"I wouldn't have been able to do this myself. It is all thanks to the dwarves, those two old men helped a lot. They created this pickaxe for me exclusively using high quality materials, most of the ones I had. They even said the weapon was blessed by the Goddess of Earth." I said with a smile. "The [Cave King] Ability within the pickaxe allowed me to shape the cave into this in mere seconds."
"Amazing, so those old men still got it going!" Blackard laughed. "I've never been that good at smithing like those two old men, I am better at mining and smelting ore than anything."
"I am even dumber; I think I can just mine." Laughed Helga. "My husband instead is amazingly talented! He can make such fine pieces of equipment in just a day or two! He always gifts me pretty accessories to make me happy, though he doesn't know I am happy just by being with him."
"Hey will there be a day you don't talk about your man all day Helga?"
"Yeah you don't stop babbling about that tall guy!"
"I bet she's thinking all day about going back to bed with the stud, bwahahaha!"
Helga quickly smacked the head (protected by a helmet) of one of the dwarves that was laughing using her pickaxe.
"Stop talking like that to the guild leader you bastard!"
"S-Sorry! Okay don't get mad now!"
"Dude you know she gets like that when it comes to his husband!"
Helga seemed to be overprotective of Myriad, her beloved Oni Husband. I know the dwarves meant nothing bad, it's their way of talking. But I guess even another dwarf like Helga might get tired of their jokes.
"A-Anyways, here we are! Let's lift up the spirits everyone!" I showed everyone the enormous underground lake and the dungeon entrance in the back. The dwarves were surprised by the beauty of the cave.
"Wow this place's filled to the brim with magic crystals!"
"Look that's a big piece of combined ores in there!"
"Oh, this lake has a lot of fish, huh? And it's big too, we could fish for food in here…"
"For now let's light up the place." Emeraldine quickly conjured several spheres of light which she commanded to float right below the ceiling, illuminating the entire caves.
"We'll shape the road here so we don't stumble upon these small holes here and there…!"
I quickly began smacking the ground using my pickaxe, cleaning it, and straightening the path so it would become much easier to walk around the underground lake. After around forty minutes of hard work, where the dwarves spent fishing for underground fish, grilling it, and eating it with the rest of my party (Nyx ate a lot), we arrived at the dungeon's entrance.
"Hey did you save some fish for me?" I sighed.
"Mama!" Nyx suddenly showed me a stick with a grilled fish on it.
"Aw, baby! You saved one for mama?" I asked, moved by her thoughtfulness.
I quickly tasted the underground fish; it was rather sweet and more flavorful than I imagined. It was seasoned only with salt, a bit of pepper, and dried oregano-like spices. It was definitely tasty.
"She said she wanted to save one for you, so she zealously protected it." Laughed Lucifer.
"Yeah she was very cute!" Partner laughed.
"Indeed." Emeraldine added.
"Hmph, shouldn't my husband and my two wives also have saved me some fish here? Feels like only my baby thought about her mama!" I sighed, crossing my arms.
"Eh?! Ah…" Emeraldine felt a bit surprised. "Sorry… the dwarves ate it all too fast."
"Only Nyx managed to grab a bunch!" Said Partner.
"Yeah…" Lucifer sighed.
"Hmmm… Well fine. But to make up for it you'll have to help in the farm as much as you can! And the rest of you too! Don't you guys dare slack off!" I roared.
The dwarves roared in unison as we marched inside the dungeon, walking down the stairs and then reaching a completely different landscape, a beautiful, expansive grassland surrounded by mountains covered in grass and snow, where rivers flowed from their melted ice.
Apparently, I had already mapped the entire first floor. It had around the size of big island, like Easter Island, and the entire place was surrounded by a big wall of mountains. After the mountains, there was nothing at all, as the space of the dungeon ended there. Invisible walls would be the only thing someone would stumble upon, as if it was a game world of sorts.
The temperatures, the air, the clouds, and the magic sun were all very realistic, and good. The peaks were the highest place so the temperature there were very cold, making the water turn into ice, which then melts away slowly, turning into rivers and lakes.
The rivers and lakes then evaporated due to the artificial sunlight, going into clouds which then snow over the peak of the mountains most of the time, rinse, and repeat. It appears that this dungeon doesn't have any seasons though, it is often always spring and plants grow very quickly. It rains a once a week most of the time, sometimes twice, but nothing too big to make floods.
Aside from that the soil goes as long as half a kilometer deep before hitting a hard bedrock that cannot be normally penetrated, which is probably the dungeon walls too. Because the soil is so deep, there's a rich amount of animals in there. Worms that enrich the soil by spreading nutrients, moles, root-eating critters, rats, and more.
There are several forests as well, but not as many as the second floor, as this place is more of an open grassland than anything else. Beautiful, nonetheless. The trees and herbs growing here are a combination of normal stuff and then some rare ingredients. The first time we stepped here I already found out some interesting findings! For someone obsessed with collecting all sorts of materials for alchemy and forging, this is a field trip~