When I come to I find myself lying flat on my back with Ceres, Dyson, Angela, and Desiree talking next to me. I don’t know how long I was out, but the pain from where I was hit is still there, so it couldn’t have been too long ago.

Ceres: “Are you alright?” –She says offering to help me to my feet once she notices I have awoken.-

The blow was enough to knock me out so to say things are a little blurry are an understatement, but as Ceres pulls me to my feet I can’t help feel a little confused. I am not quite sure where we are at, but Dyson is now fully clothed and without the helmet on his head and Ceres looks perfectly normal even though before I was knocked unconscious she looked dreadful…

“What happened?”

Ceres: ”I’m sorry, it’s my fault you got hurt.”

“We knew the risks, but how did we get out of there, and where are we now?”

Dyson: “We are back at my place. Ceres brought us here right after you were attacked.”

“But how? You were in no shape to teleport again, but now you look perfectly fine.”

Ceres: “I’m sorry, but from the moment we arrived, I was faking it…”

“Faking it…? But why?”

Ceres: “Right from the start I noticed we weren’t alone, and although I was sure I could get us back out of there, I was hoping that by appearing weakened, we could get some information from Dyson’s captors before we fled, and it seemed to be working until you were attacked.”

“Then we are safe?”

Dyson: “I don’t know if safe is the right word… I have been beaten in combat before, but those failed dungeon cores… I might have been able to take one alone, but against all of them? I had no chance.”

“All of them?”

Dyson: “There were three of them. The one that you spoke with I didn’t recognize, or one of the one of the others, but the third one… Now her I remember. Thirty years ago or so I trained a dungeon core, I don’t remember his name and even though he became a dungeon core he died after a few years, but that isn’t important because Leland trained a woman that year, and she was the one with the other two that attacked me.”

Angela: “Leave it to Master to remember a woman from thirty years ago that he only met once…” –She says rubbing her hand across his chest.-

Dyson: “After she failed I volunteered to take her in, but Leland refused taking her in himself. I always figured she found him to be a bore and left his dungeon, because I never heard anything about her again.”

“If she was with Leland up until his death, then are we sure she isn’t the one calling the shots?”

Dyson: “I believe it is the third person I fought with that is their leader. The one you spoke to and the woman both referred to the other guy. He also seemed the strongest of the three.”

“Do you have any idea how they managed to gain so much strength?”

Dyson: “I killed a lot of dungeon cores in my time with humans, but nowhere near what they have accomplished, so it stands to reason they would have gained many levels from that.”

“Some of the first dungeon cores they eliminated were dungeon cores like Faron and Maric, so they had to be at least that strong even before they started killing dungeon cores.”

Dyson: “They had at least 30 years to do together what only took me 20 while alone, even if they avoided killing dungeon cores up until they were ready to strike, it could be possible.”

Ceres: “Not to mention the fact they could have been using those rings of theirs long before posing as Dyson. Posing as a dungeon core to kill another would be suspicious, but if they posed as random adventurers each time, who knows how many of the dungeon core deaths within the last 30 years could be contributed to them.”

“If even Dyson isn’t strong enough to take them down, what are we going to do?”

Dyson: “Well, first of all, there is one thing I have to do before anything else.”

I start to say I’m sure I can guess what that is, but before I get the chance Dyson catches me off guard by bringing his fist around punching me square in jaw. The last thing I recall before losing consciousness again is the pain and crunching sound of what feels like every bone in my face being crushed…

When I come to again, I surprisingly don’t feel any pain at all, but my surroundings have changed again and something it wrapped around me, I quickly start to get up but I hear a soothing voice in my ear.

Belinda: “It’s okay! You’re back home.”

I quickly look around, and sure enough, Belinda is what is wrapped around me as we are lying in our own bed.

“How did I get here?”

Belinda: “Dyson and Ceres brought you home a few hours ago… They told me what happened to you, and that you would be ok after getting some rest.”

“What did happen? We were all talking after rescuing Dyson, and he just hit me…”

Belinda: “After Dyson left Ceres said that he was awfully upset about you taking Angela and Desiree along when you went to rescue him…”

“I was the one that wanted to leave them behind… Where are they now?”

Belinda: “After they dropped you off, they said there might be some trouble, and told me to warn the bunnies to keep a look out for suspicious activity, but to message them if anything happened before you woke up. They then went home to prepare their own dungeons.”

“I need to see what we are going to do next.” –I say while trying to get out of bed but Belinda holds me tightly.-

Belinda: “There is nothing else to do tonight… They said they will return first thing in the morning to discuss what comes next, but you are lucky to even be alive after what happened today, so you should rest up while you can.”

“I think Dyson put me in more danger than the traitors did…”

Belinda seemed pretty worried about what happened with Dyson’s rescues, and is just happy to see me home in one piece. We get far less “rest” then she insinuated, but it isn’t like I have any complaints, and by the time morning rolls around I only got an hour or two of additional sleep.

When I finally get out of bed I have time to read a message that has been floating around since I first woke up.

Dungeon Core #5 [Ceres] prevented degradation of [Menu]’s integrity by saving Dungeon Core #400 [Elder Dyson] awarding 10 justicar points.

Ceres did the heavy lifting this time, but we at least got ahold of some more justicar points in the process. I tell Belinda to let me know when Dyson and Ceres arrive while heading up to the dungeon core room to make sure we have done all we can.

Lilah: “Lilah promises Master everything that can be done, already has. All of the xp that was being saved in the dungeon was spent to further protect the dungeon, all except for a small amount held back for an emergency.”

“Is that really going to be enough, the ones coming after us are strong enough to beat Dyson…”

Lylah: “For that purpose we tried focusing less on monsters and more on clever usage of traps and the ways we designed the rooms. Like Master did when making the labyrinths. We each took turns designing different areas so even if they make it through one area the next will be completely different because it was conceived by a completely different person.”

Lila: “Doing it that way we were able to do more, because monsters are always the biggest cost when adding to the dungeon. We can always go back later once we acquire more xp and add more monsters to these rooms, but for now I think this is our best bet.”

“Dyson and Ceres should arrive shortly, but as soon as we get a chance I want you to run me though all the additions you all have made.”

Lilah: “Of course, Master.”

I then return to the house just in time to see Vetala letting Dyson, Angela, and Desiree in the front door. Dyson approaches me.

Dyson: “Were not late, are we?”

“No, please come in and have a seat.” –I say leading them to the living room.-

Once inside the living room I see Belinda is already speaking with Ceres inside. Belinda quickly asks Vetala to take Rory into the dining room to feed her some breakfast, so she does so, leaving only the six of us in the living room.

Dyson: “No hard feelings about the face I presume? Personally, I would have made you suffer through a bit longer, but Ceres insisted in patching you up before bringing you home. If anything would have happened to Angela or Desiree though, a few broken bones would have been the least of your worries.”

“No hard feelings, but I do have to say I didn’t really have a choice in the matter when it came to taking them with us.”

Dyson: “I left them in your care. It was your responsibility to keep them safe. You were too worried about hurting their feelings by not bringing them along, that you broke the agreement we had when you said you would keep them out of harm’s way!”

Angela: “I’m sorry Master, but we are fine…”

Dyson: “And that’s the only reason he is still walking this morning, now as for what we are going to do about the failed dungeon cores. We need to come up with a plan before they get any stronger.”

Ceres: “What do you have in mind?”

Dyson: “We have to recover Madam Erin before they find a way to take over her dungeon, or I don’t see us being able to stand a chance. Can you get to Madam Erin the same way you did me?”

Ceres: “She should be in that new part of her dungeon just like you were, but I was only able to lock onto you because of you being a justicar, if it wasn’t for that I could jump twenty times and still might not be able to find her, and as far as I can tell the power I have used from Belphegor’s eye hasn’t returned, so once it has been used up, that is it…”

Dyson: “That power you gained from Belphegor’s eye, was that unique to the eye, or can you gain power that way from other means?”

Ceres: “Anything that contains the power from one of the gods should suffice, but items like that aren’t exactly common.”

Dyson: “Then it comes down to a race. I might be able to acquire a few more items like Belphegor’s eye, but I can’t guarantee their authenticity, and we have to acquire enough authentic ones before the failed dungeon cores discover a way to take over Madam Erin’s dungeon.”

Ceres: “If you actually know where to find some of these items, then I am in.”

Dyson: “There is a catch…”

“The people that have them might not exactly be willing to part with them.”

Dyson: “Exactly.”

“I presume you want to persuade them with the business end of your sword?”

Dyson: “I’m not blood thirsty you know…”

“Then what is the plan?”

Dyson: “Well it is true some of them will refuse to part with them with anything less the force, but there are a few we might be able to talk them out of. If some of the easier to acquire ones are authentic then that might help us acquire some of the more difficult ones.”

“So, where do we start?”

Dyson: “We don’t start anywhere. I will need Ceres to authenticate these items, so we don’t have to waste time on a fake, but someone needs to keep an eye on our dungeons while we are busy.”

“You want me to watch your dungeon?”

Dyson: “Someone has to keep an eye on Bless, she seemed more eager to talk to you then me, so maybe she will give you some more information that might be helpful to us,. Besides Byson has made considerable progress, so he can keep an eye on the day to day things, but we don’t know if the failed cores are going to just leave us be either.”

“How long is this going to take?”

Dyson: “With a bit of luck nothing longer than a week.”

Ceres: “I will need you keep an eye on a few things for me as well.”

Dyson: “And one more thing… With my armor and sword gone, I am going to need a replacement until I am able to recover them. I could make something decent myself, but it would take too long, so maybe you can give me a hand?” –He says while pulling xp bead out and setting it on the coffee table in front of him.-

I pick up the xp bead and check it out, and it makes my stomach lurch at just how much xp I am holding in my hand… it isn’t enough to make a perfect copy of Dyson’s armor outright, but minimum requirements for adamantium is master quality, so I could at least make an adamantium full-plate.

“This should be fine. I can make you one hell of a set of orichalcum full-plate, or I can make you a new set of adamantium… It won’t be nearly as good as the set you had, there is a large xp difference between master and legendary quality, but if you are willing to do without the enchantments and legendary quality I can at least keep you in adamantium.”

Dyson: “Adamantium would be wasted if it is not made of at least legendary quality. I hate to say it, but I think the orichalcum armor would be a better bet.”

“Not necessarily. I now have the ability to upgrade armor as well. Now, if I understand the way the ability works, it may take anywhere from 5 to 7 master quality adamantium full-plates to upgrade it to a legendary one like you had, but that would at most only cost 500,000 extra xp then if we summoned it that way, but if you are lucky and it only takes you 5 it could save you up to close to 4 million xp in the long run.”

Dyson: “Your dungeon never ceases to terrify the hell out of me… Fine, adamantium it is then.”

I send a quick message to the bunnies to let them know what I am doing, so they don’t freak out about the fluctuations in our xp total, and add Dyson’s xp bead to the dungeon. I then select to summon an adamantium full-plate.

This will take up the majority of the xp the bead added, so I summon it with a design like dwarven armor that has the gambeson built into it. A separate gambeson might offer a greater deal of comfort and protection, but would also raise the cost a considerable amount, so this will have to do if Dyson wants me to summon a weapon for him as well.

I don’t want to copy his original armor completely, so I give it a bit of my own flare, and the resulting armor is the best I have ever summoned. Just being made from adamantium makes it that, but I have to say its design is something I am proud of as well.

Where Dyson’s original armor was like a heavy earth dragon covered from head to toe in thick impenetrable scales, this armor is more like that of a wind dragon, with a far more streamlined appearance that restricts movement to a much lesser degree, and although it isn’t the impenetrable barrier as his other armor was it still covers its own shortcomings much better than any armor I have summoned in the past.

Due to my [Advanced Summoning] skill I could see there was a solid 25% chance of having a critical success, and although the result wasn’t a critical success itself it still received a free enchantment because of the skill.

Dyson’s original armor was enchanted with the [Magic Repel] enchantment only furthering its ability to be like an impenetrable barrier, and although having it o this armor would be quite nice, it instead got a much lesser form with only [Magic Resistance].

I summoned the armor onto an armor rack I pulled out of my dungeon’s inventory, so as Dyson looks it over he says. “Just with the fact that you are capable of summoning adamantium armor should in itself be massively impressive, but I have grown so used to you exceeding my expectations, so I can’t help feel this armor is somewhat lacking.”

“You are just used to your own armor, and at least 6 times the cost of this one I am sure I could have made an armor to equal your own, but you get what you pay for.”

Dyson: “I know you are right, but it almost looks wrong to look upon an adamantium armor of sub-par quality.”

“This is the best armor I have ever made, it kind of hurts to hear you talk about it like that…”

Dyson: “Once we deal with these failed dungeon cores, I will start gathering some xp for you to summon a few more sets of adamantium armor, and then we will see if you can change my mind.”

“I look forward to it.”

Angela and Desiree start helping Dyson don the armor while I go back to my [Menu] to summon him another sword, and its result is much like the armor. I was the one to summon Dyson’s void sword so it makes the difference in quality much more apparent at least.

Not only was his normal sword of legendary quality, it was also a critical success so even though a master quality adamantium sword had a 18% chance it didn’t result in a critical success either. Dyson’s void sword had the [Darkness Attack] enchantment, which this one shares as well, but it also had the [Void Attack] enchantment on top of it, so after upgrading this sword a few times and adding the second enchantment it might actually be equal to his normal sword, but it would surely cost more xp to get it there then what his other sword originally cost.

I had the sword over to Desiree who straps it to Dyson’s waist while Angela takes a step back looking Dyson over.

Angela: “I don’t know, I know this armor isn’t as high quality of your regular armor, but I think its design is much more appealing. It isn’t as frightening to look at.”

Dyson: “Intimidation is an added benefit of my armor. Now, what about the helmet?”

“That is a little trickier. Due to the fact it has no openings for you to see out of, it has to have the [Peerless Sight] enchantment on it, and that would make it cost too much to summon. We can take a gamble on hoping the random enchantment is [Peerless Sight], but if it fails we can summon an orichalcum half-helm and combine them to get an adamantium half-helm. Either that or just put all the xp on a very high quality orichalcum half-helm.

Dyson: “It is worth the gamble, because if nothing else you will learn to summon adamantium half-helms.”

Angela: “Sexy new armor, and I still get to see Master’s face, I am really starting to like this new armor.”

Desiree: “Exposed face also means more easily damaged. You seen what Master’s face looked like when Ceres took that torture device off of him yesterday, and forgive me if I rather not have to picture him like that again."

Angela: “I was trying to be optimistic… But you had to ruin it didn’t you?”

I didn’t see what Dyson looked like when they took that helmet off of him, but I am starting to be glad I didn’t by the way they are talking. The man in Dyson’s armor said they wouldn’t be able to get it off without the key in their possession, so I wonder how they managed it.

I don’t need to be focusing on that torture device while summoning a new helmet for Dyson… so I try focusing hard on producing an adamantium sightless helmet, with hopes of getting one with the [Peerless Sight] enchantment, but the result is [Eagle Eye] which is ironic because it improves your sight, but that does you any good from a helmet you can’t see out of…

I have to use a few hundred of my own xp to summon an orichalcum half-helm to combine with the sightless helm, but a few hundred xp isn’t going to make much of a difference. The enchantment on the half-helm is [Shock-absorption] which reduces the impact from blows to the head, but once I combine the two helmets I think the enchantments from the combined items increase the chances of the new item having at least one of the same enchantments, but it isn’t guaranteed.

Out of the most uninspired item of the morning, the helmet of all things results in a critical success, and although the quality of the new adamantium half-helm doesn’t increase it results in a unique item and it carries over both of the enchantments, so it isn’t entirely useless.

The resulting appearance of the helmet is a bit gaudy though, with the shape of an eagle’s head down to intricate feather-like engravings to large jewel like eyes. Angela looks disheartened when Dyson puts the helmet on his head, and Ceres and Belinda can’t help chortle at his appearance.

“I’m sorry… That wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.”

Dyson: “It will have to do for now, but you better be ready to fix it the next time I stop by.”

“Of course… What about you Ceres?”

Ceres: “So I can end up with a bird on top of my head as well? –She snorts.- “No thank you, I am just fine.”

Dyson: “You really should consider some type of armor, we aren’t exactly going to be going on a picnic.”

Ceres: “You don’t have to worry about me, I have everything I need.”

“What about Angela and Desiree? Are you going to leave them here again?”

Angela: “No! We are going with Master this time!”

Dyson: “After what happened yesterday I am hesitate to leave them behind...”

Desiree: “You said the first few stops should be without danger, so having us along shouldn’t be a problem, and once it is we can return to this conversation then.”

Dyson: “Fair enough.”

“Anything else?”

Ceres summons a large stack of parchment and hands it over to me.

“What is this?”

Ceres: “Some paperwork that needs to be done, I will send a message back to the administration building so you can pick up tomorrow’s paperwork as well.”

“Wait this is just for today?”

Ceres: “If you don’t know where to turn it in, one of my people at the administration building should be able to help you. There should be some for the university, the mage’s guild, and some side work I have taken on for Scylla as well.”

“Hold on a minute…”

Ceres: “Don’t worry, Dyson said it would be gone no longer than a week.”

Dyson takes Ceres’s que and the four of them disappear from the room leaving me with the large stack of parchment. Belinda nervously gets up and says. “I better go make sure Vetala has things handled with Rory…”

“Wait!”

Belinda comes back and kisses me on the cheek while saying. “I’m just kidding, you didn’t think I would abandon you did you? Let me just ask Vetala if she minds watching Rory for a bit longer, and I will come back and help you.”

As Belinda leaves the room I sit down and start going through it all, and I can’t help but wonder if all this stuff is really necessary. Most of the memories I have recovered from before are of events, conversations, or of feelings, but lots of menial stuff like my work as the mayor is still gone.

I remember being the mayor, and remember the process, but it isn’t till I start digging into this paperwork that I remember some of the more boring aspects of the time I was mayor…