A full two weeks passed while we stayed at Vine Grove, the town at the border of Dark Vine town.

Luna and Hermes were away for that period of time and during that time i had focused on skill training, particularly those that i could already access. Although i gained tools for engraving, it was simply a sewing set for tailoring and several sets of needles and a mallet for metal and wood engraving.

It was the simplest i could get and use with my skill at the moment. The other one i could train was Farming and Alchemy. With most of Hermes’ books remaining in the dungeon, i had easy access to his work and learned a few basic recipe, such as how to make potion solutions and prep work.

Farming was much easier to level up though, under direct management and using a Nature Item Hoe i had the puppets make after the mana tree was completely grown, i personally tilted the fields, planted and watered one of them alone. Of course i don’t know how to do the same thing as the puppets to make it grow quickly but it was still quicker than normal.

Also, the dolls were able to make their strange dresses. Amazingly, they used mana of the book and formed matter from it making threads and formed silk magical dresses. They were all Uncommon Low Grade after all and there was still low grade. Most likely the common Low Grade ones were even simpler after i could wake them up. There were over 20 broken ones still needing extensive repairs and formation of body parts. As for the two Common Medium Grade ones, they were in the process of making their own dresses.

The dress of the Low Grade ones were very simple, they were White one piece dresses with a simple white headband, with no frills. Of course, they were far from simple, when the light shines on them, lines of mana could be seen flowing through them. Their magical abilities indeed did improve greatly with these clothing but the amount of Runes on their body were even more drastic.

They already helped increase the rate of mana generation but were mostly emotionless, even the Medium grade ones were the same due to the inadequate gem that was only a Low Grade Soul gem. Since it needs 3 exp gem for a Low grade Soul gem it would be reasonable to say that it takes 3 soul gems for Medium grade.

Of course, when they woke up they said that it would take about a month for them to upgrade their Soul gem to the proper grade. Until then, they have the quality of Medium grade and all its runes while having the power of only a Low grade. That is about 60% of their true power which is impressive in its own right.

Anyway, my Engraving skill reached level 3 and Farming hit level 5 within the two weeks of training.

Farming is obviously easier since i am using advanced techniques. Also each skill has its own bonus. For farming it’s

Farmer

Level 5: Exp 1750/3000

The skill of Agriculture. To domesticate the land and bring bountiful food to your own.

Improves Crop Quality by 10%

Increases Crop Growth Speed by 10%

Obviously, with each level through normal means, i didn’t obtain knowledge like normal but that won’t stop all the built up levels from flooding my mind when i actually use it on the skill.

Still, a high skill level would be required later on when I have to force other people into using my methods.

After two weeks, Luna and Hermes finally returned to Vine Grove with all three missions complete. What was most surprising is what they pulled along with them.

Trapped in iron cages were five very young goblins and seven equally young orc. Behind that was a cart with many different spoils. Obviously there were puppet horse pulling, all rented, and pulled the carts back to the inn.

“Mistress! Mistress! Look what we found!” Luna exclaimed as she ran rapidly at Misaki and jumped to hug her only to have Misaki give her a roundhouse kick to the shoulder and sent her spinning to the ground.

“What is with the monsters and what is that pile of junk?” I asked.

“It isn’t a pile of junk, this village was medium grade and had almost 400 orcs. They were quite well off and the chieftain even knew rare forging arts of the Orcs. Those are incredibly rare. He had spread it around and they were a rare forging village. It was much harder to kill them off because of their weapons being better quality. Thanks to Luna, we were able to even obtain the chieftain’s forge.” he said and pointed to the huge round object in the pile. There were hammers and other items. “These are Orc children, they hadn’t undergone the sealing ceremony so they don’t have the demon seal and these seem to be young goblins that were caught to become slaves. Amazingly four are female.” Hermes said excited

“Is that supposed to be special?” I asked.

“Of course, goblins and even orcs are a male predominant race. Look at the orcs, you see those three thinner ones, those are females. Most demons have a 1:50 female to male ratio which is why they kidnap humans, elves, beastmen and sometimes even wild animals to mate with.” Hermes explained.

Misaki and my face showed an expression of disgust when the thought of these humanoid monsters fucking with animals.

“So exactly why did you bring them back?” I asked.

“Well… you have so much trouble building minions, i thought it would be better to have humanoid monster minions, they are smarter than wolves and rabbits at least.” He replied.

“What is so good about stupid goblins and orc?” Misaki asked.

“Fufufu!” Suddenly Luna appeared behind her with a bloody nose while rubbing her right shoulder and dusting herself off, “Mistress and Sir truly underestimates monsters too much.” she chuckled.

We looked at each other and looked at the dirty monsters. “Sorry, we can’t see it.” I said.

“That is because they are malnourished, first off, female goblins are said to be very beautiful if they have plenty of food and are fully grown. Secondly, goblins have a very unique sense of smell. It could even be said to be better than animal nose because they can smell the scent of herbs in the wild and have a curiosity to mix them to make potions and poisons. Of course, that is intelligent goblins, common ones are stupid for sure but tamed goblins can all be trained to be smart, speak human language, and are both great alchemists and craftsmen. Their only demerit is they are horny and take some time to properly start teaching but starting early is the best time for them.” Luna said.

“And Orcs?” I asked.

“Besides being great warriors, they can be trained to move heavy loads like rocks, trees, mineral ore and more. These in particular know the orc’s unique forging techniques so they are also better at forging as long as trained.” Hermes said.

“Alright, let’s finish talking inside.” I said but in truth, we pulled everything to the back and i archived all the items for safe keeping and the goblins were put down. “So what kind of evolutions do they have? Hobgoblins?” I asked.

“That is one path, a very rare one, but the most common leadership rank is Goblin Warrior, Noble, Duke, King, Lord. Then there are class based ones and the equally rare Shaman Goblin. Those are only born through luck and when a smart enough goblin, usually the kind that are born from other humanoid races.” Luna explained.

“Alright, well i don’t have a problem with getting more minions but that would later restrict me since i have a limit.” I said.

I open the goblin cage and pull out the male that began to struggle feebly. I take the pen and put it on it’s chest, “Minion Bind.” I said.

“Gyakakaka!” he shouted desperately. It began to shout as a red circle appeared unlike the one that appeared on the wolves.

“It resisted but was too weak.” Misaki said surprised.

“That is probably more of a slave seal then a minion one now.” I said.

You have bound a new monster, Goblin.

Not minding it i turn to the female goblin but they were already waiting and i looked at them curiously. Cautiously i put it against their chest and say to bind and they nod. Unlike the red seal, this one was blue and was without pain at all.

“Seems females are smarter.” i said as i let them out.

I looked them over properly, females wore rags on their upper and lower half while males had only a loincloth. The males looked like wrinkled men and the female had short messy hair and were much less wrinkled on their face.

I then look at the orcs and the males resisted until i beat them into submission and bound them. When i smashed the child of the chieftain, the others stopped resisting.

You have bound a new monster, Orc.

“Alright, you all go rest in the book.” i order them and they were all pulled into the book where I saw their information. “Good, now go report the mission and get the money reward, you should go from F to E and then we can help you with a D rank mission.” I said.

“Sounds like a plan.” Hermes said.

We follow the with the last cart while we were on the way i suddenly remember, “Hey, did you get their Soul Gem?” I asked.

“We tried to…” Luna said apologetically and pulled out a small pouch and i tip it over and find 10 Low Grade. “Most Soul gems from weak monsters are fragile so when a monster dies they break.” She explained.

“No problem.” I said still happy enough to get 10 more. I quickly call out the remaining of the inactive puppets that i had to use the gem to power the dolls and reactivate them and tell them to care for the mana wood tree. The remaining 3 i call out three broken archived Dolls and bind them.

Your three Living dolls have less than 1% of their health, lacking several limbs and lack 95% of their necessary runes, they will now be recalled.

The three instantly got recalled and i looked at their information.

Formation of missing limbs: 1% complete 23:59:55

Repairs: 1% complete 12:00:00

Rune Insertion: 5% complete: 15:00:00

“Shit, these are even worse than the actual Low Grade ones?!” i exclaimed.

“How bad exactly?” Luna asked.

“Originally the five that were somewhat intact had 20% of their runes but these have less than 5%.” I said.

“The runes broke down then.” She replied and i looked at her. “Runes on a wooden puppet are usually engraved onto their bodies until they are activated where it is absorbed into the body. I believe that is what i was told once. For Living Dolls, it’s ‘enchanted’ onto their bodies on the inside which is why they have greater maintenance cost.” Luna explained.

“I see.” I finally understood why. I understood why Living Doll created their own clothing, after looking it over on the dolls i had, it made sense when the one piece held on by a small choker. It was where the clothing connected most densely to the mana connections with the hundreds of runes and kept it fed. The fact that common Low Grade Living Dolls degraded in 20 years with the best maintenance was a fact attributed to the lack of Soul Gems and the ability to make their magical dresses that was what gathered an abnormal amount of mana to rune the dolls.

We soon reach the adventurers guild where the two turned in the mission and brought out a small space bag that had the left tusk of all the orc as well as the head of the Shaman and Fang of the Chieftain.

The three missions brought in 1,000g totallying for us a little less than 2500g in human gold.

“I’ve been thinking but the adventurer guild pays quite generously for even low level missions like these missions.” I said.

“They were 3 E rank miss but it was all low leveled after all. Still the damage monster villages like these cause is quite large, if it was a simple village deep in the woods, it would be much less but when it affects the trade routes, they aren’t cheap on the money used.” Charlotte said.

“I see, well you’re both E rank now, let’s go do a D rank.” I said.

We head to the mission board and begin to look around.

“So many low quality missions.” Luna frowned. There was only F, E and D rank missions but most were tedious with low return.

“Should we go into the Elven Nation then?” i asked.

“Sure… OH!” Luna exclaimed. “Let’s pass by my families farm first! We raise moon rabbits and i want to rear some because it's a very important diet food for us Moon elves, so i need tools! Also there are moon carrot, flowers and many other items i actually need to maintain myself.” She said.

“Are you really okay to be moving about during the day?” I asked worried.

“Don’t worry, most of my clothing and equipment made for Moon elves are made to keep us safe during the day.” Luna laughed.

“Stop joking around.” Misaki hit the girl on the head making her kneel with a grin of ecstasy.

“Since there isn’t much worth in this place left, let’s go, i do remember the ancient wolf asking for Moon Rabbits as well so this is a good chance to get some.” Misaki said.

“Right, it's also been almost a month so Valery’s first Moon essence baptism will happen. If i remember correctly, there were around 60 wolf pups born, most are still not strong enough to evolve though but it doesn’t matter.” I said and looked at Luna, “Can you lead the way?” I asked.

She stood up and coughed, “Of course, let’s go get the carriage and i can lead you to my family’s ranch.” She said.

She opened her umbrella and we leave the adventurers guild without getting any mission and return to the Inn.

The two puppet horse i gained had already rebuilt themselves through the book and healed up. I summon them out and hitch them to the stagecoach making it seem much less conspicuous since more than half the carts and carriages used puppets to pull.

Before we leave we purchase some Elfwood Sprouts and plant them in the farm dungeon since this wood is very flexible and good for different goods.

***

The Moon Elf Farm was around 30 kilometers into the Dark Vine woods. Luna’s family had moved here when she was a child and cleared a section of the forest to raise the rabbits.

To raise even one moon rabbit or any crop related to moonlight, there needs to be quite extensive setups. This is for gathering and concentrating the power of moonlight within the perimeter of the farm making the rabbits not want to run away.

Entering the farm from the entrance, Valery instantly popped out and looked so happy to be in this place, her fur shimmered but what was more amazing was that Luna also shimmered under the concentrated moon energy that remained in the air even though it was day time. Luna even happily removed the umbrella and let the sun shine on her.

It didn’t affect her in this area which was built through special techniques of the Moon elves so that they could live natural lives during the day.

“Feels so good to feel sunlight again.” She mumbled. Soon they arrived at the house after passing the fields and pens.

“How do you raise them?” I asked looking at the pens.

“The fence have several Runes that work together to form a barrier above it to not let them jump out and those several stones a few meters away have the same thing but they block the underground.” She said. “For food, we simply throw it inside.”

As they arrived at the house Luna jumps out, “Mom! Dad!”

The shouts draw the attention of the people inside and suddenly a pair of twin moon elf girls and another of boys ran out. “BIG SIS!” they shouted and jumped on her.

“WE MISSED YOU!” they shouted in unison.

“Alright you all! Calm down!” She said laughing and hugging and kissing them each. Then from the door, a beautiful pale skinned white haired woman walked out. She had curves of a mother and the demeanor that could even calm aggressive monsters. Next to her was a thin man with similar features of white hair and pale skin.

They both smiled and walked out, Luna walked over and hugged them both. “It’s good to see you all again.” she said.

“Indeed sweety, why did you come visit and who are these young children?” Luna’s mother asked.

“This is Sir Ace Cross, Mistress, the glasses one is called Hermes and the last one is called Charlotte.” She poorly introduced us.

“Mistress?” the two adults said together and focused on Misaki. “Dear, did you find my daughter is an M?” she asked.

“By mistake when she began to ask about our fetish.” I replied for Misaki.

She glared at me but the woman nodded, “It knew it, dear i told you not to go asking such personal questions like that cause it would bit you in that adorable bottom of yours.” She said.

Luna blushed when her rear was mentioned, “I-I was just curious, if it was some old guy i would have been on guard.” She said. “Nevermind all that, guess what mother! Sir Ace is a Dungeon maker and one of the Human Heroes and Mistress is also one of the summoned heroes and I’m going with them! Can we get some Moon rabbits and crops?!” She asked.

The two were incredibly shocked when they heard what she said and looked at each other worried.

“Is it okay for you to go along dear? Even if it’s a few decades, it won’t change much if you lock up.” her mother said.

“No way!” She said.

“But… a human…” her mother muttered.

Her worries weren’t unfounded, humans have a limited amount of years unlike elves who lived much longer lives, almost three times longer. If she stayed with Misaki until she became old and died, then when she died, Luna would go crazy as her source of comfort vanished.

“I clearly remembered there are tons of potions for enhancing life spans in the far off nations. Also Sir Ace has a very high comprehension level, he already knows more than 100 runes and has many puppets and even Living Dolls he repaired. I’m totally safe and I’m not weak to start off with.” She said.

The two adults sighed, “Yes, we know that dear, we are just worried as parents should be. Come, let’s see to some of the crops and rabbits for you.” Luna’s mother said.

They go to the shed and she brings out seeds for several crops, Moon Root, Moon Carrot, Lunar Radish and Midnight Root. Then she also brought out a pack for a type of grass called Moon Grass which grows only under in places with lots of energy from the moon. Lastly she gave us a vital herb for the Moon rabbit called Five Phases Moon Flower. It didn’t come close to being as rare as the Moonlight Azure Blossom and grew in large number but they were very vital for the propagation of Moon Rabbits. Even the Wolves would greatly benefit from it to have lots planted for them.

“Alright, now the rabbits.” She thought and lead us into the pen and with a small whistle similar to a dog whistle, she called out. There was a single rabbit hole and from it, countless rabbits began to pour out from infant common rabbits to adult moon rabbits.

“They are born normal rabbits?” I asked.

“Yes, the Five Phases Moon Flower is what aids them in the transition as long as they get lots of moonlight.” She said. “Go ahead and choose ten.” She said.

“Um… which are male and female?” i asked.

“Doesn’t matter, if you have common rabbits, they breed all the same.” She replied.

Nodding i choose ten at random and bind them, as unintelligent monsters they didn’t resist, showing the training she did was incredible.

I sent them to the rabbit dungeon and archived the seeds.

“Alright, that is done.” i said.

“Great.” She said and blew the whistle following specific blowing pattern that we didn’t know and they all retreated back into the hole. “Now, let’s go inside, i have just finished baking some mooncakes and they have are just cooling now.” She said.

Luna’s eyes shined and looked at the party with shining eyes. He had to give in this time and went into the house where the children were happily and freely playing and running around us asking random questions. The cheerfulness was rather contagious which went to show how ‘pure’ elven children are when they are children.

I ask for the recipe for the cake and some other treats related to the moon crops. The crops we gained were prime ingredients but it also used common ones such as flour. After asking about it, i even gained some Corn seeds to plant and make my own flour from.

I began planting the flowers and seeds related to the moon in both dungeons so that they can both benefit and i could harvest more seeds quicker.