Chapter 717 - Three Rings

Eisen slowly stood up while Bree was still clinging onto him. The old man rubbed her back for a moment longer before looking down at her, "Bree? I know that it's nice that I'm back, but don't you think you should let the others have some of me as well?"

The young woman slowly raised her head, silently shaking it. She really acted like a child in moments like these, but Eisen couldn't get mad at her for it. It was just what she was like, after all. And at the end of the day, when one considered that she was still growing, despite being in her 20's and already an a.d.u.l.t, one might say she was a child of her particular race. Hence, Eisen didn't judge her for her behavior too much, especially considering her past.

Either way, for now, the old man still wanted to greet the others properly. Now that he was standing up and Bree finally agreed to let go of Eisen, he quickly rubbed over Fafnir's large snout before walking over to Sigurd and giving it a quick hug as well.

"How has this place been doing, Sigurd?" Eisen asked, and the Core Guardian quickly replied with all the information that built up for a good while now, "As you must have seen, the Dungeon has become quite a popular place for many a people to come for different reasons. Some wish to take the Dungeon on in order to gain strength or treasure, and others come here in order to take up business with those individuals. The starting village has expanded quite a bit as well, and as we were working on improving the resting-areas of the lower floors, we have also begun to turn one resting area of every five floors into a small 'village'."

Eisen raised his brows a bit surprised as he stepped over toward the door of this building, pushing it open to reveal that which was beyond there, the 'village' that had been made up of only a dozen or so buildings before.

Now, it was more like a real village with proper streets and more structures. The shops have been expanded by the monsters working here, and some merchants even set up certain warehouses within this space for the shops that they were running temporarily. 

Of course, those 'shops' and 'warehouses' could only be used for a short amount of time. Sigurd, with Komer's help, already made a deal with those renting out the shops that they would properly be compensated if there should be any wares left in the shops or warehouses at the point in time that they all chose to move on.

The two of them planned ahead properly to make sure that the contracts had only been created so that they would reach the point in time where they guessed they would definitely be heading off to the Giant Country.

"I see... I'll take a look at those resting areas later as well. For now, could you tell me why you closed the Dungeon up and are having everyone wait outside?"

"Yes. It is simple. We needed to expand upon some floors and change other certain ones around. There are individuals that wish to make use of this place for unapproved business, unaware that I am constantly watching them. Those individuals have of course been apprehended and punished accordingly. Nonetheless, I am planning on creating quick counter-measures to make such things easier for me to deal with." Sigurd explained. It looked up at Eisen with a weirdly smug expression, as the old man himself smiled back at it.

"I see. That's a good idea then, I'd say." Eisen said in response, "If you need any help, let me know, alright? There are a few things that I made for you and Fafnir while I was in the Heavenly Realms as well. I can only give Fafnir his items when we can wake him up, which should take a while with how the dungeon is going right now. But I can give you the items for you already." The old man pointed out.

He hoped that he would be able to get Sigurd and Fafnir to join him and the others at the castle tonight as well, but that clearly wasn't an option. So instead, Eisen would give them the items that he had for them here already.

The ethereal Fafnir wouldn't be able to make use of the items, but at the very least Eisen could show them to him already.

"And what about me?" Bree asked with a broad grin on her face, and Eisen turned back around toward her, "You'll be getting the items I made for you later tonight, don't worry."

"Eeh? But why are Fafnir and Sigurd getting theirs already...? And Caria, Mellisa, and Sal got new things too!"

"Of course, that's because they were my entourage through town. There's a reason why I wore this suit. I wanted these three to look as impressive as they are from the start." The old man laughed lightly, "Really though, your items are worth the wait. No need to feel disappointed."

With a clear pout, Bree crossed her arms and turned her head away, while Eisen opened up his item storage. The old man quickly stepped inside his storage space and brought out the items for Sigurd first. 

To start off with, it was a new outfit. Also something along the lines of a suit, but in this case, it should rather be called a tuxedo rather than a suit, even if it wasn't a classic tuxedo either. It was far too colorful for that.

Either way, Sigurd seemed to be rather happy about this outfit. After all, it was something that Evalia designed, so of course, Sigurd would like it. Then there were some more items that Eisen would properly show to Sigurd later. He couldn't do it right here, after all.

So, first, Eisen brought out the items for Fafnir. They were parts of some armor that the old man specifically designed and made for him. Mostly, that was it, but there were a few things for future evolutions that Eisen could anticipate already that wouldn't make sense to give to him immediately. Eisen might have to make a few changes for that later on.

Well, for now, both Fafnir and Sigurd were excited about their new items, so the old man quickly opened a gate to the Core Room and stepped through there to give Sigurd and Fafnir the rest of the items he made for them.

And those were items in the forms of rings. But of course, not rings that would fit on anyone's finger. Well, maybe if Eisen managed to grow in size enough.

They were large rings that were supposed to be placed around the Dungeon Core, hence why they were items made for both Fafnir and Sigurd at the same time. Eisen placed the first ring around the center of the Dungeon Core and slowly fixed it in place. It seemed to be a little bit uncomfortable for Sigurd and Fafnir to have their core touched, though, so Eisen tried to get everything done as quickly as possible.

But the moment that Eisen activated the first of the in total three rings he made for them, the Dungeon Core lit up for a moment before Sigurd opened its eyes wide in surprise, or rather, shock.

"Wait, but- Ehh?" Sigurd replied, completely confused and overwhelmed by the information that must be shown to it right around now. And that made sense, of course, after all, the first ring was one that added a huge array of possibilities to Sigurd's arsenal.

New types of monsters, new things to add to the dungeon floors, including numerous plants that none of the people here had ever seen before, and even simple blueprints that Sigurd was able to copy and immediately make use of. It was information that Eisen had gathered in the Heavenly Realms as well as in the Underworld and continuously added to the ring bit by bit whenever he came across a new 'sample'.

But of course, just that would have meant that Eisen could have practically given the core a quick 'injection' and then taken the item back, but that was not the main point of the ring. The new things that Sigurd could make use of were just a side-effect. In reality, this item was simply supposed to increase Sigurd's ability to copy and absorb certain things that were left in the Dungeon for it.

And then, there was the second ring that Eisen slowly added onto the first. It had to be done bit by bit, or else Eisen was scared to overwhelm Sigurd and Fafnir with all this. The second ring was there to help Sigurd manipulate the inside of the Dungeon at a higher speed and accuracy.

And at last, the third ring was there to make use of something that Eisen would honestly just call something of a 'prototype'. It would allow Sigurd to do something rather different.

It would become possible to practically infuse parts of the Dungeon, or even the whole Dungeon, with certain magical elements for special effects that the Core Guardian had never thought about before.

A shadow-based element to make the mazes creepier, a plant-based element to simulate life in the plants in the forests. And of course, spatial-based elements to make things a little bit more... interesting without needing to shift large parts of the Dungeon around the whole time.

Basically, this was an item that allowed Sigurd to cast any sort of Magic that Eisen gave it access to, at least as long as the old man himself ever managed to procure the element in question and saved it on a crystal with specific enchantments carved onto it.

So, with that, the Dungeon was immediately upgraded in a rather special way that the Dungeon-Delvers would certainly appreciate quite a bit, especially since Sigurd was rather keen on trying a few of these new abilities out right away.

"Those are great items... How come you never thought of something like this before?" Sigurd inquired, and Eisen slowly ran his fingers through his beard in thought, "I was just given the idea somewhere along the way in the first Divine Realm I went to. Good that it turned out this way, right?" 

"Of course! These items are... sublime!" The Core Guardian exclaimed loudly, while Fafnir rubbed his snout on the old man's side again as well, seemingly just as happy about these items as Sigurd was.

Glad that this was the case, Eisen explained how the items worked a bit more, before making a request for Sigurd to open a gate to a certain place within the Dungeon.

It was time to go see Kirisho now as well.