The goblin had developed a plan; during the time when he was attacked, he had received several humanoid souls. Many of the souls were tinged crimson, obviously fated for hell so he didn’t feel guilty cleaning their souls clear but amongst the group were some other colored souls as well.

  There were three golden souls that should have been bound for Celestia, as well as a couple other colored souls; there were blue, green, white, and even a different colored red. He assumed those were souls bound for more niche afterlives, most likely the elemental planes.

  Because he didn’t feel like harming the souls of those who probably didn’t deserve it, these souls had been just sitting in his dungeon core. He was wondering if they could serve as a bargaining chip with the angel.

  He was not sure what would be the best approach because he wasn’t sure if just summoning the angel would be enough to trigger the dungeon’s book copy effect. Ideally that is all that was needed, the goblin hoped.

  Armand moved to the room where he had previously attempted to summon the being from Celestia. The goblin was ready to repair the floor and inscribe the summoning circle anew. He squinted his eyes instead because he noticed something interesting. The floor had been repaired, causing him to focus deeper.

  Beneath the stone floor was a magic circle that he had not carved; he recognized it as a soulbinding ritual that would trap the soul of whoever was summoned into the nearest body, which was that mouse from the other day, cleverly hidden beneath the stone pavers.

  Thoth had obviously been hard at work and obviously did not like the being he was about to summon. So he had to create another room and began constructing the ritual that had been given to him.

  It didn’t take too long for him to complete recreating said circle but he could feel Thoth approaching, probably in anticipation for what was about to occur. He willed a little bit of magic to close off one of the paths and instead change the entrance to a more difficult entrance.

  He heard the demon violently collide with the now filled-in doorway. The demon began trying to gouge its way into the room, unfortunately for him the goblin had relocated the ritual and he quickly activated it before his familiar could realize what was happening.

  The room filled with a golden light and a figure appeared before him. “So you are the one who reached out to summon me…” The angel looked very much like a humanoid; beautiful was the first word that came to the goblin’s mind. The skin was like carved marble, and they were wreathed in threads of gold and silk.

  “Indeed, I was hoping to make your acquaintance.” The goblin responded.

  “So you are his new master.” The angel replied, clearly feeling the demon’s presence in the dungeon. “Quite bold of you to assume I would want to be your ‘acquaintance.’”

  “I wouldn’t offer without having a bargaining chip.” The goblin replied, “But first a gift…” He released the three souls destined for Celestia. “Consider this a peace offering.”

  “I don’t see how this is a gift… After all, they already belonged to us.” The angel replied as its wings spread out and the golden souls rested within their down. “But nonetheless, you have my attention.”

  “You are also known by the name the Angel of Knowledge, are you not?” Armand inquired; he could feel Thoth scouring the dungeon searching for the new summoning room. He was not gentle in his search, but he knew better than to damage the books. Everything else, not so much.

  Several Readers met their untimely demise as the demon released its frustrations; some sentinels were damaged but they were now made of quality materials and could withstand the demon’s frustrations.

  “”Indeed, that is one of my many titles.” The angel replied to the comment, head tilted as if showing curiosity despite the stoic expression that remained on his face since being summoned.

  “My dungeon is unique…” The goblin began.

  “Most are, but if I am here, then it must be fairly beneficial to me.” The Angel interrupted.

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  “Indeed, my dungeon has power over knowledge and holds the capacity to recreate any written knowledge a visitor has come across. Regardless of whether the knowledge had been read or not.” The goblin explained.

  “Most curious, many books have slipped through my hands through the ages…” The angel in turn was nodding; despite the blank expression, the goblin could see the twitching of its fingers. He had him on the hook time to reel him in.

  “All I need is for you to decent to this plane; I even got an appropriate vessel for you…” The goblin waved to the hell-forged sentinel in the corner of the room.

  “Very well,” The angel pointed his finger and a ball of golden light flowed over; the red-tinged green-blue metal took on a golden hue. The sentinel began to move and transform; a head pushed itself out from the chest, and a pair of metal wings sprouted from its back. “Take one of my clones in exchange for pursuing the knowledge here and the souls of anyone who belongs to Celestia. I will guard this place, bless seven pieces of equipment a year, and answer one question a year.”

  “I accept your terms.” The goblin said with a smile the deal had been struck just in time as Thoth burst into the room.

  “YOU!!!” The demon transformed back into its owl-like form as he slashed at the angel, who in turn just smiled as he faded away, leaving the demon’s sharp claw only tearing through the little pieces of pearly mist that were left behind.

  “Indeed me.” The angelic sentinel replied as he walked forth, “Hello again, Astaroth, a pleasure to meet once again.” Uriel said in an almost sing-song-like voice.

  The goblin would have loved to follow the remaining conversation, but he quickly began to feel dizzy, hollow, and exhausted. "The books must be being created," was his last thought as he hit the floor.

  —

  He awoke several hours later; he couldn’t help but notice that he had been haphazardly tossed into bed with little grace. The blanket was beneath him and his extremities were a bit cold.

  His mental map of the dungeon had changed; with the addition of Uriel’s book collection, the library had more than doubled in size. He flipped through the remaining readers and looked at new rows of books.

  Despite Thoth’s recent behavior, his plan had worked, even if it was not how he intended. Perhaps a reward was in place; the goblin stood upright, stretching his aching limbs. He had finally gotten around to testing his ability to magically copy books in recent years.

  Because of the complexity of the books, it was almost the same amount of mana as it was to create a magical material. Perhaps knowledge is truly magical, the goblin had thought. It is also why he theorized why he passed out after being visited, because he needed to spend vast amounts of mana to create the books.

  He went to the bathroom, cleaned up, and changed his clothes; he had shamelessly stolen the cloth remnants from the dead adventurers to make clothes far better than his previous fish-scale garb. Then, going into the kitchen, he began to prepare Thoth’s favorite, spicy whole grilled fish, with emphasis on the spicy.

  As he cooked, he could feel the demon stop in its tracks and turn in the direction of the kitchen, almost as if it could smell his favorite dish being made. Thoth began to move towards the kitchen at breakneck speed, crashed through the doorway and sat down at his chair.

  The goblin laughed; the nature of a demon was often like that of a child, one with far too much power. He set the platter of spicy fish before the demon. Who promptly began shoveling the fish into his mouth.

  The demon quickly finished his meal and looked at his master; the hint of anger at having plans foiled lingered in his eyes but there was also a glimmer of admiration. “I must return to sorting.”

  Thoth began to walk off and back to what he was doing but the goblin knew the gesture was enough to bring him back into somewhat good graces. Uriel was similarly roaming the library, searching through the endless shelves for anything that piqued his interest.

  Armand finished off his portion of food and headed out to have a more proper conversation with the new inhabitant of the dungeon. The halls were getting a bit cramped with all the books; that would have to be another project to expand the tunnels to accommodate the new bulk of books.

  He enlarged sections where he could along the way, but he lack the ability to manipulate preexisting objects so the Readers and Sentinels would have to manually rearrange the halls. Which of those that remained in an operational state began to work.

  He had become much more efficient at commanding the soul clones en masse, so much so that his stride was not interrupted, and in his short walk to meet the angel, he orchestrated a large-scale expansion.

  “Hello, Uriel.” The goblin said as he rounded the corner, finally spying the metal angel construct.

  “Salutations, Mortal.” The angel replied, not even looking up from the book he was engrossed in.

  “Is everything up to your liking?” The goblin asked.

  “Very much so…” The angel turned to him. “But you are probably not here just to check on my well-being.”

  “Indeed! I want to redeem my question.” The goblin finally had a lead to get what he wanted. “How do I leave the dungeon?” The angel pondered for a while and then finally replied.

  “I have no idea.”