Prince Aslanbek was busy preparing supplies for his punitive force when King Zander Alexander VI approached him. He was alerted of the King's presence by one of his knights that shouted. "Attention! All bow to His Majesty!"

After doing the bare minimum reverence to his father, the crown prince smiled. "Father! It is with great joy that I welcome your blessings to my expedition!"

King Zander stared at his son without nodding. "Aslanbek. Come with me for a walk. Alone!" He let just a bit of his emotions leak. The King was nervous. Unsure. Aslanbek sensed it and followed his father to a more secluded place.

"What is on your mind, father?" He asked feigning filial piety. He had only so little in stock.

"Be commensurate in your actions. My heart tells me that acting on an impulse will be bad for you. Don't take risks with the unknown. Driving these invaders away and back home is as good as defeating them. We need to remove that tigress from Honeywitch before she can solidify her position. Satisfactorily solve these troubles and prove to me you are ready to become King."

Aslanbek's mind was filled with the sweet nectar of sitting on the throne. Everything else in his father's advice paled and vanished when he thought the King was ready to step down from the throne.

"It shall be done, father," He said with great enthusiasm.

The crown prince readied his knights and departed in search of the invaders from Coriander. Glory, greed, hubris, and unquenchable ambition driving him.

Prince Ahadi looked from his tower as his brother's knights departed through the side gates, crossing the narrowest stretch of the city toward their fate. He hoped Aslanbek would be up to the challenges put in front of him. He hoped Aslanbek would be ready to become King Bast needed to bring its stability back.

The bookish prince put down the documents he was reading and returned to the history book he put away when the documents arrived. A tall tale about a man who would sit on the pinnacle of power but gave it all up. Kherghak, if he existed, the man saw something nobody else in the world did. He took a folder he'd taken from his brother's advisor's office and read the papers.

"Level zero. Unlimited potential. The backing of both Guild and Lyceum. I can see why brother was so obsessed with this person," He mused out loud as it helped him think. Ahadi remembered a common crafter's lemma.

"The lynchpin needs not to be strong enough to hold the whole structure together. It just needs to be firm enough to hold it in place."

Break it, and the whole unravels. Such was the frailty of the Kingdom.

Just because he could, Nero used a [Egress] card with [Card Trick], recovering as much mana as if a gray-grade card had been used. Funny. He'd thought it would be stronger, but he looked at the silver cards with another set of eyes. A Dungeon needed the energy to sustain itself. Anyone able to obtain one such card was strong enough to put a dent in the Dungeon's Essence reserves. Therefore, it was Dungeon's will to kick such a person out. As it couldn't do that on its own, the [Egress] card was its way of messaging the Adventurer, "Good job, now get the hell out of here."

Nero intended to do exactly the opposite. He looked at his party, they were still looking at Loolah with suspicion.

"Who is ready for the next round? I believe I can improve our time for clearing to one day."

"I'm all up for Accolades, boss," Rodther grinned.

"Yes, it is your call," Knazer said.

"You made me curious," Crystal admitted. "What do you have in mind?"

"We are going to clear the army without a single goblin touching Moira," Nero pointed out. "But first I need to make a structure here overlooking the camp, then let's return to the fort."

Nero used stone manipulation to erect a twenty-feet tall lump of stone with a staircase on the outside then used his [Dungeon Breaker] spell to teleport everyone and force the whole Dungeon to respawn. He opened the keyed portal to the garden shelter and let everyone inside. They should take the rest of the Dungeon day off while he cleared the trap shelter with the goblins before the next run.

The trap shelter was made with wholesale goblin farming in mind. The radius of the sandpit where the goblins fell was a few yards short of Nero''s maximum fireball radius and there was a ledge up above where he could safely fireball the monsters below without getting in the area of effect. Since no casters fell in the pit, it was safe to believe that nothing would counterspell the fireball. And if they did, Nero would snipe the casters until they didn't. He could lose these drops if the fireball broke them, but it was a drop in a bucket.

He tossed the [Fireball] spell toward the center of the squabbling mass of greenskins. If there was a shaman in the crowd, they never bothered to look up until it was too late. The fireball hit the head of a goblin and blossomed into a blinding ball of fire, sending overheated air up to singe Nero's face. He vowed to look away next time. The goblins didn't die immediately but the one-minute [Everburning Fire] debuff would do six times the damage of the initial conflagration.

Nero took notes for the next iteration of the trap shelter. He would make sure the noise and smell didn't reach up to where he was. As the weaker goblins succumbed to the fire, Nero's Arbitrium pinged with several Accolade messages.

Abridged message log:

+1 Willpower

+1 Dexterity

+1 Reason

+1 Agility

+1 Perception

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Charisma

+1 Endurance

+1 Perception

+1 Strength

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Willpower

+1 Charisma

+1 Strength

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Vigor

+1 Endurance

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Charisma

+1 Agility

+1 Strength

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Charisma

+1 Willpower

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Strength

+1 Reason

+1 Charisma

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

+1 Perception

+1 Vigor

+1 Agility

+1 Charisma

Level up. You are already at your level cap.

The average odds of an Accolade with a monster a few times his level was 1:128. He earned thirty-four Accolades, of which eight were wasted with level ups because he didn't strain his Attributes between Accolades. A failed level up, however, added strain to all Attributes randomly as he confirmed it by taking snapshots of his Attribute strain with a diagnosis card. But it also meant there were close to five thousand goblins down there.

Another thing he noticed was that strain got harder to build up the higher the Attribute went. It meant he should remove his equipment before doing such a stunt. Or at least after the [fireball] but before the goblins died. He couldn't remove his timepiece for fear of resetting the added mana bonus, but the rest could be removed by simply willing it to go into his dimensional pouch since he was already touching everything.

Nero felt a pang of anxiety as he wondered what he could gain if he cleaned this Dungeon solo. He couldn't, not with his current abilities, though. Even with their full party they needed to resort to portals and staggered pulls to make sure they didn't bite more than they could eat. The monster stampede from the overflowing Dire Warg's Dungeon cleared a castle with the remnants of Tyre's army through sheer numbers. And as dumb goblins could get, they were still smarter than a bunch of diseased wolves. Not by much, it seemed.

Pushing his thoughts away, he peeked over the ledge. A few wounded goblins were lying on the ground and he put them out of their misery with the rifle. Once all the goblins were gone, he left the trap shelter and created a new transition box. This one was simple. It had a bowl-shaped stone floor with a slight level surface in the middle. Nero summoned a chair and placed it in the center, standing upon it.

An Essence crystal was hard to break. It required deliberate effort or a strong force. A fall from two yards would not even scratch it unless it fell on something very hard and sharp. So what Nero did next was dismiss the trap shelter. It was a necessity since the dying goblins might've fed the proto-Dungeon some energy. He wouldn't risk making another Dungeon. The crystals and cards dropped by the goblins appeared in a ring of red light around him and fell down, cascading down the slope and gathering under his chair. From there all he had to do was to kneel on the chair and scoop his sweet, sweet loot into his Essence scale to add up everything.

A grinning Nero returned to the garden shelter. Crystal created a picnic and rest area next to Altia's workstation with the looted furniture from the knights.

"How good was the treasure, boss?" Rodther voiced everyone's curiosity as Nero approached.

"Good, good," He replied dismissively but with a large grin that betrayed his real feelings. "Did you know the goblins dropped one card for every nine kills on average?"

"Quit it!" Altia poked him. "Tell me, are we rich?"

"Of course we are!" He giggled. "What better wealth could a person desire other than a lovely family and loyal friends?"

Crystal playfully swooned and sighed. She straightened up and narrowed her eyes. "Show us the red shinies!" She demanded with an imperious tone.

Nero took a bag out of his dimensional pouch. "Here, you greedy bunch. Five-point-two million Essence in crystals worth at least a thousand each." It was not an impressive bag. Essence crystals were small and almost the same size, their shine increasing with their value. The one they got from Holmes and Chrysopae was at least twenty times bigger.

"We're rich!" Knazer cheered.

"And we have a lot of equipment and modifier cards to sell," Nero completed. "This Dungeon is awesome and we're farming the hell out of it."

Nero laughed and celebrated their successful hunt with everyone else. Then Crystal called for a pause.

"You do realize Nero spent four million to equip us for this run, right? So we are not rich. We just got out of the red."

Knazer stood on the bench, "We're farming the hell out of this Dungeon. But now we're going to par-tay!"

Everyone looked at Nero. Altia took some cards from one of her pouches. "Nero, we got these cards for you. Use them!"

It was a useless white Class card and some Skills.

[Double Tap] - white- Requires ranged physical Skill.

"Try it while [Juggling] kegs of ale."

Effect: When using a ranged Skill that uses an item, 15% chance of duplicating the item, and triggering the Skill twice at no additional cost.

[Juggling] - white.

"One, two, three. Will they fall? We shall see!"

Effect: You can juggle up to square.root(Dexterity) objects, keeping them mostly on the air while having one hand free for manipulating other objects for a brief amount of time. Spend 1 point of Stamina to toss the juggled objects at targets up to square.root(Agility) yards away, modifying the damage based on your Agility.

[Gentle Toss] - white

"Approved for use with kidnapped princesses."

Effect: All objects you use with one of your ranged Skills add your Vigor to their own while they are being tossed and for 1 second after landing. They take no damage from landing.

[Increase Range] - white.

"It's just a stone's throw away!"

Effect: The range of your physical ranged attacks is multiplied by square.root(Strength).

When he saw Crystal taking kegs and bottles from her storage, he understood and chuckled. He took [Gentle Toss] and showed the card to Crystal.

"You're so getting it!" He threatened to toss her.

The former princess laughed and threw him the beverages. He juggled.

They found the optimal way to abuse [Double Tap] to do what the flavor text said. Get a single bottle, and burn stamina to toss it up while [Juggling]. If the bottle multiplies because [Double Tap] made a copy, use [Essence Analysis] to find the dupe and store the original, then create as many copies as you want. In the fake world of the shelter inside the fake world of the Dungeon, they got drunk on fake expensive wine and ale. Fifty thousand Essence each bottle of vintage wine, eight thousand Essence each keg of premium ale.

They had no rush to clear the Dungeon. And the trick worked on food as well. It wasn't as filling as normal food but it was free. Nero felt as if he'd broken something and soon the powers that be would come and fix the card combo. It didn't happen.

But as much as they wanted to revel forever, they had work to do. Altia replenished her stock of potions, incendiary bombs, and other concoctions. Nero polished his goblin trap.

His strategy would use six portals linking the gate to the new trap shelter. An arch in the roof of the trap shelter mimicked the walls and roof inside of the murder chamber between the inner and outer portcullis. The arch in the shelter had no floor except for a small ledge on the courtyard side. Three portals linked this ledge to the courtyard just outside the gatehouse and another three portals linked the front of the gate to the arch. Anyone looking from outside would see the courthouse through the two gates and believe the arch was the gatehouse.

The portal was almost transparent because the inside of the shelter and the gatehouse matched. If it weren't for the lack of a floor. An illusion layered inside the shelter would solve it. The goblins would walk through the portal and fall through. It was impossible to walk into the courthouse as the gates touched each other.

Nero put Altia and Crystal on the walls with the twins and Hefalina. Moira would stay next to the gates by the courthouse and Rodther would stay behind the wall hidden from the goblins' sight but ready to assist Moira if she needed help, as in the case some lucky archer got a hit on her. Nero was on the wall ready to snipe spellcasters and shamans if they approached. As insurance, there were three portals to the garden shelter, one on each side above the wall where the ranged attackers stood and another next to Rodther. They could retreat to safety and close the portals in a few seconds if needed.

With everything ready and in place, Nero gave the signal to start. He aimed at a tall goblin lieutenant half a mile away. The group of goblins led by him took that as their cue to rush into the castle, triggering the nearby battalions. Nero pulled even more goblin armies by shooting at their officers. A veritable horde rushed toward the castle.

"You're insane," Crystal berated him. "I wish I could use Daisy here."

"She's too low level," Nero answered. "Loolah, stay ready to use counterspell."

The goblin shaman didn't speak after Nero tamed him. Nero kept him long enough to earn the tamer bonus but as he'd explained, it was a matter of time. He'd either recover his reason or not. At Nero's order, the shaman nodded in acknowledgment.

"Stay safe, but don't save ammunition! Fire at will! Prioritize shamans and archers!"

The cacophony of rifles going off started as the goblins entered the twins' range. Hefalina had lower Attributes and a shorter range. Nero didn't shoot to kill as the mob approached. It was useless and it would only make it harder to find the loot later. As the horde approached the gate, Nero climbed down the keep stairs to see if his trap would work. He reached Moira to hear the screams of dozens of goblins falling through the portals down into the trap shelter. Some javelins hit the nereid guardian's shield but she defended all of them. Nero willed his own shield to extend fully and joined her.

The backs of the portals were all facing the inside of the gatehouse. Nero admired his crafty dimensional illusion, finding a few distortions if he shifted his sight from one portal to another. They weren't perfectly aligned. But the melee goblins were falling one after another. It was a macabre fun to watch them fall and vanish down the illusionary floor.

"That's insane," Moira shouted to him. "I keep thinking they will cross over and reach me."

"They might. If a goblin is agile enough to jump across and grab the ledge, they will. Stay sharp," Nero replied.

Rodther yawned. "I'm used to it already," The scaled [Acrobat] stated.

Satisfied, Nero moved back to the wall to help kill the archers and shamans.

Of the hundreds of goblins that fell, three were able to jump across, all of them special goblins like the lieutenants or sergeants. Rodther and Moira shoved them back down the hole before they could set foot on the courthouse.

Two hours later, they cleared the first pull, about half the Dungeon if you didn't count the tents. They rested for two hours and Nero pulled the rest of the Dungeon by shifting to his orange [Rogue] build and sniping the armies more than a mile away. His range was based on Perception and it more than doubled in that build. After he triggered the attack, he shifted builds back and returned down to replace the illusion.

What took three days in the first run was done in seven hours of intense work. Nero cleared the trap shelter while his party recovered from the fight collected the drops and prepared to assault the camp again. He still got a lot of failed level-ups from the mass farming but it was par for the course. There were more goblins this time and quite a few officers. He still got a sizeable boost to his Attributes, randomly assigned but weighed toward the smallest ones.

+7 Strength

+3 Vigor

+4 Endurance

+1 Agility

+2 Dexterity

+3 Reason

+2 Willpower

+1 Perception

+8 Charisma