He spawned in an inn, seated at the bar, and surrounded by a full house of what he could only assume to be pirates. The ruffians were loud and boisterous, eating sloppily and exchanging haphazard toasts of their mugged ales. He kept his head low and paid attention to the notifications he had received.

‘Summon Limit: 0/2.’

He assumed that this meant that he could only summon two units in this world, or maybe it was because of his current level. It didn’t make him much of a difference because all he had was Seru and Jack anyways, so there wasn’t much to think about. He wanted to summon Seru immediately, but he wasn’t sure if it was wise to suddenly make a monster appear out of nowhere in this den of outlaws.

“How much are rooms?” he asked the bartender. When they gave him an amount, he paid it and received his key in exchange. He rose from his seat and made his way to the stairs. As he made it to the first step, the front doors swung open rather dramatically and made way for a man to enter the building.

The first thing he noticed was a hat made mostly of straw, with a blue ribbon wrapped around it. Behind him was his crew, which consisted of a swordsman, a man in a suit, and even a tiny little animal man. They looked… odd, but he knew exactly who they were without needing any introduction.

I wonder if they look different enough to avoid a copyright infringement…

He wanted to stop himself from going up to his room, obviously so he could stay and interact with them, but he resigned himself to doing what he needed to do. He wasn’t here to have fun, he had a mission to complete.

Once he was in his room, he returned back to his own dungeon.

He appeared near the training facility, which was already in use. Two tan skinned children he was sure he’d never seen before were wielding swords and swinging away at the dummies protruding from the ground. He walked over to them, wanting to find out more about who they were, and looked around in the process.

There was now an icy bridge that connected the two roots. Had Jack decided to help with the development of the dungeon in his brief absence?

When he was close enough for them to notice him, both children stopped and knelt swiftly.

“Greetings to the All-Father!” they both exclaimed in unison.

All-Father? He questioned himself. It was a new name, but he wasn’t going to ask them about it.

“Who are you two?”

“I’m Sa.” said one of the two as he looked up at Amon.

“I’m Ba.” said the other as she looked up as well.

They were clearly twins. They shared the same brown skin, the same facial structure, and the same fierce look in their lavender eyes. The only notable difference was the fact that Sa had white hair and Ba’s was black.

“Right. Get back to training then.”

He was just going to ask Seru about what happened, so he left them to their devices and made his way to the bridge. He touched one of the railings and found that it was sleek and cold to the touch, which wasn’t much of a surprise. It was ice.

He smiled to himself as he took a tentative step onto the bridge. It was more than sturdy enough to hold his weight, so he continued to walk along it, but he couldn’t stop smiling because he was trying his best to hold in what he really wanted to do.

There was no use in fighting it though because he eventually folded. He took a heavier step forward, something closer to a leap than anything else, and hit the bridge with a slide. He was happy to find that he did in fact start sliding, but for some reason, he was unable to control his momentum and he started moving forward faster than he was ready for.

He made it to the other side of the bridge in a flash, slightly nauseous but overall he was alright.

Once he was over there, he found another brown skinned individual pounding away at something on the avail. He was going to interrupt whomever that was, but he suddenly found himself face to face with a brute of a man. Well, er, face to chest.

This man was tall, almost a full foot taller than Amon, and dressed in a simple pair of pants and a short sleeved shirt that didn’t do much of anything to cover the rippling muscles this man possessed. He was at least happy that he didn’t bump into him.

The man dropped to his knees at Amon’s feet, which shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was. This was a native to his dungeon, right? It only made sense for him to respect the Dungeon Master.

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“Greetings to the All-Father. I prayed daily for your safe return.”

Daily? I haven’t been gone that long. Have I even met this man before?

Apparently, the confusion he felt was plastered over his face, because the man continued to talk.

“You may not remember seeing as the meeting was brief and unorthodox. I am Nel, the first Amonian.”

That meant that this was the figure he could barely make out from the other root earlier.

“How many Amonians are there?” he reasoned that the twins were Amonians too, as well as the blacksmith nearby. He hadn’t been paying much attention, but he realized that there wasn’t just one hut anymore. There were a few, at least ten, and an extra one made completely of ice. He figured that was Jack’s.

“Including me? Seventeen. I offered my essence to the Mother Tree once I made it to the core room and asked her to give me brethren. Most of them are currently out on a journey, though.”

They had to have been traveling over the horizon, seeing as that was the only place for them to explore in this relatively empty grassland. Without any of his input whatsoever, they’d managed to organize themselves and make themselves as useful as they currently could, and for that he was thankful. He loathed the idea of having to micromanage a group of people.

“You’ve done well, Nel. I’m expecting you to keep things together here, you are the oldest brother and therefore you are responsible for all of your people.”

Nel brought his fist to his chest with a resounding thud that looked like it hurt, but he didn’t show any signs of pain. “Thank you, All-Father. Is there anything that you currently need us to do?”

He checked Nel’s status, wondering whether or not he counted as a summon he could bring out into the real world. Unfortunately, he didn’t, but maybe if he built a strong bond like he did with Seru? This man definitely looked like he could take a few hits, and dish out some as well. He’d be a huge asset to the party.

“Become strong. More powerful than any other race in the entirety of existence. We have a long and arduous journey ahead of us and it’s imperative that everyone is prepared for it.”

He loved a dramatic moment, so he turned on his heel and left for the icy house after saying that, leaving Nel to ponder and process his words. He hoped he lit a fire in the man’s heart.

“Lord Amon!” exclaimed Seru as he walked into the hut. She had been standing beside Jack, who was seated comfortably on a chair made of ice with his eyes closed. She ran up to him and knelt, only for him to wave her back up to her feet. “Welcome back. Why didn’t you summon me?”

“Unexpected circumstances. I got you something though.” He gave her the extra bracelet, which she equipped without hesitation.

“I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life, Lord Amon.”

You don’t have to do that. He said to her telepathically, not wanting to possibly embarrass her by saying it aloud. He continued their vocal conversation though. “Update me. What’s happening here?”

I’ll do it anyways. She responded. “I was just telling Jack about how strong you are. He fought Nel and won, then beat me in a spar as well. I told him he wouldn’t be able to stay so arrogant once you came back, though.”

He wasn’t too fond of what she was saying to him. He appreciated the vote of confidence, but he knew very well that he couldn’t handle Jack in a fight and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to lose face.

“We’re a family, Seru. There’s no place for fear in a family, only love. Give him some time and he’ll eventually open up. In the meantime, let’s go complete this mission.” He knew she was going to agree, so he turned and walked out of the frozen hut. He didn’t realize it until he was outside again, but it was freezing cold in there. That made sense, but just how cold it was escaped him in the moment.

He looked over to Nel, who was still outside in the same spot. He looked like he was lost in his thoughts, so Amon called out his name to get his attention first.

“Nel,” he said. After a brief pause, enough time for the man to give him his attention, he spoke again. “Is there anything that you need from me?”

He shook his head no. “We’re close enough to the Mother Tree, she provides everything that we need. We will give to you, rather than take. When you return we’ll have something prepared for you, All-Father.”

He nodded in understanding. “I’m looking forward to it.”

With that done, he returned to his room in the inn and immediately summoned Seru.

Both of their bracelets were equipped, so they were in completely different clothing this time around. Gone was the hoodie that he was wearing, instead replaced by a plain white shirt, unbuttoned with ruffles at the end of the three quarter sleeves. There was a black coat over it, but it was loosely thrown over his shoulders rather than worn traditionally.

Ornate golden buttons traveled down the length of the coat and stopped around the lavender sash around his waist. The sash was clearly for fashion over function because it covered up most of the black leather belt he wore to hold up his black pants that were mostly plain beside the flowery lavender designs on the cuffs of the pants that came down over his thick black boots.

The sash wasn’t his only accessory, though. He also sported a white bandana wrapped around his forehead which held his now loc’d hair, which was also dyed white unbeknownst to him. He wasn’t the only one that had changed so much, either.

Seru’s hair, which was normally around shoulder length, now brought white tresses down to the middle of her back. Her hair stopped right before the scabbard for her blade, which was fitted horizontally behind her so that she could draw the dagger. It was tucked into the black belt she wore over her black pants, which were tucked into sleek black boots. Wrapped around one of her legs was an empty black holster, but he knew for sure that a knife was meant to go inside of it. It looked very different from the one fashioned to her hip, which was currently devoid of a pistol.

If there was a pistol, it would’ve been partially concealed by the flared black cloak she wore over her plain white blouse, which thankfully didn’t expose any cleavage. He would’ve hated to have had to fight some drunkard for looking at his daughter for too long!

“Alright, let’s go.”