Umeko had just heard something so big that all her other questions seemed inconsequential, “Wait! Second most powerful? Who is more powerful than you?”

Arlie glanced at the still sputtering Liritian, and then replied, “I don’t know.”

Umeko was astonished, and said, “How in the world, do you not know!? You’re a goddess don’t you know everything!?”

Arlie sighed, and replied, “No one knows who the most powerful being in the universe is. Their very name was stricken from reality, we know them only by a title, The Fallen God, and they were bound away in the depths of the abyss for all eternity. I hold the title ‘The Last First Lord.’ The reason I hold this title is because we the First Lords challenged the Fallen God, and sealed them away for all eternity. Then we erased their very name and an entire branch of magic from existence. At great cost, however, for most of us died in the endeavor. Others were so drained that they never recovered from the endeavor, and then our enemies seized the opportunity to try and topple our empire. Many weak after fighting with the Fallen God were killed by our enemies. The rest lost the will to live and deliberately collapsed their mana pools. A method of suicide that is now forbidden. As for why, well the process created what we call, ‘The Dark Worlds.’ Of course, that only happened due to the sheer amount of refined mana in their pools, but it happened nonetheless.”

Umeko had lots of questions about that bit of information, but before she could say anything, Arlie continued saying, “I know you have a lot more questions, but now isn’t the time to answer them.”

Just then the Lirirtian stopped sputtering, but it seemed she hadn’t heard what Arlie had said after revealing her age, “How can you possibly be over five million years old!?”

Arlie shifted in her seat, and replied, “Oh that!? That’s easy, that would be Ruri’s Law.”

Frowning she asked, “Ruri’s Law?”

“Ruri’s Law is a very old observation. It states ‘that the lifespan of any given being is directly proportional to its magical ability.’”

“Magic? That doesn’t exist, why you do you Soleans keep talking about magic?” interrupted the Liritian girl.

“Magic does exist, and it is the power of the mind, the will over reality. It allows the adepts to bend reality to their will. There are many different schools of thought when it comes to magic. The only reason your people don’t think it exists is because you feared to tread down the path needed to learn how to use magic. Even if you have rather high potential, it is why your race has a natural lifespan of seven hundred years. Tapping that talent could have easily extended your life by double or even triple that.”

Frowning, she was silent for a moment, and then suddenly her face lit up, “You are talking about Psionics!”

Arlie shook her head, and replied, “That is mere child’s play, what I am talking about is beyond that.” Raising her hand, she produced a small fireball, and let it float in the air, “True magic is fueled by an energy we call mana or in its more pure form Makaiju. This energy is produced by all living creatures, but can also be found in the air around us or the earth beneath our feet. Even the void between stars is subject to the flows of mana. A mage takes this mana and shapes it to their will allowing for anything they can imagine. Mana can be used for simple things like throwing fireballs, subtle things like stimulating pleasure, and it can even be used to create life or make the impossible possible.

Anyway, now that your people have met us, they will be forced to learn eventually. Otherwise, they could never win a war against the Empire. Mark my words, in less than five hundred years your Union will be forced to surrender.”

She sputtered and said, “What! The union will never fall to despotic tyrants!”

Arlie looked at her with undisguised disdain, “We are not evil, nor are we despotic tyrants. If you bothered to learn who we are first, maybe you would know that. Then again, your people seem rather close-minded, well most of them anyway.

Umeko could see that this was going to go on for a while and headed for the kitchen. She spent a few minutes in the kitchen and came back with a bowl of food for herself. It was a simple bowl of rice and some of the delicious fish that she loved so much. Just as the door closed behind her, the Liritian yelled, “NO!”

Arlie snapped her fingers, saying, “That wasn’t a request.” Suddenly the Liritian’s strange clothing disintegrated around her, a swirling cloud floated around her, and then flowed straight to the table where it rapidly reformed into a neatly folded stack of clothing.  The Liritian futilely tried to cover herself and shrieked. Out of nowhere Arlie produced a small ball and tossed it at the girl. It hit her on the head, and she was enveloped in a bright blue light that quickly vanished into the ball. 

As the ball rocked on the floor, Umeko found herself asking, “What is that?”

“A capture ball. They are meant for catching monsters, but they can be used on people as well. Most have safeties to prevent that, but original models don’t. They work best on a weakened or distracted target,” said Arlie, and finishing just as the ball clicked. Then the blue and white sphere flew back to her hand.

Then she continued, “Now, I’ll be gone for a couple of hours, I have a pet to sell.”

Then Arlie walked out the back door, leaving Umeko with her plate of food not sure what had happened.

Kuron put his sword away. He had just finished polishing it. They had stopped on the road for a bit of a break, and he had taken the time to conduct some maintenance on his equipment. They had been on the road for a few days, but they were finally getting close to Bordertown. Soon he would get his chance to challenge the dungeon everyone was talking about. He was really looking forward to challenging it. As he understood the dungeon had really good puzzles and loot for its age. The loot was especially attractive but the good stuff had to be found. It was often located on hidden paths or behind traps. Sure he was over-leveled for the dungeon, but that didn’t mean it could not give him a challenge.  The demons likely wouldn’t be worth more than a mild workout, but he had heard that the average level increased by about five with each floor. That was actually higher than average for dungeons since most only raised the average level by three. Although there were a few great dungeons with higher average increases between floors.

The most significant fact about this dungeon and the most valuable part about it was that it is one of the dungeons in which death is not permanent. False death dungeons always came with a price attached, and some even had a limit to the number of respawns an adventurer was allowed. Only about half of all dungeons had the trait, and this one had a more tolerable cost. The divine curse that turned men into girls only affected men, so the dungeon was most popular with women. The greatest advantage that this dungeon offered was that since death wasn’t possible within its halls, well outside natural causes. People had experimented long ago and found that the trait ignored death from old age, but dungeons with curses like the one this had could be used to extend your life. Assuming you had a potion made with some very expensive ingredients and were willing to live with the curse the dungeon had. In this case, it would be living life over again as a girl. Most people didn’t have the resources to do it, and the effect only ever worked once. Honestly, that wasn’t why people considered false death dungeons to be valuable. The real advantage was that these dungeons could be used to raise your level. Dungeons were the best place to raise your level, and false death dungeons were doubly important especially at the higher levels where gaining meaningful experience was hard without taking risks.

Since most false death dungeons had an experience or in some cases, a level penalty, any dungeon that didn’t have that penalty was more valuable. It was why so many rookies were visiting this dungeon town. Even if most people hadn’t gotten past the fifth floor, those five floors were good for gaining some levels. Challenging it also helped the dungeon grow, and he knew that eventually, it would grow enough to be truly useful to him. Although he wasn’t planning on dying, but he did want to see how far he could get in the dungeon before the puzzles or traps forced him to head back.

A rustle signaled the return of the resident nudist of their party. Telmari had gone scouting the area, while Tali prepared their midday meal. Tali often did the cooking because Kazi wouldn’t do it, and Telmari was talented in all the wrong ways when it came to cooking. As for himself, he could cook, but Tali was better.

Looking towards Telmari he asked, “Find anything?”

She shook her head, and replied, “Not really. Not unless you count a goblin village. Not a really big one, but it does have a princess. She seems to have taken control of her little village.”

“A goblin princess? Don’t see those often. Did you tag her?”

She smiled, and said, “Yep! I put a tag on her.”

He was glad about that. Female goblins were quite rare, but occasionally a female goblin would evolve into a princess. A goblin princess being a very rare monster were often tagged by adventurers when found and then reported to the guild. That way the local guild could keep an eye on them. Female goblins were less aggressive than their more common male counterparts, so unlike a prince, a princess was not an immediate subjugation target. In fact more often then not a noble would come along and post a quest to have the princess captured. Female goblins were very popular with the exotic sex pets crowd in noble circles. The princess variant was even more sought after. Honestly, there wasn’t much reward for either the report or capture quests at least not for a party of his level. Still, a little more pocket change was always useful.

“That’s good. It gives us a reason to visit the guild. As I recall Phillip Greybeard is the guild master. I guess I should say hello to him. He was good company on that one quest we did together. I wonder if he remembers me?”

“Phillip? I don’t recall us being on a quest with him,” replied Telmari with a very cute frown on her face.

He scratched his cheek, and Kazi who had been listening, interjected, “We took that quest before Telmari joined the party. That was the quest where we met Tali.”

Then he chuckled, and said, “Oh, right! Didn’t we find her hanging upside down from a tree?”

Redfaced, Tali turned from the food yelling, “Don’t remind me about that!”

He remembered the incident quite well. Tali had a bad habit of completely forgetting to wear panties, and that day was no different. He had a feeling she didn’t like panties, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable with flashing her privates to everyone. He certainly had gotten a few good glimpses that day. Back then she had been a solo adventurer and she had taken a different quest in the area. They ended up helping her out with said quest, and then she helped them with theirs. They had parted ways with Phillip after the quest but Tali ended up joining their party. 

Telmari leaning forward asked, “Oh, what was this quest you were on? I want to hear all about it. Also, was Tali wearing panties that day? Or did she happen to forget again?”

Kuron noticed Tali awkwardly tug at her skirt, as she glared at Telmari. Kuron chuckled, and replied, “maybe later.”

He certainly knew enough about Tali’s mood that he decided not to risk making her mad. She could get rather creative when she was mad, and he did not want a repeat of what happened last time she got creative. That was not fun, and Kazi didn’t enjoy it either. The two of them had pulled a little prank on her, and she had not taken it well. Neither he nor Kazi risked making her mad anymore.

Seeing she wasn’t going to get any answers she went over to Tali. She pestered her a bit for the answers and story. He silently wished her luck and pulled out his journal. He had a little more time before lunch was ready, so he figured he would add an entry to his journal. He knew many adventurers would kill to have a shot at owning his journal. As an experienced adventurer, he had filled several books with rather detailed notes on places he had visited and monsters he had either seen or fought. Information that would be invaluable for any adventurer.

JCountry

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