"Hold on, Rai! I need to send the invitation letters to Hindgar's Dwarves!" Timun reminded, then he pulled out five sheets of black paper and placed them on the floor. Each sheet was adorned with a white crystal. As he started singing, the crystals began to melt, transforming into a white liquid that spread out and inked sentences on each sheet. Within a few seconds, the sheets were filled with paragraphs in white letters resembling triangles, squares, circles, and lines cross-crossing each other.

I guess that must be how Dwarves write their letters. Since I didn't learn Dwarven, the Interface didn't translate it into any language I knew.

"Your language looks like a jigsaw of shapes," I point out after he finished singing.

"This is an encrypted version of the Dwarven language I've meticulously crafted over the past century. Only Hindgar's Dwarves know how to decrypt it," Timun revealed, his voice tinged with a hint of secrecy. He rolled up the letters and stored them in pencil-shaped metal cylinders.

"Mind telling me what you wrote?" I request.

"I wrote about a new Dungeon Lord who is a Golem Summoner and has made a Mana Contract with me to trade some of his lands for Golem Recipes. I mentioned that I am recognized as the Primarch of the exiled Dwarves and listed the rest of our agreements, including the arrangement for the Imps who will live with us. I also explained that the Dungeon Lord needs Mushroom Farmers to feed his Monsters and that the payment will come from the Dungeon resources that restock daily. I informed them that the 300 Dwarf Warriors who perished over the century will be revived as Golem Warriors in the Dungeon, but the Lord needs 3000 Mana Crystals to summon those Golems. I urged them to bring all their Mana Crystals to compensate for returning our old comrades to life. I mentioned your promise to lend those Golems to us once they reach Gold Rank so we can reclaim our Kingdom from Chingar and seal the Underworld of Arya. In the letter to Falar, I instructed them to meet me at the Dungeon entrance by noon tomorrow. For the rest, I hinted to meet at the Mine where I obtained the bats that deliver the letters to them," Timun informed them.

"That will do," I reply. I had to trust Timun's words since I could not verify them.

Timun summoned Baifun and four more Stone Rank Bats monsters. He removed leather collars from his storage ring and fastened them around the bats' necks. The collars had magnets that attracted message cylinders, which were tightly secured to the collars. Timun then placed his hands on each bat's head individually and gave them mental commands. Once the bats understood where to go and to whom to deliver the messages, they screeched and flew into the cloudy night sky through the front entrance of the Warehouse that Redrock opened up. They flapped their wings with determination, guided by their mental commands, until they reached the first layer of clouds before splitting up and flying in different directions, each carrying a message to its intended recipient.

"It's time for you Imps to go to your new home!" Redrock announced, using his Time capsule skill to store away the 400 Imps whose souls will be harvested to create Soul Forged equipment at the Adventurer's Guild. In seconds, they disappeared into white balls of light and flew into Redrock's chest. Then he went over to the Black Draft Horses to the Black Carriage and detached one of them from the carriage. Redrock then got on the back of the horse and urged it to exit the Warehouse.

"I'll be back soon after I hand them over to the Adventurer's Guild," Redrock said as his horse galloped away.

"Why didn't Redrock store my Imps, too? We could have dropped the others on the way out of Rodwin," I ask Blackrock.

"The Time Capsules requires the creatures to recognize him as their Owner, Master or Tamer for it to work. Now that your Imps signed a permanent contract to be yours alone, neither he nor I can use the skill on them," Timun explained since Redrock taught him that skill.

"So we have to go back by carriage? I'm fine with that." I reply.

"The other nine Black Carraiges that were stored in this Warehouse were sold to the Heroes Church for a high price by the other Black Market Agents before we got here," Blackrock revealed.

"We can hire some other carriages, right?" I ask.

"I went to the Carriage Traders while you were making your selection, but I discovered that the Heroes Church had purchased all of the ones in Rodwin in the past few hours," Blackrock informed.

"What! Why?" I ask.

"The Heroes Church on the continent of Churchland is being besieged by Orcs by the thousands. They called for the faithful and adventurers willing to sail and help them exterminate the Orcs. They needed those carriages for the logistics of supplies and fighters." Blackrock clarified.

"Does that mean we must walk the Imps to my Dungeon?" I replied in jest, but I got a nod back. "You serious?" I add.

"If it was a six-hour carriage journey to Rodwin, we could make our way to the Dungeon in ten hours. But traveling on the road with over a hundred Imps will catch the wrong kind of attention, especially now since it's already dark outside. Random adventurers on the road might even attack them without asking questions. The Zombies and Skeleton Warriors of the Necromancers might attack the Imps if they stray too far from the highway." Blackrock explained.

"So we will have to battle everything we come across?" I ask.

"Since we promised to deliver them back to the Dungeon, we could use the Black Carriage to go back and forth to deliver 25 Imps in each trip," Whiterock suggested.

"That's a lot of time wasted." I point out.

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"There is another option. One that requires us to reach the Ruins half an hour away from Rodwin and to teleport to the ruins near the Dungeon. Since both areas are No-Go-Zones, there won't be any Adventurers walking around unless they are the foolish kind," Blackrock suggested.

Teleport?

Wait! Are they talking about fast travel points?

"But the ruins have a few thousand Imps guarding the Obelisk. Even if Rai had more funds to pay us to exterminate them, I don't think we can take them all on before their higher Ranks pop out from below," Whiterock pointed out.

"No, but I just offered the option since he is a Dungeon Lord. They might let him through," Blackrock countered.

"The Ruins allow Teleportation to other Ruins?" I ask.

"Yes, the Faes of Space and Time guided the Dwarves to build 12 Obelisks near each Fortress City on every continent. But the structures don't allow you to go from one continent to another. It was a means for the Fae-Men Generals to mobilize and send their Orc armies to reinforce the frontlines quickly during the Dominion War with the Dragons. When the fortress cities were reduced to ruins by the Orcs and Dragons, they left the Obelisks intact for their purposes. But the Dragons vanished from the history books, and the Orcs were driven to the desolate lands by the Black Phoenix Mage Knight and his Griffin army, who survived the collapse of the Fae-Empire. Then he helped the Human survivors to build settlements near the Obelisks, which they used to teleport resources around to build twelve kingdoms," Blackrock explained.

"That's the same thing written in the storybook I gave him," Valgrind pointed out.

"Don't know why it was turned into a storybook, but I researched enough historical literature to confirm it happened that way," Whiterock replied.

"Then how did the Imp tribes end up in those Ruins?" I ask, and Timun replies.

"According to what I have read, the last Dungeon Lord of Arya commanded his Imp armies to dig their way underneath the Ruins, where they killed the soldiers who guarded the Obelisks. Then they took over the ruins and killed any Human who dared to try to take it back. It was to prevent the human armies from the five regions of Arya from accessing the Obelisks to reinforce each other. It forced the Kingdoms to march their armies for days or weeks instead of a few hours via the ruins. The Dungeon Lord also used the Obelisk network to attack the Kingdoms that sent away their armies to support each other. The devastating losses forced the Kingdoms to ignore requests for assistance and concentrate their forces to protect their capitals and strategic forts.

The Imps stationed in the Ruins somehow gained the ability to give birth to new Imps without the help of the Dungeon Core or its Lord, which saved them from oblivion when both were taken out with the help of the Golems and the Heroes blessed by the Deities. However, even after all these centuries, the descendants of those Imps still guard the Obelisks. But each Ruin has become the home for an Imp tribe who use it to invade and subjugate the other tribes." Timun revealed.

"Why?" I ask, and Forge answers.

"To claim the Obelisks! If one tribe successfully captures all the ruins in Arya, their tribe Chief becomes the only ruler of the Imp Race who must wipe out the Human Kingdoms since that was the objective of the last Dungeon Lord," Forge revealed.

"Wipeout? The Demon King told the new Dungeon Lords, 'Subjugate your respective continent,' which leaves a lot more room to go about doing it than just killing all the Humans."

"Has any Imp tribe come close?" I ask Forge, but Whiterock answers it.

"The Heroes Church pays close attention to the Imp Tribal Wars. They extract all the information from the Human Imps who emerge from those Ruins since they inherit the Imp's memories. Whenever they find a tribe is growing in strength or has taken control over two Obelisks, the Heroes blessed by Deities are sent out to decimate those tribes and enslave the ones who surrender," Whiterock explained.

"Why don't they take control of those Obelisks?" I ask.

"They tried in the past, but the five Human Kingdoms forced them to return it to the Imps. A balance of power has been achieved in Arya because of the distance required to reach each other by land. Suppose even one Kingdom takes control of an Obelisk. In that case, the other Kingdoms would fear that an enemy army could suddenly appear at their doorsteps with ambitions to create a united Human Empire. That would force the remaining Kingdoms to capture the closest ruins, which would cause a cycle of escalation. So they all agreed during the first Landsmeet of the five kingdoms that their armies would only travel by Land, Sea and Air," Whiterock explained.

"Was there a united Human Empire before in Arya?" I asked.

"Falar, the Black Phoenix who helped the Humans build the 12 Kingdoms, saw them waging War with each other for over a hundred years. He ended their wars, killing all their Kings, and created a united Human Empire in Arya. But, he only lived for a year as Emperor before he passed, and his Empire fractured into the 5 Human Kingdoms we know today," Whiterock explained.

I recalled Dale, who exhibited the Black Phoenix's power in my Dungeon. Brock screwed up his life to awaken that power, and Phil Sin was the root of it all. Even though he had no choice but to follow him back to the Kingdom, I wonder if he could be tempted to take revenge against the Kingdom and Heroes Church for what they did to him.

No! I should focus on the task at hand without getting sidetracked.

"Can we negotiate with the Imps for a safe passage?" I asked.

"Maybe they will hear out the Dungeon Lord they worship. Or at least some of them will listen to you," Forge suggested. Nazrat smiled after hearing that idea.

"I can spot the believers! I will convince their Tribe Chiefs to let us use the Obelisk! I will get the believers to join us!" Nazrat declared with passion.

"Calm down! We need to get safe passage. It would be best if you didn't offend them by trying to recruit their believers. I also don't want to fight an army of powerful Imps when I only have Clay Ranks," I said to Nazrat, who reluctantly nodded.

"Only Clay to Steel Rank Imps live in the Overworld. The rest live in the Underworld below the Ruin. They will only come up to the surface when high-ranked creatures or other Imp tribes attack the Ruins," Forge pointed out.

"Meaning they will sound the alarm when the Triplets or a hundred Imps show up," Timun pointed out.

"Then I will go alone and speak to the believers," Nazrat suggested.

"No, take Forge, Yolo and Amon with you as bodyguards. A preacher without followers won't convince anyone to take them seriously," I reasoned.

"Smart! Four Imps won't raise any alarm, and we can stop Nazrat from saying something stupid to offend them," Forge pointed out. He and Yolo have been with Nazrat for months, so they know his prideful nature.

"I'm back!" Redrock announced as his horse galloped back into the Warehouse. His brothers informed him about the plan to send Nazrat and the other Sin Imps as ambassadors to negotiate a safe passage.

"It's worth a try, but we should stay here to avoid raising suspicion. If the negotiations work, then one can come back to tell us," Redrock pointed out.

"But what if they get into trouble and need help?" I pointed out.

"If none of them return in three hours, they failed. But the decision is yours," Blackrock informed.

I turned to Nazrat and saw the determination in his prideful eyes. He wants to prove himself as a capable leader of the Imps. Then I recalled how the other Imps called him a failure.

"It will take too long to go back and forth from Rodwin to the Dungeon for three days to deliver them all. So, I will allow Nazrat to get us safe passage." I say.