Chapter 1

When Tom returned to Weaver Estate, the first thing he did was reestablish Alpha dungeon near the pond where it had previously resided.

He had learned since the last time he had established a dungeon near his home, so he built three separate wings. One wing was dedicated to the comforts of the Korgoath and filled with burrowers for Lo and his pack of one-eyed quadrupeds to eat. That wing was dark and foreboding, and Lo loved it.

A second wing was dedicated to his minotaurs, Brutus, Caesar and Cicero. That wing held an illusory sky for the beast-men, and it grew a variety of edible plants. Edible to a ruminate, anyway. With Tom’s Collaborate skill, he was able to better Customize a dungeon for its inhabitants, and while they had been fine in the fortress like accommodations he had prepared for them before, they much preferred this new dungeon room that Tom set aside for them

The third wing was one dedicated to the leveling of his friends. It was brightly lit with glowing dungeon crystals in the ceiling, and filled with mindless zombies. Once he finished spawning the labyrinth filled with the undead creatures, he closed it off from the surface with a stone slab to keep the monsters from getting out. He was only able to do this because the Core of the dungeon was not located in the zombie wing, but on the surface above where it could breathe. As such, it didn’t really care about closing off the floors that had been created beneath it.

Before leaving the dungeon, he pulled up his status for a moment, just to review his progress.

Name

Tom Weaver

Health

250/250

Age

14

Mana

580

Race

Human

Stamina

210/210

Class

Controller

Strength

17

Level

23

Dexterity

25

Subclass

Progenitor

Constitution

25

Endurance

21

Once he had finished setting up the Dungeon, the second thing he did was hug his father and kiss his mother, who were waiting for him at the entrance to the dungeon when he emerged. The family was thrilled to be reunited. Tom’s growth was remarked upon, he had grown a few centimeters since they had seen him last, and as they retired to one of the sitting rooms in the manor he retold some of his adventures over the last several months.

Tom Weaver most closely resembled his mother, Sue Weaver, with soft features and auburn hair. His father, Norman Weaver, was of middling height, and his fourteen year old son, the sole controller of Welsius, and likely the world, took after him in that department.

Sue Weaver was less than pleased at the number of stories that Tom was able to share which involved him or his companions nearly being hurt by a wild monster.

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Tom could rather say the same about his family, considering that they had been living in a valley plagued by monsters for the majority of the time since he had seen them last. While it was true that the Flame Lynxes of Tilluth Valley, which had begun spawning ever since Tom’s departure. That Tom’s early stumbling in exploring the abilities of his class was responsible for those monsters was unspoken.

Several of Tom’s neighbors had died when one of those monsters had changed its nature and become a maneater. Only the bravery of the Lord of Tilluth Valley, appointed by King Fenard as its guardian once the monsters had been spotted, had put that ferocious beast down. And not without great cost to himself; although Lord Lubald Worth still lived, he’d suffered grievous injury to his throat and lost the ability to speak.

Out of respect for the man’s sacrifice, Norman shoved away the thought that the world was better off that way. The man had been insufferable before the injury. While he didn’t wish any hardship on anyone in particular, he hoped that Lubald would emerge from the experience a better man than he had been before.

Tom was convinced that he could solve the imbalance of the Tilluth Village Core using a subcore, in the possession of King Fenard, as a proxy. He would need to create a dungeon, and the villagers of Tilluth valley would need to delve it to keep it from overwhelming the valley. But that was better than having roving monsters running around and frightening the children or, far worse, turning into maneaters.

After catching up on the six months or so that they had been apart, the discussion turned to the future. Tom’s class had greatly changed the Weaver family’s plans, which had originally been for Tom to work hard to unlock either the Trader or Weaver class from one of his parents, then gradually take over the family business. Presumably after marriage, although they hadn’t cemented any plans that far in the future for certain.

“King Fenard backed off on his intention to drag me into the Royal Knights when I balked at it,” Tom informed them. “The offer is still there, but the threat of conscription has evaporated. However, whether I’m a knight or not he expects me to service the Cores of the realm. It might be easier if I were a knight, because apparently I’ll be navigating politics, dealing with nobles and city leaders and such. I was actually arrested in Caseville for building roads, if you can believe that, but they let me go right away. They thought that Emil was the one really responsible for it and that I was his son. I don’t know why, we look nothing alike.”

Norman Weaver considered the information carefully. “I’m really not certain how to advise you, Tom,” he said at last. “Sue?”

“If it’s not a requirement, and the offer is open, then I think you should wait until you have a better idea what your duties as Controller actually entail,” she suggested. “As well as how the kingdom is going to pay you for your services. Although, if this beautiful mansion is any indication, the pay will be quite generous indeed.”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, King Fenard and Queen Gloracia have actually been sort of engaged in a secret bidding war between the two of them to see who can subtly one up the other on how much to pay me. Fenard wants to pay me to remain in Welsius and serve him, Gloracia wants me to come to Koratia and do the same thing Fenard has me doing here, for her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with pitting two bidders against each other when there’s a one-of-a-kind item up for grabs,” Sue said. “And if my son’s services are the subject of such a bid, then I’m all for getting the best deal. We followed you here from Tilluth, Tom, and we’ll follow you to Koratia if that’s where you decide to go. Or Regalis, Loracai, or even Petosh if that’s the course you decide on.”

“What about Velund?” Tom asked, Velund being the only one of the six great nations of the world which Sue hadn’t mentioned.

“I’d think twice about going to Velund,” Norman said, shifting uncomfortably. “Apparently, Tom, and this is according to the word of Anaxis. He says that he met you, although he might not have given his name at the time. He claims to be the one who gave you the mirror that you use to speak with Queen Koratia.”

“Oh, yes, the griffin rider,” Tom recalled.

“Well, Anaxis escorted us most of the way here from Tilluth, Tom, and he claims to have foiled a plot to kidnap us, and that an agent from Velund was responsible,” Norman explained. “Anaxis’s somewhere in the estate, he was planning on talking with you before he left, so you can get the details from him. It’s just his word that this happened, Tom, but I believe him.”

“I’ll have to thank him for keeping my family safe,” Tom said, frowning with concern. “I don’t like to think that you might be a target because of me.”

“I think we’ll be safe enough here,” Sue said. “I plan on venturing out and talking to the local farming community to see if we can get some of them to plant cotton or flax this year, and to count their sheep and see if any of them have wool for sale. You could come with, for old time’s sake.”

Tom considered the offer, then shook his head. “Mother, I’m not going to be a Trader. I mean, I hope you do well and get good deals, but I have too much on my plate as things stand. I’m not sure if you are aware of it or not, but the system has issued me a Quest. I need to create a network one hundred cores strong and link it to the World Dungeon. So far I’ve only completed six percent of the network that the system would have me build. I need to get stronger to complete the rest, so as much fun as it would be to follow you around the countryside, I just can’t.”

Sue couldn’t keep the disappointment from showing, but she nodded with understanding. “Of course, Tom, it was foolish of me to ask.”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Tom said awkwardly. He sighed. “I should tell you about my companions. Four of them are from earth, if you can believe that. Two Heroes and two Heroines.”

And so the conversation drifted onto other matters for a while before Nigel, Tom’s valet while he was at the manor, informed them that it was dinnertime.

~~~~~~~

Dinner was a casual affair, with everyone in the household attending, but nobody dressed up for it.

Tom’s parents briefly reacquainted themselves with Jessica Small, the teenage girl from Earth whom Tom had Summoned back in Tilluth Valley. She was doing well as a level fifteen sorceress. Like the others in Tom’s party she was planning on increasing her level in the coming weeks in the dungeon that Tom had built for the purpose.

They also spoke briefly with Sevin Wells, Tom’s best friend from childhood who had been Evolved from a Commoner to a Warrior as one of Tom’s early blunders with his abilities. The young man had fully embraced his class and was in the process of applying to the Royal Knights, carrying none of the uncertainties about that position that Tom had on the matter.

They also met another knight applicant, Rory Johnson, who was a recent addition to Tom’s retinue. Rory had awoken as a Shieldbearer Warrior after delving the dungeon in Caseville which Tom had established following an unfortunate mistake that had caused him to link the Caseville City Core onto Tom’s growing network instead of a small dungeon core. The dungeon core had been destroyed, and the party had discovered that the dungeon had been the outlet which kept the Caseville Core from spawning monsters.

Rory was not the only one to awaken his class after delving the dungeon that Tom had built in Caseville, an entire squad of guardsmen had received powerful classes. Rory had, however, been dismissed from the guards due to a financial misunderstanding. The misunderstanding was rectified, but by the time the guard was ready to reinstate him, Madame Silva of the Winged Knights had already extended to him an offer to join the knighthood. He had nervously accepted the superior position and was now training alongside Sevin.

Antoine Durand was in attendance, also known as the Vanquisher. He had escorted Tom south from Tilluth after rescuing the boy from the grips of madness caused by Claiming a high level core while at level one. Along the way he had expressed a desire for Tom to split off from all six of the established great kingdoms of the world and form a seventh, but since they had arrived at their destination the man, a level one hundred and six Hero, had been mostly silent on the matter, restricting his actions to ensuring that Tom was unharmed in battle.

Next to be introduced to Tom’s parents were the three new arrivals from earth.

Aisha, a Kenyan physician who had trained in America. She was now a level thirteen Medico and Valkyrie Heroine. She was taking a break from her mission as a one-woman-walking-clinic in order to study lifelines, also referred to as the mana circulation system, which all humans in her new world possessed but she knew very little about due to it being absent from the humans of Earth.

Grant, an old man who had been reincarnated into the body of a young one after his first death. He had been a politician in his old world and raised to the significant heights of the United States Senate before concluding his career and passing away. He was profoundly grateful to Tom for this second life that he had been given and was showing his gratitude by using his political acumen to guide the boy through the political waters which they were now swimming.

And finally Emil, an Icelandic civil engineer. Like Aisha, Emil was in the process of using his knowledge from Earth to try to improve the lives of those inhabiting his new world. He had already begun several engineering projects with the aid of King Fenard and the kingdom itself. As well as Tom, whose abilities as a Controller allowed him to Customize things such as water towers and roads with significant ease.

The final member of the dining party was a young girl, Vella, who had accompanied the Weavers on the journey south. Vella had awoken as a Mage back in Tilluth valley after a confrontation with a Flame Lynx. While she was set to be educated in the capital, Profons, she was staying with the Weavers for a few days until the final details of her apprenticeship could be sorted out.

The discussion at dinner was light, and, considering the company, consisted mostly of tales from Earth. Grant in particular shared a number of anecdotes which transcended the culture gap between the two worlds.

Halfway through the meal, Tom felt something furry rub his leg and looked down to see Klein, the Worsican Lynx that he had Claimed as a Familiar. He fed the animal a bit of ham from his plate and scratched it behind its ears, grateful for its loyalty. It was usually nearby, although its high-leveled stealth abilities meant that even Tom, as its master, rarely knew where the animal actually was unless it wanted to be known.

Once the meal was over, everyone retired with a satisfied stomach. Tom and his parents continued to discuss their family matters until it was time for bed, but came to no conclusion that they had not already reached.