74 Chapter 5.26 - Dungeon Run

It had been a week since The embassies were set up and production was in full swing. It seemed that the trade with the Kingdom of Thul was very unilateral, but with the expert tamer from the Kingdom of Thul, and the slow supply of beast totems, the economy started to adjust to the influx of this new good. Changelings were very much willing to put in extra labor to assist in the aid efforts towards the Kingdom of Thul. It was mostly because the Changelings benefited most by the goods brought in. But they weren't the only ones. Shurik needed test subjects for various projects, and the ability to spawn a living creature of varying level came in handy.

Production soon took off, with the majority of excess goods, food, and non-classified equipment being sent via airship to Thul. The Teleporter was used strictly for diplomatic equipment and movement of people. To ensure safety and security, a customs checkpoint, similar to the one on the border of Haven, was set up outside the Thulian Embassy to ensure that all people passing through the gate met the stringent standards required for entry.

Although this was a bit overkill, as the two nations had open borders allowed, it was good training for the Protectorate. Serin's Operation Candydrop had not had any success yet, but based on how long it takes non-traders to travel along major trade routes, Serin was sure within 2-3 weeks they would begin to see their first Immigrants.

So, while they still had a bit of free time, Serin decided to work with the Dungeon guides to increase their approved level. Serin also wished to see what was found deeper in the dungeons.

So far, the rewards he had found were all of the various materials from creatures, a few breedable livestock, raw ore of varying rarity, and the more secretive rewards. Specifically the Blink Skill Stone, the Homunculus Skill Stone, and the Transfer chest Skill stone. Skill stones seemed to appear on every 20 levels, so Serin was excited to pass level 50 this run. Just like before, Serin stood with the rest of the Guides.

Their arms and armor were mostly the same, however they did seem to all exhibit a bit more power, and looked a bit more prepared. Allister had added the Gole Backpack, giving himself 4 arms to defend him. He had given each one a different weapon, which made Serin laugh. Although it looked goofy anything within 2 meters of Allister would be in for a difficult time. 4 arms automatically blocking attacks while two cast spells.

With the newly installed clock that tracked hours clicking to the beginning of the hour, Serin nodded at the group and headed in.

***

The first 20 levels had been handled by most of the dungeon guides, so Allister decided to solo this one. His goal was to come back at a later time and try to bind the corpse of the giant serpent on level 20 to him. It would take too long on this run, but if he was able to get approved he could come down at a later time and perform the work.

For levels 21 through 40, Olma took the lead. She had Ephraim work on her single shot scattergun, and after a bit of practice and many broken arms, she had finally learned to wield it. It was slow to fire and reload, so it only seemed to work against bigger slower creatures. Olma also went through a new set of enemies for her levels. Specifically, since they were clearing the floors and not taking breaks, there was no shift in the dungeon between levels. Coincidentally, the reward on the 30th level was not a Homunuculus stone, but instead a different skillstone.

The Stone gave the rare enchanting ability called Stack. Usually when an item was enchanted, it was given a single enchantement. If a second enchantment was put on the item, it would either erase the first enchantment, fail, or destroy the item. This Skill was a passive that changed it so either the 2nd enchantment would fail, or be added to the previous enchantments.

Serin thought how much he wanted to come down and get his own stone, when Olma casually tossed it to him and smiled, "I will come back down for my own. Unless you just want to teach it to me." then she winked.

Without fail Serin watched as Olma Soloed all of the encounters until level 40. Without shifting the dungeon, the enemies were mostly physical in nature, so Olma was able to gain many new traits thanks to her aberrant mage class.

Serin watched as the gate to level 41 opened, and he looked at the others. Serin had completely forgotten that there were dozens of caravans that were on the trip. They had learned through experimentation that if a party moved from one floor to another, it locked the gate and ensured that it did not shift. With that, Caravans were set. Each floor a team of 4 non-combat personnel with 1 protectorate would scour the floor for resources. Delvers Classes and the Dhamphir teamsters had begun to become an integral part of the entire mining operation. It seemed that each floor had at least a cart of resources, whether it was moon trout, or perma ice, or raw ore, there was always supplies to be gatherer.

Serin continued to take his group down. He had enjoyed fighting the more magical beasts, but Olma was right that they should try to keep on one path as long as possible. So Serin was glad that he brought his more powerful rounds.

After floor 40 in the more barren physical floors, normal steel bolter rounds were almost useless. Serin had swapped for adamantine. What didn't fall to the Adamantine, he used his EFP Scattergun.

Serin definitely felt that the training he had done for only a month had greatly enhanced his power. Although it was only novice level skills that he enhanced, he had brought most of them from Novice 1 to Novice 30-40, with some more overlapping skills being brought to intermediate level. Although there wasn't much change in his skills, due to his increased luck and his class, across the board his stats had jumped. And while a boost to Charisma didn't help in 1 on 1 fights, it did make casting illusion magic easier. Serin was able to cast magic and use his rifle at the same time, buffing himself while increasing his Ire, or Aggro, making him a literal 1 man adventuring party.

It was a sight to behold. Serin ran and dodged between groups of large monsters, what few hits that he failed to dodge pinged off his layers of protective magics.

In no time at all, Serin had conquered through level 50. The floor boss of 50 was also no trouble. While most of group was shocked at the sight, Serin simple prepared his magic. A frost dragon was beginning to rise and approach Serin, while he simple enveloped a single Icicle in front of him.

The dragon smirked, "You think a single icicle will beat me? A dragon of frost?"

Serin smiled, "yes" and fired. Just as Reginald the Red Dragon fell, this unknown, unnamed white dragon fell, headlessly flopping on the ground. Unlike the icicle that shot past the heavens in Haven, this one slammed into the call causing a minor tremor throughout the room. The exit gate and the gate to the next floor opened.

Serin then surveyed the dragon's nest and called the recovery team over. Precious metals used in enchanting were in coin form, as well as a small pile of beautifully cut gemstone, all within the dragons horde. Serin then found what he was looking for.

A Legendary Skill Rune. As Serin crushed it, he realized that this level of power was something that would be too powerful.

Inventory (WILL;INT)(Legendary)

- The User has been given access to a personal dimensional pocket; this skill governs the ability of this space, its size, and its limitations

o At Novice Level, the user can store 2000kg worth of non-living matter within the space and retrieve those items at will. Materials stored appear on the Inventory Screen of the Player's Status.

Serin took a coin from the ground, willed it into his personal inventory, then retrieved again. Serin then looked at the other guides and said, "Not here, this is not to be spoken outside of closed circles."

Olma, who had not been paying attention to Serin and was looking at something completely different. Jericho laughed and said, "How the hell are we going to keep quiet about a clutch of Dragons eggs?" Serin then looked, and saw the clutch of eggs

Serin swallowed his dry spit. He was tempted to leave them. But thought better of it.

Serin instead looked at one of the dhamphir teams that was still prepared to go deeper. Serin directed them "You 5. You are going to be given a different mission." Serin scooped a bag of gold and handed it to them, "This is your bonus. Cover these eggs in your wagon and take them straight to Dana. Farrah the tamer will go with you. Have Dana contact Queen Narissa and King Jeffrey immediately. I will need to get the opinions of our two friends, who coincidentally are a Dragon and a master tamer.

Serin then looked at his group, "I am still ready to go deeper if you all are."

He saw nods, Serin then laughed, "We better make it quick, I know it takes less than 3 days for Narissa to get here if she comes alone."

Serin then huffed and continued through the Gate

***

To say the levels had a steep difficulty curve was an understatement.

Level 51 was entirely different. It wasn't a few groups. It was hordes. Hundreds of creatures from multiple levels before surrounded Serin and he was quickly put on his back feet. In less than 6 minutes, Serin had burned through all his ammo, all his mana, and had resorted to using flashjars and then pulled Folly's Axe

Serin did not like melee combat. He didn't have the training in the skill. With his weak axe proficiency and low skill in one handed weapons, Serin had to start using the axe's special ability to increase damage by burning through his stamina. Serin was no fool, He called to the group. "This is too much for me to solo!"

The group then snapped back to their senses and joined the fray. Serin immediately felt his mana restoring as as the other guides hopped in. Jericho speeding through knicking and cutting the opponents. Rachel's arrows with enchanted arrowheads sped between allies sinking themselves into the skulls of enemies before detonating. Allister used his limited magics to pull the life out of the surrounding enemies while his Gole arms defended him. George the wildscout stayed back with the caravans protecting the teamsters from the few monsters that tried to take the easy prey behind the heroes. Sakina let out a screech as dozens of bombardier beetles poured out of her bad and flew into the mass of enemies, detonating. Serin, now with enough mana, threw up a wall of fire, surrounding the enemy. There still had to be several hundred monsters inside the flame. Serin had correctly predicted that since this path in the dungeon was not as magical and getting colder, the enemies would be vulnerable to fire.

With the enemy encased, Serin used terramancy to pull all of his autobolter rounds from the enemies surrounding him. He had practiced on loading them. But now was not the time for that. Instead Serin looked at Olma who frowned, "I know its unsightly but i ended you to bombard the enemy while i close this circle.

Olma scowled at her beholden but nodded. She undid her armor and took off her top piece, leaving her top half exposed. The group watched as she formed a large portion above her shoulderblade into the same shape as the bombardier beetle's launcher. She then began to glow, and every few minutes launched the explosive poison over the flames into the enemy mass.

Olma's stamina was dropping quickly though, and soon she was near zero. She collapsed, and George pulled her back to the caravan, clothing her and keeping her warm. But that had done the trick. The forces within the circle had dwindles so when the wall exhausted there were only several of the monsters left and they were badly damaged. Serin looked at all the varieties that were too vast to name, "Take their corpses. Olma killed many of these and has claim to them."

Serin and his team then went dispatching the remaining monsters.

When Serin saw the two portals open he looked at the group. "We need to significantly increase our abilities or we will never make it past this level."

Jericho smirked at him, "I think I speak for all the guides boy when i say you are only approved to level 50."

Serin laughed.

***

Thankfully no one was injured, and other than a slightly embarrassed Olma, no worse for wear. Olma was no longer frowning as she was chowing down on several new varieties of beast. Serin looked at the guides. "It will take me a few days to rearm and armor myself. I might be retrofitting my rifle. I took 800 rounds and it was not even close to enough."

Jericho laughed, "Well its not like you can store an infinite quantity of rounds on yourself there Serin."

The irony made Serin Laugh, which Jericho looked puzzled at. "I will be holding a meeting about that tonight. Emergency meeting of all representatives."

***

"So that is how the skill works. It has a few limits, but even the novice level of the skill completely breaks the foundation of the world's economy as we know it."

Ephraim started, "We can't scan what we can't see. We can't search people that have this. Merchants could carry 10x the goods without fear of contraband checks or tariffs from other nations."

Dana looked, "Thieves could use it to take. As useful as it is, if it leaves the nation, it would be a nightmare."

Then Edel looked. "If something like our explosive toxin shells was snuck into the city, it would be devastating"

Serin nodded. "I discussed it with the attendants. They had no additional information other than additional features unlock as the skill is leveled up. For now, i recommend distribution of the skill stays at an as needed basis. It's use should not be done in public, and until we learn how we can counter such an insane skill, its knowledge is not to leave this room."

Serin saw nods of approvals. Darius looked, "But this could put us at a distinct advantage! When you have learned how to control this skill, will you release it to your citizenry?"

Serin smiled, "Of Course. We shall hold a grand celebration for it. But until then, we will not speak of the skill. The approval shortlist i have determined is The people in this room, the Dungeon Guides, and that is it. Any objections?"

No one argued as it was a solid plan.

Serin then continued, "Now, as for the dragon eggs…"

***

Elsewhere on the Continent, in the capital of the Northern Kingdoms, The Grand General stood over the two diplomats. They were bound and kneeled, sword at their backs.

"So you mean to tell me that this simple mission to intimidate this pretend ruler into committing violence to cause divine retribution failed. Not only did it fail, but one of you committed the same act."

"The woman tricked me! And they had the power to save her but let her die!" Marcus motioned and the diplomat's head came clean off, the wound searing closed.

Marcus continued, "Not only that, but because the Magistrate in charge of our diplomatic affairs" Marcus motioned to a man slowly choking to death, as he had for several hours, "did not read the entire formalities and failed to prepare a gift, they were allowed to select one from my treasury, correct?"

Paris nodded, "Yes your Lordship. But they had to know what they were asking for to request it. They knew what your vault contained!"

Marcus nodded, "Well out of all the things they could have asked for something sentimental is not of consequence. However I do hate to part with it."

Marcus looked at the box. It was full of the guild crests of his traitorous guild, peeled from their bodies and stuffed in jars. "It seems Jericho wishes to put his 'comrades' to rest. Very well. A box of peeled skin is not worth a second debuff."

Marcus looked at his Magistrate of Internal Policing. "Did we ever find who placed the bomb?"

The Magistrated shook his head. "Sadly, your Lordship it seems that the other nation was telling the truth. Multiple witnesses remember seeing a streak across the night sky for several seconds prior to making landfall, and the mage we contacted to investigate stated that the explosion was too large and too impactful to have been buried. It was indeed some sort of large range ballista."

Marcus shook his head. This technology meant that until he devised a means to counter it, the upstart nation of Haven would have to be hands off.

Marcus looked at the diplomat, "Send a detachment to deliver the crate to Haven."

Marcus shook his head, "I may have a single debuff, but I will not be as bad off as the Grand Woods Alliance. Their entire economy is based on their 'breeding stock' program. To shift away from that would collapse their nation."

Marcus smiled as he was sure that Have would eventually attack the Grand Woods Alliance, and he would be able to take territory against the Alliance since they would be unable to fight a war on 2 fronts. Marcus scowled at the paper he held in his hand. Scattered throughout the kingdom and the Grand Woods Alliance were leaflets and honey, encouraging emigration to Haven and glorifying their Xenophilic ideals. Marcus hoped his own campaign leaflet campaign would stop them.

***

In the Grand Woods Alliance, the entire Enclave of Governors was in a ruckus. Their options were to take a second debuff, or to cripple their economy, opening the way for The Northern Kingdoms to attack. There were also reports of a mass exodus of smaller towns and Breeder farms leaving.

"We should just kill the runners! We don't need cowards!"

"It would be genocide! There are now too many gathered in a caravan to stop. Many Guards and Soldiers are amongst them as well."

"There might be divine ramifications of emigration."

So while the governors argued and attempted to stem the flow of citizens during a winter exodus, the only thing they agreed on was 'wait and see'.

***

Elsewhere in the Sarween Technocracy, an experiment was a success.

"And you are sure this will work?"

"His mind has been erased, and using the polymorphic device, he is a genetic copy of the Magus Rarron. If it is truely the blood they follow, this will fool them."

A babbling slave with the appearance of Magus Rarron was loaded onto a self driving autocart and sent towards Haven."