Chapter 186 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Ace has gotten closer, so it's now easier to see him. He truly was diamond rank, but he didn't look happy. It didn't take me long to understand where his unhappiness came from; it was from the person escorting him.

It was another diamond rank, one I hadn’t seen before. He was on the weaker side, but now I had an even weaker diamond rank to compare others to. The strength in Ace's core was pathetic compared to any other diamond rank I had seen.

When they reached closer to the gate and the guards started to recognize him, it was amazing to see how the information spread. It was even funnier to see how other people reacted when they heard the news, especially those who had not been law-abiding citizens in his absence.

Usually, only the small gate was open to let people in and out, but the huge gates of one of the entrances were opened to let Ace in. As soon as he stepped a foot into the city, guards surrounded him, and as they continued to walk, more and more joined. By the time they were nearing the center of the city, there were nearly 200 guards escorting him and the other diamond rank with him.

When they finally reached the City Hall, there were a lot of his counselors waiting to greet him. There wasn't much ceremony as the counsellors knew Ace didn’t like that, but there was still some. It was over quickly.

When the mandatory greetings were over, I finally heard Ace properly speak. There was suppressed rage in his voice. "This is for Varaxis. He will be another counsellor. I want him read in on everything that is vitally important and everything that's not. I suspect there is much to do, but I must first visit my wife." Immediately, the counsellors bowed their heads. "Of course, City Lord. Please, Varaxis, come with us." Yet he didn’t move.

"I thought you were told what I would be doing. I am here to make sure you are adjusting to your new strength," Varaxis said unkindly. Ace managed to control himself and was able to answer calmly.

"So you want to watch me and my wife reacquaint after being away from each other so long?" There was a momentary silence that spread to everyone around. Even Varaxis seemed stunned by the bluntness of those words. "As I thought," Ace said and then walked off, with his guards quickly following him.

Varaxis and the counsellors were left standing there, still a bit stunned by the words and the way he left. "Come with us, there's a lot you need to be made aware of before the meetings later today with our city lord. Things will be quite hectic for the next few months, I believe."

I could see that Varaxis wasn't that pleased with the situation, but I think in the end his need for collecting information made the decision for him. I do not know why, but everyone who is desperate for knowledge seems to have the same kind of look that I have learned to recognize, and he did have that kind of look.

Now, normally I wouldn't listen in and would give Ace his privacy, but this was not a normal situation. I needed to know what was going on. It didn't take long for Ace to be alone with his wife.

"I am sorry, my husband. I did the best I could, but there’s much for you to do," Aylin said. Ace held up his hand. "It doesn’t matter much. I’m here and with you once again. Everything can be fixed, and it was necessary; otherwise, I couldn’t have kept control of my own nation."

"I cannot tell you much. They have a lot of spells on me to limit what I can say. But I now know much too much, in my opinion. They are true dicks," Aylin giggled at that, which for the first time brought a small smile to Ace's lips.

Yet that amusement didn't last long. He sat down, and after a moment, it was like he collapsed into himself. His proud strength was nowhere to be seen, with tiredness radiating from him.

"I truly hate them. You know those bastards forced me to take skills because, and I quote, 'they are necessary for your survival as we so graciously kill everything so you could achieve diamond rank and become immortal.' What bullshit."

"Never did I once have to use one of those skills. They just wanted to fill my slots, and I’m pretty sure those are skills that are nearly impossible to remove and make my combat power pathetic compared to theirs."

"They even have someone who will shadow me basically forever. While technically I am still in charge, I’m nothing more than a puppet like we suspected. The other free dungeons are the same, but at least their dungeons are diamond rank, so they're actually able to start advancing, but I don’t think it’s that easy. And the reason I'm diamond rank hasn’t anything to do with showing the world how strong I am…"

"Son of a bitch, I can't even say that. But I want to just lie down and be their puppet. I already notified the counsellors with a secret phrase. While that bastard will learn much, he won't learn everything. You know, they seem like assholes."

For about the next 30 minutes, Ace did nothing but rant. Aylin listened dutifully, not interrupting, only nodding and agreeing with what Ace was saying.

There wasn't much information, and I guess I would never learn anything important. It seems like they really want to keep everything a secret. That's annoying. After another four hours, he finally left his room with his wife right behind.

They were going to go into the main city and start to fix the problems they had been facing. "Ace, can you still hear me?" Immediately, he stopped walking. "Yes, and I am sorry. I will do my best, but I do not know how long I can keep your secrets, the ones I know, and the ones I don’t."

"Do your best, but before you go, come and enter my dungeon." There was an immediate reaction to my words: first relief, then terror. "No, I can’t. You don’t know how many times I’ve been told never to do such a thing before you reach diamond rank."

"I wasn’t asking you; I was telling you to come but only put one foot in and immediately take it away." He was silent for a while, and I could see his wife getting worried.

Eventually, he started to walk again, but he didn’t walk down the corridor to get to the outside of his manor, but instead to go lower. His wife, of course, questioned him immediately, and they argued quite a bit but never stopped moving. Then the time came. He put one of his feet over the threshold and into my dungeon.

My reaction was immediate. My instincts screamed at me like they never had before. I could feel how I started to act, following them. It felt like I was in danger, like there could only be one of me or the intruder. I was already preparing to send my hordes of creatures at him when I finally started to slowly rein in my instincts. Then the intruder was gone, and my mind cleared up quite fast.

"Are you OK? Can you still understand me?" Ace asked. "I am fine now. Do it again." He did it once again. This time I was able to control myself just a little bit better, but I was also exhausted by those two events. "That's enough now, but whenever you get the chance to come down here and do that again, inform me. Is that understood?"

"As you wish, I am glad you are not murderous right now. I am glad my instincts were right and that you could handle that at least a little bit." As soon as he finished saying that he quickly left, heading towards his meetings.

He didn’t mention, and I don’t think he could answer even if I asked, but I’m pretty sure he was made a diamond rank because when I achieve diamond rank, I believe I could have easily broken our agreement and then be bound to no one.

I was quite worried about his build, as the adventurers call it, but I believe none of the diamond ranks has any clue about his gold rank talent and who knows how it could have changed when he reached platinum and diamond ranks. Perhaps he got two new talents or perhaps his main one was improved or changed, but I believe he will get stronger even before I reach diamond rank.

The problem of his skills will take a while to fix, but I believe when Ziiipe reaches platinum or near diamond rank, she could fix all the skill problems Ace has. While I have a huge collection of talents, unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to get them from adventurers. It will be sad when they finally die and so many wanderers' abilities are lost.

It will take time, but don't worry, Ace. You have been good enough towards me and I repay those who help me. It seems that I need to add another project to my list to fix and help Ace. It will be unlike any other project I have; it will, of course, be a long-term task, which is why it's called a project after all. But don't you worry, annoying person, I will get you fixed up eventually.