Chapter 92
The afternoon sun shone brightly over the bustling camp of the Velvet Knights guild, casting a warm glow over the excited chatter and activity. Siglorr Bouldergrove had just made the guild leader and sub-captain a most generous and exciting offer to have their entire guild sign contracts with himself as a means to ensure unity and responsibility and prevent the mistakes of their seniors from reoccurring. Though initially overwhelmed and struggling to properly react, the two could hardly contain their excitement at the prospect of such an alliance.
Inside his tent, Dane was hard at work, diligently saving down the incomplete notes of arcane script contributed by the wise Dwarven elders. The language itself was rough and lacked many crucial elements, but Dane was determined to find a way to complete it and make it useful. Entering his subconscious mindspace, he accessed the vast library contained within the grimoire and began searching for a spell formula that could fill in the gaps.
As soon as his consciousness brushed against the spell catalog, the haphazard notes of the elder Dwarves magically filled in the remaining blank pages, their incompleteness transformed into a cohesive magical formula. Dane couldn't help but grin with immense satisfaction at this stroke of luck.
Those scattered writings had been far more valuable than he initially realized.
The completed magical language was quite long, filling the last two blank pages of the spell catalog to the very back. Dane focused intensely as he memorized the lengthy incantation, hoping to fuse it with the burst teleportation spell Siglorr Bouldergrove had gifted him earlier and alter it to be more practical and efficient for his needs. The burst spell was impressive for its speed and strategic applications in battle, but Dane sought to make it more useful logistically as well.
With a deep breath, he began repeating the complex incantation over and over internally until he felt confident in his ability to embed it perfectly into his skill sapling. Time moved differently in the subconscious mindscape; an hour spent internalized translated to barely a minute in the real world. Patiently, Dane summarized the spell, with the detailed scripting in the grimoire condensing and shortening before his mind's eye, much like the Plasma Vortex spell before it, until the entire formula fit onto a single page.
With the spell memorized, Dane felt a renewed sense of excitement and purpose; living in a world with real magic knowledge is nothing compared to a digital reality. The possibilities were endless, and Dane was eager to put his newfound skills to the test in the physical realm.
As he returned back, he saw Elaria Syrune watching him as he was in a seated posture. She greeted him and informed him that the Velvet Knights signed the contract. Elaria Syrune added to her report that one particular mage was watching them and pretending to be a maidservant. Dane stood up and asked Elaria Syrune what she did. The young lady elf smiled and told Dane that that person waited outside the barrier. She was indeed strong, but she knew his adoptive father's artifact surpassed her ability. She pointed out the probability that she saw and heard anything that happened inside the barrier is unlikely.
Dane smiled and expressed his thanks and responded with a statement, "I knew that like any other sentient being, gathering information and exploiting any weaknesses is crucial for survival. Thank you for your insight, Elaria." Elaria nodded in agreement, her eyes reflecting a mixture of admiration and respect for Dane's understanding of the situation.
Dane was about to step out of his tent when he changed into his Netherborn form. The two representative leaders of the Velvet Knight saw him and greeted their new leader. As he walked toward the two, he asked Bai Xifeng to gather their members and bring them here inside the barrier. He pointed out to include the maidservant that is tagging along with them and refuses to leave. Bai Xifeng was a bit confused by Netherborn's request, but she followed his request to the letter. As she fetched her team members, he walked toward Siglorr Bouldergrove and asked him to prepare to leave.
Then Dane cast his new spell; the symbols that came out were swirling and moving around. Those who saw this reacted with a gasp as they saw the spell being completed, and it was a new dimensional transfer gateway. The language Dane created was mixed with old and new symbols they couldn't understand, as a dark-looking smoke came out and formed into an archway, and the image on the other side looked like a curved crescent mountain range that encircled the land of Lúthien, opening before them and revealing a clear view of the place connected to where they were standing.
Siglorr Bouldergrove never hesitated even for a moment as he stepped through. Everybody saw the war forge chief was safe; soon the elders followed. When they understood what just happened, they came out again and ordered everybody to gather their belongings and enter the gate. All the cargo wagons were pushed inside, and because the wagons were enchanted to be light, even a child was able to pull the huge wagon with ease.
Bai Xifeng reached the forest clearing where her teammates were waiting for them. Cragmir Bouldergrove escorted the velvet knight as he already saw the markings in their hands suddenly manifested. The velvet guild were confused because having an insignia on one's hand indicates they are under the protection of another organization, as if they knew this would eventually happen. Cragmir Bouldergrove congratulated Bai Xifeng on joining them. Bai Xifeng asked if all this was planned beforehand. Cragmir nodded but added that their master and benefactor had shared the plan to increase his force.,
As he didn't want to move alone, from what Cragmir recalled, he mentioned climbing the tower. Bai Xifeng knew that Netherborn was a player, and the reason he was doing this was very confidential, to say the least. But knowing he was an honorable person, she decided to keep silent about his real status, as all of the velvet knights believed he was a resident of the tower because he was too strong to be just a player.
Even if the world is exposed to magic, humans still lack the ability to manage magical energy; therefore, seeing Netherborn do that indicates he is above the tower's law. The things he did at the Gorge were not conceivable for a player. He moved with a fluidity and power that surpassed any player she had ever seen, leading her to believe he was something more. The mystery surrounding Netherborn only deepened as she observed his actions and motives.
Many that saw Netherborn action were perplexed, intrigued, and bewildered with everything, but in reality, Dne was just exploring the wonders of the game he helped create and personally experiencing it firsthand. Casting magic spells, they defy common sense, and reason still escapes his mind. He was hoping that all these things that had fallen on his lap would be mind-numbing. The information and knowledge he gained derive from other previous game writers and fans of the magic realm.
Nothing is actually new in the sense of everything being handed to him like it's just a puzzle that needs to be solved.
The small guard unit that Cragmir Bouldergrove commanded finally reached the war forge barrier, and alongside his dwarven team were the Velvet Knights; all senior and new members reached, including the single maidservant. Cragmir gestures that they enter the barrier but asks the maidservant to wait. As they all enter, the maidservant, who was Sylveth Melriel, or the Crescent Magus clone.
As she stood for about a minute, the barrier that was very much visible to any normal person could see a hazy tinted dome around the place. She knew entering the dome forcefully might make her be perceived as a hostile enemy, so she waited a little bit more. After five minutes, she burst in annoyance as the barrier suddenly vanished and she saw nobody inside the war forge territory.
Somewhere nearly a thousand miles from the small patch of forest near the Gate exit, Dane fulfilled his promise to give Siglorr Bouldergrove a new place to establish the roots of his plan. Siglorr could not hold his excitement; their number increased to 80 personnel. The velvet knights were now called war guards, and Netherborn told them to increase their battle experience. They badly need somebody to train them in warfare and survival.
So Dane opened the dimension transfer gate once again, and before entering, he asked Siglorr to build a stronghold that can't be compared with anything in this realm. Siglorr smiled and nodded. As soon as Dane entered the gate, the war forge chief ordered everybody to secure the place they will now call the Tower Forge, and he ordered the human skill workers to create a plan for the castle that will be the symbol of their master's new reign. Siglorr knew that this stronghold would not only serve as a physical defense but also as a beacon of hope for their people in the realm.
Dane came out of the gate and stepped back into the dark forest near the gorge. The thick fog spread out into the forest but was slowly getting directly forced into the gorge area. As the wind was pushing the heavy, thick fog back to its natural place, the devastation could still be seen: the Anchorage Castle. Was still standing, the massive beam that exploded only removed the anomalies inside the gorge, but Dane wasn't interested in the gorge this time. He activated his assessment skill and waited for confirmation when he spoke.
"My dear Melgil, why do you have to hide among the shadows?"
"You are such a tease, my beloved Dane. Where have you been? I was bored and waiting for you to return."
"I am here, as you all can see. Bralthor, please tell the others to come out, as you are all going to a different place and becoming my main hunters."
"Including me?"
"Yes, Melgil, that's why I came back."
"I will be needing your help in managing the land we shall be calling home."
"Finally a place I can call home, and I will be spending more time with my sweet Dane."
"It's still not official; I still need to help the noble that owns the land by ancestral right."
"Who is this person? , do you ant me me to destroy all of them so you wond need to help them,"
"Melgil, you are no longer bound by the tower; killing without reason and justification is not the way to solve problems."
"We must find a peaceful resolution to this situation first."
"Let us focus on building a future here together, rather than resorting to violence."
"So killing is bad?"
"I won't consider it to be wrong, but killing without purpose seems not to be a choice, but this is survival of the fittest."
"Showing weakness tends to be a sin here."
"We shall create a large family that will be strong, and that family must protect their kind, based on loyalty, trust, honor, and love."
"I, Melgil Veara Gehinnom, promise to follow these values and lead our family with integrity and compassion."
" I will destroy anybody that dares harm my family "
Dane was hoping this choice was the right one. Melgil Veara Gehinnom's power is beyond calamity, but her personality and affection toward him might be a bit complicated to understand, but she is already connected with him, so he might as well go with the flow.
As he opened the transfer gate again, the 13 grey ogres walked into their new home; the war forge personnel didn't even react negatively to their sudden appearance. Imgrim Bouldergrove was Nukra and noticed the book. He approached the elder Ogre and started asking him about the book. Nukta introduced himself as well as Imgrim Bouldergrove; the two instantly got along, as they were both obsessed with researching magic. Elaria Syrune saw the female ogre and asked them if they help out with the cargo and supplies.
Siglorr Bouldergrove greeted the female companion that was with Dane. Melgil was surprised to hear the dwarf greeted her. In her real name, Siglorr Bouldergrove explains that he heard a tale about the white-haired demon queen from his grandfather, and based on her massive mana, she was indeed the person that his father spoke about. He pointed out that beside her, the only person that surpassed her power was the man she was holding in her arm.