Both the black longsword and the halberd glowed with menacing, chaotic auras. They were almost emanating miasma and death by itself outside, so just to not let them contaminate the surroundings, I quickly stored them inside of my Inventory. Once we were done analyzing and praising the work of the dwarves, we moved to what we came here for, talking about the Barrier Artifact.
"A Barrier Artifact you say?" Wondered Baldur.
"Oh yeah, I guess we could make some. They need specific Ores to make though, merely inscribing runes won't do it if you want something strong enough." Said Balladur.
"Yeah, we should mine some more ores at the mountain as fast as we can in that case." Said Darfu.
"I see, that's a pity…" I sighed. "…Wait, what!? So it is possible to make one?!"
"Yeah it is." Said Baldur.
"How do you think our country has survived this long, being atop a mountain is only one part of it." Balladur said.
"We employ a powerful series of Barrier Artifacts around the mountain which covers most of our territory whole. There are twenty barrier layers. The reason why we don't get attacked by monsters from the dangerous outside world, and even flying between mountains is safe is due to these invisible barriers." Said Darfu. "However it appears Lady Maria and her friends and Undead seem to not notice the barrier at all, and ignore it completely… if you were to ever be someone evil, it would be our utter demise for sure."
"Yeah, you guys are kind of like monsters but not, I guess. You're kind of an exception. The Barrier does several things in fact." Baldur said. "Depending in the Magic Ores and Alchemy used, Barrier Artifacts can even be "edited" to create isolation and other things. Our country's barriers isolate the cold temperatures from the outside and intensifies the warmth of the barely visible sun's sunlight. Thanks to the barrier we can grow crops despite the situation, although very few, but we can."
"Amazing… I never thought barriers had such ways to be used!" I said in surprise. "We could actually deal with our cold temperature problem and the insane amount of firewood we spend a day if we make a barrier that can isolate part of the cold of the exterior, and if we modify it, to intensify the dim sunlight for our crops!" I said happily, realizing this was it.
"Not only that, aside from providing defense against attacks both magical and physical, they repel monsters away." Said Baldur.
"Yeah, like a monster repellent, the monsters simply feel scared and don't get closer. Even the mighty Wyverns, the kings of those mountains don't get closer and make their nest far away from where we dwarves mine and the like." Said Balladur.
"It is also another reason why we were able to keep that deadly Miasma-filled Dungeon sealed, using barrier artifacts." Darfu said. "And even more, how the other smaller dungeons near the capital are also kept at bay, the barrier innately makes the monsters scared of walking outside their dungeons, so they often never get out unless in very rare occasions… or when there's someone that finds the artifacts and breaks them or something."
"Anyways, it is possible to make a Barrier Artifact, for that we need the precious and rare Barrier Stones, they are special Magic Ores that grow in the mountains. Did you never found any of them?" Asked Baldur.
"Nope, they're a completely new thing to me… I guess we just need to dig deeper in our personal mountain, heheh…" I giggled. "Or mine the caves inside that dungeon, but I would rather dig the mountain to be honest."
"But… I bet that's not everything you want out of it, right?" Asked Baldur.
"I can see in your eyes you had other intentions." Said Balladur.
"Well, yeah… I was thinking if it could be possible to integrate my ability to raise and control undead, and control souls as well. I had considered forming a Ghost Barrier, a "living" barrier made of countless of ghosts merged together on top of the entire village. What do you think?" I asked.
The three dwarves looked at one another, raising their eyebrows.
And then they burst into laughter.
"Combining Necromancy with Barrier Artifacts?!"
"That's… completely nuts!"
"Uggh… I never thought you guys were this much of a trio of jerks…" I sighed. "You can just tell me it can't be possible; you don't have to laugh at me!" I angrily barked. "Also I am your ruler, be more respectful-"
"No, no, we were not laughing at your idea, Lady Maria. Please calm down." Said Darfu.
"We were simply laughing at how incredible your ideas are! We never thought about that now… But yeah, I guess your necromancy powers can do a lot of stuff. From that Phantasmal Veil you used to the Living Armor that protects against Miasma. You're developing technology on your own ways as well, which is incredible." Said Baldur.
"If we compare both magic technology from the dwarves and your necromancy, both are revolutionary, merging them together will surely be a challenge that'll need Alchemists too, so I guess we'll be counting on you three lasses." Said Balladur, looking at Emeraldine, Partner, and I.
"Alright, count on us." I said.
"Hmm… I've written here a series of materials we'll need. We've got a few things but not near as enough." Said Balladur, who had been scribbling things over a paper.
I read the paper and saw the things he required.
"High Quality Mithril Ingots, Barrier Stones of High Quality, Light-attribute ores, Phantom-attribute ores, magic conducting cables made of Yellow Bronze… Wow you've got a big list here, damn. Wait, even Golem Cores?!" I asked.
"Yeah, Barrier Artifacts are enormous golem-shaped things, they work automatically so giving them a golem core is a must so they can work independently." Said Baldur.
"We could compensate with it using Necromancy, but we don't exactly know how. The best shot is at making one and then modifying it using your help and Alchemy." Said Balladur.
"I see… Sounds interesting." I said with a smile. "Alright, I guess its time to go mine some ores!"