My experiments were progressing excellently. When the adventurers in the guild noticed two quests, they naturally accepted them. The first group was led by Warren, who took a quest that guaranteed flour or wheat, happy for sure to see such a reward. His wife Alicia would happily use any ingredients obtained for food in the Tavern that she was in charge of. In his party were all new adventurers who passed Trials of Avalon while the guild was escorting Ragnar and Verni. They all were accepted to the guild along with anyone else Knys had convinced to join. Warren liked the new guys. They fit in quickly, as if they always were part of the guild.
The second party was led by Lord Sigismund, who also applied to the guild and was helping... Well, he was running the town, since Knys had no idea how to do that. For the last two days, Knys and Sigismund, but mostly Knys, were trying to figure out how to ask me about allowing Lord Sigismund to be a mayor, which would be appreciated by everyone. To be honest, I was fine with any of them... Or maybe not. Knys was a good guy, but running a town, even this small, was too much for him.
In Sigismund's party were many old timers from the guild, as well as some of the people who followed the Dwarven Lord to Avalon. Two parties of ten entered the hunting area in Zone Nine in search of the weakest monsters. Both parties had similarly levelled people so that factor wouldn't influence the outcome.
•••
Knys discovered they had a real fucking classroom in their Guild Hall. It could fit about thirty people inside, plus a teacher. This classroom had everything, like desks, chairs, and even a chalkboard. Knys had seen one of the Cathedral’s classrooms, so he could tell this one was also incredible. In the first row, right in front of him, were Iris, Rose and Lilly, sitting comfortably at the desk made for two people. And Knys was not going to do anything about that since they were inseparable. However, he had a full class today. Even Ian, Verni, and Opal were attending. All the kids who recently joined the Guild, as well as many adults who had decided to be adventurers, were sitting in silence, watching Knys's every move.
Knys nervously fixed his precious book and cleared his throat.
"Today's lesson is about the war beasts." He started and noticed that Ian and Verni had given everyone a real paper notebook and a short pencil. "War beasts are creatures almost forgotten in our time as not even the oldest Dungeons we know about possess their spawners. However, some guilds still hold the records of ancient times when war beasts were not only used but also harnessed by the people of this world."
He picked up a very old book he brought from the guild's secret library and delicately showed it to people.
"This is one of the few still existing copies of The Bestiaria. It’s an ancient book that contains the knowledge of times long since passed. However, the language it is written in is very old and barely comprehensible. Nonetheless, the lore keepers of every guild were tasked with maintaining knowledge, as we all always hoped to live and see a better world where this knowledge might be once again useful. And we are today in the Land of Avalon, the land of our dreams. We are in a place we never truly could have imagined seeing, and never dreamt of being allowed to stay."
Knys nodded to himself, proud of his speech so far. The younger kids, and even some of the adults, listened to his voice with awe in their eyes. Only Ian and Verni smiled neutrally, but Iris, Lily and Rose were looking like they wanted to yell at him to move on.
"The Bestiaria describes the war beast as a fierce and faithful creature, and mind you all, a creature, not a monster. The difference between a creature and a monster is a very fine line, but easy to draw. Monsters can become your familiars, but only creatures can be raised to become a war beast. A long time ago, when the people of this world were much more powerful, they bred many creatures for their purposes. We don't need to look far to find an example of this. Let’s take the woolly buffalo, known to everyone, that roam the plains freely. It was once a domesticated beast kept for their wool as well as tasty meat. But people are too low-level now to be able to tame those beasts again."
Knys took a sip of water and felt terrified, noticing that everyone was listening to him. He was not used to it. He focused and continued his lecture.
"The beasts back then were divided into two categories. Livestock beasts like buffalo and war beasts like zivars. Let's focus on the war beasts. We can distinguish two subtypes: Defensive and Offensive war beasts. Their names are self-explanatory and refer to the basic stats of a beast. Their taming is identical, so there is no need to distinguish any further."
He saw Ian raising his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Ian?"
"Am I right that livestock beasts are easier to tame and require just a farmer or similar class with a high enough level?"
"Indeed. What's more, once tamed, they will stay tamed until they die. However, their offspring will be born wild and have to be tamed as well. You don't have to worry about any additional requirements or items as this taming is skill based only."
Ian nodded his head, happy with what he just heard. Knys looked around and didn't see any more questions, so he returned to the main subject.
"War beasts, however, are different, and to be successfully tamed, they require three items. An alchemy item called selective lure, food items preferred by the war beast you want to tame, and a very complicated item made only by high-level artificers called a summoning whistle. But I never..." Knys suddenly cut his speech and looked at Verni. "I wanted to tell you I never once saw a summoning whistle, but I realised it would be a lie. Master Verni, can you craft them? I'm sure that I saw a summoning whistle in Miss Marie's hands."
"Haha! You have good eyes, Guild Master. Yes, indeed! That was the very first summoning whistle I created, as I wanted to see what it would summon. I gave it to Marie because she couldn't learn how to whistle at Mr Fluffles. But thanks to you, I now understand what they are for! Attending this lesson was very enlightening," Verni responded jovially.
Knys smiled faintly. Recently, his understanding of the gap in power between the residents of Avalon and his people was much more extensive. Frankly, it was almost the same feeling as the difference between townsmen and outer-worlders. He sipped water a few more times.
"Anyway. With those three items, you can start a taming process. You first use the selective lure on the war beast and when you have its attention, you just feed it with the food items you have brought. I say ‘just,’ but you should watch out to not provoke the beast, since it will hamper your taming process. You can ignore the lure potion, but the creature can run away and then you will have to start over. But if you succeed, you can form a servant-master pact which will allow you to bind the war beast to your whistle. Then you can use it to summon beasts wherever you are."
With a happy nod, he glanced into the book.
"This is the easiest way to tame a war beast and form the best relationship with it. Any questions?"
"What about the level difference? How relevant are they?" Lilly raised the question alongside her hand.
"The stronger the beast is, the higher your level needs to be.. This is obvious... However, there is no additional rule other than do not approach a beast that is ten levels higher than you," Knys explained.
The Flower Girls checked their notes and talked for a moment with hushed voices.
"And that's it? What if the creature you want to tame is a war beast of the dungeon? Is it already considered tamed and can't be taken?" Iris asked in a slightly angry voice.
"In that case, taming is more complicated. You have two options then, with the first being arguably easier than the second, is to ask the Dungeon for permission to tame its war beast. The Bestiaria mentions such accounts in which the Dungeon responded by giving a quest. It's usually a hunt-and-gather quest on its grounds, where you collect consumable items that you will later offer to the war beasts you wish to tame. In such cases, giving a name to the beast you wish to tame is required because dungeon war beasts are almost always at a high level."
The three Half-Elves cheered up and made triple high-five in the air, almost shouting a victorious 'yes'. This unexpected eruption of happiness derailed his lecture.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Thank you very much, Guild Master! This is exactly the information that we needed," Rose said after clearing her throat.
"No problem. But why exactly were you looking for this knowledge?" the Orc smiled, scratching his head.
"We want to tame the War Beasts of Avalon." Lilly just smiled absentmindedly. She already was taming her horse in her lucid dream.
"Avalon has war beasts?!" That revelation surprised Knys.
"Yes. The horses you already saw and used, for example," Iris explained as she fixed her hair with a smile.
•••
My recent experiments slowly brought results. The construction projects were moving slowly, but it was worth it. I could save a lot of mana if I sent my denizens to do as much work as possible. However, I ran into an unexpected problem.
First, my denizens couldn't perform anything complicated. Ha! They couldn’t do anything beyond simple or even rudimentary. That means without Bjorn, Verni, Ragnar, and Ian, I was basically fucked. Without them, my denizens would dig a hole in the ground, cover it with a piece of glass, and proudly call that a greenhouse. According to Irene, it was strange that my denizens were not interested in learning proper construction work, smithing, weapon making, etc.
I must ask Knys about that later on. But I suspected this also might be due to me being a unique dungeon, different from others. The limitation I received was the trade-off for my core's human form. That was my working theory, at least.
However, my denizens were not total morons who couldn’t do anything. If they were overseen during work by my Crafter class residents, they could create incredible constructions like the recently built greenhouse. In fact, Ian was experimenting with building a greenhouse for vegetables near 'his' farm.
Stella was proficient with magic, and everything connected to magic, like enchanting or creating runes. She also ran her own experiments, so I must conduct more and learn more. Why could Stella perform wonders with her magic, but building a simple wall ended with disaster for the others? It was a very upsetting turn of events. Hmm...
Hmm... When I read my previous journal entries, I saw a noticeable difference between my current self and myself from one month ago. It was also a change for the better. At first, I was afraid that I was changing only because of the stolen memories. Now I knew it was also due to my increased stats, including increased intelligence and wisdom, I not only had a better memory than ever before, but my speech pattern had changed as well.
So no more 'birbs' as I thought it sounded off now…
I recently asked Amber and Irene to create a list of what classes we would need in Avalon. I believed that Alchemist was what I lacked the most right now. My new residents also had interesting classes I needed to explore.
Vernon was quite an experienced miner, though low-level, who could lead digging operations during my already planned expansions.
Ruby was a jeweller. She was too young to understand that she would be stuck with her class forever. Outside, her class was shunned and ridiculed, but in Avalon? Haha. The joke’s on them. She will have many reasons to complain, because I plan to gather a huge amount of jewellery.
What?
I'm a dungeon. If I learned anything playing hack & slash games, it is the fact that dungeons are supposed to be filled with jewellery.
Opal was an herbalist. If you ask me, it was a strange class for a Dwarf, but I guessed it could be very useful... But apparently it was not. She was tempted to take this class to help find new food sources or medical herbs, only to find out that it was pointless at low levels. No one seemed to know what a herbalist was capable of later on, but she was very eager to find out.
And finally Beryl… She was an engineer, so that was great because of the variety of specialisations she could learn later on.
All my new residents would soon start working very hard to gain more levels.
My second experiment was also already bearing fruit. The Flower Girls were learning new things from the Guild, and I think it was an eye-opening experience. Some of my residents started thinking that all the knowledge of this world was already in Avalon, but this is further from the truth than I wish it to be. I would have to start gathering all the knowledge possible, no matter how insignificant it may seem to me.
The third experiment was also close to its end. Sigismund's group was three denizens away from finishing the quest, and the whole group was in high spirits, genuinely enjoying the easy starting zone. Warren's group was even joking around as they looked for the last low-level monster to slay.
Oh, there they are. Excellent! The same outcome for both quests. Fifteen thousand mana per quest, so the math was very simple- five and eleven thousand mana gained; which was excellent news.
I looked at Zone Six, where my skeleton guards were preparing a similar but much more basic hilly plain for another starting zone. I would use it for everyone else to start their adventure in Avalon. I already designated a small patch of land near the gatehouse as a safe zone for camping. Bjorn was finishing building a small cabin where one of my Slime Butlers would oversee the area and give more quests.
Huh?
What is that?!
•••
Sparrow is a little bird that is an excellent insect hunter. Very often found in dungeons where they instinctively flock.
Capacity Spawner Type.
Capacity 35/100
What the hell is a capacity spawner?!
This spawner will not create any new specimens besides ones that are already registered. Can be upgraded.
Okay... Interesting. Accept.
That should resolve the problems of mosquito and fly invaders. Thirty-five sparrows were not exactly much, but I guess they can breed and increase their population that way. Or at least find other sparrows out there in the wild? I don't know. Let's put it near the Storm Eagles spawner for now.
•••
Let's see...
I had one skeleton spawner, an eagle spawner, two slime spawners, and a wolf spawner maxed. Also, I had a fairy spawner which replaced my pixie spawner.
I was afraid that upgrading it might kill Stella, since it was described as replacing the existing spawner with a new one. Fortunately, Stella managed not only to survive this, but she also had evolved into a Mythic Monster. This made me both happy and sad at the same time. With Stella being such a rare creature, or a monster, according to Knys, I knew my chances of getting mithril from RNG just plummeted to near zero.
For my other spawners, I had untouched second skeletons, snakes, rats, spiders and now sparrows spawners. It looked quite ridiculous; I had to admit, but it worked very well. In the lower castle, I kept all my basic spawners and all denizens at level 20.
Hopefully, that would be a convincing cover-up to lower the guard of every attacker. I couldn't tell how many adventurers who visited my lower castle so far were spies who gather information for other dungeons or just spy for the Cridia Kingdom. But my low-level denizens should convince them I'm not a threat or an easy target.
So that left me now with implementing Ian's brilliant idea...
•••
The cold rain was falling outside of the simple and poor hut. John knew this winter would be hard, maybe the hardest he would ever have. The village was raided by Queen Josla's army and they took most of the food they gathered for the winter. They already were desperate.
"John, what would we do?" his terrified wife asked. She had just put their newborn baby to sleep.
"I... I don't know..."
A sudden knocking scared them. John took a big stick and barely opened the door, but relaxed when he saw a familiar face outside. A man a few years older than John walked in, soaked with rain and trembling a bit.
"John! Listen. Three women brought us several sacks of wheat today. They also gave us a quest!" he started with optimism.
"They brought us food?" the woman asked with faint hope.
"Yes, Nadi. It's not enough for long, a week maybe, if we're frugal..." said the man, but then he added with uncertainty, "But we can get more."
John looked at Nadi, happy to hear that. But the mayor was disturbed.
"Where can we get more?" John asked, seeing the serious face of the village mayor.
"In the place called The Righteous Dungeon..."
•••
"Five quests are assigned, three more to go," Iris said, fixing her waterproof cape.
Iris checked the small roof over her head, but it was not enough to cover her, so she was thankful to Wendy for the cape she made for her. She leaned back against the soft back of the heated coachman's bench with pleasure.
"Where to next?" Rose asked as she shot icicles, killing three dire wolves that tried to sneak behind the horse wagon.
"The Village of Guxann. Thirty kilometres northeast from here." Lilly checked the map, eating a chicken sandwich.
The girls giggled. It was their first trip outside of Avalon since they gained their freedom. With a gentle movement of the reins, Iris gave the horse the signal to move. Lilly and Rose sat inside of the wagon, safe from the pouring rain and cold. The King made sure their trip would be as comfortable as possible, giving them this incredible horse wagon. He gave them a simple request as well, and the women wanted to finish it as fast as possible.
"Let's do this quickly... I want to go home..." Iris sighed.