CHAPTER 28
ONE MAN’S MISERY, ANOTHER MAN’S FORTUNE.
Hans wanted to sell the research himself, but he faced several hurdles. Firstly, he couldn't take on the task of the Mystic Glades because third-year students like him needed their seniors' assistance to venture outside the Floatlands which Delimira was counting on too. Secondly, the auction house was off-limits until he reached the fourth year.
For third-year students like Hans, their role was primarily to assist their seniors and run errands for them to earn credits. This setup aimed to foster relationships with seniors and learn from their experiences. However, Hans wasn’t the type of a team player unless he was leading them.
But that didn’t stop him contorting when he found out that the greedy Famur had made a fortune of twelve thousand credits in the auction.
Hans, keeping the auction price in mind, cashed in the receipt of 2000 credits. However, the loud receptionist surprised everyone by announcing his achievement as the first person in years to pass the third year in half a month.
Covering his face, Hans ran out of the task hall, where his friends were waiting outside. They showered him with questions. “So whom do you conned?” Delimira asked and Chris gestured the same.
“Famur, that alchemist apprentice, remember him?” Hans asked nonchalantly.
“Hmf..he is a sick bastard.” Delimira scorned, “Mystic glades wouldn’t be a thing if he didn’t discovered it—”
“Just what is your problem with that place?” Hans asked, frustrated. No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with an answer as to why Delimira was so hell bent on this place. “And don’t tell me because they are stripping people.” He insisted the real reason this time.
She sighed and finally gave in. “That place is probably a phony scheme. The rewards it gives are the things they stole earlier. It wouldn’t have worked if your dear Famur, hadn’t ran wild with information.”
“Shit! She realised.” Hans cursed inside.
Meanwhile She continued, “There wasn’t a single death. Like they want people to come back to retrieve their stolen goods and loose more—”
“Come on Deli. Just stop using that head of yours for once.” Hans screamed inside, “Wait, this is just her speculations.”Coughing a little, he said her with a serious tone, “Maybe they just don’t want powerful people coming after them—”
“Do you think others don’t know what is going on in Mystic glades?” She asked serious, “They do, but they still go there in hope of becoming the one-tenth, claiming fortune themselves.”
“So, what is your beef with them.” Hans said, cautious.
“Hmm…” She remained silent but turning red, she gave in, “Fine, I’m jealous. Its a great plan. I should’ve done it, I just didn’t have a golem army for myself.”
“Wait what?” Hans got flustered, and vented, “So you were up my ass, hounding me about golems because of it.”
“Of course, genius. The only one who is capable of using Golems of that quantity is you. But yours aren’t capable of complex commands or real intelligence. I’ve seen in recordings, they have quick thinking and decision making skills—”
“What now? They have what. Decision making… aren’t they running in commands.” Hans was perplexed himself. He didn’t circuit them that way since it was out of his scope.
“No, they definitely aren’t running on commands. Do you know why they are stripping people?” She asked, and both Chris and Hans just stared at her curious. “Because,” she answered, “That way they could take everything, even something that one is hiding in his underwear.”
“That make sense.” Hans thought but another epiphany hit him, “That doesn’t make sense, how they are behaving like that.” He was confused, but there was something more pressing he wanted to clear. “Hey, Deli. Why didn’t you doubted me. If their golems are similar to my Undying army. Maybe Mystic glades is my place—”
“Oh, leave it Hans. If you were that capable, you wouldn’t have come to me for gold.” She rejected his notion instantly.
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Hans took a breath of relief as he said to himself. “Its good that she thinks me as not capable. But man, I'm offended.” Taking another breather, he asked her, “So what is your plan now?”
“Plan…” she chuckled, “I’m going to expose his ass off. Just you wait.”
“And she said, I had a potty mouth. Whatever Winters, challenge accepted.” Hans smiled at her gently and said, “Good luck with that just don’t go running naked around the forest…pft..”
Hans left but instead of going to another place, he re-entered the task hall. Specifically made his way to the redemption board and said with a commanding tone, “Give me your best stock of mana gems for thousand credits.”
But even with thousand credits which were equivalent to hundred thousand of gold coins, he only could afford three mid tier mana gems. Fire, water, and ground. “This will do.” He called Vanir and went to the Agrilands, their personal hideout.
He wanted to create a single entity, that was capable of traumatising these raiders. A worthy challenge for Delimira so she would back off from her mindless pursuit. But it wasn’t easy. “First lets find out how are they getting intelligent.”He opened the connected space door to Mystic glades and stepped into his forest.
In his brief walk, he did find various garments. “Geez not even underwear were spared.” He called one of his golem and dismantled it. “So this was giving them intelligence.” He picked a small ripple patterned seed, the imitation of day seed. “Hmm.. I forgot, the crying…no, I should call it the night-seed now. It evolved, so there was also a possibility for day-seed to evolve.”
He turned around, his golems were surrounding him but unlike crying seed, their behaviour suggested submission. “Thats an unexpected development.” He chuckled and instead of reassembling the game he dismantled. He gave it to Vanir who was busy thinking about latest project of his lord ‘a monster of Mystic Glades’.
Using the evolved day seed and his personal wood gem, Hans conjured a skeletal structure woven from the strongest branches he could mutate. But instead of taking a humanoid shape, he made it into a fearsome creature—a blend of an aquatic reptile and a beast with a long, muscular body, a broad snout, and powerful jaws lined with sharp teeth.
Fine creepers sprouted, weaving together to form powerful muscles. These creepers then embraced the fire gem, shaping it into the creature's reptilian head. Below, the ground gem melded into the body, creating a rugged, rock-like skin that offered both protection and camouflage.
The creature's limbs grew strong, ending in clawed feet perfect for swift movement on both land and water, thanks to the water gem's influence. It resembled Snapjaw, a beast known for their excellent swimming abilities and are ambush predators, using their stealth and speed to catch the prey.
As its eyes glowed with a fiery red, the creature let out a thunderous roar from its newly fashioned throat. It stood ready to confront any intruders, a formidable boss monster in the dungeon that Hans eagerly awaited people like Delimira to challenge.
“You never ceases to amaze me, Senior.” Vanir complemented.
“This is nothing, we still need to create a habitat for it. Hmm.. let me think..” Hans mumbled as he saw the unfazed Dietrich amazed for the first time. “Haa. We have our chairman with us too—”
“I wanna have a swing at this thing. Can I?” Dietrich interrupted, his eyes lusting for battle, “Don’t worry I’ll be gentle—”
“You break it you buy it, mr chairman. Its around ten million in gold. Do you have that kind a money—”
“Hey, this is extortion, it just cost you around hundred thousand. Isn’t it?”
“One man’s misery, another man’s fortune, thats how the world works. Mr chairman.”
“Fine, fine, I won’t touch it, you miser. So what do you want me to do, your eyes are telling me something—”
“Just fill the lake.” Hans pointed the centre of the forest, his core of the network and supply exporting point.
“What lake—”
“Crumble!!” A suppressed explosion caved in a huge plot of land, making the centre as a small island surrounded by a huge cavity. “That lake.” Hans pointed out.
Without wasting anytime, Dietrich filled the lake with his watery aura and with several runes and formulas imbued in the Snapjaw by Vanir, the reptile golem rolled inside. Dietrich didn’t mentioned it but the lake water made from his aura was strengthening SnapJaw beyond of what it was capable of.
“Now all we have to do is wait for a sucker to arrive here. But this time, some of them will be resting here permanently. Fighting a golem like this and survive to tell the tale. I only need one alive.”
“So what did you commanded it senior.” Vanir broke the stillness.
“Kill anyone who approaches the lake by any means necessary .” Hans said nonchalantly which was even creepier than his usual tone.
Before Vanir could say more, Hans suddenly signalled him to be quiet.
"You could sense that too, don't you?" Dietrich asked him, sounding proud.
"Yeah, I’d be a bad host if I couldn’t even detect the guests in my home, this is my territory after all.” Hans boasted arrogantly. He then cleared a path for the raiders to reach the centre without encountering any obstacles, and thanks to their advanced skills, they arrived at the centre right on time.
But they were vigilant, encountering no golem till this point left them with a sense that something was amiss. So they proceeded cautiously, taking each step with care.
"Hehehe..." Hans grinned wickedly as he spotted them near the lake. “Come on, take the bait, you overly cautious bastards,” he urged them silently in his mind and the debut of Monster happened.
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