Dungeon of Niflheim

An ice griffin corpse would produce a fair amount of coin once dissected even considering its currently damaged state. Its feathers could be used in textile stuffing or to make highly ornate quills for writing. The talons given their high durability and sharpness as well as its sturdy bones could be easily fashioned into weapons and armour whereas its beak, several organs and blood were commonly used in alchemic concoctions and then there was the meat and skin. The meat clearly being a delicacy in many high ranking restaurants such as the phoenix fledgling restaurant in Furano. For the skin it could be fashioned into durable and supple leather, perfect for adventuring gear, armour and other textiles, a very efficient monster.

And then there was also the corpse of the Baltic tiger that lay several dozen metres away, the kill was still fresh and despite the multiple deep gashes could still be put to good use. Plus considering the amount of supplies Sam made him purchase he could preserve every last morsel, thus making this little scouting mission highly lucrative even before he was paid his reward money.

Frost couldn’t help but laugh as he imagined his coffers being filled with gold once again. At the moment with around 60 silvers on his person he felt quite like a pauper. Kiba looked at his madly laughing master while tilting his head wondering what was so funny.

Frost’s laughter stopped after around ten seconds, replaced with a self-condemning look. “Ah I’m such an idiot, come on Kiba we’ve got to move fast before the damn bird loses all its blood!” Frost scrambled to his feet, ignoring his still rather woozy headache. While he was imagining the profit he’d make from this battle his money was seeping into the snow. He cut the griffin’s carotid arteries if he waited any longer it’d be as dry as a bone.

Thus, Frost and Kiba worked together to disseminate the two corpses, making sure to store every last useable piece. All the non-perishables were safely chucked into Frost’s spatial rings but the meat from the ice griffin and baltic tiger was cut up into manageable chunks and stored within his brand new backpack. Thankfully he had Kiba by his side otherwise lugging around an overstuffed bag of meat would be a real pain in the ass. Not only did higher ranked monsters provide higher ranked materials they tended to be far larger than the lower ranks. This ice griffin for example was 4 metres high and 7 metres across, that’s a hell of a lot of meat to carve up.

Kiba who had to drag pieces of the griffin and baltic tiger apart couldn’t help but like his lips slightly eager to eat some of the highly meat despite stuffing himself silly before they left Furano, he was a growing boy after all.

“I’m not cooking it; you need to eat it raw.” Frost saw the puppy eyed look in his partner’s face and couldn’t help but shake his head, wondering how he was still hungry.

“Rawr” Kiba wasn’t bothered about the meat being raw, he was a giant monster tiger after all.

.....

“Fine, munch on this then.” Frost tossed Kiba part of the griffin’s hind leg while he finished packing everything away. Kiba caught the meat in his teeth and starting tearing into the succulent flesh with relish, getting bits of blood on his beautiful white fur.

After Kiba was done with his meal, Frost cast [ignition] to erase the leftover pieces of both the ice griffin and baltic tiger as per adventurer protocol. He then lugged the massive backpack onto Kiba’s back before following suit.

“Come, Kiba let’s head on home, I want to be there before sunrise tomorrow, think you can do it?” Frost leaned over and rubbed Kiba’s head with affection.

“Rawwwwr!” Kiba loudly chuffed ‘no problem’ before dashing off under Frost’s guidance.

Frost and Kiba made excellent time and as Frost requested they made it to the dungeon’s purview before sunup. Kiba didn’t even feel that strained running all night at high speed, his stamina was astounding even for an entry C-rank monster.

“We’re home Kiba, this is where you, me and the rest of our family live, hopefully it meets your expectations.” Frost had a homesick look in his eyes as they crossed from the Glacial mountains and into Northrend lands. Kiba’s expression was one of intense excitement, his new home and from what Frost told him throughout their journey what a home it will be.

Not only did Frost have plans to expand his dungeon without end Kiba would be given free rein to run around and play on an entire floor at least. This news brought a few tears to the large tiger’s eyes as back in Kranor he was merely restricted to Druakai’s farm, not nearly enough for him to run free and truly engage his muscles.

“Rawr” Kiba lightly roared in excitement before dashing forward towards the dungeon’s entrance, eager to see his new home. Frost chuckled in response, feeling the same way. He missed the kids greatly and wondered how they were doing while he was away. Were they good? Did they improve their dagger and hammer skills? Did they grow at all? He wanted to enjoy hearing about their lives over the past couple weeks, just like how Lola loved listening to her children’s daily activities.

But most of all he missed Maya, his beautiful guardian. He missed her enchanting figure, her charming voice, her laugh, even the way she smelled. His time with Sam and Lola as well as in Kranor matured him to a great extent. Making him desire something far more substantial with her. He wanted to kiss her, to feel her in his arms, for her to be by his side, he loved her and now he no longer feared saying so.

As Kiba and Frost entered the vicinity of the dungeon’s purview, Frost was suddenly assaulted by a strong dizziness. A flood of information filled his body when he reconnected with the dungeon’s core.

Only a few seconds passed in this state, but Frost felt out of breath, his head was ringing, and his eyes shook wildly. “What the hell!” He cursed while holding his head in pain.

While Frost was away adventuring in the Glacial mountains Dark set about enacting a great many changes that came in the form of an update, rewriting how the dungeon menu system worked. Now many of the issues that cropped up during the first month of their lives and highlighted during the family gathering had been resolved. Making for a much more fluid and diverse system which should provide his children with a much greater range in terms of creation.

For Frost when receiving this massive alteration to his core’s chemical makeup, it was quite similar to the time he absorbed the magic skill book in Furano, lots of messy data that his mind had to wrap its head around.

After the initial painful reaction, the pleasant feeling of being connected to the core returned, filling Frost with strength and comfort, he’d missed this bond.

“Rawr?” Kiba noticed the changes in Frost and couldn’t help but feel worried, he looked at his back in concern.

“Hahahaha don’t worry I just got inundated with a large amount of information making me dizzy, nothing’s wrong.” Frost laughed warmly while rubbing Kiba’s head, moved by his concern.

He wondered how well the dungeon did in his absence in comparison to the windfall he earned while exploring. Which was a grand total of 43,000DP, a hefty sum. Now however all he cared about was seeing Nanna, Loki, and Maya’s faces. He could check out the fine details of the update later.

With his body being reconnected to the dungeon he had Kiba stop in his tracks before bringing up the dungeon menu. “Maya, Nanna, Loki I’m home and I’ve brought someone with me so make room in the private space, a lot of room.”

Maya who was sitting in the private space bored out of her mind bolted upright when she heard Frost speaking through the menu. Her eyes started to redden as she held back tears of joy, ‘finally he’s back.’

Nanna and Loki had very similar reactions when they heard Frost’s voice. Putting down their books they swiftly made room in the private space as per his instructions.

“We’re ready young master.” Maya’s charming voice spoke within Frost’s mind causing his heart to skip a beat.

“Get ready Kiba, this may feel weird at first, but you’ll get used to it.” Frost patted Kiba’s head before looking around for anyone in the vicinity. Upon finding no one he smiled and activated the dungeon’s teleportation feature, sucking he and Kiba into a warp in space before depositing them within the private space.

They were home.