“Bring someone else here?” The goblin was curious. “So I summon them and make them familiars like you.”

  “While I would like some fellow people to commiserate with, I do not have access to their true names.” The demon lamented, “But I do know the names to summon several of them.”

  “Very well,” The goblin sat upright. “Any preparations that I should make?” It seemed rude just pulling them straight into his dungeon without warning.

  “Unlike me, they can choose not to respond but perhaps prepare an appropriate vessel.” The goblin waited since he knew Thoth was trying to bait a reaction from him. Obviously being outplayed, the demon finally relented. “Considering the nature of your dungeon, the beings we summon may want to stay. To stay, they need an appropriate body.”

  “And how do you suggest I acquire appropriate ‘bodies’?” he commented.

  “Well, a corpse would do, but if you really wanted them to stay, you would probably need to make something nice. One of your constructs would do the trick.”

  “Very well.” The goblin said, standing up. His bones ached since he had been sitting there for hours. He really needed to do more physical activity and take a break from all this cram reading. “Who first?”

  “Obviously summon the Angel of Knowledge.” A malevolent smile was on the demon’s face. “He is one of the few that rivals even me in terms of knowledge.”

  The demon was clearly planning something but it was a good start. “Okay, what is the name of said angel?”

  “Uriel the Learned is his name.” The demon was visibly getting excited, as if all the pieces were falling into place. “Make sure we create the finest vessel for him; he is quite high-ranking amongst angels.”

  The goblin got up and started to walk out of the room but the demon cut him off at the doorway. “By the way, I found a book on dimensional magic that you asked for!” Pulling a dark tome from behind his back, the title is Doors to Dimensional Design.

  “How long have you been holding on to that…” The goblin’s hand was firmly pinching his brow; he had requested that book for gods know how long.

  “You were so busy in your research, I felt it was best for me not to bother you.” Thoth said with a false innocence. The goblin shook his head as he took the book from the demon. He had been looking for a book about dimensional magic to help out Theoden, and it seems that Thoth had indeed found it first.

  This is why he couldn’t really rely on Thoth for much; there was always a catch to any request. Nonetheless, he would hold onto it for when the elf and, hopefully, Isolde stopped by to visit.

  He was a bit worried; it had been years since someone had visited, and perhaps they had failed their quest. Sometimes he wondered what they were doing out there. All he could do was sit here and twiddle his thumbs and it frustrated him.

  Regardless, he had to persevere; there had to be someone out there who had the knowledge he needed. He grunted an undeserved thank you to the demon and ceased his insistent worrying; after all, it would not help.

  The demon had a look like the goblin forgot to ask him something, but the goblin had decided that he was done with the demon for today.

  Armand quickly and efficiently moved through the library; he passed several Readers floating around. When he wasn’t using them to read massive quantities of information, they tended to the shelves, keeping everything dust-free.

  He could have had one of them retrieve the book for him but he definitely needed to stretch. The iron sentinels had also been hard at work; they had crafted several other Sentianls made from hell-forged mithril. He then equipped those Sentinels with weapons and armor and they took defensive positions at key spots along the path.

  This had greatly increased the mana strain on the dungeon but in response he continued to enlarge the dungeon entrance. There seemed to be a maximum size limit; however, the doorway eventually stopped growing but by then it was several people tall and just as many wide.

  His walk and thought ended as he reached his destination. The book was clad in white leather and gilded with gold; he pulled it from the shelf and read the title, Heavenly Encounters: Reaching the Divine. The goblin had already read the book but physically having it while carving the summoning ritual was helpful.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  While he had made a previous summoning circle, it was bound to hell. The summoning circle locked onto a specific plane of existence, and the name called the being you wished to see. However, he did not have the summoning circle for Celestia. But he had read a method to communicate with the heavenly plane.

  Conversely, he also knew a method to communicate with hell. He soon made it back to his main room and placed the book upon a table. By this time one of the Readers had brought him another book; it was his copy of Hell's Bells and Whistles, Demon Summoning and Magics.

  He then created a piece of charcoal and summoned some blank parchment. The goblin began to sketch the communication spells for both hell and Celestia. He was looking for similarities and differences.

  It didn’t take him long to see the parts that were the same; he assumed those were the parts that corresponded to the communication portion of the spell. Then what remained must be the connection method to the appropriate plane of existence.

  To confirm, however, he needed to look at the summoning rituals for demons. He flipped through the pages and saw that certain parts remained consistent. The goblin surmised that all he needed to do was replace the connection to hell with the connection to celestial. So next he needed to choose an appropriate ritual.

  The binding ritual that he used for Thoth would not be appropriate for summoning the angel in question. It would probably be better to use a standard summoning ritual.

  He sketched a rough idea of how to make the summoning circle work, so he would have to create it for real now. The idea excited him anyhow; he wanted to try making the circle with alchemical gold.

  Before that, however, he needed an appropriate vessel. Repurposing a sentinel would probably be more than enough. The Sentinels who were not on guard duty were regularly crafting new parts for hell-forged constructs.

  He grabbed one of the constructs and carried it over to the room he just summoned to create the summoning circle. The goblin was probably going to end up making several more of these rooms if this goes well.

  Armand began to carve the rune into the stone floor; it took him a couple of hours to do it but he finally completed it. He then tried to invoke the spell, “I call upon thee, Uriel the Learned; grace me with your presence and wisdom.”

  He felt it for a moment, a connection to something that brought him an extreme amount of warmth. But it was merely for an instant as the spell fizzled and the magic circle melted under the backlash.

  However, that brief encounter was more than enough to transmit a piece of knowledge into his brain. It was magic circle, specifically the summoning circle for a being from Celestia, or at least he assumed so.

  Well, he wanted to try again, but that attempt had burned through a lot of mana so he would have to save another attempt for the next day.

  As he pushed open the door, he was surprised by Thoth’s face pushed tightly against the door to the room.

  Within the demon’s hand was a small mouse from the cave area. “Hello, master!” A rare sheepish grin graced the demon’s face.

  “What do you have there?” Asked the goblin, looking at the demon suspiciously. The demon moved his hand behind his back and calmly replied.

  “Nothing of importance, of course.” The demon then tried to change the direction of the conversation. “I see your ritual failed; perhaps I can help you correct it.” An evil glint reappeared in his eyes.

  “The correction has already been made.” The goblin could already see through his familiar’s schemes. “I am merely lacking in mana so we will continue on the morrow.” He said as he passed the demon.

  This was the second time today that the demon had been left aghast at the actions of his master. The little goblin had grown in his capacity to counter his schemes. Thoth figured he just had to get more creative then.

  The demon turned and followed his master; usually at this point in time, his favorite time of day came around. The lanky figure of the demon was practically rubbing his hands together as they entered the kitchen.

  Armand, when he could, still made all his food by hand. He didn’t butcher any of the beasts in the caves but he would summon the raw ingredients and begin cooking.

  The goblin’s new favorite addition to cooking was various spices. During the brief stay of the three adventurers, they had introduced to him some of the common accoutrements that they added to their food for flavor.

  There was savor-root, dragon’s tongue, and tart berry dust; all things by themselves were disgusting, but when appropriately mixed were quite delicious. Luckily the trio had their spice bag and he could copy and sample said delicacies. He particularly enjoyed the taste of salt; in the right proportions, it just made things taste better.

  He had begun to dust his raw meat in regular doses of the spice and then cooked it, adding some lovely variation to his rather samey meals. Over the years he had mastered the delicate balance; in addition to a sweet substance he collected from one of the insect colonies in his cave system, he began trying to mimic the recipes he found.

  Today he had sweet and spicy meat skewers that had been grilled to perfection, and Thoth sat there patiently waiting for a plate to be put before him. But nothing came. The demon looked expectantly at him; while he didn’t need to eat, he greatly enjoyed indulging in it.

  “You forgot a book for several years; I can forget to cook extra for you.” Armand coldly replied as he took a bite, leaving the demon’s jaw agape.