After Redrock admitted he was over a hundred years old, Nazrat slowly rode his Dark Fae Bear to my side to ask a question.
"High Chief! I wish to pick out the ones who believe in you!" Nazrat asked as his bear sniffed the air towards the Imps, then released a roar, making most of them cringe or shiver in fear.
"I need to speak with the Triplets. Please take your time to separate the believers from the non-believers and ask them how they were captured and where they lived before being captured. Then, instruct them to identify non-believers with odd abilities or rare skills for me to look at. If they grab my interest, I will have you make them believe in me when we return to the Dungeon," I instructed Nazrat.
"Thy will be done, High Chief!" Nazrat drummed his chest with both hands before running off to use his prayer skills to find the first line of Imps.
"Timun, can you activate that Peep-me-not?" Whiterock requests.
Timun nodded and took out the crystal to create the bubble.
"There are no other Humans in the Warehouse, so why be secretive?" I ask.
"The Human Imps can understand us, and if you don't pick them, I will have to return them to their current masters, who will use the Mana Tattoos to make them share everything they heard here to sell it to info brokers," Redrock explained.
"If that is the case, I will buy all the Human Imps. But you will have to tell me how much it will cost to teach me the Time Capsule skill you gave to Timun," I reply.
"I only sold it to Timun because he had the right classes to learn it. You Warrior Golem can't learn it unless you get with the Monster Tamer class." Redrock pointed out.
"Right... well, no harm in asking. Whiterock! Do you have an extra Necromancy Spell Tome on you?" I ask, and he tilts his head to the right. This is a way of saying why you asked for that.
"Oh! You are the one who sold 100 Necromancy Spell Tomes in Rodwin," Timun accused Whiterock after making the connection. Whiterock looked at Timun and shook his head.
"There is a reason I sold only 100. Do you think I can print one Spell Tome to infinity?" Whiterock replied.
"So there is a limit to your insane skill," I reply.
"Even Redrock has a limit on how many times he can transfer a skill in a day," Whiterock added, and then I looked at Blackrock.
"Do you have any limits?" I ask.
"It's always on, so there are no limits. But that isn't good since every conversation has a cloud hovering over a person's head, which changes lighter or darker depending on their honesty. Imagine trying to have any relationship with that kind of power." Blackrock replied in a sad tone.
If I had that ability as a kid, it would have saved me a lot of headaches and avoided wasting time on those who were using me.
"So you didn't make money with it?" I ask.
"I got a job in Rodwin's Gambler's Den to spot cheaters when they lie that they didn't cheat. I saved the establishment a lot of Gold and got paid in Gold, so I didn't become famous like Whiterock," Blackrock answered.
"50,000 Mana Crystals is more than the treasury of most wealthy families in Arya. We had to escape from Rodwin and kill everyone who came after us. Thank Mother that we still passed the test," Redrock added.
"Who revealed their secret ability to a random Dwarf miner for Clay Rank monsters? At least the Mana Crystals got the Black Market's attention—those monsters you got only earned us 50 Mana Crystals. We wouldn't have become their agents if we tried to be lowkey," Whiterock mocked his brothers.
"Oh, all that was part of a test to become Black Market Agents?" I ask.
"The three of us come from a different continent, and like you, we had to hide our faces to avoid drawing unwanted attention. When we arrived here a hundred years ago, we noticed a Black Market Agent in Rodwin who wore a mask similar to the ones we wear now. The agent, however, refused to sell three masks to us and stated that it was exclusive to their organization's members. To gain entry, he would assess us based on our ability to generate wealth, our level of discretion to evade the Kingsmen of any Kingdom, our combat capability, and the type of goods or services we could provide that were difficult for regular merchants to acquire. Since we had limited funds and few items to sell, we had to rely on our unique abilities to meet those criteria quickly and acquire the masks." Blackrock explained.
Oh! So the Masks are the reason I can't see their details.
"I understand you three are over a hundred years old, so you can't be ordinary Humans, right?" I ask Blackrock, who turned to his brothers, who nodded back to him.
"I appreciate your honesty about your secrets, plans, and commitment to an exclusive trade relationship. In turn, I will reveal the truth about us. We are Fae-Men, but we won't remove our masks here. However, we can reveal our faces when we return to your Dungeon," Blackrock explained.
"Fae-Men? You all are supposed to be stuck in the Fae Realm!" Timun replied.
"Technically, only the Original Fae are stuck. Fae-beasts like the Dark Fae Bear can be summoned away to other continents through Ritual Summoning. However, they can be revived in the Fae Realm if they die outside. But Fae-Men stay dead if we die outside the Fae Realm. That is, if a Fae-Man can get past the barrier surrounding the Fae Realm. I think we are the only ones who succeeded, at least in Arya, because we haven't met others like us or any history mentioning any sightings of Fae-Men in this continent," Whiterock pointed out.
"How did you get out of the Fae-Realm? The records say it's impossible to sail across or fly over the barrier." Timun asked.
"I tamed a Matriach Fae-Whale who hid us in her mouth so we could pass the barrier from beneath the sea surrounding the Fae-Realm."
"By my ancestors! How did you manage that? Weren't you afraid of being swallowed by the Fae whale by accident?" Timun asked.
"I taught you the Time Capsule skill, remember? I can also teach a language skill I learned to a creature with at least one vocal language. Fortunately, the fea whales have a language that is not understandable to humans or even Feamen. After transferring it, I communicated with their Matriarch. I asked how her whale pod survived in the limited ocean within the Fae Realm's barrier. To my surprise, she replied, 'What barrier?' I then realized the barrier did not extend 200 Meters beneath the sea surface. She offered to take me outside the Fae-Realm if I could teach all her pod members how to speak in the original Fae language." Redrock revealed.
"That is amazing! Why didn't you bring an original Fae with you?" Timun asked.
"I asked our Mother, but she said her soul is bound to the Fae-Realm. But she told me to take my brothers and see if we can rebuild the Fae Empire." Redrock revealed.
"Fae-Empire?" I ask, and Timun answers.
"All the ruins in the Overworld and Underworld belonged to the Fae Empire. Even the passageways that connect the Underworld beneath the sea are their work," Timun pointed out.
"Technically, it was built by Dwarves and Humans. The Original Fae just guided and taught them skills needed to build everything for them since they don't have physical bodies to create structures and items." Whiterock reveals.
"How do you know for certain?" Timun asked.
"Are you familiar with the Ancestor's Wisdom skill?" Whiterock asks, and I nod.
"Nazrat has that skill. It gave him racial knowledge accumulated by his Imp family tree back to their origin point in my Dungeon." I explain.
"Well, Fae Men have it as well. So we know almost everything our Mother's fae family tree knew and our human father's family tree," Whiterock explains.
"How far back in the Human family tree?" I ask, hoping to understand Human origins in Artrea better.
"It goes back to the world they came from. I don't know the exact name for their home world because the human family tree has too many names in many languages." Whiterock explained.
"Just call it Earth," I instruct.
"Like the soil? Alright. From the memories, we know that it was a world you described as the one from your past life, where magic and Dragons are just fantasy. Though we had to lock away most of those memories for our sanity, knowing the history of Humans in Artrea is more than enough for us. Still, some Fae-Men spend years reliving their ancestor's lives in that world out of boredom of being stuck in the Fae-Realm," Whiterock explains.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Hold on! I am getting confused. Can you explain the differences between the Original Fae and Fae-Men?" I request Whiterock.
"Right! To explain that, we will require a history of how all the creatures ended up in Artrea. Because that explains the differences between Fae-Men, Fae-Beasts, Elemental Beats and Monsters." Whiterock warned,
"Oh? I'm interested, and Nazrat is still busy. So go ahead."
"I have read too much Dwarven literature on it already, but I would rather hear it directly from the Fae-Men since you know the real history," Timun replied.
"The Original Fae are the native race and shapers of Artrea. They are formless spirits born from nature's elements," Whiterock explained. But he noticed I was not getting it, so Timun explained in simpler terms.
"Think of them as the spirits of Fire, Water, Air, Lightning and the rest. They don't have physical bodies, but they are souls that can manipulate their elements." Timun explained, and I nodded. Then Whiterock continued.
"There are also Faes of Time and Space who opened portals to different worlds. Most of the worlds were devoid of life until they found Earth. It was full of life of all kinds, and they wanted to bring that life over to fill the sky, land and seas of Artrea. But they only brought over the creatures about to face mass extinction events," Whiterock explained when Redrock interrupted him.
"They justified saving animals rather than stealing them from other worlds. Artrea got populated by animals from Earth that were saved at the last moment before a Giant Rock hit the Earth."
The Fae saved the Dinosaurs? So that's how they ended up here.
"But, they noticed most of the animals were just eating, pooping, sleeping and breeding machines that couldn't appreciate Artrea and lacked the intelligence to commune with the Original Fae. After a certain point, the Original Fae decided the solution was to breed with the animals to bless their offspring with the appropriate intelligence." Redrock explained.
"Breed intelligence into them? How does a spirit breed with a living creature?" I ask.
"Don't ask me how they did it, but they did. However, there was a side effect they hadn't expected. The offspring from the mating was born with Elemental Cores that corresponded with the Original Fae parent. This gave birth to the Elemental Beast species—just animals with the power to control the Elements that their Elemental Cores can create and manipulate.
But not every offspring had an Elemental Core. Those were called the Fae-Beasts, like the Dark Fae Bear. Though it can't control any element of nature, its armor has physical and elemental resistance. It can also use spells that are unique to Fae.
Elemental and Fae Beasts were more intelligent than their Animal Parents. But, they could not hold an intellectual conversation with the Original Fae. At the most, they understood basic commands that you could teach a dog or a horse, nothing beyond that.
So, they focused on breeding with intelligent creatures they saved from the giant falling rock. They found a flying giant with high intelligence that was the last of its kind. After mating with it, the first generation of Dragons were born." Redrock explained.
Wow! Flying Giant Dinosaur + Fae = Dragon!
"The skill, Ancestor's Wisdom, appeared in every Dragon from when they hatched. So, it was classified as a unique Racial Skill for the Dragon species. It allowed their descendants to inherit the accumulated knowledge of their ancestors. After a hundred generations, their intelligence rivaled that of the Original Fae," Redrock explained.
"So a baby Dragon has a hundred or more years of experience and knowledge?" I ask.
"No, they are born like every other clueless baby, but when they sleep, they relive the memories of their ancestors. One hour for every day their ancestors lived. The knowledge they gain helps them get ideas or unlock skills they wouldn't have figured out independently. That is why Dragons love sleeping." Timun explained. He probably knows something about Dragons since he is a Monster Trader.
Hold on! My Dungeon Core has the same ability. I used it to relive Brock's last seven days in seven hours!
"However, the Dragons felt superior to the Original Fae and declared dominion over Artrea and all its creatures. This action caused the Original Fae to declare war by ordering their Fae Beasts and Elemental Beasts to attack the Dragons and subjugate them.
The Dragons were too mighty to be defeated by the beasts, so the Original Fae had to come up with a new species that was intelligent and strong enough to conquer the Dragons. This new species needed to be subservient to the Original Fae but still have the power to subjugate the Dragons and eliminate any that refused to submit.
They looked at Earth again and noticed a lot of time had passed since the big rock fell on it, and new creatures had emerged all over a world nearing the end of an Ice Age. They went about saving the large animals that would die from climate change. This time, they decided to collect the creatures who excelled in intelligence even if they weren't threatened with extinction.
They found three types of Apes that fit the criteria they were looking for. One was the ancestors of Humans, the other was the ancestors of Dwarves, and the last was the ancestors of Orcs. Though it took millennia for all three to evolve into those races once they were teleported to Arya," Redrock explained.
What is he talking about? There were no... wait... does he mean Denisovans and Neanderthals?
"Really? I mean... Orcs only try to breed with Humans and Dwarves, but I thought they liked our females more than the rest." Timun pointed out.
"It is possible to interbreed among the three species because they share common ancestors. However, compared to Humans and Dwarves, the Orcs' intelligence was inferior. Nonetheless, their extraordinary strength, high libido, and insatiable appetite for hunting big creatures, such as Dragons, made them a race specialized in combat and capable of effortlessly multiplying to create armies. The Dwarves, on the other hand, were natural smiths and builders, so they were tasked with smithing weapons and armor for orcs and building giant fortress cities. The humans excelled in farming, crafting, taming, record-keeping, logistics, and creating Spell Tomes, which allowed all three races to cast complex spells as long as they had enough Mana. This Mana-technological revolution helped push back the Dragons and the creatures they spawned with their lust and magic called Monsters. Some had the intelligence of a Dragon while others gained the body designs or features of a Dragon," Redrock explained.
"Wait! Humans can Smith, build and fight too!" I point out.
"The Dwarves and Orcs were more proficient than Humans in certain areas, but all three races played a vital role in establishing an Empire that could control the Dragons. The Fae didn't rush to breed with them to avoid creating another race who could rebel against them as the Dragons did, so offspring born from the union of a Fae with a Human, Dwarf or Orc had to be made sterile." Whiterock explained.
"You three can't have kids?" I asked.
"Fae-Men were instead granted eternal youth and hyper-flesh regeneration. But we can still die if we are beheaded. We must drink a lot of blood to restore our bodies." Blackrock explained I zone out a bit.
Drink blood... Eternal Youth... Like Vampires? Holy shit Fae-Men are Vampires!
"Are you alright, Rai?" Timun asked because I was spacing out.
"Sorry, it's just those abilities sound like they belong to Vampires," I reply.
"From your fantasy stories from Earth?" Whiterock asks.
"Yes, you should have more weaknesses than a beheading. Like Holy Water or a Wooden cross or the smell of Garlic to kill you," I point out, and the Triplets look at each other in confusion.
"If you are asking for another weakness, we don't have human faces, and our bodies may look human, but underneath some areas, we have animal fur or scales," Blackrock added.
"Huh? What?" I ask in confusion.
"After spending thousands of years mating with animals, we inherited some animal features from our Mother's past... mates," Blackrock revealed.
"Are you saying you are Beastmen?" I asked.
"Hmm... Look at those Human-Imps. We have similar body designs, but our faces, hands, feet, and... tails belong to beasts." Blackrock explained. I tilted my head and saw no tail behind them. "Our Masks can hide the parts we don't want anyone to see."
"Oh! That sounds cool. But what was the role of Fae-Men in this Fae-Empire?" I ask.
"All Fae-Men were blessed with 'Ancestor's Wisdom' to help us become Dragon Slayers or Dragon Riders. Our kind became the ruling class and generals of the Fae Empire until the last Dragons used their remaining power to create a barrier that cut off the Fae-Realm from the other continents. Their magic somehow teleported all the Fae-Men, Fae-Beasts and Original Fae within the barrier. This meant the Humans, Dwarves and Orcs were without leaders. They instantly started fighting each other without a higher authority to keep the peace between them. The Dragons who were freed of their Fae-Men Riders became the last survivors of their kind. They went on a rampage to turn the Fortress cities of the Fae-Empire into ruins." Whiterock explained.
Damn! That was a lot of lore.
"You mentioned your mother wanted you to rebuild the Empire... do you plan on uniting the three races?" I ask.
"I don't think the three of us can accomplish that, but she did hope that we could break the barrier from the outside or subjugate a Dragon and force it to tell us how to remove the barrier. That is why we were given three unique abilities to do it. But in the last hundred years, we haven't encountered a single Dragon in Arya, so we planned to sail to the rest of the continents to find one until you showed up yesterday," Blackrock explained and waited for me to offer them some help.
I have nothing to gain by destroying that barrier that keeps the Faes from rebuilding their Fae Empire.
"I see... But what did the Original Fae create by breeding with the Orcs?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
"Ogres, Trolls, and Giants. However, their intelligence was low enough to pose no threat to Fae, so they bred them in large numbers to battle the Dragons. But you won't find baby versions anywhere on Artrea because they can't breed."
"Are there Fae-Dwarves?" Timun asks.
The Triplets looked uncomfortable.
"Some Original Fae mated with the Dwarves, but their offspring are the size of your hand, and they called themselves Gnomes. There wasn't anything useful about them, so the Fae didn't make more than a few and made sure to sterilize them," Whiterock explained.
"I think that's enough sharing. Do you have any questions about us?" Blackrock asks.
"Why hide the fact you are Fae-Men? Are you afraid of being discriminated against because of your appearance?" I asked the Triplets.
"It's more like we would end up like the Human Imps with Slave Mana Tattoos if the local Humans find out. Or get hunted down by the Kingdoms for our special abilities. Being the only three Fae-Men in Arya alone will place a hefty price tag on our heads for the Creature Collector freaks," Blackrock explained.
"High Chief! I'm done!" Nazrat says as he enters the Peep-me-not bubble and comes to my side with a sad face.
"Oh? How many?" I ask, and Nazrat's teeth clenched in anger.
"I found 77 of the 500 Imps here willing to serve you," Nazrat answered.
"That's great. I am adding the 20 Human Imps, so I need three more to get 100. Did you make them pick the non-believers with special skills?" I ask.
"I did, but those Imps are a bit... like me." Nazrat struggled to say.
"I thought you said they are non-believers." I reminded. But Nazrat came over to whisper.
"I meant my Pride. They have Wrath, Greed and Gluttony. But they haven't met the conditions to Rank up." Nazrat whispers, but he doesn't look happy about this discovery. Then, something clicked in my mind.
"I am glad to find more Imps like you, but you will be my Right Hand Imp and my voice regarding everything Imp-related. Good job, Nazrat!" I inform, and Nazrat's frown turns into a sinister smile.