Their journey through the Darkwood Forest proceeded smoothly after disposing of the Gnoll Pack; Samiel and Yvraine proceeded to enter the Lambrean Mountains soon after. While not many thought about it, Lambrean Mountains were a gloomy and depressive place, not entirely majestic, and the environment was shit.
Lambrean Mountains were like desolate lands, without much vegetation or magical beasts. Everywhere where the eye could see just grey rocks, boulders, stones, and all over again. Basically, luck of flora and fauna, one would expect to be in some mountain range. Probably because of this, Rock Trolls chose this as their home and came here from whatever they came.
After they entered the Lambrean Mountains, Yvraine already knew where to go, as she had already memorized the road to the mining outpost of the Nesser Dynasty. Apparently, it wasn't that far from their current location where they entered the Mountains.
Yvraine learned about all outposts, territories, and places under the control of the Nesser Dynasty and its vassals before she started climbing Tower. Her reason was so she could take some resources or things needed.
Fortunately for them, during their journey through the narrow valley and cliffs of the Lambrean Mountains, they didn't encounter any monsters, magical beasts, or any other hostile species or people. This was because they were at a very remote location, and a few people knew about its existence.
Within 5 hours, they managed to arrive at the secret area of the Lambrean Mountains, which was controlled by the Nesser Dynasty, where they mined rare and precious resources. Even though it was just a 1st Floor, Lambrean Mountains had some precious loges of ores, which were considered valuable even on the higher floors.
As they were entering the area of the Nesser Dynasty's mining post, suddenly, an overwhelming aura descended upon them as a handsome middle-aged man descended from the sky. The fact that he could fly indicated relatively clearly the man's Tier by itself.
He was clad in a Wizards gown and holding staff. He belonged to the High Elf species, so his appearance was pretty similar to that of the Silvermoon Elves. However, unlike Silvermoon Elves, his hair was golden instead of platinum silver.
"Oh... it is you, Crown Princess."
Stated the High Elven Man as he dusted off his robes altogether; he was giving off a sharp and powerful feeling. Even though the man was clearly a Legendary, Samiel wasn't intimidated a bit, as he just curiously looked at the first Legendary being he encountered.
"Crown Princess greets the Tree Guardian Bemarthein."
Yvraine greeted him politely, and Samiel followed her immediately. He knew from her what the Title of the Tree Guardian symbolized to the entire Elvenkind. Also, it was proper etiquette to be polite to those more powerful. Especially when it came to experts who could wipe out entire contents with their magic.
For Elves as a whole, there were two most important things. One of them was the Well, and another one was the World Tree and Trees of Life. The same was for the Elven Gods, though they had their own in their Divine Kingdoms, not all Elven Gods. Still, if an Elven God had World Tree in his Divine Kingdom, it was said to boost up his power several times over.
Tree of Life was a special kind of Tree that produced countless precious resources, and the Tree of Life, when matured, had combat prowess of the Transcendent Level; it was one of the few Transcendental Lifeforms that could freely exist in the mortal part of the Tower.
The title of the Tree Guardian was bestowed on the strong Legendary Elves who dedicated their lives to the live in seclusion from everything and just solely dedicated their focus to protecting the Tree of Life when it was sleeping.
In the Elven Society, the Tree Guardians were one of the most worshipped people as they directly served the Tree of Life. It was one of the highest social-standing related occupations one could achieve.
'So what do we have here...Old Deus? Let me look a closer look.'
Thought the Tree Guardian Bemarthen as he looked at Samiel with scrutinizing eye, as he was able to disclose Old Deus species with a single glance.
'Not hiding his Eldritch Aura? Probably a young one and didn't know how to do it. Though the question is, how can such a monster appear on the 1st Floor without anyone noticing it? Damm... Times are getting more and more interesting and at the same time dangerous.'
The reason for that was that they always had that weird stench of cold, freezing void around them and touch madness in their eyes that is impossible to hide from the outer world.
As Elves were naturally long species, and he was Legendary on top of that, Bemarthein met many Eldritch-related things, not to mention he even once met an Outer God more than fifteen thousand years ago.
He knew very well the terror of what Outer Gods represented. And just like many before him, and countless after him, he also preferred to avoid anything related to the Outer Gods. Just the existence of the Hall of Kadath, the mad worshippers of the Outer Gods, was enough to send shivers through one's spine all over again.
Not to mention meeting living and breathing Eldritch Creature.
"What is bringing you to the Lambrean Mountain, Princess?"
Questioned Bemarthein, as he warily looked at the young man beside her, as he knew that worshippers of the Outer Gods were unpredictable and mad personas. Even though he could see that Samiel was holding himself up very well, at least for now.
And most importantly, even though he was a Legendary Level expert, he didn't want to have anything to do with anything related to the Outer Ones that just smelled like trouble.
"Searching for some rare metals and ores, possible or the Dimeritium."
Answered Yvraine smoothly, as Bemarthein looked at her before he nodded his head, not really caring for what she needed it. Nesser Dynasty was rich enough in resources to prove their Crown Princess with few kilograms of some ore and or metal.
"You should ask the person in charge, but there should be some of the newly mined. I must depart now to take a look at the new world that got connected to the Tower."
Stated Bemarthein as he waved his staff and dispersed into the shadows.
Meanwhile, Yvraine and Samiel preceded to enter the place as they soon arrived at the small mining village. Even though it was a mining village, it was well fortified with several guarding Towers, and several tens of powerful Elven Knights were patrolling the village.
Even though it was just a mining outpost, many soldiers were present, like they were preparing for some battle.
After they arrived at the mining village, Samiel could see a lot of o Elves going here and there, but also a lot of Dwarves. Actually, the Dwarves were doing most of the mining work in the mine. At the same time, Elves were responsible for other things.
Dwarves were short, below 150cm, sturdy and muscular. All of them had a natural affinity for metallurgy, blacksmithing, invention, mining, or stoneworking. Not to mention that Dwarves were fierce warriors.
Their natural lifespan was around 500 years in even mana-less environments. Thus, they were often termed as an Elder Race, and all of them were born with unnatural strength and a strong aptitude for being Warrior.
Additionally, many Dwarves were adept at the Runic Magic and Runes in general. Runes were a rare branch of magic that only those gifted with special aptitude and talent could learn.
Still, most of the dwarves had some level of affinity to their dwarvish runes.
They used these runes as inscriptions on their weapons and armor, creating far superior equipment than anyone other could. Because of this, dwarven weapons and armor were highly sought after, as they were of superb quality.
Yvraine took Samiel to the house of the Chief Miner, who was an elderly dwarf with sturdy, muscular arms and runic tattoos around his entire body. By just looking at him, one could say that this dwarf was a very powerful Legendary Level expert.
"What ye doing here, little girl?"
Shouted at her the Chief Miner as he continued to hammer the weapon on which he was working, as they probably disturbed him in the forging process. Dwarves hated when someone disturbed them in their smithies; as for them, their smithy was a holy place for a dwarf.
"You are still alive, Grandmaster Kholic? I thought that you would have long ago gotten a heart attack from all of those anger problems you have."
Stated Yvraine back to Grandmaster Kholic Kragchin. He was one of the Grandmaster Blacksmiths and was even a Runesmith, which was a very prestigious occupation among the Dwarven Race.
"Dammed Elfling! What problems do I have? I am a perfectly healthy dwarf!"
He shouted back in anger as he struck the sword he was hammering so much that it almost broke apart. Usually, Dwarves had a fiery temper and were prone to anger issues.
"Of course, can I get some Dimeritium?"
She asked as he suddenly stopped hammering the sword and looked at Yvraine. Now, he was genuinely intrigued by his request.
Asking for Dimeritium was not an everyday request as the metal was a pretty precious one. So the dwarven Grandmaster was pretty interested in why she wanted it.
"What for?"
Dimeritium was one of the most precious metals across not only Tower but countless worlds and dimensions due to its anti-magic properties. Such things were very valuable to come by, even for strong factions.
One of the few anti-magic metals in the Cosmos and was very rare.
Yvraine just pointed at Samiel's armor, and Grandmaster Kholic's eyes almost popped out as he rushed at Samiel and started observing his armor. It was a dream of every blacksmith to one day forge an Ego Artifact.
Of course, Grandmaster Kholic was no different from this goal, so having a chance to inspect a genius Ego Artifact was precious, even though he could see that the Ego of this one was extinguished.
Even still, it was precious artifact and he could learn much from studying it even if the Ego was extinguished.
"It was in the vaults of the Nesser Dynasty, and it never reacted to anyone until I let him wear it... after it woke up, we found out that the Armor is severely damaged and is falling apart."
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"And you want to use the Growth aspect of this armor so it can regenerate itself from an assimilation of specifically selected metals and ores... it would work, but the amount you would need is astronomical..."
He finished her thoughts as he inspected the Holy-Grade Armor Rao's Vengence that Samiel was wearing, looking for anything useful. As a Grandmaster Blacksmith, he could see many things about Armor or weapon just by looking at them.
"I can see that this thing your friend is wearing is almost destroyed, and the materials the Armor is forged from are classified as Transcendental, so good luck with your endeavors. But at least Dimiterium should be able to stop the deterioration process for some time; wait here for a while."
Stated Grandmaster Kholic as he put down his hammer and everything and went to the back room to search for something. As a Legendary expert and Grandmaster Blacksmith and Runesmith, he had his personal stash of various precious ores and metals.
He then turned to hold an ingot of weird bluish metal, which both of them identified as Dimeritium. Interestingly, Samiel could sense how magic was disrupted just by taking out the Dimeritium, as it was jamming the magic particles in the air.
"Hey yer try this. When the Ego inside this Armor was destroyed, this thing's state instantly worsened. Probably, the Ego was suppressing the deterioration. Usually, the Egos of powerful artifacts are very strong and could do many wondrous things, or dangerous things."
He passed the Dimeritium Ingot to Samiel, who now felt that his Armor Rao's Vengence came to live, as shadows creeped out from his Armor and enveloped the entire Dimeritium Ingot, essentially assimilating it in a few seconds.
[Holy-Grade Artifact, Rao's Vengence has assimilated 1 whole Dimeritium Ingot.]
[Detoriation process of the Holy-Grade Artifact Rao's Vengence has been stopped.]
Samiel saw the notifications from the Records as his Armor Rao's Vengencce looked less tattered and less like a beaten dog right now. It has recovered a bit; at least visually, it didn't look so bad.
Grandmaster Kholic was observing everything with great interest, as it was not every day you get to observe such precious artifacts. He was even taking some notes on the behavior of the Armor, how it was recovering and how it was changing.
"Thank you very much, Grandmaster."
Said Samiel as he gave the old dwarf a short bow as a sign of gratitude for his help. He knew very well that he could easily refuse them. Even though Yvraine was the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty, it didn't mean she could order around Legendary Level experts as she wished.
"Grandmaster, why did we see so many Lengedaries in the village? Not to mention an entire detachment of soldiers, be it Elven or Dwarven."
Asked Yvraine as they were preparing to leave, as their business was done here and they had quests to complete.
"That new world which got connected to the first floor... it's ya mess that I tell you. Just my fucking luck yer. I came down to the lower floors after more than 200 years, and immediately those fucken greenskins create that mess."
He then returned back to forging his weapon. Grandmaster Kholic was a very old dwarf and someone of very prestigious status, so he wasn't at the lower floors for a very, very long time already.
Even Samiel noticed that there was a heavy military presence from the Nesser Dynasty, and now he remembered that they even saw incoming Darwen Soldiers incoming; all of them were either Silver-Tier or Gold-Tier.
Based on their armors, they were from the Khazad-Tarum, one of their largest and strongest cities. Each Fortress City or Forge City had a unique armor design and crests, so it was very effortless to distinguish their origin from where they came from.
Dwarven Race was divided into countless sub-faction, which were various Forge Cities or Fortress Cities, located deep under the ground, under the mountains and mountain ranges. Only a few rare dwarven cities were built above the ground and not within the mountains or underneath them.
All of the cities had practically nothing together and were existing in some kind of loose alliance, allying with each other only under external threats, such as invasion of Underdark Species, Ratmen, Gnolls, Beastmen or Orks.
Aside from that, these cities, which were ruled by one or more Dwarvish Clans, usually competed against each other or outright held deep hatred against one another.
Not many races were unified entirely and acted as one. Most species didn't depend on this system but rather went through the Strength-Based Social Hierarchy. Cases like Elves which were ruled by strict racial hierarchy were rare ones.
This was the case in species that were heavily dependent on their bloodlines or rather where their bloodlines were the dominant aspect of their society.
The best example would be Blood Races. Social Hierarchy between Blood Races was extremely strict, and one's bloodline was everything. It decided one's fate, either as a ruler or slave.
While they banded together as Dwarven City States Coalition, it was only on a rare occasion as, for example, when an Ork Horde of enormous size was heading at some Forge City or something similar.
Dwarves were interesting species, that despite their stubbornness and sometimes even hatred of one ruling clan against another, they were still able to fight side by side against the common enemy of the dwarven race if the situation called for it.
"What has happened, Grandmaster?"
Asked Samiel, as because he and Yvraine were spending all of their time in the Darkwood Forest, far from the civilization, they didn't get a lot of knew what was happening around the Tower.
"The Midnight World, which was connected to the Tower, finally got invaded by the Bloodtooth Tribe in enormous Waagh, but soon after, other factions descended down. Apparently, the Midnight World is a mana-less world with some pretty advanced technology. Hence, they managed to hold down Orks for one week, but after that, their defenses were broken, and now Orks are wreaking havoc there. As if those dumb green skulls are capable of anything else."
Mana-less worlds were worlds where mana wasn't present or was diminished for whatever reason. These words then developed in pure scientific ways, and mysteries were a dead end for them.
Though it didn't mean that scientific civilizations were weak, they could develop to frightening heights. Those who were on the stage of a space-faring civilization and had available energy-based weaponry could threaten even Legendaries, but those were rare.
Unfortunately for them, other more powerful factions or Transcendentals usually destroyed them along the way. That was, even if the civilization developed to very high heights, unfortunately for them, they rarely accumulated enough foundation to repel hundreds of Legendaries sieging them at the same time.
Earth was also on the verge of becoming a pure Mana-Less world, as it wasn't long from that state. It was something that Samiel noticed, that mana density on the Earth was constantly lowering with each passing year.
"The population is more than 10 billion in that world, so many other factions are going nuts from the possibility of harvesting the souls of such a large world; some Daemon Cults, Calamity Church, and Devil Cults are already there fighting against each other. Yesterday, even those psychopaths from the Hall of Kadath arrived, and the person here was that bastard Zaldidraax."
Cursed he, as all dwarves had one great common enemy.
Dragons.
It didn't matter if it were Chromatic Dragon Flocks or Metallic Dragon Flocks; all dragons were enemies of dwarves, together with their cults and spawns. There was a lot of bad blood between Dragons and Dwarves, just like those clischés in the fantasy novels Samiel read.
Hearing that many Daemon Cultists and Devil Cultists were lurking here together with the people from the Calamity Church could scare someone shitless. Deamon Cults and Devil Cults were devoted to some particular Daemon or Devil whom they worshipped.
Meanwhile, Calamity Church worshipped Evil Gods, which were the worst kind of Gods ever could be, and some said even Outer Gods were more benevolent than the Evil Gods.
"I heard when that mad lizard descended onto the world, he almost sunk an entire continent, and he even killed one of the High Priests of the Calamity Church and ate a few Legendary Demons that were summoned from the Abyss by mad cultists..."
He cursed while he hammered the sword.
"I will advise you two to finish your Quests as soon as possible to leave because this mess would only spread through the entire 1st Floor sooner or later. Now scram, I need to finish this sword."
Advised them Grandmaster Kholic before kicking them out. This was going to shake the entire Tower, and probably even part of the Cosmos, as all High Priests of the Calamity Church were peerless Legendary experts that terrorized the Tower and countless worlds for an untold number of years.
"This is worse than you thought..."
Remarked Samiel with a tired voice as he looked at Yvraine.
"It appears that I have miscalculated... I didn't know it would be far fetched... the population of that world is too appealing to countless people in the Tower, as even Transcendents could benefit greatly from obtaining that many souls even if they are from mortals... not to mention Legendaries who have been stuck at their Level, could use countless forbidden rituals to advance their Level."
Sighed Yvraine, as Samiel was too distressed about the situation.
Not about the fate of the world and its inhabitants, that was not his problem, as similar scenes happened all around the Cosmos, all the time. It was just a natural circle of all things, so nothing that should trouble him.
When the world is weak or without a strong protector, then the only fate it awaits is despair and destruction in the hands of more powerful factions.
Though, these humans were a bit unlucky.
As a pure scientific civilization, Gods didn't want to spread their faith there, meaning only one who came to their world would be those who wanted to play harvesters or carry out some bloody mass-slaughtering rituals and sacrifice the mortals for power.
Gods would at least give them a way out if they chose to worship them, even if it meant being enslaved for all eternity.
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