After recording the elemental affinities of all the Human Imps, I ordered Rachel to bring up the price list I saw in the Monster Trader Market, where I met Timun.

[Price based on rank

Elemental Beast Clay Rank - 5 Mana Crystals
Elemental Beast Stone Rank - 15 Mana Crystals
Elemental Beast Iron Rank - 25 Mana Crystals
Elemental Beast Steel Rank - 50 Mana Crystals
Elemental Beast Bronze Rank - 75 Mana Crystals]

[Add On Price based on Elemental Core Affinity
Fire - 5 Mana Crystal
Earth - 5 Mana Crystal
Water - 5 Mana Crystal
Wind - 5 Mana Crystal
Metal - 10 Mana Crystal
Shadow - 20 Mana Crystals
Ice - 40 Mana Crystal
Blood - 60 Mana Crystals
Lightning - 80 Mana Crystals
Holy - 100 Mana Crystals]

The Falar Mage Academy must have bottomless pockets to make a Mana contract promising their students a consistent supply of these Elemental Cores. But How much will it cost me to unlock their Mage Class and get them to rank Up? I had Nazrat relay the question to Amon. After a brief pause, Amon used the arrow tip on his Baboon tail to inscribe the requirements on the floor. Nazrat then translated it into Falaran, right next to Amon's work.

[5 Elemental Cores => Clay Rank Mage
10 Elemental Cores => Stone Rank Mage
50 Elemental Cores => Iron Rank Mage
100 Elemental Cores => Steel Rank Mage
250 Elemental Cores => Bronze Rank Mage
500 Elemental Cores => Silver Rank Mage
1000 Elemental Cores => Gold Rank Mage
5000 Elemental Cores => Diamond Rank Mage
10000 Elemental Cores => Platinum Rank Mage
100000 Elemental Cores => Mythril Rank Mage]

The Blueprints I discovered in my Dungeon had requirements for Elemental Cores, which seemed like pocket change compared to the immense cost of raising a mage. I need to multiply this by 20 times. No! It will be 40 times since Amon said a Dual Elemental Mage has to consume both Elemental Cores in equal quantity to Rank Up. If I still had a heart, it would have stopped beating. How can there still be Elemental Beasts in Artrea if their cores are required in the millions?

"Valgrind, where did the Falar Mage Academy get their Elemental Cores from?" I asked.

"From the Pillars of Elements," Valgrind answered.

"Huh? Where is that?" I ask Valgrind.

"No idea. Our headmaster would resupply the Elemental Cores storage room every morning, and the teachers would distribute them to all the students," Valgrind answered.

Suddenly, Whiterock appeared right next to me.

"Come back to the Peep-me-not for a bit," Whiterock instructs, and I follow out of curiosity. Once inside, I noticed Timun and Redrock were still in deep discussion in the Dwarven Language. Blackrock has left the warehouse for some reason.

"The Headmaster of the Falar Academy possesses a Dimensional key created by the Original Faes of the Space and Time Elements. During the Fae-Empire era, these keys were given to the wisest Fae-Men Mages on every continent. The purpose was to harvest Elemental Cores without wiping out the Elemental Beasts, who were technically the descendants of the Original Fae. The Key materializes a door leading to ten towers shaped like ancient pillars holding up the sky. Each Tower is filled with an Elemental beast of one of the 10 Elements. However, the key holder can only enter the towers that share their elemental affinity.

The towers are divided into ten floors, each having 100 Elemental Beasts corresponding to our ranks. Killing those Beasts in the Tower yields no experience, meat, or body materials. The beasts only leave behind their Elemental Cores. They are revived every 24 hours, allowing the key holder to farm them daily. As the key holder increases in rank, the upper floors will unlock, yielding access to another 100 Elemental Beasts to kill and harvest their Cores. The Keyholder can take the cores back to Artrea and distribute them as they see fit to raise.

When the humans rose from the collapse of the Fae Empire, the ancestors of the Falar Kingdom built an academy around a Human mage who had found the Key that was left behind, making him a Headmaster. To maintain the Academy, it acquires funds by selling half the Elemental Cores to wealthy Mages for Mana Crystals or special materials like the Mana Wood to make Mana Paper for creating Spell Tomes and Spell Scrolls. The majority of the Elemental Cores being traded in the market come from the Pillars of Elements," Whiterock explained.

"Is there another Key like that in Arya?" I ask.

"Why do you think there are only five Kingdoms in Arya? Without a large supply of Elemental Cores, it would not be possible to maintain a large army or a Kingdom," Whiterock revealed.

"That means I'm screwed unless I get one of their Keys?" I ask, and the Timun comes over to speak.

"You would be, but the Underworld of Arya also had five dimensional Keys. I was the Treasury Lord of Primarch Hindgar, and he kept his Key in the vault." Timun revealed.

"Tell me you have it!" I begged, but he shook his head to say no.

"I hid it within my arse hole when we escaped the Underworld. I fancied becoming a Mage and getting enough Elemental cores to get the Warrior Dwarves to do the same, but I couldn't show it to them until we got privacy within the Gemstone mines. I showed it to the other Dwarves, but one of them stole it from me. He had decided to take it to Chingar and use it as a bargaining chip to let him return to the Underworld. We chased him deep into lower levels of Mine, but he was devoured by a Gecko the size of a Titan. Our flash bags were useless against it, so we retreated up. The Key might have popped out with its dung, so it should still be down there." Timun explained.

"So when you suggested the Gemstone Mine, you hoped to find it after I took care of the Monsters in there?" I ask.

"You didn't need the Key before, so I didn't mention it. Just give me a small portion of the Elemental Cores as payment for the Key," Timun requested.

"10% of what we earn from it in a day?" I ask.

"30%! My Dwarves will need them to build weapons and artillery for our war against Chingar's Dwarves one day." Timun pointed out before bringing out his copy of the Mana Contract Paper.

"Right," I reply as I bring out my copy of the Mana contract to combine with his sheet to make the additions.

I will have the Imps increase their Ranks on the weaker Monsters and build up the resources to make the 300 Dwarf Warrior Golems before searching for the Key.

If we recover it, I won't have to worry about Elemental Cores for the Anti Elemental Array Blueprint, Ranking up my Mages and Smithing the Feather Flame Sword Schematic I got from the Falar Knight.

"I should warn you that not every Key Holder has survived the Tower. Sometimes they screw up and get killed by the Elemental Beasts. But the Key will rematerialize where the door appeared so that another mage can pick it up and use it. So, the Fae-Men always took a large party of Mages of the same rank and affinity whenever they challenged the Diamond, Platinum and Mythril floors. But overconfidence had led to many deaths of powerful mages, so only those with patience and wisdom were entrusted with the keys." Whiterock warned.

"What's the point of risking your life for 300 Elemental Cores?" I ask.

"Those three floors have Titan Elemental Beasts. The same size as the herd of Forest Titans we saw on the way to Rodwin. Each of their cores has the concentrated Elemental Energy of 100 Cores in 1 Core. Meaning those 300 Cores are worth 30000. How can a Mage skip that opportunity?" Whiterock explained.

"That is indeed a great incentive. But why would Mythril Rank Mages still need Elemental Cores?" I ask.

"One Mage alone, even one of Mythril Rank, still needs an army of Mages to do their bidding. They also used the Elemental Cores as wealth to exchange for favors from the Royalty, army and Traders. But there haven't been any Mythril Rank Mages in Arya since we arrived a hundred years ago. The highest rank belongs to the Heroes Church at Diamond Rank, Phil Sin. I assume the Headmasters of the Mage Academies don't dare to venture into those three floors out of fear of losing their lives or those that follow them into the Pillars. High-rank mages represent the Kingdom's might, and their deaths significantly blow the armies and morale of their Kingdoms," Whiterock answers.

"I see! If we find the Key, I will create one Golem Mage for each element and use my avatar control to explore the difficulty level of the Pillars of the Elements before leading the Human Imps into them." I shared my plan.

Listening to the whole exchange between me, Timun and Whiterock, Redrock pointed at the Human Imps with his right thumb.

"Until you get the Elemental Cores to unlock their Mage Class. I suggest you get the Warrior Dwarves to train them in the Warrior Professions. That will increase their chances of survival when they exhaust their Mana Pool," Redrock suggested. He was referring to how the kids got killed by the Imps when they ran out of Mana to fight back.

"I can arrange that," Timun replied.

"That's a great Idea! Oh! I almost forgot to thank you for getting me these Human Imp Mages and those three Sin Imps." I reply as I go over to shake his hand.

Redrock is a bit surprised and awkwardly shakes my Golem hand.

"Are you open to buying more Human Imps?" Redrock asked.

"Huh? I am willing to buy more, but I have nothing left to pay for them right now," I admit, and Timun comes over to speak.

"Rai, you said you will build a Monster Breeding Farm to create unique creatures. Though you offered me five of them daily, I am no longer interested in being a Monster Trader. I must focus on leading my Dwarves once they settle in your Dungeon. In light of this, I suggest you sell the monsters to Redrock in exchange for more Human Imps." Timun suggested.

"Oh? That makes sense. Did you tell him about the first experiment?" I asked Timun, and Redrock laughed.

"Timun said your first batch will cross between Giant Metal Beetles and Giant Metal Scorpions. I think the Falar Army will be the only ones interested in them for harvesting experience. You may not want them to get slaughtered by the army that might come after you one day. How about you breed the Bats and Gecko Monsters from the Gemstone Mine? Timun said you will connect your Dungeon to their lair instead of the Ruins with the Imps." Redrock suggested.

So this is what the two were discussing till now.

"Why those two creatures in particular?" I ask.

"The Tamers and Summoners who bought them from me have been breeding and selling their young as starters for new Monster Tamers for the last three decades now. If you crossbreed those two species, their offspring will become a hit in Falar and the other Kingdoms," Redrock explained.

Why are those Monsters popular?

"Timun, you said you would bring out your bat monster when the sun sets." I remind.

Timun nodded, raised his right hand above his head, and materialized a Time Capsule, which he threw towards me. It exploded into white smoke, and a Giant 'Big-Eared Bat' (Author Note: Google the Bat) emerged from it, stretching its massive webbed bat wings and releasing a screech that terrified all the Imps in the warehouse. When it landed in front of me, the shape of its body reminded me of a skinny Grizzly bear. The jaws on the face split sideways like the Predator movie creature. The Bat had a long rat tail. There is intelligence in its eyes, but it focused them on Timun, who rubbed his hand on its head and then pulled meat from his storage ring to feed it.

"Timun, can I study your Monster?" I asked since I needed permission to examine his tamed creature.

"I can tell you everything you need to know about this Monster. He is the descendant of the first Bat monster I tamed many years ago. I named him Baifun, and he is a Stone Rank Monster right now. He uses his superior senses to track down monsters in complete darkness. He releases sonic attacks on his prey to make them deaf. He then injects paralyzing poison through his fangs and drinks their blood to weaken them enough so that I can tame and store them into my Time Capsules," Timun explained while feeding Baifun.

"Sounds very useful, but wouldn't an Elemental Beast be a better starter for a Tamer?" I point out.

My mind is still stuck in Pokemon logic because a creature with elemental control had more advantages than a creature that just relied on its claws and fangs.

"Well, the Bats from the Gemstone mines aren't normal Monsters. Baifun's ancestors became Mutants after consuming the Gems growing out of the ancient Dragon skeleton. At Clay and Stone rank, his kind won't show any sign of being Mutants. But if they are fed at least 100 pieces of raw Gemstones, there is a high chance they will evolve into Gemstone Mutants when they reach Iron Rank. Their bodies get covered in scale armor like a Pangolin from the previously consumed gemstone. Even the bones in their fangs and claws are replaced with Gemstones." Timun explained.

So you are what you eat.

"Are the Giant Metal Bug Eggs you sold me also Mutant Monsters?" I point out.

"The bugs are Metal Mutants when they hatch out of their eggs. Even the Geckos are Gemstone Mutants when they hatch. The Geckos are more popular than the Bats, who need growing time before they can Mutate. But Geckos are bound to the Earth while the Bats can fly, so a fusion of the two might be a big hit among the Tamer and Summoners," said Timun.

"Got it! So what are the advantages of having Gemstone Mutants over Metal Mutants?" I ask Timun.

"Depending on the type of gemstone ingested by those Mutant Monsters, they gain different benefits. For example, Red Rubies raise their total Health, Green Emeralds raise their Mana Pool, Blue Sapphires raise their defense, White and Black Diamonds increase their attack power, and Yellow topazs increase their speed. Depending on what kind of Gems those Mutant Monsters consume, they will evolve into monsters showcasing those colors. You can understand what they are good at if you know what the colors represent.

A Metal Mutant Monster's strength and defense depend heavily on the type of Metal they consume before they rank up. Copper and Iron ore are the cheapest, So Tamers and Summoners feed them that. Finding a Metal Mutant Monster with Gold, Platinum or Mythril bodies is harder. I have never seen one so far, so if you get one, sell it to me," Redrock explained.

"Isn't it expensive to get Gemstones?" I ask Timun, who shakes his head.

"A hundred years ago, 1 Gemstone cost 1 Mana Crystal. However, after reaching iron rank, the mutant bats and geckos that I sold to Redrock acquired the ability to locate gemstone deposits, and the supply outweighed the demand. As a result, ten gold coins are enough for one raw gemstone. For Monster Tamers and Traders, Gold coins are pocket change." Timun explained.

Oh! That's why Blackrock offered the same for my Gemstones.

Since the six Metal Bug Eggs and two Hidden Skill Bugs are enough right now, I should focus on getting more Human Imps.

"Once we connect the tunnel to the Gemstone Mine. I will have my Imps capture those Bats and Geckos and breed them on the Farm. How many Human Imps will you offer for their offspring?" I ask Redrock.

Redrock offered, "If the creatures are Gemstone mutants and have wings for flying when they hatch, I am willing to pay 10 Human Imps for each. However, I will not purchase if they do not meet these criteria. Does this deal work for you?" I shook his hand once again to confirm our agreement.