Cless went with them because she needed to open up the tunnel. All these things she did out of caution that weren't needed irritated Cless but she rationalized as avoiding a worse outcome. Cless returned to her prisoners and shoved these musings out of her head. Now is not the time for moping.

"Now, shall we have a conversation, gentlemen? And lady," Cless nodded to the mage. "I will offer you a deal to get out of here alive and unharmed. I'll even fix your broken bones. Each of you must pay me a ransom, of the same value as your lives. Those that accept to pay can leave, those that don't, well, I have a lot of catacombs back there to fill with more bodies."

"If you are really a guild master, you know the Association rules! You can't just murder other delvers!" The guy that got his shoulder ravaged by Silverfang shouted back. Cless raised a hand both to stop him from speaking up and to let her guild know she would deal with it.

"Oh. How cute," She cooed. "Do you smugglers really want to bring the Association here to adjudicate our dispute? Because a bunch of guys with a room full of undeclared goods clearly originated from the Dungeon will paint you like what? Bandits? Smugglers? Thugs? Do you wanna bet your charter on it? Because I am sure the porters will testify against you. Who are you?"

"I'm Steppenwolf, guild master of the Timberwolves delver guild. I'll see you dead, bitch!" He roared in defiance.

Cless readied herself and drew her black broadsword. "I'll make an example out of him. Wanna make a wager? I bet my life that I can defeat you here. If you win, everything I have belongs to you. If I defeat you, you'll die and everything you have will belong to me."

She let him see the notification.

Wager created. Whoever wins this duel gets the other's Guild Charter, as many Skills, Stats as the amount and grade owned, and a tenth of the defeated party's total Experience. The loser agrees to never speak of this wager under penalty of death.

Wager accepted.

"I'm going to make you regret it." He snarled.

Cless reset all her buffs on herself. "Silverfang, release that man and give him a weapon."

She didn't heal him. Steppenwolf stood with the sword on his offhand. Cless used Flametongue on hers.

He took a step forward and Cless activated her [Fear Aura]. Steppenwolf disappeared in a blur. Cless couldn't follow him even with her two hundred Agility and Intellect.

"[Mirage Slash!]"

She pivoted on her leg to parry a blow from three copies of Steppenwolf. She blocked one but the other two connected, chipping her stone armor and diving in her Protection. The images disappeared, including the one she parried. She locked her eyes with the man. This is not a game, she chided herself.

Cless went on the offensive. She lunged and swung her flaming sword at his head, forcing Steppenwolf to parry the otherwise fatal blow. She kept moving forward and with a twist of her wrist, let her blade slip back to put his over her cross-guard, effectively locking both weapons. It left his right flank open as his arm hung limply by his side. She reached out and grabbed it.

"Lightning Grasp!"

The shock almost finished the job Silverfang's jaw started. Steppenwolf jerked his body and convulsed. Cless used this opening to kick his jewels, only to be stopped by a solid codpiece. That wasn't fair!

Steppenwolf got out of his stupor and freed his blade. He brought a short swing at Cless midriff and she could only evade by releasing his arm and moving away.

"Not bad for an ugly deformed bitch." He spat blood to the side.

"Shield of Faith."

Was her answer. The golden shield towered over her left side and floated along as she moved. Steppenwolf rose an eyebrow and Cless once again moved in for a killing blow.

"[Dervish Dance!]"

Steppenwolf changed his stance, moving fluidly and evading her swings with a grace unnatural for such a large body. But Cless gave up on winning with force of arms.

"Magic Missiles!"

Seven glowing projectiles appeared in front of her left hand and she let them fly. They bolted in all directions and arced back, striking the man on all sides and puncturing his armor and flesh.

"[Endless Moon Rage]!"

Once again Steppenwolf form blurred and disappeared. Cless felt him all around her. She calmed herself down and knew she wouldn't be able to counter his trick with force of arms.

"Bulwark!"

Right before several illusions of him appeared around her, Cless conjured a cylinder of holy light to guard her. The images attacked and some of them even chipped the Bulwark. She kept watching around her and found the one that was causing the most damage. They weren't moving around. Maybe...

"Spike!"

The fast-cast Earth spell caused a spear of stone to rise as fast as if it was thrown from the very core of the world and stabbed through his thigh, effectively pinning him to the ground. Alarmed and in pain, Steppenwolf took to hack at the spike to break it. And now that he couldn't use his agility-based techniques...

"Grasping Hand. — Grasping Hand." She summoned stone hands to pin both of his ankles. He dented his sword by hitting the hard stone spike one more time and Cless used another fast spell.

"Light."

His eyes widened in realization. Cless could tell he knew what her next spell would be.

"I yield! I yield!" He dropped his sword and raised his left hand up.

Wager won. You are now the owner of the Timberwolves guild charter.

You gained +50 Strength +70 Agility +30 Health +10 Intellect. You gained the C-rank Skill [Moonlight Guidance].

You gained 409,500 Experience Points. You reached Wizard Princess 13. +2 Agility, +1 Health, +3 Intellect, +4 Magic.

- [Appoint Protector II] learned: Nominate two defenders from your loyal retinue. Both gain +4 to their levels and all stats while defending you.

You reached Master Instructor 18.

Deferred Stat Allocation. Calculating the limit. +10 points per day. You gained +10 Strength, +10 Agility +10 Health, +10 Intellect. Next allocation at Dawn.

[Moonlight Guidance]: Gain the following benefits when under moonlight: You can see as well as a bright day. Recover from wounds at double speed. Increase all Stats by 25% of the base value. You can retrace the path you took while under moonlight perfectly.

The night became as clear as day for her. Wonderful Skill. She could feel her Stats increasing too, but it only affected Wisdom, Charisma, and Magic, having a partial effect on Intellect. The others were superseded by Trevor's [Perfect Might].

"Steppenwolf, you are expelled from the Timberwolves." She didn't enjoy the look of terror in his eyes as the man read his notifications. "Promise you'll go away peacefully from Glauchester to never return and to forget everything about what happened here including the smuggling and tonight. Return, remember or tell anyone what happened or attack anyone here tonight and you die. If you agree, I'll heal your arm and let you walk out a free man. Keep your weapon, your armor, your coin. Otherwise, you'll be treated as a bandit and smuggler. I bet Heimdall and the porters you were abusing an hour ago want to have a little chat with you."

He hung his head. "I agree."

She felt her Skill trigger and let Steppenwolf go away after restoring his arm and healing his other wounds. From his Experience total, she knew he was at level ninety. Now he was a level ninety with no Stats. Besides his combat abilities, he was as weak as a teenager fresh from his rite of passage. Worse yet, any enemy below level forty-one wouldn't give him an ounce of Experience. Not her problem anymore.

"For all of you, I'll give the same choice I gave Steppenwolf. But if you choose to duel, it will be to the death." She paused to think. Only Steppenwolf and four others resisted her [Fear Aura]. She should be working from the bottom up. "Silverfang, gather these four here and take them to the tunnel. Keep them from dying or attacking anyone. Leave the others to me. Kurt, come here."

She went with the mawarpy outside of the spike cage. "What do you want, Cless?"

"I have a Skill and a job for you, my friend. Grant [Moonlight Guidance] to Kurt. Check it." She felt the night darken all of a sudden and Kurt smiled.

"Excellent gift. What would you have me do?"

"Fly around. I think some of the smugglers are around. If they are skulking near us or the tunnel, drive them away."

They left and Cless closed the spikes, effectively boxing the thirty-one lower level smugglers inside with her. She raised a stone platform with ten marks for people to stand on.

"Ok. Here's the deal. You will either take the deal or die. Those that accept the deal will, after giving me the ransom I demand, be left out free under the same terms as Steppenwolf got. You will give me your Skills and ten Stat points. The first ten that agree will stand on this platform and they will as part of our agreement, go away from Glauchester to never return and forget everything about smuggling and what happened here tonight. Keep your life, your gear, and coin. The others will have to pay a bigger price."

She released them and ten people climbed the platform. She had a hunch that these were the ones whose Skills were considered useless. She glanced at the list and they were all E ranked. She'd review them later in more detail.

Cless raised another spike wall separating these ten from the others. She lowered the wall behind them and they ran away. Restoring the cage, she repeated the procedure, but this time she took fifteen Stat points. This time there were one C-rank and nine D-rank Skills. Probably the smart people that recognized the progression and decided to cut their losses.

The eleven stubborn ones were stealing glances at her. Maybe trying to measure their odds of escaping.

She lowered half of the platform. "Only five on this last go. I'll only accept twenty Stat Points and C or D-rank Skills. The last six will be turned in to the guard. Someone has to take the fall for this smuggling operation."

Two C-rank and three D-rank. 'Twenty-six people running away like the Devil was on their toes. Not the Devil, only his daughter,' she mused, sardonically. She had to walk the path she chose.

"You six, I have a special deal for you. Just forget what happened tonight and I'll let you live. You are still going to the constable."

"And what happens if we don't agree?"

She glared at the one that talked back. "You've seen my monsters. They are hungry." For delvers, getting eaten by monsters was a gruesome and terrible way to die. Not that it wasn't gruesome and terrible for the others, but it was a risk every delver accepted when they entered a Dungeon.

Cless let the notification show for them with the prompt to accept or deny. The six agreed to be restrained. She removed the signs of her Earth magic and went back to the tunnel. An argument was going on and it became clear for her as she moved back to the room with the smuggled goods.

"Get out of the way, beast!"

A man's voice echoed in the tunnel. It was the first thing she could make sense of. Cless hurried her step, tugging on the rope with the six prisoners.

She saw Silverfang and Vic holding the porters back and keeping them from reaching the four prisoners, those that could resist her [Fear Aura]. She harvested three hundred and fifty Stat points from the smugglers and decided to use ninety to bump her last three stats to the next hundred.

"What is going on here?" They froze, dead on their tracks. By reaching the next hundred, her presence grew to a new level. Everyone went silent as if they were in the presence of Royalty. She looked at Heimdall, Helga's brother. "Explain. And mind yourself to be respectful. We came here to rescue you."

"We want to deliver some justice to these thugs but your... minions won't let us." He whined.

"Are you with the constable or with the smugglers, Heimdall?" Cless asked with a neutral tone. "Because the constable might have some ideas to arrest you as accomplices for the work you did carrying these crates. Now, do you want to insult the people that not only saved you from bleeding out to death but also those that can testify that you were forced to work?

Cless rose her tone to one that demanded attention and obedience. "Think about your choices, young man. These are my prisoners, and until you set foot in the cobblestones of Glauchester, you will do as I say."

"Yes, I will." He said softly.

Impressed, she placed another hundred points in Charisma. Probably something stupid to do, but she felt good at how the situation was defused.

"I'll go outside to interview these four. Silverfang, keep the prisoners gagged and blindfolded. No squabbling."

She took the mage woman and went outside. Kurt landed next to her from a tree. "All clear, Cless."

"Thanks, Kurt. Stay here and watch the tunnel entrance, we are going home soon."

She realized one terrible mistake. Her [Fear Aura] was now too big. With a sigh, Cless moved deeper into the woods with the woman. She let the bound mage on the ground and tried her aura for a moment. The mage froze.

"I'll offer you the same deal as I did to Steppenwolf. Give me your Skills and you can walk away free and hale. Forget about what happened tonight and about the smuggling and never return to Glauchester. Don't attack me or my guild members. If you break these restrictions you'll die. Here is a notification for you to agree or reject."

She felt sympathy for the woman. Being a female in this world was a hard experience, even more, if you tried to carve your place in the competitive arena that was delving. That was why Cless didn't go for her Stats or Experience.

You gained the C-rank Skill [Will of the Mage]. Unlocks Wisdom. Increase Magic by (10 + level)% and Proficiency rate for non-divine spells by 50%.

Cless felt bad for the woman but it was the result of her life choices. She gave her the [Cheat] Skill to see if she could get a hint.

She returned to the tunnel and took the first of the three outside.

"I'm thinking of just killing you. The others already agreed to give me what I want, so I don't need you. Unless you convince me otherwise."

"I'm Dagon, the guild master of the Dragon Delvers! I'll give you my charter, just as Steppenwolf did."

Cless sighed. "So you want the same deal as Steppenwolf, is that it?"

"Yes."

Her Skill didn't trigger. Cless scratched her head and decided to tune it down, it was probably because he didn't understand the terms. She removed the Experience and Stat points and promised him another Skill in exchange. She willed the notification to show for him.

"There you go. Take it or die."

Trade accepted.

You gained the C-ranked Skill [Dragon Skin]: Your Skill is tougher like a Dragon's Hide. There's no change in texture or feeling. Subtract your Health from the attacker's Strength or Intelligence before calculating bonus damage. You reduce 50% of all fire and acid damage before other resistances.

You gave away the Skill [Heavy Handed].

You now own the charter for the Dragon Delvers guild. Dagon will forget everything about this night and think the Skill was always his.

She took from him the Guild Charter and added to the two she had.

The other two didn't want to trade their Skills so Cless struck a deal with them for ninety thousand Experience and thirty Stat points from each of them in return for not killing them. These three plus the other six would be turned in to the guard for the smuggling.

You gained 180,000 Experience. You reached level 90. +1 Stat point.

You reached Wizard Princess 17. +2 Agility, +1 Health, +3 Intellect, +2 Charisma, +2 Magic.

- [Invader Awareness] learned: Sense the general location and relative level (higher, within 5 levels, or lower) of hostiles inside either your Strongholds or Demesnes. Hostiles are those wishing to inflict physical harm upon you.

You reached Master Instructor 19.

Robbing the robbers.

Cless felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Was this her path for advancement? Preying on other humans? They were the scum of the world, true, but it was far from her wish of delving and fighting monsters. Maybe she could do both.

After gathering her whole group, she sealed the tunnel entrance shut, filling the hole with hardened stone up until the room with the contraband crates were. They filed in, dragging the nine prisoners with them. Her Light spells were still there, lighting up the tunnels. Everything went fine until they reached the five "lost" crates.

"Hey, here is our loot!" Heimdall exclaimed. The other porters all cheered up, sharing pats on each other's backs. "I told them we didn't take them."

Cless cleared her throat. "These are smuggled goods. If the loot is yours, it means you are part of the smuggling ring. Is that what you said?"

Helga punched her brother's stomach. "No, guild master. That is not what they meant."

"Good." Cless quipped and shaped the tunnel shut beyond the crates. She opened the passage leading back to her manor and whispered to Chad. "Go and explore these catacombs. See if there's another access to the church portion. Don't fight, if some monster or person sees you run back home. Also, don't go near the Dungeon."

The drillmole bolted down the dark tunnels and the people plus Kate moved back to the surface through the manor basement. Helga looked at the basement and Cless shrugged and lied. "After you told us, I had to take a look."

Cless checked the stone box with the golem and the wagon with Tremorsense and found everything undisturbed. The golem moving inside was enough to vibrate the whole thing.

She created another stone shed to store her loot and stripped her nine prisoners down to their clothes. Their gear and loot were theirs by law anyway. Waving goodbye to Helga and the porters, she bound the nine smugglers in stone near the ever-burning pit of debris.

Cless dismissed the golem and resummoned it inside the tunnels. After ordering the construct to move the crates of contraband to her basement Cless laid down on a bedroll and tried to sleep for the rest of the night.

Tried being the keyword. Her mind was swimming in doubt and worries. She would be glad if it were just vampires. The way she preyed on people concerned her.

And sleeping without a roof for the fourth night in a row was grating on her nerves.

Stats:

Name: Queen Cless Hreidmar of Myrkheim and Infernal Realm (in exile)

Race: Human.

Level: 90 ( 4,075,500 / 4,095,000 Exp ) [Experience Threshold > level 40]

Class (tier) level (Experience):

— Dabbler (1) 25 ( 300,000 Exp / ** ) — Beast Tamer (2) 25 (900,000 Exp / ** ) — Vicar (3) 25 ( 1,500,000 Exp / ** ) — Wizard Princess (4+1) 17 (1,405,500 / 1,428,000 Exp )

Profession — Veteran Warmaster 25 (300,000 Exp / **) — Master Instructor 19 (617,972 / 665,000 Exp)

— Crafter 25 (Skill) — Farmer 25 (Skill) — Herbalist 25 (Skill) — Alchemist 25 (Skill)

Base Stats — Strength: 75 [180] — Agility: 100 [240] — Health: 117 [280] — Intellect: 130 [260] — Wisdom: 200 — Charisma: 302 — Magic: 302 [604]

Available Status Points: 205

Skills:

S-rank: [Absolute Contract]

B-rank: [Fear Aura] – [Perfect Might] – [Succubus’ Kiss]

C-rank: [Eat Anything] – [Elven Longevity] – [Appraise Immunity] – [Craftsmen] – [Dangersense] – [Dragon Skin] – [Earth Magic]

– [Master Miner] — [Seductress' Charm] — [Will of the Mage]

D-Rank: [Alchemical Tolerance] – [Alchemist] – [Brownie Magic] – [Curmudgeon crafter] – [Dancer’s Grace] – [Darkness Resistance]

– [Druidwalk] – [Farmer] – [Gemsense] – [Giant's Stamina] – [Great Leap] – [Grounding] – [Herbalism] – [Merchant sense]

– [Ore sense] – [Poison Resistance] – [Runner's Dash] – [Sharp Mind] – [Singers’ Talent] – [Snakes' Flexibilty] – [Spell Resistance]

– [Steelshine] – [Tinker] – [Tremorsense]

E-Rank: [Air sailing] – [Architectural Ingenuity] – [Burrower Bond] – [Coin Sense] – [Enhanced touch] – [Gravebreath]

– [Hearth’s warmth] – [Howl] – [Pack Rat] – [Seamstress Talent] – [Silk Hair] – [Splinters]

– [Virility] – [Wanderlust] – [Weavertouch]

F-rank: [Cheat] – [Florist’s Wonder] – [Gardener’s touch] – [Inner Compass]

Unlisted: 3x C-rank, 12x D-rank, 10x E-rank.

Techniques:

— [Beast Taming VI] — [Beast Status] — [Share Skills]

— [Sanctuary]

— [Appoint Stronghold] — [Appoint Demesne] — [Appoint Protector II] — [Invader Awareness]

Spells (Master Instructor: +1 to all. Spells without a number are at the soft cap / * denotes a level 25th ultimate):

Divine: — Mending — Detoxify — Light — Turn Undead — Blessing — Holy Bolt — Purify — Protection

— — — Hallow — Flametongue — Cure — Uncurse — Banish — Heal — Warding — Revivify*

— — — Censure — Bulwark — Mass Mending — Sacred Dance — Judgement — Song of the Accord*

— — — Water Breathing — Shield of Faith — Sanctuary*

Mage: — Detect Magic — Mage Bolt — Armor — Firebolt — Icebolt — Lightning Grasp — Shield

— — — Fireball — Resistance — Shockwave — Magic Missiles — Wind Blade — Deeppockets* — Blink*

House: — Detect Dust — Doorwatch — Prestidigitation — Never Overdone! — Touch Up — Dry — Repair — Clean — Bloom — Hearth Recall*

Earth: — Soften — Earth Armor — Spike — Stone Shape — Earthen Maw — Earthwave — Terrakinesis — Golem*

— — — Earth to Stone — Grasping Hand — Spike Wall — Construct*

Wiz.Princess: — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ????

Proficiencies (Master Instructor: +1 to all. Values under 10 hidden / {A} = Automatic Proficiency: Soft Cap +5):

Appraise: Status: 80 — Resistance: (immune) — Forgery: (immune)

General: Prayer: 80 — Reading: 50 — Architecture: {A}

Academic: Magic Theory: 50 — Spellcraft: 50

Crafting (+9 Profession): Tailor: {A} — Embroidery: {A} — Knitting: {A}

Farming, plants (+38 Profession): Foraging: 30 — Forestry: 30 — Gardening: 17

Farming, livestock (+13 Profession): Dismantling: 30

Production (+9 Profession): Mining: {A} — Weaving: {A}

Social: Negotiation: 80 — Persuasion: 80 — Bluff: 80 — Flirting: {A} — Sexual Technique: {A} — Etiquette: {A} — Dancing: {A} — Singing: {A} — Gambling: {A}

Movement: Running: {A} — Athletics: {A} — Balance: {A} — Jumping: {A}

Martial (+18 profession): Leadership: 80 — Intimidation: 60 — Tactics: 80

Weapon (+18 profession): Long Blades: 80 — Unarmed: 80 — Archery: 80 — Maces: 60 — Pickaxe: {A}