Dungeon of Niflheim

“That’s the catch Dark God-sama. Charlotte isn’t up to snuff in terms of battle strength yes but in other areas she is more than capable plus I know for a fact that she is quite fond of all creatures of the forest, goblins included. A situation such as that with Bala would not occur with her....but if that’s not enough how about assigning two guardians, Charlotte has a twin sister Lily who also applied to be a guardian. Her strength is roughly the same but unlike Charlotte who specialises in magic, Lily is a physical combatant. With the two of them not only would they be strong enough to protect Gobuske at a sign of danger, together they’d be able to cover all types of training.” Maya spoke like a saleswoman trying to convince Dark to buy her products.

Maya had a fair few friends in Nova, Charlotte and Lily were two of those friends. They were both nature spirits with high potential and very friendly and outgoing personalities. Though they were a little younger than her the three of them clicked and became fast friends. She was sad to hear that they didn’t qualify as guardians as she wished to become colleagues in this new operation the Dark God had established. Therefore, when she saw the reluctance in Gobuske’s eyes she instantly thought of her two friends. They would surely be able to heal his trauma, allowing Gobuske to experience true friendship and joy.

Maya’s counter argument caused Dark to frown and think deeply. He remembered Charlotte and Lily quite vividly and had a very high impression of them. Not only because they were so easy to get along with and their high potential but because of their aunt. To be honest if they were just a tad stronger like a the top end of A-rank he would have probably allowed them to become guardians just because of who their aunt was. Their aunt was one of the very few spirit queens of the world, beings that were akin to Gods, albeit much weaker than him and Light. They had surpassed S-rank and were able to create their own dimensions in which they were omnipotent. Even if he and light entered such a domain they’d be restricted. So, Maya’s second suggestion caused him to think.

‘Would this give him some sort of unfair advantage or disadvantage?’ This was the main problem Dark could think of. Two A-ranks would struggle to beat a quasi S-rank so their power would be the weakest amongst all the guardians even with both together but by having two he could leave one in the dungeon and explore with the other, an advantage his other children would not have access too. He was torn but not ruling the option out, Gobuske deserved some sort of compensation after all.

The room was silent for a few minutes while Dark pondered. Maya though sounding confident was incredibly nervous, hoping her suggestion would be approved, this way she’d be able to interact with Charlotte and Lily as fellow guardians.

Eventually Dark spoke up and his response was positive. “Very well I approve of your suggestion, the two of them together can qualify as guardians for Gobuske.” Maya instantly smiled and went to fist pump the air but was interrupted. “However, the decision is still up to Gobuske, if he says no then it’s a no, got it?” Dark scrutinised the excited Maya, cooling her jets.

“Yes, yes of course,” she tilted her head and stuck out her tongue playfully but was still jumping for joy on the inside. Frost who was by her side simply shook his head. She didn’t even talk to him first before speaking out, so he felt a little left out, not even knowing about these so called friends of hers.

“Gobuske after the gathering is over, I’ll summon Charlotte and Lily so you can talk to them a little, get to know them and then decided if you want them as your guardians, does that sound alright?”

.....

“Uhhh yeah that sounds good.” Gobuske was still in a slight daze from being on the receiving end of Maya’s smile and answered haphazardly, agreeing to meet them later.

“Good, good, now that that’s been sorted, I guess it’s time to dish out the rewards for this dungeon war, hopefully that will bring back the festivities!” Dark suddenly spoke with a booming voice, trying to redirect the flow of the gathering. With his words many of the dungeon cores couldn’t help but perk up their ears in anticipation, it was finally here, the fabled rewards. Many turned to look at Frost with jealously. Not only did he get a reward for being in fourth place in the DP rankings he was also getting the major prize from this dungeon war. Everyone knew that Dark wouldn’t be stingy with such a prize given the importance he placed on this event. It may even rival or surpass Yami’s prize.

Dark had everyone return to their seats so he could treat this as some sort of glorious ceremony, only Gobuske and Frost were standing before Dark side by side in anticipation. Maya had retreated to the audience seating area wherein Aqua started chatting with her.

The whole ordeal with Bala seemed to be swept under the rug with the prize reveal. Dark even waved his hands a couple times returning the room to a pristine state as though erasing the situation from existence.

Dark protruded a dignified aura as he stood before his two sons, but he couldn’t prevent a smile from growing on his lips, he was too proud and happy plus he put a lot of thought into these prizes, so he was eager to gleam their reactions. Unlike Yami, Gobuske and Frost should be more animated with their rewards, well at least Gobuske should.

He turned his head to his left, looking over at Gobuske who was rather nervous but at the same time was smiling. He’d start with the loser of the war. Though Gobuske lost he wasn’t going to be lacklustre with his reward. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Gobuske’s shoulder, while his eyes radiated fatherly pride.

“Though you did not succeed in beating your elder brother, you showed great tenacity and spirit Gobuske. You drove a hard fight and for that you deserve a great reward.” Dark then channelled his divine energy to summon a group of items. A bunch of magic crests appeared around him bringing with them Gobuske’s rewards. “First off to help off set the loss of monsters as well as simply cash reward I’ll be giving you 5,000DP to spent however you wish.” A dark ball of floating energy then flew into Gobuske’s chest from one of the magic crests. If he looked at his dungeon menu, he’d now see an increase of 5,000DP.

“Next, although this demonstration war did not have you or Frost fighting personally, I know that you have some skill with tonfas, rather unusual but interesting none the less, so here take this pair of tonfas, created from the bones and hide of an iron salamander. They should be more than enough to match you into B-rank.” Dark couldn’t help but let out a mocking chortle as he mentioned the materials used to create the tonfas, it was an indirect insult towards Bala, which many of the dungeon cores understood, lightly sniggering in response. Of course, it would have been best if he used Bala’s bones and hide but that would have ended up being at minimum a 6 star weapon, plus it would go against Gobuske’s wishes to only banish him.

The tonfas he gave Gobuske would be symbolic in nature with only those in the know understanding the meaning, without that however they were solid 4 star weapons, focusing on durability. Iron salamanders were usually around C or B rank in strength depending on their type and age, rather powerful monster in the world and very highly regarded. Its body was a complete treasure trove for high ranking materials, coveted greatly by blacksmiths throughout the world. High ranking monsters would of course make even better raw materials, but they’d also be much harder to manipulate. There was a reason that 5 star weaponsmiths were the limit in most empires, with 6 stars being even rarer than quilins. Weapons ranked higher than 5 star were generally either found in special realms/ areas such as monster lairs or were put together from high level monster parts without much forging, relying on their natural shape.

Gobuske took the beautiful red and silver tonfas in his hands and admired them greatly, they were beautiful and felt comfortable in his hands. “Thank you, father,” with a big smile he thanked Dark, feeling a little flustered that Dark knew where his specialties lay.

“You’re welcome Gobuske but I’m not finished yet.” Dark replied with a coy smile before summoning the last of Gobuske’s reward. This time it was a small locket, silver with intricate carvings like runes on the cover. It floated down onto Gobuske’s outstretched hand, it felt slightly warm to the touch like an exquisite piece of jade. Gobuske was quite taken with it the moment he felt it in his hand. Dark didn’t let his son wait in suspense and quickly explained the item.

“This my son is something especially designed for someone like you, it’s a courage locket. A small yet delicate magic device that fills the wearer with courage whenever they are in dire need of it. If you keep it close to your heart it will fill you with fire and the strength to face down what frightens you.”