Conquering His Cold Heart

The Harkers along with 3 more adventuring parties made for the adventurer's guild the moment they surfaced. Each of them had found one of the runic stones and wished to get it appraised at the guild, hoping that they had stumbled upon a veritable gem that would bring them great riches.

When the first group arrived the situation was treated as something uneventful but when 4 groups and even the Lord of the camp Frost arrived within similar stones in hand the situation changed.

"The runes are clearly awash with the spatial element, transposition if we're being technical but it's also different from the regular runes." A wizened old man with a trove of experience in regards to runes gave his opinion on the matter.

With his clear eyes and wealth of knowledge he could easily distinguish the purpose of the stones but even so there was still some elements of its function that alluded him.

"There seems to be some sort of restrictive mechanism, the coordinates appear fixed as is the area in which it can function." Another elder who was an expert in sealing runes as well as an avid former delver of mystical dimensions and unusual monster lairs remarked with glinting eyes. It wasn't often that he got to see something new and novel like the runic stones.

"Has anyone actually tested it out yet, assumption can only get us so far." When the third elder spoke he was met with a bunch of nodding from his peers who then looked towards the local guild master.

"There is and he's already ascertained what you theorised." The current guild master was a longtime subordinate of Bastion's, a man named Ringwald. If Bastion was number one, Thrall number two and the keeper number 3 then Ringwald was number 4 in the hierarchy and though he was lower ranked his workload was normally much higher.

Ringwald was in charge of a vast range of activities back in Furano as well as the guilds spread across the rest of viscounty which made him the ideal person to help set up a new guild. Bastion was too important, Thrall too busy and the Keeper too specified in his skills.

Though it was supposed to be just a temporary thing while a proper guild master was arranged Ringwald desired to stay in his current position. The pay was better, the work more fulfilling and here he was in charge, no one above ordering him around.

"Really who? And what does it do?" The wizened elders clamoured around Ringwald desperate for the knowledge he held.

"I can answer that." Just when Ringwald was about to escort the group into a waiting area where they could interact with Lord Frost the man in question entered of his own volition. This was technically against the rules but since Frost owned the land around them and was himself a powerful adventurer and was the one who brought the knowledge, Ringwald ignored his impropriety.

"Elders please pay your respects to Lord Frost, the owner of the Camp and the most accomplished delver of the Niflheim Dungeon." Ringwald introduced Frost with great grace, his voice tinged with respect and admiration.

"No need for that in fact it should be me paying respects to the elders. As Ringwald said my name is Frost and I run the Camp here outside the Niflheim Dungeon."

"Respectful and upright a good lad."

"Un" The wizened elders all nodded in appreciation as they admired Frost's manners. Few still held such respect nowadays especially the younger generation gifted with boundless talent.

"Lord Frost, Ringwald says you've used the runic stones and know of their function is this true?"

"Yes, I used a couple recently to test them out. Shall I explain my findings?"

"Please." The elders were like eager school children as they waited with bated breaths for Frost to tell them the results of his investigation.

"Very well. First off these runic stones or Floor Jumping Stones as I've seen to call them allow the wielder to teleport directly to the Dungeon's safety floor otherwise known as the floor of peace. To do so the wielder must infuse their mana into the stone until it reaches full capacity they must also be within the Dungeon. I tried to activate them out with, but nothing happened."

"They really are transposition runes, and the restrictions must be in regards to the Dungeon itself." The first and second elder chimed in as realisation dawned on them.

"These stones can change how adventurers delve, so much time can be saved."

"Not only that they could also function as escape devices as long as the mana required is low and the activation sequence is relatively quick." Enjoy more content from m-v l'e|-NovelBin.net

"Those injured below could be instantly brought somewhere safe thus preserving a life that may have ended otherwise."

"There's got to be more restrictions, we need to thoroughly test these… what did you call them Floor Jumping Stones."

"I agree how many people can they teleport? Can items be moved with them and if so how many, what's the limit?"

"Are the stones single use items, permanent or something in between?" The elders quickly isolated the important details causing a smile to grow on Frost's lips.

"Ringwald can you gather the stones collected by the other adventuring parties."

"Yes Lord Frost." Ringwald quickly gathered up the Floor Jumping Stones and handed them all to Frost.

"3 of these stones are of the small class while the other two could be considered medium class. From my own trials I discovered that the small stones can transport one person to the floor of peace maybe 20 times before breaking apart whereas the larger ones roughly 50 times given the level of degradation after each jump.

How that translates with numerous people and or merchandise I can't say but it's certain that these things aren't permanent, they will break after enough uses." If he came out with something permanent then there'd be very little profit to be made, Frost would never make such an amateur mistake.

Frost's revelation started another thorough debate between the elders who scrambled together a plan. Shortly after Frost visited a statement was announced at the guild, they were seeking these Floor Jumping Stones that could be found within the Dungeon of Niflheim.

Any small stones would be purchased for 5 silvers while medium ones would be 20 silvers, anything larger would have to be analysed before any payment was given, due to there being lack of comparison.

This announcement took the Camp's residents by storm, adventurers flocked to the boards, taking precise note of the stone's features before dashing off to inform their teammates. Merchants instantly smelled an opportunity, but Frost and the adventurer's guild quickly put up a short-term restriction.

The stones were regarded as sensitive research material thus making outside transactions illegal until further notice.

You'd think that this would curb the merchant's enthusiasm, but their passion only grew. By making the stones illegal the merchants determined that they must be something of real value. Several individuals decided to risk the law to quickly prepare future stock while others with confidence in their strength chose to get the merchandise themselves.

Selling to anyone other than the guild was illegal, but it couldn't stop them from hoarding whatever they found themselves and once the ban was lifted they'd be able to freely offload their stones at a hefty premium.

So many groups smelled money in the air, even those who didn't wish to risk any sort of reprisal from the law prepared themselves for a shift in the market.

With every adventurer on the hunt the Dungeon saw a vast resurgence in customers, bringing a glorious expression to Frost's face as he sat in the private space, rubbing his hands together and laughing.

"Ok this side of you is really not that attractive." Maya commented with mild disgust as she saw her noble and handsome boyfriend devolve into a money or rather DP hungry beast.

"It's attractive whenever I buy you alcohol."

"Urgh." Frost's sharp retort made her speechless.

Frost watched with glee as adventurers flocked in mass numbers, hunting vast swaths of his monsters (mostly those summoned by spawners). Many died in search of treasure adding to his healthy DP reserves but many also found their bounty.

Whether a stone was miraculously dropped by a monster or found in one of the many recurring treasure chests throughout the Dungeon the founders raised their hands in celebration. Along with whatever usual materials they retrieved from hunting they would be able to exchange a tiny little stone for at least 5 silvers, that's a new weapon for some of the lower ranked adventurers.

Over the course of three days dozens of stones were sold to the adventurers guild while even more were hoarded away for future transactions. It was impossible for their function to remain a secret after all this time thus once it was revealed an even greater storm was set off and the Dungeon raked in the profits.

Frost didn't even care a single iota in regards to the many losses among his monsters, as long as his upper ranked were untouched any price was worth it when the money was this good.

The Dungeon quickly found itself home to several new E rank spawners that proliferated the upper five floors.

"It's about time I start moving those at the C-rank and upper D-rank down to the bottom most floors."

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