For everything that happened yesterday, creating new elders, creating a new dungeon core, acquiring 10 million XP, and spending 8 million of it to rebuild a part of Tobes, and yet none of that was what kept me up all night. It was that message I received as I was preparing for bed.
Keep up the good work, pup... Madam Erin was the only one to call me pup, so has to be part of her still in the world crystal. After receiving the message I spend the entire night trying to get Madam Erin to respond to me again, but I received no further messages.
That also means I was unable to find out if there was any deeper meaning to the fact that Elexia has become a dungeon core, but was not assigned a number. Ceres received the first available number, when I made her a dungeon core.
Now that I know at least some part of Madam Erin is still within [Menu] did she give Elexia special treatment due to her relationship with her, or are all future cores created this way going to be without a number as well?
With the justicar points we spend to make Elexia a dungeon core being refunded, and the cost of creating a dungeon core being reduced, we could create up to 5 more dungeon cores to find out. If all goes well we would even get the justicar points back in a year.
We should maintain a reserve of justicar points for an emergency, but even still, we were already committed to spending 20 yesterday, so if we created 2 more dungeon cores we wouldn't be out anything that wasn't already planned for.
I guess that is a matter the Elders should discuss as a whole, so it can probably wait until we reconvene in a week, after Dyson manages to dig up the leverage over Duke Bozhidar that he was talking about. Dyson said as much, last night when I messaged him to see if he got a message from Madam Erin as well.
I sent a message to all of the Elders, and even a few of our dungeon core allies that are not, to see if they received the message as well. And although everyone received the message about the creation of a new dungeon core, and the justiciars also received the message about the refunded points and the reduced cost. None of the others received any kind of personalized message.
Ceres even tried to tell me it was some sort of mistake, that I was just tired and reading more into the message than what was there, but I stood there in shock just staring at the message for at least five minutes until it disappeared, so I know it was no mistake.
When I messaged Ceres she has already begun another training session, so she said she would talk about it with me further when she was done, but honestly I don't know what good that would do. I think I will have more luck talking with Elexia, when I go to set up that portal for her, because the way she reacted to the confirmation message about becoming a dungeon core. She looked as if she saw something in that message that made her think of Madam Erin, so if anyone understands it would be her.
So until then I just focus on Tobes. Now that everyone at least has a roof over their heads, it was time to get them back to work and start the part I was never very good at... Rebuilding Tobes's economy. I can clean the majority of the apartment buildings with [Menu] but there are still plenty of tasks that need to be taken care of.
There are not many left, but I assigned one sentient humanoid monster from my dungeon to each of the apartment buildings to supervise, and then had some of the locals to take care of the other matters. The craftsmen also have their shops and needed people to run errands for them or work their counters so we filled those positions as well.
We opened the rifts back up on the upper floors of the dungeons, so those few who wanted to start to build their levels back up they could. Most of the mages from the Mage's Guild died in the attack, but a few of them that are left have regrouped and in addition to rebuilding their levels they are also trying to resupply their regents from the elemental rift monsters. They abandoned what little was left of the Mage's Guild building and are using a few of the offices and shops of the marketplace to continue their work. Madeline and Zedross both perished in the attack leaving only Kleed to lead the remaining mages.
There is also far more locals harvesting the livestock animals in the dungeon, since there are no demi-humans to help them any longer. That produces far more meat then we need so we have started to export some of it to bring gold back into Tobes, so we can pay those who are working.
Getting some of the locals to transport it back to the capital proved to be a little more difficult than I anticipated because with the reset they were worried about their safety. I could have focused on training up a few of the locals to act as guards, giving them a job in the process, but instead, I summoned some intimidating-looking demi-humans.
Many of the demi-humans don't start much stronger than a typical human, but I focused on their look. I could have summoned a water lizardman who would have been slightly stronger but opted for a fire one instead. They are a bit bulkier and their scales resemble a dragon's scales rather than a typical lizard like the other elemental variants.
I also summoned a lamia, a harpy, and for one of the transports who flat refused any kind of demi-human, I summoned a large wolf that of course wasn't sentient, but the fact they are accepting the monsters, sentient or otherwise, from the dungeon at all, is a good sign.
In addition to the guards, I also had to summon each one a wagon with a horse to pull it. Compared to the guards that cost was negligible, but I also had to summon some magic stones and make some runic magic stones with an ice spell to keep the meat from spoiling on the trip. We could have dried the meat, but I think we could get more gold this way, and at this point, even if we are still tight on XP, it is gold that we need the most.
It will be two weeks until the first transport returns, so until then there isn't much more we can do. I started working on the stones for Elexia's portal, but I had planned on using Speedy to transport me to Emeraldline to set it up, and I received word from Dyson that there was a complication regarding Speedy, so he would be unable to provide her until he returns for the next meeting.
I could make some location stones for our portal to take me to Emeraldline, but I would like to avoid that cost if at all possible, so I feel there is nothing else I can do, but apologize to Elexia and ask her to hold out for another week.
When not dealing with matters in Tobes, I spend the remainder of the week training, in an attempt to build my level back up. It has gone relatively well, but even before the reset once you get above level 10 things begin to slow, so with the way it works now, it has slowed my progress.
Azami still seems to be gaining levels at a much higher rate than anyone else, and even with the fact she is only training a few hours a day, her level is staying equal to Ceres and her group that are training almost non-stop.
Even though my class is a mage class, my versatility as a dungeon core has allowed me to gain enough levels that I am roughly halfway between Azami and the rest of those bound to my dungeon. Without gaining any skills however the difference between our abilities is almost unnoticeable.
Between Tobes and the training, the week passes very quickly. On the day before we are to meet back up with Dyson I decide to look into holding up my end of the deal to summon a new woman for Dyson. I go through all the pages over and over again, but no matter how I look at them, out of the three one of them is completely impossible with the types of creatures I am capable of summoning.
That doesn't mean the other two are any easier though, so I push the impossible one off to the side and decide to focus on the other two. For one of them I could try to accomplish it one of two ways. I could try summoning a sentient female lizardman while focusing on its appearance to look as human-like as possible, but that would leave it without wings, and that seemed to be one of the key points Desiree and Angela wanted.
The other option would be to go with a sentient female dragonkin, but with their appearance, it would take some major mental gymnastics to make it look anything human-like. Much less to the fine degree of details laid out in these pages.
To be honest it is the other one that has grabbed my attention though. She is described to be like a human-sized fairy but mixed with many aspects you would find in a dryad, and it has a lot of similarities to Faraine's spriggan.
I didn't get a chance to look at Faraine's spriggan before it was destroyed, when Ceres used her attack, but my first impression of it was that she was Faraine's sister rather than a different creature. Azami's spriggans have come a long way, but still nowhere as lifelike as Faraine's was, but maybe either Faraine or Azami could help me with this.
Explaining what I'm trying to accomplish to Faraine would be rather difficult so I decided to consult with Azami first. With a large chunk of the forest now gone, I have to travel a bit on foot outside of my dungeon to reach a place where the trees were protected by the mountain and still stand, to find Azami's new home.
To no surprise she is practicing her elven crafting when I arrive. Even though she is gaining levels far faster than the rest of us, the sharp quality drop from the items she can produce with elven crafting after the reset has affected Azami.
Even without her skills she can still make Mythril items, but it took her an entire week just to make a small cube of Mythril, so she has instead been focusing on creating lesser items with higher quality. She is working on one such item when I arrive.
Light swirls around the object floating in the air while Azami is so deeply focused on it that she hasn't noticed my arrival. Creating items with elven crafting might not be as physically demanding as pounding out raw materials like a blacksmith, but even though Azami is bound to the dungeon sweat is still visible on her brow as she focuses.
Moss is working on something as well, but he at least notices my arrival. The object he is working on slowly drifts from the air down to a stump that is being used as a workbench. He doesn't look too happy as he stands up and moves over to Azami, but I don't know if it is because of the interruption or just the fact he still doesn't care for me too much.
He takes a small cloth and wipes Azami's brow without her even flinching, but he then whispers in her ear and the object she is working on slowly drifts down onto the stump as well. She then blinks a few times and stretches before addressing me.
Azami: “I see, I see, it is still a bit early to begin today's training is it not?”
“Yes, it was something else I wanted to discuss with you.”
Azami and Moss's new place is still in need of a lot of work as it appears closer to a temporary campsite rather than an elven home, but they seem to be making it work with various items scattered about.
Azami checks several empty cups, jugs, and even shaking a waterskin before Moss shakes his head. She then sighs and says. “If it is not the time for training, what is it I can do for you?”
I explain the situation with summoning a new woman for Dyson to her, and how it brought me to her and her spriggans. She makes a gesture and a large glob of mud and twigs fall out of one of the nearby trees, it rolls/slides across the ground until it reaches Azami and then takes a very rough humanoid shape.
Azami: “I'm not sure how my spriggan can help, it isn't sentient, and technically not even a type of monster. More like a collection of forest debris held together by magic.”
“What about Faraine's spriggan, it almost looked like a perfect replica of her.”
Azami: “Lady Faraine's spriggan was made with years of careful sculpting of the best possible ingredients. There were unique items chosen for each part of the spriggan based on its likeness to mimicking real tissue. For instance, the vines used to make up the muscle tissue only grow in the southern reaches of Merretta, while the wood that mimicked bone is only found in the forests of Dalian, and that is only two of at least 100 different materials.”
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“So if you were so you wanted to, you could make a spriggan like Faraine's?”
Azami: “I'm not saying that I couldn't, but I wouldn't. A spriggan is a tool, a weapon for those who make them, so having such a spriggan would be like one of those human royals that carry around a sword made of the solid gold covered in gems. Not at all practical if it was needed for its intended purpose.”
“I see...”
Azami: “Besides no matter the ingredients, or their appearance, they can not venture far from their creator, or be made sentient, so I don't see how this helps you in your task for Dyson.”
“Well I don't have the skill anymore, but that hasn't seemed to matter for many skills, but some elemental creatures and undead can be summoned using existing materials, so I was kind of hoping to try to see if I could do the same for the woman I am summoning for Dyson.”
Azami: “That is an intriguing concept, but it seems like such a waste to test the theory out on a woman that is destined for nothing more than Dyson's bed.”
“It would be pushing the boundaries on what we are capable of doing with [Menu], but if it worked...”
Azami: “I spent a fair amount of time with Lady Faraine while she was here, and I heard enough that were we capable of acquiring the materials, I could replicate her spriggan. With my exceptional pool of magic and all our training I should be capable of casting the [Gate] spell at least once a day, maybe even twice if I used my magic for nothing else. It would take a few weeks to gather all the ingredients if Dyson was willing to wait that long.”
“If your magic pool has grown enough to be able to cast [Gate] again, there are quite a few things that we should make use of it to do instead. Besides Dyson should arrive with Speedy tomorrow and we could send her to gather the ingredients.”
Azami: “I can cast [Gate] again, but doing so would make me unable to train or practice my elven crafting, so doing so would stunt my ability to gain more levels. It can wait for Speedy's arrival.”
“You would use [Gate] to gather the components for the spriggan, but not to help the dungeon...? Besides you could go a few days without training to give the rest of us some time to catch up...”
Azami: “I joined your dungeon to become powerful, and even though the reset has erased all the work I have done until now, it has also created an opportunity. Since the reset affected almost everyone the same way my substantial magic pool has given me quite an edge that I plan on exploiting as much as possible.”
“I know the attack on Tobes and the reset threw everything off balance, but in the last year or so you have come a long way. You even started to come down to Tobes just to visit, so I thought maybe you started to feel like this was your home.”
Moss: “Among humans and beastkin? That's ridiculous!”
Azami: “I'm sure Lala and Lele will be displeased in hearing you speak that way.” -She says curtly causing Moss to drop his head and not say another word. It makes me smirk however as she then continues.- “I indeed started to feel as Tobes was acceptable, but I was yet again too weak to defend it in its time of need.”
“We all were...”
Azami: “Which is exactly the reason I should exploit the current situation while I can, so it never happens again.” -She says with a somewhat frightening determination.-
I know what she went through with her old dungeon and family, but I didn't realize that Azami was taking the fall of Tobes so hard. To think she felt that strongly about Tobes is reassuring. Now I feel bad about giving her a hard time about it.
“Well, I don't want to take away from any more of your elven crafting training, so we will leave the gathering of the components to Speedy when she arrives tomorrow.”
Azami doesn't say anything else as she begins working on the item she was working on when I arrived. I don't know if Dyson will accept having to wait for a few more weeks to receive the woman I promised him, but I guess if he doesn't, I can then try the dragonkin-like woman instead after the meeting.
After speaking with Azami though, I feel like I should be taking my training a bit more seriously, so after returning to the dungeon core room long enough to put up the plans for the women, I gather some of the dungeon members and begin our training for the day a bit early.
The next morning I wake up still tired from the training the night before... Perhaps I got too fired up after talking to Azami yesterday. Belinda is still sound asleep so I ask Vetala to watch Rory and to let Belinda sleep in this morning. I then head down to the room that connects my dungeon to Ceres's.
Somehow within seconds of arriving Ceres joins me bright-eyed and ready to go. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now, but even though I went to bed only a few hours ago Ceres was still in the middle of her training when I retired.
If we are going to continue to hold meetings for the Elders here, Ceres and I have decided to do a bit of redecorating. It is quite similar to the way it was set up when we brought all the kingdom's royalty here, but we have a little more XP now, and instead of just throwing it together with the furniture we already had we make it a bit more official-looking.
Ceres and I are just putting the final touches on the room by hanging some decorative tapestries from the walls when we receive word from Dyson that he is on his way. He warns us that we should be on our guard, because he is bringing a few guests, and the guests aren't too happy about it.
Ceres and I are not too sure what to make of Dyson's message, so we prepare our gear. When Dyson arrives we quickly take a step back as Dyson arrives with a dragon in a chokehold. As far as dragons go it is quite small. Much smaller than even one of my earth dragons, but its shape is that closer to a dragon similar to Teku.
Dyson has its wings, limbs, and even its maw bound shut, but that doesn't stop it from trashing around quite violently and making one hell of a racket. Even though it is small in dragon standards, it is still twice the size as Dyson, but he doesn't seem to have any issues holding onto the dragon's neck.
The dragon isn't Dyson's only guest as Desiree and Angela each is leading a pair of women whose arms are bound behind their backs. The women are dressed in lavish dresses and appear to be terrified, and they look to be related. Desiree pushes the older of the two into one of the chairs we prepared, and if I had to guess she is the mother of the woman Angela then forces into the chair right next to her.
The last of Dyson's party is Speedy and Byson, but they step off to the side trying to remain out of the way.
“What is going on?!” -I say trying to talk over the noise the dragon is making as it continues to fight against dyson.-
Dyson: “I told you, I was going to acquire a bit of leverage, and what better way to convince the Dalian king to back off, than taking his wife and daughter.”
“Don't you think there was a better way to go about this than kidnapping Dalian's Queen and Princess? And what exactly is the dragon for?”
Dyson: “It was a few years ago, and it was before you lost your memories, so you might not remember. On the day I gave you Sofia, I gave Duke Bozhidar an egg. It was of a very rare type of dragon that he had been searching for years trying to find, and this is that dragon. If there is anything that could be considered leverage to Duke Bozhidar, this would be it.”
“What about Dalian's king, and Duke Bozhidar?”
Dyson: “I wanted to deliver these three to you first, I will now go get them as well.”
“You are just going to bring them here and take off? How are we supposed to deal with the dragon?!”
Dyson: “As long as you don't take off her bindings there shouldn't be a problem.” -He says then disappears leaving everyone behind including Desiree and Angela.-
The dragon begins thrashing around now making even more noise, and the captured women seem to grow even more frightened. Desiree steps back over to the dragon making sure to avoid its thrashing around. She grabs a hold of its head, but is unable to hold it as still as Dyson was as she brings her face down close to its and whispers something to it.
Whatever Desiree said, the dragon must have understood, because it quits thrashing about, but its eyes lock onto Desiree as she takes a few steps back again. Without the dragon thrashing about we can now speak again without raising our voices, so Ceres then turns to talk to the two captive women.
Ceres: “I would apologize for this, but I doubt you would believe that I was being sincere. For what it is worth if you are the leverage that Dyson believes you to be, I doubt you will come to any harm.”
Dalian's Queen is still quite frightened as she pleads with us. “If you let us go before that other man returns, I can promise you that my husband will reward you greatly.”
“Just wait a little while, your husband will be here shortly, and then we can negotiate your release.”
Dalian's Princess seems to regain some of her composure as well, but instead of pleading she issues a threat. “After Father tells Duke Bozhidar what you have done you will be sorry!”
“You needn't worry about that, Duke Bozhidar will be joining us as well.”
She quickly becomes frightened again, but I can't be sure if it is because we're not worried about Duke Bozhidar, or if she is worried about Duke Bozhidar making an appearance. The women don't say anything else, so I move over to Desiree to get a better look at the dragon.
As I approach the dragon's eyes dart to me a few times, but only for a brief second before latching back onto Desiree. I can't tell because of the way it is bound, but I think its general body structure is very similar to Teku's albeit only a fifth of the size.
That is where the similarities end however because its head is rounder with a short snout. Its coloring is vastly different as well and it isn't completely covered in scales like Teku, but has a row of feathers from the top of its head leading down to its back where the spread out covering the dragon's wings making them look more like a feathered serpents wings. The feathers then continue down the dragon's tail and end with what looks like the fletching of an arrow.
“Dyson said this was a rare type of dragon, and it seemed to understand you, so does that mean it is sentient?”
Desiree: “Very much so... Even though it is only a few years old it is probably as intelligent as a sentient lizardman.”
The dragon obviously doesn't appreciate the comparison however because it tries to fight its bindings again, but Desiree gives it a stern look and it settles back down. The fact that it got offended by Desiree's comment proves that it holds at least the intelligence that Desiree suggested.
“If that is the case...” -I turn to the dragon, and even though its eyes keep darting back to Desiree it does turn its gaze on me while I speak to it.- “Like we told the other two, I'm sure once we can come to an agreement with the King and Duke Bozhidar, you'll be back to your home as well, so bear with us for a while.”
The dragon then snorts and lays its head down on the floor, its eyes are still gazing at Desiree. We wait for another 15 to 20 minutes before Dyson finally returns with Dalian's King and Duke Bozhidar in tow.
Dalian's King has his hands bound behind his back like his wife and daughter. Duke Bozhidar, on the other hand, is not bound in any way but he is also not wearing any armor nor carrying a weapon and is only wearing some clothing you would expect a Duke to be wearing. The dragon's attention quickly falls on Duke Bozhidar as it starts to struggle against its bindings again while the two human women begin to complain to the King.
Dyson: “Enough!” -He barks causing all three to immediately stop their fussing. He then thrusts the King down into a seat next to his wife and daughter, and then pulls a chair out for Duke Bozhidar and says.- “Now, please have a seat and we can get this unfortunate business taken care of.”
Duke Bozhidar wears a complicated expression on his face, and his eyes are darting around the room, but I can't tell if it is out of worry, or if he is just analyzing his situation. When his eyes fall on the dragon his muscles seem to tense up, but he does as he is asked and takes a seat.
Duke Bozhidar: “It's been quite a while Two-Twelve, and I take it you're Ceres?” -He says while greeting Ceres and me.-
Ceres: “As this is a formal meeting, you can call me Elder Ceres.” -She says while taking a seat at the table.-
Duke Bozhidar scoffs and says. “Formal meeting? It looks more like extortion to me.”
Dyson: “Call it what you will, but we needed to make sure we had your attention.”
Duke Bozhidar: “And so you do. Now, what is it we can do for the Dungeon Core Elders?”
“We need to discuss your effort to expand Dalian's borders by sending monsters from your dungeon to attack humans.”
Duke Bozhidar: “I've done nothing that I haven't already been doing for decades. It is only the effects of the reset that has made our efforts more fruitful than they have been in the past. I have bothered no dungeon cores during the expansion, so I fail to see how this has become a concern of the Elders.”
“All of the old elders are gone, and our goals are different than theirs. We plan on taking a much more active role than the elders did in the past, and not just in the interactions between dungeon cores but in the way the dungeon cores interact with humans as well.”
Ceres: “We have made our presence known to the humans, and plan on working together for the betterment of all sentient humanoids, and although your agreement with Dalian is agreeable with our new agenda, the use of your monsters to overthrow other kingdoms cannot continue.”
The king has been rather tight-lipped up till now, but he finally shouts out. “What gives you the right to dictate what I do with my kingdom!”
Dyson: “The fact I was able to get to you and your family should be proof enough, but we wish to resolve this civilly. With the quick progress you have already made, you have increased Dalian's size by 50%, and after discussing it, we have decided that you can even keep the land you have already taken, but your expansion stops now. ”
It isn't like the King has a choice in the matter, as he is bound and is essentially a hostage along with his family, but he looks to Duke Bozhidar and then says. “You'll return me and my family as long as we halt Dalian's expansion...?”
“That is all we're asking.”
The King looks to his wife and daughter, then to Duke Bozhidar again before nodding his head and saying. “Very well. You return us to Dalian, and I'll have Dalian's soldiers hold their position.”
Duke Bozhidar: “I think the King forgets, his soldiers listen to me, and our expansion has only just begun.”
Dyson: “You may not be bound like the others, but we have the precious dragon of yours that you spent so much time trying to obtain. Besides, you may not be bound like the others, but look around, you are in a dungeon room with no exits.”
Duke Bozhidar: “To be honest, you can keep the dragon it has been more trouble than it is worth, and I guess I should be thanking you. I have not needed Dalian's royal family for some years now, but with you revealing to the world what you are, on top of being observed kidnapping the royal family. I'll have no trouble rallying the humans to fight back against the foreign monsters that assassinated the royal family, but I guess that means I can't have the royal family turning back up again later, can I?”
Duke Bozhidar then lunges from his chair, and before we have a chance to react he casts a spell causing lightning to arc through the Dalian Royal family killing all three instantly before we even have a chance to react. Everyone seems caught off guard by Duke Bozhidar except for Dyson who draws his sword and swings it down on the duke before the royal family even hits the ground.
Dyson's blade is blocked however as Duke Bozhidar grabs the blade with his bare hands. Dyson's new sword may not be as good as his old one, but it is still made from adamantium, so for it to be blocked by Duke Bozhidar's bare hands shocks even Dyson. What's more is there is very little blood, and even though Duke Bozhidar should have reset like everyone else Dyson's sword doesn't budge another inch even though you can see Dyson is putting all of his strength into pushing the sword forward.
Dyson struggles against Duke Bozhidar what feels like minutes, but what is only a few seconds before he jumps back with a worried expression on his face.
Dyson: “How...” -Dyson starts to say shocked from what happened, but he quickly snaps out of it and yells to me.- “Two-Twelve! Bind his crystal!”
I quickly open [Menu] but before I can access the option to bind a crystal I hear. “Not so fast!” As I am hit by the corpse of Dalian's King as Duke Bozhidar throws it at me. Before the reset, I may have been able to withstand the 200 pounds of dead weight, but now I crash to the ground hitting my head hard against the floor and blacking out.