by Lucas Dunn
After stepping through the portal we had been greeted by what seemed to be the whole dwarf population. There was cheering and an overall huge reception planned for us. After I gifted the king dwarf the hammer he had tear of joy in his eyes explaining the significance of its ancestral past and that it had been lost after the great war. The dark dwarves had thought themselves cursed until it was returned. After I gave it to the king he ordered the best ale kegs to be popped open and after that, even with the restorative potion I couldn’t remember much besides partying. The only other thing was being given something from the king at the end of the night before I passed out. Checking my bag, I pulled out two gorgeous weapons.
Blessed by the best forger of the dark races, these weapons quality have increased once in level bringing them to and unique level weapon.
Blessed Frost Picks: Quality: Unique. Damage: 150-200. Frost Damage: 50-70. Piercing affect: Ignores 30% of armor.
I hadn’t been given a gift, my frost picks had! There was truly a difference in levels, and the stats on these picks were amazing! Returning to the present I laughed at my confused companions. Restoration potions were passed around and the doors were flung open letting in hundreds of servants carrying platters of bacon and eggs for breakfast. As breakfast passed, my companions realized their weapons had all been blessed which truly brought our firepower up.
Again, I was taken to underground altars to bless them. My breath was taken away at the large amount of underground space the dwarves had. A cavern the size of a city did not seem like a cavern at all due to the huge magic sun that hung in the sky lighting the whole city. On a time, limit, we didn’t get to browse the Dwarven shops today. The Dwarven king, me and no one else stood in a room with a round table containing a map of the whole continent and many wooden pieces representing the three dark races armies. Thirty minutes later we were joined by the king of Elves and the king of the Drow.
“We should all move the majority of our forces to the barren lands, it is the only way to hold off the large amount of troops coming and my elves need the help or we will be slaughtered.” Said the Elven king.
“What nonsense are ye spouting! We will be vulnerable if their forces decide to take to the seas and flank us! We can’t just move all of our forces to the front, our sides have to be protected also. What if they went around our army and attacked my dwarves! Shouted the Dwarven king.
Rubbing my temples, we had been here for an hour and there was already tension that was tangibly coming from the races. Sighing I noticed another problem. “Even if we did move all or forces to the front, we would be vulnerable to the Ogres and orc the roam the Steppes in the center of our land. We have to deal with them.” There were no Dark or Light Ogres and Orcs, there race was solely bent on destruction and were commonly hired as mercenaries… That’s it!
“We will buy out the Ogres and Orcs as mercenaries!” I said excitedly
“Unacceptable” said the Elvin king
“They are hardly trustworthy” Complained both the Drow and Dwarf king.
“It doesn’t matter! Imagine if the Light One gets to them before us, he could easily buy them and we would without a doubt lose the war with an enemy in the midst of us. Put aside your differences Elf, we can send them to the front lines in separate forts than your people. That will decrease the tension between your people and it will put almost every orc in front of us with our enemy, should they decide to turn on us. With them in front we can use the Drow to defend the side of the continent in case of any flanking maneuvers, my side of the continent can’t be breached because it has mountainous cliffs all along its side along with my mountains. The Dwarves can also hold the front line at the forts with the elves”
Convincing the Kings, took some effort, but eventually we were able to smooth out the wrinkles in my plan and I got a couple extra bonuses. We decided to start production of the forts in the barren lands as well as open up traveling portals in all major cities for troop movement. Since I didn’t have any portals in my base, a constructor would be sent with me to create one. My soon to be city, would be the base of all operations since it was mostly in the middle of our territory. This meant my city would be filled to the brim with warriors and craftsman to increase productivity and defense. While my city couldn’t hold a lot with how it was now, another wall was going to be built to raise my standing capacity to at least 500,000. This meant multiple walls were going to have to be sieged in order to get to my fort. Not only that but civilian population would be extremely limited besides staff and manual laborers because I was going to be hosting strictly military personnel. The whole army would be able to train in the dungeon, which meant higher levels for them and more loot for me!
With nothing left to discuss, my squad was taken to a portal with two other female Drow who would be working on the army’s portal, as well as my private portal. As soon as the portals were up, manual laborers, staff, and an army of 100,000 would enter into my city. Until then, the dwarves would get in contact with the Ogres and Orcs and buy out their armies with all of the races wealth. Stepping into the portal we appeared in the first city in our journey. Greeted by the city lord, we were once again given mounts, and started the journey to my land.
Chapter 36
The ride was uneventful and slow even with the horses surprisingly high agility. Still, it could only go so fast in the forest. Upon emerging from the tree line, I saw a huge wall loom in the distance creating a semi-circle around a black obsidian castle that had its own walls. It looked truly formidable, but in reality, it was puny. Any of the armies I heard about could easily wipe it out due to their sheer size. With the new influx of troops, my too few farms were going to have to be pushed further into the plain also. Riding to the new black iron gates we were greeted by the rattling of skeletons as they cranked open the gates to my commands. I told Elif, Raken, and the rest of my squad to inform every one of the events and the army that would soon arrive. I wanted to build an army of 100,000 thousand myself. This army would be loyal to me and occupy the inner wall I just built, while my most loyal troops like the ones I hired and the ones I resurrected would live in the castle with me. Right now I only had about 2,000 troops so I would definitely need to work on building my army. Until then, I would have to allow the army of Drow, Elves, and Dwarves to occupy my inner walls. While my troops occupied the black fort and its walls.
Upon arriving, there was an exodus of my troops from the new inner walls to the castles walls and barracks. The dark race’s coalition of troops would be stationed in the new inner walls until the outer walls were built and I hired or came up with 50,000 loyal warriors. Of course the coalition of warriors coming were extremely loyal, I just wanted a force that was solely mine.
After the transition, I was brought the loot from the dungeon that was collected while I was gone. Grabbing the many bags, a feeling of giddiness swept through me.
“Sir, according to your orders, a majority of the soul gems were given to the enchanters.” Said the soldier before turning and walking away.
Upon hearing that, I got even more excited. Dreams of outfitting a whole army in enchanted weapons and armor swept through my head before I refocused on the bag. I allowed for my troops to keep any items of potions, but requested that the soul gems, bones, and 50% of the money was turned into me which compared to other dungeon owners was extremely nice. Looking into the bag I almost cried in happiness. Over 5,000 bones worth of skeletons, over 1,000 common soul gems, 120 flawless soul gems, 2 splendid soul gems, and over 1,000 platina when I added up all the money! I was about to get extremely busy.
Instead of raising 5,000 skeletons that would only be basic, I left them alone and used my common soul gems to raise the current basic skeletons to a competent level. After that I used 100 flawless gems to turn some competent skeletons into magical capable advanced skeletons that like the last group, would lead the competent skeletons. This left me with no basic skeletons, 1,500 competent skeletons, 160 advanced skeletons, 1 giant s
keleton, and enough bones to make 5,000 skeletons. I didn’t want to use the bones until I could create a minimum of competent NPC level skeletons though. The basic skeletons were too much of a hassle to constantly order, and they constantly stayed half my level unlike the ones that turned to competent and advanced NPC’s.
In the hiring menu, I hired enough guards to bring me to 1,000 exactly, more farmers, tanners, smiths, cooks, and 100 servants to help around the castle. I took care of the guards, while I let my attendant deal with the staff and other laborers. After sending them to my generals I still had plenty of money so after a while of thinking I decided add to my specialized group. Currently I had 24 members that were specialized excluding my own squad. This broke down into four groups which was not enough if I wanted to create a prestigious group that was meant to solely protect me. I wanted a group I could travel with and protect and surround me on the battlefield if things went wrong. Hiring 96 specialized NPC’s such as tanks, damage dealers, mages, and so on I now had 120 Specialized troops that would break down into 20 groups that my squad had supreme command over. These would be trained to be my personal guard. As they appeared in the courtyard I called for all the other specialized troops including my squad.
“I have selected all of you to be my personal guard. I will expect much out of you but you will also be rewarded. Anything you find in the dungeon will be yours to keep!” Cheering sounded and I paused for a little bit before speaking again. “The more veteran groups will be in charge of training the new groups. As my personal guard I expect all of you to be much more powerful than the regular army. You will train consistently to be the best. From here on out you shall be known as The Sunless Corps!” Another round of cheering swept through the 120 warriors as the title appeared above their heads. Some chose not to display it and give away information, while other wore it proudly. Turning to the veteran group I explained the importance of training to be the best and left them to do what they needed to.
Walking to the castle’s walls I explained to the giant general skeleton how I wanted my skeletons to begin raising their levels at a faster rate as well. The portal constructors were just outside the new gates building the portal, so I left them be and went to Gannon. I had a couple common soul gems left and I wanted to try out the infuse skill I had gotten a while ago. Giving him and the rest of the smiths a swift greeting Gannon motioned for me to meet him in the back room.
“What did ye need me fer yer lordship? Come te visit this lonely forgotten Dwarf?”
Laughing I responded with a smile “Oh hush up Gannon, you have everything a dwarf could want. I came to make sure you are getting all you need from the Kobolds as well as try a new skill.”
“Of course, ye lordship, I just like te complain! The materials we’ve been getting from the kobolds is a dream come true, but we don’t have much to forge since most of your guards were equipped with armor when the Ogres and Orcs attacked.”
“That’s partly why I’m here too, I need you to work with the enchanters to create a special set of armor for a new group of warriors I’m training to be my personal guard when I’m on the battlefield and also when I’m not. This armor must be of the highest quality you can make and you are welcome to all the resources I have. I also need a new set of armor because this rhino set is getting to weak for my current level. There are 120 of us excluding me and my squad. You heard my conditions, just make sure you show me why I made you head smith. Also send all the iron you can spare to the wall!”
“Of course yer lordship It will be the best armor I could ever make. As far as the iron goes, I can spare all of it. I won’t be using something a common as that to craft yer personal guards armor. With nothing else to do we’ve just been smelting it down into ingots and since it is the most common resource the kobolds bring up we have almost a full store house of it. I send it to the castle walls immediately”
With that I went to gather my skeletons. The trip to the wall was brief as I wondered at the possibilities of the skill. Upon reaching the orderly lines of the skeletons, my giant stepped forward and we watched as wagon upon wagon dumped iron ingots onto the ground. Grabbing the ingot, it was extremely heavy even with my strength. I walked to my giant skeleton and began the infusion process. It happened in an instant, half of my mana was drained and the ingot turned into a liquid flowing from my hands onto the skeletons. The grey liquid absorbed into his bones greedily and turned the chalk white bones into a smoky grey. Nice!
“Report” I said commandingly.
“My defense stat has just raised tribune. While skeletons can’t normally wear armor, it would seem this acts as a replacement and is as good as common quality iron armor.”
Yes! This would mean they wouldn’t just be fodder. The giant skeleton took a couple more ingots to fully infuse, but after him I moved on to my advanced skeletons and competent, draining both my village mana pool and the massive amount of iron ingots. By the time I was done, I had infused all of my advanced skeletons, my giant skeleton, and 500 of my competent skeletons with iron. With their bones much harder, I was much more optimistic about their battle capabilities. The giant skeleton general already had plans to send then to the dungeon to level up which meant they would become a big part of my defense. Done with infusing, I decided it was time to stop increasing my militaries might and begin increasing my own. Looking at my stats, I grabbed my group and we headed to the dungeon.
Name
Lucian(Lord of Shadow’s Edge. First Priest of The Dark One. Tribune of Mars)
Race
???
Class
Warrior God
Level
41(Percent towards next level: 14%)
Fame
1,830(Respect)
Health
780
Mana
2,580
Intelligence (1 point = 30 towards mana)
86
Constitution (1 point = 20 towards health)
42 (+5 from ring)
Wisdom (1 point = +.5 mana per second)
50
Strength (1 point = x.1 physical damage.
125 [Damage modifier = (damage * 12.5) (+6 from ring)
Stamina
30 (+30 from rings)
Dexterity
143 (+30 from ring)
Luck
5(+10 from Ring)
Abilities
Dark Sight: See with 100% proficiency in darkness. (Non-Passive)
Dark Shroud: Unable to be heard or detected by the followers of light through divine or mundane magic. (Passive)
Divine Fortitude: Resist the strongest attempts to influence your mind(Passive)
Elemental Merge: Merge with the elements for five minutes increasing all stats by 100% (Cool down: 1 hour)
Mana Sacrifice: Trade health points for mana points.
Precision Strike: This skill allows you a single strike that will strike with one hundred percent accuracy if not stopped. (Cool down: 5 minutes.)
Mar’s Aura: Create an aura that spreads across the battle field raising friendly stats by 5% and lowering enemy stats by 5%. (Cooldown: 1 week)
Skills
Mana Magic: 70% towards next level. 50% resistance [Level two]
Water Magic: 48% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level three]
Earth Magic: 55% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level four]
Fire Magic: 28% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level four]
Air Magic: 20% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level four]
Dark Magic: 100% resistance. [Max level]
--Necromancy—Skeleton: Level 4. Ghoul: Level 1. Zombie: level 1
Light Magic: 10% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level three]
Lightning Magic: 86% towards next level. 50% resistance. [Level three]
Mana Manipulation: Process of efficiently using mana. 99% towards next level. Cast speed, damage, success rate. +12% effective. [Level five]
Spell Creation: You have the ability to create yo
ur own spell. Current limit of four runes. 12% towards next level. (Non-Passive) [Level Four]
Sneak: You are able to slightly conceal your presence and noise. 10% reduction to noise and noticeability. -45% reduction to speed. [Level two]
Tracking: You are able to follow game by their tracks. [Level One]
Pain Constitution: You are able to ignore 1% of pain. [Level one]
Appraise: You are able to see name and level of all mobs/items as well as a short description. [Level three]
Tame: You are able to tame creatures level five or under. [Level three]
Charm: Convince any mob of equal level and lower fortitude to listen to you. Limit: 2. Length: 2 hours. [Level 4]
Combat: Basic. You have a basic understanding of all combat.
--Dual Wield—Advanced. You excel in this form of combat.
Mana creation: Create most objects at the cost of mana. Can’t be magical [Level 2]
Speed attack: Next attack is twice as fast. (Cost: 5% of full stamina)
Heavy strike: Next hit does x2 damage (Cost: 20% of full stamina)
Tremor: Stomp the ground to send nearby opponents falling as the earth shakes. (Cost: 50% of full stamina)
Quests
--
Chapter 37
With the dungeon now inside the walls, it took a much shorter amount of time to reach it. Hundreds of people and skeletons went into and out of the dungeon. Luckily, every separate group had its own separate instances so multiple people could be on the same floor, but never see each other because they each had their own mini world basically. You could enter as one person, or a whole army which some of the floors later on would take. I didn’t know what we would get if we beat the dungeon and none of my companions had even heard of a dungeon being beaten, so as far as I was concerned it would be unlimited experience.
