Chapter 17 - Plans

Day 17

Mike's POV:

When Mike woke up, he was in an unknown environment. He was laying on a straw mattress in a room which had stone walls and ceiling. The floor was made from dirt. On his chest there was a large rabbit sitting. It was looking at him and there was smoke coming out of its nose. On rabbit's back sat the small fairy he'd met before. He wanted to say something but she was faster.

"Neo! The stupid human woke up."

"Morning sunshine! Thank you for bringing me so many gifts, I appreciate it. Here take this book and try to open it, hurry up!"

He didn't know what to say. The last he remembered was being hunted by goblins while he was heavily wounded. When he moved his arm to his back, he wasn't able to feel any wound. It seemed like he'd been either out for a very long time or somebody had healed him. Deciding it was the best to do what he was told, he grabbed the book and opened it.

"Is it working? Is it working or did Neo fucked it up?"

It was working! Mike was literally overwhelmed by to knowledge that streamed into his mind. Among it was a complicated cultivation technique, some spells, techniques for warriors and a lot of basic knowledge, tips and tricks on the journey to become powerful. It was too much for now, so he put it aside for a moment.

"It is working. Thank you, I've always dreamed about being a cultivator."

"Good, good, don't think about it! You were very useful and it would be bad for me if word got around that I don't pay my minions. I mean I could silence you, but in my generosity I decided to give you a reward. It is probably too much, but who cares."

When he heard the dungeon talking about silencing him, he froze for a moment. Then he remembered the dungeons weird sense of humor. In some sense he felt like a mouse standing in front of a playful cat, only waiting for it to change its mood and devour him.

"Then I'm happy for your generosity, I guess."

"Haha, let's not talk about it any longer. We have bigger fish to fry. You've delivered your part of the deal. I now can send the goblins out to gather animals myself. In my opinion you should use the knowledge from the book to train yourself back at your village. You're almost at rank F12. Once you reach it, it will take no effort at all to break through to the E0 rank. Here are an additional 200 silver, the book was only for the first goblin blueprint after all."

Mike's eyes went wide. This was two gold, enough money to feed a family for a few years. Then he stopped and looked at the now empty book still in his hands. The knowledge from the book was, as far as he could tell, way more valuable then gold. Most starting adventurers would probably kill for its content. An idea came to his mind.

"Can I maybe get a pen?"

"For what?"

"I want to write down the contents of the book, before I forget something. The knowledge could lift our whole village to a new level. I want to make it a family heirloom."

"Let me think about it for a moment. It would be pretty bad for me if the book could be tracked back to me."

Suddenly an antiquated looking tome appeared before him. If he estimated its age, he would guess it to be at least a few centuries old.

"This should do, nobody would expect an old book to drop in a new dungeon. So what are your plans now, will you follow my advice?"

"Yes, when I was running from the goblins, I cursed at myself for being too weak. I will train myself like you said and then I will become an adventurer."

"Good, very good. But before you go to Geldern, after the training, come back to me first. I will give you some information so you can survive reporting about your discovery. Can you tell me from which village you are?"

"I'm from Darkwood village, why?"

"Very good, you're really lucky. Did you know that Darkwood village is a frontier village and that frontier villages directly report to the chancellor's office?"

"I think I heard that before. Why is that important?"

"Haha, when the last king decided to implement the frontier village policy, he decreed that five kilometers of land around every new frontier village would directly belong to its people."

Before Neo was able to continue, it dawned on Mike what the dungeon meant. The distance from the dungeon to his village was only about four kilometers, if you measured it in a straight line! They would become filthy rich. Every business that would settle near the dungeon had to pay them fees. If the dungeon was as special as Mike was thinking, it would mean a not ending stream of coins entering the villagers pockets. The local count in Geldern wouldn't get anything. Then he hold in for a second.

"Yes, I can see in your face that you followed my train of thought. It would really be too bad if you fucked up and informed the wrong kind of people about this place. Accidents, like villages being wiped out by pillaging brigands, happen all the time. That's why I told you to come back to me before you make your way to Geldern's adventurers guild."

Mike just gulped and nodded his head.

"Good, then you can go home now. I collected your bow and your spear. They are laying to the right of you. We'll see you in 25 days."

Neo's POV:

He watched the boy leave. Pretty smart lad he thought. Then he shifted his focus to the little fairy.

"Luna, I think we should use the goblins now to create some raiding groups. With the sensor array and the connected wrist protector, they should be able to find some good creatures."

"Luna wants to go hunting too. Luna is a great hunter!"

Neo stopped for a second, for some reason, the thought of the little fairy leaving him frightened him to his core. He decided to play the age card, like most parents did.

"No, you're too young for hunting! Besides Mr Floppy is not strong enough to protect you, yet."

The little fairy inflated her cheeks and stomped her food on the ground.

"But Luna wants to go hunting!"

He felt a little bad for denying the fairy's wish. Then he had an idea.

"Ok, you can go hunting, but only later. Let me first create some defensive item for you and Mr Floppy."

"Really? Hehe, I didn't think this would work. Oh did I just say that out loud? Forget it, just pretend you didn't hear my last sentence."

If he still had a head, he would be shaking it now, instead he decided to listen to his little friends advice.

"For now I want to send out one goblin shaman as the raid leader. If I make him to a named creature and he dies outside, can I recreate him?"

"No, but you would get the slot for another named creature back. Wait, why would you want to give a name to a goblin? They are stupid and they smell, Luna doesn't want to train a stupid goblin!"

"Well, then you just have to show him how to wash and then train him to get smarter. I didn't think a small feat like this would be a problem for the great Luna."

"You're right, Luna is the best and can do anything!"

Neo was a little proud of himself to get one back at the fairy. After the discussion ended, he sent out his 50 green goblins to gather wood for his plant material stock. While they were at it, he converted his remaining plant material to animal material. After he gathered 500 kg of it, he created a goblin shaman and brought his black goblin count to 15. Then he used his last steel reserves to create some gear for them. He went for five goblins with short swords and bows, five with shields and spears and five with axes. After this, he focused on the shaman. He decided to test a theory and created a simple skill book with a spell, which he gave to the goblin. It was working, his creature was immediately able to create the ice spike from the book. With an inner smile, he created some more spell books. When he finished the basic magical education, he named him 'Biff'.

He could directly see the change. The goblins eyes started to focus and he spoke.

"Master, what can I do for you?"

Neo chuckled, this was way better than expected. He gave the wrist protector to the goblin and then showed Biff how to use it. Thereafter he started to brief his new minion about the mission.

"I have a mission for you. Use the sensor array to locate creatures for our dungeon. I especially want a big bear, a lion and a boar. For the rest, you can decide for yourself. Surprise me with your skills. Take these 15 black goblins with you, but send the wounded back and get some replacements. I don't want for you to be wiped out in a battle of attrition against the forest. Also don't go near the human village or attack any of its people. In fact, if you are discovered by humans, just flee, but check that you've lost your pursuers before you come back here."

"It is an honor to serve you master!"

He looked after the goblins leaving and he knew, I whole new era for his dungeon had just started. After savoring the moment a little bit, he got back to his work on the mana gathering formation. The defensive device for Luna had to wait until he finished his current project.