In heaven, a solemn conference was formed as all the gods gathered. This conference was called upon by the god of creation himself. Every god, from the racial gods, all the way to the element gods and even emotion gods of virtue and sin attended.

Not one was allowed to be missing less they incur punishment because the topic was another world changer coming about due to the change in the dungeons.

They slowly gathered within a massive and beautiful white stone hall. There were elevations that each god sat in depending on their rank, from lesser gods to greater. The lower to the front, the greater the power or domain.

Sitting at the bottom were Teresa the Goddess of Life, Yulin the Goddess of Death, Cosmos the God of Chaos and Metris the God of Order.

One layer above that were Helena the Goddess of Love, Thesis the God of knowledge and Roran the God of War as well as many other high ranking gods such as emotion gods. Behind each of these were racial gods of the six sentient races. Yolida the Goddess of Spirits was among them but she was one of the three highest ranking. Her opposites were the god of demons and the god of dragons. As for humans, that was the race of the god of creation who he personally created. Though he created all primitive races but the human’s creation lead to the birth of all his racial god children, the original racial gods.

Behind these were the five sentient races and back more are local gods that were able to ascend through the blessing of the gods or legends of the mortal realm that reached level 600 and ascended into godhood.

The only gods that don’t exist are monster gods, specifically racial gods of monsters. The five racial gods work to prohibit that to keep monsters from overrunning the sentient races. That said, the dragon god was one who existed but was lofty as he sat with the spirit and demon gods.

Soon the last god arrived when a blinding light shined down and a middle aged man appeared.

The gods in the first four rows rose and bowed, “Greetings great father of the three realms!” they said, their voices resounding.

“HAIL THE GREAT CREATOR GOD!” the rest of the gods shouted.

“You may sit,” he said and they all returned to their seats. “I have convened this meeting of the world to reformulate the hero system,” he announced.

All the lower ranked gods suddenly gasped and looked at each other.

“We had a hero system, father?” Helena asked.

“It was the previous summoning system,” he said then narrowed his eyes at her and looked at her, Teresa, Yulin and Yolida. “Because of the alterations to the dungeon system causing such a drastic change to the world and the requirement of a new level system, I have deemed that for the future survival of the sentient races as well as propagation of the humanoid monsters, a new hero system must be established!” He announced.

The faces of all the gods changed but after a moment, a look of expectation appeared as they wondered how it would end up.

“Tch…” one of the gods clicked his tongue. It resound through the clouds and everyone looked at the demon god. He looked at Yolida, “This is your fault for making that stupid new dungeon and forcing all the dungeons to change!” he cursed at Yolida.

“Oh, please, you are happy now that all those savages in your realm are tamer,” Yolida said.

“Tamer?! You call that tame!? Did you think removing the dungeon instinct would help?!” The demon god shouted.

“Killing the murderous part of the dungeon instinct indeed helped, after all, now they won’t be all evil or easily corruptible,” Yolida said.

“Ahaha! Kill? No, you simply removed an extremely powerful emotion of hate and desire of death!” he said and looked at the emotion gods. Emotions are divided into the seven heavenly virtues and seven deadly sins as well as many others like love. The god of deadly wrath stood up then the demon god and wrath god held their hands out.

Suddenly a shadow pooled up and suddenly, a soul wrenching screech came as a shadow specter appeared, much like the ones trying to attack Dia. “Do you consider this, killing the instinct!?” the demon god shouted.

Yolida paled as she felt the aura of the dungeon instinct in the specter. “This…” Yolida muttered.

“This has appeared in not just one dungeon, they are being called shadow specters but I call them a parasite!” the demon god said and crushed the shadow after surrounding it with demon fire. “These things start out weak and are imperceptible in the dungeon but they are like parasites! They hide in the shadow of the dungeon where they have always lived and no one can feel it, even the dungeon itself! Like a parasite, they feed and multiply off the dungeon then when a moment of weakness appears, they emerge and try to possess the dungeon! Did you know Yolida, that little cloud dungeon was just attacked by this? She was lucky enough that they appeared just as the time of the ‘theme change’ restriction you added ended. She was able to create a very powerful spirit to protect her but it’s there, still hiding!” He said.

“SILENCE!” the god of creation shouted, “We shall speak of the dungeon system and its many faults that must be corrected later. These are also easy to kill as long as energy type magic is used, now sit down!” The creation god said.

The demon god sat down but sneered at Yolida who was pale.

“As I was saying, the hero system will be reformulated for the world's heroes and maybe even monsters, to provide a safe passage to the future,” he said.

“Father, you must remember not to weigh too much on humans. If you want to make a hero system, it must include monsters or it would cause imbalance,” Cosmos said.

“Yes…” he said. “This conference is now open for discussing! All who have a suggestion speak up,” he said.

After a moment, the gods began to stand up and slowly, they began to group up with allies and friends.

Slowly ideas began to come in, but most of it was random and not well thought out and before the creation god even spoke, either Metros or Cosmos shot it down, for being too off.

Helena, Teresa and Yulin were grouped up and were chatting. “What are you three planning?” Cosmos said appearing behind the three.

“Just chatting,” Helena said.

“Why not think of something worth your time instead of think of some boy toy?” He said.

“Fuck off.” Helena said.

Cosmos chuckled and turned to their father, “I think the best method would be to make a proper heroes class for sentients as well as a kind of hero type evolution for monsters,” Cosmos said.

“At the same time, to maintain order, heroes and demon lords are two sides of the same coin and so, a fallen hero can also become a demon lord,” Metros said.

“Hey! What are you two spouting!?” Teresa shouted, “You want to make demon lords as well?!” she shouted.

“You, Yulin and Yolida already made demon lords of the dungeons who are considered tyrants in the mortal world and have already begun to cause trouble,” Cosmos said.

“I also do not agree!” Suddenly the demon god said. “From the method you just spoke, demon lord is a fallen hero and a person of ‘evil’. Demons are not all evil, only savage due to the environment. I think that a fallen hero should be called just that, a fallen hero. Even among demons, this system would take effect and birth a Hero of Demons, would it not?” The demon god asked.

“This is a valid argument, the ‘class’ that is demon lord is also up for discussing,” The god of creation said.

“What if both hero and demon lord was designated as titles instead?” a lower god said.

“Why not call it dark lord instead!?” the demon god said to the god irritated. This was specifically because the god that spoke was a lesser god of darkness, an elemental god.

At once, all the dark gods glared at him, “Huh, so you all feel unsatisfied huh? Well now you should know what my demons have to feel being the butt end of all existence’s hate,” he said and snorted. “Father, about the demon lord class, maybe this can be delegated as a demon or humanoid monster of conquest, one with the power and intelligence to create a nation among chaos. Also, I request that it be taken out of the pedestal of ‘evil’ and instead be a class of a leadership just like heroes or kings,” he said.

“I second…” both Cosmos and Metros said.

“Then it can be so, for the time, the demon lord shall become a titled monster or demon race evolution. Further details will be determined later,” the god of creation said.

“Father!” Helena stood up, “I was thinking of the heroes class. Would it be possible to implement it into all classes like an advanced class after Grand Archmagus?” Helena asked.

“It can,” he replied.

“Great, I suggest first off that all races have unique conditions to allow this unique hybrid class. Also, I believe that a hero class on its own should be built in the same manner as any other class. Instead we should set up conditions for a basic class for heroes, conditions that are obviously incredibly difficult to achieve but is obvious to become heroes,” Helena said.

“What would you call this basic class?” their father asked.

“Something like ‘blessed man’, a person blessed with greater power and the possible destiny of a hero,” she said.

“That sounds extremely fictional, like from a storybook.” Thesis said, looking at her.

“Maybe, but this can also be hybridized. The blessing could be different for different gods, a warrior could become a blessed warrior, a mage would be a blessed mage. Even a farmer would be a blessed man of the land. It is a very basic kind of class which works in hand with our divine protection we normally grant people who we fancy. This time we actually bless them for their hard work but it would be weaker blessings at the start,” Helena explained.

“What would be next?” her father asked.

Teresa stood up, “We had the idea of ‘brave man’. Their blessing would be greater and possibly of more gods,” she said.

“I understand, does anyone have any objections or improvements?” he asked. The place was filled with nothing but silence as no one disagreed but they were thinking. “Then we shall proceed to develop the hero and demon lord systems in greater depth,” he said and everyone nodded then once more went back to talking in groups.

***

“Hm hm hmm~! Hm hm hmm~!...” Humming a small tune on her own, Dia was happily giggling as she flew around the construction that the snow elves were making along with Kris himself.

The item was, obviously, Santa’s sleigh that would be required just next week when New Year's happens. They were just putting on the final coat of red gloss paint making it shiny red with a cotton cushion covering polished wooden seats.

Another new thing to the Christmas island was the domestication of reindeer. Dia had almost fallen over laughing when one of the confident male Christmas elves went to catch them but was dragged around and bucked only for another elf to come and easily catch two at once.

He tried more than a dozen times but ended with his face in the snow each time.

Slowly the preparations were getting finished and the toy workshop was in full gear. They had built one extra section to wrap the toys in simple leather pouch gift bags. The leather came from farm animals that were butchered in the floors below.

Dia flew around the pine tree forest until she heard ringing of beautiful bells and flew to the source grinning as she saw three grand pine trees. Upon the trees were shiny silver bells that rang in the wind. The natural melody formed by the ringing bells could only be heard by those who believe in Santa. By using the red bell flower, a beautiful bell forged by dwarves using Jack’s silver goose eggs and a pine tree, she used her mana to create a tree that grew bells for his sleigh. She calls them Believing Bell Trees.

These bells were slowly growing and would soon fall off where it would be gathered. They are then put on ribbons that would be hitched to the side of the reins and ring while the reindeer move.

The last item that represents Santa was his gift bag, two bags were created though, one for Nick and one for Kris. The reason is simple, Nick will gift just ‘Nice’ children, they could sense and see the actions of the children through a special power. At the same time, Kris can see who is ‘Naughty’ and can see their actions but it's not like there are complete naughty children. If a child steals to survive or to feed their family, that is naughty but not a grave crime. Kris would ‘punish’ but it is light and he would gift them presents which might help the family’s situation. Specifically, ‘luck’ charms in the form of toys that Kris had made himself for the naughty children who are naughty out of necessity instead of mischief.

What these charms lacked was just to finish making them of silk and cotton and have Dia turn them into spirit items tied to the two wonder spirits, just like the sleigh and even the magic reindeer. Each of these would all be tied to the two allowing them to affect them with their own powers through the power of those who believe in them.

As Dia returned to the workshop with a basket of fresh believing bells, she found at the door of Nick and Kris’s house a group of three women. One was Mir, the second was Felicia and the third was an older elf who already looked like she was in her later years.

Dia looked at them and happily flew down, “Hi~!” She said and appeared next to Mir, “What’s going on Mir?” She asked looking at the elves.

“You remember the elf queen, this is her grandmother, the previous queen,” Mir said.

“Oh… Hello ma’am!” Dia bowed. Probably because she interacts with so many creatures now, her previous fear of unknown people had long vanished since she knew everyone in the dungeon as her own.

“We came because we wanted to know what exactly happened? Many people are afraid to enter the dungeon and my grandmother wanted to know what had happened, so I lead her here,” Felicia said.

“So this little girl is the dungeon?” the old elf asked.

“Yes, Grandmother,” Felicia said.

“What might these bells be?” She asked.

“They are believing bells, they are something grown on trees to put on Santa’s sleigh when he goes to give out gifts. Those who believe in him can hear it on the night he goes to give presents,” Dia said happily then took one and shook it with a blissful expression.

“I hear nothing,” the old woman said. “What counts as ‘believing’?” Felicia asked.

“You have to believe he is real,” she said then lead them inside the workshop and pointed to him.

She swung the bell causing him to stop what he was doing and look over with a smile before he stood up. “What a wonderful sound,” he said then took one of the bells and rang it. The elves working began to hear it and showed blissful expressions.

“So beautiful~!” “This is soothing.” “I could sleep to this sound.”

Many comments came as the bells were rang.

Dia turned and introduced them.

“So you are ‘Santa Claus’ exactly why do you want to deliver toys to random children?” the old elf asked.

“I was made for this, I am a spirit of wonder, a person who spreads wonder through my toys. Wonder is a magic but also not, it can change the way you see the world. A dark and bleak world has no wonder, this world has no wonder. Even the most beautiful, magical places on this world possess no wonder because such locations are places of death where one cannot appreciate the beauty since their life is in danger,” he explained.

“It is a strange creature indeed,” the old elf said. “Tell me, what was the ‘war’ all about?” she asked Mir.

“It happened because of a temporary loss of control of the dungeon. To change the future floor theme a penalty was incurred, but we had not expected it to escalate to such degree,” Mir sighed.

“There will be no more danger like before correct?” the elf asked.

“Yes, although there can be two nations having arranged battles at sea, it will not be a savage war zone like before,” Mir said. “The winter elf that she created was the one who stabilized the situation and created laws that all ‘nations’ of the dungeon must follow now,” she continued. “Come, let us go into the house at the side and sit so we can talk,” Mir said leading them to the house of the spirits.

Nick returned to work while some snow elves took the bells to go prepare the ribbon of the sleigh.

Dia left Mir to continue what she was doing then went to find the makers of the bags and found that they were complete. Dia was incredibly happy while she looked at the shiny normal red bag with cloud rabbit fur and the other was dark red with the same fur. She took the two and took it to Nick first. She made him hold it then spawned thirty wisps and touched the bag.

The thirty snow wisps appeared and were absorbed into the bag. It reflected an image of Santa and gained the ability to fill as many presents as needed. With a thought, it would ‘fill’ with the toys he wished to gift.

Until now, the gifts were placed in a warehouse but now, they could be stored in the bags. She went to Kris and did the same thing, making the second bag into a spirit item for him. Kris made her laugh when he caused the size of the bag that would strap to his side, turn into what looked like a coin pouch and tied it to the side of his pants under his large coat.

Dia headed inside where she found the snow elves serving rice bread, cookies and milk to the two elves while they talked.

Dia took some cookies and sat next to Mir, slowly a frown appeared on her face, “Hey, do you know where I can find any chocolate Mir?” Dia asked.

“Chocolate? What’s that?” She asked.

“Chocolate is chocolate, it’s sweet, brown, comes as a powder…” she said remembering all the forms but never having heard how it was produced putting her into a bind.

Although Mir was thousands of years old, she had been in the Spirit World and not the Human World where there had been contact with heroes from other worlds.

“I seem to recall this word,” the old elf queen said. “Around 800 years ago I believe there was a hero summoning and one of them had come to the elf nation wanting to be what he called, a gourmet. His class was cook so he was looking for food and had asked for this, but he asked if there was a tree of a fruit called cacao which would be dried and ground then processed into this ‘chocolate’,” she said.

“Is that not the rotty fruit?” Felicia asked.

“Indeed, the rotty fruit is a brown fruit with a natural sweet taste but if dried and turned into powder, it will turn bitter and needs to be mixed with sugar and other ingredients to regain its sweetness,” she said.

“Can I get some!?” Dia asked drooling as she thought of chocolate chip cookies. She just needed one of these fruits and she could probably make something really concentrated with chocolate and make easier to harvest. Truly, no creature could compare to a dungeon when making or mixing creatures much less a little girl wanting sweeties.

“We will think of it,” the old elf said.

Dia pouted when she didn’t get it out right. She didn’t complain though because of a glare from Mir making her stay quiet.

“Miss, after hearing everything, I’ve found that the dungeon is quite a big threat. First off there is a chance of it going berserk, killing many of my citizens. It has monsters with enough power to beat that stupid but still talented archmage. The dungeon can even form its own nations with its own set of rules, improving their own power. My own people, adventurers and residents, really don’t have many benefits that can be gained because resource gathering is controlled, land is limited and now there are even laws to further constrict the movements of everyone,” the elder elf said.

Mir frowned, “You mean that you want to rescind the contract between us?” Mir asked.

“No, but we sailed all the way up here, we know the general power of the dungeon already, previously the limit when the contract was established was E rank but now even a D rank party might not beat the fifth floor boss now. Now with nations, islands will become further restricted since one of these nations hides their islands. The dungeon lost many sources of resources of which we benefit from,” she replied.

“In other words, you want to guarantee land for your nation within the dungeon that you can harvest from?” Mir said.

“That is indeed so, we do not want to take land from the nations, but there are plenty floating and loose islands from the reformation and at least the first three floors have a surplus,” she said smiling.

“In other words, you wish to set up a nation within the dungeon by following our own laws?” Mir asked.

The old queen nodded and smiled knowingly. She knew Mir was more than a simple wood elf but from her words, there is also a limit that she can exert due to her power.

“Dia, call your papa,” Mir said.

Dia nodded confused and vanished. A minute later Jack Frost appeared with Dia in his arms.

He saw the two elves and gave a nod, “You have called Grivmir?” he asked.

Mir nodded then explained the situation and Jack’s brow raised. “You sure are looking for benefits in murky water, woman,” Jack said.

“I am looking out for my people. The previous benefits were simple herbs and fruits. How can the benefits of free harvest of such a small quantity outweigh the danger of the dungeon?” she said.

“Indeed, but I do not see a need for such a great fuss,” he said and gestured to Mir. “She is currently the queen of the wood elf nation. All her land consists of farm islands as well as the entrance islands of the first five floors. Most of the residents living in the dungeon are within her borders,” Jack said.

“My interest is not in farmland but in a place none of you have accessed and that is the water,” she said and finally showed her aim as she pulled out a few simple shells. “While I was disguised and looking around, I encountered a party of humans and their leader had a most interesting sword. It was made by a strangely shaped shell handle and a long pointed cone shell,” she said pulling two similar shaped shells out and put them against each other then slowly turned the top one until it shined and the two shells merged. “The two shells merged and their weak magic power formed a whole, making a sword. What I wish is to develop a nation for my people who can focus on the research and development of these strange magic items. I want land to produce items and islands where shells can be harvested as well as a fishing spot to start exporting fish meat into my nation,” she said putting her proposal out.

The two were shocked as they didn’t know their dungeon had such items. Half complete magic items merging to form a whole. It was no wonder she wanted to change the contract.

“I see. So the formation of a nation is for this, I see now why you do not need much land, even just the ten islands, five on the first and second floors each, is enough to provide what is required. I understand, it would benefit the dungeon to have more residents due to the mana shortage at this time so to expand the quantity also helps.” Jack said but then looked at the food. “But we also need a few things, one of which is more food items, Dia was complaining about the dungeon lacking sweets such as sugar and something called chocolate while she explained the situation. We don’t possess crops that produce sugar nor do we know how to produce it, so we can reach an accord if you provide both. If you do, I will even aid in keeping the rest of the dungeon races from arguing but be warned, all nations follow the laws of the dungeon, even ones made by residents,” Jack warned.

“That is obvious, I can indeed agree to that, but it will take time as sugar isn’t a natural product of my nation but of the halflings. We would need to purchase the recipe or investigate how it is done,” she said.

“If you can provide the crop, you may investigate its use in the dungeon,” he said.

“Then it can be done,” she said.

“Good, I will warn you, we have little to aid with underwater travel. Until now, only the boss monsters released equipment so it will be hard unless you develop your own method,” he said.

“That is fine, magic exists so simply pushing water away to find the shells is an option,” she said.

“Grandmother, are you planning on coming here and leading?” Felicia asked.

“Indeed,” she said.

“Your power is that of even higher than an archmage, we still have an agreement of power limit. From what I understand there is talk of a new ranking that will soon to come out, we shall speak only after that is out,” Jack said.

“Ah!” the old elf said but nodded. “We shall go then,” she said.

“I shall lead you back.” Mir said and lead them to the water's edge where she called a red bus lobster.

They climbed aboard the cloud platform of the lobster and were lead out. Jack let go of Dia and let her go play while he went to do his own things.