Dungeon of Niflheim

"Good, I'll tell Shivali to expect you soon then, have fun Frost." Dark waved goodbye with a bright smile before ending the conversation.

The moment however when the screen became inert his smile vanished and an exhausted look appeared across his face. He then turned to his left where a man wreathed in shadows was sitting with a large cauldron in front of him. A violet fire was fiercely blazing beneath, cooking whatever ingredients sat in the pot.

A thick medicinal scent escaped through the trembling lid and the man sported a focused expression before suddenly tensing up.

In that moment the violet fire turned black, and the cauldron started to tremble, the medicinal scent growing thicker and thicker by the millisecond before the man suddenly smiled and erased the fire, his work was finally finished.

"I've troubled you Erebus." The man wreathed in shadows was of course Erebus, Dark's confidant and Diablos' grandfather.

"No trouble at all my lord and besides we've only just started." Erebus wiped the sweat from his brow before scooping out a silver liquid concoction from the cauldron.

"This should help stabilise your soul for the time being and create a foundation for the next course of treatment." Erebus despite being the God of shadows and having a rather evil appearance was in fact one of the most talented medical alchemists in the world. Even Dark admitted his inferiority to him when it came to producing medicine.

"This is the last step in the primary treatment yes?" Dark had already being forced to drink several of Erebus' concoctions yet there was still more to come. The soul wasn't something easily remedied let alone the soul of someone as powerful as Dark.

"Correct after drinking this the foundation will be set and I can start with the proper treatment however you're not going to like it." Erebus wasn't referring to taste when he said this.

"Urgh, speak what do you need?"

"Hehehehe nothing much just a few stems of Visceral soul grass, a silence apple, body cleansing bamboo shoots and…. A mind cleansing lotus…

"You!" Dark's lips twitched as pain and fury filled his heart. The other three ingredients were all rare and precious but he could stomach the loss, but the mind cleansing lotus was a flower that only bloomed once every thousand years. Even he with his impressive garden housed but a few of them. To part with just a single one felt as though Erebus was carving out a piece of his heart for consumption.

"…I'm not done." As if taking some sort of pleasure in seeing Dark's heartache Erebus continued to list many more ingredients that he required, some of which being even more precious than the mind cleansing lotus.

Eventually Erebus left to fetch the ingredients from Dark's reserves after receiving a painful nod lacking in strength. Dark slumped in his chair, a devastated expression adorning his face.

'Why did I wait so long to get this problem sorted.' He now truly regretted leaving the problem of his soul alone for a year. Instead of hoping for the best he should have immediately consulted his long-time friend for a check-up. That way he may have been able to avoid using up his most valuable medical reserves.

While Dark ruminated his upcoming loss Frost immediately frowned the moment the call ended.

"Haaaaa never a moments peace." His initial plans would now have to be brought forward.

"Yuna can you inform Ringwald that we'll have to cancel our meeting…actually in fact ask him if he's free later this evening for a more in depth chat. Given how broad the adventurers guild influence has become within the camp I should run a few things by him first."

"Of course master I'll inform him right away."

"Also I'll need you to handle running the Camp in the meantime as I'll need to discuss the situation with Findley and Khuno."

"Of course, by your will." Yuna bowed her head with respect before teleporting back into the Lord's office to handle the tasks Frost still needed to complete.

Once she was gone Frost opened up a communication with both Findley and Khuno.

"I need the two of you to come to the training room ASAP."

"Understood, I'll come right away master."

"I'm in the middle of a critical task, can you wait a couple minutes?" Findley immediately dropped his current task -which wasn't anything important- While Khuno requested to finish what he was doing before teleporting over.

"Make it quick we've got a lot to do and with very little time."

"Understood, give me two minutes."

Two minutes later Khuno arrived within the training room where Findley and Frost were already seated across from one another, their discussion already started.

"Sit." Khuno thus sat down beside Findley, a curious expression on his face as he wondered why both he and Findley had been urgently called upon.

"Both the Camp and the Dungeon's next phases need to not only be brought up now they need to be completed within the next 2 weeks, not a single day later." Frost immediately set out their goals causing the elder ronso and ice troll lord to grimace.

Frost's planned expansions and development phases were currently on track and would likely see completion within the next 3 to 6 months thus it was understandable for them to be blown away by the two weeks deadline Frost just stated.

Just when Khuno was going to ask the why Frost raised his hand to stop him.

"I'll give you the quick gist since we don't have much time. Under my father's orders I need to venture into the inner regions of the Glacial mountains. A journey that'll likely see me away from the Dungeon for at least two weeks perhaps more thus given the situation in Northrend I want the Dungeon and Camp to be able to defend itself from a possible calamity.

Only if we finish the next phase of development will I feel secure in leaving for such an extended time frame."

Findley and Khuno glanced at one another before letting out deep sighs, the work was certain to be round the clock for the foreseeable future.

"We've already pretty much established the basic plan all we need to do now is alter it too fit such a short timeframe haaaaa it may not even be possible master.

The manpower alone is a considerable task not to mention the materials and the cost in DP….I don't feel confidant promising completion." Khuno the more level-headed of his generals openly talked about the struggles while Findley the usual yes man simply remained silent with a pensive expression which basically translated into his consent to Khuno's opinion.

"I know it's far from ideal but it's something that needs to happen. We'll split the tasks accordingly and involve everyone we possibly can…. In regards to manpower I'll think of something, perhaps even bring up another venture that I had put off previously. DP wise we should just about make it if we start exchanging our excess gold coins."

"But?"

"I know it's not ideal given their poor exchange rate, but it'll allow us to overcome the lack of funds if just barely."

"I plan on meeting with Ringwald as well as the representatives for the merchant and labour guilds, given that the sensitivity of some of the development isn't classified we could use the manpower of the sapients." Experience more content on m v|l e'm,p| y- r

The development Frost was talking about was the creation of an outer perimeter wall that extended 3km further out than their current one. This wall would serve as a true war defensive wall reaching close to 20 metres in height and 8 in width with a hell of a lot of battlements and war machines.

More than enough to hold back the tide of another monster stampede or possibly a march of Northrend troops.

For materials it'd be similar to the initial wall but would contain two layers with a thick, reinforced slab of high strength steel sitting in the centre. Ice would then seal the structure together making for a mighty wall that could withstand the charges of mammoths.

Initially this plan was supposed to be done gradually over the current year but given the current political situation in Northrend and his upcoming absence Frost wanted the wall to be established to at least 80% of its final height and outlined with the majority of its planned war machines and battlements.

The design of the wall on top of the two layer construction would also have a hollow system throughout the upper 6 metres that would house his battle hardened forces. From this tunnel they could fire their ranged weapons through the removable slats while remaining protected from the enemy's attacks.

Following that the preceding 800 metres behind the wall would serve as a permanent military bastion hosting barracks, medical centres, food halls, smithies as well as high battle platforms for mages and archers similar to how Furano was during the monster stampede.

This wall would ultimately change the Camp designation from camp to a fortified village or even town, truly cementing its position in the area.

This alone however would require a staggering amount of materials and labour to complete let alone the other developments Frost wished completed at the same time.

Sleepless nights and long shifts were on the horizon.