Gnomes...!

Saturday, 22nd October 1442 NIGHT

"Hello Audemars, I could sense something deep and dark within your heart when we had made the introduction earlier."

"It seems that you had a disinterest against us and I wondered is it because of me being this short or maybe I disappointed you in some ways?"

"I know that I'm just a gnogmentor and what I do is usually fuse two similar kinds of armours like gloves of different types of runes, attributes and appearance and make a new one instead after a series of gnogmenting."

"Although, it doesn't seem much, at least the gloves that I had completed gnogmenting would have better attributes after being fused. All it needs is a green coloured socket to make it work."

I had to wipe off that hateful look on my face since I knew that 11 years is still a long way to go before anything of this sort of war happens between us.

"Sigh... Its a long story, Perky. But tell me frankly, do you have any hatred towards mankind?" I asked the question since I was intrigued to find out more about this race after all.

"Not at this moment though... I meant to say that I do not harbour any ill intentions towards the human race. Why should we be harming them if they do not harm us in any way at all? An eye for an eye, am I right, Audemars? If you hurt us, we would normally hurt you back. Something like that, I know you would understand."

"Perky... What happens if those humans that hurt you are not us? Do you need to group up every human as a single race or do you form any investigation to ensure that you had gotten the right culprit? And besides, what do you mean hurting you. Could you give us an example?"

I felt a bit perturbed when the mention of hurting a mythical race comes into mind.

"You humans loved all the yellow metal as much as us."

"So if you happen to steal one of those mines and block it using a kind of spell, we can't enter it and it's literally stealing right under our noses."

"Those yellow metal are what we love and we go to all lengths to acquire and protect them...! "

Yellow metal? Oh... That little gnome was actually mentioning to gold I think. Hmm, let me see if it's enticed to a gold coin that I would show it later.

That's what I thought to myself as I reached into the side of my belt and took out a single pouch that contained several coins. I chose a gold coin and presented to it.

"Here, is this what you called yellow metal? This is our gold coin and we use it to trade with other goods for its service, products and supplies. Here, take a look for yourself."

I handed the gold coin to Windtalker where she passed it to the gnome and it quickly grabbed the gold coin and inspected it carefully with its monocle.

"Tchick... Tchick... Tchick... This is not what we are looking for. This is the one that we ARE LOOKING FOR." Perky reached for its own pouch dangling at the waist and I discovered that it was a spatial storage space too as it took out a fist-shaped gold nugget...!

MY GOD...! THAT MUST WEIGH AT LEAST A FEW POUNDS...!!!

That spatial storage pouch was quite tiny but when Perky reached in, it removed a huge fist-sized nugget which shocked the onlookers...!

It simply looked like a bloody rock to us...! Hahaha...

When the huge rock was placed before us, I can't help but poked the rock with the stick I was holding and it sure felt heavy.

I slightly laughed when I saw the huge rock before me and I had never seen such a huge piece of gold before me. The biggest that Priest Michael would conjure up would be the size of a pinky's fingernail...!

The rest were surprised at the magnitude of the gold Rock before them and I laughed once again as I imagined that Heather wanted that rock on her ring instead...! Hahahaha...!

The gnome was slightly pissed when I laughed but I soon corrected myself and I explained that my wife would definitely want that to be on a ring, and I showed the gnome the ring on my finger. The moment it saw the green emerald, it quickly reaches out and touched my finger.

"Yes...! Such a fine piece of the green socket. This would definitely make a great piece of the socketing catalyst when I do my gnogmenting...!" the gnome crowd out as it scrutinised the ring on my finger as it held its long scrawny fingers as it held my hand to inspect it.

It was one of the earlier batches of good quality gemstones that I had used to enhance the rings before for both me and Heather. I didn't know that the green sockets it meant were actually the green emeralds that could resist the wearer some resistance to poison...!

"Yes...! When the dwarves mine those mithril pieces, I would be given some of these to make the gnogmenting process."

"The better the quality, the better the chances of success. Sometimes the gnogmenting would fail and I would lose all the gnogmenting materials."

Perky explained as it took back the huge rock and places it inside the spatial storage pouch after everyone had taken a look at it. It seemed that it is more likely to vie for these huge pieces rather than the small ones that Priest Micheal would conjure up.

"Wait... Does this mean you are not going after these types of gold coins, do you? What you are looking for are those huge pieces of rocks made of yellow metal or gold?"

I took back my hand since I feel a bit ticklish when the gnome held it in its hands to check the gemstone up close.

"Yes... There are a lot of these and the smallest one would be around the size of my fist. (it showed its fist to me and it looked just like my twin's fist). Other small pieces were like playthings to us and we only collect those to play a game board called mancala."

"It's a long piece of board with 2 large cups at the end and 7 smaller cups in both sides. We used to play them when we got nothing much to do and it's good for our mental exercise especially math. We gnomes are good mathematicians too, you know."

Hmm, it seems that these gnomes are also good in math and engineering concepts. I wonder what kind of engineering concepts that they had implemented so far in their underground dwelling.

Ceres suddenly boomed its voice in my head," Remember the last image that was shown to you before you slipped and regained your consciousness after the dream back in 1453"

"That's the race that you might be looking for. Not the gnomes which you could harness its engineering and technology for the needs of your town, Audemars."

"Think back at the last image that was shown to you and you might find the answer to it. The real perpetrators in 1453 were not the gnomes since the mantlet technology was devised by them to ward off the attacks from projectiles."

I stopped for a while as I stopped my hands in midair as everyone looked at me in surprise. Eagle later informed everyone present that I was talking to the inner self that would sometimes alert me of some matters of great importance.

They were thinking that I was some kind of lunatic when I simply stopped talking and was staring straight ahead with a glazed look in my eyes. Hahaha.

When I finished communicating with Ceres, I beg for pardon for leaving this unspoken for some time. Fortunately, Eagle had mentioned it to them and they somehow understood. They felt they people with importance like me would do some crazy things most of the time without warning...!

"Eerrmm... My last question was left unanswered, Perky. I mean if a group of humans were to block your good mine and put a spell to it until you can't go through to get your gold, do you label that humans as a whole race or just that particular group?"

Perky looked at me as it placed one hand on its hips as asked me, "Do you intend to block out mines? If you are then you're our enemy. If you don't then you are not and only the ones that had done so to us would be our enemies. Do you get it, Audemars?"

"I know you would not be hunting for such mines, would you? Besides, it seems that you do not even have a piece of yellow metal on you to indicate your greediness towards these yellow metals...!"

What Perky had pointed out was true. I do not even have a single piece of gold on myself and all I had were the steel coated trinkets with the perfect quality gemstones.

Not as a fashion accessory but to aid me with my mana pool. That's all. I don't see gold nuggets as a way of accumulating wealth. Gold coins through trade would be the best bet.

I showed the gold coin towards Perky and confirmed with it. "You don't really mind if we conjure up some gold nuggets the size of fingernails that you used to play the mancala, do you? These fingernail-sized gold nuggets would be made into gold coins et cetera."

From the looks of Perky, it seemed it does not even bother about the small pieces of gold nuggets that would be smaller than a pinky's fingernail. Besides, as for the gnomes, the bigger the better...! So these small nuggets were actually considered like playthings to them, after all.

"Bah....! Conjure up as much as you want then. It doesn't make any difference to us but don't block the mines or we would come after you....!"

Perky spat on the ground as it said them in disgust. It seemed that it had been cheated and abused by humans before thus it had its own sentiments towards us. However, it did show up its attitude on the last very moment.

After it spat on the ground, it rubbed its feet over the lump of phlegm and said nonchalantly that something got caught up in its throat and motioned for a cup of tea. The moment it sipped a bit of the sweet fruity tea, it's eyes suddenly lit up and it downed the whole content down its throat...!

"Fine tea...! So smooth...! So sweet...! So fruity...! I like it...! Wow...! It is so invigorating...! I could feel some sense of positive energy...! A positive source of Life entering me and through my bones...! Wow...! This is perfect...! Who made this and what is this called...?!"

The gnome was literally jumping about and it reminded me of something that ate the bananas and throwing the skins everywhere it went thus making me slipped on one of those peels. Could Ceres be wrong...?!

It performed a somersault in the air much to the amazement to others and especially to Sir Blackie as it looked at the little thing was literally off its rockers.

"This tea is made of preserved and dried fruits and once it had been boiled down, the water would turn fruity and you could eat its pulp. The water was induced with Psi Energy Orbs that Our Majesty had conjured up before you came. The elves called them Life Force water once the water or tea had been drunk, it would heal and rejuvenate a person or being and invigorates and gives boundless energy...! "

Eagle explained to the gnome as it was jumping about as if it had transformed like a Mexican jumping bean that had been slightly heated...!

"I like it a lot...! I like you, Audemars. By the Mother...! I could see complex mathematical equations and such appearing in my mind and appearing before my eyes right now. Hahaha. I felt so alive right now and really...! This water that you called Psi whatever is something that our engineers could do without...!"

The gnome was basically ecstatic and it was even delighted when it was presented with a leather skin that was filled with water that had been imbued with Psi energy orbs recently.

"Just keep refilling the water inside the leather skin before it's drained. Leave a quarter inside it and refilled it back." I advised and the leather skin, which was almost the height of the gnome, was hugged tightly as if it was some kind of prized possession.

"Alright... Yeah... Thanks for the leather skin, my friend. This would really surprise those working underground right now when they found out that I had gotten such a fine item from above ground. Hahaha."

"Furthermore, my mind is awakened and I could see and think more clearly right now. Thank you, my friend... Oh yeah, here's a little something for you."

"Just rubbed it and blew on it and call my name. It would summon me to the surface here if you need me."

'By the way, I can only appear at night and I would turn invisible in the day just like an imp with the fiery tail...!"

Perky handed me a small pebble the size of its fist and it was only half of my palm instead. It was smooth but had a rune marking on it. It seemed that the gnomes are adept to using runes and such to amplify their abilities.

"Thanks for this summoning stone, Perky. I won't summon you if there's no emergency. By the way, do I need to be here to summon you or I could be elsewhere to be able to summon you?"

I had to ask this question because I might be in the middle of a river and need to summon it and I wonder if it is able to pass through water or not.

"As long as it is on solid ground, Audemars. Yeah... I'm going off now. If you have any other things you need to ask, just do as what I had instructed you. Our dwarves brothers here are busy and have their own set of tasks to perform too."

With a slight twirl on its dainty feet, Perky disappeared before our own eyes and the whole forest turned solemn once again.

"It seemed you have made another alliance there, Mars. Congratulations. So, you had once again saved our skins against those meat grinders and for your information, those are the minions and there's more to come once the whole Hellsgate town had been overrun by them."

Doc sighed when he recited the issue to us and we can't help but sigh out loud too. Hellsgate... That's the main source of the crisis and that's the hole that we need to plug it tight right now.

"Imp with a fiery tail that appears only in the night?" that's the last sentence the gnome had spoken and it seems to send me a message of whom I need to research next...!