that just releasing mana into my surroundings does not accomplish anything. But maybe drawing from that experience is a good place to start. When I created this body that allows me to move around, I had to hold on to the mana I was releasing and shape it.


    I gather mana in my hands and visualize the shape I want it to take. Nothing big or complex, just a small crystal like the others. I have gathered my mana but it is not taking shape. I am basically holding almost all of the mana I have left in my hands right now, but nothing is happening.


    But this is not like my body which is merely a projection of my consciousness outside my core. I am actually trying to create solid matter here. Maybe I need to condense it? It is worth a try. I slowly bring my hands together focusing on pushing the mana into a smaller space. It is definitely doing something. As I bring my hands closer together I can feel resistance from the mana pushing back. I continue to condense it further and it is actually getting difficult to hold it. But it is still not crystallizing. I am missing something.


    I need to think of something quickly. It is getting harder to maintain this pressure with each passing moment and I am concerned about what could happen if I were to let it go at this stage. Maybe it needs a solid surface to grow on. Natural crystals certainly do not grown out of thin air.


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    I carefully move to place this condensed mana on the shelf inside the cabinet slightly separate from where the other crystals are. Once the mana is close enough to touch the mana filaments running through the shelf all the pressure and resistance I was feeling immediately disappears as the mana I was holding solidifies and I see a small glowing pink crystal has grown.


    I am glad that worked. I do not know how much longer I could have held onto that. Perhaps that is something worth investigating. What would happen if I did release a highly pressurized, condensed ball of mana? Would it create an explosion? Is that something I could use as a weapon against attackers? I will add that to my to do list.


    For now I need to inspect my new crystal. It is not very big, but it is not the smallest I have. I drain the mana from it until it turns black and find that it only contains about one fifth of the mana that was used to create it. I should not be surprised that converting mana into a solid form would consume a lot. I essentially just converted energy into matter. I would question if such a thing were even possible if I had not just done it myself. Looking at how many crystals grew from the attack I realize I must have gained an extraordinary amount of mana.


    But now I need to decide how I will allocate my mana going forward. I will use half of my mana each day to experiment with growing new crystals and the other half I will use to continue moving down the stairs. I will not store any more in the crystals and instead just let them regenerate their mana naturally. When they have accumulated enough, then I will use that for summoning.


    <hr>


    Something about my connection to Violet has changed since her resurrection. I think it has gotten stronger. Usually when an imp leaves my domain I lose all contact with them. I can not speak to them or sense their presence in any way. They are just completely gone from my perception. But when Violet leaves now I can still feel her presence. While I can not pinpoint her exact location, I can tell her general direction and distance relative to my core. It is an unusual sensation. Like my senses are extending beyond my border, but only in a very narrow and specific way.


    I can even talk to her when she is out now by reaching out to her through that connection. It takes more mana and requires me to maintain the link in order to hear her reply, which slowly drains mana as long as it is active. But this is still an important development. It means I can contact her and tell her to return if something happens while she is out.


    She is currently at the clothes store with Rose. As I had suspected, some of her clothes no longer fit her, she was particularly devastated that her pink fuzzy onesie is too small now. Suddenly I feel something strange. The connection between Violet and I starts vibrating...sort of. No, it is not exactly vibration, but it definitely feels unusual. I concentrate on the feeling and suddenly I can hear her voice and can feel the slight drain on my mana.


    ¡®Magentam, I found a bug!¡¯ She sounds very excited. She does not say anymore, but I get the feeling that she wants me to ask about it.


    ...Okay, what kind of bug is it?


    ¡®It¡¯s round and red and it has black spots.¡¯ That sounds like she might have found a ladybug. ¡®It¡¯s almost as big as my hand.¡¯ ...maybe not a ladybug then. There is silence for a few moments and I think she is finished with her report. ¡®It tastes good.¡¯ She follows up.


    Excellent. you can tell me all about it when you get back. When she does not say anything more for a few seconds I assume she is done and let the link fade.


    So she is able to reach out along the connection as well. This is an even more valuable discovery than I initially thought. She can instantly report to me any interesting, important or potentially dangerous things that she finds when she is outside. Preferably more important things than just tasty bugs.


    When she came back she did, in fact, tell me all about it. Apparently it was not easy to catch, mostly due to it¡¯s ability to fly. But she persevered, much to the exasperation of Rose, and eventually succeeded. She also managed to find a new onesie, just as pink and just as fuzzy as the first one.


    Over the next few days I continue to move down the stairs. First going across the top step. Then moving down four steps on the right side before going across that step. After moving down another four steps, on the left side this time, I am about to go across this step to the other side when I stop.


    I should not make a consistent pattern. Consistency is predictable and easy to figure out. If invaders figure out the pattern then it would be easy for them follow the mana filaments back and forth all the way up. It would still slow them down, but what was intended to be an actual obstacle would instead become little more than a nuisance. I need to be inconsistent. I move down one more step before crossing over back to the right side.


    In my continued experiments with the dungeon crystals I have found that I can further increase the size of a crystal by adding more condensed mana to it. But it only works on crystals that are already at their mana capacity. I can also create them in different shapes. Basic shapes are easy, but the difficulty increases in proportion to the complexity of the shape I am trying to create. Not that it requires more mana, just more focus and concentration to get the shape right.


    I am currently trying to make one that is shaped like an imp with a little success. I have managed to make it vaguely imp shaped in that it has two arms, two legs, a little sphere for the head and pointy little spike on the back for the tail. Not bad for only a few days effort, but it still needs some work.


    During that time I also spoke to Rose about the cracks she left in the floor. Her immediate reaction was to desperately apologize, just like last time. I had to reassure her once again that I was not angry, merely curious about how she did it. Though I did ask her to try not to do it again lest she start to damage the structural stability of the floor. She did not know how she did, but assured me she would try to figure it out.


    The imps have consumed most of the bodies now. I expected them to attract bugs or something, but they never came, not even flies. Not only that, the bodies did not appear to visibly deteriorate much. I can not say anything for how they smelled as I do not have a sense of smell. But it still seems quite unusual. The same could not be said for the human body that was left for Noctis. It was attracting bugs, though even that was not as many as expected. But Noctis managed to finish eating the human faster than the imps could finish theirs.


    There is only one imp body remaining now. Violet¡¯s original body. I think they left it for last on purpose. They all seem nervous around it. I can understand that. I still find it slightly disturbing when I see it. Surprisingly Violet herself is the first one to take a bite. I was was not sure about what they told me about gaining strength from eating other imps before. I did not notice any changes in them as they ate the other corpses. But as they eat this last one I am noticing some definite reactions from Violet and Rose.


    It started with Violet. A faint pulsing of energy that I can feel through our connection. It is not strong and I am sure the only reason I can feel it at all is because of how our connection has been strengthened since I brought her back to life. But it was enough to get my attention. Which then allowed me to notice Rose¡¯s mana flaring ever so slightly. It is almost imperceptible. I do not think I even would have noticed if I had not been paying close attention. I can not feel anything from Lily or Calla though. I do not know what these reactions mean or if they really are getting stronger in some way but something is certainly happening to them.


    I feel something coming up the stairs now as they cross over the lowest of the claimed steps. I know what they are without having to see them directly. After two encounters I am rather confident in my ability to identify them based on the way they feel when they enter my domain. So distinctly different from my imps.


    Only four days after their last attack. More humans have come. But only two this time. Curious. What exactly do they expect to accomplish with only two? It takes quite a while for them to cross the next step, but when they do it is only one of them. The second does not follow. After some more waiting the one who crossed the second step goes back over it again in the other direction then they both leave together.


    This is the kind of outcome I wanted. An effective deterrent. They can feel the effect it has on them before they have even managed to find anything. So they make the smart choice to leave and I gain mana without even having to fight. One of them passed through my domain four times. I can only imagine the kind of effect that would have on them. A nice mana boost for me though.


    I am sure they will be back. They will probably bring someone who is mana sensitive next time to guide them. I will spread even further by then. There is much to do.

 18. Mana Dynamics for Beginners

    Calla has grown quite attached to Noctis. Following, or sometimes riding, the beast around more often than not. Her mother was nervous about it at first but calmed down when she saw how gentle Noctis was with the child. She will even often sleep curled up next to Noctis. The first time it happened Lily panicked when she awoke to find her daughter was not in their room. I told her where Calla was and assured that she was safe. Now Noctis usually sleeps in their room as well. Not on the bed though. Lily did not allow that.


    Noctis also seems to enjoy the attention from the imp child. It is almost comical watching the two play together given their incredible size difference. There is not a lot of space for Noctis to move around in the room so they often end up running back and fourth along the hallway. I do enjoy watching them so I am considering claiming the entire hallway so I can observe their antics. Though that will have to wait until I have mana to spare.


    Whenever Noctis wants to go outside, Calla insists on following. Which means Lily also has go as well to supervise. Even though I am certain Noctis would keep Calla safe from any dangers out there. It is not uncommon for Violet to also join them as she enjoys playing with the both of them as well.


    I think I need to check in on Rose. She has been trying to figure out more about magic but has not made much progress so far. She is currently sitting on her bed focusing intently on a shiny metal ring before her. It looks like it could be made of silver, but I am hardly an expert on metals.


    How have you been doing with the magic training? I ask her.


    ¡°It¡¯s been difficult. I¡¯m not really sure where to start.¡± She says, a little dejected.


    What have you been trying?


    ¡°I¡¯m trying use magic to move things. To start with, I¡¯ve been trying to put mana into the objects that I''m trying to move, but I don¡¯t know how.¡±


    What about when you are healing others. Do you not have to push mana into them when you do that?


    ¡°I think so, but this is different. Pushing mana into living things feels natural. It¡¯s almost easy. Inanimate objects aren¡¯t as receptive. Besides that, healing is a slow, gradual process done over the course of a few days rather than all at once.¡±


    Have you tried gathering your mana around an object instead of pushing the mana into it?


    ¡°I did think of that, but it¡¯s hard to feel the mana after it has left my body.¡± There is something I can do that may assist her in getting past these issues since I have not used my mana yet today.


    I have an idea that might help you. I use all of my mana to create a mana crystal on the nightstand by her bed. Even though doing so means I will not be able to do much else for the day. I consider it an investment in Rose¡¯s development. She watches in awe as the crystal grows.


    Take this. Try to feel the mana within it. She reaches out and gently touches the crystal.


    ¡°Is it really okay for me to take it? Aren¡¯t these important?¡± She asks hesitantly.


    They are extremely important. But not nearly as much as you are. I can always make more of them later so using this one to help you learn to better control mana is a more than worthwhile expense. It looks like she is blushing again. It is kind of cute.


    The crystal is a sphere a little smaller than the palm of her hand. She carefully wraps her hands around it and tries to pick it up. There is a little resistance at first, like it is actually attached to the nightstand. But with a faint cracking sound it breaks free of whatever was holding it in place. I guess they do seem to grow out from the mana filaments so it makes sense that it was attached.


    Rose is holding the glowing pink orb in both hands, gazing at in it wonder.


    Can you feel the mana inside that crystal?


    ¡°I think so. It feels similar to when I held your core. But smaller and less potent.¡±


    Excellent. Now try to absorb the mana from that crystal into your body.


    ¡°How do I do that?¡± She ask, looking puzzled.


    I am not entirely sure. I think when I absorb the mana from these crystals it responds to my will. The mana is absorbed into my core simply because I desire it. Try focusing on the desire to absorb the mana I guess.


    Rose closes her eyes and her grip on the crystal tightens. The glow fades and the colour slowly darkens until she is holding a pitch black sphere. When she opens her eyes she looks surprised that it actually worked.


    ¡°I did it.¡± She exclaims, elated by her success.


    You did. That is good. How do you feel?


    ¡°Kind of warm I think. But also refreshed and energized.¡±


    Any discomfort?


    ¡°No. It feels quite pleasant actually.¡± A different reaction than Third had when his body became saturated with mana the first time I tried to heal him. Maybe Rose did not get as much mana out of this as he did at that time. Or she has a higher tolerance for it.


    Good. Now try putting the mana back into the crystal. It should be more receptive than other objects.


    She closes her eyes again and focuses on the crystal. It slowly changes colour as she pours her mana into it. But it is taking her a lot longer to fill it with mana than it took for her to drain it and I can feel a lot of mana just being released into the air instead of into the crystal. When it is finally back to glowing bright pink she is breathing heavily and looked exhausted.


    ¡°That was a lot harder that absorbing the mana. It felt like it took a lot more mana to fill it than what I¡¯d initially gained from it.¡± She says between breaths.


    Yes. The transfer process was quite inefficient. A lot of mana was just being dispersed into the air. She looks quite disappointed at my explanation. I believe this is simply a matter of experience. If you keep practicing I am sure you will eventually be able to do this without wasting any mana. Once you get to that point I want you to try doing the same thing without actually touching it. Hopefully that should give you a better feel for controlling mana outside of your body.


    ¡°Will that really work?¡± She asks hopefully.


    I do not know for certain. I am also quite new to this. So we will figure it out together.


    With a look of determination she starts absorbing the mana from the crystal again.


    Please be careful not to overdo it. I do not want you to hurt yourself by practicing too hard. She just nods and I leave her to her training.


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    I have my own mana experiment I would like to conduct now. Though since I just used most of my mana to help Rose I am going to need to take some from one of the mana crystals. They are all almost at capacity now. I estimate it will only take another day before they are full. Then it will be time for another summoning. I take the mana from one of the smallest crystals. It is not very much, but that is not a problem. For what I am about to try only, using a small amount of mana will be safer.


    There is no one in Room 3 right now as the others are all out at the moment so I will conduct my experiment there. I gather the mana before me and start compressing it. The more I condense it the greater the resistance grows. I continue pushing and compressing it until I have reached my absolute limit and I can not compress it any further. Then I let it go. The resulting shock wave exceeds my expectations. My body disperses for a few seconds. Though it was thankfully not destroyed and quickly reforms. The intensity of the shock wave caused the entire room to shake and cracked the windows. Luckily they did not shatter, for I do not know how I could replace them if they did.


    For such a violent reaction to have occurred, I either underestimated the amount of mana I used or I underestimated the volatility of highly condensed mana. Rose soon rushes into the room in a near panic.


    ¡°Lord Magentam, what is going on!? Did you do something? What was that?¡±


    Sorry for startling you. That was another experiment of mine.


    ¡°Did something go wrong?¡± She asks looking around the room worried.


    No. It actually achieved more or less what I was hoping for. It just turned out to be a little more potent than I anticipated.


    ¡°What exactly were you trying to accomplish?¡± I seem to have piqued her curiosity now.


    I am attempting to devise a way to use mana as a weapon. The process needs some refinement, but the core concept seems to work as I expected.


    ¡°Will you teach it to me?¡± She asks


    Maybe in the future. After I have figured out how to do it a little more safely. I do not want you to accidentally blow yourself up along with your target. Now she is back to looking worried. You are also going to need to vastly improve your mana control before you have any hope of replicating this technique.


    Rose heads back to her room after that leaving me to ponder the results of my test. I need to control the shock wave better. To aim it. Releasing an omnidirectional shock wave is not ideal. If I could focus it in a single direction, not only should that result in greater destructive potential directed at the target for the same amount of mana, it should also hopefully make it safer for the caster. I also need to be very careful about how much mana I put into it unless I want to turn my target into meat paste and risk damaging the building.


    When the others return from their latest excursion I find myself once again observing Calla and Noctis. It is quite relaxing watching those two. Lily grew concerned when she saw the cracks in the window. But I explained what happened and reassured her that everything was okay. Luckily there was not much else in the room that could be damaged. I think I should find a place for these sorts of experiments that is away from where my imps live. I have almost reached the next floor down in the stairwell so soon I can turn my attention back to expanding on this floor. I can choose one of the other rooms to become ¡®The potentially dangerous experiments room¡¯. I soon feel my connection with Violet buzzing.


    ¡®Magentam, it¡¯s not fair. Why did you give Rose a present but not me? I want a glowing pink orb too.¡¯ She demands in a petulant tone.


    I gave that to her to help her learn magic.


    ¡®I want to learn magic too. Please can I have one?¡¯ She pleads.


    Perhaps that is not a bad idea. I have not seen anything to indicate that Violet would have a capacity for magic like Rose. But that does not mean it is impossible. Maybe it is something that can be learned or developed. Even if it does not work she can still keep the mana crystal with her and use the mana to get an energy boost in emergencies. Maybe I should offer the same to the others as well.


    Alright, I will make one for you. But you will have to wait until tomorrow. I need to let my mana regenerate first.


    ¡®Okay. I¡¯ll wait. I¡¯m going to be the best magic imp ever.¡¯ I can feel her excitement through our connection.


    Violet and Rose are both in their room now and when I check on them Rose is explaining to Violet everything she knows about magic, which is not much admittedly, and what she was doing with the mana crystal to try to improve her control. Violet is listening intently to every word. I was surprised when Violet agreed to move into Rose¡¯s room permanently, but I am glad she did. After the attack it was clear to see that neither of them wanted to be alone, especially Rose. While she was reluctant to give up her customary spot next to my core, her desire to comfort Rose and be comforted in return won out.


    The next day I finish my journey to the floor below. I tried to maintain unpredictability by crossing over the stairs at intervals between three and seven steps. But it was not very far down. There was only 22 steps between the floors with a landing in the middle.


    I use the rest of my mana to create a mana crystal for Violet. At first she pouts a little because it is not as big as the one I made for Rose, but she is still happy with it.


    ¡°It¡¯s just like holding the core, but smaller.¡± She says, beaming.


    Rose said something similar. Do you remember her explanation about what to do with it?


    ¡°I remember.¡± She closes her eyes gripping the crystal. It turns black almost immediately. That was unexpected. Rose absorbed the mana pretty slowly, but Violet drained the crystal in an instant. Perhaps she may be able to do more than I expected with this. She opens her eyes and stares down at the black sphere in her hands.


    ¡°Did I do it?¡± She asks, seeming a little unsure.


    Yes, you did. Quite remarkably, in fact. You remember the next step?


    She closes her eyes again. Only this time, nothing happens. The crystal is not changing colour at all. Which means it is not absorbing any mana, but I do not sense any mana being released into the air either. So she can absorb mana into her body easily, but she is not so good at releasing it. I am not sure how to help her with this. Releasing mana has always been easy for me. Even Rose had been radiating mana for quite a while before she started this training. Seeing the crystal is still black Violet becomes confused.


    ¡°Am I doing it wrong?¡±


    I am not sure. Can you feel the mana that you took from the crystal?


    ¡°I think so. I feel like I have more energy now. But I don¡¯t know how to put it back.¡±


    I have an idea. I do not know how well it will work, but I cannot think of anything else right now. You will need to head out to my core. She is quick to comply and is soon standing before my core.


    Now place your hand on it. I am going to try taking mana from you directly. I have never done this before, but I think it should work.


    It is actually quite easy for me to feel the mana inside her when she is touching my core directly. I reach out to that mana and start slowly pulling it into my core. Being very careful not to take too much too quickly.


    Can you feel that? Your mana flowing into my core?


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a little uncomfortable. It feels like my energy is being drained.¡±


    That is likely because that is, technically, exactly what is happening. I want you to focus on that feeling. After draining about half of her mana I stop. Now I am going to give you that mana back. She sighs as the mana flows into her.


    ¡°That feels much better.¡±


    I repeat the process a dozen more times. Then I tell her to try pushing her mana into my core herself and to remember how it felt when I was taking it before. She struggles at first, but after a few minutes of intense concentration a slow trickle of mana starts flowing into my core. The stream is slow, but steady. I can not feel any mana dispersing into the air. So nothing is being wasted. It is just slow. After about half a minute I tell her to stop then return the mana to her.


    Excellent work. Now you just need to practice doing that with the mana crystal. In particular, you need to work on transfer speed. Try slowing down how fast you absorb mana from the crystal, while also speeding up how fast you can put it back. I am sure Rose will be willing to help you if you are still having trouble with it.


    She hurries back to her room, probably excited to tell Rose about her success and start practicing right away.


    Something they both said has given me an idea. Holding the mana crystals felt similar to my core to them. I could make a bigger one. The same size as my core even. It can act as a decoy. Hopefully the humans will not be able to tell the difference. Then if they do manage to make it past all of our defenses, they can be tricked into taking a fake. It would still be unfortunate to lose such a large mana crystal, but better than them taking my core.


    But that will wait until later. For right now, most of my mana crystals are at or near capacity. It is time to use that mana to summon another vahxa.

 19. A Child and Her Hounds

    The first thing I do is inform Noctis of my intentions. I do not know how much of my words she can actually understand, but she ambles over towards the rift, with Calla in tow, so she seems to get the gist of it. When I tell the imps what I am about to do, Calla lets out a squeal of excitement and runs circles around the rift as the other imps gather. She looks like she might explode from happiness.


    Now is actually a good time to continue with an experiment that I started a while ago but left by the wayside and forgot about because it was not as important as other things going on at the time. Can I target a specific sex when summoning a new creature? I know Noctis is female thanks to Violet rather unceremoniously lifting up her tail to check at one point. Noctis did snap at her at the time but was unbothered beyond that.


    If this follows the same pattern as with the imps, then it should not require as much mana as when I summoned Noctis. I have even more mana crystals than I did then so I should have more than enough. I focus on summoning another creature like Noctis, but male this time, as I reach out to the rift. I was correct about the mana cost. As the creature appears I estimate it only took about half as much mana as Noctis did.


    Calla rushes forwards to hug one of its legs, quickly followed by Violet, causing it to growl. Noctis immediately growls back, much more aggressively, and it whimpers and goes silent. Noctis is already establishing a hierarchy, it seems. It is unsurprising that it would submit to her. As big as it is, it does not compare to Noctis. But it is still much larger than how Rose described the vahxa and it still has the fire in its eyes which Rose said vahxa do not.


    This is not a vahxa is it? I ask Rose.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± She says, unsure of herself. ¡°If this is its normal size then it¡¯s far larger than any vahxa I¡¯ve ever seen. Then there¡¯s also the fire. That¡¯s not normal for Vahxa. But it still looks quite similar in most other aspects so I¡¯m really not sure.¡±


    Perhaps this is a subspecies of vahxa. Or maybe vahxa are a subspecies of whatever this is. If they are not vahxa then I need something else to call them. They are vaguely wolf like...very vaguely. And they do seem to come from the same place as the imps and other demons. So perhaps ¡®hellhounds¡¯ would be an appropriate name for them. Not that the demons necessarily come from Hell. I do not know if ¡®Hell¡¯ is even real. From what I know of it, the very idea of such a place sounds rather silly. But I like the name ¡®hellhound¡¯, it has a nice ring to it.


    Violet confirms that it is male, but under Noctis¡¯s gaze he does not react. Two successes is not enough to definitively confirm that I can control the sex of summoned creatures when it is only a fifty-fifty chance anyway, but I do feel more confident about it now. Which is good because I definitely need to get some male imps when I start summoning more.


    Does anyone have an idea for a name for him?


    ¡°I name! I name!¡± Calla exclaims. She still has not let go of his leg.


    Oh? And what name would you suggest?


    ¡°Hmm. Fire!¡± She declares.


    You want to name him Fire? She nods resolutely.


    ¡°Has fire. Name Fire.¡± She declares. This child is almost as good at naming things as I am.


    Are there any objections to the name ¡®Fire¡¯? The other imps remain silent. Then that shall be his name.


    I still have enough mana left that I could probably summon another one right away if I wanted. But I will let Fire settle in first. Though space is going to be a concern again if I summon too many of these hellhounds. They are much larger than my imps after all. I suppose that should be my next focus. Spreading through the entirety of this floor.


    Noctis leads the new hellhound back to Room 3, a beaming Calla skipping along by her side. Room 3 might end up becoming the hellhound¡¯s room. That should be fine. It is as good a room as any other for that purpose. I am sure Calla would be thrilled by it. She already spends most of her time with Noctis and she was quick to latch on to Fire as well. Maybe I should warn her against doing that in the future. Despite how Noctis is with her, I cannot be certain that all hellhounds will be as immediately docile as soon as they appear.


    But watching Calla playing with them now, chasing after them and climbing all over them whenever they stop moving long enough for her to reach them, I think it should be safe as long as Noctis asserts her dominance first. Fire is submissive to Noctis and Noctis is protective of Calla. I do not think Fire will do anything to intentionally harm Calla. But Noctis does snap at him occasionally for being a little too rough.


    Lily might be a little less thrilled about it. She is wringing her hands together as she watches them. She was worried enough when it was just Noctis. But now with two hellhounds, it is understandable that her anxiety would be further compounded watching her young daughter interacting with beasts so much larger than herself. A feeling that is likely to only get worse as I summon more. But I have no doubt Noctis will keep them in line. I am sure Lily knows that too, but it will still take some time for that anxiety to recede.


    I now know how much mana it takes to summon a hellhound, so I select enough mana crystals to cover that cost to keep in reserve and use rest to start on claiming Room 1. I ask Violet to start making a hole in the wall from Room 3 into Room 1; keeping it hidden in the kitchenette cabinets again. Noctis, Fire and Calla are all curious about what she is doing and come over to investigate. Noctis and Fire try sticking their heads in the cabinet along with Violet, getting in her way and interrupting her work.


    ¡°Shoo. Shoo. Both of you. I need to work now. You can look when I¡¯m done.¡± Violet demands, trying to push them away. Calla giggles but tugs on Noctis¡¯s leg until she turns and walks away with Fire following behind.


    When she finishes, Calla spends some time going back and forth through the hole. Noctis and Fire both try sticking their head through in turn, but neither of them can get any further than that. I could ask Violet to make a hole big enough for the hellhounds to go through, but I do not think I want holes that large in my walls. They will just have to stick to using the doors. Calla can open them when riding on Noctis so that is not a problem.


    There is not much else for me to do but let my mana regenerate for now. When it comes time for the imps to sleep, both the hellhounds try to follow Calla into the bedroom, but Lily puts a stop to that. She will allow one in, because she knows Calla prefers to sleep with them, but she does not want more than that. Noctis is not giving up her place by Calla¡¯s side so Fire is left all alone. Poor guy, even if it is only for a few hours, I still feel bad for him. But I will bring in more soon so he will not have to be left alone for long.


    The next day starts off following the same pattern that I have gotten used to now. Using half of the mana from my core to expand more and the other half to make a new mana crystal. I offer this one to Lily so she can try training the same way as Violet and Rose.


    I have given Violet and Rose mana crystals so that they can hopefully figure out some way to use magic. Would you like to try as well?


    ¡°Why need magic?¡± Lily asks, not showing much interest in the idea.


    To help fight against potential threats to our home. Hearing that makes her frown.


    ¡°Not want to fight. Only protect child.¡±


    I understand. I do not like having to fight either. I hope it will not come to that again. But even if it is only to protect your daughter, even a little bit of magic could probably help with that. She considers that for a while, then nods.


    ¡°Okay, I try.¡± She declares.


    I gave the others orbs, but I can make other shapes if there is something else you would prefer.


    ¡°Orb is fine.¡±


    I explain the exercises I had Rose and Violet doing and she is soon absorbing the mana from the crystal, albeit slowly. When Calla sees the pink sphere in her mother¡¯s hands, she of course asks for one as well. Lilly hesitates but says that she does not have another to give. I assure her that I can make another one tomorrow, but she still looks uncertain.


    ¡°Not dangerous?¡± She asks.


    It should not be dangerous. All she can do with a mana crystal is absorb the mana from it and then refill it. But it could be helpful for her in the future if she starts learning now.


    She still has a nervous expression. I have not assuaged all of her worries, but she agrees to it. She focuses back on the crystal to keep absorbing mana from it. Calla watches for a little while but there is not anything exciting to see so she soon gets bored and wanders off again. When she finally drains the crystal of mana, she starts filling it again. She is even slower than Violet, but she was able to do it without any further assistance from me. I let her know to ask Violet or Rose if she has any questions about it.


    I am actually quite curious to see how Calla will handle a mana crystal. More than that, I am curious to see how she will grow in every aspect. She is still a young child. Her development will surely be impacted by her connection with me. More than any adult imp would be. I will just have to wait and see. I can not help but be reminded of Fourth and the impies I never got to see. All the more reason to make sure that never happens again.


    Later that day when Violet and Rose go out, I am contacted by Violet shortly after they leave.


    ¡®There are animals sniffing around the entrance¡¯ She says and I detect a hint of concern in her tone.


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    What kind of animals?


    ¡®They are kind of like biters, but a little smaller and without the spikes.¡¯


    How many are there? She does not respond for a while as she is presumably counting them.


    ¡®Eight that I can see. Rose says that is too many for us.¡¯ Are they here because of the human corpses? I did anticipate the possibility of attracting scavengers or predators when I asked the imps to dump the bodies outside. But they assured me that the humans have already been eaten or dragged away by now, leaving only a few bones and clothing scraps. I did not think more would keep coming.


    Have you seen these creatures before?


    ¡®A few times, but not this many. They did chase us once, but they¡¯re too slow to catch us¡¯ She says with an unmistakable tone of smugness. ¡®But we¡¯ve never seen them this close to our home.¡¯ Maybe it was not the humans that attracted them. It might actually be my imps that they are after.


    Do you think you could beat them with the help of Noctis and Fire?


    ¡®I think so. Rose isn¡¯t so sure.¡¯


    Come back up and get them. I think it is better to deal with these creatures now rather than let them become a long term nuisance.


    It takes less than a minute for Violet to make it back up to our floor. She must have rushed up the stairs. I tell Noctis and Fire to follow her. Fire hesitates until Noctis barks at him from the door and he scrambles to catch up. Calla wants to follow as well, but there is no way I am going to allow that. This is not a casual outing. It is far to dangerous for her. Lily holds her back, despite her protests.


    Violet is armed with a shield and dagger that she got from the humans. The shield looked small on the arm of the human that brought it, but it is quite a respectable size on Violet. It reminds me of Shield guy from that first group of humans that visited. She initially wanted to use one of the human¡¯s swords as well, but they were too large for her to wield effectively with one hand and she did not want to abandon the shield so she settled for the dagger. Rose tried a shield as well but it was too big for her. So she is still using her hammer and knife.


    You said you are faster than they are so please do not hesitate to run if it is too much for you and do not chase them if they try to run. Above all, please be careful.


    It is frustrating that I can not even observe this fight, let alone participate. All I can do is wait and hope for the best.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Life had been strange for her since she came to this place. Before, she had been part of a large pack of others like her. They roamed the volcanic plains and all other creatures feared them. She was one of the younger members of the pack. Barely fully grown. She was not among the weakest of her pack, but she was far from the strongest. That was only a matter of time though, she would grow stronger and dominate the pack eventually, or so she thought.


    Everything changed when she felt something tugging on her. A strange kind of mana that she had never experienced before. She looked around at her packmates, but none of them were reacting at all. Could they not feel it?


    She leaned into the feeling and her vision went white for a few seconds. When she could see once more she did not recognize where she was. The stone, fire and open plains of her home were gone. Even her pack were nowhere to be seen. She found herself in a strange cave with straight flat walls and floor. A new kind of environment that she had never seen before.


    Though her pack was not here, she was not alone. She watched as a group of small bipedal creatures scampered away from her. She took a deep breath as she looked around, feeling the mana in the air. She could tell it was the same kind of mana she felt pulling at her before she appeared here. It was exquisite. It filled her with a warmth more potent than any fire.


    Her location was not the only thing to have changed. She felt different as well. Her body felt lighter, her muscles stronger, more developed. Her mind felt clearer and sharper than it ever had before. There was also a presence in the back of her mind. It felt foreign and unfamiliar, but also comforting.


    She could smell blood all around. This cave was littered with dead creatures. Some small, like the ones that ran from her, others much larger. She moved to the nearest of the larger corpses and sniffed it before biting into it. Its hide was weak, its meat tender and soft. Truly delectable.


    One of the small bipeds returned, approaching slowly. It stopped when she turned towards it. She closed the rest of the distance and sniffed at the diminutive creature. The little creature¡¯s entire body was infused with the same mana that pervaded this entire place.


    The little thing pressed itself against her fur and tried to wrap its arms around her. She let out a surprised growl. Never before would she have let another creature treat her in such a manner. Even one of her own kind approaching her like that would be more likely to be interpreted as a threat than anything else. Yet this unusual contact filled her with warmth the likes of which the had never experienced before.


    It broke the contact and left to another part of the cave. While she was still thinking about whether or not to follow, it soon returned with the other three behind it. Every one of her senses were telling her that these creatures were afraid of her. Especially the smallest one. Is that one still a pup? Normally she would have reveled in their fear and enjoyed chasing them down. But they also had the same mana spread throughout their bodies. Though not to the same degree as the purple one. She did not want them to be afraid. She licked the littlest one and it let out a pleasing chattering noise then reached up and touched her on the nose.


    She liked these creatures and she would protect them. Especially the pup. It was so tiny. It, more than any other would need her protection.


    Sometimes she heard whispers in her mind. She knew they were coming from the strange presence hidden there, but they were not directed towards her so she did not pay them much attention. This was the voice of the one who had brought her here. The master of this strange domain.


    Suddenly she heard one word loud and clear in her mind. Impossible to ignore.


    Noctis


    That was the first time she heard her name, for she knew that is what it was. The pup repeated the name out loud and clung to her leg. A name. What a strange concept. She doubted any of her old pack could ever even comprehend such a thing.


    The more time Noctis spent with these little creatures, the more her affection for them grew. The pup in particular. It was always happy to be with her. Always ready to play. The purple one was fun to be around as well. She was glad to be a part of this new pack despite how different they were from her.


    When they lead her out of the cave for the first time the world outside was so different to anything she had ever known, full of so many new and exciting things to see and smell and taste. She would rule this land with her pack and all other creatures would fear them.


    Every day in her new home with her new pack was filled with fun and joy. But the pinnacle of all that she had experienced was the day when her master spoke to her directly for the first time. She could not grasp the individual words, but she understood their meaning. Her master was going to bring another of her kind here. A male. A potential mate. The only thing currently missing from her new life.


    She headed to the place where she had first arrived here. It was the only place in this cave where the mana felt different and she knew that was where the male would appear. Near the glowing pink orb that was the source of all the mana here.


    When the male appeared in a flash of light and mana. Noctis could see that he was smaller than she was. He did not look like a pup though. Was he merely a runt? Or had she grown since she had come here?


    The red pup and the purple one moved forwards to hug him and this impudent male had the audacity to growl at them. She would need to teach him his place. When she growled back with as much menace as she could muster, he whimpered and went silent. She was pleased that he understood the situation so easily so it did not have to come to bloodshed.


    He did not cause any more problems after that and showed Noctis and the rest of her pack the proper respect they deserved. Especially the pup. He also enjoyed playing with the little pup and the purple one. Despite his earlier impertinence, Noctis could see him becoming an acceptable mate. Not that there were any other options available.


    When it came time for sleeping, the pup¡¯s mother would not allow both Noctis and the male into their sleeping cave. Only one would be allowed the privilege of sleeping with them and that is not something Noctis would concede to the newcomer.


    She looked forward to another day of play and fun ahead of her. The purple one started digging at the wall. Noctis and the male became curious tried to see what she was doing but she pushed them away. When she finished digging they were allowed to look and could see another cave on the other side. The hole was too small for Noctis to crawl through, but the pup was having fun going back and forth through it.


    Later that day, her master spoke to her again. She was to follow the purple one into battle to defend their territory. It was inevitable that this would happen eventually. The creatures of this land had not yet learned to fear them. But they would.


    The male hesitated, but Noctis would not tolerate a coward as her mate. Only the pup and her mother would be staying behind. He followed at her command and the purple one lead them to the cave entrance where the other red one waited. They both carried tools to help them fight. Noctis thought them strange. Were they not confident in their claws? The large shiny circle on the purple one¡¯s arm seemed particularly odd to Noctis. But she dismissed the thought. The method with which one fights does not matter. Only the outcome is important.


    When the purple one opened the last wall between them and the invaders, Noctis was appalled at the little creatures that had the audacity to invade her territory. They were barely half her size. They did not look even remotely intimidating. Their only advantage was their numbers. But that would not be enough to save them.


    When they saw her approach they all growled and moved closer, a few more that she had not seen before approaching from the sides, spreading out in an attempt to encircle their supposed prey. They would dare to challenge her? She would teach them of their folly.


    Noctis let out a thunderous roar, silencing the invaders. Some of them whimpered and tucked their tails between their legs. Even her own pack mates distanced themselves from her a little due to her intensity.


    Despite that, the lead invader started growling and snarling again. The purple one was the first to charge with Noctis only a step behind. When the closest of the invaders leapt at the purple one she effortlessly batted it aside with her shiny circle while lunging at another with her shiny, pointy stick.


    Noctis bit down on the neck of the first enemy that came within range, feeling its bones crunch between her jaws. She swiped at another with her claws leaving deep red gashes in its side. The male was similarly biting and clawing at any who approached him. The red one was struggling to keep them away from her until the purple one retreated to her side. It was better for the little ones to stick together, Noctis thought. They could cover each other¡¯s backs to keep enemies from attacking them from behind.


    Noctis had to deal with her own group of enemies arrayed around her in a semicircle. All trying to snap at her while also attempting to stay out of range of her teeth and claws. But they were underestimating her. She lunged forwards in a flash, pouncing on the one directly in front of her before it could even react. Her claws and teeth sank deep into its flesh while she kicked out at another with one of her back paws, raking her claws across the side of its head.


    She heard a pained roar from the male before feeling jaws clamp down over one of her own legs. But rather than crying out, she took a deep breath and a stream of fire erupted from her maw. Those who could not get out of the way in time were quickly overwhelmed by the intensity of the blaze. She turned her head towards the one that was still biting her leg and it quickly let go when engulfed by the flames.


    A burst of heat from the side let her know that the male was doing the same. The few invaders who were still uninjured began to flee. Some who were injured but still alive tried to follow, but did not get far before Noctis or the male finished them off.


    He was bleeding from a few places where he had been bitten, but was not otherwise impaired. He performed admirably. Noctis checked on the little ones and saw the red one was bleeding from her arm but there were no other injuries. They were surrounded by the bodies of multiple slain foes. Noctis was impressed. These invaders were small compared to Noctis, but to her littler pack mates they were surely far more daunting, especially being outnumbered as they were.


    Noctis hoped the survivors who escaped had learned their lesson and would not return. But if they were foolish enough to come back, she would be happy to teach them again. For now though, she was eager to return to the cave and to the little red pup that was surely waiting for her.

 20. Undisputed Leader of the Pack

    ¡®Magentam. We did it!¡¯ Violet reports through our connection. I can feel her exhilaration. Relief washes over me. From the lack of panic or concern in her tone I can only assume things must have gone well.


    That is excellent. Was anyone injured?


    ¡®Everyone but me got hurt a little bit. Fire got it the worst. But nothing serious. Rose can heal him up.¡¯ She declares with confidence.


    Rose also got hurt though right? She will need to tend to her own injuries first.


    ¡®It¡¯s fine. She only got bit once and she has already stopped the bleeding.¡¯


    You said even Noctis was injured?


    ¡®Yeah, they kind of ganged up on her the most. We couldn¡¯t see them all when we first counted and there turned out to be more than expected. One of them managed to get behind her and bite her on the leg. That does not surprise me. I do not know how smart the creatures they fought were, but there were no larger targets than Noctis out there. So it is not unreasonable to think that they might try to focus on her first.


    ¡®They all ran when she started breathing fire at them, at least, the ones that were still alive by that point.¡¯


    ...She what?


    ¡®Fire too. They both had flames coming out of their mouths. It was so awesome. But also very hot.¡¯


    But you are unharmed despite all that?


    ¡®Ha! They were way too slow to hurt me. The shield helped too. It¡¯s great for bashing and for blocking. I love it. I want to find more shields.¡¯ Is she going to start collecting shields now? I guess that would not be so bad. They are more useful than brooms at least. Especially if we can get some light enough for the others to utilize effectively.


    Maybe my imps will get lucky and find an abandoned shield store. Is that a thing? A shield store. They had stores for clothes and a good shield can be just as important as well fitting clothes I think. I see no reason why there would not be such a thing, yet the idea sounds strange nonetheless.


    It is a shock to learn that the hellhounds can breathe fire. That would certainly be useful as a weapon. But they will need to be careful about using it inside. It could lead to a perilous situation for my imps if they set the building on fire.


    ¡®We¡¯ll bring one of the creatures back for Lily and Calla to eat if they want, then me and Rose will go out as we¡¯d planned once we¡¯re sure it¡¯s safe.¡¯ Violet states. I am glad she is being cautious.


    I am curious to see what these creatures actually are. Violet described them as ¡®kind of like biters, but without spikes¡¯. But that description is a little vague. I do not need to wait long though. Violet and Rose soon return dragging one between them. Noctis and Fire are also carrying one each in their jaws.


    I recognize these creatures. They are dogs. I feel guilty upon seeing them. But I do not understand why. These creatures presented a clear and genuine danger to my imps, especially with the numbers that Violet reported. Killing them was the most strategic choice to ensure the imp¡¯s safety. There is no reason for me to feel bad. Yet I still do regardless.


    Calla runs to Noctis and Fire and hugs each of their legs in turn. They each move to opposite corners of the room. Calla follows Noctis and watches as she tears into her prize. Violet and Rose drag their carcass over to Lily and explain that they brought it back for her and Calla before departing once more.


    Lily calls Calla over, but Calla stays where she is by Noctis.


    ¡°Want that.¡± She says, pointing to the carcass Noctis is chewing on. Lily lets out an exasperated sigh and even Noctis stops eating long enough to direct an irritated look at the child.


    ¡°They same. That for Noctis. This for us. Come.¡± Lily commands, But Calla defiantly stays put. Only when Noctis nudges her does she start moving back over to her mother. Pouting the whole way.


    From there the rest of the day goes as normal. Violet and Rose do not report seeing anymore dogs when they return. That is good. I hope they stay away. I do not want to see any more die.


    Another day goes by. I expand a little further and prepare to make a mana crystal for Calla. I let her know that I can make it for her but she just asks me what a mana crystal is. I remind her of the pink orb I gave to her mother and she tells me again that she wants one. I explain their purpose, but I am not sure if she understands. Her face scrunches up for a moment, then she looks to Noctis as though she expects her to provide some kind of answer. Noctis huffs at the child and her eyes glow brighter for a few seconds.


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    I do not know if that was some kind of message that only Calla understood but she now wears a beaming smile across her face.


    I can make it into a shape other than a sphere if you would like. She gasps.


    ¡°Noctis!¡± She declares, pointing at the hellhound.


    ...You want me to make it shaped like Noctis? She nods vigorously. I can see the excitement burning in her eyes.


    This is not going to be easy, but I will try my best. It will not be very detailed, I do not want it to have any sharp edges since it is for a child so I will forgo the dorsal spikes. Such fine details like that would likely be far too fragile anyway.


    What I end up with is a generic looking four legged animal shape. Not my best work, but it is enough for Calla to be thrilled. She is bouncing up and down in elation. She stops bouncing and stares at it in mystified wonder. She holds it up towards Noctis, who lowers her head to sniff at it.


    Calla gently touches it to her nose and the crystal darkens and turns black. The fire in her eyes flares and glows brighter for a moment. Calla stares at the flames, her own eyes wide open. Noctis touches her nose to the crystal again until it turns pink and begins to glow once more. Calla giggles and bounces on the spot again. The two of them repeat that exchange a few more times. That was not the intended objective of giving her the crystal, but it is still an interesting result.


    Did Noctis take the mana from the crystal or did Calla intentionally give it to her? That could be an important distinction. The ease with which Noctis refilled the crystal with mana also indicates a higher level of mana control than any of my imps currently posses.


    If they can not only absorb mana from the crystals but also give that mana to others, maybe they could also learn to do it without the crystals as an intermediary. It should be possible, I know I can do it. Rose also has to pass her mana into others in order to heal them. But is giving some one else mana for the purpose and intention of healing the same as giving them mana just for the sake of giving it to them? I will ask Rose and Violet to investigate this.


    I do not yet know how this knowledge could be useful. But it is better to learn as much as we can while we have the opportunity. We can never know when we might suddenly need it.


    <hr>


    I think Fire has had enough time to get settled in. It is now finally time for hellhound number three. Everyone gathers around the rift as usual, though I warn the imps this time, Violet and Calla in particular, not to approach the new hellhound until we are sure that it is safe.


    I am glad I did because the first thing the new hellhound does take a step towards my imps while growling. Like last time, Noctis growls back in warning. Unlike last time, the newcomer does not back down. It snarls as it turns its attention to Noctis. I fear this is going to turn into a fight.


    I quickly tell the imps to back away. The adults do not hesitate, though Calla has to be dragged by her mother, not wanting to leave Noctis¡¯ side. Even Fire is backing up.


    The newcomer''s eyes flare. Noctis¡¯s own eyes flare in response, brighter than I have ever seen them. Flickering flames spilling from her eye sockets. I assume that must have been some kind of challenge because the newcomer charges towards Noctis. Angling his body low to aim for her throat. Noctis knocks him aside with a viscous swipe of her paw to his head. The impact of it enough to leave him momentarily dazed, blood dripping from the gashes left by her claws.


    Noctis does not waste the opportunity and tackles him, easily knocking him to the ground with her superior size and weight. She pounces on him, aiming for his throat this time. He manages to push her away, getting a few good scratches on her in the process. But Noctis is not deterred. She leaps over him and while he is scrambling to get back on his feet, she tackles him again from the other side, knocking him down again.


    This time when she pounces on him, she aims for the back of his neck. When her jaws clamp around his neck he starts thrashing and flailing wildly, growling and snarling the whole time. In this position he can not reach her with his claws or gnashing teeth, so instead he tries to angle and flex his body to stab her with the spikes on his back.


    He succeeds in jabbing her in the side a few times but she does not let go. Instead she grips tighter on his neck. His flailing becomes more desperate. Snarls and growls giving way to panicked wailing. But still she grips tighter. Eventually he stops struggling. His body going limp as he whimpers softly. Noctis holds on for a few more seconds before finally letting go. She backs up a few paces and stares down at him. The intensity of the fire in her eyes having not decreased at all throughout the fight.


    He just lay there on the ground not moving for a while, still softly whining. I wonder if Noctis might have damaged something vital. Is that something Rose could even fix? He eventually starts moving again, slowing getting to his feet and moving to stand in front of Noctis again before slowly lowering himself to ground once more. The fire in his eyes dimming almost to nothing. A sign of submission? Fire did not do that. But he also did not challenge her to a fight.


    Noctis¡¯ own eyes return to normal. Calla hesitantly approaches. I ask Noctis if everything is alright now. Not that she can actually answer me even if I know she can understand me, at least to some degree, when I speak to her. It was more of a rhetorical question I suppose. So it is surprising when I do receive a response. Not in words, but in feelings. Confidence and smugness. I guess she is able to communicate. It seems I may be underestimating her intelligence. Much as I once did for Violet. A mistake I do not wish to repeat.


    As Calla stands before the new hellhound, he looks up towards Noctis. Her eyes flare again and he lowers his head once more. Calla reaches out and gently pats his nose while he remains perfectly still.


    Would you like to name this one as well? Her eyes light up and she smiles wide.


    ¡°Spiky.¡± she says after a second of thought. Once again demonstrating her impeccable naming sense.


    So be it.


    During the fight the chair holding my core was knocked over. That sudden movement was a little jarring. But the chair was not damaged so Rose righted it and placed my core on it once again. She then checked on Noctis. Most of her injuries from this fight were just shallow scratches from Spiky''s claws, but the punctures in her side did look a bit more serious.


    Noctis lowered herself to the ground in front of Rose in full view of Spiky. Just as he had done towards her mere moments before. Rose places her hands on Noctis¡¯s head and closes her eyes. After a few seconds all of her wounds had stopped bleeding. They were not fully healed, that would take far more time. But stopping the bleeding is a good start.


    Rose looked towards Spiky. Noctis huffed at her and got up, walking out the door back to Room 3, Calla at her side and Fire following close behind. Rose approached Spiky. He still had not moved from where he was on the floor. He did not react when she touched him. When his wounds stopped bleeding as well she stepped back. He stood up with his tail wagging and started licking her face. She pushed him away while sputtering. She gestured towards the door and he took the hint, leaving the room following after the others.


    So does this mean that even Noctis recognizes Rose as the leader of the pack? The imps certainly always looked up to her. But I did not expect Noctis to show such deference towards her. Well if she is as smart as I now suspect her to be then maybe she understands the value of Rose¡¯s ability to heal and that Rose is the only one here who can do it.

 21. Give and Take

    I think I will summon one more hellhound eventually. Once the mana crystals I have set aside for that purpose regenerate enough mana to do so. That way there can be two pairs and no one has to be left out alone. It has only been a few days, but between the two males it is already clear that Noctis is favoring Fire. She is more energetic and responsive when interacting with him. She is also more harsh in reprimanding Spiky when he is too rough with Calla. Even biting him on the neck once when he knocked her over. Maybe it is just because Fire has been here longer. Or perhaps she is still punishing Spiky for challenging her.


    Spiky, for his part, is not as interested in Calla as the other two are. He does still play with her, but he also spends about half of his time following Rose around, much to her dismay. Violet is happy about it though. She likes being with Rose, but she also likes playing with the hellhounds. Now sometimes she can do both. Rose does not allow Spiky into their bedroom though.


    Rose and Violet are making great advances in training their mana control. Rose has vastly improved both her control and efficiency. She can now extract mana and refill the crystal without requiring direct contact and with little mana being wasted. She can only do it from a range of a few millimeters for now and it is slower than when she is actually touching the crystal but it is still incredible progress.


    Violet has better control over how fast she absorbs the mana now instead of just taking it all in an instant and she is getting faster at refilling the crystal. She does not compare to Rose, of course, and I do not think she ever will in this regard. But she is improving and that is what matters. I am proud of them both for what they have accomplished.


    I am sure Rose¡¯s control over mana must be quite rare among imps. Rose herself said she had never heard of any imp capable of using magic. I wonder if she is anything like the mana sensitive humans. They seem to be a minority. Of the fourteen humans I have personally observed so far, only two appeared to be mana sensitive. Though I never saw them display any abilities other than being able to sense my borders.


    I wonder what caused Rose to develop such power. It seems plausible that it could have resulted from being summoned here. Much like how Violet changed. From her explanation, other than her hair colour, she was a just regular imp like any other before coming here and her change was quite drastic. But that may not necessarily be the case for Rose. She was special even before being summoned. It is why her old ¡®master¡¯ took an interest in her.


    Maybe she always had this potential but simply needed the right environment or catalyst for it to blossom into the power she now possesses. Maybe it was being summoned or the connection to me that triggered it. Or it could be the difference in mana. She did say the mana in the place she was before was bad. Such a curious little conundrum. I am going to enjoy seeing how she develops in the future.


    They also managed to figure out that they can, in fact, pass mana between imps without needing the crystals as a go between. It was easy for Rose. As it turns out, it was not all that different to how she pushes her mana into others in order to heal them, just without taking the next step of actually healing. For Violet it is about as easy as refilling the mana crystal.


    Taking mana from others was the next logical step in that line of experimentation. Rose was able take mana from Violet, but they also found that it is something that could be resisted. Taking mana from Violet was easy for Rose as long as she allowed it. But when Violet resisted her it became much more difficult, though it did not stop her completely. Violet, on the other hand was not able to take any mana from Rose directly even when she did not resist at all. Even Spiky became involved in their testing. Rose could give and take mana from the hellhound, though I do not think he even tried resisting at any point. Violet could only give him mana but not take it.


    I should have them test this with me. I know I can take mana from them. I have done it before with Violet. But she did not try to resist at all at the time. It is important to test their limits...and mine.


    Can you both come to my core. I want to test some things with mana. Violet perks up and looks towards the bedroom door.


    ¡°What kind of things? Will be fun?¡± She asks.


    I want to see how well you can resist against me taking your mana. She stops in front of the door, her hand resting on the handle.


    ¡°But why would I resist? If you want some of my mana you can have it.¡± She says.


    That is not the point. It is not your mana that I desire. I want to know what you are capable of.


    Spiky is with the other hellhounds at the moment so it is just the two imps standing before my core.


    ¡°So what did you have in mind?¡± Rose asks.


    I would like to start with Violet first. Please place your hand on my core. I am going to take some of your mana, but do not resist yet. I only take a little bit of mana from her. Enough to feel how easy it is so I can make a comparison to when she actually tries to stop me. It is about as easy as extracting mana from the crystals, which is in line with my expectations, remembering the last time I did this.


    This time I want you to resist me as hard as you can. She nods and her whole body tenses up. When I take mana from her this time it feels the same. I do not notice any extra resistance.


    Are you actually resisting? She looks shocked.


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m doing exactly as you told me to.¡± She retorts.


    I can not feel any difference. She looks down, her hand falling away from my core, shoulders slumped. Dejected at her inability to put up even the slightest resistance against me. Rose puts a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°No need to be disappointed. We are all still learning our capabilities here. Even Lord Magentam. And she¡¯s far more powerful than I am.¡± She says to reassure Violet. Violet perks up and smiles.


    Thank you Rose. Now Violet, this time I want you to try taking mana from me.


    ¡°Won¡¯t that just end the same as it did with Rose. I couldn¡¯t take anything from her, even when she tried to let me.¡± Violet protests.


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    Maybe, but we do not know that for certain. That is the whole reason for testing things. She sighs but places her hand hack on my core. To her surprise and mine, she has no trouble at all taking mana from my core. I can see her becoming giddy with excitement as my mana flows into her. Now I need to figure out how to make it stop.


    As my mana slowly drains away I remember how it feels when I hold the mana in my hands to make the mana crystals. Emulating that, I try to grab at the stream of mana and it slows. Violet frowns and I feel the pull on the mana grow stronger. She is really trying hard. I am impressed. I tighten my grip on the mana until the flow stops completely. I can still feel Violet pulling at my mana, but nothing escapes my hold. Violet eventually stops pulling and removes her hand from the core.


    And that is why it is important to be thorough in testing everything. Unexpected things can happen and you never know when you will learn something new. But you will learn nothing if you do not even try. That was very impressive Violet. She beams as Rose congratulates her as well.


    I wonder why she could take mana from me but not from Rose, they are likely wondering the same. My best guess is that it is related to the strengthened connection between me and Violet. That or something about my core¡¯s composition just makes it easier for others to extract mana from it than from other living creatures. Maybe that is the reason for the humans wanting my core. An endlessly recharging mana battery. Kind of like the mana crystals, but more potent.


    Now Rose, it is your turn.


    Repeating the same tests with Rose I can actually feel the resistance when taking mana from her. It only slows me down a little, but I feel like that is still significant. When she tries taking it from me she pulls a lot harder on the mana than Violet did. But not hard enough to break my hold on it.


    After that I repeat the tests again with both of them at the same time. Taking mana from them together is much the same as doing it individually. But resisting against both of them at the same time is actually more difficult. Though I still manage to hold onto my mana and not lose anything to their dual assault.


    There is one more thing I would like to try. I want to know if I can take mana from you even when you are not touching my core. Please step back. The both take a few steps back.


    I know I can give them mana at a distance, but if I can also take it that could open up some interesting possibilities. I reach out and touch them with my hands. Although I can not actually touch them so it is more like putting my hands through their bodies. I try to ignore how strange it looks. Taking mana from them like this is harder and I can actually feel the resistance from Violet this time, which she is happy to hear.


    My conclusions from these tests are that the ability to take mana from others as well as resist those who are trying to take yours is tied to mana control. Having greater mana control makes it easier to take mana from others as well as resist have your own mana taken in turn. There may be other factors at play that I am not aware of, but this seems like a solid theory. And it has some dangerous implications.


    Do you two think you can teach the others the things we tried here today? In particular, resisting having your mana stolen. Preferably as soon as possible.


    ¡°I think we could.¡± Violet says, looking to Rose for confirmation, who nods in return. ¡°Is there a reason for the rush?¡± She asks. Rose¡¯s eyes go wide and she gasps.


    ¡°If there are people who can forcibly take mana from others, they could use that ability as a weapon. Especially if they can do it without needing direct physical contact.¡± She explains.


    It is hard to imagine that we could be the only ones in the world with such an ability. We need to be prepared for the possibility that it could be used against us.


    ¡°Oh...That sounds bad.¡± Violet says.


    I explain my concerns to Lily and Calla and tell them that Rose and Violet will help them. Though I worry this might be a little to complicated for Calla to understand. She seems more interested in playing with Noctis and the other hellhounds. As for Noctis, I am now sure she is intelligent enough to understand my concerns. From what I have seen, she also has a strong grasp of mana control. I suspect she is at least equal to Rose. If her fire breath is the result of some kind of magic she may even far surpass Rose. At least for now.


    I get a sense of acknowledgment and understanding back from Noctis. Hopefully she can help guide Calla. The two of them do seem to understand each other in a way I cannot comprehend.


    Later, a perfect opportunity for another experiment I wish to conduct presents itself. There are humans coming up the stairs. Slowly winding their way back and forth in single file. I guess they brought someone mana sensitive to guide them. I warn everyone of the humans'' arrival, though I let them know I have a plan to deal with them myself. But they should still be prepared just in case.


    I make my way to the stairwell and wait at the top for them to get close. I am going to try to ¡®give¡¯ them some of my mana. I hope they enjoy it. There are six humans in total. I can not see them from where I stand due to the void so I have to rely on my ability to sense the locations of living things in my domain.


    When they are almost at the top I gather a little bit of mana in my hands and I start to compress it. I am only using half as much mana as last time. I do not want to hit them too hard as I am not trying to kill them, just knock them back down the stairs. Not that I would feel too bad if I did end up killing some of them. It would just be a hassle to deal with the bodies.


    The human in front stops moving, forcing the others to come to a halt behind them. Can they sense what I am doing? I wish I could see them, if only for a moment. I am sure the looks on their faces will be entertaining when I let this go.


    I compress the mana as much as I can, then try to release the pressure only on one side to direct the blast down the stairs. It mostly works. There is still a weak shock wave that goes out in every other direction, making me feel fuzzy for a few seconds. But most of it goes down the stairs as intended.


    Five of the humans are knocked back down to the landing and I gain mana from each one as they fall, but not enough to indicate that any of them had died. Good for them. Only the human in the lead managed to hold their ground. Do they have some kind of shield that can protect them from such a shock wave?


    They hurry down the stairs, at least as much as they can while being careful not to leave my domain, presumably to check on their companions. I wait where I am for a while just in case the humans make another attempt to climb the stairs and I need to hit them again.


    They do not, instead they are making their way back down. Noticeably slower than they were on their way up. Perhaps some of them were injured by the fall. I get another rush of mana as all six of them finally leave. I let everyone know that the humans are gone and get a feeling of amusement back from Noctis.


    Overall, I think that went well. I was a little irked that one of them did manage to defend against my attack though. What can I do about that next time? Maybe I can just hit them harder. But that could be risky. I do not know how much force it would take to break whatever they utilized for defense. I also do not know how much force I can safely use before it becomes a danger to the building¡¯s structural stability.


    Only after they are gone do I realize I could have used this as an opportunity to find out whether I can take mana from the humans and what kind of resistance they can put up. But if it did not work and they got past me before I could hit them with the shock wave, they might have gotten closer to my imps than I am comfortable with. I am not yet ready to take that kind of risk if I do not have to. Ideally, I would like to keep them from reaching this floor altogether.

 22. Focusing on the Objective

    Expansion is going much faster now with mana crystals augmenting my mana regeneration. While I keep some crystals in reserve for summoning and others just to serve as an emergency supply, the rest of them are all contributing towards expanding my domain. All my mana crystals together now exceed my core¡¯s mana regeneration and I am still making more each day. Or rather I am just making one at the moment. The decoy core.


    I can only increase the size of a mana crystal when it is already full so I can not actually use the mana in the decoy core. So it makes up the majority of what I designated as the emergency reserve. As the decoy¡¯s size and capacity grows I take other crystals from that reserve and consider them part of my normal supply.


    It is almost as big as my actual core now. It looks quite impressive. It does not have the same iridescence, but it is not monochrome. When looking closely I can see varying shades of pink across its surface, but unlike my core, its colouring is static. It is still a glowing pink orb though so hopefully that will be enough to fool the humans. It all comes down to how much the humans know about dungeon cores. I do not actually know all that much about dungeon cores myself. I only know what I have observed of my own core. Unfortunately, I do not think there is a way to test its effectiveness before it is actually needed.


    For now, the decoy is sitting on the chair next to the real core. I never ended up taking my core back to its hiding place. That is not as important now. I have plenty of warning of humans approaching so I can have one of my imps hide the core again when necessary, but it does not need to stay hidden all the time. I should have my bones brought back out. They are still in the hiding place and I kind of miss having them around. Seeing my core on the chair just does not feel the same without it being surrounded by a pile of bones.


    It should also help sell the illusion of the fake core when I do hide the real one. I ask Violet and Rose to handle it. Violet squeals and dives through the hole into Room 7. I guess she misses the bone pile too. Seeing them coming back through the door with their arms full of bones reminds me of when they first collected them. Back when it was just the two of them. We have come a long way since then.


    Some of the bones have mana crystals attached to them. I consider asking the imps to detach the crystals and take them back to the cabinet in Room 7, but I decide against it. I actually like the look of it as is.


    The appearance of the bones does not go unnoticed by the others and Calla insists on helping, though there is not much more to help with at that point. When Rose brings the final few bones, Calla is still slowly making her way back down the hallway. She is dragging a human skull with Violet walking by her side. When she reaches the door her mother offers to help but Calla adamantly refuses. She wants to do it herself. It is too big for her to just pick it up and carry it, but she eventually manages to drag it over to the pile.


    The hellhounds were particularly interested in the bones, but Rose told them quite firmly that were not to touch them. Noctis and Fire accepted that but Spiky still tried to sneak away with one when he thought no one was looking. But Violet noticed and rushed over to him. She grabbed for the bone and tried to wrest it from his jaws.


    ¡°No. You can¡¯t have that. Let go!¡± She demands. Spiky growls in response. Violet hisses back, baring her shark-like teeth. Having seen what she can do with those teeth, I would actually consider the display a little intimidating. I am thinking of intervening but Noctis steps in first. She growls at Spiky and her eyes flare. He lets go of the bone and lowers his head. Violet smiles and returns it to the pile. I may have to keep a close eye on Spiky when he is around my bone pile from now on.


    <hr>


    In total, it only takes a little under two weeks to claim the entirety of Room 1. I found that I can spread my mana filaments out thinner allowing me to claim a greater area for the same amount of mana. I can not sense things as clearly in that area as a result, but I am sure I can strengthen them later if I need to. Though I know that the filaments will spread out naturally over things already within my domain, so maybe that problem will resolve itself if I just wait long enough. That, combined with my augmented mana regeneration, greatly improved the rate of expansion.


    I think I will start taking the hallway next. Not just to watch Calla and the hellhounds, though I can not deny that is a big part of my motivation. Doing so will also give me more space to participate in defense if any enemies actually do manage to make it past me on the stairs. I can give them hell in the hallway as well.


    In that time, the crystals reserved for summoning also reached capacity. Though I did not do so immediately, I think it is now time to summon the final hellhound to round out the pack. I may summon more in the future when I have more space, but I would really like to get back to summoning imps. Besides, when I have two males and two females, I may end up getting more hellhounds the natural way before then.


    I wonder what hellhound pups would look like. Is ¡®pup¡¯ even the right word for them? ¡®Cubs¡¯ maybe? I will stick with ¡®pups¡¯. It sounds better. I doubt they would have the spines on their back when they are born. That would surely be quite unpleasant for the mother if they did. Or maybe the spines are just soft and pliable at birth and become solid and spiky later on. And what of their eyes. Are they born with the fire or does that get ignited later? I am actually getting a little excited to see them now.


    Well, first things first. I need to actually summon the second female. When it appears, it is smaller than I expected. Only about two thirds the size of the males. Her fur looks a lot fluffier than the others and her spines are much shorter as well, barely noticeable through the poofiness of her fur. Is this one a juvenile? Did my desire to see hellhound pups influence the summoning or is it just a coincidence?


    She did not growl or show any hostility as the males had. Instead she looks a little frightened. I can see her trembling a little as she looks around the room, until she spots Noctis. She approaches the larger hellhound quickly and presses herself against her. Noctis bends down and sniffs at her then licks her a few times.


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    I can see Violet bouncing up and down on the spot until she can not contain herself anymore. She launches herself at the little hellhound and hugs her, rubbing her face against the fur.


    The hellhound lets out a startled whimper and tries to back away, but Violet already has her arms around her and is not letting go. She looks up to Noctis for help, but Noctis just huffs in response. I get a feeling of amusement from her. Rose puts a hand on Violet¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°You¡¯re scaring the poor thing. Give her some space.¡± She says. Violet immediately lets go and takes a few steps back.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you. You are just so fuzzy.¡± Violet says to the hellhound. She holds out a hand, palm up, towards her but does not move any closer. Calla is standing next to Noctis now. She is not approaching yet, but I can tell she wants to.


    The little hellhound casts an apprehensive look towards Noctis, who nods, then slowly draws closer to Violet. She sniffs at Violet¡¯s outstretched hand for a few seconds. Deciding that it is safe, she moves forward to lick Violet, prompting another hug from the imp. She does not back away this time.


    ¡°We should call her Fuzzy.¡± Violet declares.


    ¡°Fuzzy!¡± Calla repeats. Rushing forwards to also hug the hellhound. I guess her name is Fuzzy now. Though it may not be as fitting when she is older if her fur smooths out like the other three.


    Fuzzy becomes Violet¡¯s favorite hellhound. The imp hugging her whenever she gets the chance. Once she gets over her initial apprehension, Fuzzy also gets quite attached to Violet. Unlike Rose, Violet is delighted to have a hellhound following her around, especially a fluffy one. Initially Rose does not want any hellhounds in their bedroom at all, but after much begging and pleading from Violet, she eventually capitulates and agrees to let Fuzzy in. But only Fuzzy.


    It takes around a week for my summoning crystals to regenerate mana back to full capacity. But those crystals were selected based on the mana requirement for hellhounds. Imps require much less. Based on the difference and how fast they regenerate, I estimate I should be able to summon another imp every two and a half days using those mana crystals alone. I have four empty bedrooms available now and a lot of empty space besides.


    I am excited when it is finally time to summon another imp. The first imp to be summoned since the attack. Between the stairwell, the hellhounds and my ability to produce concussive shock waves, I am feeling much more confident in our defenses now. I am glad I can finally get back to my original objective.


    The others are excited too. Anticipation hangs heavy in the air as I reach out to the rift. When the new imp appears, he looks around, confused, as is expected. Rose is about to offer him some clothes when he spots the hellhounds. He screeches and vaults backwards, dashing for the nearest open door. Which happens to be the bathroom with the hole leading to Room 3. As he scrambles through the hole I send Violet after him. I expected Noctis to be amused after how she reacted when Fuzzy arrived, but instead I sense that she is actually concerned.


    Violet catches up with him just as he finds the hole to Room 1. She manages to calm him down and is leading him back Room 5. I send Noctis and the two males out into the hallway. He is going to have to get used to the hellhounds, but perhaps it would be best to start with Fuzzy. She is the smallest, fluffiest and cutest of the hellhounds. Not that the others are not also cute, but it is hard to compete with her fluffiness.


    Violet reenters the room with the nervous male trailing tentatively behind her. When he sees Fuzzy his eyes go wide and he freezes. Violet reaches for his hand and drags him forwards.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Trust me. She¡¯s friendly and so fuzzy.¡± She says. Fuzzy is just sitting calmly and waiting.


    When she gets close enough Violet lets go of the other imp¡¯s hand and hugs Fuzzy. The male just stands there in shocked silence. Since he is not moving any closer, Violet leads Fuzzy to him. He scrunches his eyes shut as she gets close, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. After sniffing him, she licks his face. He opens his eyes and just stares. He is still frozen in place, but he has lost that look of terror he had before. He is just staring up at her now, wide eyed and open mouthed. Rose brings over the clothes she tried to give him before.


    ¡°Please put these on. It¡¯s not appropriate to walk around here naked.¡± She instructs, handing him a shirt and some pants.


    We still have all the clothes from the deceased imps so we will be able to provide properly fitting clothes to new arrivals for a while.


    That snaps him out of his stupor. He accepts the clothes and puts them on. Rose leads him to where the rest of the clothes are to choose a few more. He is then offered a weapon. Either a wooden spear, of which we still have one left, or a knife, we have quite a few of those. He chooses the spear.


    ¡°Do you have a name?¡± Rose inquires. He shakes his head.


    ¡°No name.¡± He says


    ¡°Lord Magentam, who is the master of this domain, wishes for all of us to have names. You can think of one for yourself or Lord Magentam can think of one for you if you would prefer.¡±


    ¡°Not know. I think.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not something you need to think of immediately. You can take you time with it.¡±


    ¡°What you name?¡± He asks.


    ¡°My name is Rose. The tall purple one over there is Violet. The other two who already went back to their room are Lily and Calla. Even the hellhounds have names.¡± She explains. His brow furrows.


    ¡°What ¡®hellhounds¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Those are hellhounds.¡± She says, pointing at Fuzzy. ¡°The one you can see Violet currently attached to is named ¡®Fuzzy¡¯. The biggest one is Noctis, she leads their pack. You can ask Calla about the other two. I¡¯m sure she would be happy tell you all about them.¡±


    ¡°Not scared?¡±


    ¡°Of the hellhounds? No. They do look intimidating, but they¡¯re actually quite friendly once you get to know them.¡±


    After that Rose and Violet give him a tour of the place, with Fuzzy following behind, pointing out each of the bedrooms that are free. Seeing the three larger Hellhounds lounging in Room 3, he does not want to stay in there long. I hope he can get past his fear of them soon. They really are lovely creatures.


    He chooses the empty bedroom in Room 5 as his. It stings a little seeing him getting settled in there, remembering that that was Third and Fourth¡¯s room. But I can not just keep it empty. It is important to move forward.


    They then take him outside to show him around the area. When they get back I make another small mana crystal and ask Rose to give it to him and teach him about mana control when she can.


    Two days later I am looking forward to summoning my next imp soon when I feel mana start pouring in. More humans have come. But they are just walking right over the first step of my domain. One even walks over the second before they all stop. Did these humans not get information about this place from the previous humans before coming here? They did not even have a mana sensitive person up front to lead the way. How foolish of them.


    I can already tell this is going to be fun...For me. Less so for them.

 23. The Second Assault

    It takes a while for the humans to organize themselves, but eventually they are slowly winding their way up the stairs in single file. The fools should have done that from the start. Unfortunately, the stairs are not as effective a deterrent as I had originally hoped they would be. As long as there is a mana sensitive human to guide them it becomes little more than an inconvenience. But it does function well as a delaying tactic, which makes it easier for me to organize a proper response. Perhaps I should expand further down the stairs. If I go all the way to the ground floor, maybe some humans will just give up due to the sheer tedium of it.


    There are more humans than I expected. This is already the largest group I have had to deal with so far. As the twelfth human steps into my perception, I ask Violet to take my core to its hiding place. I do not intend to let these humans reach our floor, but it is still better to be safe.


    There are twenty-five humans in total. By the time they have nearly reached me only half of them are between the landing and my floor. The other half are still below the landing so they will likely not get hit by the shock wave, or at least not the brunt of it. But seeing their companions in the front come crashing down might be enough to make the ones in the back reconsider continuing forward.


    As I compress the mana there does not appear to be any reaction from the human in front until a moment before I let it go. Maybe this one was not as prepared as the one from the last group, because they were knocked down along with the rest of them. I gain plenty of mana as thirteen humans fall down the stairs, each of them falling through my domain at least once.


    To my surprise this is not enough to make them leave. They actually start making their way up again. I am not going to wait for them to get close this time. As I compress the mana for another shock wave they actually do stop moving. This time when I release it, all the humans manage to hold their ground.


    Interesting, not only do they have the means to block the shock wave, but it can cover more than one person. As I prepare the next wave, the lead human actually takes a step forward. When the next wave hits them, they all stand firm. They take another step as I compress mana once more.


    It takes around two seconds to compress the mana enough to make a decent shock wave. If they can defend against it and manage to take a step forwards every time, they will reach the top of the stairs eventually. As long as whatever they are using for defense can hold out. So how to stop them? I could try using more mana to put more force into the attack. But I think I have a better idea. I would not try this anywhere else in the building, but the stairwell seems to be made primarily of concrete with metal for the railing.


    Noctis would you like to help me in dealing with these humans? I receive confidence and eagerness in return. Good. Bring the other three. We are going to turn up the heat.


    I keep up my attacks to slow them down as I wait and soon the four hellhounds are standing side by side on the top step. Violet is also here standing next to Fuzzy.


    What are you doing? It is dangerous here.


    ¡°I want to watch.¡± Whatever, I do not have time to worry about that now. At least she brought her shield.


    The hellhounds let out a stream of fire that is wide enough to cover the stairs completely. The humans stop advancing under this fiery assault. But they are not retreating. Are they waiting for the hellhounds to run out of fire? Can they even run out of fire?


    I move down the stairs to get a better look at the humans, but before I reach them I am stopped by what feels like a solid wall. I can not see anything but there is something in my way. I put my hands on the wall and I can feel it. It is made entirely of mana. A defensive barrier constructed of mana covering the full width of the stairs. It is actually stopping the hellhound¡¯s flames. How fascinating, I will have to tell Rose about this. She did want to use a shield, maybe she can learn to make her own.


    I doubt something like this could possibly be easy to maintain though. I wonder how long they can keep this up. As I have this thought the shield falters and the flames rush forwards, engulfing the humans. Not long apparently. I can hear the screams of the humans closest to me. Those still below the landing and the ones who moved down when the hellhounds started spewing fire at them began to flee. Some of them did not even bother to follow the path of my domain. They just ran.


    The humans who were injured were much slower in their retreat. I could sense Noctis¡¯ desire to chase them down and finish them off. I allow it and the four hellhounds and Violet bound after them.


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    A total of eleven humans died. I gained snippets of memories from several of them. Tiny broken fragments without context; none of them useful. The mana I gained will be though. I did not gain as much mana from those who were not strictly within my domain when they died, but I still gained some. Is simply being close when they die enough for me to benefit from their deaths?


    But now I have to deal with the bodies again. There are even more than last time. But I also have more hellhounds. I am sure they will enjoy the feast. First I will have the imps gather the human¡¯s weapons and anything else they might have had on them that could be useful. These humans were similarly equipped to the first group that attacked. I had their weapons stored in Room 7, these ones can go in there as well.


    At this rate I will soon have proper armory. Though unfortunately, many of the humans'' weapons are too big for my imps to be able to wield effectively, even for Violet. So it is mostly just knives and daggers that are usable. Violet could use a short sword or machete if she gives up her shield, but she does not want to do that. and anything that requires two hands for a human to use is completely out of the question for my imps.


    There is also the gun that was left behind by the first group. I do not think any of my imps would be able to hold it properly in order to use it safely. Even if they could, I am not sure if I would trust any of them with a gun. Rose maybe, but not the others.


    This battle has shown me that I can not get complacent though. They do have the means to defend against my shock waves and the fire from the hellhounds. I wonder if that was the doing of the one who was mana sensitive. Unless we can find some sort of tool or device capable of emitting that shield, then that is the most logical conclusion. If they can all do things like that, then that makes them extremely dangerous. What else might they be capable of?


    Their shield fell apart before I had much time to think about it, but with it being made of mana, I might be be able to weaken it by absorbing that mana. Doing so could also serve to weaken whoever is creating the shield, further weakening their assault.


    Also of concern is their numbers. This group was more than twice the size of that first group that attacked. If they keep increasing their numbers like that, we may eventually be facing an army. But is a dungeon core really valuable enough to be worth that much effort?


    I think I need to know more about humans and what they know of dungeon cores and how far they might be willing to go to take mine. The easiest way I can think of to find out is to capture and interrogate one. But for that I would also need to figure out how to communicate with them. Well, capturing comes first. I will try to do that next time. I wish I had thought if this before I allowed Noctis to kill the ones who were too injured to flee.


    No matter. For now I have other things to focus on. Like what to do with all this mana that I gained. My core and all of my crystals are at capacity now. I think a few more crystals might have even grown. The first thing I will do is finish growing my decoy core so that it is the same size as the real one. Maybe I should even make it bigger than the real core. If they do find the actual core maybe they would be more inclined to believe that the bigger crystal is the real one. Actually no, that is a silly idea. If they did manage to find my real core, there is absolutely no reason why they would not just take both. Do not waste mana on unnecessary things.


    Even when the decoy is the same size as my core it does not hold the same amount of mana. Even at full capacity, it only contains about half as much mana as what my core can hold. Which confirms a theory of mine that my core and the mana crystals are not made of the same material. I had suspected as much due to the static colour of the crystals compared to the shimmering, changing colour of my core. But this now confirms it.


    I use some of the mana to continue my expansion. I am making great progress in the hallway, having claimed about a third of it already. I can see some of the barricades that my imps tried to build before. They are not very good. Though I did not expect them to be given that all they had to work with at the time were mostly tables and chairs, some of them broken. Maybe that is something else we can work on.


    I will also put a little bit towards extending further down the stairs. If nothing else, it does amuse me a little seeing them have to wind their way back and forth as they make their way up. I will not make it my main focus, but I will claim a little bit more of the stairs each day until I reach the ground level. When the humans have to climb those steps, I hope they hate every moment of it.


    But the most important use for my mana is summoning. The crystals I reserved for summoning are also full. I could immediately summon two imps with that and still have some left over. If I get two more males today then that will even out the gender ratio. I am not counting Calla since she is still a child. If I can maintain a fifty-fifty ratio of males to females, that will, hopefully, ensure that everyone will have at least an opportunity to find a mate.


    I will have the hellhounds stay in Room 3. Noctis is disappointed, she wants to stay and watch, but I do not want a repeat of what happened last time. Calla chooses to stay with the hellhounds. The rest of the imps are waiting by the rift.


    The first summoning goes well. The imp appears, receives some clothes and a knife. When asked about a name he confidently replies that he is called ¡®Sneak¡¯. The story behind that name being that he is apparently skilled at stealing from the larger demons without being noticed. Though I do not approve of stealing, knowing how to get around without being noticed is a valuable skill to have. I hope he can put it to good use in a way that does not involve theft.


    Perhaps I should dedicate more mana towards summoning. A new imp every two and a half days does sound good in theory, but if the human attacks are going to keep escalating, the imps may need to get more involved in the defense. For that, they are going to need a lot more strength than they currently possess.


    Things go a little awry when summoning the next imp. The first thing I notice is that it takes more mana than imps usually do. Not a lot more, but enough for the difference to be noticed. When this new imp appears he does not look like the others.

 24. Black as Coal

    The most striking difference in this new imp¡¯s appearance is the colour of his skin. Rather than the typical reddish-pink. His skin is dark grey over most of his body and fading darker to black on his hands and feet. He is taller than the other imps, though not even close to Violet¡¯s height. Not even as tall as her original body, but still bigger than the others. With broader shoulders and far more toned and muscular than any other imp I have seen.


    His eyes are completely black, as are the horns protruding from the top of his forehead. His horns are longer as well. The other imp¡¯s horns are small and cute, barely as long as their thumbs, if even that. They might make a headbutt more painful, but I can not see them being all that damaging. But this one¡¯s horns are at least three times as long as the other¡¯s, jutting out and up, coming to a sharp point at the tip. I am sure he could use them as a weapon if he felt so inclined.


    And that is exactly what he does. After spotting Violet, he lowers his head and charges at her. Violet is surprised by the hostility, but is not caught off guard. She dodges to the side and the grey imp rushes past. When he stops, he spins around to growl at her. The others are ready to jump in to help, but Violet hold up a hand towards them.


    ¡°I can handle this.¡± She says. She is glaring at the grey imp, but I can see a hint of a smile on her lips.


    He rushes forwards and slashes at her with his claws. She jumps back to avoid it then returns with a swipe of her own claws. He ducks under it and kicks her feet out from under her. She falls on her back and he pounces on her but she kicks up with her feet to fling him away, leaving bloody gashes on his abdomen where her talons dug in. Rose slips away to her bedroom while the others watch on in awe.


    Violet rolls backwards on to her feet, staying crouched low to the ground. She grins at the grey imp and he snarls. He charges at her again and she springs upward, fist clenched, delivering a viscous uppercut to his jaw. The impact lifts him off the ground and sends him falling backwards, leaving him dazed.


    She is on top of him before he can recover. One knee on his chest, the other pinning down one of his arms. She holds down his other arm and places a hand on his throat.


    ¡°Ready to give up yet?¡± She asks, smirking down at him.


    He hisses and thrashes but can not dislodge her. He glares then vanishes from beneath her. Shocked at his sudden disappearance, she looks around in confusion. A moment later he falls down from above, landing on her back and biting into her shoulder. She screeches and reaches up to grab his horns and throws him forward over her shoulder. As he crashes to the floor, her shield clatters on the ground beside her. She spares a quick glance towards the other imps and Rose nods.


    She dives for the shield and rolls to a stop, coming up to her feet with shield in hand. She turns to face the grey imp as he charges once more. Just before he gets into striking range he disappears again, but Violet is not caught of guard this time and spins around. Using the momentum of her spin to add force to her hit, she bashes her shield into him as he tries to slash at her back.


    A crack can be heard when he collides with the shield. The other imps all jump back as he comes crashing to the floor in front of them. Standing up, he looks down at his left arm, wincing as he slowly lifts it and flexes his fingers. But he does not give up, lunging at Violet. Disappearing and reappearing behind her again, but Violet is ready to block him with her shield. Though she does not hit him as hard this time.


    He attempts the same tactic a few more times, with the same result each time. Though Violet appears to be holding back compared to that first shield bash. She is even trying to avoid hitting his injured arm again, though there is only so much she can do under his relentless assault.


    Despite his ferocity and apparent teleportation ability, this fight seems rather one sided as he throws himself at the larger, faster and stronger imp. I would like to put a stop to it, for his safety, but Violet said she wants handle it, and she is not the one who is attacking repeatedly. His ability is impressive and fascinating, but it loses effectiveness due to his predictability. He needs to be more creative in the way he uses it if he wants to win.


    The next time he rushes forwards, he jumps into the air and kicks at Violet''s shield with both feet. The force of the kick is enough to push her off balance. When he teleports behind her, he is crouched low to the ground. He launches upwards and slashes at her back, tearing through her shirt and drawing blood.


    Violet screeches and as she turns around she slaps him in the face with her tail. Her face scrunched into an angry scowl. The tail slap did not seem to hurt him but he paused for a moment in confusion at being hit with her tail. She is probably the only imp with a tail actually long enough to hit someone like that so it is understandable that he might be surprised.


    Violet does not let that opportunity go and punishes him for his distraction by charging at him with her shield. He raises both his arms in front of him to block her charge but he does not have the strength to halt her. He shrieks in pain when the shield hits his left arm before being knocked off his feet and landing on his back. She follows up with a savage kick to his side. Placing a foot on his chest and digging her claws in, easily puncturing his skin, she glares down at him and growls.


    He turns his head to the side, but does not make any attempt to push her off. After a few seconds she steps back, allowing him to stand up. He slowly gets to his feet, being careful not to put any pressure on his left arm. He kneels before Violet and lowers his head.


    I can not help but notice the similarity in the way events played out here to when Spiky arrived. Both attacked the largest creature they could see in the room and showed submission upon being defeated. Spiky has not caused any major issues since then.


    The similar behavior is interesting. As far as I can tell, both imps and hellhounds are pack animals. With each pack having a leader. Perhaps they were attacking the one they perceived to be the leaders of their packs in hopes of claiming the position for themselves. Though Violet is not actually the leader here. Even if it is not always immediately obvious, every imp I have summoned so far has come to accept Rose as their leader without any fuss. Even Noctis listens to Rose and with Noctis being the leader of the hellhounds, they all obey her too.


    None of the other imps have ever tried to challenge Rose on her leadership, not even Violet. But this grey imp is obviously different from the rest. Maybe he comes from a pack that values and prioritizes physical strength and combat prowess. That could explain why he would assume Violet to be the leader. I hope that with this defeat she will have earned his loyalty and he will not cause any more problems.


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    I was impressed by the fight though. I am glad Rose thought to fetch Violet¡¯s shield. I am not sure how the fight would have gone without it. His savagery and ferocity were frightful. The other imps are still hesitant to approach. His teleportation is astonishing as well, though he could have achieved more with it if he had used it more creatively. His last attack was impressive and a step in the right direction. If he could learn to utilize it more effectively in combat, he could become a true terror on the battlefield.


    Is that why this strange imp appeared? Because I was worrying about combat strength when I summoned him. I did also get a younger hellhound when I was thinking about pups. I might have far more control over summoning than I realized. I will need to be far more careful and focused when summoning in the future to avoid more surprises. But I could also use this to my advantage if I can target specific traits.


    With my primary objective of helping imps, I do not want to be discriminatory in which ones I summon. But if I do have any specific needs in the future, it will be useful to be able summon creatures to fill those needs.


    The grey imp¡¯s eyes go wide when Rose starts healing Violet. Watching closely as the wounds stop bleeding and begin to heal. He holds his arm out to her as she approaches him. With the sound of the crack during the fight and the way he is favoring it now, I would not be surprised if something is broken. It is understandable that he would want that healed first. But even though Rose¡¯s healing ability has been improving as she has gotten more practice and improved her mana control, she is still a long way from being able to fully heal a broken bone all at once.


    When Rose offers him some clothes we encounter a new problem. He opens his mouth and makes noises that I do not recognize. Rose and Violet are similarly confused. As they try to talk to him and he continues to make strange noises back at them, it becomes a little more clear. They are not just random noises, there is a pattern to it. Which suggests he is speaking a different language. One that neither I nor my imps are familiar with. This will complicate things.


    They manage to make him understand what the clothes are for by showing him the pants and shirt separately and gesturing to their own cloths. He slips the pants on without issue but needs a little assistance with the shirt. By the time they manage to help him put it on, he has only poked a few holes in it with his claws and horns.


    I believe his difficulty with the clothes comes from more than just the language barrier though. No other imp has had trouble with clothes. Anyone who is familiar with clothes should not need them to be explicitly explained in order to understand them. Wherever he is from, I suspect clothes are not a common sight in his pack, or at least not shirts.


    I wonder if I can communicate with him. Noctis understands me without issue and she does not even use words to communicate at all.


    Hello. Can you understand me?


    His eyes go wide and he looks around the room frantically until he spots my core sitting on the chair. He approaches it slowly, as if in a trance. Once at the chair, he pokes at the decoy first, but loses interest in it almost immediately. With his eyes glued to my core, he sways side to side a little, then steadily circles the chair, never taking his eyes from my core, mesmerized by its shifting colours. Most imps do this at least once at some point so no one tries to stop him. Until he reaches out to touch the core.


    Violet slaps his hand away and firmly tells him ¡®no¡¯ while giving him an icy glare. Even with the language barrier the message is clear and he does not try to fight it.


    You have not said if you can understand me yet, but it is important that I know so please indicate to me now if you can understand what I am saying.


    He does not respond and just continues to stare at the core. I will take that as a no.


    Do you think you will be able to teach him how to speak our language? I ask both Rose and Violet.


    ¡°We can try. I¡¯m not really sure where to start but I think it should be possible.¡± Rose says.


    Thank you. I am sorry to push that burden onto you. I will help as I can, but I think it will be easier for him to learn from people he can actually see and interact with.


    ¡°I think you¡¯re probably right about that. We¡¯ll do our best.¡± She assures me.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll have him talking in no time.¡± Violet adds.


    Have either of you ever seen an imp like this before? Violet shakes her head.


    ¡°I have heard stories of green skinned imps that live in forests, though I have never seen them myself. But I''ve never seen or heard of imps like him before.¡± Rose says.


    What do you think of his teleportation ability?


    ¡°That was so amazing! I wish I could do that.¡± Violet exclaims.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what to make of it. As I¡¯ve said, I have never heard of any imps able to use magic, at least not before me. If his whole pack had similar abilities then that¡¯s truly remarkable.¡± Rose states.


    Is there anything else you can tell me about those forest imps?


    ¡°Not much. Just that they live on another continent across the ocean. I don¡¯t even know if the stories are true.¡±


    It sounds like there may be a variety of different subspecies of imps. I am curious about these forest imps. If they are real, I am sure I could probably summon one. But I do not think I should. There are no forests around here that I know of so it may not enjoy this environment. Plus, if they live in forests then they are probably not dealing with the same kind of problems that I am trying to save the red imps from. I do not see any benefit, either to me or to the forest imps, of summoning them here. It is still interesting to learn about them though.


    This grey imp is going to need a name. I do not think the flower theme I have with my other imps really suits him. He does have a unique colouring, but I do not want to name anyone else after a colour. It feels lazy. But nothing night related either I think. I already went that route with Noctis.


    Coal. That is something black and it has a nice ring to it. Until such a time when he can tell us otherwise, if he feels inclined to do so, he shall be known as Coal.


    Rose and Violet show Coal around once they manage to drag his attention away from my core. When he sees the hellhounds in Room 3 he growls. The three smaller hellhounds respond in kind, growling and snarling. Noctis is calm and I get a sense of recognition from her.


    You have seen imps like this before?


    I get a stream of feeling in return. Nuisance, frustration, dangerous, tastes okay.


    Please do not eat him.


    Noctis barks a command and the other hellhounds go silent. Coal continues to growl until Violet smacks the back of his head. He looks up at her in confusion. She once again firmly tells him ¡®no¡¯. This elicits amusement from Noctis.


    If even Noctis thinks these grey imps are dangerous then they must really be something impressive.


    Coal does not end up choosing a bedroom. I do not know if it is because he does not understand or if he just does not care. It might be harder for him to settle in than it was for the other imps. I hope Rose and Violet can help him through it.


    This whole ordeal has given me some interesting ideas. I am eager to test them. One in particular.

 25. Near and Far

    There are things I would like to know about Coal¡¯s teleportation. What is his range? Can he take objects or other living things with him and if so, what is the limit on that? Does it require mana or is it some kind of inherent physical ability? Though that seems unlikely. How many times can he teleport? Does he even have a limit? He did not seem at all exhausted after that fight in which he teleported several times within a short time period.


    At this point, all we have found out is that his clothes will be teleported along with him. It is hard to find out more when we lack an effective means of communication as I cannot easily explain what I want him to do. Violet attempting to mime what was desired is not overly helpful. He understood that she wanted him to teleport, but nothing more than that.


    I will have to wait until he learns our language to get most of the answers I seek. Until then, all I can do is observe him. So far they have managed to teach him ¡®yes¡¯ and ¡®no¡¯. It is not much, but it is a start.


    Seeing him teleporting, along with Violet saying she wished she could do it too, did lead me to an idea. If I can target specific traits when summoning, can I take it farther than that and target a specific individual? In particular, one that I have already summoned before. It would not be the same Coal¡¯s teleportation, but it is a similar concept...maybe. She would not be moving under own power and could only go to a single predetermined destination, but it would still be moving from one location to another. Perhaps it is not that similar.


    Would you like to help with another experiment? I ask Violet.


    ¡°What kind of experiment?¡±


    I want to try summoning you back here from other locations.


    ¡°So I will be teleporting, like Coal?¡± She asks, her eyes lighting up.


    If it works, maybe.


    ¡°What should I do?¡±


    Just head outside first. You do not need to go too far. Just a little outside my boundary for the first test. If it works then we will try again from further away.


    She heads outside and when she is ready I pour some mana into the rift while thinking of Violet, focusing on our connection. After a few seconds of anticipation, Violet appears before me...without any clothes.


    ¡°It worked! That was awesome. I can teleport!¡± She exclaims, then looks down at herself. ¡°My clothes are gone.¡±


    Does this rift have something against clothes? Were her clothes left behind or were they destroyed in transit? Violet can check when she goes out for the next test.


    After you have put on some more clothes we can move on.


    It did not take as much mana to summon her like this as it does to summon even a normal imp. That could be because of the shorter distance. I do not know where the imps come from, relative to here, but I feel like it is probably quite far. It makes sense that closer things would be easier to summon. Another possibility is her being connected to me already is what makes it cheaper. Violet¡¯s connection to me is stronger than the others so I will have to test it with some of the them.


    When Violet has put on some some new clothes I pay close attention to memorizing exactly what she is wearing. If I can clearly picture her clothes when I summon her, maybe she will get to keep them this time.


    We are going to try it from further away now. Once you get outside this time, pick a direction and run until I tell you to stop.


    ¡®I found my old clothes. They¡¯re on the floor where I was before.¡¯ Violet says shortly after she leaves again. ¡®Should I take them with me?¡¯


    There is not much point, they are likely going to get left behind again. I am going to try summoning you with the clothes you are currently wearing this time, I do not know if it will work though.


    ¡®Okay, I¡¯ll leave them here and get them later. I¡¯m running now.¡¯


    I let her run for about five minutes before telling her to stop. This time when I summon her, I focus more on summoning her with clothes. Specifically picturing the clothes she was wearing when she left. A yellow t-shirt with a giraffe on it and red shorts that end just above her knees.


    This time, when she appears...she has still lost her clothes. I am a little irked by that. Why does the rift not allow clothes? The most plausible explanation I can think of is that I can only summon living things. Which means that weapons and any other items they might be carrying would also be left behind. Making it something that is better reserved as an emergency escape than for general use.


    I did not notice any difference in the mana cost this time. The disparity in the distances was probably not enough to have an impact on the cost. If that is actually a factor at all.


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    Thank you for your help Violet. You can go out and get your clothes back if you want. I still have a few more things to test, but they will require the help of others.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need anything else from me?¡± She sags a little.


    Not at the moment, but I still may need your help before this experiment is over. She brightens up and rushes out the door, not even bothering to put on clothes first. I suppose that is fine since she is going out to pick up her clothes anyway, she can just put those on.


    Rose, I would like your help with my latest experiment if you are willing.


    ¡°Is this the same experiment that lead to Violet appearing naked in the middle of the room multiple times, even though she was definitely wearing clothes when she left?¡± Rose asks, raising an eyebrow.


    Yes, that is the one. It is okay if you would rather not participate.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m always happy to help with whatever you need. I just need to make some preparations. How many times will I need to do this?¡±


    Twice should be enough to learn what I need. She fetches two sets of clothes from her wardrobe and places them by the rift.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    Excellent, take Noctis with you and head to the floor below. I will try summoning you both back here one at a time first.


    I get a sense of inquiry from Noctis when Rose asks her to follow.


    It is for an experiment. Please go with her for now. This will not take long, you will be back soon.


    They both head down the stairs to the next floor. I can not contact either of them once they are outside of my perception so I just wait for a little while and assume that they are ready.


    I summon Rose first. It is harder than it was for Violet. My connection with Violet is much stronger. When I concentrate I can actually feel the tether between us and was able to use that to make it easier. That is not the case for any of the others. While I am still connected to them, I can not consciously feel it.


    But soon enough Rose appears at the rift, unclothed as expected. She quickly puts on some of the clothes that she prepared earlier. It actually took a little more mana to summon Rose this time than it did for Violet, though only about half as much as is needed for summoning new imps. This suggests that it is more related to the strength of our connection rather than distance.


    Noctis is next. When she appeared, she jumped around the rift a few times. I could feel her excitement. She thought that was fun and wanted to do it again. But it costs too much mana to be something to do just for fun. Summoning Noctis took a little less than half what was required to initially summon the other hellhounds.


    If I am right about how the cost is determined, then it might cost a little more to do this with the others. I feel like I have a stronger connection with Noctis than the other Hellhounds. She is the only one who communicates with me the way she does.


    The last thing I want to test now is whether I can summon more than one back to me at the same time. I know it is possible to summon multiple new imps at once so this should also work. I tell Rose to go back down a floor and wait for Violet.


    There is one last test I want to perform. Rose is waiting for you on the fourth floor. Meet her there and let me know when you arrive. I will try to bring you back together. I tell Violet.


    When she lets me know that they are ready I try focusing on both of them as much as I can while pouring mana into the rift. Soon both imps appear, side by side. Violet picks Rose up off the ground in a hug.


    ¡°It worked! Now we can all teleport!¡± She declares.


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s great, but now you need to go collect your clothes.¡± Rose says. She puts on her second set of prepared clothes when Violet puts her down. ¡°Please get mine too while you are down there.¡±


    Thank you for your help everyone. This has proven to be quite enlightening. I say before Violet slips out the door.


    Now I know I can recall my imps and hellhounds if there is an emergency or if they encounter trouble outside. Although the only way I would be able to know if they are in trouble is if Violet is with them. I can not expect them all to never go out unless it is with Violet in case they run into danger. That would not be fair to anyone, least of all Violet. Ideally, I hope I can eventually find a way to communicate with everyone when they are outside my borders. Still, though it is not perfect, it is useful to know that I am capable of recalling them, even if I hope it will not be necessary.


    All those tests took up a lot of mana. I will not be able to do much else today. But I think the expenditure was worth it.


    Another idea I had after learning of the control I have over summoning is to summon a human. But I am not sure if I want to. It would be the easiest way to capture one alive for interrogation. That would also probably mean I could communicate with them the same way I do with my imps.


    The question is what to do with it afterwards. Letting them go might be too dangerous. Even as I interrogate them, they could be learning about us through simple observation. If they take back whatever they learn, they could cause problems for us later. I could keep them prisoner, but that would be a huge hassle that I do not want to deal with. The last option would be to kill them, but I am not entirely comfortable with that. Even if I do not like humans, summoning one only to later kill it seems unfair. I do not mind killing those who are attacking us. But if they are just minding their own business at home, do they really deserve to die just because they accepted a magical summons from an unknown source?


    No, I will wait until the next time they attack and capture one the old fashioned way. Summoning a human will be reserved only as a last resort.


    I am not the only one who had some new ideas after Coal¡¯s arrival. Ever since their fight, Violet has been paying more attention to how her tail moves. Testing its strength, speed and range of motion. She has even tried swinging it around and hitting things with it, though that sometimes ends with her rubbing her tail with tears in her eyes.


    She tries taping a knife to the end of her tail, but it does not work well. She does learn two things from the attempt. First, her tail does not have the strength to swing it around effectively with the weight of a large knife attached to the end of it, though tail strength is possibly something she could work on over time. Second, tape is not an effectual means of securing a knife to her tail.


    Still, the idea is not without merit. Based on Coal¡¯s reaction in their fight, opponents may not be expecting her to use her tail as a weapon. It is simply a matter of finding a viable way to do so. If she could find a smaller, lighter blade that will not weigh down her tail so much as well as a more effective method of attaching it, it could still be feasible.


    Though it would likely not have the penetrating power to be good for stabbing, it would be useful for slashing. Even if the cuts are only shallow, if her opponent is not expecting it because they are focused on the weapons in her hands, she could use it to great advantage in combat.

 26. Connected by Blood

    When it is time to summon a new imp, I see an opportunity to potentially right a wrong I may have committed in the past. For that I need to talk to Lily. She is currently playing with Violet, Calla and the hellhounds. A game resembling tag with Violet currently being the one chasing others around. It is a little surprising, Lily does not usually join in games involving the hellhounds. I am glad to see that she is getting more comfortable around them


    I want to ask you about Calla¡¯s father. Was he your mate?


    ¡°Yes. Is mate.¡± She says as she stops running and separates herself from the others. Violet gives her a questioning look but Lily waves her off.


    Can you tell me about him?


    ¡°Is strong and kind. He good at finding food. Not hungry with him.¡±


    Did you have any other children?


    ¡°No, only one child. But wanted more.¡± She looks wistfully towards Calla.


    Do you miss him?


    ¡°Yes, miss him a lot.¡± She turns her head down. I can see tears welling in her eyes. This is not the first time I have seen her crying when she thought no one else was watching. It has been weighing on me quite heavily.


    I am sorry I left him behind.


    ¡°This is good place. Better for child. But want to see mate. You bring others here. You bring him?¡± She quietly pleads.


    I intend to try. Can you tell me if there was anything distinctive about him. Particularly in his appearance?


    Unfortunately I am not as confident as I would like to be that I actually can summon him. While I know I can target specific individuals, I have only tested it with creatures I have already summoned. Not only am I already connected to them, but I have also had time to get to know them personally. Trying to summon a specific imp that I have never met before is not the same.


    Even Lily¡¯s description does not help much. Nothing she described really stands out compared to other imps I have seen. Not to say that all imps look the same. When you see them up close there are noticeable differences. But I have not seen this one and that is the problem.


    The only thing I can do is try. When I supply mana to the rift, I try to think of everything Lily told me about her mate, but it is not a lot to go on and I can not form a clear picture. So instead I try to focus on seeking Lily¡¯s mate and Calla¡¯s father, but even that feels like a vague concept to guide the summoning.


    When the new imp appears, it is male. But judging from Lily¡¯s downcast look, this is not her mate. I have not given up, but I do not think I should say as much to Lily. I do not know for certain that I can do this so I do not want to give her false hope. But I am determined to find a way. I will not say anything more to her until I have an idea I feel confident in.


    Rose and Violet go through the greeting procedure, which has become a routine at this point, while Lily slinks away. He does not have a name and asks for one to be given to him. So sticking with the flower theme, I grant him the name Aster which he seems happy with. After being given a tour he chooses the bedroom in Room 3 with two single beds. Sneak has already claimed one of the beds, but he is happy to share the room and they seem to get along well.


    The previously summoned male imp who wanted to choose a name for himself also informed us that he would be called ¡®Rock¡¯ from now on. Apparently he likes rocks and has taken possession of all the rocks that Sixth had previously collected.


    While I continue my routine of expansion and creating more mana crystals, some for the new imps to practice mana control, under Rose¡¯s guidance, others to increase my own collection. I ponder the issue of how to summon Lily¡¯s mate. I think I need some kind of connection that the rift can use to find him.


    But I may have just what I need. Calla is his daughter, so there is a biological connection. But how do I utilize that? I do not think she can touch the rift. It is quite intangible. Maybe if I had her touching my core that could help, but would that be enough? But what else could I try. A DNA sample perhaps. DNA is what connects family members.


    Blood would be the most useful for this purpose. Although there are easier ways to acquire DNA samples, blood also carries mana. I do not know if that is actually relevant, but it might be, mana is an integral part of the process after all. This is all just speculation of course, but I think it is best we try everything we can to increase the chance of success. I think this is our best shot. If this does not work, I do not know what else I could possible try.


    I will need to tell Lily about my plan and convince her to let me take some of Calla¡¯s blood. I find her in her room this time.


    I have another idea that should allow me to summon your mate. I am confident it will work this time. But I will need Calla¡¯s help...and some of her blood.


    ¡°No hurt child!¡± she demands.


    It is not my intention to hurt her. We only need a little bit, just a small prick would be enough. I know it will be unpleasant, but this is the best chance to let her see her father again. Rose can heal her right after, so she will be fine.


    She is still apprehensive, but she agrees. When we explain what we need to Calla, she is frightened at first when I tell her we need some of her blood. But in the end she is eager and excited at the possibility of seeing her father once more. Now it is even more important that this succeeds. If we fail, Calla will be crushed, as will Lily. I will have gotten their hopes up for nothing. That might be worse than if I had just ignored the situation.


    When it is time for the next imp to be summoned, I explain the plan to Rose and Violet. They are both surprised, but delighted at the idea. Violet uses a knife to make a small cut on Calla¡¯s finger, she winces from the pain, tears welling in her eyes. Violet lifts her up to the chair with my core and I instruct her to place her hand on my core and not remove it until I say so.


    I put all my focus into specifically trying to summon Calla¡¯s father. Using the blood as a medium to guide the rift. I even take some of Callas mana and feed it directly into the rift, hoping that will make a difference. Tension hangs heavy in the air as we wait. When the new imp finally appears, Lily has her arms wrapped around him, tears steaming down her face, before anyone else can even react. I guess that means it worked.


    Calla leaps of the chair and runs to hug her father as well. At first he looks confused, but his expression changes to a relieved smile as he hugs them back.


    ¡°What happen? You gone. Now we here.¡± He asks when his mate finally lets go of him.


    I am sorry, that was my fault. I brought them both here. It took some time before I was able to do the same for you. His eyes dart around the room, looking for the source of the voice that just spoke to him.


    ¡°Who say that?¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I am the master of this domain. My core is on the chair behind you, but I do not have a body that you can see beyond that.


    He stares in fascination at my core for a few seconds before Calla starts pulling at his arm.


    ¡°Daddy come. See hellhounds. They friends. Noctis so big.¡± She insists.


    ¡°Please at least give him some time to put on some clothes first. And let me take a look at your hand as well.¡± Rose interjects, handing some clothes to the male. Calla looks down at her hand, still bleeding slightly, like she forgot that it was even hurt, then holds it out to Rose.


    Rose smiles as she takes Calla¡¯s hand and applies a little bit of magic to stop the bleeding.


    ¡°I thought I not see you again. Was sad and worried.¡± Lily says with tears still in her eyes.


    ¡°I worry too. Together now. All okay.¡± Her mate replies, taking her hands in his.


    How about you show him around and take your time to catch up. I can let the others know not to disturb you for a while if you would like.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She says, looking towards my core. She leads him out of the room with Calla skipping along beside them.


    I am glad that worked. It would have been devastating to put them through all that only to fail. Though I do wonder now if any one else left someone behind when I brought them here. I will have to ask everyone before it is time for the next summoning.


    We are also almost out of clothes for new imps. I ask Rose to organize as many expeditions with the other imps as is necessary to bring back all the appropriately sized clothes that are still left in the clothes store. We will store them in Room 7 for now. It may as well become our storage room. We do need to try to keep things organized. For that we need a place to store things to keep our living spaces from becoming to cluttered.


    I should also work on claiming Room 7 next. I am almost done with the hallway. It would be useful to actually be able to see what we have in our storage room so I can keep track of it all.


    Over the next few days, Lily and her mate do not leave each other¡¯s side. They start getting physically intimate any time they are alone. It is not hard for them to find opportunities since Calla elects to spend most of her time with the hellhounds. Not that they leave her unsupervised, even if Lily does trust Noctis to keep her safe. Violet also likes to play with the hellhounds so she is often around to keep an eye on Calla while Lily and her mate go back to their room together. Lily did say they wanted more children. I guess being reunited after thinking they would never see each other again has made them eager to get started.


    Lily¡¯s mate did not have a name so I granted him the name Calyx. It is not actually the name of a flower, but it is part of a flower so it still fits the theme. Though maybe I should try branching out a little. Flowers are good, but variety is also nice.


    When I am ready to summon another imp I ask everyone if there was anyone specific they left behind that they want me to summon, with the limitation that they had to be blood related. I do not even know how far that connection can be stretched so it may only work for immediate family.


    To my surprise, Violet is the only one who has a request. She has a sister that she was close to. But that was all that she asked for. I expected a few more to want to see their family again. Rose explained that once imps reach adulthood they usually become completely independent from their family and integrate more into the pack. At that point they consider the whole pack as their family. Though there are times when siblings who are born together do remain close for their entire lives. And as most of the imps here are young adults, it is also not surprising that they did not have children yet.


    Repeating the same process as before, Violet cuts her finger and places her hand on the core. I focus on the blood connection and use some of her mana to summon her sister. When she appears, Violet rushes forwards and lifts her off the ground and spins her around.


    ¡°I¡¯m so happy you¡¯re here. I¡¯ve missed you.¡± Violet says, holding her tightly as she squirms in her grip.


    ¡°Who you?¡± She demands. Violet stops spinning.


    ¡°I¡¯m your sister. Did you forget about me?¡±


    ¡°Not sister. Not know you.¡± Violet puts her down and steps back. Her lip quivering with tears in her eyes.


    You have changed quite a lot since she last saw you. It should not be surprising that she does not recognize you. She perks up and smiles.


    ¡°Right. I look different now. I was smaller before and I had different hair. We¡¯ve been together since we were born. I was small and red like everyone else and I had blonde hair. Everyone thought it was strange and wanted to touch it all the time. Look at my face closely. It¡¯s still the same.¡± Violet implores. The new imp stares at her, squinting slightly.


    ¡°It really you? How get big? Why purple? Why talk funny? How get here?¡± She asks in rapid succession.


    ¡°It¡¯s really me, but I don¡¯t know much about why I changed. I got bigger when I was brought here. I also got smarter. Then I died. When I came back to life I was purple.¡± Violet explained.


    ¡°Not die. You alive.¡± Her sister says incredulously.


    ¡°I...I¡¯m not sure how to explain that one. But we¡¯re both here now. That¡¯s what matters. It¡¯s much better here than where we were before.¡±


    ¡°I get big?¡± The new imp is now looking up at Violet in awe.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. No other imps have gotten any bigger. But you will get smarter. Then we will both be geniuses.¡± Violet exclaims, pride evident in her tone.


    ¡°Already smart.¡± Her sister retorts.


    ¡°Well, yes, but you¡¯ll get even more smart. Come, I will introduce you to Fuzzy. She¡¯s so cute, you¡¯ll love her.¡± Violet grabs her hand and pulls her towards the door.


    ¡°Wait!¡± Rose shouts. ¡°She needs clothes first.¡± She holds out some clothes for Violet¡¯s sister, who takes them gingerly.


    ¡°Right, sorry.¡± Violet apologies sheepishly. ¡°We always have to wear clothes here, but we have lots to choose from so we will find some that you like later. After you meet Fuzzy.¡±


    Once fully clothed, Violet drags her sister to Room 3. When she sees the hellhounds, she is initially terrified. But when Fuzzy walks over and starts licking Violet while Violet rubs her fur, she quickly gets over her fright and is enthralled by the fluffiness.


    After spending some time with Fuzzy, Violet insists on going to the river, because apparently her sister really likes swimming. Some of the other imps and even Fuzzy also join them.


    While they are gone, something unusual happens. It starts with a human entering my territory. But unlike past humans this one stops on the lowest step of my domain and is now just standing there. It must be mana sensitive because I have expanded downward since the last time humans visited yet this one knew just where to stop.


    I wait for around five minutes but the human still does not move from its spot. This is rather curious behavior so I decide to investigate. On the way down I get to experience first hand just how tedious these stairs are. I can not step into the void so I also have to follow my own pathway. It is annoying and I hate it. So it is perfect and I will continue it all the way to the ground floor.


    When I reach the bottom, the human really is just standing there. In places like this where I have not claimed the walls or ceiling, my vision only extends to about a meter off the ground so I can only see up to this human''s waist. I hear muffled noises that sound like conversation just outside my domain. So there is likely more than one human, unless this one just likes talking to itself.


    I do not understand what they are trying to achieve but if this human is just going to stand here, I might as well use it for an experiment I have been wanting to try. I reach out to touch it, though as expected my hand goes right through it¡¯s leg. I try draining some mana from it and am surprised to find not even the slightest bit of resistance.


    The human quickly jumps out of my range before I can get much from it though. It likely felt its mana being taken, but I also got a little more for it leaving. Soon I see a pair of hands enter my field of vision holding an envelope and a small box. They place the items on the step and leave. I wait to see if they will come back but they never do and I am left to ponder the mystery of what has just occurred.

 27. Declaration of Intent

    I can not pick up the items myself. Though as I wave my hand through the box, I hit something solid inside. For something to feel solid to me, there must be mana involved in some way. As I touch it I can feel that it does contain a lot of mana. I could probably drain the mana from it, but I am hesitant to do so. Without knowing what it is, interacting with it at all is a potential risk.


    If whatever is inside the box is a trap, draining its mana could be what triggers it just as likely as it could be a way to disarm it. But if it is not a trap, then it could be some kind of gift. In which case, I do not know if draining the mana might damage it. For now I should just have one of my imps bring them upstairs.


    Rose followed Violet and her sister to the river. Normally I would ask one of those two as they are the two that I trust the most and as the smartest of my imps, they would be the most likely to understand the significance of this, Rose especially. Lily is still here though, currently in the hallway. Probably supervising as her mate and daughter race with the hellhounds.


    I tell her about the box and the envelope and ask her to come collect them for me and place them on the chair by my core. I also suggest that she should bring Noctis. Even though I can not see the humans anymore, that does not guarantee that they are not still hanging around.


    If she does reply I am not close enough to hear it, but soon she is making her way down the stairs. I expected only Noctis to be following her, but I suppose I should not be surprised that the other hellhounds would follow Noctis wherever she goes or that the other two imps, not wanting to be left behind, would also come.


    All of the hellhounds try sniffing the box despite Lily¡¯s attempts to keep it away from them. When she places the items on my chair I thank her and they all go back to playing. The envelope probably contains a letter. While I likely will be able to read it if I have Lily open for me, I think I would rather wait for Rose to get back so she can offer her opinion on its contents. I do not want to rush them to return but I do let Violet know to keep an eye out for humans on their way back.


    Once they return, I explain what happened and Rose and Violet rush over to my chair to inspect the items


    ¡°They just left these on the stairs? They did not try to come any closer or do anything else?¡± Rose asks, eyes the box incredulously.


    As far as I can tell, they just dropped them off and then left. Though they were just standing around for a while first.


    ¡°Why wait? Why not just place them on the step and leave straight away?¡±


    I assume they were waiting for some indication that their presence had been noticed, to ensure the items would be received.


    Violet shakes the box gently but nothing can be heard from whatever is inside.


    Please do not do that. We do not know what is inside or if it is dangerous or not. We should open the envelope first.


    Rose opens it and extracts a sheet of paper. She unfolds it and stares at the page.


    ¡°I can¡¯t read what is written at the top. I assume that is the human language. Though at the bottom is a passage written in Balkret. But whoever wrote this, their understanding of the language is limited at best.¡± Rose says, then slowly reads it out loud.


    ¡°¡®Controller meet desire. No fight. Peace trade desire. Take gift. Return three days. Box outside if accept.¡¯


    That might even be worse than the average imp.¡± She says.


    I can read the human¡¯s language. Hold it out so I can see it. Rose turns the page towards my core and holds it in front of her.


    To whomever controls this dungeon.


    We at the Dungeon Management Office would like to send an official representative to meet with you. Our previous attempts to do so were woefully unprepared for the resistance we faced. So this time we are declaring our intentions beforehand. We do not wish to fight. Rather we would like to negotiate peace and trade agreements if you are amenable to it. We have included a gift with this letter. As you may know it is a limited and valuable resource for us. We hope this is enough to convey our sincerity and that it will be interpreted as the gesture of good will it is intended to be.


    We will return in three days time. If you are open to discussion, please leave the box on the ground at the front door of the building as a sign of acceptance. If not, then we will not attempt to contact you any further.


    Signed:


    William Blake


    Dungeon Management Office Liaison.


    When I finish reading it, Rose scrunches up the paper, her face contorted into a furious scowl.


    ¡°They dare talk of peace after everything they¡¯ve done!¡± She shouts. ¡°Do they think one paltry little gift will make up for the lives they took.¡±


    Violet, please open the box. Let us see this ¡®gift¡¯.


    The box opens to reveal a well padded interior. Sitting in the middle is a small, blue, faintly glowing crystal. It is about the same size as the mana crystal I gave Rose to practice her mana control. Though this one is in a rough diamond shape. I touch the crystal to absorb the mana from it and it turns black.


    Despite the difference in colour, it appears to be a mana crystal.


    ¡°Is that it? Do they really believe forgiveness can be bought so cheaply.¡± Rose says, staring at the box in disgust. ¡°If they come back, we should kill them.¡±


    I understand your anger. I feel the same. Even if they meant it as a gift, it feels more like an insult. But we can not let anger guide our decision here. As much as I am loathe to accept it, I do not think we have much other choice but to meet with them.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Why not just refuse? They said they¡¯d leave us alone if we did that.¡± Violet suggests.


    No, they said they would not contact us any further. That is not the same. When Violet looks confused by the distinction, Rose explains.


    ¡°They may still attack us, they just won¡¯t talk to us about it first.¡±


    ¡°What should we do then?¡± Violet asks, her brows furrowed. A deep frown etching across her face.


    ¡°Lord Magentam is right, we have little choice but to agree to a meeting. It might be a trap though. A trick to make us let down our guard.¡± Rose says, still simmering in her anger.


    I would be more surprised if it is not a trap. But this could be our only opportunity for any sort of peaceful dialog with the humans. We can not afford to let it go.


    ¡°How will we talk to them? We don¡¯t know their language.¡± Violet asks.


    I know their language, but I do not know if there is a way for me to speak to them directly. Based on the letter, it seems at least someone among them knows something about your language. Assuming they are smart enough to send that person, hopefully it will be enough.


    The next few days are a flurry of activity. If we expect that it is a trap and we plan accordingly we are not likely to be caught off guard. But where should we hold the meeting? I would rather not let them on to our floor, but three days does not give me much time to set up any other suitable venue. Maybe after this I should consider expanding into the next floor down a little. Just enough to take one room to serve as a meeting room. Though whether or not that will actually be necessary will depend on the outcome of this meeting.


    For now we will use Room 1 since no one is living in there at the moment. If they try to go anywhere else on this floor or if they bring more people than I deem is appropriate for ¡®negotiation¡¯ then I will show them no mercy. There is still a table in there, but I will need to have my imps bring in some chairs. Three chairs for the humans, if they have more than that they can sit on the couch.


    Who should we have meet with them from our side? Rose and Violet obviously need to be there. Noctis and one other hellhound would also be good for intimidation. Perhaps Coal as well. He will not be able to contribute much to conversation, but if things do descend into violence, he will be useful.


    Everyone else still needs to be ready to fight though. After making sure they are all armed, Rose and Violet manage to organize combat training sessions. Not that any of them have much combat experience to teach the others, but they are trying. They are mostly sparring unarmed because I do not want them accidentally stabbing each other. We do have some sticks that some of them use as swords though. It would be nice if we had some decent practice weapons. But we work with what we have got.


    When Coal wants to participate, only Violet is willing to fight him. Those who witnessed his fight when he was first summoned saw how vicious he could be. The ones who were not here at that time were willing to try at first, but when they see him sparring with Violet, they quickly changed their minds. Violet is not even using her shield this time. Whenever they take a break they are both covered in cuts and gashes from each other¡¯s claws and sometimes bites as well. Though Coal always comes out of it worse than Violet. Rose spends more time healing those two than all of the rest of the imps combined.


    Rose and Violet try to teach him to be less predictable with his teleportation, to try to attack from other directions instead of only teleporting behind his opponent every time. He does not understand what they are trying to tell him at first, but once they do manage to properly convey their thoughts to him he starts practicing.


    He is unsure about it and takes it slow at first, still teleporting behind Violet, but slightly off to the side. But as he gains more confidence he starts teleporting more to the sides. Once he fully grasps the concept he starts appearing above her as well. At that point even Violet is having trouble keeping up with him and starts using her shield again.


    His progress is impressive for only a few days of practice. I just hope this does not encourage him to challenge Violet to a real fight again.


    What has me most excited though is Rose¡¯s breakthrough in her magic training. On the evening before the humans are scheduled to return. The first I hear about it Violet shouting at me through our connection.


    ¡®Magentam, she did it!¡¯


    Who did what? Can you be a little more specific?


    ¡®Rose did magic. She made the crystal float.¡¯


    I rush to their room to see what she means. When I get there, it is just as Violet said. Rose is sitting on her bed, her hands cupped together in front of her, the mana crystal she uses for training levitating about a hand span above them. Her eyes are shut tight as she concentrates while Violet and her sister watch in wide eyed wonderment.


    The crystal floats in the air for several seconds before she lets it drop. She opens her eyes and smiles, breathing heavily from the exertion.


    Excellent work Rose. Your progress is extraordinary. Rose perks up in surprise.


    ¡°Lord Magentam, I didn¡¯t realize you were watching.¡± She says, looking a little flustered.


    Violet alerted me to your success so I wanted to see it for myself.


    ¡°I was hoping to surprise you.¡± She laments, casting a glare at Violet, who just smiles in return.


    Would you mind explaining to me how you achieved this feat?


    ¡°I am not entirely sure how to describe it. Now that I can control the mana enough to extend it a little beyond my body, I imagined the mana sort of taking the shape of a hand to wrap around the crystal to hold it up.¡±


    So it is a combination of mana control and proper visualization?


    ¡°I think so. Though even now it is hard to hold onto the mana and keep it in the proper shape.¡±


    Then perhaps that is what you should focus on practicing next. Creating a shield out of mana would necessitate holding it in its shape for an extended time period.


    ¡°Of course. I will get started right away.¡±


    No need to rush. You have already accomplished plenty for today. I am proud of you. But you should take a break. That looked like it took a lot out of you.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. Thank you, Lord Magentam.¡± She says, slumping down a little.


    It is best not to exhaust yourself too much before we meet with the humans tomorrow.


    Visualization and mana control. That has been the basis for pretty much everything I have accomplished with mana so far. If that is really all it takes then I am going to be disappointed with myself for not figuring it out on my own.


    The blue mana crystal is still sitting in its box on my chair so I will try with that. Gathering mana in my hands I picture it taking shape and reaching out to pick up the crystal. I do not think I need it to be in the shape of a hand specifically, just small tendrils to wrap around the crystal. When I pull the mana back towards me, the crystals wobbles a little. That is encouraging. I use a little more mana and try to focus more on the image of my mana wrapping around the crystal and pulling it upwards. I am elated to see the crystal rise and float in the air. Though it does require more mana than I expected to maintain.


    After lowering the crystal down again I have another idea. Rose imagined her mana in the shape of a hand. But I already have hands that I am reasonably certain are also made out of mana. It is just not enough mana to physically interact with anything. So I simply need to increase that mana until they are able to interact with things.


    I gather mana in my hands, but instead of holding it, I imagine the mana being absorbed into my hands and becoming a part of them. It is a strange concept but as I focus on the idea I feel a tingling sensation throughout the whole length of my arms. I reach out and touch the crystal. To my astonishment I am actually able to pick it up. For the first time in my entire existence I am actually holding something in my hands.


    Such a simple thing, yet it is exhilarating. But a mana crystal is not the best thing to test with. Mana crystals always felt solid to me, even if I could not pick them up or move them, I could still touch them. What I need to do is try this with things that I can not normally touch at all.


    Putting the crystal down, I reach for the box, my hand still passes through it, but I do feel some resistance. It is a strange and slightly uncomfortable sensation. I focus on absorbing even more mana into my hand and try again. Eventually I find the right amount of mana needed to pick it up. This is a marvelous discovery. I would likely be weeping with joy if I was capable of such a thing. To actually be able to touch things is wonderful, even if it does require a significant amount of mana.


    I am a little disappointed in myself, as predicted, for not figuring this out sooner. But better late than never. This will lead to many new ways for me to use mana both offensively and defensively. But now is not the time to test them. I have been conserving my mana in preparation for tomorrow. It would completely defeat the purpose if I used it all now and did not leave myself with enough to actually defend against the humans if it becomes necessary.


    When the sun rises I tell Violet to take the box outside and leave it at the front door as instructed. I also tell her take Noctis and Fire with her. Once she has placed the box, she is to find somewhere to hide outside. A place where they will be out of sight, but still have a good view of the entrance of our building. They are to wait for the humans and let me know as soon as they arrive. But do not let the humans see them.


    We have done all we can to be ready for them. Now all that is left to do is wait.

 28. Meeting with the Enemy

    We have to wait a few hours before the humans show up, but it could still be considered morning when they eventually arrive.


    ¡®The humans are here. They found the box.¡¯ Violet reports through our connection.


    How many are there?


    ¡®Six that I can see. I know four of them.¡¯


    What do you mean?


    ¡®It¡¯s the four humans who were the first to find us. Don¡¯t know the other two though.¡¯


    I feel anger bubbling up. Jenna and her friends. Why would they return? Everything is their fault. They must have told others about what they found here. That is how the other humans knew where to find us. It is their fault we were attacked. It is their fault my imps died! I should have just told my imps to kill them the first time they showed up. I may have lost some by doing so, but it surely would have been better than the massacre that followed. And we would have remained hidden.


    Rose is likely to reach the same conclusion. She is already not happy about this meeting taking place. When she sees those four it is going to be even worse. Of all the humans they could have sent. Why did it have to be them?


    Wait for them to enter, then follow. Do not let them see you and try to keep quiet. I do not want them to notice you coming up behind them.


    It takes longer than I expect for them to reach a point in the stairs where I can perceive them. They are moving slowly as they wind their way back and forth, even stopping occasionally. Perhaps they are just as wary of this being a trap as we are. I consider hitting them with a mana shock wave just to see how they will react, but think better of it. They might try to leave and that is not the objective this time.


    Rose is waiting for them in the hallway, Coal and Spiky by her side. When the door to our floor opens, I can finally get a good look at the humans as they file in. First is a man that I do not recognize. He has a gun holstered on his side, but I do not see any other weapons on him. If he was in the lead then he must be mana sensitive so he might not need other weapons.


    Next comes Shield Guy who quickly moves in front of the other man with his shield raised. After that comes Jenna, Machete Guy, Bow Guy and finally a woman I do not recognize. She is equipped similarly to the first man.


    Rose¡¯s disproving frown deepens into an angry scowl as she recognizes the four from the original group. Noticing the change in her expression, Coal growls at the humans. Rose¡¯s mana flares out which does not go unnoticed by the humans. Jenna and the two new humans raise their hands and a mana shield forms in front of the group. That other woman is also mana sensitive it seems. The other humans raise their weapons, ready for a fight.


    Rose, please calm yourself. I know why you are angry. I am not happy about those four being here either. But do not forget why we allowed them to come here.


    Rose takes a deep breath and tries to adopt a more neutral expression. Her displeasure is still plain to see, but she no longer looks like she wants to tear out their throats with her teeth. Coal stops growling, but he still glares at the humans. Her mana returns to normal. The humans look uncertain, but at a nod from the mana sensitive male, their shield dissipates.


    ¡°Call me crazy, but I don¡¯t think she wants us here.¡± Machete Guy says.


    ¡°You are crazy, but I think you¡¯re right in this case.¡± Jenna responds.


    ¡°Well they don¡¯t seem to want us to leave either.¡± Bow Guy says as he looks back into the stairwell and sees Violet and the two hellhounds coming up the stairs behind them.


    ¡°We might have just walked into a trap.¡± Shield Guy states, not lowering his shield. Jenna moves to stand in the doorway, prepared to create another mana shield behind them if necessary.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know that. They have not attacked us yet. We came here to talk about peace. Do not attack them unless they strike first.¡± The unknown man says, then he steps forward to address Rose. ¡°My name is William Blake. We¡¯re not here to fight. We just want to talk, as stated in the letter. Would you be so kind as to take us to the Dungeon controller?¡±


    He wants to talk to the dungeon controller. I still do not know what that means, but I think it is best not to let them know of our ignorance so we will just play along for now. Show them into Room 1 so we can get this meeting started.


    Rose glares at William but gestures towards the door to Room 1.


    ¡°In there?¡± William asks, pointing towards the door, but Rose does not respond further. He takes a step towards the door only to be stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s behind that door.¡± Shield Guy says. William sighs.


    ¡°I know. But if we expect them to trust us, we need to show a little trust in return.¡± He walks over to the door but pauses with his hand on the door handle. He takes a deep breath then pushes the door open. He stares at the empty room then looks back to Rose.


    ¡°There¡¯s no one in here. Will the Dungeon controller be coming later?¡± He asks, but Rose just gestures for them to enter.


    William enters the room followed by the other five humans. In the middle of the room is the table with five chairs around it, three on one side and two on the other. The humans correctly assume that the side with three chairs is for them. William sits in the middle chair while Shield Guy sits on the left and the unknown woman sits on the right. Jenna is content to stand behind them but Bow and Machete guys turn the couch around to face the table and bring it a little closer before sitting down.


    Rose and Violet enter followed by Coal and the three hellhounds. I had intended for only two hellhounds to be here, but three is fine. They are primarily here to be intimidating anyway, having one more will only help with that.


    Rose and Violet climb onto the chairs, Rose on the left and Violet on the right. Only Violet sits. Rose stays standing on her chair so she can be seen easier. Coal attempts to climb onto the chair with Violet but she blocks him from doing so. He pouts and sits on the floor. After a while Violet relents and holds out a hand to pull him up. There is enough room for both of them on the chair after all.


    Both sides stare at each other quietly for a while. After couple of minutes of awkward silence, William speaks first.


    ¡°Right, so will the controller be joining us soon?¡± He asks.


    ¡°Do any of you speak Balkret?¡± Rose responds. William slumps in his chair.


    ¡°They don¡¯t speak English, of course. I guess you¡¯re up Cass.¡± William says and looks to the woman on his right.


    ¡°Controller...meet...soon?¡± She asks. Her speech is slow and broken up with a pause between each word. She really does not know the language well.


    Just tell them that the controller does not trust them enough to meet them in person so you will be acting as my representative. I tell Rose and she relays that to the humans. The humans look to the woman for a translation.


    ¡°Controller no trust. Represent. I think, that¡¯s all I got.¡± She says.


    ¡°So the controller does not trust us enough to meet with us them self so they sent a representative? Is that what she is saying?¡± William asks.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I think so, yes. How should we proceed? Demand to see the dungeon controller or just keep talking to her?¡±


    ¡°She could be lying.¡± Shield Guy interjects. When the others look to him he continues. ¡°She might be the dungeon controller, but is lying about it to throw us off. Either way, I do not think demanding anything will get us anywhere.¡±


    ¡°Fair point, I guess we¡¯ll just talk to her for now then.¡± William says with a shrug. ¡°What about the other two. In your initial report you said that all the demons were red. Do you think one or both of them could be guardians?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. You¡¯re the expert on dungeons here.¡± Shield Guy retorts. While the humans are talking I am relaying everything to Rose so she knows what they are saying. They turn their attention back to Rose and the woman speaks again.


    ¡°Name Cassandra Thorne. William Blake. Johnathan Crawford.¡± She gestures to herself and the two men beside her in turn. ¡°You name?¡± She asks. Rose glares at Johnathan, finally having a name to go with the shield.


    ¡°I am Rose, she is Violet, he is Coal.¡± She replies. The humans look at her in shock.


    ¡°Those are English words right? It¡¯s not like some kind of coincidence that they are names in the demon language that just happen to sound like English?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°Not unless you think it is a coincidence that the one with purple skin just happens to be named ¡®Violet¡¯.¡± Machete Guy adds sarcastically from the couch.


    ¡°That means there may be one among them who understands English.¡± Shield Guy says, looking between the imps with narrowed eyes. ¡°They may have been listening to everything we¡¯ve said up to this point and understood every word. Be careful what you say from here on.¡±


    ¡°Why did you bring them?¡± Rose asks, gesturing to Johnathan and his companions.


    ¡°Pay...guard. Here before. No kill. Friend...face.¡± Cassandra replies


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE NOT FRIENDS! It¡¯s all their fault. They¡¯re the reason my friends died. They told people about us. If we had just killed them the first time they were here, some of my friends would still be alive.¡± Rose shouts, tightening her grip on the table. Her claws digging gouges in the wood.


    ¡°Cass, she seems pretty angry. What¡¯s she saying.¡± William asks.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, she¡¯s talking too fast. I think she is blaming them for something.¡±


    I think I need to step in here before things escalate. I have an idea that might work. I may be able to communicate with the humans using mana the same way I talk to my imps. William seems to be the leader so I will try talking to him. I hope this works and I do not make his head explode or something. I reach out to him with a tendril of mana. The three mana sensitive humans perk up when they sense the mana but do not have time to react before I make contact with William.


    Greeting William. I am Magentam, the one who controls this dungeon.


    William lets out a pained cry and doubles over with his hands on his head. The other humans all stand up and raise their weapons. The hellhounds and Coal growl at their sudden movement.


    ¡°What happened? Is she attacking you somehow?¡± Cassandra asks, putting a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°No, I think the dungeon controller is trying to communicate telepathically. It just hurt a little and I wasn''t expecting it. They do seem to speak English though.¡± William says, sitting up straight again and bringing his hands back down to the table.


    Everyone stand down. I will handle this from here. The hellhounds stop growling, but Coal continues until Violet tells him to stop. Violet reaches out and takes Rose¡¯s hand.


    ¡°You okay?¡± She asks.


    ¡°Yeah, sorry. I lost control a little there.¡± Rose says, wiping tears from her eyes.


    ¡°I understand, I don¡¯t like them much either, but Magentam will deal with them now. They¡¯ll regret it if the make her angry.¡± Violet replies with a smirk. Rose glares daggers at Johnathan.


    I turn my attention back to William, while I am not overly concerned about his pain, I feel like I should try to ease up a little or things will not progress. I reach out again with less mana this time, he still winces when I make contact but it is clearly not as bad this time.


    I am sorry. I am not used to talking with humans. Will you please tell your companions to lower their weapons. He does so and the humans reluctantly comply and sit back down. As I speak to him I also repeat everything to Rose and Violet to keep them in the loop.


    I am sure you are wondering why my representative was so angry.


    ¡°Yes, that was startling. We¡¯re a little confused.¡±


    It is because of Johnathan and his companions. Why did you bring them?


    ¡°We hired them as escorts. They have been here before and you let them go without harm so we thought you might be more comfortable if we brought familiar faces.¡±


    Is that so? Unfortunately it had quite the opposite effect.


    ¡°So it seems. Can you explain the reason for such a volatile reaction?¡±


    They were the first humans to discover us. Ever since then, we have been attacked multiple times. We have repelled these attacks, but we have suffered casualties. We have lost friends to the humans who attacked us.


    ¡°Ah, yes. We suspected something like that might have happened when our first scouts reported seeing human remains outside the front entrance.¡± He looks down with a sad expression. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that happened. It is unfortunate that other humans managed to stumble upon this place before we could officially make contact, but I don''t understand what that has to do with Johnathan and his party.¡±


    The ones who attacked did not stumble upon us by chance. They were very well informed. William looks up, glancing towards Johnathan with a stern look.


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± He questions.


    They knew exactly where to look. They came straight to this floor without stopping at any others. Once here, they went directly to the room where the core used to be, before it was moved, without checking any others. They even knew what kind of enemies to expect. William turns to Johnathan.


    ¡°Did you tell anyone else about this dungeon, before or after reporting it to us?¡± He asks in an accusing tone.


    ¡°Of course not. We¡¯re well aware of the rules.¡± Johnathan retorts.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure none of you said anything to anyone?¡±


    ¡°No way. What kind of fools do you take us for?¡± Machete Guy snaps back.


    I have a question for you Mr. Blake. The name of your organization ¡®Dungeon Management Office¡¯, is that ever abbreviated as ¡®DMO¡¯. I ask.


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s how people usually refer to it. Why?¡± He asks skeptically.


    The men who attacked us, they were hired to do so. That is how they got their information. The client who hired them got that information from a contact in the DMO. So to be fair, it is not just Johnathan and his friends who are at fault. Your organization also shares in the blame for what happened to us. He clenches his fists and his expression darkens.


    ¡°That¡¯s a serious accusation. Are you certain of that?¡±


    That is what the humans said before they started slaughtering my friends.


    ¡°I see. If that¡¯s true, I don¡¯t have any excuses. Sharing information on unconfirmed dungeons is a direct violation of our rules, but I can¡¯t say with certainty that it¡¯s never happened.¡± He turns to his female companion. ¡°Cassandra, it appears we may have a leak at the DMO that needs to be plugged.¡± He takes a deep breath and sighs. He leans forwards and rests his head in his hands. ¡°So, Magentam, where does that leave us with our peace negotiation?¡±


    I am not opposed to peace or even trade. But first you need to deal with that leak, find whoever keeps sending people to attack us and put a stop to it. Only then can we discuss peace.


    ¡°That¡¯s reasonable. Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention. We will start investigating this matter as soon as possible. How should we contact you when we find something?¡±


    I will create a meeting space on the next floor down. If you wish to talk in the future, wait there and I will send someone to greet you.


    ¡°Fair enough, I look forward to speaking with you again.¡± With that William stands from his chair and all the other humans follow suit.


    One more thing. Going forward, any humans who attempt to reach this floor will be met with the full force of my aggression. I will not hold back anymore and I will not show mercy. William flinches at my declaration, but does not object.


    ¡°Understood. I will ensure that warning is well documented.¡±


    As the humans make their way out of the room Rose glares at them the whole way until they are out of sight.


    Violet. I want you to follow them. But do not let them see you. I want to know where these humans are coming from and how many there are. But do not put yourself in danger. If you run into any trouble, let me know and I will recall you immediately.

 29. In Persuit

    Violet felt exhilarated as she stalked the humans through the ruins of a vast city. She¡¯d been given an important mission by Magentam. She was to follow these humans back to their home. That meant discovering a new part of the city no imps had ever seen before. But it was also dangerous. There were monsters out here, but not only that, there were humans. She knew that as she got closer to their home, there was a higher chance of seeing more humans than just the ones she was following. More humans meant more eyes on the lookout and a greater chance of being spotted.


    But for all her excitement at having such an important job to do, she couldn¡¯t ignore the worry and anxiety in the back of her mind. This was the first time she¡¯d gone out alone for more than a few moments since she met Rose. There were always other imps around now and the hellhounds. Violet was never alone unless she wanted to be, which she rarely did. She would rather be surrounded by her friends all the time. So being alone like this now out in the city made her nervous.


    Even though she was bigger and stronger now than she ever had been before, there were monsters out here that were bigger and stronger still. But there were few, if any, creatures out here as fast as she was. She could easily outrun any dangers she might encounter. Almost any. The humans had those weapons that Magentam called ¡®guns¡¯. That¡¯s something she couldn¡¯t outrun.


    She¡¯d already felt their sting once before, right before she died. She still felt weird about that. Dying isn¡¯t something people usually live through, yet she had. A moment of pain and everything went away, then suddenly it all came back. Magentam had done something to bring her back, but she still didn¡¯t really understand it. All she knew was that she was different now, even more than before.


    She liked the new colour of her skin, it was nice. She¡¯d never seen an imp with skin like hers before so it made her feel special. Her white hair was pretty too. She liked the blond hair she had before, enjoyed the way it made her stand out. But this was even better, white like the clouds up in the sky. So big and fluffy, she wished she could hug them, but they were too high up so she could never reach them.


    Her longer tail was interesting. She would have expected it to feel strange, but instead it felt totally natural, so much so that she didn¡¯t even think about it until that first fight with Coal when she slapped him in the face with it. Remembering the look of confusion he had when she did that made her giggle. Now she just needed to figure out how to attach something sharp to the end of her tail to make it a serious weapon. But everything she¡¯d tried so far had either been too heavy or she could not attach it properly, or both. Maybe she should start by just adding extra weight to the end of her tail to improve its strength, though she would still need to find a way to secure it. She decided she would work on that when she got back after this mission.


    She did enjoy being stronger, but she hoped she wouldn¡¯t get any bigger. Other imps might start to be intimidated or not even see her as an imp anymore if she did. But no matter how strong she was, she wished she didn¡¯t have to do this alone. It would be so nice if she could have Rose and her sister and Fuzzy and maybe even Coal with her.


    But Rose had to take care of things at home, she was the leader after all, after Magentam of course. Her sister was still getting used to this place and wasn¡¯t ready for a mission like this, but maybe next time she could come too. She was so happy her sister was here now. Magentam had given Violet a whole new life by bringing her and she was glad to be able to share it with her sister. Fuzzy is always great company because she is so fuzzy, but she stands out too much for this kind of mission.


    She liked Coal despite his aggressive nature and the way he seemed to actually enjoy fighting. Though honestly, Violet liked fighting against him too. It gave her a chance to test her new strength without holding back, even if it did annoy Rose having to heal them so much. But for all that he would be great to have in a fight, he¡¯s about as subtle as a raging corlok so not suitable for a stealth mission.


    She had to do this alone. But she wasn''t really alone. Now that she could talk to Magentam no matter how far away she was, she was never truly alone. That¡¯s the reason why she was chosen for this mission. She could report anything important the moment she saw it or call for help if she was in danger and she would be teleported back home. It¡¯s so cool that she could do that now, even if it would mean leaving her shield behind. There were others with all the other things that were taken from the humans, but this one was hers and it was her favourite.


    So far the mission had been uneventful. The humans were moving pretty slowly, always on alert. Not that that¡¯s a bad thing, but it made things boring to go so slow. All the creatures they had encountered so far had simply fled from them. One small rodent creature had run right past where Violet was hiding. She struck out with her dagger and impaled it before it even realized its mistake.


    After the humans had been walking for a long time, with Violet darting from one hiding place to another as she stalked them, she could see that they were close to the river. But not a part of the river that she was familiar with. This was a long way from where she and the other imps played in the water. She was in a part of the city that she didn¡¯t recognize now so nothing was familiar here. The humans seemed apprehensive of the water, with at least one of them always looking towards it. The human with the shield moved to be the one closest to the shore. Were they afraid of something in the water? Perhaps she should report this.


    ¡®Magentam, the humans are following the river now, but they look like they¡¯re afraid of it.¡¯


    Can you see anything in the water that would give them cause for concern? Magentam replied.


    ¡®No, it looks normal to me.¡¯


    Have you ever seen anything strange in the water before?


    ¡®I saw a round lizard with a hard shell once, but it didn¡¯t seem dangerous. But this is very far from where we usually swim. Maybe whatever they¡¯re afraid of is only around here.¡¯


    Perhaps, but if it is something that swims, there is no reason why it could not follow the river to where you are. I will not tell you all stop playing at the river, but please be careful and keep an eye out from now on. Magentam said, the tone of concern clear in her voice.


    Violet could see a bridge in the distance spanning the width of the river. They couldn¡¯t see this bridge from where they usually play in the river, but they could see more of the city on the other side. None of the imps had ever tried swimming across to the other shore. They hadn¡¯t needed to when there was still so much to explore on their side of the river.


    Maybe the humans came from the other side of the river and that¡¯s why they had never encountered them before while exploring. Maybe she would be the first imp to travel to the other side. The others would definitely be jealous, she thought to herself with glee.


    The humans suddenly stopped moving and raised their weapons. After a few moments, Violet saw why. From around a corner up ahead came a large four-legged beast. It was taller than the humans and had huge, sharp horns, one on either side of its head. It actually reminded Violet a little of a corlok, but with less horns and fur instead of scales and armoured plates. When the beast spotted the humans, it let out a loud bellow then charged at them with its head down, aiming to impale them on its horns.


    The human with the bow fired an arrow which stuck in the beast¡¯s side but did not slow it down at all. The two females and the male who had talked the most at the meeting raised their arms and the beast collided with an invisible wall in front of the humans. With the beast dazed and shaking its head, the humans lowered their arms and the first human fired another arrow, this one bouncing off the beast¡¯s head rather than penetrating its skull.


    As the beast backed up to charge again the humans erected the invisible wall once more. When the beast was dazed again after hitting the wall, the one with the bow fired more arrows. They repeated this pattern a few more times, some arrows bouncing harmlessly of its head, others digging into its sides. But then two of the magic humans pulled out guns and fired at the beast the next time it collided with the wall.


    Violet couldn¡¯t fight the terror that overwhelmed her when she heard the gunshots. It filled her with dread and she curled up on the ground and tried to hide beneath her shield as she remembered the first time she¡¯d heard that sound.


    The beast grunted as it was hit by the bullets. It turned away and stalked off, apparently deciding the humans were not worth the effort. The humans stayed where they were for a long time after that, on high alert in case the creature came back. But it never did and eventually they stared moving again, it was getting late in the afternoon now and they were moving faster now than they were before.


    Violet contemplated just letting them go and returning home. She was terrified of them aiming their guns at her if they saw her. Magentam did tell her not to put herself in danger, so surely she wouldn¡¯t be upset...No. This is a mission Magentam had entrusted to her and she was determined to succeed. But she would put even more distance between herself and the humans, be even more careful about staying hidden. She could not afford to let them see her, no matter what.


    The humans reached the bridge as the sun was starting to set. But rather than try to cross it they approached a nearby building with boarded up windows. There was a section of the wall between the windows that looked to be made of metal. When the humans knocked on the metal wall it slid upwards revealing a door and another human beyond. When all the humans entered the building the metal wall came back down.


    Violet waited to see if they would come out again, but once it was dark outside she concluded that they were going to stay there for the night. Magentam had once mentioned that humans do not see well in the dark so it made sense that they would not want to travel at night.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡®Magentam. The humans entered a building with a sliding metal wall covering the door. I think they are planning to sleep there for the night.¡¯ She reported.


    Did you see any other humans around?


    ¡®I saw one more inside, but I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s more than that. I don¡¯t see any other signs of humans living around here, but we are close to a bridge. I think the humans come from across the river.¡¯


    Is that so? Anything else of interest to report?


    ¡®The humans fought a large monster. A huge furred beast with horns that was bigger than they are. They did fight it off, but did not manage to kill it, even with their guns.¡¯


    Thank you Violet. You have provided valuable information. You can come back if you would like, it could be dangerous staying out all night on your own. Especially if that creature is still around.


    ¡®No. I will keep following them. This mission is important. I don¡¯t want to give up yet.¡¯


    Alright. If you are sure. But please be careful. I do not want to lose you again.


    She looked around for a place to sleep for herself. Even if she didn¡¯t need much sleep, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to sleep out in the open. Despite her determination to find the human¡¯s home, she was nervous about spending the night outside alone. On a side street she found one of the metal boxes with wheels, like the ones in the big underground room. It was dented at the front and a bit rusted, but sill mostly intact.


    She climbed in through one of the windows which was open. Inside was what looked like seats, thought the padding had long since deteriorated to almost nothing. Perhaps this was once some kind of vehicle. She moved to the back of the box and lay down on the lowest part of the floor and covered herself with her shield. She hoped this would be a good enough hiding place for her to sleep safely.


    She awoke a some time later to the peaceful quiet of the night. Though not completely quiet, there were occasional sounds of creatures calling out and moving around in the dark. Not that she was concerned about that, she could see well enough in the dark that she was confident none of them would be able to sneak up on her. She wondered what to do while she waited for the humans to continue their journey.


    She could spend the time exploring the surrounding area. None of the imps had been to this part of the city before so there could be a lot of interesting things to find. But she did not bring a backpack to carry things so it would be hard for her to take anything with her.


    She came to the bridge. It was long, straight and had very little to hide behind. It would be difficult to follow the humans across without being seen. She could cross the bridge now and wait for the humans on the other side, but that idea was not without risk either. She didn¡¯t know for certain that the humans were going to cross the bridge yet. The fact that they stopped near the bridge could just be a coincidence. They may continue following the river on this side, in which case she might lose them if she was waiting for them on the other side.


    Staying safe and out of sight was more important so she decided to take the risk and cross the bridge while it was still dark. She knew sunrise was still quite a while away, so when she reached the other side she decided to look around a little.


    She spotted an animal she had not seen before. It looked similar to the dogs she had fought before. But this creature was smaller than most of the dogs had been. It also looked fuzzier and its nose was more pointed. But most importantly was its tail...It was SO FLUFFY! She wanted to touch it. But for that, she¡¯d have to catch it first.


    She bolted after it. It fled as it noticed her rapid approach, but it couldn¡¯t outrun Violet. Soon she was almost upon the creature, a manic grin spreading across her face. A strange mist suddenly appeared and engulfed the creature, obscuring it from view. When the mist dissipated, her prize was gone.


    Violet looked around in confusion and disappointment, but could find no trace of it. It was just gone, like it had never been there at all. Utterly dejected, she made her way back to the bridge to wait for sunrise and the humans.


    Not long after the sun rose Violet could see the humans making their way across. She was hiding in some bushes quite a distance away from the bridge to avoid being seen. She maintained that distance as she followed them through the city. She almost lost them a few times as a result. But she always found them again before they got too far away.


    They did not encounter anymore large creatures but there were still a few smaller animals around. Eventually they encountered a metal box that was bigger and boxier than most of the others that she had seen. But this one was moving and had more humans in it, confirming that it was, in fact, some kind of vehicle. The vehicle stopped and the humans inside spoke to the ones she was following for a while. This made Violet suspect that they were getting close to the human¡¯s home now. Eventually the humans parted ways and continued on their respective journeys.


    It was almost midday when Violet finally noticed it. A wall cutting through the city. She could not tell how tall it was but knew it must be quite large to see it from such a distance. When the humans reached the wall she could see it must be as tall as at least three humans stacked on top of each other.


    They followed along the wall until they eventually came to a gate. She could see several humans guarding the gate on the ground and even more standing on top of it. It looked like they might have been holding weapons of some kind but Violet was to far away to see what they were. The humans spoke to the guards a little then passed through the gate.


    Violet was positive she had found the human¡¯s home, but she wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall to be sure. She was confident she could climb the wall. Imps were experts at climbing buildings. Their claws well suited for finding even the slightest purchase on a wall and digging in to it. It was one of the things that made evading vukra and their biters so simple. Imps could quickly and easily scale most buildings, leaving the angry vukra to curse and rage at them from the ground.


    But it would not be wise to try climbing so close to the gate. She would be far too easy to see, clinging to the wall like that. She needed to find somewhere out of the view of the guards.


    Following the wall back the way she had come until she could not see the gate anymore, she looked around to see if there were any more humans within view. When she could not see any she laid her shield and dagger on the ground. As much as she did not wish to be parted from them, they would only hinder her climb. She would pick them up on the way back.


    After checking once more to ensure there were no humans in sight, she sprinted for the wall and vaulted onto it. As she predicted it was easy to climb, made from a rough stone that her claws easily bit into. She quickly made it to the top and what she saw on the other side amazed and terrified her.


    It was a thriving, well maintained city. She could see humans walking the streets and vehicles moving around, undoubtedly with more humans inside. She did not know how big this place was, but she could not see the wall on the other side. Assuming that the wall encircled the entire area that the humans lived, it must be huge. She could not even begin to guess how many humans must live here.


    To think that this entire ruined city might have once been filled with humans like this was mind boggling. She needed to report this immediately and return home as quickly as possible.


    <hr>


    William approached the Director¡¯s office and knocked on the door.


    ¡°Enter.¡± Came the reply from within. He pushed the door open and entered the room.


    ¡°Sir, William Blake reporting in.¡± He said standing to attention.


    ¡°Ahh, William, excellent. Please sit. You bring good news I hope.¡± The Director said.


    ¡°Some. But some bad news as well.¡± William sighed and took a seat in one of the chairs meant for visitors.


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t keep me waiting. I haven¡¯t got all day.¡± The Director replied gruffly.


    ¡°I was able to make contact with the dungeon controller. Though they didn''t show them self directly, they can apparently communicate telepathically.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± The Director said, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Yes Sir. Though they¡¯re fluent in English I wasn¡¯t able to confirm whether they¡¯re human or not. Though I suspect not. Even with the advent of magic, I haven¡¯t heard of any human capable of telepathic communication.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, based on what we know, that is a fair assumption. So, are they willing to trade mana stones?¡±


    ¡°They said they¡¯re not opposed to trade, but there is something we need to do first. We didn¡¯t get into specifics of what would be traded.¡± The director frowned hearing that.


    ¡°They¡¯re making demands of us already? That¡¯s rather audacious. What is it that they need from us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s where the bad new comes in Sir. It seems we may have a leak in our organization. Someone who is suspiciously well informed has been sending people to attack the dungeon. I presume with the intention of stealing the core before we could confirm its status.¡± William explained. The Director¡¯s frown deepening with each passing moment.


    ¡°How can you be sure it¡¯s a leak in our office?¡±


    ¡°Well Sir, Magentam, that is the name of the dungeon¡¯s controller, said that one of the first attackers mentioned getting their information from a ¡®contact in the DMO¡¯. Magentam seems to care quite deeply for their dungeon creatures and they have apparently faced some casualties as a result of these attacks. They said they will only discus trade after we find out who is responsible and put a stop to it.¡± The Director slumped back in his chair and groaned.


    ¡°Any chance we could just storm in and take the dungeon by force?¡±


    ¡°Sir, I won¡¯t say that it¡¯s impossible, but I would advise against it. I don¡¯t think it would be worth the effort. The resistance we previously faced in trying to reach them was apparently Magentam holding back, which they said they are no longer going to do.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll have an investigation started on this possible leak. What can you tell me about the dungeon¡¯s creatures?¡±


    ¡°There does appear to be ¡®miniature demons¡¯ as originally reported by Johnathan and his party. Unlike the original report, however, not all of them were red. Of the three that we saw yesterday, only one was red. Of the other two, one was purple and the other dark grey. The purple one was significantly larger than the other two. Due to that and the original report of the core¡¯s colour, I suspect her to be the guardian. I¡¯m not sure about the grey one though.¡± William reported. He took a moment to organize his thoughts before continuing.


    ¡°There were also some creatures not in the original report. They were kind of wolf like in appearance I guess, but they were big and rather intimidating. I suspect that was the point of them being present at the meeting. We didn''t see any other creatures, but we weren''t allowed to go past the first room where the meeting took place, so I can¡¯t confirm if there are any more or not.¡± The Director listened to report without interruption, a blank look on his face as he processed the information.


    ¡°I see. Anything else?¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir. After we left the dungeon, the purple demon seemed to be following us. The ranger, Seth, reported seeing her twice before we reached the checkpoint last night. But we didn¡¯t see her at all today, meaning she either turned back or got better at hiding.¡± The Director stiffened at that.


    ¡°How do you suggest we deal with her if the patrols come across her? Do you believe she is a threat?¡±


    ¡°No Sir. I believe she¡¯s simply curious. They¡¯re trying to learn about us just as we¡¯re trying to learn about them. I would recommend we don¡¯t engage. They do seem to be intelligent. I don¡¯t believe they would attack without provocation, especially when outnumbered.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take your recommendation under advisement. I want you and Cassandra to write a full report and submit it by the end of the day. See if you can get those escorts of yours to do the same.¡± The Director commanded.

 30. Grey Rock

    Violet¡¯s report on the humans'' numbers are worrying, but not entirely surprising, considering the number of humans that were sent in the last attack. They would not send that many unless they were confident, desperate or had numbers to spare. If that was a force they had felt confident in, that would be laughable with how ineffectual they were. Nor did William and his group seem particularly desperate during the negotiation. So they must have numbers to spare.


    I still do not trust William, even if he did seem sincere. If his desire for peace is genuine, that suggests that humans are not a monolithic group. I could believe that, but it is also possible that it is just a clever ruse to make us let down our guard. We will have to wait and see.


    For now I am glad that Violet made it back safely. Even though I was confident she would succeed, I still could not help feeling worried the entire time she was gone. Evidently I was not the only one. As soon as she got back her sister flung herself towards her and wrapped her in a hug, which Violet happily returned. She still does not have a name, but she wants to choose one for herself so I will just have to wait.


    Coal also gave her a hug after her sister. Violet was surprised by that, but I have never seen her refuse a hug before and this time was no exception. He then challenged her to a fight. He knows the word ¡®fight¡¯ now. I hope he was referring to a friendly sparring match and not a serious fight. Though even their ¡®friendly¡¯ sparring matches usually are not that friendly, leaving them both quite bloody.


    But Violet just wanted to rest after her extended mission, after telling me about all the interesting things she saw that she did not feel were important enough to report immediately. The dog-like creature that dissipated into mist sounds interesting. I would like to learn more about that. I wonder if I could summon one. Violet''s description feels a little vague, but it may still be enough. I might try it some time if I can get more information about them. I will tell my imps to keep an eye out for them, but not just charge after them if they see them like Violet did.


    It is time to summon something new though. I was conserving my mana before as I prepared for the meeting with the humans so that interrupted my imp summoning schedule. Then I wanted to wait for Violet to return before I summoned a new imp, she always likes to greet them as soon as they arrive.


    But I think I might need something a little different this time. I want a creature that can scout the human city. The easiest way I can think of to do that would be from the air. Unless I can get a creature that can turn invisible...I do have one that can teleport so it does not seem like much of a stretch to think that it could be possible. But seeing it from the sky might be better for getting a sense of the full scale of their territory.


    I wonder if there are imps that can fly. I know there are different subspecies and at least some have interesting abilities. It seems like a long shot, but still might be worth trying.


    Only about half the imps gather for this summoning, Rose and Violet among them as always, of course. Coal is here too, which I appreciate. I am going to have Noctis here this time as well. Even if it might scare a new imp, it is a necessary precaution. If a flying imp is not actually something that exists then I do not know what will happen. I might just end up with a regular imp or I might get something different altogether. Since flying is the primary focus here, I suspect it will be more likely to get something new.


    The summoning takes noticeably longer than usual this time and I start to wonder if something is wrong, but before I can become too concerned, a white light appears and begins to take shape. What materializes from the rift is not an imp...Rather it looks like I have summoned a large grey rock. I am not sure how to react to this. Did I do something wrong? Is it even possible to summon a rock? The imps stare at the rock in confusion but Noctis approaches it and prods at it with her nose. After being prodded a few times the rock wiggles a little.


    Violet approaches next and tries to lightly poke it. She touches one clawed finger to the rock and it moves ever so slightly, just enough so that her claw is no longer touching it. She puts her whole hand on the rock with her palm flat. This time it does not move and looks as solid as I would expect a rock to be. She tries scraping her claws against the rock and it wiggles again, attempting to move away from them.


    Whatever this thing is, I do not think it is a rock. It seems to be a living creature of some kind. But I wanted something that could fly. A creature that looks like a rock seems like the opposite of that. But I can not be certain, maybe it possesses some kind of hidden abilities that I am not aware of. Perhaps I should try talking to it.


    Hello, do not be afraid. We are not going to harm you. We want to be friends.


    The rock wiggles more as it changes shape, becoming taller and narrower. To my surprise, and everyone else¡¯s, the rock looks to be unfolding now. Violet and Noctis jump back as its shape shifts and changes until it opens up to reveal a creature with massive wings that it had wrapped around itself. Now I see how it could be a flying creature.


    The creature is crouched down and hunched forwards, but it straightens up a little as it looks around the room. The creature has two arms and two legs. Its arms look disproportionately long compared to the size of its torso, ending in hands with only four fingers. Its feet also have four digits, three forward facing and one backwards with vicious looking curved talons on all of them. They make me think of a bird of prey with their design.


    It has a wiry build and looks to be around as tall as the hellhounds, but that is when it is crouched down and still slightly hunched over. If it stood up straight to its full height, I estimate it might be almost as tall as a human.


    Its nose is almost completely flat, barely more than two vertical slits in the middle of its face. It has yellow eyes and large ears that end in a point. Smooth grey skin covers its body with no hair that I can see.


    Its wings are marvelous. It is hard to tell its wingspan with its wings half folded as they currently are, but I can see they are quite expansive. Where the leathery wing membrane attaches to its back, it runs down its full length and even along the short tail at the base of its spine. But they are also incredibly flexible, they would have to be to wrap around it the way they were when it appeared.


    It approaches Noctis, folding its wings onto its back. They bend in more places than I would expect, but that allows them fold completely onto its back without dragging behind it. It walks forwards on all fours, but it never touches its palms to the floor, only its finger tips being in contact with the ground.


    It holds a hand out to Noctis. She sniffs and then licks the proffered hand and it reaches up to pat her on the head, which she does not object to. It turns to Violet, but she does not wait for it to come to her. She moves forward and tries to wrap her arms around it. It pats her on the head too, causing her to giggle.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Rose has gone to Room 7, where we now store all the clothes, to find something for it to wear as the imp sized clothes she had prepared clearly were not going to fit. I had actually forgotten about clothes for a moments, too busy marveling at this new creature and how unusual it looks compared to everything else I had seen so far, which admittedly is not much. But now that I take the time to notice, I can see that he is male.


    She returns with some grey adult sized shorts. Obviously a shirt is out of the question with those wings. She holds the shorts out to him but he just looks at her and tilts his head. She demonstrates putting the shorts on, but they are far too big for her so she has to hold them up at her waist. When she offers the pants to him again he seems to understand and puts them on without issue. He tries to pat her on the head as well, but she holds up a hand to block it.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± She says and he retracts his arm. ¡°Can you speak?¡± She asks. He shakes his head. ¡°But you can understand me?¡± He nods. ¡°Do you have a name? My name is Rose.¡± He does not seem to react for a few seconds, then Rose shakes her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t understand.¡± There is a few more seconds of silence before Rose speaks again. ¡°Would it be alright if our lord gives you a new name? Not to replace your current name, of course, but just so that we have something to call you that we can actually pronounce.¡± He thinks for a moment, then nods.


    Was he actually communicating with you somehow?


    ¡°Yes. I believe he uses some kind of telepathy, not unlike you, but he doesn¡¯t communicate in words. It was like images, sounds and a lot of other things I did not understand all at once. It felt kind of...abstract. I¡¯m not sure how else to describe it.¡±


    Now I need to come up with a name for him. Perhaps something rock related since that is how he first appeared. I cannot simply call him ¡®Rock¡¯ though as one of the imps already claimed that name.


    How would you feel about the name ¡®Igneous¡¯? I ask. That is rock related and it does sound impressive too, even if it is just a basic geology term.


    I feel something latch on to the mana I used to speak to him and follow it back to my core. In my mind I experience a jumble of images, sounds, smells, flavours, feelings, shapes, colours, textures and some other things I simply can not comprehend all mixed together. Like a kaleidoscope for all five senses and then a few more on top of that. I understand what Rose meant now, but simply calling it ¡®abstract¡¯ feels like a serious understatement.


    I am sorry. I also cannot understand that.


    He reaches out again, this time with a much simpler concept. ¡®Acceptance¡¯. That felt a lot more like how Noctis communicates. As long he can separate his thoughts into more basic concepts like that, communication should not be a problem. Being able to send images could be useful too if he can show me exactly what he sees instead of having to describe it to me. I could finally get to see what the outside world looks like.


    Most of the imps have gathered now to observe this new creature, gazing up at him in curiosity and wonder. Except for Coal, he is still wary and cautious. When Igneous turns to him he growls. Igneous bares his teeth but does not make any sound. He has two prominent fangs on each of his top and bottom jaws but the rest of his teeth are small and pointy. Violet steps between them and glares down at Coal.


    ¡°No fighting.¡± She chides. Coal stops growling but he continues to glower.


    Violet turns back to Igneous and asks to see his wings again. He extends one wing out to its full length. Seeing it like this, it looks to be almost as long as Noctis, if not a bit more. His full wingspan must be enormous. It is a wonder he can fold them so neatly onto his back when they are so large.


    She moves forward and gently caresses the tough but soft wing membrane and some of the other imps do the same.


    Violet, how about you show him the way out so he can go stretch his wings if he wants to.


    Violet readily agrees and beckons Igneous to follow as she heads for the door. Most of the imps follow along, even Coal.


    Luckily Rose is one of the few imps who stayed behind so I can ask her about this strange new creature.


    Have you ever seen anything like him before?


    ¡°No. I have absolutely no clue what that is. He¡¯s fascinating though, especially his rock disguise. For a moment I wondered if you had summoned an actual rock, until it started moving.¡±


    It is impressive. He even had me questioning it at first. It is a good thing Noctis was able to see through it. He seems quite intelligent as well, so he should be able to help us by scouting the surrounding area from the air.


    About half an hour after Igneous and the imps went out, Violet contacts me.


    ¡®Magentam, I¡¯m flying!¡¯ She says in a tone full of exuberance.


    You are what? I ask, surprised at the sudden declaration.


    ¡®I¡¯m flying. He picked me up with his hands and feet, he can grab things with his feet, and now we¡¯re flying. This is so amazing. I can see so far. I wish I had wings so I could fly like this all the time.''


    I am worried by this but Igneous seems smart enough that I do not think he would do anything to put her in danger. At least, I hope not.


    When they eventually return a few hours later, Violet looks elated. Most of the imps are bouncing along beside Igneous in excitement. A couple of them look significantly less enthusiastic though and one even looks nauseous. I guess flying is not for everyone.


    Igneous paces over to one corner of the room and curls into a ball and slowly wraps his wings around himself. I and many of the imps watch in fascination at the way his wings bend and flex. With how flexible they are, it makes me wonder if his wings even have bones in them. But they must right? Would he be able to fly if they did not?


    When he is done he once again looks like a big, grey rock just sitting in the corner. Even knowing the truth, the disguise is still incredibly convincing. I wonder if there is some magic involved or if he is just able to subtly alter the texture and colouration of his skin to make it look more like a natural rock formation. In the right environment, that would likely be perfect camouflage.


    Even in this environment, I am sure it will still be useful. Most animals and monsters are probably not smart enough to question the presence of a big rock. Even the humans might be fooled. While I am sure they would be confused by its presence, I doubt even they would be able to see through the disguise unless they have encountered something like this before.


    He is such an interesting creature. Perhaps I should summon another. I do not like the idea of my creatures having to be alone, unless that is their preference. I should ask him if that is something he wants later. But what to call them? Rose has no idea what they are and I am not sure who else I can ask. I will just come up with something that sounds fitting until someone can tell me otherwise, as usual. A winged creature that can disguise itself as a stone is not too dissimilar from the concept of a gargoyle. So I will call them that for now.


    As much as I would like to send him to scout the human¡¯s location straight away, as I doubt the humans are simply idling around waiting for us to do something, I feel like it is important to let him get settled in and learn about his new environment before I ask him to do any serious scouting missions. So I will let him rest for a few days. In the meantime I need to finish work on the meeting room on the fourth floor.

 31. Seeing the Sights

    Since he was summoned, Igneous has spent most of his time sitting in the corner in his rock disguise. He spends nearly three quarters of each day curled up as a rock. I do not think he is sleeping the whole time as he will usually respond if I talk to him. Maybe he just likes sitting quietly and contemplating things? It is hard to tell what he is thinking. Even when the imps actually treat him like a rock and climb up to sit on top, he does not react as long as they are careful not to dig their claws in.


    When he is not pretending to be part of the decor, he will usually go outside, often with an imp or two following along in hopes of getting to fly again, though he does not always agree to do so.


    After returning from one such outing, I did inquire whether he could transmit just images to me without everything else and he nodded. I asked him to show me the things he had seen outside. He had not gone too far out yet, mostly just exploring the immediate surroundings. What I saw was within my expectations. An abandoned city falling into disrepair.


    The majority of the buildings appear mostly intact, with little more damage than some broken windows. Though when he focused on the building we currently reside in, there was a rather large hole in the roof. It is hard to gauge exactly how big the hole is from this perspective, but I am sure it is big enough that he could crawl through it with no difficulty if he folded his wings.


    I assume that hole is from when my core fell from the sky. I have long suspected that is how I got here based on the hole in the ceiling and the divot in the floor where my core originally rested. Though I am unsure of the circumstances that would have lead to such a situation. Perhaps my core came down from space as a meteor?


    There are cars in the streets in various states of deterioration. Some are parked neatly on the on the sides of the road, others had crashed into things; buildings, other cars, trees, street lamps. Despite this, many of the roads were mostly clear. Trees that once lined the streets in a decorative manner had been allowed to grow uncontrolled, breaking the surrounding concrete. Grass and weeds growing up through the cracks and anywhere else they could find purchase.


    Animals could be seen wandering the streets, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups. Occasionally he would swoop down and snatch up a smaller animal before flying up to perch on top of a building to consume his prey. There were other animals flying in the air as well, but he did not see any that were big enough to consider a threat.


    I thank him for showing me everything and request that he continues to show me the things he sees in his future explorations to which he nods. It is nice to finally be able to see the city for myself, even if it is through someone else¡¯s eyes.


    Maybe when I am finished claiming this floor I should go up next instead of down like I was thinking of before. I could see from the images Igneous showed me that the stairwell does have rooftop access. Perhaps he would like living up there instead so it would be easier for him to take flight instead of having to deal with stairs first. Even if he still wanted to live inside rather than out in the open, the room with the hole in the ceiling would still give him an easy way to get outside. That will be something to ask him about later.


    When I asked him if he would like me to summon any others of his kind so he would not be alone, a female in particular, his first response was an incomprehensible jumble again, followed by a much simpler thought, indifference. That is not what I anticipated. Perhaps my expectations were influenced by the fact that all the creatures I have summoned so far have been pack animals. His response would make sense if gargoyles are instead solitary creatures. I tell him to let me know if he changes his mind.


    When I summon a new imp, after going through the normal greeting procedure, Violet drags her over to meet Igneous. She looks at what appears to be a rock in confusion. When the rock opens up before her, she jumps back with a startled screech. He does not open up all the way, just enough to poke his head out and greet the new imp before retreating into his disguise again. Violet chuckles at the display then drags her off to meet the hellhounds next. Poor thing, it is one fright after another.


    As Igneous explores further out I can see that there are parts of the city that are not in as good condition as the area we are in. There are partially collapsed buildings, the roads and sidewalks are much more noticeably cracked and broken with even some visible craters in the streets and the twisted remains of some vehicles that looked like they had exploded. If I had to guess, I would say these areas were once a war zone, now long abandoned, like everything else on this side of the river.


    I think it is time start scouting the human¡¯s location. I ask Igneous if he is willing to do it next time he goes out. He agrees so I tell him to ask Violet for directions. Not that I would expect it to be too hard to find. A walled off, well maintained and populated section of the city on the other side of the river should probably be easy to spot from the air.


    As soon as he leaves, I am already eager for his return. As much as I do not like humans, I am still curious to see how they live. Igneous is gone for a few hours but shares all he saw with me as soon as he gets back.


    The condition of the city on the other side of the river is much the same as this side. Mostly just abandoned and falling apart but with evidence of conflict in some places. But the sectioned off area where the humans still lived was entirely different.


    The wall, which was impressive, looked to be primarily made of concrete and completely encircled a vast area. Seeing it from above, I would estimate it to be about a quarter of the total size of the entire city. Although about half of that area appears to be dedicated to farm land. With even more farms outside the wall on the side opposite the city. Even those farms have a wall around them, though it is less impressive than the main wall.


    Igneous had circled the entire perimeter before flying over the interior. It is much as Violet described. The streets are reasonably clean and well maintained. The same can be said for most of the buildings. There are cars driving on the roads and pedestrians walking the sidewalks, though some areas are getting far more traffic than others.


    On one side is a walled off area, these humans really do like walls, inside is what appears to be a military barracks. A lot of rectangular building laid out in a well organized pattern. I see a few boxy looking vehicles with large turrets mounted on top parked near a large garage and there is even a tank.


    The humans become a lot more active when some of them spot Igneous in the air above them, especially those in and around the barracks. That was the point at which he decided to leave. He started by flying straight up, granting an impressive view of the city as a whole, though even at that height he could not see all of it.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I wonder how many humans used to live here. Hundreds of thousands at least, I am sure, maybe even more than a million. But where did they all go? Obviously there is clear evidence of war, but that cannot be the only explanation. If the city had been reduced to rubble I could believe it, but most of it remains intact. It is just deserted.


    The next day I sense some humans entering my domain. They head straight to the meeting room on the fourth floor and wait. I have not finished claiming the whole room yet, though I am only taking the main room as I have no need for the bedrooms, but there is enough space for them to wait comfortably without being cramped.


    I head down to meet them and see William and Cassandra along with three others that I do not know. I am glad the other four did not come back. William looks quite tense.


    Welcome back William. To what do I owe the...pleasure of your visit? William flinches at the sudden contact. It probably still gives him a headache but I do not think I really care. He looks around the room, probably hoping to see me in person this time, but soon gives up.


    ¡°Right, yes. Did you happen to send a creature flying over our city yesterday?¡± He asks tentatively.


    I did. He sighs and his whole body relaxes.


    ¡°Well thank god for that.¡± He walks over to the couch and collapses onto it. The others finding their own places to sit within the available space.


    You are relieved?


    ¡°It caused quite a stir when people saw it. Some people thought it might be an attack. The military wanted to shoot it down. They¡¯ve got some weapons that could probably do the job unless that thing has some really thick skin.¡±


    So you are relieved that it was just me and not something more serious?


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s part of it. I had a feeling it was probably something you did, so I managed to convince the Colonel that it was actually a potential ally and it wasn¡¯t worth wasting precious ammunition on something that probably wasn¡¯t a threat. If I¡¯d been wrong though, I would likely be in a lot of trouble.¡±


    Thank you for doing that. I would have been quite upset to lose him.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I figured. I didn¡¯t want to risk relations between us getting any worse over a misunderstanding like that.¡±


    I would not have blamed you for that. I failed to consider the possibility of aerial defenses. A serious oversight on my part. One that I will need to apologize to Igneous for later. I sent him into a dangerous situation without even thinking about such an obvious threat to his safety.


    ¡°Would it be possible for us to meet the creature? So I can make a proper report and assure everyone that it''s not a threat.¡± I do not want to share more information with him than I absolutely have to, but I suppose it would be fair considering the risk he took to protect Igneous. I ask him to come down to meet the human and to not be alarmed.


    He will be here shortly.


    When Igneous enters the room the humans all stand up from their various places, the sudden movement causing him to flinch. As William slowly approaches he raises himself up, standing straighter to be on eye level with him, though I am sure he could still go higher if he wanted. William takes a step back in surprise.


    ¡°Huh, fascinating. Do you mind if we see your wings?¡± He asks Igneous directly. He nods and extends them both out, the humans looking on in wide eyed amazement as they reach their full length.


    ¡°Incredible.¡± Cassandra says as she approaches one of the wings. There is a sudden white flash of light and Igneous jumps back, while covering his eyes. A beat of his wings helping him gain some distance but also knocking Cassandra over in the process. He did not say they were going to take pictures. William turns in a fury towards one of the other men who is holding a camera.


    ¡°What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to get us killed?¡± He roars at the man.


    ¡°I, uh...I don¡¯t...¡± The man stammers.


    ¡°NEVER use a flash without warning when dealing with an unknown creature! Even if it¡¯s intelligent, you have no idea how it will react.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t thinking.¡±


    ¡°Clearly.¡± William says rubbing a hand over his forehead while sighing. He then turns back to Igneous. ¡°Sorry about that, turns out this guy¡¯s kind of a moron. That was just a camera flash. It¡¯s not harmful, just used for taking pictures.¡± He turns the camera around so Igneous can see the picture that was just taken.


    ¡°Would it be alright if we took a few more? You can close your eyes if the flash bothers you.¡± Igneous nods and William hands the camera to one of the other men who starts taking pictures from different angles. ¡°While we¡¯re at it, could we take pictures of some of the other creatures you have here?¡± He is presumably speaking to me this time.


    No. He is taken aback by my terse reply.


    ¡°May I ask why not?¡±


    Because I do not trust you. What you did to protect one of my creatures has earned you some goodwill, but not enough to gain my trust.


    ¡°Can I ask what it would take to earn you trust?¡±


    Finding the one who is sending people to attack us would be a good start. How is that investigation going? William deflates.


    ¡°We found out who was leaking information about this place, their punishment is still being decided but that¡¯s not something I¡¯m involved in. We¡¯re having trouble tracking down the one they sold the information to though, so that¡¯s going to take more time.¡±


    Let me know when you find them. Do you have any other business here today?


    ¡°No, I think that¡¯s all for now. We¡¯ll be taking our leave. Just please don¡¯t send anymore creatures flying over for the time being. It freaks people out.¡±


    Very well. I will ensure my creatures keep their distance. I can keep them on this side of the river for now if that would help.


    ¡°I think that would be best. Thank you.¡± With their business done, the humans quickly leave. Igneous makes his way back up the stairs and curls up in his corner once again.

 32. To Stand Apart

    I am excited when I discover that Noctis has officially chosen Fire as her mate. I have been expecting it for a while now. The two of them have been sticking pretty close together recently and she has been more affectionate with him. It is a little amusing at first seeing Fire trying to mount the larger female, but I am sure they will figure it out. I am not inclined to watch though. But I am looking forward to seeing their pups in the future.


    I am not the only one excited though. Calla saw what they were doing, since the hellhounds do not seem to care much for privacy. She did not understand it so she asked her parents about it. They did their best to explain and now she can not wait to see the ¡®tiny hellhounds¡¯.


    Those are not the only offspring I foresee in the future. Calla¡¯s parents, Lilly and Calyx, are still intimate quite regularly, though they have slowed down compared to those first few days after Calyx was summoned, so it would not surprise me at all to see impies from those two soon.


    None of the other imps have reached that stage yet as far as I am aware, but I think I can see interest brewing between some of them. Violet¡¯s sister goes out to the river every day, because apparently she really enjoys swimming, so much so that she decided on the name ¡®River¡¯ for herself. As far as names go, I think it is a good one. But I still do not want my imps going out alone, especially to the river, now that I know there might be something dangerous in the water. Luckily for her, one of the males, Aster, is always willing to go with her anytime she asks.


    I suspect Coal may be interested in Violet, which I think might have scared the other males away from pursuing her. He enjoys fighting, but she is the only one willing to fight him. While he is steadily learning more of their language, he does not seem to want to talk to anyone else other than Violet and occasionally Rose. I am not sure if Violet has noticed his affection, but she does seem closer to him than any of the other males. I think she also enjoys their fights.


    The two other males now spend a lot of time with the newest female, Jasmine. She enjoys their company and will probably choose one of them eventually. They both attempted to catch Rose¡¯s attention before Jasmine arrived but Rose was not receptive to their advances so they moved on.


    For all that Rose is the leader of these imps and they all look up to her, she does not socialize with others much. She takes her responsibilities as their leader seriously and performs the role well, but outside of that, she really only talks to Violet. She was always a little closed off from most others but I think it has gotten worse ever since the other imps died. She spends most of her free time in her room these days, she does not even go outside as often as she used to. Perhaps I should try talking to her about it.


    Are you not interested in finding a mate or are you simply unsatisfied with the selection of males available? I ask in a tone that I hope sounds like friendly teasing to lighten the mood before getting into what might be a heavy topic.


    ¡°Honestly, I find their lack of intelligence a little off putting.¡± She says, then sighs. ¡°Which is a horrible thing to say because I know they are actually quite typical of imps. I¡¯m the one who is abnormal.¡±


    So you find it hard to connect with them because you are different?


    ¡°I...Yes, I suppose you¡¯re right.¡±


    But that is not all there is to it, is it? You hardly talk to anyone at all other than Violet.


    ¡°That¡¯s not true at all. I talk to everyone quite regularly.¡± She retorts.


    Yes, when they ask you for help, or when I ask you to do something that involves others or when organizing them to do things that need to be done. You speak to them when performing your role as their leader, but that is not what I mean. I am talking about socializing. Other than Violet, how often do you talk to any of them as friends? She looks down with her shoulders slumped, but she does not say anything in response.


    I am not trying to pressure you into anything. I am just worried about you. You are a great leader and the others are lucky to have you. But it is important to have actual friends too.


    ¡°I¡¯m just afraid.¡± She says quietly. There are tears welling in her eyes now. ¡°How can I get close to others if I am just going to keep losing everyone I care about?¡±


    I honestly do not know how to respond to that. What can I even say? Clearly she is still affected by the deaths of the other imps. I am not over that myself, but there is more than that for her. She has experienced all the same loss that I have, but I have no idea what else she may have gone through before she came here. I do not know how much else she may have lost.


    I am sorry. I do not have an answer for that. Please remember that you can always talk to me about anything. You are not going to lose me and I will always make time for you any time you want to talk.


    ¡°Thank you Magentam. I think I¡¯d like to be alone for a while.¡± She says as a tear rolls down her cheek. As I leave the room she curls up on her bed and I can hear her quietly sobbing.


    I made her sad again. I wish I did not keep doing that. I should ask Violet to spend more time with her. She is the only one Rose feels close to. They used to do everything together, but now Violet has more people to split her time between. That is certainly not a bad thing, but I do not think it is good for Rose to be alone so much.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    I would like to know more about her past, since it is still affecting her to this degree. But I do not want to pressure her into talking about it. I know it is a sensitive topic. I hope she will talk to me about it when she is ready.


    <hr>


    I decide to spend some time practicing and experimenting with mana. This is something I often do with Rose these days, but now is not a good time to ask her to practice with me. So far Rose is the only one of my imps that has shown any aptitude for magic. They can all do the basic exercises of extracting mana from mana crystals and then refilling them, with varying degrees of proficiency, but none have shown any ability beyond that.


    They have gotten into a bit of a routine now where Violet leads combat training and Rose guides them through training their mana control. Though it seems all of them can take mana from my core if they are touching it directly, though not as easily as Violet can, and they can all give mana to others, albeit slowly, none besides Rose are capable of taking mana directly from others. Though most of them are able to put up at least a little bit of resistance to having their mana stolen.


    I have even tested things with the hellhounds. I had already seen Noctis interacting with a mana crystal so I knew that was not going to be difficult for them, but even so, their level of mana control was impressive. Transferring their mana to others was easy for them. When it came to interacting directly with my core, the two males were a little stronger than Rose when trying to take mana from me and when resisting me taking it from them. Fuzzy was a little weaker, but that is likely because of her age.


    Noctis stood out though. None of the others even compare to her. When she tried taking mana from me it was actually hard to hold onto it. I still managed but it took a lot more effort than I expected. When I took mana from her, her resistance was incredible, though not insurmountable. She could not stop me from taking her mana, but she knew she had made it difficult and she was smug about it.


    When I told her to test her resistance against Rose I received a feeling of confusion in response, but she went along with it anyway. She did not resist at all at first and she suddenly backed up in surprise when Rose actually managed to take some mana from her. Her feeling of confusion redoubling as she stared down at the little imp in front of her. I do not think she expected Rose to be able to take anything at all. It seemed that even Noctis did not fully understand how special Rose was. When she did put up resistance though, Rose was not able to overcome it.


    Despite their control, none of the hellhounds, not even Noctis, were able to forcibly take mana from others, even without resistance, not even a little bit. That finally gave me an idea of just how unusual of an ability it must be and brings the shocked reaction from Noctis into context. I had assumed that it was something that anyone who could control mana could potentially learn, but maybe that is not the case. Perhaps it is actually something quite rare, even more so coming from an imp.


    But that meant Rose is even more special than I previously realized and further added to the ways in which she was different from the others.


    Since I am going to be practicing alone today, it is a good opportunity for some more potentially dangerous experiments. I head down to the fourth floor meeting room. While it is not in use it is a good place to use as my ¡®potentially dangerous experiments room¡¯, at least for now.


    I want to try something that I have been thinking about for a while now. I asked Violet to collect some small stones or pebbles for me the last time she went out in preparation for this. I head down the stairs carrying my rocks, I am still not over how great it is that I can actually carry things now. Though some of the imps who saw it watched in bewilderment as I passed. They can not see me so all they would have seen is a small pile of rocks floating through the air. It is actually a little amusing when I think about it.


    What I want to test is using physical objects as projectiles. When I reach the experiment room, the first thing I try is simply throwing one of the rocks. The result is underwhelming. I can throw things, but moving the mana around in the way necessary to throw them like a flesh and blood creature is difficult. Maybe I could get better at it with more practice, but for now it is ineffective.


    My next idea is to use mana like a sling shot to propel the rock forwards. I hold the pebble above my palm, then pull some of the mana back, aiming at the wall. When I let go of the mana...nothing happens. It turns out that when I stretch mana like that, it does not snap back into place when I let it go. So that idea is a failure.


    Next I try compressing mana behind the rock and using the force of that release to propel it forwards. When I release one side of the compressed mana, the shock wave does send the rock flying forwards fast enough that it sticks in the wall. I am making progress, but that is still not quite what I am after. That was basically just a mana shock wave with a rock included.


    I need to focus the shock wave into a smaller point. Like firing it through a narrow tube to ensure that all that force is focused on propelling the rock forwards towards the target. That is kind of like how a gun works. With that image in mind I compress the mana. I open a small hole in the side and picture all that force flowing out through a metaphorical gun barrel.


    That achieves the desired effect. The rock is not even stuck in the wall. It punctured right through it and now there is a small hole in the wall through which I can see the small strip of the hallway that I have claimed and the void beyond that. I practice a few more time with the remaining stones and am satisfied with the array of holes I have made in the wall. I will have my imps gather more small stones when they go out and leave them in strategically placed piles so I will always have easy access to ammunition whenever I need it.


    As I head back up I am getting irked by the tedium of these stairs. Obviously that was the point of them but it was supposed to be used against the humans, not myself. I need a way of getting up and down that bypasses the stairs. Maybe If I had an area that was not infested with my mana filaments I could just sink down through the floor? But even if that worked, I would not be able to float back up. Despite being nothing more than a mental projection of my consciousness constructed from mana, this body still seems to be affected by gravity for some reason.


    Wait, if this body is a ¡®mental projection¡¯ maybe I can simply project it somewhere else. I close my eyes and focus on a spot to the side of my chair. Trying my best to imagine myself appearing there I send out a single pulse of mana which converges on my point of focus. When I open my eyes I am standing exactly where I wanted to be. I am genuinely surprised that worked on the first try.


    I see Noctis sitting over in the corner by the ¡®rock¡¯ that is Igneous while Calla is attempting to climb to the top of that rock. Noctis seems to be looking in my direction. Did she sense the mana pulse? I would not put it past her. But I wonder if it might be more than that. Sometime when I speak to her she looks to where I am standing. I would understand if she were looking in the direction of my core, but she does not do that, she always looks towards me.


    It makes me wonder if she can actually see me or at least sense my presence in some way. But it is hard to say because she does not do it all the time. Perhaps she is only sensing minor mana fluctuations.


    I go in to check on Rose later. She seems to be feeling better after Violet came in to spend some time with her. She did not come out of her room for the rest of the day though, electing instead to stay in there and practice her magic. But Violet stayed with her the whole time so at least she was not alone.


    That night, something unexpected occurs. A few hours before sunrise I sense humans coming up the stairs. But they go right past the fourth floor and continue moving up. This is the first time humans have come at night.


    Everyone, we have got company and not the friendly kind. Get ready for a fight. Some of my imps were actually sleeping but they are all quickly up and gathering their weapons. Not that I actually plan to let these human reach the fifth floor, but it is always better to be prepared.

 33. Trauma

    There is only five humans this time. A little surprising considering the size of the last assault. Are they just some group of fools unconnected to the last? Well, it does not matter who they are. They are trying to get to the fifth floor, which means their lives are forfeit.


    I project myself to the top of the steps and start compressing mana. I am glad I figured out how to get around faster. It makes positioning in an emergency much easier. Once all five of them have passed the landing I unleash the shock wave. I am not surprised they are able to defend against it at this point, but what is shocking is that it does not even slow them down. That is concerning. They just keep moving at a steady pace.


    I send another shock wave to no affect. I move behind them in hopes of catching them by surprise. The one at the back of their procession does stop for a moment, but they are able to block the shock wave all the same. It seems this group is far more prepared than any previous attacks.


    I could keep hitting them like that, but it may not be worth the effort or the mana expenditure when it is clearly not effective. There seems to be at least two mana sensitive people among them who can contribute to the shield. But I have another idea. I move back to the stairwell door and wait for them to get close. They do pause for a moment before opening the door rather than just charging in.


    When they open the door I am pushed back by the mana shield. I try projecting myself behind the shield and am thrilled when it works. Quickly crouching down and putting mana into my hands, I grab the lead human¡¯s foot and he trips and falls on his face. The other four just step over him.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing? Get up.¡± One of the other humans commands.


    ¡°Something grabbed my foot with mana. It¡¯s still holding on.¡± He says. He kicks at my hands a few time to no avail. I start draining his mana, once again marveling at human¡¯s complete lack of resistance to it. ¡°Oh shit! I think it¡¯s taking my mana.¡± He holds up his hands towards me and a pulse of mana erupts forwards. It is not solid like the mana shield, but it does destabilize my form enough that I lose my grip. It felt kind of like my mana shock waves but with a much lower intensity.


    The man scrambles to his feet and I take a moment to examine these new foes. They are all armored from head to toe in what looks like riot gear. They all have guns, but not the pistols that I have seen others carrying, though they do have those as well holstered on their sides. Three of the humans have assault rifles, while the other two have shotguns.


    The mana sensitive humans currently have their weapons hanging in front of them, secured to a harness so their hands are free, but still easily within reach so they can quickly grab them if needed. This group is more dangerous than any that have come before. I am glad there is only five of them.


    ¡°We need to hurry this up. Mages stay alert. If there¡¯s something invisible here that can attack us then it is up to you to deal with it.¡± One of them orders. He is the same one who admonished the guy I tripped, I think, possibly the leader.


    Not wanting to wast anymore time, I move towards the humans until I am blocked by the mana shield. Now is a good time to test if I can drain mana from them through contact with the shield. I put my hands on the shield and try to absorb the mana. It is not as easy as taking it directly from their body, but it still works.


    ¡°Guys, I think the thing that tripped me is draining mana from the shield now.¡±


    While I am doing that, one man with a shotgun tries to open the door to Room 1, but finding it locked raises his gun and blows out the lock before kicking the door open. He and one other man enter the room and call out ¡°clear¡± a moment later before returning to the group. They start moving towards Room 3, the mana shield moving with them.


    While it is slower draining mana through their shield, there is no reason why I have to do it that way. As I appear in the middle of the group, it occurs to me that I can now fight similar to how Coal does. The two mana sensitives start to turn, probably sensing the mana fluctuation as I moved, but they are a little too slow as I already have my hand out to steal more mana from the one I have decided to pick on.


    He jumps away and sends another mana pulse towards me making me feel all fuzzy again but also causing the others to stumble as it hits them.


    ¡°What the fuck are you doing now?!¡± Their leader demands.


    ¡°The thing that steals mana can bypass our shields. I don¡¯t think we can stop it. It¡¯ll keep coming for us as long as we¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s get this over with. The sooner we get the core, the sooner we¡¯ll be out of here.¡±


    It takes a few seconds for my body to stabilize but when it does I go after the same guy again. He tries to avoid hitting his allies again when retaliating though. At Room 3 the same guy with the shotgun does not even try opening the door this time before shooting out the lock.


    As soon as he opens the door he is suddenly engulfed by fire. The other four manage to jump out of the way of the stream of flames, two on either side


    ¡°What the fuck is that!¡± One of them yells.


    I am concerned about the fire spreading throughout the hallway, but notice it does not seem to be catching on anything other than the human. Judging from his screams, his armor is not enough to protect him from it.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    One of the male hellhounds leaps through the fire and launches himself at one of the other humans, clamping his jaws around their neck and knocking them to the ground. Despite how well their armor covers them, they are not without weak points and the neck is one of them.


    The remaining humans aim their weapons at the hellhound. I try to hit them with another shock wave before they can fire but am a second too slow and several shots ring out before they are all knocked off their feet from the blast of mana. They were unable to get their shield up this time, focused as they were on shooting the beast attacking their companion.


    The hellhound collapses to the floor, the fire in his eyes flickering, then going out. The human he was attacking is still struggling weakly, so he is not dead, but I can see blood starting to pool beneath him. Before the other humans can recover, the other three hellhounds emerge and converge on one of them. Even with his armor offering him some protection, it is hard for him to move with three hellhounds all attacking him at once while he is still on the ground.


    There are some stones the imps collected by the stairwell door so I move over to pick one up. I aim at one of the humans as he is standing up and fire. The stone cracks his armor but does not penetrate. The force of the impact is enough to knock him down again though.


    The final human is up and raising his rifle towards the hellhounds when suddenly a dark grey imp appears right in front of his face. Coal grabs onto the mans helmet and is biting and scratching at it. The man reaches up to grab the imp but he disappears, reappearing on the ground behind the man, this time aiming for his leg. With the back of the knee being another weak point in their armor, the man falls to the ground as Coal¡¯s claws tear into his flesh, severing tendons.


    The other imps are rushing down the hallway now with Igneous trailing behind. The human I knocked over with the rock raises his shotgun and fires of a shot, hitting one imp who is knocked back by the force of the blast. But that is all he has time for before the imps are upon him. He raises a mana shield to protect himself.


    The imps divide themselves between the two men. The ones joining Coal tearing at the man''s armor with their claws and their knives, looking for any weak points they can find and ripping off pieces of armor when they can. He tries to raise his gun but one of the imps grabs onto it and pushes it up so it is aiming well above any of the imps heads, at least until Igneous arrives. He grabs the rifle and wrenches it from the man''s grasp, at first lifting him off the ground a little as it is also attached to a harness, but one of the imps cuts the straps and Igneous proceeds to repeatedly beat the man over the head with it. His helmet may protect his head but the repeated impacts are jarring enough that it leaves him helpless.


    There is another burst of fire as the hellhounds decided to finish off their victim by incinerating him. Meanwhile, the man with the mana shield can do nothing but watch as his friends die. The imps surrounding him are unable to get past his shield until Rose places her hands on it and starts absorbing its mana. She cannot do it as fast as I can, so I decide to help her out.


    I move right inside his shield. He flinches as I appear so he clearly noticed it. Can he repel me while also maintaining his shield? Even if he can, he will only be buying time. I am concerned he might give up and drop the shield while trying to take one more imp with him though. He does not just drop the shield, rather he expands its radius first to push the imps back. I crouch down below him and start compressing mana. He raises his shotgun towards Rose as he lets the shield dissipate.


    I release the mana before it is fully compressed, aiming upwards. The resulting shock wave is not as strong as they usually are, but it is enough to make him stumble wildly off balance, the gun barrel being pushed upwards as he fires, leaving Rose unharmed. Coal appears in the air and wraps himself around the man''s arm, biting at his hand.


    Rose and the other imps pounce on him. While the others bite and claw and stab at his armor, Rose aims for the gap between his helmet and his body armor, stabbing her knife down into his neck. She rips the knife out and stabs it down again and continues to do this until he stops moving.


    When all the humans are finally dead, I look around and see that despite the hellhounds apparent control of fire, some of it has started to spread from the burning corpses of the humans, but Noctis easily blows it out with a huff. I am convinced the hellhounds'' fire is entirely magical in nature now due to the precision with which they can control it. I have to wonder if their flames are actually even real fire with how it only seems to burn what they want it to, leaving the surroundings relatively unscathed. It is fascinating and under normal circumstances I am sure I would be excited to learn more about it. But right now there are more important things to worry about.


    This did not go as well as I had hoped, but it also could have been a lot worse. In some ways I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky. If these five had been the first group who attacked us, I do not think we would have stood a chance back then and none of us would be here now. I should also be thankful that there was only five of them. If there had been more, things could have gone very differently. Even after all that has happened, they are still underestimating us. But that is only a small consolation.


    Spiky, in his recklessness, charged out ahead of the others and lost his life as a result. But his actions also helped create an opening that made it easier for the others to attack so it was hardly in vain. Noctis nudges the body a few times. When she gets no response she lets out a low keening howl and the other two join in. A final dirge to mourn the deceased.


    We also lost an imp. The one who named himself Rock. At least I have names for the fallen this time and their sacrifices will not be forgotten.


    There was one imp who was conspicuously absent from the fight though, apart from Calla of course, who was hiding in Room 7 with my core. Violet is not here. She remained behind in Room 5. When I go in to check on her I find her curled up in the corner hiding behind her shield. As I get close I can see that she is shaking and weeping.


    Violet, are you okay? She looks up and there are tears running down her face.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...I heard the gu-gun shots...I-I can¡¯t...¡± She stammers, her words punctuated by sobs.


    Hey, it is alright now. It is over. The humans are dead. She stares blankly for a moment then relaxes a little. A second later she tenses up.


    ¡°Did anyone get hurt?¡± She asks fearfully. She is going to find out eventually, but maybe now is not the best time to tell her. It might be better to wait for her to calm down a little first.


    Do not worry about that now, we should -


    ¡°No! Tell me now.¡± She demands


    ...We lost Spiky and Rock. Hearing that, she starts bawling.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...It¡¯s...my...fault...I was...supposed to fight...but I...was scared...I¡¯m sorry.¡± She wails.


    No. It is not your fault. None of this is your fault.


    ¡°But I¡¯m the strong one...I¡¯m supposed to protect...everyone.¡±


    You once told me that it is not all my responsibility to protect everyone. Well it is not yours either. We work together to defend our home.


    I do not know if she is listening at this point as she just remains curled up in the corner repeating that she is sorry. I do not know what to do here, so I think I need help. I reach out to Rose and River and tell them what is going on.


    When they arrive, Rose reaches out to put a hand on Violet¡¯s shoulder. She flinches at the touch and raises her shield more.


    ¡°Violet, it¡¯s us. We just want to help.¡± Rose says


    ¡°She okay?¡± River asks, wringing her hands together as she looks between Rose and Violet.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Come on Violet, lets go back to our room and you can tell us what¡¯s wrong. Please?¡± Violet does not respond, but she also does not resist when they lift her off the ground and lead her back to their room.


    I am worried about her, but I do not know how else to help. Despite the fact that she is normally a bubbly ray of sunshine, it makes sense that she would still be affected by what happened in the past. Even she would not be unfazed after what she experienced. Maybe I should send Fuzzy in as well. That is the only other thing I can think of.

 34. Clean Up

    I have the imps carry Rock¡¯s body back into Room 5. I know they are going to eat it later but I do not feel right just leaving it out in the hallway with all the human corpses. I would like to relocate Spiky¡¯s body as well but it is not as easy to move as an imp. I am also not sure what to even do with it. The imps might eat it if nothing else, but the other hellhounds might already have a way of dealing with their dead, so I will wait and see.


    Calla was devastated when she found out about Spiky. She spent quite a while clinging to his body while crying her eyes out. The question now is do I want to summon another one to replace him. I probably should, but I think I will wait a while. I have plenty of mana thanks to the humans, but I feel like it would rather callous to immediately use it to replace those who died.


    I ask the imps to gather the humans in one place and start stripping them of their gear. Much of their armor was intact, though some straps had been cut and some burned. I do not know what the armor is made out of, but it is a tough yet light weight material with a dense padding underneath. On the two who were burned to death, the solid parts are mostly intact, but the padding underneath is burned and melted along with their flesh. Surely a horrible way to die, but I can not bring myself to feel sorry for them given the reason they were here.


    The helmets look a little strange. It covers their entire head with an opaque face plate that looks to be made of the same materiel as the rest of it covering most of their faces, but with some boxy looking goggles protruding outwards that seem to be built in as part of the design. It is probably something to allow them see in the dark.


    It would be nice if I could get some armor like this for my imps, other than the night vision goggles, they do not need those. Unfortunately none of what the humans brought will fit them. Some of it might fit Igneous, the forearm and shin guards, for example. I mention it to him and he does seem curious. He tries a few on. They are a bit small and do not cover his entire forearm or shins. Even though his torso is roughly the same size as a human¡¯s, his limbs are longer. But even so, he chooses to keep some. Even a little armor is better than no armor.


    What should I do with the rest though? William mentioned trade. Maybe they would be interested in some of it. The weapons too. My imps can not use their guns, though maybe Igneous could, perhaps I will keep some in reserve for him to use in an emergency and offer the rest back to William. The humans also all carried knives on their belts, but they can be useful so we will keep those.


    One of the humans had a small black rectangular device with a few buttons on the side and an antenna on top. A radio, it looks like, but there is only one between the five of them, so it is clearly not for communicating among themselves. Which means they expect to be in communication with someone else.


    Each of the humans appeared to have a logo painted on their right shoulder pad. A cartoonish depiction of a black and white furred creature, a badger perhaps, holding an assault rifle and smoking a cigar. Maybe I will ask William about it. A well organized, well equipped group with a uniform appearance and their own logo might be well known among humans. It is possible that this could help with their investigation.


    None of the humans had any provisions on them. No food or water or anything else besides weapons and ammo. It seems unlikely to me that they would have come here all the way from the human city wearing all this gear and nothing else. Even if the armor is not that heavy, I doubt it would be easy to travel that distance while wearing it the whole way. And to not have any food or water at all? Food I could understand to some degree, they could surely make the trip in a day, they are not going to starve in that time. But water is another matter. It would be foolish to make a journey like that, wearing this kind of gear without bringing any water.


    And what were they planning to do once they got my core? Were they just going to have one of them carry it back in their hands? No. Walking through the city, both the ruins and the still populated section, holding a glowing pink orb would be far too conspicuous. It is probable that they either have an outpost nearby, as William did, or they came here in a vehicle.


    If they drove, then it is possible their vehicle is still nearby, but none of them had any keys on them, so their driver may have stayed behind and is waiting for them to return. I would like to send my imps out to search. But Violet would likely be the best for that. I am sure she is more familiar with the area than any of the others at this point. But I cannot ask her to do this in her current state, especially if there are more humans waiting.


    Igneous would be a good choice for a task like this. He could search from the air and even if there are still some humans waiting by the vehicle it would be hard for them to see him in the dark. That is if they even think to look up to the sky in the first place. I hope they did actually drive here. If they have set up an outpost somewhere close, then I might have a much bigger problem.


    I have a favor to ask of you. I say to him. He does not respond but is waiting for me to continue.


    It is possible these humans came here in a vehicle. If that is the case then it may still be nearby. I want you to see if you can find it. If you see any more humans, report back immediately. Come back if you do not find anything by sunrise.


    He nods and heads for the stairwell, going up to the roof. I doubt the humans would be foolish enough to park right out in front of the building, so if it is out there, it might take a while for him to find.


    A little while after Igneous leaves the radio comes to life, emitting a voice that sounds sarcastic and bored.


    ¡°C¡¯mon guys. What¡¯s takin¡¯ so long? Don¡¯t tell me the baby demons and their pet doggies got the better of ya.¡± The closest imps are startled by the sound and jump back in surprise. They observe the radio from a safe distance with a combination of curiosity and confusion. Well that confirms that there is someone waiting for them. What are they going to do when they do not get a reply? After about half a minute of silence, the radio speaks again, this time in a much more serious tone.


    ¡°Boyle, if you don¡¯t respond I¡¯m gonna follow normal withdrawal pro- OH FUCK! What is that?¡± The radio remains silent after that.


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    Not long after that Igneous returns, blood on all of his claws, hands and feet, and what looks like a bullet wound in his shoulder. The bullet seems to have gone all the way through and punctured his wing as well. That is good at least. Rose should be able to heal it and she will not have to dig the bullet out first.


    What happened? I ask him.


    He sends back images of flying around in an expanding circle pattern, looking for anything out of the ordinary. From these images it seems like his night vision is not that great, but it is good enough to make out shapes on the ground at least. He took a sudden left turn and found a boxy looking vehicle with an enclosed trailer behind it. He landed on the hood and peered through the windshield. The interior light was on so he could clearly see the human in the driver¡¯s seat holding another radio.


    The human dropped the radio and pulled out a pistol to fire at Igneous, but the bullets did not penetrate the glass between them. Bullet proof glass? Possibly an armored vehicle then. Did the driver forget that when he fired? He does not seem particularly bright.


    Igneous climbed onto the roof while the human tried to start the vehicle. He reached down and opened the door then tried to grab the human. That is when the caught the bullet in the shoulder. He turned around and reached in with his feet instead. Before the human could even realize what was happening, Igneous had one foot closed around the gun and the other grabbing the man¡¯s arms. He heaved the man out of the car and pounced on him. Talons on his feet biting deep into the mans flesh and tearing at him with clawed hands. Once the man stopped moving, he returned here.


    I did ask you to report back immediately if you saw any humans, not try to engage them yourself. But in this case I will say you did well. I think he was planning to leave before you showed up. How did you find him? You took a pretty sudden turn there and headed straight for him even before the vehicle was within view.


    His response is sound this time instead of images. Muffled sounds that are vaguely like what I heard over the radio. He must have good hearing if he was able to hear that so clearly from such a distance. I guess his large ears are not just for show.


    I will get Rose to take a look at your shoulder. Any other injuries? He shakes his head.


    She is still in the bedroom with Violet. When I appear in the room, I see Violet and River asleep on their bed. Rose is sitting beside them on the bed gently stroking Violet¡¯s hair. Fuzzy is laying on the floor beside the bed.


    How is she?


    ¡°She needs rest, but I think she¡¯s going to be okay.¡±


    What about you?


    ¡°I¡¯m...also going to be okay.¡±


    Please do not hesitate to ask if you need anything from me.


    ¡°I won¡¯t. Thank you.¡± She actually smiles a little, which is nice to see.


    Good. Right now, I need something from you. Can you please heal Igneous? She stops patting Violet''s hair and looks up, suddenly tense.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    There was another human waiting nearby, so I sent Igneous to find it. It is not a serious injury though, nothing to be too worried about.


    Exiting her room, she finds Igneous waiting for her just outside the door. He leans down so she can get a better look at his shoulder. There is still blood oozing from the wound, though not enough to be life threatening, so clearly no major arteries were severed. She reaches up and places a hand on his arm. She closes her eyes in concentration and the bleeding stops as it begins to heal. She stops when she is confident that his blood is going to stay inside his body where it belongs, but urges him to take it easy for a while.


    Once everything has settled down, the imps whose sleep was interrupted return to their slumber and some of the others also decide that now is a good time to go to sleep as well. Calla clings tightly to Noctis as she sleeps. Noctis is still awake, but is content lay there to comfort the child.


    I ask Noctis what they intend to do with Spiky¡¯s body. I get a lot of complicated feelings in return. She is upset by his death, but is also proud of him for what he accomplished. I feel something else from her, more than feelings, it is more like an idea, a concept of heat, fire and ash. They intend to burn the body. That was a more clear and direct form of communication than I have received from Noctis before. She might be changing similar to how the imps are getting smarter over time. The other hellhounds probably are too. I wonder if they will eventually learn to communicate as she does.


    But will cremation really work for a hellhound? I saw Spiky move through the fire that incinerated the human. He was completely unfazed by it, so I assumed they were fireproof. I suppose if their fire is magical then perhaps their fire resistance is also the result of magic. Maybe it is no longer active after they die. Or it could simply be a matter of increasing the intensity of the flames until they are hot enough to overcome that resistance. Whatever the case is, I think it would be better if they do not do it inside.


    If that is how you intend to deal with it, I would ask that you please do so outside. I am sure the imps and maybe Igneous would be willing to help you move the body.


    When all the imps are awake a few hours later, I ask for their help to move Spiky. Violet is among them, she seems to have calmed down, but still looks a bit sullen. But so does everyone I suppose. That is to be expected under the circumstances. When I ask Igneous, he takes a while to respond. He might have actually been sleeping this time. I apologize for waking him as he emerges from his rock form. With all of them working together it is not a difficult task, though it is still a long way down to the ground floor.


    I realize that this will be kind of like a funeral for Spiky and lament that I can not be there for it. But even with their control over fire, I do not think it would be safe to do this inside. I could have Igneous relay the scene to me later, but it will not be the same as actually being there.


    When they eventually return I am taken aback to see the imps all carrying bones, with Violet carrying what is clearly Spiky¡¯s skull. They add all the bones to the bone pile around my chair. I am not sure how I feel about this. I like my bone pile, but it is made up of random bones that my imps collected from outside. It feels different to have bones of my own creatures added to it. I ask Noctis if she is okay with this, but she does not see a problem with it. Well if it is something they want then I will not stop them.


    Once all the bones are collected, the imps gather around the body of Rock. I knew this was coming, but it still feels strange to see them eating one of their own so I turn my attention to other things.


    I might as well use some of this mana to start creating memorials for Rock and Spiky. I could collect Rock¡¯s weapon and something from his rock collection like I did for the others, but obviously that would not work for Spiky, though I do have his bones now so it is not like I have nothing from him. But I have a different idea of what I would like to do for them. I will create small statues of them out of mana crystals with plaques bearing their names. I have gotten a lot better at making complex shapes. It will take time to get the size and design right, but it is not something that needs to be completed in a hurry.

 35. Reaching Out

    I gave everyone the rest of the day to do as they please without asking anyone to do anything. I even asked Rose and Violet to give them a break on magic and combat training, not that either of them wanted to do them anyway. I wish I could give them more time to recover after what may have been a harrowing experience, but I am sure our enemies are not being idle, so we can not afford to be either. They are not going to wait for us to be ready for them.


    Surprisingly though, most of the imps do not seem to be too greatly impacted by the event, other than Violet and Calla. I ask Rose if that is normal.


    ¡°Generally yes. Death is always sad, but imps are resilient. We don¡¯t break easily.¡± She says with a concerned look towards Violet.


    Do you think she will be alright?


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say, I¡¯ve never known anyone who¡¯s gone through what she has. Death isn¡¯t something most come back from. But I believe she will be, given time.¡± Though I do not say more about it, I am also worried about Rose. She clearly has some unresolved issues from her past that still weigh on her.


    Calla took Spiky¡¯s death pretty hard, but she has Noctis and her parents doing their best to cheer her up so I am sure she will be fine as well.


    Right now I think it would be useful if I had a way to get in contact with William, but I currently have no means to do so. I think it would be best to inform him of our most recent attack as soon as possible. I do not know if or when more armored humans may come. If the information is useful then perhaps he could get ahead of it and put a stop to it before it happens.


    But it is not like I can deliver anything to him directly. I do not know where he can be found within the human city and even if I did, it would not be safe to send any of my creatures to find him. He may have convinced others not to shoot down Igneous last time, but I can not be certain that we would be so lucky again.


    I would need a way to deliver a message without getting too close to the humans. The only thing I can think of is approaching the outpost near the bridge, but even that is not without risk. I do not know if they are actually affiliated with the DMO, if they work for someone else or if they are just a random human/group of humans who like to live separately from the rest and offer accommodation to passing travelers.


    I do not know anything about them except that William and his group stayed with them for a night. But they are the only lead I have got right now. The question becomes how to communicate. None of my creatures speak their language, but even if they could, I do not know how those people might react to being approached directly.


    So why not follow William¡¯s example. A letter and a gift left at the door. I still have the letter I received earlier. It was blank on the other side so I can use that and reuse the envelope as well. All I need now is something to write with. I know my imps have brought back pencils before. They have used them to draw on the walls a few times.


    Violet, can you please find me a pencil? She is almost back to her normal bubbly self. Giving her a task to complete may help as she always likes to be helpful.


    ¡°I have lots of pencils!¡± She exclaims, rushing to her room to dig through her belongings.


    Good, bring it to my chair when you find one.


    The letter and envelope were stashed in Room 7, along with the blue mana crystal, after they were opened. As she comes out of her room she sees the paper floating through the air. She frowns as she watches them.


    ¡°Magentam, are you doing that?¡± She ask with growing concern.


    Yes. Did I forget to tell you that I can actually touch things now?


    ¡°Oh, good. I thought we might¡¯ve had a ghost.¡± She says, relieved.


    Why would there be a ghost here? Are ghosts even real? She is left flabbergasted by my question.


    ¡°Of course they¡¯re real. But you wouldn¡¯t be able to see them if they were here because they¡¯re invisible.¡± She insists.


    Is that so? I want to believe her, but her claim sounds a bit dubious. I will ask Rose about it later. Did you manage to find a pencil?


    ¡°I did!¡± She replies cheerfully, placing a green pencil on my chair.


    Excellent. Thank you.


    I lay the paper down flat, though it is still creased from when Rose scrunched it up a little, it will do. Violet watches on with curiosity as I pick up the pencil.


    ¡°What are you doing? Are you going to draw a picture? Do you want more colours? I have a few others.¡± She asks, eyes sparkling as I bring the pencil to the page.


    No, thank you. That will not be necessary. I am going to write a letter to William Blake from the DMO.


    ¡°Oh, That¡¯s less fun.¡± She says, her excitement now deflated.


    When I am done, would you be willing to help deliver it? I see her whole body tense up when I say that. I am not going to ask you to go the human city, just to that building near the bridge that they hid in for the night.


    ¡°But how will I talk to them?¡± She asks nervously.


    You will not need to speak to them or interact with them directly in any way. Someone just needs to place it at the door and knock until you can be sure they know it is there. It does not even have to be you who delivers it. I just need you to be the guide. I try to reassure her but she does not look entirely convinced.


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    I know I am asking a lot, but you are the only one who has seen exactly where it is. I will not force you to do it if you really do not want to. I can think of something else. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again I can see a look of determination.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it. I don¡¯t want to keep being afraid.¡±


    I can ask Igneous to fly you over, or you can go on foot if you would prefer, only if you find others to go with you though. I do not want you doing this alone.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go on foot. It¡¯ll be a good chance to show some of the others parts of the city they have not seen before.¡± Her decision is a little surprising, I expected her to jump at the chance to go flying again, but her choice is a good one.


    I ponder how best to write this letter. William¡¯s original letter was kind of formal. Should I try to emulate that or should I be more straight forward? I do not think I care for needless formality so I will keep it brief and to the point.


    William,


    We were attacked by well equipped, armored humans all bearing this insignia.


    I hope this will be helpful for your investigation but would also like to request


    any information you have on them.


    Magentam


    I will send one of the shoulder pads with the cartoon badger along with the letter. Altogether, that should get the point across well enough, I hope. Doing this, I discovered that writing like this is incredibly difficult. Holding and carrying items with mana is relatively easy, but the fine motor skills necessary for writing are quite challenging. Still, I think my handwriting is legible at least and that is what matters. Perhaps this is something else I should practice. I honestly never would have expected this to be a skill I would actually need.


    I fold the letter, which I also find to be a bit tricky, and place it in the envelope, writing ¡®William Blake¡¯ on the front of it in big letters. By the time I am done, Violet has assembled the team that will be accompanying her. River, Rose, Coal and Fuzzy. I am a little hesitant about letting Violet, Rose and Coal all go out at the same time. If anything else happens here, Rose¡¯s ability to heal is invaluable and Violet and Coal have the greatest combat capabilities among the imps. I can not help but feel that having all three gone at the same time leaves us quite vulnerable.


    No. Stop that. I am being unreasonable. I am not going to limit their freedom due to some sense of imposed responsibility. Besides, if an emergency does come up while they are absent, I can simply recall them if needed.


    More importantly, this group is undoubtedly the best to be able to help Violet if she panics again. Perhaps that is exactly why she chose them. Or maybe she just asked the people she likes the most without giving it any deeper thought. But that is exactly why they are the best to help her, so it does not really matter either way.


    Violet has her shield, but has traded her dagger for one of the knives brought by the armored humans because it comes with a sheath that can be easily attached to a belt, which is far more comfortable than trying to tuck a blade into a belt without one. Rose and River have similarly traded their old knives for some of these new ones. Coal does not bother with weapons, still preferring to rely on his own claws. I see Violet and River also have backpacks.


    Are you planning to go exploring after you make the delivery?


    ¡°Yes, new places to explore means there could be new things to find.¡± Violet exclaims, then pauses. ¡°Is that okay?¡± She asks.


    As long as you are careful. But delivering the letter comes first. You will find it on the chair. I would also like you to take one of the shoulder pads with the picture of the furred animal on it.


    Violet moves forward to pick up the letter, while Rose goes through the hole in the wall to Room 7 to collect the shoulder pad. They place both items in Violet''s backpack and head out. After they leave I look for something else to turn my attention to in an effort to keep myself from worrying to much.


    The vehicle that the humans came in is something I need to think about. Igneous did not bring back any keys so they are probably still with the vehicle, possibly even in the ignition since it seemed like the driver tried to start it when Igneous attacked. That would make it easy for some one else to take it, whether it is other humans from the same group or just a random explorer who happens to stumble across it.


    But I want that vehicle. It is our prize and we deserve it. I am sure it could be useful in some way, even if none of my creatures can drive it. The imps are far too small to operate such a vehicle safely. Perhaps Igneous could learn to drive, but that would probably require finding someone to teach him. If nothing else, at least it would still be valuable to trade. I am sure it is worth far more than anything else we have taken from the humans. But that would be a last resort, I would prefer to find a way to use it if we can.


    I ask Igneous to go fetch the keys if he can find them. I try my best to explain where the ignition would be, without having actually seen it myself, but I assume most cars would have a similar internal layout. I am sure he is smart enough to figure it out. I would also like to know what is inside the trailer. My assumption is that it is to store their weapons and armor and anything else they might need so there might be more useful things inside. I will save that for later though, maybe when the others get back. Securing the keys comes first.


    It does not take Igneous long to return with the keys, he also brings back the pistol that the human used. After depositing both in Room 7, I thank him and he curls up in his corner.


    Later in the day Calla comes into Room 5 riding on Noctis. She is looking all around the room with a slight frown on her face.


    Looking for something?


    ¡°Where Fuzzy?¡± She asks.


    She went out with Violet.


    ¡°I go find.¡± She declares.


    No, you can not do that right now. They are on an important mission. You should not interrupt them. She pouts and leans forwards until she is laying across Noctis¡¯ head.


    ¡°But want to play.¡± She whines.


    Noctis lets out a quiet bark and Calla sits up again with a grin.


    ¡°Yes. Play outside and wait. We bring Fire. We go!¡± She announces, pointing dramatically towards the door.


    What was that? Does Noctis actually communicate with her somehow or is she just making inferences based on how she wants to interpret things? Curious.


    Please do not forget to tell your parents where you are going.


    I do not think Calla would be in any danger with Noctis and Fire around, but I am sure Lily and Calyx would be quite worried and upset if she had just left without letting them know. As her parents, they are still quite protective of her. When Calla leaves with the two hellhounds, her parents are following behind them.


    They come back a few hours later, Fuzzy having still not returned. Calla is pouting again over Fuzzy¡¯s continued absence, but there is not much to be done about it. She still wants to go out and look for her. But even if I were to allow it, which I absolutely will not, they would not know where to even start searching so it would be a fruitless endeavor.


    It is almost nightfall when Violet and her party do return. Calla rushes towards Fuzzy and latches onto her the moment she comes through the door. It is more difficult for Fuzzy to move around when she has an imp attached to her leg, even if it is a small one.


    Violet approaches my core to report the success of their mission. When she lead them to the human outpost, Rose was the one to actually deliver the items while the others hid and watched from a safe distance. Rose placed the items on the ground and knocked on the metal wall until it started to slide upwards, at which point she ran to where the others were hiding.


    The human that came out did see Rose as she retreated but made no attempt to give chase. They watched as the human picked up both items and went back inside, confirming that the items had been received. He pulled metal wall back down behind him.


    Now I just have to hope that they will be delivered to their intended recipient from there. If not, then I do not think there is much else I can do other than just waiting for the next time William decides to visit of his own accord.

 36. Pretzels and Beer

    I do not actually know how long it would be appropriate to wait before summoning new creatures to replace the ones that died. I do not feel like two days is enough, but we need to bolster our defenses. If more attacks like that are going to happen in the future, we will need more strength to repel them. Preventing future casualties is more important than mourning past casualties.


    Starting with a hellhound. The male that appears is a bit larger than Spiky was, but still smaller than Noctis, of course. He looks up at Noctis and growls, eyes flaring. She responds in kind, her eyes erupting into a furious blaze. As she growls, flames can be seen flickering from the sides of her mouth as well. The imps, who were already keeping their distance, moved even further back.


    The male stops growling and lowers his head. Noctis lets out a little puff of flame and radiates smug satisfaction. Two of the spikes in the middle of the male¡¯s back are broken, missing roughly a third of their length. There is a long scar running down his right side, evidence of a previous injury, black skin visible where the fur did not grow back. I suspect this male is no stranger to fighting, yet he does not wish to challenge Noctis.


    Calla steps forwards and holds both her arms up towards the new hellhound. He looks up at Noctis who just huffs. He slowly lowers his head down to be within Calla¡¯s reach and the little imp wraps her arms around his muzzle. Violet approaches his side, inspecting the scar.


    ¡°That must have hurt.¡± She says. Calla perks up and releases her hug. She circles around the hellhound to stand at its side next to Violet and stares up at the old wound.


    ¡°Oh no! You hurt.¡± She gasps in shock. The hellhound turns his head to look at them, moving its body away from them a little.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. That injury is long healed, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not hurting him anymore¡± Violet reassures her. Calla looks up at him.


    ¡°Down?¡± she asks, pointing at the floor with one hand. He looks up at Noctis again who lets out a small bark. He lays down and Calla moves to his side once more. She traces a hand along the scar.


    Violet reaches up to touch the broken spines on his back and he growls at her. This elicits a more menacing bark from Noctis. He stops growling, but Violet still got the message and takes a step back. Calla spreads her arms wide and presses herself against his side, planting a gentle kiss on the scarred flesh.


    ¡°It okay. No more hurt.¡± She whispers. She steps back and moves to place a hand on his nose. ¡°You name Scar.¡± She declares. ¡°Come, we go outside now. I show you.¡± She races out the door, followed by the other three hellhounds. Scar does not react for a moment, then quickly scrambles after them.


    Lily looks exasperated as she watches her daughter running off with the hellhounds once again. Calyx chuckles and tells her that she can go rest and he will look after their child.


    What an interesting turn of events. Does Calla command the hellhounds now? They all seem to listen to her, even the one that just arrived. She does seem to have a much closer bond to them than any of the other imps. It is rather entertaining to think about the hellhounds, big as they are, obediently following the instructions of such a tiny imp. I am interested in seeing how that bond develops in the future.


    I ask Rose and Igneous to head out to the armored car to give it a thorough inspection and bring back anything of interest. Half of the other imps follow along, including Violet. That is far too many imps for Igneous to carry so he will have to walk, or at least fly low enough and slow enough that the imps do not lose sight of him. It is only a few blocks away though, so they are not going far.


    When they come back, they all have their hands full. Two of the imps are carrying shotguns, Violet and one of the others look to be carrying an esky between them, Rose has a black, square plastic box and Igneous has a similar looking box, only his is much longer. The boxes and esky are left in front of my chair and the guns are taken to the storage room. Rose says there is more to collect as they all leave again.


    It takes a couple more trips to get it all, but the final tally in the end is three shotguns, two assault rifles, three pistols, one knife, a few boxes of ammo for each type of gun, one more full set of armor and a large bag of pretzels in addition to the black boxes and esky.


    Rose reports that there was also a solid metal cage in the trailer, though it was empty. It was bolted down so they could not bring it back. That is a little chilling to think about. Why would they have brought a cage unless they were planning to try capturing something alive?


    But all the weapons we found on them were of the lethal variety. They did not have anything for simply subduing prey without killing them nor for restraining a living creature. So how were they planning to get anything into the cage? I am glad we did not have to find out.


    Once the weapons and armor are stored, all the imps present sit together in the middle of the room and share the pretzels among them. Igneous tries one as well, after sniffing it cautiously, but he is not thrilled by the taste and goes back to his corner. The imps seem to like them though. Maybe I will ask William if he can bring more. Then again, I may be relying on William too much already when I have not even decided if I can trust him yet.


    While they are eating the pretzels, Violet suddenly jumps to her feet and rushes to the esky. She opens the lid and reaches in, pulling out two glass bottles.


    ¡°We have drinks!¡± She announces. She is holding the bottles above her head with a beaming smile. It is beer. I guess the humans were planning for a celebratory drink after their mission. The bottles have water dripping off them, but when I look inside the esky there is only a little bit of water left in the bottom. They probably dumped the water before trying to bring it back.


    Violet distributes beers to all the imps and even brings one over to Igneous, who is currently in his rock form. He does not respond when she offers it to him. Either he is sleeping or is just not interested. Violet shrugs and heads back to the others.


    Are you all going to be alright drinking that stuff? I ask Rose.


    ¡°Why, what is it?¡± She asks, looking down at the beer in her hands.


    It is an alcoholic beverage.


    ¡°Oh, it should be fine then, unless it is particularly strong?¡±


    No. It should be quite weak.


    ¡°Then it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Imps have a pretty high tolerance for alcohol.¡± She twists the lid off and takes a sip. Her face scrunches up in disgust. She holds the bottle away from her and stares at it.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°That¡¯s terrible. Why would anyone drink this?¡± Looking around, a couple of the others had a similar reaction, but most seem to be enjoying it. She places her beer aside, not interested in drinking any more of it. She still enjoys the pretzels though and she actually hangs around to chat with some of the other imps besides Violet. That is nice to see.


    Coal is biting the top of his bottle, apparently not understanding how to open it. Violet stops him and slowly demonstrates with her own bottle how to twist the cap off. He watches intently then imitates her, twisting the cap off his bottle. He cheers triumphantly then takes a swig. He makes a funny face and sticks out his tongue. I do not think he likes it much, but he continues to drink it anyway.


    I would really like to know what is in the black boxes, but I do not want to interrupt everyone while they are having fun so it can wait until later. The impromptu beer and pretzel party is still going when Calyx, Calla and the hellhounds return. Violet brings them both a beer leaving one left in the esky.


    Calla can barely even hold the bottle so Violet finds her a cup and pours some of the beverage into it. I am not sure it is wise to give her beer, even if none of the imps are questioning it. It does not seem appropriate to give a child alcohol, even if it is weak.


    It is not an issue though as Calla only takes one sip before spitting it out. She dislikes it even more than Rose. She offers the cup to Noctis, who sniffs it first then starts lapping it up. Calla giggles as she hold the cup for her. This, of course, attracts the attention of the other hellhounds who are dissatisfied that only Noctis is getting a treat.


    ¡°Help find bowl?¡± Calla asks her mother. Lily sighs, but gets up to help her daughter find something to pour the beer into, the hellhounds following them the whole time they are searching.


    They find a bowl and a pot. Laying them down, they pour out the rest of the bottle that was given to Calla and open the final bottle for the hellhounds as well. They do not hesitate to stick their heads into the dishes to get at the beverage.


    With this many imps, it is not often they are all gathered in the same room to have fun like this. Some of them are running, jumping and tumbling around while others tell animated stories of past exploits that may or may not be exaggerated. None of this is unusual behavior for them, but it feels different when they are all together. Like they are all more connected.


    They do not seem to be noticeably impacted by the alcohol as far as I can tell. Sure, beer may not have a high alcohol content, but they also have small bodies so it should not take much for them to become intoxicated. I guess Rose was not exaggerating when she said they have a high tolerance.


    I find myself enjoying the scene, but I wish I could be more a part of it. I can not partake of the food or beverages that they can enjoy. Nor can I participate in their games. I do not even have any stories to tell as everything I have ever known exists within this room. I can only observe and listen. When I think about that I feel a little empty and a little lonely.


    Rose approaches my chair and pokes my core.


    ¡°You''re being awfully quiet.¡± she chides.


    No more than usual I think. I do not usually have a lot to say.


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. But everyone¡¯s having fun here, you should too. At least I think everyone...¡± She trails off looking towards Igneous. Some of the imps are currently engaged in a game of King of the Hill with Igneous being the hill. Violet is currently winning.


    He can be a little hard to figure out.


    ¡°Especially when he dedicates himself to acting like a rock.¡± She says flatly.


    How are you feeling there? Any complaints? I ask Igneous. What I receive in return I think could be best interpreted as ¡®contentment¡¯.


    He says he is content. I relay to Rose. She raises an eyebrow before shaking her head with a slight chuckle.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s all that matters then.¡±


    What about you? Are you content? For a moment, she is stunned by the question. She sighs, then actually smiles.


    ¡°You know what? I think I am.¡± There is a sudden shriek as Violet is pushed off the hill by Noctis, who drapes herself across Igneous. Indignant at being dethroned, Violet manages to organize the other imps to work together to try to push Noctis off. Rose actually laughs at their antics.


    ¡°There was a time in my life when I truly believed I would never be able to have fun like this again. Thank you for bringing me here. I know I¡¯ve said it before, but I want to be sure you understand. You¡¯ve changed my life in ways I never could¡¯ve imagined.¡± She says, reaching out to gently stroke my core.


    I am glad I could help you. And the others. I just wish I could do more.


    ¡°Please, you do more than enough already. You shouldn¡¯t put so much on yourself.¡±


    The imps have given up on trying to push Noctis off and are now just treating her as part of the hill. Violet and Coal are currently fighting to push each other off to claim the top spot. That is until Lily and Calyx climb up and take them by surprise, pushing them both off. At first it looks like they are planning to claim the crown together, but Lily pushes Calyx off and laughs as he looks up at her incredulously.


    I envy them sometimes. Rose looks to my core with eyes wide and mouth agape.


    ¡°Why would you envy anyone? You can do so many amazing things. We¡¯re just imps. What¡¯s there to envy?¡± She asks in surprise.


    Do not underestimate your value. I think imps are far more impressive than you give them credit for. You especially. But what I envy most is their carefree attitude. With just some beer and pretzels, they can set aside their worries and just have fun for a while.


    ¡°Is that really something so impressive? They¡¯re just messing around and being silly.¡± She says, watching the others skeptically.


    I believe it is. It is something I can not do. There are so many things that I worry about that I can not simply set them aside, not even for a little while.


    ¡°You should try sharing some of those worries. At least with me and Violet. Maybe we could help. Will you tell me what you¡¯re worried about right now?¡± She implores.


    I am worried about the many threats we face. There are humans who are clearly hostile towards us and their efforts to attack us are escalating. There is also William. Even as I contemplate his offer of peace, I worry about whether or not he can be trusted. Even if he can be trusted, what about the people he works for? There could also be more threats out there that I can not even imagine. Most of all, I am worried I will fail again.


    Rose gently lifts my core from the chair and hugs it to her chest.


    ¡°Those are certainly valid concerns, but you don¡¯t need to carry this burden alone. We¡¯ve suffered setbacks.¡± She pauses, tears in her eyes. ¡°And we¡¯ll surely face more hardships in the future, but we¡¯ll face them together and we''ll prevail.¡± She assures me.


    Thank you Rose. I am truly glad you are here. I do not know what we would do without you. She places my core back on the chair and smiles.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯d get by just fine.¡±


    Hardly. Do you think I could control this rabble even half as well as you do?


    ¡°Well, maybe not.¡± She says, smirking.


    You should go have fun with the others. She looks over to the other imps again. Noctis decided she did not like being part of the hill and removed herself. Violet once more stands triumphantly atop the ¡®rock¡¯. Rose shakes her head


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m suited for such silly games.¡±


    Nonsense. I know you have been training a lot recently. How about you go flex some of your magic and show them who the true king of the hill is. After a moment of contemplation, she sighs then grins.


    ¡°Well, if you insist.¡±

 37. Two Steps Back

    After the party eventually dies down, everyone goes back to doing their own things. Some of the imps electing to just find a comfortable place on the floor to take a nap. But Violet has other things on her mind as she approaches my core.


    ¡°Are we going to open the boxes now?¡± She asks, looking at the two black boxes still sitting by my chair.


    I would like to, yes.


    I probably could have opened them myself before now, but that likely would have drawn everyone¡¯s attention. Apart from interrupting their party, there is also the chance that what is inside could be dangerous. I let Rose know that we are about to open the boxes and she makes her way over.


    I ask Violet to open the small box first. It takes her a moment to figure out how. It has two clips on the front, but she is quick to open it once she notices them. The top half of the box folds back to reveal a well padded interior and nothing else. The box is empty save for the foam padding.


    ¡°Why would they bring an empty box?¡± Violet asks. She pulls out the foam to see if there is anything hidden underneath it, but finds nothing.


    I suspect this is how they were planning to transport my core. She drops the box with a look of scorn


    ¡°As if they even would¡¯ve found it. They probably would¡¯ve been tricked by the decoy.¡± She states smugly. ¡°Do you want to open the big one?¡± She asks Rose.


    The larger box is similarly secured as the small one was and when Rose opens it I am utterly shocked by its contents. Those crazy humans brought a rocket launcher¡­ What were they even planning to do with something like this? Probably not much since it only has one shot.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Violet asks.


    ¡°Some kind of weapon I assume.¡± Rose replies.


    A very dangerous weapon used to create an explosion.


    ¡°If they had something like this, why didn¡¯t they bring it with them?¡± Violet queries.


    ¡°Because causing an explosion inside the building they were currently in would have been dangerous for them as well.¡± Rose answers. Violet reaches forward to poke the RPG but Rose grabs her wrist. ¡°Please don¡¯t touch the explosive device.¡± She chides.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Violet apologises sheepishly, pulling her hand back. She looks to my core. ¡°What should we do with it?¡±


    Store it with the guns for now. I will figure something out later.


    The simplest use would be as something else to trade, but maybe we will keep this one. Having something that our enemies would not expect could be useful one day. Not that we could use it inside any more than the humans could. It is something to think about though.


    Rose closes the box and together they drag it to the storage room, accidentally bumping into Aster, who is splayed out in front of the door. He helps them in dragging it the rest of the way then heads to his room.


    William shows up in the meeting room the next day. It has been two days since I sent the message. I am glad he showed up before anything else happened. He is sitting at the table in the middle of the room to wait. Cassandra is here again as well, but no one else. Did they not bring anyone else this time or are the extras just waiting outside?


    ¡°It seems they¡¯ve got the whole room now.¡± Cassandra says as she walks the perimeter of the room. She opens one of the bedroom doors and steps one foot in, then steps back. ¡°Not the bedrooms though.¡±


    ¡°They probably didn¡¯t feel the bedrooms were needed since this is just a meeting room.¡± William responds.


    That is correct. I inform him. The sudden contact causing him to jump in his seat. It would be an unnecessary expenditure of mana.


    ¡°Magentam? Cassandra asks with a smirk.


    ¡°Yeah, really sneaks up on you with that telepathy.¡± He replies.


    Just the two of you today?


    ¡°The other guys are waiting downstairs. They didn¡¯t want to climb that winding path up the steps, which I notice has gotten longer since the last time we were here. How far down are you planning on going with that?¡± He inquires.


    All the way. William¡¯s face makes a sour expression.


    ¡°Not to be rude or anything, but would you mind letting me in on this conversation? I¡¯m feeling a little left out.¡± Cassandra interjects, taking a seat beside William.


    Very well. But you should know, it consumes mana for me to be able to communicate like this, so two will be my limit.


    ¡°Oh, well I appreciate the consideration.¡±


    ¡°Magentam says they are planning to go all the way down with that winding bullshit in the stairs.¡± William remarks. Cassandra¡¯s expression sours, similar to William¡¯s.


    ¡°Is that really necessary? It makes it a lot harder to get up here.¡± Cassandra pleads.


    That is entirely the point.


    ¡°Well yeah, I¡¯m sure you want to slow down potential enemies, but it also makes it harder for people with peaceful intentions, like us.¡± William adds.


    I will consider making a meeting room on a lower floor later. In exchange, I want you to make a sign to warn people not go any higher. Having the meeting room on a lower floor would give me more lead time to identify and prepare for enemies so it would be useful to me as well.


    ¡°Why do you need us to make a sign? Surely you could do that yourself.¡±


    I could. But I think people would be more likely to take it seriously if it is an official warning from the Dungeon Management Office.


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s a fair point.¡± William says, tapping his chin in thought. He looks at Cassandra for her thoughts, but she just shrugs. ¡°I think we can agree to that.¡±


    Good. So how about we get to the reason you are actually here. I am sure you did not come all this way just to complain about my stairs. Did you get my letter?


    ¡°Right, of course.¡± He says, perking up. ¡°I did get your letter. Interesting colour choice.¡± He reaches into a pocket and pulls out the letter, unfolding it on the table.


    I work with what I have got.


    ¡°We were a little confused. Was there supposed to be something else with the letter? It mentions an insignia, but I don¡¯t see one.¡±


    Yes, there was a piece of armour worn by one of the attackers. Did you not receive it as well? They both frown.


    ¡°No. All we got was the letter.¡± William says.


    ¡°Just to be clear, did you actually see someone from the checkpoint take it inside? There¡¯s no chance that they missed it?¡± Cassandra asks.


    Rose and Violet reported that they definitely saw a man come out, pick up the item along with the letter and take them both inside.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible he tried to steal it for himself.¡± She reasoned. She looks to William, who is glaring straight ahead. His hands on the table clenched into fists.


    ¡°Lets hope that¡¯s all that¡¯s going on.¡± He fumes. Taking a slow, deep breath, he appears to relax a little. He turns to Cassandra. ¡°When we get back there, someone is in for a serious ass kicking. Possibly more.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any other examples of this insignia we could examine.¡± Cassandra asks calmly.


    We have several.


    I ask Rose to bring down another of the shoulder pads with the furred animal logo. When she arrives, she climbs up on a chair and slides it across the table, then just glares at the two humans. I translate the conversation for Rose going forward so she can keep up.


    ¡°Oh you¡¯ve got to be fucking kidding me.¡± William groans when he sees it, leaning back in his chair and running his hands down the sides of his face. Cassandra lets out an exasperated sigh.


    Should I take that to mean you recognize it?


    ¡°Fucking Honey Badgers.¡± William exclaims. When he does not continue Cassandra elaborates.


    ¡°That is the logo of an infamous mercenary organization known as Honey Badgers.¡± She explains.


    Why are they infamous?


    ¡°Because they are generally pretty good at what they do, but they have absolutely no moral compass. They¡¯ll do basically anything for money.¡± She continues.


    ¡°They¡¯re the type of people who would kick a puppy to death without batting an eye as long as someone was paying them to do it.¡± William adds.


    ¡°Some of their members have been linked to crimes serious enough to be considered war criminals.¡± Cassandra says.


    If they are so bad, why have they been allowed to continue to operate?


    ¡°Because, like any well established criminal organization, they have excellent lawyers.¡± William exclaims with a dry laugh. ¡°God, I hate lawyers. Fucking parasites. A scourge on our society.¡±


    ¡°William, let¡¯s stay focused please.¡± Cassandra scolds him. ¡°How many were there?¡± She asks.


    Six, including their driver.


    ¡°How many casualties on your side?¡±


    We lost two. They both go silent and stare at Rose with a look of wide eyed shock. She hisses at them in return.


    ¡°Only two?¡± William asks tentatively.


    Yes, is that so surprising?


    ¡°Well, Honey Badgers have a reputation for being reliable and effective. So the fact that they accomplished so little is a bit of a shock.¡± Cassandra explains.


    ¡°What kind of gear did they bring?¡± William asks.


    I explain everything we took from their bodies and William nods. I refrain from mentioning the RPG we found in the car.


    ¡°Probably rookies then.¡± He says.


    What makes you say that?


    ¡°Well, they only brought guns. They were probably thinking they could just come in, guns blazing and easily clear the place out. Honey Badgers may have high standards for acceptance into their organization, but rookies are still gonna be rookies. Inexperienced, cocky and overconfident.¡± William chuckles and Cassandra nods in agreement with a slight grin.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    What would you have done in their place? He pauses to contemplate for a moment.


    ¡°For fighting indoors like this. Tear gas and flash bangs at the very least. Disabling your enemies, or at least impairing their senses and THEN charging in guns blazing would have been a much better strategy.¡± He explains.


    ¡°Experienced mercenaries would have known better. But they also would have charged more for their services.¡± Cassandra adds.


    ¡°Will more come?¡± Rose asks and I relay the question.


    ¡°If someone is paying them, maybe. But if you¡¯re wondering if they will come to avenge their friends or whatever, you¡¯ve got nothing to worry about there. They don¡¯t care about each other any more than they care about anyone else.¡± William says.


    Is there anything you can do to stop them if someone tries to hire more of them to attack us?


    ¡°Maybe. Their main organization usually tries to stay away from things they know are being actively investigated, but that doesn¡¯t stop individual members from accepting contracts if approached directly.¡± William states.


    ¡°There may be something else...¡± Cassandra starts, but trails off. The two humans share an uncertain look between them.


    What is it? They both seem reluctant to continue, but eventually William speaks again.


    ¡°Well, I could send a report up the chain requesting that one of the much higher ups try putting some additional pressure on the Honey Badger leadership, but...¡±


    But what? Their hesitancy is starting to get on my nerves.


    ¡°They¡¯re going to want something in return.¡± He finally finishes.


    ¡°They¡¯re trying to extort us! They¡¯ve not even provided anything of value yet and they think they have the right to ask for anything from us?¡± Rose accuses. They both look down in shame as I translate her words.


    ¡°I can¡¯t really refute that. I¡¯m sorry, this really isn¡¯t how I would prefer to do things, but I¡¯m not exactly the one in charge, not even close.¡± William says.


    Why should we give you anything? You¡¯ve hardly done anything to deserve it.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, but some of the higher ups don¡¯t really care much about earning your favour. There are already some who think we¡¯re wasting our time trying to be diplomatic and that we should just come in and take the core by force.¡± He laments.


    ¡°If we had something to show them to prove that we aren¡¯t just wasting our time and resources in pursuing a peaceful relationship, it may help convince them into putting a little more effort into protecting you.¡± Cassandra explains.


    ¡°We can¡¯t trust them. If we give them anything they will just keep asking for more while always coming up with excuses for why they can¡¯t actually do anything for us in return.¡± Rose growls, digging her claws into the table. Her mana is starting to flare out and judging from how the humans have suddenly tensed up, I am sure they noticed it as well.


    I do not repeat her words this time as I find myself agreeing with her and considering calling an end to this meeting. But Cassandra is able to understand enough of what she said to get the basic gist of it and explain it to William.


    ¡°I promise we¡¯re not trying to take advantage of you. We really are doing our best to help you, but there¡¯s only so much we can do on our own. We just need something to help motivate the people who have the power to do more. To convince them that it¡¯s actually worth the effort.¡± He implores.


    I can hear the desperation in his tone. I think he actually believes what he is saying, either that or he is an excellent actor. But even if he is being genuine, he already admitted he does not hold a particularly high position within the DMO. He can not make promises on their behalf so his words do not hold much weight, no matter how much he might mean them.


    What exactly do you expect from us?


    He looks at Rose hopefully, but she is still staring daggers at him. He can see the hate in her eyes so he looks back down at the table and sighs.


    ¡°What we need most is mana stones.¡± He says.


    Like the blue crystal you gave us before?


    ¡°Yes, exactly like that one.¡±


    I though you humans referred to them as ¡®dungeon crystals¡¯.


    He cocks his head slightly. Looking towards Cassandra. She raises an eyebrow.


    ¡°You¡¯re not human are you Magentam?¡± He asks. I really should have been more careful with my phrasing there.


    No. Does that matter? Not much point in lying about it now. He shrugs.


    ¡°I suppose not, we already suspected as much anyway. We might leave it out of the report for now though. It might make things harder if it was confirmed that you¡¯re a demon.¡±


    I am not a demon either. They both look taken aback and they look at each other, confused.


    ¡°Can you tell us what you actually are then?¡± Cassandra asks tentatively.


    No. William sighs.


    ¡°Maybe in the future, after we¡¯ve earned your trust. As for your question about dungeon crystals. That is the term for them in their natural state. But when they are cut or, preferably, grown into a specific size and shape, they¡¯re referred to as mana stones. It¡¯s mostly pedantics though.¡± He states.


    So you want one the same as the one you gave me?


    ¡°That is the standardized shape so that would be ideal.¡± He confirms.


    I could just give you yours back.


    ¡°A fresh one would be better.¡± He flinches when Rose growls again.


    ¡°You see, they are making more demands.¡±


    I know. But I want to hear what they have to say before I make any decisions.


    ¡°Fine, but I think it¡¯s a waste of time.¡± She concedes.


    What do mean by ¡®a fresh one¡¯?


    ¡°Have you examined the stone we gave you?¡± William asks, quirking an eyebrow.


    Briefly.


    ¡°Did you notice anything unusual about it?¡±


    It did not hold as much mana as I expected.


    ¡°Have you taken any mana stones outside the dungeon?¡±


    No. I have not had any reason to.


    ¡°So you probably wouldn¡¯t have realized that outside of high mana environments, mana stones degrade with use. Eventually they become inert and crumble to dust. That¡¯s why we always need more.¡± He explains, crestfallen.


    And you expect me to provide them.


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sorry, but the thing is, things are not going well for us. We¡¯re kinda desperate.¡± He pleads.


    ¡°Whatever problems they¡¯re facing aren¡¯t our concern. We have no obligation to help them.¡± Rose states coldly.


    I agree, but if we can help them, they may be able to help us. Also I fear if we do not help them, they may try to take what they want by force.


    I form a mana crystal on the table. I try to make it approximately the same size and shape as the blue one, though it is hard to be sure without a side by side comparison. The amount of mana required is enough to fill my core and then a little bit more on top of that. They had better make it worth it.


    Take it and leave. I expect results soon. If you continue to allow people to attack like this, one way or another, that will be the last thing you ever receive from us.


    Dejected, William reaches out and plucks the crystal from the table. Cassandra grabs the shoulder pad as they get up to leave. William pauses by the door and turns to Rose. She just glowers at him but does not respond


    ¡°We¡¯ll deal with this. You have my word.¡± He promises.


    Your word has not been worth much so far. William sighs and leaves the room without saying anything more, looking down at the ground with his shoulders slumped.


    ¡°That was a mistake. You shouldn¡¯t have given them anything.¡± Rose says after they are gone.


    Maybe. We shall see. For now, we need to make an evacuation plan.


    ¡°Oh, are we going to leave this place?¡± She perks up.


    Not yet. I would rather not if we do not have to. But I think we need to be ready in case it does become necessary.


    ¡°What will happen if your core goes outside?¡± She asks, concerned.


    I do not know, but we should probably find out.


    <hr>


    William knocked on the Director¡¯s door and waited to be called in.


    ¡°Come in.¡± The Director invited after a moment. ¡°What¡¯s the status on the dungeon?¡± He asked as William entered, not looking away from the report he was writing.


    ¡°Things aren¡¯t looking good Sir.¡± William replied. The Director stopped writing and looked up. Seeing William¡¯s solemn expression, he put his pen down and sighed.


    ¡°What happened?¡± He asked, bracing himself for bad news.


    ¡°Honey Badgers happened.¡± William responded. He placed the shoulder pad with the Honey Badger logo on the Director¡¯s desk.


    ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake.¡± He said quietly to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose. ¡°How bad was it?¡± He asked out loud.


    ¡°They suffered two casualties while taking out a squad of six Honey Badgers.¡± William reported. The Director sat up straight in his seat, taken aback.


    ¡°Only two?¡± He asked in surprise. ¡°That¡¯s impressive.¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir. I believe we may have underestimated the dungeon in our judgement of its approximate strength.¡±


    ¡°So have the people attacking it, by the sounds of things.¡± The Director smirked.


    ¡°Yes Sir. But the attacks are escalating. If we can¡¯t put a stop to it, it may only be a matter of time before the core is taken.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re still investigating the issue. That¡¯s going to take time.¡±


    ¡°Magentam offered us this to ¡®encourage¡¯ us to speed things up. But I fear they may be losing what limited trust they might have had in our ability to actually do anything.¡± William said, placing the pink mana stone on the desk. The Director¡¯s eyes went wide as he picked it up to examine it.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a pink one before. It would probably be easier if we just took the core for ourselves. Then it wouldn''t be a problem anymore.¡± The Director remarked. William narrowed his eyes.


    ¡°Sir, if you did that, you¡¯d see my resignation on your desk the very same day.¡± The Director looked up at him gobsmacked.


    ¡°Come on William. I think you¡¯re overreacting a little.¡±


    ¡°No Sir. I don¡¯t believe I am and I think Cass would agree with me.¡± William retorted.


    ¡°Are you seriously willing to throw your career away over a simple dungeon?¡± The Director asked with a stern expression.


    ¡°These aren¡¯t just mindless beasts we¡¯re dealing with. They¡¯re intelligent creatures and they¡¯re asking for our help.¡±


    ¡°You need to get your priorities straight. We need the mana stones. We can¡¯t afford to let some unknown party take the core before us. We¡¯re fighting for our survival here.¡± The Director said, banging a fist down on his desk.


    ¡°So are they! Except they¡¯re being attacked by humans. Completely unprovoked, might I add. They¡¯ve already shown us more trust than I think we deserve. They literally gave us a mana stone.¡± William leaned forward, placing on hand on the desk and gesturing to the crystal still in the Director¡¯s hand. ¡°And we¡¯ve given them nothing in return.¡±


    ¡°Watch yourself, William.¡± The Director warned.


    ¡°The fact that you and some of the other higher ups are talking about attacking the dungeon ourselves even as I¡¯m out there trying to negotiate peace is utterly appalling.¡± William said with a raised voice.


    ¡°ENOUGH!¡± The Director shouted, rising from his seat. William went silent but continued to stare daggers at him. ¡°I like you William. I value your skills, insight and intuition. But don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m your superior officer. I will NOT tolerate insubordination.¡±


    William continued to glare, but did not say anything more in response. The Director sank back into his chair and sighed.


    ¡°Do you really think they¡¯ll give us more mana stones if we can stop these attacks?¡± He asked calmly.


    ¡°Sir, I believe they will be willing to trade mana stones as long as we can offer them something of value in return, but we shouldn¡¯t expect anymore freebies.¡± William replied, also relaxing a little.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see what I can do about speeding up the investigation and dealing with the Honey Badgers. I can¡¯t make any promises though. Please submit a report detailing your meeting with the dungeon controller and include any suggestions you have for how we should proceed. You are dismissed.¡± The Director ordered.


    ¡°Yes Sir.¡±

 38. Evacuation Planning

    There is a lot to do now. The first is to learn what will actually happen if my core were to leave the dungeon. Thinking of the possibilities is nerve wracking. It is hard not to focus on the worst case scenarios.


    What if my consciousness, memories and personality, everything that makes me ¡®me¡¯ can only exist with the dungeon. Would it be erased if my core is taken outside? Would it be restored it if came back?


    Or maybe nothing will happen to me personally, but I will instead lose connection to the dungeon and everything in it. Including all of my creatures. Would they be okay if that were to happen? Honestly, I am sure they would, but would I?


    I even considered the possibility that going outside might damage the core in some way, but that seems unlikely. If the humans want mana crystals, I doubt they would do anything to risk damaging the core.


    No. I need to stop only thinking about the worst possible outcomes. None of those things seem likely anyway since I am pretty sure my core is the center of my existence and everything is connected to it directly. I am just stressing myself out imagining improbabilities.


    That does not mean there would not be consequences at all, but that is why we are doing this test, to find out what they are. I do not think I need to go far. Just one step outside my domain should be enough. I do not even need to leave this floor to do that.


    ¡°Are you sure this is a good idea?¡± Rose asks as she stands before the door to one of the unclaimed rooms, holding my core in her hands


    Not at all. But it is necessary. We need to know if you can take me with you or if you will have to leave me behind when you evacuate.


    ¡°We would never leave you behind! If you can¡¯t leave then neither will we.¡± She rebukes. ¡°Please don¡¯t say such things.¡± I feel her grip on my core become a little tighter.


    I know they would never leave me. That is why I hope this works, so they will never have to make that choice. Several imps have gathered. They became curious when they saw Rose walking out to the hallway holding my core. I briefly explained what we were about to attempt, further increasing their curiosity.


    Except for Violet. She protested this experiment entirely. She remembers what happened last time I tried to enter the void. Only this time it could be worse because it is actually my core going out. She is not wrong and as I look at the darkness, I cannot quash the terror I feel rising up. But this needs to be done.


    At my direction, Rose steps forward. As my core passes the threshold into the void I feel a familiar pain. It is worse this time and for a while there is nothing but agony. When the pain fades and I can finally focus again all I see around me is darkness.


    There is nothing but the void around me in all directions. There is no sight, there is no sound. It is terrifying to be so completely blinded like this. But I have not completely lost all sensations, I can feel something. Rose. I can feel her all around as she hugs my core close to her.


    That was extremely unpleasant, but I think I am okay.


    If she replies verbally I can not hear it at all, but I can feel her squeezing my core more tightly. I can not feel the presence of any of the others except Violet. But I expected that. I can not feel their presence when they go out into the void. So it makes sense that the same would happen when I do it. It is comforting that I can still feel my connection to Violet at least.


    ¡®Magentam are you okay?¡¯ Violet''s voice sounds desperate and worried as she contacts me. It is good to know we can still communicate like this even in this circumstance.


    Yes, I am alright. It was painful, but I am fine now. How is the dungeon, is anything strange happening?


    ''I can¡¯t see anything unusual happening. Everyone is getting a bit distressed though. They can¡¯t feel your presence anymore. Are you coming back soon? I don¡¯t like this.''


    I think we have learned everything we need to. We can go back now. I tell Rose.


    Sight returns to me as Rose steps back into the hallway. The imps are fidgeting nervously. Even the hellhounds have gathered now. From Noctis, I can feel she is nervous and confused.


    I am sorry for upsetting you all. This was an important experiment that needed to happen, but it was not my intention to cause you distress. I say to everyone.


    My body is gone again and I am reduced to only my core once more, but I expected that and it is easy to fix. Rose takes my core back to its place with most of the imps following along, still not fully reassured.


    ¡°Everything¡¯s alright now. We¡¯re making preparations for the future, but there¡¯s nothing to worry about now.¡± Rose assures them. Some of them have questions, but I let Rose handle them.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I need to look around to see if anything has changed as a result of me leaving like that. The interior of my domain seems unchanged, but things feel a little fuzzy at the edges. It feels like all the mana filaments had begun to fray and disintegrate. The effect is more noticeable on the stairs where the area has only been claimed in thin strips. Now those strips have become a little thinner.


    I suspect if my core were to be removed for any significant length of time, I would lose most, if not all, of my claimed territory. Which means, If we do leave, there will not be anything left to come back to. So I need to be completely sure that it is the right choice before making that decision.


    The mana crystals do not seem to have been affected in any way. William did say they degrade outside of high mana environments. My core was not gone long enough for the mana to dissipate from this area. I should do something to make sure they are ready to be moved. It would be a terrible waste to leave them behind.


    Rose managed to calm everyone down. Apart from the momentary distress, I do not think there has been any negative impact on any of my creatures. That is the most important thing.


    Over the next few hours I take some time to speak with each of my imps personally. I expected at least some of them to be a little resistant about the possibility that we may have to leave, but none of them seem to mind the idea. A few even expressed excitement at the prospect of going somewhere new.


    It is difficult for me to picture being somewhere other than here; I suppose that is because I have never been anywhere else. But thinking about leaving is pointless if we do not actually have a place to go.


    Igneous, I need you to do something for me. Before I even finish he is already unfolding from his rock disguise. He responds with acceptance, though I have not even told him what I want him to do yet.


    I need you to do some scouting. Find a new place for us to live. Somewhere outside the city, away from the humans. Are you alright with a longer mission? He nods.


    Thank you. I appreciate your help with this. It would be a lot harder without you.


    I could have my imps scout out some temporary evacuation zones in the city, but staying within city limits would be too dangerous. There is too much risk of being discovered again. All it would take is for one human to spot one of my imps in the city and they would know that we are still here somewhere.


    There are some things that need to be done here as well. We need ways for the imps to move around the building without relying on the stairs. I think I will ask Violet to help with what I have in mind.


    The walls in here are pretty easy to climb right? She looks towards the nearest wall, scanning it up and down.


    ¡°They should be. Why?¡± She asks. She moves over to the wall and runs her claws lightly across its surface before digging them in. She climbs half way up the wall in a flash. Pushing off the wall, she drops back down to the ground.


    ¡°Yeah, easy.¡± She says.


    What do you think about digging holes through the floor so you will have another way of moving between floors besides the stairs. Her eyes light up as she grins.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s a great idea. Where do we start?¡±


    I think it would be best to have two holes on each floor. One in the furthest room from the stairwell and one somewhere around the middle. For this floor I would start in Room 7 and Room 2. Probably in the bathrooms since they are not useful for anything else. If you hit any pipes, just try to go around them if you can.


    ¡°Do we need to make the holes big enough for the hellhounds?¡±


    I had not thought about that. Would the hellhounds be able to jump down from one floor to the next safely. When I ask Noctis, she feels confident that they could jump down, though she is uncertain when I ask if they could climb back up the same way.


    Yes, make the holes big enough for the hellhounds. Ask others for help if you need to. I do not know how easy it will be to dig through these floors.


    I know Violet and the other are capable of digging through the walls without much trouble, but the floors are much more solid. As I look at the wall that Violet had climbed, seeing the holes left by her claws, I am actually a little surprised by how weak the material is. Perhaps I will have to tell my imps to only climb up through these holes in an emergency or there will soon not be much wall left to climb.


    I am concerned that making holes big enough for the hellhounds means the humans will be able to fit through them as well. But that might not matter as they would have to know about them first. All the humans who have come here so far, besides the first group, have come straight for where they think my core is without stopping to explore anything else.


    Even if we do not need to leave, these holes will allow my imps to easily move to a lower floor to sneak up behind any humans coming up the stairs.


    It would also be beneficial to set up a watch rotation again. But not in the stairs this time. I can keep watch on the stairs well enough on my own. I want to know if there are humans coming before they even reach the building. Having outside patrols could be dangerous if they encounter the humans directly though.


    Having imps watching the streets from the roof might work. If I have Igneous up there as well, he should be able to hear any humans before they are even in view.


    But that is a lot of area to cover. Having only one imp watching from the rooftop may not be enough. I would probably need at least two to be properly effective. There will also need to be someone on watch at all times since I know humans may come at night now.


    For that, I am going to need more imps. It is about time to summon another one anyway. I let Rose and Violet know I am going to summon another imp and they are soon waiting by the rift. When I feed mana into the rift nothing happens for a little while. Then the rift starts drawing more mana than I expect it to for an imp. I immediately warn them that something unusual is happening and to keep their guard up.


    What appears is two imps tightly holding on to each other, one male and one female. A welcome surprise. No one is really too shocked though since we already knew this was possible. I wonder if they are mates or siblings. Rose heads back to the storage room to get another set of clothes.


    The two new imps are looking around the room in wonder when Violet approaches them with a beaming smile. Their eyes go wide as they look up at her, marveling at how tall she is. Violet does not wait for Rose to get back with more clothes and wraps her arms around them. One of them returns the hug gleefully, while the other looks a little baffled.


    When Rose returns with the clothes, they quickly put them on at her direction. Violet grabs them both by the hand excitedly to show them around. While she does that, I explain my intention to have a twenty-four hour watch rotation to Rose and ask her to set up a schedule.


    If I am going to expect to have imps and Igneous on the roof regularly then it would be best if I claimed that area. I know my imps prefer being in my mana field and I assume it is the same for my other creatures, so it would be more comfortable for them if it was part of my domain. It would also allow me to communicate with them while they are up there.


    Going up the stairs would be a wast of time and mana so instead I will just go straight up through the ceiling. Simply following a wall all the way up until I reach the roof would be the most efficient method.


    With preparations underway, all that is left to do now is to wait and see what the humans do next. I do hope William can follow through on his promises. But I do not feel optimistic about it.

 39. Return Visitors

    After a whole day has passed since Igneous left to scout out a new home for us, he has yet to return. I am beginning to worry, but it may be too soon for that. The request was for him to find a place far away from the humans. I knew this was going to be a long mission, so I just need to be patient.


    Rose managed to set up a functional watch schedule with only a little bit of complaining from some of the imps. All except the two newest imps are aware of the threat the humans pose so they understand the reason for it. And besides that, none of them would disobey Rose anyway.


    Calla insisted on being a part of the rotation as well even though she was not expected to participate due to her age. But she was adamant that she be allowed to help, so her parents take turns being her watch partner. She also always has at least Noctis with her, if not the whole pack of hellhounds.


    I do not know how Rose keeps time but she seems pretty consistent when informing imps of their turn to be on watch. Though my own ability to tell time is mostly based on estimation, so it is hard to tell.


    Violet, with help from a few others, has managed to make holes through almost all the floors, from the top all the way down to the second floor. Only the ground level has yet to be breached as it has such a different layout to all the floors above, so she was not sure where would be best to dig through.


    Though I can not see what is on the ground floor for myself, in previous conversations with my imps, I have been told that there are two other entrances to the building. One is at the opposite end from the main entrance, near a room that Rose says was probably used for laundry, the other is by the kitchen. I suggest that those would be good rooms to dig into so they can be near the exits.


    She is even working on digging through the walls of adjacent rooms on each floor which will allow imps to move quickly and easily throughout the entire building. That could open up some additional defensive options if we do end up staying here.


    Sneak emerges into the hallway from Room 4. This immediately draws my attention since he is supposed to be on watch with Jasmine at the moment. He must have come down through the access holes in the ceiling.


    Did you see something? I ask him as he runs across the hallway and he comes to a halt just as he enters Room 5.


    ¡°Four humans coming.¡± He reports, breathing heavily from the exertion of rushing down from the roof.


    They are on foot? Did you see a vehicle nearby?


    ¡°Yes, on foot. Can¡¯t see vehicle anywhere.¡±


    Are they wearing armor like the last humans who attacked us?


    ¡°No armor, I think. Just clothes.¡±


    Good. Did you notice anything about them that stands out? His brow furrows as he thinks for a moment.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think so. Just look like humans.¡± He confirms.


    Thank you for your report. You have done a great job. Take a minute to catch your breath if you need to, then return to your watch.


    ¡°I good at seeing humans. They not sneak past me.¡± He declares, beaming with pride.


    He does not wait around at all and rushes back to Room 4 before I can stop him. I did tell the imps not to use the holes to move between floors unless it is an emergency to limit the damage to the walls. Wanting to report seeing humans as quickly as possible is acceptable, but returning to the roof afterwards could hardly be considered an emergency. I shall have to remind him of that later.


    For now though, I inform Rose and Violet of the situation. Violet is currently on one of the lower floors so she is in a good position to ambush the humans from behind if it becomes necessary. I will hold off on alerting everyone else until I have a better idea of these human¡¯s intentions.


    I can feel all four humans coming up the stairs as they pass the third floor. When they reach the fourth floor and head to the meeting room, my first assumption is that William is back again, hopefully with good news.


    So it is surprising when I see that it is not William, but rather Jenna and her friends. Jenna flinches when I appear in the room and turns to where I am standing. I have never seen William or Cassandra react to my presence like that. Maybe she is just more sensitive than they are. However, I am sure those two honey badgers noticed when I teleported around, so maybe William and Cassandra could sense it too, but just did not want to tip their hand that they knew I was there.


    She tries to approach me and I take a few steps back. She waves her hands through the air where I had previously been but does not follow me any further.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Machete guy asks as he flops down on the couch.


    ¡°I felt something as we entered the room, like a faint surge of mana.¡± She replies. The others immediately become tense, gripping their weapons tighter and looking around for an unseen enemy.


    ¡°Is it something dangerous?¡± Johnathan asks.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. It was only for a moment. I can¡¯t feel it anymore. Just some kind of random mana fluctuation maybe?¡± She suggests, dropping her hands back to her sides.


    ¡°Is that something that happens in dungeons?¡± Bow guy asks, looking nervous, his eyes darting around the room. Jenna shrugs in response.


    ¡°Just stay on alert until we can be sure that it¡¯s safe.¡± Johnathan commands.


    So while she can feel the slight mana pulse when I appear in a room, she is not able to sense my presence beyond that, even though my body is entirely made of mana? Maybe it is not enough compared to the ambient mana in the dungeon to be noticeable. An interesting revelation, but not particularly helpful right now.


    Why are they here and how should I deal with it? I do not want to talk to them. I would rather make them leave and maybe just kill them if they try to refuse. But they probably would not have come all this way without a good reason. Waiting in the meeting room means they must have something they want to talk about.


    I observe the humans as I deliberate. Bow guy sits on the couch next to Machete guy, casting furtive glances around the room. I still do not know either of their names, not that I really care to.


    Johnathan is standing by the table, but elects not to sit. He looks apprehensive and alert. Shield half raised with a solid grip on his spear. He is keeping an eye on the door as though he is expecting an attack. I have not yet ruled it out as an option so I suppose it is not unreasonable for him to be wary.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Jenna is wandering around the room, opening doors and testing the boundaries of my territory, much as Cassandra had done. She seems relatively unconcerned compared to the others. What makes her so calm? Surely she does not think they would win if I decide to get rid of them right? Or maybe she is just confident that it will not come to a fight.


    ¡°Do you think they know we¡¯re here?¡± Bow guy asks, fidgeting nervously.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they do. Dungeon controllers supposedly always know when people enter their dungeon.¡± Johnathan replies.


    ¡°Well then why are they keeping us waiting?¡± Machete guy complains, leaning back further into the couch.


    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few minutes. Try being patient for once.¡± Jenna chides. ¡°Though it¡¯s possible they might not want to talk to us. The little red demon, Rose I think, she seemed pretty angry last time we were here.¡± She considers.


    ¡°What, because they were attacked? That¡¯s hardly our fault.¡± Machete guy retorts.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it though? Would they have been attacked if we hadn¡¯t found them first?¡± Jenna replies.


    ¡°All we did was report what we found, like we¡¯re supposed to. It was some DMO guy who leaked that information. Should we really be blamed for someone else breaking the rules?¡± He argues.


    As much as I hate to admit it, it is hard to deny there is at least some validity to his argument.


    ¡°Regardless, the fact is, their existence became known because of us. When they were attacked, their friends died and justified or not, they blame us. That¡¯s why we need to apologize.¡± She chastises. They came to apologize? That is not something I expected.


    ¡°Do we know if that¡¯s actually true though?¡± Bow guy interjects. He shrinks back into the couch when Jenna cast a him withering glare.


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± She demands.


    ¡°W-well, I mean, they claimed they lost some friends, but it¡¯s not like they showed any evidence of...¡± He trails off as Jenna continues to glare at him.


    ¡°What reason would they have to lie about something like that?¡±


    ¡°To gain sympathy and leverage during negotiations maybe.¡± Machete guy suggests.


    I do not appreciate the insinuation that I would lie about my imps dying for undeserved sympathy. They are already on thin ice, but he is really pushing it. Jenna sighs and shakes her head.


    ¡°I know you two are into conspiracy theories and stuff like that, but that sounds a bit ridiculous. Besides, I believe there is evidence.¡± She declares.


    ¡°Oh really? Please elaborate.¡± Despite his sarcastic tone, he and Bow guy both perk up at the mention of evidence. Even Johnathan, who has not had much to say so far, turns to listen to her explanation.


    I, too, am interested in what she has to say.


    ¡°Violet, the purple demon we saw last time we were here. She was pretty hot, wasn¡¯t she Mark?¡± She says, directing a smirk towards Machete guy, whose name is apparently Mark. He groans in response.


    ¡°And how is that evidence?¡± He drawls.


    ¡°Well, do you remember the first time we were here? There was that one who was bigger than the others that you couldn¡¯t stop ogling?¡± She continues.


    ¡°Do you really have to keep bringing that up?¡± Mark grumbles.


    ¡°Mark.¡± Jenna looks at him with a serious expression. ¡°I will never stop bringing that up, until the day that I die. Maybe I¡¯ll even have it engraved on my tomb stone. ¡®Remember that little red demon that Mark thought was kinda hot?¡¯¡± She teases, eliciting a snicker from Bow guy which he turns into a cough when Mark glowers at him. Even the normally stoic Johnathan has a smirk on his face.


    The idea that a human might find my imps sexually appealing seems a little odd, but I suppose it is not the strangest thing I can imagine.


    ¡°Fine, whatever, but what does that have to do with your ¡®evidence¡¯?¡± Mark demands.


    ¡°William talked about Violet being a ¡®guardian¡¯. I asked him about what he meant. He told me that every dungeon has one creature that¡¯s bigger and stronger than the others, that¡¯s the guardian. When a guardian dies, it will later be resurrected and come back even stronger than it was before. Their appearance can also change when they return, often getting larger and sometimes their colour might change as well.¡± Jenna explains.


    ¡°So you think Violet is biggest of the demons we saw the first time we were here, but her skin changed colour after that because she was resurrected?¡± Johnathan infers.


    ¡°Exactly! But to be resurrected means she had to have died first.¡± She confirms.


    Now that is interesting. I had already come to suspect some of that after experiencing it first hand, but having actual confirmation is reassuring. Though it does raise some more questions.


    She said ¡®one creature¡¯ will be a guardian. That is obviously Violet, but what about Noctis? She is also significantly larger than her peers. If that was the only difference then maybe I could dismiss it as her just being unusually large for her species, but there is also the way she communicates with me. None of the other hellhounds seem able to communicate like that, even when I speak to them directly. In addition, the mana cost when I summoned Noctis was also much greater than the others.


    Unfortunately, the easiest way to know for sure is to see if she can be brought back after she dies. I would prefer not to have to find out that way. But if she is also a guardian, that means I am not limited to only one. Could I have more? What of Igneous? I do not have any other gargoyles to compare him to, but he was the first that I summoned. If the pattern holds, then he would also be a guardian.


    Could I intentionally create new guardians? This is something I need to investigate. After I deal with these humans. They did inadvertently give me some useful information, so I suppose the least I can do is talk to them. I may even be able to learn some more useful things from them. Well, the sooner I hear them out, the sooner they can leave.

 40. A Lesson in Magic

    What are you doing here? I send to Johnathan and Jenna. Not the most polite way to greet people, but I do not feel like they deserve much courtesy from me. Judging from Jenna''s pained cry, I may have used a little too much mana. She is doubled over clutching her temples with her eyes shut tight. Johnathan, however, barely even flinches. Higher pain tolerance perhaps? Or maybe a higher mana tolerance.


    Mark and Bow guy jump off the couch, machete raised and bow drawn. Mark rushes over to Jenna and puts a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°Are you alright? What¡¯s wrong? Are we under attack?¡± He asks, a look of concern etched on his face.


    ¡°No, it-it¡¯s fine, I think. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s Magentam. William explained that they use telepathy. I just didn¡¯t expect it to hurt so much.¡± She explains, waiving him off.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± Mark says. He casts a questioning look to Bow Guy who just shrugs in response. ¡°They¡¯re only talking to you?¡± He asks Jenna.


    ¡°No, I heard it too.¡± Johnathan replies.


    I do not like talking to multiple humans at once and those other two do not seem particularly bright so I am choosing not to expend mana on them. I adjust my mana usage to a level that should be more comfortable for the humans. Jenna snorts, then chuckles.


    ¡°What is it? What¡¯s funny?¡± Mark demands.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Don¡¯t worry about it. Apparently it takes mana to talk to us like this, so I guess that¡¯s why they are only talking to me and John.¡± She explains.


    ¡°Well then, why don¡¯t they come down here and talk to us in person instead of using magic?¡± Mark grumbles as he sits back down on the couch.


    ¡°That¡¯s...a good question actually.¡± Jenna says.


    I have my reasons and I am not going to explain them to you.


    ¡°Oh,¡± was Jenna¡¯s only response.


    You still have not answered my question. Why are you here?


    ¡°We came to apologize for the part we played in the attacks that have occurred here and the lives lost as a result.¡± Johnathan declares.


    ¡°Even though it wasn''t our fault.¡± Mark mumbles and Jenna stares daggers at him.


    Yes, I heard you mention that before. But why? What do you hope to gain from this?


    ¡°Wait, you heard us? How long were you listening?¡± Jenna asks, her face paling a little.


    Since you entered the room.


    ¡°So you heard me talking about Mark ogling at your little demon friends like a pervert?¡± Her face starts to turn red from embarrassment as she buries it in her hands.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not a pervert.¡± Mark objects.


    ¡°And please don¡¯t take his or Seth¡¯s crazy theories seriously. They¡¯re both kind of idiots.¡± She pleads. I assume ¡®Seth¡¯ is Bow guy¡¯s name.


    ¡°That mana surge Jenna felt when we arrived was you wasn¡¯t it? Was it some kind of magic to observe us?¡± Johnathan asks.


    I suppose it could be interpreted that way. Johnathan quirks an eyebrow, but does not ask for further explanation.


    ¡°Is that something all dungeon controllers can do?¡± He inquires.


    I do not know anything about what other dungeon controllers can or cannot do.


    ¡°I see. Well, back to the matter at hand. We can gain paid work from the DMO escorting people here, as we did before, and we would also like the opportunity to learn more about dungeons ourselves. Both would be easier if we don¡¯t need to worry about whether or not you¡¯ll want to kill us when we enter. That¡¯s why we want to apologize.¡± Johnathan explains.


    ¡°Did you really have to make it sound so self-serving?¡± Jenna chides. Johnathan shrugs in response.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s better to be honest about our motives rather than risk seeming disingenuous¡± He states.


    ¡°I suppose so,¡± she says with an exasperated sigh, ¡°but you could try being a little more tactful.¡±


    I appreciate the straight forward honesty.


    ¡°Well, we are truly sorry about what happened to your friends. At least, some of us are.¡± She says, casting a glance towards Mark and Seth. Mark rolls his eyes while Seth looks down at his feet.


    ¡°We¡¯d like the chance to make it up to you...If that¡¯s possible.¡± She continues.


    This is a little surprising. Even knowing they wanted to apologize, I did not expect more than words. But even if she is being genuine, what could they actually offer? Do I even want to accept their apology, even if they can provide something of value in recompense?


    Honestly, I would rather not. However, we are in a rather precarious situation. I do not think we are in a position to be rejecting any serious offers of aid. There might be some useful knowledge they could share at least. It is not much, but it is a start.


    Do any of you know how to drive?


    Jenna is taken aback by the question and Johnathan raises a quizzical eyebrow. Eventually Jenna speaks again.


    ¡°Drive? You mean, like, a car?¡± She asks.


    Yes, ¡®like a car¡¯. Was that an unusual question?


    ¡°I guess not, it just felt a little out of left field is all.¡± She says, then looks to Johnathan, who shakes his head slightly. She turns to Mark and Seth.


    ¡°Either of you guys know how to drive?¡± She inquires.


    ¡°Hah! As if any of us could ever afford a car.¡± Mark replies.


    ¡°That¡¯s a ¡®no¡¯ on the driving then.¡± Jenna confirms.


    Is there anything else you can tell me about dungeon guardians?


    ¡°If you were listening before, then you¡¯ve already heard everything I know. But you¡¯re a dungeon controller, don¡¯t you already know about them?¡± She asks. Perhaps I overestimated their usefulness.


    You use magic, right?


    ¡°Yeah¡­?¡±


    Does that mean you know everything there is to know about it?


    ¡°Well, no, I mean¡­ Ah, okay, I see your point.¡± She nods in understanding.


    Speaking of magic, could you tell me everything you do know about it?


    ¡°Oh, yeah, I can do that.¡± She says, her face lighting up at the suggestion of something she can actually do.


    ¡°I¡¯m not an expert or anything, so I don¡¯t know how helpful it will be, but I¡¯m happy to share whatever I can.¡±


    Everything I know about magic is entirely self taught, so any additional perspectives, no matter how limited, could still be useful.


    ¡°Great! Do you want to start now or...¡± She looks to Johnathan. ¡°What are you guys gonna do?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We can¡¯t contribute much to a discussion about magic. Unless Magentam can suggest something else?¡± He asks.


    I do have an idea actually. I would like you and the idiots on the couch to spar with my imps. They could benefit from more experience in fighting humans.


    ¡°Imps? Is that what you call the little demons? I like it. It¡¯s cute.¡± Jenna says, then she frowns. ¡°Unless you are referring to those spiky, black furred monsters whose eyes are on fire. They¡¯re less cute.¡±


    Yes, I mean the little demons. I am appalled that she does not find the hellhounds to be cute. I think they are adorable. Maybe not as much as the imps, but still, just because they are ferocious, fire-breathing monsters does not mean they are not cute. But I do not wish to argue with the human about it so I do not say anything more.


    ¡°I¡¯m not opposed to sparring with your imps, but how will these matches be conducted?¡± Johnathan inquires.


    You will fight them one on one. Each fight will continue until one side either forfeits or can no longer fight. I will make sure the imps understand that they are not to maim or kill you.


    ¡°Very well, where will we be fighting?¡± He asks.


    That is a good question actually. It might be a bit distracting to have everyone crowding in here while I am trying to have a conversation about magic. Out in the hallway might be better, but I would like to be able to keep an eye on things.


    The hallway on the fifth floor could work, but I do not really want to let the humans up there. But these humans are not much of a threat and they do seem to have come with peaceful intentions. I suppose it should be fine for now as long as they do not go snooping around.


    I will have one of the imps escort you up to the next floor, you can fight in the hallway. Do not enter any of the rooms on the right side. Those are the living spaces for my imps and other creatures. I will not stop them from killing you if you do.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Johnathan nods. He turns to Mark and Seth on the couch. ¡°Get up, we¡¯ll be going upstairs soon where we will spar against the imps.¡± He commands.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be, like, a fight to the death or anything is it?¡± Seth asks nervously as he stands.


    ¡°No, Magentam has assured me that no one is to die.¡± Johnathan confirms.


    ¡°Yeah, but can we trust them? How do we know it¡¯s not a trick?¡± Mark asks.


    ¡°Seriously Mark, if they were going to kill us, I¡¯m sure they could have done so already without resorting to trickery.¡± Jenna rebukes.


    ¡°Well excuse me for being skeptical, but we are in a dungeon dealing with literal demons, who we already know don¡¯t like us, by the way. Even if they¡¯re little ones, they¡¯re still demons. I think some caution is warranted.¡± He retorts. Jenna lets out an exasperated sigh.


    ¡°Whatever, just trust me alright. Everything¡¯s going to be fine, so stop worrying.¡±


    I reach out to Violet and ask her to come up to the meeting room and if there are any others with her, to bring them too. I also ask Rose to come down, if we are going to discuss magic, she may want to be a part of that. Rose arrives first and she scowls when she see the humans.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s them.¡± She growls. She stands by the door and glowers, not wanting to come any closer to the humans.


    When Violet enters the room, she has Coal and the recently summoned sibling pair, Willow and Birch, in tow. I expected River and Aster as well since I cannot sense them anywhere within the dungeon. If they are not here then they are probably down at the river again.


    These three male humans have agreed to participate in today¡¯s combat training.


    Violet smiles hearing that, but it is not a kind smile. It is a grin full of malice and mischief.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s encouraging. Doesn¡¯t she look so friendly. Like an evil child who¡¯s just been given a new toy.¡± Mark says sarcastically.


    Coal growls when he speaks. The two siblings look on curiously. This is the first time they have seen humans.


    I do not want them killed or maimed. This is just to practice fighting humans. Treat it like your normal combat training. I do not want to see any injuries beyond what Rose is capable of healing. Her smile falters.


    ¡°Not even a little bit of maiming?¡± She asks.


    No. I already gave them my word on that. This causes her to deflate a little.


    ¡°Why should I have to heal them? Why are you even allowing them to be here?¡± Rose demands, glaring at the humans.


    Because they wanted to apologize and are offering to help us.


    ¡°So you intend to forgive them?¡± She asks. She crosses her arms and pouts.


    No, but I am not going to reject their aid, limited though it may be.


    ¡°What about the female? What will she be doing?¡±


    She has agreed to share what she knows about magic. That is why I called you down here. I can translate for you if you want be here for her explanation, or I can relay it to you later if you would rather beat up the other humans.


    Rose glances at Jenna and bares her teeth.


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll listen to what she has to say. I shouldn¡¯t ignore an opportunity to learn more about magic just because I don¡¯t like the source.¡± She concedes.


    After I instruct Violet to lead the three male humans upstairs, I reach out to all the imps and let them know what is happening. I tell them that I would like them all to try fighting the humans at least once to get some practice at battling larger opponents, though it is not mandatory if they really do not want to. Normal sparring rules apply.


    Make sure Coal especially understands that he is not to kill them. I tell Violet as she heads out the door.


    As the others leave, Rose fixes her glare onto Jenna.


    ¡°Yep, everything¡¯s going to be totally fine.¡± Jenna assures herself with a nervous chuckle. ¡°Not that I don¡¯t trust you, but are you sure no one¡¯s going to get hurt?¡±


    No need to worry. One on one sparring is a normal part of my imp¡¯s combat training. They know how to hold back and when to stop.


    ¡°It¡¯s the imps I¡¯m more worried about actually. They¡¯re so small; are they really going to be okay?¡±


    Do not underestimate them; they are tougher than they look. Rose can heal them if anything does happen though.


    ¡°Heal them? Like, with magic?¡± She asks, eyes wide in surprise.


    Yes, is that so unusual?


    ¡°Kinda, yeah. I¡¯ve heard that healing people with magic is really hard, not to mention potentially dangerous if it¡¯s done wrong.¡± She explains.


    Really? It was one of the first magic abilities that she ever displayed and it has never seemed to cause any problems.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive. I¡¯d love to learn more about that if I could...wait. Isn¡¯t this one Rose?¡± She gestures to the only imp left in the room who is still silently staring daggers at her.


    Yes, given her aptitude for magic, she also wanted to learn what you know of it.


    ¡°Right, but if she¡¯s the one who is supposed to heal the injuries, wouldn¡¯t it be better for her to be near where the fighting is actually happening?¡±


    She does make a good point, one that I should have thought of. While I do not expect any serious injuries, accidents can still happen, especially if Coal is involved. I was planning to stay down here, but perhaps it would be better for us to go up to the fifth floor as well.


    We are going up a floor so you can be close by in case anyone gets hurt. We will continue this meeting in Room 1. I tell Rose. Only one of the bedrooms in Room 1 is occupied so it is mostly empty.


    I tell Jenna to follow Rose. When they get to the fifth floor, the first of the sparring matches is about to begin, with most of the other imps gathered around to watch, so they stop to observe as well. It is between Mark and Birch; both are unarmed. Mark¡¯s machete is leaning against the wall nearby as it is too dangerous to use for this kind of sparring. I really should try to get some proper training weapons. Then again, I doubt we will often have the opportunity to train against humans so it may not be worth the effort.


    The two are standing a few meters apart facing each other. Mark looks to have adopted some kind of combat stance with one foot in front of the other and his body turned to the side. His hands are up in front of him and he has a confident smirk on his face as he looks down at his diminutive opponent.


    Violet is acting as the referee. When she signals the start of the fight, Birch charges forward. Mark is surprised, but not unprepared. He lashes out with a kick that sends the imp hurtling into the wall with a thud.


    Birch steadies himself and hisses at the human. He quickly climbs half way up the wall and then kicks off to launch himself at his opponent. This does catch Mark off guard and though he tries to dodge to the side, Birch manages to grab a hold of his sleeve.


    As the imp scrambles to get a better grip on his arm, Mark frantically reaches for Birch¡¯s leg to pull him off and throw him down the hall, the imp¡¯s claws leaving bloody scratches on Mark¡¯s upper arm where he tried to hold on.


    Mark does not press the attack, but instead returns to his initial combat ready stance and waits for the next assault from the imp. Birch, on the other hand, landed pretty hard when he hit the ground. While he does stand, he is a bit slow, but he is not ready to give up yet.


    Birch charges forward again. When Mark kicks at his side once more, he deftly jumps over the oncoming kick, but stumbles on landing. This allows Mark to get some distance from the imp before he can recover. He attacks with a forward facing kick. Birch manages to dodge to the side, but is unprepared for the followup as Mark steps forwards and immediately kicks again with his other foot.


    The impact lifts Birch off the ground a little and sends him falling back. When he hits the ground again, some of the observing imps growl at Mark, who just smirks in response as he waits for Birch to stand back up. This time the imp has had enough and chooses not to continue, raising both hands to indicate surrender.


    Are you okay? I ask Birch.


    ¡°I okay, but not beat human.¡± He replies.


    That is alright. You did well; I did not expect it to be easy. Do you need Rose to heal you?


    ¡°No. Only hurt a little. I fine.¡± He assures.


    Mark is inspecting the scratches on his arm, but decides it is not a big deal. He looks to the other imps with a cocky grin.


    ¡°Well, who¡¯s next?¡± He asks. Some of the imps glare at him. Even if they cannot understand his words, his condescending attitude is impossible to miss.


    He seems to be experienced in combat. I mention to Jenna.


    ¡°He trains in some kind of martial arts or something. I don¡¯t remember exactly what sort, but he¡¯s pretty good at it.¡± She explains.


    Perhaps he could benefit from learning a bit of humility.


    ¡°Yeah, he does tend to get a bit insufferable when he wins.¡± She agrees.


    Someone is going to teach him a lesson if he is not careful. But perhaps we could move on to the reason we are here? We will be going into Room 1.


    ¡°Right, yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± She turns to the door and pauses when she sees the damage left over from the Honey Badgers. ¡°This wasn¡¯t like that the last time we were here.¡± She points out as she pushes the door open.


    No, but we have been attacked again since then. She flinches hearing that.


    ¡°Di-did anyone else die?¡± She asks hesitantly.


    We did lose a couple.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Lets just get on with this.


    Rose enters the room last and closes the door behind her. Not that the door actually closes properly anymore, but it still reduces some of the noise from the hallway.


    ¡°So how should we begin?¡± Jenna asks.


    Just start with the basics I suppose.


    ¡°Right, well like I said before, I¡¯m not an expert, so I¡¯ll try to explain it the same way it was explained to me in school.¡±


    Humans have a school for learning magic?


    ¡°Not really, no. Children that are identified as mages just have to take extra classes in addition to the normal curriculum. Kinda lame actually. I guess that¡¯s just the price of being awesome.¡± She laments.


    ¡°Is she talking about magic yet?¡± Rose asks.


    Not yet.


    ¡°Can she hurry up so we can get this over with.¡± She demands, becoming agitated due to impatience.


    Can we move this along please?


    ¡°Right, sorry. So, the first thing to know is that magic is still pretty new to humans. It¡¯s only been, like thirty years or something since it became a thing. So there¡¯s still a lot we don¡¯t know.¡± Jenna begins and I translate for Rose. Despite her dissatisfaction with the situation, she is paying close attention to the human as she explains.


    ¡°But luckily, mana is pretty intuitive so people are always figuring out new stuff.¡±


    Intuitive how?


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s three main aspects to using magic. Intent, visualization and understanding. With intent, mana moves according to the users will, so there¡¯s no need for complicated spells, incantations or rituals like in a lot of old stories.¡± She demonstrates by holding out her hands and causing mana to start rotating around her. Not actually doing anything constructive with the it, merely making it spin slowly.


    ¡°But magic can''t just do anything simply because you want it to. You need to be able to properly visualize it. Not just the end result you want, but also the process. That¡¯s where understanding is important. The better you understand the process, like, from a scientific perspective, the easier it is to do things with magic.¡±


    Can you elaborate on what you mean by ¡®understanding the process¡¯?


    ¡°Oh, uh...it¡¯s like, there are various different forms of energy; understanding their properties and how to convert them from one form to another can help with accomplishing some tasks. Also knowing the molecular properties of various substances can make it easier to manipulate certain materials in more complex ways.¡± She explains. Rose frowns in confusion as I translate.


    ¡°Energy conversion? Molecular properties? I don¡¯t know what any of that means.¡± She complains.


    Those are complicated topics. It would take too long to sufficiently explain them right now, but I can teach you what I know of them later.


    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate that.¡±


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Jenna asks.


    Rose has not had the same educational opportunities that you have, so she is not familiar with all the concepts you are describing.


    ¡°Oh, I see. I¡¯m pretty sure I still have some of my old text books somewhere and maybe even some old notebooks from school. I could bring them next time if you think that¡¯d help.¡± I relay the offer to Rose, but she shrugs.


    ¡°Even if she did, I wouldn¡¯t be able to read them.¡± She states.


    I can read them and I am willing to help you with this as much as is needed.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to spend that much of your time on me. Just basic explanations will suffice. I¡¯m sure I can figure out the rest on my own.¡± Rose insists.


    I disagree. I would consider this a valuable use of my time.


    ¡°Is it really alright for me to monopolize your attention like that?¡±


    I do not see why not. We have been helping each other to learn magic up to this point, why change that now?


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re sure.¡± She concedes. She even smiles a little and I turn my attention back to Jenna.


    Any materials you could bring that you think might help would be appreciated.


    ¡°Does that mean we can come back again after today?¡± Jenna asks hopefully.


    I suppose so.


    ¡°Great!¡± She beams at Rose who rolls her eyes in response. ¡°But back on topic. There are actually some exceptions to the normal process. Some people have shown an ability to do things with magic, despite absolutely no understanding of the process.¡±


    Is that common?


    ¡°No, it¡¯s quite rare actually. And the people who can do it can usually only do one specific thing like that, often in a limited capacity. It¡¯s not really known how they do it, but it¡¯s assumed there are other factors involved in magic that we don¡¯t know yet.¡±


    ¡°Like my healing magic?¡± Rose interjects.


    That does seem likely.


    ¡°Do you think she has anything that could help me with it?¡± She inquires.


    Is there any information that you could provide which could help Rose improve her healing?


    ¡°Oh, is she one of the people who can do something without learning about it first?¡± She eyes Rose with fascination. She tries to move closer to the imp, but Rose steps back to keep the distance while glaring at her.


    Yes and while it has been extraordinarily helpful many times, it is, as you said, limited. Anything that could help to increase her proficiency would be invaluable.


    ¡°I see. I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think I can help much with that. Like I mentioned before, healing with magic is hard. Under normal circumstances it would take a rather in depth knowledge of biology, anatomy, chemistry and probably even more stuff that I can¡¯t think of. To be able to heal people without just making things worse, despite not knowing any of that is incredible.¡± She says in awe.


    Do you not learn about those things in school?


    ¡°Well, yeah, of course we do, but if a high school level of knowledge was enough, then healing would be easy. I¡¯m still studying chemistry since it is useful for a lot of things, so I could bring some more advanced information on that, but I can¡¯t help much with the other stuff.¡±


    Rose is a little disappointed by that, so I suggest we could try asking William. He would likely have access to better information than Jenna can provide. As another human who uses magic, he should hopefully also have some idea of what would be relevant.


    Can you tell me about what things you know how to do?


    ¡°Gladly. The first practical skill we learn is a basic mana shield. It¡¯s one of the easiest things to do with mana. There¡¯s no other forms of energy involved and no actual physical matter. It¡¯s just forming mana into a wall, so anyone who can control mana should be able to do it pretty easily.¡±


    That is what I have seen from humans most often so far.


    ¡°We learn it for defensive purposes, but with a little creativity, it can be used in all sorts of interesting ways.¡± She demonstrates this by stepping up onto a solid platform of mana in front of her.


    Rose stares, wide eyed, as Jenna now appears to be floating above the ground, like standing on thin air. An interesting application that I had not considered. From the looks of it, neither had Rose. Though I am sure one of us would have thought of it eventually. Probably Rose as I imagine the ability to walk on air would likely be more useful to her than to me.


    I remember how I essentially pictured a gun barrel to fire a rock and start thinking about other possibilities.


    Are there any limits on what kind of shapes can be created with mana?


    ¡°I guess technically you could make any kind of shape as long as you can properly visualize it and maintain focus. Obviously more complex shapes require more-.¡± Her explanation is cut off by an eruption of yelling coming from the hallway. The suddenness of it causing her own focus to falter and she drops the short distance to the ground as the mana platform she was standing on dissipates.


    I will go check on that.


    When I appear in the hallway I see Mark on the ground cursing unintelligibly as he punches desperately at Coal who is latched onto his leg and is biting deeply into his thigh just above the knee.


    Most of the imps are cheering. Seth looks pale and frightened. Johnathan, curiously, has a smirk on his face as he observes the scene.


    ¡°Alright, I surrender! Now please get this thing off me.¡± Mark begs.


    That is enough Coal. You won. Please let go now. He does not respond, so I repeat myself a bit more firmly, hoping that he actually understands. Coal, let go. Now.


    He reluctantly complies and as he stands he flashes a malicious grin towards Mark, showing off his blood stained teeth while Mark groans in pain.


    Rose, you are needed out here.


    Rose emerges into the hallway with Jenna trailing behind her. Jenna gasps when she sees Mark on the ground with a bloody wound on his leg. Rose frowns at him.


    ¡°Do I really have to?¡± She asks.


    Yes. Please.


    ¡°Fine.¡± Mark tries to move away from her as she approaches.


    ¡°What do you want? Stay Back.¡± He commands.


    ¡°Relax idiot. She¡¯s going to heal you.¡± Jenna chastises. He eyes Rose suspiciously, but stops moving away from her.


    ¡°What¡¯s that thing¡¯s problem anyway. Wasn¡¯t this just supposed to be training? Shouldn¡¯t they be holding back or something?¡± He whines. He winces as Rose puts her hands on the wound, none too gently, but his expression relaxes as the bleeding slows and eventually stops.


    He was holding back. I say, speaking directly to Mark for the first time. He looks around wildly, eliciting a hiss from Rose as the sudden movement interrupts her work.


    ¡°Who said that? Where are you?¡± He demands.


    You really are not very bright are you? This is Magentam. I am speaking to you with telepathy.


    ¡°Yeah, well, telepathy is weird and I don¡¯t like it. And what do you mean he was holding back? Do you see what he did to me?¡± He is starting to raise his voice now, but Rose digs her claws into his leg causing him to cry out in pain. He goes silent when he sees her glare.


    You have seen their teeth. They also have enough jaw strength to crush bone. If he had wanted to, he easily could have bitten right through your leg and taken out a sizable piece of flesh. The fact that he did not do that means he was holding back.


    Mark goes a little pale at that, but does not have anything more to say. I turn my attention to Violet.


    Would you please explain to me what happened?


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know he went a bit too far. I should¡¯ve stopped him, but I was also frustrated with that human.¡± She says, glancing towards Mark nervously.


    Do not worry. I am not angry, merely curious.


    ¡°After he beat Birch, his attitude was irritating. He only got worse after he won against a couple of others as well. Even if we didn¡¯t know what he was saying, it was obvious he was looking down on us, just like vukra. When Coal stepped up to challenge him next, I knew it might end badly, but I felt he deserved whatever Coal would do to him.¡± She explains, looking down at her feet in shame.


    Rose is tending to the human now so I am sure he will be fine. I did see how he was acting earlier so I understand your irritation. Can you tell me how the fight went?


    ¡°It was over really quickly. He charged at the human head on and when the human tried to kick him, like he had the others, Coal teleported behind him, grabbed his leg and bit him. The human gave up when he couldn¡¯t make him let go.¡± Nearby the other imps are still cheering and celebrating Coal¡¯s victory while he basks in their praise.


    Sounds like it was entertaining, if a little anticlimactic. I wish I had been watching. I am a little surprised he did not take things further. It seems like he showed a lot of restraint¡­ for him.


    ¡°It was a bit funny.¡± She titters.


    Do you intend to fight Johnathan? He looks like he would be the biggest challenge among them.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m looking forward to fighting him.¡±


    Let me know before you start so I can watch.


    ¡°Really? You¡¯re not going to be too busy with magic stuff?¡± She asks, her face lighting up with glee.


    Magic stuff can be put on hold for a while. I would rather see how well you fare against that human.


    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely win. I won¡¯t let you down.¡± she declares.


    You do not have to win. That is not the point, you just need to do your best.


    ¡°I will win.¡± She repeats.


    Alright, I will look forward to it. In the meantime, send a couple of the ones who have already fought up to the roof to ask the two up there if they want to have a turn.


    Violet nods and heads over to where the other imps are gathered. I wait for Rose to finish healing Mark. When she is done, the wound has stopped bleeding and is partially closed over, but not fully healed.


    ¡°Is that it? She¡¯s not even going to heal it all the way?¡± Mark complains.


    ¡°Hey, healing magic is hard. You should feel lucky that she could even do that much.¡± Jenna rebukes.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even need it if that grey thing hadn¡¯t cheated. No one told me it could teleport.¡± He grumbles.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for being cocky and underestimating your opponent just because they¡¯re small.¡± Johnathan chastises.


    ¡°Well how was I supposed to know they could do that?¡± Mark whinges.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t. We had no idea what they were capable of. All the more reason to be cautious.¡± Johnathan states.


    ¡°Stop being such a sore loser. You¡¯re already a bad winner and it¡¯s super annoying.¡± Jenna chides.


    ¡°You should also probably consider how your rude and cocky attitude may have directly contributed to your current situation.¡± Johnathan says. Mark mumbles quietly to himself but does not argue further.


    Now that that issue is dealt with. Can we get back to our business please? I tell Jenna.


    ¡°Right, of course, let¡¯s go.¡± As she heads back to Room 1, I let Rose know and she follows.


    ¡°Before we get back to it, I want to say, the way you healed Mark was awesome. Was it just accelerating the normal healing process or was there more to it?¡± She asks Rose. I relay the question and she shrugs.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how it works, it just does. That¡¯s why I want to learn more.¡± She replies.


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that makes sense. So where were we?¡± Jenna asks.


    You were explaining the things you can actually do.


    ¡°Right, so I already talked about the basic mana shield and some of the other ways it can be used. There¡¯s also something like telekinesis, but that¡¯s basically the same concept as the mana shield, just using the mana in a different way.


    ¡°Another common thing people like to do is control the elements. Like earth, fire, air and water. But I think that¡¯s more just because it¡¯s cool than for any practical reasons. Not that they don¡¯t have their uses though.¡± She says with a grin.


    Can you also do this?


    ¡°A little bit. Air is pretty easy since it¡¯s all around and its loose gaseous form makes it easy to move.¡± To demonstrate, she closes her eyes and holds her hands out to the side. Soon a stiff breeze is circulating the room despite the door and windows still being closed. I can not actually feel the air moving myself, but I can see the effect it has on Rose and Jenna; their clothes flapping a little and their hair flicking around in the wind.


    ¡°It takes either a lot of mana or precise control to make anything dangerous out of it though.¡± Jenna continues.


    A lot of mana is something I do have access to and I will learn precision in time.


    ¡°Water is also pretty simple. Liquids generally move easily and the way water molecules cling to each other helps. My water canteen is downstairs in my pack so I don¡¯t have anything to show off with right now though.¡±


    Can you not gather water vapor from the air?


    ¡°Like a dehumidifier? I mean, it¡¯s possible, though it depends a lot on the environment. I can do it, but I¡¯m not good at it. It would take me quite a while and a lot of concentration to get more than a single droplet.¡±


    That is understandable, even if one were to coalesce all the water in this room, it would not likely be a useful quantity.


    ¡°Fire is harder. Unlike the others, fire needs constant fuel to exist. It can be fueled with mana, but will burn through it pretty quickly if that¡¯s the only thing fueling it. You gotta be careful with it too. Even with magic, it still has all the expected danger that goes along with fire.¡± With her hands cupped in front of her, she gathers her mana. With a sudden spark it ignites into a small flame. The fire flickers out after a moment and she conjures another. When it too flickers out, she sighs and drops her hands to her side.


    ¡°As I said, fire is hard, but not so much as earth. I¡¯ve tried, but earth¡¯s a little beyond my capability so I¡¯ve given up on it for now.¡± She complains.


    What makes earth so difficult?


    ¡°Well it¡¯s a solid for starters. So of course it¡¯s harder to manipulate than liquids or gasses. But more importantly, it¡¯s not like some of those old stories about magic that people used to enjoy before it was real. ¡®Earth¡¯ isn¡¯t just one thing. It¡¯s made up of countless different substances. Dirt, stone, minerals, organic and inorganic matter alike, all with vastly different properties and molecular structures.¡±


    So to be able to properly manipulate ¡®earth¡¯ like that, you would need to understand everything that it is made up of and control all of it.


    ¡°Exactly, yeah. So basically people who want to do that generally have to specialize in manipulating specific minerals and stuff.¡±


    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t always be effective though would it? It would limit their combat effectiveness if they end up in a place that lacks whatever they specialize in right?¡± Rose asks.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s not wrong, but magic is useful for other things besides just combat. Some people have different priorities.¡± Jenna replies.


    ¡°Unfortunately that¡¯s pretty much all I know how to do personally. Like I said, I¡¯m not an expert. Other people can do much cooler things than I can. Like all sorts of things can be done by manipulating different kinds of energy.¡± She states.


    Even if her knowledge is limited, she has given me much to think about and a lot of valuable information that I am sure will be useful to both me and Rose.


    Do you have anything more to share? She thinks for a moment before continuing.


    ¡°I guess a warning about potential dangers. I mean, I don¡¯t know if things would affect imps...or whatever you are, the same as humans, but it could still be relevant.¡± She says.


    What kind of dangers?


    ¡°Mana depletion primarily. It¡¯s a major concern for magic users. A person¡¯s mana isn¡¯t limitless. While it does regenerate over time, it can run out if overused and that can be quite harmful.¡±


    How harmful, exactly?


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s possible to die in extreme cases, but most people would pass out before reaching that point. Though depending on what they¡¯re doing at the time, that¡¯s obviously also dangerous.¡±


    I wonder if that also applies to me. I have lost consciousness before from overusing mana. But can I actually die from it? Since my ¡®body¡¯ is not biological, it could work differently to theirs. Can I even die at all? Probably if my core was broken. But it did survive falling from the sky and crashing through multiple floors of this building so I cannot imagine it breaking easily.


    ¡°I¡¯ve felt that before. I didn¡¯t get to the point of passing out obviously, but healing takes a lot out of me and it¡¯s really exhausting when I have to do it too much without enough time to rest in between.¡± Rose says.


    What if someone had a means of replenishing their mana?


    ¡°Oh, like with dungeon crystals? Of course, it makes sense that you would have access to them, this being a dungeon and all. So I guess you don¡¯t have to worry about it as long as you¡¯re careful.¡± Jenna suggests.


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that. Even when I use my mana crystal to get mana back, it doesn¡¯t clear up all the exhaustion.¡± Rose counters.


    That has not been my experience. I have never felt any lingering effects when I have used the crystals to supplement my mana. That is evidence that it does work differently for me I suppose.


    I have some questions about a few other things if-


    ¡®Magentam, I¡¯m going to fight now.¡¯ Violet informs me through our connection.


    Violet is about to fight Johnathan and I wish to witness that so I am going to watch.


    ¡°So you can see what¡¯s going on in multiple rooms at the same time?¡± Jenna inquires. I do not answer before I head back to the hallway.


    The hellhounds are out in the hallway this time, whereas they had been waiting in their room previously. I guess everyone wanted to be here to watch this fight or they were just bored. The only ones not present are Birch and Willow, who went up to the roof to relieve the ones on watch, and the two who were out since before the humans arrived.


    Seth is sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. There is a green plastic pole next to him. It looks like the shaft of one of Violet¡¯s brooms, threaded at one end where the head was screwed off. Was he using it as a weapon? I am surprised Violet would allow that after what happened last time, but I guess this one did not have to be damaged.


    He has shallow scratches on the side of his neck, barely deep enough to bleed. His face looks a bit pale, though he does not appear to have any serious injuries, so it is not from blood loss. He did look pretty scared earlier, so maybe he just did not enjoy his fight.


    Rose and Jenna come back into the hallway. As they approach the others, Jenna squeals when she spots Calla standing next to Noctis, one hand holding onto the hellhound''s leg, drawing everyone''s attention.


    ¡°Oh my god! It¡¯s so tiny. It¡¯s like an adorable creepy little doll.¡± As she tries to approach my littlest imp, Noctis steps froward and growls menacingly, the other three hellhounds quickly at her sides and similarly growling as Calla hides behind them. Jenna falls back and scrambles to distance herself from them.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I-I didn¡¯t mean to...um, sorry.¡± She stammers.


    Johnathan gives a stern, disapproving look and Jenna bows her head. Mark snorts as he struggles, and ultimately fails, to contain his laughter.


    ¡°Shut up Mark! Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re any better than me.¡± She retorts as he cackles.


    ¡°Well, at least I wasn¡¯t dumb enough to try and get close. What were you thinking?¡± He scoffs. Jenna doesn¡¯t respond.


    ¡°I was starting to think that she might be a little smart, but that was unbelievably stupid.¡± Rose comments.


    Once that commotion dies down, attention turns back to Violet and Johnathan facing each other in the middle of the hallway. Johnathan has his shield raised and his spear pointed towards Violet, though he has turned it around so it is the blunt end that is actually facing her.


    Violet also has her shield raised with her knife in her other hand. The combat knife she got from the Honey Badgers has a sheath that comes with a clip to keep the knife secured. I am concerned about whether that will be enough to keep the sheath attached during this mock battle. But I trust Violet to know what she is doing and to stop if it becomes a problem.


    Johnathan makes the first move, lunging forwards and thrusting his spear towards Violet. She steps to the side and the spear glances off her shield. Rushing forwards, Violet tries to slash at him with her knife. He lowers his shield and crouches slightly to block the attack.


    Violet jumps away as Johnathan pushes her back with his shield. When he swings his spear around, she managed to block it with her own shield, but the force of the impact is enough to unbalance her. He steps forward with a kick and she manages to block it with her shield again. The kick still sends her to the ground though.


    Johnathan thrusts his spear at her and she rolls to the side to avoid it, the spear barely missing her as it strikes the floor. He pulls his spear back and stabs down again. This time Violet rolls backwards and comes up to her feet.


    She charges straight forward at Johnathan. He swings his shield out to bash her aside as she gets close, a tactic she often utilizes herself when fighting other imps. Perhaps for that reason, she expected it and was prepared for it. She leaps off the ground and positions herself to collide with the shield feet first. Using it as a platform, she kicks off the shield, vaulting up onto the wall.


    She scrambles up the wall a little higher before launching herself off at Johnathan again. He raises his shield to block her, but this time she grabs onto it and attempts to climb over the shield and stab down at him with her knife.


    His response is to rush forward to slam his shield, with Violet, into the wall. She jumps off to the left a moment before impact but before even landing, she is hit with a solid kick to the side that sends her sliding across the floor. Before she can recover, Johnathan¡¯s spear is pressing down on her chest.


    Violet knows when she is beaten and immediately surrenders, letting go of her knife and laying back limply. Johnathan lifts his spear and steps back. He leans it against the wall then crouches down beside Violet and holds a hand out for her.


    ¡°You fought well.¡± He says, though I am sure he is aware that she cannot understand his words.


    Violet turns away from him rather than allowing him to help her up. He nods, then stands and heads over to Mark and Jenna. When she sits up, there are tears welling in her eyes.


    That was a good fight.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t win.¡± She laments.


    You have no reason to apologize. You did extremely well.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t beat him.¡±


    Did anyone else fight him?


    ¡°Yes.¡± She confirms.


    Were they able to beat him? She hesitates before answering.


    ¡°No, but I¡¯m supposed to be the strongest.¡±


    You are. I was thoroughly impressed by the way you fought. Your reflexes, flexibility and acrobatic skill are quite remarkable. I have never seen any of the others move the way you do.


    ¡°But it still wasn¡¯t enough.¡±


    I told you, you did not need to win, just do your best and you did. I am proud of you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, from what I have observed of humans so far, I suspect that Johnathan is an above average example.


    ¡°If you say so.¡± She replies, though she is clearly not reassured. With her head hung low, she wanders over to hug Fuzzy, pressing herself as much as she can into the hellhound¡¯s fur. Fuzzy bends down to lick her a few times but Violet does not respond. She seems to be taking this loss rather hard.


    Is anyone else still waiting to fight?


    ¡°No, I was the last one.¡± She mumbles into Fuzzy¡¯s fur.


    I meant what I said. You did well and I am proud of you.


    She does not respond and I do not know what else I can say. The others are gathering around to commiserate with her, so I leave her to them. Hopefully they can cheer her up.


    I return to Rose, who is healing some of the others. No one else suffered any major injuries like Mark so it is mostly just scrapes and bruises.


    Do you want to challenge one of the humans? Perhaps a magic duel against Jenna?


    Rose glances towards Jenna and narrows her eyes. After a moments consideration she shakes her head.


    ¡°Maybe next time, when I¡¯m not worn down from healing others and after I¡¯ve had some time to practice the things we¡¯ve learned about today. It sounds like she¡¯s had a lot more experience than me; I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready yet.¡± She says.


    Thank you for sparring with the imps. I am sure it has been a valuable experience for them. I say to Johnathan.


    ¡°A valuable experience for us as well.¡± He replies with a hint of a smirk towards Mark. ¡°Is there anything else you need from us?¡±


    There are a couple more questions I would like to ask Jenna. The rest of you can relax, though I would prefer you do so downstairs.


    ¡°Fair enough. Mark, Seth, we¡¯re going back down a floor.¡± Johnathan instructs the other two.


    ¡°Good. I¡¯m getting hungry. We should¡¯ve brought our packs up with us.¡± Mark complains.


    Seth looks relived as he stands. He reaches out for the green broom pole, but looking around, he is unsure what to do with it, so he leans it back against the wall.


    ¡°What about me?¡± Jenna asks.


    There is a little more I wish to ask you, but we can continue our discussion downstairs, so please guide them down.


    ¡°Sure, I can do that.¡± She says cheerily.


    As the humans head to the stairs I can see Mark has a slight limp. I should see if Rose can do anything more for him before they leave.


    When they get back down to the meeting room, Mark and Seth plop themselves back down on the couch and dig through their backpacks for snacks. Jenna and Johnathan also take a seat this time in the chairs provided, sitting on opposite sides of the table.


    ¡°So what else did you want to know?¡± Jenna inquires.


    What do you know about dungeon controllers and the process of becoming one?


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you know more about that than us? You¡¯ve already done it yourself.¡± She questions.


    Perhaps. I would still like to hear what you know about it though.


    ¡°Huh, okay, well I don¡¯t know much. I¡¯ve heard that only someone who can use magic can do it. If they find an unclaimed dungeon core they can connect their mana to it or something like that. And then they can control it, I guess.¡± She explains.


    Well that is certainly different from my situation. It also raises more questions. Could a human ¡®claim¡¯ my core if they got close enough to it? And what would happen to me if they did? I need to learn more about other dungeons and how they function. These humans do not seem particularly knowledgeable about the subject though.


    What do you know about dungeons in general?


    ¡°Not a whole lot. They have monsters and make dungeon crystals. That¡¯s pretty much it. This is the only dungeon I¡¯ve ever actually seen. Do you know anything else?¡± She asks Johnathan.


    ¡°Just that they extract energy from people who enter.¡± He replies.


    Nothing I did not already know, as expected. I will likely need to ask William if I want to learn more.


    On your first visit, you mentioned ¡®mana poisoning¡¯. Can you explain what that is?


    ¡°Really? You must have amazing memory to remember something like that. As for mana poisoning, I guess it¡¯s like the opposite of mana depletion. There are some places where mana density is unusually high. Being exposed to such high density mana, most creatures will start to absorb it. Absorbing too much can be dangerous, lethal even.¡± She explains.


    Is it always lethal?


    ¡°No. People can recover from mild cases. But for people who can¡¯t sense mana, I¡¯ve heard they usually won¡¯t even know anything¡¯s wrong until they are already beyond recovery.¡±


    I wonder if that is something I would need to be concerned about for my imps. All of them can feel the difference in mana inside the dungeon compared to outside, but it is possible that could be because of their connection to me. Would they be able to sense if they walked into an area of dangerously high mana? Just more questions and another thing to be worried about beyond my borders.


    Thank you Jenna. I do not have anymore questions for now, but what you have shared with me today has been illuminating. I am certain it will be helpful to both me and Rose.


    Jenna¡¯s face lights up with a bright smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m really glad I could help. Does this mean you¡¯ve forgiven us?¡± She asks hopefully.


    No, but I am willing to tolerate you coming back in the future and will make sure my imps know not to kill you.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s...something, I guess.¡± She replies, a little dejected.


    ¡°It¡¯s a start.¡± Johnathan adds.


    Rose, the humans will be leaving soon. Would you mind taking another look at Mark; see if you can heal him any further before they go.


    ¡°If I must. I¡¯m not sure how much more I can do for him right now, but I¡¯ll try.¡± She agrees.


    I have asked Rose to come down and see what more she can do for Mark. After that, if you have no further business here, I suggest you be on your way.


    When Rose enters the room she glowers at the humans, but does not say anything as she approaches Mark. He tenses up as she gets close but does not move. She places her hands over the wound and closes her eyes. Though she tries her best, she can only heal it a little further before she exhausts herself. She wobbles a little as she steps back and grabs the couch with one hand to steady herself.


    ¡°That¡¯s the best I can do.¡± She says. I send her some mana to replenish what she has lost. She stands a little straighter, no longer unsteady, but still looks a little weary.


    The injury on Mark¡¯s leg is still red and the shape of the bite can still clearly be seen. He gets up from the couch and raises his leg a few times, then jumps on the spot. He even tries standing on just the injured leg.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Johnathan asks.


    ¡°Still hurts, but I¡¯ll be alright.¡± Mark replies. He turns to Rose and stares at her for a while as she glares back. ¡°Thank you.¡± He says eventually. She huffs in response.


    ¡°Well then, I think it¡¯s time we take our leave.¡± Johnathan declares. Seth gets up from the couch as well as they all get ready to go.


    ¡°Thanks for giving us the opportunity to apologize.¡± Jenna says. ¡°And also, sorry for what I did up there. I didn¡¯t mean to scare anyone. That tiny imp was just so cute and I wasn¡¯t thinking. But that¡¯s no excuse. My behavior was inappropriate and I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    As long as you learn from that mistake and do not repeat it in the future.


    ¡°Of course, absolutely.¡± She replies.


    After that, the humans left. Rose never stopped glaring at them until they had all exited the room.


    ¡°Do you really intend to keep interacting with humans?¡± She asks once they are gone.


    For now. Until I believe that it is no longer an option.


    ¡°I still think it¡¯s a mistake. But if you insist on dealing with them, will you teach me their language? I think it will make things easier if I can understand them.¡± She requests.


    I agree. That is a good idea. It might help to have Violet learn as well.

 41. Guardians

    After the humans left, most of the imps spent some time in a group discussing their individual battles and thinking about better ways to fight against humans. Their main takeaway is that charging at a human head on in a straight line is not a good strategy. Even as fast as the imps are, if the human sees them coming, it can easily counter their approach with a swift kick. Unless it is Coal. He is much harder to counter.


    This is precisely the outcome I was hoping for. Even if most of them did not win, the experience they gained is still invaluable. And they are using that experience to devise better ways to fight.


    I would like to go over everything we learned from Jenna with Rose, but I think it is better if she takes some time to rest for now and she heads to her room to do just that. There is a lot to cover, however my most immediate interest has to do with guardians. I know Violet is a guardian, but I need to learn more. My first lead is Noctis.


    Violet explained that she was not always different from other imps. It was only after being summoned that she became larger and stronger than the others. If I can confirm that is also the case for Noctis, I think that would serve as conclusive evidence that she too is a guardian. That would mean I can have more than one.


    Having more creatures that not only possess greater strength than what is normal, but can also be resurrected and become even stronger would be an incredible advantage. If there is no limit on how many I can have, could I make every future creature I summon into a guardian? More importantly, could I turn those that I have already summoned into guardians? It would be comforting to know that I need not fear losing anyone else. But before I think too much about that or get my hopes too high, I need to know if it is even possible.


    I bring my attention to Noctis. She and the other Hellhounds have returned to their room. Noctis is lying stretched out on the floor with Fire by her side and Calla leaning against her.


    Noctis, I would like to ask you some questions.


    Her ears perk up and she springs to her feet, dislodging Calla in the process, who complains at the sudden disturbance. I can feel Noctis¡¯ anticipation as she is eager to assist.


    Were you always as large as you are now?


    She tilts her head and looks towards Fuzzy, who is curled up nearby. I can sense that she is confused by my question. It is not clear to me why it would confuse her or what it has to do with Fuzzy. She nuzzles Calla, making the child giggle, then looks towards the door, from where the other imps in the hallway can still be heard.


    You were smaller when you were a child?


    Noctis bounces once on the spot and lets out an excited bark. Right, of course. I need to rephrase my question.


    You are larger than the other hellhounds. Were you always bigger than them?


    She looks to Fire who is staring up at her. Her response is difficult to decipher. The best way I can interpret it is disagreement.


    Did you grow larger when you were summoned here?


    The response this time feels like agreement mixed with a little uncertainty. Communicating through feelings like this is not particularly convenient. I wish we had a more efficient way to talk. But I believe I have the confirmation I was looking for. With everything I know, I think it is safe to assume that Noctis is a guardian.


    That is encouraging; if I can have two, maybe I can have more. I look forward to finding out, but the first thing I want to test is making my current creatures into guardians. For that I wish to discuss with Rose first before I proceed.


    In the meantime, I listen in on the other imps and their continued discussion on potential battle strategies. They conclude that climbing up the walls and launching themselves towards the humans at head height may be an effective way to catch them off guard. It certainly surprised Mark the first time. Most humans probably would not expect an imp to be leaping directly at their face. Of course, such a strategy would be less effective on a human who has seen it before.


    Eventually their discussion comes to an end and the imps disperse and go back to doing their own things, all in high spirits. Even Violet is feeling better and is now eager for another chance to prove herself the next time humans appear.


    Some of the imps return to their rooms while others mingle in the common areas and others still head out to hunt or scavenge.


    Later in the afternoon River and Aster return after being gone most of the day. Her excitement is clear to see; she is practically bouncing as she searches for Violet, who is currently in Room 3 enjoying Fuzzy¡¯s fuzziness. My curiosity is piqued so I follow along to find out what has got her so elated.


    ¡°I saw big lizard! Very big. Bigger than me.¡± She cheers when she sees Violet. That sounds familiar. Violet frowns in concern.


    ¡°Are you okay? Did it see you?¡± She asks, looking her sister over for injuries.


    ¡°Yes, am okay. It swim in the river, like me. Scary at first. It swim much faster than me, so I not get away. But it fine. Lizard friendly so it not hurt us.¡± She explains. Violet grows more worried with each word.


    Can you describe this lizard?


    ¡°It really big. More than five imps long I think. Blue-grey skin. Big mouth with big teeth.¡± She stretches her arms out as she describes its length. If her description of ¡®five imps long¡¯ is accurate then that would suggest it is around three and a half metres, but she said it was even more than that. This is indeed a ¡®big¡¯ lizard.


    Does this sound similar to the ¡®big lizard¡¯ you once saw? I ask Violet.


    ¡°Yes, very similar. Maybe even the same lizard unless there are more of them around,¡± replies Violet.


    There cannot be too many or I am sure they would have been encountered more often.


    ¡°You saw big lizard before? You ride it too?¡± River asks. Violet¡¯s eyes go wide in surprise.


    ¡°You¡­rode it? I hid when I saw it so it didn¡¯t get close,¡± she answers.


    The lizard allowed you to ride it?


    ¡°Yes. It swim very fast. I hold on while it swim around. Very fun.¡±


    Did it leave the water?


    ¡°Yes, it follow us a little when we leave river.¡±


    How far? Did it follow you all the way here?


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°No, only half way. Then it go back to river.¡±


    How well does it move outside the water?


    ¡°It not as fast as imps, but it not slow. We run around together. It good at running.¡±


    ¡°It didn¡¯t move fast when I saw it.¡± Violet interjects. ¡°But it didn¡¯t know we were there so maybe it had no reason to¡±


    Are you sure it is not a threat?


    ¡°No, not a threat! Big lizard is friend,¡± River insists.


    How curious. The creature she described sounds like it should be a predator. I can think of no reason why something like that would not see the imps as food. Even if it was not hungry at the time, that does not explain why it would be friendly or interact with the imps at all instead of just ignoring them.


    Let me know if you see it again. Try to learn more about it if you can, but please be careful. I do not want you to put yourself in danger.


    River continues to regale Violet with tales of her time with her new ¡®friend¡¯. In return, Violet shares stories of what occurred here with the humans in River¡¯s absence. She is a little disappointed to have missed it but does not let it dampen her good mood. I listen for a little while but soon turn my attention elsewhere.


    When Rose eventualy emerges from her room, I am eager to speak with her. We have much to discuss and I would like to get started right away.


    How are you feeling?


    ¡°Well rested. I assume you wish to speak about what we learned from the human now?¡± She replies with a bit of a smirk.


    Yes, but it does not need to be immediately if you are not yet ready.


    ¡°Now is fine. I¡¯d also like to go over it. Thank you for letting me rest first. Where should we start?¡±


    The first thing I want to talk about is guardians.


    ¡°Guardians?¡± She quirks an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t know that term.¡±


    It is something the humans were discussing before I called you down.


    I proceed to tell Rose everything I learned of guardians from the humans as well as my own speculations regarding Noctis.


    ¡°So you want to know if you can summon more? That would surely be helpful.¡±


    Yes, eventually, but first I would like to find out if all of you who I have already summoned can become guardians before I try summoning new ones.


    ¡°Oh, but do you actually know how to create a new guardian?¡±


    Not precisely, but I have an idea. I know that whatever process that made Violet and Noctis into guardians occurred when they were summoned.


    ¡°But you don¡¯t actually know the process? Isn¡¯t that important for magic?¡±


    According to what Jenna told us, yes. But she also said that mana reacts to intent. The creation of a guardian seems to be something I am inherently capable of even when I did not know what was happening.


    ¡°So you think you¡¯ll be able to do it without understanding the exact process?¡±


    That is my hope.


    ¡°But if it happens during summoning, how will that work for everyone already here?¡±


    I am still able to summon you back to the rift. Maybe it is not exactly the same as the initial summoning, but I am hoping it will still work with the process that produces guardians.


    ¡°That sounds like it makes sense, but how do you intend to test it?¡±


    If you are willing, I would like to try making you a guardian first.


    ¡°Me? Are you sure?¡±


    Of course. I can think of no one better.


    ¡°That might be an exaggeration.¡±


    Not at all. You have been here longer than anyone else, other than Violet. Your unique abilities make you special and might even become further enhanced. The others already see you as their leader. You are invaluable to everyone here, and to me. No one is more deserving.


    ¡°Thank you. I appreciate your faith in me.¡± She says bashfully, her cheeks darkening to an even deeper shade of red.


    If this works, I hope to do it for everyone eventually, but I want you to be first.


    ¡°Will I become larger like Violet?¡± She asks.


    It is certainly a possibility. Rose looks down at her body for a moment before looking back up.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to be that big,¡± she states. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind the purple skin though. It¡¯s a nice colour.¡±


    Violet¡¯s skin only changed after she died, so I do not know if the same will happen to you. Not straight away at least.


    ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to die if I can avoid it, even if I can be resurrected.¡± She jokes, letting out a small chuckle.


    I want to be clear though. I do not know for sure that this will work, nor what will happen if it does not. Probably nothing, but I can not say that for certain.


    ¡°I trust you. I¡¯m sure nothing bad will happen even if it doesn¡¯t work. What do I need to do?¡±


    I do not think there is much you specifically need to do. Maybe prepare some clothes. If you do become larger, what you are currently wearing may no longer fit. Just tell me when you are ready.


    As Rose heads back to her room to get some clothes I try to think about how best to accomplish this task. Even if it is a normal function for dungeon cores, I am not confident that intent alone will be enough to trigger it. I will need to focus on everything I know about guardians to properly visualize the desired outcome. I hope that will be enough.


    When Rose returns, she places a bundle of clothes, neatly folded, by the rift.


    ¡°I borrowed some from Violet. I''m sure she won¡¯t mind, I made sure not to pick out any of her favourites. Do you think she might want to be present for this?¡± She asks.


    She probably would. I will let her know.


    Violet is currently lounging in the hallway with Fuzzy, draping herself over the hellhound¡¯s body as much as she can. She immediately jumps to her feet when I reach out to her, also startling Fuzzy from her nap.


    I am about to attempt to make Rose into a guardian, would you like to be there for it?


    ¡°What¡¯s a guardian?¡± She inquires. I should have expected that.


    I give Violet a brief explanation and she rushes into the room with Rose as fast as I have ever seen her move. Fuzzy soon follows out of curiosity.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to become like me?¡± She asks Rose with a huge grin.


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan,¡± Rose replies.


    ¡°This is great! We can both be the biggest and strongest imps together.¡± Violet exclaims, lifting Rose up in a hug.


    ¡°It won¡¯t just be us. Magentam plans to do the same for everyone here. I just get to be first.¡± Rose explains.


    ¡°Oh, well that¡¯s still good. It means we won¡¯t lose anymore friends right?¡±


    ¡°That is the hope, yes. Now, can you please put me down?¡± Requests Rose.


    ¡°Right. Sorry.¡± Violet gently places Rose back down.


    ¡°Thank you. Magentam, I¡¯m ready to begin.¡± Rose declares and Violet takes a step back.


    I reach out to the rift and start pouring mana into it while focusing on visualising the objective. I know how much mana is required to summon one of my imps back to the rift, but I push past that and continue forcing more mana into it. It took more mana than the others to initially summon both Violet and Noctis so I can only assume that a greater amount of mana is necessary to create a guardian.


    Pain starts building in my core. It is mild at first, but quickly grows in intensity. But I cannot stop. I must remain focused; I cannot allow a little pain to hinder me. The more mana I send into the rift, the more the pain grows. With each passing moment my agony only increases.


    It soon exceeds any pain I have ever felt before. Worse than when I walked into the void; worse than when my core was carried into the void. It is excruciating. As it continues to escalate it threatens to overwhelm my senses. But I cannot¡­I must not allow that. My focus must not falter. I have to do this for Rose¡­for everyone.


    I¡­can¡­not¡­stop¡­


    When my consciousness returns sometime later, the pain still lingers, though it is fading. My body has dissipated so I quickly reconstruct it. I do not know how much time has passed, but it is enough for everyone to have gathered in the room, hellhounds included. They are murmuring amongst themselves.


    Rose and Violet are by my core. Violet is fretting and on the verge of panic as she looks between Rose and the core. Her breathing is rapid, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Rose, for her part, is a little more calm, though she still has a worried expression as she gently strokes my core with one hand.


    She looks a little different now. The skin on the right side of her face has changed colour, similar to Violet¡¯s, but a lighter shade. The colouring extends down her right arm, halfway along her tail and her left leg below the knee. Her right eye has also changed to match Violet¡¯s. It creates a rather interesting look. Though she is still wearing the same clothes she had on before so she does not seem to have grown any larger.


    How are you feeling? Did it work?


    ¡°I think so. I feel different, but good. I¡¯ve never felt like this before. But I don¡¯t think that¡¯s important right now. Are you okay? Your core is¡­¡± She trails off.


    I look to my core and can immediately see what has got everyone so worried. A small area of its surface has turned pitch black, as dark as the void beyond my borders. I would estimate it to be about ten percent of the total surface area, maybe a little more.


    That does not look good.

 42. Testing the Limits

    This is concerning, to say the least, and raises many questions. The most immediate of which being: What effect will this have on me? I reach out and touch the blackened area of my core. It feels¡­inert, devoid of mana like it is just a rock. It does not even feel like it is a part of me anymore. I do not know what the ramifications of this will be, but I cannot imagine anything good. I do have one idea though.


    I absorb all the mana I can from my mana crystals until my core can contain no more. As I feared, my core¡¯s mana capacity has been reduced. It is hard to say by how much, but it is definitely less than before. Fortunately, this loss can be compensated for with more mana crystals. I can only hope that is all that has been lost, but I can not be certain for now. I am sure I will find out in the coming days.


    My major concern though is whether or not this damage is permanent. If I can recover from it then I will have nothing to worry about in the long term; it will be naught but an inconvenience. But if it cannot be fixed, apart from whatever consequences I will already face, it would be unwise to pursue the creation of any further guardians.


    If pain were all I had to face, then I would do so gladly. It would be worth it to protect my friends. But there would be little point in it if I destroy myself in the process.


    Better now to focus on what I have hopefully gained. Though perhaps it would be better to reassure everyone first.


    Thank you all for worrying about me. Your concern is truly appreciated, but you need not be concerned. I was conducting an experiment and while things did not go entirely according to plan, I assure you everything is alright now. I am fine. For the second time today, I experience a feeling of D¨¦j¨¤ vu.


    ¡°But there¡¯s a black spot on your core now. Are you really okay?¡± Violet inquires, not reassured by my announcement.


    Trust me, I am alright. It is not a serious issue. One I may even recover from in time. Of course I do not know that for certain, but I would rather put them at ease then let them continue to fret.


    ¡°If Magentam says everything is fine, then it must be so. You can go back to what you were doing. There¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡± Rose declares.


    ¡°Is experiment reason you look different?¡± Lily asks.


    ¡°It is. I¡¯ll explain that later, but right now there are things I need to discuss with Magentam,¡± replies Rose.


    Mollified, the imps begin to disperse. Rose and Violet remain by my core, I suspect neither was really convinced.


    ¡°Are you truly unharmed?¡± Rose asks quietly when the others are out of earshot.


    I am not entirely unaffected, but as of right now, I honestly do not believe it to be serious. I will let you know if that changes though. What of you? You have clearly changed.


    ¡°I feel good, great even. It¡¯s strange, I¡¯m not really sure how to describe it. I feel like I¡¯ve changed physically but it¡¯s hard to know exactly how much.¡± Rose begins.


    You do not appear to have gotten any larger like we expected.


    ¡°No, which I am thankful for. I am quite satisfied with my current size. My body does feel lighter, I think. I may be physically stronger than I was before, though not as much as Violet, I¡¯m sure. I would have to do some tests to get a precise measure. I also believe my connection to you has become much stronger,¡± she continues.


    Is that so? How can you be sure? She looks up from my core and appears to look directly at me with a sly grin.


    ¡°I know where you are now.¡± She states.


    You can see me?


    ¡°No. I have suspected for quite a while now that your¡­consciousness, I suppose, is not anchored solely to your core, but that you¡¯re also not omniscient. Now I believe I can sense the location where your attention is focused.¡± She explains.


    Let us see.


    I take a few steps to the left and her eyes follow me. I move to the right far enough that she has to turn her head to follow my movement. She quirks an eyebrow and her lips curl up into a smug smile. An idea comes to mind; it might be a waste of mana, but it will be interesting, and likely entertaining, to see how she reacts.


    I quickly release mana into the air in all directions until the area all around my core is saturated with it. Rose¡¯s eyes go wide and her smile drops. She looks around wildly, even spinning on the spot in her attempt to locate me. She frowns and turns back to my core.


    ¡°That¡¯s cheating.¡± She pouts.


    Her reaction was amusing, but also informative. I am confident now that my attempt to make Rose a guardian was successful.


    I do not doubt that our connection is now stronger, just as it is for Violet, but I suspect you now also have a much greater ability to sense mana.


    ¡°That¡¯s not fair. I want to see Magentam as well.¡± Violet complains.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see Magentam, I only sense her presence. Besides, you have been able to communicate telepathically with her for a while now, even when outside the dungeon. No one else can do that, so I don¡¯t think you¡¯re in a position to be jealous,¡± Rose chastises.


    ¡°I guess I can''t argue with that. I still wish I could see her though.¡± Violet mumbles to herself.


    Perhaps you will in time. There is still a lot we do not know how guardians function or how I function. Are there any other notable changes that you are aware of at the moment?


    ¡°Maybe, I have some ideas, but I think it¡¯ll take some time to determine the full extent of the changes,¡± Rose replies.


    What about your skin, does it feel alright?


    Rose looks down at her mismatched coloured hands, one a light shade of purple, lilac perhaps, the other still her original red, then shrugs.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything out of the ordinary, even if it looks a little odd. I thought it was a bit strange at first, so did everyone else, but I think I like it.¡±


    It certainly does look interesting. I like it too.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very cute.¡± Violet agrees, picking Rose up in a hug from behind. She struggles to break free, but cannot escape Violet¡¯s hold. I believe this effectively confirms Rose¡¯s suspicion that she still does not compare to Violet¡¯s strength. Rose sighs and goes limp in her arms.


    ¡°Would you like to help me test the limits of my physical capabilities?¡± Rose asks.


    ¡°Oh, that sounds fun. Let¡¯s do it.¡± Violet cheers.


    ¡°Can you please put me down first?¡± Violet hesitates before answering.


    ¡°Do I have to?¡± She asks.


    ¡°Yes, please,¡± Rose insists.


    ¡°Fiiine.¡± Violet drawls as she lowers Rose down.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Perhaps we should head out to the hallway, the extra space will help.¡± As the two head out, Coal, who is lounging nearby, sees them leave and decides to follow.


    Once in the hallway, the three engage in a race from one end of the hallway to the other. Some of the other imps see what they are doing and also want to join in. After a few laps, it is clear that none can match Violet¡¯s speed, at least when Coal does not teleport. He does manage to hold second place though. While Rose cannot keep up with either of them, she does manage to out pace the other imps.


    The hellhounds, of course, see it as a game when they notice the imps running back and forth and insist on playing too. Only Violet can match pace with the hellhounds and even then, only the regular hellhounds. Not even she can compare to Noctis.


    Once satisfied Rose suggests moving on to testing strength. They do this with a game, though this is not a game the hellhounds can participate in.Two imps hold their arms up and clasp each other''s hands. They will then push against each other in an attempt to force the other to their knees.


    The result is much the same. As expected, none of the other imps can overpower Violet, not that many are willing to try. In addition to her superior physical strength, her greater height also provides further advantage in such a competition.


    Coal faces similar hesitancy from the others. He too is larger than the others, though only slightly, and all but the newest imps are already aware of his strength. Birch still tries, but is quickly overpowered. Rose puts up a better fight, managing to last several seconds against him, though she too is defeated. Violet is the only one that he loses to, despite his best efforts. He does not go down easy though and it takes more than ten seconds for him to submit.


    Rose, however, faces no hesitance in being challenged by the other imps; she wins the first few with relative ease, though she begins to struggle after that. When she does eventually lose, it is due to exhaustion after multiple consecutive matches rather than facing a superior opponent.


    The other imps are all impressed with Rose¡¯s performance and so am I. Previously, her physical abilities were quite average compared to other imps, perhaps even on the lower end. But now she is clearly a step above the others, with the exception of Violet and Coal. Violet was expected, but I am a little surprised by Coal; that he was still able to completely overwhelm Rose to such a degree. His superior physique is not for nothing.


    You have improved greatly. It is very impressive.


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m honestly surprised. It''s a little more than I expected.¡±


    Why so surprised? You have seen what Violet is capable of, even before her resurrection.


    ¡°Yes, but she also has the size advantage which surely contributes to her physical superiority whereas I¡¯m still the same size as before. I¡¯d estimate that I¡¯ve not gone too far beyond what a normal imp could potentially be capable of naturally if they pushed themselves.¡±


    You do have some other unique skills that may have also been enhanced.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. I¡¯d like to test that next. Maybe not out here though.¡± She thanks Violet and then heads back to her room for some privacy. I stay to watch the others for a little while longer before joining her.


    The other imps continue playing in the hallway. Some have descended into wrestling matches, attempting to pin each other to the ground.


    ¡°Who will face me?¡± Violet bellows, looking to the other imps for a willing challenger.


    The gathered imps stop what they are doing to look at her. River¡¯s eyes narrow before a mischievous grin spreads across her face. She looks to Aster and raises an eyebrow; he grins and nods. She looks to the others who all nod in turn. As they all turn back to Violet smirking, her confidence melts away and is replaced by nervousness.


    ¡°Wait, th-that¡¯s not what I meant.¡± She stammers. She takes a step back as River steps forwards.


    Violet turns and runs, with five smaller imps giving chase. She might have gotten away if not for Coal teleporting and dropping down on her from above, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. While he could never overpower her on his own, he does succeed in slowing her down long enough for the others to catch up and dogpile her. An effective display of teamwork to bring down a larger, stronger foe.


    As entertaining as the scene is, I do want to get back to Rose and figure out if her magical abilities have improved. When I appear in her room, she is sitting on her bed. She is holding her hands out to the sides, palms up, and her eyes are closed tightly in concentration. Her mana crystal is floating in the air and actually orbiting her. She brings her hands together and catches it in front of her.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot easier than it was before. My mana control seems to have improved significantly. If I concentrate, I can feel it so much more than I could before. Though I hate to admit it, the explanation of magic from the human also helps a little as well.¡± She states before I even say anything.


    That is good to hear. Let us test that control.


    I reach out and touch her. Before she can question it I start draining her mana.


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t do that.¡± She exclaims and tries to move away from me. I follow her and continue taking her mana.


    Try to stop me.


    She narrows her eyes and I can suddenly feel resistance from her mana. It is much greater than the last time we did this, but I have also improved since then. I can easily overcome her resistance and keep draining more mana. She glares and creates a mana shield to push me away. I put my hands on the shield and push against it, but it does not budge.


    This is very good. It feels just as solid as what I have seen humans produce. She grins at the praise. But this is still a construct of your mana; you should know that this would not stop me.


    Her grin falters as I absorb mana directly from the shield. It feels a little more difficult than when I did this to a human, but not enough to stop the steady stream of mana flowing into me.


    Then she surprises me by dropping the shield altogether and going on the offensive. Lunging forwards and thrusting her hand into my chest, she attempts to drain my mana. She cannot overcome my resistance, but it is still a great effort.


    That is enough. You have certainly improved significantly. I return all the mana I took from her and give her a little extra on top.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She lets out a relaxed sigh as she feels her mana returning. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m as good as the humans now?¡±


    I do not yet have a clear understanding of an average human¡¯s capabilities, but it is possible. I would estimate that your mana control is comparable to Noctis now. You have seen what she can do with that magic fire of hers. I am eager to see what you might be capable of now.


    ¡°For that, I think I¡¯m going to need to learn more about the concepts the human was talking about.¡± She places her mana crystal on the bedside table then splays herself out on the bed.


    Of course. We could start now if you would like.


    ¡°Yes, please. I mean, if you have time.¡± She sits bolt upright in her bed and beams at me.


    There is nothing pressing that requires my attention right now so I have plenty of time. Which is good because there is a lot to explain.


    Rose listens attentively as I begin explaining what I know of relevant scientific subjects. I am hardly an expert in any field but the more I think about it, more comes to me. I do seem to possess greater than just rudimentary knowledge. I am still not sure where this knowledge comes from, but I am glad it is there and I can make use of it.


    I start by explaining energy and the different forms it can take and energy conversion. I have not thought much about it before, but mana does also seem to be a form of energy so it can be converted into other types of energy. How well can other forms of energy be converted into mana I wonder? That is something to ponder.


    The explanations continue late into the night even after Violet and River come in ready to sleep. They are both curious and want to listen as well at first, but they were already tired when they came in and quickly lose interest, deciding that sleeping was a higher priority.


    Rose asks a lot of questions and I do my best to answer them. It is almost dawn when her attention begins to falter. Though she is eager to learn and does not want to stop, she too needs to sleep.


    I think we will leave it there for now. You should get some sleep.


    ¡°No. I can keep going,¡± she rebuts, even as her eyelids are slowly creeping down.


    We can continue this tomorrow, there is no hurry.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know when more humans will come. I need to learn as much as I can so I can help defend against them,¡± she insists.


    It will be easier to learn when you are well rested. This is not something you can learn in a day, it will take time. Now please, sleep.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, but¡­¡± She sighs and lays back on her bed. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll sleep, but just for a little while.¡±


    I did say I would help her with this as much as she needs, but now I am concerned she might push herself too far if I indulge her too much. I will need to keep an eye on her. I do not like telling my imps what they can or cannot do; I would rather allow them to pursue their desires, within reason, especially if it is beneficial, but I do not want them to hurt themselves in the process.


    After the sun comes up, though still relatively early in the morning, I feel a rush of excitement as Igneous finally returns. It has been nearly two days since he left and I am eager to hear about his expedition. I want to know what he saw outside the city and, more importantly, if he found a suitable place to become our new home.


    Welcome back Igneous. How was your journey?

 43. Scouting Report

    As eager as I am to hear his report, I offer to let Igneous rest. Though appreciative, he declines the offer, preferring to make his report first. He shows me images of what he saw beyond the city.


    He started by following one of the major roads leading out of the city. Initially there was mostly sparse bushland with occasional structures dotted around. As he moved further from the city the structures became fewer and the bushland more dense.


    Herds of cattle could be seen grazing in some of the more open areas. He even spotted some horses at one point. Eventually he came across a group of buildings, around twenty structures in total. He observed from the air for a while, looking and listening for any sign of human presence, but he detected none.


    He dropped down to investigate and found many of the buildings to be even more dilapidated than those in the city. He entered some of the more intact structures to inspect their interiors. The first two he looked into were houses; both were quite empty inside. Cupboards and cabinets were left open and drawers pulled out. Nothing useful appeared to have been left behind. Whatever remained was either damaged or too big to be easily moved. Whoever lived here previously either took everything of value with them or the place was looted after they left.


    The next building he entered looked like some kind of small store by my guess, with a few rows of shelves and large fridges with glass doors. As expected, it also appeared to have been emptied of anything I imagine humans would find useful or valuable and some of the shelves were knocked over. Finding little of interest, he headed back outside and took off into the air again.


    Despite the state of disrepair, at least some of the buildings still looked livable, though still a little too close to the city for my liking. I mention that to Igneous and he indicates agreement, which is the reason he continued his search.


    He kept following the road until it came to a bridge. It crossed over a creek with rapidly flowing water. It is nowhere near as wide as the river that cuts through the city and I idly wonder if it is an offshoot of that river or maybe joins up with it later on. From that point on, Igneous decided to abandon the road in favor of following the creek.


    By the time the sun started to set, he had not found anything else noteworthy. He descended to find a place to rest for the night. Apart from needing sleep, he also can not see well in the dark so it makes sense that he would not continue through the night. He found some large boulders grouped together near the creek¡¯s edge so he settled down beside them and disguised himself as a rock to wait out the night.


    I wonder if it might be a good idea to simply find a place out in the wilderness to settle. If we found somewhere where the bushland was dense, far away from any roads or settlements, it is doubtful we would be easily discovered.


    The question is how my imps would handle such conditions. Rose did once mention imps that live in forests, so I suspect survival would not be a serious issue. I have also observed them sleeping on the floor on numerous occasions despite having beds they could use so they do not seem to have high standards when it comes to comfort. It would probably be good for the hellhounds to have more space to move around and not be stuck inside a building. They can go outside anytime they want of course, but they cannot open doors on their own.


    While it does not seem like a terrible idea, it would also be far from ideal. In the off chance that we were discovered, no matter how unlikely that might be, we would not be in a defensible position. It would also leave my creatures exposed in case of extreme weather. My imps do not seem to mind being out in the rain, even going out just to play in it sometimes, but I do not know how bad the weather can get at its worst or how safe my imps would be if they were stuck in such weather. Having some form of shelter would be better.


    Igneous resumed his search as soon as it was bright enough to see. He continued to follow the stream for many hours, flying far enough that he could no longer see the city anymore, even from his position in the air. It was late in the afternoon when he discovered another human settlement, a small town this time, much larger than the cluster of buildings he previously encountered.


    Though larger, it appeared no more populated. As before, he observed from the air for any evidence of current human habitation, but could see no indication that any humans had been there recently.


    He flew over the town numerous times, performing as thorough an inspection as he could from the sky before landing. This town consisted of hundreds of structures, mostly residential housing by the looks of it. On one side of the town was a large crater, roughly the size of one of the houses. All of the buildings closest to the crater were little more than rubble.


    On the outskirts of the town there were multiple areas that looked like they were once organized plantations, though they clearly had not been tended to in a long time and had become overgrown. The trees did not appear to be of varieties that would be grown for their wood; though it is difficult to accurately gauge their size from this aerial perspective, none of them appear to be much greater than several meters in height.


    Igneous believed the plantations were worth investigating as he landed in one of them. Inspecting the trees up close, the small flowers and developing fruit make it clear that this was an orchard, the other plantations likely are too. The fruit in this orchard appears to be some variety of citrus.


    He pulled the largest fruit he could find from the closest tree and took a bite. The sensation he shares indicates that he did not enjoy the taste, but that fruit was still partially green so probably not fully ripe and he also did not peel it. After that he headed back towards the town.


    The condition of the town is much the same as the smaller settlement. Overall, the dilapidation was worse than in the city, but most of the buildings were still standing. He flew over the town much closer to the ground this time. One street close to the approximate center looked to be where most of the businesses in town were situated.


    Landing on the roof of one of the larger buildings, one of the few in town that has more than one story by the looks of it, Igneous cautiously looked at the street below. After not seeing or hearing anything to indicate danger, he spread his wings to glide down to the ground.


    Most of the former stores and businesses along this street had large windows on their front, but many were cracked or broken. He peered through several of these windows as he walked past. There did not appear to be anything of interest inside, at least not that Igneous could see, though he did not enter any of them to investigate further, perhaps because the sun would soon be setting.


    He continued to explore on foot until it was too dark to see anything before returning to the roof he had perched on earlier. He curled up there to sleep once more. It was still dark when he stirred sometime later; the moon was not even visible in the sky. That, combined with his generally poor night vision made him effectively blind.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Yet as he took to the sky, the darkness did not hinder him as he started his journey back here. He must have an excellent sense of direction because he made a beeline for the city.


    Based on what I saw from his report, that town looks like it might be a good place to evacuate to, if it becomes necessary. It is quite far from the city and though there is a small road leading through the town, it is not a major highway like the one Igneous initially followed out of the city.


    Those orchards could also serve as a valuable source of food, assuming the imps would actually eat fruit. Their teeth suggest a carnivorous diet, but the same could be said of Igneous. He recognized the fruit as food, even if he did not enjoy it, so he may be omnivorous or at least a facultative carnivore. The imps did enjoy the pretzels, so the same may be true for them.


    It will require much more thorough scouting to be sure of the town¡¯s viability as a potential new home.


    Thank you for your report. I appreciate you doing this for us. Are you willing to return to that town for a more in-depth investigation? After taking appropriate time to rest first of course.


    He nods in assent.


    Could you also carry some imps with you? I am sure it would be faster and safer to investigate if you did not have to do it alone.


    After some hesitation, he replies with an image of himself carrying just one imp.


    Only one?


    He nods. That is not much, but surely even one would still make things easier.


    Violet would be the best choice in that case as I can still communicate with her when she is outside. She is also the one who would be most able to defend herself in the event they did encounter anything dangerous.


    Take some time to rest and relax, a day at least. You have certainly earned it.


    Igneous ambles over to his customary corner and dons his usual disguise. When Violet wakes and notices the large rock sitting in the corner of the room she rushes over to give him a hug. She quickly climbs to the top of the rock and begins to recount all the events that occurred while he was gone. While there is no visible reaction from Igneous, Violet does occasionally pause in her storytelling. I suspect that he is listening and responding to her, even if he does not show it.


    When she finishes her tale she sits quietly for a while, bobbing up and down slightly. She soon stops bobbing and starts asking questions. I guess he is now talking about what he has been up to the past couple of days.


    Once their exchange is complete, Violet bounces over to my core with an air of elation.


    ¡°Igneous said he found an empty town far away from the city and it has fruit trees!¡± She exclaims. ¡°Though he said they did not taste very good.¡±


    That is right, the one he tried may not have been ripe though. But even if those specific fruit are not very good, there are other orchards that may have something different. Imps like fruit then?


    ¡°Of course, when we can get it. I love sweet things. He also said you want him to go back and take an imp with him. Can I go? Please?¡± She pleads.


    I was planning to ask you. This makes Violet squeal in excitement.


    ¡°Thank you! I can¡¯t wait. What about River and Rose and Coal¡­And Fuzzy! Can they come too?¡± She asks.


    Not this time, no. Igneous has to fly you there; do you really think he could carry you all, especially Fuzzy, and fly that far?


    ¡°Oh, right, yeah. Just me then?¡±


    For now. If you do not encounter any major problems we may organize additional expeditions in the future. A larger group would have to travel on foot so we will leave that for another time.


    While momentarily dejected, she quickly brightens up again


    ¡°When do we go?¡± She asks. She can barely contain her excitement, but she is going to have to be patient.


    After Igneous has had some time to rest. Tomorrow perhaps, if he feels ready by then.


    I do not actually know much about Igneous¡¯ physical capabilities or how much time he needs to rest as he has spent the vast majority of his time since he was summoned just sitting there in the corner. I will just have to trust him to know his limits and tell me if I am asking too much of him.


    When Rose wakes the first thing she wants to do is continue where we left off before she went to sleep.


    You really want to get right back into it straight away?


    ¡°Of course, there¡¯s a lot I still need to learn and it¡¯s all very complex.¡± She retorts.


    Yes, so it might be better to pace yourself.


    ¡°But you said we could keep going when I awoke.¡± She says defiantly.


    Alright, but before we start, there is something I would like you to test first.


    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± She asks, becoming curious.


    It is something I should have thought of before. I can still communicate with Violet when she goes outside; I would like to know if I can do the same with you now that you are also a guardian.


    ¡°But didn¡¯t she only gain that ability after she died?¡±


    That is true, but your circumstances are a little different from hers so I believe it is worth trying.


    ¡°I suppose so. I just need to go a little outside the dungeon¡¯s border right? So one of the unclaimed rooms across the hall should suffice,¡± she reasons.


    Yes, that should work.


    As Rose starts towards the hallway she spots Igneous in his corner.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s back. Did he find anything interesting?¡± She inquires.


    I believe so; I intend to send Violet with him for a more thorough investigation later.


    Standing in front of the door to Room 6, she waits for my instruction.


    Whenever you are ready, go ahead.


    She steps through the doorway and beyond my perception. Unlike in the past, though, I can still feel our connection, just like with Violet. I concentrate on that connection and attempt to contact her.


    Can you hear me?


    ¡®I can. Violet was right, this does feel a little strange,¡¯ she replies. That is a little alarming. Violet has never mentioned anything like that to me.


    Is it causing discomfort?


    ¡®Not at all. It¡¯s just a little tingly, but not unpleasant.¡¯ As she steps back into the hallway she looks to where I am standing by the door. ¡°I guess that confirms that it works,¡± she says. I am so used to people not being able to see me that it actually feels kind of weird to have someone looking directly at me when speaking to me.


    Indeed it does. This will be quite advantageous to us, I am sure.


    ¡°I must admit, I¡¯ve been quite envious of Violet for a while now. Her ability to speak to you from outside and her exceptional physical prowess have made her an invaluable asset. I¡¯ve felt it hard to measure up. I¡¯m glad I can be more useful now.¡± She says, beaming.


    I have never judged you or anyone else by how ¡®useful¡¯ you are. But to be clear, you have never not been useful. You know that right?


    ¡°Yeah, thank you. If that¡¯s all you wanted to test, can you tell me about what Igneous found?¡±


    I thought you wanted to get back to learning about science and magic?


    ¡°Yes, but I''m curious now. We can continue with the magic stuff after that.¡±

 44. Walking On Air

    Rose was quite interested in what Igneous found and I did consider sending her instead of Violet to scout the place out, now that I know I can still communicate with her outside. She might have a better idea of what to look out for while scouting. But I already offered the role to Violet and she was so excited about it. It would not be fair to take that away from her now. She spent part of the day packing things into a backpack to take with her.


    Though, in her excitement, I think she might be overpacking a little. The pack is already full to bursting with everything she has stuffed into it. It already contains several sets of clothes, two extra knives, her tape measure, an empty plastic bottle, a tennis ball and a pair of scissors. Yet she is still looking for more.


    I think you might be going a little overboard with packing. You will not be gone for that long.


    She halts her search and looks towards the backpack.


    ¡°How long will I be gone?


    That depends on how thoroughly you want to search the town, but I imagine you should be able to perform a reasonable inspection of the town within a day or two. I must admit though, I do not understand the purpose of some of the items you have packed.


    She looked down at the pack, holding a small spade that she was about to try to force into it.


    ¡°Maybe this is a little much,¡± she concedes. She pulls everything out to begin packing again from the beginning. ¡°I guess I got a little carried away and wasn¡¯t thinking about what would actually be useful.¡± She selects only one set of clothes this time, but leaves the rest out.


    The plastic bottle may be useful if you want to store water in it.


    She grins and shoves it into the pack.


    Be sure to leave room in case you find anything you want to bring back.


    Rose, surprisingly, actually wanted to take a break from the magic lessons for a little while. She spoke to Igneous about what direction he went when he left the city and organized an expedition with some of the other imps and one of the hellhounds to find any potentially safe places to stop along the way, at least within the city limits. I will have her organize further reaching expeditions if Igneous and Violet¡¯s next scouting mission returns favorable results.


    With this being the first time she is gone for a considerable length of time since she became a guardian, I am able to notice some additional effects, both good and bad. First is that the effect she has on my mana regeneration has increased dramatically. It is likely that the excess mana that her body used to just release into the air is now being fed directly to my core through our connection providing a significant supplement to my own regeneration, but that supplement is cut off when she leaves my domain.


    Another effect being that my natural mana regeneration seems to have been reduced, likely as a result of the damage my core has suffered. I did not notice it before now due to the extra mana I was getting from Rose. It is as though I have actually given a piece of myself to her. Now it is even more important that I not tell her about it or I am sure she will insist on never leaving my side. Though with her now improved ability to sense mana, she might figure it out herself eventually.


    When she returns later in the day, she does tell me about a few possible locations that she thinks would be acceptable as temporary hideouts. I do not entirely know what her criteria is; most imps do not seem to have particularly high standards when it comes to accommodation, but I trust her judgment on this matter.


    After her report, she wants to get back into learning more about magic, which I do not mind, but this time I suggest some more practical lessons. Learning the theory is important, of course, but ultimately pointless if it is not also put into practice.


    The first thing I recommend she try is the mana platform that Jenna demonstrated. I know she can already create a shield, so this should not be too difficult and will be an important stepping stone to creating all manner of mana constructs.


    It seems to go well at first, she conjured a platform just big enough for her to stand on about a hand span higher than the floor. It appears stable until she tries to step up onto it, then it falters and her foot passes through it. She tries a few more times with the same result, but eventually, with her eyes shut tight in concentration, she slowly lifts her foot to step on the platform and it holds. When she is finally standing on it, she opens her eyes and smiles.


    ¡°I did it!¡± She exclaims. ¡°But it was harder than I expected. The human made it look rather easy.¡±


    Can you explain the reason for the difficulty?


    ¡°I think it has to do with positioning and keeping it in place. When I create a shield, I don¡¯t need to concentrate on its exact placement, as long as it¡¯s in front of me. But with this, visualizing its position in relation to me and keeping it in place as I move to step onto it takes a lot more focus.¡± She explains.


    So it is a matter of relative positioning then. I can see how that would complicate things. I try making my own platform and face little difficulty, stepping onto it with ease. I create additional platforms leading up into the air like a set of stairs and have no trouble climbing them.


    Why is it so much easier for me than it is for Rose? I suppose it could be because what constitutes ¡®me¡¯ is not so easily defined. My core is obviously me, but this body constructed of mana is also me. In fact, it could be argued that, in a way, the entire dungeon is part of me, so the concept of relative positioning does not apply to me the same way it would to someone who has only a physical body and nothing beyond that.


    I create a larger platform that goes all the way around the edge of the room about as high as her desk and Rose watches me as I walk along it.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re showing off,¡± she says, pretending to pout, but I can see the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth.


    Our minds just work a little differently so it is easier for me. With practice, you will easily be able to do this and more, I have no doubt.


    She did continue to practice late into the evening and when Violet eventually came into the room, she was stunned to see Rose standing on nothing but air above her bed.


    ¡°You¡¯re flying!¡± She shouts in excitement.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°It¡¯s not really flying. I¡¯m standing on a platform of mana, which could be considered levitating, I guess.¡± Rose explains.


    ¡°I want to fly too. Please can you make me fly?¡± Violet pleads.


    ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s not¡­¡± Rose begins but stops when she sees how excited Violet is. It is hard to get through to her when she gets this worked up. It will be easier to explain it to her once her excitement winds down a little. Rose closes her eyes to concentrate; when she opens them again, she looks down at Violet.


    ¡°You can¡¯t see them, but there should be some stairs in front of you that will lead you up to me.¡± Rose says and Violet¡¯s eyes go wide as she looks down at the floor in front of her.


    ¡°Invisible stairs¡­like ghost stairs,¡± she whispers, though still loud enough for Rose to hear her, eliciting a giggle from the smaller imp.


    ¡°Yes, like ghost stairs.¡± Rose repeats with a grin.


    I did ask Rose about ghosts after the first time Violet brought it up. She agreed with Violet that spirits can sometimes linger after the body dies and occasionally are even able to interact with things physically, but they do not usually last long. She did not have any more details than that though. I am still a little skeptical, but knowing that Rose also believes in them does add credence to the idea.


    Violet lifts one foot and carefully places it down in front of her, smiling when she feels the solid platform. She immediately tries to run up the stairs, only to trip halfway up. While she was quick to get back to her feet, she was a lot more careful the rest of the way up until she was standing beside Rose with a beaming smile.


    ¡°I am walking on the air.¡± She sings as she skips in a circle around Rose, making her chuckle at the antics, until Violet lifts her up in a hug without warning; the suddenness of it causing her focus to falter, resulting in both imps falling to the bed below.


    ¡°Sorry, I made us fall.¡± Violet apologizes sheepishly, sitting up on the bed.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s my fault for not being able to maintain my focus.¡± Rose counters.


    ¡°We should go out to where the others are, I bet they¡¯d like to try it too.¡± Violet declares as she grabs Rose¡¯s hand and moves off the bed towards the door, but Rose pulls back and Violet turns and gives her a questioning look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can make a platform big enough for everyone,¡± Rose says.


    It is worth a try. It will be good for practice, not just for constructing a larger platform but also for maintaining focus in a less peaceful environment.


    ¡°Alright, I guess I¡¯ll try,¡± she concedes and this time does not resist as Violet pulls her towards the door.


    There are only a few imps lounging around in the common area of Room 5, but Violet climbs up onto the back of the couch to get their attention.


    ¡°Gather around everyone. Rose is going to make us all fly.¡± She calls out.


    ¡°I already told you, it¡¯s not actually flying.¡± Looking around at the expectant faces of the gathered imps, she sighs and concentrates on creating another mana platform. Not wanting to make it too high this time, she creates the platform at her waist height and climbs up onto it, much to the astonishment of the observers, who now see her seemingly standing on nothing.


    Coal crouches down and waves his hands through the air beneath her and looks up in wonder.


    ¡°How?¡± He asks.


    ¡°Magic,¡± she replies with a grin.


    Rose expands the platform to make enough room for the others. Violet jumps off the couch to land beside her. Coal disappears from where he is on the floor and reappears at Violet¡¯s side. Jasmine and Sneak only hesitate for as long as it takes them to find the edge of the platform before they both climb onto it.


    ¡°We¡¯re flying!¡± They both shout out together, throwing their arms up in celebration.


    ¡°Flying!¡± Coal repeats, mimicking their actions.


    ¡°We need to show the others. Can you make it move?¡± Violet asks, turning to Rose.


    ¡°I can try,¡± she replies. As she concentrates the platform does move slightly to the side before destabilizing, causing the imps to fall; Jasmine and Sneak letting out a small shriek at the unexpected drop. It is a short distance though, so no one is hurt.


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready for that yet,¡± she laments.


    ¡°What about creating one really long path through the air that leads to where the others are?¡± Violet suggests.


    ¡°That could be a bit taxing on my mana, but it might work. You will need to open the door first.¡± Rose instructs and Violet rushes to comply.


    She closes her eyes in concentration once more as the other imps look on hopefully. I can sense mana spreading out into a vague outline of the desired shape, but it is not forming a solid platform. Rose opens her eyes and sighs, shaking her head.


    ¡°It¡¯s too much, I can¡¯t make it that big,¡± she says and the others look down in disappointment.


    Do you think you could make a smaller platform that you can extend out in front of you as you walk and allow to dissipate behind you?


    ¡°That sounds complicated, but I¡¯ll try.¡± She creates a new platform, this one only large enough for one imp so she can practice the idea first. Once standing on it, she extends the platform out in front of her and takes a tentative step forwards. She allows the part she was standing on before to fade until she is again standing on a small platform, the same size as what she started with. The others watched eagerly, waiting and hoping for an opportunity to walk through the air again.


    ¡°It seems to work, at least in theory,¡± she confirms. "It just depends on whether I can keep doing this with a platform big enough for everyone.¡± She extends it forwards again, making it long and narrow. ¡°It will be easiest to do this in a single file.¡±


    ¡°Can I be in front?¡± Violet requests. She is so excited she is practically bouncing.


    ¡°Alright, just don¡¯t walk too fast or you¡¯ll fall off.¡± Rose agrees, gesturing to her side and Violet does not hesitate to climb up to stand beside her.


    The other three approach carefully with their arms out, feeling for the platform and climbing up when they find it, with Coal standing behind Rose, followed by Sneak and Jasmine.


    ¡°Onward.¡± Violet declares when everyone is lined up, pointing towards the door.


    Rose chuckles and extends her mana forwards and soon the five imps are marching down the hallway like it is some kind of parade. They only need to go as far as Room 3 since Calla and her parents are the only other imps here at the moment, with River and Aster currently on watch and Willow and Birch having yet to return from whatever adventure they are currently on. When they reach the door, Violet pushes it open without hesitation.


    ¡°Come join us as we fly through the air!¡± She calls out, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.


    As the procession enters, Calla is the first one to rush over to investigate. She is able to walk under them without even having to bend down as they are standing just above her head height. The hellhounds are not far behind her, sniffing around the imp¡¯s feet and licking at the solid mana they stood on. Scar even tries biting it until Rose notices what he is doing.


    ¡°Hey, stop that!¡± She commands. Scar pauses and looks up at her, then lowers his head.


    She pushes forwards a bit further without letting the platform fade at the back in order to make room for the additional imps. Calyx and Lily climb up without difficulty and they both reach down to pull their daughter up. The procession continues marching around the room, with Violet pointing the way and the hellhounds running and bouncing around them in excitement. The other imps laughing, cheering and only occasionally pushing each other off.


    Overall it seems they are all having fun, except for Rose, who is struggling to maintain her focus with the strain on her mana increasing as time passes. It all becomes too much for her when Noctis decides she wants to climb onto the platform as well. As soon as the hellhound puts additional weight on the platform, Rose¡¯s control of the mana collapses and all the imps fall to the floor.


    They are all surprised by the sudden drop, but laugh it off as they get to their feet. Violet holds out a hand for Rose, who was panting from exhaustion.


    ¡°That¡¯s all I can do right now. I¡¯m sorry, I need to rest.¡± Rose says as she accepts the offered hand and slowly stands.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, thank you for letting us¡­¡± Violet pauses to think of the right word, ¡°levitate,¡± she continues, with a wide smile. ¡°It was lots of fun.¡±


    She pulls Rose into a hug and the others quickly join in and Rose soon finds herself in the middle of a group hug. When they let her go, I send her some mana to take the edge off her fatigue.


    I think you did remarkably well. But please be careful not to go overboard. Remember what Jenna said about mana depletion; it can be dangerous if you push it too far.


    ¡°Thanks. Yeah, I''ll keep that in mind.¡± She replies, sighing in relief from the mana infusion.


    Perhaps next you should try thinking of other useful shapes you could bend mana into. After you take some time to rest, of course.

 45. Ripe for the Taking

    Violet could barely contain her excitement as the new day dawned. She had been given another important scouting mission and was eager to get started. This time it was to an abandoned town that might become their new home. Even though she liked where they were currently living, the thought of a whole town just for imps with no vukra or humans to attack them was an enticing prospect.


    What she was most excited for, though, were the fruit trees. Igneous had shown her images of rows and rows of trees and multiple orchards. These trees would belong to them and no one would stop them from enjoying the fruit anytime they pleased. They were a rare delicacy where she had been before because they were hard to acquire without stealing. Shopkeepers and market stall vendors were always on the lookout for thieves so it was risky to steal from them.


    In the suburban areas of her previous city, some vukra had fruit trees around their homes. Those were the easiest places to get them from if they gathered them late at night when most vukra slept, but they still had to be careful; the vukra would get very angry if they were caught. Sometimes they had biters protecting their homes and trees and that made it much more dangerous. But they wouldn''t have to worry about that if they moved to this new town. They would finally have their own trees with their own fruit.


    But she had to wait for Igneous as he would be the one to fly them there and he was still sleeping, or pretend sleeping; it was hard to tell. Magentam said they would be going today though, so she just needed to be patient. She was looking forward to flying again; she loved flying and relished every opportunity Igneous allowed her to fly. It was a shame that none of her other friends or her sister could join them so they could all enjoy flying together, but Magentam said it was a long way to go and it wouldn¡¯t be fair to ask Igneous to carry that much weight such a distance.


    While she was still here though, Magentam wanted to summon another imp. Violet was glad it was being done before she left, she loved to greet the new arrivals as soon as they appeared. With her shield in hand, she stood next to Rose at the place where the new imp would appear, something Magentam called the rift.


    Magentam had once asked how they were always able to find the rift, even when it moved sometimes. It was hard for Violet to explain, but the mana around the rift felt a little different than in the rest of the dungeon; like wading through a stream, only to find a spot where the water swirls in place for a while before flowing on. She could usually sense the difference if she closed her eyes and concentrated on finding it, though Rose was much better at that, but it was easy to feel it in the times when she happened to walk through it.


    A light formed in the rift and quickly took on the shape of an imp. When the light faded, a female imp stood before them, looking bewildered. Violet wanted to rush forwards and wrap the new imp in a hug, but Rose would get upset with her if she did not at least let her put on some clothes first.


    She was small and cute, though, thinking about it, she supposed all imps were small compared to her now. As soon as she was finished pulling on a simple blue dress, Violet lifted her off the floor in an enthusiastic hug. She was initially startled, but soon did her best to return the embrace, despite her feet dangling slightly above the floor. Violet loved to hug everything that was cute and this new imp was undeniably adorable, just like all the other imps and all the hellhounds and Igneous.


    While giving the new imp a tour, Violet eagerly pulled her towards Room 3, with Rose following behind, but stopped at the door. She remembered how most imps reacted upon seeing the hellhounds for the first time, how even she, herself, had been terrified when Noctis first appeared. She turned to the smaller imp who looked at her curiously.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to show you the hellhounds. They¡¯re big and they might look scary, but they¡¯re actually nice and fluffy. You don¡¯t have to be scared of them because they¡¯re our friends.¡± Violet explained. Rose smiled at her forethought but the new imp became stiff as she looked at the door with apprehension.


    ¡°How big?¡± She asked, glancing back towards Violet.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see, trust me,¡± she replied, holding out a hand for the smaller imp who took it in her own.


    Violet pushed open the door and pulled her along into the room, but the little imp became completely stiff as soon as she spotted the hellhounds lounging around the room. She tried to pull back but Violet was still holding her hand and didn''t let go.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, they won¡¯t hurt you,¡± Violet assured her.


    Rose put a hand on the imp¡¯s shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. She stopped trying to run away but still didn¡¯t want to get any closer. Violet let go of her hand and called out to the hellhounds.


    ¡°Fuzzy!¡± The smallest of the hellhounds perked up immediately, turning her head to face them. ¡°Hug,¡¯ Violet said, holding out both of her arms.


    Fuzzy scrambled to her feet and rushed over to nuzzle Violet, who embraced her head while giggling. Calla soon stood before them as well looking up at the new imp.


    ¡°New friend?¡± She asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, she just arrived.¡± Rose replied, taking over explanations since Violet was now too distracted.


    ¡°I Calla. You name?¡± Calla inquired. The new imp blinked in surprise and shook her head.


    ¡°Not have. Need name?¡± She asked, looking at Rose.


    ¡°Everyone here has a name, but it¡¯s not compulsory. You can take some time to think about if you want one and what you want it to be.¡± Rose explained


    The new imp turned back to Calla, but looked up, shrieked in fright and moved to hide behind Rose. Calla turned around to see Noctis now standing behind her, and with her, the other two also came over to investigate. The shriek got Violet¡¯s attention, who separated herself from Fuzzy to try to reassure the imp that everything was fine. Calla smiled and hugged Noctis¡¯ leg.


    ¡°This Noctis. She best friend.¡± Calla exclaimed. She stepped back from the massive hellhound and held up her arms. ¡°Up?¡± She asked and Noctis laid down before her.


    She climbed over the hellhound¡¯s head to take her customary place in front of the first of the large dorsal spikes. The new imp looked up in awe at Noctis as she stood with the imp child astride.


    ¡°Not danger?¡± She asked in wonder.


    ¡°Only to our enemies,¡± Violet replied with a malicious grin.


    ¡°Enemies? Vukra?¡± She inquired.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t seen any of them around here. The enemies we have to deal with are mostly humans and occasionally aggressive animals.¡± Violet explained.


    ¡°Not know humans. Tasty?¡± That caused Violet to chuckle.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re pretty good, at least as much as any other kind of fresh meat,¡± she answered. ¡°Come on, there are others to meet.¡± Violet pulled the new imp back towards the door as the hellhounds returned to their lounging.


    They briefly stepped into Room 1 to introduce her to Willow and Birch and show her the unclaimed bedroom, which she decided to move into. It might be a bit lonely for her in there for now but she will surely find someone to share it with eventually, Violet thought. After that they headed to the roof to explain the watch duty and meet the two who were currently on watch, Calla¡¯s parents, Lily and Calyx.


    As the new imp looked out at the vast expanse of the city, Violet was contacted by Magentam.


    Igneous says he is ready to go whenever you are.


    Violet let out an excited squeal, which drew the attention of everyone else on the roof.


    ¡°It¡¯s time for my mission with Igneous,¡± she explained when Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly.


    ¡°Mission with big rock?¡± The new imp asked.


    ¡°Like we said before, he¡¯s not actually a rock, no matter how convincing his disguise might be. You¡¯ll see, he¡¯ll be up here soon, no doubt.¡± Rose responded.


    ¡°Oh, I need to get my backpack,¡± Violet said before rushing back down the stairs.


    After collecting the backpack from her room, she went over to Igneous to inform him that she was ready. He uncurled from his corner and nodded. Violet didn¡¯t even wait for him as she bolted out the door to head back to the roof. She was bouncing on the spot in excitement as she waited for him to catch up. When he eventually made it to the roof, the new imp stared in shock for a moment, then hid behind Rose again.


    ¡°This is what he looks like when he is not pretending to be a rock,¡± she said with a hint of amusement in her tone.


    Igneous stood up to his full height and raised his arms above his head to stretch. He looked like he could even be taller than most humans standing up straight like that, Violet thought. The imps marveled as he stretched his expansive wings out to the sides. Even though most of the imps had seen it before, it never failed to inspire awe whenever his full wingspan was on display.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how long I will be gone, but Magentam said it probably shouldn¡¯t take much more than a day,¡± Violet said to Rose as she stood by the edge of the roof and waited for Igneous.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to bring back souvenirs. Something sweet and edible perhaps?¡± Rose suggested with a knowing grin.


    ¡°Right, I¡¯ll bring back as much as I can fit in my pack.,¡± Violet assured her.


    As Igneous approached, Violet faced away from him, with her backpack equipped and her shield on her arm, she raised her arms to the sides. Igneous crouched down behind her and wrapped his much larger arms around her torso. When he was sure he had a firm grip and Violet was holding onto his arms for support, he spread his wings and dropped off the edge.


    <hr>


    Before today, Violet never would have thought that she could actually get bored of flying, but she had never flown for so long before. It had been exhilarating at first, as it always was; looking out across the land, being able to see far into the distance and looking down on the world from a perspective that she rarely got to experience.


    But they had left in the early afternoon, it was almost sunset now and they had still not reached their destination, though Igneous assured her that it was not much farther. And just as he said, the town soon came into view. Her excitement grew the closer they got to it, but she became confused as Igneous started to descend before they had actually reached it. She understood when she looked down and saw a small river flowing below.


    They had been flying for quite a while so taking a break was not a bad idea and staying hydrated was important. Once they landed, she cautiously approached the water, remembering what Magentam had said in the past about possible dangerous things in the river. Of course that was in reference to the much larger river that went through the city, but that didn¡¯t mean that this river couldn¡¯t also hold dangers of its own.


    The water moved slowly here and was a little murky, but not so much that she couldn¡¯t see through it at all. She could see a few fish moving beneath the surface and considered trying to catch some, but quickly gave up on the idea; she had never been good at catching fish, whenever she reached for them, they never seemed to be quite where they appeared and usually managed to slip through her grasp. She had occasionally wondered if fish had some kind of magic that obscured vision of them for that very reason. Her sister could probably catch them if she were here; she was good at judging their actual location despite their illusions.


    Not sensing anything that seemed dangerous, she crouched by the river¡¯s edge and cupped some water in her hands and brought it to her mouth, Igneous doing the same beside her. She remembered the bottle she brought, realising this would be a good opportunity to fill it, and dug through her pack to find it. As she filled it, she thought that maybe it would¡¯ve been better to fill it before they left rather than relying on finding water on the way. She would remember that next time she went on a long mission like this.


    She asked Igneous if she should try to find something for them to eat before they moved on, but he rejected the idea, instead showing her an image of a furred, flying animal. She had seen creatures flying over the town before they¡¯d landed, quite a lot of them in fact. It was hard to make out details about them from a distance, but she guessed that¡¯s what Igneous was referring to.


    It was starting to get dark now and she wondered if Igneous would be able to continue. Magentam had mentioned once before that he doesn¡¯t see well in the dark, not like imps. But Igneous showed no hesitation when he indicated he was ready to go and he had no trouble avoiding the trees as he climbed into the air.


    They were soon flying through the air again and Violet could hear occasional quiet clicking noises that made her feel a little tingly every time she heard it. It took her a while to realise that the noise was coming from Igneous, which surprised her. She¡¯d never heard him make a sound before; she didn¡¯t even know that he could. She wondered if there was some purpose behind it, but if there was, why was he only doing it now?


    Once they reached the town, Violet could see many of the furred creatures Igneous had shown her also flying over it, though Igneous was flying much higher than they were. There were so many that she couldn¡¯t even count them, all flying in the same direction in a long stream.


    Igneous let out a different sound now than the quiet clicking from before. It was more like a protracted screech, so high pitched that it was barely audible to her. She might not have noticed it if not for the wave of dizziness that followed. It must have had a similar effect on the flying creatures because they all seemed suddenly disoriented, flapping their wings wildly and flying in random directions, many bumping into each other.


    In the confusion, Igneous swooped down and snatched two of them out of the air with his feet before climbing higher again. The two creatures screeched in panic for a while until he squeezed them tighter and pierced them with his talons.


    He flew around the town in a wide circle, again letting out more of those clicking sounds, until he eventually descended towards the centre of town and landed on the roof of one of the larger buildings. Once Violet had divested herself of her backpack, Igneous offered her one of the creatures he had caught along with an apology for the discomfort he caused her when he caught them. She laid down her shield by the pack and gratefully accepted the offering.


    ¡°You attacked them somehow right? That''s why they all got confused?¡± She asked and Igneous nodded in response. ¡°I wish I could do that.¡± She said before biting into her meal, savouring the scent of blood and the taste of its flesh. She even enjoyed the bones; they were substantial enough to give it a nice crunchiness, but not enough to make it difficult to eat.


    It was a bit large for her to finish all at once so she offered the rest of it back to Igneous, but after having eaten an entire one on his own, he didn¡¯t want it either, so she set it aside for later.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Those flying things are pretty cute, do you think they would make good pets if we could catch some?¡± She inquired and Igneous shrugged. Violet looked down at the street below, on alert for any signs of movement. When she didn¡¯t see anything she turned back to Igneous.


    ¡°What do you want to do now? I can see well enough so I¡¯m ready to start looking around, but I can go alone if you¡¯d rather wait until morning.¡± She said, but he shook his head and informed her that he would come with her.


    She picked up her shield and retrieved her knife, along with a belt to hang it off, from her pack and when she was ready, Igneous carried her gently to the ground. There were no trees along this street, unlike most of the rest of the town, and the buildings here didn¡¯t look like houses. With large windows on the front, she assumed most of them were probably stores in the past.


    She decided to check inside the building they had landed on and were currently standing in front of first. It didn¡¯t have a door on the roof like the hotel or she would have gone in that way. Looking in one of the windows, she saw a large room with several tables and chairs. It reminded her of the places that vukra would go to be served food and drinks. Imps were never allowed in such places, but she had looked through the windows occasionally. They often threw away food each night so they were always good places to look for something to eat, as long as they were careful not to get caught.


    ¡°Should we take a look inside?¡± Igneous nodded and approached the door and tried to pull it open but it didn¡¯t move, he then tried to push, but still it stubbornly remained closed. ¡°We can get in through a window,¡± Violet suggested.


    One of the windows on the front of the building had lost most of its glass and was more than large enough for Igneous to climb through. Once inside, Violet gave the room a more thorough inspection. On one side of the room was a long counter with taps in a few places and fridges with glass doors behind it. There was one table, at the other side of the room, that was larger and bulkier than all of the others. And while all the other tables in the room were square, this one was rectangular and didn¡¯t have any chairs around it.


    She approached the table and climbed up one of its legs to get on top of it. It had raised sides with holes in each corner and two more holes in the middle of the long sides. There were also some balls on the table; she picked one up and it felt like it was made of a smooth polished stone, they also all had numbers on them. She guessed this table must have been used for some kind of game.


    She tried rolling a ball into one of the corner holes, but her aim was off and it ended up bouncing away from the hole. She tried again with another ball, being more careful to line it up correctly, and cheered when it fell into the hole. She heard a clicking noise as it fell and moved closer to investigate. Inside the hole was a pouch containing two balls, so there must have already been one in there. She poked at the material of the pouch and found the material to be stiff and brittle, her clawed finger easily puncturing it.


    She retrieved the balls from it and then checked the other holes and found a few more. Igneous came over to see what she was up to and she was more than happy to explain what she had found. Not knowing how to play that game as it was intended, they settled for just taking turns rolling the balls into the corner holes from the opposite end of the table.


    Violet was surprised at how accurate Igneous was and wondered if what Magentam had said about his poor night vision was actually true; he didn¡¯t succeed with every shot, but he was always close. She also noticed that he made more of those clicking sounds every time he reached for a ball and before he rolled it. Curiosity compelled her to ask him about it, but she didn¡¯t really understand his response; apparently it allowed him to know where things were, even when he couldn¡¯t see them. She had no idea how that worked, but if it let him navigate, despite the darkness, that was all that mattered. Perhaps she would ask him for a more detailed explanation later, but right now, she had something more important to focus on; it was now her turn.


    They continued rolling the balls across the table until one of the pouches broke and spilled its contents across the floor. Igneous crouched down to retrieve the balls and place them back on the table before suggesting that they should continue their exploration; though there wasn¡¯t much more of interest to find in this building. There was a door near the ball table that led to a short hallway with two more doors. Each of those doors led to rooms with multiple toilets and sinks; she climbed up to one of the sinks and turned the tap but no water came out.


    Another door along the same wall, but close to the long counter led to a kitchen. Behind the counter was a door to a long empty room with shelves along both sides, some kind of storage room, she assumed. The final door at the other end of the long counter was a small room with a desk and some cabinets. Looking around, Violet also found a small metal door behind the desk; it was about as tall as she was but when she tried to open it, it wouldn¡¯t budge.


    As they left the building through the window again Violet realised something strange. She was certain this building had a second floor, but they didn¡¯t find any stairs. She mentioned it to Igneous and he thought for a moment, then gestured for her to follow him. He led her down a wide alley at the side of the building. At the back of the building they found a wooden door. Igneous tried to open it but it appeared to be locked. There were three rows of small buttons beside the door knob but nothing happened when he tried pressing them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what else we can find. We¡¯ll worry about this later.¡± Violet suggested.


    They made their way along the street, searching each building as they went, until they reached the end of the block, then they crossed the road and went back the other way on that side of the street. Most of them had very little left inside, either cleared out when the humans left or perhaps afterwards, if others came back looking for useful things. But there were some that were worth investigating.


    One store still had a wide variety of different things adorning its shelves; nothing that was edible as far as she could tell, but they still warranted further investigation. One larger building had shelves full of books, but she couldn¡¯t actually read so they weren¡¯t much use to her. Though Magentam had offered to teach Violet how to speak the human language, maybe she could ask if Magentam would teach her to read as well. One of the more interesting buildings looked to be a store that once sold tools and building materials. Many of the shelves were empty, but there were still quite a few things left behind that might be worth collecting in the future, when everyone else is here.


    Several times she heard the sounds of animals scurrying through the darkness, but nothing that dared approach them. Most of the times she actually saw them, they were actively running away. At one point, Igneous tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and pointed off into the distance. When Violet looked in that direction she could see something staring at them, its eyes flashing briefly in the moonlight. From what she could make out, it was a small, four legged animal, but different from the one she had seen in the city. It had a much shorter muzzle, but similarly shaped pointy ears. She tried to move closer to get a better look at it, but as soon as she took a step towards it, the creature bolted. She considered chasing after it, but remembering what happened with the creature in the city, she decided it was not worth it¡­ for now.


    It took quite a while to search all the buildings on the street and this was only a small section of town. At this rate it would take far too long to inspect everything. They could check out a few houses around the town to get an idea of what to expect from them, but it would take many days to look at all of them and she didn¡¯t think she had that kind of time.


    But that could wait until later, right now she was thinking about getting some sleep. But they should take turns, just to be safe, she thought.


    ¡°I think we should head back up to the roof to get some rest. I¡¯ll keep watch if you want to sleep first.¡± Igneous nodded and carried her back up to where they had initially landed.


    As Igneous curled up to sleep, Violet began her watch. Not that she actually expected anything to happen, but it was still important to have someone on alert in case of unexpected trouble. She laid on her back and looked up at the stars while she listened for any sounds that might indicate something approaching their position. The stars were always nice to look at on a quiet night, for a while at least, until she got bored; stars don¡¯t actually do much besides sitting there, stationary in the sky.


    Clouds are often a little more interesting because they at least move, and they are fluffy, but there weren¡¯t clouds out at that time. She sat up and moved to the edge of the building to look out over the town. There were few other buildings as tall as the one she was currently perched on so there was little to block her view. A light breeze blew and she took a deep breath; it carried the scent of trees. While there were some trees in the city, it was nothing like this town where trees lined almost every street, except this street with all the stores that they¡¯d explored.


    Violet liked trees; they were fun to climb and some of them had fruit, which made them even better. That reminded her of the fruit orchards they had yet to visit and how much she was looking forward to it; it was what she was most excited for from this whole trip. She tried counting all the trees she could see from her vantage point as a way to pass the time.


    Another breeze blew past and she realised it was a bit chilly, but not enough to be uncomfortable, though Violet did generally prefer warmer temperatures. It occurred to her that it had been getting a little colder recently. She took that as an indication that winter must be approaching and wondered how cold it would get; hopefully not too cold.


    She eventually got bored of counting trees and looked for something else to do. She remembered the half eaten animal carcass that she¡¯d set aside earlier and retrieved it, glad that no other scavengers had taken it while she was gone. Some bugs had gathered around it, but she wasn¡¯t concerned about them; it was up to them to scurry or fly away or she would just eat them too.


    She fetched her water bottle from her pack as well and enjoyed a little night time picnic on the roof, though she did feel a little lonely without anyone to share it with. Even though she wasn¡¯t technically alone with Igneous there, he didn¡¯t make for very engaging company when he was asleep. Although she could contact Magentam if she got too lonely, she didn¡¯t want to spend the whole time pestering her and being a bother.


    She spent the rest of her time listening to the sounds of the night while observing her surroundings. She heard a variety of animal calls drifting through the air and occasional sounds of movement, even saw things moving a few times, but never noticed anything that seemed like it could be a threat.


    Eventually, when Violet was starting to feel quite tired, she heard movement behind her and turned around to see Igneous stirring. She rushed over to give him a hug once he moved his wings behind him.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± She exclaimed as she hugged his arm. ¡°You¡¯ll keep watch while I sleep now?¡± He nodded. ¡°You won¡¯t get too lonely?¡± She asked, her tone tinged with concern as she looked up at him. He patted her on the head to reassure her and she giggled in response.


    She ran back to where she had been sitting to pick up the water bottle and returned to Igneous.


    ¡°I saved you some water in case you get thirsty,¡± she said, presenting the half-full bottle to him. He thanked her and accepted the offered item.


    After gathering all her things together to make sure they would all be in the same place, she lay down on top of her back pack to use it for padding, limited though it may have been, and slowly drifted off to sleep.


    The first rays of sunlight were peeking over the horizon by the time Violet awoke. Igneous was crouched nearby, perfectly still, like a statue. His eyes were closed, but she knew he would still be listening to everything with a sense of hearing that was far keener than hers. He turned his head towards her as she sat up, opening his eyes and nodding in greeting.


    ¡°Did anything interesting happen while I was asleep?¡± She asked and he shook his head in reply. ¡°Well, it¡¯s almost morning now, that should make it easier to explore. Where should we start today?¡± Igneous suggested looking into some of the houses around the town. Not all of them, of course, just a few so they could get an idea of their condition and if they might still contain anything worth scavenging.


    ¡°Are you ready to go now or would you like to wait until it gets a bit brighter?¡±


    He let her know that he was ready so she saw no reason to linger here. She picked up the water bottle from where it sat beside Igneous; he had consumed some of the water, but not all of it.


    ¡°Do you want the rest of this?¡± She asked, holding up the bottle. He declined so she drank the rest of it then placed the bottle into her backpack. She re-equipped her belt, with the knife attached, before pulling on the pack and finally picking up her shield. She didn¡¯t foresee any reason for them to return to this spot today so there was no point in leaving anything behind.


    Once she was ready, Igneous picked her up and they flew for a little while until Igneous picked a random house to land in front of. The house was encircled by a picket fence that they had landed inside of, though it was broken and collapsed in some places. It was also surrounded by long grass, swaying gently in the breeze; in some places the grass was even taller than Violet.


    The house itself had some cracked and broken windows and the paint all over was faded and flaking, but other than that it seemed mostly intact as far as Violet could tell. The front door was unlocked so they had no issue getting in. Inside the house, there was a lot of dust and it smelled a little musty in some places. As for its contents, the whole house appeared to be fully furnished.


    The furniture was all fully intact. Some shelves held books and other knickknacks, while drawers, cabinets and cupboards contained a variety of different things depending on what room they were in. Some framed pictures hung on the walls and there were even clothes to be found in the bedrooms. One of the bedrooms had two beds in it and the clothes in that room were smaller than what she found in the room with the single larger bed. Possibly children''s clothes, in two different sizes, but still too big for imps though.


    She didn¡¯t find anything that was immediately useful, but there were enough interesting things that it would be worth coming back with the others if they moved to this town. She wondered why so much had been left behind here, it was as though the previous inhabitants didn¡¯t take anything at all with them when they left.


    Violet suggested moving on to another house to see if it would be any different. After picking another random residence a few blocks away, they found it to be in much the same state; the former inhabitants just left everything behind. After checking a few more houses, each a few blocks apart, they realised that this would likely be the case for most of the town, they even found what appeared to be human bones in a couple of the houses. In only one house did they find evidence that anything was taken when the humans left, with some of the shelves, cupboards and wardrobes being conspicuously empty. This was quite the mystery.


    But it meant that everything left behind was theirs for the taking so Violet considered it to be incredibly lucky that there was so much just waiting here for them. The others would surely be ecstatic when they hear about it. While she did see many interesting things during her search, the only thing she took with her for now was a knife that could fold to allow the blade to be hidden within the handle. Not especially useful when compared to the knife on her belt, but it was just so fascinating that she couldn¡¯t leave it behind.


    Leaving aside the enigma of the houses, they decided to move on to their next objective: the crater. That¡¯s something that Magentam had specifically asked them to investigate. As they flew towards it, Violet saw a herd of animals below, some grazing, others just lounging around. They had a funny look to them, with long, flat feet, thick tails and arms that seemed disproportionately short. The most interesting thing about them was the way they moved; Igneous was flying much lower than the night before and when some of the creatures noticed him flying overhead, they fled, but rather than running on either two or four legs, they instead bounced.


    She watched them in fascination until Igneous had left them far behind. She hoped she would get a chance to examine them closer later; they looked so cute and fuzzy and she wanted to give them a hug. She would have to be careful though, even from above, she could clearly see they were significantly larger than she was and just because they were eating grass didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t dangerous.


    They continued flying towards the crater. As they got closer to it she could feel something changing in the atmosphere. The difference was subtle but she was sure of it by the time they landed at the crater¡¯s edge.


    ¡°Do you feel that? I think the mana¡¯s different here, like there is more of it.¡± Igneous didn¡¯t respond immediately, but he eventually nodded.


    She could feel it more as she descended into the crater. The difference wasn¡¯t enormous, there certainly wasn¡¯t as much mana as her current home, but it was more than anywhere else she had been in this town. The obvious assumption was that whatever created this crater was also responsible for the increased mana, but she couldn¡¯t see anything that would explain it.


    ¡°Rose would be better for this,¡± she said to herself.


    This crater had clearly been here for a long time, judging from the grass and small plants all around her. If there was anything to find here, it would probably require some digging and she didn¡¯t want to spend her time blindly digging around in the dirt. She didn¡¯t dislike digging in general, but there was something more important she wanted to do right now.


    ¡°Do you see anything interesting?¡± She asked Igneous, who was picking at the grass. He looked at her and shook his head. ¡°Should we move on to the orchards then?¡± She grinned in anticipation, unable to contain her excitement. This is what she had been looking forward to the most.


    Igneous flew straight up to get his bearings and locate the closest orchard. Seeing the long rows of trees, Violet became more excited with each moment as they flew towards it. She could no longer hold back her elation as they touched down and rushed towards the nearest tree. There was a lot of fruit in varying stages of development as well as many white flowers that she thought were quite pretty.


    Remembering that most fruit started off green and changed to other colours as they ripened, these ones appeared to turn orange, she searched for one without any green left on it and found one on the ground that had not yet started turning brown and squishy, not that brown, squishy fruit were inedible, but they often did not taste as good. The one she picked up was orange all over and still firm. It was a bit bigger than both of her fists together and shaped like a ball that had been squished a little. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply, detecting a pleasant and slightly sweet fragrance.


    She bit off half of the fruit and found it absolutely delightful. The skin didn¡¯t taste too good and it was a bit chewy, but the flesh inside was sweet and incredibly juicy, with just a little bit of tartness that made it delicious. Looking down at the other half still in her hands, she decided to try removing the skin from it before eating the rest and was glad to find that it was easy to peel. Discarding the skin, she popped the other half into her mouth and let out a joyful squeal at its sweetness and then searched for more.


    When she had found two that looked good, one for herself and another for Igneous, who was waiting nearby but showing no interest in the fruit himself, she offered him the second one, but he seemed reluctant to take it.


    ¡°It¡¯s really good if you peel it first,¡± she assured him and he hesitantly accepted it.


    She peeled hers carefully and took note of the shape beneath the skin; it was a bit lumpy and had slightly indented lines running from one of the somewhat flat sides to the other, looking like it might be segmented. She tried pulling it apart and it easily separated into two halves; from there she found that removing individual segments was not only easy but also a little fun as she took it apart and ate it one piece at a time. Igneous, however, had not taken as much time with his, simply devouring it in a couple of bites, much as Violet had done with her first one


    ¡°It¡¯s good, right?¡± Violet asked, but his response indicated that he didn¡¯t particularly enjoy it, though he did not dislike it either. It was okay if he didn¡¯t like them, Violet thought, it just meant there would be more for everyone else.


    She did a quick mental count of how many imps were back at the hotel and spent some time searching for enough ripe fruit for everyone to have one and some for the hellhounds as well.


    ¡°There¡¯s still room for more in my pack, do you think there might be different fruit at the other orchards?¡± She asked after placing what she¡¯d gathered into her backpack.


    Igneous nodded and sent her an image of a larger, rounder fruit.


    ¡°Oh, those are the ones you found the first time you came here.¡± She remembered he¡¯d shown her those images before and only now thought about how they were different from what they had found here. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± she said, lifting her arms so Igneous could pick her up.


    They flew across the town again to the orchard Igneous had visited last time. When they landed, Violet searched for a fruit that seemed ripe. When she found one that was orange all over, though it was a lighter shade than the smaller fruit from the previous orchard, she marveled at its size. She knew it would be bigger after what Igneous had shown her, but only now that she was holding on in her hands could she really appreciate the difference; it was more than twice the size of the fruit she had in her pack.


    Peeling this one was also far more difficult; the skin was thicker and it clung to the flesh much harder. After making a bit of a mess of it with her claws, she decided to just use her knife to cut it into wedges. Cutting it open, she was surprised to find it red inside. Biting into one of the wedges, they were also sweet and delicious at first, but that was followed by a slightly bitter aftertaste that she did not enjoy as much. She offered a wedge to Igneous but he declined, so she finished them all herself, they were still good despite the weird after taste.


    They were also just as juicy as the smaller fruit and she had to lick a lot of the juice from her hands when she was done with them. She got most of it, but still worried she would feel sticky later.


    ¡°Can we stop by the river on our way back? I¡¯d like to wash myself before we head home.¡± She requested and Igneous nodded.


    She searched around for more ripe fruit, only a few this time though. She didn¡¯t feel she would need as many, partially because they were so big, but also because she didn¡¯t think they would be as popular as the smaller fruit. There also wasn¡¯t much room left in her backpack for more than that.


    ¡°Do you think there¡¯s anything else we need to check out?¡± Igneous thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s head to the river to get cleaned up then.¡± Violet suggested.


    Once at the river, Violet considered washing her clothes as well; apart from fruit juice, they were also stained with some blood from the flying creature she¡¯d eaten the night before, but then she would have to deal with her clothes being wet during the trip home. Even if she changed to the spare clothes she brought, that would still mean the wet clothes would be in her pack for the journey and she didn¡¯t like that idea either


    She decided she would take this opportunity to bathe herself before changing into clean clothes, but would wait until she got back to wash the dirty ones. Carefully approaching the water, she looked around for any sign of danger. Not seeing anything, she stripped off her clothes and waded into the river. She didn¡¯t have to go far before the water reached her thighs and she felt like that was deep enough.


    In the past, she had never really cared much about hygiene; not to say that she never bathed, but it wasn¡¯t a high priority for her. Until she was summoned by Magentam, that is. Rose always insisted that everyone should try to keep themselves and their clothes at least somewhat clean and Violet had come to feel that she did actually prefer being clean over constantly being covered in dirt and grime. She knew some of the others felt the same way, but even the ones that still didn¡¯t care weren¡¯t going to disobey Rose, because she¡¯s the boss.


    When she was satisfied that she was clean enough, she stepped out of the water and dug her spare clothes out of her pack. Once dressed, she put her old clothes into her backpack and looked over at Igneous. He had also washed himself in the water and was now sunning himself to dry off.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready to go whenever you are.¡± She declared.


    The sun was high in the sky as they began their long journey home. Violet couldn¡¯t wait to get back and tell Magentam about everything they had found, but then she remembered, she didn¡¯t have to wait.


    ¡®Magentam, we¡¯re on our way back now. We found a lot of interesting things!¡¯

 46. Feeding the Fire

    When Violet returns she is quick to start distributing fruit to all the gathered imps. I had told them all that she would be coming back today and that she would be bringing back a treat. Once she contacted me to tell me they were on their way back, that gave me a timeframe of when to expect them so I was able to let the others know. As a result, everyone was eagerly waiting for her when she arrived.


    She demonstrates how the smaller of the fruit, mandarins I think they are called, are easy to peel and can be pulled apart and everyone loves them, or at least the imps do, with some of them enjoying taking them apart one piece at a time, while others just eating them whole.


    The hellhounds are less interested in them, despite Violet peeling some to offer to them. They sniff at them curiously, but they each reject the offered fruit. She then tries offering them one of the larger fruits, a grapefruit, and they do find that more interesting, but only as a toy they can bat around and play with like a ball rather than as something they might consider eating. Violet is content to leave it with them while she takes the mandarins back to divide amongst the imps.


    After they are done with the mandarins, they cut up the remaining grapefruit to share. There is not a lot to go around since Violet only brought back three and the hellhounds are still playing with one, but there is still enough that everyone gets at least one piece; maybe I should ask the imps to look for some more balls for the hellhounds. Most of the imp¡¯s reactions to the grapefruit are the same as Violet¡¯s; they like the taste initially, but are a little put off by the bitter aftertaste.


    Once the fruit is done with, Violet regales everyone who is interested with stories of what she found. All of the imps are excited about the possibility of moving to the new town now. Of course, the fruit she brought back was a major contributing factor to their excitement. It is enough to make me consider making the move regardless of how things play out with the humans.


    What causes me hesitate the most is how difficult it will be for me to travel. I know my core can be taken outside, but doing so is extremely unpleasant; to do so for an extended period of time would be even worse. In addition to that, I still have some hope, though it is dwindling, that something positive can come from our interaction with the humans.


    I cannot deny that the town has piqued my curiosity though. The houses being empty of people, yet still containing all the belongings of the former inhabitants is a bit of an enigma. I wonder if the houses in the residential areas of the city are the same.


    Judging from the state of the city and the relatively small number of people left in it, and the completely abandoned town, it seems reasonable to assume that something occurred in the past that caused a significant reduction in the population. If whatever caused the reduction happened suddenly and quickly, that could explain why people would not have had time to gather their personal belongings.


    This also leads me to wonder how widespread it was. Is it something that only occurred in this region or did it happen everywhere? Then there is also the crater; is it related to the population reduction or is it a different mystery altogether?


    Violet said that the mana concentration inside the crater was greater than the surrounding area. I agree with her assumption that it was probably caused by whatever made the crater, but that just leads to even more questions, like what created it and why could Violet not find any trace of it beyond the mana it left behind. I ask Igneous for his thoughts on it, but he is not able to offer any further insight.


    If the crater was created by a bomb or explosive device, that would explain why Violet did not find anything, but that would not explain the mana. It could be that, like my core, whatever made the crater fell from the sky, bringing mana with it. Judging from the crater¡¯s diameter, it would have had to have been something much larger than my core; but if that is the case, then what happened to it after it fell?


    Violet was right that I should have Rose investigate it. Given her much greater ability to sense mana, she may be able to find something the others could not. I will suggest it to her later. Igneous might be willing to make the trip again, but Violet was also excited at the prospect of a group expedition, though that would take a lot more work to organise. I should discuss with Rose how she would prefer to handle it.


    Later in the day, I am startled by a sudden repetitive banging noise emanating from Rose and Violet¡¯s room. Moving to investigate, I find Violet sitting on the floor holding Rose¡¯s hammer, bringing it down on the folding knife she brought back, which I found a little odd considering how eagerly she was showing it off earlier. Before I could ask why she was now trying to destroy it, Rose burst into the room. Violet stops swinging the hammer and looks up in surprise.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Rose asks.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to break the handle off so I can just have the blade, but I couldn¡¯t pull it apart with just my hands.¡± Violet explains.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why you asked to borrow my hammer?¡±


    ¡°Exactly! Without the weight of the handle, it should work better as a tail weapon.¡± Violet continues.


    So she has not given up on that idea yet. It is not a bad idea, though it still does not solve the problem of how to actually attach the blade; but one step at a time.


    I do not think bashing it with a hammer will be the most effective method of dismantling it, particularly on a carpeted floor.


    Violet looks down at the carpet and presses a hand into it. It is not an especially fluffy carpet, but it would still absorb some of the impact from the hammer.


    ¡°The carpet is too soft, if we take it outside to the concrete, it should work better.¡± Rose suggests.


    Violet beams and stands up with the knife and hammer in hand and the two imps quickly head outside. It seems like they still plan to use the hammer, but at least it will have a higher chance of succeeding with concrete.


    When they eventually return, they must have succeeded because Violet is holding the blade, now divested of its handle, with a wide grin.


    ¡°We did it!¡± She declares as she rushes over to my core, holding up the blade in triumph.


    Excellent. Do you have a plan for how to attach it to your tail?


    Her smile drops and she looks towards Rose.


    ¡°Do we still have any tape?¡± She asks.


    ¡°We might, though I¡¯m not sure if it will work any better than the last time you tried using tape, but we can try.¡± Rose replies.


    The two move off in search of tape and I return to my own musings.


    The next few days are uneventful. By going straight up the walls in a thin strip, I have now expanded onto the roof so I can now start claiming that area. It will not help me see what is outside, but it will allow me to stay in direct contact with whoever is on watch.


    When I am not focusing on expansion, I spend a lot of my time observing the imps. I do not speak to most of them directly very often, preferring to observe them without interference, unless I actually need something from them or they need something from me, but that does not happen very often. When any of them need something, they will usually go to either Rose or Violet first. Violet still takes time to chat with me at least a little each day, especially when she wants to show off something interesting she found.


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    Rose is the one I interact with the most while we discuss science and magic. The current hurdle we are trying to overcome is producing fire. We are practising together in the meeting room on the fourth floor. I can make sparks, but a sustained flame is still beyond me. Rose is not having any more luck than I am. There is a gap in my knowledge that I am having trouble figuring out.


    My understanding of fire is that it requires three things; heat, oxygen and fuel. I am trying to use mana as the fuel, but I am not sure how to do that with how I thought mana works. Initially, I thought of mana as a form of energy and that like any other, it should be subject to the law of the conservation of energy. But the more I learned about mana and magic, the more that theory no longer seemed to fit. I still believe it is a form of energy, but I also think there is more to it than that. I am just not sure how to apply that to the current situation.


    ¡°Maybe we should see if Noctis can offer any insight? She and the others are pretty good at making fire.¡± Rose suggests.


    That is a good idea.


    I find Noctis napping in Room 3 with Fire by her side. At first, I am reluctant to disturb her, but as I consider coming back later, her ears perk up and she slowly opens her eyes. I get a sense of inquiry from her. Did she wake because of me or was it just a coincidence that she happened to wake up at that moment? Or maybe she was not sleeping at all and noticed me appearing in front of her. I would feel bad if I did actually wake her, but regardless, she is awake and aware that my attention is focussed on her, so there is no point in hesitating now.


    Can you tell me how you create fire?


    In response, she opens her mouth a little and lets out a small burst of fire.


    Yes, but can you explain the mechanics of how you are able to do that?


    She is uncertain, but does attempt to give an explanation; though, unfortunately, her method of communication does not lend itself well to the conveyance of complex concepts. She starts with a feeling of urgency or need, followed by a sense of desire. What comes next is difficult to decipher. It feels like she is trying to express a physical sensation, which is hard for me to interpret due to the nature and limitations of my physical form.


    It feels like building heat; from inside, I think? There might be more to it than that, but that is the best interpretation that I can manage. She finishes her explanation with another puff of flames.


    So you can just produce fire from inside your body when you need or want it?


    She responds with a tentative agreement. This was not as illuminating as I had hoped. I assume the hellhound¡¯s control over fire is simply an innate talent, much like Rose¡¯s healing. Though, considering that I have only ever seen flames coming from their eyes and muzzle, I have never seen them manifest fire outside of their body, I wonder if there could also be a biological component. They can control fire that already exists to some degree, but I have not witnessed them ever creating fire that did not come from inside them.


    Perhaps they have an internal organ that facilitates the production of fire. Maybe, if another hellhound dies, I should ask Noctis if we can dissect them before cremation. It might feel a bit macabre to do something like that, but it would help me to learn more about them.


    Given that Noctis had no problem with the imps bringing back and displaying Spikey¡¯s bones, I doubt she would be bothered by such a request. It may also be worthwhile to do the same with the imps. It would not just be useful to me, but to Rose as well. Gaining a better understanding of anatomy will surely be of benefit towards improving her healing ability, particularly for repairing more severe or internal injuries. The imps consume their dead so they can continue to be of aid to the pack, even after their death. This will just be another way in which they can help.


    As much as I hope no one else will die, it would be foolish to pretend that it will never happen, so it is better to make use of whatever resources become available. Though there is not much point in worrying about that until someone actually does die.


    For now it is better to focus on the current task. My conversation with Noctis did give me an idea. I have been focusing on using the mana solely as fuel for the fire without giving as much thought as I should have to the other components: heat and oxygen.


    Oxygen is all around so that is not something that I need to provide, but heat is another matter. Fire produces heat, of course, but it also requires heat to even exist in the first place. What I gathered from Noctis¡¯s explanation, there is a build up of heat before the fire is unleashed, so if I create the heat first, maybe that will make it easier to ignite an actual flame.


    Returning to Rose, I explain my idea and she is eager to give it a try. We have already practised generating heat from mana when I had explained what I knew of different forms of energy and how they can be converted.


    ¡°How hot does it need to be?¡± she asks.


    I am not sure. Not so that it burns the surrounding environment with just the heat alone, I imagine, or the humans would not be able to do it without protective gear. We will just have to experiment a little.


    I start by heating the air around me before trying to ignite a flame. It sparks again but does not progress into actual fire. Due to my limited ability to sense temperatures, I can not tell exactly how hot the air abound me has gotten, but it is enough to make Rose move away from it.


    Is it getting a bit too hot? Sorry about that.


    ¡°It¡¯s not too bad yet. Just a little uncomfortable.¡± Rose assures me.


    I realise that I am being terribly inefficient. Rather than wasting energy heating a large area, I should be trying to focus that heat into a small space and contain it. Jenna certainly did not have to heat up the whole room.


    Holding my hands apart, I focus on the space between them, trying to only heat that area without letting any escape. I cannot do much about the heat that I have already generated though. While it is rather easy to convert mana into heat, I have found gathering it from the environment to be much more difficult, though that is something I intend to work on.


    Rose watches intently as I continue to raise the temperature, not that there is actually much to ¡®see¡¯, unless she is actually attempting to sense the mana. I keep pouring more heat into my little heat bubble until I feel like it has reached a suitable level; then, visualising the objective, I try to ignite a flame again and the fire that bursts to life before me exceeds my expectations. For a moment my vision is entirely engulfed by the flames.


    My concentration falters from the sudden expansion of the flame and it quickly expires. Rose has moved even further away and fallen back, her eyes wide with shock. She may have been even more surprised than I was.


    ¡°Did you mean to do that?¡± She asks once she regains her composure.


    No, that was a little excessive, but I think I will get it right next time. Are you alright? Were you hurt at all?


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. I just wasn¡¯t expecting it to be so big. It was impressive.¡± She replies as she gets up from the floor.


    For my next attempt, I try to only gather around half as much heat before I ignite it. The resulting blaze is still bigger than I was aiming for, but I do not lose focus this time and the fire is now steadily consuming mana to sustain itself. I slowly adjust the flow of mana to reduce the size of the flame until I am holding a ball of fire small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.


    ¡°You did it!¡± Rose cheers.


    Yes, now it is your turn.  I let my flame go out and turn my attention to Rose.


    ¡°R-Right,¡± she stammers nervously, then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to calm down. ¡°I just need to be careful. I am a lot more vulnerable to fire than you are.¡±


    Do not worry, I will help you. I assure her.


    I guide her through the process I used and after a few false starts and some minor singeing, which she was quick to heal, she is soon holding a flame of her own.


    ¡°I did it.¡± she whispers, gazing in wonder at the flickering fire in her hands.


    Congratulations. You did extremely well. I am proud of you. Rose beams at the praise, but then frowns.


    ¡°The human wasn¡¯t exaggerating when she said it consumes a lot of mana. I¡¯m not sure it would be worth using it for combat. I can¡¯t imagine how the hellhounds are able to do it.¡± She says as she lets her flame die.


    Well it is something they are specialised in. Perhaps the mana efficiency can be improved with practice.


    ¡°I hope so. It would be a shame not to use it after how much work we put into figuring it out,¡± Rose laments.


    Even if it does not end up being great for combat, I am sure you can find other ways to make use of it. Besides, Jenna did say that this is something people do more because it is ''cool'' than for practical reasons.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Shall we continue?¡± She asks.


    No, I think that is enough for now. We have accomplished a lot today and made great progress, but I do not want you to overwork yourself.

 47. Whats in the Box

    I am starting to feel suspicious of how peaceful it has been for a while. I have been able to summon two more imps since Violet came back and am almost ready for another one, but we have seen no sign of any human activity during that time. I would like to believe that it is a good sign, but a part of me worries that this might simply be the calm before the storm. Maybe I am just overreacting due to how much has been going on recently compared to how things were before the humans found us. It would be nice if that were the case.


    I had wondered briefly if I should put a pause on summoning new imps for a while, at least until we have come to a definitive decision about whether or not we will be leaving the city. If we do leave, travelling will be easier with a smaller group. When I brought it up with Rose and Violet, they were adamant that I should continue. They insisted that an imp¡¯s primary strength is their pack. Whether we stay or go, having more imps will make them all safer. Even if a larger group makes travelling more difficult, it is worth it for the added safety. So I will continue.


    When it is time to summon the next imp, Rose, Violet and a few others gather at the rift once more to greet the new arrival. When the new imp appears and receives some clothes, we encounter an unexpected problem, though one we have dealt with before. When Rose and Violet speak to her, she does not appear to understand. When she replies, it is clear she is not speaking the same language.


    ¡°Your language?¡± Violet asks, turning to Coal.


    ¡°No,¡± he replies.


    It was understandable for Coal. For a different type of imp that is so distinctly different, it makes sense that they would live separately from other varieties, possibly a great distance away. So speaking a different language would not be surprising. But this new imp does not look different from the other imps I have summoned; the same body size, the same dark hair, red skin and red eyes.


    Some of the imps I have summoned have had noticeable accents and some have occasionally used words that I and the others do not know, but this is the first red imp that did not speak the same language as the others at all.


    Does that sound in any way familiar to you?  I ask Rose.


    ¡°No, I¡¯ve never heard anything like it,¡± she replies, ¡°but I don¡¯t really know anything about any languages other than Balkret.¡±


    Sorry to put this on you again, but do you think you can teach her?


    ¡°Certainly, after our experience with Coal, I think we have a much better idea of how to go about it.¡±


    How is Coal progressing? I have noticed him speaking occasionally.


    ¡°He¡¯s doing remarkably well. He still has a long way to go, but he¡¯s picking it up faster than I expected, especially considering how we couldn¡¯t understand each other at all at the start. I¡¯m sure your influence is playing a part in that,¡± she excitedly reports.


    How so?


    ¡°We have already observed how being here can improve our minds. It doesn¡¯t seem unreasonable that it could be facilitating easier language learning and comprehension,¡± Rose explains.


    That certainly sounds plausible. Perhaps you could also ask Igneous for help. He might be able to speed things along.


    ¡°Igneous? Do you think he would know her language?¡± She asks, looking over to the grey rock in the corner of the room.


    No. He was able to understand you when he initially arrived here. At first I just assumed that he must also be familiar with Balkret, but then he was also able to understand the humans the first time he met them.


    ¡°So because he uses some kind of telepathy and doesn¡¯t communicate with words, you think that maybe language isn¡¯t a barrier for him?¡± Rose suggests.


    Yes, that is my current hypothesis.


    ¡°I will go ask him.¡±


    While Rose talks to Igneous, Violet is eagerly giving the new imp a tour and showing off all the interesting things that the imps have gathered in their time here. She is not going to let something like not being able to understand each other¡¯s words get in the way of making a new friend. They are soon joined by Rose and Igneous and the new imp looks up at him in awe while Rose explains to Violet that he has agreed to help with teaching her to speak their language.


    Later in the day, Aster, who was on watch, came down from the roof. He knocks on the door to Rose and Violet¡¯s bedroom, but receiving no reply, he rushes over to my chair.


    ¡°Human car is here. It stopped near hotel.¡± He reports. That immediately puts me on edge.


    How close is it?


    ¡°Near the big door.¡± At the main entrance then, so they are not trying to be subtle.


    Was it only one car?


    ¡°Yes, only one.¡± He confirms.


    Was the car pulling a trailer, or was it just the car?


    ¡°No trailer, just car.¡±


    How many humans are there?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Came to tell of car before humans get out. Other imp still watching to count humans.¡± His watch partner was one of the recently summoned imps who has not yet chosen a name, if I recall correctly.


    Good, head back up and send the other one down if he has counted them.


    Aster rushes out of the room to make his way back up. This is rather inconvenient timing as most of the imps are not here right now, even the hellhounds are out at the moment. Though I can summon them back if necessary so it is not too serious of an issue. I reach out to Rose to inform her of the situation.


    How far away are you?


    ¡®We¡¯re at the river. Why? Has something happened?¡¯  She responds with a concerned tone.


    Some humans have shown up.


    ¡®Do you need to summon us back?¡¯ She asks.


    I do not know yet. Their intentions are still not clear. Just start making your way back here for now, I will tell you when I know more. Are the hellhounds with you?


    ¡®I haven¡¯t seen them. Are they not at the hotel either?¡¯


    No. They left with Calla, Lily and Calyx, shortly after you did. It is not a problem, It just means that they will not get prior warning if I do have to bring them back.


    It is then that the other imp who was on watch enters the hallway of the fifth floor. I do not wait for him to come to me and appear at his side.


    Did you see how many humans there are?


    ¡°Yes. See five.¡± He replies.


    What can you tell me about them?


    ¡°They have boxes.¡± That might be concerning.


    How many boxes and how big were they?


    ¡°All humans carry one box,¡± he reports.


    So five boxes, each small enough to be carried by one person? Still, that does not tell me much. A lot of different things could fit in a box like that.


    Did you notice anything else unusual about them?


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Not know unusual for humans,¡± he says.


    Of course, this imp is relatively new, so he has never seen humans before. It makes sense that he would not know what would be considered ¡®unusual¡¯ for humans.


    That there are only five humans is a little encouraging. If they were planning to attack, they probably would have sent more than that. But that could depend on what is in the boxes. If they contain something dangerous, then maybe all they needed was enough people to deliver them.


    I am soon shaken from my thoughts by Violet contacting me.


    ¡®Rose says there are humans coming. Are they here to fight?¡¯ She asks.


    Their objective is still unknown. They have not reached anywhere I can see them yet.


    ¡®We¡¯ll be there soon. And if they want to fight, we¡¯ll make them regret it.¡¯ She confidently declares.


    When the humans enter my field of perception, I anxiously track their movement as they slowly make their way up the stairs. I am incredibly relieved when they leave the stairwell on the fourth floor and head into the meeting room. Appearing in the room, I see that William and Cassandra have returned, along with three other men who are placing the boxes they carried on the table.


    One of the boxes is a smaller, square cardboard box that could probably have been carried under one arm with little difficulty. One similarly sized box and two other larger boxes are made of a solid black plastic. The larger boxes are both rectangular, but one is longer and thinner than the other. There is also an orange plastic box that has been placed on the floor


    The first thing I do is reach out to Rose and Violet to update them on the situation.


    It is just William and some others from the DMO. It does not appear to be an emergency. I would still appreciate it if the two of you would come back, but any others who are with you can return to doing as they please for now.


    After they confirm that they are almost home, I turn my attention back to William.


    William, Cassandra, welcome back.


    ¡°Magentam! It¡¯s nice to not see you again.¡± William calls out cheerfully.


    I am not sure how to respond to that and after a moment of silence, he looks towards Cassandra.


    ¡°Not funny?¡± He asks her and she rolls her eyes in response. ¡°See, this is why I joined the military instead of becoming a comedian, no one seems to get my jokes.¡± He chuckles to himself at his apparent attempt at humour.


    What brings you here today?


    ¡°Right, to business. We have some slightly good news regarding our investigation and we¡¯ve also brought some gifts.¡±


    Slightly good news?


    ¡°Before we start,¡± he turns to the three men who accompanied them, ¡°Please go back down and wait in the lobby until we need you. Some of the topics we discuss here might be considered classified. Cass will lead you out.¡± William instructs them.


    ¡°How many times are we going to be expected to walk in and out of this dungeon today?¡± A gruff, middle aged man with greying hair asks.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s unpleasant, but you will be suitably compensated for the trouble,¡± William promises. ¡°Now, please,¡± he gestures towards the door and Cassndra heads out with the three men following behind. ¡°And don¡¯t forget the rules,¡± he calls out to them as they leave.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, don¡¯t attack the little demons or their pets. We got it.¡± One of the men retorts.


    Do they not also work for the DMO?


    "They do, but after the incident with the leak, security has been tightened a bit. Particularly in regards to the handling of sensitive information." William explains.


    If there are going to be humans waiting downstairs, I should inform Rose and Violet so they know what to expect.


    There will be some humans hanging around on the ground floor when you arrive. They are not enemies, so please do not attack them.


    ¡®We¡¯re already here, but we don''t see them.¡¯ Rose replies.


    Oh, well they should still be coming down the stairs right now. Violet, can you please keep an eye on them so they do not cause any trouble and also make sure that if anyone else comes back, they do not attack the humans.


    ¡°Ok, so, we¡¯re pretty sure we have figured out who has been sending all these goons to attack you.¡± Wiliam begins.


    Is that so?


    ¡°A man by the name of Franklin Walters. He¡¯s some big shot CEO of a major weapons manufacturing company. He has previously been implicated in numerous crimes, including the theft dungeon cores.¡± he continues.


    If you know all that, then why has he not been apprehended before?


    ¡°Well, apparently there¡¯s never been enough evidence to-¡± William cuts off as the door opens and Rose enters the room.


    She casts a glare at William as she approaches the table and climbs up onto one of the chairs


    You saw the humans on their way down? I ask her.


    ¡°Yeah, Violet and the others are keeping an eye on them. The new ones were particularly interested in them. Likely curious because they haven¡¯t seen humans before.¡± She replies, still glaring intently at William over the table.


    Is Cassandra coming back up?


    ¡°The female human? Yes, but I saw no reason to wait for her.¡±


    Focusing my attention on the stairs for a moment, I can sense Cassandra winding her way back and forth along the narrow path that I have laid. She is just passing the third floor now so even if she hurries, it will still be at least a few minutes before she returns.


    ¡°Is anyone else coming? Would you like me to wait before we continue?¡± William asks after Rose remains silent for a while.


    I do not have anyone else coming so you would only be waiting on Cassandra.


    ¡°I suppose I probably should wait. Her job is information gathering after all. She wouldn¡¯t want to miss anything.¡± He states.


    And so we wait quietly for Cassandra to return with Rose never taking her eyes off William. He attempts to put on a friendly smile, but she just stares daggers at him the whole time. He looks quite relieved when Cassandra finally returns.


    ¡°Excellent, you¡¯re back. Now we can continue, we¡¯ll also be joined by this little lady here.¡± William says, gesturing to the imps across the table from him.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m aware. We encountered her and several others on our way downstairs, including Violet and Coal. The rest are going to be watching over our guys down in the lobby, but apparently this one is Rose.¡± Cassandra replies and William''s eyes go wide with surprise.


    ¡°Are you certain of that?¡± He asks, gazing intently at Rose.


    ¡°Violet referred to her by name when giving instructions to the others.¡± She confirms.


    So it seems they did not even recognise her after the change in her appearance? Even though, other than the colour on one side, her face has not actually changed. I suppose they have only seen her a couple of times, so maybe it is understandable that they might not realise that this imp with unique colouring is the same as the plain red imp they have met previously.


    ¡°Magentam, is Rose the dungeon guardian?¡± William asks with a serious tone.


    It is unfortunate that Violet¡¯s slip up allowed them to make that inference. I will have to remind her to be careful what she says around Cassandra as she does understand Balkret, at least to some degree. There is probably not much use in denying it at this point as they may just assume that I am lying and that might make further negotiation more complicated.


    She is.


    ¡°May I ask how many guardians you have? Are either Coal or Violet also a guardian?¡± Cassandra inquires.


    I have no reason to share that information.


    They might believe me if I told them that Violet is not a guardian after I was willing to admit that Rose is one, but it might be better to keep them guessing, especially if they are assuming that Coal might also be a guardian. Since Cassandra¡¯s job is apparently gathering information, obfuscating the facts might be a better strategy than outright lying.


    ¡°Fair enough. We won¡¯t push you on that front. Shall we get back to our original topic then?¡± William suggests.


    Yes. Please do.

 48. The Others

    ¡°So, we were talking about why Mr. Walters hasn¡¯t been arrested yet. Unfortunately there¡¯s just never been enough evidence to make any charges stick,¡± William explains.


    Is this case likely to yield better results?


    Cassandra looks down solemnly and William sighs.


    ¡°Probably not,¡± he admits.


    ¡°That¡¯s hardly surprising.¡± Rose jeers.


    This does not sound like particularly good news.


    ¡°Well, I did say it was only slightly good news.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a complicated situation, but once he knows we are actively investigating his involvement, he will likely back off. That will at least buy us some time to figure out a permanent solution.¡± Cassandra adds with a look of determination. ¡°We won¡¯t let him just continue doing whatever he wants.¡±


    You sound confident, but he must be pretty good at what he does if he has been able to get away with so much already.


    ¡°Well, there are rumours that he makes generous ¡®donations¡¯ to various politicians and even law enforcement agencies on a regular basis. It really wouldn¡¯t surprise me at all if he was just bribing them to cover up his crimes for him. Nor would I be surprised at the politicians or law enforcement accepting such bribes.¡± William says ruefully.


    Is such corruption really so common? He shrugs in response.


    ¡°It is what it is. Even when we¡¯re facing extinction, there will always be people who only care about solely benefiting themselves, even at the expense of everyone else. I can¡¯t even bring myself to be mad about it anymore, to be honest. I¡¯m just disappointed in people.¡± William laments.


    I am taken aback by that and even Rose is so dumbfounded when I relay it to her that she stops glaring for the first time since she entered the room.


    What do you mean when you say you are ¡®facing extinction¡¯?


    It is now apparently their turn to be dumbfounded. They sit back in their chairs and briefly share a confused look between them before turning to Rose and eyeing her suspiciously


    ¡°Are you really not aware of what¡¯s happening?¡± Cassandra inquires.


    I truly have no idea what you are referring to. Can you please elaborate?


    ¡°Have you been living under a rock for the last few decades? Do you seriously not know about our war with the demons?¡± William demands.


    Rose goes stiff at the mention of demons and shrinks back into her chair, which does not go unnoticed by the two humans, who look at her in puzzlement. I understand her concern. With the way imps are usually treated by others demons, that is not likely to change if they are discovered here.


    We have seen evidence of war while exploring the city, but nothing that looked like it happened recently.


    ¡°The war is still ongoing. There just hasn¡¯t been any fighting in this region for quite a while now due to the area lacking anything of strategic value.¡± Cassandra states.


    ¡°Other than a dungeon in the river that we haven¡¯t been able to find the core of, despite years of searching. Even the demons seem to have given up on that one, for now at least.¡± William adds.


    But there was something here in the past worth fighting over?


    ¡°Yours wasn¡¯t the only dungeon to come down in this city. It¡¯s actually surprising that this one managed to stay hidden for so long.¡± He ponders.


    ¡°It¡¯s been observed that, despite generating mana on their own, dungeon cores can become dormant if the ambient mana in the surrounding environment is too low.¡± Cassandra reminds him. ¡°But with the average ambient mana levels rising every year, we should expect that any dormant dungeons still out there will start waking up eventually, possibly even soon.¡±


    ¡°Great, more work for us then,¡± William says sarcastically


    Are you really facing extinction though if the demons are just ignoring this entire city? From what I have seen, there are still quite a lot of people living here.


    ¡°They¡¯re ignoring us for now, but the demons we¡¯re facing have made it clear that they do want to exterminate us. They¡¯ll surely be back eventually, especially if they learn about this dungeon being here.¡± William retorts


    ¡°But you may be right. ¡®Extinction¡¯ might be a slight exaggeration. Reports received from the few other countries that we are still able to maintain regular contact with revealed that we¡¯re not all dealing with the same type of demons. Some are aparently actually open to the possibility of peaceful coexistence.¡± Cassandra interjects.


    ¡°Yeah well, it¡¯s easy for them to say that after we¡¯ve lost eighty percent of our population. But sure, even if the demons we¡¯ve got do succeed in their goal, humanity, as a species, will probably not be completely wiped out.¡± William grumbles.


    You have lost contact with other nations?


    ¡°Most of them; apart from everyone dealing with invasions of their own, back when this all started, the demons were knowledgeable enough to identify and target critical infrastructure. Disrupting communications was one of the things they prioritised,¡± he says.


    So this is happening all over the world?


    ¡°Pretty much, except maybe in Antarctica, I suppose. But who knows, maybe even the penguins are dealing with their own demon invasion,¡± he replies with a shrug.


    Was it the war with the demons that was responsible for the reduction in population then? That still does not seem right based on what I have seen. There is likely more to it than that.


    ¡°Well, yes and no. When the demons first arrived, a plague soon followed.¡± William says solemnly.


    ¡°It¡¯s not entirely clear if it was an intentional act of biological warfare or just a natural result of beings from another world invading in large numbers; a question that is still debated to this day.¡± Cassandra explains.


    ¡°But either way, the result was that the diseases they brought spread quickly and had a horrifically high mortality rate.¡± She continues


    ¡°Reports from the time did state that many demons also fell ill, but either they had more robust immune systems or they were just better prepared because they did not suffer anywhere near the same fatality rate. It was little more than an inconvenience to them.¡± William adds.


    Wait¡­you said the demons came from another world? Is that even possible?


    The humans are again left momentarily speechless. Cassandra looks towards William questioningly, but he just shrugs in response


    ¡°You weren¡¯t aware?¡± She asks.


    Should I be?


    ¡°You¡¯ve been summoning demons, didn¡¯t you ever wonder where they were coming from?¡± William asks with an incredulous tone.


    I suspected they were not native to this region, but I had no reason to think they came from another world altogether.


    Did you know this was a different world from where you came from? I ask Rose.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really understand. Is there more than one world?¡± She responds, seeming just as bewildered as I am.


    Apparently, there is.


    ¡°You really aren¡¯t actually a demon, are you?¡± Cassandra asks tentatively.


    I did tell you as much last time you were here, did I not?


    ¡°You did, but under the circumstances, it was kind of hard to just take your word for it,¡± William says with a small chuckle.


    So why suddenly change your mind about it then?


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s hard to imagine a demon being unaware of the fact that they came from another world,¡± he remarks.


    I decide it would be best, for now, to refrain from mentioning that Rose was also not aware of that fact. And if she did not know, it is unlikely that any of the other imps would either.


    ¡°I assume you¡¯re still not willing to tell us what you actually are then?¡± Cassandra inquires.


    You assume correctly.


    ¡°What will it take for us to earn your trust enough for you to share that information?¡± She requests.


    Once you can confirm that we no longer have to fear being attacked by humans, then I may consider it.


    ¡°That¡¯s easier said than done,¡± William says with a sigh.


    You mentioned different types of demons earlier. How many are there?


    The two humans share a look before William nods, prompting Cassandra to answer.


    ¡°Three that we¡¯re aware of,¡± she says.


    ¡°Four if you include the little ones you¡¯ve got here,¡± William interjects.


    ¡°Right, actually, that reminds me; Johnathan and Jenna came to see us recently. They said they had visited and that you told them that these little demons are called ¡®imps¡¯, is that correct?¡± She asks with a raised eyebrow.


    Yes, that is correct.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Does that name come from their language or ours?¡± William casts a suspicious glance towards Rose with his eyes narrowed slightly. She notices his glance and glares back at him, even baring her teeth.


    Theirs. Why?


    ¡°That¡¯s more evidence, right?,¡± he says to Cassandra.


    ¡°I believe so,¡± she replies.


    Evidence of what?


    ¡°Prior contact,¡± Cassandra answers. ¡°Examining myths, legends, religion and folklore, it seems likely that demons may have visited Earth numerous times throughout history and have not gone unnoticed.¡±


    ¡°For example, there are myths and stories that mention imps and describe them as fairies or demons that are of small stature and mischievous nature. Of course, we do not know much about how your imps behave and that description is a little vague. If it was just that, it could probably be passed off as a coincidence, but then there¡¯s the other demons.¡± Cassandra begins an impromptu lecture and Rose stops glaring and is listening intently as I relay it to her, apparently quite interested in the topic.


    ¡°So imps have been here before, even though it¡¯s another world?¡± she asks.


    It sounds like that might be the case.


    ¡°The demons we¡¯re dealing with are called ¡®vak¡¯, while our research couldn¡¯t find any reference to that name in connection with demons, their appearance so closely matches the most generic stereotype for a demon that it¡¯s impossible to ignore. They look a lot like us, but for the red skin, black eyes, pointy ears, sharp teeth, horns and clawed fingers. Besides those features, their resemblance to humans is actually quite remarkable.¡± Cassandra continues.


    ¡°That sounds like vukra.¡± Rose growls as her body tenses. Cassandra heard the comment and was able to understand it.


    ¡°What are ¡®vukra¡¯?¡± She asks.


    Vukra is how the imps refer to the larger demons where they come from. It is not an official name, just what the imps call them. Based on your description, it sounds like these ¡®vak¡¯ might be the ones that term refers to.


    ¡°Huh, interesting. That¡¯s probably worth investigating. What are relations like between the imps and these ¡®vukra¡¯?¡±


    Rose lets out a bitter laugh before her expression contorts into a deep scowl.


    ¡°We hate them. They are vile monsters and the world would be better off without them,¡± she snarls.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s saying, but based on that reaction, I¡¯m going to assume it¡¯s not good,¡± William says, surprised by the intensity of hostility she is displaying.


    Rose''s reaction may be a little more extreme than most, due to personal experiences, but in general, no, they do not get along well.


    ¡°Now that¡¯s some valuable information,¡± William exclaims while Cassandra is writing things down in a notepad she pulled from her pocket. ¡°If the Vak and these ¡®vukra¡¯ do turn out to be the same, then knowing we have a common enemy could help convince more people of the value of earning your allegiance.¡±


    Perhaps I am being a little too generous with information, but there certainly would be value in knowing we share a common enemy.


    ¡°Right, so back on topic, the next type of demon is known as ¡®Sucubirus¡¯. They are the ones who are supposedly willing to coexist.¡± Cassandra continues her explanation.


    ¡°And if you¡¯re thinking ¡®hey, that sounds a lot like succubus,¡¯ you¡¯d be right. And they definitely look the part. I mean, I¡¯ve only seen pictures, but¡­wow.¡± William chimes in and Cassandra rolls her eyes.


    ¡°Yes, there are many stories that describe succubi as demonic beings with the visage of a beautiful woman who use that to seduce men. And as William has so eloquently put it, the Sucubirus certainly look like they could fit that description.


    ¡°Though their appearance is not quite as human-like as the Vak. Still similar, but they have long tails, tapered to a point, and digitigrade legs with sharp¡­claws¡­¡± She trails off in her explanation and they both look down at Rose with a curious expression.


    ¡°Actually, now that I think about it, they do kind of look a lot like your imps, just bigger. Would you mind asking her to stand up so we can get a better look at her?¡± Cassandra requests.


    ¡°They expect me to show off for them? Like an animal performing for their entertainment?¡± Rose snaps.


    You do not have to, if you would rather not. I am sure they will just take some time to observe the others to confirm their theory.


    Rose glares silently at the humans but eventually sighs.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. This is a good opportunity to acquire information from them, some exchange is only fair.¡±


    She climbs down from her chair and moves away from the table a little so the two humans have a better view. She stands in place for a moment, then slowly spins on the spot.


    ¡°Are they satisfied?¡± She asks when she is facing them again.


    I am sure that is plenty. I assure her and she moves back to her seat.


    ¡°Honestly, we probably should have noticed this before now.¡± Cassandra complains.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s not like either of us have ever actually seen a sucubirus in person before. And it¡¯s possible we never will as long as the vak are here. So we¡¯ve never had a reason for it to be at the forefront of our minds.¡± William reassures her.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s true. But still, besides a more human-like facial structure and more¡­pronounced feminine features, they really are quite similar aren¡¯t they. I wonder if there¡¯s some kind of connection there. Do you or the imps know anything about it?¡± She asks.


    ¡°I think I know what she¡¯s referring to. I know of them and I¡¯ve even seen a few before, but I don¡¯t know much about them and have never interacted with them personally.¡± Rose answers when I ask her and I relay that to the humans.


    This is the first time I have ever even heard of them, so if there is a connection between them, I would not know about it, I add and I see Cassandra writing down more in her little notebook.


    You said that you would never see one as long as the vak are here. Why is that?


    ¡°From what we have been able to ascertain, the vak and sucubirus don¡¯t like each other. We don¡¯t know what the beef is between them, but wherever one is, the other won¡¯t be.¡± William expounds.


    ¡°It¡¯s quite a mystery. The timing of their appearance was too coordinated to be mere coincidence, but that would imply some level of cooperation between them despite their apparent dislike for each other.¡± Cassandra ponders.


    Perhaps their circumstances at the time forced them to cooperate temporarily?


    ¡°That is the leading theory, but interrogation of vak prisoners has not yielded much on that topic,¡± she laments.


    They do not like to talk about the sucubirus?


    ¡°Oh, they will talk about them, they just won¡¯t say anything particularly useful; mostly just insults and vulgar comments.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they are concerned about unintentionally revealing something about their own circumstances if they start giving you too much information on the sucubirus,¡± suggests William.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we suspect. We¡¯ll keep trying though, maybe one of them will slip eventually,¡± Cassandra declares.


    What about the sucubirus then? Have they also been unwilling to share information on the vak?


    ¡°Presumably. If they¡¯ve been any more forthcoming, we haven¡¯t been informed,¡± she confirms.


    So what of the other type of demon then? You said there were three.


    ¡°Yes. Those ones are a little different as they are not leading their own independent invasion, but are just helping the other two, possibly due to being relatively few in number.¡± she begins.


    ¡°And thank god for that,¡± William interrupts and Cassandra smirks.


    ¡°Indeed. The vak refer to them as ¡®zinco¡¯, although reports also indicate that the sucubirus call them ¡®forna¡¯. The reason for the different names is unclear, though it could just be the result of different languages,¡± she continues.


    Do you know any other demon languages besides Balkret?


    ¡°No, I¡¯ve never had reason or opportunity to learn.¡±


    That is a shame, if she did, then maybe I could have gotten some insight into one of my imps that do not speak it, if I was lucky.


    Have these other demons never identified themselves?


    ¡°No. The few times we have managed to capture one alive, they didn¡¯t speak. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t, just that they won¡¯t. In fact, the only thing they will do is spend every waking moment trying to escape, not hesitating to hurt, or sometimes even kill themselves in the process, which makes containing them both difficult and dangerous,¡± Cassandra explains.


    I do not know about ¡®forna¡¯, but ¡®zinco¡¯ can be roughly translated to English as ¡®brute¡¯.


    ¡°Huh, we still can¡¯t say whether that¡¯s the real name for them or not, but it¡¯s certainly appropriate,¡± she states while adding it to her notes.


    ¡°I¡¯ll say, those things are bloody monstrous,¡± William adds.


    How so?


    ¡°They are hulking masses of muscle and destruction. Three and a half to four metres tall, they¡¯re like walking tanks, and I don¡¯t mean that figuratively. In battle, they wear thick steel plating as armour and their primary weapons are either cannons or machine guns so big they should be considered a war crime,¡± he says with a shaky voice. He actually seems nervous.


    You sound like you have some personal experience with them.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve¡­I¡¯ve had to fight against them before,¡± he pauses and looks down with a solemn expression, his hands clenched into fists. ¡°I sincerely hope I never have to do so again.¡± Cassandra places a comforting hand on his shoulder and he sends her a small smile and relaxes, hands unclenching.


    So what do these brutes look like other than tall and muscular?


    ¡°They have a dark reddish-brown skin. Unlike the other demons, they are ungulates. They also have short tails, proportionally. They¡¯ve only got four digits on each hand, which seems strange considering the others all have five, like us. Their horns, which grow from the sides of their head instead of the their forehead like the others, are long, sharp and pointed mostly forwards and slightly upwards. And while I might not go so far as to call it a muzzle, their faces do protrude outwards a bit. Anything to add?¡± She asks William.


    ¡°Nah, I think that about covers it. I¡¯d say they¡¯re the most animalistic of the demons we¡¯ve seen, and it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if they inspired a few different legends throughout history,¡± he replies.


    ¡°The vak seem to value them primarily for their physical strength, not just in battle, but also for manual labour, but we don¡¯t know a whole lot more about them than that.¡± Cassandra adds.


    I ask Rose if she has any further information about them.


    ¡°I do know about the brutes,¡± she paused and eyes Cassandra suspiciously. ¡°My former¡­¡®employer¡¯ had a few working for him as security for his manor. They mostly just ignored me, which was fine.¡± It seems like she is being careful with her wording in case the human woman overhears her. If she did, she made no indication of it.


    I do not even mention the matter of Rose¡¯s ¡®employment¡¯ when I relay it to the humans, simply telling them that Rose knew of vukra who had hired brutes as security.


    With everything that has been said. I feel like it is safe to assume the ¡®vak¡¯ and ¡®vukra¡¯ are one and the same and I am sure Cassandra and William will be able to reach the same conclusion, if they have not already. That means vukra are here and we may have to deal with them eventually if the humans cannot defeat them.


    How long has this war been going on?


    ¡°Twenty-seven years; ever since the dungeons appeared.¡± William states.


    Did the dungeons bring the demons to this world then?


    ¡°No, we don¡¯t think so. It¡¯s believed that the demons actually sent the dungeon cores ahead of them,¡± Cassandra claims.


    For what purpose?


    ¡°Mana. They need it to fuel their magic and power their technology.¡±


    ¡°Well, technically most of their technology is powered by electricity, but they use mana to generate electricity.¡± William comments.


    ¡°But the point is, Earth didn¡¯t have mana before they came, or at least, not enough for it to be detectable.¡± Cassandra continues.


    How advanced is their technology?


    ¡°I¡¯d say they¡¯re on a similar level to us,¡± William alleges.


    Do you think you can beat them?


    The humans share a defeated, sombre look.


    ¡°Honestly, no. We¡¯re losing this war. I don¡¯t know about the rest of the world, but here, we¡¯ve already lost more than half of our territory to them. We¡¯ve been on the back foot ever since the plagues. Some people may not yet want to admit it, but if things continue as they are, it¡¯s only a matter of time before the demons are victorious,¡± William says with a grim expression.


    That does not bode well for us, but I doubt there is much I could do to change the tides of a war.


    A heavy silence falls on the room for a while before William speaks again.


    ¡°Well, we seem to have gotten a little side-tracked from our original goal here. How about we open these gifts now?¡± He chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

 49. Gifts

    ¡°That¡¯s a great idea. I¡¯m sure the guys downstairs are getting tired of waiting as well.¡± Cassandra announces, quickly brightening up.


    William picks up the small cardboard box and holds it out towards Rose.


    ¡°Would you like to open it?¡± He offers.


    She glares at William and then at the box suspiciously for a while a while before holding out her hands to take it. She must have underestimated its weight though, because she almost drops it as soon as William lets go, leading her to scowl at him.


    ¡°Oh, sorry. I should have realised it might be a bit heavy for you,¡± he quickly apologises.


    The top of the box is secured with a strip of tape down the middle. Rose carefully peels the tape back to open it and peers at its contents.


    Books?


    ¡°Yeah, Jenna told me that you and Rose are trying to figure out magic all on your own, but that Rose could use a little extra help since she never went to school. So she gave me some of her old notebooks and asked me to deliver them. I also went out and bought some text books, nothing too complicated, just introductory material to physics, chemistry, biology and maths.¡±


    ¡°Wait, did you spend your own money on this? These things aren¡¯t cheap.¡± Cassandra asks, surprised.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I can afford it.¡± William assures her.


    ¡°You probably could have billed it to the DMO since it is related to your job.¡± Cassandra suggests.


    ¡°Maybe, but they¡¯re kind of stingy even at the best of times. It was already hard enough getting approval for all this other stuff. Besides, I was concerned they might start asking questions that are difficult to answer. I doubt it would go over well if I explained that I was purchasing them so that I could help a demon get better at magic,¡± he complains.


    ¡°If you still have the receipts, I could talk to my boss about getting you a reimbursement. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be more understanding,¡± she offers.


    Thank you, William. I am sure these will be quite helpful.


    Rose is already flipping through one of the textbooks. Even though she cannot read it yet, many of the pages have pictures, graphs and diagrams that she is carefully inspecting. I am looking forward to going over these with her in the future.


    ¡°No problem. Just let me know when you¡¯re ready for some more advanced stuff. Now, I think we should open the big one next,¡± he declares, reaching for one of the larger boxes.


    The lid for this box is held in place by wide clips on each end. When he undoes the clips and lifts the lid, inside is dark grey foam to serve as padding for the important items. Lifting up the foam reveals four small hand-held radios. He takes them out and places them on the table beside the box and removes another layer of foam, revealing yet more underneath.


    A rectangular box with numerous buttons and dials on the front, what looks to be a speaker and a microphone with a small stand.


    Is this a radio?


    ¡°That it is,¡± he confirms. ¡°I thought it would be useful if you had a direct means of contacting us, should you need to in the future. It¡¯s already programmed with the general and emergency frequencies that the DMO uses. If you ask for me on the general frequency, I¡¯ll respond if I am available, otherwise whoever is operating the radio at the time will take a message. If you use the emergency frequency, the operator will know to come find me immediately and I¡¯ll drop whatever I¡¯m doing. Please do not abuse that privilege.¡±


    Will this thing have the range to reach that far?


    ¡°It will if you have an antenna,¡± he says and places his hands on the longer, thinner box. ¡°So we brought one of those too. If we install this on the roof, we¡¯ll be able to hear you loud and clear. Although if you do try to contact us, just be careful what you say. We can¡¯t guarantee that we¡¯ll be the only ones listening,¡± he warns.


    What about the hand-held radios?


    ¡°Those? I just thought you might like them. Maybe, they¡¯ll help you keep in contact with your subordinates when they¡¯re out and about? I mean, I don¡¯t know what the range is on your telepathy, but if you think they could be useful, please feel free to take them,¡± he offers.


    Thank you, they actually might be helpful.


    ¡°And finally,¡± he moves to the smaller black box and removes the lid with a dramatic flourish, ¡°a mana powered generator. Because obviously, electronic devices are somewhat useless without a source of electricity.¡±


    He carefully extricates the generator from the foam padding surrounding it and places it on the table. It looks like a black rectangular box, roughly the size of a shoebox, with a row of four electrical sockets on top, each with their own individual switch.


    ¡°We figured out how to make these after studying some generators that we ¡®acquired¡¯ from the vak.¡± Cassandra remarks.


    ¡°Now, if you open up this bit here,¡± William opens up a compartment on the back of the generator that contains a diamond shaped socket that looks to be the same size as the mana stone they once gave me, ¡°and put in a mana stone, and flip this switch,¡± he points to a switch on the side of the device, ¡°it¡¯ll power your radio and anything else you want to plug into it.¡±


    ¡°With only the radio, the drain on the mana stone might not even exceed its regeneration. And since mana stones do not seem to degrade at all inside dungeons, you¡¯ll basically never have to swap it out for another.¡± Cassandra adds.


    That is certainly convenient. What about the orange box?


    ¡°That¡¯s just a tool box for the guys who will be installing the antenna, which we could get started on now if you¡¯d like?¡± William suggests.


    Sure, if you are ready.


    ¡°One thing though, we will need to run a cable from the antenna to the radio. Will you be leaving it in here or would you rather set it up in another room?¡±


    That is a good question. I do not want to leave it down here, because that would mean having to organise a schedule to make sure someone is down here monitoring the radio in case William or someone else from the DMO tries to contact us.


    There is almost always someone lounging around in my core room, so if we have it in there, it would be easy to monitor without specifically needing to assign someone to the task. But that would mean allowing these humans in to set it up. I suppose, if it is only Cassandra and William, I can trust them enough to allow them, just this once.


    I would actually prefer to have it in Room 5 on the next floor up.


    ¡°Oh? Are you going to let us up there again?¡± Cassandra asks, surprised at the permission.


    Just for today and only the two of you. I do not want those other three entering the fifth floor.


    ¡°Fair enough. Also, do you mind if we drill holes through the ceiling to run the cable down?¡± William inquires.


    That will not be a problem.


    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll go fetch the guys from downstairs, then we¡¯ll grab what we need and head to the roof if you want to start setting up the radio for them,¡± he suggests to Cassandra and when she agrees, he uses a small radio that he had hanging from his belt to let the guys downstairs know that he¡¯s on his way.


    I also contact Violet to let her know what is happening as Cassandra packs the hand-held radios back into their box.


    Would you mind carrying the generator upstairs, if it is not too heavy?  I ask Rose.


    She has to climb up onto the table to reach it, but when she tries to pick it up, she only lifts it a few centimetres before putting it back down.


    ¡°That might be a bit much for me to carry up the stairs,¡± she states.


    ¡°You not worry with that. Have William take later,¡± Cassandra says to her in Balkret, causing Rose to look up at her with wide eyes, followed quickly by a scowl. She is still not fluent in the language, but has clearly improved greatly since that first time she was here.


    It will be easier for one of my creatures to do it as they can move up the stairs unimpeded.


    I reach out to Violet again and ask her to come to the meeting room to carry it. If it ends up being too heavy, even for her, then I can ask Igneous to come down and get it. But first, I have something more important for him to do.


    Can you please take my core to its hiding place in Room 7? Leave the decoy where it is though.


    I considered asking him to hide the decoy as well, but I realise that this is a good opportunity to test its effectiveness. It will be good to confirm if it can actually fool the humans before I try relying on it in an emergency.


    Violet soon bursts through the door with Coal, unsurprisingly, right behind her.


    ¡°What do I need to carry?¡± She asks.


    Rose points to the generator and Cassandra picks it up from the table to hand it to her. She is very careful about it though and is prepared to immediately take hold of it again if it is too heavy for Violet as well.


    Will you manage? I ask once Violet has a firm hold on it.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit heavy, but I can handle it,¡± she insists while Coal looks around uncertainly.


    ¡°Me?¡± he asks.


    ¡°You can carry this.¡± Rose says, offering him the box of books, which he eagerly accepts and follows Violet out the door.


    While I wait for Cassandra to get up to the fifth floor, I sense something that I find a little amusing lower in the stairwell. The humans from downstairs are making their way up the stairs now and following behind them, in single file, winding their way back and forth as they move higher, are the other imps who were downstairs with them.


    They are probably treating it like some kind of game and I would not be surprised if they are completely unaware of the frustration it is likely causing the humans. It is hard not to admire their ability to turn mundane things into something fun, even something that is specifically designed to not be fun. I decide to join them and follow along for a little while, not that any of them are aware of it, at least until Cassandra reaches her destination.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    When she finally reaches the fifth floor, Violet is waiting for her at the top of the stairs, having already deposited the generator by my chair. Violet leads her to Room 5, where Rose is also waiting, intent on keeping a watchful eye on the humans every moment they are in here. The first thing Cassandra takes note of when she enters is the decoy core, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by bones.


    ¡°It really is pink,¡± she says quietly to herself as she puts the box down so she can inspect the core more closely.


    Is that unusual?


    ¡°Yes, so far this is the only pink core ever recorded. Some even questioned the accuracy of Johnathan¡¯s original report because of it, until we brought back the mana stone you gave us, at least.¡±


    Is there some sort of relevance to the colour of a dungeon core?


    ¡°Not as far as we can tell. A dungeon core''s colour seems to be largely dependent on its environment, but other than producing different coloured mana stones, it does not appear to have any tangible effect on how a dungeon or the mana stones function. A core will even change colour over time if it is moved to a different environment,¡± she explains.


    And that is why the mana stone you gave me was blue? I had briefly wondered about that.


    ¡°While it¡¯s curious that yours is pink, it¡¯s most likely the result of something entirely arbitrary.¡± She looks down at the bones surrounding the core. ¡°So, uh, are these from the people who have attacked you?¡± She crouches down and reaches out a hand to pick up one of the bones, but Violet growls at her, so she quickly pulls her hand back and, standing, takes a step away from them.


    ¡°No touching.¡± Violet commands.


    Most of them were already here before we arrived, my imps just gathered them all together to serve as decoration for the core.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s certainly an interesting decor choice. But anyway, we should probably decide where you want to set up the radio.¡± She looks around the room casually until she notices the large boulder in the corner.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the big rock?¡± Her expression changes to a confused frown. ¡°How did you even get it in here?¡±


    How do you think I got it in here?


    She takes some time to consider it before she answers.


    ¡°If you had enough imps to help, maybe you could¡¯ve carried it up the stairs, but that seems like it would be quite a hassle. What about the winged creature we met previously? He looked pretty strong. I don¡¯t know if he would¡¯ve been strong enough to carry it on his own, but he surely could¡¯ve helped.¡± She theorises.


    It is amusing how close she is to the right answer, yet still so very far away.


    ¡°Where is he anyway? I don¡¯t see him anywhere. Does he live in a different room or is he just not here today?¡± Cassandra asks.


    Who knows? I am sure he is around somewhere.


    Violet giggles and even Rose is smirking as I relay the conversation to them. Cassandra directs a questioning look towards them.


    ¡°Am I missing something?¡± She inquires, but they do not offer her any further insight. ¡°Hmm, anyway, radio, where do you want it?¡±


    I think against the wall, by the window would be best, next to the big rock.


    She picks up the radio box and moves it to the indicated location.


    ¡°Do you have a table or desk that you¡¯d like to put it on or do you just want it on the floor?¡±


    There is a lot of spare furniture in the unused rooms across the hall. Would you mind assisting Violet in finding something suitable?


    Cassandra and Violet leave the room, with Coal tagging along, as he is usually eager to participate in whatever Violet is doing, when he can.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to know that even magic humans like her can¡¯t see through Igneous¡¯s disguise.¡± Rose comments when they are out of the room.


    Indeed, it might be worth summoning more gargoyles for that reason alone.


    They soon return, with Violet and Cassandra working together to maneuver a desk through the door, though admittedly, Cassandra is doing most of the work. Once they make it through, Coal follows behind them, dragging a chair.


    Once the desk is in place, Cassandra unpacks the radio from the box and explains each component as she sets it up. There was another item in the box that I didn¡¯t notice before because it had slipped under the foam padding. She explains that it is a charger for the hand-held radios. It can be plugged into the generator and each of the radios has a charging cable that can be plugged into the charger. Although the charger only has two ports, so I can only charge two of them at a time.


    By the time she is finished setting up the radio, with the generator on the desk beside it, William, who has returned from the roof, enters the room.


    ¡°Our guys are setting up the antenna and they''ve got a whole gaggle of foremen to supervise them and make sure they don¡¯t slack off.¡± He declares.


    Quickly spotting the decoy core, he approaches it. He stares at it for a moment, then starts leaning side to side.


    ¡°This is a fake, isn¡¯t it?¡± He asks.


    ¡°What? Really?¡± Cassandra responds, peering at the core, likely trying to figure out what led him to that conclusion.


    What makes you say that?


    ¡°It¡¯s the static colouring. Real dungeon cores are all shimmery. I¡¯m guessing this is just a mana crystal in the shape of a dungeon core, yeah?¡±


    You are correct. I had created it in hopes of using it as a decoy in case any enemies did make it this far. But if it is that easy to tell the difference, then perhaps it was a waste of time.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t give up on it just yet. I¡¯ve seen a real core in person before, so I know what they¡¯re supposed to look like. The vast majority of people, however, don¡¯t. A glowing orb, placed on a throne, surrounded by the bones of other would-be dungeon conquerors; that will be more than enough to fool most people.¡± He dramatically exclaims.


    ¡°Let¡¯s maybe not mention the fake core in the report, alright?¡± He says when he notices Cassandra writing in her notepad again. She pauses and looks down at her notes, then scribbles out what she had been writing.


    I appreciate your discretion.


    As William approaches the desk, a voice can be heard speaking through the radio on his belt.


    ¡°Hey, where do you want me to drill these holes?¡± The male voice asks. William takes the radio off his belt to reply.


    ¡°The radio is set up by the south wall, right by the window.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± comes the response.


    Standing in front of the radio desk, he, too, notices the boulder beside it.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the rock?¡± He asks, causing Violet to giggle again and Rose even laughs this time as well. He looks at Cassandra with one eyebrow raised.


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± she says, shaking her head.


    Soon, a buzzing noise can be heard from above and a small hole opens in the ceiling above the desk.


    ¡°Is that good?¡± A voice asks through William¡¯s radio.


    ¡°Perfect,¡± William replies.


    A black cable appears and extends down from the hole. When it reaches down far enough, Cassandra takes a hold of it and plugs it onto the back of the radio.


    ¡°How¡¯s it going with the antenna?¡± William says into his radio.


    ¡°We¡¯re almost done,¡± comes the reply.


    While we are waiting, Violet is inspecting the box that the radio came in. She and Coal then climb into the box while the humans look on in bewildered amusement. It is not too cramped with just the two of them, but it might be a tight fit to get a third imp in the box. They start rocking back and forth, making the box tilt, increasing the intensity of the rocking until the box eventually tips over, spilling them both, laughing, onto the floor.


    ¡°Can we keep this?¡± Violet requests and I pass it on to William.


    ¡°I suppose so, they can even have the other boxes as well if they¡¯d like. Not the tool box though, we still need that.¡± He replies and Violet cheers when I let her know.


    When he eventually receives confirmation of the antenna being ready, he claps his hands together in anticipation.


    ¡°Alright, if you have a spare mana stone lying around, we can pop it in the generator and make sure everything works.¡± William suggests


    I still have the blue one you gave me.


    ¡°That¡¯ll work,¡± he assures and I send Violet to fetch it.


    When she hands it to him, he opens the back compartment on the generator and places the mana stone inside, it does not appear to be a perfect fit as the crystal has a little bit of wiggle room, but that does not seem to matter as he closes the compartment and flips the switch on the side of the device.


    Four green lights appear on top, one next to each of the electrical sockets. He plugs the radio into one of the sockets and powers it up. After confirming that it is tuned in to the correct frequency, he picks up the microphone and holds down the transmit button.


    ¡°Come in, Home Base, this is William Blake. Do you read me? Over.¡±


    There is a tense moment of waiting before a crisp, clear voice erupts from the speaker.


    ¡°This is Home Base. We read you, loud and clear. Over.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. We¡¯re almost done here, so we¡¯ll be on our way back soon. Over.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Anything else to report? Over.¡±


    ¡°Nothing that can¡¯t wait to be put into writing. We¡¯ll see you soon. Over and out.¡±


    He puts the microphone back on the desk and turns to Cassandra with a grin.


    ¡°Looks like everything¡¯s working great,¡± he confirms.


    They take some time to explain everything about how to operate the radio, with Rose and I both paying close attention, until they are satisfied that we fully understand it


    ¡°Well then, I believe our business here is concluded, unless you have anything more you wish to discuss.¡± She asks.


    No. I think that is sufficient. Thank you for doing this.


    ¡°Not a problem. It¡¯s our pleasure,¡± William insists.


    Is it really alright for you to be giving all of this to us though? I do not just mean the radio. You have given us a lot of information today, at least some of it must be considered sensitive, like the DMO radio frequencies, for example. Is it okay for you to share such information with demons?


    William feigns an aghast look in response.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t shared anything with demons. We shared it with you. And you¡¯ve already confirmed, on multiple occasions now, that you are, in fact, not a demon. Therefore, it¡¯s all good. No rules have been broken.¡± He says, giving a thumbs up. Violet mimics the gesture and Coal, in turn, mimics her, though I wonder if either of them actually know what it means.


    It sounds like you are walking a rather fine line there.


    ¡°Well, what can I say? Walking fine lines without tripping over them is kind of a specialty of mine,¡± he confidently states, putting on a smug grin.


    ¡°It was good to see you all again. I¡¯m glad this went better than our last meeting and I look forward to next time,¡± Cassandra says, bowing before heading to the door. William speaks into his radio as he follows her.


    ¡°Alright, pack it up, we¡¯re heading out now. We¡¯ll meet you in the stairwell,¡± he commands.


    Please disconnect the microphone from the radio. I instruct Rose once I can no longer sense the humans in the hallway. She does not hesitate to comply.


    ¡°Is there a reason for this?¡± She inquires.


    In case it is rigged to constantly transmit. She frowns.


    ¡°Do you think they would go that far?¡±


    I do not know. I want to trust William and Cassandra. They seem quite sincere. But I do not yet know enough about the people they work for to risk not being cautious. So we will only connect the microphone when we actually need it.

 50. A Potential Ally

    There is a lot to process with all the information the humans shared. There are also many more questions I wish I had asked, but unfortunately did not think of until after they had left due to already being almost overwhelmed as it was. It is difficult to gauge, but I feel like my mental processing may also have been negatively impacted by the black spot on my core, which, sadly, has so far shown no signs of recovering. I do not regret making Rose a guardian, despite the cost, but it does mean I cannot afford to do so again for anyone else.


    The biggest thing I wish I had asked them about was driving. The fact that they came here in a car means at least one of them must have known how to drive. I have had my imps check on the car we got from the Honey Badgers occasionally to make sure nothing happens to it and it was still there the last time they looked. So I missed a perfect opportunity to ask them to teach Igneous how to drive. Perhaps I will make a list of things I want to ask so I do not forget next time they are here. Driving will be right at the top of that list.


    But even if I did not ask everything I should have, I still gained a lot from them; like boxes. The imps had a lot of fun playing with the boxes the humans left behind. At one point they had the idea to take them out to the stairwell and try to fit as many imps as they could in each box and ride them down the stairs. It did not go well, but at least no one got seriously hurt. It did work a little better with the antenna box due to it being longer than the other. It was not a smooth ride, but at least it did not simply tip over and send the imps tumbling down the stairs.


    I am thinking it might be necessary to accelerate Rose¡¯s English lessons as she is the one who will need to operate the radio since I cannot communicate verbally; at least, not in a way that anyone else seems able to hear. She is making good progress, I think, but is still a long way from being able to have a conversation with a human in their language. Maybe for now it will be enough to teach her some specific set phrases to use when talking over the radio.


    I take some time to ask all of the imps present what they know of the other demons. Unsurprisingly, almost all of them are familiar with the vak, but there are mixed results in regards to the other two. Only some of them know about the brutes, though the ones that do refer to them instead as giants, which is understandable; if William¡¯s description of their height is accurate, they certainly would seem that way to the imps.


    Even fewer of them have knowledge of the sucubirus. That does make sense given what I was told about how the vak and sucubirus apparently avoid each other. If this is true even in their world, then sucubirus would have been a rare sight for them.


    There were a few answers that surprised me. Such as from the newest imp who does not speak Balkret. It was not easy getting the questions across, even with the help of Igneous, but I think we managed in the end. She does not appear to know anything about the vak or the giants, but she is familiar with the sucubirus. This may explain why she does not speak Balkret. If, rather than coming from the same place as the vak, like most of my imps seem to, she instead comes from where the sucubirus originated, perhaps she is speaking their language instead.


    Then there is Coal. He knows nothing of the vak or sucubirus, but when I ask him about the giants, his response is interesting, to say the least.


    ¡°Yes. Eat giants. Good.¡± He declares.


    I try to clarify the question, just to be sure that we are talking about the same thing, but his answer does not change. He has eaten them and thinks they taste good. It is hard to get more details from him, but I suppose I should not be shocked that even a giant would be in danger when faced with a pack of tiny teleporting savages.


    However it is actually Violet¡¯s response that grabs my attention the most, when I ask her about sucubirus.


    ¡°I have seen one before. She wasn¡¯t very nice, but she was so pretty. I wished I could be more like her.¡± She pauses and looks down at her body before breaking into a wide smile. ¡°I guess I am now,¡± she cheers.


    Is it possible that this could merely be a coincidence? I would need more information to make a definitive judgement, but it certainly would explain some things about Violet¡¯s transformation; I had questioned some aspects of it after I learned more about guardians. Becoming larger and stronger made sense to be better able to defend the dungeon, but there was no practical benefit that I could see to gaining a more voluptuous figure or a longer tail. But if the transformation is also influenced by the desires of the individual, conscious or subconscious, that would answer those questions and also raise some new ones.


    I have never noticed anything particularly out of the ordinary like that with Noctis though. Of course, she is bigger, stronger and smarter than her peers, but that may just be standard for guardians as Violet is also all of those things. Although, for a species with a strength based social hierarchy, as hellhounds seem to have, maybe that was enough and she did not desire anything else.


    The only other data point I have is Rose, but I cannot be entirely certain of its reliability given that the circumstances under which she became a guardian are a little different from the others. She did become stronger, which is expected of a guardian, but her size remained the same, though she also made it clear that she did not want to become any larger, which could support the theory about individual desire. The most significant change for her was a sudden improvement in her mana control. It might be a good idea to ask her opinion. When I look for her, she is in her room, practising some of her basic magic skills.


    Rose, I am sorry to interrupt your training, but I have some questions regarding the changes you experienced when you became a guardian.


    ¡°What would you like to know?¡± She inquires.


    Was there anything in particular that you desired when becoming a guardian?


    ¡°I wanted to be stronger so I could do more to defend my friends and my home,¡± she replies.


    Of course, but were there any specific changes that you wanted to occur? She thinks for a moment before replying.


    ¡°Can you explain the context of the question so I know what you¡¯re trying to figure out?¡± She requests.


    Yes, sorry. It is about what Violet said when I asked her about sucubirus.


    ¡°How she wanted to be more like them and now she is?¡±


    It made me wonder if the changes to her body were just a coincidence or if the transformation really was trying to make her more like a sucubirus; if a person¡¯s desire can affect how they change.


    ¡°I see. That¡¯s certainly an interesting idea. I suppose I did want to be better at magic.¡± She puts forth.


    Which you definitely are now, but that could also be attributed to simply becoming stronger to defend the dungeon.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s possible. I did also say that I like Violet¡¯s purple skin, which I sort of have now,¡± she says, holding up her hands to show off their different colours.


    But that may also be standard for guardians. Jenna did say that a guardian''s skin can change colour, in a way that I assume is influenced by the colour of the core.


    ¡°So we don¡¯t really have a lot of information to go on right now other than Violet¡¯s experience.¡± Rose confirms.


    Unfortunately, the only way to get more is to wait for one of you to die and observe what changes occur when I bring you back. But that is not something I am willing to actively experiment with.


    ¡°We are simply left with speculation for now then.¡±


    So it would seem.


    Silence descends between us as I process this.


    ¡°Is there anything else you have questions about?¡± She asks after I remain quiet for a while.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    There is actually; something tangentially related even. William mentioned a dungeon in the river. What do you think are the chances that its guardian is a giant lizard?


    ¡°You mean the one we¡¯ve seen around the river,¡± she exclaims with wide eyes.


    Precisely.


    ¡°That seems plausible, but we can¡¯t exactly ask it. It doesn¡¯t seem capable of communicating. Even when River talks to it, it doesn¡¯t respond, despite her insisting that it¡¯s her ¡®friend¡¯.¡±


    But it has never shown any hostility towards her or any other imps, right?


    ¡°Not so far.¡± She confirms.


    Then I think we should try to make contact with this other dungeon. If that lizard is its guardian, then perhaps the dungeon will also not be hostile. If that is the case, we might be able to gain a valuable ally; if it is anything like me, that is.


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®like you¡¯?¡±


    Sentient.


    ¡°Is there a reason why it wouldn¡¯t be?¡±


    I am not sure. My interactions with the humans have made me wonder. Multiple times now, they have asked what I am. It does not seem like the idea that they are communicating with a self aware, sapient dungeon core has even crossed their minds. Surely they would have at least considered it if it is something they had encountered before. I could be overthinking it, but that is the impression I got.


    ¡°I can see why you¡¯d be unsure with that. How should we make contact?¡±


    In this case, I think we should follow the human¡¯s example by sending an envoy, along with a gift. That said, how would you like to lead an expedition to find an underwater dungeon?


    ¡°That sounds like it could be fun,¡± Rose says, the corners of her mouth curving into a slight grins. ¡°Who else will be going with me?¡±


    You are welcome to pick your own team if you would like, though I could make a few suggestions.


    ¡°Considering where we¡¯re going, River is an obvious choice, especially given her familiarity with the lizard,¡± she begins. ¡°If she is going, then Aster will likely follow. Violet won¡¯t want to be left out of something like this and Coal will also probably tag along. Is there anyone else you¡¯d recommend?¡±


    That seems good for the core team, though I might also suggest Igneous. It is possible he might be able to communicate with the lizard and he might even be necessary for the dungeon. Even if it is sentient, it might not understand Balkret.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good point, I hadn¡¯t thought of that.¡± Rose agrees.


    Violet might also want to bring Fuzzy and there may be some others who also want to join, just for the adventure. I do not see a problem with bringing any others, but I will leave the choice to you.


    ¡°I should go talk to them then, to let them know what we¡¯re planning. Where are they now?¡±


    Violet is up above, probably on the roof. I cannot sense River and Aster right now, but I think it was River''s turn to be on watch so they should also be on the roof. Coal is currently napping in his box.


    Coal had claimed the box that the radio came in as his new place to sleep after everyone was done playing with it. I was a little surprised as it is the first time since he was summoned that he has taken anything for himself.


    Rose speaks to Igneous first since he is in his customary place and he agrees to join her. She then heads up to the roof to recruit the other members of her team and soon returns with Violet by her side, bouncing with excitement.


    ¡°Is there really another dungeon out there?¡± She asks


    According to William, yes.


    ¡°Do you think that dungeon also has imps?¡± Violet ponders.


    No. If there was another dungeon with imps in the area, then I am sure the humans would have already been aware of imps before finding us here.


    ¡°Oh, what do you think we¡¯ll find there then?¡±


    I suspect there will be lizards, but beyond that, I cannot say.


    ¡°Did William mention how far away this dungeon is?¡± Rose asks.


    No, just that it is in the river. Unfortunately, I neglected to ask for more details at the time. I do not even know for certain what direction it is in, though I suspect that it might be downstream, beyond the bridge.


    ¡°What makes you think that?¡± She questions.


    When Violet followed the humans, that was the direction they were heading when they became wary of the water.


    ¡°Not exactly conclusive evidence, but it gives a place to start at least,¡± Rose agrees.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just use the radio to call William and ask where it is?¡± Suggests Violet.


    For now at least, I think it would be best if the DMO does not know that we are looking for this dungeon.


    ¡°Since we don¡¯t know how far away it is, how long should we spend searching?¡± Inquires Rose.


    Follow the river as far as you can go in a single day. If you cannot find it in that time, come back and then you can try going the other direction.


    ¡°So we should be prepared for this to possibly take a couple of days then. What should we do if we encounter humans on the way?¡± She queries.


    It would probably be best to avoid them. Not letting them see you at all would be ideal. If they do see you, I would suggest running, but I trust you to decide what you believe to be the best course of action, should such a situation arise.


    ¡°What if the big lizard isn¡¯t the guardian? Should we still try talking to the dungeon?¡± Violet asks.


    Then it depends on how the dungeon reacts. If it shows any hostility at all, please leave immediately, I do not want you to put yourselves in unnecessary danger for this or to pick a fight with another dungeon. If it is peaceful, then proceed with the plan of making contact.


    ¡°When are we going?¡± She inquires, now even more excited than before for the adventure to come.


    Once River has finished her watch, I suppose you can leave as soon as everyone is ready. You could use the time until then to ask if anyone else wants to come along. Violet¡¯s eyes light up at that suggestion.


    ¡°Can we bring Fuzzy?¡± She entreats.


    ¡°Not this time. It will be easier for a smaller group to remain undetected,¡± Rose states.


    ¡°But Fuzzy is small, she can hide if needed,¡± pleads Violet, earning a chuckle from Rose.


    ¡°She may be small compared to the other hellhounds, but she is still quite large.¡± Rose points out.


    ¡°Igneous is large, but you said he¡¯s coming,¡± Violet retorts, beginning to pout.


    ¡°He is big, but he¡¯s also better at hiding than anyone else here. I¡¯m sorry, but I just don¡¯t think Fuzzy is suited for this mission. Maybe next time though,¡± Rose insists, much to Violet''s dismay.


    But Violet still accepts Rose¡¯s judgement, despite her disappointment. At least until the hellhounds return from whatever adventure they had been on today, prompting Violet to make one last appeal for Fuzzy¡¯s inclusion in the upcoming mission. However, Rose remains firm in her refusal.


    While they are waiting for River and Aster, I have Rose teach some of the other imps how to operate the radio, in case it is necessary to use it while she is gone. None of them have even the slightest knowledge of the English language, so I just have to hope that if something does come up, the radio operator on their end will have the presence of mind to seek out Cassandra.


    When Rose sends the next pair of imps to the roof for their turn on watch, which I now realise I am going to have to organise while Rose is away, River and Aster soon appear, excited for the mission ahead and they all start preparing to leave.


    As it is already late in the afternoon, I suggest waiting until later tonight, after they have all taken some time to sleep, so they are well rested for the journey, but they are all eager to get started as soon as possible. Rose assures me that it will not be a problem, they can find somewhere hidden to sleep if necessary, but she wants to do as much as they can while under the cover of night to minimise the risk of running into humans.


    Accepting her reasoning, I instruct her to fetch one of the mana crystals from the collection to offer as a gift to the dungeon. Once they are all ready to go, there is nothing left for me to do but wish them luck.

 51. Making Contact

    Rose deliberated on what she should bring with her for the expedition. Violet was planning to bring a backpack, so they would have room to bring some supplies. She considered taking a spare set of clothes to change into, in case it became necessary, but decided against it. They would only be gone a little more than a day, so taking an extra set of clothes would be a needless waste of space. Besides, their destination was the river, so they could always just wash the clothes they were wearing if they had to. The biggest decision came down to which of her weapons she should take.


    Though the objective of the mission was to make peaceful contact, there was no guarantee that the dungeon they were looking for would be peaceful in return and there was also the possibility of encountering other dangers along the way. The knife was an obvious choice; it was sharp, easy to use and had a sheath that could be easily attached to a belt. But she also really liked her hammer and could even use it more effectively than before now that she was stronger than she used to be. Maybe she would just take both of them.


    Once she was ready, Magentam asked her to get one of the mana crystals to serve as a gift for the dungeon. She crawled through the hole in the kitchenette cabinet that led to Room 7 and opened the adjacent cabinet where most of the mana crystals were stored. She took a moment to marvel at them; some with a soft pink glow to them, others in various states of charge. There was getting to be quite a collection now.


    She couldn¡¯t help but adore the ones that glowed, the way they radiated such a delightful shade of pink. Rose liked to collect shiny things, but even the shiniest of things could not compare to the mesmerising allure of these crystals. Perhaps, after this mission, she would ask if she could decorate her room with some of them; not to use the mana they contained, for that belonged to Magentam, but simply so she could admire their beauty.


    But that would be something to consider later; for now, she had to focus on the mission. She tried to select one of the larger mana crystals, though there didn¡¯t seem to be too great of a disparity in their sizes. It was a little hard to tell due to the variety of different shapes Magentam had created when experimenting with them. She eventually chose a simple cube-shaped crystal.


    She returned to Room 5 where Violet and Coal were now waiting. She was ready to go and standing by the door with her shield on her arm, her own knife on a belt and a backpack slung over her back. Coal, in typical fashion for him, had nothing but the clothes he was wearing and even that was only a pair of shorts, as he had chosen to forgo a shirt today. That wasn¡¯t too unusual for him though, since he had more trouble putting shirts on than others due to his longer, sharper horns. He did have some shirts with buttons on the front that allowed him to avoid that issue, but he still only wore them around half the time, at most. It¡¯s probable he wouldn¡¯t even bother wearing pants either if Rose wasn¡¯t so insistent on it.


    Rose approached them and asked Violet to turn around so she could put the mana crystal into the pack. Doing so, Rose noticed that the backpack was empty besides that.


    ¡°Packing light this time, I see,¡± Rose commented with a smirk, recalling how much Violet had tried to fit in her backpack the last time she¡¯d gone out on an important mission.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure what to bring. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need a bottle for water since we are going to the river. Do you think I should bring some spare clothes or anything else?¡± Came Violet¡¯s tentative reply.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think extra clothes will be necessary for such a short journey, but you can if you want, nor do I think there¡¯s anything else especially important that we need to bring,¡± Rose assured her.


    ¡°Maybe I should just leave the backpack behind then?¡± Violet considered.


    ¡°Not at all, it¡¯s holding the mana crystal now,¡± Rose jested, ¡°besides, there¡¯s also the possibility of finding interesting things to bring back.¡±


    They were shortly joined by River and Aster, the last two imps who would be a part of the team, both equipped with weapons of their own and ready to go. River wielded a combat knife like those carried by Rose and Violet, while Aster had only a regular kitchen knife.


    River may be invaluable for this mission due to her affinity for water and apparent friendship with the giant lizard that may or may be the guardian of this new dungeon they were trying to find. Aster, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have anything special to contribute, but he and River were practically a mated pair at this point so he would likely have followed them even if Rose told him to stay behind.


    Once all the imps were assembled, Igneous, the final member of the team, roused from his regular resting place to join them. With everyone now prepared to leave, Magentam reached out to all of them with some words of encouragement.


    Try to avoid unnecessary danger as much as you can. Good luck and please return safely.


    With that, the six of them departed. At the stairwell, Igneous went up instead of down. He¡¯d rather glide down from the roof than follow the stairs all the way to the ground floor, but he assured them that he¡¯d be waiting for them outside the front entrance.


    As the imps made their way down, it soon turned into a race to see who would reach the hotel lobby first, although the result was a foregone conclusion before they even began. Violet was in the lead at first, until Coal started teleporting from one landing to the next. No matter how fast Violet was, even with her jumping and bouncing off the walls to minimise the loss of momentum when turning corners, she didn¡¯t have a hope of keeping up with his teleportation.


    Rose was the third to reach the lobby where she saw Coal grinning triumphantly with his arms in the air, celebrating his victory. Violet was pouting, but only briefly and soon gave way to a smile as she congratulated Coal. River and Aster brought up the rear, though they weren¡¯t too disappointed as it was the expected outcome.


    They met up with Igneous again and the group set off towards the river. The hotel, while not a waterfront property, was not far away from it, it was even possible to see the river from the hotel¡¯s roof, so it was not long before they were standing on the riverbank, staring down at the water.


    ¡°How will we know when we¡¯ve found the dungeon?¡± Asked Violet.


    ¡°I assume we¡¯ll be able to feel the difference in mana, like with Magentam¡¯s dungeon,¡± Rose replied.


    ¡°But if it¡¯s in the water, doesn¡¯t that mean we¡¯ll also need to be in the water to feel it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, so we¡¯ll have someone enter the water to check periodically as we follow the riverbank,¡± Rose explained.


    ¡°Why not just stay in river then and swim?¡± River suggested.


    ¡°Because we can move faster on land. We¡¯ll cover a lot more distance if we¡¯re running rather than swimming,¡± Rose replied.


    ¡°Do we need to check here then?¡± Violet asked.


    ¡°No, this is where we usually play. If there was a dungeon here, we would have noticed it already.¡±


    At Rose¡¯s direction, they all began their journey downstream, moving at a steady jog. Violet and Coal started creeping ahead of the group as they became absorbed in a silly game of trying to stay in front of the other, but Rose reprimanded them before they got too far away.


    ¡°Slow down. We don¡¯t know how far we might have to go, we could have a long night ahead of us, but we won¡¯t get far if we tire ourselves out right at the start,¡± she chided.


    The two slowed down and rejoined the group. Together they followed the river downstream throughout the night. Igneous occasionally flew off ahead to scout from the air, but he never reported finding anything of interest.


    They stopped periodically to rest and to check the water for any signs of the dungeon, a task which River always volunteered for. They were mostly following the road that bordered the river as there wasn¡¯t always enough of a riverbank to walk along, sometimes just a concrete wall with water at the bottom. When that happened, River would just jump straight off the wall after stripping off her clothes, though she always complained about being expected to put them back on afterwards, since she would be taking them off again the next time she went into the water. Eventually Rose just allowed her to go naked for a while, not just to stop her complaining, but also because she was right about going back into the water again and it did save time not having to wait for her to strip and redress every time. River stored her clothes in Violet¡¯s backpack and Aster could hardly keep his eyes off her after that.


    They continued in this way until the first rays of sunlight could be seen cresting the horizon. The journey had been uneventful so far, though they were cautious as they approached the bridge, knowing that the humans maintained a presence in the area. The door of their outpost was shuttered as they passed it. They didn¡¯t see any humans and if the humans spotted them, they made no indication of it. In that time they had failed to find any sign of the dungeon or its assumed guardian. Their pace had slowed and some of the imps were starting to complain about feeling tired. Rose couldn¡¯t deny that she was feeling it too and decided it was a good time to look for a place to rest.


    She didn¡¯t want to sleep anywhere out in the open so she looked to the nearest building. It was an enormously tall building reaching high into the sky, much higher than the one they lived in, and looked like it was made mostly of glass. They approached the entrance and tried opening the door, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Rose used her hammer to smash one of the windows, carefully knocking out as much of the glass as she could from the bottom of the frame so everyone could climb through safely.


    The imps crawled through the broken window, one by one, with Igneous coming in last, though he had to borrow Rose¡¯s hammer to knock out more of the glass before he could get through. Inside, they found a lobby vaguely similar to the hotel, although this one was noticeably larger.


    They took some time to investigate the area, looking for any signs of habitation, but couldn¡¯t find anything to suggest that any animals or humans had been there recently. They found a short hallway with four sets of metal doors, like those in the hotel. Magentam had called it an elevator and explained that it was used to quickly move between floors. But like the elevator in the hotel, these ones also did not open.


    There was also one door leading to a stairwell and Rose suggested moving up to the next floor to avoid being seen in case anyone or anything walked past and happened to look in through the windows. She wondered, briefly, if she was being more cautious than necessary, but decided that excessive caution was better than a lack of it.


    On that floor, they found an open area with lots of desks. There were also a few smaller enclosed rooms with only a single desk in them. Violet became ecstatic when they opened one door and found a closet full of cleaning supplies, including a broom, which she rushed forward to take a hold of, raising it up into the air.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking this,¡± she cheered.


    ¡°You really want to carry that around with you for the rest of the time we¡¯re out here?¡± Asked Rose.


    ¡°Yes, I need it,¡± Violet insisted.


    ¡°It might be easier to leave it here for now and you can pick it up on the way back,¡± Rose suggested. Violet lowered the broom and looked down at it for a moment.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right, we¡¯ll come back for it later, but don¡¯t forget,¡± she agreed.


    They spent a little more time searching the floor, but didn¡¯t find anything else noteworthy. Rose thought that if they couldn¡¯t find evidence of habitation on the first floor, it was even less likely that there would be anything on a higher floor.


    ¡°We¡¯ll stay here for a while so everyone can get some sleep. While I doubt anything will find us here, I want someone on watch at all times, just to be safe, but I¡¯ll take the first watch. And River, since you won¡¯t be going back in the water for a while, I want you to put some clothes on again.¡± Rose announced.


    ¡°Do I have to?¡± River whined.


    ¡°Yes, it isn¡¯t appropriate to be naked all the time,¡± Rose reproached.


    ¡°Why not?¡± River complained


    ¡°Because civilised people wear clothes, and besides that, it¡¯s also something Magentam requested,¡± Rose explained. River looked like she wanted to keep arguing, but she just sighed.


    ¡°Fine,¡± she conceded before fetching her clothes from Violet¡¯s backpack.


    Igneous curled up into his rock form while the imps, other than Rose, found comfortable places to sleep. She noticed that River and Aster were so close together that they were practically snuggling, though Violet and Coal are also not far away. Rose had gotten so used to everyone having their own bed to sleep in, that it was sometimes easy to forget that sleeping together in groups was actually the normal behaviour for an imp pack. This is just another example of how Magentam was influencing their behaviour to act in ways that are outside the norm for imps. She wondered if they would still be sleeping so close together if they had found a place with actual beds to sleep in.


    While the others slept, Rose took some time to practise her magic, though she periodically took breaks to peer out the windows, but never saw anything interesting. She was practising manipulating the air and just as the female human named Jenna had explained, simply moving the air was relatively easy, at least compared to creating fire. It had taken her a while to grasp the concept of molecules and how they move, even with Magentam¡¯s explanation, but once she understood it, it was a trivial matter to create a breeze. With further effort, she managed to increase the intensity of that breeze into a strong wind, though still not enough to be considered dangerous.


    The human had explained that making air into a weapon required either a lot of mana or precision control. She could probably increase her mana by supplementing it with mana crystals. She only has one though, which wouldn¡¯t make a huge difference, but Magentam might be willing to give her more if she asked, since it would help with her magic. She also received a significant boost to her mana pool when she became a guardian, it might be further increased if she dies and is resurrected by Magentam, but that wasn¡¯t a theory she wanted to test.


    She couldn''t do much about her mana for now, but precision is something she could work on. She started by creating as strong a gust of wind as she could while slowly and meticulously narrowing the stream of air while maintaining the same intensity, though it wasn¡¯t easy and required a lot of focus. Eventually she became too tired to stay focused enough to continue. By that point, she had managed to reduce it to a narrow focal point, which also increased the speed of the airflow as a result of trying to push the same amount of air through a smaller area. It still wasn''t enough to be dangerous on its own, but it could surely serve as an effective distraction in battle if aimed directly at an opponent¡¯s face, especially their eyes.


    She must have lost track of time while she was practising, because when she looked outside again, the sun was high enough in the sky that she figured it must have already been at least a few hours since the others went to sleep. She wouldn¡¯t even be too surprised if they started to wake soon. She needed to sleep herself now though, and at this point, Violet probably wouldn¡¯t be too upset about waking up a little early.


    She crouched beside Violet and shook her shoulder to wake her. Violet flailed briefly as she woke, but then looked around before peering at Rose.


    ¡°Oh, is it my turn?¡± She asked, bleary-eyed.


    ¡°Yeah, but I stayed up longer than I¡¯d planned, so the others will probably be up soon too.¡± Rose replied.


    ¡°Okay, you go to sleep now. I¡¯ll keep watch,¡± insisted Violet.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Rose said before looking for a comfortable place to lay down. Despite knowing the others would probably wake up soon, she couldn¡¯t help but want to curl up nearby rather than sleep alone.


    <hr>


    Once Rose had fallen asleep, Violet was left alone to keep a lookout. She spent her time wandering around the floor and checking out the windows. She wanted to go to the other floors to see if she could find any more brooms, but to do so now would mean she wouldn¡¯t be keeping watch like she was supposed to. She hoped there would be time for it later though. After a while the others began waking up, starting with Aster.


    ¡°Good morning,¡± Violet greeted him.


    ¡°Hungry,¡± was the first thing he said.


    ¡°You can go out to hunt with the others when they are awake,¡± Violet told him.


    In response he turned to River and shook her awake. She frowned as she sat up and peered at Aster.


    ¡°I¡¯m hungry. We should find something,¡± he stated before she could say anything and her expression softened


    As he moved to wake Coal, Violet stopped him.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that. He doesn¡¯t like to be woken up if it¡¯s not for something important,¡± she warned.


    ¡°He sleeps a lot. That normal?¡± River commented.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He¡¯s a little different from us, so maybe imps like him need more sleep. Or maybe he just likes to sleep. Either way, it¡¯s better to just let him wake up on his own,¡± Violet explained.


    ¡°Will you come with us?¡± River asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t. I still need to keep watch while Rose sleeps.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± River replied, a little dejected.


    ¡°What about him? He watch,¡± Aster suggested, pointing at Igneous.


    ¡°If he¡¯s awake, I can ask him.¡± Violet walked over to where Igneous was curled up.


    ¡°Hey. Are you awake?¡± She whispers, but doesn¡¯t receive a response. She looked at the others and shugged.


    ¡°Still asleep?¡± River asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t want to wake him, but you two can go on your own if you don¡¯t want to wait.¡± After he had let her sleep without interruption the last time they went on a mission together, she felt it would be unfair to disturb his sleep just so she could go out with the others a little earlier.


    ¡°You want to go now or wait?¡± River asked Aster while finally standing up from where she had been sitting.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°We¡¯ll wait,¡± he declared after taking a moment to consider the options.


    While waiting, River and Aster followed Violet around and occasionally peeked out the windows, until they got bored and instead engaged in a game of tag. Violet participated at first, but soon dropped out due to her superior physical abilities giving her an unfair advantage.


    They continued playing until Igneous and Coal had both awoken. Violet asked Igneous if he could watch over Rose while they went out to find food. He agreed and the four imps left together.


    <hr>


    When Rose woke up, she found a dead rodent right in front of her face. She sat up and looked around but didn¡¯t see any of the other imps. Igneous was still there though, so she approached him to see if he was currently conscious. He responded in the affirmative and she then asked if the others had gone out to find food and returned, to which he again responded affirmatively.


    ¡°Do you know where they are now?¡± She inquired and he indicated that they had gone up. She assumed they were exploring the building. She didn¡¯t know how many floors this building had, but she hoped they hadn¡¯t gone too far. She was eager to get back to searching for the dungeon and didn¡¯t want to spend too much time looking for them


    She grabbed the rodent that the others had left for her and headed for the stairs, consuming it as she made her way up. At each floor she opened the door and called out for the others. It wasn¡¯t until she had gone up four floors that she received a response and the other imps appeared; Violet was dragging two additional brooms behind her.


    ¡°I found more,¡± she cheered as she held them up.


    ¡°Oh, please leave those with the other one and we¡¯ll pick them up later,¡± Rose said, dismayed that she managed to locate even more when she already had so many at home. She wouldn¡¯t complain, because it was normal behaviour for most imps to collect things they liked, she just wished that Violet had chosen something that wasn¡¯t quite so large. But Violet wasn¡¯t the only one who had found something to collect; Aster also had his hands full.


    ¡°I have drawing sticks,¡± he exclaimed, eagerly presenting them to show off what he had gathered.


    ¡°Pens and pencils,¡± Rose corrected.


    ¡°Pens¡­and pencils?¡± He asked with a confused frown.


    ¡°The plastic ones are pens,¡± she pointed at a clear plastic pen with a blue cap, ¡°and the wooden ones are pencils,¡± Rose explained. Aster thought about it for a while, then smiled.


    ¡°Yes, pens and pencils,¡± he declared.


    ¡°Well, if you want to take them back home, you should leave them with Violet¡¯s brooms and we¡¯ll come back for them,¡± Rose instructed.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll leave them,¡± Aster agreed.


    ¡°Now, if everyone is ready to go, I¡¯d like to continue with our mission,¡± Rose requested.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Violet shouted, pointing at the stairs with one of her brooms.


    She charged forwards, the other three imps close behind. Rose chuckled at their antics and followed them. When they got back to the floor they had slept on, Violet put her brooms in the closet with the first one and Aster put his pens and pencils on a shelf beside them. While they did that, Rose walked over to Igneous.


    ¡°We¡¯re ready to leave if you are,¡± She informed him.


    He uncurled from his rock form and nodded. They all left the building together to continue their journey. They followed the same pattern as before, with Igneous flying off to scout the area from the air while the imps follow the riverbank. Except now, both River and Aster wanted to go into the water and neither wanted to put their clothes back on afterwards. Rose didn¡¯t want to argue with both of them so she decided to just let it go.


    Around midday, they encountered a pair of dogs that were tearing at the remains of some small animal. There wasn¡¯t enough of the carcass left for Rose to be able to identify what it used to be, not that it really mattered. Once the dogs noticed them, they started growling. They made no attempt to approach, but they also weren¡¯t backing away, possibly not wanting to give up their prey. River, Aster and Coal growled back.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Rose commanded as Coal took a step forward.


    ¡°Why?¡± Coal demands, turning to glare at Rose.


    ¡°Because these creatures can also have a pack, so there may be more nearby,¡± she retorted.


    ¡°You seen them before?¡± River inquired.


    ¡°Yes, me and Violet had to face them once, before any of you were summoned. There were a lot of them at the time and we only managed to fight them off because we had the hellhounds with us,¡± Rose recounted.


    ¡°Why they not attack now then?¡± Aster asked.


    ¡°If they¡¯re survivors from the last pack we faced, they could be wary of us because they remember how it went last time, or if it really is just the two of them, maybe they are smart enough to not attack a larger group,¡± Rose theorised.


    It¡¯s unclear how much of that he understood, but Coal looked like he still wanted a fight. Violet put a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°Please, it¡¯s not worth the risk.¡± Violet pleaded. It looked like he was considering it, before a malicious grin spread across his face and he disappeared.


    He reappeared right in front of the dogs and screeched as loud as he could. They yelped and bolted away, leaving Coal to laugh hysterically at their retreat. He teleported back to the others where River and Aster were also laughing. Violet, however, was not laughing and Rose was furious, not just because of his disobedience, but also because he¡¯d potentially put them all in danger.


    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± She demanded.


    ¡°Fun,¡± he replied, still grinning.


    ¡°No. Not ¡®fun¡¯. That was stupid and dangerous,¡± Rose rebuked. His grin dropped and he turned to Violet.


    ¡°Help,¡± he implored, but Violet shook her head. Coal pouted but he did not argue any further. Sensing the shift in the mood, the other two had also stopped laughing.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here, in case they come back with reinforcements,¡± Rose ordered and they started moving again, though now with a much more sombre mood. Rose and Violet kept an eye out behind them as they went in case more dogs appeared.


    As they continued, Rose eventually calmed down and even apologised to Coal for being so angry since she knew he probably didn¡¯t understand at least half of what she had said. But she knew he at least understood ¡®stop¡¯. She tried to make him understand that she wouldn¡¯t tell him to stop something unless it was for a good reason, so he needed to listen when she did. She could only hope that she actually managed to get through to him.


    Later, when Igneous returned from one of his scouting trips, he informed Rose of a human vehicle approaching. She asked where and he pointed across the river.


    ¡°We need to hide,¡± she instructed.


    Even though she said that, in reality, only Igneous and Violet actually had to hide as there was a concrete barrier that ran along the side of the road, presumably to prevent vehicles from plunging into the water if something happened. Violet was the only imp tall enough to see or be seen over the height of the barrier, though only just. Igneous curled up into a rock and Violet crouched down while the other imps stayed close to the wall.


    They soon heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. Violet briefly stood up to peek over the wall, but was quickly pulled back down by Rose.


    ¡°Don¡¯t do that,¡± she rebuked.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Violet apologised and Rose sighed.


    ¡°What did you see?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Just one car, one of the boxy ones,¡± Violet replied.


    ¡°Do you think it was going somewhere with a purpose or just a random patrol?¡± After staring at Rose blankly for a moment, Violet shrugged. ¡°I suppose that was a silly question, sorry,¡± Rose said.


    As they waited, they listened to the sound of the car as it moved past them and drove on. Rose let out a sigh of relief when they could no longer hear it. This day had already been far more eventful than the night before.


    Nothing else interesting happened until it began to get late in the afternoon. As River and Aster prepared to dive into the water once again, Rose noted the position of the sun and thought they would only have enough time for one or two more stops like before they needed to start heading back.


    As Rose watched the two imps in the water, River dove beneath the surface for a few seconds and emerged holding a flailing lizard in her hands.


    ¡°I found a lizard!¡± She declared.


    It certainly wasn¡¯t the lizard they were looking for, being only about as long as her arm, from head to tail, but that didn¡¯t seem to matter to River right now. She was so excited about her discovery that she brought it with her when she exited the water.


    ¡°Any sign of the dungeon?¡± Rose inquired.


    ¡°No dungeon, only lizard.¡± River exclaimed, presenting the lizard in front of her.


    ¡°Eat?¡± Coal asked.


    ¡°No! No eating. This is my friend,¡± She hugged the lizard tightly, despite its struggling, and glared at Coal.


    ¡°I thought the big lizard was your friend,¡± Violet remarked.


    ¡°I can have lots of friends,¡± River insisted.


    Rose inspected the lizard and frowned. It had a long sinewy body, pale brown colouring, bumpy ridges running down its back, webbed claws and a vertically flat tail.


    ¡°Violet, does this thing look familiar to you?¡± she questioned.


    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s a river skulk, right?¡± Violet replied, also peering at the lizard.


    ¡°It looks like it, but they shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Violet queried.


    ¡°Did Magentam explain to you how this is a different world from where we came from?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I didn¡¯t really get it,¡± VIolet said with a confused frown.


    ¡°It is a strange concept,¡± Rose agreed, ¡°but it means that anything that came from the same place as us shouldn¡¯t be found here; unless something brought it here,¡± Rose explained, a grin tugging at the corners of the lips. Violet thought about it, then her face lit up with a wide smile.


    ¡°Like a dungeon!¡± She exclaimed.


    ¡°Exactly. I don¡¯t know how much farther it is, but I think we¡¯re going the right way.¡±


    They were all more excited now as they moved forwards, believing that their objective was near. River was still holding the lizard and it eventually calmed down enough to allow itself to be carried without complaint. Rose thought she should probably inform Magentam of their progress


    ¡®I think we¡¯ve found something,¡¯ she reported.


    The dungeon?


    ¡®Not yet, but we¡¯ve found evidence of its presence. I believe we¡¯re getting close, but we may have to keep going for a bit longer than planned,¡¯ she stared.


    If you think you are on the right track then that is fine. Let me know what you find.


    The next time Igneous returned from his aerial scouting, Rose instructed him to stick with them from then on because they were nearing their objective.


    It was shortly after nightfall when they finally found what they were looking for. River paused as she entered the water, with Aster right behind her.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s here,¡± she called out to the others.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Rose asked.


    ¡°Yes, lots of mana here.¡± River confirmed.


    ¡°Wait here,¡± Rose told Violet, Coal and Igneous as she stripped off her clothes and carefully climbed over the wall and down to the river below. As soon as her foot touched the water, she could feel it; there was indeed a lot of mana here. While not exactly the same, it did feel very similar to the mana in Magentam¡¯s dungeon. With that she was certain that they had found the dungeon they were looking for.


    She looked out to where River and Aster were splashing water at each other and noticed numerous tiny heads breaching the surface all around them and slight ripples in the surrounding area that indicated more were coming.


    ¡°We need to get out of the water, now!¡± Rose warned.


    River and Aster stopped playing and saw all the lizards around them. As they swam back as quickly as they could, the lizards casually followed them. There were few things faster than imps on land, but in the water, the lizards clearly had the advantage. River skulks would not usually attack imps under normal circumstances, but they also would not usually congregate in such large numbers. If they did decide to attack the imps in the water, they would be helpless to do anything about it.


    But they did not attack, they just followed River and Aster until they reached the wall and started climbing up. From that point the lizards just stared up at them, occasionally sticking out their tongues to lick the air. River stared wistfully back down at them.


    ¡°I lost my little friend,¡± She lamented.


    ¡°Igneous, can you try communicating with them?¡± Rose asked.


    Igneous looked down at the lizards below and became motionless for a few moments. He turned back to Rose and shook his head.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Violet pondered aloud.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We can¡¯t fight them, not when there¡¯s that many,¡± Rose stated.


    ¡°Maybe they friendly,¡± River suggested, ¡°they didn¡¯t attack us when down there.¡±


    ¡°Would you like to be the one to go down there and find out?¡± Rose retorted.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll go,¡± River volunteered.


    This left Rose speechless. She had meant it sarcastically, but either she wasn¡¯t very good at conveying sarcasm, or River just wasn¡¯t good at noticing it. But they did need to do something; they weren¡¯t going to make any progress if they just stood around staring at the lizards.


    ¡°Fine, you can go, but you need to be extremely careful. If even one of them makes any attempt to bite you, you get back up here immediately,¡± Rose commanded.


    River made her way slowly down, the lizards doing nothing but watching her the whole way. At the bottom, she anxiously lowered one foot down, hoping she was right about them being friendly. When she made contact with the muddy riverbank below, the lizards had made no move against her. She bent down to pick up one of the lizards and it didn¡¯t even try to stop her.


    ¡°You¡¯re my new little friend,¡± she cheered, gleefully hugging it.


    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s safe then,¡± Rose observed. ¡°Can you swim?¡± She asked Igneous and he nodded, ¡°Good, you might need to for this.¡±


    ¡°BIG FRIEND!¡± River shouted, attracting everyone¡¯s attention.


    Looking down at the water where River was still holding the lizard she had picked up, but nearby was the dungeon¡¯s guardian; the big lizard. River was eagerly swimming towards it with the smaller lizard under one one arm.


    ¡°Do you think you could communicate with that one?¡± Rose asked and Igneous shrugged. ¡°We should go down and find out.


    Rose climbed down the wall while Igneous glided from the top and landed in the water. As Igneous approached the guardian, River was already sitting on its back. He stared at it and the lizard just tilted its head.


    ¡°Getting anything?¡± Rose asked, treading water beside him. He shook his head and indicated to her that this creature was ¡®too simple¡¯. ¡°What about the dungeon itself?¡±


    After a moment, Igneous dunked his head under the water for a few seconds.When he brought it back up, he shook his head.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard or felt anything that seems like the dungeon reaching out either. Maybe it just doesn''t want to talk to us.¡± Rose contemplated.


    ¡°Violet, can you bring the mana crystal here,¡± she called out.


    Violet quickly stripped off her clothes, then, instead of climbing down, she simply jumped from the top of the wall to the muddy ground below, landing in a crouch. Coal, on the other hand, teleported out over the water and curled up into a ball as he fell. Violet swam out to them holding the mana crystal.


    ¡°See if you can make the big lizard understand that this is a gift to help the dungeon,¡± Rose suggested to Igneous.


    Violet held the crystal out towards the lizard. It tilted its head to the side but moved forward to inspect the crystal, poking its tongue out repeatedly to taste the air around it. It soon lost interest in the crystal and turned to swim away, with River still on its back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go too far,¡± Rose warned her.


    ¡°Okay,¡± River called back.


    Rose swam back to the riverbank with Violet and Igneous following behind.


    ¡°What now? It didn¡¯t seem to want the crystal,¡± Violet inquired when they were in a shallow enough area to be able to stand.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll ask Magentam what she thinks we should do,¡± Rose replies.


    ¡®We found the dungeon and you were right about it being full of lizards,'' Rose reported.


    Were you able to make contact with it?


    ¡®Unfortunately not. Igneous tried communicating with the dungeon and the lizard but didn¡¯t get anything back.''


    It was unresponsive?


    ¡®Not entirely. When we first entered the dungeon, we were surrounded by the lizards, which could be considered a response, but nothing beyond that.¡¯


    That is a little disappointing, but not unexpected. Are the lizards hostile?


    ¡®No, they seemed completely docile, even the guardian, which, as you suspected, is the big lizard.¡¯


    Having creatures that are docile to defend a dungeon seems a little counter-productive. Do you think that the dungeon is incapable of communicating or just unwilling?


    ¡®I don¡¯t know, it could be either, but I¡¯m not sure what I could do to confirm it. What should we do with the mana crystal? Should we just leave it here anyway?¡¯


    For now, yes. If the dungeon is sentient but just does not want to communicate, leaving a gift might make it more cooperative in the future. But if it turns out to truly not be a thinking entity at all, then we can come back for the crystal later. Just bury it somewhere inside the dungeon so the humans do not see it and take it for themselves.


    ¡°Magentam says we should bury the crystal in the mud and leave it here,¡± Rose relayed.


    ¡°Why bury it?¡± Violet questioned.


    ¡°So the humans don¡¯t find it.¡± Rose explained.


    ¡°Oh, that makes sense.¡± Violet swam out into the water again and dove to the bottom. She surfaced soon after without the mana crystal. ¡°Done,¡± she reported.


    ¡°We should probably start heading home now; it¡¯s a long way back,¡± Rose recommended.


    ¡°Right. I can¡¯t wait to tell Magentam about all the things we¡¯ve seen and show her my new brooms,¡± Violet agreed and quickly scaled the wall with Rose following behind. Igneous unfolded his wings and flapped them a few times to shake off the water before launching himself into the air.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to go home, please come back now,¡± She called out to the others from the top of the wall.


    Coal appeared beside her a moment later with water dripping off him, but they had to wait for the other two to swim back. When they climbed over the wall, River was still holding a lizard with one arm.


    ¡°What do you intend to do with that?¡± Rose asked, staring at the lizard in confusion.


    ¡°I¡¯m keeping it. It¡¯s my friend,¡± River declared. Rose considered that for a moment.


    ¡°That might be a good idea. It would allow Magentam to see what they look like directly. But if you¡¯re going to keep it, you have to look after it. Do you understand?¡± Rose told her.


    ¡°I will,¡± River insisted.


    Violet offered River and Aster their clothes back, which had been stored in her backpack and River stared at the backpack for a moment.


    ¡°Do you think little friend be more comfortable in pack than carried?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Maybe, let¡¯s try it.¡± Violet placed the backpack on the ground and held it open.


    River carefully lowered the lizard into it. The lizard shuffled around to investigate its new confines but soon settled without even trying to escape and River beamed at the success.


    Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, they began their long journey home.

 52. A Rock and a Hard Place

    I am pleased to see all of my imps return safely, even though I was expecting it, as I am sure either Violet or Rose would have contacted me if anything had gone wrong. While waiting for them as they make their way up the stairs, I feel a strange presence with them, something I cannot identify, though I do not get a sense of danger from it. I move to the stairs to try to get a glimpse of whatever it is as it goes past. It seems to be moving along with the imps, but I cannot see anything with them and even though it is moving in and out of my domain as it ascends the stairs, I am not getting any mana from it.


    I think something is following you, but I do not know what it is. I inform Rose


    ¡®Violet and River brought something back. I didn¡¯t say anything because they wanted it to be a surprise,¡¯ she replied.


    I wait for them in the hallway and observe them as they enter. I still cannot see the thing, but when I focus on its location, it seems like it is following Violet so closely that it would have to be clinging to her and I realise it must be inside her backpack.


    I follow them into the core room when Violet joyfully announces that she has found more brooms, holding her newest acquisitions above her head.


    That is excellent and I would love to see them later, but right now I am more interested in what you have in your backpack.


    Violet grins and puts her brooms on the floor before carefully removing her backpack and placing it down. River quickly approaches, bouncing with excitement as Violet pulls the zipper open. She reaches her hands in only to quickly pull them back with a screech.


    ¡°It bit me,¡± she complains, looking at her now bleeding finger. River looks down into the bag and frowns.


    ¡°Hey, no biting,¡± she commands.


    Are you alright?


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. It only hurts a little,¡± Violet says.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about, imps are immune to their venom,¡± Rose says, taking Violet¡¯s hand in her own to heal the wound.


    This creature is venomous?


    ¡°Only a little, but it won¡¯t harm us,¡± she insists.


    It may not harm you, but what about Igneous and the hellhounds?


    Rose pauses and her brow furrows.


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that. But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s potent enough to actually be dangerous to such large creatures¡­maybe.¡±


    River quickly reaches into the backpack and extracts the creature within, finally revealing it to be a lizard. The little creature struggles at first, but relaxes once it was placed on the floor, tilting its head to one side, then to the other while occasionally poking out its tongue. River fawns over the lizard while some other imps came over to see what she had brought.


    You took one of the lizards from the dungeon?


    ¡°Yes, River wanted to keep it and I thought you might like to see what they look like up close,¡± Rose explains.


    Being a dungeon creature might be why it did not suffer the effects of entering and exiting my domain earlier. Perhaps dungeon creatures are also not affected by other dungeons? Did you know that would be the case?


    ¡°I had a hunch. None of us were affected when we left the river dungeon so I assumed it would be the same for the lizard here.¡±


    If you had been wrong, it might not have survived coming up the stairs.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s a good thing I was right then,¡± she says with a smug grin.


    How did you know imps are immune to their venom or that they even are venomous?


    ¡°Because they came from our world. They¡¯re called ¡®river skulks¡¯ and are a common sight along the shores of rivers and lakes so we¡¯re quite familiar with them. They¡¯re also quite tasty, though I doubt River will let anyone eat this one.¡±


    And the guardian is the same?


    ¡°Besides the size and colour, yes,¡± she confirms.


    But you did not notice before that it was also a river skulk?


    ¡°They don¡¯t naturally grow so large. That,¡± she gestures to the lizard River brought back, ¡°is their normal size. We also didn¡¯t know about guardians the first time we saw it, so I didn¡¯t make the connection, I suppose,¡± Rose explains.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    That is understandable.


    I am not too surprised that the lizards also came from the same place as the imps, but what is surprising is the size disparity between the normal river skulks and the guardian. I still have not seen the guardian for myself, of course, but if the imp¡¯s description of it is accurate, it is truly gargantuan compared to the others of its kind. I cannot help but wonder how many resurrections it had to go through to grow so large.


    If the humans have known about the dungeon for years, then they have likely had many encounters with its guardian, giving it plenty of opportunities to grow, though I have no idea how much bigger it got with each death. I try to imagine my own guardians growing to similar proportions, compared to their peers, and find it hard to picture. Rose and Violet would probably be too big to fit in the building anymore and Noctis might actually be as large as a building herself. I hope they never get that big, I think I quite like them at their current size.


    How does the venom of the guardian compare to that of the regular river skulks, I wonder. Obviously, the quantity would be greater, but what of the potency? If that was also increased, would my imps still be immune to it? Given the apparent lack of hostility from the other dungeon¡¯s creatures, it is possible that I may never have to find out. It does make me question though, is it perhaps normal for dungeon creatures to simply not be hostile towards each other, even when they are from different dungeons?


    I might explain why the hellhounds have been able to form such a close bond with the imps, even though they seem like the kind of creatures who, under normal circumstances, would see imps as prey. It is obvious that a dungeon can affect the minds of creatures connected to it, this may be one of those effects.


    Next time the humans visit, I should ask them about how the dungeon¡¯s creatures react to them. Though I will have to be careful to do so in a way that does not clue them into the fact that we searched for and actually found the river dungeon.


    I spend quite a while observing the lizard they brought back, but aside from noting its appearance, I am not able to learn much more about it. Whenever it is not being carried around by River, it does not seem to do anything; it hardly even moves. Rose does tell me a little more about them though. They are amphibious and their normal hunting strategy involves burying themselves in the mud and waiting for something to come close, before lunging at their prey, biting them and not letting go until it stops moving.


    While that is interesting, I am concerned about how well it will be able to survive here when we do not have a lot of water or mud in this building. But River insisted that she would take care of it so I just have to trust her and if it does not work out, that will be an important lesson for her.


    The lesson comes sooner than I expect though. She takes the lizard with her to the river to play the next day and returns in tears. Seeing her like that, Violet rushes over and attempts to comfort her but she is inconsolable. Violet tries to ask her what happened, but her sister¡¯s response is completely unintelligible. Luckily, Aster is able to offer an explanation.


    ¡°She took lizard friend to river. Let it go in the water, it swim away. Didn¡¯t come back. She tried chasing, but it swims much faster. Now it¡¯s gone,¡± he reports.


    That is unfortunate, but also probably for the best that it returns to its home.


    <hr>


    I have run out of bedrooms for new imps, the last few that I summoned have started doubling up in the bedrooms. It has not been an issue though, even a single bed is big enough for multiple imps to share without having to touch each other, not that that would even bother them anyway. It seems Rose was right when she said that imps would rather be crowded inside my dungeon than find their own beds outside of it. The next imp I plan to summon soon will bring the total to seventeen. I wonder what the normal size for an imp pack is, so I ask Rose.


    ¡°My old pack had twenty-two before I¡­became separated from them. But the numbers did fluctuate occasionally, mostly when the wanderers visited,¡± Rose remarks.


    Who are ¡®the wanderers¡¯?


    ¡°Nomadic packs. They travel all over instead of settling in one place. Their packs were usually larger, I think. They would share stories of their travels and sometimes bring interesting things to trade from other places¡±


    Why would these wanderers visiting affect the size of your pack?


    ¡°When two packs meet, it¡¯s not uncommon for them to trade members. Some of the wanderers decide to settle and some of those who¡¯ve been in one place for a while take the opportunity to travel.¡±


    Did you ever travel with wanderers?


    ¡°No¡­Maybe I would have, eventually, but I never got the chance,¡± she laments.


    Maybe you still can one day. There is a whole world out there that imps have yet to explore.


    ¡°I¡¯ve no doubt some will want to do just that at some point, but I won¡¯t be one of them.¡±


    Why not?


    ¡°My place is here, protecting everyone,¡± she insists.


    I wish I could say that we will be safe one day and it will not be necessary for her to protect everyone forever, but with the humans and now the vak as well, it would be irresponsible of me to make such a claim.


    I might need to think about making a plan on what to do if we do eventually have to deal with the vak. The humans, I believe, should be easy to avoid simply by leaving town and hiding, but the vak might not be so easy to evade. The human¡¯s only interest in us seems to be because they want my core, but the vak will not be so simple. William did imply that they want dungeon cores as well, but they also have a problem with imps so I cannot imagine them being too thrilled about seeing imps with a core in their possession.


    Unfortunately, I do not know enough about them to imagine how they will respond to such a situation. I can only hope that if it comes to it, they will be satisfied with only taking my core and my imps will be able to escape.


    It may be quite some time before that becomes an issue though as they are focused on the humans for now. Ideally, it would be best if we can keep them from learning about us for as long as possible; which is another reason for us to leave the city. If the vak are trying to exterminate the humans, then it would be better for us to not be near them.


    But I doubt we could hide forever, especially if the vak win their war. Once the humans are gone, they will claim this land as their own. When that happens, is there anywhere we could go where we truly could not be found? I doubt it; it is inevitable that they would discover us eventually.


    What other option do we have? Maybe we could try helping the humans, but what could we even do? What assistance could we realistically offer? Could one dungeon, and the creatures it summons, really have that much of an impact on the outcome of an entire war?


    Even if we could make a difference, then what? If we could somehow help the humans attain victory instead, would we really be better off? While there are humans who seem reasonable, we know there are others who cannot be trusted and would do us harm if given the chance. How can we be sure the humans will not simply turn on us when we are no longer useful to them.


    Maybe I am overthinking things and I hope that is the case, but I fear we are stuck in a situation with no good options available to us.

 53. A Peaceful Day

    A tiny imp, even by imp standards, proudly sat astride her mighty steed, looking out over what was soon to become a fierce battlefield. Calm and analytical, as a good leader should be, she surveyed the horde of enemies arrayed before them, looking for any weaknesses to exploit. What she saw were creatures that looked lazy and entirely unprepared for the coming conflict. She grinned and raised one hand to point towards their prey.


    ¡°Attack,¡± she commanded.


    While her steed made no move from where it stood, its three smaller kin charged forwards. Their cowardly enemies turned to flee from the approaching threat, bouncing away on two legs, not even trying to fight. But such a response was understandable, for what could they hope to accomplish against the might of hellhounds. The battle was soon over and the hellhounds quickly returned with their spoils.


    The smallest of the hellhounds presented her prize to the other two imps who were waiting nearby, the commander¡¯s most trusted advisors.


    ¡°Thank you Fuzzy,¡± one of the advisors said and they both reached up to give the hellhound light scratches around the sides of her neck and under her chin, which Fuzzy enjoyed immensely, judging by the way he tail swayed from side to side and the soft crooning noises she made.


    ¡°Calla, come,¡± her other advisor instructed. Calla looked down at Noctis, who had been serving as her steed for most of the day now.


    ¡°Down?¡± She asked and Noctis lowered herself to the ground so Calla could more easily dismount. Calla hugged the hellhound¡¯s large head and gave her a gentle kiss before joining her parents.


    Fire had sought to bring down the biggest of the creatures he could find to present to his mate and Noctis nuzzled him affectionately for his efforts, while Scar shared his catch with Fuzzy.


    ¡°Can¡¯t have hellhounds do everything. Tomorrow, we find own food.¡± Calla¡¯s mother, Lily, declared.


    The three imps sat on the grass under the shade of a tree as they tore into their meal with teeth and claws, ripping it apart with little concern for the mess they made or the blood soaking into their clothes. It just meant they¡¯d need to stop by the river to get cleaned up before going home.


    They had travelled quite far from the dungeon, as they often did when looking for food. It had become scarce in the area around their home. Not that it was ever plentiful in that part of the city, a place built of concrete, metal and glass. Even though the concrete was breaking and the grass was growing through the cracks, it was not enough to support a large population of animals. But further away from the city centre where the houses were made of wood and bricks, the plants and trees were far more plentiful and so were the animals that fed on them. Sometimes even the plants themselves offered a bounty for the imps to feast upon. Not for the hellhounds though; they didn¡¯t like to eat plants, not even the ones the imps thought were tasty.


    Once the hellhounds had eaten their fill, Fuzzy took a nap next to where the imps were seated while Fire and Scar began a fire-breathing contest. Noctis watched as they took turns sending pillars of fire up into the air, each one wider, hotter and travelling further than the one before.


    Eventually, she decided to join in. She stepped up to the other two hellhounds, inhaled deeply and felt the heat building inside her. Looking up to the sky, she unleashed a blazing inferno more intense than both of the males'' efforts combined. Scar looked down submissively at the demonstration of her power, but Fire was bouncing in excitement at the display.


    Calla and her parents watched in awe at the flames that seemed to reach all the way to the sky above, spreading out like an enormous flickering, fiery flower. When the blaze finally ended, Calla turned to her parents, her eyes sparkling.


    ¡°When I make fire?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Make fire? Like hellhounds?¡± Her father, Calyx, inquired.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Calla sucked in a deep breath of air, then opened her mouth as wide and exhaled as hard as she could, but was disappointed when no fire emerged.


    ¡°Imps don¡¯t make fire like that. Only hellhounds,¡± Lily insisted. Calla frowned and looked down at the ground, then peered at Fuzzy and thought for a moment.


    ¡°I become hellhound?¡± She asked hopefully, eliciting a chuckle from Calyx.


    ¡°Imp not become hellhound. Imp become imp,¡± he answered.


    ¡°No. I do it,¡± Calla vowed, gazing towards Noctis with a look of determination.


    <hr>


    After waking, Coal stretched out as much as he was capable within the confines of his box. He sat up slowly and peeked over its edges, peering around the room. He couldn¡¯t see any other imps present and even the rock-thing that often sat in the corner was absent. The only thing in the room besides him was the glowing pink orb. Violet and Rose had told him that the orb is the one in charge of this place and the source of the voice that spoke to him sometimes.


    He didn¡¯t understand how an orb can speak or how it could be in charge of anything. In the past he would have questioned why he should listen to a talking orb, but they said it also brought the Flamebringers here and keeps them under control; anything capable of taming those monsters is deserving of respect.


    He climbed out of his box and reached his arms up to stretch properly. He liked his box, it was the best place to sleep he had ever found and it had room for all of his things, not that he actually had much besides this box; just some clothes and the magic rock he was given. The best was that he didn¡¯t even have to fight for it. Not that he didn¡¯t enjoy fighting, but it was nice to not have to fight all the time. When he was with his old pack, anytime he wanted anything, he wouldn¡¯t get it without a fight. That was the way things were decided amongst them; the only ones who got what they wanted were those who had the strength to take it. Food was the only exception, letting anyone go hungry would weaken the overall strength of the pack, but they would only get as much as they needed to survive. Anyone who wanted more than the bare minimum would have to fight for it.


    While he didn¡¯t like to admit it, he had often been one of those who only got the bare minimum. He wondered if that would still be the case if he went back now, after Rose and Violet had helped him get better at fighting. None of that mattered here though, they didn¡¯t fight over everything in this pack. Resources were shared evenly and most conflicts were resolved without resorting to violence, or at least before too much blood was shed. It was confusing for him when he first arrived and there were still things he didn¡¯t understand. That is what led him to the current conundrum that he¡¯d been trying to figure out for a while now; how to appeal to a potential mate.


    In his old pack, attracting a mate would have simply been a matter of impressing her with his strength, but it was clear that wasn¡¯t going to work with Violet. He had already proven himself stronger than all the other imps here, besides Violet herself, but given how much stronger she was than him, he didn¡¯t expect to be able to impress her that way. Even if he could compare to her strength, that might not be enough. The imps here did not prioritise strength the same way they did where he came from.


    After pondering the situation, yet again, and still not reaching an answer, he decided it was time to ask for advice. He assumed Rose would be the best one to ask because she was the smartest, or so Violet had explained to him at least. Her bedroom was the most likely place to find her when she wasn¡¯t out, so he approached her door and knocked, hoping she would actually be there. Knocking was something else he had to learn after he came here. Rose was very insistent on it, though he mostly found it to be a hassle that he didn¡¯t see the point of. He never had to worry about doors before coming here.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    There was no response to his continued knocking and when he finally ran out of patience, he opened the door and walked in, only to find the room empty. Grunting in frustration, he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him. If she had gone outside, it would probably be easier to wait for her to return rather than go looking for her, but if she is around here somewhere, the orb would know; he walked up to the chair, surrounded by bones, upon which it was situated. Ignoring the false orb, he tapped the iridescent pink sphere a few times.


    Coal, do you need something? The orb¡¯s voice asked.


    ¡°Rose. Where?¡± He asked.


    It is her turn on watch right now, so she is up on the roof at the moment.


    He didn¡¯t understand most of the words but he knew what the ¡®roof¡¯ was so he made his way to the stairs. On the roof, he found Rose and several other imps. Most were running around and playing, with Violet among them. Only Rose was walking around the perimeter and keeping watch over the surroundings. She stopped her patrol when she noticed Coal had arrived and approached him.


    ¡°Magentam said you were looking for me. What do you need?¡± She asked.


    ¡°How¡­make Violet¡­like?¡± Coal inquired, speaking slowly as he tried to remember the correct words.


    ¡°Like what?¡± Rose replied, tilting her head to the side in confusion.


    ¡°I,¡± he stated, pointing to himself.


    ¡°I think she already likes you, doesn¡¯t she?¡± She raised an eyebrow and looked over to where Violet was running around with the others.


    Coal took some time to process what she said, doing his best to decipher the meaning from the words he understood.


    ¡°Mate?¡± He asked hopefully.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said as realisation dawned on her, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. What have you tried so far?¡±


    ¡°Fight,¡± he said, holding up his fists. Rose lets out an exasperated sigh.


    ¡°Maybe try a gift,¡± she suggested.


    ¡°Gift?¡±


    ¡°Yes, try giving her something she likes, something that doesn¡¯t involve fighting.¡±


    ¡°What she like?¡±


    ¡°You know she likes brooms.¡±


    Without waiting for another word, Coal dashed back to the stairwell. He teleported his way down the stairs to reach his goal faster. Once back on the fifth floor, he fetched one of Violet''s brooms and returned to the roof as quickly as he could to present it to her.


    On the roof again, he immediately sought out Violet and held the broom out for her. She stared at him confused for a moment, then grinned and took it from his hands.


    ¡°Thanks, this is just what I need,¡± she cheered. She placed the head of the broom on the floor before her and took off running.


    Coal didn¡¯t understand the purpose of brooms. Pushing dirt from one place to another seemed like a completely pointless thing to do. He couldn¡¯t understand why she found them so appealing, but she liked them and that is what mattered. He watched her pushing the broom around, chasing after the other imps as they ran away from her, laughing, until Rose came up behind him.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of hers isn¡¯t it? You got it from downstairs, right?¡± When he nodded, she sighed and shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. It¡¯s not a gift if you are just giving her something she already owns.¡±


    He stares blankly at her in response, not really understanding what she was trying to tell him.


    ¡°You need to go out, find a new broom, one that is not already hers, bring it back and give it to her,¡± Rose explained slowly.


    ¡°Out. New broom. Give.¡± Coal said back to her.


    ¡°Yes, exactly. Find a new broom to give to Violet,¡± Rose confirmed.


    ¡°I go,¡± he declared.


    ¡°WAIT!¡± Rose commanded as he was turning to leave. ¡°You can¡¯t go by yourself. It¡¯s not safe to go out alone. You¡¯ll need to find someone to go with you.¡±


    ¡°I go,¡± he repeated, his fist clenched and his expression turning into a frown.


    ¡°No. Not alone.¡± Rose insisted.


    ¡°You come,¡± Coal growled.


    ¡°I can¡¯t right now. It¡¯s my turn on watch, but look,¡± she gestured to the other imps around, ¡°you can ask anyone else.¡±


    His frown deepened further into a scowl and he disappeared from where he was standing only to reappear directly in the path of the closest imp who ran right into him. Coal was prepared for the impact and so was mostly unaffected by it, but the other imp bounced off him and fell to the ground. The smaller imp was terrified when he looked up and saw Coal scowling down at him.


    ¡°You, come,¡± Coal demanded.


    Rose walked over to him again, also frowning now.


    ¡°Coal, that wasn¡¯t nice. And you can¡¯t just order others to do whatever you want,¡± she reprimanded. She turned to the imp who was still on the ground and held out a hand to help him up.


    ¡°Sorry about that, he¡¯s not going to hurt you. He just needs someone to go outside with him because of the rule that we¡¯re not allowed to go out by ourselves, but you don¡¯t have to go with him if you don¡¯t want to.¡± She said to the imp, it was one of the recently summoned males who did not yet have a name.


    ¡°Go where?¡± He asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s looking for a gift for Violet. He wants her to be his mate.¡± She whispered the last part while Coal glared at him. The male imp smiled, then giggled and nodded.


    ¡°Okay, I go,¡± the male imp agreed.


    With that, Coal stopped scowling and made his way down the stairs once more, this time with another imp trailing behind him.


    <hr>


    Igneous was gliding through the air, circling the hotel on a wide arc. Once the watch rotation Rose organised had been explained to him, he offered to participate as well, considering it only fair that he also be a part of it. Having a higher vantage point also gave him a better view of the surrounding area. That the lack of aerial predators made it much safer to spread his wings was quite pleasing to him as well, though Magentam had warned him that the humans could still pose a danger to him if provoked.


    That didn¡¯t mean he was the only creature in the air, but nothing he had seen flying in these skies so far was a threat to him. But he still remained alert whenever he heard the sound of wings, so when he suddenly heard wings that he wasn¡¯t familiar with, it put him on edge. Being able to identify a creature based solely on the sound of its wingbeats was once a matter of life and death for him so he was certain that whatever it was was something he¡¯d never encountered before and needed to investigate, though not without caution.


    Whatever it was, it beat its wings quickly, at least compared to him, suggesting that it was small. He could only hear one set of wings, meaning the creature was alone so he flew in the direction of the sound. Following it to its source, he found what appeared to be a winged reptile flying low over the city. He might not have thought much of it, just another new creature in this new land he had found himself in, he might have even eaten it, under normal circumstances.


    Swooping down towards it, it must have noticed his approach because its movements suddenly became erratic, but it was unable to evade the claws grasping for it. Holding the creature tightly in his hands, he glided over to the roof of the nearest building to inspect what he had caught.


    All the flying creatures he had seen so far in these lands had either feathers or fur; this was the first one he had seen with scales. It had a long sinuous body, though half its length was in its tail. Igneous estimated it would be about as long as his arm from the tip of its tail to its nose. It had two short legs and two wings that it flapped desperately as it struggled to escape his grasp.


    But the creature itself wasn''t important right now. What had drawn his attention was the small black plastic box strapped to its chest. He didn¡¯t know what it was, but it was well secured. He also didn¡¯t think this creature had the physical or mental capability to have put it on itself. He decided it would be best to take it back to show Rose. Snapping the creature¡¯s neck to put an end to its struggling, he took off back towards the hotel. Once there, he landed right beside Rose and she looked at him with a concerned frown.


    ¡°Did you see something?¡± She asked.


    He held out the creature for her to inspect and her eyes went wide when she saw the box.


    ¡°Magentam needs to see this.¡±

 54. Aerial Reconnaissance

    What Igneous has managed to bring back is concerning, to say the least. It is splayed out on the floor in front of my chair, Igneous and Rose standing over it and a few other imps gathered around out of curiosity. The creature itself is not the problem, though it is interesting, like a tiny dragon or something similar. I do wonder, briefly, if dragons are actually real; perhaps I will ask William what he knows of them later. What I need to worry about now is what the creature is wearing. It is clearly a fitted harness and what is attached to the harness is a small black box with a few circles that appear to be made of glass. I cannot imagine it as being anything other than a camera of some sort.


    You found this flying over the city?


    Igneous nods in response.


    Was this the only one you saw?


    He nods again.


    ¡°What is it? Is this a problem?¡± Rose asks.


    I do not know about the creature, but the device on its harness is a camera, used for taking pictures and possibly recording video. It is definitely a problem, but how much depends on who sent it and what their objective is. Do you recognise the creature?


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen anything like it before,¡± Rose says and looks to Igneous questioningly, and he shakes his head.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± She asks.


    I think our best course of action would be to call William.


    ¡°What if the humans were the ones to send this thing?¡±


    I cannot say it is impossible, but it seems unlikely. If the humans wanted to scout the area, I am sure they would be more straightforward about it.


    After considering that for a moment, she nods and walks over to the desk with the radio. She climbs up onto the chair in front of it and plugs the microphone in. She hesitates before speaking into it and frowns.


    ¡°Do you think this qualifies as an emergency?¡± She questions and I have to think about that before I answer.


    Probably. If the humans did not send it, then that means it was the vak. In that case, I am sure the humans would want to know about this as soon as possible.


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± she tunes the radio to the emergency frequency that William explained, then pauses. ¡°What should I say?¡±


    I suppose you should start by saying you need to speak to William Blake.


    She holds down the button to activate the microphone and speaks into it.


    ¡°I need to speak to William Blake.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, could you please repeat that? Over,¡± a male voice responds from the radio¡¯s speaker and I translate for Rose.


    ¡°I need to speak with William Blake,¡± Rose repeats.


    ¡°Am I saying that right?¡± She inquires, looking over to where I am beside her.


    Yes. That is correct.


    ¡°Who¡¯s speaking? Over,¡± the man¡¯s voice requests.


    ¡°Am I supposed to be saying ¡®over¡¯ every time?¡±


    I do not know, I think it is just something they say to indicate that they are finished talking. And you should tell them that it is Magentam speaking.


    Turning back to the radio, she activates the microphone again.


    ¡°It¡¯s Magentam¡­Over.¡±


    ¡°Please wait a moment,¡± the man says, then is quiet for a couple of minutes. ¡°I¡¯ve contacted William, he¡¯s on his way. Over.¡±


    ¡°Can eat this?¡± One of the other imps asks after several minutes of waiting, pointing at the winged creature still on the floor.


    ¡°Not yet. We might still need it,¡± replies Rose.


    ¡°Just little bit?¡± The other imp pleads.


    ¡°No. If you¡¯re hungry, you¡¯ll have to go out and find something else. We can¡¯t eat this yet,¡± Rose insists.


    While dissatisfied, none of the gathered imps argue any further and they make their way out of the room, leaving only Rose and Igneous here with me. Eventually a new voice speaks out over the radio.


    ¡°Hey, this is William. Sorry I took so long, you caught me at kind of a bad time. What¡¯s the emergency?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t say ¡®over¡¯,¡± Rose observes.


    Perhaps it is just normal radio procedure for his organisation, but he doesn¡¯t feel the need to do it with us because we¡¯re not part of it.


    I instruct Rose on how to respond and she relays the words slowly and carefully to pronounce each word as accurately as she can.


    ¡°We found a flying lizard with a camera attached to a harness,¡± she says.


    There is a pause before William speaks again.


    ¡°That¡¯s not Magentam¡¯s voice. Who am I actually speaking to?¡± He asks.


    Rose frowns, unsure of what to say, but I let her know that she might as just tell him. It will not really matter that much anyway.


    ¡°It¡¯s Rose,¡± she states.


    ¡°Is there a reason why Magentam isn¡¯t the one speaking?¡± William queries.


    Just tell him there is, but do not elaborate further.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Rose relays and does not offer anything more. The silence drags on for a while before William replies.


    ¡°Right, and you¡¯re not going to tell me those reasons, of course. Well, that doesn¡¯t matter. Did you manage to catch the flying lizard?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s dead now,¡± Rose confirms.


    ¡°Is the camera still intact?¡± William inquires with a hopeful tone.


    ¡°The camera is undamaged,¡± she assures him.


    ¡°Excellent, that¡¯ll be helpful. We need to see what¡¯s on it. I¡¯m coming to you. I¡¯ll be there soon. Over and out.¡±


    It is roughly an hour later when William finally arrives with Cassandra and another man I do not know in tow. The unknown man is carrying a rectangular bag that he places on the table in the meeting room. I ask Igneous to bring the creature down as the man opens the bag, extracting and unfolding a computer.


    ¡°So where¡¯s this camera?¡± He asks.


    It is on the way. I say to William and am amused to see him flinch. I am not the only one amused though as I see Cassandra is also wearing a smirk.


    ¡°It¡¯s coming, apparently,¡± William informs the other man.


    The man¡¯s eyes go wide when Igneous enters the room, with Rose following behind, and he backs away in shock.


    ¡°The hell is that? You didn¡¯t say anything about a giant¡­man-bat¡­thing,¡± He demands. Igneous just tilts his head and looks at him and Rose growls.


    ¡°He¡¯s not a ¡®thing¡¯. This is my good friend¡­uh¡­you know what, I don¡¯t think we actually got his name last time,¡± William tries to introduce Igneous to the new human.


    ¡°Wow, what a great friend you are,¡± Cassandra says, rolling her eyes, then turns to the other man. ¡°Weren¡¯t you properly briefed about this dungeon?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t given a lot of heads up for this. I didn¡¯t have enough time to read the full information packet,¡± he explains.


    ¡°Fair enough, let¡¯s move on shall we,¡± William says.


    Igneous places the winged creature on the table. William thanks him and removes the camera from the harness. He pushes a button on it and hands it to the other man. The man pulls a cable from his bag and plugs one end into his computer and the other into a small hole on the side of the camera.


    Moving over to the door, Igneous crouches down to quietly observe the humans. I let him know that he does not need to stay but he makes no move to leave. Rose, as usual, is glaring at the humans. Though I did not specifically ask her to be here, I will not stop her if she insists on keeping an eye on the humans. Ignoring her glare, William smiles at her and attempts to initiate a conversation.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, Rose. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that you¡¯ve been learning English. How¡¯s that going?¡± He asks. Even after I translate for her, she does not reply immediately.


    ¡°Still¡­learning,¡± She answers slowly.


    ¡°Well, you seem to be making great progress, based on what I heard over the radio,¡± he compliments her, but she does not respond and continues to glare.


    ¡°This one wasn¡¯t even encrypted. You could have done this yourself,¡± the man at the computer complains. He turns the computer around and leans back in his chair. He pulls a book from the computer bag and reads quietly, apparently having no further interest in the computer or anyone else in the room.


    ¡°Excellent, let¡¯s see where this thing¡¯s been, shall we?¡± William says cheerfully.


    Leaning over the computer, he starts scrolling through a series of pictures. The first images show bushland. As he progresses through them, there are a lot of similar images, but eventually the bushland becomes more sparse as the creature had approached the outskirts of the city.


    At first there are mostly one and two story houses, some with significantly sized yards around them, but as the creature¡¯s path continues towards the city centre, the buildings gradually become larger and more densely packed. Eventually there is a series of pictures taken at strange angles until the next picture shows a close up of Igneous¡¯ face. There are a few more pictures like that and William stops scrolling through them.


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    ¡°That¡¯s obviously the point at which our buddy here caught it. The camera did continue to take pictures after that, but I don¡¯t think we really need to go through all of them,¡± William states.


    ¡°Judging from the path of those pictures, it looks like it came in from the south-east, right?¡± Cassandra says.


    ¡°That sounds about right,¡± William confirms. ¡°I¡¯m sure Colonel Mcwhatshisface will want to send out a reconnaissance unit, but I doubt they will find anything. This creature¡¯s handler will have already moved on by now.¡±


    ¡°Colonel Rogath,¡± Cassandra corrects him.


    ¡°Right, him. Anyway, thank you for bringing this to our attention. It¡¯s important for us to know when the vak are snooping around. This one didn¡¯t see much, but they will likely send more scouts when it doesn¡¯t return. So keep an eye out for them.¡±


    So it was sent by the vak then?


    ¡°Indeed, they often use such creatures for scouting,¡± William confirms.


    They do not seem all that effective.


    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised. They are small enough and quick enough that they can slip by pretty easily when we¡¯re not specifically watching for them. So it¡¯s great that you were able to spot this one, now we know to keep a lookout,¡± William explains.


    ¡°There are times when they will use sophisticated, high-tech drones for scouting, but it is easier, quicker and probably a lot cheaper to just summon one of these, stick a camera on and point it in the direction they want it to go,¡± Cassandra adds.


    Summon? Is this creature from a dungeon?


    ¡°Yeah, dungeon creatures are useful for a lot of things since, even with limited training, they will usually try their best to follow commands given to them by the dungeon controller, as long as they can understand them. One of the many reasons why dungeon cores are so valuable,¡± William states.


    Is there no concern of them getting lost, or simply choosing not to return?


    ¡°Not really, dungeon creatures always seem to know their way back to their dungeon, no matter how far they go, like some kind of instinct and they always come back eventually,¡± William shrugs.


    That is actually comforting to know. No matter how far my creatures travel, they will always be able to find their way home. It could be particularly useful in the future if some imps decide to become wanderers as Rose said they sometimes like to do. It also reminds me of the lizard that River brought back from the other dungeon, I guess it must have made its way back to its own home.


    Last time you were here you mentioned a dungeon in the river. Can you tell me more about it?


    William blinked a few times in confusion and looked over at Cassandra, who shrugs.


    ¡°That¡¯s a little bit of a non-sequitur. I can tell you a little bit, but only what information is already publicly available, which isn¡¯t much,¡± he says.


    Can you tell me how big it is?


    ¡°No,¡± he replies flatly.


    Does it have any creatures besides the lizards?


    ¡°Why do you want to know? And how did you even know about the lizards?¡± He asks, eyes narrowed suspiciously.


    Some of my imps found one at the river and they recognised it as a creature from their world. It made me curious.


    ¡°Oh, was anyone hurt? Those things can be pretty dangerous,¡± he asks, suspicion giving way to concern.


    No need to worry. The imps are immune to their venom. Cassandra perks up at that.


    ¡°Really? Completely immune?¡± She inquires.


    Perhaps, Violet did not suffer any negative effects when it bit her. How bad is it for humans?


    ¡°A single bite isn¡¯t lethal, but they have a tendency to swarm anyone who sets foot in the dungeon. It makes them quite a nightmare to deal with,¡± William complains.


    Well that answers a few of my questions without me even needing to ask and helps to explain why the core has managed to remain undiscovered for so long.


    Is there anything else you can tell me about the dungeon?


    ¡°I suppose I can tell you about the guardian. It¡¯s basically the same as the lizards, except that it¡¯s as big as a bloody crocodile. It also likes to travel beyond the dungeon¡¯s borders, so be careful of that if you go down to the river. That¡¯s about as much as I can say without breaking any rules though,¡± William laments.


    I appreciate the warning.


    As much as I would still like to know more, continuing to push for answers at this point might result in them becoming suspicious of my motives, so I decide to let the topic drop, for now.


    ¡°Well, it seems we¡¯ve got everything we came here for, so unless there is anything else you wish to discuss, then we should probably be on our way,¡± Cassandra suggests.


    There is something actually; a favour. I would say you owe me at least one.


    ¡°Fair enough, what can we do for you?¡± William replies.


    Can you teach Igneous to drive?


    For the second time, they are left momentarily speechless.


    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re really full of out of the box questions today, aren¡¯t you?¡± William breaks the silence with a chuckle.


    ¡°Who is Igneous?¡± Cassandra inquires.


    He is the one crouched by the door.


    ¡°Oh, well, it¡¯s nice to have a name for him so we don¡¯t have to refer to him as a man-bat thing,¡± William says, sending a sideways glance at the other man, who is still reading his book and does not even acknowledge the dig. ¡°But, do you actually have a car though? It would be kind of pointless otherwise.¡±


    We have one that was generously donated to us by the Honey Badgers.


    ¡°Right, I think you did mention that previously. We just haven¡¯t seen it before. Where¡¯ve you got it parked?¡± William questions.


    It is on the street a couple of blocks away. We have not had an opportunity to bring it any closer since no one here can drive. I had meant to ask you about this last time, but it slipped my mind.


    ¡°We probably could teach him, but that car might not be all that useful in the long term,¡± Cassandra  comments.


    Why is that?


    ¡°There are issues of fueling and vehicle maintenance that will inevitably arise,¡± she states.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good point, it¡¯s not like he could just drive into town for that stuff. But I¡¯m sure we can figure something out,¡± William adds. ¡°We can at least teach him the basics and bring the car a bit closer if you want.¡±


    That would be appreciated.


    ¡°Great, are we finally getting out of here?¡± The other man asks, snapping his book shut.


    ¡°Sure,¡± William says, closing the computer and packing it back into its bag. He picks up the camera and hesitates, ¡°Do you mind if we take this?¡±


    If you wish, I have no use for it. Do you need the creature it was attached to as well?


    ¡°Nah, just the camera''s enough.¡±


    I am sure some of my imps will want to eat it, though it should be offered to Igneous first since he is the one who caught it. I ask Rose to fetch the keys for the car, though I have to remind her where to find them as they have mostly been forgotten about ever since Igneous brought them back. When she returns, she hands the keys to Igneous and they all filter out of the room.


    You intend to follow them? I ask Rose when I notice she is heading down the stairs with the humans, though without following the switchback pathway they are forced to use.


    ¡®Yes. I still do not trust them. I will make sure they do not try to take what is rightfully ours.¡¯


    Do you want me to send backup?


    ¡®I think Igneous and I will be sufficient. Even if I don¡¯t trust anything else about them, I don¡¯t think these humans want to fight.¡¯ She assures me.


    Let me know if anything happens.


    With that, all I can do is wait. I do not know how long it should take them to teach Igneous ¡®the basics¡¯, but he is pretty smart, I am sure it will not take him too long to pick it up. Despite that, it is still sooner than I expect when Rose contacts me.


    ¡®Apparently the vehicle won¡¯t start. They¡¯ve given up on trying to figure out why and we¡¯re on our way back now,¡¯ she reports.


    When they return, Igneous appears on the roof, having elected to fly up instead of climbing the stairs. Of the humans, only William comes back to the meeting room.


    So the car didn¡¯t start?


    ¡°No, unfortunately not. I¡¯m not a mechanic, so you can take my diagnosis with a grain of salt, but I suspect the battery is dead,¡± William theorises.


    So what can be done about it?


    ¡°If we had jumper leads, we could have tried to start it with that. We can get a charger that you could plug into your generator. Of course, that will only help if the battery is actually the problem, but it¡¯s a place to start,¡± he offers.


    And if it is not the battery?


    ¡°Well, then things get complicated and probably a lot more expensive. I''m sure we could still figure something out, but you might have to consider whether or not it¡¯s actually worth it.¡±


    I appreciate your assistance with this. If there is nothing more that can be done, then I think our business is done for today.


    ¡°Right, well, thanks again for letting us know about the scout. Keep an eye out for any more if you can,¡± he says before making his way out.


    ¡°Do you really believe him?¡± Rose asks after he is gone.


    About the car? Do you think he is lying?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe. It could be a ruse so they can steal it later, or extort us for more mana crystals.¡±


    We will just have to wait and see.


    <hr>


    When William pulled up outside the DMO building, the other man didn¡¯t hesitate to get out, taking the computer with him. William reached for the handle to his own door.


    ¡°Wait.¡± Cassandra instructed. William hesitated, but didn¡¯t move to leave the vehicle.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Do you really think they found the lizard from the river dungeon by chance?¡± She replied when she was sure they wouldn¡¯t be overheard. William sighed and shook his head.


    ¡°As far as excuses go, it¡¯s not implausible. But¡­no, I think after my slip up last time, they specifically went looking for that dungeon,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°You know this is going to cause some serious problems, right?¡±


    ¡°If they manage to find it, yeah,¡± William agreed.


    ¡°Claiming a single core is one thing, it¡¯s already hard enough to keep the military types from storming in to retrieve it. Under normal circumstances, they¡¯d already be well past the point of using force. But if Magentam takes another dungeon core, I don¡¯t think anything we say will stop those idiots from launching a full scale assault,¡± Cassandra warned.


    ¡°Perhaps we can get Magentam to assist us,¡± William suggested, his eyes lighting up.


    ¡°In what way?¡±


    ¡°The imps being immune to the lizard¡¯s venom gives them a distinct advantage. But if we can convince them to help find the core and hand it over to us instead of taking it for themselves, I bet that would shut the idiots up; for a while, at least,¡± William explained.


    ¡°Do you really think that would work?¡± Cassandra gave him an incredulous look and William chuckled.


    ¡°Probably not. Still might be worth a shot though,¡± he replied.


    ¡°You know, you really should put in an application with the DID. I¡¯ll even put in a good word for you. You¡¯re too smart to be working for these morons,¡± Cassandra proposed. William considered it for a moment, then shook his head.


    ¡°Nah, Director Taylor is a family friend and he¡¯s done a lot for me, even before I left the military. Besides, if I leave, who will be left to serve as their voice of reason?¡±

 55. Geological Observation

    Four days after Igneous caught the first flying lizard, he finds another. Just as William predicted, they are sending more and I doubt this one will be the last. Igneous spends most of his time on the roof now so he can keep an ear out. Now that he knows what they sound like, he is apparently able to detect them from a considerable distance away so it is not especially surprising when he suddenly takes off from his place on the roof and returns with the lizard in his hands.


    I have Rose call William again to ask if he wants the camera from this one as well. We do not use the emergency frequency as it does not seem as urgent this time since they have already been made aware that these things are around. It takes a while for him to respond, but he thanks us and says to just hold on to it for now and they will send someone to pick it up later.


    ¡®Later¡¯ ends up being the next day. At around midday, one of the imps on watch came rushing down to inform me that four humans are approaching on foot. I can only feel one human coming up the stairs so I assume the others are waiting in the lobby. The human coming up is moving slowly; while that is the point of my stairs, this one is going even slower than expected and pausing at every landing. Even after reaching the fourth floor, they do not speed up at all, creeping along the wall towards the door to the meeting room.


    The human peeks their head around the door frame and seeing the room empty, makes his way in. It is a squirrely looking, well dressed man sending furtive glances all around the room as if he is expecting an attack. His gaze lands on the closed bedroom doors and does not move from there. Without looking away, he finally speaks.


    ¡°Uh, Cassandra Thorne sent me here to pick something up.¡±


    Cassandra? He was not sent by William? That is unexpected. Although, now that I think about it, they did say once that gathering information is Cassandra¡¯s job. Keeping apprised of the demon¡¯s movements would fall under her purview then. I think it was also mentioned that Cassandra serves a different boss than William. I wonder if she even works for the DMO or if she comes from a different organisation altogether.


    Rose is practising magic in her room again, so rather than disturb her, I ask Violet to bring the camera down, but I warn her to be careful as the guy seems a bit jumpy. While waiting, the human starts speaking again.


    ¡°Is anyone actually there? I was told that if I come to this room and speak out loud, someone would be able to hear me. I really hope I¡¯m not just talking to an empty room because that would make me feel like an idiot.¡±


    When Violet enters the room, the man raises his hands in front of him, erecting a mana barrier between them as soon as he notices her. Violet tilts her head and emulates the gesture. When he sees what she is holding in her left hand, he cautiously lowers his arms and the barrier.


    ¡°Is that the camera I¡¯m here for?¡± He asks, pointing at her hand.


    Violet looks down at her hand and holds the camera out towards the man. He narrows his eyes and slowly inches towards her. When he is close enough, he carefully reaches out to take it from her, then quickly steps back.


    ¡°Uh¡­thanks? I think. Ms. Thorne also told me to say that if you get any more to let Willaim know and someone will come to collect them.¡± The man moves towards the door, being careful to give Violet as wide a berth as he can.


    She watches him go with a confused frown, turning in place to keep him in her sight until he is out of the room.


    ¡°That human was weird. Was he scared of me?¡± She asks.


    Of course he was afraid, facing a terrifying dungeon guardian all alone.


    She blinks a few times, then puts her hands on her hips, striking a heroic pose with a wide grin.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I am terrifying. Enemies beware!¡± She declares.


    Once the humans are gone, I turn my attention to Rose. She is sitting on the floor in her bedroom with a cup of water in front of her. Learning to manipulate water was something I suggested we should work on a few days ago. Even though circumstances when it would be applicable could be limited due to not always having a significant quantity of water immediately available, I still believe it is something worth practising.


    It adds another skill to our repertoire and you can never really know when something like that could become useful. If nothing else, doing this could help further our understanding of magic and train our mana control.


    One of the books that William brought us had sections that contained basic information about water, fluid dynamics and surface tension. I already had at least some understanding of those topics, but it was nice to have the opportunity to further expand my knowledge with more detailed explanations. It was not so easy for Rose though, given that this was all new to her, but we went through it together and I did my best to answer every question she had and explain everything in a way that she would understand.


    And now she was trying to put all that new knowledge to use with some practical training. With her hands on either side of the cup before her, she had her eyes closed in concentration. Ripples spread across the surface of the water and it bulged upwards in the centre. A rippling sphere of water rose from the cup, the dampness of the carpet around it indicating that this is not her first attempt, but she has her red metal canister by her side that she filled with water last time she went to the river in case the cup needs to be refilled.


    She opens her eyes and gazes at the orb in wonder. Reaching up with one hand, she pokes at the sphere, causing it to destabilise and splash back down into the cup and a little more water ending up on the carpet. She shakes her head and sighs.


    That was a good attempt. You are doing well.


    ¡°It would have been, if I hadn¡¯t let my concentration falter,¡± she laments.


    It will just take practice, I am sure. Perhaps try something a little different to break up the monotony.


    ¡°Something like what?¡±


    Instead of making the water into a ball, try moving the water from one container to another in a stream. Do you remember what I explained about syphoning?


    ¡°Yeah, I think so,¡± she looks down at her cup of water, ¡°I¡¯m going to need another cup.¡±


    <hr>


    It is only three days this time before Igneous finds the next aerial scout sent by the vak, possibly an indication of escalation, so it seems this is going to be an ongoing issue. But I can not even be certain that Igneous is catching all of them. He may have good hearing and be able to notice them from quite a distance, but it is not like he can cover the entire city.


    We still do not know what their objective is either. Are they just trying to keep an eye on the humans here or are they actually looking for something specific? The worst case scenario I can think of is that they somehow know about the imps and our dungeon and it is actually us they are looking for. From things William has said, it seems like the vak are just as interested in acquiring dungeon cores as the humans are. I do not know how they would respond to finding imps here, but given the relationship between them, I cannot not imagine anything good.


    Even if they do not know we are here yet, they might end up finding out. The imps do travel quite far sometimes when they go out. If one of these scouts does manage to get a picture of some of my imps and Igneous does not catch it before it can return to its own dungeon, the vak will surely recognise the imps for what they are and I doubt it would take an enormous leap for them to realise how they got here.


    I will tell my imps to beware of flying lizards when they are out from now on, but even if they do see one, there is likely not much they would be able to do about it other than, hopefully, hiding before its camera can spot them. Rose might be able to take one out, the hellhounds too possibly, if they are not flying too high. Igneous indicated that the ones he has caught so far were only flying high enough to clear the tallest buildings. So If they happen to be in an area of the city where the buildings are not as tall, maybe the creatures will not be flying as high.


    Perhaps we should consider performing some aerial reconnaissance of our own. If dungeon creatures always return to their dungeon, then maybe we can capture one alive and, after being divested of its equipment, it can lead Igneous back to its own dungeon. Such a mission could be incredibly dangerous though. Considering the value of dungeons, one that is controlled by the vak will surely be heavily guarded and if they have a similar level of technology to the humans, it would not be surprising if they have weapons capable of shooting down aerial targets.


    I am also unable to communicate with Igneous when he is outside the dungeon so if he gets into trouble, there is no way for him to let me know and I will not be able to help.


    When I explain my idea to Igneous, I make sure to impress on him how dangerous this could be, far more than anything else I have asked him to do, and that he is not obligated to do this if he does not want to. He takes some time to contemplate the proposal, but eventually agrees.


    I explain the plan to Rose and Violet as well in case they can come with any good ideas to contribute or point out anything I might have overlooked.


    ¡°How about sending one of us with him? Like when he carried me to the town with all the fruit trees. That way, we can stay in contact,¡± Violet suggests.


    While that would work, I do not think it is a good idea this time.


    ¡°Why not?¡± She asks.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    When we were asking everyone what they knew of the vak and the other demons, Igneous indicated that he was not familiar with any of them, so he may be from a place without demons. If that is the case, then maybe the vak do not know about his kind either.


    If they do not know what he is, there is a chance they may not immediately identify him as an enemy and try to shoot him down if they happen to see him. But they probably will not react well if they see him carrying an imp. Besides, if they do not already know there are imps here, I would like to keep it that way.


    ¡°Oh, so he really has to go alone?¡±


    Unfortunately, yes, I think so.


    ¡°What are we going to do about here though?¡± Rose questions. ¡°We don¡¯t know how long Igneous will be gone for this and I doubt the vak are going to stop sending their scouts while he isn¡¯t here.¡±


    That is a good point. I think it is time to summon another gargoyle to take over for Igneous while he is away.


    It is almost time that I was going to summon a new imp anyway, so I will just use the mana set aside for that to summon a gargoyle instead. Though I expect it to require far more mana than imp would, I have enough right now to cover it. I think I will try to summon a female this time, though I do ask Igneous for his thoughts on the matter first. But just like the last time I asked about it, he is still indifferent.


    Violet and Igneous wait by the rift while Rose checks the clothes pile in Room 7 for some pants that the new gargoyle will be able to wear, but she soon comes back empty handed.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find anything that would be the right size,¡± she says.


    That is not entirely surprising. Even when the imps had gathered some adult sized clothes, back before they found the clothes store, it was mostly just shirts. Even if they were too large, with a little adjustment, they could still be worn or they could use the material for other things, like tearing into strips to make bandages, but there was never much use for vastly oversized pants. I was actually a little surprised they had managed to find pants for Igneous the first time. Not that you would know if he was even wearing them most of the time since he is usually curled up as a rock.


    Do not worry about it for now then. We can find some later.


    When I pour my mana into the rift, a large grey rock soon appears, just like when I fist summoned Igneous, although this one has a lighter colouring. Igneous approaches the rock, then appears to do nothing, just standing in front of it; I assume he is actually communicating with it.


    The rock unfolds itself and we soon have two gargoyles standing facing each other and I am shocked by how similar they look. It would seem their species has very little sexual dimorphism, I probably would not even be able to tell that she is female if not for me currently being able to see what is between her legs. They are the same height, have the same build and the same musculature. It looks like she may have slightly wider hips, but it is not easy to see clearly due to their crouching and hunched over posture. She does not appear to have mammaries of any sort, suggesting that their species are not mammals. The only real noticeable differences between them are that she has a narrower face with a pointier chin and a lighter skin tone, but those could just be individual characteristics rather than sexually dimorphic characteristics. I will not know for sure until I have a larger sample size to observe.


    The fact that they are the same size does imply that, despite being the first of his kind to be summoned, he did not become a guardian, so maybe my natural limit was two. That is unfortunate; I would not have to feel so nervous about sending him on potentially dangerous missions if I knew he could be resurrected. This means he will just need to be more careful to avoid harm and return safely.


    I ask Igneous to show her around and explain what things are like here. They stare at each other silently for a moment before heading out the door and moving towards the stairs, heading up to the roof, I assume. Meanwhile, I instruct Violet to find her some suitable pants to wear.


    ¡°I know where to find some. There are still clothes in some of the other rooms that we didn¡¯t take because they obviously weren¡¯t going to fit us,¡± she says and rushes out of the room, heading for the closest hole to take her down to the next floor.


    She returns several minutes later with a selection of pants to choose from. One is a pair of brown pants with large pockets on the sides, another is some much smaller shorts, made of a stretchy black material and the final offering is a pair of shorts made of a light material with a chequered pattern and elastic waistband. Hopefully the new gargoyle will find at least one of those options acceptable.


    The two gargoyles are gone for quite a while, taking some time to fly around the area. When they do return, they are followed down from the roof by a group of curious imps who are delighted by ¡®another Igneous¡¯. When they enter the room, Violet excitedly rushes over to them with the clothes.


    ¡°I found some pants for you,¡± she declares, holding them out for the gargoyle to see.


    A moment later, Violet steps back shaking her head in surprise. She puts a hand on her forehead, dropping some of the pants in the process.


    ¡°Is this how Igneous was when he first got here?¡± She asks, turning to Rose.


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot to handle at first. Just give her some time to adjust,¡± Rose replies with a sympathetic smile.


    Igneous puts a hand on the other gargoyle¡¯s shoulder and they share silent communication, while Violet picks up the items she dropped.


    ¡°Well, anyway, we have to wear clothes here, so I brought you some.¡± Violet holds out the pants again and the gargoyle looks down at them, then up slightly to Violet; the imp tilts her head. ¡°Because¡­uh, we¡­hmm.¡± She frowns and looks towards my core. ¡°Why do we have to wear clothes?¡± She asks.


    Because it is impolite to walk around naked all the time. I reply to both Violet and the gargoyle.


    Violet seems ready to accept that answer, but the gargoyle sends me a questioning reply and I can sense her lack of understanding, not at the concept of clothes, but at the reason for wearing them.


    I realise now that I have never actually given it much thought. Ever since I started summoning imps, I have felt that they should be wearing clothes and even imposed it on Igneous as well, but I never thought about why. I just had this vague feeling that it is not appropriate for people to be naked all the time.


    And yet, I have never thought that the hellhounds need to wear clothes. Is it because they are quadrupedal and that would make wearing clothes a lot more complicated? Or maybe because they are already covered in fur? Would I not worry about the others wearing clothes if they also had fur? Well, fur or not, neither Igneous or the imps ever seemed to truly care about wearing clothes before I suggested it, so why should I?


    I suppose, if she does not want to wear pants, I will not force the issue. I let them all know.


    Violet looks down at the pants in her hands.


    ¡°What should I do with these then?¡± She inquiries.


    Just store them with the rest.


    Violet shrugs and starts walking towards the cabinet that leads to Room 7, but stops after just a couple of steps.


    ¡°Wait¡­Does that mean we don¡¯t have to wear clothes either?¡± She questions.


    ¡°No. We still need clothes,¡± Rose retorts.


    ¡°But why?¡± Violet whines.


    I would also like to know why? Not that I am questioning your decision. I am merely curious about your reasons.


    ¡°I believe imp¡¯s total lack of concern towards nudity is one of the reasons why vukra looked down on us. All the humans we¡¯ve seen were always wearing clothes as well, so they would probably do the same. I¡¯m not telling them what to do,¡± she gestures to the gargoyles, ¡°because I¡¯m not in charge of them. But all the imps here need to wear clothes if we ever want to be taken seriously.¡± Rose insists.


    ¡°Fine, I guess that makes sense,¡± Violet agrees.


    <hr>


    Both gargoyles are up on the roof, within the area I have claimed up there, which I am slowly increasing. After some discussion, I offered the new gargoyle the name Marble, in keeping with the rock theme and owing to her lighter colouring, which she accepted.


    It is another three days from when she was summoned before the next vak scout appears, so they do seem to be establishing a pattern, rather than escalating. Igneous takes off first and Marble follows soon after. When they return, Marble settles back into her place on the roof, but I do not see Igneous until he is back on the fifth floor.


    As soon as he steps across the border into the dungeon, I am overcome with a feeling that something is terribly wrong. I know he has the flying creature with him and that it is still alive. My attention is immediately drawn to it and I cannot help but think that this creature is a danger that needs to be eliminated. But I do not think I am the only one who is affected. Igneous stops, tensing up as he looks down at the screeching, struggling reptile that he is holding.


    It is not even just him, the hellhounds emerge into the hallway to investigate and start growling when they see the creature in his hands. All the imps on the floor soon follow, weapons drawn and ready for battle.


    Everyone stop! Do not attack. We need this creature alive.


    I do not understand this reaction, from my creatures or myself. Nothing that I have seen to this point has ever elicited this kind of response. What is it about this creature that made me and everyone in the dungeon immediately want to kill it as soon as it entered? I might have thought that it was because it was a creature from another dungeon if not for the fact that we have had a creature from the river dungeon here previously and it did not have this effect.


    Please take it to Room 7. I instruct Igneous.


    Imps do not go into that room often since none of them actually live in there, so that is the room it will, hopefully, be least likely to be accidentally eaten. The imps and hellhounds stay on guard and growl or hiss as Igneous walks by, but, as ordered, none of them make any move to attack. I ask Rose to join us and for Violet to make sure everyone else stays out, especially Coal since he is more volatile than the rest of the imps and I do not want to test how well he can control himself right now. Rose scowls when she enters the room.


    ¡°What is that thing? Just seeing it makes me want to kill it. Like I have some kind of instinct telling me that it¡¯s a threat.¡±


    That seems to be what everyone is feeling. Have you ever experienced anything like this before?


    ¡°No. This is new to me. What are we going to do with it?¡± She asks and I can see her eye twitch as she peers at the creature.


    Originally, I was thinking about observing it for a while to see what we could learn about it before letting it go. But now I think it would be better not to keep it here any longer than necessary.


    ¡°If we release it now, do you think it will immediately return to its dungeon, or will it still try to follow whatever instructions it was given first before going back?¡± Rose ponders.


    That is a good question. If Igneous is ready to go now, we can find out.


    Rose looks up at him and he nods.


    Remember, your safety is the number one priority. If you see any vak, or humans for that matter, do not get too close. We do not know what kind of range they might have on their weapons. And please, if at any point you feel that you are in danger, do not hesitate to abandon the mission and return home.


    Rose removes the camera from the creature¡¯s harness as Igneous holds it gently, but firmly, in his grip. Once it has been stripped of its observational device, Igneous carries the creature back out.


    Relief washes over me when I can no longer feel it within my domain. But that is not the only thing I feel; I also gain some mana when it crosses the threshold, which is something else that did not happen with the lizard from the river dungeon.


    What a strange little creature. It brought quite a few mysteries during its brief visit. If we are lucky, locating where it came from will be the first step to finding some answers. But all we can do now is wait and hope for Igneous¡¯ safety.

 56. Stairway to Hell

    I had hoped that things would be peaceful while Igneous was gone, or at least that no new problems would suddenly arise, since we are already dealing with enough as it is, but it seems we are not going to be that lucky.


    I have been working on claiming more area on the roof, starting with a strip that goes all the way around the perimeter. This allows me to contact whoever is on watch if needed, as they are usually walking close to the edge to observe the surrounding area. But it can now also give me an indication if they have seen something without them needing to come and tell me directly.


    It is not uncommon for at least a few other imps to be up on the roof as it does give them a lot of room to run around and play, so when one imp sees something interesting, they will often all gather at the edge to look at it. Even though it is not always something important, I will still investigate if I notice them gathering like this. At times, it is just a bird or they are watching other imps on the ground below as they come and go. This is not one of those times.


    I reach out to the nearest imp, a male who was given the name Cypress, and ask him what they are looking at.


    ¡°Cars and humans,¡± he replies.


    How many?


    ¡°Three cars, lots of humans.¡±


    How many is lots?


    ¡°Lots,¡± he repeats after looking back over the edge of the building at the ground below to count.


    Well, that is not especially helpful. Marble is currently on the roof so I ask her to come over to take a look and show me what she sees. Unfortunately, it is just a little too late. The images she sends show three black, boxy vehicles, but she only sees four armoured humans just before they enter the building.


    Did anyone actually manage to count them?  I ask all the gathered imps.


    I receive a few different answers in response, but they all agree that it is more than ten. The vehicles look similar to the one that the Honey Badgers came in and there were six of them, including the driver. If each of these brought the same number, then there could be around eighteen of them, give or take a few. If they left a driver behind with each vehicle, then there may be a few less, but that is not guaranteed.


    When the humans reach the stairs, I count seventeen. I need to act quickly, although I have almost reached all the way to the ground floor, so that does buy us some time. The first thing I do is ask Rose to get on the radio and call William on the emergency frequency to see if he either knows what is happening or can do anything to help.


    I do not think I need to wait for these humans to climb all the way up here to consider them enemies. With this many armoured humans approaching all at once, I find it hard to believe their intentions could be peaceful. The speed of their progress is also disconcerting. By the time we hear back from William, they are already past the second floor and on their way to the third so I create a mana shield ahead of them to block their path. He does not know anything about the people attacking us, but he sounds pretty distressed when we tell him how many there are and says he will see what he can do.


    The humans split up at that point. Twelve of them move back down and leave the stairwell at the second floor; that is concerning, to say the least. What could they be intending to do from there?


    I instruct Rose to hide my core and then do a mental tally of who is here at the moment and who is currently out. I think I am going to need everyone here for this. I tell the imps on the roof to come down and make sure all of them follow, Marble too.


    Violet is out so I contact her and let her know that I am about to summon her, and anyone with her, back here. It is unfortunate that all four of the hellhounds are also not here, since they require the most mana to recall. Though with the amount of mana crystals I have now and the mana I received from the twelve humans who just left, I have some to spare. I consider bringing Igneous back as well, but decide to leave that as a last resort, given the importance of his current mission.


    Maintaining the mana shield blocking the humans while also trying to bring everyone back is quite difficult. Even though I have practised multi-tasking a little, it is a lot harder to focus on tasks in different locations than it is doing two things in the same room. Despite my best effort to keep the mana wall stable, I can feel it beginning to waver so I direct a little bit more of my focus towards it, though doing so conversely affects how fast I can summon everyone back.


    Once everyone has returned, I explain the situation to them as I understand it. The imps who had to be summoned back are without clothes, but that is hardly a priority right now. I instruct them to find what weapons they can from the items stored in Room 7. Violet is particularly disappointed as she returns with a metal banded wooden shield.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as good as mine,¡± she complains.


    You can go and get yours back after this situation is dealt with.


    Even though I am now able to devote more of my attention to the mana shield blocking the humans, I can still feel it fluctuating. It is a curious sensation that should not be happening now that my focus is no longer so divided. I move down to inspect it and try to understand what is going on.


    I place my hand against the shield and can feel minute ripples moving across it. But I also feel mana that is not mine spreading through it. I can only assume the human at the head of this group is doing something to it.


    I should not be surprised. Jenna said that the mana shield is one of the first things human magic users learn, it stands to reason that those who are inclined towards combat would, at the very least, learn some methods of countering it.


    The humans can break my mana shield. I can make more, but that will only serve to delay them. I inform Violet and Rose as the human¡¯s interference with the shield intensifies and I put a little more of my own effort into holding it.


    ¡°We should kill them while they are still in the stairwell. That will limit their manoeuvrability and make it harder for them to fight back,¡± Rose suggests.


    <hr>


    The plan was for the imps to split up into two groups. One group would attack the humans from above and the other would move down to the ground floor and come up to attack the humans from behind. The hellhounds would be staying though, as the stairs are also harder for them to move in quickly due to their size, which would make them an easier target to shoot at.


    The only problem with this plan, however, was that a number of the humans left the stairwell at the second floor so the imps would need to get past them without being noticed. They needed to find out what was happening on the second floor before proceeding.


    The male imp named Sneak volunteered to go take a look, once again boasting of his ability to move around without being noticed. Rose had observed a few times since he was summoned that, while playing games, he was indeed better at moving quietly and hiding when needed, which did lend credence to his claims of being able to avoid detection while stealing from vukra. She was still apprehensive though, as they stood over a hole in one of the third floor bedrooms leading down.


    ¡°This won¡¯t be like sneaking past vukra. We could be dealing with trained soldiers so you can expect them to be on high alert for any signs of enemies. It¡¯s going to be dangerous, are you sure you want to do this?¡± She whispered.


    ¡°Fighting is dangerous. Still have to do it. I do this,¡± he insisted.


    ¡°Alright, be careful.¡±


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    Sneak jumped down the hole, landing almost silently on the floor below before moving out of sight to scout the area. While Rose waited for him to return, or for any indication that something had gone wrong, she was contacted by Magentam.


    They managed to completely destabilise my shield. I have put up another, but it is only a matter of time before they get through that one too. What is the situation on the second floor?


    ¡®Sneak is still checking on it,¡¯ Rose replied.


    It wasn¡¯t long before Sneak was standing at the bottom of the hole again.


    ¡°No one¡¯s here,¡± he called out, not bothering to try to keep quiet anymore.


    ¡°They have to be there somewhere. There¡¯s nowhere else they could go,¡± Rose retorted.


    ¡°Maybe they go through the metal doors?¡± Sneak suggested.


    ¡°Those doors don¡¯t open,¡± Rose countered and Sneak shrugged in response.


    ¡°They open now,¡± he stated.


    Rose had to take a moment to process what he had just said before descending to the floor below herself. She rushed out to the hallway and looked towards the elevator and was astonished to see that, just as Sneak had said, the doors were open.


    ¡®Magentam, the humans aren¡¯t on the second floor anymore and the elevator doors are open. Could they have got them working again?¡¯ She reported.


    Without power, that is highly unlikely. But with the right skills and equipment, it would not be impossible for them to climb up the elevator shaft. We need to deal with the ones in the stairwell quickly.


    ¡®Send the others down and we¡¯ll begin.¡¯


    After only a short wait, Rose and Sneak were joined by several other imps, all ready and eager for battle. As they moved into the stairwell, she heard Magentam¡¯s voice again.


    The humans are currently between the third and fourth floors. Go now, I will do what I can to help.


    Rose charged up the stairs with the others following closely behind. When they had almost reached their target, she felt a wave of mana wash over her; while it wasn¡¯t enough to cause her to falter, she could feel the force of it as it hit her. It was followed shortly by the sound of gunfire, screeching imps and muffled shouting of humans, which meant that the group coming from above had already engaged with the humans so they rushed to catch up.


    The five humans were struggling to fight off the imps who were running, jumping and climbing up the walls, clawing, biting and stabbing at them whenever they saw an opportunity. Only two of the humans were still on their feet, the other three likely having been knocked down by the wave of mana Rose felt a moment earlier. One of them had even fallen all the way back down to the landing; he was the first descended upon by Rose and the others coming up from the lower floor.


    These had armour and weapons like those used by the Honey Badgers who had attacked previously, with the only notable difference being their face covering. They wore masks that covered their entire faces with large cylinders protruding outward from either side of the lower half of the mask.


    The humans could not effectively use their guns with the imps on top of them as they were or they would risk hitting each other. Despite their superior size and strength, it was hard for them to fight back when they were so outnumbered, but even so, they did not go down easily.


    The one who had fallen to the landing was quickly overwhelmed before he could get back up, but the others were quicker to get on their feet. The armour they wore made it hard to target the human¡¯s vital areas and even with their numbers, it was difficult for the imps to overpower them. With knives or their fists, these humans were putting up a better fight than Rose expected.


    But Rose didn¡¯t have to fight the same way as the others. She reached out with her mana and grabbed a hold of one human¡¯s head and pulled it towards her with as much power as she could muster. The man stumbled and had to reach for the hand rail to keep himself from tumbling down the stairs. Though he did not fall as Rose had hoped he would, the distraction still proved fatal as a knife sank into the back of his calf. The man cried out in pain as he dropped to one knee. As if his shout was a lure, several imps leapt towards him all at once, stabbing and clawing at any gaps in his armour.


    One imp jumped onto his shoulders and grabbed for the front of his helmet, attempting to pull it off. Though the helmet was securely held in place by straps to prevent its removal, his head was pulled back enough to expose his neck. That opportunity was not missed by the other imps and one launched herself up to slash at the exposed flesh with her claws.


    Coal was also wreaking havoc on the humans. Keeping up with the naturally speedy regular imps was already a challenge, but an imp that could teleport to attack their weak points and teleport away again when they try to remove him was an even greater threat.


    Violet appeared to be in a frenzy, climbing up the wall or a human to furiously bash their head with her shield and stab at them with her knife with little regard for anything else. Anytime she was thrown off, she didn¡¯t hesitate to climb back up and do it again.


    Unfortunately, Rose wasn¡¯t the only one here who could use magic. One of the humans had managed to not only create a shield to keep the imps from reaching him, but was using magic to pull imps off his companions and toss them away as best he could. Surely that wasn¡¯t something Magentam would ignore if there was anything she could do about it, meaning the human was not currently within Magentam¡¯s reach; It was up to Rose to do something about it.


    Apparently the humans had a way of breaking mana shields, but Rose didn¡¯t have time to figure out how they did it, so she would just have to go with what she already knew. She charged towards the shielded human to place her hands on his shield and began draining mana from it. The human looked down at her and she could see his eyes through the strange mask he wore as they narrowed into a glare. Expecting retaliation, she raised a shield of her own a moment before a wave of mana crashed down upon her. Her shield absorbed the brunt of the impact but the force of it still pushed her back a few steps. She heard shrieks from other imps who were less prepared, but she didn¡¯t have the time to check on them now that the magic wielding human¡¯s attention was focused entirely on her.


    Rose struggled to maintain her shield under the relentless assault as she was continuously buffeted with attacks. But the attacks were not all the same; some were like a great hammer crashing into her shield, while others were like a blade slashing across it and others still, like a fine point trying to pierce through it. The thin piercing attacks were coming from all directions, as though probing her defences, looking for any weak points in her shield.


    She tried to fight back, lashing out with her own mana, but it was hard to do so while also focusing on defence. What attacks she could manage to make were simple and weak compared to the human¡¯s and they broke harmlessly upon his shield. She knew she was outclassed here, but as long this human was focused on her, it meant he wasn¡¯t helping his companions. As she was pushed backwards again, her foot came down on one of the steps that was part of the dungeon and she felt mana rushing into her, replenishing what she had used so far and giving her an additional boost on top of that. She was grateful for the aid from Magentam and funneled more mana into bolstering her shield


    Without support from their mage, the other remaining humans were quickly overwhelmed. One of them even tried firing his gun again as a last resort and while he did manage to hit one imp, the others descended upon him in a fury.


    Soon there was only one human left, protected behind his mana shield and Rose worried about what he would do, now that he no longer had to worry about harming his companions with his attacks.


    But before she could find out, Coal appeared directly in front of the human¡¯s face. The dark grey imp grabbed a hold of the human, digging the talons on his feet in wherever they could find purchase. With one hand, he held onto the side of the man¡¯s helmet, while he clawed at the mask with the other.


    The human tried to grab Coal and, rather than disappearing as expected, he instead latched onto the man¡¯s arm and bit into the inside of his elbow where the armour offered less protection. The man cried out in pain and started punching Coal, which only prompted the imp to bite down harder.


    Whether due to pain or panic, the man was not able to maintain focus and his mana shield faltered and dissipated allowing the other imps to pounce on him as well. Together, they quickly finished him off.


    When they were sure it was over, the imps moved away from the body, all except one. Violet sat atop what was left of the human, desperately tearing at it with her claws. She seemed to have lost her weapon at some point, but that didn¡¯t stop her at all. She even threw her shield to the side so she could more effectively ravage the corpse. Rose approached slowly, brow furrowed in concern.


    ¡°Violet?¡± She called out, but the purple imp didn¡¯t respond, she didn¡¯t even slow down.


    Carefully, she reached out and placed a hand on her friend¡¯s shoulder. Violet spun around to face her, hyperventilating and with a hysterical look in her eyes.


    ¡°You can stop now. The humans are dead,¡± Rose insisted.


    Violet frantically looked around at the other imps, the bodies of the humans, then at the one beneath her and her blood-covered hands. Her breathing gradually slowed and tears welled in her eyes before she began to weep.


    Rose wrapped her in a gentle hug and felt Violet¡¯s arms grip her tightly in return.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. You did well this time,¡± Rose reassured her, but couldn¡¯t understand Violet¡¯s mumbled response.


    River and Coal approached and Rose managed to extricate herself from Violet¡¯s grasp and hand her over to them so she could go check on the others. Though they had succeeded in killing the humans, it was not without casualties of their own. Three imps were dead and several more injured; she wondered if she had made a mistake. It was her idea to ambush them in the stairs and also her suggestion to leave the hellhounds behind since they would not be able to move as easily, and now they had already suffered far worse than the last time they fought humans like this.


    But she couldn¡¯t afford to worry about that now. This wasn¡¯t over yet.

 57. No Honour in Buisness

    Losing three imps is an unfortunate blow, but I will need to be prepared to lose more before we are through this. For now, I have the others move the injured out of the stairwell to the meeting room on the fourth floor. Most of the injuries are survivable and do not require immediate attention, some broken bones and bleeding lacerations, but there are two that are more concerning. One imp is fading in and out of consciousness with a profusely bleeding head wound and another who took a bullet to the abdomen, but shows no sign of an exit wound.


    Rose starts healing the imp with the head injury first and I instruct another imp to tend to the one with the bullet wound, telling them to put pressure on the area in hopes of slowing the bleeding, despite the pained complaints from the patient. While I have little doubt that Rose will be able to save them, healing such grievous injuries will take a lot out of her, even with me providing her with mana. It will also take time to stabilise and care for them, so I am, unfortunately, not going to be able to rely on her for anything else.


    While that will inevitably impact our fighting strength, the rest of this battle will most likely take place on the fifth floor where I will be able to participate more directly. Learning that Coal can apparently bypass mana shields with his teleportation is also quite a boon. I hope we can investigate the full extent of his abilities again, after we are done with these humans, now that we can understand each other a little better than the last time we tried to figure it out.


    Coal is currently with River, still trying to comfort Violet who is crouched down in the corner. She is still distressed, but has calmed down significantly.


    Are you okay? I ask her.


    ¡°I was scared¡­But I didn¡¯t hide this time. I fought. I protected our home,¡± she declares.


    You did and I am proud of you, but the fight is not over yet.


    Violet takes a deep breath, exhales slowly and stands with a determined look.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    All of the imps who are uninjured move back up to the fifth floor to prepare for the humans. A few imps who only received minor injuries also insist that they can still fight, so I see no reason to stop them. With seven imps too injured to continue and Rose tending to them, that leaves thirteen imps ready to take up defence.


    There are also four hellhounds, eager for their chance to strike at the humans and one gargoyle. I am actually a little surprised at Marble''s willingness to participate in this fight, given that she has not even been here that long; I would not have forced her to if she had instead decided to prioritise her own safety. But she and Igneous spent a lot of time communicating with each other before he left; whatever he said to her during that time made her prepared to put her life on the line along with everyone else to defend this place.


    When she had seen the imps fetching weapons from Room 7, she even went in there as well to see what was available and select some for herself. She came back wielding a fire axe in one hand and a sledge hammer in the other, both of which she was able to swing one-handed with ease. I have not had much opportunity to see it before, but gargoyles are apparently quite strong.


    At my instruction, everyone is hiding within the first two rooms on either side of the hallway. The hellhounds are divided two each in Rooms 1 and 2, while the imps and Marble are similarly divided between Rooms 3 and 4. Violet is with the group in Room 4 so I can still signal them to attack at the appropriate time. And while I cannot contact the two hellhounds in Room 2, Noctis will be the one to give them their cue.


    I also station an imp in each of the rooms with the hellhounds to open the doors for them. Though the hellhounds have figured out how to open the doors on their own by biting the door knob firmly and rotating their head, it is still easier and faster if an imp does it for them. Although the door to Room 1 only needs to be pulled open thanks to the damage caused by the Honey Badgers.


    I considered having the hellhounds in the hallway ready to light the humans up as soon as the doors to the elevator shaft open, but I am also concerned that a long straight hallway would make anyone waiting in it an easy target for a human with a gun.


    Up to this point, Calla has been hiding in the cabinet in Room 7 with my core. I send her down to where the injured imps are as her mother was one of those too hurt to keep fighting; not life-threatening though, just a broken leg and possibly some ribs. I am sure Lily will appreciate her daughter¡¯s company and it will be better for Calla to wait this out with her mother than confined with a glowing pink orb that is too focused on other things to offer her any comfort or reassurance she might need. It will also hopefully keep her from trying to join the fight herself since she was already feeling indignant about being left out before.


    The atmosphere is tense as we wait for the humans to make their move, but I am caught a little off guard when, instead of the elevator doors opening, I feel a presence in the stairwell, right in front of the door. The door opens just a little and a smoke-spewing cylindrical canister is thrown into the hallway. My first thought is that it is some kind of smoke screen to obscure their movements, but then I remember a conversation with William where he said he would have used tear gas to attack.


    If that is what is happening now, then I am relieved that I did not have anyone in the hallway. I create mana shields around the canister in an attempt to prevent the gas from spreading and am satisfied when I have managed to contain most of it. When the door opens fully a few seconds later and the humans storm in, I create a gust of wind to send the gas back towards the humans and out into the stairwell.


    Unfortunately, the humans seem unfazed as they walk through it and I am not surprised when I see the masks they are wearing. Covering their entire faces, appearing to cling tightly to their heads, leaving few, if any, gaps around the edges and cylindrical canisters on the sides; I assume they are designed specifically to protect the wearer from dangerous aerosolized chemicals. Other than that, their armour and weapons all seem similar to what the Honey Badgers who attacked us before were wearing, although I cannot see any signs of a logo or insignia on these ones.


    Ten humans confidently stroll into the hallway and I create a mana shield just past the doors to Rooms 1 and 2 to block their progress. Two humans move forward to place their hands on the barrier and I can feel it starting to vibrate while the others watch the doors with their guns raised, on alert for any sign of attack. As I am about to give the hellhounds the signal to attack, a different idea strikes me; I should try talking to these humans. I reach out to all of them together but am careful to regulate the mana as I do not wish to hurt them, not yet at least.


    Would you happen to be Honey Badgers?


    Not only do the humans not respond, I do not even see any indication that they heard me at all. But I continue anyway.


    Because if you are, I would like to offer you a deal that I am sure you will find quite appealing.


    ¡°Everyone halt!¡± One of the humans commands and the two who were working on breaking my mana shield step back and raise their own weapons. ¡°What kind of deal?¡± Asks the man, who seems to be the leader. His voice is muffled by the mask he wears, but not enough to make his words unintelligible.


    I want to know who sent you. If you agree to tell me everything you know about who you are working for and then leave peacefully, I am willing to offer you mana stones equal in value to double whatever your current employer is paying you.


    The man sighs and shakes his head.


    ¡°As tempting as that sounds, once a job has been accepted, Honey Badgers never betray a client,¡± he refuses.


    Is that so? That is more honourable than I expected, considering what I have heard about your organisation.


    This elicits a chuckle from the man.


    ¡°Honour¡¯s got nothing to do with it. It¡¯s just business,¡± he says.


    Turning down a higher paying client does not seem like a good business practice.


    ¡°Obviously, you are not a businessman. What you are offering may be good for short term gain, but not long term profit. In our line of work, reputation is everything. We have a reputation for getting the job done and being discreet about it. We don''t discuss our clients; it¡¯s pretty much our only rule. What do you think would happen if we developed a reputation for being willing to betray our clients as long as someone else offered more money? We would get far fewer clients and that would be bad for business. Besides, if mana stones were enough to entice us to break policy, we could just keep the dungeon core for ourselves after we take it and make our own,¡± he explains.


    You are assuming that you will actually succeed in taking it.


    ¡°I¡¯m quite confident,¡± he declares.


    I would like to think that they are just underestimating us, but there are still two humans unaccounted for so they clearly still have more up their sleeve. Perhaps that is why he has been so chatty; he is stalling for time.


    If you will not take my offer, then I can promise that none of you will leave this building alive.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see. I¡¯m sure we can handle anything you throw at us.¡±


    The same could not be said for those you left in the stairwell.


    Rather than waste anymore time talking, I give the hellhounds the signal to attack. The door to Room 1 opens and fire erupts into the hallway accompanied by a bellowing roar. The flames wash over the humans only briefly before one of them creates a mana shield of their own to fend off the assault. But a mere moment after that, the door on their other side opens to another fiery eruption. This time, one of the humans actually catches alight before the other magic wielder manages to block the incoming blaze. The others quickly converge on the one who is now on fire and work together to pat the flames out before they can cause any real harm.


    Moving to the middle of their group, I release a mana shock wave in all directions. The two who were holding back the hellhounds¡¯ flames must have sensed the mana charging for the brief moment before it was unleashed because they manage to block the shock wave from impacting them, but the other eight humans are thrown violently from the epicentre.


    I command the imps and Marble to attack while the humans are down, but most of them are not as disoriented as I had hoped. One of the humans, seeing the imps coming, takes a grenade from his belt and throws it towards them. Much to his surprise though, the grenade bounces back toward him when it impacts the mana shield I had created earlier that I still had not dropped. At first, I assume it is another tear gas grenade, but when I see the humans all covering their eyes, I immediately instruct everyone to do the same. Unfortunately, not all of the imps are able to react in time before the hallway is engulfed in a bright flash of white light accompanied by a deafening bang.


    While I am not susceptible to such an attack, the imps who did not cover their eyes are now stumbling blindly. As it turns out, the mana shield can slightly muffle sound, so that part of the attack likely affected the humans more than any of my creatures, though it did still cause Marble to flinch due to her much more sensitive hearing than anyone else. The imps that managed to shield their eyes continue their advance towards the humans.


    As I am about to lower my shield so the imps can get to the humans, the sound of an explosion is heard, drawing everyone¡¯s attention. They all turn to look in the direction it came from; one of the rooms at the complete opposite end of the hallway from where the humans are. Then, to my horror, I sense the presence of the two remaining humans appearing in the room where my core is currently hidden.


    I create another shock wave to keep the humans down, though the two blocking the hellhounds¡¯ flames manage to protect themselves from it again, and remove the mana shield so the imps can get to them.


    Take care of things here while I go deal with that. I send to everyone.


    I have no choice but to trust them to deal with the humans in the hallway while I turn my focus to a more imminent threat.


    In Room 7, there is a large hole in the ceiling, which explains how the humans got in here and also how the others came in from the stairwell. The room is full of smoke, spewing from a canister on the floor like the one that was thrown into the hallway. One human is watching the door, while the other is walking around looking intently at a ball that he is holding out in front of him and moving from side to side. The one watching the door notices my appearance in the room and does not hesitate to punch in my direction, sending out a strong wave of mana, causing the smoke to swirl as it passes. It makes me feel fuzzy, but it is nothing compared to the shock waves I can create


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    ¡°Hurry up and find the core so we can get this over with,¡± he demands.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m looking,¡± the other man replies.


    The ball he is holding is made of a transparent material and appears to contain some kind of gyroscopic apparatus. It has a glowing needle that looks like it might be made, at least in part, from a mana crystal. As he moves the ball around, the rotating internal mechanism allows the needle to continue pointing in the same direction. It is obvious what the needle is fixated on as it points directly to the cabinet where my core is currently hidden. It seems these humans actually have a device that can precisely track the location of my core.


    Immediately, I create a mana shield in front of the cabinet door and charge mana for a shock wave, lamenting the mess that it will create with everything we have stored in this room. Even though I have managed to reduce the charge time since I first developed this technique, there is still enough time for both of the humans to sense it and create mana shields of their own. This group has a much higher ratio of magic users than those that have come before and I am finding it terribly irksome.


    ¡°What the fuck was that!?¡± One of the men exclaims.


    ¡°No idea, but we need to get this done quick,¡± the man with the ball says as he drops his shield to reach for the cabinet door, but finds he is unable to touch it.


    I try to hit him again with a shockwave while his shield is down, but he manages to create a new one just in time to protect himself.


    ¡°The door¡¯s shielded,¡± he says as he steps back.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it, you protect me,¡± the other man responds, but I have no intention of waiting to see what he is going to do.


    While they made their shields around and above them, they neglected the floor beneath their feet where my mana filaments are spread, allowing me to easily project myself right inside his shield. I attempt to incinerate him in a blaze of fire, but before I can get more than a spark, he drops the shield and creates a new one that expands outwards, pushing me away. This new shield encompasses him fully, including under his feet, so I can not get in again.


    ¡°There¡¯s something here that can get inside our shields. You need full coverage.¡±


    The way these humans are able to quickly and effectively respond to everything I try suggests they are far more experienced than the previous Honey Badgers I faced. More mana shockwaves would not help at this point and I can no longer get inside their shields, so I instead try focussing my mana into thin solid points in hopes of piercing through it, but even that is unable to penetrate the shield.


    Not seeing any way to get through, my only recourse left is to drain the mana from them. I focus on the one who said he will handle the cabinet and I can feel the shape of his shield; it is wrapped tightly around his body like armour and moves with him when he does. He jumps away from me as soon as I start draining his mana and I am immediately hit by a wave of mana that temporarily destabilises my body.


    ¡°Keep it off me,¡± he commands as he approaches the cabinet again.


    He kneels down in front of it and pulls his arm back to punch the door. When his fist strikes the mana shield, it almost shatters instantly. It takes all my focus to hold it together and even the door behind the shield cracks and splinters from the force.


    I create a shield around the other man to keep him from interfering while I go back to draining mana from this man who is punching his way through my defences. I do not even have time to contemplate how bizarre it is that he can do that as he continues to slam his fist forwards. He is not hesitating as I drain his mana, instead it seems to be motivating him to go faster


    The shield withstands the second and third hits, but it breaks on the fourth and his hand goes right through the cabinet door. Pulling back, he rips what is left of the door right off its hinges, revealing my core and a treasure trove of mana crystals. He reaches in to grab my core so I create another shield to block him, prompting him to start punching again without any hesitation.


    The only thing I can think of now is to move my core through the hole back into Room 5. Seeing the core start to move, the human looks in the directions it is travelling and spots the hole in the wall.


    ¡°No you don¡¯t,¡± he declares and creates another mana shield of his own to block its escape.


    A moment later he breaks through my shield again and lunges forwards to grab it. With my core in his hand, in a state of abject terror, I worry that this will be my end; I only hope everyone else will be okay. I then feel mana flowing into my core. I remember what Jenna said about how to claim a dungeon core, one needs to connect their own mana to it. I assume that is what he is trying to do, except I do not feel anything happening other than gaining mana.


    Well, if the human is so eager to give me his mana, I will gladly take it. It is inefficient to drain mana through a mana shield, but this human has dropped his shield and is touching my core directly, perhaps believing that he has already won. I start absorbing mana from him and just like last time I did this to a human, he seems to have no resistance whatsoever and direct contact with my core making it even easier.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± The man slumps over unconscious before he can even finish speaking and my core slips from his grasp.


    I turn my attention to the other man who is desperately trying to break out of the cage I trapped him in. The mana is wavering, so he is making progress, but he is clearly not as good at it as his companion. Now that I know whatever they had intended to do with my core, they apparently cannot, I am much more calm. I probably no longer have anything to fear from this human, but I would like to get this over with quickly so I can get back to helping everyone in the hallway.


    I drop my shield as I see no need to keep him contained like that any longer, but when I try to touch him so I can take his mana, he still has his shield up around him. It is interesting that he was able to attack my shield while keeping his own intact. I hope I can figure out how to do that myself later.


    When I try to drain mana from his shield, he immediately lashes out with a wave of mana that destabilises my form again. That is getting terribly annoying as it makes it difficult to focus my mana for a few seconds each time. The fact that he can continue to attack through his shield is also troublesome. I need to get past his shield, but every time I touch it to start draining it, he attacks with another blast of mana. He does not appear to have any means of actually harming me, but as a delaying tactic, it is frustrating.


    He moves towards his companion, who is still slumped in front of the cabinet and pushes him out of the way. He looks down at my core suspiciously. After seeing what happened to his friend, he seems hesitant to touch it himself. While I am not as afraid as before, I cannot ignore the possibility that he might still have some trick up his sleeve, though I am also curious to see what he will do.


    He tries to pick up my core by surrounding it with his mana and lifting it. Though not as effective as direct skin contact, surrounding my core with his mana like that still makes it a lot easier to absorb than pulling it from his shield. I need to exhaust his mana as quickly as possible so I take as much mana as I can from him before he drops my core and steps back.


    I wish I could communicate with him, either to convince him to give up or to taunt him, depending on how he responds, but the way his mana shield covers him completely also blocks me from reaching him even just to speak.


    Still attacking me with mana whenever I try to drain mana from his shield, he once again wraps his mana around my core and he tries putting some of his mana into it himself. Is he still trying to take control of it? Does he believe it is simply a matter of claiming my core before I can take all of his mana? I do not understand what he is thinking but I will gladly take all the mana he can give.


    When he gives up on that plan, he drops my core and stumbles back. The next time he sends a wave of mana to get me off his shield, I can tell it is weaker than his previous attacks, indicating that he is finally running out of steam. Just in time for me to test an idea, I create another mana shield and press it right up against his. I may not have yet figured out how to attack through my own shield, but if the shield is in direct contact with his, I might still be able to drain mana from it.


    The idea works, though the mana flow is even slower and my shield is a little less stable, but it is still strong enough to block his weakened attacks. He tries to step away, but I push forward to keep up, until I have him pressed up against a wall and there is nowhere left for him to go.


    He still tries to put up a futile resistance, buffeting my shield with his mana, but all he is accomplishing is exhausting himself faster. I have him trapped now and am slowly draining his mana and there is nothing he can do but wait for his inevitable end.


    As soon as his shield collapses, I push forwards with my shield with as much force as I can manage. The impact leaves a large dent in the wall and when I let my shield dissipate, he crumples to the floor. While he is attempting to push himself up, I charge a shock wave right above him, aiming all its force directly downwards. It crushes down into him and I am not sure if the cracking sounds I hear come from him or the floor, or perhaps both.


    He does not move again after that, but he is not quite dead yet, so I create more solid needles of mana to stab through the gaps in his armour. I do not gain much mana from his death, but I suppose he probably did not have much left to give.


    The unconscious man still needs to be finished off, so I quickly take care of that before heading back out to the hallway. I arrive just in time to see Marble swinging her sledgehammer into a human''s face. It collides with a sickening crunch and knocks the man off his feet, sending him sliding across the ground.


    Most of the humans are already dead. Noctis and Fire are in the hallway pouncing on any humans that move, but there is still one of the magic humans blocking the stream of fire coming from Room 2 and the hellhounds producing it.


    He is the last human standing, but before I can step in to deal with it, Coal appears right behind him and digs his claws into the back of the man¡¯s knee. The human loses concentration on his shield and is engulfed in flames.


    Noctis¡¯ eyes flare as she uses her power to prevent the fire from spreading further into the hallway where the other imps are. Fire charges and tackles the man into Room 2 where Scar and Fuzzy are waiting and the stream of fire abruptly ends.


    I am initially worried about Coal being hurt by the flames, but he does not seem to be harmed in the brief moment that I see him before he charges after his prey that had been taken away from him.


    <hr>


    Everything had gone terribly wrong. Davis had been informed by the client that this would be a difficult and dangerous mission and there had already been multiple failed attempts to capture this dungeon, including one team of Honey Badgers. So he not only assembled his entire team, but even recruited a few extras that were not a part of his regular crew. He had intended to use them as a distraction if the need arose, which it did, and sooner than he expected. But they served their purpose and they even had the courtesy to die in the stairwell, so he did not have to worry about giving them their cut.


    It should have been easy after that. He would take most of the squad to keep the enemies'' attention long enough for the other two to find the dungeon core, claim it and force the dungeon¡¯s creatures to stand down.


    When he heard a voice speaking to him in his mind, something he had never experienced before and that gave him a mild headache, he was delighted as it would give him an opportunity to stall for more time until the core was located. The voice, who he assumed was the dungeon controller, had made a tempting offer, but it was not the first time he had heard such an offer and would certainly not be the last. It still amused him to hear it every time though.


    That was when things got serious. He had heard that the dungeon had creatures that could create fire so he was not surprised when the doors on either side of them opened to powerful jets of flame. They had two mages with them that could easily handle that.


    What he was not prepared for was almost the entire squad, himself included, being knocked off their feet by an invisible force. He had considered the possibility that their opponents might also have magic users among them, but that attack seemed to originate from the centre of their group. Their opponent must be quite skilled to produce such an attack, but as long as his mages were still standing, they shouldn¡¯t have had anything to worry about in the long run.


    When he saw the little demons approaching, he took a flash bang from his belt and threw it towards them, only for it to bounce off an invisible wall back towards him. He knew his mages were too experienced to make a mistake like that, so it must have been the opposing mage, one of the demons perhaps, or the dungeon controller. He swore to himself as he covered his eyes.


    They all had basic hearing protection so the sound of the flashbang didn¡¯t affect them too badly, so he was able to hear the next explosion, which came from a room at the other end of the hallway, and he smirked, not that it could be seen inside his mask. Even if they had left something behind to guard the core, he was confident his guys could handle it. They would get the core and then it would be over, they just needed to hold out a little longer.


    That was when the plan started to fall apart. He was knocked off his feet again as he was trying to stand up. The mages were both fine though, so he wasn¡¯t worried, until a dark skinned demon appeared out of thin air right in front of one of the mages and started clawing at his face. That distracted him enough that he let his shield fall and fire flooded into the hallway. The last thing he heard from the mage was screaming.


    He saw the little demon leap out from the fire towards another of his men and then other demons were upon them as well, in addition to a larger grey skinned creature swinging around a sledge hammer and a fire axe like they were toys. In the time it took him to get back on his feet, the enemies had gotten too close to shoot at and he already had a demon leaping at him. He was pretty confident in his close quarters combat skills, but he was not used to fighting opponents as small and fast as these.


    It was then that the flames stopped coming in and two large beasts with spikes on their back and fire in their eyes appeared. He heard a few gunshots ring out, but he was busy dodging the little demons lunging at him to pay much attention to them.


    He managed to kick one of the demons away and sent it skidding down the hallway before he felt another clinging to his back. He reached over his shoulder to try to pull it off only to feel the creature bite down on his arm instead. He let out a pained cry, but persisted in trying to remove the thing from his back. It actually let go of his arm when he pulled it over his shoulder and it landed on the floor in front of him and stumbled. He managed to take his pistol from its holster, but the demon was already moving before he had a chance to aim.


    While fighting off the little demons, he wondered why his men hadn¡¯t gotten the core yet. It shouldn¡¯t be taking them this long. The longer this fight went on, the more of his men would die. Things had not gone according to plan at all, but that was always a risk in this line of work.


    He remembered the words of the dungeon controller; the promise that none of them would leave this building alive. It seemed they would be keeping that promise. He could respect that.


    That was his final thought before he saw the rapidly approaching head of a sledge hammer .

 58. A Few Conditions

    I see more flashes of memories from those who died, but nothing useful, not that I expected any of it to be. With such fragmented snippets, even if I did see anything that could be relevant, there would not be enough to gain any usable information from it. If there was a way to have more control over memories I absorb, to search for specific memories and see more than fragments, it could be a way to gain valuable intelligence on our enemies. Maybe it is something I could work on, if I had suitable test subjects to experiment on. Perhaps I will try to keep a few people alive next time.


    Marble came through this ordeal unharmed and after helping to carry a couple of injured imps down to where the others are, she returns to her spot on the roof, taking her new weapons with her. Once she is up there, I ask her to check on the vehicles the humans came in, but after looking over the edge of the building, she reports that they are gone.


    That is unfortunate. I have no way of knowing how long ago they left or how far away they are now. They might still be nearby, waiting to hear from their companions or maybe they really did leave and will likely report the situation to whoever they are working for. I ask Marble if she would be willing to go look for them; she is hesitant, but agrees. I firmly instruct her not to engage, even if she finds them.


    Turning my attention back to the imps, we lost one more and a few others were injured, though none immediately life-threatening this time, which is good, because despite Rose¡¯s claims to the contrary, she is exhausted.


    ¡°I just need more mana and I can keep going,¡± she insists, stumbling towards her next patient, who is lying on the couch.


    No, what you need is to rest.


    ¡°But, I¡¯m not done. There are still others that need to be healed.¡±


    No one else is in critical condition. They may be uncomfortable, but they can wait. You cannot help them if you completely wear yourself out. We also do not know the effects of remaining in such an exhausted state for a prolonged period and it is only going to get worse the longer you continue. I am concerned that it could be harmful if you are not careful.


    I explain the situation to the imp who is waiting to be healed next, a male with deep purple bruising spread across much of his right arm and the right side of his chest. With a concerned frown, he turns his head to look at Rose, wincing at the pain from even that limited movement.


    ¡°It okay. I wait,¡± he assures her.


    Rose leans her back against the couch and slowly lowers herself down until she is sitting on the floor.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll rest, just for a little while,¡± she concedes, her eyelids slowly drifting down.


    She falls asleep almost immediately after her eyes are closed and I ask Violet to take her to her bed. Violet is also down in the meeting room, now a temporary infirmary, to be with River, who had received some minor burns from being a little too close to the hellhounds'' flames. She is initially reluctant to leave her sister, but the injuries she suffered are not serious and she has Aster to keep her company. She carefully lifts the sleeping imp and carries her back to her room and Rose does not even wake from being moved.


    It is curious that River was burned just from being close to the fire when I saw Coal completely engulfed by the flames, even if only briefly, and not be fazed by it at all. I can only assume that, being from the same place as the hellhounds, that variety of imp may have developed a high degree of fire resistance. Did they evolve in such a way specifically because of the hellhounds? Or was it a necessity to survive the environment as a whole? It is not vitally important information, but I may try asking them about it later, if only to satisfy my own curiosity.


    There are other questions that are far more important right now though, such as why the humans could not take control of my core, assuming that is what they were trying to accomplish; though I cannot think of anything else they could have been trying to do. This event has given me a glimpse of how complicated fighting against skilled magic users can be. I was only dealing with two and it was already quite a challenge; how would I handle a larger group?


    But these were only human. Not only are people who can wield magic still uncommon among humans, they have also only had a few decades to learn about it. What of the other demons? The vak, sucubrius and brutes; from my conversations with Rose, it seems they come from a world where magic is quite commonplace. And there is no telling how long they have had to master it.


    Before I can get too deep into my pondering, William¡¯s voice rings out from the radio.


    ¡°Magentam, are you there? It¡¯s William, we¡¯re on our way to help. What¡¯s your situation?¡±


    Rose only just got to bed so I do not want to wake her to deal with this, so instead I call on Violet again. While not as proficient as Rose, she has also been trying to learn English. She is a little irked as having to leave her sister again, but makes her way up the stairs without further complaint.


    ¡°Magentam, this is William. Please respond,¡± the voice from the radio entreats as Violet approaches.


    She plugs in the microphone and I instruct her on what to say, keeping it simple to make it easier for her.


    ¡°We are here,¡± Violet relays slowly.


    ¡°Thank god. What¡¯s happening? Are you still under attack?¡± William replies, sounding relieved.


    ¡°We dealt with it,¡± Violet reports.


    ¡°I see, that¡¯s good. Was anyone hurt?,¡± he asks.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Violet answers curtly.


    ¡°I suspected that would be the case, so I¡¯m bringing medical personnel and supplies. We¡¯re nearly there now. We¡¯ll be there soon,¡± he assures us.


    Two imps who avoided injury had been sent up to the roof to resume lookout, so I inform them that we are expecting more visitors and to let me know as soon as they see anything. It is only a few minutes later that one of them comes down to report a single approaching vehicle. I assume that is most likely William, though I do not want to let my guard down until I know for certain.


    When I feel two humans coming up the stairs, I send Violet down to check on them.


    If it is William, direct him to where the injured are. If it is not William, come back up and we will arrange an appropriate greeting party for them.


    ¡®It¡¯s William and another man I don¡¯t know,¡¯ she reports when she finds them.


    Arriving in the infirmary, William is carrying a duffle bag and is followed by a man with a backpack wearing the uniform of a soldier. A few imps growl as they enter the room, but I assure them all that these humans are here to help, so please do not hurt them.


    ¡°This is Corporal Bramer, he¡¯s a medic,¡± William introduces his companion. ¡°Let¡¯s get started. Are there any critical injuries?¡± He asks.


    I do not think so. Rose already dealt with the worst of them.


    ¡°Ah, of course. Where is she now?¡± He looks around the room but does not spot the multi-coloured imp.


    I am having her rest at the moment.


    ¡°Understandable, even if she can heal others with magic, there¡¯s only so much that one person can do alone. So who¡¯s first then?¡± He inquires and I direct him to the bruised imp on the couch.


    The imp glares as the human approaches, but does not make any rash movements. While the medic examines him, I ask Noctis to come down. She did take a few bullets during the fight and while they do not seem to have hit anything vital, and she does not appear especially bothered by them, I do think it would be better for her to have the bullets removed, if possible.


    As the medic inspects the bruises on the imps¡¯ arm and chest, he hisses when the human lifts his arm a little and presses lightly on some of the bruised areas.


    ¡°The arm doesn¡¯t appear to be broken, I¡¯d say a few ribs probably are; at least, that¡¯s as much as I can tell without an X-ray,¡± Corporal Bramer declares. ¡°Any trouble breathing?¡±


    I relay the question and the imps respond in the negative.


    ¡°Nausea or vomiting?¡± He queries.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°No apparent swelling in the abdomen either. I haven¡¯t studied demon anatomy at all, but assuming the symptoms would be the same, I can¡¯t see any obvious signs of internal bleeding, though even if there were, there wouldn¡¯t be much I could do about it here,¡± he announces.


    Can you do anything to help him?


    ¡°Not really, these are the kind of injuries that just have to heal on their own. Keep an eye on him in case anything changes, but otherwise, just have your healer tend to him when they can and he should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Come on man, you don¡¯t have any pain meds or something you could give the poor guy,¡± William interjects.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ve got some, but as far as I know, they have never been tested on demons, so I can¡¯t be sure of their effectiveness or safety,¡± Bramer explains.


    A reasonable concern. Thank you for taking it seriously.


    ¡°The only thing I might be comfortable giving¡­¡± He cuts off when Noctis enters, limping slightly, with her mate close behind.


    ¡°Oh, hey I haven¡¯t seen them in a while; not since the first time I was here,¡± William exclaims.


    ¡°What the hell is that?¡± Bramer demands.


    Your next patient. She has some bullets that need to be removed. I inform him and he pales.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not trained for that,¡± he stammers.


    ¡°Nonsense, you¡¯ve dug bullets out of people before, haven¡¯t you?¡± William retorts. He is attempting to keep a straight face, but the corners of his mouth are twitching upward.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the same!¡± The medic insists.


    ¡°Sure it is, just think of it like a big furry person. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t bite,¡± William assures him and is unable to contain a chuckle. ¡°They won¡¯t bite, right?¡± He asks, just to be sure.


    I promise no harm will come to you.


    ¡°You think this is funny, do you?¡± Corporal Bramer glowers at William, ¡°well you¡¯re helping.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Fair enough, I suppose,¡± William concedes.


    ¡°There are some surgical tools in the duffle bag, on the left side. Grab them while I take a look at the¡­patient,¡± Bramer instructs.


    Noctis lays down on her side before him to give him access to her injuries and the medic crouches down to examine the wounds. It is easy to see the general locations of where the bullets struck thanks to the blood matted fur, but he will probably need to trim the areas in order to clearly see the entry points. Fire looms over them, observing the human attentively, on alert for any indication that he might intend harm to his mate.


    William opens the duffle bag and extracts a plastic case. Opening reveals a set of well organised surgical tools. He places the box beside Corporal Bramer who nods in acknowledgement.


    ¡°I would have brought some clippers if I knew I¡¯d have to treat animals as well,¡± he complains as he removes his backpack and takes some scissors from a side pocket to cut away the matted fur.


    After he has revealed the bullet wound, he puts the scissors aside and retrieves some alcohol disinfectant from his pack.


    ¡°This will probably hurt, but it is important to disinfect the area. Please be sure to keep them under control.¡±


    I inform Nocts and Fire of what to expect, but she still whines when the disinfectant is applied. Fire growls in response, but Noctis quickly barks a command to silence him.


    With William acting as an assistant, all three bullets are safely removed and the wounds sewn closed with sutures that Corporal Bramer assures me will dissolve on their own eventually, so there will be no need for him to come back to remove them. Having a trained professional with appropriate tools made the process easier and probably a lot less painful than it would have been if an imp had tried to dig the bullets out with their claws. I think about the imp who already had to go through exactly that and privately offer him my sympathy.


    With her treatment done, Noctis returns to her den where a tiny imp is no doubt eagerly waiting for her. I am a little surprised that Calla did not come down with Noctis, but it seems that this time the child prioritised staying with her mother, who had gone back to her room after being mostly healed by Rose.


    After that, no other injuries are quite as serious so William¡¯s assistance is no longer required, so he takes a seat on one of the chairs by the table. Some imps are given improvised splints to keep them from moving their injured limbs around too much, others simply need bandages and gauze to dress their wounds. Many of the imps object to the use of disinfectant and I do wonder if it is actually necessary for them, since in all the time I have known them, I have yet to see an imp develop any kind of infection, but decide it is better to be safe than sorry and ask them to bear with it.


    A few imps have deep lacerations that could warrant stitches, but Corporal Bramer suggests using butterfly bandages to hold the wounds closed, rather than the sutures he used for Noctis, since Rose would be able to heal them later. I ask him why he did not use the same thing when treating the hellhound and he replies that he did not think they would be effective with her fur.


    While the first aid treatments are being administered, I sense Marble¡¯s return on the roof. She has returned unharmed, unlike Igneous when I sent him on a similar mission. I ask her how it went and she informs me that she found them, showing me images of three cars driving along the road following the river. Curiously though, they are headed in the opposite direction of the bridge. The only conclusions I can draw from that are that there are other bridges, which is not an unreasonable assumption, or that their destination is somewhere other than the city on the other side of the river. I thank Marble for her efforts and bring my attention back to the infirmary.


    The last patient to be treated is River. Suffering only minor burns, there is not much that she really needs, but the medic retrieves a tube from his backpack and explains that it is a skin ointment that can soothe burns and even help the skin heal, but reiterates that it has not been tested for use on demons and the only reason he is offering it is because it can be tested on only a small patch of skin for any sign of negative reactions before being applied to a larger area. He also offers another ointment that has mild anaesthetic properties to numb pain for some of the others but gives the same warning about testing it first.


    With that, Corporal Bramer¡¯s role here is finished and I thank him for everything he has done. Some of the imps with only minor injuries have wandered off to other places, though others, including Violet and Coal, stayed behind to keep the company of the few whose conditions are worse and do not want to go anywhere for the moment.


    Now that things have calmed down I take some time to converse with William, who is rocking back in his chair, while Corporal Bramer, unsure of what else to do, packs up his things and heads out to the hallway to wait.


    Cassandra did not come this time? I ask William.


    ¡°She was busy and I was kind of in a hurry, so I didn¡¯t have time to wait for her,¡± he explains, sitting up straight with all four chair legs planted firmly on the floor.


    Are there others? Surely you did not come with just the two of you.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got three more guys, but given the circumstances, I thought it best to leave the armed soldiers to wait outside.¡±


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    That was probably a good call. Although, with so few people, what were you planning to do if we had not defeated the attackers before you arrived?


    ¡°It was the best I could do on such short notice. We had more reinforcements coming, but I told them to stand down after you said you had dealt with them. Was it more Honey Badgers again? We saw some of the bodies in the stairwell, they looked pretty well equipped,¡± He says.


    I believe so. They did not specifically identify themselves as such nor were they wearing the logo, but I got the impression that they were when talking to them.


    ¡°You spoke to them?¡± He asks with a raised eyebrow.


    Briefly, but it seemed they were using the opportunity to stall for time. They actually had a decent plan and it might have worked if not for some¡­miscalculations on their part.


    I consider telling him about how they were unable to take my core, but I think it might be best to keep that fact a secret for now. I do not know how the humans would react if they knew my core could not be claimed. Maybe they would give up and leave us alone if they thought they no longer had anything to gain from attacking us or maybe someone would decide that we are a threat that needs to be destroyed instead.


    ¡°It¡¯s impressive that you were able to hold them off so well when there were that many of them. Did you lose anyone?¡± He inquires, looking around the room at the remaining imps who are all watching him warily.


    Yes. Four imps lost their lives today.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry we couldn''t prevent this. We¡¯ll be better prepared next time to make sure this doesn¡¯t happen again,¡± he insists.


    There will not be a next time. It is clear that we are not safe here so we will be leaving as soon as everyone is able to travel.


    ¡°What?! Wait, you can¡¯t just leave like that,¡± he stammers, leaping to his feet.


    Why not? You promised to protect us and you have consistently failed to do so.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­true, but we still need your help,¡± he pleads.


    You just need mana stones. How can I be sure the people you work for will not give up on diplomacy and come for us at some point?


    ¡°I can¡¯t deny that there are some who want to do that, but there are others who believe you have much more to offer than just mana stones.¡±


    Such as?


    ¡°We¡¯ve never known any other dungeon controller who used the dungeon core to summon demons; we didn¡¯t even know it was possible. And the fact that the ones you have summoned are hostile to the vak means we can help each other out,¡± William implores.


    Though I am not translating for the imps in the room, they are still paying close attention to his tone and body language. They growl when William starts to raise his voice and he flinches in response.


    The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is that it?


    ¡°Exactly! So we should be working together.¡±


    Except, it is humans who have been attacking us regularly ever since they found us here. We can hardly consider humans to be our ¡®friends¡¯. And you speak of helping each other, but have said nothing of what you can offer us.


    ¡°We can help protect you from the vak if they find you, but we can¡¯t do that if you leave,¡± William suggests.


    So you would protect us from your enemies, but not from your own kind? Is that not a little contradictory?


    ¡°We¡¯re still working on that. Please just give us another chance.¡±


    Despite my frustration at the situation, he does seem sincere, and desperate, in his pleas. He is right about one thing, if the vak do find us, which I am sure they will eventually, it would be better to have someone to back us up. This could also be a good opportunity to wring some additional concessions from him. But it would also be a risk. I cannot not rely on William or those he works for to protect us from those who keep attacking us, they have already proven that quite conclusively. Perhaps it is time I get a little more proactive in dealing with the situation myself. This decision will affect everyone though, so it is not one I should make on my own.


    Please wait a moment, I would like to confer with the others.


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± he concedes and sits back down at the table.


    While I would prefer to let Rose sleep until she wakes up on her own, this is too important of a decision to make without her input. I ask Violet to head up to the room she shares with Rose so the three of us can talk in private.


    ¡°Keep an eye on him,¡± she tells Coal, pointing to William, and he nods. After taking a few steps towards the door, she stops and turns back. ¡°But no biting,¡± she commands. It takes him a little longer to respond this time, but he eventually nods again.


    In their bedroom, she gently nudges Rose¡¯s shoulder to rouse the sleeping imp. She stirs a little, but does not wake, so Violet uses a little more force the second time. Rose slowly opens her eyes, sits up and looks around with a bleary-eyed, dazed expression.


    ¡°What happened? Does someone need my help?¡± She asks.


    No, but there is an important matter that we need to discuss. William is downstairs and while I am thinking it might be time for us to leave this place, he is begging us to stay. I wanted to get your opinions before I make a decision.


    ¡°Screw him. We should leave,¡± Rose states without any hesitation.


    I suspected that would be your response and it was my initial thought as well, but we might be able to leverage some benefits out of him if we stay.


    ¡°What kind of benefits?¡± She inquires, with narrowed eyes.


    Supplies, weapons, better fitting clothes, information, training resources¡­


    ¡°Pretzels?¡± Violet interjects.


    Yes, I am sure we could ask for pretzels too.


    Rose mulls over the situation, still not entirely convinced.


    ¡°Even if we get all of that, we¡¯ll still be at risk of being attacked again if we stay,¡± she argues.


    I have a plan to deal with that.


    ¡°I still have reservations, but if you think it¡¯s worth the risk, I won¡¯t object,¡± she relents.


    Violet, your opinion?


    ¡°I would like to have more fruit, but maybe Igneous or Marble will fly us to the orchard sometimes if we ask really nicely,¡± Violet replies.


    Then we will stay here, for a while longer at least, but I will not tolerate another attack like this.


    I would have asked Igneous if he were here, but Marble seems completely indifferent to the entire situation. That is not entirely unexpected as she and Igneous are both often quite easy going about most things. I should also ask Noctis since this will affect her as well. She is lounging with her pack in their room and when I explain everything to her, she responds with feelings of trust and confidence. Returning to the two imps, I see Rose climbing out of bed.


    What are you doing? You still need rest.


    ¡°Since I¡¯m awake, I should get back to healing the others,¡± she states.


    No, you should go back to sleep.


    ¡°But I can¡¯t just leave them like that,¡± she retorts.


    William brought a medic with him and administered first aid to everyone who needed it. So they can wait until you are fully rested.


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    I will ask Violet to hold you down until you fall asleep again.


    Rose glances towards Violet, who giggles and steps forwards, rubbing her hands together with glee.


    ¡°Fine,¡± she yields, climbing back into bed and burying her face in her pillow.


    I then return to William to deliver my demands.


    We might be willing to stay, but there are conditions.


    ¡°I expected that would be the case. What do you need?¡± He asks, perking up in his chair.


    First, I want the elevator doors on every floor to be welded shut.


    ¡°Uh, okay¡­ Can I ask why?¡±


    In this attack, they bypassed the stairs by climbing up the elevator shaft.


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s actually a little impressive. I understand why you would want to prevent that from happening again. We can certainly deal with that for you,¡± William assures me.


    Next, food and medical supplies.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have enough food?¡± He asks, a tone of concern entering his voice.


    It is not an issue of quantity, for now at least. All of my creatures have been able to find as much as they need so far, though that might change as their numbers grow. For the moment, it is more about variety, so I would like you to focus on snackfoods, such as pretzels and anything else you might recommend.


    ¡°I see. Any dietary restrictions I should be aware of?¡± He asks, stroking his chin, already thinking about what he could bring.


    Not for the imps, they seem willing to eat just about anything. The others are a little pickier and lean towards meat, though I cannot say that they would not eat anything else.


    ¡°Hang on, I should probably be writing this down.¡± He rushes out to the hallway where Corporal Bramer is still waiting and quickly returns with a small notebook and a pen.


    ¡°The food and basic medical supplies should be doable. What else?¡± He asks after writing a few notes.


    Weapons training for Igneous and Marble.


    ¡°Marble?¡± He questions with a raised eyebrow.


    Another creature like Igneous.


    ¡°Oh? You have two of them now? Okay, well what kind of weapons training are we talking?¡±


    Guns. We have collected quite a stockpile now from all the people who have attacked us. I would like them to learn how to use them effectively.


    ¡°Not you though?¡± He wonders.


    I will listen in while they are learning, but I would prefer to focus on honing my magic rather than using a gun.


    In truth, while I think I could probably use magic to fire them, such weapons would be unwieldy for me and I can accomplish more by just using my magic to attack directly. He does not need to know that though.


    ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯m sure that can be arranged,¡± he agrees.


    Magic lessons for me and Rose, specifically relating to combat application.


    ¡°That would be a little harder, but I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±


    Someone who can teach Rose more about using magic for healing.


    William frowns at that request.


    ¡°That¡­would be a lot harder. I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s something we even could provide,¡± he laments.


    If you can at least share whatever information you have on demon biology and anatomy and any other materials you think might help improve her healing ability, I suppose that will suffice, for now.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll have to pass that one onto Cassandra; that''s more her department. Shouldn¡¯t be a problem though.¡±


    I would still like our car to be fixed and for Igneous to learn to drive, as we previously discussed; Marble too, if she wants.


    William sighs and shakes his head.


    ¡°I did submit a request for that; and while it has not been rejected¡­yet, they¡¯re really dragging their feet about it.¡±


    I see. Next, I want some new gear for my imps.


    ¡°What sort of gear are you hoping for?¡±


    A bit of everything. All the weapons we have were taken from humans, and thus sized for human hands. The imps have impressive grip strength for their size, allowing them to use those weapons despite that, but I think it would be better for them to have weapons designed for smaller hands.


    Any armour you can provide that will offer some defence without hindering movement would be helpful. I would also like some clothes for them. The ones they wear now were intended for human children and while they do mostly fit, they were obviously not designed with tails in mind.


    Also some appropriately sized backpacks for all of the imps so they can carry supplies and collect things when they go out. The two we have now are also just a bit too big for most of them to wear without dragging on the ground.


    William frowns as he writes everything down.


    ¡°The clothes and backpacks should be simple enough, but weapons and armour are going to have to be custom made and that won¡¯t be easy. How many imps do you currently have here?¡± He inquires.


    Eighteen. I reply after a quick head count.


    ¡°And you¡¯re planning to summon more, I assume?¡±


    Of course.


    William sighs and places the notebook down on the table.


    ¡°You¡¯re asking for quite a lot here. As much as I want to help you, this isn¡¯t going to go down well with my superiors, especially the ones who already think we¡¯re wasting our time with this.¡±


    While I would prefer not to have to admit it, I cannot deny that he is raising a good point. While I may feel justified in asking for compensation for the losses we have suffered, I am trying to negotiate with an opponent that could probably crush us like bugs with ease, if they felt so inclined. I should be careful about pushing my luck too far.


    We once criticised these humans for making demands while offering nothing in return, but in my obstinance, I have been doing much the same thing. Perhaps it is about time I should consider being more cooperative and that will hopefully encourage them to do the same and put more effort into helping us.


    You are right. Maybe I am being a little unreasonable. So to provide an incentive, please inform your superiors that if they can meet all of my demands, I will be willing to discuss trading mana stones for other things we need going forward. That is what they want from us after all, is it not?


    ¡°Wait, really? That will definitely help smooth things out,¡± William exclaims with an excited grin.


    But there is something else that I need. I want to get in contact with the Honey Badgers; I have a job that needs doing and I think they would be the best ones to do it. I would like them to send a representative here so we can discuss terms.


    Williams'' expression sours and he remains quiet for a while.


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious,¡± he eventually replies.


    I am serious.


    ¡°Even knowing how bad they are, you want to hire them. What could you possibly need them for?¡± He demands, slamming a hand down on the table.


    Coal appears on the table right in front of him in response to the sudden display of aggression, growling just a few centimetres from Williams¡¯ face. Startled, William pushes back from the table so hard that the chair he is sitting on tips back and falls over.


    ¡°What was¡­ how did he¡­?¡± He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself, then picks himself up from the floor and rights his chair, to the sound of Coal¡¯s laughter.


    ¡°I apologise for my outburst, but what you¡¯re asking, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any way my superiors would agree to that,¡± he says as he sits back down.


    Coal has moved back a little but he is remaining on the table to keep a closer eye on the human; a silent threat perhaps. While I do not believe such a threat is necessary at this point, I also do not see any reason to deter him from doing so.


    You will have to figure something out, because of all of the conditions I have stated, this one is the most important. If you cannot fulfil it, then everything else is irrelevant.


    William leans back and looks up at the ceiling. He groans as he runs his hands down the sides of his face.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll think of something. Is there anything else?¡± He drawls.


    No. Those are all of my conditions. But I want to make one thing clear; if this happens again, that will be the end. We will be done and no amount of begging, grovelling or apologising will convince me to give you another chance. This is your final warning.


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll be on my way then,¡± he says as he stands and makes his way towards the door.


    As he is leaving the room, I remember something else I should ask for.


    Wait. Actually, there is one more thing.


    William stops in the doorway and sighs.


    ¡°What do you need?¡± He asks despondently.


    As you have surely noticed, we have almost reached the ground floor now. You once promised us a sign we can put up to warn people against climbing higher than they should. I would like you to deliver on that promise.


    ¡°Well, I can certainly do that,¡± he says, his mood brightening, ¡°But please don¡¯t forget, you also promised to arrange a meeting place on a lower floor so we won¡¯t have to climb all the way up here every single time.¡±


    Of course, I will start working on that soon.


    With their business finally concluded, William and his companion begin winding their way back down the stairs.


    I need to plan my next move. I do not know if the humans will be able or willing to fulfil all of the conditions I have set forth. I could probably forgive some of them not being provided, or at least be willing to negotiate, but the most important one is also the one William seemed the least confident in.


    Once Rose is awake, and finished healing everyone who needs it, we will start making preparations so that everyone will be ready to leave at a moment''s notice, if needed. Though, in the event that they do give me everything I have asked for, I will keep my word and stay; at least until they give me a reason not to.


    If we are going to stay here, even for a little while longer, I need to make some changes.

 59. Eye in the Sky

    Igneous was impressed with the stamina of the little creature he¡¯d been following. It had so far been flying for half the day without slowing down. He was following it from a distance so as not to alarm it; far enough that he even lost sight of it a few times and had to rely on his hearing to keep track of it.


    Once the sun had set, the creature finally descended to find a place to rest. It flew towards the nearest tree and wrapped itself around the trunk, near the top. Igneous landed on the ground nearby and stalked closer to the tree, taking care to be as quiet as he could. The winged lizard gave no indication that it had noticed his approach, so he settled into his rock disguise at the base of the tree and prepared to sleep.


    He had observed nothing so far to suggest that the creature was in any way proficient in stealth, so he wasn¡¯t concerned about it escaping while he slept. If it did try to leave, he was confident it could not do so without waking him.


    He did wake up sometime later to the sound of rustling from above, followed by screeching and then a thump as something fell out of the tree. It was some kind of animal that had fallen, but it scurried away before Igneous could get a good look at it. The one he had been following did leave the tree at that point, but only to go so far as to find a different tree to sleep in. Once the creature had settled in, Igneous moved over to the new tree and resumed his rest.


    The next time he awoke, he could again hear rustling in the tree above, though not as loud as the last time. He partially unfolded his wings and emitted a high-frequency call and listened for the echoes that returned. In this way, he was able to determine that the creature he was tracking was still in the tree. It was hard to make out due to how tightly it had pressed itself against the trunk, but he was certain it was still there. He just had to wait for it to resume its journey so he could continue following it.


    After some time had passed, the creature still had not departed. Igneous sent out additional sonar signals periodically to be sure that it hadn¡¯t managed to sneak away from him somehow. Not that he thought it actually could do that without him noticing, it just seemed strange that it was remaining stationary, clinging to the trunk of the tree. He could hear it moving occasionally, suggesting that it was awake, yet it was not leaving.


    It could be that the creature was aware of him and was remaining still in hopes that he would get bored and leave, but it did not seem intelligent enough for that. More likely was that it simply did not like to travel at night. Igneous had no trouble flying at night, he preferred it even, but that would not be the case for all creatures. It did not matter overall, he could wait.


    When the sky started to become lighter as sunrise approached, the winged lizard finally unwrapped itself from the tree and took flight once more. Igneous gave it some time to put some distance between them before he followed.


    As the day progressed, the creature he was following would occasionally veer off course or swoop down in chase of prey and Igneous would take any good opportunity he saw to do the same. If it caught anything larger than a bug, it would have to briefly land in order to consume it and would seek out the nearest tree. It would also stop to hydrate at any body of water that it passed, though it would not linger in any one place for too long, perhaps wary of predators. Given that it was small and alone, there were likely many that could be a threat to it.


    Igneous had more leeway to take his time when drinking as there would be fewer things that would see him as prey, though he still remained on guard, just in case. And as long as he did not let his target get too far away that he could no longer hear it, he would be able to catch up.


    At one point, in the distance ahead, he noticed large, grey walls. He flew up higher to get a better view of it, he saw what appeared to be some kind of settlement, much like the walled section of the city that the humans lived in, though this one was smaller.


    His current path would have him pass right over it. As he drew closer, he could hear various sounds coming from its direction. He was not yet close enough to make out anything specific, but he felt it was enough to reasonably assume that the place was inhabited. Whether by humans or demons, he thought it best not to get too close. As small as it was, the winged lizard could probably fly right over it without even being noticed, but he would be far more conspicuous.


    There was also the chance that this was the creature¡¯s destination. If that was the case, then he had reached the end of his journey; he would observe the area for a while to learn what he could from a distance before heading back. Veering to the left, he circled the area in a wide arc to avoid alarming the people within the settlement. Although he accelerated to his top speed to get around to the other side so as not to be left behind by his target, he still ended up losing track of it.


    He couldn¡¯t see it anywhere and could no longer hear the beat of its wing. He didn¡¯t think his detour took long enough that it could have gotten far enough away to be beyond his hearing range. More likely is that its flight had come to an end, either because it had stopped willingly or it was captured.


    Either way, it meant he also didn¡¯t need to go any further. Since it seemed this was the place he was looking for, he wanted to investigate it. He would try to remain hidden while observing from a distance for now. Once night came, he would use the cover of darkness to get a closer look. He found a place with just enough trees and bushes around that a boulder among them would hopefully not be too conspicuous and settled in to wait for nightfall.


    But as he was wrapping his wings around himself, he heard the sound of another set of wings approaching. He easily recognised it as the creature he¡¯d been following. That it was now flying away from the settlement meant that this wasn¡¯t its final destination. But it had definitely stopped there, for what purpose he could only guess. Maybe it was able to avoid being seen by the people there or it was simply quick and agile enough to evade capture.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    There was also the possibility that the people there had noticed it and just didn¡¯t care. If that was the case, it would suggest those people may be affiliated with whoever sent it out as a scout in the first place, so this area would be worth investigating later. Once he had allowed the winged lizard to get enough distance, he took off to follow after it again.


    The sounds of other flying creatures could be heard occasionally. Igneous didn¡¯t even have to see them to know they were small, based on how quickly they had to flap their wings to fly. He had seen many flying animals smaller than himself since he was brought to this world, but unlike where he had come from, none of them had shown themselves to be a real threat so he usually just ignored them, unless he was hungry.


    But now he heard something significantly larger than most others. It wasn¡¯t anything he hadn¡¯t encountered before, a feathered avian predator that was about half his size, at most. He tilted his head to the left and right to get a better idea of its current location and direction of travel. It was flying at a higher altitude, ahead and to the left and it was getting closer. Under normal circumstances he wouldn¡¯t be concerned as it was not a danger to him, though one had been brave enough to try to attack him once, so they could still be a nuisance. But he had seen such birds snatching other flying creatures out of the air and the winged lizard he was following was just the right size to be easy prey.


    He beat his own wings faster to put on speed and turned in the large bird¡¯s direction in an attempt to intercept it, though with the distance between him and his target and the speed of the bird, he had little hope of reaching it before it got to the lizard. Luckily, as he got closer, the bird changed course and came towards him instead.


    When the bird was close enough, he tucked his wings in quickly and slashed at it with his claws, then extended his wings again to catch himself before he started losing too much altitude. The bird veered away to avoid his reach, but circled around to come at him again. The reach, flexibility and dexterity of his arms gave him a distinct advantage against the bird, but he still had to be careful as its sharp talons could potentially cause a lot of damage, especially to his wings.


    The large bird swooped in to attack several times, but Igneous was always able to fend it off, while turning in the air to keep it in front of him. Unfortunately it had also managed to evade his grasping claws each time, so he could not put an end to it as quickly as he would have liked, but the bird eventually ceased its harassment and flew away.


    During that confrontation, the winged lizard had continued on its own journey and travelled far enough that to Igneous, it now looked like merely a speck in the distance, so he rushed to catch up to it.


    In the late hours of the afternoon, when the sun hung low in the sky, he saw another wall ahead. Even from as far away as he was, it was easy to see that this wall was higher and longer than the one around the settlement he had passed earlier. He would have to get closer to grasp the full scope of it, but even from just this glimpse of it, he estimated that this place could be as large as the walled off area of the human city, or maybe even bigger.


    As he moved closer, the creature he was following flew down to a tree that was still well outside the wall. He slowed his approach and could hear faint chirping from the tree, then three winged lizards emerged from the tree and flew towards the walled city.


    He hovered in place for a moment while contemplating how to proceed when he felt a sudden biting pain in his left wing accompanied by a loud bang that he recognised as the sound of gunfire. He immediately sped down to the ground to seek cover as additional shots rang out.


    He quickly moved away from the source of gunfire. The trees and bushes in the area were sparse, but he hoped they would help to obscure the vision of his attackers, at least a little. He saw a rocky outcrop to the right and made a dash for it. It wasn¡¯t big, but it would at least be enough to block their sight of him if he could duck behind it.


    He managed to avoid getting hit again, though there were a few close calls. The gunfire stopped completely shortly after he had hidden himself behind the outcrop, but he knew that wouldn¡¯t be the end of it. If they were willing to start shooting at him as soon as they saw him like that, he didn¡¯t think they would give up just because they lost sight of him behind some rocks. He ran a hand over the rocks to feel their surface. They had a greyish-brown colouring with a grainy and slightly bumpy texture.


    He pressed himself up against the rocks and wrapped his wings around himself, ensuring the injured wing was on the inside so it wouldn¡¯t give him away. The colour and texture of the skin on his wings subtly changed to be more like the rocks he was hiding behind and he waited. He wasn¡¯t sure if he had matched it perfectly, but he hoped it would at least be good enough to avoid notice.


    He heard the sounds of approaching vehicles shortly after and when the vehicles stopped, footsteps followed; a lot of footsteps. It was hard to pinpoint the exact numbers based on sound alone when there were so many moving all at once, but there were more than ten, he guessed possibly as many as twenty, bipeds moving around, looking for him.


    Several of them approached the rocky outcrop where they had last seen him, but soon spread out to search the area. None of them were speaking and they were doing their best to remain quiet. He could not tell if these bipedal creatures were human or if they were the ¡®vukra¡¯ that the imps spoke of with such disdain, but for now, he dared not move his wings to get a look at them.


    Eventually he heard a voice as one of the bipeds barked a command at the others to return to base. The words sounded the same as the language used by the imps, which made their identity clear. Igneous listened intently as they all withdrew to the vehicles and drove away. When he was sure he was alone, he shifted his wings slightly to get a look at his injury without unravelling his disguise.


    The bullet had pierced straight through the wing membrane and, fortunately, hadn¡¯t hit anything important. It would cause him significant discomfort, but it would not impede his ability to fly. He had not truly appreciated the potential danger of this mission before, even with Magentam¡¯s warnings, but now he realised he needed to be more careful.


    He would wait here until late into the night and would make his departure when the darkness was at its deepest. It was time he returned home to report what he had found.

 60. Here and There

    I have a lot to do now, first and foremost, I need to move my core to a different floor. Invaders keep coming to the fifth floor because that is where they know my core to be, but there is no reason for me to leave it there; in fact it would be foolish to do so. And since I can send mana filaments up and down the walls, I am able to claim rooms on other floors without those rooms having a clear path connected to the stairwell that enemies can follow. I may already be a fool for not having done so before now.


    It will likely upset Violet, because she will be forced to choose between moving with my core or staying with Rose, unless she can convince Rose to move with her. I am sure River would not mind the move though, as she does not seem especially attached to the room they are in.


    Discussing it with Rose myself and seeing what she thinks of the idea is probably the best course of action right now. She is currently leading the other imps through training mana control, with most of the imps gathered in my core room. I would prefer she take it easy for a while but she insists on continuing the normal routine.


    After exhausting herself healing those who were injured, she ended up sleeping for the rest of the day and well into the night. Far longer than any imp would usually sleep, even Coal, and it caused quite a bit of concern, but once she woke up she went right back to healing the others, after she had had something to eat; several imps all independently had the idea to go out and bring something back for her while she slept, so she had plenty to choose from.


    Thankfully, the first aid administered by the human medic did help reduce some of the burden of healing. With no one at risk of death or permanent impairment if they have to wait, Rose is able to heal them in stages without worry so there is no need for her to push herself to that point of exhaustion again.


    Despite the ongoing practice, there are still no other imps, besides Rose, who have shown any talent for magic. At least many of them now are getting quite proficient at preventing their mana from being stolen. Though none of them can hold out against me, two are now able to completely stop Rose from taking anything from them, namely, Violet and, surprisingly, Calla.


    I patiently wait until she calls an end to the session before speaking to her.


    I am thinking of moving my core to another floor.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably a good idea, since everyone seems to know about its current location. Where do you want to move it to?¡± She asks.


    Down to the third floor, to the room furthest away from the stairs.


    ¡°Down? Not up?¡±


    If I went up to a higher floor, then I would also have to put more time and mana into claiming the stairs as well, otherwise they would be able to move freely once they pass the fifth floor and I would lose sight of them.


    If I go down, it will be easier to keep track of invader¡¯s locations if they have to backtrack to a lower floor. That is assuming they even realise that the core is not on the fifth floor anymore, which, ideally, they would not even get that far.


    ¡°What if they deviate from their normal behaviour and enter the lower floors before even making it up here like the last group did?¡±


    They only did that so they could access the elevator shaft, which hopefully will not be a problem anymore soon. But if it does happen and someone learns about the core¡¯s new location, we just have to make sure they do not survive long enough to share that information with anyone else.


    Seeing Rose standing alone and talking to the air, Violet wanders over.


    ¡°Are you coming up with more plans? Is it for something fun?¡± She asks.


    ¡°Magentam is thinking about moving her core to a different floor,¡± Rose replies.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start getting all my things. Oh, I need to tell River as well. Where are we moving to?¡± Violet inquires.


    The third floor is what I am thinking.


    ¡°Great, let''s go,¡± she cheers and marches towards her bedroom, but stops halfway and turns to Rose. ¡°You¡¯re coming too right?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it,¡± replies Rose.


    ¡°What? No, you have to,¡± Violet whines.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°So we can stay together,¡± Violet insists.


    ¡°You know, you don¡¯t have to move just because Magentam¡¯s core is moving, right?¡± Rose retorts.


    ¡°But I want to,¡± Violet says, her lower lip quivering until Rose sighs.


    ¡°Fine,¡± she concedes.


    ¡°Good, let¡¯s get our stuff.¡± Violet, now beaming, grabs Rose¡¯s hand and pulls her towards their room.


    No need to be so hasty, I have not even claimed the room I want to move the core to yet. We are just making plans for now.


    ¡°Oh, okay, but you have to tell me before you move, alright?¡± She demands.


    Of course. I will let you know.


    With that, Violet lets go of Rose¡¯s hand and wanders off again to play with the others.


    Thank you for agreeing to move with her. I am sure she would have been quite distraught otherwise. I tell Rose.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s a minor hassle, but not really a big deal,¡± she confirms.


    I wish I could dump all of my mana into expanding to reach the room I want faster, but I also need to start making mana stones to fund my future trading with humans; in particular, one transaction, that will hopefully come soon, that I do not expect to be cheap. That is, assuming William is able to hold up his end of the bargain this time.


    ¡ª--


    While we have some time, with nothing serious going on, we should take the opportunity to investigate Coal''s teleportation a little more. I ask Violet and Rose to gather with Coal in the core room with the hope that they will be able to help in communicating with him.


    You said that during the last attack, Coal was able to bypass the humans¡¯ shields, right?


    ¡°Things were a bit hectic so it was a little hard to keep track of everything that was going on, but it did seem that way,¡± Rose replies.


    We are going to test that today, and some other things, so we can get a better understanding of his abilities.


    I try asking Coal about it directly first, but he just tilts his head and teleports about a metre to the left of where he had been standing.


    ¡°Teleport,¡± he declares.


    I did not really expect him to understand my question, he still has a long way to go in his comprehension of Balkret, but that is okay, we will just move straight on to practical testing. I ask Rose and Violet to move away from him and when he tries to follow them, he is blocked by a mana shield.


    Coal raises his hands to feel the invisible barrier that is blocking him. He tries to side step the shield only to discover that I have created a dome all around him. He frowns and disappears, reappearing beside Violet a moment later.


    Good work, I say to encourage him.


    Violet extends a hand to give him an enthusiastic thumbs up and he returns the gesture.


    ¡°So I guess that confirms it then?¡± Rose asks.


    It is a start, but there is more to test.


    I created that dome to intentionally not cover the floor beneath his feet, similarly to how humans often do, which is something that I am able to bypass. Next I will see if he can teleport through a shield that is completely enclosed. Once Violet and Rose have moved away, I ask him to try teleporting again, but as before, the shield offers no obstacle to his teleportation.


    This is both encouraging and concerning. If the humans cannot stop Coal with a mana shield, that gives us a distinct advantage, but it also proves that there are things that a mana shield cannot defend against. I would like to think that such abilities are not common, but it is a possibility that I cannot ignore.


    We perform the same test once more, only this time, I try increasing the mana density of the shield, theorising that doing so will improve its strength, though I have no idea if that would actually make any difference in this circumstance.


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    It takes a lot more concentration to maintain the shield like this, to the point that I do not believe it would be feasible to keep it active during a serious combat situation, at least not for a single individual. Even for me, it would take all of my focus to maintain it and I would not be able to spare any attention for anything else, but perhaps that is something I could improve on with further practice.


    Coal is still able to teleport through the shield, though he is not unaffected by it. Whenever Coal teleports, there is always a slight delay between disappearing and reappearing. It is not much, merely a fraction of a second, but it is what allows Violet to react in time and respond when they fight.


    This time, it took about half a second more than usual for him to reappear. Neither Coal nor Violet seem to have even noticed the difference, but Rose frowns.


    ¡°That took longer than it normally does, right? I didn¡¯t just imagine that delay?¡± She observes.


    You are correct. He was definitely delayed.


    ¡°So what does that mean?¡± she inquires.


    That it could be theoretically possible to block Coal from teleporting, but it is difficult to imagine what it would take to actually do it. I doubt it is something a single person could ever accomplish on their own.


    ¡°Do you think we could do it if we worked together?¡±


    I do not know, perhaps it is something we could try later, but for now I want to move on to other tests.


    I turn my attention back to Coal to explain what I want him to do next.


    Can you teleport to the hallway from here?


    Coal looks towards the door, then disappears. Reappearing a moment later by the door, he opens it and disappears again. That is, unfortunately, not what I had in mind.


    ¡°Why the hallway?¡± Violet asks.


    I have only ever seen him teleporting within a single room, but never between rooms, like he is relying on line of sight. But if it works like magic, I have a theory that he should be able to teleport to places he cannot directly see, as long as he can properly visualise his destination. I do not seem to have properly conveyed my intent though.


    ¡°Ohh, let me try,¡± she requests.


    Violet rushes over to Coal as he walks back into the room and she pushes the door shut.


    ¡°This time, teleport through the door. Door stays closed. Do not open door,¡± she explains to him.


    ¡°Door¡­closed?¡± He repeats, uncertainty evident in his tone.


    ¡°Yes. Door closed. You teleport to the other side. Can you do it?¡± Violet confirms.


    Coal blinks, then frowns and scratches his head. He looks towards the door and closes his eyes. He disappears again and I can sense his arrival in the hallway a moment before he pushes the door open with a wide grin on his face.


    ¡°I do it!¡± He declares, raising his arms into the air.


    ¡°Great work,¡± Violet cheers and picks him up in a hug that he eagerly reciprocates.


    Good, now I want to try from a greater range. Violet, can you take him down to the meeting room and ask him to return directly to this spot?


    ¡°Got it.¡± Violet puts Coal down and takes his hand.


    She dashes out into the hallway and towards the stairs, dragging Coal behind her. Even though he is following her willingly, without any resistance, it is still a struggle for him to keep up with the larger, faster imp.


    I wait with Rose, but it does not take long for the pair to reach their destination. After a short pause, Coal appears before us again.


    ¡°I do it!¡± He cheers again


    ¡°Yes, you did very well,¡± Rose encourages him.


    He grins and disappears again, teleporting back to the meeting room, presumably to return to Violet, but she is already making her way back up the stairs. He teleports again and I soon sense them both coming up the stairs together. I confer with Rose while we wait for them.


    I think we should summon more imps like Coal. Their ability to bypass shields will give us an edge in battle and we need every advantage we can get.


    ¡°It would be helpful to have more like him, but if Coal is a typical example of his kind, we should be prepared for them to want to fight as soon as they arrive,¡± Rose agrees.


    That is a definite possibility, but Violet handled Coal easily enough and this time we will know what to expect, so it shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem.


    ¡°True, the real challenge will be dealing with them after that. Coal was rather belligerent about a lot of things at the start. Even now, I still don¡¯t think he has fully adjusted yet,¡± Rose says.


    Coal reappears by his box and Violet bursts into the room a moment later and changes towards him. She chases him around the room while he repeatedly teleports to keep out of her reach in a rather one sided game of tag.


    Yes, their behaviour could be a problem, an issue that could be compounded if there are a lot of them together. I will just summon a few to start with and we can consider bringing more over in the future, after they have acclimated to¡­


    I am interrupted by a sudden impact as Violet collides with me. I am pushed back a few steps and Violet also stumbles backwards a little, looking down and raising a hand to her sternum. It was not a full body collision, but rather, a small impact point around the middle of her chest.


    What¡­just happened?


    ¡°I think I hit something¡­maybe? Or something hit me?¡± Violet wonders, looking around for whatever she had run into.


    Rose is looking between me and Violet with eyes wide and mouth agape, stunned speechless by what she had just witnessed.


    Yes, you bumped into me.


    ¡°What? Really? Does that mean I can touch you now?¡± She exclaims, stepping forwards and waving her arms through the air in front of her.


    While she does reach me, her hands pass harmlessly through my body without facing any resistance.


    No, I do not think so. Not with your hands, at least. Please hold still for a moment, I want to check something.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Violet complies, immediately freezing on the spot.


    I step towards her and slowly wave a hand through her body. At first, I do not feel anything, just like in the past when I have ¡®touched¡¯ any of the imps, there is no physical sensation. Until my hand actually does make contact with something solid. In the middle of her chest, there is a spherical object roughly half the size of my fist. I can even feel a little bit of mana when I touch it.


    Did you swallow a mana crystal?


    ¡°Huh? Of course not. Imps don¡¯t eat rocks. That would be silly,¡±


    Well, you seem to have one inside your chest.


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t feel anything,¡± she says, poking herself where she felt the impact before. ¡°How did it get there?¡±


    That is what I would like to know.


    I usually try to avoid moving through my imps¡¯ bodies, even though I know it is not harmful in any way, so I have never noticed it before now. I do not even know how long she has had it. But despite trying to avoid collisions with imps, none of them can see me, so it still happens occasionally, and I have never noticed any others with mana crystals inside their bodies.


    ¡°It could be because she¡¯s a guardian. Maybe it¡¯s something normal for guardians to develop,¡± Rose suggests.


    Do you mind if I check if you have one as well?


    ¡°Of course, go ahead,¡± she insists.


    I focus on the same place where the mana crystal in Violet¡¯s body is located and, sure enough, Rose has one too. Just to confirm, I check Coal as well, who had wandered over when Violet stopped chasing him, but find nothing.


    It seems you might be right about it being related to being a guardian as you also have one. Except, Violet¡¯s¡­original body did not have one or I am sure we would have noticed it.


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­Perhaps it¡¯s something she only gained after being resurrected?¡± Rose theorises.


    You never died though.


    ¡°Well, me becoming a guardian was an abnormal situation right? Maybe that allowed me to skip that step,¡± she offers.


    That sounds like it could be plausible, at least. If these mana crystals are inherently linked to being a guardian, is it also possible that they are somehow the reason why I am able to stay in contact with the two of you even when you are outside the dungeon?


    ¡°That makes sense, based on the timing of when we started being able to do that,¡± Rose agrees.


    Well, while this has certainly been an interesting discovery, it has distracted me from my original objective. There is one more thing that I would like to test with Coal, but I am going to have to rely on you to handle it, if you do not mind.


    ¡°Sure, what do you need me to do?¡±


    I want to know the maximum range of his teleportation, but we might not be able to properly test that inside this building.


    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be too hard,¡± She accepts.


    I explain what I want to Violet and Coal as well, and the three of them head outside together.


    While they are doing that, there is something else that I can check on. Noctis and the other hellhounds are currently resting in their room. As Noctis is also a guardian, I should see if she has a mana crystal as well. Though if the theory that they would only develop a mana crystal like that after dying and being resurrected holds true, then she would not have one yet, but it is still worth investigating.


    She does not react to my presence when I appear before her, so she might actually be sleeping. Calla is leaning against her and also appears to be asleep, while the other hellhounds are strewn about the room.


    As I wave my arms through her body, I do not find any solid crystals, I do notice one area where mana is quite concentrated, enough that there is actually some resistance as my hand passes through it. With my curiosity piqued, I check the other hellhounds as well to compare. They all have similar areas of concentrated mana in the same place in their bodies, though none have the same density as Noctis.


    Given what I know about hellhounds and their magical capabilities, it is not entirely surprising that they would have a higher concentration of mana, though it is interesting that it is primarily focused in one place like that. It seems like I am learning a lot of new things about my creatures today.


    While musing over my thoughts, I am contacted by Rose.


    ¡®We haven¡¯t found his maximum range yet, but I¡¯m beginning to think he might not have one. However teleporting over longer distances does seem to tire him out, with longer distances taking a greater toll. I think that might be the primary limiting factor more than any specific ¡®maximum,¡¯ She reports.


    I see, how far did he get?


    ¡®About one and a half city blocks. He could probably go further, but he¡¯s looking pretty exhausted right now, so I think we should call it quits for today.¡¯


    I am not sure how far a ¡®city block¡¯ actually is, but it seems like it could be a considerable distance for Coal to be able to travel like that.


    Thank you for your help with this. Today¡¯s efforts have been quite enlightening.


    ¡®Of course, I am always happy to assist with anything that could help improve our defences.¡¯

 61. I Challenge

    Many imps gathered around the rift, though most were standing at quite a distance away. Only Rose, Violet and Coal actually approached it. Violet had her shield on her arm, expecting a fight, which was reasonable considering what was coming. The Orb was going to try to bring another imp like Coal here, which he had mixed feelings about.


    It would be nice to have another like him that he could easily communicate with and to have something that felt familiar. But after giving it some more thought, he realised he liked his new pack better than his old pack and didn¡¯t want one of them coming and messing everything up by trying to push everyone around; not that he thought they could, but he was sure they¡¯d try, just like he had.


    When the new imp appeared, Coal stared at her in awe. In his old pack, darker skin tones were always considered more attractive, it was the second most desirable trait after strength. The female standing before him now had skin so dark that it was almost black. He could only barely see the difference where it got darker on her hands and feet. She was the most beautiful imp he had ever seen and she smelled faintly of his old home, a scent he had almost forgotten since he was brought here. If not for his current pursuit of Violet as a mate, he would have challenged her to a fight straight away in hopes of impressing her with his strength.


    She looked around at all the gathered imps before her gaze finally fell on Violet. With a smug grin, she pointed at the larger imp.


    ¡°You leader? I challenge,¡± she declared.


    ¡°She not leader,¡± Coal interjected, knowing that the others would not understand her.


    She frowned and turned slightly to point at him.


    ¡°You leader? I challenge,¡± she repeated.


    ¡°I not leader,¡± Coal responded.


    She deflated at that and lowered her arm to her side then peered at Coal suspiciously.


    ¡°Who leader?¡± She asked and Coal pointed towards Rose.


    The new imp looked Rose up and down, trying to assess her strength. Rose raised an eyebrow in return.


    ¡°But¡­small, look weird.¡±


    ¡°She leader,¡± Coal insisted.


    The imp continued to peer at Rose with narrowed eyes, then raised a hand to point at her.


    ¡°You leader. I challenge,¡± she declared again.


    Rose sighed and turned to Coal.


    ¡°What¡¯s she saying?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Want fight. Be leader,¡± Coal translated.


    ¡°No, I¡¯d rather not,¡± Rose refused.


    ¡°Not want fight,¡± Coal relayed,


    ¡°Have to, I challenge,¡± The new imp demanded, glaring between Rose and Coal.


    ¡°Not rule here,¡± he refuted.


    ¡°Then¡­how be leader?¡± she asked with a dumbfounded expression, to which Coal shrugged in response.


    ¡°Everyone listen her. She leader,¡± he replied nonchalantly.


    ¡°She weak. I challenge, prove stronger. Then everyone listen me,¡± she proclaimed.


    Coal shook his head in frustration. He didn¡¯t think there was any point in arguing further; she wanted to fight and nothing he said was going to change her mind. Briefly, he wondered if he should fight in Rose¡¯s place, unsure of how she would fare against another imp like him. While he had never actually fought against Rose himself, none of the imps here, besides Violet, had ever been able to best him; not that many had even been willing to try, especially not more than once.


    But she had that thing they called ¡®magic¡¯ and could do things that he didn¡¯t understand, so he decided to leave it to her unless she asked for his help. Though it would more likely be Violet who would step in if necessary.


    The dark-skinned imp teleported behind Rose and slashed at her back, but her claws never made contact, instead being blocked by some kind of barrier that she couldn¡¯t see. She was then violently knocked off her feet by Violet, who slammed into her with her shield. As Violet took another step to pursue her target, Rose held her back with a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°Let me handle this one, it¡¯ll be a good test of my skills,¡± she said.


    Violet nodded and stepped back to give the two some space. The new imp glared at Violet as she retreated, then fixed her attention back on Rose.


    Coal reflected on the way he had behaved when he first arrived and had to admit that this new female was more reasonable than he had been; she was at least willing to talk a little before attacking. But it still came down to a fight in the end.


    <hr>


    Rose wasn¡¯t surprised that they had to fight, though she was a little irritated that Coal had pointed the hostile imp towards her specifically. But even if she didn¡¯t like fighting other imps, this was a good opportunity for her; she spent a lot of time training with magic to improve her control, but not much practising using it in actual combat. Even when the others engaged in combat training, she would mostly be on standby to heal inevitable injuries, which was especially important when Violet and Coal got started. While healing others was valuable in its own way, she felt that her lack of combat experience was holding her back when the humans attacked.


    The new imp teleported behind Rose again and slashed at her mana shield repeatedly. It was the same tactic that Coal had used almost exclusively the first time he fought Violet, and it was easy to block. She could put a shield around herself in a dome to easily stop the imp no matter what direction she attacked from, as long as she made it tight enough that there wasn¡¯t enough room for her opponent to teleport inside it with her.


    But she also had to actually attack as well and she couldn¡¯t hide behind her shield forever. Her mana would run out eventually and assuming this imp was similar in ability to Coal, there was no hope of Rose winning against her in a plain physical fight. Magentam could provide her with extra mana, if necessary, but she¡¯d rather try to finish this on her own, if she could, to prepare her for times when such assistance would not be available. Besides, even with Magentam bolstering her mana, excessive magic usage was still exhausting in its own way.


    The next time the imp attacked her shield, Rose raised a hand and responded with a powerful wave of mana that sent her stumbling backwards. She looked around frantically with wide eyes, searching for the source of the attack. She said something to Coal again in her language and he responded, though their words were incomprehensible to Rose. The dark-skinned imp glared and began to slowly circle her.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    For all that it caught her off guard and made her act more cautiously, it wasn¡¯t much of an attack, hardly more than a shove. Actively attacking while also maintaining a shield around herself was still difficult and something she needed to work on in the future. Keeping the shield up was also a constant drain on her mana and took even more every time it blocked an attack. If it was going to limit her attack potential in addition to that, then it was a hindrance she couldn¡¯t afford.


    Rose realised she would have a better chance of victory if she dropped the shield and focused on dodging attacks instead, attacking when she could and only activating the shield again temporarily when necessary. It would be riskier, but she knew she wasn''t¡¯ going to win if it became a battle of attrition.


    With some hesitation, she let her shield dissipate. Her opponent was still circling, unsure of what to do. Rose pointed a hand towards her and released another wave of mana, though stronger this time, but the other imp disappeared before it hit her. Expecting another attack from behind, Rose immediately dove forwards and barely evaded the claws aiming for her back. She rolled onto her back and thrust her hands up, creating a narrow, but powerful gust of wind aimed at her opponent¡¯s face.


    The larger imp reeled back, blinking rapidly and trying to block the wind with her hands to shield her eyes. She teleported a few steps to the side and charged towards Rose. Though Rose had tried to dodge again when she disappeared, expecting the imp to appear behind her once more, only to be surprised to see her charging from off to the side instead.


    She blocked the swiping claws with a shield and jumped back to get some distance. While the other imp was distracted by the shield, Rose dispersed it and lashed out with mana like a blade, slashing horizontally at waist height. It caught her target by surprise as the blade bit into her lower abdomen, just below her navel.


    Crimson blood contrasted against the almost black skin as the imp hissed in pain. It was an idea that Rose had picked up after the recent battle with humans, though she¡¯d had very little time to practise so far, so the attack lacked power and the wound was only just deep enough to draw blood, but didn¡¯t cause any further damage beyond that. But that was fine for now since Rose didn¡¯t actually want to kill the imp she was fighting.


    The new imp glared for a moment before disappearing again. Despite leaping forwards to evade, Rose still felt the sting of claws raking across her shoulder blade, as the other imp was also learning and adapting and had similarly lunged further forwards as soon as she reappeared.


    Without really thinking, Rose unleashed a wave of mana in all directions to push her away. She spun back to face her opponent again and unleashed another mana blade. The dark imp hissed as the mana sliced into her skin and darted to the side to dodge the follow up attack as Rose repeatedly thrust her hands forwards to send out more blades in quick succession.


    There was a loud shriek as one of the imps watching the fight was hit by a blade that had missed its target, causing most of the observers to scatter, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the two combatants. They could have left the room, but it seemed they still wanted to watch, despite the danger.


    The new imp managed to avoid most of the blades that were sent towards her and teleported again. This time Rose dodged to the side instead of forwards. Predictability was her opponent¡¯s weakness, she couldn¡¯t let it be hers as well. She also created a shield as an extra measure between herself and where she expected the other imp to appear.


    She saw claws slashing through the air where she had been standing and dropped the shield to lash out with a blade again and caught the imp in her side. With a hiss of frustration, the larger imp backed away as Rose continued to attack with more blades, before teleporting forwards again.


    The fight continued like this for a while, with the dark-skinned imp teleporting to get behind her and Rose diving out of the way in random directions, barely managing to avoid her attacks each time. Rose fought back with mana blades whenever she saw an opening. But while it seemed like she was winning with the number of bleeding cuts she had inflicted, her mana was getting low, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to keep this up for much longer.


    Things took a turn for the worse when the imp teleported, but didn¡¯t appear where Rose expected her to. Instead of teleporting behind her, she appeared directly in front of Rose. She had only raised a shield to protect her back and so was unprepared for the sudden change in tactics. In a panic, she raised an arm to block the downward swipe of her opponent¡¯s claws. She winced as she felt the claws bite into her unprotected forearm but pushed her other hand forwards to unleash a powerful burst of mana to push the other imp back with enough force that she was knocked off her feet.


    The wound on her arm was quite deep and bleeding heavily. The larger imp, finally showing signs of exhaustion, took a few seconds to stand back up. Rose used the time to heal herself a little, just enough to slow the bleeding, though doing so further ate into her dwindling mana reserves.


    Defending herself was more difficult after that. Her opponent''s predictability had been one of Rose¡¯s best advantages, but it seemed that advantage was now lost as the teleporting imp was also trying to be a little more random with her trajectory. Sometimes, this meant she appeared further away as she had guessed the opposite direction that Rose actually dodged, but other times, she ended up far closer than Rose was comfortable with.


    It was only her mana shield that protected Rose from taking further injuries, but now that she didn¡¯t know which direction she would be attacked from, she had to create the shield all around her, causing a greater drain on her mana.


    Once her mana had almost reached its limit, she tripped on a bone while trying to evade another attack and fell onto Magentam¡¯s bone pile. They¡¯d moved the chair holding the core and the decoy to the corner of the room, next to the radio, before summoning this new imp in preparation for the fight, but hadn¡¯t bothered with the bone pile as it would have been a hassle to move them all. Now Rose regretted that decision.


    Seeing an opportunity, the other imp pounced with a confident grin. In desperation, Rose grabbed the largest bone she could reach, a human skull that she grasped by its eye socket, and swung it forwards with all the strength she had left. The skull collided with her opponent¡¯s head and sent her staggering back. Rose realised that she had been foolish from the start; she didn¡¯t need to rely solely on her magic to fight. She should have brought her hammer.


    Some of the bones still had mana crystals attached to them, so she quickly absorbed what she could and focused back on the dark-skinned imp, who was still a little dazed from the impact to her head. Rose figured she had only one more chance to finish this on her own before she¡¯d have to ask for help. She decided to try something that Magentam had explained to her, but she hadn¡¯t yet tested herself.


    She began to compress the mana between her hands. She couldn¡¯t compress it as much as Magentam could, not that she would, even if she was able to. When the other imp leapt towards her again, Rose unleashed a shockwave in her direction.


    Rose couldn¡¯t control it well though, and while most of the force was directed in the intended direction, she was still pressed painfully down onto the bone pile and had the air pushed out of her lungs, while other bones were scattered out in all directions. It was a thoroughly uncomfortable experience.


    Her opponent, though, was violently knocked back, crashing to the floor and sliding across it until she bumped into the wall, with imps in the audience scrambling to get out of the way.


    As Rose struggled to get back to her feet, she looked over at the other imp, who rolled onto her back, but made no further attempt to move until Coal wandered over to check on her.


    ¡°She give up,¡± he announced.


    Rose let out a relieved sigh and sagged from exhaustion as everyone else cheered.


    Congratulations on your victory. But you know you didn¡¯t have to fight on your own, right? Magentam said and Rose felt a rush of mana spreading throughout her body.


    ¡°Thank you. And maybe you¡¯re right, but she did challenge me specifically. I thought that, given the way Coal became obedient towards Violet, more or less, after she beat him, it might make things easier overall if I could beat her myself. Besides, it was a valuable experience that helped me identify several shortcomings of mine that I need to work on,¡± Rose replied.


    Using a mana shockwave like that at the end was a bit of a risk, but I am glad it worked out. Though we should probably figure out a way to mitigate the kickback if you are planning to use it again in the future.


    ¡°Yeah, it was a little more than I expected,¡± she agreed.


    Rose used some of the mana Magentam gave her to heal her injuries, and felt proud of herself for managing to get through that fight relatively unharmed. She sought out the imps who had been hit by errant attacks during the fight to heal them as well before moving over to the newest imp, who was still lying on the floor.


    She knelt beside the imp, who flinched when Rose put a hand on her chest. Coal spoke to her again and she didn¡¯t try to move, but she looked up at Rose with a fearful expression. She was bleeding from over a dozen shallow cuts all over her body, but despite their number, being minor injuries made them easy to heal.


    As the wounds closed and the pain abated, she sat up with her eyes sparkling. Wiping away some of the blood, only a thin black line on her skin remained, though even that was hard to see with how dark her skin was naturally. She started chattering wildly, looking between Rose and Coal and pointing at her now healed injuries.


    She threw herself at Rose and grabbed her in a hug. Rose hesitated, but awkwardly returned the hug.


    ¡°That''s¡­not quite the response I expected,¡± Rose commented.

 62. Do You Want to Know How I Got These Scars

    When Igneous returns, the first thing I have him do is go see Rose to heal his wing. After that, he reports what he found during his mission. He showed me everything he saw, or at least the things that were actually important. On his way back, he had stopped at the smaller settlement just to confirm the identity of its inhabitants as well.


    It was a risk to get so close, but it was late in the night and the moon was not out at the time so the darkness covered his approach. He perched on top of one of the buildings and watched the street below. There were not many people out at that time of night, so he had to wait a while, but eventually, he saw a pair of them walking together, illuminated by street lights.


    This was my first time seeing what I presume to be vak. William was not exaggerating when he called their resemblance to humans ¡®remarkable¡¯. From where Igneous viewed them on his rooftop perch, the only obvious differences were the red tone to their skin and small horns on their forehead, but beyond that, they do not look all that different. One could possibly even mistake them for humans if glimpsed at a distance. It is fascinating that creatures from two different worlds could evolve to be so similar; an interesting example of convergent evolution.


    I am concerned at the proximity of vak controlled settlements, I did not expect them to be so close. Is this something I should mention to William? No, it is probably not necessary to do that. Fortified towns and cities do not just appear overnight, it takes time to construct something like that and they looked pretty well established in the images Igneous showed me. They have surely been there long enough for the humans to already be aware of them.


    I do have another task for Igneous, but want to give him some time to rest before sending him on another extended mission. I had wanted to organise a more thorough scouting mission of the town with the fruit orchards, but with everything that has been happening lately, it has fallen to the wayside. But with the way things are now, I believe it is even more important to prepare a place to go, should it become necessary, which is now seeming increasingly likely.


    I plan to send Rose this time so she can investigate the crater to possibly find an explanation for the higher mana density there and also just to get her perspective on the area in general. When she is not busy, I consult with her to plan the expedition.


    Once Igneous has rested, I would like to send you to explore the town he and Violet scouted previously.


    ¡°Is there something specific you want me to look for?¡± She asks.


    Apart from looking into the crater, I want to know more about the surrounding environment and any potential threats or dangers that might have been missed the first time.


    ¡°Will it just be me and Igneous?¡± Rose inquires.


    That is what I wanted to ask your opinion on. If it is just the two of you, performing a thorough investigation could take a while, but Igneous would be able to fly you there, like he did with Violet. If you went with a group, it would be much easier to properly investigate the area, but Igneous would not be able to carry you, so you would have to travel on foot.


    ¡°How long do you think it would take to get there as a group?¡±


    It is hard to say. It took Igneous about half a day to fly there while carrying Violet, but it would depend on how fast imps move when traveling over long distances.


    ¡°That¡¯s mostly determined by the terrain. Thinking about how fast he flies, it''s hard to imagine it taking less than a couple of days, at least, to go the same distance over land; probably more.¡±


    I recommend a group expedition for this. Despite the longer travel time, it will make conducting a proper search easier and since one of the objectives is specifically looking for potential dangers, having a group will be safer.


    ¡°I agree. Will I be choosing the group again?¡±


    If you want to.


    ¡°When will we leave?¡±


    I will discuss it with Igneous later, so you have some time to decide who you want to take with you.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give it some thought.¡±


    In the meantime, shall we summon another teleporting imp?


    I had planned to wait longer, to give the previous one time to adjust, before summoning more, but she is adapting much faster than Coal did. Though she has the benefit of having someone who she can actually speak to to teach her how things work here, something Coal did not have when he first arrived.


    I have observed some interesting things while observing the two of them interacting. I do not understand their language, though maybe I should try to learn it if I am going to be summoning more of them, but that makes it more noticeable when Coal uses Balkret words in their conversations, sometimes for simple things. It makes me wonder if they do not have words for those things in their own languageIf you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    When they were discussing her name, Coal repeatedly used the Balkret word for ¡®name¡¯, which surprised me a little. Even though the red imps do not typically have names, they still know the word at least. Is it possible that for the teleporting imps, names are such a foreign concept that they do not even have a word for it in their language?


    As for her name, after giving it some thought, I decided to follow a stone and mineral theme, since I named the first one ¡®Coal¡¯. To better go along with the theme, I will focus on stones that are typically black, or at least can appear as black, so I am calling her ¡®Onyx¡¯.


    ¡®Magic¡¯ is something else Coal used the Balkret word for, which was a little more surprising. From the conversations I have had with my other imps about the places they came from, it seems like magic is quite common in their world. Even if imps cannot normally use magic themselves, they at least know what it is. So it is baffling that they would not have some word of their own for it.


    Maybe I am simply misinterpreting things and he was actually just trying to teach her the Balkret words for those things, but their tones and facial expressions when there were talking about them did not give that impression. Besides, if he wanted to teach her what he knew of Balkret, that seems like an odd place to start.


    <hr>


    Less imps gather around this time, not wanting to risk getting caught up in the fight like some of them did yesterday. Unlike last time, Rose has her hammer and we move the bone pile to the edge of the room to remove it as a trip hazard in preparation for the inevitable battle to come.


    The new imp that appears is male with similar height, build and skintone to Coal. One stark difference though is the presence of numerous black scars across his body. One long, thick scar runs from his right shoulder to the center of his chest. In a few places on his back, there are smaller scars of varying lengths, the most prominent of which has four clear lines running in parallel across the left side of his lower back; it is not hard to guess what caused those. There are also several more black scars decorating both forearms.


    Violet raises her shield and Rose tightens her grip on her hammer, waiting for him to make any sudden moves, though Rose¡¯s eyes are tracing the scar on his chest.


    Like the two that came before him, he turns to Violet first. He tries speaking to her, but obviously she does not understand. Coal and Onyx step in to speak with him instead and after what appears to be an animated discussion, he approaches Rose. She looks up at him and raises her hammer, prepared to defend herself should it become necessary.


    ¡°Not want fight,¡± Coal declares.


    Rose narrows her eyes and peers at him suspiciously, but he does not attack. Rather, he takes a moment to look her up and down and then nods to her, before returning to Coal and Onyx who begin showing him around.


    Well, that was anticlimactic.


    ¡°Yeah, I was expecting a repeat of yesterday,¡± Rose replies.


    Do not let your guard down yet though, he may still challenge you later, he might just be waiting to learn more about you first.


    ¡°What makes you think that?¡± She inquires.


    His scars; they suggest battle experience. And an experienced warrior would be less likely to recklessly charge into battle against an opponent they know nothing about.


    ¡°The scars were a surprise. Imps don¡¯t usually scar easily, so it takes pretty serious injuries to leave a permanent mark. The one on his chest is especially remarkable. It¡¯s hard to believe he could even survive the wound that caused it. So you think he just wants to see what I can do before trying to fight me?¡± Rose ponders.


    Obviously, I do not know if that is what he is actually thinking, I am just considering the possibilities.


    Violet follows the teleporting imps as Coal and Onyx show the new one around. Coal is doing most of the talking to explain things, but after Onyx was summoned, Violet decided that she also wanted to try learning their language, so she is listening intently and I do the same.


    I decide on the name ¡®Jet¡¯ for the new imp while I follow them. His reaction upon seeing the hellhounds is probably the most interesting so far. Coal and Onyx¡¯s first reactions had been to growl and prepare to fight, but Jet teleports away to hide behind the door. But judging from the way he peeks around the door and observes them with a calculating glare, I do not think he is hiding out of fear, but instead is planning how to attack them.


    Thankfully, Coal convinces him not to do so and that the hellhounds are safe to be around. Jet tentatively rejoins the others as Violet flings herself towards the smallest of the hellhounds, pressing herself as deeply as she can into Fuzzy¡¯s fur. Violet abandons the tour at that point, electing instead to stay and play with Fuzzy as the other three move on.


    On the roof, he is introduced to the gargoyles and looks baffled for a moment at the two large rocks. He immediately teleports away, outside of my field of vision, as soon as one of the ¡®rocks¡¯ starts moving.


    After that, the three of them head outside, where I can no longer observe them. I am glad Coal now has others that he can converse with. Even though he is doing great with learning Balkret, it still must be a relief to have someone he can speak to in his own native language.


    But that reminds me of the other imp I have that does not speak Balkret. I gave her the name ¡®Hana¡¯, which I think comes from another human language and also means ¡®flower¡¯. I thought it was a clever idea, but too bad none of the imps understand the context to appreciate it.


    She has also been doing her best to learn, which has been aided by the gargoyles and how they seem to be unaffected by any sort of language barriers. Perhaps I could also try to summon another imp for her to talk to, but I am not entirely sure how to do that.


    Obviously, I can target specific traits when summoning, but so far I have only targeted physical traits. Can I summon someone based on the language they speak, especially when I do not even understand the language myself? But that is not the only concern; I did not even know there were red imps who spoke other languages before I summoned Hana. There could be even more languages out there and if I end up summoning an imp that speaks yet another different language, I would simply be compounding the problem.


    Perhaps I could try introducing her to Cassandra. Even if the only demon language she has learned is Balkret, if we are lucky, she might at least be able to identify it and confirm whether or not it is the language of the sucubirus as I have previously suspected. Any additional information I am able to glean might help.


    The opportunity to do so presents itself later in the same day as we are once again visited by William and Cassandra. Those are the only two who came up the stairs, but my look outs on the roof report that they did see other humans carrying some boxes from their car into the building.

 63. Special Delivery

    The two humans did not come empty handed. William has two backpacks of different sizes in his hands, though both are much smaller than those we currently have, and Cassandra is carrying a black briefcase.


    Welcome back. You have brought some things for us?


    ¡°We have,¡± William declares, holding up the two miniature backpacks. ¡°This isn¡¯t all of it though, we¡¯re stacking most of it down in the lobby. I hope you don¡¯t mind bringing it up yourselves since it would be quite the hassle for us to bring it up the stairs with the way they are now.¡±


    That is reasonable. What have you brought then?


    William turns to Cassandra as she places her briefcase on the table.


    ¡°Do you want to go first or shall I?¡± He asks.


    ¡°You might as well, you¡¯ve got the simple stuff,¡± Cassandra replies.


    ¡°Alright then. As you can see, I have two options for backpacks; I thought we should bring some samples to test their fit before we start making any bulk purchases.


    ¡°This one,¡± he holds out the larger the two backpacks, ¡°is designed for young school children. They¡¯re more easily available in larger quantities. While this one,¡± he then holds out the smaller one, ¡°is actually made for adults and I think was intended more for fashion than practicality. I wouldn¡¯t even have wasted my time on it if I didn¡¯t think that the children¡¯s backpack might still be just a little too big,¡± William explains.


    The larger backpack did look like a smaller version of the ones we already have, with wide, padded shoulder straps, one main compartment for storing most things and a smaller compartment on the back, both secured with zippers. The other was small and black, with only a single compartment and narrow shoulder straps that did not look like they would be particularly comfortable. But is it not me who would be wearing them, so I call Rose and Violet down to try them on.


    While waiting for them, William opens the children¡¯s backpack, revealing a number of items inside, the first of which is a pair of small black shorts that he pulls out and shows off.


    ¡°So this is basically just a prototype. It has a vertical slit here in the back to make room for a tail and this little strap here that goes over the tail to hold it in place. This one just uses a bit of velcro, but as long as the design is acceptable, we can probably have them made with something more secure later. We didn¡¯t take any measurements last time, so I just had to guess at the size, so it might be a little off.¡±


    Perhaps you should wait until the imps arrive before you go too far into explaining things.


    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± William acknowledges.


    He continues to extract more items from the bag and place them on the table, but does not need to wait long for Violet to arrive with Rose and Coal following behind. It is not surprising that Coal followed Violet even though I did not ask for him, but I had to stop the other two teleporting imps from following him as well. The humans already know about Coal, but I would prefer not reveal that we have more just like him yet if we do not have to.


    ¡°Wonderful. Glad you¡¯re here. We¡¯ve got some stuff for you to try out,¡± William cheers upon seeing them.


    William repeats his explanation of backpacks and pants and I translate for the imps. Violet takes the larger backpack and tries it on while Rose inspects the pants. Coal¡¯s attention is instead focussed on the other item William had placed on the table; two small wooden boxes and a few paper bags. I do not have a sense of smell, but I assume that they contain food that he can smell. I cannot think of any other reason why they would hold his attention so firmly.


    With the shoulder straps tightened as far as they can be, the backpack is still a little big for Violet, though it is still a great improvement on the ones we currently have. If the shoulder straps could be modified to be tightened further and maybe an additional strap across the chest that clips in the center, it could be secure enough that being a little large would not be a problem.


    Rose closely inspects the pants and how they were altered to accommodate for a tail and nods approvingly.


    ¡°This looks like it could work,¡± she comments. Holding the pants against her waist, she notes that they are too big to fit her, so she holds them out to Violet.


    ¡°Here, try these on,¡± she suggests.


    Violet takes off the back pack and reaches for the waistband of the shorts she is currently wearing to remove them, but is stopped by Rose.


    ¡°No. Not in front of the humans please,¡± she chides.


    Violet glances at the humans, then back to Rose.


    ¡°Right, sorry.¡± She takes the offered shorts from Rose and heads to one of the bedrooms to change.


    While she is gone, Coal taps Rose on the shoulder to get her attention and points to the paper bags on the table.


    ¡°I want,¡± he states.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we''ll get to those soon, please just wait a little longer,¡± Rose assures him


    Violet soon returns wearing the new shorts.


    How is the fit?


    ¡°The pants are fine, but the hole for the tail isn¡¯t quite right. If I pull the strap hard, it can just stretch far enough to attach it properly, but it¡¯s tight and uncomfortable and will probably come undone if I move too much,¡± she complains


    I relay the criticism to William who strokes his chin in thought.


    ¡°So my estimation of the width at the base of their tail was off? But what about the general design, do you think it will work?¡± He asks.


    It should, when sized correctly.


    ¡°Excellent. We have a tape measure so we can actually take some proper measurements today, with your permission, of course,¡± he offers.


    It would not surprise me if they were just using this as another opportunity to gather more information on my imps, but I do not really have many options. If I want them to provide correct sized clothes, they need to know the correct measurements, so I agree.


    ¡°And what about the backpacks?¡± he inquires.


    Before that, can we discuss the other items you have on the table there? I think Coal is getting impatient.


    The humans look at Coal, who is fidgeting in place and still staring up at the paper bags, and William chuckles.


    ¡°Sure, we can do that. Since you said you wanted snacks, we raided a bakery today and bought out pretty much everything they had that wasn¡¯t just bread. These are a few samples, the rest are down stairs,¡± he explains.


    ¡°The look on their faces was pretty amusing when you said you wanted ¡®everything¡¯, but maybe we should give them a little warning next time,¡± Cassandra says with a grin.


    ¡°Perhaps, yes, if we¡¯re going to be making large orders like this in the future, we should let them know ahead of time. But anyway, here we have,¡± he picks up one of the paper bags and looks inside, ¡°a cinnamon doughnut,¡± he declares as he extracts the circular pastry from its bag.


    All three imps'' attention is now focussed on the doughnut. Rose holds a hand out and William passes it to her. She holds the doughnut up to her eye and looks through the hole, eliciting a giggle from Violet, but Coal frowns.


    ¡°Give,¡± he demands, tired of waiting.


    Rose breaks it into three pieces and gives Violet and Coal their share. Coal sniffs his piece at first, but Violet does not hesitate to eat hers whole. Rose holds her piece below her nose and inhales deeply, savouring its scent.


    ¡°It smells nice,¡± she says before popping it into her mouth.


    ¡°Okay, well next is a cheese and bacon roll,¡± William announces, presenting a round bun with cheese and small pieces of meat, presumably bacon, baked onto the top of it.


    He hands it to Rose who once again divides it into three pieces to share. Coal likes this one a lot more than the doughnut and asks for more. Rose looks up at William and tries to relay the request.


    ¡°More¡­that?¡± She asks.


    ¡°More of the cheese and bacon roll? I don¡¯t have another one here, but I¡¯m pretty sure there was at least one more with the rest downstairs, as well as some other variations of basically the same thing,¡± William assures her.


    ¡°Next is¡­some kind of muffin. We got a few different types and I don¡¯t remember which one this is, but I''m sure it¡¯s good.¡±


    Perhaps due to its shape and maybe also its texture, Rose finds it more difficult to divide the muffin into equal shares and one piece ends up being noticeably smaller than the other two. With a resigned sigh, she gives the larger pieces to Violet and Coal and keeps the smallest one for herself. She brings it to her nose to smell it and smiles.


    ¡°It smells a bit like the first thing he gave us, the round one, a little different though,¡± she comments and sniffs it one more time before eating it. ¡°It tastes better than the first one.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that was the best so far. I hope there¡¯s a lot more of those,¡± Violet agrees.


    When all the imp''s attention is back on William, he opens the final bag.


    ¡°Finally, we have a sausage roll. It probably won¡¯t be as good as when it was hot, but it should still taste pretty alright.¡±


    This one is long and straight, so dividing it evenly is easy for Rose, though she notices as she breaks it apart that the outer layer of the pastry is flaky and several crumbs fall to the floor.


    ¡°I hope there aren¡¯t too many of these; I can definitely foresee them making a mess,¡± she grumbles.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Other than that one complaint, the three of them do enjoy it.


    ¡°Do my offerings please the council?¡± William jokes.


    I simply tell the imps that he wants to know what they thought of the things he gave them. Violet holds out one hand with an enthusiastic thumbs up and Coal copies the gesture.


    ¡°Good,¡± Rose confirms with a nod.


    ¡°Excellent. And since you said your non-imp creatures have a preference for meat, I found a local place that makes beef jerky; then I found out they also do pork. It¡¯s a bit expensive, but I can¡¯t deny the quality, and it even comes in a fancy box.¡± William picks up one of the boxes to show it off.


    There is a picture of a cow that looks like it was burned onto the wood, with the words ¡®Harten¡¯s Premium Beef Jerky¡¯ underneath. The lid slides off to the side, instead of lifting up, revealing a paper lined interior and numerous long strips of dried meat. He holds the box out so the imps can take some.


    ¡°Only one. We still need to share them with everyone else,¡± Rose warns as Coal reaches to take one first.


    When all the imps have a piece, William replaces the lid and puts it back on the table.


    ¡°It¡¯s good stuff, but I¡¯m sure the DMO aren¡¯t going to keep providing it due to the price. They¡¯ll probably look for a cheaper alternative if you ask for more in the future.¡±


    With the imps chewing on their dried meat, William turned to Cassandra, who had taken a seat at the table to wait while William made his presentation.


    ¡°Would you like to show off your stuff now?¡± He asks.


    ¡°Sure, if Magentam is ready for it,¡± she replies.


    I am actually quite curious.


    Cassandra opens her briefcase, which catches Rose¡¯s attention. She pauses gnawing on the meat long enough to climb onto a seat on the opposite side of the table so she could observe as Cassandra pulls out three folders, one red, one green and one blue, and places them side by side before her. The red and green folders appear to be roughly the same thickness, but the blue one is much thinner than the others.


    ¡°We compiled all the biological data we have for the other demons. Unfortunately, the information we have on the sucubirus is quite limited,¡± Cassandra begins.


    ¡°Which is a little ironic, because if our assumption about the connection between sucubirus and imps is correct, that data would probably be the most useful to you,¡± William interjects.


    ¡°Yes, well, I have put in a request to try to get more, but that could take a while. However, when comparing the biologies of the vak and the brutes, while there are some distinct differences, their overall anatomies have more similarities than not. The same will likely also be true for your imps, so I¡¯m sure at least some of what''s in here will be relevant,¡± Cassandra continues.


    Rose points to the red folder and looks up at Cassandra.


    ¡°Give,¡± she says.


    Cassandra pushes the folder across the table and Rose opens it and flips through the pages. All the words are written in English so she does not linger on those, but there are also detailed anatomical diagrams that she takes some time to look over.


    ¡°Will this really be helpful in some way?¡± She asks.


    Having a better understanding of biology should provide a foundation to improve your healing.


    ¡°But this is about vak, how will it help me with healing imps?¡± She argues, pointing to one of the images that clearly depicts a vak.


    I reiterate what Cassandra said about there likely being more similarities than differences so it will still be useful. She accepts that explanation after some contemplation.


    ¡°How do I thank her in English?¡± She inquires.


    I instruct her on what to say and she looks up at Cassandra again.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she says.


    Cassandra and William both perk up, seeming genuinely surprised to hear that. It does make sense though, considering how Rose has behaved towards them in the past, they probably never expected that she would thank them personally.


    ¡°You¡¯re very welcome,¡± Cassandra replies.


    ¡°So, now that the snacks are dealt with, how about we get back to deciding on which backpack you like better, then we can take some measurements for the clothes?¡± William suggests.


    Violet, having finished her piece of beef jerky, picks up the smaller backpack that she had not tried before while Rose jumps down from her chair to try on the larger one. Coal, on the other hand, stares up at the wooden boxes on the table.


    ¡°More?¡± He requests.


    ¡°No. Not right now. Later, when we can share with the others,¡± Rose refuses.


    Coal frowns, but he does not try to argue. Instead he walks over to the couch, climbs up to sit on it and pouts as he watches the other two imps.


    Violet pulls on the smaller backpack and as expected, the shoulder straps are way too long. She bundles up the excess length in her hands and pulls it tight. Other than the length of the straps its size actually does look like it would be a good fit, but Violet disagrees.


    ¡°I like the other one better. It¡¯s more comfortable and it¡¯s bigger, so I will be able to fit more stuff in it,¡± she declares.


    Meanwhile, Rose is trying on the larger backpack herself. It hangs pretty low, reaching to a little below her knees, but it is not touching the ground and that is what matters and if the shoulder straps can be further modified, then it will sit higher.


    ¡°I agree, this one is preferable,¡± she states.


    I relay their opinions to William and add my suggestions for modifications and he agrees that they are good ideas.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get these measurements done then,¡± William suggests.


    Cassandra reaches into her briefcase again and extracts a tape measure, but this one is not like the stiff, metallic extending tape measure that we have. This one is made from a more flexible material and has a set length and no hard casing.


    ¡°Would you like me to do the measuring, or would you prefer to do it yourself?¡± She asks Rose.


    Rose narrows her eyes and holds out a hand to take the tape measure.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need to measure the diameter of the base of the tail. Do you want any long pants or just shorts?¡± Cassandra questions.


    ¡°Just shorts, long pants are restrictive and impede movement,¡± Rose answers.


    ¡°Do you need shirts as well or just pants?¡±


    I confer with Rose and Violet and they agree that there is no problem with the shirts they have, it is only better pants that they need.


    At Rose¡¯s request, Violet stands still as Cassandra gives instructions on what measurements are needed. Cassandra understands numbers in Balkret so I do not need to translate as Rose measures and she writes the figures down in a notebook.


    Rose calls Coal over to measure him as well and then has Violet take her measurements.


    Most of the imps are the same size as Rose and we only have a few in Coal and Violet¡¯s sizes, so please organise the products accordingly. I inform Cassandra and she writes some more notes in her book.


    I do not wish to mention that Violet is unique or reveal exactly how many imps of Coal¡¯s size there are for now, so I will keep it vague. Violet will just have more options to choose from as a result. But then it occurs to me that there is one other imp whose size is unique.


    What should we do about Calla? She will also need clothes, but asking for them will let the humans know that we have a child here. I ask Rose.


    ¡°They might already know about her. The other humans saw her before and might have already shared that information with the DMO,¡± she counters.


    A good point. I will talk to her parents and let them decide how they want to deal with it.


    Calla and her parents are in the hallway on the fifth floor. She is sitting on her father¡¯s shoulders while he runs along the hallway with Lily and the hellhounds following behind. When they reach the end of the hallway, they turn around and run back the other way.


    Lily, Calyx, I have something important to discuss.


    The imps immediately stop running and the hellhounds follow suit, though Fuzzy trips and tumbles over from the abruptness of it, making Calla giggle.


    ¡°What you need?¡± Calyx inquires.


    The humans, William and Cassandra, are here. They are going to bring us better clothes in the future; they might already know about Calla, but if they do not, they will learn of her when we ask for clothes for her.


    ¡°Humans hurt child?¡± Calyx asks while Lily frowns.


    I do not believe they will do anything to hurt her, but I do not like sharing more information with them than necessary.


    ¡°Human here?¡± Calla asks, looking down at her father.


    Yes, there are two humans here.


    ¡°Nice human or mean human?¡± She queries.


    I think these ones are relatively nice.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Want see,¡± she commands, pointing towards the stairwell.


    ¡°No, humans dangerous!¡± Lily vehemently objects.


    I can have Rose come up here to take the necessary measurements so you do not have to meet with the humans directly.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s better idea,¡± she agrees.


    ¡°But want to see,¡± Calla whines, then after some contemplation, she points at Noctis. ¡°Bring hellhounds. Eat humans if mean,¡± she implores.


    Calyx looks at his mate with a sympathetic smile.


    ¡°Hellhounds keep safe. Rose too. It fine, right?¡± He proposes, holding out a hand for her.


    Lily glares at him, still not fully convinced, but reluctantly relents and takes his hand and the three imps make their way down to the fourth floor, escorted by the entire pack of hellhounds.


    In the meeting room, William and Cassandra were both now seated at the table discussing things in hushed voices. Rose had gone back to studying the anatomical diagrams and Coal went back to sitting on the couch, now with Violet beside him.


    Noctis is the first to enter the room followed by her mate, then Scar and Fuzzy. Violet jumps off the couch and rushes over to give Fuzzy a hug.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the fire monsters. Nice to see you again,¡± William comments.


    We call them ¡®hellhounds¡¯.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± He replies with a raised eyebrow and focuses his gaze on Noctis, who stares back at him and the fire in her eyes flares. ¡°Quite fitting, I¡¯d say,¡± he says with a small chuckle.


    The three imps follow behind the hellhounds, Calla still riding on her fathers shoulders.


    ¡°Is that the child we heard about?¡± Cassandra notes when she spots them.


    ¡°Wow, it really is tiny,¡± William remarks.


    So you did already know about her?


    ¡°Yeah, Jonathan¡¯s party mentioned it when they told us about their last visit. Since we know how cagey you are about sharing information on your imps and other creatures, we didn¡¯t want to bring it up unless you did first,¡± he explains.


    I see. As I am sure you can tell, we are also going to need to take measurements for her as well, except she is going to need entire outfits instead of just pants.


    ¡°Those are clothes meant for infants, right? But it looks like even those don¡¯t fit well because of the difference in body proportions. Well, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem to have something appropriate made,¡± Cassandra asserts.


    Calyx places his daughter back down on the floor as Rose approaches with the tape measure and explains what is needed and Cassandra instructs Rose on what measurements to take.


    While that is happening, Scar stands and puts his front paws on the table and sniffs at the boxes. William reaches out to pick one up but Scar growls at him when he approaches. Violet rushes over and climbs up one of the table legs. She picks up the box with a picture of a pig on it, labeled as ¡®Pork Jerky¡¯, and slides the lid off. She holds a piece of the dried meat out for Scar and he immediately snatches it from her hand. Fire and Fuzzy are soon looking up at her, waiting to also receive a piece.


    Noctis stays by Calla¡¯s side so Violet jumps down from the table to bring one to her. She then offers one to Lily and Calyx as well and Coal also comes over to take one. She takes one for herself and waits for Rose to finish measuring Calla to offer them the last two pieces.


    ¡°What this?¡± Calla asks.


    ¡°It¡¯s a snack. It¡¯s made of meat and is very tasty,¡± Violet informs her.


    While the imps are happily chewing in their dried meat, I turn my attention back to William.


    So what about the other things I asked for?

 64. A Catalyst for Magic

    ¡°Well, in addition to the snacks, we¡¯ve also brought some medical supplies; bandages, gauze, band aids in varying shapes and sizes, some antiseptics, tweezers, scissors and medical tape, you know, the basics. How did it go with the burn and numbing creams we gave you last time?¡± William asks.


    Violet volunteered to test them so we put a little bit on the backs of each of her hands and there did not appear to be any negative effects that we could see. The numbing cream did help to ease pain temporarily, though the effect was short lived and only affected surface tissue. However, the burn cream did not have any effect that we were able to discern. What is the usual expectation for it?


    ¡°It¡¯s meant to soothe the pain a little and help the skin heal better. But it¡¯s just a basic over the counter medication, so I wouldn¡¯t expect anything special,¡± William explains.


    The imp that it was used on did not say anything about the pain being lessened, but the burns were only minor in the first place so it was probably not that bad to begin with. And helping the skin heal likely does not matter when we have someone who can heal with magic.


    ¡°I can see how it would be hard to determine its effectiveness under those circumstances,¡± William agrees.


    ¡°Can you elaborate on the numbing cream? It¡¯s actually a relatively new medicine, so any additional data is always appreciated. The people I work for are particularly interested in its effects on demons, considering its source,¡± Cassandra requests.


    Is there something special about its source?


    ¡°It was developed from a plant that the vak brought and started farming around a decade ago. After obtaining some samples, our scientists were quite eager to study it. Since the plant is completely inedible, it¡¯s assumed that the vak also use it for medicinal purposes.¡±


    ¡°Or chemical weapons,¡± William scoffs.


    What kind of chemical weapons?


    Cassandra glares at William for a moment.


    ¡°Ah, sorry, I probably shouldn¡¯t have mentioned that,¡± he apologises.


    ¡°Well it doesn¡¯t matter now, I guess,¡± Cassandra relents. ¡°In its raw, unprocessed state the sap from this plant can cause permanent nerve damage. So naturally, the demons aerosolized it.¡±


    And they are using such weapons?


    The thought is disturbing, to say the least. I will need to start thinking about methods to defend against chemical attacks if that is the case.


    ¡°Only in the beginning, then our military decided to respond in kind, even though we had laws against it. It didn¡¯t take long for both sides to mutually agree to stop doing that. But we¡¯re still ready for them in case they decide to change their minds about it,¡± William states.


    I see. So what in particular do you want to know?


    ¡°Well, you said the effect was short lived and only on the surface tissue, but can you be more specific?¡± Cassandra asks.


    I do not have any means of precise time keeping, but I would estimate its effects to have lasted about ten minutes. I am not sure how to be more specific about the ¡®surface tissue¡¯ because that is what it affected, while doing nothing to numb the pain from deeper bruising or broken bones.


    ¡°Only ten minutes? Are you sure?¡± William asks.


    The two humans share a shocked expression and Cassandra starts writing in her notebook.


    As I said. I do not have a way to keep time so it is just an estimate. Is that surprising somehow?


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a clock?¡± He queries.


    Not one that works.


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll add that to the list then. But yes, it is surprising, that stuff is pretty potent. On humans, even a light application would numb the affected area for at least half an hour and that¡¯s the minimum,¡± William exclaims.


    ¡°It has been noted to have been slightly less effective when used to treat injured vak prisoners, but even then, the difference is only marginal. Maybe there¡¯s something about imp biology that makes them more resistant to it. If you use it again in the future, would you mind keeping detailed notes about its effects for us to compare?¡± Cassandra adds.


    I will consider it.


    As much as I would prefer not to share information with them, it could help us learn things about imp biology that would be difficult for us to figure out on our own.


    During our discussion, Rose shared the rest of the beef jerky with the hellhounds and the imps who had not had one yet. Since that was the last of it, Violet and Coal were left disappointed that they did not get another piece.


    Calla is the last to finish hers and she then climbs up the closest table leg to stand before Cassandra, looking up at her with an evaluating glare.


    ¡°Not look tough. I fight,¡± she declares, pointing at the human.


    ¡°No! You¡¯re not fighting,¡± Lily shouts as she and Calyx scramble up to the tabletop to pull their daughter away from the human.


    ¡°Not scared. I will win,¡± Calla insists.


    While I admire your bravery, I think this might be a bit much for you right now. Besides, these are nice humans, they have brought us many gifts. They are not our enemies.


    ¡°No want to fight,¡± Cassandra hastily urges.


    ¡°You give up? That mean I win!¡± Calla pronounces.


    Violet and Calyx cheer while Lily sighs and shakes her head.


    ¡°Need anything more?¡± Calyx inquires, directing the question towards Rose.


    ¡°No, I think that was all that¡¯s needed from you,¡± Rose replies.


    Yes, thank you for coming down and also not letting Calla pick a fight with the humans. When you go back up, please inform the others that there will be treats coming soon and not to go anywhere if they do not want to miss out.


    Lily, eager to keep her child away from the humans, tells Calla that they are leaving. The little imp calls Noctis over, who crouches slightly by the table so Calla can take her customary seat.


    ¡°We tell everyone how I win against human,¡± she states cheerfully as they leave.


    The two humans watch in fascination as the tiny imp rides the largest of the hellhounds out, with the other three trailing behind.


    ¡°So what was that all about?¡± William asks after they are gone.


    ¡°I believe the little one was challenging me to a fight and declared herself the victor when I declined,¡± Cassandra says.


    ¡°And what a stunning victory it was,¡± William chuckles.


    ¡°Is it normal for imps to ride on the hellhounds like that?¡± Cassandra wonders.


    It is for that one.


    ¡°And were the two older imps accompanying her the parents? They seemed quite protective of her,¡± she inquires.


    It seems like she is fishing for information, but even if I do not confirm it, it is a pretty obvious observation to make, so they will likely just assume it either way.


    They are.


    ¡°So they form family units then, that¡¯s good. That will be helpful,¡± Cassandra states.


    Helpful how?


    ¡°It may hopefully help to humanise them, make them seem more sympathetic. A lot of people are hesitant to offer support to your cause because they are wary of the fact that you have demons,¡± she explains.


    And it does not matter to those people that the imps are different from the vak?


    William scoffs in response.


    ¡°They just don¡¯t care to make a distinction. You have to keep in mind that most people¡¯s only experience with demons has been the conquering force that is attempting to exterminate us; they¡¯re afraid. That¡¯s why we were only able to bring food and basic medical supplies today, a lot of folks aren¡¯t keen on doing anything to bolster the strength of another force of demons,¡± he laments.


    Why do you go so far to help us then?


    ¡°Because after meeting you and seeing the imps for myself, I don¡¯t believe you¡¯re an enemy. I trust you. You¡¯re just doing your best to survive, like us.¡±


    And what of you? Do you share the same opinion? I ask Cassandra.


    ¡°I do. And thankfully, the people I work for are a little more open minded,¡±


    Who exactly do you work for, if not the DMO?


    ¡°The Demonic Intelligence Division. Our job is gathering whatever information we can get on demons and unlike the Dungeon Management Office, we are not under the control of the military,¡± she explains.


    That certainly sounds like something that would be associated with the military.


    ¡°We do work with the military on a lot of things, we just don¡¯t work for them. A distinction they like to sometimes forget,¡± Cassandra clarifies.


    During this discussion, Rose has gone back to looking over the files Cassandra brought while Violet and Coal, seeing no reason to hang around any longer, leave to go back upstairs. But soon after, I sense a large group of imps moving quickly down the stairs. Almost all the imps in the building it seems, save for the two on watch, are making their way down.


    Please excuse me for a moment, I need to check on something. I inform Willaim and Cassandra.


    Violet is at the head of the pack so I ask what is going on.


    ¡®The human said there were more snacks downstairs, so I asked everyone to help bring them up,¡¯ she replies.


    That is a good idea. There are other things there besides the food, I would appreciate it if you would bring those up as well. Then if you want to start distributing the snacks, you can as long as you make sure everyone gets a fair share. And do not forget about the two on the roof.


    I wait on the lowest step of my domain and watch as the imps all pass completely beyond my perception. It is not long before I see them returning, some carrying large brown paper bags individually and others working together to carry up a few cardboard boxes. Calla is ¡®helping¡¯ her parents carry one of the boxes, though it is clear they are doing most of the lifting while she is just holding on to it. There was not enough for all of the imps to take something so some of them are coming back up empty handed.


    I return to the meeting room and inform Rose about what is happening.


    Violet and the others are bringing the food up and she will be distributing them soon if you want to go supervise that.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Rose pauses her examination of the files to consider it, then shakes her head.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure she can handle it,¡± she remarks before turning the page.


    I briefly glance at the new page and see information and diagrams related to the vak respiratory system. I am actually quite interested in looking through those files myself later, but for now, I focus back on the humans. William has taken a seat at the table beside Cassandra and they are discussing something between them in hushed tones.


    Thank you for waiting.


    ¡°No problem. Nothing¡¯s wrong I hope?¡± William replies.


    No, just working out some logistics. You said that people do not want to help us because imps are demons, does that mean you will not be able to fulfill the rest of my requests?


    ¡°Oh, not at all. I¡¯m sure we will be able to get most of what you want, one way or another, some of them might just take a little longer,¡± William assures me.


    What of the D.I.D? Would they be more amenable to providing what we seek? I ask Cassandra.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible. Even though I said they¡¯re more open-minded, they are still wary as well, but it¡¯s certainly worth submitting requests. Though it might garner some complaints from the military about overstepping, since dealing with dungeons is their jurisdiction; that¡¯s why they have the DMO in the first place,¡± she contemplates.


    ¡°But, even if our respective employers don¡¯t want to help any more, there are things we could provide personally. For example; I served in the military until recently, so I learned all about most standard firearms. So unless you have anything out of the ordinary, I could teach what I know to anyone who wants to learn about that,¡± William offers.


    I cannot help but think about the RPG that we got from the first Honey Badger group that attacked us and wonder if that counts as ¡®out of the ordinary¡¯.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we could also teach you what we know about magic, if need be. After all, I am one of the oldest human mages on earth so I¡¯m sure I could offer some valuable insight,¡± he continues.


    That catches me a little off guard. I do not usually pay much attention to the ages of humans we have encountered so far, but when I look at William, he appears to be a relatively young man, smooth skin, dark hair without any grey to it, a fit and healthy body. I do not see any signs of advanced age. He does not seem like a person who could claim to be the oldest anything on earth.


    Exactly how old are you?


    ¡°I¡¯m twenty-seven,¡± he states smugly.


    How could you be one of the oldest human mages if you are only twenty-seven?


    His confidence falters at my apparent lack of awe. Crestfallen, he turns to Cassandra.


    ¡°People are usually at least a little bit impressed by that aren¡¯t they?¡± he complains.


    ¡°Did you really expect Magentam to know enough about human history to understand the significance?¡± Cassandra counters.


    ¡°No, I suppose not,¡± William concedes.


    ¡°As you may recall, twenty-seven years ago is when the demon¡¯s invasion began, but there weren¡¯t any humans who could use magic before that. It was the sudden appearance of mana on earth that was the catalyst for humans to develop such abilities. However, this power didn¡¯t just awaken within people who didn¡¯t have it previously, only people who were born after that could become mages,¡± Cassandra explains.


    ¡°In my case, my mum was already pregnant with me when it all started and I was born a few months later. So while there may be some mages out there who are a little older than me, it can¡¯t be by much,¡± William adds.


    But not all children born after that have magic right? Jenna is the only one from her group that uses it and I do not think any of them look to be older than you.


    ¡°That¡¯s correct. There are certain conditions that are required for a child to be born with magic potential,¡± Cassandra confirms.


    What kind of conditions?


    If I could learn what led to humans being able to use magic, perhaps the same could be done for my imps, then maybe there could come a time in the future when imps using magic becomes normal, instead of an anomoly.


    ¡°Mostly it comes down to mana exposure during fetal development,¡± she states.


    If that is all it takes, then would it not be possible to intentionally make every new child born able to use magic?


    ¡°Some people have tried exactly that and have been met with disastrous results. It¡¯s not that simple,¡± Cassandra retorts.


    How so?


    ¡°Do you know about mana poisoning?¡± she asks.


    I have heard of it, but have not seen it for myself.


    ¡°Well, for most people, mana poisoning leads to one of two outcomes. They either die or they make a full recovery with no permanent negative effects. But for an unborn child that¡¯s still developing, it¡¯s a lot more dangerous. Not only is there a higher chance of the fetus dying, even if it survives, there is the additional risk of it developing defects and malformations,¡± Cassandra elucidates.


    ¡°I¡¯m quite fortunate in that regard. I heard that mum got it pretty bad at the time, so the fact that I was born without any complications or deformities was rather lucky,¡± William interjects.


    Is that also the case for you? I ask Cassandra.


    ¡°No, it was a little different for me. My mother wasn¡¯t pregnant at the time, but it has been found that when someone suffers severe mana poisoning and actually manages to survive it, some of that mana will linger in their body. It¡¯s not harmful, but it can take a long time to dissipate, sometimes years. If a woman in that state has a child while enough of that mana remains, that can also lead to that child becoming a mage,¡± she clarifies.


    ¡°It is safer for the child that way, though still dangerous for the mother of course. But mages born this way aren¡¯t as powerful as those who got to experience the mana poisoning for themselves,¡± William adds with a smug grin.


    ¡°Yes, and we also aren''t as insufferable,¡± Cassandra retorts sarcastically.


    ¡°Ooh, ,¡± William acknowledges with a chuckle.


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m sure there are people who are researching how to make the process safer, but as it stands now, intentionally exposing women to dangerously high concentrations of mana in the hopes of producing a healthy child that will be able to use magic is reckless and ill-advised, at best,¡± Cassandra continues.


    What if a woman who is already a mage has a child? Would that not mean the child has been exposed to mana since conception?


    ¡°That is a good question,¡± William agrees and turns to Cassandra. ¡°Any insight?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve not heard anything about that yet personally. And in case you are thinking of asking, no, I don¡¯t have any children of my own so I can¡¯t say from experience. But that is probably also something being researched,¡± Cassandra states.


    Well that puts a damper on my idea. As far as I know, imps come from a place where mana is normal and from what I have been able to observe, they already naturally have mana in their bodies, yet that has not helped them gain the ability to use magic.


    Rose and Violet both have more mana than any of the other imps, likely as a result of being guardians, and Rose actually is able to use magic herself. So there is a chance that any offspring either of them might produce could also be able to use it as well. But I am not going to ask them to breed just to find out.


    Then there is also Coal, Onyx and Jet. Their teleportation is probably the result of some kind of magic, but in all the time he has been here, Coal has never shown signs of any other magical ability at all, so I am not sure what to think of that.


    That just leaves mana poisoning, but that is another thing I am not willing to experiment with. Apart from the fact that I do not know how much mana it would even take to poison an imp with it, from what the humans have described, it just would not be worth the risk. As Cassandra said, it would be reckless and¡­


    My thoughts are interrupted as Violet comes running into the room carrying a muffin in her hands. She rushes over to the table and stops beside Rose¡¯s chair.


    ¡°This one¡¯s for you,¡± she declares, holding out the muffin for her.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Rose replies, taking the muffing gingerly and smelling it before taking a bite out of it. ¡°It¡¯s different from the one we had earlier, but it¡¯s also quite nice.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s still more upstairs, but you stayed down here, so I brought one to you,¡± Violet informs her.


    ¡°I appreciate that. I suppose I could just take these up with me if I¡¯m not actually needed here anymore?¡± She asks, gesturing to the three folders.


    I pass the question on to the humans.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything more for her to do here. Unless she wants to start magic training right now, but that can take a while to really get into so it might be better to leave that for another day,¡± William responds.


    Rose packs up what she was looking at and gathers the folders together. Violet offers to carry them so Rose can focus on her muffin and the two imps quickly depart from the room together, leaving me alone with the humans.


    ¡°Well, we seem to have drifted quite far from our original topic. The clothes and backpacks shouldn¡¯t take too long to make to specification. We¡¯ll keep looking for people who are willing and able to make weapons and armour like you asked for. I¡¯m sure we can hire a guy to do the welding you wanted, though I¡¯ll have to ask you to have Igneous or¡­Marble, was that the other one''s name? Have one of them carry the welding equipment between floors. Dragging that stuff up the stairs might be a bit much to ask otherwise.


    ¡°What else was there? Oh, the car. I still haven''t heard anything back about that, but I¡¯ll go out and buy a charger for the battery myself, then if that¡¯s the only problem, you¡¯ll be good to go,¡± William says, giving a thumbs-up.


    ¡°If the DMO doesn¡¯t want to reimburse you for that, or anything else you pay for out of pocket, let me know and I''ll talk to my boss about it again,¡± Cassandra assures him.


    ¡°Right, I¡¯ll keep that in mind. As for the training, both guns and magic, I can come back on my next day off, spend the whole day here teaching you what I know, if you want. That¡¯ll be a Sunday, so will you be free then?¡± He asks Cassandra.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I might be available, but I¡¯ll have to check when we get back just to confirm and I¡¯ll let you know later,¡± she answers.


    ¡°Well, it might just be me then, but that¡¯s alright. Oh, actually that reminds me, Jonathan and his friends also want to come back, but wanted me to make sure it¡¯s okay with you before they do. They said they would have asked sooner, but apparently one of them got a pretty nasty infection after one of your imps bit him last time they were here and they wanted to make sure he was fully recovered before coming back.¡±


    That was quite a while ago, it must have been pretty serious if it took him this long to recover. Although, now that I think about it, coming from a different world means the imps could be carrying all manner of bacteria, or even diseases, that humans have never encountered before. So rather than being surprised at the long recovery time, perhaps he should be considered lucky that it was not worse.


    I suppose I do not mind them coming back.


    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll invite them along as well. We might even have some more stuff for you by then, a couple of backpacks and some new pants maybe. We won¡¯t have enough for everyone by then, of course, but maybe a few,¡± he says.


    Your assistance is appreciated, but just for reference; can you tell me what day it is today so I know how long it will be until then?


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what day it is?¡± He asks incredulously.


    It has never been relevant before now.


    ¡°I suppose that makes sense,¡± he admits. ¡°Today is Thursday, so three days from now.¡±


    I see. And what of my last request? You have not said anything about that.


    William goes stiff in his seat and Casssandra raises a quizzical eyebrow.


    ¡°I reached out to some people I know who¡­should be able to get in contact with them, but I¡¯m still waiting for a response,¡± he hesitantly replies.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Who are you trying to contact?¡± Cassandra demands.


    She does not know?


    ¡°Given what you were asking, I thought it might be better not to report it and just pursue it on my own. Honestly Cass, it might be better for you not to know; plausible deniability and all that,¡± William attempts to defend himself but is met with a withering glare from Cassandra.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to talk about this later,¡± she insists


    ¡°Fair enough. On that note, I think we¡¯re pretty much done here for today. Is there anything else you¡¯d like to ask us while we¡¯re here?¡± William inquires.


    There is actually. Cassandra, you have said in the past that Balkret is the only demon language that you know, but I was wondering if you would at least be able to recognise or identify any others if you heard them?


    ¡°The vak do seem to have other languages that they sometimes use, but I¡¯m not familiar enough with any of them to recognise them as more than ¡®not Balkret¡¯. Why do you ask?¡± She responds.


    Some of the imps I have summoned do not speak Balkret. I suspect one of them might be speaking the language of the sucubirus, but I have no way to confirm it. I am not sure about the others though.


    ¡°Really?¡± She perks up instantly, forgetting her previous displeasure at William¡¯s secrecy. ¡°Would you be willing to record them speaking for us to analyse? If it is the sucubirus¡¯ language, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to find out. We may be able to learn something about the others too,¡± she says with bubbling excitement.


    If you can provide appropriate recording devices, I¡¯ll see what I can do.


    With nothing left to discuss and having plans for William, and possibly others, to return in a few days, this meeting finally concludes and the humans take their leave.


    I head up to check on everyone. After bringing everything up to my core room they separated out the medical supplies and left them there while taking the food up to the roof to have a party up there. Something William did not mention was that they also brought fruit juice in glass bottles and paper cups so that is a welcome surprise.


    I cannot currently see most of the imps while they run around and play as I have still only claimed a small area of the roof so far, but I still catch glimpses of them as they run past or come looking for more snacks. Though some are still lounging around in my claimed area while they enjoy their morsels and beverages.


    Igneous and Marble are chewing on strips of dried meat, of which I can see there were a few more boxes of each type provided. There are also small paper bags strewn around from all the pastries already consumed. There does not appear to be much of the food left at this point, so the rooftop picnic will not last much longer, but the imps will likely continue to play up here for quite a while.


    Rose is sitting beside Igneous cradling a paper cup in her hands.


    The humans are gone now, but William plans to return in three days. He has offered to teach us what he knows about using magic in combat and he may also bring some more backpacks which could be useful during your upcoming expedition, if you are willing to wait. Though if you would prefer to leave earlier, you are welcome to do that as well, I can ask William to reschedule.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind waiting a few days. I doubt the town is going anywhere and learning how to defend ourselves better is more important than leaving a little earlier.¡±

 65. Anatomy 101

    There is a lot to go through in the files Cassandra brought and Rose and I are both eager to learn as much as we can as quickly as possible. We kept the body of one of the imps that died in the last attack so we could dissect it before Rose left for her next mission, but we also waited in hopes of receiving information like this from the humans, because having something to compare to, even if it is not exactly the same, will make it easier to understand what we¡¯re looking at, rather than going into it blind.


    It is currently stored in the bathroom, lying in the small bathtub, if you could call it that. I doubt an adult human would ever be able to relax comfortably in such a small tub. It would be great for my imps though if we actually had running water. We are currently relying on whatever effect keeps things from decaying at a normal rate within the dungeon to keep it intact until we are ready. Perhaps that is something else I could ask the humans about, see if they can offer an explanation for why that happens. But even if things decay slower here, it is not going to last forever, though we did try to drain the blood from the body in hopes that that would help it keep for a little longer.


    The other imps were confused when they were told they could not eat it, but Rose managed to convince them that we had something far more important planned for it, something that would greatly benefit the pack; plus, they can still eat it once we are done anyway.


    It has been four days since the attack and now the body has become a little discoloured, taking on a more pallid hue with some mottled darker patches in some places. I do not know if it is starting to smell, given my lack of an olfactory sense, but I have not heard anyone complaining yet, though given their general willingness to eat rotting meat, it¡¯s possible they simply would not care even if it did smell. I would like to get to it today if we can. Rose and I have spent most of our time studying the information we were given and I even continued reading when she eventually had to sleep.


    William will be returning in two days and after that Rose will be leaving for an unknown length of time. We definitely cannot keep it here waiting for her to come back, so we might as well get it over with. We were never going to be able to become experts in this field in such a short time anyway and as much as I am loath to admit it, there will likely be more opportunities to do this in the future.


    In preparation for this, Rose had previously asked the other imps to keep an eye out for any stones that looked like they would be good for sharpening knives since we are going to need them to be as sharp as we can get them for this. We will primarily be using the blade that Violet extracted from the folding knife she destroyed previously. She never managed to find an effective means of attaching it to her tail, but it will be quite useful for this situation, with its smaller size offering a lot more precision than any of the other knives my imps have collected. It is still not ideal, but we have to work with what we have got.


    Rose and Violet head to the bathroom where the imp¡¯s body is waiting. I asked Violet to accompany us in case we need some extra strength. Rose has the small knife blade and one larger knife, while Violet is carrying the files on the vak and the brutes that Cassandra provided so we can refer to them as we go. The sucubirus file did not contain anything useful for the task at hand, unfortunately, so there is no need to bring it along as well. I will be the one handling the documents once we start, to avoid soiling them with bodily fluids of a dead imp.


    In the bathroom, as we prepare to begin, I offer a silent prayer to the imp whose body we are about to dissect, a male who was named Aspen, thanking him for his sacrifice. He gave his life defending his home and his pack. Even now, he will continue to aid us by furthering our understanding of imp anatomy. I wonder if it would have pleased him to know that after his death, he would be helping his pack in ways no other imp ever has before.


    Rose makes the first incision down the center of the chest and abdomen and carefully peels back the surface tissue. The process is messy due to her lack of experience and a blade not suited for the task, but eventually the ribs and sternum are revealed. We take a moment to examine their design and structure before moving on.


    This is a part where Violet¡¯s assistance is necessary. We do not have any tools suitable for cutting through the ribs, unless we just try breaking them with a hammer, but that would risk damaging the organs beneath which we are trying to study, so we have to rely on Violet¡¯s strength. It is not easy, but working together, they do manage to pry the ribs apart without damaging anything else.


    This is my first time actually taking a close look at the internal anatomy of an imp and I feel a little conflicted about it. I know that it is necessary and we will benefit from it, but it feels a little uncomfortable due to my personal connection to the subject. Maybe it would be easier if we were dissecting a specimen that I had never met, but this is an imp that I knew and cared for.


    Rose and Violet have no such reservations, not that I would expect them to, given how imps normally deal with their dead. This one will end the same way too, just with a few extra steps before getting there.


    Each organ is closely examined, observing its shape, size and how it is connected to everything else around it, before being carefully cut away and placed to the side, while I flip through pages of the vak and brute files to compare things.


    Some things are easily identified, such as the heart, lungs, stomach and intestines, but after that, things get less obvious and more complicated. In the files, both vak and brutes have a pale coloured, vaguely triangular-shaped organ near the stomach that the information states serves a similar function to the liver in humans. I think we have found the same thing here, a pale, triangle-ish organ near the stomach, except this imp has two of them, one on either side of the stomach, whereas the vak and brutes only have one.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Is it possible that imps have two of these demonic liver equivalents? Or have I just misidentified what we are seeing? But that is not all, there is another small organ that the imp appears to have four of, two on either side of the abdomen. They are all the same size, with the same ovoid shape and dark red colouring, so I think they are all the same. But looking at the data on the vak and brutes, neither of them have four of anything, so I am not sure what I am looking at.


    Even with all the information we got from Cassandra, we are not able to definitively identify much else. I have some theories, but with much of what remains having different shapes, colours and/or placement than what is in the files, I cannot be sure. We spend a few hours meticulously examining each of the organs. Even if we cannot figure out the function of many of them, we can at least see how they connect and fit together.


    After the internal organs, there is still a lot more to see. By examining the imp¡¯s skeletal structure, how the bones fit together and how the joints connect, Rose will hopefully be better prepared for healing broken bones when such injuries occur.


    But getting to the bones in many places means getting through the muscles first, though that is hardly a problem as we need to study those as well. Learning about their structure, texture and distribution is also an important step, in addition to seeing all the tendons and ligaments that hold everything together.


    The work takes most of the day and even continues into the night. As it starts getting dark, Violet is the first to suggest bringing in mana stones. They do emit light when fully charged and even though it is not enough to completely illuminate the room, imps can see quite well in the dark, as can I, so it is bright enough to allow us to continue without much interruption.


    Eventually we reach a point where I feel that we have learned all we can from this and the body is left in a state where it is hardly recognisable as an imp anymore. Perhaps we could have figured out more if we had a greater baseline knowledge to begin with, but even if we had that, there is only so much you can learn from dissecting a single corpse, but I have already resigned myself to the fact that this is only the first and there will surely be others in the future.


    Violet runs off to let everyone know that they can finally eat the body and I once again thank Aspen for his sacrifice and the knowledge we have gained from it.


    Do you feel like this has been helpful? I ask Rose.


    ¡°Maybe. We¡¯ll see if it has any impact next time I need to heal someone, but I think there¡¯s still a lot I need to learn,¡± she replies.


    Indeed, but this was a good start.


    She pinches the bottom hem of her shirt and holds it out to inspect its condition.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need to go out for a wash after this, Violet too probably. Unsurprisingly, that was quite messy,¡± she complains.


    Violet soon returns, leading all the other imps into the room. Even though imps are not very big, neither is the room and it ends up being a little bit too crowded. Rose shoos them out and directs them to form a single file line so they can each come in to take a piece one at a time. It takes a bit of effort to get them all to understand the instructions, especially for the two new teleporting imps, who are dealing with not only a language barrier, but are also adjusting to a very different way of doing things than they are used to.


    Eventually they are all lined up and filing in to take a piece while Rose supervises the whole process to ensure no one takes an unreasonably large portion. Each imp quickly rejoins the back of the line as soon as they finish what they were given. It is a mildly amusing sight as long as I do not think about what they are actually eating.


    Calla tries to offer her first piece to Noctis, but is quickly rebuked by her parents. Noctis had followed her into the core room, but thankfully did not try to squeeze into the bathroom with all the imps earlier.


    ¡°Not for Noctis! It''s for you to eat and get stronger,¡± Lily says.


    ¡°Make Noctis stronger,¡± Calla counters.


    ¡°Noctis already strong. You need it more. You eat,¡± Calyx insists.


    Calla carefully considers their words for a moment before shoving the piece of mean into her mouth and the three imps rejoin the line, hoping to get more.


    Once the meat is gone, the room fills with the sound of crunching as they are all now munching on bones until soon there is nothing left of the imp who was known as Aspen.


    Afterwards, Rose and Violet head out to go bathe at the river and few others choose to follow them, excited at the prospect of going to play in the water.


    I urge them to be careful and keep an eye out for anything that may be lurking in the water, hidden by the darkness, and Rose promises that they will. Perhaps I am worrying too much, this is hardly the first time they have gone to the river at night, but it is better to be safe than sorry.


    I go back to reading the files, this time focusing on the sections about circulatory systems. We did not pay much attention to that at all this time and I think it would require better, more precise tools to properly explore it. Perhaps I could talk to William about getting a proper set of surgical tools in the future. He will probably want to know why we want something like that, but I am sure he will understand if we explain it to them.


    It could also be possible to conjure appropriate tools out of mana, then they could be as sharp as necessary in whatever shape we need them to be; at least in theory. In practice, I am sure it would not be that easy. Apart from the mana required to sustain something like that, it would also need intense focus and concentration over a long period of time, even more so when using it for such delicate and detailed work such as investigating a creature''s circulatory system without completely butchering it. I do not think that would be feasible for me or Rose at the moment, but maybe something we could work on in the future.


    At least we would not have to wait for an imp to die to study such systems. We could have the imps bring back animals to dissect. Even if they are quite different from imps and not even originating from the same world, as long as they have blood that is red, with a heart to pump it and veins to carry it, I am sure there is still something to be learned from studying them.

 66. A Good Place to Sleep

    Coal felt wary of Jet, the newest of the teleporting imps. His scars implied that he was no stranger to fighting, yet he seemed to be making an effort to avoid conflict, though he was usually there to watch anytime other imps fought for training. Even when Coal challenged him to a sparring match, he declined.


    But it wasn¡¯t his refusal to fight that concerned Coal as much as his attitude. He didn¡¯t seem cowardly or fearful, instead he seemed to be indifferent. The kind of indifference that¡¯s usually shown by one who already believes themselves to be superior to other imps and doesn¡¯t feel the need to show off.


    There¡¯s only two types of imps who have that kind of attitude; overconfident youngsters who didn¡¯t know any better, but would soon learn, and experienced warriors who had earned their confidence. It was obvious which category Jet fell into.


    That¡¯s the kind of imp that would usually end up as pack leader eventually and were often more dangerous than those who felt the need to constantly prove their dominance. So Coal was doing his best to discourage him from challenging Rose for leadership. He recounted the tale of the one time he had fought Rose, how Violet and all the other imps present at the time stepped in to defend her and how she had refused to heal him afterwards.


    Onyx questioned his story because that didn¡¯t happen when she had challenged Rose and Coal admitted that his wasn¡¯t a proper challenge, that he had instead attacked her without warning, so maybe he deserved what he got.


    Onyx had already shared her story of her battle with Rose on the day that Jet appeared, which at the time had led to both of them asking Coal a lot of questions about magic that he didn¡¯t have answers for.


    Onyx was quite different from Jet. Excitable, bubbly, curious and whose skill in combat seemed  comparable to what his had been when he first arrived here. She also didn¡¯t question or complain when he explained to her that even though she was stronger than most of the other imps here, she can¡¯t just take what she wants from others by force and she¡¯ll get in trouble with Rose if she tries. She seemed to be adjusting to the different ways of doing things here far easier than he did¡­Or so he thought.


    After coming back from playing outside, he was planning to take a nap in his box, but he found Onyx standing beside it, looking into it.


    ¡°What doing?¡± He inquired as he approached.


    ¡°You sleep here?¡± She asked in response.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Coal replied


    ¡°Is good?¡± she continued.


    ¡°Is,¡± he confirmed.


    ¡°I take,¡± Onyx declared and Coal narrowed his eyes.


    ¡°No take, is mine,¡± he insists.


    ¡°Fight?¡± She suggested, stepping back with one foot and raising her hands in a combat ready posture.


    ¡°Not need fight. Mine,¡± he repeated.


    ¡°No fight? Then I take,¡± she stated and placed a hand on the edge of the box. Coal scowled and grabbed the offending hand by the wrist.


    ¡°Mine!¡±


    ¡ª----


    When Coal grabs Onyx¡¯ wrist, I suspect violence is imminent. Should I try to stop them? Would I even be able to? They can teleport through mana shields so I do not have any means to completely restrain them if they are truly determined to fight. The best I could do would probably be to continuously create shields to block them from hitting each other until they tire themselves out.


    But I will not do that, I am actually curious to see how this will go. This will be the first time I have seen two of the teleporting imps actually fighting each other, which is a little surprising given their more aggressive nature. I do alert Rose to let her know what is happening so she can be prepared to heal them.


    Onyx teleports away out of Coal¡¯s grip, but he pounces towards her as soon as she reappears and tackles her to the ground. Landing on top of her, he tries to pin her down but she teleports again. Coal dives forwards as she appears behind him and disappears before he hits the floor.


    Coal reappears at her side and rakes his claws across her shoulder, she hisses from the pain, but when she turns to retaliate with a swipe of her own, he is already gone. Appearing on her other side now, he slashes at her again, but this time when he disappears, so does she.


    He materialises a step behind where she had previously been standing, while she reappears a moment later on the other side of the room. Coal takes only a moment to get his bearings and locate his target before he teleports again.


    Onyx dashes to the side to avoid the next attack and when Coal reappears, he finds himself slashing at empty air, but he does not even complete his swipe before he is gone again, teleporting himself to be right in her path. His claws tear through the air, but this time she manages to duck under them. She then launches herself forwards with her head down, aiming for his abdomen, possibly trying to gore him with her horns, but he is already gone before she makes contact.


    This is the strategy Coal developed through his numerous battles against Violet. Only staying in one place long enough to make a single attack or locate his opponent¡¯s new position if they have moved out of his reach before teleporting again. A rapid hit and run technique that requires fast reaction time and a high degree of spatial and situational awareness. He has come a long way since that first time he fought Violet.


    He has still never actually beaten her though, despite that. Maybe it is because she is used to the way he fights or perhaps some other factor that I am not aware of, but Violet has an uncanny ability to sense where Coal is about to appear and is ready to block, counter or dodge more often than not.


    Onyx does not have this ability and is being completely overwhelmed  as she cannot keep up with his rapid teleportation. Even though she can also teleport, she is not able to use it offensively because he does not remain stationary long enough for her to keep track of him, nor does he attack in a predictable pattern like used to.


    Attacking an enemy from behind was a strategy that both Coal and Onyx relied on in their first fights here. It is not a bad move for someone who can teleport, as long as their opponent is not expecting it, but it becomes easily predictable if it¡¯s the only move they have got. Coal has progressed well beyond such predictability and is attacking Onyx from a different direction every time. He is not even limiting himself to the horizontal plane as he sometimes drops down on her from above.


    Even when she teleports away to put some distance between them, it only takes Coal a brief moment to register her position and go after her again. This fight is completely one sided and Onyx  is constantly on the defensive. While she does manage to get in a few lucky hits when she slashes at the air where she thinks he is going to appear, she is taking a lot more than she is giving.


    For a while, she stops trying to fight altogether and just focuses on staying out of Coal¡¯s reach, repeatedly teleporting all around the room with Coal just a step behind. This does allow her to avoid adding to her mounting injuries, but offers little opportunity to fight back.


    Perhaps she finally tires or maybe she simply accepts that she cannot win this battle, either way, she eventually stops running. She teleports over to Coal¡¯s box, where the fight started, and kneels with her head bowed.


    Coal appears beside her with claws raised, ready to attack, but he pauses when he sees her. The two of them exchange some words in their language and he lowers his hand. He continues to glare at her for a while then huffs and turns away. He looks around the room until he spots Rose, who had come in during the fight and stood by her bedroom door to wait for it to conclude. He teleports over to her and bows his head. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Please heal,¡± he requests.


    Rose places a hand on his chest and soon, what few injuries he had accrued begin to heal, the bleeding stopping and the wounds mostly closing over.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough for now, I need to tend to Onyx, I think,¡± Rose insists.


    Hearing her name, Onyx stands up and rushes over, though she slows down when Coal casts a glare her way. Coal then nods to Rose and walks back over to his box.


    ¡°Mine,¡± he declares out loud, this time in Balkret, before climbing into it.


    While Onyx¡¯ injuries are numerous, none of them are particularly deep and I have to marvel at how precisely imps are able to hold back when fighting each other. I have seen the kind of damage their claws are capable of dealing when they are serious, yet it is rare for them to inflict any severe wounds when sparring with other imps, no matter how intense their battles become. It is quite impressive really.


    After being healed Onyx hugs Rose tightly enough to make the smaller imp wheeze. When she lets go, she looks back at Coal¡¯s box wistfully once more before sighing and heading out of the room.


    ¡°So what was that all about?¡± Rose inquires.


    They were arguing before the fight started. I could not understand what they were saying, but it seemed like she was trying to take his box and he did not like that.


    ¡°Something like that was bound to happen eventually, though I didn¡¯t expect Coal to be the first one she¡¯d pick a fight with. I¡¯ll try talking to her about it later, though I¡¯ll probably need Coal¡¯s help for that and maybe Igneous as well,¡± she suggests.


    I check in on Coal and find that he is already asleep, but that is not surprising as sleeping is one of his favourite pastimes and it never takes him long to fall asleep when that is what he wants to do. Seeing him curled up in the box gives me an idea though.


    Do you remember the small box that the first group of Honey Badgers brought, the one we suspected they were planning to use to transport my core? I ask Rose.


    ¡°Yeah, I think so. Why?¡±


    Can you fetch it and bring it over to my core please? I want to try something. You will find it atop the counter in Room 7.


    ¡°Okay, sure,¡± she makes her way over to the cabinet with the hole in it, opens the door and crawls through to the next room.


    It does not take her long to find the box and she soon returns with it.


    ¡°So what are you planning to do with this?¡± She asks when she is standing before my core holding the black box.


    I am going to put my core into it to conduct an experiment. I would appreciate your assistance with it.


    ¡°Oh? I don¡¯t mind helping. What¡¯s the experiment for?¡± Rose inquires while opening the box.


    Last time my core was taken out of the dungeon, it was a rather unpleasant experience, but I had an idea that being inside this box might mitigate the unpleasantness a little.


    ¡°Really?¡± She peers down at the open box, inspecting it closely. ¡°Is there something special about that I¡¯m not aware of?¡±


    No, it is just an ordinary box. My theory is that if we put my core into the box and fill it with mana, if it is then taken outside the dungeon, it will no be as bad, because even if I lose connection to most of the dungeon, the core will still be contained in what is essential a smaller dungeon.


    ¡°I guess that sounds like it makes sense,¡± Rose says, tilting her head slightly to the side, ¡°but are you sure that¡¯s going to work?¡±


    Not entirely, but there is only one way to find out.


    Rose nods and places the box on the floor. She carefully lifts my core off the chair and lowers it into the box, nestling it into the padded interior.


    ¡°What now?¡± She asks.


    Close the box and wait for me to properly claim the inside, then I¡¯ll ask you to carry it outside.


    ¡°Should we let the others know what we¡¯re doing? They were a little distressed last time we took your core out, Violet in particular,¡± Rose suggests.


    If this works the way I think it will, then it should not feel any different for anyone than how it feels when they leave the dungeon themselves. Then again, I suppose we should at least inform Violet, in case it does not work the way I think it will.


    ¡°It¡¯s her turn on watch right now, so I¡¯ll go up and let her know,¡± Rose states and heads for the door.


    It would be faster for me to just talk to Violet directly, but it will probably take a few minutes to fully spread the mana filaments around the box¡¯s interior, so it will give Rose something to do besides standing around and waiting.


    With my core contained in the plastic box, my sense of the rest of the dungeon has gotten a little fuzzy again, but that is to be expected, since I am no longer directly connected to the mana filaments spread throughout my domain.


    Could I force the filaments to go through the plastic to connect them to the rest of the dungeon? Perhaps, but even if I can, I am sure it will not be easy. The material is denser and less porous than anything else I have pushed mana filaments through up to this point. Squeezing them through the division between the top and bottom halves of the box and then running down the outside of it might be simpler than trying to go straight through the plastic.


    But since it is going to be moved again soon anyway, there is no point in worrying about that until after I am done with this experiment. I focus on spreading out the mana filaments inside the box, but even dedicating a continuous stream of mana to the effort, it is not a quick process. When I am about halfway done, I feel the connection toViolet buzzing, indicating that she is trying to contact me.


    ¡®Rose says you¡¯re going to take your core out of the dungeon again. Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea?¡¯ She asks when I reach out to her.


    It will be fine, I have a plan to ensure that it will not be as bad as last time. You do not need to worry.


    There is a long pause before she speaks again.


    ¡®Okay, but be careful and come back right away if it hurts too much.¡¯ She eventually replies.


    I will. Your concern is appreciated.


    Once I have finished spreading the mana filaments all over the inside of the box I notify Rose that I am ready for the next step and she returns to the core room. She kneels down and gingerly lifts the box, now containing my core, from the floor.


    Just one of the rooms across the hallway should be sufficient again.


    Rose nods but does not say anything more as she approaches the door directly across from Room 5. She opens it and walks through. As she crosses the threshold, I experience a strange feeling of discomfort from losing connection to most of my dungeon, but it is nothing like the pain I felt last time. It was much more tolerable than my previous attempts to go outside. Not being surrounded by the oppressive darkness of the void is also a plus. There is not much to see besides the interior of a black box, illuminated by the light emitted by my core, but that is still far more preferable than what lies beyond that.


    I suddenly feel both Rose and Violet trying to contact me at the same time.


    ¡®How are you feeling? Was this better than last time?¡¯ Rose asks


    ¡®Did you do it? I felt something a bit weird just now,¡¯  Violet states.


    Everything is fine. It was not painful like last time, so I would consider this experiment to be a success. I assure both of them.


    Rose carries the box back to the core room and I reconstruct my body as soon as we are back in the dungeon.


    ¡°It really wasn¡¯t painful?¡± Rose asks, seeking further reassurance.


    Not this time, no. A little uncomfortable perhaps, but there was no pain. Thank you for helping me with this again. I am quite satisfied with the result, maybe I should do something to thank Coal for giving me the idea.


    ¡°You got the idea from Coal?¡± Rose asks, glancing over to where the slothful imp was sleeping.


    Indeed. He always likes to sleep inside that box of his. Seeing that is what made me think of putting my core in a box as well. The Honey Badgers were kind enough to supply one well-suited to the task, after all.


    ¡°I guess good ideas can come from all sorts of places,¡± she agrees with a light chuckle. ¡°So what do you want to do with it now?¡± She asked when she reached the chair where the decoy core still rested.


    Open it up and put it on the chair, but leave my core inside. That will make it easier if we have to do this again in the future.

 67. The First Rule of Firearm Safety

    William will be coming back today and I am actually looking forward to it. His knowledge of magic is invaluable and he has offered to share it freely. Finally having weapons training for Igneous and Marble is also an excellent opportunity, it will be good to be able to put our growing arsenal of guns to use. When he arrives, he is accompanied by Cassandra and four other humans that I am not looking forward to seeing quite as much, but I did give them permission to be here so I will not complain.


    William is carrying a duffle bag and they are each wearing a backpack. According to the imps on watch, they came on foot today, rather than by car. I know it is a long way to walk so they are probably carrying provisions.


    Welcome back.


    ¡°Thanks for having us,¡± William replies cheerfully.


    I see that you were able to join us today as well Cassandra.


    ¡°Yes, well, when I mentioned it to my boss, they were actually insistent on it,¡± she responds.


    Is that so? Why is that?


    ¡°Well, If we¡¯re going to be teaching your imps magic, it¡¯s an opportunity to see what they¡¯re capable of and that¡¯s something the D.I.D is quite interested in. There are also some other things they have been pestering me to ask about,¡± Cassandra explains.


    That is unfortunately an inevitable consequence of asking them to teach us, it will reveal to them exactly how much we do or do not already know. There is not a lot I can do to limit that without negatively impacting the quality of the training we receive.


    ¡°Thank you for letting us come back as well,¡± Jenna interjects


    She is standing next to the couch fidgeting nervously, or perhaps with excitement, I am not sure. Mark and Seth have seated themselves on the couch and Johnathan is leaning against the table. The three males have brought their usual weapons along, but Mark also has what appears to be a crude wooden sword, which he has leaned against the couch beside him with his machete.


    Yes, well¡­welcome back, I suppose.


    ¡°We would have come back sooner, but Mark got pretty sick after last time,¡± she says.


    So I heard. I apologize for that. I did not consider the possibility of an infection from being bitten. If you agree to spar with them again, I will ensure they know that they are not to bite.


    I include Mark in the conversation now since he is the one who deserves the apology.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, it wasn¡¯t too bad. Well, I mean, it sucked of course, I heard it was actually pretty serious for a while, but some people from the D.I.D showed up and offered me top notch medical care as long as I let them study me. I wouldn¡¯t mind having a rematch against the one that bit me though, I even brought a suitable weapon this time,¡± he says, grabbing his wooden sword and holding it up to show it off.


    While Coal probably caught him off guard last time with his teleportation, I doubt this human would fare any better if he tried to fight him again, even if he knows what to expect and has a weapon this time. If they do spar with the imps again, I will try to discourage him from challenging Coal.


    You studied him? I direct this question to Cassandra.


    ¡°Not me personally, but yes. The D.I.D¡¯s job is to gather whatever information we can about demons, so when it was reported that he¡¯d been bitten by an imp, I was asked to keep an eye on him. After his parents brought him to the hospital because of an infection they believed was caused by that bite, the D.I.D took an interest. It was important to know if the imps carried any dangerous diseases or parasites that could affect humans that we weren¡¯t already aware of and if they could be contagious.


    ¡°So they kept him in quarantine, ran some tests, took some blood samples and provided the best medical care possible,¡± Cassandra explains.


    ¡°¡®Some blood samples¡¯, she says. They took so much of my blood I thought I might run out,¡± Mark jokes.


    ¡°According to what I was told, they did find an unknown bacteria in his bloodstream. It didn¡¯t become airborne, but could still theoretically have spread through blood contact,¡± Cassandra continues.


    ¡°Doctors said they were pretty resilient and took some strong antibiotics, but they got¡¯em in the end,¡± Mark adds, leaning back onto the couch.


    That sounds like quite a big deal, yet you seem rather nonchalant about it.


    ¡°Well, you know, shit happens I guess. Besides, while I was recovering, it gave me some time to¡­self reflect, I suppose. Maybe I can accept that I was being a bit of a dick. Not saying I deserved what I got, but I¡¯m not planning to hold it against you,¡± he states.


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m shocked. That¡¯s probably the first time in your life you¡¯ve ever admitted to being a dick. It¡¯s like you¡¯ve finally taken the first step to becoming a decent human being,¡± Jenna quips.


    ¡°It''s still one step further than you¡¯ve ever taken,¡± Mark counters and Jenna pokes her tongue out at him.


    These two bicker a lot more than other humans I have observed, yet they do not seem to dislike each other. It makes me a little curious about their relationship.


    ¡°What happened to Mark is what prompted one of the things that my organisation has been pestering me to ask about, or at least it made them more insistent about it,¡± Cassandra remarks.


    And what is it that they want?


    ¡°They want to know if you would be willing to provide blood and saliva samples from your imps and other creatures for study.¡±


    Absolutely not.


    Cassandra sighs and shakes her head


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty much what I expected. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t bother asking before now, but their requests for me to do so have been getting more incessant, so I figured I might as well get it over with and have your official refusal on record, at least,¡± she complains.


    I understand the reasoning for wanting samples, you want to know if they might be carrying any other potential contagions. But I have no way of being sure that whoever gets those samples will not also have other, more sinister intentions.


    Apart from the possibility of the humans experimenting with the blood to try to find poisons or diseases that are effective against imps, I also know from my own experiments with summoning that even magic can interact with blood. So I really have no idea what could be possible for someone who is determined to find a way to cause harm.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll not push the issue, though I''m sure the D.I.D won¡¯t just stop asking that easily. Aside from acquiring physical samples, they¡¯re also just interested in any and all information you are willing to give them about yourself, the imps and other creatures you¡¯ve got here. After my last report where I mentioned the child imp was riding one of the hellhounds, there was particular interest raised about the relationship between the two species,¡± Cassandra continues.


    I will consider what I am willing to share, but please tell them not to get their hopes up too high.


    ¡°Hellhounds? Those are the large furred creatures with the spikes and fiery eyes, I assume?¡± Jonathan inquires.


    ¡°That¡¯s what Magentam calls them. Fitting, right?¡± William confirms.


    ¡°And the child was riding one of them? Really?¡± Jenna exclaims. ¡°I really want to see that. Is it adorable?¡± She asks


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you bring a gift for it?¡± Mark interjects.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right,¡± she quickly takes off her backpack and opens it to retrieve a small, white cardboard box.


    A gift? For what reason?


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I scared the poor thing last time I was here, so I brought this as an apology,¡± she clarifies regretfully.


    I am sure she will appreciate whatever it is. Would you like to give it to her yourself?


    ¡°Is that okay? She won¡¯t be scared again?¡± She asks hesitantly.


    If she is expecting you and you are not charging towards her without warning, it will be fine. She is actually quite brave.


    ¡°Well, if we¡¯re giving out gifts, I¡¯ve got some stuff here to hand out as well,¡± William chimes in.


    He places the duffle bag on the table and opens it. The first thing he takes out is a black box with a few cables attached to it. Two of the cables have clamps on the end, one red and one black.


    ¡°With this, we can recharge the car battery. It just plugs into your generator, but it means we¡¯ll have to either take the generator to the car, or bring the battery back here. Kind of inconvenient either way, but we¡¯ll deal with that later,¡± he begins.


    Next he pulls out three pairs of pants, two that are black and appear to be about the same size and one purple that is a bit bigger.


    ¡°You brought them pants?¡± Seth questions, watching on in curiosity.


    ¡°Not just any pants, these ones have been specially modified to accommodate their tails,¡± William brags, showing off their design.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s pretty neat,¡± Jenna remarks.


    ¡°We¡¯ve only got them in two sizes since Rose and Coal¡¯s measurements are close enough that the same size should work for both of them and they have elastic in the waistband so a little variance won¡¯t matter. Only Violet¡¯s measurements were different enough to actually need a larger size,¡± he explains, holding the purple pants and one of the black pairs side by side to compare them.


    Was it intentional that the ones you brought for Violet happen to be purple or just a coincidence?


    ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t planned ahead of time, but when you see an opportunity like that, you gotta take it,¡± William insists.


    I see¡­Well, I am sure she will like them. What else have you brought?


    ¡°Backpacks, modified as you suggested,¡± William cheers, extracting three small packs from the duffle bag, one green, one blue and one pink. ¡°We were only able to get three done in time for today though.¡±


    I suppose I should call them down again so they can try them on then.


    ¡°Excellent, after that, we can move on to today¡¯s main objective,¡± William says enthusiastically.


    ¡°Oh, what¡¯s that? Your main objective, I mean,¡± Jenna queries.


    You did not tell them?


    ¡°They didn¡¯t ask. I just told them that I had business with you today and they were welcome to join me,¡± William remarks. ¡°My actual purpose here today is to offer firearms and combat magic training,¡± he explains to the other four humans.


    Mark and Seth perk up at the mention of firearms and Jenna¡¯s eyes light up when he talks about combat magic, but it is Johnathan who speaks first.


    ¡°You intend to teach the imps about guns? Would they even be able to use them?¡± He asks, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°It¡¯s not for the imps, no,¡± William replies.


    ¡°Surely you¡¯re not trying to teach the hellhounds, right?¡± Jenna questions incredulously, making William chuckle.


    ¡°As amusing as I¡¯m sure that would be, no, it¡¯s not for them either. I take it none of you have met Igneous then?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Why? What is it? Some kind of rock monster?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°No, at least I don¡¯t think so,¡± William begins, and looks at Cassandra with a raised eyebrow. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve not seen anything to indicate that he is a ¡®rock monster¡¯ of any sort, though having a name like ¡®Igneous¡¯ certainly does raise some questions,¡± she replies.


    ¡°Magentam, care to comment?¡± William prompts.


    No.


    ¡°Well, there you have it. Anyway, in actuality, Igneous is more like a¡­ You know what, maybe I¡¯ll let you see for yourself, wouldn¡¯t want to spoil the surprise,¡± William says, chuckling to himself.


    ¡°That¡¯s not ominous at all,¡± Mark responds sarcastically.


    While the humans talk amongst themselves, I call Rose Violet and Coal down to try on the things that William brought. When they enter the room, Rose, as usual, glares at the humans, especially Jenna and her friends. Coal, on the other hand, grins when he sees Mark on the couch, a wide, malicious grin, showing off all his teeth, even snapping his jaws once.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get you back for that, don¡¯t you worry,¡± Mark grumbles, though I sincerely doubt that he will.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t seen that one before. Is she new? She¡¯s cute,¡± Jenna says, smiling at Rose.


    You have seen her before. This is Rose.


    I had forgotten that the last time these humans were here was before Rose became a guardian, so this is their first time seeing her with her now multi-coloured skin, not that it matters.


    ¡°Oh, well the new colouration looks really pretty,¡± Jenna compliments.


    If Rose understands what was said, she does not give any indication of it. Meanwhile, Violet walks straight over to William and looks up at him expectantly.


    ¡°Here you go,¡± he says as he hands her the purple shorts.


    Violet takes the pants and holds them against her arm, comparing it to her skin. The colour was a little lighter, but not too far off


    ¡°It¡¯s just like me!¡± She cheers with a wide smile and rushes off to the bedroom to change.


    She returns soon after, skipping into the room wearing the new pants.


    How are they?


    ¡°I like them,¡± she declares.


    ¡°But how¡¯s it fit with the tail?¡± Rose asks


    Violet twists her body to try to look at the base of her tail.


    ¡°It¡¯s good, I think. Better than the last one,¡± she confirms. She sways her tail from side to side to test it. ¡°It¡¯s comfortable and not too tight.¡±


    ¡°I suppose we should try them as well then,¡± Rose says and retrieves the other two pairs of shorts from William and hands one to Coal.


    The two of them also leave the room to change and when they come back Violet is already wearing the pink backpack.


    ¡°I took the pink one,¡± she says and holds the other two out for the smaller imps.


    Coal reaches for the blue one without hesitation.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯m taking the green one then.¡± Rose takes the green backpack and puts it on.


    Once the clip in the middle across the chest is secured, she tugs on the shoulder straps, noting that there is still some give to it, but not too much. She twists her body to the left and right a few times and then bends forward to test how it restricts her range of motion and seems satisfied with the result.


    ¡°They look so cute with their little backpacks, I wish I had a camera so I could take pictures,¡± Jenna coos as she watches.


    ¡°Even if you had one, I wouldn¡¯t count on Magentam actually allowing you to take any pictures,¡± William remarks. ¡°So what''s the verdict? Good? Bad? Needing any further adjustments?¡±


    I relay the question and Violet grins.


    ¡°I think they¡¯re great,¡± she announces, holding out a hand with her thumb pointed up.


    ¡°Great.¡± Coal copies her again, as he often does.


    ¡°They do seem to be suitable. The pants are decently comfortable and the backpacks will definitely be useful,¡± Rose confirms.


    ¡°Perfect. I¡¯m glad they meet your approval. We¡¯ll work on getting more soon,¡± William says.


    That will be appreciated. Shall we move on then?


    ¡°Sure, should we start with the guns?¡± William agrees.


    Mark and Seth whisper to each other briefly on the couch before Mark speaks up.


    ¡°We¡¯d also like to learn about them, if you don¡¯t mind teaching us as well, I mean,¡± he requests.


    ¡°Well, I guess I don¡¯t have a problem with that. Magentam?¡±


    Fine, but I am not sharing any ammunition for them to practice with.


    ¡°We might want to move to a bigger room, if possible. With Igneous and Marble, assuming they¡¯re both the same size, it¡¯s going to get a bit cramped in here,¡± William suggests.


    The rooms in the next floor up are larger, I suppose we can use Room 1 there. I offer after checking that the imps who live in that room are not there right now.


    While the humans make their way up the stairs, I ask Igneous and Marble to fetch some guns from the storage room and wait for the humans to join them. Igneous brings in an assault rifle and a pistol while Marble has one of the shotguns. In Room 1, they place the guns on the table and then both crouch down by the far wall.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Rose is the first to enter, so she can continue to keep an eye on the humans, as she often does. Even though she took a detour to the storage room to deposit the backpack, she still made it back to the room where the gargoyles were waiting well before the humans. Coal and Violet have instead elected to run around the dungeon to show off the backpacks and their new pants to everyone they can find, though I imagine it was probably Violet¡¯s idea and Coal is just following along.


    When William arrives, the first thing he sees is the two gargoyles staring at him from across the room. He nods to them and continues over to the table, followed by the others. Cassandra does not react to them but the others are quite startled when they see the two large creatures watching them enter.


    ¡°Holy shit. What are those?¡± Mark exclaims.


    ¡°That¡¯s Igneous and Marble, the ones I¡¯m here to teach,¡± William responds. ¡°This one is Igneous¡­I think,¡± he says with uncertainty, pointing to the darker skinned gargoyle.


    That is correct.


    ¡°Good. That means you¡¯re Marble. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±


    Marble stares at him for a moment before nodding, but does not show any further reaction.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind that we have some extra people joining us that also want to learn?¡± William asks.


    Marble turns her head to look at Igneous and the two of them confer briefly until Igneous nods.


    ¡°Excellent, let¡¯s get started then shall we?¡± William announces and approaches the table.


    Mark, Seth and the two gargoyles also move towards the table, while the other three humans hang back.


    ¡°Looks like the same gear the army uses. I guess the Honey Badgers probably have the same supplier, not that there¡¯s many other options,¡± William remarks.


    Would that supplier be Frank Walters? You mentioned in the past that he is a weapons manufacturer.


    ¡°Yeah, Walters Munitions. Pretty much the only weapons company left in the country these days. I¡¯m sure they would never admit publicly to doing business with groups like the Honey Badgers, but considering how well equipped they always seem to be, it¡¯s hard to imagine any other explanation,¡± William confirms.


    ¡°So, before I let you handle them, the first thing we need to go over is firearm safety. The first rule of firearm safety is to always be aware of the direction the barrel is pointed. Never point it at someone that you don¡¯t want to shoot. I¡¯ve seen people get shot because some idiot was waving his gun around like a moron, because he thought it wasn¡¯t loaded, only to discover that it was, in fact, loaded,¡± William begins.


    ¡°Which leads into the second rule. ALWAYS assume that the weapon is loaded. Even when you think it¡¯s not, even if you removed the magazine yourself, it doesn¡¯t matter, treat the weapon like it¡¯s loaded at all times. You don¡¯t want to be the dumbass who accidentally shoots your friend because you didn¡¯t realise that there was still one bullet left in the chamber.¡±


    William spends some time lecturing his students about gun safety ensuring everyone understands all the rules before even touching any of the guns on the table. Once he is satisfied, he picks up the assault rifle and starts explaining each of its components while also dismantling the weapon, one piece at a time.


    Once he has completely taken it apart, he reassembles it while also explaining proper cleaning and maintenance, though we do not have the tools here to demonstrate that. Once it is fully reassembled, though leaving the magazine separate, he places it to the side, picks up the shotgun and begins the same process.


    As I am watching, I am struck with the startling realisation that I already know all of this. It does not make sense, but the more I listen, the more I am sure of it; I know how these guns work. Even though he has not started on the pistol yet, if I think about it, I can picture how to take it apart and put it back together, how to load it and what kind of ammo it uses.


    It has always been a mystery to me how I possess the knowledge that I have, but I am certain that I did not know all this before. When I first acquired these guns from the original group of Honey Badgers that attacked us, I tried to figure them out, hoping the knowledge would just come to me as it usually does. But that did not happen and all I knew about them was what I had already seen, which mostly amounted to pointing the barrel at the intended target and pulling the trigger.


    I did not want anyone here trying to use them with such limited instruction, that is why I decided to ask William for help. I did not give them much thought after that, but it would seem that at some point between then and now, I have gained additional knowledge without even being consciously aware of it. The question is when and how? Yet another mystery to ponder.


    I focus back in on the lesson as William is showing them how to unload and reload the weapons, how to safely check if there is a round chambered and how to remove it if there is. All three weapons were loaded at the start, though the assault rifle only had a partially full magazine, so he had ammunition on hand to use for these demonstrations.


    He then unloads all three guns and ensures their chambers are clear so he can teach everyone how to properly hold each of the firearms, both while aiming and at rest. He reiterates the rules about gun safety and has them aiming at a wall that does not have another room or hallway on the other side.


    Even Rose participates, attempting to hold the pistol. It is awkward for her due to its size, but she does manage to hold it steady at least. Though I am not sure if her grip would handle the recoil of actually firing.


    Jenna, on the other hand, chooses to sit out of this activity. Instead just standing back with Cassandra and watching the others practice.


    Not interested in guns?  I ask her.


    ¡°Not really. They¡¯re not exactly easily accessible for the average citizen. Unless I go into the army or law enforcement, which I suppose I could do pretty easily if I wanted, since mages are always in high demand in those fields, but I don¡¯t really want to, to be honest, so I¡¯d be better off honing my magic instead of worrying about guns,¡± she replies.


    That does sound reasonable. Better to rely on something you know you will always have access to over something that may be scarce.


    ¡°That¡¯s just what I thought. Glad I¡¯m not the only one who sees it that way,¡± she says with a bright smile.


    ¡°Have you considered the D.I.D as a possible career path? We also value mages quite highly,¡± Cassandra suggests.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t really know much about what the D.I.D actually does,¡± Jenna responds.


    ¡°Demonic Intelligence Division. As I mentioned before, our job is to gather information on demons, there are a variety of different ways we accomplish this task and those who go out into the field are provided with a side-arm and taught how to use it,¡± Cassandra explains, gesturing to the pistol holstered on her side. ¡°If you¡¯re interested and meet the entry criteria, I¡¯d be willing to recommend you,¡± she offers.


    ¡°Really? Obviously I haven¡¯t thought much about the D.I.D, but why me?¡± Jenna queries.


    ¡°Based on what I¡¯ve seen from the reports, as well as my own observations of how you interact with Magentam and the imps I think you¡¯d be a good fit. You¡¯re curious, but still cautious, most of the time, and you don¡¯t let established biases against demons lead you to making assumptions. Good traits to have for someone working in intelligence. At least, that¡¯s the impression I have of you so far.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I think. But what about my friends?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. You would certainly get special consideration on account of being a mage, but it wouldn¡¯t be so easy for them. Jonathan might have a chance, he seems pretty reliable, but I¡¯m not so sure about the other two.¡±


    ¡°I see. That sounds like a lot to consider,¡± Jenna says thoughtfully as she observes her friends.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re not even eighteen yet, right? So you¡¯ve got plenty of time to think about it. I can give you a number you can contact me on later if you or your parents have any questions,¡± Cassandra assures her.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m sure they will,¡± Jenna remarks.


    Once William is sure that his students know how to hold the guns properly and aren¡¯t going to point them at things they shouldn¡¯t, he directs them to put the guns back on the table.


    ¡°If you''re willing to spare some ammo to practice with and have an open space for it, we could try some practical training, but otherwise there¡¯s not much else for me to teach,¡± he declares.


    I do not mind Igneous and Marble using some, Rose too if she wants to try, but I am not sparing any for the others. And if you want open space, you can go up to the roof.


    I have still only claimed a relatively small area on the roof, so unless they stay within that area, I will not be able to observe them. Although, given that it is not an enclosed space, my vision only extends in a bubble about a meter from the floor, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to see much, besides Rose, even if they did stay within the claimed area; unless they tried to shoot while sitting down, which might be a little silly.


    If you need a target to shoot at, you might be able to find something suitable if you search the rooms on the upper floors. I will send someone up with the extra ammunition.


    ¡°That''s not a bad idea. But first, I gotta ask, does that winding nonsense in the stairs go all the way up to the roof?¡± William inquires.


    No, that stops at this floor.


    ¡°We can all be thankful for small mercies,¡± William says with a sigh of relief. ¡°Alright we¡¯re heading up to the roof for some actual shooting practice now,¡± he announces.


    ¡°Sweet, we finally get to shoot stuff,¡± Mark cheers.


    ¡°Not you though. I mean, sorry, you can come watch, but only Igneous, Marble and Rose will be shooting,¡± William corrects him.


    ¡°Wow, stingy,¡± Mark complains.


    ¡°Keep in mind, they literally had to kill people to get this stuff, people who were trying to kill them, so they probably don¡¯t have an abundant stockpile of ammunition to share,¡± William chides.


    ¡°Alright, fine. I guess that¡¯s fair,¡± Mark admits, shoulders slumped in disappointment.


    I ask Violet to fetch the necessary ammo boxes and take them up to the roof. She arrives at the storage room with Coal, River and Aster in tow, though I am not sure if she actually asked them to follow her so they could help or if they just came along because they could.


    Violet is still wearing the pink backpack, although Coal appears to have discarded the one he had somewhere. I direct them to the cabinet where the ammunition was stored and instruct them to check the contents of each box carefully to ensure to get one of each type with no double ups. At first I expected Violet to hand off two of the boxes to the others so she can just carry one up, but instead she decides that this is a perfect opportunity to test the new backpack.


    She takes off the pack and opens it up to place the three boxes inside. Each box is small enough that she can fit all three in without too much difficulty. She zips the bag closed and puts it back on. After securing the central clip, she twists her body around from side to side and then jumps in place, testing how the backpack feels now that it''s actually carrying something.


    ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± she declares with a nod of satisfaction.


    Having collected the requested items, she rushes out of the room at top speed to make her delivery, the other three imps trailing behind her, doing their best to keep up.


    Most of the humans are heading upstairs, but Jenna and Cassandra have remained behind. I turn my attention to the two of them and see Jenna once again holding the white box that she said was a gift for my littlest imp.


    You two are not going up? Do you need something?


    ¡°Did you not hear what I asked just now?¡± Jenna asks, looking confused.


    I apologise. My attention was directed elsewhere. Could you repeat it?


    ¡°Oh, well, while the others are up there shooting, I wondered if this would be a good time to offer the little imp her gift?¡± she requests.


    It is as good a time as any I suppose. If you wait in the hallway, I will let her know you want to give her something. It will be up to her whether she actually wants to come out to see you though.


    And what will you do? I ask Cassandra.


    ¡°I will simply observe,¡± she replies.


    Of course you will.


    Calla is currently in her parent''s room sitting on the bed, humming to herself while her mother brushes her hair with a hairbrush that they found at some point. Calyx is nearby attempting to stack cups in a triangle. He has started collecting plastic cups recently, when he finds them, but since the cups he has acquired are not all the same shape or size, they do not form a stable structure.


    I feel it would be better to inform her parents of the situation first instead of telling Calla directly as I fear she might just run out immediately, without a second thought, which may irritate Lily and Calyx.


    There is a human here who has a gift for Calla and wishes to present it to her.


    ¡°What kind of gift?¡± Lily asks, pausing in the brushing of her daughter¡¯s hair.


    Cally turns around and looks up at her mother when she stops brushing.


    ¡°Gift? What gift?¡± She asks.


    I do not know what the gift is. It is a surprise I suppose.


    ¡°Dangerous?¡± Calyx queries, looking over from his unsteady stack of cups.


    I am sure it is nothing dangerous and neither is the human. I assure them.


    ¡°Who gift for?¡± Calla demands while pulling on her mother¡¯s arm, dissatisfied at being ignored.


    ¡°It¡¯s a gift for you, a human bring,¡± Lily answers after a brief moment of hesitation.


    ¡°Where?¡± Calla implores, continuing to pull on Lily¡¯s arm.


    The human with the gift is out in the hallway.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Calla insists, leaping off the bed towards the door.


    Once out of the bedroom, I expect her to run straight out into the hallway, but instead she rushes over to Noctis, who is on the far side of the room, grooming herself.


    ¡°Humans here. Have gift. We go,¡± Calla says to the hellhound.


    Noctis pauses her grooming to look towards the door leading to the hallway, then stands to follow the tiny imp. Of the other three hellhounds lounging around the room, only Fire, Noctis¡¯ mate, stirs to accompany them.


    Lily opens the door just enough to peek out into the hallway and Calla squeezes in front of her to also take a look. Jenna notices the door opening slightly and the eyes now peering at her from the gap so she smiles waves at them.


    ¡°Only see two. Is there more?¡± Lily asks.


    Not right now, the others went up to the roof.


    Lily opens the door all the way to let the hellhounds go first and the imps follow. As they approach the humans, with Calla between the two hellhounds and Lily and Calyx behind, they stop a couple of meters in front of the pair.


    ¡°Oh my gosh, just look at her. She¡¯s so tiny and adorable,¡± Jenna comments. She crouches down and holds the box out in front of her.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for scaring you the last time. I¡¯ve brought this as an apology,¡± she says softly, trying to put on the friendliest smile she can.


    Calla tilts her head, then turns to her parents.


    ¡°What she say?¡± she asks.


    She brought you this gift to say sorry for scaring you the last time she was here.


    ¡°I not scared,¡± she insists.


    Calla walks confidently towards the humans, under the watchful gaze of her parents and the hellhounds. When she is close enough, she reaches out and snatches the box from Jenna''s hands, then quickly runs back to her parents. When she tries to open it, she instead ends up tearing the top off the cardboard box, revealing the prize inside. A small cupcake with white icing and rainbow sprinkles.


    ¡°This food?¡± She asks.


    Yes, it is called a cupcake, similar to the muffins from a few days ago, but smaller.


    Calla drops the torn cardboard she was still holding to gently lift the cupcake out of the box before also dropping the box. When she bites into half of the cupcake, her eyes go wide with delight and she quickly shoves the rest of it into her mouth.She then looks down at her now empty hand and sighs.


    ¡°All gone,¡± she laments.


    Despite their earlier caution, Lily and Calyx approach Jenna and look up at her expectantly.


    ¡°Oh, sorry, I only brought one,¡± she says.


    I translate her words for the imps and the immediate disappointment is clear in their expression as they look down at the ground and walk back over to the hellhounds


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, I promise I¡¯ll bring more next time,¡± Jenna announces in an attempt to cheer them up.


    ¡°You should be careful about making promises like that, unless you plan to bring enough for all of them,¡± Cassandra warns with a small chuckle.


    ¡°How many is ¡®all of them¡¯?¡± Jenna queries.


    There are over twenty imps currently and I still intend to summon more. Then there are also the hellhounds, plus Igneous and Marble.


    ¡°That¡¯s a little more than I expected, but I might be able to work something out,¡± Jenna considers.


    Do not worry too much about it. They will get over this disappointment soon enough.


    Moving her gaze away from the imp, it instead falls on the hellhounds, silently standing guard. They so far had not moved much since they came out to the hallway, merely watched and waited for a reason or an order to attack.


    ¡°You know, if they didn¡¯t have the spikes or the, uh, fire¡­They¡¯d probably also be kinda cute. Do you think they¡¯d let me pat them?¡± Jenna ponders.


    ¡°You could try, but I wouldn¡¯t get your hopes up and you should be extremely careful about how you approach them,¡± Cassandra warns.


    ¡°Are they aggressive?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯ve never attacked us in the few times I¡¯ve seen them, but they haven¡¯t been friendly either,¡± Cassandra replies.


    While they are discussing it, I ask Noctis if she would allow the human to touch her. The flames in her eyes flare briefly and she huffs, turning away. She and her mate head back to their room followed by the three imps.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a no,¡± Jenna remarks.


    ¡°Now that that¡¯s done. Let¡¯s head up and check on the others, unless you¡¯d rather wait down here?¡± Cassandra suggests.


    ¡°Might as well, I guess,¡± Jenna agrees.


    The two of them head up to the roof to join the other humans and I turn my attention to Violet and Coal, who have been wandering around the core room for a while. When I check on them, they each have one of Violet¡¯s brooms in hand and are sweeping. This is something Violet does occasionally so I would not usually pay it much mind, but as I am watching her, I see her flinch occasionally, though I cannot see anything that would be causing such a reaction.


    Is something wrong?


    ¡°No, it¡¯s just the sound of the guns, I don¡¯t like it,¡± she says.


    That is understandable, given what she went through, it is not too surprising that she is not completely over it. Though I am glad to see that she is doing a lot better than before.


    I cannot even hear the gunshots, which is a little surprising, considering how loud they usually are. I move up to the roof to see if that makes a difference and while I can hear them from here, the sound is quite muted compared to what I expected.


    I have noted before that sounds coming from outside the dungeon do become muffled and the ones doing the shooting are currently outside my territory, as I expected them to be. But even so, I would not have thought a noise as loud as gunshots would be dulled to this degree.


    Now that I think about it, it is a rather strange phenomena. The transmission of sound generally occurs through the vibration of air molecules, so I do not see how the dungeon¡¯s border would interfere with that. Then again, I seem to be the only one affected by this interference. As I have already seen numerous times, none of my creatures have any problems hearing outside noises, so it is just me.


    However, If I consider that the body I have that I can move around with is merely a mental projection of my consciousness, that means I technically do not have ears, not physically at least. So perhaps I am not even capable of picking up those vibrations and I actually have an entirely different means of interpreting sound, something that is tied to the dungeon.


    This does give me something to ponder while I wait for Igneous, Marble and Rose to finish shooting. When they are eventually done, Rose and the humans return to the room they were previously in while Igneous and Marble take the weapons back to the storage room. Marble is carrying the guns and Igneous has the three ammo boxes, so I guess they did not use them all.


    How did they do? I ask William.


    ¡°About as good as you can expect from beginners who have never held a gun before. Not too bad overall, although Rose only fired a couple of shots before she gave up,¡± he reports.


    You did not like it? I direct towards Rose.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s too hard to hold while firing, I suspect even Violet would have trouble with it. Unless there are much smaller ones available, I don¡¯t think guns are suitable for imps,¡± she comments.


    I assumed that would be the case. Thank you for trying it out at least and confirming my suspicions.


    ¡°So do you have any other weapons you¡¯d like me to teach you about or is that all for now?¡± William inquiries.


    There is one more actually.


    I instruct Igneous to bring out the box containing the RPG. In the past I refrained from telling William about it because I thought it would be better not to let the humans know that I had something like this, but if I keep it a secret forever, then it will never do anything other than taking up space in the storage room. If we do this, there is at least a chance that it could become useful at some point. Even if we do not use it for defence, if they know that we have it, the humans might offer something of value in trade for it, which would be better than letting it continue to gather dust.


    When Igneous comes back to the room carrying the large box, all the humans watch with interest as he brings it in and deposits it on the table.


    ¡°What do we have here?¡± William asks, approaching the box to open it when Igneous steps aside.


    Lifting the lid, his mouth falls open as he stares down at its contents.


    ¡°What the actual fuck?! Where the hell did you even get this?¡± He demands.


    ¡°Oh cool, a rocket launcher,¡± Seth declares.


    ¡°Awesome, are we gonna get to see some explosions?¡± Mark adds.


    It is something else that the first group of Honey Badgers brought with them. But we only have one shot so we cannot do any practical demonstrations, but I would like you to at least explain how to operate it, if you could.


    ¡°Sorry boys, no explosions today it seems,¡± William tells them and their excitement immediately fades.


    ¡°Lame,¡± Mark complains


    William carefully lifts the launcher out of its case and examines it.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t get to handle things like this very often, but I did learn how to use them, so I can teach you the basics.¡±


    His explanation is quite detailed, but aside from just the operation of the device, he is also quite insistent about safety procedures, particularly about being aware of your surroundings before you fire to avoid unnecessary collateral. Though they were disappointed that they would not get to see it in action, Mark and Seth are still captivated and paying close attention to every detail, the other humans were less interested though.


    When he has finished his explanation, he gently places it back in its box and closes the lid.


    ¡°Do you seriously plan to use that thing?¡± Cassandra asks.


    We obviously cannot use it inside, so we may not have many opportunities to do so. I would prefer to not be put in a situation where we would even need it, but you never know what might happen in the future.


    ¡°Well, if we¡¯re done with the guns for today, I reckon we should take a break for lunch, what do you guys think? Then after that, I can start sharing my invaluable expertise on magic as well,¡± William suggests.


    ¡°Perhaps it would be better to deal with that car battery before moving on to the magic lessons, just so we don¡¯t have to worry about it later,¡± Cassandra counters.


    ¡°I suppose we could do it that way,¡± William considers, ¡°Magentam, do you have any thoughts on the matter?¡±


    It makes little difference to me.


    ¡°Allright, we¡¯ll do that then.¡±

 68. Rematch

    After enjoying their lunch break, eating the provisions that they brought with them and talking amongst themselves about topics that I had little interest in, William prepares to head out to fetch the car battery. Even though extracting the battery could easily be done by one person alone, Cassandra, Johnathan and Seth agree to go with him as a safety measure. He opens the duffle bag again and pulls out an adjustable wrench and slips it into his pocket.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need the keys,¡± he requests.


    You need the keys to get under the hood?


    ¡°The hood is secured by a latch, which is undone by a lever inside the cab and we locked it before we left last time,¡± he explains.


    Very well, is there anything else you will require? I ask while I send Rose to collect the vehicle¡¯s keys and bring them to William.


    ¡°Well, if you wouldn¡¯t mind, I¡¯d really appreciate some help from either Igneous or Marble. They don¡¯t have to come all the way out to the car with us, but if you could at least have one of them wait down by the stairs to bring the battery up, that would be great. Car batteries are kinda heavy and I don¡¯t fancy the idea of trying to lug it up those stairs myself,¡± He suggests.


    That seems reasonable, I will have one of them wait for you in the lobby.


    ¡°Thank you. I assume the car is still in the same place?¡±


    It is.


    ¡°Great, we¡¯ll be on our way then,¡± William announces.


    As the four humans make their way down the stairs, Jenna takes a seat on the couch next to Mark.


    What will you two do?


    ¡°I¡¯m happy to just relax here while we wait for them to come back,¡± Jenna says.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to have a rematch against the one that bit me,¡± Mark declares.


    Do you really believe you would fare any better this time?


    ¡°For sure. I was caught off guard last time, but now I know what to expect,¡± he reasons.


    ¡°Was that imp really able to teleport?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°Come on Jenna, we already told you that it did,¡± Mark retorts.


    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s kind of hard to believe when I didn¡¯t get to see it for myself,¡± Jenna replies.


    ¡°Even that William guy said he¡¯s seen it, didn''t he? But you don¡¯t even believe him?¡± He chides.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re probably right, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything wrong with wanting to confirm it. Would you have believed it so easily if you hadn¡¯t witnessed it? Even you originally only described it as ¡®moving so fast you couldn¡¯t even see it,¡¯ it was John that suggested it was teleportation,¡± Jenna rebukes.


    ¡°Well, whatever. The point is, I think I can win this time,¡± Mark insists.


    Really? Do you have some kind of strategy in mind to overcome his teleportation?


    ¡°Sure, all I need to do is predict where he is going to teleport to,¡± he says.


    ¡°Oh, is that all?¡± Jenna comments sarcastically, rolling her eyes.


    What he suggested is theoretically possible. It is exactly what Violet does when she fights against Coal. But she has a lot of experience fighting him and I have not ruled out the possibility that mana may be involved in her ability to make those predictions.


    Meanwhile, this human has only fought Coal once and from the way it was described, it could hardly even be considered a fight. Nor have I ever seen any indication that he can even perceive mana, let alone utilise it in any way whatsoever.


    I advise against challenging Coal again. You will not win.


    ¡°You think I won''t be able to predict his movements, right?¡± He prods.


    Yes, that is an accurate summary of my opinion.


    ¡°We¡¯ll just have to see, won¡¯t we.¡±


    What exactly makes you so confident?


    ¡°I have a special strategy in mind, but revealing it beforehand would defeat the purpose,¡± he assures.


    I could simply refuse to let him fight Coal again and there would be nothing he could do about it, but then he might not let the issue drop and instead keep trying in the future. Then again, if I do allow them to fight, it might break him out of this delusion that he could actually stand a chance against Coal, either that or it might just make him even more determined to keep trying.


    He does appear to be quite confident though, perhaps I should not completely dismiss the possibility that he might actually have some plan in mind, as unlikely as it may seem.


    Would you mind healing him again if he gets too badly injured? I ask Rose after explaining the situation.


    She looks him up and down with narrowed eyes.


    ¡°He¡¯s not very bright, is he?¡± She asks.


    No, I do not believe so.


    ¡°Fine, if I must,¡± she agrees with a resigned sigh.


    I cannot sense Coal within my domain at the moment. He and Violet went up to the roof after the Igneous and Marble had finished shooting. I can tell that Violet is still up there and I have not noticed Coal come down yet so he is probably there too.


    Is Coal with you? I ask Violet.


    ¡®Yeah, he¡¯s here. Do you need him for something?¡¯ She replies.


    There is a human here who wishes to challenge him.


    ¡®Okay, I¡¯ll tell him. We¡¯ll be there soon.¡¯


    He is on his way. If you move out to the hallway, we can hold the fight there again.


    ¡°Hell yeah. Time for some payback,¡± Mark cheers.


    He takes his wooden sword and heads out to the hallway.


    ¡°What could possibly go wrong?¡± Jenna comments as she and Rose follow him out.


    Coal and Violet soon enter from the stairwell, with a few other imps following shortly after. Seeing Mark standing ahead of him, sword in hand, Coal grins and snaps his teeth at him again.


    ¡°So how¡¯re we doing this?¡± Mark asks.


    The same as last time. Move a little further down the hallway so you and the spectators will have a bit more room and then I will have Violet signal when to begin.


    They move down the hallway until they are about half way between the doors to Rooms 1 and 3. I quickly inform Coal of the new rule before they start.


    No biting this time. Do you understand? Do not bite.


    ¡°No bite,¡± he acknowledges with a dissatisfied frown.


    I instruct Violet to give them the signal when she is ready and she takes a position in the middle of where Mark and Coal are staring each other down.  She raises one hand up and looks between them, then chops her hand down through the air and quickly moves to the side to avoid being in between the two combatants.


    Coal does not hesitate to dash forwards at full speed, while Mark holds his sword in both hands and waits. Just as Coal is about to reach Mark, the human takes one step forwards and the charging imp vanishes.


    Mark reacts immediately, spinning around in a flash and winging the sword at roughly Coal¡¯s neck height with incredible speed. With a real blade, an attack like that would surely be lethal. Even with a wooden sword, I might still be concerned about it causing serious injury¡­if Coal were actually there. But instead, the sword passes harmlessly through empty air as the imp drops down on Mark from above.


    Coal manages to position himself to land Mark¡¯s back and quickly wraps his arms around the human¡¯s neck. Mark reaches up with one hand to try to pry the imp¡¯s hands from his throat, but Coal grips tighter in response, the tips of his claws pressing into Mark¡¯s neck enough to draw blood.


    Mark begins to panic and drops his sword, using both hands to pull the imp¡¯s claws away. While he does succeed in getting those claws off his skin, Coal responds by digging the talons of his feet into Mark¡¯s back, causing the human to cry out in pain.


    I think I should intervene before this escalates further and Mark ends up with more serious injuries.


    STOP! I command both of them.


    I add a little more force to it than I normally would, though I know that will cause additional discomfort to the human.  Coal hesitates, perhaps unsure of what to do since the word was in english, so I give him some follow up instructions.


    Please let him go now.


    Coal removes his claws from the human¡¯s back and stops trying to tighten his grip around his neck. His body goes limp but since Mark is still holding his arms, he does not fall off immediately.


    Between the pain in his back and the headache he is likely now feeling, Mark has dropped to his knees. When he notices that the imp is no longer struggling against him, he lets go of his arms and Coal drops to the floor, then immediately teleports over to the spectating imps to celebrate his victory.


    Mark reaches for his sword again, but winces in pain, though he does not let that stop him. He stands up, only a little shaky, and spins around, searching for his opponent again.


    The fight is already over. You have lost.


    ¡°No way, I can still keep going,¡± Mark insists.


    You are able to ¡®keep going¡¯ only because this was a training match. If this were a real fight, with your lives on the line, Coal could have torn your throat wide open before you even had time to react.


    Mark reached up to tough the side of his neck where it was still bleeding and pulled his hand back to stare at the blood. It was not a concerning amount, just a small trickle, so there was no worry about Coal having nicked anything vital.


    ¡°But  you can¡¯t just decide that the fight¡¯s over like that,¡± Mark protests.


    The only way training like this works without anyone getting seriously injured is if all participants are willing to acknowledge when they have lost. If you cannot do that, then I will not have you participating in sparring matches like this in the future.


    ¡°Fine, whatever. Can you have the other one heal me then?¡± He grumbles.


    ¡®The other one¡¯ has a name. It is Rose and you would do well to remember it if you intend to ask for her aid.


    ¡°You¡¯re being a dick again, Mark. It¡¯s not a good look,¡± Jenna frowns as she reprimands him.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m sorry, okay? Can you please ask Rose to heal me?¡± He capitulates.


    If it was just the scratches on his neck, I wouldn¡¯t have Rose waste her time on it, but there is considerably more blood soaking the back of his shirt. Not enough to think that his life is in danger, but still probably requiring some attention.


    Sit down on the floor please so Rose can take a look at your injuries.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Mark winces and groans as he lowers himself to the ground. I ask Rose to heal him, but instruct her that just stopping the bleeding will be sufficient and she need not go any further than that. Jenna also approaches to observe.


    ¡°Any way I can help?¡± She asks.


    Lifting up his shirt so we can get a better look at the injuries would be helpful.


    Mark hisses as she carefully pulls his shirt up.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she quickly apologises.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, just hurry up please,¡± he replies.


    As the injuries are revealed, a series of small puncture wounds slowly oozing blood, Jenna grimaces at the sight.


    ¡°Ouch, that looks painful,¡± she remarks.


    ¡°Yeah, it is kinda. Just a tad, you know. Anytime you want to get started on that healing would be great,¡± he replies sarcastically.


    Jenna gives him a light slap on the back of his head.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a jerk,¡± Jenna chides.


    Rose places her hands on his back to heal him. After some intense concentration, she wipes some of the blood away with her hand to get a better look at the injury, causing Mark to flinch and complain. The bleeding has slowed significantly, but there is still a small trickle so she puts a little more mana into healing him until even that comes to a stop.


    When she is satisfied that she has done enough, she steps away from the human. Looking down at the blood that is now on her hands, she decides to simply lick it off, earning a rather perturbed look from Jenna.


    Standing once more, Mark groans as he pulls his shirt back down.


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t do any better than that?¡± He complains.


    She probably could, but I think she has done enough. She stopped the bleeding, at least, you should be grateful for that. I suggest you take it easy for the rest of your time here. If you tear the wound open and it starts bleeding again, I will not ask you to heal it a second time. Though you will be welcome to try and convince her yourself if that happens.


    ¡°Somehow, I don¡¯t like my chances,¡± he says, looking down at Rose who returns his gaze with a glare. ¡°Well, thanks for healing me¡­again,¡± he tells her.


    ¡°So was your secret strategy really hinging on the assumption that he would attack you in the same way as last time?¡± Jenna asks.


    ¡°Yeah, basically,¡± Mark admits


    ¡°So how did that work out for you?¡± She teases.


    ¡°Shut up. If I¡¯d been right, it would have been an easy win,¡± he retorts.


    ¡°But you weren¡¯t right,¡± Jenna continues to dig at him.


    ¡°Whatever. I¡¯m going back to the couch,¡± Mark says and the two human¡¯s head back to the room to wait for the others.


    ¡°Am I going to have to heal that idiot every time he comes here?¡± Rose complains.


    I would hope that he has actually learned his lesson this time, but we will see.


    After their celebration of Coal''s victory, Violet announces that she is hungry and is going out to find some food and the rest of the gathered imps follow her. She promises to bring something back for Rose as she leaves.


    Rose stays with the humans to keep an eye on them. Jenna attempts to strike up a conversation with her a few times, but Rose has no interest in engaging. After some time passes, I notice Igneous coming up the stairs. As William suggested, I had him waiting in the lobby to bring the battery up. The four humans are soon also winding their way up the stairs.


    Igneous, unimpeded by the obstacle they face, makes it up much sooner. Standing up straighter than he usually does so he can carry the battery, he brings it over to the table and places it down with a loud thud.


    Thank you for your assistance with this. You can rest now, if you want. I do not think we will need anything more from you.


    Igneous nods and turns to leave the room. Jenna waves to him as he passes and Mark rolls his eyes at her. Igneous stops and faces her for a moment before nodding and continuing on his way. Once out of the room, he heads up to the roof to curl up in the sun.


    When the other humans finally return William notices the battery on the table and looks around the room.


    ¡°Igneous didn¡¯t stick around, I see?¡± He asks.


    No, I did not see any further reason for him to remain so I let him go back to doing as he pleases.


    ¡°Fair enough. Do you want me to set up the charger for you now, or would you prefer me to just explain the process so you can do it yourself later?¡± He offers.


    An explanation is hardly necessary as just by looking at it, it seems pretty self-explanatory. The battery has two metallic studs protruding upwards, one has a red ring around its base with a plus symbol, while the other has a black ring with a minus symbol, these clearly correspond to the clamps on the charger. The most difficult part would likely be simply moving the battery, assuming that William was not exaggerating about its weight and given the sound it made when Igneous put it on the table, I am inclined to believe he was not.


    Having him set it up would save us the time and effort to do it later. He has already been to the core room before so there is not really anything to hide, besides my real core, which is easily done. There should not be any harm in just letting him do it at this point. And in the highly unlikely event that he does try anything untoward, the hellhounds will be waiting in the room next door.


    If you are willing to do it, that would be appreciated, but please wait a moment.


    Calla and her parents are hanging out with the hellhounds so it would be easiest to ask one of them to move it for me.


    Lily, can I ask you to do something for me?


    ¡°What is it?¡± She asks.


    I need you to move my core into its hiding place. Take the box it is in as well.


    ¡°Okay. Need to go move core, I come back soon,¡± she calls out to the other two imps.


    ¡°I help,¡± Calla states and rushes over to her mothers side.


    Not wanting to be left behind, Calyx also follows and the three imps climb through the hole in the bathroom wall into the core room.


    Lily approaches my chair and lifts the black box holding my core off it. Eager to be off assistance, Calla also takes a hold of the box as soon as it is within her reach. Her ¡®help¡¯ probably does not amount to that much since my core is not so heavy that it would be a strain for a single imp to carry it alone, but it is the thought that counts.


    Together, they carry it over to the cabinet that hides the passage into the storage room. Calyx opens the door and crawls through, Lily then passes the box to him through the hole. He takes the box and moves it into an adjacent cabinet.


    Thank you for doing that. I tell them.


    ¡°That all need?¡± Calyx asks.


    Yes, that is all for now


    ¡°Okay, we go back now,¡± he announces and the three imps head back to their room.


    You can head over now. I inform William.


    ¡°Excellent. Cassandra, do you mind bringing the charger over and I¡¯ll take the battery. The rest of you just hold tight here for now, we won¡¯t be long,¡± William instructs.


    He and Cassandra head over to the core room and bring the items over to the desk, with Rose following to keep an eye on them, as expected. With the radio equipment and the generator, there is not much room for the battery so he places it on the floor. The charger is smaller so they manage to fit it on the desk next to the generator and luckily the cables are long enough to still reach the battery.


    ¡°Asking us to wait before, was that so you¡¯d have time to hide the real core?¡± William asks, eyeing the chair with the fake core.


    It was.


    ¡°Understandable. So, the charger is pretty simple, I assume you probably don¡¯t need too much explanation,¡± he says as he plugs it into the generator and attaches the clamps to the battery.


    That was my conclusion.


    ¡°Great. You see this little red light here?¡± He points to a small light on the charger, ¡°When it turns green, that means it¡¯s fully charged.¡±


    While he was setting things up, I noticed Cassandra glancing around the room, though it looked like she was trying to be subtle about it.


    ¡°Now that that¡¯s done, what do you say we get to doing some magic?¡± William suggests.


    That is what I have been looking forward to.


    ¡°Great, so who will be the students this time?¡± He asks.


    Just Rose and myself.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want us to teach anyone else?¡± Cassandra inquires.


    No one else understands English so it will be easier with just the two of us for now.


    Of course, even if they could understand, none of the imps are actually capable of using magic, but there is no need to let the humans know that. I still have not ruled out the possibility that the hellhounds actually use magic to control fire, but even if that is true, the human¡¯s knowledge may not translate well to what they can do.


    ¡°Will you finally be joining us in person?¡± William queries.


    That will not be necessary.


    ¡°How do you intend to participate in the lesson without actually being present?¡± He questions.


    I am able to use magic anywhere within the dungeon. I need not be physically present.


    The two humans look at each other and William raises an eyebrow.


    ¡°That¡¯s not normal, is it? I haven¡¯t studied dungeons extensively, but I¡¯ve never heard of dungeon controllers being able to do that,¡± Cassandra states.


    ¡°Nor have I, though I wouldn¡¯t claim to be an expert on the matter either. But that seems to be a rather unusual ability you¡¯ve got there,¡± William replies.


    I would not know. I do not know what is considered ¡®normal¡¯ for a dungeon controller. I only know what I have been able to discover through my own experience.


    Although now that I do know that it is unusual, I wish I had not revealed it. Perhaps I could have realised it myself if I had given more thought to why all of the attackers thus far have always seemed so unprepared to deal with my attacks.


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Rose asks, noticing the sudden shift in the human¡¯s tone.


    I may have revealed some information to them that we would have been better off keeping secret for now.


    Her usual glare deepens as she peers at the two humans.


    ¡°We could kill them. If they die before they have the chance to tell anyone, then there won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she suggests.


    Cassandra must have understood enough of what Rose said to realise that it was a threat, because she reaches for the gun at her side. Rose lets out a light growl in reaction to the movement.


    ¡°Whoah, hold on now. What¡¯s going on? I think we all just need to calm down,¡± William interjects, trying to deescalate the sudden tension.


    We are not going to kill them, that would only cause more problems. And please be more careful of what you say around Cassandra since she can actually understand you.


    Rose looks away with a huff at the reprimand.


    Please do not be alarmed, we are not going to harm you. But I will ask that you be mindful of what information you share about us and with whom you share it. We are all aware of the problems that can arise when things are shared with the wrong people.


    ¡°Right, yeah. Sorry,¡± Cassandra concedes and moves her hand away from her gun.


    ¡°Are you good?¡± William asks her.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s fine,¡± Cassandra replies.


    ¡°What did she say that had you so on edge?¡±


    ¡°She¡­¡± Cassandra begins, but shakes her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter now, I¡¯ll tell you about it later.¡±


    ¡°Alright, well now that I assume no one¡¯s going to be killing each other, let¡¯s head back to the other room shall we?¡± William advises.


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s,¡± Cassandra agrees.


    When they arrive back in the room with the other humans, William claps his hands together.


    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re moving on to magic lessons now,¡± he announces. ¡°I assume you will want to join us, Jenna?¡±


    ¡°Definitely. I mean, if that¡¯s alright,¡± she replies.


    ¡°What about you three? Do you have something to do while you wait?¡± He asks the other three males.


    ¡°Last time we sparred with the imps while Jenna talked about magic and Mark wanted to have a rematch with the one that bit him¡± Jonathan mentions.


    ¡°Oh, he already did that while you guys were out,¡± Jenna remarks with an amused grin and Mark rolls his eyes.


    ¡°Really? How¡¯d that go?¡± Cassandra inquiries, peering at Mark, still seated on the couch, with curious interest.


    ¡°He lost, quite spectacularly, in fact,¡± Jenna quickly answers before Mark is able to respond, barely able to repress a chuckle.


    ¡°Shut up, it wasn¡¯t that bad,¡± Mark retorts, glaring at her.


    ¡°Bad enough that you needed to be healed,¡± Jenna counters.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t bite you again, did he?¡± William asks.


    ¡°Nah, just dug his claws into my back,¡± Mark replies nonchalantly.


    ¡°Do you mind if we take a look?¡± Cassandra requests.


    ¡°Sure, I guess,¡± Mark scooches forward on the couch, wincing in pain a little as he does so.


    Cassandra moves to stand beside where Mark is sitting while William takes a position behind the couch. Mark leans forwards so they can get a better look, revealing the bloodstained black of his shirt.


    ¡°That¡¯s a fair bit of blood, you even got some on the couch. That¡¯s probably going to stain,¡± William comments.


    It is hardly the first bloodstain we have around here.


    ¡°Can you lift your shirt please?¡± Cassandra instructs.


    Mark slowly complies, carefully lifting his shirt to reveal the injuries and William leans in to get a closer look.


    ¡°Wow, he got you pretty good there, didn¡¯t he,¡± he says.


    ¡°The bleeding has been stopped, but there appears to be some bruising around the wounds as well,¡± Cassandra observes, pointing out the slight purple discoloration to the skin. ¡°How does it feel?¡±


    ¡°Kinda like I was stabbed with several small, sharp objects. So you guys can all go off and do your things and I think I¡¯ll just sit here for now,¡± Mark quips.


    ¡°Well, it looks like you¡¯ll be alright, thanks to Rose. Though you should probably still get it checked out once we return,¡± William assures him.