Eisen, alone with nobody following him down for this part, stepped through the gate in question and was quickly brought to one of the lower floors of the Dungeon. It was the rest area that was currently being constructed there with a small building that would act as something like an Inn that people could rest in if they didn't want to head out of the Dungeon just yet, or if they simply wanted to take a short break before continuing with their friends further down the Dungeon.
The ones that were working here were mostly the Monster Workers that Sigurd kept creating as the Dungeon itself was growing in size more and more, buying upgrades through the system that could allow it to make use of more, and more powerful, Monster Workers for these sorts of jobs.
But amongst the Monster Workers, the one that was overseeing everything, trying to help out even if it was just a little bit, was Kirisho. She stood at the side of the construction-site and looked at the Monsters working, as Eisen walked up behind her.
The old man waved his hand to the side as he approached and summoned his item storage. He prepared a small item for this part of it when he went to the Heavenly Realms as well. It felt a bit cliché, but even so, it was better to come with something like this instead of being empty-handed.
It was a bouquet of flowers that Eisen gathered in the Divine Realm of Ohm, the God of Nature. And with a smile on his face, the old man held the bouquet in one of his hands as he stood behind Kirisho, "Thanks for you help while I was gone." Eisen said, and before he was even able to finish half the sentence, the Mist Spirit turned around rapidly and looked at the old man now standing in front of her.
With slightly teary eyes, happy that Eisen was able to accomplish one of his goals without any obvious issues to it, Kirisho looked back at the old man.
"Welcome back."
---
Eisen stood in the Kitchen of his castle and was quickly preparing for the Dinner that everyone was coming to tonight. Of course, Parc and Rouge were helping him out as well, and Eisen made his mana-doubles do some of the physical labor parts of it, meaning that they were the ones carrying certain ingredients around the room.
The servants in the castle that had been hired were just standing at the sidelines awkwardly, since Eisen told them they didn't need to work tonight.
He wanted to make the food for the others himself, after all. But considering that Eisen was gone for a while, it felt like a good idea to teach Parc and Rouge a few more cooking techniques as well, considering that it was part of what Eisen promised to teach them.
They had picked up a few things while Eisen was gone though, mostly eastern cooking techniques that Jyuuk must have shown to them. Either way, there were quite a few cuts of fresh meat that Eisen was preparing with a few vegetables, while Parc and Rouge were mostly doing a lot of cutting, chopping, and more repetitive tasks.
It wouldn't be any particularly grand dinner, just a rather simple three-course meal. A small salad with seafood in it to start out. Then, a wyvern stake with wine sauce and some herbal roasted potatoes. And at last, as a dessert, some simple ice-cream made of the milk taken from a 'Flower Cow'.
The old man already liked how everything was coming along, and he was pretty sure that everybody would like the flavors quite a bit. Either way, what was important was not just the food, but also to prepare the items that Eisen would be gifting to the others.
They were all slowly gathering in the dining room as Eisen, Parc and Rouge were finishing up, and meanwhile Eisen had his Elemental Spirit quickly put everything together into packages depending on who which item was for.
It took Eisen a short while longer to nearly finish everything, and when he only had a few things to finish up, he turned toward Parc and Rouge, "You two, you can go and change into something else before heading to the dining room. I'll finish up here and then come over as well." The old man explained.
The two apprentices were a bit unsure about just leaving Eisen to do the work, but at the end of the day, if Eisen said he would be alright, then he would be alright, there would be no other way.
It didn't take much longer to finish, and Eisen made sure to have everything prepared in a way that it would stay at the perfect temperature and consistency until they were ready to be served. The serving itself would be done simply by some Golems Eisen made, of course, the servants still didn't need to work for the rest of the day.
The old man made his way to a room in which he could change his clothes to wear his suit again, as he took it off while he was cooking, and quickly made his way to the dining room where everyone was gathered together. Eisen looked at the people seated at the table, all talking to each other happily.
Brody and Evalia were there now as well, but Stahl and Alnico couldn't come due to a simple lack of capsules. Nonetheless, Eisen would give them their items in due time. The old man slowly made his way to his seat as everyone greeted him, while turning his head to look at Kirisho who was wearing the special dress that he made for her.
Usually, she wouldn't be able to properly wear clothes like this, but Eisen made the dress so that it would basically become part of her so that she could wear it whenever she wanted to. And honestly, it looked quite beautiful on her, although it seemed like Eisen was just stroking his own ego when thinking that.
Soon, after a bit of conversation with everyone, the appetizer was being served. And at that point, Eisen was ready to make a bit of a small announcement.
"Thanks for coming, everyone. There is a reason why I called all of you here." The old man started, "First, because it has been a while since I've seen all of you, so I wanted to change that. But there is also something else that I want to talk to you about. Now that I have been acknowledged by both the Gods of Heaven and the Gods of Hell, my Demonic Title has been completed. The next time I sleep, a 'transformation' of sorts will happen."
Brody grinned a bit and looked at Eisen, "What, you think you'll become evil and want to talk to us before that happens?"
The old man shook his head quickly at that joke, "Of course not. But once I'm a Demon, I will have completed another part of my tasks given to us by the puzzle box. I think all of you are rather close to finishing yours as well. So, I would like to ask you all to please focus as much of your time as possible on unlocking the puzzle box as well."
The four other Originals looked at each other for a moment. They really hadn't been paying too much attention to those tasks, but Eisen certainly had a point. It was better to try and open it sooner rather than later, considering the situation. But that wasn't all that Eisen wanted to speak about.
"Beside that, I managed to gather a bit more information while I was in those Divine Realms. First..." Eisen turned his head toward Kiron, "Kotam is the child of Trygan, turned insane by Samuel. In order to get close to her to help her, I'm going to become a Champion of the Chromatic Dragons as well. Please, support me however you can and don't judge me too much no matter what it is that I will have to do in order to accomplish that goal."
Considering that this information was something that none of the individuals here were aware of yet, they of course started muttering amongst themselves. Especially Kiron and the other Dragon Knights were surprised by this revelation.
From this point on, Eisen explained certain other information that he found out as he was in the Divine Realms, things that would help some of the others get stronger or simply information that was important for them going forward. It was a slightly heavy conversation, but one that they needed to have, and preferably before whatever happened to Eisen tonight happened. For some reason, he was feeling rather nervous about it.
But after dinner, it was time for something else. It was time to hand out the items that Eisen made for everyone. Wands, staffs, tools, weapons, anything that the others might need, all of them crafted in the divine realm using divine materials.
"Damn, I know you said you'd make items for us there, but I didn't expect somethin' like this!" Brody exclaimed excitedly, swinging his new weapons around. Meanwhile, Eisen wore a new item that he made as well. But not one that he made in the divine realms, but one that he made here rather briefly. An item that the others didn't know about yet.
One of Eisen's rings wasn't a normal ring. Rather, it held the soul of a certain being inside of it, enchanted to allow Eisen to make use of one of its most important abilities.
There was another bit of information that Eisen should have told them, but kept to himself for a particular reason. It was something that he delayed due to that which this ring allowed Eisen to see.
The soul inside of the ring was the one that Eisen found in the Circle of Heresy, the man that was able to see the 'Connection' between the worlds.
Eisen had to say, now that he was able to see that connection as well, it was rather interesting. It was as if a thick thread of ethereal energy that looked like a nebula in the night sky rose up forever and ever without an end to it.
But that was of course only something that the Originals had. And Eisen's thread was thinner than those of the others, maybe because his connection to Earth was the weakest out of everyone here due to the time his soul spent in this world.
These threads were not the only thing Eisen could see, though. The most important things were the pair of giant, floating eyes staring at Eisen from the other side of the room. And Eisen immediately know who those eyes belonged to.
For a while now, they were closed, but now that they opened up, Eisen would make another announcement.
One that he wanted to make before, but he didn't yet. He wanted those eyes to be open, so that the person who they belonged to knew that Eisen was aware of their every action.
"Ah, and before I forget... It seems like Samuel was already able to bring a bit of magic to earth."