We had managed to make it down those stone steps in less than half an hour as it wound itself along a stream of water that reached what I assumed was a lake behind the castle. The ground here was lush and green, covering the area around the water with trees, flowers, and even some wild game. There were farms and houses we could see surrounding the lake, spread out and with small stone fences, most likely homes for those of the dwarves in the upper echelon of their ranks.

“We need to go north. There is somewhere we need to check out,” I explained as Vreek had begun to pull out the map.

He nodded and laid the map on the ground on a patch of grass as we stood over it.

“Here,” I stated as I pointed to a section of the mountains northeast of us. “Somewhere around here should be a path that Naydras told me about. He said we should go there and loot his horde.”

“His horde?” Vreek asked, his eyes wide in surprise. “The dragon told you where his horde was?”

I nodded and saw Dirk and Turk smiling, both of them anxious to see what a dragon might collect in a world like this.

“That reminds me, I need to check something real quick.”

Drawing my sword, I saw them all looking at me, wondering why I had pulled it out.

Holding it in my hands, I wasn’t sure how to activate the identify boon Bob had given me, so I closed my eyes and tried to focus and think about the sword in my hand. A few seconds later, knowledge appeared in my brain as if I had always known everything about the sword.

I started to chuckle and gazed at the length of the sword, amazed at what I had been given.

“This is insane,” I declared as I ran my hand along the side of the blade.

“Uh, Dad, what are we missing? Besides the fact, it looks like you are about to kiss your sword?”

Still chuckling, I nodded and winked at Dirk.

“Bob gave me a skill when we were in the dwarven keep. I prayed before I ate the heart of Naydras, and as I had hoped, it brought me to him.”

“What skill?!” Dirk exclaimed, moving a little closer to me.

“I can identify things I hold now and know about their bonuses or stats,” I answered with a grin. “Like now that I know what Light Drinker does, I realize I had not understood how powerful it really was.”

Dirk groaned as I watched Turk as he stood there, tapping his foot patiently.

“So, did a screen pop up or something?” Turk asked.

Shaking my head no, I slid Light Drinker back in its scabbard and motioned to Dirk.

“Give me the armor you are wearing so that I can identify it. In the meantime, I’ll share with you the stats on my sword.”

“And my daggers?”

Nodding, I grinned, watching as Dirk started drawing them from their scabbards.

“So my sword has a few bonuses. It heals me for ten percent max of my health based on how much total life the person or creature I kill has. So it appears there is a limit to how much I can heal off of one person. There is a bonus to damage against humanoid creatures. I’m not sure how that applies to different races, but a twenty percent increase seems insane until I realize how difficult it was to damage the dwarven king at all.”

“Twenty percent seems broken,” Turk stated as he began to pull his bow off his back. “What else?”

I chuckled as he knew there were still more stats to share.

“It is bound to me. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I remember the king sharing information with me about that aspect and… dwarf shite… I need to message Brar and update him.”

I heard Vreek laughing and saw he had rolled up the map.

“I have no doubts he is anxiously awaiting an update from you.”

I shook my head in frustration and sighed. I had no doubt he was wondering what was going on with all of us.

“Ok, I’ll do that but let's finish up dealing with this stuff. My sword has some bonuses to durability and my other physical stats. A flat ten percent is listed, but I felt like there is something hidden due to something like an asterisk or like that.”

“Like it's not unlocked yet?”

Nodding at Turk, I held out my hand as Dirk gave me the belt he had taken off that belonged to Vreek.

“There is more, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

I saw Turk and Dirk both look at me questionably but neither pressed the issue. How could I share the knowledge that every time I killed something with the sword, I sent life or power or something to Tez’kar. I’m not sure how they would handle that truth, but then again, there was no other option. Knowing how powerful the sword was, it had been given to me for multiple reasons.

As I held the belt in my hand, I closed my eyes and, after focusing on the belt for a moment, felt the knowledge fill my mind again.

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“Gives a flat three percent to durability and strength as well as an immunity to most poisons.”

Opening my eyes, I tossed the belt to Vreek, who happily snatched it out of the air and gave Dirk a wink as he strapped it around his waist.

“I was hoping you all would let me keep these things,” Dirk said with a sigh as he began pulling the chest piece off of him.

“Only if you wanna trade for your daggers,” Vreek teased.

I saw Dirk shake his head before the clinking of metal on metal caught my attention. Turk was holding Dirk’s daggers out toward me.

He flipped them around and offered them hilt first, and I took them and was amazed at how balanced they felt. I could feel the magic flowing through them and wondered how much more powerful the items could be if we had ever gotten to the seventieth floor and defeated a boss there.

I knew my eyes went wide mere moments after the knowledge of these two daggers exploded in my brain.

“You already figured out how to channel their power,” I informed Dirk as I offered the one with the green gem to his outstretched hand before taking my chest piece from him. “There is a bonus of five percent to speed and quickness, which makes me wonder how both of those work independently.”

“Do mean overall speed when running and one's ability to dodge?”

Glancing at Turk, I shrugged.

“I mean, I could hope to one day ask Bob again,” I declared, frustrated that we had not had a chance to take the king’s heart, knowing that would have provided a lot of power and a chance to prepare for a trip to see Bob. “I think you are probably right and wouldn’t think about ideas of dexterity or stats like that.”

“Why does it seem so hard to understand?” Vreek interrupted. “We measure those things just as it sounds. One’s speed is how fast they are when it comes to running. Quickness is more about their attacking and dodging speed.”

I turned and faced Vreek and smiled.

“I’m assuming you know then what the other bonuses are like durability?”

Vreek nodded.

“We describe that as how tough someone is or how much of a beating they can take. The ogre you faced is considered one of the most durable partners we have, and the fact that you defeated one in the caves so easily was a testament to your strength and power.”

As Vreek explained those things, I realized I had been looking at this all wrong.

“So power would be how you measure the strength or one's ability to do damage?”

Vreek smirked and shrugged before he spoke.

“Yes and no. You are powerful, and as such, we would say you have a lot of power, but your son Turk has a lot of power with things that relate to magic,” Vreek declared before he paused a second. “If I tried to compare your son’s power against the power of Brar, I would have to say Turk has more power but that Brar has more experience, and as such, I’m not sure who would win on an even playing field.”

Vreek’s assessment of all this made me wonder even more about how the world was designed. I was also left considering how powerful Brar might really be if Vreek was still not certain who would win in a fight between Turk and Brar.

“Is that now or before?”

Vreek’s eyes went wide when he heard Turk ask that question.

“I guess I should clarify that,” Vreek said with a chuckle. “Now, in your current power, I have no doubt you would beat him easily.”

“Dad, my other dagger?”

I saw Dirk waiting for it, and as I handed it to him, I winked.

“The coolest part of these is that it says they are indestructible.”

His eyes went wide, and he held his daggers up closer to his face for a moment smiling at them. Like an idiot, he then slammed both blades together, testing to see if what I said was true.

I groaned as I closed my eyes and focused on the chest piece of mine we had put on Dirk while he was injured.

“Dragon’s balls,” I muttered before I opened my eyes.

“That good?”

I nodded and took Light Drinker off my back so I could start to put the armor on.

“Imagine getting a twenty percent increase in one's strength and durability. I think this was why I survived the ice boss attack when Dirk didn’t.”

I saw Dirk flinch at remembering that experience. Twenty percent durability was a massive amount, especially for someone like me, built to tank damage for my boys.

“It also provides a small five percent bonus to my quickness.”

“A small five percent,” Turk declared in his mocking tone. “I’ll take a small five percent anytime.”

We all laughed, and as I finished getting my armor in place, I motioned at Dirk with my head.

“You going to hand those bracers over?”

Dirk grinned that playful one he hid behind sometimes and then laughed.

“These? There isn’t anything special about them. I promise!”

Vreek growled playfully, and Dirk started taking them off.

“We need to hurry this up and get going soon,” Turk stated. “We need to find a place away from here with some food and where we can rest. I’m not sure how long we have till Naydras’s heart effect wears off, but if it was like Dad’s with May’s heart, then we only have around seven days or so.”

Turk was right, he was filling the role of a leader well. If we lived long enough to accomplish our goals of creating a home for the goblins and orcs, he would make a powerful leader.

After Dirk handed the bracers to me and I had identified them, I passed them over to Vreek and informed everyone they provided a three percent bonus for strength and durability. Vreek had been excited to hear how much those two pieces were going to help him be a better warrior.

“Turk is right. We need to go. Anyone up for a run?”

All three of them nodded as we strapped down our weapons and tightened our gear on us. The pack on my back was mostly empty, and we would need to replace it soon as it was in horrible shape. I wanted to keep the few items we still had, and we needed to collect some food as I was already feeling like I could eat a dwarf.

“Let’s find something to eat first before we get too far. I’m starving!”

Dirk laughed, and we took off toward some properties not too far from us.

I was glad to have escaped from the castle and with a new path to take. My two boys were still by my side, and Vreek appeared to be about to join us on the side of being OP. The journey would be long, but I knew we were ready to handle whatever would come next.

~Thus ends Book 1~

Stay tuned as I prepare and start writing book 2, where armies will be raised, and the fight for the goblin and orc dream takes place. Armies will be crushed, and countless lives will be lost, but one way or another, there will only be one winner.