"Tiny! Spit him out!" Dave shouted.

"But Hun-gry…" Tiny said in a reluctant voice.

"You either spit the undead back, or I'll call Dog out!"

The threat seemed to work as the giant dropped the undead from his mouth. He was groaning making a face akin to a pout in the process.

The undead scrambled standing on his feet. He didn't seem to be bothered by the black sludgy saliva covering as he scurried away from the Grave Lord. It seemed that for this fellow undead, death was not the ultimate experience in his life.

"You big oaf. If you want to eat, you don't have to eat fellow undead. Listen Tiny. I'll go meet a big guy, and when we are done, I'll let you have as much fish as you want from this lake!" Dave said.

"Promise?" Tiny said.

"Man, are you a kid? Yeah, I promise. Now let's change back to tiny Tiny, and let's go."

Tiny absorbed Spike into itself and transformed to his black slime form and hopped into Dave's inventory.

"Alright, sorry for that," Dave said, addressing the Undead Captain. He looked at the undead behind him in an apologetic expression.

"Uh, I don't know what to say, sir. Usually, a Grave Lord does not hear or listen to commands o the expense of his hunger. You, sir, are a great leader."

"Thanks for the compliment. So, do I still get to ride on the boat."

"Yes, sir, please follow me," replied the captain.

The captain led Dave to one of the rowboats and ordered two undead to drive Dave across the lake.

Dave got on the boat and sat on a wooden plank that acted as a bench. Two undead rowed the boat while Dave sat calmly in the back.

After a few minutes ride, Dave asked, "The snakes in this lake, do they attack often?"

One of the undead rowing the boat replied to Dave saying, "Not really, they rarely attack us. The problem is the acid they release; it continuously erodes our boats and makes transportation a nightmare."

"Right, I'll try to help with that," Dave replied.

As he gazed at the murky lake water, he saw bubbles rising to the lake's surface. The bubbles were a few meters away from the boat.

"That's one of the monsters. But don't worry, sir, they won't attack us," said the undead.

Dave ignored the bubbles and kept an eye on the way they were going. The lake wasn't too large, so they rapidly made it to the other side.

"This is as far as we can take you, sir. The monsters here are not that strong, and they won't be attacking you. Good luck with your meeting with the underworld's guardian."

"Thank you," Dave said.

Dave jumped from the boat and onto the sh.o.r.e. He asked Tiny to get Spike out.

When the forest fiend came out, Dave mounted it and said, "You see that cave there?" Dave pointed to the west. In the distance, there was a large ma.s.s of hills and mountains that looked too steep and too dangerous to climb.

"Get us there, Spike."

The fiend neighed and bolted across the land toward the cave. Dave couldn't help but notice that the fiend was much faster than before. It was most likely his undead nature that removed the limitations of both his stamina and speed.

"You truly are racing the wind now!"

Gleeful by Dave's praise, Spike neighed and accelerated even more. Dave could hear the wind howling in his ears, and his eyes were watering from the increase in speed.

'Heh, at this speed I doubt that the black dragon could even catch up to Spike now.'

Spike made it to the cave end went through it. Lava spread through the walls of the cave-like vines lighting the cave. Spike kept going until he reached the cave exit.

"Be careful here, there was a demonic creature guarding this place the last time I was here," Dave said. He remembered the Level-checker demon at the entrance of the underworld. It was put there to prevent any low-level players from entering the Underworld. Even if the guildies killed it, the Level-Checker demon could have resp.a.w.ned again.

But thankfully, when Dave exited the cave, there was no such creature.

"Keep going, Ramsha is just up ahead," Dave said.

Spike kept going until he reached a large stone platform surrounded by a lava moat.

"Stop here," Dave said as he was looking up.

A bizarre mountain, an amalgamation of rock and flesh stood up, shaking itself as if from a long slumber. Turning it looked directly at them impa.s.sively, through eyes that seemed to be made of flaming-magma.

***

Gate Guardian Ramsha, Warden of the entrance to the Underworld

Level ???

HP ???

DN???

MA???

Do not provoke what guards the gates of h.e.l.l. Not even the G.o.ds dare its wrath.

***

Dave looked up, "Ramsha, good to see you again."

"See me again? I don't remember ever having a draugr at my presence. No, you have a geas on you. One of my student's magic, Death, and Undeath. How fascinating." Ramsha uttered his words, slowly like nothing in the world was worth the haste.

"Right, I forgot about that. That was rude of me, " Dave said and raised his hand. The ring of True Undeath shone brightly for a second then Dave's undead appearance changed to his human form.

"Yes, I remember you now. You were the first of humans ever to come meet me here. Welcome."

"Thank you, Ramsha. I remember that you mentioned something about trading with you."

"Yes, I offer many valuables for the most heroic, and those that defeat the Demons living in this world," Ramsha said.

"Okay, I have some contribution points and some gold, I was hoping to buy some stuff from you," Dave said.

"Gold has no value to me, and contribution is only for the undead. What I require are achievements and bloodstones." Ramsha said.

"Blood Stones? I don't have much on me. I do own a bloodstone mining deposit though," Dave said. Though he owned the red fortress which provided him with 10% of its yield in bloodstones, Dave never thought that they could be used as currency with Ramsha and now he regretted the day he didn't loot them when he had the chance.

"Very well, then. Here is what I have to offer." Ramsha said and a notification screen opened in front of Dave.

***

Consumables.

Superior Health Potion: 99 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

Greater Health Potion: 99 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

Supreme Health Potion: 99 |Price: 10,000 Blood Stone

Superior Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

Greater Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

Supreme Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 10,000 Blood Stone

…

Superior EXP Potion: 9 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

Greater EXP Potion :5 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

Supreme EXP Potion :1 | Price: 100,000 Blood Stone

****

Utility

Weapon and Armor repair Scroll: 99| Price 100 Blood Stone.

Magic Cube: 1| Price 1 Blood Stone.

Ramsha's Blood: 10-liter | Price 10,000 Blood Stone and Demon Token.

Adamantine Filament: 99 | Price 200 Blood Stone.

Conquest Right Scroll: 4 | Price 1,000,000 Blood Stone and Demon Token for each right.

Treasure Map: 1 | Price 1 Blood Stone.

***

Weapons

Unmet Conditions!

Armor

Unmet Conditions!

Runes

Unmet Conditions!

***

Dave looked at Ramsha's shopping list and was left flabbergasted. This guy was selling items that would make the whole world of conquest vie for them.

Not to mention that most of his items were under conditions that Dave had yet to meet. But what made Dave happy was that Ramsha was actually selling his own blood.

"Ramsha, I came here to ask you for your blood," Dave said

"You want to fight me? You are too weak for that," Ramsha said, the rocks making his mouth changed into a wide smile.

"No, no, I still want to live. What I meant is, I need it to make armor. But I don't have a demon token. I do have a demon general's token, though. Would that be fine?"

"That's even better. It means you slew one of the Ash King's most powerful underlings. I shall make an exception for you. I'll only take the token for the blood." Ramsha said.

"Great!" Dave said and pulled out the demon general's token for Ramsha.

The enflamed token floated until it reached Ramsha's face and then disappeared.

An item immediately popped up into Dave's inventory. It was a large blood cannister.

"Thank you, Ramsha."

"That would be all?" Ramsha said in question.

"I'll come back later for more items. I don't have many bloodstones on me. And I don't suppose you take loans," Dave said in a smile.

" Loans! Ha. Usually, I wouldn't, but you said you have a mining deposit for bloodstones."

"Yeah, I do."

"Then buy what you need, and I will withdraw the cost directly from your Bloodstone stocks in the Red Fortress," Ramsha said.

Dave's eyes shone brightly for a moment, "Great! Then give me that, that and that. Also, that too!" Dave began picking from the items in Ramsha's list like it was a black Friday sale.

Leaving the cave, both Dave and Ramsha were happy.

Dave had bought all the exp potions and the treasure map. He also bought 80 adamantine filaments.

He didn't want to purchase the conquest rights as the price was too staggering. And he didn't need to create any unnecessary problems. Adding another Conquest right to the auction house will only create more troubles for him. It would undoubtedly bring unwanted attention and from not so good guys.

Greed is a powerful drive that could make humankind do atrocities that no one could even imagine. It was better for Dave to wait on the Conquest rights now, or until the opportunity presents itself.

As Dave was leaving the cave, he received a phone call. The number was unfamiliar.

"h.e.l.lo, who's this?" Dave said.

"h.e.l.lo David, this is Samuel."

"Oh, h.e.l.lo, how are you doing?" Dave replied.

"Quite good actually, especially with the good news I'm about to tell you," replied the demon barista.

"Do tell," Dave said.

"Well, you remember the boy you shamed this morning?" Samuel said.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"How about you buy his company?"

"Huh? Come again?" Dave was surprised.

"Yeah. Reputation matters a lot nowadays, and having offended Mr.Skeletal, his small company took a major hit, and their stocks have dropped like an anchor. When you are free, come and find me, I will make you richer than you ever would have dreamt of."

'Buying the company of Douche-guy, wouldn't that be just kicking him while he is down? Man, this guy's a demon alright can't say I dislike the idea though.'

Dave hadn't realized that he was slowly stroking his beard as he smiled like an idiot all alone in the cave…