Dungeon of Niflheim

Rindou scavenged through the ice revenant's corpse, isolating the most useful and valuable materials for retrieval. Not everything could be used after all. With such a brutal clash of weaponry and skills much of the ice revenant's body -its armour- was covered in deep gashes and splintering cracks. The Harkers would be lucky if even 10% of its corpse was usable.

Damage to a monster's body was a very common occurrence in their line of work so it was integral that at least one member of the party was skilled in identifying the quality and usability of what remained, Rindou just happened to be that person. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e'-NovelBin.net

Rindou continued to shuffle through the corpse with an ever growing frown, the results of his search being subpar at best. The group were tired from the long trek and previous battles thus they neglected the care aspect when it came to hunting the ice revenant. Much of the corpse was trashed, even the revenant's core was pretty much scrap as it littered the ground in countless fragments.

"Haaaaaaa" Rindou let out a deep sigh filled with disappointment; he was ready to completely write off the entire corpse bar a few slivers of metal when a glimmer caught his eye.

"Huh? What's this thing?" This wasn't the first time his team had hunted an ice revenant, so he was confident that he knew every single inch of usable material but apparently he was wrong.

Rindou moved a couple chunks of metal to the side revealing a small spherical object covered in intricate runes. It was the runes that glimmered in the light, drawing his attention.

"A runic stone?" Rindou was perplexed by the object now resting between his fingers. It was a small black stone no larger that 3 inches in diameter and decorated with silverly coloured runes that he couldn't recognise. Truly a baffling object that had no business being with the ice revenant they just killed.

"Jakka come over here for a moment." Since he couldn't identify the rune himself Rindou called upon the Harkers eminent mage.

Jakka begrudgingly dragged his tired body over to Rindou dropping his current task.

"Take a look at this, have you see these runes before?"

"Hmm." Jakka took hold of the runic stone and started investigating it. He rubbed it between his fingers, squeezed it, weighed it and examined the intricate runes before inserting a snippet of his own mana into it. The longer he ruminated on the stone the deeper his frown grew.

"Sorry boss I've got no idea." Jakka shrugged his shoulders and passed the runic stone back to Rindou. He could identify that some of the rune had links to the spatial element but that was it. He had no clue what the stone did once filled with enough mana.

Rindou gave the runic stone one last look before lightly tossing it upwards and catching it with his other hand.

"Guess we'll have to commission the guild for answers." The adventurer's guild was home to a great many services, not only did they facilitate the creation and administration of quests for adventurers they also offered dismantling services, item storage as well as identification services. Items that could not be identified by their finder could be deposited with the guild for a small fee.

The guild would then utilise its vast network of knowledge and connections to analyse said item.

Rindou and the Harkers given their fancy for exploration and unearthing of mystery were well acquainted with this service.

"The rest of the corpse is pretty much useless so it's time to go."

"Yes boss." The Harkers thus made their way to a safe area where they could set up camp for the night. They would make for the surface come tomorrow with their packs and even storage ring filled to the brim with bounty.

As the Harkers drifted into a peaceful slumber Frost who was watching their actions from within the private space smiled and leaned back against the sofa.

"The first stone has been given." The runic stone that Rindou found was purposely left with the ice revenant by Frost in the hope that they'd retrieve it. This small stone was the result of Void's and his combined efforts (well mostly Void's but Frost came up with the idea).

"What's the next step?" Daki asked from his side. She was taking a break from her forge and was currently lying across the sofa, her legs resting on Frost's lap.

"I'll have a few more parties conveniently find these stones before going to the adventurer's guild with my own and a rudimentary explanation." Frost replied back while massaging his girlfriend's calves.

"If we're lucky this will result in another boon, adventurers will be hounding at our gates to get hold of these stones." An evil smile formed on his lips as Frost imagined the result of his little experiment.

The runic stones he had Void develop were quite simple in nature but solved a deep-seated problem that plagued all monster lairs of a significant size and now also Dungeons.

Though he planned to invest in a more established structure in the future, for now these little stones would allow his customers to instantly travel to floor 5.5 from anywhere within the Dungeon, all they needed to do was pump it full of mana and whoosh they'd be teleported to the floor of peace, safe and sound.

This stone would change how everything worked, primarily they'd allow adventurers to cut their delving time in spades, high ranking parties would no longer need to travel all the way from the first floor to reach their targets and that was just one aspect.

The stones if enough time was given would allow their wielders to escape danger, in one moment they could be facing off against a group of terrifying ice trolls and the next they could be safe and sound on the floor of peace, away from harm.

The stones could even be used in reverse, a group of adventures who had reached the lower floors could teleport back up to the floor of peace decreasing their return journey and even sparing them from fighting their way back.

Frost was confident that the introduction of these 'Floor Jumping Stones' as Void tentatively named them would see his Dungeon flourish. Adventurers would have more time to hunt and would delve with a veritable safety net if they had one of these stones thus increasing the amount of money they could earn without further jeopardising their lives.

Of course with money being a factor the merchants wouldn't be left out. The moment the stones were revealed the savvy businessmen of the Niflheim Camp would surely make scrounging up as many of the stones their 1st priority. They would then sell them to adventurers at a very healthy premium.

The stones would even allow those who weren't strong enough to reach the floor of peace to see it in the flesh. This not only included newbie adventurers but also merchants who perhaps wished to set up shop on the Dungeon's safety floor. The Floor Jumping Stones would allow these merchants to easily transfer large swaths of materials down into the Dungeon.

Getting stuff back out however would -for now- be restricted to the old fashioned way. Frost planned to release different degrees of the Floor Jumping Stones as time went on.

"So we'll be getting a lot more DP soon?" Daki said with a sparkle in her eyes, her ambitions clear to see.

"I just got you a 4 star mine, where would you even find the time to enjoy anything else." Frost shook his head in dismay; this was the first time that wasn't briefly in bed that he'd seen his girlfriend since the polar thulium mine became operational.

During the first few days she didn't even sleep, constantly experimenting with the polar thulium, learning its traits and behaviours with other materials. Eventually she even roped in Borris and now the two of them were working together on some special project involving the 4 star material.

"For a blacksmith there's never enough materials hehehe." Daki giggled mischievously, eager to get her hands on more mines if Frost could be convinced.

Daki's feet started to find their way towards his groin in an attempt to seduce him and trade sex for a new mine.

"Find a good use for the materials you currently have access to then we'll see." Daki's enticement stopped at his words, she even puffed up her cheeks in protest, but the sudden withdrawal of her touch seemed to rile up her boyfriend.

"Oi who said you could stop, I've been methodically massaging your calves and it's the first time in days that we've been able to have some alone time together." Frost was determined to get in some good romantic interactions with Daki before she vamoosed back to her forge.

Daki bore a blank look for a second before it was replaced with a seductive expression, her feet once again moving towards Frost's groin while she sat up and licked her lips.

"If you wanted sex you only ever have to ask Frost dear, I'm always up for some romping in the sheets my love." Daki though passionate about forging was no less passionate when it came to a very healthy sex life, hell if she could somehow combine the two a lifelong aspiration would be fulfilled.

Frost smiled from ear to ear before planting a sensual kiss on Daki's luscious lips.

"Well a gentlemen never refuses a lady's gift." As Daki's feet wormed they beneath his robes his hands stretched out and started caressing her supple body, one to her chest and the other below.

"Ahhhhn!" Daki let out a devilish moan as Frost's skilled hands got to work which seemed to galvanise her boyfriend's efforts.

Ten minutes later the two of them made for the bedroom and didn't come out for the next two hours. When they finally left they did so with dishevelled clothes and ruddy complexions.

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