(Ashen POV)

It seems as though the days pass faster the longer I stay in this world. The days do not physically get shorter, but they feel as though they are. Some days are painstakingly slow and feel as though they never end while others pass as if it were a memory, but they are all the same to me now. It’s been a week since my first meeting with the gnomes, and some progress has been done on helping them rise from their fallen state. The only notable activity from the week unrelated to the gnomes was the progress in Apoctaclass, as that was rather impressive. The large ever-growing town nearly doubled in size with all of the resources available to them. It also seemed like their population has grown by a very significant margin, nearly forty thousand new citizens since the start of the town.

The rate of growth that the demons have shown was incredible when you compare them to other races, at least the sentient ones. Demons and those closely related to them, have an incredibly fast birth rate, as they were hunted for thousands of years, and eventually evolved to grow faster to cope with their numbers being hunted. My mind has been clouded with these thoughts, and as of late I’ve only had my focus set on the expansion and absorption of races into a unified collection, but I should devote some of my attention to other categories. For instance, the diplomatic relations I must uphold with the many other nations of the world, and the collection of the crystals. Titan had dropped off a single crystal he had found, and the reason why he only collected one was quite interesting.

These crystals seem to be magically infused with enough mana that they can spawn creatures that must stay near the crystal to remain existent, but also powerful enough to give the guards that accompanied Titan some difficulty. Titan himself was more than capable of dealing with the threat alone but had to take measures to ensure the safety of the others. I did feel the urge to consume the crystal again, but that feeling submerges once a physical connection to the crystal ceases. For this reason, I had Xylith handle the crystal for a moment to determine if this was exclusive to me or any who touches it, at least if they were a demon as Titan reported no such feelings. She said she had a very faint desire to consume it, but she was very easily able to ignore it, which brought more questions than answers.

I spent some time researching it’s magical properties, alongside Xylith, Planthra, Misfortune, and Rubidia, who all helped greatly with speculation and the investigation. In short, the crystal was much like a heart of mana, as it would cycle the natural mana from the air and replenish its mana supply while all the same creating magical entities to protect itself. From this crystal alone, we couldn’t determine if its color had a purpose or if it randomly chose and settled on it. From the experience with the last crystal, which changed colors in my hands, I don’t suspect the colors to mean anything too important, or even anything at all. When the crystal has more mana, the color becomes much richer and darker, and the opposite when it’s mana is low.

These crystals would eventually come back to me. Be it days, months, years, or more, I will reobtain all I lost. I would only need to prepare, as the last crystal gave me a rather somber memory, one I had no idea existed. It would seem that my past is just as mysterious as my future is, but I can change the future, but nobody can change the distant past. Even using time magic, the cost would be too high to reverse time by just a month, and the memory could have been formed several years prior. With my current mana levels, I could reverse time up to a month and a half, but with the restrictions of the spell, I can’t use it again until I return to the present time. It was a simple way to ensure no player could reverse time indefinitely.

“Xylith, I am going out, do you want to accompany me?” By the time my thoughts calmed down, there was only my bride and myself left in my bedroom, as the NPCs had to continue their duties around the castle, and Misfortune still had information to collect from the other countries that were littered around the Bandarainian Empire.

“Sure, where are we going?” She said picking her head up from the bed she barely removed herself from, as she found it’s comfort more soothing than any object she had ever laid a finger on.

“I figured I could use some fresh air, so I was thinking of going on a stroll, be it in the demon lands or not, I do not mind.” Ever since my forced transformation into my true demon form and my face becoming real, I have been able to smell, and with much greater detail and accuracy than before too.

“Hmm, why not explore that big city that everyone was building? I heard they have some exceptionally good food, but probably nothing compared to what your chefs have.” Her statement was either a compliment or her honest opinion, but the difference in experience and ingredients is a barrier that the demons cannot pass so easily.

“Very well, I suppose I shall take a quiet meal over there, we can make a day of it.” It’s been some time since I have properly visited the town, or even thought about it.

Without much of a delay, we both changed into some simple attire. She wore a simplistic set of black clothing, with a long black scarf wrapped around her neck which covered half of her face and a long skirt that draped to her knees. I decided to wear one of the many cosmetic sets I had, which resembled some scholar’s robes. They did give bonuses, but for the most part, they were cosmetic as they were made for level 750 players. The robe had a base color of white and had intertwining ribbons of red, blue, and green leaking down from the long sleeves, neck, and waist. A simple yet elegant crest of a diamond was engraved in gold on the back, while another small golden diamond was in the front, and connected the two halves of the robe just under the neck.

While I made the last changes to my attire, mostly attempting to test movement and comfortability, I gave a quick reason for my outfit. “I don’t want to disturb them any more than I already have, so I think it’s best if we don’t engage in any large events, and instead stick to the scenic route.” I could tell what she was thinking, and knew she agreed all too much with what I said, but couldn’t blame her for thinking such.

She put two long black gloves on and gave back her own opinion on the matter. “I believe that is for the best.” She seemed all too ready, as she wore one of the few magic rings she had, the one she wore was a much weaker version of my ring of Pocket Dimension, and I already knew she carried plenty of weapons, scrolls, and offensive items in there if she didn’t own another or replaced its contents that is.

“Shall we go by foot, wing, or magic?” We could walk, which would take half the day at walking pace, or we could have Oronix fly us in, which would attract unwanted attention, or could just teleport right outside the town and walk in from there.

“Why not on foot? It would give us time to chatter in the meantime, would it not?” The look on her face exposed what topic she would be attempting to discuss but I let her nonexistent innocence slip past me for the time being.

I would have to give a note of my leave to Premium and speak to Aeyrs about some recent events, but that could wait for a small while. “Very well, then let’s not delay ourselves.” We started to walk towards the door, and upon opening, I was met by seven lovely faces. “Ah, the Star-Mates, what a lovely surprise that you were all outside my room.” The door opened inwards, and they were all huddled around the door to the point that anyone could discern that they weren’t about to knock.

They all took a small step backward, and Cobalt was the first to speak up. “Ah, lord!” It was as if they hadn’t expected me to leave the room so soon, partially due to the noise suppression that was built into all of the private quarters for privacy.

A blush swallowed the color on all of their faces, and it seemed the same topic that was on Xylith’s mind had been on theirs as well. “Is there something you needed?” a hint of annoyance was present in my voice, a small sliver that was just powerful enough to clear the impure thoughts from their minds.

Lavender spoke up, the one I would have thought the least likely to engage in such a task as it didn’t seem to fit her recent actions. “Apologies lord, we…” She went too quiet to hear, and she looked down on the floor silently.

Slightly confused, I returned my voice to a neutral state and responded. “Pardon?” I uttered, my voice calm and soothing as it normally was, but this time, Ember spoke out.

“We just wanted to…” She copied what Lavender had, and now stared at the ground, her words silent to any ear.

The blushes on their faces seemed to only thicken with color, so I could only hope to forcefully quench their emotions with a simple tier 9th spell. “Lead Heart.” A quick flash of bluish-grey that was the spell circle appeared in front of my hand and overall of their chests, and quickly faded after a few moments, their blushes fading shortly after the spell circle had.

Xylith seemed to calm herself too, without the spell affecting her, so her face became a normal shade of grey once more. “I think they want to tag along.” She said quietly, and their silence answered that question.

I took a small breath, as I have been able to do recently, and said my thoughts. “I am fine with you all coming with us, but the permission lies with Xylith, if she is fine with it, then all is well.” I didn’t know if Xylith would want them to come with us, partially because I already spent a good amount of time with them already and that we were going on the equivalent of a date.

“I have no issues with it, it would be far beyond me to restrict them from coming with us.” If she meant that because of their level difference or simply status and relation to me, I couldn’t determine, but it could be anything at this point.

After a few quick minutes to prepare, we eventually set out on our stroll. The town was barely visible from the mountains, so our journey wouldn’t take exhaustingly long, especially since we could teleport there or back to the castle at any time. The barren grounds that were the demon lands had scattered rocks and the remains of corpses. Mostly broken bones, rusted and destroyed weapons and armor and rarely a small outcrop. Seeing any was rare, far and few between, and the path to Apoctacla was soon to be made proper, with a cobbled road and lines of buildings dotting the sides that lead to the castle and eventually through the mountains. The rocky ground had cracks and craters sprinkled about like a child throwing his toys across kilometers in a tantrum.

The air was laced with the scent of both the dying and those about to be, but I kept a tier 6th spell, [Fresh Air] active in a 10-meter radius around me, mostly for the Star-Mates. The spell was designed to remove any scent-based status effects, both good and bad, but any gaseous poisons would still harm any who inhaled it. It was just a weak tier 6th spell after all, and there were upgraded and better versions of it at higher tiers. It seemed like they didn’t notice, or at least didn’t care to bring up. Their high levels granted them many resistances to such things that don’t cause damage or inflict status effects. The journey would take a few hours, and as such, the night would befall us if we choose to stay in the city for long, which would require us to stay the night or come back the next day if we wanted to spend another day.

I decided to ask Vron about the travel time since I had nothing else to do before a conversation was struck between Xylith and the Star-Mates, as they soon would. Vron, can you estimate the time it will take for us to arrive assuming we kept pace? I flicked my eyes to my tail, which was rising to my left side as Vron did occasionally when he talked to me.

This time, a small holographic blue face appeared at the tip of the tail and showed Vron’s young face. Of course father, the distance is just under 120 kilometers away, and the estimated time to arrive is roughly 18 hours. I severely underestimated the distance and speed we had, since I have been so used to teleportation and extremely fast travel.

I silently thanked Vron, and as I imagined, Xylith started a conversation with the Star-Mates. “I’ve been wondering, what do you do with Ashen when you’re together?” We walked in a clumped group with me in the back, mostly so I had a complete overview of everyone, and as such, when Xylith asked her question, everyone turned their gaze upon me.

A flash of appearing and quickly fading blushes washed over their faces before Amber said something first, which was rare but well needed. “A bit of everything really, sometimes we play games, talk about random stuff or even just play around with his magic. We once even had a fake battle where he made magical clones of us!” She became the center of attention for a minute, which made her feel rather uncomfortable, but she did focus the conversation on a respectable subject.

Ember’s eyes ignited at the mention of the battle, and she followed up on Amber’s words without pause. “It was incredible! I had never thought that magic could be used in such a way as to copy and imitate seven vastly different people and their equipment! Our lord’s magic is truly a wonder unfit for any individual! A beauty unfit for the eyes of this world!” Ember’s passion was plain for all to see, and her face was covered with a massive smile that stretched across her face.

Sunny also pitched in, covering some of the other things we regularly do together. “Some days, he takes us to a massive and grand park to have a picnic and others to a lake and we can go swimming!” Her smile brightened, and her head raised even higher as she showed her pearly whites.

Xylith’s interest was obvious but she only ever waited for more details, as Lavender quickly started to fulfill her curiosity even further. “Yes, there are plenty of marvelous things that our lord does with us, most are kind and caring as he normally does. From time to time he does a display of magic and creates a game of it. I personally quite enjoy the one with the cards that animate whenever you use them.” The game she was referring to was one of the few minigames within Sugarea, Castle of Cards, a simple card strategy game that was easy to pick up but hard to master.

Everyone’s mood seemed to be high, and while none were paying attention to me at the time, I used a [Hasten Movement] spell to increase our speed nearly a dozen times over, and would create an illusionary bubble around us to make it seem as though we were moving at a normal pace. I did this to not seem as if I was rushing us, but simply to prevent us from not reaching our destination by the time the sun was still above our heads. The journey would only take an hour or two at our new speed, and I also put an illusion spell on the outside of the bubble to make us invisible. Players used this to traverse areas that had monsters that would only slow them down but not cause a threat, and the combination was commonly called ‘Fake World’, as it practically just deleted the monsters if they couldn’t detect or over the level you.

Xylith’s excitement overtook her mouth and she blurted out her thoughts. “I’ve always wanted to go to a lake and swim and have a picnic, and I’ve always wanted to play card games, I’m so jealous!” I did suspect that she wouldn’t have had any leisure time or couldn’t spend any of it on such trivial and childish tasks, and even if she did, those memories would have been lost upon reincarnation regardless.

The shock of hearing a little girl, whether she was the previous demon lord or not, had caused Olive to exclaim her own opinion. “Whaaat!? But you’re so young! Surely you would have at least rolled around in the grass or down a hill! Or even just go picking flowers or playing with toys!” Olive was amusing to the others but Xylith just gave a silent and slightly saddened look back to her.

Xylith’s demeanor remained the same, and she sad in a justifying tone her reasoning. “Demon lords have a few more important things to do, like trying not to die from adventurers or attempting to learn higher tiers of magic. Such luxuries are only afforded to the races that aren’t constantly being hunted for trophies. Besides, do you see any hills or grass, and flowers or life at all around here? It’s all dry rock and decaying bodies as far as the eye can see, and that goes for the entirety of the demon lands.” A fair point, but it meant little considering that Olive’s thoughts changed little as she would soon share with everyone.

Her face seemed to be saddened slightly and a single small tear dripped from her eye. “You poor thing, I’m sure our lord would be glad to do all of those things with you, you can even join us if you wanted to!” Olive’s words made a smile wash over Xylith’s face and Olive smiled back.

Xylith took a quick glance at me and back to Olive before saying anything. “I’d love to!” Simple moments like these are what makes me feel like I’m retaining my humanity, a needed aspect of myself that prevents me from sterilizing the planet from any life that I deem beneath me.

I felt a source of magic just above us and sent a small [Magic Eye] to investigate, but what I found was something not so simple to describe. A mass of land that would make a mountain look pathetic just passed overhead like a balloon lost to the wind. From below it looked like a massive chunk of rock and dirt all mended together with five massive cylinders that I could only guess were engines of some sort, most likely magical. The landmass would pass over us in little over a minute considering its speed and our own, especially as we moved in near opposite directions, with it moving to the south of the castle. The sight gave me a sliver of excitement, as knowing a floating city or even kingdom was already in this world would prove to be more than a treasure trove of knowledge and resources.

It seemed as though none of them had caught on, or at least I thought as Lavender and Ember both gave a quick silent glance at me to see if I had detected it too, which I gave a silent and slow nod to indicate I had. “The city ought to have a place to eat, we should head there first!” Olive was the first to bring up the city, and as such, the topic took a turn.

Aqua adjusted her top hat that didn’t need adjustment, as she did from time to time, and excitedly agreed with Olive. “Ooh, we should get skewers! Then we can eat and explore the city at the same time!” The glint in her eyes was proof enough to determine that she was a fan of meat skewers, but the small tendril of drool that started to leak from her mouth in small streams was another indicator.

Cobalt finally had time to say one of her comments, as she made commonly when one of them made a statement that could be taken the wrong way. “It’s no surprise the water girl likes meat so much.” She managed to chuckle for a moment before a weak flurry of pity slaps came from Aqua to silence her.

Aqua stopped her drooling and a blush overpowered her face and she turned a very distinct cherry red. “Why are you always like this!?” She continued her weak flurry before giving in after the group shared a collective laugh, apart from me, as I chuckled lightly to myself on the inside.

I’ve slowly been increasing our speed as the conversation continued, and now it would only take us an hour at worst, or just under half that at best. “Lord, have you a favorite moment with us?” Sunny said wide-eyed and curiously, which grabbed the attention of everyone.

At first, I didn’t know if saying every moment was, but knowing them, I would have to pick a specific moment. “Years prior, back when you were all new upon the world, we fought as one and conquered the Hollow Depths of Epulis, all by ourselves.” Back in Sugarea, there was a dungeon set for level 750 players, but NPCs were allowed to enter, which was rare for a dungeon, and as such, I brought them along to see their abilities in combat first-hand.

Xylith’s eyes widened, her interest piqued far beyond normal, and she started to make mental notes of what was soon said. “It was a scary time, but with you lord, we felt safe,” Ember said, her hand clutching her book tightly.

A wave of memories rushed across their minds and each seemed to remember the event in detail. “There was little light in those cold depths, so your light shined far brighter and warmer than any flame could ever,” Sunny said, her smile fading slightly as she remembered the dank stone corridors that crumbled with decay in the dark.

A few tears formed beneath Amber’s eyes, and Olive soon followed after. “A feeling of dread from those halls still haunts me from time to time,” Amber said in a somber voice unbefitting her.

Olive’s voice followed suit and sounded unusually saddened. “Without you lord, we surely would have perished in those cruel halls.” I started to wonder about the detail in such memories, as the actual dungeon had a fair amount of lighting and the actual textures weren’t all too bleak and depressing as they are making it sound.

Aqua seemed fine on the outside, but her voice had an underlying tone of desperation not suited for her smiling face. “The entire place was akin to a massive coffin or prison, the very air and water tried to end any who touched it.” If nothing else, the description the dungeon had seemed to be true in their memories, but that leaves much to be explained.

Lavender held herself together the best and spoke in her normal tone of voice. “The dungeon was one that would have robbed us from the world if it were not for you lord, who saved us all.” Xylith seemed to develop a small shiver that ran up her spine every time they spoke.

Cobalt tried her best to keep calm, but a hint of maddening fright was evidence enough that she was touched by the experience. “Those creepy halls were nothing for our lord, but for us, it was rather taxing on our abilities.” For me, it seemed like they all handled the combat perfectly fine, as they could just about kill every enemy besides the boss in a single attack.

Xylith seemed to gulp quietly and secretly before saying something, while her voice seemed slightly faked but overall normal. “And where is this place now?” I already expected one of them to ask, and as such, I created a simple yet functional answer.

The attention turned to me before I spoke, and my words had a hint of sorrow that the rest of theirs carried. “Crumbled into nothingness, and gone to time. Those halls were filled with earth and swallowed deep beneath, more than a hundred mountains deep. Those ruins can no longer endanger anyone anymore.” It seemed a general sense of relief found its way into all of their hearts, and Xylith seemed to calm down the most.

We continued moving forward, our legs moving normal pace but the ground rushed under us at speeds that would make bullets look slow. Father, If I may ask, what should we do about the floating island that had passed over us but a moment ago? His question came a dozen seconds after the end of the landmass had finally traveled past us, and I thought one thing.

Vron, send a message back to the castle and inform them of both our outing and the island. Vron silently followed my orders and I continued back with the conversation.

I pointed a finger above and in front of me and everyone took a look as six glowing orbs of green, blue, yellow danced around us and a swarm of swirling lights of all colors distracted the group of the previous grim topic. Amber and Aqua tried to catch some but failed as they moved through their hands like they weren’t there. Olive, Lavender, and Sunny all lent out a small finger to allow one of the lights to land like a bird, and the larger orbs landed, or more precisely hovered around them. Ember and Cobalt merely admired them, with Ember trying to discern the simple yet entrancing spell that I had cast.

Cobalt at first seemed to only look at them, but a wicked grin appeared on her face as she turned to Amber and Aqua before she said another one of her remarks. “You two seem to be having an awful lot of fun with our lord’s balls.” A small but visible smile appeared on my face before I moved all of my orbs of light to swirl around her. “Ah-, lord, not in front of your wife!” The orbs of light turned into two crossing rectangles that covered her mouth in an ‘X’ shape, muting her for the next minute.

A round of light chuckles passed around the group and I slowly reversed my spells, slowing us down and making the illusion fade into reality. “The town is just ahead.” The end of my sentence was filled with gasps as they hadn’t seen a monstrous town of this magnitude before.

Xylith’s jaw widened, and she couldn’t believe the sight before her eyes. “The town is huge! How did we get here so fast!?” A secret best left unknown, as it wasn’t needed for the moment.

Amber’s eyes grew sparkles and her body shook with trembling excitement. “Wow…” Her face grew a smile and her eyes dilated, her posture resembled a child looking in a candy store’s front window.

A massive wall surrounded the city as far as the eye can see, surrounding the monstrous town, most likely several walls were made in rings. I caught word of multiple walls from Aeyrs a while back, but to see it up close was different. There were eight massive gates located equally apart from one another, that was all I could tell from a glance from side to side of the wall. A group of ten guards was stationed outside the closest gate to us, which was just left of where we were facing the entire journey, and wouldn’t take much effort to turn to it before we got there, as we were still a minute’s walk away from the gate.

I had no fear for the safety of us, as every single one of us individually could take on the guards, I do have a slight doubt for Xylith as she was only level 271, but even the high ranking demons only got as high as 210, and the chance that they would station their strongest on the outside of the outer walls was highly unlikely, even for demons. The Star-Mates and Xylith kept admiring the absolute size of the town, their eyes and faces reflected their astonishment perfectly. We walked in silence until we were but a dozen meters from the gate when one of the guards saw my face and sighed excessively loud and rolled his eyes.

I noticed that a few of the guards had their eyes on Xylith, but a few others had theirs on the Star-Mates, but none had their eye fixed on me. “We only came to visit the town, note us as nothing but ordinary civilians,” I said and the same guard, which I soon recognized as one I talked to a long while ago, had rolled his eyes again and snarled quietly before opening the large metal gates of the massive metal wall.

The large doors, that were similarly sized to the ones at the castle, slowly rotated inwards and ended with a loud ground-shaking crash that signaled that the doors had opened entirely. “Just don’t cause any problems.” The guard that snarled said and continued to roll his eyes as we walked inside.

I stopped paying attention to him after we crossed the wall, and as the gates started to close, the outer portion of the city was filled with residential buildings, with a few shops and stores sprinkled around scarcely. We continued to walk and admire the creativity of the buildings, which were mostly metal and stone, and the roads that were being prepared for construction, most likely cobbled roads or even underground houses. I knew of several races that could use the underground for living space and knew that some were present in the city. We walked inwards, to the heart of the city, where there was, as I thought, another wall of similar make to the outer wall.

Without guards, we walked on through, only getting stares and gazes from everyone as we walked, and I caught a few glances from people that were not trustworthy at best, and untrustable at worst. “Why don’t we grab some food while we’re here,” Xylith suggested, and everyone gave small grunts and nods of an agreement so we looked for a nearby vendor or restaurant.

I took a quick sweep across the swarm of buildings and found one with a small outcrop of metal with words in the demonic language. “There seems like a bar over there, the Black Claw.” Most bars had actual food, at least in the Bandarainian Empire.

The two patches of light that muted Cobalt finally dissipated, and she gasped exaggeratedly and spoke out while catching her breath. “A bar? I don’t think getting drunk before noon is a bright idea in the middle of a town that we are visiting for the first time.” Her point made sense, but we might as well just check if they got food, as going into a bar doesn’t mean you are going to get drunk.

I silently mentally sighed and used the [Locatation] spell to find a restaurant. “If not there, then we can keep walking forward and look for another.” At this point, there was a small crowd starting to form around us and started staring.

I didn’t know what they found strange about us, the fact that there were eight girls and one guy, the fact that there were seven humans, or that the previous and current demon lord are present, or it could even be, all, some, or none of these things. “I think we should keep looking for another place,” Olive said, her eyes meeting several of the surrounding demon’s.

We started walking once more, towards the direction of the closest restaurant, which was just a few dozen houses forward. “Perhaps we shouldn’t be here, I feel out of place,” Amber said as she shivered slightly, her shyness made her uncomfortable in the presence of large crowds of individuals, especially in towns and cities.

Xylith seemed to be the only one that had no issue with race, besides me, because many of the demons gave snarls and growls while looking directly at the Star-Mates, so I knew they weren’t directing any hostility towards me. “We could leave if you’d like, and go somewhere different.” My words did little to sway her thoughts, and we kept walking forward, the restaurant was visible, and a bright red sign seemed to steal the attention of many who glance at it, as the city was mostly grey, black, blue and purple. “We have seen enough of the city already.” I tried to think of a way to stop the bad looks, but the only thing I could think of would have me change their appearance to be more demonic and allow them to blend in with the crowd that seemed to follow us. “Also, you don’t need the disguise anymore, I doubt anyone would have followed us this far.” I snapped my fingers and their skin tones changed to shades of light and dark grey, and small horns grew from their heads, the result of a simple illusion mixed with my knowledge of making illusions heavily realistic.

I hoped that they would play along, and it seemed all but Xylith had caught on before time seemed to stand still. “Yes, I do not think we need the disguises anymore, but was it necessary to dispel them in front of everyone? You know that process can shred clothing from time to time, and I don’t think you want your precious little girls nake in the middle of a town.” This was the first time I felt relieved that Cobalt remarked, as it caught the rest of the Star-Mates up on what was happening and started to allow for a story to form.

The crowd around us seemed to freeze in place, and none moved for a second, besides us. “Oh don’t get me started on that again, you know it only happened that one time, and it was out of my control. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time you ran through a city naked, now would it?” I picked up a fairly good amount of acting skills while in this world, as I needed to always seem powerful, wise and cunning to everyone I met, but since I have yet shown my face to any demon in the city besides Jurkunnag, who was at the wedding and saw my face.

A smaller group of curious individuals replaced the massive crowd following us, and the small argument expanded. “You say that like I do it on the daily! You just like to bring up the past don’t you, creep!” A few of the onlookers let out a small chuckle or two, like the way she was talking and flailing her arms about was rather childish.

Xylith seemed the most confused, but she started to play along. “Must you always scream? Can’t you talk like a normal person for once?” Cobalt flailed her arms more after Xylith spoke, signaling that she wasn’t yet ready to calm down.

We arrived at the restaurant and I opened the door, reserving nearly all my strength to prevent the door from becoming a massive pile of scrap metal. “Just get inside and eat already.” The few demons inside seemed to look annoyed at our arrival but nobody spoke out about it.

We went over and sat at a large table in the corner which had a long bench surrounding the two meeting walls that we all took a seat on. The order from left to right from the middle of the room went like this: Cobalt, Olive, Sunny, Xylith, me, Amber, Ember, Aqua, and Lavender. We ordered food at random, and luckily they accepted a few coins that Jurkunnag had given me for me to know of their money system. I knew the rough value of each coin, which seemed roughly equal to coin systems that were present in the Bandarainian Empire and back in Sugarea. What we got was something that was only described as a large plate of magically created food, from the meat and plants to the drinks.

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(Aeyrs POV)

The dungeon was rather boring, we got to the hundredth floor in a few days and it seemed like all of the bunnies had grown to level eighty or so, which was a big help considering I wouldn’t have to do all of the work. I caught word that Ashen was taking Xylith and the Star-Mates to Apoctaclass, but I didn’t have much to say, so I didn’t send him a message. I will have to question him about the massive mana pulse though, as my dragon form burns every time I use it, or try to at least. The feeling is like having a friction burn all over your entire body, and that burn is also located on the inside every muscle, organ, and vein. Every part of my body felt like I was made of lava, and was slowly melting my own body before changing back into my half-human state.

The feeling weakened over time, but I didn’t want to experience that much pain if I could avoid it, and now that the bunnies can defend themselves, and that we managed to snag some loot from the dungeon itself, I don’t have to give them any gear. They managed to all grab some cash and fairly good armor, at least compared to the adventurers that I’ve seen so far in this world. They wore some hybrid of a full set of plate and light armor, like a thin but protective sheet of aluminum foil was wrapped around their bodies just loose enough to act like it wasn’t there in terms of movement but still protected against arrows, swords, spears and even a massive hammer from one of the bosses down here.

We cleared every floor up to floor 100, but now that we were down here, we didn’t have a good reason to continue. “Let’s return to the surface, for now, we’re done here.” I managed to find one of Ashen’s crystals that got lost when his skull leveled up, so I doubted a second one would be nearby, and I could also return any time I wanted to.

The bunnies seemed exhausted and hungry, as I’ve only been giving them some magical crops since that was all I had on me in terms of viable food for them. “Okay, mister.” I still had no clue why they called me mister, but considering that they wouldn’t be with me for too long, it was probably best that none of us got attached to the other.

I was getting ready to leave the dungeon at this point, but something shook deep below us. “Run!” A faint voice came from below us, and I heard rapid crashing seemingly coming closer.

Before long, a black figure came and went from my vision, exploding through the many floors of the dungeon, and shooting upwards at incredible speeds. “We should leave immediately.” I didn’t feel like fighting anything at the moment nor did I feel like losing the bunnies trying to.

A slow flash of white was created under us, as the bunnies crowded me, and the spell circle finally teleported us to the top, where the black figure still hasn’t reached. “I’m scared m-mister!” The bunnies were shaking with fear, but I didn’t have time for this.

I started to change back to my dragon form, it stung still but was manageable with [Pain Nullification] which prevented flinching and feeling the pain, at least most of it. I grabbed the bunnies and started to take off, the ground shook before long, and the black figure would soon rise. I used [Telepathy] to contact Premium to inform him of what was happening, and before long I started to speed away from the dungeon and saw the top of it, which was a fancy stone palace crumble into rubble. The black figure still not showing itself, and the bunnies all the more terrified with the speed that I flew through the air. Soon we would arrive at Wheatberg where I would leave the bunnies and I could go back to the castle to rest.

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(Premium POV)

Lord Aeyrs messaged me about a mysterious black figure that was bursting through the floors of a dungeon, and also told me he was on his way back to the castle. The large floating island was also getting closer to the castle, and the dwarves seemed to lie dormant underground, either hiding from the island or having some important event occur privately. Whatever the reason is, the dwarves will be unreachable for a short while longer, and as such, we will need to prepare the translations once more, as they are still sloppy and rough, but work. Lord Aeyrs has been especially helpful in this process, as he gave us some of the basic and most common translations that allow us to expand our vocabulary.

I have also started to give the other staff members tasks, some related to the translation process, and other collection quests. We have started to mine out some of the gems and ores that surround the castle, some for trade and others for experimentation. Roughly half of the materials collected are shipped to Apoctaclass and Wheatberg for construction and protection. There are some gems that I do not recognize, and I have seen nearly every gem known, there were also a few ores that were unknown to us as well. These ores and crystals are being examined and tested, as we know that most gems can hold mana fairly well, and as such, we have been testing which crystals can hold the most and what ores seem to be the most durable for a multitude of tasks.

Planthra has been tending to the few plants that seemed to sprout from the ground recently, as the massive wall of mana had expanded from the demon lands. The mana was absorbed into the castle walls and the gems and ores, and slowly released, and as a result, some magical plants have managed to grow. There doesn't seem to be anything unique to the plants, but only time will tell for now. Planthra also said that the surrounding land seemed extraordinarily fertile for all plant growth, and she even rooted into the ground herself for nutrition twice already, instead of growing a magical plot of fertile ground for her to absorb the nutrients as she normally did. Only a few minutes after Aeyrs sent his message did he arrive, and in bad shape too, as his dragon form seemed littered in scars and missing scales...