A bright light shined at the large entrance room where many elven adventurers passed as they went to harvest the goods of the dungeon. The bright light suddenly made everyone cautious in case it was an attack but what happened next made them all take a step back.

Our party came out roughly like being flushed out of a whirlpool but what was worse wasn’t that.

“URG!”

One after another we slammed on the ground and had time only to turn face down before everything in our stomach was ejected out.

Once the entire party was out, the light vanished closing the portal to the dungeon core. We were all on the ground and our stomachs all clenched painfully as if someone was kicking it extremely hard making us react with each painful contraction.

Strength left our limbs and we could barely keep ourselves from falling on our own vomit but that didn’t stop us from feeling woozy and tremble.

Soon the aftereffect ended and we stopped feeling the pain and some elves came over asking if we were alright.

I weakly explained what happened and they helped us up and gave all of us water and used some magic to help straighten out the problem of the side effect.

“Why was the dungeons teleportation so crazy?” I asked and looked at the entrance were a teleportation platform sat linked to the dungeon’s network and was constantly powered.

“The portal spell she used is very primitive, it is the base from which the platform teleportation magic is used to teleport using the platforms.” one adventurer explained. “Will you all be alright?”

“Yeah… sorry to delay you all.” I said to the elves that stopped.

They went on their way while we stayed there resting on the ground, while our brain and stomach settled. The teleportation spell was far from stable like the ones used by the nations.

“Urg…” I groan and get up. “Get up everyone, we can’t stay here forever.” I say but also take out a waterskin and drink more water despite already having some from the elves but still needed more.

“I don’t feel like doing anything else.” Misaki complained almost childishly before slowly lifting her body up and sitting down.

The teleportation had really taken its toll on the girls, their skin was an unhealthy paleness and the bags under their eyes were dark while their foreheads were covered in sweat. Hermes was a little better but that was because he took out some kind of medical scented stick that was helping him by removing the throbbing of the head.

“I doubt we can do anything today anyways so let’s just rest for the day.” I replied.

“I… urg… I can make some food that is good for the sick and weak.” Luna said and got up slowly while using her umbrella as a crutch to stand on her weak trembling legs.

“Are you okay?” I asked worried.

“Y- urg… yeah.” she said and forced a smile after gagging a bit before giving an okay sign.

“Ah that is better.” Hermes suddenly sat up normally and stretched.

Everyone looked at him but he smiled, “I wouldn’t be an alchemist if i didn’t have simple remedies for something as simple as vomit inducing dizziness.” He said and pulled out a few more of those sticks and walked steadily to each of us giving one to each. “Now hold it to your nose and don’t let it drop. Just breathe steadily and you will feel better after a few minutes.” He said.

Everyone except the unconscious Raven did this. He was actually very lucky to be in his present state since he didn’t have the backlash.

After about a minute, the dizziness rapidly vanished and after about three minutes, the churring in all our stomachs subsided while strength returned our bodies.

“What is this?” I asked handing it back.

“It’s called nausea repellent.” Hermes said with a smile.

Me and Misaki looked at him with doubt but the strange thing is that Charlotte was in awe. “So this is nausea repellent! To think it came in such simple form. The one our royal alchemist makes is a small pellet which must be placed inside an incense burner.” Charlotte said.

“Ah, yes those are the commercial version. Truthfully most alchemists can make them in this form. When it is like this, the smell is heavily contained and released over time after being removed from a special wrapping paper but the medical effects survive only very close up.” He explained.

“Why don’t they sell this then?” I asked.

“Because they have a huge shelf life and their effects are weaker being used only close up. If this was spread, the medicine would lose a huge market value. We only make a number for self use or emergency use. For instance, if suddenly there was a disease that caused mass vomiting and diarrhea, most alchemists would take out these under the premises of being ‘medicine we stocked for years’. That way we can control the outbreak of plagues without breaking the market for alchemists.” he said.

“I see, this makes sense since the item is highly useful.” I nod but charlotte was less than happy. “How many types of medicines are like this?” She asked.

Hermes coughed and smiled weakly, “Princess, as much as i would like to reveal all the secrets in the alchemy circle, i really cannot. Both because i don’t know every last one of them and because that would cause major problems for alchemists.” he said.

“What could possibly be the problem?” she asked annoyed.

“Well… how would novice alchemists sell their goods if the price of common medicines like nausea repellent was suddenly dropped down low?” he asked.

“Okay, okay that is fine!” I said getting between the two. “Let’s stop this before our comradery is injured. Everyone has their secrets so no use prying unless they want to speak.” I said to Charlotte.

“Fine.” She nodded.

I sigh in relief and pick up Raven from the ground. “Let’s go find a place to put down Raven and then decided what we will do.” I said.

Leaving the dungeon we enter the city and find an Inn where i open a dungeon gate and leave Raven inside to rest.

Hermes also decides to stay inside and make medicine for the rest of the day while the rest of us plan out the future plans.

The rest of us went to the adventurers guild where we examined the missions and over a few hours we planned out what we needed to do.

“So our main objective hasn’t changed. We need contribution points to get the comprehended runes. Since we are here at Mira’s dungeon and she has three of them. The holy and Nature one being ones i still haven’t comprehended, even to basic degrees, I think it is best to start with them.” I said.

“It is good and all but you do know that the price to witness one of them is 10,000 points each time right?” Luna said.

“Wha! Nobody ever told us the price!” I exclaimed.

“Ehehe…” Luna scratched her head, “That is the price for humans. Elves pay 5000.” she said looking away.

I sigh at the racial preference but do not complain as it is their national treasure.

“That doesn’t exactly change what we need to do. Just how much work it will take.” I replied shaking my head. “With most of us as C rank adventurers while you and Hermes are D rank, we need to work had to get a lot of missions done.” I replied.

“What about Raven?” Charlotte asked.

“From what Mira said, he will be unconscious for a long time so we won’t worry about him for now. We need to focus on the now. When he wakes up we will see about him and if he is registered with the adventurers guild.” i said.

“Makes sense. So me and Hermes will group up again?” Luna asked.

“Yes, until you reach C rank we need you two to work together while the rest of us will do our own part.” I said.

“So what is your part?” Misaki asked me.

“Skill training.” I said and pulled out my short sword. “I have neglected that for a while and need to make up my sword skills for when it really matters. That and magic comprehension. A very large number of runes i can comprehend the basic amount through common knowledge and this information is important for when we return to the human nation. It will be a large contribution to the magical studies of human mages and could even unlock some the possibility of some magical classes.” I said.

“Like bard?” Charlotte asked.

“Actually no. I was actually hoping to see if we can’t recruit or sponsor a blacksmith to try and teach magic to smith.” I said.

“Then you will probably want to go to the dwarven nation. They already have magic smiths so you could probably recruit a few to set up a branch in the human nation and expand the profession.” Luna explained.

“Have you been there?” I asked.

She shook her head, “No but they are one of the bigger spenders to obtain magical knowledge from us. It is for the exact same reason you just named.” She said.

“I see.” I nod understanding.

“Welp we should go pick out the missions. Misaki, Charlotte you two would group up while Luna and Hermes will go on their own party.” I said.

“Great, let’s pick up the missions today and we can prepare the rest of the day.”

Everyone agreed to the plan and so we got to it.

To rank up the quickest, Luna picked a few C rank missions to complete with Hermes.

As for me, i took D rank missions to fight hand to hand with groups of monsters without the interruption of the dungeon. Although it is an important part of my class, so is sword using since it spawned along with the book and pen.

Like that we worked out for two weeks doing quite a number of missions daily taking several at a time to rack up the points needed. The annoying part is that one person can’t transfer points meaning parties can’t pool their points for one person to learn it.

The time I spent training was very useful for me to start actually using the sword. Even when I trained at the castle it was safe and had no danger. Now i could fight in actual combat and put all my previous lifes skills and this ones together. The result showed very quickly as my skills caught up to my strength.

Short Sword Mastery

Level 10: Exp 597/3600

Your master with the short sword.

Increases damage with this weapon by 10%

Short Sword Arts

Level 8: Exp 15/3000

Arts that only masters of the short sword can learn.

Level 1: Double Slash

Level 2: Heavy Blade

Level 3: Flower Dance

Level 4: Scattered Flower Blade

Level 5: Vacuum Blade

Level 7: Energy Blade

Of course swords wasn’t the only thing i trained, i studied my runes as well to improve my magical damage and how well I could use magic in general. The runes have a huge part in magic so this was highly necessary especially when using my sword arts which blend with the runes written on the blade.

Previously I knew only Light, Fire, Vibrate and Moon runes which were all comprehended to what could be probably the initial knowledge.

It took quite a lot of trial and error during the night to figure out more. Water for instance i had thought the substance of life or other mystical things but that was naturally wrong so i went with the scientific knowledge. A liquid formed from the gas Oxygen and Hydrogen, the compound name is H2O and comprises upwards of 70% of all organic living beings.

This with some training of the rune itself completed the requirements. Earth was much harder because of how complex the composition is and i haven’t figured it out despite being a basic element.

It was only then that I realized just how complex it was and for the old dungeon maker to comprehend 700 of these is in itself amazing. Just the random words like ball is hard to explain besides thinking of just the item itself. I was able to figure out Water and Acceleration runes in two weeks. The only reason acceleration was figured out was because I linked it to the vibrate rune. Acceleration is the intense vibration of atoms producing energy to move quicker through the air.

Well I’m afraid that it is something that cannot be rushed.

Well moving on, after these two weeks Raven finally woke up but he looks very different from before.

Where he was tall and looked to be in his early 20s with long blond hair down to his lower back. Now he looks no older than 10 with short shoulder length sparkling blond hair that had taken a much lighter tone. If one saw it wrong they might think his hair was going grey already.

What most changed was his aura. By that i mean the magical presence that elves have. Luna has a very strong aura during the night and it is very pronounced when she is under the moonlight but Raven barely had an aura to the point he blended into the surroundings before. Now his aura changed it was like a spring breeze and was very clear like a breath of pure fresh air of nature.

He was probably the most elated when he saw his own form shrunk down that he didn’t even notice his now oversized clothing fall off. This made him blush from neck to ears as he used his old large green travelers robe to hide himself.

We had to take him to a tailor to make new bard clothing and resize both his hat and cloak for him. The reason being that they were actually magical and functioned to take the place of his magic pouch. The inner side had many pockets with many items reduced in size that he carried around.

After he was fully fitted we went to the adventurers guild. He already had a guild card but it was D rank due to his weak magical power. Now that it had been partially repaired and he regained the magical aura of an elf and youthfulness, his stats also radically increased to match as mana naturally flowed through his body strengthening it as it should have been from the get go.

Once explained, his rank actually went up to C just by the fact that his rune was repaired, though the fact that he was a storm family elf and regained his rune was also reported to the crown. It couldn’t be ignored.

Actually he did gain his families lightning magic as well but he can’t use it without feeling pain from his rune since it had just recovered and could not handle advanced magic.

“I need to properly study the wind rune to complete the missing parts.” He said with a serious expression.

“We can take it slow.” I replied.

“It doesn’t need to be so slow. Although we cannot get the comprehended rune, something i think i wouldn’t be able to handle personally, we can still purchase books on specific runes at bookstores. The nation allows the sales of magical knowledge since it would still require you to actually research the results of another and understand them to be able to incorporate it.” he said.

“So that is how elves pass knowledge.” I muttered.

“I need to go get books on wind rune and wind magic. Not only that i need to find a branch of the bards guild!” he said very excited. Maybe because his youth returned, he was far more emotional like most young elves are. Elves are generally free willed as young but since he grew like a human he didn’t have that time but it seemed now he regained that childishness.

“This is a good chance to get a basic encyclopedia. Do they sell those?” I asked.

“Libraries in major cities like this one do but they aren’t cheap.” Luna explained.

“Yeah, I expected as much.” I sighed and shook my head. “Let’s leave it for now, we are too poor for that.” I said.

From there we went to the book stores where Raven purchased a number of wind magic spell books and old research records that are commonly spread around. I was also curious since I needed to learn the wind rune as well.

I personally got the earth and fire runes that I lacked for the remaining basic elements. Everything counted, it totalled up to around 500g in human gold, which is an amazing price for basic knowledge of three runes we picked out. More complex ones were even more pricey.

“Elves really have a great market for magic.” I said after we left.

“Yeah.” Raven agreed as he held the books he obtained dearly.

I was even more happy because of a special book that alone was 600g but was totally worth it. ‘Daniel Rock’s Encyclopedia of Monsters and how to rear them for money’.

The title was very strange but the knowledge was extremely important. The book showed information a huge number of monsters between F to C rank that appear easiest in nature. All of them have a very distinct feature which actually explains specific items that can be obtained without injuring or angering said monster. All the mentioned items are all profitable as well as including items that can be butchered.

Amazingly it even included slimes which actually had one item. Born and surviving in dungeons almost exclusively, slimes produce different minerals after dying but their core is the most important. Once enough gather within a small range, they will actually begin to change the rock and draw mana that is crystallize into their mineral turned bodies and form mana stone.

The book is actually written by the elven dungeon maker and he describes slimes as the primary monster most important and most versatile for builders of a dungeon.

That said, the peaceful attitudes we had ended when we arrived at the inn where a human wearing a mask and had a very threatening aura was waiting at the front.

“Dungeon maker, Eastern Hero i have come for you.” He said in an emotionless tone.

“Who are you?” I asked coldly.

“I am an agent of queen Elizabeth Heavenlight. An emergency has happened in the nation.” he said kneeling down and giving the report.

The face of everyone changed and Charlotte was the most worried.

“What happened?!” she asked worried.

“It is best to come to the portal and go back.” he said.

“Yes, at once!” she said.

We pay the inn and run to the teleportation platform and standing there, we teleport back to the human nation with haste.

The guards lead us to the throne room but even then there was a big difference. For one there was a threatening black cloud looming and every so often I could feel a faint tremble.

Finally we arrive at the throne room where the other heroes were arriving in their parties until all of us gathered.

“I am sorry for pulling you all but this is the most urgent.” the king said.

“It is as he said, we are facing a full frontal assault from the demons.” the queen said not holding anything back.

“What!?” everyone exclaimed.

“As you, who have travelled, should have noticed, Heavenlight, despite having the largest army, is the least developed and so the ‘weakest’ nation in the alliance. This has probably given the demon lord confidence to finally destroy our territory and break the alliance by starting with us.” she said.

“How big is the attack?” I asked.

“Big enough that it attacks every major road and even ruin our very territory.” She replied.

The king scowled, “That damned demon lord somehow bred an ancient extinct breed of dragon known as Fire Dragons. What’s more, it is an elder dragon, some of the strongest among the dragons. Using that damned beast, he actually made that fire breathing abomination form a blasted volcano on our most major trade route isolating a huge number of areas that need to be accessed through that road. It is also spewing out ash and lava that is ruining the surroundings making it similar to the demon lands.” the king cursed.

“A volcano? How can a single creature actually make an active volcano that keeps spewing out lava?” Richard asked.

“As much as I hate to agree with him, what he said is right. Unless the dragon is in the volcano keeping it active, of course.” Nickelous, the berserker, said.

The queen sighed and shook her head, “Sadly it is even worse, what they used the dragon for wasn’t to power the volcano, they used a different item. A legendary treasure among magical fire items. It is called an earth fire, a special magical fire containing immense heat and mana concentrated into it. This type of treasure is created only under the earth’s deep crust. The demon lord most likely bred this kind of flame using his stolen dungeons situated in a volcano itself.” the queen explained.

“So it is a magical treasure, why can’t we just go and get it or destroy it?” Richard asked.

“It isn’t that simple. An earth fire is far from a simple treasure. Even the demon lord himself is cautious around it, that is why he only used it now when he finally obtained an elder fire dragon and even that became a sacrifice as the Earth fire had gravely burned it when it placed the fire into the crater it created to become the chamber of the volcano. You should know that fire dragons have near immunity level of resistance to fire and it was gravely burned by the fire. The dragon was barely able to escape back into the demon lord’s territory after doing it’s job. This was witnessed by villagers who had to quickly run away when the volcano began to cause earthquakes.” The queen said.

Everyone scowled at that. “So what are we going to do?” I asked.

“We need to fight off the demons.” the queen said and looked very tired.

We all look very uncomfortable, this was probably not the same ‘fight’ that we had when we first arrive. It would most likely be more like the demon lich attack. Demons far beyond our level and monsters that could crush us easily.

Even Richard had matured enough to not underestimate the demons. He probably learned the hard way that this wasn’t a game.

“We should probably think about the pressing matter of the volcano as well.” I suddenly said.

“What can we even do with that?!” the king, hearing my statement, shouted back in anger. The stress might have gotten to him.

Without saying anything i lifted my book.

“You intend to build a dungeon to control the volcano?” the queen asked.

“I don’t know but you said that the demon lord made a dungeon in a volcano. It made me think of the Great Tree Mira we visited. That is a ‘theme’ for the dungeon, volcano dungeon in this case. It might just be an emergency fix but maybe we can slow down the eruption frequency.” I said.

“How do you plan to do that?” The king asked.

“While I was in the elven nation, I unlocked a new skill after archiving the remains of a dead dungeon. It allows me to plant either a true dungeon or faux dungeon still under my direct control. It is safer to make the faux dungeon than a real dungeon.” I said.

“You plan to use a new dungeon to control the volcano?” the king asked with a sneering grin.

“No, what i want is to slow down how much it erupts and slowly work my way down adding more floors and gaining more control until the volcano doesn’t erupt anymore. This will hopefully reduce the damage done to the kingdom and eventually make it safe again.” I said.

“It is a very dream worthy idea.” The queen said.

“You aren’t going to humor this right?” the king asked.

“I am because dungeons have a very high control of many things in their surroundings. To use one to try and control a force of nature is a very interesting idea for sure.” the queen said. “Alright, I agree to your request but your party cannot follow you on this mission. They need to help the armies where possible.”

“Alright.” I nod and take my book out and begin to plan while following the rest to the war room that had undergone a massive change due to the new volcano forming and the countless demon armies moving all over.

“Our armies are already on the move and all the nobles have organized their own forces to protect their regions blockading important routes into the nation. We need to reinforce the areas in most danger. Can you inform us of your current capabilities?” The queen asked.

At this point everyone began to update the king and queen and I even add that i have living dolls that I will send out to help my party. I planned to use only the wooden puppets and guardian to reach the volcano's base and dig out a cave to start the dungeon.

The queen was eccentric to learn that I had them, even if they were still only just barely over level 10 thanks to the lich battle. Despite using AOE spells, their experience gain is very small since it was during war where countless people were attacking together.

“Shinigumi-san you will lead your party to this blockade alongside the Living Dolls. This is a very dangerous point filled with undead moving through here. It is also blocking the demons from entering a very important farmland for the kingdom so it ‘has’ to be defended. I hope the noble elven bard will assist with that.” She said giving a bow to Raven.

“It will be my pleasure but you will need to send someone to give the final attack. If I combine my melodies with the two medium ranked Living dolls, we can very well impede them but higher ranked demon undead will not die so easily.” Raven explained.

“Of course, the giant skeletons was a big incident we heard about. Now with this attack, we have commissioned several A rank adventurers to help out in the most dire zones.” We will assign two to that battlefield and they will be the main attacks. One of which is a magician.” the queen said.

Raven nodded.

The queen continued distributing each hero parties section and after preparing themselves they teleported to the nearest portal until i was left.

“Ace, although it is important to control that volcano, do take care. Earth Fire will constantly melt the earth trying to return to the center of the earth and when it does that the volcano erupts as melted stone bubbles up.” the queen explained.

“It almost feels like you are talking about a living being.” I said.

“It isn’t wrong. Given enough time, that fire can very well become a monsterous Fire elemental, a creature that can be said to be at the pinnacle of fire magic.” She said.

“I get it, I don't plan to die anytime soon.” I said.

“Alright. Here take this.” She said pulling out a white scarf like cloth.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It is called the Scarf of Purification. Those who wear it are said to be able to enter places filled with poison of any kind including toxic gas. The air around the volcano is ash filled and the inside of a volcano will surely have many poisonous gases. Just so you know, this was a gift to my great grandfather by the elves so its quality is assured.” She said.

“That is assuring.” I said and took it and wrapped it around my neck. A small light surrounded me as the item took effect and the air felt cleaner.

“Alright, I need to get this going as early as possible.” I said while holding my book and pressing the nearest teleportation platform on the war map.

Appearing at the location, I saw the looming volcano as it roared like a hungry dragon in the distance. Clouds of black smoke and red burning chunks of lava spewed out.

“Come out guardian.” I summoned.

The large guardian appeared holding his wooden weapon that had grown more complex and powerful.

“Let’s go, we need to build a dungeon there.” I said pointing at the volcano.

“Yes master.” He said and let me cling to its back and run at his fastest speed at my order despite the roughness of the journey. Nonetheless it was my first major dungeon that i will have to build but it will have to be with the parts of the dungeon corpse to rapidly build it.

Along the way we had to dodge falling rocks and magma and eventually reached the base of the volcano where no lava was flowing. The guardian was quick and decisive as he punched the mountain wall and using magic he punched open a cave.

When it was deep enough to hide me i walked in and touched the back wall, “Plant Dungeon ‘Dungeon Maker’s Natural dungeon’.” I said planting my first natural dungeon.

The cave walls began to shine before it began to expand growing deeper and forming lights like all dungeons. “Good, now time to build.”