The battle had less casualties than had been expected.

Only a 100 adventurers had died, most of them being low rank adventurers.

This made Richard more relieved than anything else as only 100 had died, small potatoes when considering the battle at large.

Of course he was aware that the casualties were likely to increase over the next few days, but the fact that only 100 people died under the first wave was good news.

This low death rate was in no small part due to the efforts of the Australian federation, who had made clear and precise preparations in advance, able to predict and act accordingly, fitting of the people who lived on "The Island of Monsters."

Still, Que and the commander did not seem so pleased.

"Alas, we had to use the crossbow ahead of time." The commander sighed and one of the leading dwarves couldn't help but harrumph.

"So what? It's just a bolt! We're dwarves! We can make more can't we?"

Que frowned as he spoke up. "We told you already, Those bolts are made out of super condensed steel, enough to build ten of the same size. Even if you do have the material, the amount of time it'd take to recondense one would take too long"

"It's just steel." muttered the female dwarf, and the easterner patted her on the back in response, causing her to grumble but stop talking.

Que sighed. "We'll just have to make do for now. Thankfully our devices have recorded that this kaiju incursion is going to be shorter than usual."

"Oh thank goodness! I mean, 10 more waves of this nonsense would've been ridiculous." Gimli complained.

"Well, you'll have to get used to it. On average, kaiju incursions can last as long as 5 waves, sometimes more depending on the readings. This one is a relatively short one, and should last another two waves.

Hopefully the next wave will not be one with huge surprises."

After that, there was a redistribution of the adventurers to fill in the empty gaps left after the first wave, whether it be the seriously injured, or the dead.

It was a long grim hour.

When they returned to their rooms, it was already late at night.

The waves, as QUe had told them, were often spaced out with a day between each, with the occasional kaiju in between waves.

Most would take this opportunity to rest and prepare for the next wave.

Their group took the opportunity to gather up and talk.

"That was exhausting! And gross! I'm all covered in monster goo!" Panda complained and sister Alexandria scolded him.

"You can blame no one else you stupid furball! If you don't want to dirty your fur then don't explode in their mouths," Panda merely snorted in response and muttered under his breath.

Panda had attracted a lot of attention with his ability to expand and shrink, killing a lot of kaijus with this move. It was a terrifying ability, though rather gross too, leaving the poor squirrel matted in fluids.

Frodo sighed a little. "Although it is a shame that about 100 people died, but it turned out better than I expected." He commented as he quietly murmured prayers and recited for the poor adventurers who had died in the first wave.

Lysandre nodded. "I was observing their layout earlier and it is well organized. The defense is similar to the way cities often prepare to defend against monster waves, though inverted to face the center of the town, rather than facing the outside.

It is unfortunate that the buildings were ultimately sacrificed in this battle, compared to the loss of human life, the destruction is minimal, an beneficial even, as the dwarves can take this chance to rebuild in response to this new aspect of their lives.

I'm guessing they already had plans for reconstruction, using this incident to request for extra funds from the government to replicate Australia's infrastructure.

"You're surprisingly well informed about this!Where did you learn all of this? Did you used to work in the administration or something?" sister Alexandria praised Ellie before asking where she had learned this.

However, the question made the room a little cold as Ellie had a frosty look on her face.

Alexandria realized she said something she shouldn't have as she went silent, quietly gauging Lysandre's reaction.

Lysandre spoke calmly, yet there was a coldness to it.

"My father taught me many things about war tactics, as well as how the administration runs. As money grubbing and selfish as they are, they have to release some of the treasury in situations like these.

Well, when he was still around."

Richard listened quietly as Lysandre mentioned her father.

He didn't know much about the man, but he knew enough.

Her father was a general of the imperial army, a great warrior who was well respected.

Unfortunately, he had died during a skirmish on the border between the Qing dynasty and the Romana empire, when a strongman on the other side chose to self destruct, and killed most on the battlefield at the time.

In theory, Lysandre, as the daughter of such a well respected general should've been able to live a comfortable life after the event.

Yet her current treatment should be quite telling of what happened.

Had the temple of Isis not taken her in, perhaps her situation would've been worse.

None of her father's property was left to her, not as far as he knew. After her father was gone, the foundation of the well respected general was torn down by all the enemies around him. That respect nothing more than surface level.

The death of most on the battlefield was pinned on him, and thus he was dishonorably discharged after death.

As a dragonewt, Ellie was around a young girl at the time, and clearly remembered the betrayal.

Although she never talked about it much, Richard could still tell she had a distaste for the nobility, often choosing to stay in whenever the nobility would come by the temple.

In fact, the only reason he knew as much was because of what he overheard in the temple, as well as the occasional slip ups from the soldiers who did come to visit her.

She never came out to greet them. They came offering positions to her, low but not that low positions that were easily promoted but he understood why she never trusted them.

Was it for her father's sake? Perhaps, but Richard wasn't a fool. Dragonewts are monsters of the C-B rank, and once evolved, become young dragons, capable of A level strength.

Her father had already been on the edge, about to evolve into a dragon. Richard himself often wondered if this had been an intentional assassination, whether by the Qing dynasty who hated non humans and fearing a powerful general on the border, or nobles inside of the empire who feared a grass roots noble family of non human origin.

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Sentimentality? Unlikely. An investment by the higher ups in a strong fighter who could one day become a dragon was far more likely.

While the empire was far more tolerant than the likes of the Qing empire or the nation of Friendce, such problems were not uncommon, with monsters suffering more prejudice than the likes of elves and dwarves, who were non humans but not monsters.

Alexandria was silent for a bit before apologizing. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was connected to your father."

Although Lysandre looked a little uncomfortable, she waved it off. "Don't apologize. You wouldn't have known that was about two decades ago.

Although it was a painful time, it was also around the time I met Richard.

Having someone to look after and care for allowed me to distract myself and move o from that time.

ALthough I lost much when my father left, I gained a lot."

Richard quietly reached out his hand, and she held it, quietly rubbing it as her shoulders stopped tensing up and she became more calm.

After a quiet minute, she smiled. "I have everyone here."

Hearing this, Frodo and Olivia smiled, with the latter joking. "Gee thanks. Glad you remembered to mention us just now." she teased, eliciting a giggle from Lysandre, and a quiet chuckle all around.

Lysandre's complexion looked better as they moved on from the topic, continuing to talk about the preparations.

Alexandria even mentioned an interesting topic.

"They have more than ten bolts."

Hearing this, Olivia frowned. "Why lie about this? Ten extra bolts seem quite useful as a reserve."

To this, Richard put forth his own speculation. "Perhaps it is hidden from us, but not to the higher ups of the community."

This made sense. For the average adventurer, this may be surprising knowledge, but perhaps this was an intentional action, to serve as backup and ensure the adventurers and the garrison did not waste all the special bolts.

"For the same reason, it is equally possible that the dwarven higher ups themselves have not been informed. Dwarves tend to use thunderous means when possible, making them poor planners in the long run. It's possible for this reason that the australian federation has chosen not to inform them of this, leaving them unawares.

It's also possible that they're saving those extra ten bolts for a class 5 kaiju in the worst of situations. They do seem worried about such a scenario. " Lysandre theorized, putting the general experience to use.

While they were talking, a knock come from outside, causing them to pause.

Panda went up to open the door, though he wasn't the one to greet them. That mouth was just a bit too unclean to greet guests.

Instead sister Alexandria spoke.

"Greetings young taoist and miss dwarf. What brings you to our humble abode?" she said politely.

After all, as soon as the were outside the door, she could tell it was the young easterner from before who had come to their door. Along with him was the female dwarf amongst the three leaders of the city.

SHe looked rather impatient, glancing blatantly at the Atlas armor.

Richard was not too surprised, as he had caught their glances earlier. When it came to their interests, dwarves could be rather stubborn.

Correction. About most things they were interested in they became stubborn.

He could tell that the female dwarf was being partially restrained by her male companion, who was holding her hand.

While it seemed like a gesture of their relationship, the veins pulsating on his hands could be seen as he desperately sought to hold her in place.

Richard even wondered if he hadn't came out of curiosity, but to restrain his companion.

"My apologies for intruding on your private time. I came bearing gifts." He said as he presented a pair of steel walnuts, handing them to the young Achil.

"I hear the young one here has an attraction to such things that are good for hardening the skin. A small gift from a senior. They were my favorite snack when I was younger and still hardening the skin."

Achil ate them without hesitation while the taoist watched on kindly, as if watching a junior enjoy the treats a senior had bought.

The dwarven woman was impatient as she finally managed to free herself and walked up to Richard, quickly analyzing the armor.

It was a batant, impolite action, but Richard did not resist. There was no malice after all. She was simply eager.

The easterner looked embarrassed as he spoke up for his partner. "I apologize. Beth always gets curious whenever she sees a new form of armor.

My name is Qin Heng"he said, introducing himself before finally asking.

"I must admit, I am equally curious as to what kind of armor it is. It bears no mark of classic forging methods that I am aware of."

"That's because it isn't. It's actually one of my partner monsters that produces this set of armor." Richard said calmly. He had no problem with sharing this little tidbit, which did not share any vital information, such as what monster it was nor what means one would secure such a thing.

If anything, it was likely to deter some.

And indeed, Beth stopped inspecting the armor, and looked bored instead.

Qin Heng explained."She's very into investigating new forms of weapon smithing. So naturally, knowing this is a natural phenomenon has disinterested her a bit. It's actually what brought us together."

Beth muttered. "No point in studying it if I can't reproduce it." Qin Heng chuckled for a bit before asking with much hesitation on his face.

"I don't suppose I could purchase the information regarding the monster that forms the armor, could I?"

No one else said anything. It was technically RIchard's right to share the info, as it was related to him.

Richard was more than happy to sell the info. It was important to remember that he got that info from the system, which was supposedly spread far and wide, though he had yet to meet another player.

If he could get this info from a prompt after getting a blood tick egg, so could others. He may as well sell the info now and make a profit.

"Sure. What would you buy it for?" Richard asked and the cultivator spoke quickly.

"Well, do you have anything that needs fixing? I am, in adventurer terms, an A-rank adventurer and an S-rank blacksmith. If you have anything valuable in need of fixing, I'm willing to get it fixed quickly.

Of course, if you have no such thing, I'm willing to pay you with 5-A-rank weapons from my own personal vault." He stated it clearly and RIchard had to admit that these were rather generous terms.

Remembering a valuable piece f equipment he had, he quickly took out a pair of broken gloves.

Before he could speak however, Beth quickly snatched the gloves and squealed with joy. "I'LL DO IT! FREE OF CHARGE!" She said excitedly, no longer looking bored, but positively jumpy.

Sister ALexandria couldn't help herself. "Are they that special?" she asked jokingly, but Beth nodded furiously.

"I recognize this handywork! This is the work of Sitri and Brok!" Hearing this, even the old wyrm had to take it seriously.

Even long after the collapse of the norse pantheon, the dwarven pantheon had remained. Why? Wasn't it because they were such great masters of the forge that the gods of Olympus welcomed them with open arms? The aesir and the vanir had to either accept a merger or flee their lands, but the dwarven gods were welcomed with open arms and allowed their own small pantheon free range because of the amazing weapons they made.

Sitri and Brok were dwarves who were canonized as gods after death, and continued to make blood boiling weapons. Many of the weapons used by the pantheons current paladins are made by them. While vulcan and the cyclops made great weapons, those were reserved for the Gods and armies of valhalla and Elysium. For the living, the weapons of the dwarven gods were the highest honor.

"Really? It's one of theirs? Are you sure?" she asked, mildly excited.

"I'm sure! It has their runemark here." she said, pointing at the location of the rune. "It's a classic too. They changed it after joining Olympus This means it's an honest to god classic! PRAISE SITRI AND BROK"

Hearing this, even Qin Heng looked excited. "To think you'd have such a blessing young daoist!" Before he could speak, Qin Heng swore by the river styx and the heavenly dao not to steal the gloves after fixing them. Beth followed suit quickly, swearing before the river styx only.

Richard was surprised by this sudden announcement.

"Is it truly so valuable?" he asked before realizing how stupid of a question this was.

Valuable? Of course it was! The works of a god of the forge is like a holy relic before blacksmiths.. The chance to even study one was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And to fix it?

A once in a lifetime opportunity, and something a person could brag about for generations. For a hero, the sword itself is the greatest thing, but for the blacksmith, it was the honor of making such a thing.

For dwarves, it was the kind of thing that could get them honored as a minor god!

Hearing this, sister Alexandria hesitated. "Are you sure you can fix it? It is divinely made after all."

"Yeah, what if your skills ain't good enough!" Panda deadpanned, but clearly worried they'd schmuck it up.

"No worries! We have the right materials. And we can always call for the aid of the gods to help fix it. For them, it is equally exciting, the chance to fix something they once lost. For dwarves, our craftsmanship is almost second to our own children!" Beth boeasted proudly.

Richard thought it was fine, but still remembered to remind the easterner."You wanted to know about what kind of monster this armor is derived from?"

Qin Heng seemed to come back to his senses, though slightly less interested in the current topic. "Oh, right. Yes so what is it?"

RIchard explained it, and as it went on, the weapons refiner got more and more interested, and even Beth looked interested.

"Really? A blood tick?" she asked and Richard nodded.

"Wow, that changes everything if you're right" the weapons refiner commented.

"Why?" Richard asked curiously, and the refiner explained. "When you said monster earlier, that already was quite special. Living armors are often considered quite valuable because unlike your average armor, they can grow alongside their master. They're monsters, and thus developing them is completely worthwhile. Even if you die before it does, like normal weaponry, it can be passed down to your descendants, and continue to grow and evolve as long as it absorbs enough energy.

We call such creatures symbiotic armors. They're rae and very valuable in the cultivation world. I've heard of entire sects being killed for owning such a treasure." He said with a distant look in his eyes.

"Owning?" Lysandre asked, with a hint of hostility in her voice.

Hearing this, Qin Heng sighed. "Yes, owning. A few centuries ago such a being would've been treated like a fellow daoist. But in the current age, anyone who isn't human or fully human is treated like a consumable or a object."

He paused before finally speaking.

"I should know. I was driven out for being half pangolin."

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