Two men are sitting at different desks playing Sugarea on their computers in a small room together, the room is completely dark except for the parts that were poorly illuminated by their computer monitors. The room was cold so the men didn’t sweat during their play and cause them to mess up during combat or in general. The room also had one door and two windows but all were closed. The room itself had plenty of food containers and drinks littered around as to show that they were probably gaming for well over a week straight. One of them had piled his arms underneath his head asleep on the desk as both of them had not slept in well over 3 days. While the other looked at him and chuckled to himself while saying quietly
“Looks like I will be the first one of us to play the new update…”
But as though he were the target of magic he too soon yawned and fell into a Deep Sleep. But as though it were more than just an ordinary dream the man soon found himself within His bedroom within his guild base: “The Dragon Eye Castle”. He looks down at his hands realizing that they are black and warm to the touch, he was his in-game avatar from Sugarea. He quickly looked around to ensure his surroundings as he said to himself.
“Wait… this… this is my bedroom from Sugarea, and it looks so realistic… wait is this a dream? I know I was just playing Sugarea and my brother fell asleep. Hmm…”
He remembered that his avatar had a tail because of him being a Half-Demon, he quickly checked and soon found that he indeed had a tail. As he tried to move it, he found that he was able to move it just like an arm, besides the fact that he never tried to before. He kept pondering to himself about how this couldn't be happening and that this has to be a dream. When a voice was heard from behind him.
“Is something wrong lord?”
The voice sounded close, nearly inside his head. He looked around the room. Nobody else was present. He tried to think about who it could have been.
“Maybe it was one of the NPCs that were responsible, wait, can NPC’s even talk freely?”
Then the voice reissued their question.
“Is there something bothering you lord?”
He looked around once more only to find nobody else in the room, but to find his tail moving on its own will. Then he wondered if it was his tail that was the culprit. And to his surprise, he was right, as His tailed faced him and beggingly asked once more.
“Please Lord, is there anything wrong that I can help with?”
He looked at his tail with slight awe and fright but neither emotion was reflected on his facial expressions. He said to his tail.
“N-n-no there is nothing wrong, I'm sorry to have worried you… but might I ask a question?”
“I’m glad you’re alright lord, and you know you can ask me anything you wish and that I will help you no matter what!”
He looked both very happy for his loyalty and also very scared by its ability to move and speak. He continued their conversation.
“Well… you see… I only wished to ask about the status of the guild Building. I just wanted to know how many members are here and if all the ‘Staff Members’ were also present.”
His true reason for this was to see if any of his guild members were also here, and especially his brother. Another reason was to see if the guild building was also here and if all of the NPCs were as well. Although initially, he was curious about his situation he now is eager to find them all. His tail takes a moment and then casts an unknown spell silently then says.
“As to my knowledge There are two members of The Dragon Eye Alliance within the guild base and all of the staff members are also present. Is there something wrong? Is there something you wanted us to do Lord?”
He quickly asked.
“Who are the members?”
The tail quickly answered Ashen.
“Well there is you: Ashen Fur and then there is Aeyrs Dragonheart currently within the castle.”
Ashen quickly asked:
“Where is Aeyrs?”
“He is inside of his living quarters currently.”
He then quickly opened the door and ran to Aeyrs’ room. He quickly opened the door of Aeyrs's room only to find Aerys Standing there looking at him while also holding his stomach.
“Aeyrs!”
Ashen Cried out while running towards Aeyrs, and then followed up with.
“Are you alright? What’s Wrong? Are you hurt?”
Aeyrs responded with.
“I'm not hurt but I'm starving, got anything to eat? Please, I know you got something…”
Ashen quickly thought if he did before his tail asked.
“Lord I do believe you have some food within your pocket dimension.”
Ashen looked at his ring of Pocket Dimension, He thought about how he doesn’t even know if he can use it because you only ever needed to click the appropriate icon on the screen to use it. He tried regardless, and to his surprise, he opened a small black portal in front of him. He reached inside and withdrew a brown sack tied off with a yellow string that appeared from thin air when he reached into the portal. He thought to himself, “This is the icon used for the food sack item. If I remember correctly, it has lots of bread, cheese, meat, fruits, and vegetables inside that can never expire.” Then he untied it and reached inside and again pulled out a large piece of bread that doesn’t look as though it would fit within the sack itself.
Ashen threw several pieces of bread to Aeyrs, and Aeyrs ate them all quickly. He was still hungry but no quantity of bread alone could satisfy his hunger. Ashen then went on to pull out large chunks of cooked meat from an unknown animal and Aeyrs ate those just as quickly but started to overcome his hunger. After several minutes of repeating the actions of throwing meat to Aeyrs and eating, they both decided to start with ensuring the situation. Ashen started to ponder “This can’t be happening, not only is this impossible but also improbable as well. I’ll have to conduct research.” Ashen told Aeyrs.
“Come on we can’t waste time, as I know we are the only guild members within the castle so we can’t slack off in case of a raid!”
Ashen said this not only to convince Aeyrs into being prepared but to also convince himself of the situation. He went on to walk outside of Aeyrs’ room and started to walk towards the training arena of the castle, it was located outside so any damage would be limited. Ashen wanted to go to the training arena to see if he was still able to use his spells. Ashen pondered to himself. “Well if I am my in-game avatar then I need to see if I can still use my magic, my ring of pocket dimension worked so other magic should as well.” Aeyrs walked behind Ashen while also pondering to himself about the situation. “I don’t know what’s going on but this seems too real to be a dream and I have never tasted fresh bread before, so how would I know the taste in a dream?” Ashen and Aeyrs walked in silence towards the training arena.
Once they had arrived Ashen set up 12 Training Dummies, they couldn’t be destroyed during combat, so they were able to be re-used constantly. Aeyrs used his claws to scratch up several of the dummies in a row although they penetrated the dummies, the dummies had no apparent damage. Whenever you were to deal damage in the game there would be a small combat log that would show the damage dealt, but now that log didn’t appear, along with Health, Mana, Spells, Inventory, Chat, System Logs, Settings and all others that were shown on the player’s monitors. Yet now none of those were able to be seen by either Ashen or Aeyrs, so neither knows how much damage they are doing. Aeyrs after a short while eventually ran over to Ashen and said:
“I’m not sure about you but I am pretty sure I’m doing the normal damage with my claws but I can’t see the damage log so I can’t be for certain. I just feel like I'm doing the normal damage somehow…”
Ashen quickly follows up by turning to the dummies and then launching a large fireball into the middle of them, the fireball then engulfed all dummies with fire and even the ground under them was getting charred, upon impact the fireball created a loud sound and caused a bright flash of light to be released. Both Ashen and Aeyrs were unfazed by this, as both have seen this spell used countless times so they were aware of the effects. They continued to cast spells and to attack the dummies for awhile. Unknown to them a small squad of knights and mages had swiftly arrived in response to the effects of the fireball and other spells. There were nine in total, One of which was the leader who donned full plate armor that was coated in gold, silver, and other precious metals.
He also has a golden mask concealing his face and also had a large broadsword in his right hand and a Large round Shield coated in silver. It would be obvious that this was the leader of the group. Six were carrying broadswords and were covered in full plate armor while the other two had large staffs and had dark black robes. Ashen soon realized they were approaching and he signaled Aeyrs to stop and come to Him. As soon as Aeyrs gets to Ashen the group of knights and mages had already stopped in front of them. Although his mask covered his face, the group leader seemed surprised, which was quickly followed by the entire group kneeling with their hands covering their hearts. The group leader soon spoke out:
“My lord, I am sorry, we didn’t know you were here! I am Premium, the leader of the Castle Defense Squadron. Forgive us for intruding without permission, we only came here to investigate a disturbance in the training grounds.”
Ashen made no mistake in responding with:
“Fear not, for you were only doing as you’re job has permitted you to do so. You would have been heavily punished if you hadn’t arrived to investigate. If you hadn’t, that could mean you were disloyal or even revolting, or that could mean you knew we were the ones who were responsible…”
“Sorry Lord, we would never betray you! Nobody in the castle could ever even dream of doing such, we are completely Loyal To you at least of me and my group…”
“Now, now, no need to work yourself up about it. I had never doubted your loyalty. I’ve only proposed a possible hypothesis. Now I have a task for you all.”
“I thank you, my lord!”
“Firstly, you all should rise.”
All of them had risen per Ashen’s Request.
“Now, All except for premium shall return to their post.”
“Is there something wrong with my lord?”
“No… well actually yes, yes there is. This is a dire emergency, there is a need to inform the majority of the Castle’s staff, but for now. I just need you to follow us.”
The rest of the group had already left by this point and Premium had already started to follow Ashen and Aeyrs to the Conference room. Aeyrs had better things to worry about than their current problem of being in sugarea, and that would be: Maintaining the guild and gathering information on the world if it is still the same world or something similar. As the three had arrived at the conference room Ashen and Aeyrs both took their respective seats, while Premium was standing near the entrance of the room. Ashen quickly noticed this and soon said
“Premium, please take a seat, this is a very important discussion and I don't want you to mishear, or misunderstand what we will discuss, okay?”
Premium quickly followed up on Ashen’s statement with:
“I-I-I couldn’t possibly sit next to the guild leaders, I’m too unworthy to do such, p-please just continue, I can hear you perfectly fine!”
“No no, you will sit down and you shall not refuse to do such. This is critical and I can’t have any misunderstandings, also I believe that you are worthy to do such, we created you, are you not saying that by not being worthy you find your creators bad?”
“N-no of course not! I would never say anything as ludicrous as that! Alright, I will sit down right away!”
Premium had quickly taken a seat next to Ashen at a large round table made of extremely rare precious materials, over 600 total meetings were conducted in the conference room and only three ended poorly due to Ashen’s Wisdom and because of Aeyrs's general appeal to the guild members. There were 50 seats at the table even though there were only 35 guild members that were ever in the guild. It wasn’t because nobody wanted to join but because of the guild’s rules for joining. The first rule was that you had to have a level cap of at least 920 and you couldn’t have it go below. Another rule was that you had to be at least level 850, this ensured that good players along with serious players would join over those who would want to mess around or sabotage the guild.
The last rule was that you had to play for at least eight hours every week and generally had to be online at least every Sunday and Wednesday. The guild itself was the strongest in the entire game, due to having the largest amount of Level 900+ players and having two level 1000 players as well. Another important factor was that all of the NPCs that the guild had, were so many that the majority of guilds could never even compare reasonably. Ashen was thinking about this during the time it took Premium to sit down after he had taken his seat next to Ashen, Ashen then stated
“There is an emergency with the current state of the guild leaders, do you understand Premium?”
“Emergency my lord?”
“It is hard to explain but for the sake of simplicity, yes an emergency has risen.”
“What would the emergency be my lord?”
“Well you see, don’t ask how, but there is going to be a massive army of Demons and undead, which will attack all towns, villages, cities and will most likely destroy them if we don’t help. That is why we had asked for you alone, so we don’t burden the other guards with this knowledge. Do you understand?”
“I-I-I don’t... know what to say. If you don't mind my lord, what is it that you want me to do? And why did you want me specifically?”
Aeyrs quickly interrupted Ashen before he could speak
“Look, We don’t have much time, we don’t know when this will happen or where, but we do know that it will happen. We told you so you were informed and could strengthen our defenses.”
Ashen nodded in agreement with Aeyrs statement. The room went silent with tension, as this was a matter that could threaten the guild itself. Ashen soon broke the silence with
“But to prevent the world from more or less being destroyed, Aeyrs and I will have to leave the castle, and we must go alone. We will disguise ourselves as humans and then go to the nearest town to gather information.”
“Alright, if that is what you want then I shall put as much power into strengthening our defense to the highest possible amount!”
Ashen thought for a moment, and then soon said
“Premium, I want you to talk to Misfortune, Titan and Planthra. I want you four to come up with ideas about defense and maybe about an offensive unit, alright?”
“Yes my lord! Leave it to me, I will make sure it gets completed to your expectations!”
Premium soon rushed outside the room and went to complete the task Ashen had just Set for him. Ashen soon sighed and said to Aeyrs
“Gee, Acting is too hard, wouldn’t you agree?”
Aeyrs took no time to say
“Yeah, tell me about it. And I still can’t believe they can talk with us and move on their own. It’s like the flavor text we created for them had come true.”
Ashen started to think but then casually said
“Well, then it’s a good thing Angry Bunny was such a detail freak, she made sure that the flavor text of almost all the NPCs were accurate with how their functions would work if this were a real castle. She got so mad whenever anyone had messed up one of the NPC’s flavor texts or made a mess. She was always such a clean freak, too.”
“Yeah, she always hated whenever anyone to make a mess. But now she isn’t here, so what will happen if we do make a mess?”
“Maybe she will be transported here as well, just to yell at us!”
Both of them laughed at the amusing thought of her yelling in her cutesy high pitched voice about how the organization was the key to life. To put simply, She made many of the members very happy with her being around. But now wasn’t the time to think of all the fun messing with her caused the guild and especially Ashen and Aeyrs. They now had a job to do, and one that is completely relying on their complete and unbroken concentration. Ashen then transformed into his Humanoid state along with Aeyrs, their armor while still equipped, had become undetectable and they equipped some basic villager clothing to make their human appearance more believable. Then Ashen cast a Teleport spell on them both and soon they were transported to the outside of the castle’s gate. There were tall mountains that had plenty of large ore veins and gem deposits outside the castle. This was nothing like the plains of which the castle had previously inhabited. Both Ashen and Aeyrs realized this as Ashen soon said
“It’s true, we aren’t even in Sugarea, just somewhere similar eh?”
“It would seem that way, wouldn’t it?”
“But now isn’t the time to do such things, we must be observant and continue with our quest.”
“Well of course we do, I believe the closest village is to the southeast, I can sense a village there, not too far but we should use a teleport spell to travel the majority of the distance to shorten arrival time.”
“You’re right, if we teleport right in that could cause alarm, it’s best if we walk to the village after shortening the distance with teleport or gate.”
Ashen then cast Teleport on them both once more and soon found themselves barely nearing a town. They were on a dirt road that was so long you wouldn't see where it started or ended other than at the town they were walking to. As they walked towards the town, a carriage pulled by two horses soon passed by them and then slowly came to a stop just barely in front of them. It was obvious that they wanted something to do with Ashen and Aeyrs, but whether it was to rob or talk to them they had no idea. The carriage itself was mostly black except for a small glass window on a door on the side of the carriage.
The cart was also laced in gold with several gems being integrated as well. Either this was a Royal person’s carriage or just a rich person’s one, Neither of them could tell. Soon the door opened and a man wearing a black suit and tie had exited the carriage, and then spoke in a language neither of them had known. Ashen thought of what to do, when he suddenly remembered there was a “Learn Language” Spell that could be used in times like these. He quickly used his skill “Silent Cast” and cast a spell on both him and Aeyrs and soon they both started to understand what the man was saying. Ashen quickly asked
"My apologies, but could you repeat yourself please. We are really tired and weren't paying attention?"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Alright then, I said: Excuse me gentlemen but where have you come from? There isn’t a town in that direction. There is only the Rib Cage Mountains.”
Ashen thought for a moment then said
“Well you see, we were just heading to this town after our home was attacked by Undead. We lived in the middle of nowhere but suspected that we would probably be safer in a village or town, so we decided to head to the closest one. We don’t even know what the name of the village is called, we have only ever been on our small farm and barely supported ourselves.”
“Oh, I see. Well my apologies for asking such a rude question, would you like a ride to town?”
“Oh… um, no thanks, we walked this far so we should be able to walk the rest.”
“Oh don’t worry, it will be fine, after all, you are far less likely to be attacked if you are traveling in an armored vehicle.”
“Armored?” said Aeyrs
“Why yes, this here carriage has been heavily reinforced with magic to prevent bandits from attacking it. It is by far one of the safest ways to travel.”
Ashen used telepathy to talk to Aeyrs for a second
“Do you think we should?”
“It’s up to you, dude, it doesn’t change much as long as we get there right?”
Ashen ended the telepathy and then said
“Alright, we will join you on your way to the village.”
The Man then said
“Alright then, by the way, we are going to Arlen. Arlen is mostly human with few demi-humans, there should be an inn and a guild house there as well. We can give you 10 silver coins, use them to book a room and to sign up at the guild house.”
As Ashen and Aeyrs climbed into their carriage, there were 2 other people inside. One was standing and had full plate armor and a longsword sheathed on his side, He was alert but didn’t draw his sword. The other seemed to be wearing luxurious and expensive clothing. That man was probably of royal descent or a noble, although he didn’t seem worried at all about two strange men that randomly entered his carriage. As Ashen and Aeyrs sat down across from the man in the fancy clothing the man that invited them in said:
“We should arrive at Arlen within 20 minutes, so please, relax until we arrive.”
The man pulled out 10 silver coins from the inside of his jacket and put it in Ashen’s hand and walked to the front of the carriage to control the horses. Ashen put the coins into his pocket and used his skill “Silent Cast” and cast the spell telepathy to talk to Aeyrs and say:
“Hey, why do you think they would trust us so easily? They don’t know who we are or what we are capable of.”
Aeyrs responded with:
“Maybe we should ask, and we should probably thank them for allowing us to join them.”
Ashen ended his telepathy spell and then spoke out loud.
“Thank you for allowing us to travel with you, but if I may, why would you be so trusting of two strange men you know little about?”
The man wearing the fancy clothing spoke out in a deep and mature voice:
“The man who drives this carriage has an ability which can check for any weapons or items of harm that a person may have. And after seeing that neither of you had any, he decided to lend a hand to two men that were walking to a town that we were as well going to.”
“Oh, I see… I don't mean to be rude but might I ask if that ability can detect if someone has any magic spells as well?”
“Unfortunately not, but if you two didn’t carry any weapons I would doubt that you would have any major spells.”
Ashen and Aeyrs were relieved but neither showed it, as that could complicate the current matter. The knight in the plate armor spoke out suddenly and said:
“This carriage has magical protection, no spells can be cast in or at it. Therefore even if you could cast spells none of which would be effective.”
Ashen responded with:
“Oh! I see… well, I am sorry if I did cause suspicion. I was just curious as me and my brother here can only barely use magic at all. And could barely use spells at all, I am better at magic than he is but he is much better at physical combat than I am so it works out.”
The man with the fancy clothing said:
“Oh, I see, well then, it might be best if you two sign up at the guild house in Arlen. There you can do basic quests and earn a modest amount of money to survive. And if you are capable of defending yourselves you might even live comfortable lives.”
“I-I-I see, well I guess we should do something while we are at Arlen. Oh! Pardon my rudeness, we haven’t even introduced ourselves, have we? I am...Eldrick and this here is my brother Kurtz.”
“I guess I have been rude as well, I am Ganruth Von Lichbith, I am a noble of the Banarainian Empire. I was visiting Arlen as a rest stop before heading to the capital.”
“What were you doing before you decided to go to Arlen?”
“We were just checking in the Research teams in the Rib Cage Mountains.”
“Research? In the mountains? What is there in the mountains to research?”
“Ah, I understand, since you didn’t go to any major city you probably wouldn’t have known right? Well in the mountains there is a large black castle, it’s walls are impenetrable and we have several research teams investigating it that was hired by the King.”
“W-why? Is there something special about the castle?”
“Ah, about that, The castle has been there for just over 1200 years. There have been countless investigations done on it, and by all the countries. There is said to be a legendary weapon inside: The Crystal Ball Staff. It is a very powerful magical item, one that was created by the first king’s brother and sealed away inside the castle to make sure nobody can wield its might.”
“Oh, I-I see… then… is there anything odd about the castle?”
“Of course! Nearly everything is odd, the castle walls can’t be damaged in any way. Nothing leaves a mark. Another thing is how nobody can see inside the castle’s walls, it just appears as a very dense, dark mist that blocks and view of the insides. And, probably the strangest of them all, Not a single person or animal has entered or exited the castle in all of the time we know of.”
Ashen and Aeyrs took a little bit to understand what just happened, while they were thinking the carriage came to a stop and a knock came from the door.
“Sir, we have arrived in Arlen.”
The voice came from the man wearing the suit, the one who drove the carriage and originally talked to Ashen and Aeyrs. Ganruth stood up and opened the door, then he stepped out soon followed by the knight in heavy armor that was standing. Ashen glanced at Aeyrs, nodded, then they both exited the carriage. Ashen faced the man in the suit and asked
“Excuse me but do you know where the inn and Guild House are?”
“Ah, if you look across from us there is the guild house, to the right of it is the Silver Apple Inn. Their prices are cheap and you should be able to get a room there. It costs 4 silver coins to register at the guild house, so make sure you don’t spend too much alright?”
“We won’t, once again, Thank you!”
“Please, it was no problem. If you ever want to talk again just ask the guild house staff, they should be able to relay the message to us quickly. If you need anything else, just ask.”
“We should be fine thank you, Goodbye!”
“Farewell!”
Ashen and Aeyrs walked towards the guild house as the men they were with walked into another building across from them. Ashen and Aeyrs walked into the guild house, upon entrance they spotted a half-full room of adventurers and there were two women at the counter. Ashen and Aeyrs walked up to the counter, The woman behind the counter had red hair that didn’t go past her shoulders and was tied into a bun on top of her head. She wore a white undershirt and a blue vest over it which was buttoned up to the second to last buttons, which weren’t closed, probably to make adventurers more relaxed at seeing a woman’s breasts. She was thin and had mildly sized breasts, she was in her early twenties and had her hands together straight down in front of herself. Ashen and Aeyrs walked up to the counter and Ashen said:
“Excuse me but we are here to register to become adventurers.”
“Alright then, that will be four silver coins per person.”
Ashen pulled out eight silver coins from his pocket and laid them on the counter in a messy pile. Ashen then asked:
“Is this all that we need to do to apply?”
“Well, not exactly… The first step is to pay the fees then the second step is to fill out basic information. Then after that, you can start going on quests!”
“I see, well what information do we need to fill out?”
“Firstly I need your names then your level, then your health and mana.”
“Oh, alright, I am Eldrick and this is Kurtz. We don’t know our levels, Health or Mana, is there any way for us to find out?”
“Well certainly!, All you need to do is use a basic Self-appraisal scroll.”
“Oh, we don’t have any of those…”
“I figured as much, well we could sell them you two for a silver coin!”
Ashen pulls out another silver coin and lays it onto the counter. The Woman picks it up and puts it into a sack under the counter, hidden by the side of the counter from the outside. She hands him two basic self-appraisal scrolls. Eldrick gives one to Kurtz and they both use it, their stats are that of levels 103 for Eldrick and 107 for Kurtz. Eldrick has a large amount of Mana but lacks in health while Kurtz has a large amount of Health but lacks in Mana. Their stats were now written onto the scrolls they used, the scroll’s previous words were replaced by their stats. Eldrick and Kurtz put their papers onto the counter and the Woman Picks them up. She then screams out:
“Whaaaaaaat!? Over Level 100!? But How!?”
The entire room responded with:
“Ehhh!? What!? No Way!? Th-that’s Impossible!”
And other similar phrases, the entire guild was in complete shock and surprise. Eldrick and Kurtz both were completely shocked by this and didn’t know how to react. They should have known that they would have been at a severely lowered level but neither knew that being level 100 would be an outstanding achievement. Soon the entire guild was just yelling and soon all of their voices just merged into one another and sounded like one continuous scream of shock, surprise, and distrust. Eventually, they all calmed down but the woman behind the counter had been filling out the information with their papers. She then handed them two necklaces made of a black string with a circular copper plate with their names engraved upon them. The woman then said:
“I-i-i’m sorry about this but unfortunately you have to start at rank copper when you first register but feel free to do any quest on the quest board!”
Ashen quickly followed her desperate words with:
“Don’t worry about it, rising through the ranks is half the fun of being an adventurer right? And besides, you’re just following the rules, right? There shouldn’t be any reason to complain.”
“Of course! Please, if you need anything at all just ask!”
“We should be fine, thanks!”
Eldrick and Kurtz walked over to the Quest Board and looked around for a little while before both their eyes had landed on the same posing: Hunt down and slay a young Red Fire Dragon. They quickly removed the posing and brought it over to the counter, Eldrick said:
“We will do this quest, we will be back in twenty minutes.”
“Y-you can’t be serious right? Surely you jest? Twenty minutes is not enough time to go there and slay a dragon, even if you are over level 100!”
“Well, why don’t we make a bet about that? If we complete the quest and return within 20 minutes, the reward is doubled, if we take longer, we will get no reward. Is that okay with the guild’s rules?”
“I-i-i don’t know, let me go check with the guild master!”
She walked into a room behind the counter and after a short while she returned. She then said:
“The guild is willing to accept this proposal, the timer will start as soon as you leave the guild building.”
“Alright! We will see you soon!”
Eldrick and Kurtz walked outside the guild house, they soon ran off into the direction of the Young Red Fire Dragon that was listed on the posting. The reward for slaying the dragon was originally 30 gold coins but if they could complete the quest in under 20 minutes, the reward would be doubled. Soon Eldrick Teleport on both himself and Kurtz when nobody was watching. They were teleported directly outside of the Dragon’s nest inside of a cave. The dragon was inside but soon noticed them as it quickly ran outside of the cave and directly at Kurtz. Kurtz easily was able to dodge the dragon’s fast charge and Eldrick cast “Fireball”. The fireball hit the dragon and it instantly caught fire and started to scream in agony.
Soon the dragon collapsed and its flesh was easily burned to ash but its Scales and bones were left intact. Kurtz picked up all of the scales and put them into his pocket dimension using his Ring of pocket Dimension. Kurtz then used his skill: “Soul Absorption”, to devour the dragon’s soul which in turn increased his stats for his humanoid form. Eldrick had put all of the dragon’s bones into his pocket dimension except for its skull and spine. Eldrick quickly cast a spell onto the skull and spine which transformed it into a magical item. He then picked up the skull and staff which was now one solid staff made out of dragon bone. The dragon’s skull was open at the top, Eldrick reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a round purple gem, a Large Amethyst which was magically enchanted.
He then put the gem into the mouth of the skull and the two had fused into one and the dragon’s mouth now held the gem. Eldrick then cast Teleport on himself and Kurtz and they were teleported just outside of Arlen. They then walked into the city and then into the guild house. When they entered everyone’s attention was directed at them as everyone was wondering if the two of them could defeat a Young Red Fire Dragon in under twenty minutes. The entire building quickly erupted into cheers and sounds of general surprise and positivity. Eldrick and Kurtz walked up to the counter and asked:
“The quest is done, we would like our reward now.”
The woman quickly dug through a pouch of gold coins and then lifted the entire bag onto the counter and then said:
“How could you ever defeat such a monster of that power in such a short amount of time, and also make such a weapon? It should be completely impossible!”
“Well… if we told you how that would ruin the fun of it right? Anyway is there a chance we could go up a rank from copper?”
“O-of course, let's see, Platinum? No, Titanium? Alright, you will have Titanium plates.”
“Sounds good. Oh and is there anywhere in town that we can go shopping for Equipment?”
“Of course, if you turn right when you leave the guild house and walk down, around 20 houses down there should be an armory. It has a very well trusted reputation. You could buy anything that you need there.”
“Alright, Thanks! Have a good day!”
“Your welcome, Have a wonderful day you two!”
Eldrick and Kurtz walked outside of the guild house and into the direction of the armory that the woman talked of. Upon walking to the armory Eldrick and Kurtz were stopped by a small group of men in a very low-populated area of the town. 7 Men had cloaks and they all had daggers inside their cloaks along with several throwing knives each. This was easily noticeable by both Eldrick and Kurtz, as they knew what the men wanted: To rob or mug them. Soon one of the men said out:
“Alright, give us all of which you have and maybe we will let you go with your lives.”
Eldrick responded with:
“Oh how generous, how generous indeed… Unfortunately, we cannot meet your demands, so please allow us to decline your offer.”
“Oh yeah fancypants, we’ll see about that! Get ‘em boys!”
“I’m flattered that we are worth your time!”
Eldrick used minor chain lightning which struck each of them causing all of them to stop in their steps and two fell over. Kurtz ran up and punched three directly into their stomachs causing them to cough up blood and fall over. Eldrick then said:
“Well, well, well, I thought you would be much stronger than this for all that tough-guy talk you were doing, what happened? Did you not take us seriously?”
“Screw you! Alright, it’s time! Now! Use it!”
One of the men in a cloak took out a Magic scroll and used it, upon its use the scroll disintegrated into the air. Then a large bolt of lightning struck Eldrick from above but didn’t even disturb him in the slightest. Eldrick responded with:
“Huh? Was that an illumination spell?”
The man who used the scroll cried out:
“What!? How is... that... Even… possible!?”
“Alright, I'm bored…”
Eldrick used another spell under Silent Cast’s influence. He cast: Life drain, on all of them. One by one they all fell to the ground and collapsed. After they all were rendered unfit for combat Eldrick and Kurtz tied them up with rope that they got from their pocket dimensions. After which they removed all of their weapons and took off their cloaks before Eldrick cast: Heal. One by one the men regained their strength but all were still bound by ropes. After they had all been saved from death, Eldrick then questioned them with:
“So, what did you people want anyway?”
One of them which seemed to be the leader hesitantly responded with:
“W-w-we thought you wouldn’t be able to protect yourselves, and we saw that you came into town with a noble so we thought you would have valuables on you…”
“Really? That’s It? Like there is nothing else? Well, I have a proposition for you people.”
“Y-yeah? And Just what would that so happen to be?”
“Simple, give us all of the most valuable items you have, then we will let you go as long as you don’t attack us again and if we need your help you will help us alright?”
“And what do we get out of this?”
“Besides from not dying, how about 1 gold coin each sound?”
“Really? Alright, we’ll do it… but you’re not lying to us are you?”
“No, I am an honest man… Here, you can have seven gold coins. Split them between yourselves and upgrade your equipment after we leave the armory alright?”
“Y-y-yes Sir!”
Ashen tossed seven gold coins in front of the man and then untied them all with Kurtz helping. Then Eldrick and Kurtz walked to the armory as they had planned to. When they got there Eldrick Used telepathy under silent cast’s effect and asked him:
“We should probably keep ourselves out of trouble and should also not spend too much money when we go in. If we can I would like us to keep a low profile, not that our recent activities in the guild will help with that…”
“Don’t worry, as long as we can prove that we aren't to be messed with, we should be fine.”
Before they entered Eldrick put his Staff into his pocket dimension and made sure they didn’t have any blood on them or anything out of the ordinary. After they checked themselves and found nothing, Eldrick and Kurtz walked into the shop. Inside there were sets of armor on stands and plenty of weapons of display with an older man with a thick but short black hair. He had a scar across his left eye, which made his left eye blind. When Eldrick and Kurtz entered he said:
“Hello and welcome to my armory, I've got the finest weapons and armor out of any place in Arlen, if you got any weapons or armor you’d like to sell just let me know!”
Eldrick Responded with a nod and continued to look around the room, but nothing caught his eye. Eldrick and Kurtz walked up to the counter that the man was at, Eldrick asked:
“Do you do custom orders?”
“Indeed we do, Now, what can I do for you then?”
Kurtz secretly pulled out the sack of dragon scales he had put into his Pocket Dimension and put it onto the table. The sack had at least three hundred scales but the sack wasn’t larger than normal. This was due to the sack having a magical enchantment to have increased storage. The man picked up the sack and looked inside. The man’s jaw dropped and asked:
“Red… Dragon… Scales?”
“Yes, we just harvested them. We would like a set of full-body armor please.”
“O-oh, Wait just harvested?”
“Yes, we just killed a dragon and took the scales, use them to make the armor and give us any that remain. Oh, and what would the price be for this?”
“Hmmm, It is a custom order, and a difficult one at that… How about, 35 Gold Coins?”
Eldrick pulled out 35 Gold Coins and laid them down on the counter. The man picked them up and stored it into a small coin sack under the counter, much like the woman at the Guild house. Eldrick asked:
“Hey, can I get change for a gold coin here?”
“Sure, it's one gold coin for 20 silver coins, Unless you would like copper coins, but I don’t have nearly enough for that.”
“Can you do 19 silver and the rest copper?”
“Sure can do, 19 silver and 20 copper coins, just a moment!”
Eldrick laid the gold coin onto the counter and the man took it and laid down 19 silver coins and 20 copper coins onto the counter in exchange. Eldrick then said:
“Thank you, when do you think the armor will be done by?”
“Hmm, give me 3 days, I should have it done by then.”
“Sounds good, we will be back, so do other orders as well, we don’t mind waiting. Have a good day.”
Eldrick and Kurtz Walked out of the shop and started walking to the Silver Apple Inn. there were few people that we're walking around in town, this seemed odd to them as this was a large city. They ignored the fact and eventually got to the Inn. They walked in to find a half-full room of older men drinking beer and several waitresses. Eldrick and Kurtz walked up to the counter where a mature woman wearing some basic clothing stood behind. Eldrick asked:
“We need a room for 7 days, how much would that be?”
“It’s 3 copper per night, but I'll go for 1 silver, consider it a discount.”
Eldrick handed a silver coin to the woman and she said:
“Alright just give me a moment and I'll have someone show you to your room.”
The woman walked into a room behind her and after a minute she came back with another far younger woman. The younger woman walked up a staircase which was located to the far left of the room, the older woman said:
“Follow her to your room please.”
Eldrick and Kurtz Nodded then followed the younger woman. Upstairs there were eight rooms, most of them were closed and one was now opened by the younger woman. Inside the room, she walked into, there were two beds a small table with four chairs and two small bedside cabinet. There was also a window on the wall with a curtain slightly opened. The woman gave them two keys to the room and she left the room. Eldrick walked over to the door and closed it, He thought they would be okay to talk but didn’t want to risk being heard so he once more used his telepathy spell under silent cast’s effect. Eldrick quickly asked:
“Do you think something is happening in town today?”
“I don’t know, there are plenty of men drinking but barely anyone walking in town….”
“Maybe we are just overthinking it, still now we know how the money conversion system”
“Yeah, but how much do we have now?”
Eldrick checked his pocket and said:
“17 gold, 19 silver, and 20 copper Coins. It seems like 18 gold if we converted the other coins.”
“Seems like a pretty good amount… Well, what should we do now?”
“Maybe we should return home for a short while and come back, it will be 3 hours before night. So we should check up on the castle and maybe investigate the research team that Ganruth has told us about.”
“Alright then, are we going to walk out of town the teleport or teleport out of town?”
“Probably best if walk out then teleport. Alright well, let’s go home and come back in two hours alright?”
“Sounds good!”
Eldrick and Kurtz walked out of their room and locked the door behind them. They walked down the stairs and found there to be even more people than before. When they had gotten to the bottom of the stairs the entire room exploded into cheers and positivity. They all cheered for Eldrick and Kurtz but they didn’t know that they only found out that was their motive when they started to gather around them as they started walking towards the exit. Eldrick quickly asked out:
“Is there something we can help you with? Is there any reason why you are making such a loud noise for just two outsiders?”
The room fell silent, Eldrick sighed and they walked towards the exit and left. After they left the room immediately started to become louder and louder while talking about Eldrick and Kurtz. They ignored this and they walked out of town in the direction they originally came into town from. They left the town and nobody followed them not even a single person was looking in their direction. They confirmed this with several spells and after they had, they teleported near their castle and heard several voices coming from near it. None of which either of them had heard before, or could recognize.
Eldrick and Kurtz figured that it was the investigation team that Ganruth had informed them of. Eldrick and Kurtz both transformed back into their natural forms. They walked up the mountain and soon found a few tents and temporary buildings of which 2 people were. Ashen and Aeyrs walked towards the entrance of the castle which wasn’t too far from them but couldn’t be seen from the tents. When they got near the entrance the two men saw them and approached Ashen and Aeyrs. One of them said:
“Who are you? What are you doing here? Wait… A-a-a Grand Archdemon? And a Dragonoid?”
Ashen casually said:
“Hey, how’s it going?”
Aeyrs silently chuckled to himself, Ashen and Aeyrs continued to walk to the entrance of the castle. The man called for his friend and they both were scared but we're prepared for battle. The same man that talked before spoke out once more.
“What are you doing here? Answer me!”
Ashen sighed and turned to face him as did Aeyrs. Ashen then said:
“Look we live here, so don’t prevent us from living in our own home okay?”
“Ha! You think I'm that stupid? I know nobody lives here! Nobody has entered or exited in over 1200 years!”
“Well then, I guess we were wrong, I guess we don’t live here then. Wait, if we can enter that would prove that we do right?”
“Well, Yes but nobody can!”
Aeyrs understood what Ashen implied and casually walked into the castle by opening a large black stone door. He walked inside and the two men were completely shocked and surprised. Ashen, taking advantage of their fright quickly said:
“Well how about you two leave, now that we know we will have visitors we may just have to ‘Defend’ ourselves”
Ashen emphasized ‘Defend’ to show that they would kill people to protect their homes. The two men realized this as they quickly backed away from the castle but one said:
“W-w-why would you need to do that?”
“Because, if we have some unwanted guests, we should at least be able to deter them from intruding on our grounds.”
“So… What will you do with us?”
The man asked hesitantly, yet Ashen responded with a calm collected tone.
“Simple, you will inform everyone not to mess with us, and maybe we will refrain from destroying another world!”
This was a complete bluff as Ashen had not destroyed the world, but not only that but he also didn’t want to fight an entire kingdom or even the entire world. Ashen put out his left hand and pointed it at the two men.
“Here, I'll teleport you two to a close village, there you will go to your king and tell them not to disturb us any more alright?”
After which the two men were teleported into the guild house in Arlen. The two men were confused at first but quickly came to their senses and as nobody knew what happened they quickly left. The two men ran off, most likely to find the king as Ashen entered the castle. Upon entering Aeyrs was there waiting as he had watched the entire thing. Aeyrs said:
“Nice one, you scarred them into submission back there!”
He gave Ashen a thumbs up with his right hand and Ashen smiled in return. They quickly walked to the conference room in which Premium, Titan, Misfortune, and Planthra were already inside. When Ashen and Aeyrs entered they all kneeled with their right hands over their left side of their chests. Ashen motioned for them to rise and walked over to sit down at the table as did Aeyrs. Ashen motioned for them to sit down in which they all sat down next to one another. Titan was a large giant but wasn’t much taller than Ashen and also wore Large plate armor and had a Helmet that covered his face. Misfortune was a Mimicoid, a race that could transform between a human and an object form and the advanced race of mimics. While Planthra was Plantoid, a race that could transform between a Treant and a humanoid form. Ashen started the conversation with:
“Premium, tell me what has happened in our absence.”
Premium spoke out.
“Lord, we have increased our defenses and ensured the outer wall’s strength while we also arranged our troops into defense and patrol squads. And to your demand I have gathered Misfortune, Titan and Planthra to converse with.”
“Very good premium, now as for the reason I called for all of you. Titan, I called for you because you are one of the best defensive members of the Guild’s residence. Misfortune, I called for you because you have excellent mimicry skills and stealth abilities. And Planthra, I called for you because of outstanding healing and natural abilities. And with Premium as a main Offensive unit, you four are the best group for stopping any intruder that we have, besides us and one more.”
Aeyrs spoke out.
“We have recently been in a town called Arlen, it is an average size town and has around 1300 total citizens. We registered at a guild there and booked a room at an Inn as our human transformations. We will have to return shortly but we also expect some royal contact with the castle shortly as we sent two men that were outside the castle to their king.”
Ashen followed his words with:
“After waiting an hour we shall return to Arlen as to not raise any suspicion. We will also be gathering information there and I will try to contact you, premium, to keep updated on both of our situations.”
“Of course my lord, Is there anything else that you wish to discuss?”
“There is one other topic, What should we do about the Dark Legion of which will invade?”
The room fell silent as nobody knew how to respond or what to say about such an important topic. Then Planthra Spoke out, breaking the silence
“I could use my magic to enhance the nature around us to be alert if such an event occurs my Lord.”
“Hmmm, well there isn’t any nature around us currently.”
“What? But the castle is in the middle of grasslands!”
“It was, but now it is in tall mountains. If needed use this.”
Ashen reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a small green spherical crystal.
“If you use this, grass, trees and the like will sprout from the ground. Use this and your magic and do what you think is reasonable. Another thing, try not to kill any humans, we don’t know much about this world if the castle is no longer where it used to be that we may not be in the same world as before. So that is why, another thing would be, try to make sure to take care of any monsters that wander too close to the castle. If possible subdue them and make them part of our forces, if you can’t, do what you have to.”
Planthra walked over to Ashen and took the crystal from him, She then said:
“My deepest thanks to my lord, I shall work diligently to be worthy of your gift.”
“Please think nothing of it, after all, it will be helpful for the entire guild and perhaps the world…"
Ashen took a moment to himself to embrace the words he just said. ‘And perhaps the world’ had a very heavyweight in terms of pressure, the entire world could solely rely on two guys that didn’t do much with their lives besides play video games exceptionally well. Although not showing it he both smiled and frowned at the thought.