"Dungeon Lord, I am suddenly fluent in Falaran, a language from another realm. My old Master's voice insists it's your doing. Is this true?" Amon, a blend of wisdom and the unexpected questioned me in Falaran.
"I forgot that my Minions would automatically assimilate the languages I learned," I replied.
"Then I must insist on compensation," Amon demanded.
It's been barely a minute since Amon became my Minion, and he is already invoking a grievance resolution from me. Well, he is polite about it, and I do have a solution on hand.
"Nazrat has come across a book that translates Wicken-Falaran. I plan to sell it to Whiterock upon our return to the Dungeon. It will give you six hours to study it before we arrive. Nazrat learned it in an hour, so it should be sufficient." I presented the book to Amon, who accepted it and was impressed by my quick solution.
"If a Warrior Imp could master it in an hour, then I can surely do it in a quarter of the time!" Amon declared, his voice brimming with anticipation. He immediately opened the book and started studying. Within ten seconds, he started saying the Wicken words in a raspy voice like the Witches.
I slowly backed away from Amon and bumped into Valgrind, who no longer had the Slave Mana Tattoo on his forehead.
"Lord, I have come on behalf of all the Human Imps to present you with a gift from each of us," said Valgrind.
"For the removing the Tattoos? You are still technically slaves to me." I point out.
"The tattoos tormented us when we thought about the second elemental affinities since they belonged to the Imp side. So now we can think about that and the rest of our Imp abilities without getting punished." Valgrind's voice was filled with genuine gratitude as he presented me with a Golden ring, its surface etched with Falaran text.
The Interface automatically translated it into English, and I was surprised to see what it said.
[Property of the Falar Mage Academy]
"A storage ring from your Academy? Does it have something inside it?" I ask.
"The Headmaster of our Academy returned our personal belongings through several storage rings like this one when he sold us to Redrock. He wanted us to take what we wanted to keep and send the rest of the contents back to our families in Falar, who were mourning over our deaths. We overheard Nazrat bragging about your desire to learn about Arya's history and its creatures to the other Imps who wanted to know more about their new Dungeon Lord. So, we requested Redrock to spare this storage ring to fill it with books to help answer some of those questions." Valgrind explained, and then he placed the ring on my Golem hand.
[Ownership of the ring and its contents has been transferred to you]
[Contents of the Ring
Tales of the Dragon Knight Riders - Story
The Lightning Naga - Story
The Haunted Ruins of Arya - Story
The Lost Tomb of the Plasma Sword Mage - Story
The Legend of the Black Phoenix - Story
The Titans of Falar - Beastiary
The Holy Unicorns of Tawang - Beastiary
The Ice Yetis of Dharman - Beastiary
The Metal Bugs of Cheran - Beastiary
The Lightning Harpies of Gotiro - Beastiary
The History of the Heroes Church - Historical
The Seven Knights of Arya - Historical
The Five Kingdoms of Arya - Historical
The Orc Wars of Arya - Historical
The Underworld of Arya - Historical
The Chronicles of the Imp Plague - Historical
Holy Sardinia: The Goddess of Healing - Historical
Falar Knight Armors - Schematics
Falar Knight Weapons - Schematics
Falar Knight Shields - Schematics]
These were interesting books, though the last three books caught my attention.
"You were all Mages in a Mage Academy. Why are there three Knight Schematic Books in here?" I point out.
"Some of us were Mage Warriors who aspired to become Mage Knights to serve the Falar King or the Heroes Church. We bought these Schematics because one of the requirements to upgrade the Warrior Class into the Knight Class is to use Heavy armor equipment." Valgrind explained.
"How many of you were Mage Warriors?" I ask.
"Five of us. I wanted to be a Holy Mage Knight, Hato a Cryo Mage Knight, Lin a Pyro Mage Knight, Koli an Electro Mage Knight and Saber a Metal Mage Knight," Valgrind revealed.
"What about the others?" I ask.
"Pearl wanted to become a Healer Sister at the Heroes Church. The others were content with whatever the Falar Mage Order assigned them after graduation at the end of the fifth year at the Academy." Valgrind explained.
"What do you want to become now, as Human Imps?" I ask.
"Become whatever you want us to be. Before we signed the Dungeon Minion Contract, many worried that the Falar Kingdom would send the army and Knights to your Dungeon, and we would all be slaughtered. So I told them you wouldn't be walking around in a Clay Rank Golem in Rodwin if you were worried about that. I reminded them that the other Slave Masters would never even think about offering a Mana Contract to a Human Imp because it's illegal to remove the Mana Slave Tattoos on us in every Human Kingdom," Valgrind explained.
"I appreciate your help in convincing them to sign the document. Since they chose you to represent them, I will treat you as the leader of the Human Imps." I declare.
"Thank you for that honor, but I would like to know your plans to reassure the others that they made the right decision." Valgrind requested.
I nodded and led Valgrind to Timun's Peep-Me-Not bubble.
Once inside, I shared all the plans, which included blocking the entrance to the Dungeon by bringing down the mountain, connecting the Dungeon to a Gemstone Mine full of Mutant Monsters to kill for my minions to Rank Up, cross-breeding and selling the offspring for an army of Human Imps. Summoning 300 Golem Warriors using Dwarf souls from Timun to assist in carving out a Kingdom for him in the Underworld, purchasing a Titan or Giant Soul from the Soulmancers in Rodwin to create a Titan Golem for me to use as my Avatar, and allowing Timun and his Dwarves to settle into the Dungeon to farm Meat Mushrooms to feed all the Imps and Metal Bugs that I intend to hatch to use as mounts for my minions.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"You must have luck on your side to meet the Triplets and Timun," Valgrind said in disbelief.
"I sold my luck away for a Chimeramancy Spelltome," I reveal.
"You sold your luck? How?" Valgrind looked confused.
"It was in the form of a Lucky Dice. It got my Minion in trouble with a Knight and all the Gamblers in Falar last night. So I decided it was best to sell it. Ah! I almost forgot I got a Schematic from that Knight before I sold the Dice," I pulled out the 'Flame Feather Long Sword' Schematics and showed them to Valgrind, who looked like he had discovered a new Pokemon Game that was too good to be true.
"A Knight gave you a Schematic made by Master Smith?" Valgrind asked in disbelief.
"I traded it for the sword and money my Minion won from him with the help of the Lucky Dice," I explained.
Valgrind blinked a few times to process it. I then explained what was so special about the Lucky Dice, finally making Valgrind understand their ability.
"Do you know the Knight's name or the Order he belongs to?" Valgrind asked.
"Blackrock addressed him as Sir Rolo. He wore a fancy black cape, a crow helmet and a shield with the symbol of the Black Bird." I describe.
"He must be a Mage Knight in the Falar's Black Phoenix Order! The man must be an idiot to trade away this schematic for his sword!" Valgrind exclaimed.
He gambled his precious sword away right before the King's Landsmeet, so he wasn't smart. I also recall him saying he had no money to make another Sword before the Landsmeet.
"Or maybe he had another copy of it and didn't think you could gather the materials since they are too expensive," Valgrind added and returned the schematic.
I examine the requirements to make one blade.
[Material Cost: 10 Iron Ingots, 5 Silver Ingots, 1 Gold Ingots, 1 Mana Wood, and 1 Elemental Core of any type]
"They look cheap to me," I reply.
"You think precious Ingots and Mana Wood are cheap?" Valgrind asked, and I informed him about the Dungeon's daily resources and the seeds growing into Mana Trees in a week. I also mentioned the Magical Furnace Blueprint, which could convert large quantities of ores into ingots in seconds.
"Do you not realize you can mass-produce Growth Type Elemental Blades with what you have? All you need is a large supply of Elemental Cores to raise the rank of the weapons high enough to be a threat to the King's Army." Valgrind pointed out.
"After you told me about the Pillars of Elements, I learned what they are and how to get there," I reply, sharing everything I learned from Whiterock.
Valgrind was surprised to learn how his Academy got the Elemental Cores and how it only needed a Key, which could be found in the Gemstone mine.
"I plan on creating Mage Golems with every affinity to access all the towers and check their difficulty before leading you and the other Human Imps in there," I explained.
"Is it easy to make a Mage Golem?" Valgrind asked.
"I need a summoning Recipe for it. Timun will exchange them with me for land right in my Dungeon. But to make Mage Golem, I will need a Mage Soul and maybe an elemental core or ten." I explained and guessed the requirements.
"Sounds expensive. Why don't you invest in us instead? If you can get the Elemental Cores to let us unlock Dual-Elemental affinities, the Human Imps could party up in the Pillars with Blood, Shaow and Fire. We also spent two years working together during our time in the Academy, so it will be easy for us to handle Clay Rank Elemental Beasts," Valgrind pointed out.
"I had the same idea, but why not make you all get the Warrior Class as well? Timun has a few Warriors coming to the Dungeon who can help you unlock it. That way, you won't be at the mercy of your limited Mana pool." I explain.
"That is not necessary. If you can give all of us a Sword and Shield, then Hato, Lin, Koli, Saber, and I can relearn how to wield them to unlock the Warrior Class and teach it to others. They will all be excited to become Dual Elemental Mage Warriors because it's just a few steps away from becoming Mage Knights," Valgrind exclaimed.
So they all will like that path?
"Forge the Sin Imp of Wrath suggested I make you all Mage Knights. But he didn't tell me how to do it," I reveal.
"Really? Upgrading from Warrior to Knight has a lot of difficult requirements. I studied them all from the Academy Library since I wanted to be one," Valgrind said. Then he used his Arrow tail to write everything on the floor in Falaran, which the Interface translated into English. I should have told him to write it in English, but Falaran is his native language.
[The following requirements must be cleared to upgrade the Warrior Class to the Knight Class.
1) To unlock the 'Warrior Rider' skill, the warrior must first acquire a loyal mount and then go on to slay 100 creatures of the same rank while riding it. Once the skill is unlocked, the warrior can spend a bit of Mana to issue orders to their mount mentally. This ability allows the warrior to command their mount to perform tasks that aid them in battle or help them traverse difficult terrain with ease.
2) The 'Heavy Warrior' skill can be unlocked by the warrior wearing full heavy armor and running 100 kilometers. This feat is not easy, but it allows the warrior to move around as if the armor is their second skin by spending a bit of Mana. This skill grants the warrior a significant advantage in battle, as they can move quickly while heavily armored.
3) To unlock the 'Warrior's Gaze' skill, the warrior must slay a hundred monsters of the same rank. This skill induces fear in enemies of a lower rank by spending a bit of Mana. With this ability, the warrior can intimidate their opponents, making them more vulnerable to attacks.
4) The 'Warrior Commander' skill can be unlocked by the warrior getting 100 warriors of a lower rank to swear a deity oath to become their subordinates during battle. Once unlocked, the skill allows warriors to mentally issue orders to their subordinates by spending a bit of Mana. This skill enables the warrior to command a small army of subordinates in battle, making them a formidable force to be reckoned with.
5) The Warriors must learn to use the following weapons to unlock the 'Close Combat Warrior' Skill.
- The Long Sword
- The Great Sword
- The Warhammer
- The Battle Axe
- The Lance
- The Mace
- The Dagger
- The Shield
- The Polearm
Once the skill has been unlocked, spending Mana will allow them to double the damage inflicted on the enemy.
The Warrior Class will be upgraded to the Knight Class once all the above skills are obtained. The following skills will be upgraded when that happens, and Mana won't be required to activate them.
Warrior Rider => Knight Rider
Heavy Warrior => Heavy Knight
Warrior's Gaze => Knight's Gaze
Warrior Commander => Knight Commander
Close Combat Warrior => Close Combat Knight]
As I carefully reviewed the requirements, I realized I had all the necessary resources to upgrade my warriors to Knights.
Each level of the Elemental Pillars will offer 100 enemies to battle, starting from the Clay Rank.
I can request or pay Timun to tame the Monsters captured from the Gemstone Mines and pair them with the Mage Warriors as their mounts to unlock the 'Warrior Rider Skill.'
With the Knight Armor Design Schematics stored in the ring, the Smith Caste Imps can produce sturdy, Heavy Armor for the Mage Warriors with resources inside the Dungeon.
The Mage Warriors can eliminate the remaining Monsters in the Gemstone Mine to acquire the 'Warrior's Gaze' Skill.
By selling the future Cross Bred Gemstone Mutants to Redrock, I could acquire more Human Imps who could swear by deity oaths to serve the Mage Warriors during a battle, unlocking the "Warrior Commander' skill.
Timun's Dwarves should be able to teach the Mage Warriors each of the listed Weapons to unlock the 'Close Combat Warrior' Skill. However, these plans depended on finding the elusive Dimensional Key to the Pillar of Elements.
"Alright! I think it's time we returned to the Dungeon." I announce to everyone.