Supreme Monarch

"Overtier Magic - Mist Cyclone."

Nadine cast a Tier 2 spell at the tier 3 level as she now had enough mana reserve to consistently cast over tier magic at this level for a while. The spell activated and a windy cyclone of wind restricted the movements of six cloakers that had tried to ambush them in the dark.

These were intermediate-class monsters. They were intelligent creatures that resembled large flying manta rays when flying. Although at rest, they looked like a black cloak, hence their name.

They were currently being attacked by only two of them but for some reason, the two creatures had turned into six. They must've used a skill so Tyler wasn't worried about them and left the job to Nadine while he kept an eye out for other monsters and protect the dwarves.

Nadine then followed her spell with a movement technique and pummeled the large monsters into the ground with her staff. Her strength had improved quite a bit so the creatures died after only a few hits and the groups proceeded on their way after retrieving the monster cores and corpse.

Tyler and the dwarves then continued to move deeper into the mine as they headed for the cave with the Runites that Nadine and Kylyra had stumbled upon. Naturally, Nadine took the lead and was the vanguard of their new team although Ragdek and the others provided no battle support whatsoever.

While Ragdek said he could move through solid objects at will, the others could not and thus he could not abandon them, hence their uselessness.

Well, maybe useless was not the word to use as they were still useful to the group in a way since they chatted with Tyler along the way. The tunnel to the cavern was long and it would still take them a while to get there so Tyler took the opportunity to find out more about the dwarven continent and the current state of the Human continent.

According to Ragdek, the dwarven continent had a friendly relationship with the Human continent and trades had been going on between them for the past thousand years now. However, just because they could trade with each other, doesn't mean they would.

Just like the Humans, the dwarven continent had a lot of kingdoms and empires within it and thus, there was not much cooperation within them. However, the humans were no exception as they still fought about each other for rights to trade and many laws and restrictions had to be put in place.

Besides, the two continent was separated by the sea, thus, communications between the two continent was still a little hard to accomplish as the all the several Kindom sand empires from the dwarven continent, could not send ambassadors that agreed on anything due to their sub racial differences.

However, there had been cases of dwarves migrating to the human continent and vise versa. Although interspecies relationship wasn't common yet as dwarves had a way longer lifespan than humans. While dwarves specialized in a lot of things, it was still important to note that they were still known for their craftsmanship and their weapons and armors were the best in the world.

They also produce the best wines in the world and several other things. The only reason the reincarnated and summoned heroes had not been able to fully develop the technology of this world faster than it was currently was because they weren't born in the dwarven continent. This world did not contain any crude oil and thus, technology could not progress the same way as it did on earth. 

Naturally, with the addition of magic, things were bound to be different. However, even with that, it was hard for anyone that did not have a long lifespan to make a very significant influence on the advancement of the world.

Heroes generally didn't live long lives as they were usually summoned for a particular reason and thus could only remain in this world for a maximum of around 40-50 years while reincarnates that are smart enough to increase their magic potential at a very young age before their mana body had the chance to form, would live for around 200-300 years but those were still very rare and thus the advancement of this world was still slow in many ways.

And back to the dwarven continent, there were different types of dwarves that dwelled in the various kingdoms and empires in the continent namely, mountain dwarves, Duergar, artic dwarves, and dwarfintes. Naturally, not all of these subraces got along with each other. Ragdek and the four were all half Duergars and dwarfintes from the Vineyard Kindom and were considered low born. 

They were not able to study in the best Blacksmithing academy mostly because they had no money as although their city was also a mining city, most of the material they mined could not be sold and would be used by the city. The human continent was also not able to freely trade for high-level weapons and armors with the dwarves and thus would often settle for importing things like wine, fine articles of clothing, and other materials.

"So, you still haven't told me why you lot left the dwarven continent for the Human continent and why you decided to mine here."

While they told him a lot about their home and the general state of the human continent, they seem to be avoiding the topic of why they were here even though they knew it was dangerous, and while Tyler didn't enjoy digging into people's personal lives. He would if there was no other choice in the matter.

Ragdek sighed, he had tried his best to avoid speaking on his situation but it seems there was no longer any way he could do that.

"Seeing as you've agreed to help us leave this place, I guess we can tell you."

Je was yet to speak when Darren interjected and answered Tyler from the side. 

"We weren't given much of a chance in the dwarven continent to live our lives. Since everyone can't do the same thing, the dwarves have a system in place to help only the talented have their choice of work and the others would be assigned to whatever field required more labor."

"Indeed that was the case." Hulnyl nodded in agreement and Ragdek shrugged his shoulders.

"Umm."

"However, people like us weren't given the same opportunity."

"Why so?"

"Well, as I said before, all five of us are low born, and combined with our low status we are also mix blood of dwarfintes and Duergar also known as underground dwarves. Mix bloods, while not heavily discriminated against would always be considered last whenever things like a selection occur."

This time it was Ragdek who answered him as it seemed he felt irritated to be interrupted before he had a chance to speak earlier.

"I see."

"Well, that alone is not why we left."

"Indeed."

"While being part dwarfinte made us looked down upon, it didn't stop our individual talents from being recognized and we actually got the jobs we wanted even though we are mostly self-taught."

"Huh, is that so. I have to admit I did not see that coming."

"Of course you didn't, dwarves are the best storytellers in all of Neron, hahahaha..."

"Sure, why not."

"Anyway, we simply left the dwarven continent because we were dissatisfied with just making the normal items and regulated magic items provided by the city. Our goal, well my goal is to research and create magic artifacts. The knowledge that had been lost to us for millenniums now."

The five dwarves nodded before Darren spoke up for the rest of them.

"Well, while that may have not been our goal for joining Ragdek, we all wanted to research more into our field and create new items as well and thus we went to the human continent in search of such opportunities."

"Actually, I only came cause I was drunk when we discussed it and couldn't say no." Gerl suddenly added after being quiet the entire time.

"You lazy ass—" 

"I see, so why did you leave the human continent and head here. If I'm not mistaken, humans love the weapons and armors you dwarves create right? I'm sure you would've been able to establish yourself there and didn't have to take such risks."

"True. We did save up a lot over the year we were there from just the basic designs we had alone and with our human apprentices, we've expanded our knowledge a bit, but the Human continent lacks the valuable materials we need to conduct proper research on magic artifacts and thus, we came here."

"So that's the case, did you think you'll find the valuable resources here or where you just mining for gold to increase your funds?"

"Umu... Our readings show a vague spike in the frequency of the earth in this area and we were able to locate this mine based on that. We think there is a more valuable and highly energy concentrated metal in here but with how infested this place is, we are unable to search it thoroughly and had to retreats."

Ragdek brought out an item from their box, it was an item that almost resembled the scanner used by miners on earth but this one was obviously different.

"A more valuable metal Huh.", 'I wonder if they're talking about the Runite. If those could be used in the research and creation of magic artifacts, that might be something I'd like to invest in if they were like a start-up company. Can I afford it?'

"You said you all specialize in different fields earlier, what is that?"

"Huh? What? Wanna hire us? We're expensive you know."

Tyler couldn't help but be impressed with this short man's boldness. Just a moment ago he was cowering at his question and now he acts like he has no care in the world. 'Are all dwarves like these.' Not able to get any answers from himself, he simply put the thought out of his mind and spoke.

"Sure, the money is no issue."

"Wow really. You know I don't think you're a mere adventurer."

"I never even said I was one."

"Huh really. Oh well. Anyway, I'm a Blacksmith so I do a little of everything myself. Although I prefer making magic items than weapons and armors even if I'm also great at those." Ragdek said with a profound and smug expression on his face as he peek out of his eyes to see Tyler staring at him without having noticed his intentions.

He faked a cough and continued before Darren had the chance to speak.

"Bernir here is a very Talented armorsmith who can read basic runes and a little of intermediate so his armors are second to none. Darren and the lazy Gerl here are craftsmen with slightly different specializations and just like the rest of us, they can also read basic runes while Hulnyl is a construction engineer. He asked us to call him that after hearing it in passing from a wandering human a long time ago."

"Hey!" Hulnyl was just about to bicker with Ragdek when Tyler suddenly spoke.

"Wow, color me impressed who knew I was standing amongst such masters."

"Hehehe... you flatter us, Sir Ty, surely you jest.

"Indeed... Senior Ty is also an impressive demon if I do say so."

"Umu... Not many people can venture here so casually as you are Master Ty, our respects."

"Although you're not wrong, haha hahaha...."

Tyler raised a brow at this scene. All it took was a simple compliment and these five were already acting like this. The way they addressed him seems to change with each sentence.

They were indeed all simpletons that could be easily fooled, but Tyler had no intentions of doing that. If he could hire them to do some research on the magic artifacts he had in order to make new ones then he should shower them with as many compliments as they wanted.