Alexander was eager to learn magic from Leif, but first he needed to know what kind of world he was living in. As the saying goes: knowledge is power, and Alexander was ready to consume all of the knowledge that he could. He still had not forgotten his goal of creating an empire, and extensive knowledge was crucial to any budding civilization. The only problem was that he had no citizens… well, he would figure that out later. Now, he had to be powerful enough to be the figurehead of his empire in both physical and mental prowess.
"Thank you for accepting me master!" Alexander said happily, amazed that his plan had worked so perfectly.
Leif ignored him, too engrossed by the beautiful longsword that he inspected with reverence.
"Leif," Alexander asked hesitantly, sending his thoughts through the mana cord that connected his mind to his master's. He did not want to annoy his newly appointed teacher too much. "How were you able to get inside this house if you did not have a door?"
Leif finally pried his eyes away from the gleaming longsword and set it down gingerly on the anvil. He smiled at the small slime, "I forget that you are merely a slime and know nothing of the world and of common sense. It seems that my job may be somewhat of a challenge." He chuckled to himself. "Powerful magicians like myself have no need for a door that reveals the location of our hideout. We simply are able to use a short distance teleportation spell to leave and enter our home. I, myself, still remember when I learned the spell. It was 130 years ago, back when I was 100 years old. My teacher gave me the spell as a present when I reached level 50." He reminisced.
Alexander was shocked. This small dwarf who looked not a day over 40 was actually 230 years old! He had much to learn. In addition, the dwarf was far higher than level 50! "How long will it take me to reach level 50? Can I learn the teleportation spell? Is there any way I can get that strong in less than 100 years?!"
"Woah there little Alex, firstly, from the little that my race knows about your kind, the leveling system is much different and is usually faster."
Alexander sighed with relief. He did not think he could wait 100 years to become a strong magician. Who knew how long a slime lived for anyway? He needed power as fast as possible if he was to become a paragon of his people, much less an emperor!
"To answer your other question," Leif said thoughtfully. "The speed of you learning the teleportation spell will depend on your talent in magic, but that is a very high-level spell so I would not get my hopes up."
Alexander acknowledged this, but he also knew that he could work harder than anyone he had ever met. Back in his first life as a college student, Alexander was an orphan, and had to work two jobs in addition to his schooling just to get enough money to go to college. He had very good grades as well. Unfortunately, it all went to waste after he accidentally got involved with the wrong people and had all of his money and possessions taken away from him. He vowed that in his next life he would work even harder, and he did. When he was transported back to the 1200's, his hard work earned him numerous merits in the royal court. Eventually, he gained enough power to overthrow the current king, replacing him as the monarch. That said, throughout his time as king, he realized that not every problem could be solved with political prowess. One needed both military strength and charisma to rule a kingdom. Alexander was not one to repeat his past mistakes. In this life he swore to himself that he would become worthy of the title of emperor not merely due to his knowledge, but also because of his martial might.
"Master, I want to know more about the world," Alexander mustered.
"Hmm, alright then, what do you already know?"
"I know that the continent we are on is called Isedor and it is split between the five races. I also know that these races all vie for supremacy over the dungeons, but I do not know what the dungeons are."
"Good. You must know that I am a dwarf then?"
"Yes."
"Although now it may be inaccurate to call me a dwarf. My brothers have long since abandoned me," He sighed wistfully. "But that is a story for another day."
Alexander stayed silent. He could see the pain in the dwarf's eyes, and he knew from experience that this was not the time to enquire about Lief's past.
The dwarf shook himself out of his ruminations and started to inform Alexander of what he wanted to know.
"The dungeons have been the five race's way of making money for as long as the races can remember. The monster core that spawn in the dungeon, the pelts of those monsters, and the ores that are found in the walls are all extremely valuable. The dungeons are basically gold mines. There are five known dungeons on the continent of Isedor: the Maidenhair, Pine, Willow, Ironwood, and Mangrove dungeons. These dungeons are massive, they cover 75% of the continent's land mass."
"Holy crap!" Alexander exclaimed.
"The Ironwood dungeon is the largest of these five and spans across the ant's, human's, and elf's domains. The Mangrove dungeon is completely encased by the demon lands. The Maidenhair dungeon is a small dungeon in the North that is split between the elves and dwarves. The willow dungeon is shared by the humans and the elves. Finally, the Pine dungeon is owned exclusively by the dwarves. Each dungeon has different levels. No one knows exactly how deep it goes. For each level you descend, the monsters will be more dangerous, but the rewards are much greater. There has been only one account of anyone reaching the fifth level, and they recounted it as simply infinite horror. They passed away later that day from suicide.
"What is outside of Isedor, also why are the dungeons named after trees?" Alexander asked, ignoring the infinite horror part. It was not like he was going to attempt to go into the dungeons anytime soon.
"On the edge of the continent, bordering the ant's and demon's domain is the dark forest. The forest is not a dungeon, but it is riddled with monsters and terror. Not even the demon king was able to subjugate those lands. For your other question, the reason that dungeons are named after trees is because the dungeons all have a tree that grows exclusively above it. It is as though the dungeon wants only that kind of tree to grow atop it. Above the Pine dungeon, for example, the Pine tree dominates the entire ecosystem, and this leads to completely different ecosystems that are coexisting right next to each other. One moment you could be walking through the Ironwood forest, surrounded by dull, silvery-colored trees with large oval leaves, and the next you would be sinking into a marsh surrounded by looming mangroves."
"That's amazing!" Alexander exclaimed. "How is that even possible?"
"That's the thing," the dwarf said in a low voice, "no one knows why or how the dungeon functions. Years ago, 86 to be precise, many scholars were close to discovering the truth, but then five people came along: the traitors."
"The traitors?"
"Yes. They were the strongest representatives of each race, sent down to the deepest floors of the dungeons to find the truth about the dungeons. They never resurfaced. Instead, as if they had communicated beforehand, all five of the most powerful sorcerers, of all of the five races, laid down their most potent spell, sealing off the layers of the dungeon below level 2. To this day, no one knows why or how they did it. Their names were:
Callix, the beauty
Conrad, the wise
Andromeda, the water witch
Freya, of the earth
Brenna, the sword saint"
"What did the five races do about them?" Alexander asked, shocked, yet also excited at the power associated with sealing off an entire underground system that was seemingly infinite.
"They were furious that their sorcerers had betrayed them, but there was nothing they could do. The only ones that had the power to dispel such a grand barrier were the sorcerers themselves. Eventually, the surface races had to give up, but, as they could not access the lower levels of the dungeon, their wealth is now merely a sliver of what it once was. The surface races now wage war with each other over the simplest item from the fourth level. One needs a great amount of strength to survive in this warring period. As my apprentice, I will train you to survive and possibly even dominate the surface races. Although, my training is hard, very hard. Are you still willing to train under me?"
"When do we begin?" Alexander asked excitedly.
Leif grinned, "Now."
Leif raised one hand in front of him and turned his palm to the ground. Alexander felt a tremendous amount of mana that released from Leif's body and penetrated into the floor of the house, forming intricate signs and patterns that Alexander could not understand. The symbols stacked on top of each other and connected, almost seeming to flow over each other as they formed a large circle beneath Leif and Alexander's feet. Alexander felt drawn towards the patterns. At first, the pull was weak, but it continued to get stronger and stronger as more mana flowed through the arcane symbols from Leif's outstretched palm.
It felt as if he was a fish caught on a large hook, unable to fight the strong fisherman who held the other end of the line. Finally, the pull reached a point where Alexander could no longer resist. He felt his body start to slowly unravel into strands of mana as he was consumed by the circle. Although the entire process was painless, Alexander was scared. He was completely immersed in darkness, with nothing around him no up, no down, no direction, just blackness.
Suddenly, he was yanked from the darkness and his body was assembled, piece by piece, in a dense jungle, similar to the one outside of the clearing he was born in. Although now there was no sign of a clearing or any kind of landmark. Just trees as far as he could sense.
Leif appeared beside Alexander, startling him, and the dwarf reformed the bridge of mana between their minds.
"This is my first lesson as your master, young Alexander," Leif proclaimed in his deep, commanding voice. "Nothing comes for free in this world. If you want my teachings, you must show me that you are worthy. Survive here in the dark forest for one month and, then, only then, will you be deserving of receiving my teachings. Good luck."
Alexander watched in horror as Leif revealed a sadistic grin, raised his hand, and disappeared with a loud POP.
So begins Alexander's first trial under the tutelage of Leif, the great blacksmith.