The young Golven was a very skilled explorer, he and his team were responsible for finding those underground dungeons that seemed to be full of incredible treasures. Reaching the underground dungeons was not easy. The entrances to these dungeons were located on and in the immediate vicinity of the Terregeo Mountains, mountains that were practically between the Sea of Blood and the Desolate Badlands of Enheim. It was a very hostile route just to get to the dungeon entrances.

Ubbin Cataract is the closest city to the Terregeo Mountains, a peaceful city within the nation of Ocrad, one of the largest and strongest countries in the world. Ubbin Cataract, or simply Ubbin, is a border city and the smallest in the country with only about 40 000 inhabitants. It is more than three centuries since this community was founded in this place, although it was recognized as a city only in the last century. Located at the western end of the country and not bordering a recognized border of another country, Ubbin is a relatively peaceful and isolated city.

The first constructions were made on top of a floating rock the size of a hill that was near a mountain range full of humid and high cliffs from which the many rivers that formed on the tops and high parts of the mountains fell. The objective of populating the area was to exploit the water resources of the area and to install a permanent point that would allow colonizing the Desolate Badlands of Enheim. This last objective was never achieved.

“Tefanig!” Golven yelled as he glimpsed his companion.

“Get out of me! You are a crazy bastard!” Tefanig answered him completely annoyed, beginning to walk in the opposite direction to his friend, partner, and leader of his exploration team.

“Tefanig! Come on! Just listen to me.” Golven tried to stop his partner.

“And I’m not the only one thinking it! Loudiern Mandroux, Tuno Rocaboy, Dozhwal Nedele, Juna Luzel, and Arzula Cornec also think you’re crazy! Even Fork thinks you’re crazy!” Tefanig replied without slowing down.

“Fork is a dog! How do you know he thinks I’m crazy?” Golven spoke without slowing his pace. Unlike his friend, Golven had jogged, so he was seconds away from catching up. As soon as he touched his friend’s shoulder he punched him in the mouth, knocking him down.

“We have a meeting with Governor Velko tomorrow. Don’t be late and show up with your equipment in good condition. You don’t need to see how we turned out after our suicidal adventure; you just need to hear our report. Until then I don’t want to see you, and I think he spoke for everyone else on that last point,” Tefanig replied, resuming the march and moving away from his friend and companion.

Golven made no further attempt to approach and speak to Tefanig again. He had already tried to talk to another of his classmates that day, and the result was not very different from this one. Resigned, Golven decided to follow his friend’s advice and retire to his home.

Golven and his team were intrepid adventurers between the ages of 19 and 25. They had accomplished something no one had yet accomplished, thoroughly exploring a part of the Terregeo Mountains and reliably checking the existence of those fantastic dungeons, which were believed to be only legends.

In a world like the one they lived in. In a world with areas with high concentrations of magic, it was common for explorers like them to fail in their campaigns, and even die. And they almost joined this last group.

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Ubbin Cataract was a city whose castle and important power buildings were located on a floating rock, called Ubbin, with additional protection provided by a series of high walls and towers. Many artificial bridges of different types of material connected the population of the floating rock with populations installed around it. The different towns formed a kind of collage between different buildings, towns, and the natural environments that surrounded them. All are connected by bridges or canoe routes; small houseboats, stilt houses, and other constructions contrasted with rivers, lakes, swamps, floodplains, and land with sufficient elevation and drainage to always remain dry.

Golven, like the rest of his teammates, lived in the rural areas outside the Ubbin rock. They see, on the one hand, the giant floating rock, and on the other, the high mountains from which the waterfalls descended from the precipices. Elsewhere in this picturesque city, you could also see a large lake in the northeast or lush forests from the rest of the northern and southern areas.

Golven Visdelo arrived at his humble wooden house. His cotton clothing of different shades of brown, which was considered his best presentation attire, was found with traces of dirt, mud, and sweat. His battle gear, various parts of simple hardened leather armor, was tattered, and not just from wear and tear.

Golven Visdelo lived with his elderly father, a man in his early 50s, whose weakness was beginning to catch up with him. The rest of his older brothers had moved to other places. Contrary to what happened in most families in the city, or the country, his three older brothers had gone to another area of the city, or to other cities, to try their luck in different professions, refusing to be fishermen for life. And his two sisters had gone to live with their husbands, more than two hours away from where he lived, from where they had grown up.

Golven was on good terms with his neighbors, but he was sure none of them would lend him a presentable item of clothing. Or clothes not presentable enough for the meeting with the governor tomorrow. “Anyway, my companions are already angry with me. It doesn’t matter if they get angry a little more.” Golven thought resignedly, he proceeded to fall asleep on one side of his father’s fishing nets. He assumed his father would be back any minute. Golven smiled without knowing exactly what to feel, he hadn’t resigned himself to becoming a simple fisherman, that’s why he was an independent adventurer.

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Golven and all his team members were nervous. Governor Velko was covered from head to toe in a white linen robe, he had introduced himself, and without even seeing or looking at the people in front of him, he began to see various documents scattered on his desk. Golven and his teammates stood to attention, or what they understood to be stood to attention, saying or doing nothing beyond looking at each other and trying to communicate with their eyes.

“You went with the military expedition of the army, as auxiliary troops, in the exploration and search in the Desolate Badlands of Enheim,” Velko began to recount, keeping his gaze on different reports. Neither Golven nor any of his friends said anything, they just nodded. If Velko saw any movement from them, he didn’t prove he had noticed.

“The purpose of that expedition was to reconnoiter in search of dangerous creatures that could pose a threat to the peoples of the west established beyond the blue peaks of Enheim, not to explore the Terregeo Mountains,” Velko clarified, leaving the papers aside and looking at them attentively.

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Before Golven could speak his companion Tuno intervened. “It was the first time in almost a century that a reconnaissance group had gone this far into the Desolate Badlands of Enheim. We thought it prudent to go to the Terregeo Mountains to find out how many magical beasts roamed the mountains. As you know, many the beasts that attack the inhabitants of the western towns established beyond the blue peaks of Enheim come from those mountains.”

“True, but I would like to make two important points; It is the wise men, the philosophers and the scholars who assert based on theories without any proof that most of the dangerous creatures attacking the western towns established beyond the blue peaks of Enheim come from the Terregeo Mountains. But you didn’t just explore the surroundings of the Terregeo Mountains, you guys entered that strange, especially aggressive place. According to their report, they were at the foot of several mountains, and they were also on the slope of one of those mountains.” Velko frowned. “Now, you guys tell me the real reason you went to the Terregeo Mountains.”

Several of the adventurers tried to speak at the same time, but nothing was understood. Governor Velko raised his hand and demanded silence with an annoyed look, Velko allowed the leader of that small group of adventurers to speak. Golven prepared to explain the real reason why he and his team went to the Terregeo Mountains. “Do you know the legends of Karel? What the survivor of a team that explored the Terregeo Mountains nearly a century and a half ago told Karel? We took advantage of the proximity of the expedition's westernmost camp in the Desolate Badlands of Enheim to be able to explore the Terregeo Mountains quickly and safely rejoin the rest of the reconnaissance expedition.”

“The westernmost camp of the army was 50 kilometers away from the nearest point to the Terregeo Mountains,” said Velko, incredulous of this exploration team’s only reason for approaching those feared mountains. There was not even anyone who knew for sure how many hills and mountains made up the Terregeo Mountains. These mountains are known to be in the middle of a very hostile desert wasteland, with lots of magic and very few resources to support any significant population of plants or animals, and near a part of the western ocean of Dimbar. This ocean also has a large concentration of magic and is also quite hostile to humans, in this case, by the huge amount of aggressive magical creatures that inhabit it. In fact, the Terregeo Mountains were so isolated that it is said that you only see, with binoculars or spyglasses, a small rise from the western slopes of the blue peaks of Enheim, and the same is believed to be true of Bay of Death, the western coast closest to the Terregeo Mountains.

“So... you ventured to go to one of the most dangerous places in this part of the world, you were looking for treasures using as a source of information the rumor of a consummate drunkard of a century and a half ago,” said Velko, even more incredulous than before, with a look of admiration and dismay. “You guys are crazy! How are you still alive?”

«Do you too? » Golven thought with regret, he also felt the gazes of his companions, they thought the same as the governor. Golven couldn’t decide if going to explore the Terregeo Mountains was his best idea, or his worst idea, but what everyone seemed to agree on was that it was an idea worthy of a madman. “We made a solid plan over several months, formulated since we learned of the largest reconnaissance mission to the desolate Desolate Badlands of Enheim, and using good quality materials and equipment. The plan was so good that almost everything went according to this” Golven responded without demonstrating emotions, with a strong and clear voice.

“Almost everything?” Velko raised an eyebrow. “Based on your reports, I think I know when things didn’t go according to plan. You are the bravest, fearless, and most ambitious adventurers and explorers I have ever met. You will be given your reward and your achievements will be recognized. I want you to know that your actions will change this little town forever.”

The group of young explorers smiled and proceeded to retreat at a signal from the governor. Velko set about organizing his papers and writing several letters. His life was about to change, and he had to use all his contacts and all his cunning if he wanted the change to be for the better. Definitely, today began a new stage in the construction of his legacy, which would be inherited by his children and for which they would remember him.  

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Velko could be considered a workaholic, something rare for someone of his social class. It’s not that people like Velko didn’t work, but they rarely worked excessively for long periods of time. Although it didn’t seem like it, Velko had been sleeping in his work area for almost a year. Certain political moves by his rivals in the capital had jeopardized his position as governor of Ubbin Cataract, so he was forced to make certain moves to defend himself against any attack or any attempt to remove him from power. This has led him to move to his different workplaces, monitoring local army commanders, and tax collectors and bonding with the high-ranking monks of the city. Besides not neglecting the city administration; the start of an epidemic or a famine could be the beginning of the end for him.

What the explorers had discovered was pure gold, and not just because they had found gold. Ubbin Cataract was founded there by the presence of magic, which humans as such could not process outside those types of special areas, but objects of “manipulable magic” could be created or obtained. Manipulable magic made it possible to use magic outside magical areas, such as Ubinn Cataract. Areas with high concentrations of magic tend to have particularly aggressive and/or dangerous flora and fauna, it could also have objects with "processed magic" or "manipulable magic". Objects with magic are capable of being exploited and transported even outside magical places, where magic is not supposed to take effect. Obtaining this manipulable magic is obtained in three ways: by magicians, who are multiple generations of people who have lived for centuries in one or another magical area and become sensitive to it; for certain minerals or other lifeless materials that in some unknown way retain magical properties; and by living cores, which are animals, plants, or other living creatures that not only manipulate magic but, in an unknown way, have synthesized a "nucleus" that allows the living being to use magic, even outside the magical zones.

Originally, Ubbin Cataract had magical materials and some cores of various types of animals: mainly fish, birds, and some small mammals. But it wasn’t a generation before those kinds of magical materials were exhausted. It is not yet well known how magical cores appear in animals and other living creatures, or how non-living magical materials appear naturally. After fishing, the most important products of Ubbin Cataract are the magic products that are synthesized here, and most of the magic products exported to the rest of the country were not even produced in Ubbin Cataract. Most of the magic products were produced in the western villages established beyond the blue peaks of Enheim, where wizards entered an area with "more powerful" and much larger magic: the Desolate Badlands of Enheim.

Ubbin Cataract remained and grew to become a city thanks to its proximity to the western villages established beyond the blue peaks of Enheim, its ability to serve as an indispensable safety point for the products of that area, the adventurers and soldiers of the country, and sometimes, even for the people themselves when they needed evacuating one or more villages. But this could change, the city could become an important supply point to exploit the resources of the Terregeo Mountains, resources that could be very valuable, but extremely difficult to obtain. The value of resources could become like those that decide the entire fate of nations but obtaining them could require the deployment of part of the army or other types of warriors.

Housing more soldiers could require more developed infrastructure than could be built in the city in the short term, plus the construction of that infrastructure itself could require more housing and food for workers. Workers were obviously going to have to be brought from other lands, since the current number of people might not be enough to supply the city and, at the same time, at the same time, expand the city in the required time span. Not to mention the additional work that comes with multiple military exploration expeditions.

Velko sighed, bringing immigrants to the city might not be a problem in principle. He himself was a person who was born in the capital of the country and never set foot in the city he currently governed until he was assigned as its governor. Of the group of adventurers, he met earlier that day, he could assure that at least half of them were from another part of the country, or from other countries, like, for example, Juna Luzel. Both by the last name and her facial features and slightly bluish skin, it could be assumed almost with complete certainty that she was originally from Balar or Begereg, countries very south of its current location.

Bringing a small number of foreign people could even be considered interesting or novel, and they might not take long to adapt to the customs of the place. However, bringing in a lot of people by itself would cause a lot of problems and uncomfortable situations for a lot of city dwellers. Add to these problems differences in language, customs, and traditions, and newcomers would probably want to establish their own customs rather than adopt local customs. All this could generate several social problems that currently non-existent.

Velko sat down to reflect and write, it was necessary to bring more people just to secure a route to the Terregeo Mountains, let alone its exploration and exploitation of resources. At this time, Velko could control the number of people who could enter before the country’s government intervened, he had to prepare everything. If he did well, he could fantasize about his lineage lasting, ruling the city for centuries.

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Golven Visdelo and his team had observed quite a few changes lately. It was obvious to everyone that a new military expedition was being prepared, but it was also obvious that something else was going on. Many carpenters work on new boats and new houses on the outskirts of the city, both temporary and permanent. There is a rumor in the streets and fields that more people would come and that more villages would be established in the blue peaks of Enheim, on the eastern and western slopes of the mountains.

Golven Visdelo and his team knew that all these changes were happening due to the discovery they made in the Terregeo Mountains. A completely isolated dungeon system in one of the most magical corners of all the known lands. It was fortunate that at the moment nobody knew what or why these changes were taking place, because the population of the city was nervous about everything that was happening, and the worst thing that could happen to them was that they blamed them for what was happening.