Chapter 150 Dwarven Ale

<strong>--An) we almost hit 1k power stones last week. Every 1k power stones means an extra chapter! So let's try to hit that goal!--</strong>

"Anyway, what have you all been up to since this morning?" Blake asked as he looked around to see any changes in the area.

"Sister Noa and I have been working on a new dungeon system within the training area. It will spawn random dungeons throughout each training zone which you can enter and train against even more variety or monsters as well as get used to things like goblin dens and other races that like to set up traps of all kinds." Lillia explained.

"Wait! You said Noa right?" Mina's head was spinning. She took a minute to breathe before asking: "Is this the Noa of the elf clan? Princess Noa?"

"Mmm… That's right." Lillia answered honestly, causing Mina to turn and look at Blake with wide eyes and then suddenly shout: "Are you collecting princesses!?"

"Huh!? No!" Blake yelled out in his defense. He had never thought about it until now, but it seemed to be so! He had no idea how it came to be that three princesses were now under his roof!

Lillia walked over and kissed Blake's cheek as she said: "My husband is just very charming."

"I see… I should be careful then…." Mina mumbled to herself. She never realized that a human could attract all princesses!

"Ahem…. Lillia, since Mina has said she and her clan will come here to live, we will need to make room for them if they decide to stay in the base." Blake wanted to get accommodations in order, just in case.

"No problem. Mina, when your people figure out if you wish to stay in the base or not, let me know. I will set up a hall just for your race." Lillia did not mind creating a hall just for the fairy folk as it was just another wave of her hand to do so.

"Then as representative of my clan, I thank you for being so welcoming." Mina put her hands together and bowed her head in thanks.

"Mina will stay here tonight, so we should get a room set up for her in the palace. I will bring her back to her clan in the morning." Blake was happy things were now settled.

"I will take her up. Right now, Noa is finishing up the magic formation, so I have some spare time. Blake, can you go and ask Thardra if he has finished with the thing I asked of him?" Lillia had been busy all day, and they still needed the final piece for the dungeons, but that relied on Thardra to build it for them.

"Sure. I will go ask him now." Blake said as he passed Destiny, who reluctantly held on to her mother. Blake patted her on the head, seeing how she did not make too much of a fuss. He was glad she was not as bad as she was before.

When he left, Mina suddenly realized she was surrounded by big shots and did not know what to do anymore. Luckily Lillia said: "Hop on, I will bring you to the palace." These words allowed Mina to relax a bit.

Blake arrived at Thardra, where he was once more hit with a heat wave from the forges that were all lit up. He looked over to see Thardra busy pounding away at something. "Thardra!"

"Hmmm? Blake! You came. Give me a moment. I am putting the finishing touches on this plate that Madam Lillia asked for." Thardra continued pounding the metal plate on the anvil in front of him. With each strike, his hammer fell, hitting the precise spot, easily smoothing out the surface of the metal.

Twenty minutes later and a bucket of sweat from Blake, Thardra finished the last hammer and picked up the smooth blue-tinted metal. "I never thought that Madam Lillia would have magite. This ore is very rare nowadays."

"Rare?" Blake asked curiously.

"Mm… Magite is a special kind of metal born from mana. I guess you could call it a mana crystal that has lost all its mana and compresses into a metal shape. There used to be an abundance of it, and was used in many magic inscriptions. It is needed for many different things. But now, with this world just now gaining mana, it is no longer possible to get much of this. Even in the void we were locked in, the amount of magite you could find was slim, and the price for it skyrocketed. Just having an auction for it would cause a stir amongst the races. The reagles would host a neutral auction when they had some and would allow every race to come and bid on it. "  Thardra explained. He looked at the metal plate in his hand in awe. He felt lucky to be working with such precious metal again.

"Reagles? Who are they?" This was the first time Blake was hearing about such a race.

"Ah, I guess you can consider them part of the elemental clans. They are a race born from high elementals that took on human form and humans. They became reagles and are more of a nomadic tribe. You may not know this, but there are many races, some of which are only small clans. Only the bigger clans are more noticeable. But the smaller clans are normally put into groups. Like the fea and the elementals." Thardra patted Blake on the back and led him to the side room. When they sat down, he placed the metal plate on the table. "This here is a key item. It may just be a piece of metal to most, but if you inscribe it with a spell with the correct runic markings, you can then create a kind of control interface. It is what allowed our previous civilization to have many different kinds of what you call technology."

Blake's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this. He did wonder what kind of technology he was speaking about. But Blake figured unless he saw it for himself, he would probably not understand, so while curious, he decided to leave the subject for now. "I see. I kind of wish I lived back then just so I could see it all. There is no real way of knowing an era unless you live in it."

"I don't know. You might now have liked it. Right now, things are quite calm, but back then, there were wars all over. Not a day went by when people did not die in some war. I think there were only a few times when the whole planet was peaceful. Dwarves, elves, it did not matter. There were many clans of each, and only after the dragonic made their move did those clans begin to band together as one."  Thardra let out a sigh as he reached to his side and pulled out a large flask and two mugs. "Here, try this."

Thardra filled up the two mugs and smiled sneakily as he passed one to Blake. Blake already knew what this was, and it was something he had been waiting for. It was true blue dwarven ale! Blake picked up the mug and smelled the smooth scent of the ale before taking a sip. The flavor exploded in his mouth, and his eyes opened wide. He could not hide the smile on his face. "Good!"

"Hahaha! I told you it would be good. But be careful, just one mug might put you on your as…. Ahhh… Too late, Hahaha!" Thardra watched as Blake finished off the whole mug. Blake's cheeks turned red as the heat in his body built up. He placed the mug on the table and licked his lips. "More, please!"

"Haha! Here you go but don't let your wives beat me later!" Thardra was not stingy with his ale. He filled up mug after mug as the two sat there talking about random things. The two had not even thought about the mookin standing behind Blake very quietly. Yes. Mona had been there the whole time, from start to end. She was already sweating buckets, but she did not wish to leave Blake's side.

"Hiccup!" Blake felt like he was floating. He had drunk a bit too much. He looked up at the clock on the wall and shook his head as he tried to read it, but he had no luck. "Heyp! tat fime is pip?"

"Haha! Don't ask me. I can only talk, not see!" Thardra was also drunk, but at least his speech was normal.

<strong>*Bang!*</strong>

The door to the room slammed open, and a young woman walked in with an angry expression on her face. She looked at the two sitting there swaying back and forth and then turned to look at Mona, who was dripping in sweat, and sighed. "Mona, go back and cool off, or you might really die like this. Drink plenty of water."

"Yes, Madam!" Mona felt slightly dizzy from the heat and quickly rushed out of the room. When she left the forge room and the cool air hit her, she felt a bit better. She hurried off to the palace to drink some water.

Back inside the room, Lillia slammed her foot on the table, finally getting the two men's attention. Blake looked up and saw Lillia's face and then another one and another one. "Lillia, there are so many of you!"

Lillia rubbed her face in her hands as she walked over and lifted Blake up, and put him on her shoulder before looking at Thardra. "There is a time and place for drinking. You should have waited until after he had delivered the metal plate. We have waited almost six hours!" She was not upset about their drinking but upset that she had been waiting so long for the item she asked Blake to pick up!

"Ah! Madam! My mistake…. I will be sure to send him back with the item first next time." Thardra sobered up a bit, but his body was swaying back and forth still. "I will invite him over tomorrow for more!"

Lillia looked at the grinning dwarf and shook her head helplessly. She said her goodbyes and carried Blake out like a sack of potatoes. She had to have a serious talk with this man when he was sober.