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Dungeon Core Abi
Chapter 86: Preparations

Chapter 86: Preparations

It's 20,000DP for your regular Dragon of Rebellion, which is a little on the high side for your average Core, but I'm not like your average Core.

By the time the King arrives, I should have over a million DP to throw at him. That DP could go towards 50 Dragons of Rebellion. Alternatively, it could also go towards 100 Shadow Dragons or 200 Dark Dragons. Not that I would choose a lesser creature over its evolution for the upcoming war, and even if I could go with their third evolution, I wouldn't. I worry immensely that the next one will turn out to be the Dragon of Disobedience or something of equal ridiculousness.

Knowing that my points are better spent elsewhere, it's likely that I won't lean towards Dragons when I use them. It was just good to know the numbers I could have expected from the mischievous monsters.

If anything, Assassins have been my go to summon ever since they were still Rogues, and I don't see a reason to change that now. They come prepared and ready to take on any task I give them, and rarely, if ever, fail. The Magi on the other hand, need a little training and guidance before they can be classed as battle-ready. Otherwise they would also be good candidates for mass summoning.

If I could summon Rainbow Mages en masse, that would be something I might have definitely considered. Anya can use almost every type of magic there is, the exception being Time. The only drawback to the fact that she can use almost every element, is that she has hardly trained any spells except her healing.

My other Mages, Arch Mages and Magi, still have their classes stuck as Necromancer, but that doesn't mean they can't learn from other schools of magic. It's just that when their proficiency in Dark element is that high, it makes learning another element harder than it usually would. They're the exact opposite of my Rainbow Mage.

Or that's what Anya told me. I'm not a mage and wasn't even able to cast spells in my previous life. I had a proficiency for Dark magic, but I still couldn't cast any spells for some reason as, more often than not, they would fail. Instead, I relied solely on my skills to make up for what I couldn't do with magic and it was working well for me until... well, you know.

The point is, I can't mass produce Rainbow Mages, but I'm sure the Necromancers will come in handy at some point during the war.

Other than deciding what troops to summon once the battle is underway, I have other things on mind. Like how the King's arrival has thrown my plan to keep purchasing land in the direction of Ishda out of the window. If the elf would have stumbled into my domain just a few days later, I could already have been there.

I'm expecting Lord Aldor's city to provide at least 40,000DP a day. It is the capital of our region, after all. It makes sense that it would have the highest level and heaviest population than all other cities in our area.

Except for Varona, that is, but we're still unknown to many. Especially those outside our own region. Wheeler is still spreading word of our peaceful mountain town day by day, but he mainly travels inside Ishda's borders. Gorn was different because of how close it was. Apart from Orad and Tune, it was our closest neighbour, and to be honest they were lucky Wheeler went there. However, I don't think he'll need to keep playing us up as I'm sure that everyone's going to know about Varona come next week.

I'm also pretty confident that Lord Aldor has no idea what the King is up to either. His city is even further away from the Royal Capital than mine is, but you never know with nobles. He might already have received word about the unprecedented Dragon attack on Gorn, but is choosing to feign ignorance for the moment. Instead of choosing to help, he's burying his head in the sand. Not only to protect himself, but the life of his daughter Estelle too.

I imagine a lot of Lords are doing that right now. Although if they banded together to oppose the King that would pretty much be that. There wouldn't even be a need for me to fight. I'm pretty sure that combined, the forces of each Lord on our continent could rival not only the King, but potentially me as well.

Scary thought.

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Instead, the only banners that marched our way were those that flew the King's colours. It was a golden sword and shield crossed each other on top of a red background. Albus Tira the Fourteenth, King of the entire continent of Tira, is approaching with his army. I found out his name from Edward after we had held a few more meetings regarding strategy over the past few days.

Not that I created any of the suggestions that were pitched to me. I only went with one and that was brought up by Me. The monster maker and cleaner had brought up a very valid point at one of those meetings and I just couldn't refute it.

However, it almost left me in tears when I saw what it had cost me. Me had purchased what he suggested the moment I agreed. We didn't even get to talk costs before I almost throttled him. After they calmed me down and reminded me that I still had plenty of DP leftover with a few day's more to come, the meeting continued.

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I didn't attend anymore after that as I knew they had been coming up with some good ideas for defence. The main one was a wall. I couldn't fault that one either. All cities had walls. Even I knew that. Varona had grown so much though, that a wall running from the mountain on one side, then back to the mountain on the other, going all the way around my city, would have eaten up the rest of my DP.

I couldn't afford that, I was already too scared to spend what I had left.

Me had a few more ideas that he brought to me privately and I shot them all down claiming I would decide on the day. Sis also came with him once as she had some ideas of her own, mainly self-serving ones like a bigger tower so that she could see the battle better, so she was shot down too and left rejected.

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There was only one day left until the King was supposed to arrive at my borders so I decided to get around to the one thing I shouldn't have put off. I couldn't help it, though. I was dreading it.

I summon Light to my tower and the Master Assassin arrives as his cheerful self. Greeting me and the triplets as though our last encounter wasn't awkward as fuck, and as though we weren't on the eve of war. Then again, can I blame him? His confidence is anything but bluster.

I just wanna punch him in his big, stupid, adorable, over-levelled head!

Violet rolls her eyes as though she could take him in a fight. Her bear cub does the same.

"Hi, Light," Blondie welcomed him warmly.

"Have you got any food?"

"It's about your second class," I cut in before Light could respond to Amber's totally unexpected request, earning myself a frown from the redhead in the process.

"I'm sorry, Master. I have already chosen it. I was thinking about going with a crafting class," I was already dreading the end of that sentence, when life offered me hope. "But I eventually decided to go down the path of magic."

I don't know what made him choose that direction, but I was happy that he had already made a start on his choice without me, not angry. Wondering what logic he used to come to that decision, I had to ask.

"Assassins can only use the Dark element, so I wanted to expand my repertoire." So far so good. Even the triplets are nodding along as though they now have respect for Light and his wise ideas. Finally a good choice.

"I've been practicing Light magic and now I can make the shadows a little darker." I myself, like the triplets, was also nodding along quite happily until my mind caught up with what the idiot in front of me had just said.

"Wait a minute. You learned Light magic, just so that you could make the shadows a little better?" I can feel a headache coming on.

"Yeah. Isn't it a good idea?" He beams as I shoot him down.

"No! Why would you even need that skill?" The last time I checked Light's status was after he became an Assassin and even then, he had more skills than I'd seen in some books. Specifically, a lot of shadow altering darkness skills. Something he can clearly do without Light magic.

"So that I can make the light from candles duller, creating even deeper shadows." He tries to defend his choices as I try to explain the reason I'm disappointed.

"Light. You have the Skill, Shadow Enclosure. You can literally cover an entire room in darkness. Why the hell would you need..." I let out a sigh. Ranting at Light over his life choices is not the right move here. "You know what? It's your class and I'm sure you'll figure it out. I'm still proud of you."

The triplets look at me in horror. I'm guessing they thought I should have reprimanded Light over his choice and made him change his class to something that would actually help us out tomorrow, but I don't wanna rant at him like he's a Dragon of Rebellion.

I have to do enough of that with Becca.

That said, I take a quick look at Light's class and...

Name: Light

Master: Abi

Class: Master Assassin - Level 101

Class: Magus (Necromancer) - Level 36

Skills

Spells

Grand Skill

Inventory

... yep. Not even surprised. Why would I be? I said I'm learning. Still, that doesn't stop me from asking though.

"How? How are you almost a level 40 Magus already? It's been like... five days! How do you level up so fast?" I've been wondering for a long time how Dropper and Light level up so fast, but neither one of them ever has a good enough answer.

"We got lucky."

"It was the perfect kill."

"It was almost dead when we found it."

Were some of the ones I remember before I stopped asking. They were always playing above their level though and that scared me a little. Much like what's about to happen tomorrow, but hopefully the tables are reversed.

"I was killing Goblins and Trolls on the mountain. I didn't think you would mind." I kiss Light on the cheek, as he's just made my day, surprising the triplets for a second time today.

Every Boss Monster, or family member in most cases, seems to get their own section of mountain dedicated to them. Not only them, but the Sub-Bosses also get a small section of forest and space on my mountain. That wasn't too bad, but it's come to be known that each section of my multicoloured mountain has its own monster population based on my Bosses and Sub-Bosses. Worst of all, the largest stretches of mountain are now owned by Goblins and Trolls as I have 21 floors of each.

"I love you, Light. Did I tell you before? Well, I have now. You level up to your heart's extent. Hell, you should even invite Noir." At her idol's mention, Amber's ear perked up and she looked around as though he would arrive, even though we were only talking about him.

"But that's my spot," Light tries to counter me.

"The whole mountain is not your spot. You need to learn how to share." I begin explaining, but am cut short by the sound of bellowing.

"Master!" Noir shouts behind me, scaring me enough that I almost fell off the tower.

"Don't just appear behind me shouting. That almost scared me to death, Noir." Amber's eyes twinkle in delight as she stares at her idol. She must see something in him that I can't. That's the only explanation I can think of. Actually, if my family were able to frustrate the King to death, then we wouldn't even have to fight.

How sweet would that be?

I should send some delegates.

That's what Lords do, right?