When the light faded and I could see again, I found myself in a large stone room with ornate decoration carved into the walls. The others appeared with me, and we were swiftly approached by 4-foot tall men I immediately identified as dwarves. They had the short stature and wide faces I expected from dwarves, but what I hadn't expected was their gray skin and the stones bulging out of their forehead.

I see. Dwarves are rocks indeed. Also, no immediate quicksave this time. I'm going to be devastated if one doesn't come soon and I get sent back to elfland.

"Welcome ta DirIe Ilirad," one said gruffly. "The queen'll be seeing ya when she's ready. We're ta get ye ta yer new equipment first."

"Awesome," I said, feeling excited already. I never thought the day would come where gruff manlets filled my heart with so much joy.

They led us out of the stone room into a quite impressively wide stone hall; we were underground, apparently, but it felt more like we were in a grand palace that simply happened to lack windows.

"As you can see," Rose said as we walked, apparently eager to resume the infodump. "Our fine dwarven brothers are made of minerals. Ore and gems can be infused with souls by other dwarves, granting them sentience and access to a unique form of Earth Magic which allows them to form faux bodies out of their source ore. The upstanding gentleman guiding us now are, in truth, the pieces of stone jutting out of their foreheads. The bodies are just the creation of magic and can be altered at will, though within the limits of their magical power. Which leads us into the most fascinating aspect of Dwarven culture: the rarer the gem or ore, the more latent psychic ability a dwarf will have, which naturally led to the development of a hierarchy wherein the lowest-quality ores are at the bottom of the so-called 'mineralospectrum' and the highest-quality gems stand at the top. There is a harsh divide between the ores and the gems, with the gems having such powerful psychic ability they can, if they chose to, control the ores directly through telepathy. Queen Daiya, the ruler of this particular dwarf hold, was formed from a very dense and potent cluster of diamonds, which makes her among the most powerful dwarves currently alive. She has been ruling one dwarf hold or another for many millennia."

"Hold that thought," I said. "I'm just making a guess based on context clues here, but would it be accurate to say that ores are all males while gems are all women?"

Rose wagged a finger. "Be wary of projecting human values onto another species. Why would psychic minerals forming their body through Earth Magic have a gender? Dwarves are asexual. It is just circumstance and tradition that ores create masculine bodies for work while gems create more feminine bodies befitting of rulers."

"In other words, 'yes, but I want to sound woke.' Okay. So dwarves have a matriarchy, then."

She sighed. "If you insist on framing it that way, yes, the dwarves have a matriarchy. The mineralospectrum is taken very seriously, and the gems at the top all present as women."

"Can ores ever become gems or cross the gap between them in any way?"

"No. That would be as difficult as you or I changing the color of our blood, or something of the sort. They are fine with the situation, regardless, and not just because the gems can psychically control them to be fine with it if need be. Rather, the power difference between each level of the mineralospectrum is clear to see, and it is the dwarven way to quickly accept reality rather than strive for a position above one's stature."

"That sounds pretty fucking grim."

"Only because you are an outsider judging their culture within minutes of being infodumped on the bare basics of it. It would be more cruel than anything to ask a stone to do the work of gold or iron."

"Oh, do gold dwarves have golden skin or something?"

"No. That would be garish. They default to gray skin."

"Why gray?"

She looked at me. "Because rocks are gray. Why else? What other association might one make with gray skin?"

I waved a hand. "Sorry, dumb question. You're right."

Our conversation was interrupted by us leaving the palace-like hall and arriving at what seemed to be the more "city square" area of the dwarf hold. The cavern was massive and filled with so many tall structures I couldn't even see the walls of the place, though the ceiling of the cavern was visible as a black mass of nothingness far above. The buildings were all made of stone, of course, and there was a bustle of dwarves. Not all of them had their source ore in their forehead, but I saw flashes of copper, lead, and iron. I didn't see any gold, at least; perhaps gold dwarves were just rarer, or felt above traveling with the more common rabble.

Sophia, for all her racism regarding dwarves being rocks instead of minerals, was excitedly looking around. It didn't seem like she had ever actually been to a dwarf hold, or at least, the city square of one. Hilda was more lost in thought than anything, looking thoughtfully up in the air while striding with us.

"We're here," grunted one of the stone dwarves guiding us. Basic stone being, of course, the lowest on the mineralospectrum, since it was highly impure and composed of many different minerals. The more pure a mineral or gem was, the stronger the psychic ability, even within a certain rank of the mineralospectrum.

We walked into the smithy, a surprisingly large, boisterous place with clanking everywhere as dwarves hammered away at pieces of metal. Our dwarvish guides spoke to someone who seemed to be the foreman, who promptly walked this way.

"So ye be the Heir, eh?" he asked me.

"Seems so," I said. "What've you got for me?"

"Har! Only the finest steel equipment this side o' the underground, commissioned by High Builder Derra himself."

"High Builder Derra?" I asked.

He gave me an odd look. "Ye came here without knowing 'bout the Builders, sonny?"

Rose stepped forward. "My apologies, I was still in the middle of the infodump. Allow me to handle this." She turned to me. "Dwarves are broadly split into two organizations: the Builders, and the Excavators. Their names are self-evident, but for the purpose of discussion, I will give brief overviews. The Excavators expand the territory of dwarves by digging through the earth and clearing out dungeons. They are the fighters of the dwarves, and the explorers. The Builders are—"

"Wait one second. Dungeons? Like, uh... Multi-layered trap palaces that exist for arbitrary reasons and are filled with loot? The bane of natural worldbuilding? The cause of all too many subversive explanations for why someone would build a structure that exists only to provide a steadily increasing level of challenge while doling out rewards?"

She nodded. "Yes. If I were to ignore half of your incoherent rambling and focus on the key point, then yes, they would be that."

"Okay. Carry on," I said, trying to hide my excitement. I was seeing the plot here. I was seeing what was coming next, and boy, did it involve some numbers going hella up.

"Quite. Beside the Excavators stand the Builders, no less important in dwarf society. They follow the ground the Excavators paved and turn the jagged tunnels and caverns to the masterpieces of craftsmanship we saw on the way here. They consolidate power rather than seeking new power, and as our fire smithy friend here indicates, they also build weapons and armor. Equipment crafted by the Builders is highly sought-after outside of dwarf holds; many warriors would envy your position greatly."

"And yer gettin' yers fer free, courtesy of Queen Daiya that is, blessed be her name," the smith said.

"Awesome. Thanks. The iron broadsword I looted off a corpse last week has really not been keeping up with the escalation of encounters I've been facing."

"Yer gonna be needin' it, if Queen Daiya asks ye to patch up that hole like we be thinkin' she will."

"Hole?"

Rose shook her head. "The hole from which otherworldly monsters and demons have been pouring in. I alluded to it previously; the nature of this hole, and the timing, make me think this is the dwarf hold you are destined to visit in your quest. I am certain Queen Daiya will be able to give better details than I, however. I heard of the opening of the hole only in passing during my duties as paladin."

"Off we go, then. Thank you for your equipment, honorable smith."

The smith nodded, and we were off, with the armor and weapon itself being taken to my soon-to-be-chambers by another stone dwarf. I caught a glimpse of them, and they seemed sweet as fuck. Like the kind of armor you might see on the cover of dark fantasy action video game or something. The dwarves sure had good taste on top of being bro as fuck.

The palace was built in the center of the cavern, apparently since there was nothing more risky when dwarves were involved than building things directly into stone faces. You were just asking to get tunneled into, or something. It was a towering and quite impressive thing, given that it was underground.

We were led to a waiting room, briefly, and Rose capitalized on this opportunity to polish off the infodump. Sophia was completely ignoring her, and Hilda was still lost in thought. Neither of them cared about dwarven culture a fraction as much as we did. I was swiftly falling in love with the dwarves more than I thought I ever would. Was this the power of contrast?

"You are familiar with the name of the High Builder of DirIe Ilirad, Derra, but we can expect this audience to include Guran, the High Excavator of DirIe Ilirad. They're both gold dwarves, the highest on the ore side of the mineralospectrum, and there are some subtle politics you will be better off knowing sooner rather than later. It is universally understood that the Excavators have more dangerous work and undergo more fatalities, while the Builders enjoy significantly more safety building in the already-excavated areas. However, the Builders are responsible for the finest masterpieces of dwarven culture, in addition to all the mass-produced armor and weapons so highly sought by the world, so they are held in higher regard within the dwarvish courts. This has resulted in an undercurrent of tension where the Excavators feel underappreciated, while the Builders feel they are chiefly responsible for dwarvish prosperity with no little amount of arrogance."

Blah blah blah, politics.

"Let me summarize: Builders are dickish aristocrats, Excavators are based warriors that get their hands dirty."

Rose arched an eyebrow. "Are you accusing the smith who crafted your quite expensive armor of being a dickish aristocrat?"

"It's a summary, okay? I get it, anyway. Two big factions, there's some underdog versus court favorite tension, etc. I don't think it's going to matter. I'm going to be knee-deep in the dungeon, slaughtering everything that moves. You should be infodumping me on puzzles and traps and stuff instead."

"Just take care not to show clear favoritism for one faction over the other."

"Easy."

Soon enough a dwarf came to guide us to the audience hall. The two wide doors leading into it opened, and inside we found a massive room with pillars lining both sides of a red carpet stretching out to the throne. Upon said throne sat an incredibly tall woman; it wasn't until we were close and respectfully kneeling before her that it sank in that she was at least eight, maybe nine feet tall. She was slender, a dark gray dress with ornate patterns covering her lighter gray skin. If she had any curves beneath the dress, I certainly couldn't see them, and it wasn't a poofy dress either. Her black hair was contained within a bundle that curved behind her head, giving the impression of short hair despite it possibly being long. She wore an impassive expression that made Rose look like the most emotional person on earth, and most distinctive of all was the tiara-esque formation of brilliantly shining diamonds built directly into her forehead.

To either side of her stood dwarves with proud gold in their forehead. The one on the left wore plate armor bearing the emblem of a clenched fist raising an axe, while the one on the right wore fine silk emblazoned with the emblem of a clenched fist raising a hammer. High Excavator Guran and High Builder Derra, I presumed. They both had the gray skin I had come to expect from dwarves, and while they were frowning, that just seemed to be the resting bitch face of most ore dwarves. I hadn't seen them smile once since I came here, or express much emotion at all, really. Not even our guides had seemed peeved at my flagrant ignorance of their entire culture.

"Rise," came Queen Daiya's voice, and so we did. "So you are the Heir of the World, hm?" she asked, looking me over.

"Yes, your grace," I replied respectfully. There was certainly a temptation to swagger around and completely disregard what was socially expected of me, but really, I was just not a dick. I had no problem paying kings and queens of different cultures the proper respect. I would have shown Sophia a lot more respect if she hadn't been more interested in sucking cock and putting up a bitchy act than being a half-decent leader, though maybe I was being too judgmental.

"The elves said you could demonstrate your power," she droned, leaving the request unspoken. I wordlessly did my multimage juggling act, with some thorns mixed in this time for good measure. "I see," she said with a nod. "As expected. The elves would not have lied about this lightly."

"Hpmh! Of course we wouldn't!" Sophia said with a sniff. Oh god. Why am I better at basic diplomacy than the fucking elf princess?

I resisted the urge to break my sacred oath and use Dominate Beast to have Sophia shut up. That was the kind of taboo that if you broke it once, you would start breaking it all the time. Luckily, Queen Daiya seemed entirely unbothered.

"Heir of the World, I will not mince words. We request your aid in sealing the otherworldly hole that is troubling my dwarf hold."

"Of course, your grace, but may I ask for more information about this hole? I know little regarding the finer details of your problem."

She nodded, the slightest tilt of her head. "The hole is located on the fifth and bottom floor of the Malgreed Dungeon. It was blown open in an accident involving several Excavators, the details of which we know little about. What we do know is that the bottom of the Malgreed Dungeon seems to have been digging into the Other Realm, past the barriers, and thus has become an avenue for monsters and demons from the Other Realm to invade our own realm. The dungeon is now too dangerous to excavate through normal means, and we have simply been stalling for time by guarding the exit."

"What's the Other Realm?" I asked.

"I would have expected your female associate to know," Queen Daiya said, making a faint gesture to Rose. "Her ancestor was essential in sealing the single passage between our realms in our time of greatest need."

Rose blinked in surprise. "You... know who I am?"

"Your presence with the Heir alone speaks volumes, but one does not live for millennia as I have without learning the telltale signs of a Penndrack. The seed of Anther Penndrack proves itself strong yet."

"I see... I apologize for disappointing you, but I have been told little of this other world. My education as a Penndrack was cut quite short, unfortunately."

"Mm," Queen Daiya intoned. "It is no secret, though it has been forgotten through time, as is the fate of all things. I shall explain. It was some centuries ago, when Anther Penndrack was first making a name for himself as a paladin of the church, that the Other Realm began their invasion. All manner of demon and monster spilled through the sole passageway between our realms, and from what little we could glean from their origins told us their armies were being mustered by one sole warlord. To this day we know nothing of this warlord, for Anther Penndrack united the Five Races between the banner of the church and heroically sealed the passageway at the cost of his own life. We have had no contact with the Other Realm since then until now, but given the flood of demons that pours through with each opening, we can only guess that the realm is something akin to the Hell of legends, and a massive one at that."

"Hell?" I asked. "Do we have heaven here...?"

Rose shot me a look. "I somehow still find myself being caught off guard by what you do not know about this world. Yes, we have heaven; nine thousand heavens, in fact."

"What the fuck? Nine thousand? Is that a joke? That sounds like a fake number you just made up on the spot."

"No. You may read about it in the Church of the Goddess's holy scripture, if you would like, or use a celestiprobe to peer above the clouds. The first level of heaven is not much different from the land you have traversed so far, but the levels get increasingly divine until you reach the top level, the Alpha Heaven. Upon death you are sent to a level of heaven according to your virtue and the good deeds you accomplished during life, with high virtue earning a higher place in the heavens. It is said that the Supreme Goddess whom we all worship is waiting within the Alpha Heaven for a man virtuous enough to be worthy of her love." Rose looked me over. "If you play your hand right, mighty Heir of the World, that might just be in the cards for you."

Queen Daiya waved a light hand. "Enough. Now is not the time for a theology lesson. Do you understand our request, Heir of the World?"

"Yes. But... But..." I faltered, then steeled my resolve. "Let me just make sure I have this straight." Queen Daiya nodded.

Okay.

"First of all, the vast majority of dwarves are male, and there are only a select few women in the entire species. You may be the only dwarf woman in this entire hold." She nodded. Okay. "Second, the problem you want me to deal with involves no court intrigue or mysteries. You just want me to conquer a dungeon, get to the bottom floor, and deal with a demon problem. Nothing more to it than that." She nodded. "Third," and I paused here for a second, out of sheer emotion, but finally managed to force out the words. I pointed at her. "Dwarves are asexual, and in fact, have no notion of sex or lust. You have lived for millennia and have never experienced or desired sex once in your life. You are literally a gem golem with no sexual organs to speak of. The body you project out of magic exists purely for practical purposes and does not have the capacity for lust, love, or anything. Am I correct?" I asked.

There was a pause.

"Yes," Queen Daiya finally said. Her impassive expression revealed no emotion.

My expression, however, did.

I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face. "YEEEEEEEEEEES!" I cried, openly weeping as a broad grin spread across my face. "YEEEEEES!" I cried again, slamming my fists onto the ground out of sheer emotion. I felt my skin rip and blood splatter, but I did not give a fuck. I pounded again, and again. "FREEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" I roared, and then just buried my face in my bloody hands, sobbing out of pure joy and relief.

Through my tears I could see that Rose and Hilda were giving me flat, unamused looks. Sophia was scowling the darkest scowl of her life. Even the stone-cold dwarves had eyebrows slightly lifted in surprise. But I didn't care. I was free. I was fucking free.

Only when I climbed back to my feet, shaking with emotion, did anyone speak.

"What trauma have you undergone on your journey to this point, Heir?" Queen Daiya asked. Her voice was as flat as her expression, but my display had been unorthodox enough that she could not keep her silence.

"It's not important. The past is behind us. What matters now, is the future. I accept your quest, honorable queen. I shall venture into the Malgreed Dungeon and seal this foul hole to hell from which otherworldly demons and monsters are pouring through. My party shall leave at first light tomorrow."

She nodded slightly. "Very well. We thank you for your assistance. You may consult High Excavator Guran for assistance; it is to my understanding his men have mapped the upper layers of the dungeon, and I imagine his advice will be useful to you."

Guran saluted. I looked his way and decided instantly: This man was my bro character. In a world assaulting me with female party members, Guran would be my stalwart bro, standing alongside me in my times of brotherly need. Thinking back, I had been given this opportunity time and time again in the past, but in my ignorance I refused the bro call. There was Jeffrey and Bah'hum'bug, both of whom with the clarity of hindsight I could now recognize as potential bro characters whose everlasting, platonic friendship I had scorned out of sheer, despicable ignorance. Just think of how much better this journey would have been with Jeffrey at my side all along the way. Jeffrey sharing my highs, helping me through my lows, fighting off the hordes of elven women who came after me, providing a shoulder to cry on when Hilda nearly killed me through sex... I had denied myself this beautiful friendship, but I wasn't about to make the same fuck up for the third time in a row. Come, Guran. Let us be bros.

"Absolutely, your grace. Thank you."

"Attendants will guide you to your chambers for the night. If you wish, you can visit our Church of the Goddess to learn more of the religion. It is operated by a human, so you may find solace in the company of another member of your species."

"Thank you, your grace."

And with that, the audience ended. All in all, I was feeling pretty good. Things literally could not have gone better for me. I had a simple quest to accomplish, in a land of asexual minerals, ruled by a female-presenting but nonetheless completely devoid of sexual lust gem golem. Queen Daiya, I decided, was the ideal party member. I would have no problem whatsoever with her being the third member of the Five and thus a member of my "harem." Honestly, she would hardly even be a haremette. She would be like a literal stone pillar keeping the group together, even when emotions with everyone else ran high. Never would her actions or thoughts be tainted by the sinful lust which has plagued me so. Even if I was gripped by some mad fancy to try to fuck her, I simply wouldn't be able to. The bare stone wall of her crotch would smash my dick to bits, and if I moved elsewhere, I would find stone walls on her chest and behind as well. Nothing but bare stone lacking holes everywhere I went. It was impossible to fuck her, impossible for her to fuck me, and, best of all, impossible for her to even feel the urge to fuck me. It was perfect. I had started to think of this world and journey as a nightmare hellscape, but finally, things were looking up.

I directed the attendants to take me to the church while everyone else was shown their rooms. I would just be dropping by for a second, and everyone else had exactly zero interest in visiting a church to learn some trivia about a religion they already knew everything about.

The church turned out to be built into the palace; the Church of the Goddess was, in fact, a universal religion worshipped by all of the races and countries (except the demon realm, I guessed.) That kind of thing was bound to happen when you knew for a fact there existed nine thousand heavens, and when there was a burning floating tablet above the tallest mountain in the world upon which the Goddess made her presence known. She was apparently in the Alpha Heaven as opposed to literally walking the earth, but still, in that kind of situation, atheism does not look at all attractive.

I stepped through the door and found myself in a fairly traditional chapel with rows of wooden pews leading up to an altar with a statue of the Goddess, looking just like the one in Koh'rin except marble instead of wood. Before the altar was praying a girl; she was wearing a dark blue nun's habit, including the coif headpiece. Her own hair was a light blue color and was done into a single large braid that fell behind her back.

"Hello?" I called, hoping I wasn't interrupting anything.

She stood and turned around, braid swishing behind her. I was immediately stricken by her ocean-like eyes and the calm smile on her young, pretty face. She stepped forward, and my eyes were drawn to her ample bust... okay, look, fuck you, I didn't want to ogle the boobs of a nun, but they're an important trait signifying comfort and motherhood. It was important to note her motherly aura was completed by sizable, inviting boobs. It was not perverted. It was a respectable tradition that could be traced down art since art itself was invented. Holy woman, calm expression, light blue eyes and hair, dark blue habit, and finally, big inviting boobs. The end. Don't judge me.

"What brings you to this humble church, lost sheep?" she asked, her voice clear and comforting. She looked to be no older than twenty or so, but her voice certainly had more gravitas than I expected from that.

"I'm just here to read some holy scripture. The, ah... Queen Daiya sent me here."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Oh my. But it was to my understanding that she was having an audience with the Heir of the World."

"Yep. That's me," I said, kind of lamely. Like I said, I wasn't much for swaggering around. I didn't earn the position of Heir of the World myself, and I would have felt ridiculous trying to act like a smug fuck about it.

She paused, and time seemed to freeze for a span of seconds, until eventually her smile broadened. "Aaah, how delightful! To think I would be granted a visit with the Heir himself... The Goddess has truly blessed me. Come, come. I will show you all the scripture you desire."

She gestured me to a back room, where there was a bookshelf filled with scrolls and books. She selected a particularly slender volume and handed it to me. "This is something of a digest covering what we know of heaven and the Goddess. You may read it now, if you'd like, though I'm afraid no books can be removed from this room."

I nodded. "Sure, great. I'll just flip through this and be on my way."

And so I did. The book was written in pretty flowery and excessive language (which thankfully looked like English to me, or maybe it was English), but I managed to glean some neat information. There were actually a smattering of lesser deities throughout the heavens, along with a veritable legion of angels, but they had little direct influence on daily life, since crossing from heaven to the mortal realm was all but impossible, even for the Supreme Goddess (generally called just the goddess). There was a list of lesser deities, which I skimmed; a few interesting ones that stuck out were the God of War, since it seemed odd for a supposedly peaceful heaven to have a God of War, and the Elf Goddess, because there was a note about her disappearing one thousand years ago and never being seen again. Ultimately, though, it was just trivia, and I didn't feel like I was learning anything useful. Not like I would have any influence over what would happen following my death.

"You look just as I imagined you would," came a breath.

"Huh?" I said, looking up. The nun was staring at me as I read, and probably had been the entire time.

She looked away, seeming a bit flushed. Her cheeks were ever-so red. "Every disciple of the Goddess dreams of one day having an opportunity to serve the Heir. I have often wondered what the Heir would be like, if an opportunity were ever to arise for me, and you are quite... quite like I imagined you would be."

I shut my eyes tightly. My slut senses were tingling. Okay, maybe that was harsh, but this was definitely a "romantic subplot" being forced onto me because of all the asexual dwarves. I should have known the second I saw an incredibly attractive and busty human woman. Luckily, I was an expert at dealing with this kind of thing by now.

I handed her back the book. "Glad to live up to your expectations. And you were a big help, trust me. I was the laughing stock of the dwarf hold back there when I said I didn't know there was a heaven."

She smiled warmly. "If you are ever in need of help again, please do not hesitate to visit. I will provide what little assistance I am capable of."

"Sure. What's your name, so I can ask for you?"

"Oh, I am the sole nun of this humble church. The dwarves are not particularly passionate about religion, or much of anything. But you may call me Medea."

"Cool. See you later, Medea."

"Farewell," she replied with a smile.

With that I left the church and met back up with the stone dwarves who had been waiting. I thought things over on the way to my chambers.

No autosave yet, but things were looking good. Tomorrow morning I would get my bearings, maybe kill time and go to suitably dramatic locations in hopes of the autosave happening, then gather everyone together to start dungeon delving. Any long-term plans would depend on the layout of the dungeon and whatnot, but I had some ideas. I wouldn't feel bad about spending some loops dedicated to grinding when a dungeon was involved; in a normal context, it made sense to "go in expecting to win even if there's a 100% chance you lose," but dungeons were different. You were going to have to trial and error your way through it, and grinding was sometimes essential for a boss on the final floor. I came here to get stronger, after all, so it made sense to use this opportunity to get some grinding in where I could. The ceremony in the beastkin kingdom that Rose had described really did seem brutal. I wanted to be as strong as I could get.

It was time to make some numbers go up, mother fucker.