The purpose of the forged land.
It was one of the greatest mysteries we had so far.
I had been thinking of it ever since I arrived here.
For months I had been putting off deeply investigating the matter.
Partly because I thought I had figured out the reason after the tenth floor mission and what I witnessed in the Exploration Dungeon.
But after what I went through on the fifteenth floor, it made me question the mystery once more.
"I need you all to share your experience in getting summoned to the forged land."
I told the four heroes around me.
They were all 4-stars.
Supposedly, they came here willingly. Retaining the memories of their encounter with the voice and the truth of our world's fate.
"Why don't you go first?"
Ulrica asked me.
I immediately shook my head upon her suggestion.
"The four of you will tell your experience before I reveal mine."
They could hide something if I told my story and they just copied what I said to them.
If they tell their story first, they could still be hiding some facts, but I could detect some truth if some of their words aligned with my experience.
"And why should we do that?"
Graihan voiced. His violet eyes were filled with caution.
"Because I'm your Vice-Master."
I sternly told directly to the lycanthrope.
Yuxia tensed up watching our exchanges.
Ulrica and Djhotti stared at me with considering gazes.
Graihan seemed like a cornered wolf under my stare.
He soon chuckled and shifted his eyes away from mine.
"I should've known it was stupid to challenge you. After all, there must be a reason why you're the head of Master's pack."
Graihan said with a submitting expression.
Ulrica sighed at the lycanthrope's act.
"Didn't you pay attention to those magic mirrors below, forest-dweller? This southlander woman could bring down the Great Father's Dwelling and reduce you to nothing before you could even let your claws out."
"Foolish wolf! You should know that we are supposed to work together in this forged land!"
Djhotti reprimanded the man while banging the base of his huge halberd on the floor.
Seeing the lycanthrope just smiled and waved his hand playfully, the dwarf then turned to me and went on with a respectful tone.
"Great Mage, please tell what exactly you want to know from us."
"Just tell me what happened before you were summoned here. And what led you to the forged land."
I told the 4-star dwarf.
The armored short man nodded and proceeded to tell his story with distant gaze.
"Before I arrived here, all of Dunia was at war against the monsters. One of the fiercest fronts, as I believed, was along the border of Phirdaus.
"The other Keepers and I set out to the border to intercept the horde of monsters rushing to the human settlements outside the Great Jungle.
"I worked with a number of humans to safeguard the northeast part of the border, while the other Keepers took care the other regions.
"Through our cooperation, we managed to contain the horde despite the heavy casualties. But eventually...we were defeated."
The dwarf told his story with somber eyes and quivering shoulders.
To him, it must had happened not longer than twelve hours ago.
"Powerful earthquake shattered the land. The sun was suddenly obscured. The world plunged into darkness.
"Gigantic monsters appeared from the mysterious ruins inside Phirdaus. The overwhelming titans easily broke our blockade.
"The Keepers could never walk into the strange structures before so we never learned what was inside, until it was too late."
The dwarf's recollection about the monsters and the ruins were aligned with what I remembered from my own experience.
I never thought he would be lying, but I was certain the dwarf was telling the truth so far.
"When everyone beside me was dead and I was waiting for my own death, a bright light pierced through the dark sky and from within echoed a voice."
The other heroes and I could not help but tensed our faces upon the dwarf's words.
We all knew what would transpire then.
"The voice, sounding like two people speaking at once, offered me a chance to reclaim the destroyed lands and their people.
"The voice told me of this forged land. It asked me to commit myself to its master. It said I would get what I wanted if I conquer every trial this master set me upon."
The dwarf shifted his gaze to his halberd and firmed his grasp on the weapon.
"As a Keeper of Agni, I'm bounded by the oath to safeguard the Realm in which the Flame resided, which is all of Dunia.
"Despite the end of the world was upon me, the voice gave me a chance to reverse that terrible fate. The chance to uphold my duty.
"So I accepted the offer."
The dwarf told.
He then threw his gaze to the window, toward the lobby outside.
"It was then that a mysterious light surrounded me and I suddenly found myself inside the summoning chamber you told me about, Great Mage. And right after that, I met you."
The dwarf's experience was no different than mine.
From what he told me of his conversation with the voice, there was nothing really different to what the voice promised.
A chance to save the world. A chance to recover what was lost.
Let's see if the same applied to the others.
"Ulrica, what about your story?"
I asked the Guntur Near-Kin.
The silver-haired woman grabbed the huge axe on her back and put it on her lap.
The Near-Kin recounted her experience as she stared at her weapon solemnly.
"My experience was similar to the dwarf.
"Using my rights as a Near-Kin, I rallied nine Guntur septs and amassed one giant fleet to intercept monsters coming out from the Death Islands north of Ptir.
"The monsters never did that before. And from what we discovered, apparently most of the peculiar monsters came from the strange ruins that appeared all over the Death Islands. They were inaccessible like the other ruins that the dwarf mentioned.
"Eventually everything happened the way the dwarf told. The earth trembled. The seas roared. The sun went dark. And titanic creatures began appearing from under the ocean and through the clouds above.
"We were immediately defeated, of course. And as I was floating among the wreckage of my fleet while half-dead, the voice reached out to me."
Ulrica continued telling her conversation with the voice.
It was basically the same as what the dwarf and I had in our experiences.
Only in Ulrica's case, she accepted the offer because she wanted to save her Guntur people.
"Graihan, you're next."
I told the lycanthrope once the Guntur Near-Kin finished telling her story.
The man with violet eyes shrugged. He did not have the same somber expression as the previous two heroes.
"A very rich noble hired me and a bunch of other mercenaries to protect his estate.
"Believe it or not, everything happened the way that lady and the dwarf said.
"The ground rumbled, beasts the size of a mountain emerged, the whole world suddenly went into the depths of night.
"The mercenaries and I fought against the monsters until I was the only one left standing on our side.
"The voice then reached out to me, told me everything that the lady and the dwarf also heard, and offered me to come here."
Since I had heard Djhotti's and Ulrica's stories, I was inclined to believe Graihan's words on his experience.
"Then what's the reason for you to accept the offer? Why did you come to the forged land?"
I asked the lycanthrope.
The man suddenly wore a vicious smile befitting a dangerous predator.
"I want to become stronger."
The half-beast said, claws extended from his flexed hand.
"I simply want to become strong enough till I can crush all those monsters that defeated me."
I could see wanting to kill all the monsters being his reason.
After all, I was also driven by my desire to eradicate my enemies.
Anybody standing between me and my goal should be disposed of.
I shall accept the lycanthrope's answer.
It was time to move on to the fourth hero.
"Yuxia, what about you? How did you manage to come to the forged land?"
To my surprise, the eastern elementalist was silent in his seat, knuckles turning white as he gripped the wooden armrests.
The man's face was dark.
Jaw clenched, emerald eyes full of fury.
I had never seen him like this before.
There must be a reason as to why he had kept his experience a secret for so long.