Chapter 42: Guardian Sanctuary

The last hadn't been one to play games with them. The guy was a man he met through work who had helped him through some rough times. That would be another one difficult to find, not having a name for him.

'Albus! Do you happen to know the approximate size of each Ranking region?'

:The Local Ranking is based on what you would call the 'county' you used to live in, of course, on a 10x scale. Regional would be what you called the state, while Continental is actually your country and not the entire continent:

'That makes things much easier, thank you.'

:Don't mention it:

'The size of our county was around 400 square miles, give or take. That means that currently, there should be about 4000 square miles to search.

It was longer than it was wide. If Geth were to take a guess, it would be around 100 miles in length and 40 miles in width.' He sighed. 'Best to check usual locations first.'

The space was massive. Geth thought it would be almost impossible to locate any of his friends. It would be even more unlikely to find anyone that had been visiting another city.

Though he was annoyed at the aspect of finding people in such a large area, he was thrilled when he understood just how much new land there was to explore.

Based on his current encounters, there should be a Dungeon at least every 20 square miles! That meant another 19 Dungeons for them to conquer just in their county!

He switched the Dungeon Crystal over to the Guardians page. Geth canceled the current Guardian roster, leaving all of the slots free.

Once this was done, he pulled 7 cores from his Inventory Satchel. These included the 3 Hobgoblins, 2 ice Goblin Mages, and 2 fire Goblin Mages.

With the cores inserted, he left for a moment to check on his new Guardians. Passing through the barrier, he took an immediate left and stepped into the Guardian Sanctuary.

Three massive Goblins were sitting against the walls, drawing on the dirt floor with the butts of their clubs. The four Mages were standing to the side leaning on their staves.

As Geth entered, the entire group stood straight up and gave him a slight bow. Geth found the behavior a bit odd.

:The Guardian creatures Intelligence is based on the Dungeon's intelligence. You can think of the Dungeon as an A.I. system as well, but not as complex as a Grimoire.

Though, once its Level is high enough, it can probably make incredible changes to the Dungeon. It should also be able to perform complex commands rather easily:

Geth nodded and inspected the creatures. The newfound intelligence and the respect that they were giving were something new. There really weren't any other differences.

He found that he could see the creatures' Attribute and Skill pages through his Dungeon Crystal. From what he could tell, the Guardians would reach different heights based on the Level of the Guardian Sanctuary.

He found that his assumptions were correct in Goblins having to choose between Mana Sense and Berserk at Level 10. It also seemed the Hobgoblins had a choice of some sort as well. Their Berserk Skill wasn't the same as at lower Levels. They were able to force other Goblins into the Berserk state but the Skill could no longer be used for themselves.

His findings were quite interesting, but he didn't dawdle. He gave them simple commands on how they should form their defensive line in case of intruders. The creatures nodded as if they understood, he thanked them and moved along.

Next, he ventured over to the mine. He didn't intend on being in the Dungeon often, so he wanted to make sure that everyone could do their part safely and efficiently.

Walking over towards one of the wheelbarrows, he grabbed one of the pickaxes and headed towards the leftmost of the three partial hallways. Geth had no idea how to mine or, or anything else for that matter.

He'd had some experience in running heavy equipment and installing drainage for ditches. With that, he had some ideas on keeping the tunnels supported as they dug, but actually pulling out ore was a bit different.

The flat end of the pickaxe swung over his head and pulled a small section of the rock wall. Swinging the pickaxe in different directions yielded different results. He found the most efficient method quickly and began a monotonous series of swinging.

The ringing sound of metal hitting the hard surface of the rock echoed constantly throughout the area. After the sound continued for what seemed to be hours, it stopped.

Back in the tunnel, Geth was looking at the wall while stroking his hand over his beard. He was looking at a spot that caused the pickaxe to bounce off. The area looked like red clay, much like the rest of the wall.

He attempted to clean the area with his hand, but that didn't quite work. Next, he gently tapped the pickaxe in a circular motion, listening to the sounds. Once he'd marked the general location, he started easily digging around it.

By this point, he was already drenched in sweat. The dull light from the gems would constantly gleam off of his body. He dug gently for another hour before he managed to pull the rock from the wall.

Looking at it, he still couldn't tell a difference between it and the other clay and stone he'd dug up along the tunnel. Just when he was about to throw it in the wheelbarrow, he was pulled from his thoughts by a tapping sound behind him.

Geth became alert instantly, grabbing his staff that was leaning nearby and turning around. He saw that it was the old man, Bruce, hobbling over on a pair of makeshift crutches from tree branches. Geth quickly forced his mask back on, trying to hide the expressionless face that was his true self.