Chapter 15: 15 – End of the Tutorial

We spent the next few days looking through all of the bags, starting with the personal belt pouches. Some of them had letters similar to Loralei's. Along with the bags for King Rory and Loralei, two others really drew our attention. They were the bags for Tavelstein and Jenevia.

In Jenevia's were her bow, armor, and arrows enchanted with various magical effects. Along with a book titled 'Enchanting Arrows for Dumb Vampires' written by Tavelstein.

Her bow was a work of art. It was the size of a longbow but I think would be classified as a recurve bow. Yet somehow, the draw weight was less than Ailine's longbow, and arrows fired were much more powerful. With intricate carvings and various magic engravings, it was beautiful. 

In Jenevia's letter, she also mentioned Loralei. It really seemed like these two had a rivalry for King Rory's affection. 

Within Tavelstein's bag were staffs, wands, and book after book on magic. The majority were written by him. It really seemed like he was an incredible mage, as well as extremely eccentric and a touch insane.

Within the additional bags were the clothes and equipment for the others. It included armor from leather to plate, shields, swords, axes, lances, pretty much any equipment we could hope for. I guess that would make sense when these all belonged to the vampires that were strong enough to make a last stand with their king.

They also had many personal belongings. Small mementos of something important to that person. Even a couple diaries and journals. I debated whether to keep these closed or to read them, and ultimately, they belonged to people that are long dead. If there could be information that might help us, or mention something we didn't know, it'd be well worth invading their privacy and reading. 

Most bags also contained what I assume were 'shadow cloaks.' Each one seemed to cover us in a thick shadow, including our faces under the hood. Piecing together information, they were enchanted with dark magic to counter sunlight and minimal light magic. This allows our Nightstalker skill to remain active with them on for a slight mana draw while activated.

In the 'big-bag' that contained the treasury and armory, there were even more weapons, wands, and armor. As expected of a castle armory? They were lesser when compared to many of the weapons in the personal belt pouches, but still nicer than I could make. A large boon for us were all of the barrels of arrows. Yes, barrels. Ailine won't be running out anytime soon.

There were mounds of gold, silver, copper, and iron coins. I asked Ailine, but she didn't recognize the effigy on them. She did mention that they looked to be the same size and types that were used in the Empire. Navi said the humans minted their own, but the currency standards most likely haven't changed much. I'll just keep them bagged up until the day comes when they're needed.

In the final bag was literally everything but the kitchen sink. We actually had to empty the big-bag with the belt pouches in order to completely empty the castle big-bag while putting things away to make room.

They weren't kidding when they said it held everything from the castle. Beds, chairs, tables, bolts of cotton and silk in many colors, even the drapes. Someday, if we ever decide to fix this castle or another one, we'll have all the items we need for it.

We kept one of the beds out, and Ailine and I made good use of it. It was nice falling asleep next to her on an actual bed.

At one point, I had to admit that it would've been amazing to see the looks on the faces of the other races. They just spent years waging war and exterminating an entire race. And when they finally cornered them into making a last stand, their spoils of war were only low tier items with nothing of worth to loot. It really was a final 'fuck you' to the bastards. 

Loralei's belt bag was probably my favorite. Inside were two full sets of pitch black leather and scale armor. Dragon leather armor, if her letter was any indication. It seemed like one was a backup set, as it looked brand new, and the other was in great condition but had seen some action. 

Ailine also got her own sets from Jenevia's bag, which were a dark brown with green at the edges. 

Inside Loralei's bag were also a few sets of throwing daggers and a couple sets of combat daggers. In her letter, she said they were made of dwarfsteel, but looking at the slightly wavy pattern on them, they reminded me of the pictures of Damascus steel I had seen on Earth.

Before we began to sort through everything, I also told Ailine about my past. That I was originally from another world. That I was a man. About getting sick, and eventually dying. Then about meeting the Gods and destroying the empire and church that created a fake God.

I was worried about what she would think of me or if she would even believe me. She took my history extremely well and hugged me tight after I was done. What seemed to bother her the most was the information that the church created the fictional God, Sol, and that what she and her family all believed was just a lie.

She muttered, "I'm going to kill them." A couple times before praying to the God of Order and Goddess of Chaos. Even when I told her that I didn't think they listened to prayers, she still wanted to do it. She apologized for being fooled, for believing them to be fake, and thanked them for letting her meet me, and promising to help me on the task they gave.

Meanwhile, Navi was busy getting used to her new body, training, and taking care of her flower. She started at level 1, thus she joined us on our morning breakfast trips and trained by killing slimes and the occasional rabbit.

I altered the dungeon to make our breakfast runs much quicker and make monsters for Navi to train with more consistently. It was almost comical seeing a little person face off against a rabbit larger than her.

Her physical strength was extremely low, like the letter said, but her sword was extremely sharp, and that helped quite a bit for her. She practices with us each morning to raise her mana and magic proficiencies. After testing her talents, it looks like she has high potential in all types. Similar to me, but a step down in potential power, made up for with much better precision and control. At higher levels, she'll be a real magical powerhouse.

For her flower, like all plants, it needed light. Navi was very worried about how to get it the light it needed when she didn't want to go outside and leave it unattended. What we came up with after a day or so of thinking and searching for ideas, was an enchantment listed in one of Tavelstein's books. 

It seems he did a bit of research on light magic when creating the shadow cloaks, and needed sunlight of a consistent amount to quantify his results. That guy was a researcher through and through.

One of the enchantments he came up with after losing his hands a couple times experimenting, was a magic circle that once light magic was cast on it, would sustain that light with monster cores until they were drained. He created it in a way that it'd light an entire room, which we didn't need. What we did was scale down the enchantment and build a little box around the pot. With the enchantment on the ceiling and a divot on the top of it from the outside as per Tavelstein's book.

Each morning, Navi can cast light magic on it and place monster cores in the divot to sustain it. After experimenting with a couple low level cores, we found a slime core will last almost thirty minutes. 

Altering the dungeon, I made an infinite spawn of slimes with a slime boss. We just had to kill a ton of slimes and never kill the boss, and within no time, we had a shit ton of slime cores. I had to laugh a bit at how much of a fucking cheat that was. 

Navi spent time each day to water and care for her flower. Sometimes she would ask for help getting items like dried and ground blood or bone, which were simple enough to acquire from a goblin outside.

Meanwhile, Ailine was enjoying altering clothes for us. We'd gathered most of the clothes that fit us, and she went through and made sets for both of us. From casual to formal, work clothes to ball gowns, and even nightwear. We had no shortage in our wardrobes. No more tent fabric clothes for us.

For Navi, she had to make them from scratch. The fairy didn't seem to mind, and enjoyed asking her for different designs, while Ailine seemed to enjoy the challenge. I guess it was almost like making clothes and dressing up a sassy doll. A doll that would pop up each evening wearing anything from booty shorts with crop top or full nun outfits, to magical girl cosplay and swimsuits. Never try to predict a fairy's choice of clothes.

We all decided that before we went to the other dungeon, we wanted to be as strong as we could. And since we could edit this dungeon, there was no reason not to take full advantage of it. After playing around with the settings, we found the highest level monsters we could spawn were up to the level 15 Death Mantis. 

What we did was create a straight line level with rooms that had monsters a couple levels above us and a boss that was the same. We, of course, avoided using the monsters that were annoying or bad matches for us.

Navi joined us on these hunts, and because of the level difference, power leveled extremely fast. She also lived up to what she had said about messing with us. I never knew when Ailine or I would have something go missing, wake up with charcoal mustaches or face drawings, or any other conceivable pranks.

I think she just stays up all day thinking about how she'll mess with us next and what she'll wear. Definitely a mischievous fucking fairy, but as much as I gripe and jab at her, she's irreplaceable and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

We moved everything from the stair room into the core room, and made that our new home. To make sure nothing weird could come into our little cave when we weren't here, I took a cut down evergreen and pulled the base through our little entrance hole, plugging it up along with some more rubble.

In our core room, we began making it our home. We even put up some of the decorations from the bags along with bookshelves for some of the books we had. Mostly, we put Tavelstein's books on the shelves. 

We're still sorting through all of the general books from the castle library that were in the castle big-bag. There were even some combat manuals for different styles and training techniques in there that'll be very helpful. Along with plant, monster, and animal guides.

There was even a wooden bathtub big enough for Ailine and I to both take a bath together, along with a good stock of soap and instructions for how the servants of the castle made more of it. Navi would enjoy using it as a pool, and her wings seem to be hydrophobic because they're always dry when she comes out.

Using arcane magic to clean ourselves was fine, but taking a bath together and playing with each other was a much nicer way to end some nights. 

Navi's flower also had its own little corner inside its own little box house. 

With a couch and a bed for furniture, it was cozy. I enjoyed my life here spending time with Ailine and Navi. Ailine has really begun to open up even more, and I'm very happy to see her show new emotions, more frequently. I really have fallen in love with this wonderful woman. 

All in all, we spent close to two months training, reading books, and working on our home. The books took quite a lot of time to read, understand, and sometimes read again as many of them were quite dense and relied on information found in other books. 

Tavelstein had combat magic books on all types of magic except space-time, which is almost completely utilitarian, and Arcane. Arcane, when harnessed correctly, can mix with other types to help enhance some effects. I also wonder how many arms he lost when compiling his book on light magic.

We had all reached level 15, with me being 16. For the first time, we were finally facing off against the fucking mantis again—and it was over within a minute.

The arrows Ailine was using were enchanted with an explosive fire magic on the tip. The arrowhead entered the abdomen and exploded, taking out a chunk of it.

One thing I discovered with the sword, Seren, was that it amplified magic channeled through it, similar to Tavelstein's wands, only stronger.

Using this amplification, I launched wind blades at the leg joints from a much greater distance than I could before. Immobilizing it, I then waited on guard to cut off the wings if they came out. 

They never had a chance.

Navi got in on the action as well. Flying above the mantis and getting above its back, she condensed a stream of water to the point that it became similar to a water jet cutter. Slicing across the top of the abdomen, the jet was strong enough to split the wings and pierce into the top of the abdomen.

Another explosive arrow, and the mantis was lying there, bleeding out without being able to put up any type of resistance. What a massive change some levels, training, and equipment can make. I should've expected that after I made my first set of armor and had weapons better suited to different situations.

We'll have to be careful, though. Having such nice equipment could easily make us careless or neglect actual training. 

After grinding with the mantis for a week until the others hit level 16 and EXP gains tapered off, we felt ready to try out the Abyssal Dungeon. Holding Ailine's hand with Navi on my shoulder, we step onto the platform and activate the magic circle. 

With a flash of light, we were in a completely sealed room, with only a marble platform below us and an iron door in front of us.

Looking up at the iron door, I gently squeeze her hand. "You ready to do this, Ailine?" 

"Yes, Lia!" She says without hesitation.

"Let's kick some monster booty!" Navi hops off of my shoulder, fluttering in the air, and draws her straw-sized sword.

After a quick kiss, we push open the door to begin the next dungeon.

=====

POV - Gods

"Hahahaha!" Chaos cackles, looking at the three people on a floating monitor. "Watching this next dungeon will be so much fun!"

Order walks up behind her. Hands clasped behind him with an unreadable expression. "Yes, I know you enjoyed the Tutorial Dungeon quite a lot. However, do you really think it was alright to ask that kid, Rory, to store everything for the future?"

"Sure it was!" She turns toward him. "They all knew there was no hope, and our hands were tied with what we could do. He accepted that they were going to die, and agreed that making sure that as much of their things survived to be used by those in the future was the best thing to do in a hopeless situation."

"Still. Giving them such an advantage may come back to harm the balance of the world in the future."

"Oh come on!" She throws her hands up dramatically, with a slightly annoyed look on her face. "We did it your way and interfered as little as possible to let the races attempt to balance themselves out. Obviously, that didn't work out. We even lost an entire race! Your favorite little elves and dwarves even helped erase them!"

He flinched a little at the last comment. "I admit that it was an oversight on my part that too much focus on non-interference was taken advantage of to that degree by the greedy."

Fists on her hips, she begins to lecture. "Right!? And that's why we're doing it my way this time! Even if little Dalia has the opportunity to put her thumb on the scales, do you really think she would? You know as well as I do how long we waited to find a soul like hers."

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"Yes, well, I still question the choice of creating the fairies," Order said, trying to find any ground to stand on.

"Don't start with me again on that!" Chaos points a finger at Order as the temperature of the white space plummets. "You have your elves and dwarves, and the humans are blank slates. I only had the vampires! This world needed a touch more Chaos to it, and the potential of the fairies to mix things up is too big to pass up on!" Frost begins forming around the scowling woman with hair darker than any void. 

"Still. That potential may be a bit too great. If there were ever multiple queens, given time, they could very well overtake everything. Not to mention their disposition is so close to yours."

As her eye twitches, time and space seem to freeze. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Even as a god, he saw that his existence was in jeopardy. "... That they will make wonderful additions to the world and that you completely deserve each other."

"... That's what I thought," she said as the room returned to normal.

Order quickly changes the topic. "The soulshard still took me by surprise. Were you expecting this to happen when you hacked into my artificial intelligence and tampered with its settings? I was almost certain I didn't include parameters for merging it."

"Maaaaybe," she raps knuckles on head with her tongue out, signature smile back in place.

Nodding, he asks, "That final oracle you gave to Rory. How did you convince him to tear off a piece of his soul?"

She smiles like she just pulled off a prank and explains, "Easy! TLDR, 'you're all going to die. Get some revenge by putting all your stuff in the core room for a future vampire I'll someday guide! Leave a piece of your soul in the sword to really ensure the safety of your successor.'"

He thinks, head slightly tilted for a moment. "We hadn't discussed creating an artificial intelligence at that point… You were always going to make one anyway, weren't you?"

Chaos' eyes go wide like she was caught stealing cookies. "...I reserve the right to not self-incriminate myself based on purely circumstantial evidence and unproven theories."

Sighing, Order slumps his shoulders in exasperation. "Well, what's done is done. It was surprising when she met up with that other human though."

"Right? I didn't even see that coming! She's definitely a good child though, and will help Dalia along the way."

"True. The Tutorial Dungeon would have been much more difficult by herself."

"I just can't wait until they finish with the Abyssal Dungeon! They won't be as strong as Rory and those kids were, but the humans are so much weaker than they once were, it's almost pitiful."

Order nods in agreement. "They have stagnated to an extreme amount. Without strong monsters being fought, and those with power hoarding it, by and large they pale in comparison to their ancestors. Even their light mages are considerably weaker, and so few in number compared to back then."

"Just goes to show that a bit more Chaos can be a good thing!" Chaos winks and blows a kiss.

Quirking an eyebrow, he adds, "Yes, but don't forget about Delroth. That world became a complete wasteland and will be for millennia until we can begin again on it."

"Yes, yes, yes," she waves the comment off. "No need to remind me again. I went too far that time."

"And that's why we both need to work together this time."

"I hear you, I hear you. Even still. Those bastards have been going too far. What those bastards are doing is disgusting." She snarls at a group of humans on another screen. Turning towards Order, she asks innocently, "You think you could nudge those elves and dwarves a bit?"

"We have already discussed this. Another all out war will do nothing, and neither of them would participate even with our words. Humans are much too adaptable. That is why having a small strike team to eliminate the worst of the causes of the stagnation is our best course of action."

"Fine, fine. Can't blame a girl for trying." she sighs. "Would you at least let them know that things will be changing once our girls start to move, and to support our girls if it ever comes to it? You know they still listen to you more than me."

Order shakes his head. "You know that's too much to ask."

Chaos gives him her best puppy dog eyes, complete with trembling lip and tears forming in the corners.

Unable to stand against her look, even though it was an obvious act, he gives in. "...Fine, I can send an oracle to them both."

"Yay!" She begins jumping and spinning around while clapping.

"But!" he interrupts her celebration with his arm out and index finger pointing up. "I won't be able to directly tell them to help her, or to act on anything. An informational oracle would still be within our budget, but I will try to make it as leading as I can within the rules. Even if we are forced to make it have at least the bare minimum of poetics and imagery. I really despise that rule."

"Thanks Order!" She skips up to him and kisses his cheek. "Just don't make it so darn poetic and open to interpretation this time. How do you think this mess has spiraled to this point? I hate that rule too. Forcing us to make cryptic messages just lets the worst people twist them to their own designs. It's a stupid, stupid rule."

"We both know that was not the only cause, but I do admit it didn't help things." Hand on his chin, he ponders for a few seconds, creating a plan. "Alright, I will try to be a bit more to the point. It is a good thing that we never have to give oracles to actual poets, as they would roll over dead. 

"I can only hope as well that the priests called after triggering [oracle] aren't as large of zealots as the last time. Hmm. Maybe if I tweak the recipient search specifications..."

"You 'da man, Order! Thanksies!" Chaos jumps on his back and clings to him with arms and legs wrapped around his body and her chin on his shoulder. "And I totally get you. Slamming their heads into the ground is too much. How can we talk to someone if they've got brain damage? Here's to hoping you get normal ones this time! At least Dalia didn't freak out. She even wanted to punch you! Hahahaha!"

"... Well, you're welcome. But between a transmigration, race creation, and multiple oracles, we are going to be pushing what we can do."

"I know. Things will be tight for a while. But we did save up so much waiting for the right soul, and if we fail here, then I don't see us getting another chance to correct the course of this one."

"I feel the same. We will balance on the thin line we have, and just have to pray to Origin that our choices have been enough without pushing it too far the other way."

"Yup! So let's do what we can and cheer our girls on!" She drops off of his back and skips back up to the screen showing two vampires and a fairy killing a goblin.

Sighing, he walks up to her and hugs her from behind, resting his chin on top of her head. "How did I ever fall in love with you?"

"Because of my amazing personality, killer bod, and the way I'm great at everything you suck at!" she answers without looking away.

"... Well you're not wrong…" he mutters.

"Then go get to preparing for your oracles!" She reaches up and pats his cheek above her head. "I'm going to keep an eye on things here. The most interesting part will be those later levels too. Oooh! I can't wait!"

"Alright." He releases her and walks towards another part of the white space. "I will have enough saved up to give them in a few years time. I will at least wait until they are moving on their targets."

=====

POV - ???

Laying down after another wonderful day of cleaning the temple and helping the children, I can't wait to see what wonders tomorrow will bring!

What a wonderful life! Will little Jellaf finally learn his letters? What sweets will Hemari bake for us? I'm so excited to find out! 

It has only been a couple years since I became the head priestess, but everyone has been so warm and inviting! I really can't thank the God of Order and the Goddess of Chaos enough for blessing me with such a wonderful life.

Closing my eyes, I drift off to sleep with a smile on my face.

Suddenly, I am in an empty room, standing before a man at least twenty feet tall.

"Hear me, child of mine. For change will soon be upon this world."

Immediately I drop to my knees and slam my head to the floor as hard as I can. I'm not worthy to look upon his greatness! I have seen the statue of this man, this God, all my life.

"Oh, great God of Order! Thank you for blessing this humble and unworthy servant of yours with your presence! Whatever your wish I shall do! Should you ask me to take my own life, I will offer it without hesitation and with joy!"

Trembling with excitement, joy, anticipation, and awe, I know this can be nothing short of a divine oracle! Just like it is written in the texts! Not even a lifetime could prepare me for this chance to be in front of this holy presence! I am so very blessed! Praise be to the God of Order! I must remember every divine word, down to the inflection used, to preserve this divine message for all to come!

"Those with eyes of blood and skin of snow will regain their home. A queen has come that will correct the balance, destroyed by the light from long ago. 

"The young, winged children of flowers, together with the children of night, will combat the false sun. Jointly, they will bring life to the gears of the world that long stopped turning.

"Rejoice, and embrace your distant kin when they one day visit. And know they have our blessing, for our will is theirs."

With those beautiful, sacred words, the light faded and I opened my eyes.

Praise be to the God of Order! And thank you for the opportunity to serve you, as unworthy as I am!

I have to tell everyone! The elders need to know, the other priests need to know! Everyone should know! Change is coming, so says the God of Order!

=====

POV - Gods

Letting out a sigh, Order says, "...That was so very tiring."

Chaos rolls on the floor, laughing hysterically and grabbing her stomach, wheezing between breaths. "Hahahaha! ... That was one of the best priestesses ever! ... I can barely breathe after that! ... Hey Order, how's your inflection? ... Hahahaha!"

"And to think that their oracles for this generation are now tied to that priestess…"

"Hahahaha! The future is going to be so much fun!"

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