Stonks

"BEGONE TRASH!!"

*BOOM*

"Hehe... This power feels amazing."

*CRACKLE*

"As expected from Lord Ashborne's gift."

A gigantic serpent was coiled around a dragon's body.

To be more precise, Coatl was wrapped around the corpse of a Lesser Dragon.

The corpse was smoking from the intense electrocution it had just endured.

"Now, it's time to go back, I must be by Lord Ashborne's side immediately."

*CRACKLE* *BOOOM*

It happened faster than anyone could perceive. A loud thunderclap resounded as a bolt of Black Lightning shot off into the sky.

Traveling at over Mach 50, the sky trembled as Coatl shot past.

He could achieve these speeds by transforming his whole body into Black Lightning and focusing fully on speed.

His time away had been very productive, increasing his overall battle strength multiple times.

He had gained perfect mastery of all his powers, through constant, fearsome combat.

He had slain Dragons, Giant Monster Birds, and many other beasts, all in the name of his Lord.

He was conducting his training in the Kusha Mountains, in the southern part of the Great Jura Forest. But he had been careful to avoid the Tengu, a clan of mountain gods. 

It wasn't because he was afraid of them, but because his Lord had ordered him to avoid messing with any humanoid races in Jura.

Avoiding them was relatively easy since their population is very low.

His journey back was very short, due to his insane speeds.

He smashed into the Jura Forest, making a gigantic crater with him at its epicenter.

"Coatl, you're back!!" a rough voice called out.

"Oh hey Garmr, where's Lord Ashborne?"

"He will be gone for a while. He told me to give you this message--"

'Don't worry, I'll be away for a while. Make sure to protect the Legion, and contact me if anything too serious happens.

"Hmmm.. Very well, I swear to protect the Legion in the name of Lord Ashborne!!"

"I'm sure you will, anyway, I'm glad you're back. Been bored as hell." Garmr replied casually.

"Glad to be back too. Anyways, spar with me, I need to test out my new powers."

A wide grin appeared on the canine's face, "I was thinking the same thing!!"

Their conversation was short, but the meaning got across between the two fellow Legionaries.

---------------

A whole day had passed.

And I'd been chatting with Shizue the whole time. It was very fun, being able to freely talk without worries like that.

When I was with Shizue, I truly felt something happy. It was...I don't know how to describe it..... but it felt 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭.

"Shall we head out, Ashborne-san??" asked Shizue.

Right now, we were inside a house that I created on the go with [Magic Domination] for the purpose of camping. It was really convenient. Made camping and survival feel trivial.

Both of us didn't actually need sleep, but we decided to chill out and take a break from flying, before heading to Dwargon.

The journey was technically already over, since Dwargon was only a few minutes away from where we were.

I had chosen the spot just out of the scouting range of Dwargon's spies and soldiers.

The house sat between a grove of trees, right beside a freshwater pond. It was a nice scenic spot.

There was a small hill just a few meters away, which provided a nice view of the surrounding area.

Turning to Shizue, I replied, "Sure, I'll quickly dismantle the house, and then we'll head out."

A surprised look appeared on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing, it just baffles me how casually you talk about creating and destroying whole houses. A normal adventurer would cry looking at you."

"Hey!! It's not my fault that the adventurers are a bunch of weaklings!"

"Pwahahaha!.. You got so embarrassed there.. I was just teasing you, Ashborne-san.."

"You're lucky I like you Shizue."

"Ohhhh, so scaaryy!!"

"Shut up!!"

"Pffft... Ok Ok, I'll stop it."

After that... conversation, which I will not forget, I and Shizue went out of the house.

"Collapse"

With that, the matter around me bent to my will. The house seemingly disappeared into thin air.

In reality, I just broke down the house on a molecular level forcefully using the surrounding magicules, and then dispersed the mass evenly all around in the environment.

"Woooahhh"

Shizue looked on with wonder, as I flexed my powers, not intentionally of course.

"Come on, let's go. We can reach Dwargon very quickly. I've already had my Legionaries over there prepare for us."

"Sure, let's go!"

We left immediately following that. It took us only a few seconds to fly out of the forest, but we walked the rest of the way, where Dwargon had it's eyes out.

--------------

The Lord was going to visit.

Everything must be perfect.

No chance for even a single thing to be out of place.

All the ogres had been very busy in their time in Dwargon.

"Be prepared, the Lord is scheduled to arrive in just a few minutes." 

The speaker was Gobto, the leader of the group of ogres posted in Dwargon.

The total number of ogre legionaries in Dwargon was between 10 and 15, because some of them often moved between working in the [Soul Realm] and Dwargon.

Their primary job was to monitor the 3 dwarf brothers and Kaijin, but not interfere with their business.

But they also had a few other secondary duties, like learning blacksmithing the best they could, and earn as much Dwarven money as they could.

Ashborne hadn't expected much in these areas because of the short time-frame the Legionaries had, but his expectations were about to be blown away.

The currency used in Dwargon was Dwarven Coins. It was the most widely circulated currency throughout the entire world, with most of the Western Nations being fully dependent on it as their official currency.

Some of the Demon Lords who had open trade with other territories used other currencies too, so did the Eastern Empire, but Dwarven Coins were still the most prominent.

There are 4 denominations in the Dwarven Currency. All of them are in the form of coins, which are enchanted with [Engraving Magic] and unique serials to make counterfeiting impossible.

They were:

1. Bronze Coins: The lowest denominations, equivalent to 10 yen, or 0.10$. Used for day-to-day purchases and small items. 

2. Silver Coins: Equivalent to a 1000 yen, or 10$. These are used mainly by the middle-class and wage workers.

3. Gold Coins: Equivalent to a 100,000 yen, or 1000$. These are mostly used in large business transactions, and to pay the salaries of high-level officials and fighters.

4. Stellar Gold Coins: The biggest denomination, equivalent to a 100,000$. Only one of these could be produced in a month due to the complex creation method involving magicule-infusion and carving. They are only used in transactions between nations and such, due to their immense rarity and value. Apart from economic value, they also held an artistic value.

Each denomination is a 100 times more valuable than the previous one, making the Dwarven Currency able to be used by all kinds of people of all statuses.

To put it into perspective, the average daily wage of regular workers, is around 6-7 silver coins. On the other hand, the cost to hire a relatively powerful B+ ranked team of adventurers, is 1 gold coin.

Knowing all this, the amount the ogre Legionaries had managed to earn, was beyond impressive.

"Let's get into positions, we have to presentable in front of our Lord." ordered Gobto.

They were waiting in front of one of the gates leading into Dwargon, expecting Ashborne at any moment.

They were dressed in clothes which no one would expect a bunch of monsters to have access to. The secret to this was of course, [Create Material].

The ogres had been notified of Ashborne's arrival by Ashborne himself, leading to them taking it a bit too seriously, going all out in their preparations.

The Ogres were waiting in formation, all of them kneeling, with their heads facing downward.

If you stared at them long enough, you would think they're statues, due to their unmoving nature.

"Yo!"

"Welcome, Lord Ashborne. We have made the necessary preparations for your arrival. Please forgive us if they're lacking."

"You worry too much. I came here on a short notice anyway. But I hope you've been working hard on the tasks I gave you."

"Of course, my Lord. May I escort you to your accommodations? I shall give the full report once you're comfortable."

"Good idea, take me there. Let's go Shizue."

-------------

'Oye Oye Oye, What the hell is this?!'

A huge facility stood before my eyes.

"Is it not to your liking, my Lord?"

"Are you crazy?! How did you manage this in such less time?"

"It really is impressive!! What techniques did you use?" Shizue added.

Gobto then started explaining what all they had achieved and how they had done it. This is how it went--

Following my orders, the ogres had first registered themselves as citizens. Of course, one couldn't get a Dwargon citizenship that easily, but having a job in the country really helps.

So all the ogres took up jobs as apprentice blacksmiths. This also pushed them forward in the second task I had given them.

Turns out, having a body than can continuously function 24*7 is really useful. The ogres worked all day (and night) long, learning extremely fast, while also producing large quantities of weapons and other products.

There was another surprising advantage.

The skill [Perfect Memory] allowed it's user to think with their Astral Body, an ability usually reserved for Spiritual Lifeforms.

Basically, all thoughts and memories operated in the Astral Body instead of the physical one. This meant that even if the brain was destroyed, it could be regenerated with no memory-loss. It also meant that Mind control abilities were far less effective.

One side-effect of this skill was that the users get a nigh-perfect memory. 

So when the ogres practiced blacksmithing, they could improve and perfect their technique at fearsome speeds.

Lastly, the final cheat-code the ogres had, was [Create Material].

Due to this skill, they never had to buy tools for blacksmithing, and could simply make whatever they wanted.

All these factors had contributed in the immense progress the ogres had achieved.

"The final result of our work; is this property, and the equivalent of around 20 Gold coins in cash. The property has been bought on a loan."

'What.The.Hell'

I was really surprised. Like actually, extremely surprised.

It was wayy beyond my expectations. I had completely overlooked the fact that extra money could be earned by selling the products of blacksmithing. This was because I didn't think that the ogres would learn so fast.

The average weapon, tool, shield, piece of armor etc, sold for around 30-40 silver coins. The ogres had made and sold a large quantity, leading to a sizeable chunk of cash.

I was even more surprised about the house that was bought. It was filled with furniture and tools that the Legionaries needed.

Although it was not 'luxurious', it was still a pretty high-end property.

"I'm really proud of you guys. It's very impressive what you have done here."

"Your Legion is seriously talented Ashborne-san. Establishing themselves in Dwargon so easily."

"Thank you for your praise, Ashborne-sama, Shizue-san." Gobto said.

"Well, time to enjoy our stay here. I reckon there's still time before any incident happens with the Dwarf brothers." I concluded.

---------------

A/N: I'M BACK GUYS!!

After a week long break, I'm back, just as promised. I'll return to (hopefully) consistent uploads.

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