Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

As we start to walk, my gaze catches the massive black axe stuck in the ground, one that didn't dissolve with the Goblin King's avatar.

Many memories of this Lord using a system storage rush through my mind, but training to replicate that ability without avatar commands seems far too time-consuming right now.

I turn to Ava and yell out, pointing to it.

"Bring that axe along with us. I want to save it for later."

With the rapid increase in my adaptation to this environment, I estimate I'll eventually be able to walk around without my purple barrier. When that time comes, I'd like to feed my Soul Sword every bit of loot I can get my hands on.

Ava's confused look makes it clear she doesn't understand why I'd want this worthless chunk of black, dead soul weapon material, but after what she just witnessed, she decides not to question my intentions. However, she has a different concern.

"My avatar doesn't come pre-loaded with storage space-"

I reply quickly, as more memories of the Goblin King piece together in my mind.

"Check your shop function. There should be a small storage feature for 10 Ether. I'll pay you back, but we have to go..."

She opens her mouth to reply but closes it just as fast, opening her system interface and doing as I say.

Seconds later, a green and white sliver of space opens up in front of her free hand that doesnt hold her hammer. Then, the axe from this battle falls inside. Quickly, we run to the center of the mining zone to check on the remaining goblins.

The majority of them are still out cold, but a handful have managed to stand. Two in particular I recognize very well. We head straight toward them.

Ava confronts Troy and Rain, explaining what happened and convincing them again that they can trust me. I press my palm onto both of the goblins' hands, gaining two new links of loyalty with the two 5th Class goblins.

I manage to complete both transfers in a single go, with my barrier open for almost a full second, but it still takes about ten minutes to recoup feeling in my body.

I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.

It's mostly to appease Ava when I tell her I want to leave all these underlings behind. But also, I want to have eyes and a direct telepathy channel down here accessible to me if need be.

–

On the outside, my words and actions may seem cold and cryptic; but I'm taking the simple optimal path that doesn't take much thought while processing a lot of information.

My mind is quite scattered and busy conceptualizing the thousands of years of new memories.

I've received glimpses of the past via the Originator's tomb and Celia's ability before... but those were just slideshows of someone else's life.

The memories I received from Drako Vermillion were vivid and overwhelming too. However, it was just a few hundred years, mostly consisting of training and waiting within cultivation rooms and a labyrinth.

To add to the simplicity of the demon's memories, I received them once the threat I was facing was defeated. I had all the time I needed to digest and ruminate on their information.

Now, I've received vast knowledge of a race on the other side of the galaxy, and his ventures within a realm that trades entire worlds like they're nothing more than gold coins.

My perspective of my existence in reality has vastly expanded.

The Goblin King's memories were nearly ten times as long as the demon's and packed with hundreds of times more information.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

It's impossible to sift through it all, but very recent memories surface in my mind that happened right before my battle with this Lord began. It shows me the path this Goblin King took to get here from the Citadel, just earlier today.

–

Every month, all Lords of Exile plots are allowed to descend from the Citadel and collect profits from their zones.

On the underside of the Citadel, a large mountain of black rocks climbs up to almost touch its base. This is where the power plant at its center drops the drained world tokens, and they fall into the endless Exile zones for scavengers to mine.

This mountain of forgotten worlds loses its steep walls the farther away from the Citadel one travels. So far out here, the ground is basically flat.

The zone we're in now is near the outer ring, where only 5th Class Ether Stones can be found. Many call these zones the Hollow District, as the souls cursed to work in these mines never find anything of profit. It is well known that Lords of this status never have lifespans long enough to fulfill their contracts.

The middle ring, which I ventured near a few times with Ava watching near the border, is filled with 4th Class Ether Stones. The central peak—the steep mountain land right below the access point—is where fortunes can be made. It's privately owned land not available for rent, where 3rd Class and above Ether Stones are said to be mined.

Between certain Exile zones, there are pathways that are common ground—neutral zones where Lords can venture to and from the Citadel access point.

The Goblin King took his time making his way over, and this was the last zone it visited.

I've wasted a long time healing after the battle, and even if I book it with everything I have, taking the winding neutral path between Exile zones isn't going to get me to the access point in time.

A blurry map of certain zones in the Hollow District and Middle Ring floats in my mind. Memories of the Goblin King's past pair these random zones with faces of all kinds of illegal avatar dealers, slave traders, and shady Lords.

–Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Once I recover after granting the two goblins their worlds back, I see a clear path I can take to make it to the access point in time if I run now.

It isn't exactly going to be a legal route, and it may stir up some chaos in the city above, but I already unknowingly committed to this path when I killed the Lord renting this plot.

I look up to Ava as I stand to my feet.

"Alright, the access point to the Citadel is closing. If we don't run now, it's going to take at least another month before we'll get another chance."

I look back to the goblins, watching even more of the small green lords hold their heads while standing to their feet behind Rain and Troy.

"We can't bring them, but I promise we'll come back..."

In the back of my mind, memories of the Black Market District on the edge of the Citadel flash through my thoughts. I know exactly who owns these plots, and for the right price, any deal can be agreed upon. I just hope I don't meet with them until after I leave this place, as they often come down here to survey their more valuable plots in the Middle Ring.

Ava looks saddened by my words, but my urgency and confidence in my decisions over the last few minutes make her believe every word I've said.

"Understood."

She turns to the two and holds their hands, saying a few words to them while I turn my gaze into the green fog, straight in the direction we'll be headed next.

After half a minute passes, the goblins scurry away and start helping their fellow lords.

Many of them look very injured and fatigued. It makes me wish Abby was here. She could've healed them all in an instant...

With this train of thought, another memory floats to the front of my mind—a time the Goblin King entered a shop in a high-end store in the Ashen Blue District, right near the center of the Citadel. This is where he purchased the ability to send a signal down to the Lower Realm, contacting the Kings of the Golden City back on his homeworld.

Vague imagery of the possibility of sending and receiving items and energy between realms comes to mind, but I push them back to my subconscious as I focus on the present.

Ava and I run forward, powering our footsteps with ether, leaving the mining base behind us, straight toward the barrier we had been walking along for days.

–

As we near it, Ava's face shows hesitation, but her actions don't falter as she runs straight through.

Her eyes widen with surprise, and I grin as my theory that my Rising Emperor's buff would override an exile contract is confirmed.

In my internal interface, I see her status clearly now.

She is level 4521, with a [Hobgoblin Transformation] buff, a [Lone Warrior's Energy Form] buff, and a single skill that has never been upgraded called [First Instinct].

Memories of many other Exile zones the Goblin King owned sift through my mind as we run forward. No other zones in the Hollow District's outer ring ever had a 3rd Class Lord like her in them.

On top of that, none of my new memories, nor my experience sparring with her over the last few days, ever showed me her energy form or skill in use.

I believe there is far more to this hobgoblin than I first assumed, but I decide to push off bringing it up once we're not in such a time crunch.

I yell out after climbing a large hill of black rocks.

"Alright, this is the edge of the neutral path separating the Hollow District and the Middle Ring. We can't afford to go around the long way, but the next two zones should be clear, their lords have most likely already started making their way back to the access point. We can take a shortcut and run right through them."