It was nice to see Michael again but it was quite funny to see the guards being afraid of us. Protecting the refugees has strengthened our soldiers quite a lot so I wasn’t worried about any of the guards they brought causing any trouble during the negotiations. That gave me a perfect opportunity to take Bert and go on a walk with him while everyone else dealt with the negotiations.

We were at the back of the group when Bert indicated he wanted to talk to me. We just didn't enter the village hall and just walked off towards the farmlands. When we finally reached seclusion, we stopped our small talk.

“Rich I am truly sorry,” Bert began looking worried. “I hope that you can accept that I need to back out of our deal. My grove mother has ordered every one of us not to teach outsiders, and it’s even hard for me to stay with the Thorn Rose Company. A lot is happening, and I will probably need to go back home to try to help out.”

It was harder for me to read his facial expressions as he wasn’t human, but it seems like he was being truthful and generally worried. It appears I wouldn’t be able to learn druid magic. This sucks but perhaps I can turn this into an opportunity for the future.

“I see. Protecting your home is important and following your leader is honorable. I will be honest with you I was kind of looking forward to studying druid magic under you. If you ever need any help, just ask me. But remember. Before I was just a farmer, but while I am still a farmer, I am now a part of a bigger nation.” Before I finished speaking, I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it a bit trying to reassure him.

“Thank you, Rich, I will keep that in mind. The world has become a crazy place and only strength can keep you safe. On that front, I’m glad to see you so much stronger from our last meeting. To make up for me needing to break this agreement of ours I hope that the information I can share with you will lessen that disappointment.” He gave me a weak smile while explaining. We proceeded to walk the farmland while he continued to talk to me about what was happening down south.

Fighting and wars have been happening at every scale. From people robbing each other for food and coins. Bandit groups fighting each other and everyone else around them. Nations fighting with thousands of soldiers.

While nothing was set in stone during this first year some nations are starting to already show that they have what it takes to grow bigger and stay for the future. I remembered those names for the future, but I was most worried about the queen and the lands that she controlled.

A lot of people escaped towards the capital and she now had the most populous nation around here, but she was too far from us to threaten us with military strength. The problem was she was trying to stop the Thorn Rose Company from trading with anyone she didn't like. Unfortunately, we are on that list but currently, we are just more profitable than annoying the queen costs them. This means that we cannot count on the Thorn Rose Company in the long term.

This will suck quite a lot but also help others to see that we need to connect to the wider world, so we won’t be isolated from the world’s trade market. If that happens, we will not be able to keep growing and this nation will slowly wither until someone strong enough comes and conquers it.

Our walk lasted until late evening. When we returned and were just able to eat dinner at an inn before the negotiation ended and I had to help Bert power his portal. Unfortunately, the night wasn’t over, and I couldn’t run back to find the dungeon. I had to sit in a meeting that lasted until morning so I could give all the information I learned and so I could receive the conclusion of the negotiations.

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With us having the proper items and ingredients for a portal station they will not be sending a caravan next year instead we will be doing the same thing we did this year except it will be a lot cheaper. It also means that I will need to make a lot of bows but that's a good thing as my renowned true archer class is only at level 17. The lowest of all my classes. Making bows can be even better for experience than hunting monsters but that's only if I’m not in a target-rich area.

With everything done I was able to eat a nice breakfast and even go to the cobbler shop where I exchanged my boots far a bigger size. I was incredibly glad when the shop owner agreed to my deal that I could bring the boots back and get bigger ones while I was growing so fast. Boots were expensive and buying new shoes every time I grew out of my old ones would hurt my bank account. I still have to pay for every shoe but it was a lot cheaper this way.

Over half of my planned time to find this dungeon was now over so I continued the massacre so I could find that dungeon. By the evening I had covered another huge chunk of land. My eyes which have been constantly looking for energy signatures finally spotted an anomaly. It was like a small campfire where energy was acting like smoke slowly rising. There were a lot more beetles here and it took me about an hour to clear the surrounding area.

Finally, I was standing near the entrance looking at the broken dungeon. If I didn’t have energy vision, I wouldn’t be able to tell that anything was wrong with this dungeon. The fact that energy was slowly escaping meant that this dungeon was broken. Back on earth, a better word for it would be a vegetable. A living being whose body is still functioning, but the mind just isn’t there anymore. That's what broken means for dungeons.

They still make monsters and even now I had to kill another beetle who escaped. There is just no one left to control them. Dungeons like this can function basically forever but they are awful for the environment as they just keep endlessly making new beasts and monsters.

Dungeons like these are incredibly dangerous. There can be hordes of monsters still inside, but there might also be a lot of treasure. Whatever the case might be I will put an end to this dungeon.

I tried to use the same method that I used with the swamp dungeon but there was no response. It truly was broken. The first few rooms looked like a cave system like every other dungeon I’ve been to but there were no monsters and the few traps here had been set off, so it was easy to avoid them. I hadn’t noticed this before, but the sound carried a lot further now and it was a lot darker. There wasn’t that much dungeon energy that I could use to see in the darkness.

I hadn’t had this much trouble seeing for a long time. Everything looked like it was dusk, and the shadows were quite long. I could occasionally hear dripping water and splashes accompanied by clicking sounds. I continue to slowly advance keeping my mace ready for action. Then I heard fast tapping on stone. Soon I saw a beetle who was rushing towards me.

It hadn't expected to see me here so instead of me being scared by it, it was scared by me. The way it tried to stop and turn around while still sliding towards me was humorous, but I took a few quick steps forward to finish it off. A few rooms further, I saw a beetle eating a rabbit. I guess this dungeon spawns’ rabbits as well. I sneaked closer and finished it off even before it could sense that I was there.

Killing these creatures was the same as killing real creatures. It had the same weight to it. On the second floor, I ran into a sight that I never expected to see. A beetle was spawning right in front of me and I took the time to just observe what was happening. In two hours, energy slowly condensed and started to form a brand-new beetle. The moment it came to consciousness it just stood there doing absolutely nothing.

I think it wasn’t even breathing but eventually, biological need forced it to do so and slowly the beetle started to move. Me stepping closer didn't interrupt it. Slowly it learned its own body. So, the dungeon usually controlled the beast completely or gave it orders and without it, it needed to start thinking for itself. I didn’t let the creature learn the cruel reality of life. After I killed it, I continued my delve.