《StoneBound (Previously Goblin Fairy)》


 I died? - chapter 1

    I open my eyes and look around. I appear to be in a cave, covered in dirt. I don''t remember how I got here. The last thing I remember was falling. Wait, falling? But why? I was on a school trip with my friends. We had just gotten off the bus and walked into the hotel. It was a tall hotel overlooking a concrete graveyard filled with the mechanical bodies of parked cars. There was a balcony; if you leaned just far enough over it, you could see the city. I remember standing there, looking at the city.


    "What the fuck!"


    He was falling. A gust of wind. Maybe someone pushed him. But he was falling. He looks around and remembers his last couple thoughts.


    It¡¯s a beautiful day today. The wind is blowing, just slightly overcast enough to offset the heat but still bright and comfortable. What a beautiful day to die.


    He hits the concrete and is dead instantly. His guts spread across the concrete, and his blood waters the weeds growing in the sidewalk.


    Huh. But how did I get here? I look around and can¡¯t really see anything. Then the hunger hits. A deep aching, it pulverizes me and burns; it¡¯s not a physical hunger but a spiritual hunger. It burns and burns and burns. Movement. My eyes flicker across the cave like a wild man. They shake as they see a worm crawling across the dirt. I rush to the worm in a hurry and pin it down before sucking the life out of it, momentarily satiating my hunger.


    In my haste, I hadn¡¯t realized I didn¡¯t pin down the creature with my fingers. Nor did I eat the body of the worm. Instead, it seems I killed the worm, and something came out of it that I ate. In confusion, I assess my situation. I don¡¯t appear to have a body. I don¡¯t know if my consciousness is detached or if something in the cave is my body. I search more and find a small pale white crystal. It seems to be me. When I push on it with my consciousness, I feel like it is me.


    I notice that there does seem to be more of the cave, but I can only see in the immediate vicinity around me. That¡¯s weird. I should try to explore. As I push my consciousness to the edge of my sight, I feel the end of my domain. I need to apply conscious pressure to it for it to expand. I should be panicking about this whole situation, but for some reason, I¡¯m not. I continue to push on the barrier, and it slowly stretches.


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    Then all of a sudden, I realize this cave is tiny. It¡¯s not even a cave; it¡¯s a pocket of air underground. I try to keep pushing on my conscious barrier, but instead of showing me more space, it instead shows me that I can push into the walls. I can see everything in the walls. It seems to be loose dirt, so I must be near the surface. Maybe I can try digging. I try to pull away at the dirt.


    I continue to pull on the dirt. I¡¯ve barely made any progress, and I¡¯m starving. I notice more worms in the walls, and I quickly pin them and eat them, giving me a boost of energy. As I panic about slowly starving, I begin to push, pushing harder and allocating as much energy as possible into digging until eventually, the dirt gives way with a heave, revealing sunlight dripping down into my cave.


    Now what? I look around, and the very first thing I notice is a plant¡ªa type of lichen growing on a rock near where I emerged. I spread just close enough to that plant, and as I get close, I grab it and eat it. So delicious! I devour, and devour, and devour until it is dead. I look around and see more. I need to be smart about this. Maybe I can take it into my cave. I use whatever energy I gained from eating¡ªmana, I guess I can call it¡ªto push this rock slowly towards my cave.


    Oh, so slowly! I¡¯m lost in my task. Multiple days and nights pass, and I have to stop to eat three times. But I keep working. Eventually, there¡¯s the sound of dirt slipping, and it slides down into my cave. I smile and eat. Finally, my work pays off. But once again, I kill most of it. Only a small amount of lichen remains on the rock. Huh. I guess I should wait for it to grow.


    So I wait. And wait. And wait. For seemingly forever, I wait, but it barely seems to grow a couple inches. Maybe if I added my mana into it, it would grow faster. So I try to push mana into this lichen. As I push more and more mana into it, the lichen starts to writhe and twist on the rock. Whoa. I push more mana into it and¡ªC-rack! The rock splits. The lichen grew so much in strength it was able to break the brittle river stone.


    It now stands about eight inches tall, with three main components of its body: legs, arms, and a main body. The main body is a large rock; the arms are chunks of sharp river stone attached to the main body of the lichen golem by small strands of seemingly magically enhanced lichen. The legs are the same as the arms.


    I stare in awe at this creature I made. Wait a second. I don''t know why this never dawned on me before, but am I a dungeon? I''ve read dungeon core books before. Well, what do I do now?

 ATTACK!? - chapter 2

    I smile, or well, I don''t have a face. Haha. I pretend to smile. I can make this little freak get me food! Go! Bring! Me! More!!!!


    The little Lichen Golem waddles off. well now what. I''m full, maybe I can try pushing my power into other things WORM. Bam. A worm explodes into a tiny shower of wormy gore. Uuuuuhh. I groan, as my crystal brain tries to process what just happened. Did... I put to much power in? I try again, and push about half as much mana as before. Well it didn''t explode this time, but its literal just a big worm. Maybe... Its about how fast I put in mana? I try again, with the same amount of mana as I originally did, but slower. Huh. It worked this time. Its still just a worm. But its glowing for some reason. Huh. I try again on another worm. This worm literally just turned into a rock. Maybe there are different types of mana. That would fit with the fantasy setting vibes I''m getting from this place. I try to channel mana once again into another worm, this time I really focus on making a glowing worm. Oh. It worked.


    Thunk. The Lichen Golem pushes a hunk of granite the size of a baseball into my hole. Pause, that sounds wrong. Into my mini-cave? Still sounds wrong. Lair? Ill workshop the idea. Anyway. Should I eat the lichen, or make another Golem. I guess Golem. The more I have, the more food I get! I channel my mana into the rock, and focus on making another Golem. The Lichen writhes and writhes, and squeezes, my mana runs down. That''s weird. I ran out of mana before the Lichen could turn to a Golem. Maybe its because the Rock is made of Granite, and the other Golem was made of, what is it made of. I focus in on the Golem, and using my mana try to asses what it is. Somehow in my brain I realize it is a conglomerate of shale, and tuff. Oh! Both of those are very weak. That makes sense. Huh. I peer back at the Lichen on the granite. Its still squirming, and rolling, on the rock, trying, its best to break it. Maybe if I channel more mana into it - poof - the Lichen starts to smoke before lighting on fire, and withering away. ooh. That felt nice. Okay, so even if I don''t kill it directly as long as its in my domain it will give me its mana? Huh. I send the Golem off to collect more food. This time I specify not just rocks, but plants, wood, as well as any small animals or bugs it can catch.


    The Golem wanders off into the forest, and I return my attention to the worms. I flinch as something lands on the worm. A leaf. I look up, and it appears that the Golem has ripped a weed out of the ground, and is throwing it into my cave. I need to come up with a name for it. I cant keep calling it the Lichen Golem. How about Lychee. Because Lichen, I don''t know man. Anyway Lychee wanders off into the forest. Ok... I turn back, and quickly eat the leaves the Golem brought me. I return my focus to the worm. I''m just gonna eat it. All the worms seem useless, and I''m bored.


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    All of a sudden I hear rustling above me. Outside of my cave I can hear leaves moving. Then I notice a squirrel peer into my cave. It crawls into my cave, and quickly notices the worms, which it eats, before returning its attention to me. Huh. That''s scary. Maybe I should make my Golem come back... The squirrel walks up to me, and grabs me with its grubby little squirrel paws. Let go of me you fuck! I try to squirm, and escape. Oh wait. I''m a rock. I cant squirm. Or escape. I start to panic. Uh oh. Then, Thud. My Golem hops down into the cave. It is smaller than the squirrel but its hands are made of sharp river rock. It swings one hand, and the squirrel gets cut. It screeches loudly before turning back around, and trying to claw the Golem. But Lychee cant feel pain, so it swings again, and cuts the squirrel again, and again, before eventually the squirrel stops moving, and comes to a rest, bleeding on the floor of my cave.


    That was fucking scary. From now on, I cant be left alone. Especially if a squirrel almost did me in. I wonder what would happen if I channeled my energy into the squirrel. Ii begin to pump my mana into the squirrel, and all of a sudden I understand it. I understand the squirrel. How It reproduces, and so on. As my mana continues to pump into the dead squirrel it begins to rouse, and all of a sudden, it doesn''t do shit. Oh. Right. It''s dead. Maybe I can use its remains, to lure in other animals. I sigh, and in boredom I wonder what happens if I try to just shape my mana without a conduit. I begin to try to push my mana into the shape of a squirrel, but with a bigger, tail, and I make the bones bigger. Maybe I can make it stand on two legs. I smile, and look at my blueprint of a weird fucking monster squirrel. Maybe oh. What''s happening. The remains of the dead squirrel is twisting, and shredding. Bits of the squirrel float over, and assimilate with my blueprint filling them out. I chunk of rock tears out of the ground to form, The squirrels bones, and claws. Whoa. It''s done. I have weird monster squirrel in front of me. Maybe I can call it, a rock squirrel because its bits are made of rock. Why isn''t it moving. Is it dead. Maybe I need to give it a soul. How do I do that. I try to channel mana into the creature but it doesn''t work. Maybe. I just killed that squirrel, maybe its soul is floating around somewhere. Wait a second. I ate the energy that came out of it when it died. Than is the mana the soul? But I tried using that, and it didn''t work. I look inside of me, and notice a smaller weaker force residing in my core. Lights, A Hazel colored light is swirling in my soul. In my core. Is this the squirrels soul? I try to pull the soul, and I can move it. I can twist, and turn it. I try to put the soul into the squirrel, and... IT WORKS. The squirrel starts walking around. it''s supposed to walk on two legs, but it seems to still have the consciousness, of the original squirrel, and is still trying to walk on 4 legs. Huh. But it follows my orders. So thats something. PROGRESS!!!!

 Snakey Boi - chapter 3

    FAIL. This squirrel is stupid. It still has a squirrel brain, it''s skittish, I made it a carnivore, but it doesn''t want to eat meat, and it won''t walk on 2 legs, so it''s way slower than it was before.


    Maybe, I can try altering the soul of a creature. I wonder if I can kill this rock squirrel and regain its soul. Let''s try to get another animal first. GO MY MINIONS! I chuckle, one day. I send out my Rock squirrel failure, as well as Lychee. The command I gave them was.


    Bring me a small animal alive.


    The squirrel, and Lychee seem to separate early on. Oh well.


    I''m boooooored. I moan, and groan as I sit in my cave. Alone. Nothing to do. Bored out my mind. I''VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR FOREVER.


    *Thud*


    I jump. Oh. It''s Lychee. He seems to have acquired some sort of venomous snake. It seems the snake tried to bite Lychee, but seeing as he is made out of literally stone, the snake was unable to use his venom. I smile at Lychee.


    Kill it¡­


    *Thud*


    *Thud*


    *Thud*


    I chuckle as Lychee pins the snake down, and beheads him, with his sharp hands. I frown as I notice Lychee chipping. You might be outliving the stone you¡¯re in bud. Oh well. I peer inside my soul again, and smile, at the dreamy green soul swirling around inside of my core. I use my mana, and begin to shape my body. Nothing special, just a simple snake, with all of its original reproductive organs, and so on. Then I take the snake, and I try to use my mana to twist, and shape the snake''s soul. It''s working. I find myself inside of the creature''s mind, viewing its memories, and simplistic thoughts. I begin to twist his mind, and erase anything unnecessary as I only want it to retain its basic functions, as well as the knowledge that I am its master, and that it must protect my core.


    I smile, and leave the snake''s mind. To find the Soul to be altered. It is still green, but it appears to have changed. I wonder what happens if I push specific types of mana into it. Like fire. I smirk in my mind. Might as well try it. When I discovered the Souls in my body I realized the space they were floating in was the inside of my soul. The material they were floating through in my soul, was mana, a vast nebulae of different colors, the mana in my soul is disorganized but i can consciously filter it, and remove only certain types of mana, that''s what i was doing when i was thinking of changing the worms, with certain intentions, I was using different mana types. This time I consciously use red fire mana, to make the snake fiery, aggressive, and spiteful.


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    Finally, As I finish with my project of transforming the snake''s soul I realize, once again its soul is now a beautiful mix of red, and green. I smile, and begin the process of filling the mana blueprint with material. I smile as I watch the snake''s body be dismantled, and fill the space of the snake. All of a sudden, I frown. It''s taking fire mana directly from me, and into the snake. More than just what is necessary to fill the blueprint. Enough to give this snake possibly some special abilities. Sweet.


    The snake finished forming, making a snake that is mostly black, but with splotches of red, and green on it. I smile. The snake flickers its tongue, and when it does so, a small gout of flame puffs out of the snake''s mouth. I smile. This is fun.


    I smile, as I hear rustling in the leaves at the entrance of my cave once again. Perfect. Test subject. Into the cave climbs another snake. Oh even better.


    Kill it!


    My snake slithers forward, before jumping at the other snake, it dives forward, and latches its teeth onto the other snake. I smile as I hear a sizzling sound, and the other snake starts screeching, and thrashing. The other snake screams, and twists biting fire snake on the side. I frown. I guess we lost it.


    *sizzle.*


    My imaginary eyebrows raise. Woah. How does that work? Smoke rises from the bite wound in the fire snake, and the venom evaporates into the air, before the invader snake collapses, and dies. The fire snake pulls away, and begins nursing its wound. I smile. I will call you Heracles.


    I turn, and inspect the dead snake. The bite wound is charred. Heracles probably bit it, and then breathed fire onto the open wound. It seems that the fire is very small, but hot, and can be held for long periods of time. Perfect for the way Heracles used it. I smile. Let''s make a second fire snake, and have them breed with Heracles. I''m curious what happens if something is birthed in my domain. On that note, I should make my domain bigger, as well as finding a species that I can use as cattle, for souls, and spare body parts. I smile, and do the mana version of tapping my chin.


    Maybe a mouse? I don''t think that Lychee could catch a mouse, so I''ll keep him here to protect me, and have Heracles, and his Wifey go try to catch mice.


    Crap, off task again, I need to make Heracles his wifey, before I can send them off together. I begin to recreate the blueprint of Heracles but make sure to alter it to be female. Then I alter its mind, again, same as I altered Heracles'' mind. Just, in general, a whole repeat of the process with Heracles. Boom. All done. What should I call you? What was Heracles'' wife''s name¡­ I don''t know man. So you get the name!... Julia! Okie doke.


    Holy bologna I''m hungry. I turn to the granite rock, covered in Lichen that Lychee brought me, and I begin to devour, Oh delicious. I devour, and-Oh. It''s already dead. I''m not even a quarter full!!


    *Skitter*


    My rock squirrel drops back into the cave.


    It''s getting way too crowded here. I definitely need to expand. I look at the Rock squirrel. I don''t like you¡­


    Kill it.


    I order Heracles, and Lychee to team up, and kill the rock squirrel. It shakes, but it cannot disobey my order to stay still, and so it sits patiently, as it is attacked by both Heracles, and Lychee, before it is Killed by Heracles. I smile in surprise as Heracles seems to grow bigger after killing the squirrel. My eyes grow wide as I realize that It''s because Heracles ate a portion of the energy that was released when the rock squirrel died. The soul is still ok though.


    I shrug.

 Squirrel Mole - Chapter 4

    I think I know what I''m going to do with that squirrel''s soul. But first I need more mana. I order Lychee, and Julia to go get me some food, as well as two flat, hard rocks, with nice sharp edges for digging. I do my best impression of an evil laugh. He he, slavery¡­


    Julia, and Lychee both come back with food. Lychee seems to have ripped up some plants, including what appears to be a spiky blackberry bush, as well as the two big flat rocks I asked for and Julia has a big fat squirrel. I raise an eyebrow. Two slaves?


    I order Julia to kill the Squirrel, which she quickly does, with a shudder of pleasure. I smile, and absorb the abundant mana coming from a living animal, even a small one. Ok. I''m full again. I quickly begin to use the mana to start forming a blueprint, for something between a mole, and, a squirrel. Instead of hands, it has two, big wide flat rocks that are perfect for digging, and scraping away layers of dirt, and mud. I smile at the amalgamation I''ve created, and begin to alter its mind. I use my mana to shape its mind to believe that it loves digging. It is an opportunistic omnivore, as well as leaving basic functions, like how to eat, learn, walk, and reproduce. I also add in a little bit of earth mana, to make it comfortable underground.


    I smile, and clap my imaginary hands. Then I start the process, and once again marvel at the wonders of this process. The original body of the rock squirrel is dismantled into base components. Fur, skin, bones, meat, muscles, organs, and so on. This does leave quite the bloody mess laying around, but, oh well. Then the internal organs, and bits of the creature are laid in place, within the blueprint. Simply floating in mid air. I smile dreamily, next the bones slide in place, over organs. Finally things like nerves, and skin, and blood vessels, as well as the fur is placed, before last, but not least, the claws, and teeth, and such. That''s not quite true; the very last thing is actually the creature''s mind as well as any mana that would be needed. But this one does not need mana, as it doesn''t have any magical functions. I smile.


    Dig a tunnel south, until I tell you to stop.


    I smile. Now I can expand faster, without using my own mana, I just have to feed this little fella. I smile, and then I turn my attention to Julia, and Heracles.


    Go out, find me mice. As many as possible. Alive, male, and female. Go. Return before nightfall.


    I smile fondly as Julia, and Heracles slither off to retrieve me more servants. Go little ones. I pretend evil cackle, AHA HA HA HA!! Oh¡­ I scoff, no, I really need to work on my creepy laugh.


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    While I wait for my snakes to return, I watch the Mole. I intend to make more of these so¡­ I will call them¡­ Miners. Because they are Miners¡­ Smart right? I smile, and watch the Mole continue to dig, the tunnel is about a foot tall, and a foot wide. Which concerns me, I think I would prefer it taller, and wider, if just slightly.


    Make it twice as tall, and twice as wide, but don''t make it any longer.


    While I wait for Julia, and Heracles to come back, I contemplate the black berry bush. It will make wonderful food for the cattle that my snakes are bringing back, but where do I put it? I can''t put it outside the cave, and it can''t grow in the dark¡­. I think¡­. Well¡­. I could just change them with mana¡­. Oh I can''t resist, I''ve got to try. I smile, and begin working on the bush. Maybe I pump it full of dark mana, so it doesn''t need photosynthesis. But I don''t know how that would work. It still needs nutrients. So maybe dark mana, and earth mana, so it will draw more nutrients from the earth? I could probably just use light mana as a supplement for light, but I don''t really want to¡­ maybe¡­. I guess I¡¯ll make it with the earth and dark mana, and if it fails, I can always supplement with light mana.


    I turn to the bush that Lychee brought me, and I begin to twist it, and change it, by pumping it full of mana, flowing twisting burning mana, the mana burns through the plant leaving its brand on the side of this animal changing the plant. I smile. Beautiful. The mana changed it, it grew shorter, and thinner becoming more of a fruit bearing vine. The spikes grew more profound and I noticed that the spikes seemed to be pulling. I don¡¯t know how to explain it other than that, but I believe if it penetrated flesh it would pull mana from the creature it penetrated. I smile. So¡­ Beautiful¡­


    I smile as I hear the rustles of my snakes returning. Julia only has one mouse, but Heracles has two. I smile.


    Kill them¡­


    Julia, and Heracles eagerly begin to feed but I stop them.


    No¡­ Wait¡­


    I begin to work on the blueprint for the mouse. I don¡¯t change anything about it. Except I use mana to alter their minds and make them have a stronger desire to breed. Wonderful¡­ I begin the process of filling in the blue print.


    I laugh in wonder as the bodies fill the blueprint and their souls re-enter their bodies. Two females, one male. I smile and guide them toward their home in the back of the cave. Since Mice¡¯s gestation period is so quick they will be perfect cattle for my other creatures to live off.


    I check on my miner, and discover he has finished widening the hole, and is sneakily eating blackberries. I give him a mental smack on the head.


    Get back to work! Dig a room at the end of the tunnel roughly the same size as this room.


    I chuckle as the miner winces and runs off, like a dog that¡¯s been scolded. Once the miner is done building the room I will build the mice a cozy burrow to live in, and breed.

 Chapter 5

    Once the miner is done digging, I view the room, and begin to contemplate. Perfect. I begin to make the burrow for the mice, using mana this time. How are Mice burrows usually¡­ aren¡¯t they usually just little holes on the ground? Well that won¡¯t work because I want a lot of them. Maybe I make an ant colony style thing for them to live in? But then it will be difficult to access them for my animals¡­. Nah doesn¡¯t matter I¡¯ll make it ant colony style and just order them to leave before I kill them.


    I start working on the burrow for the mice, this time using my own energy instead of making the miner do it. Compared to the last time I had to dig something using my own mana, this is a lot easier. Maybe due to me growing stronger or my mana more potent?


    Once I¡¯m done building the burrow for the mice I guide the mice to their new home where they get comfortable. I quickly order them to breed so my stock of cattle can expand.


    I quickly return my attention to the more central location of my lair. Now that I¡¯ve built a second room, I should probably move back their.


    Move me to the back room.


    I command Lychee to push me to the back room, where I will be safer from intruders. Which he quickly and dutifully does, using the flat part of his hands to push me along towards the back of the cave.


    I turn to my miner questioningly. What should you do now? I guess I could just make you dig a really long tunnel? Eh, why not.


    Dig a tunnel west until I tell you to stop.


    Now I just have to wait until my miner hits something fun, or my mice finish breeding, and give birth.


    10 days later


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    My mice gave birth yesterday. It seems I intended for my mice to be the same as regular mice, but as they sit in the mana rich environment of my lair, they must be changing. They gave birth to ten pups, which I don''t know if that is a lot compared to other mice, but it feels like a lot. The mice are hairless, and squirming little brats, but when they were born in my Lair they seemed to automatically become one of my minions. They are growing exceptionally fast, one of them has already figured out how to walk, and others are already growing hair. I think it''s because of the exceptionally mana rich environment they are in. I started feeding mana into one specifically, and it quickly became the size of a full grown mouse, with thick steel gray fur.


    *Crunch-S-Sliirk* A wet chopping sound resounds throughout the cave. A visceral slurping. The sound of death. *Sluuuurp* Well that''s creepy as hell. I peer throughout the cave. The sound seems to be coming from the tunnel my miner was digging. I don''t know what I''m freaking out about, I can literally just go look. I pop into the scene to find my little miner dead. His body being dissected, and eaten by a giant fucking raccoon. Guts strewn across the tunnel, blood soaking the earth, his skull split open, like a watermelon dropped from a height. His hands are chipped, and the raccoon is bleeding from its arm where it looks like my miner tried to fight back. But¡­ Little buddy didn''t stand a chance.


    I grimace at the bloody sight. I don''t know what my miner broke into but whatever it is, it is dangerous, and I cant force my sight to go in it. The raccoon does the opposite of what i want it to do, in that its starts heading deeper into the cave, where I am hiding. Well that sucks.


    Julia, Heracles, and Lychee, go into the tunnel, and defend me.


    My snakes glance up from their burrow where they sleep together. They slowly begin to slither in the direction of the tunnel, Lychee following close behind. I also direct the large steel gray mouse to follow at the back of the line. Heracles, and Julia slither side by side at the front of the group, while Lychee is right behind them, and behind Lychee is the mouse. They slowly crawl along the very long tunnel, growing closer to the raccoon. The mouse at the back of the line, shakes in fear, barely just born, and already sacrificing his life for his Dungeon.


    My minions strive forward, and while they travel, I formulate the plan for how they will attack. My two Snakes go along the sides of the tunnels, and surround the raccoon. Lychee will immediately engage, with the goal of cutting off the raccoon''s head. The Mouse will only engage if Lychee is defeated. All the while Julia, and Heracles should be pumping fire into its sides.


    This will be fun. I wonder how Lychee will grow if he kills out. My snakes grow by consuming a piece of their mana, which causes their body to grow, but Lychee''s body is a rock. So, if he kills something, and eats a piece of his mana, how will he grow stronger? I mean technically his body is a bunch of Lichen attached to a rock, so will the Lichen grow, and be able to attach itself to bigger rocks? Will he abandon his current rock? Will he grow more intelligent? Will he grow stronger so he can attach to more durable rocks? I just don''t know, all of this is a question.


    *Click* the raccoons fingers clatter off a rock. The two forces meet, face to face. The raccoon, simply sits, and stares, in silence, surprise.


    *HISSSS* The raccoon starts screaming immediately.


    Oh, well, I guess we''re fighting now.

 the Dungeon - Chapter 6

    *HISSSS* Heracles immediately slides forward, and strikes at the raccoons side, and Julia follows close behind. Lychee steps forward, and swings his right hand. The raccoon quickly jumps backwards dodging away from Lychee''s swing.


    *Fff-chunk* Lychees swing digs into the side of the cave, and showers everyone with dirt. The mouse at the back of the lineup screams in fear, and scurries backwards shortly.


    *Hiss, shlunk* Heracles buries his fangs deep into the flesh of The raccoon''s right legs, the sizzling of the raccoon''s flesh, and the smoke rising from the legs affirms the pain the raccoon¡¯s feeling. The raccoon screeches in pain, and tuns to Heracles - *SCHLUNK* - a swing from Lychee buries itself into the side of the raccoon''s head, killing it instantly.


    Uuugh¡­. The mana rampages through my body causing my mind to convulse in a mind breaking pleasure high, power feels sooo good.


    The mouse didn''t even get to fight. Maybe we venture onward? Ok, ok just for a little bit, they can keep going. I smile, and guide my minions forward, they head towards where my miner broke through into another place. As my minions get closer I notice. Why can''t I see in there? I push my mana against it, but instead of gaining any traction I just bounce off.


    Enter the cave, kill anything you can, and come back, with information.


    While my minions can''t communicate with me, I can look inside their minds, and memories.


    My minions venture forward into the darkness, without my guidance anymore, following the structure I originally had for them. Snakes up front, Lychee behind, and the mouse at the very back.


    I smile, and turn my attention back to the bodies of my miner, and the raccoon. So what should I make with this? I guess I can just remake another miner, I''ll use the soul of the one that died. I begin to make, and shape the blueprint for a new miner, and when I use my mana to open up his soul to alter his mind, I find his memories of his life, foggy, gone, hidden. It seems that when they die they forget their past memories. They don''t seem to be completely gone, but they cant be accessed. Ok. This time I imbue it with earth mana to hopefully make it tougher, or stronger. Which seems to work well, because when the blueprint is filled out with the body of the former miner, it is bigger, with more muscles, and seems to have an innate ability to soften the earth around him, making it easier to dig through. Perfect.


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    I turn to the body of the raccoon. I''m going to make you into a wonderful defender. I smirk. I start working on the blueprint. I''m going to buff you up, with earth mana, and maybe some more rare type of mana, like a mixture like¡­ MAGMA. Magma will be perfect. I begin to pump the body with magma mana. As much as I can muster, which is quite a bit, leaving me completely drained. I smile, and begin to fill out the blueprint. The body of the raccoon is lifted from the ground, the bones fill in with stone instead of bone, oh interesting, the muscles are thick, and pumped up with mana, *KER-CHUNK* Woah! Holy shit. What is coming out of the walls!? Oh. Is that copper? It''s helpful that there is a copper vein right by my cave, but why is it being used in this raccoon? The copper heats with mana, and forms sheets, and tubes, the tubes are inserted into the body to make blood vessels, and fill in crucial spots in the heart. The skin is covered in plating of copper, making him armored, and his claws are once again, remade with copper. The blood forming in his veins seems to be boiling, which would explain the need for metallic veins, to keep the boiling blood from just burning right through.


    Once the raccoon is done forming, its body hangs in the air. It has nearly doubled in size, and is covered with copper plating, as well as copper claws. I smile, and begin working on the raccoon''s mind. I changed it to understand that it needs to focus on dealing as much damage as possible, as well as protecting the few weak spots it has, such as its eyes, and the pits of the arms, and legs. I also leave its basic instincts like eating, walking, and reproducing. You are the perfect defender, good sir.


    I flinch as my minions burst back into my domain. The mouse is missing, Lychee''s body is cracking, and degrading rapidly, as well as missing his entire right arm. My snakes seem to be mostly okay, except for a shallow gash along Julia''s head. I quickly feed Julia a small amount of mana, which closes up the minor wound fast enough. I quickly order Lychee to get to my main room, so hopefully he can transfer to a different rock. I quickly order a small team of Juvenile mice, to bring in a large piece of rock for Lychee to hopefully possess. The rock is hard granite. I grimace. Hopefully he is strong enough now to be able to break it.


    I quickly guide Lychee to the other room, where the rock is. Lychee immediately views the rock, and begins the process of tearing himself slowly away from the rock that is degrading below him, and attaching himself to the new rock. I grimace, and check Heracles'' mind to try to view what happened. When I enter his mind I immediately recognize another dungeon.


    A pale green dungeon core sits near the back of the cave, several more raccoons crowd around it, as well as what appears to be a small red fox. I sigh. Ok. How did the mouse I sent in there do? I check Heracles'' memories, and I find a coward that backed itself up against a wall. As soon as it realized it was up against a wall it started screeching, and fighting for its life, while it didn''t actually kill anything, I think a team of those gray mice might be able to. I frown, and rush my forces to the tunnel to hopefully defend against anything that comes through. I guide my raccoon to the forefront


    I hope i''m prepared enough¡­

 Besieged - Chapter 7

    While I wait for the enemy soldiers to arrive I turn my attention to the mice pups. They are all juveniles, too young to be of any help¡­ I can change that.


    I quickly take all nine of the mice pups. I wince knowing that most of these pups are going to die. It matters little. The adults are already pregnant once again. The first mice pup, I channel fire, and the greenish nature mana, being a mix of earth, and wind, and some other form of mana, inherent in life. It grows large, bigger than the adult mice. I smirk in joy. The new mouse foams at the mouth, is quick, large, strong, and completely insane. I smile. Perfect.


    I repeat this process nine more times, and am left with nine mice, nearly half a foot long. I guide all nine of them towards the tunnel where I place them at the forefront of the crowd. I smile. Oh this will be fun. Their desire to rip apart everything around them is so strong I need to use mana to control them.


    I smile, and return my attention to Lychee, who has completely transitioned to the larger piece of granite. He is breaking it apart slowly but it is taking time. I don''t know if he will be done before the enemies arrive.


    Speaking of enemies, they have officially arrived in my domain. I quickly turn my attention to what will be attacking my forces, and I grimace. A vanguard of a possum, who appears to have a severe case of rabies. Ok, so we''ve found my new copper creations opponent. We don''t want any of my creatures getting rabies. I gather my units in formation at the exit of the tunnel. My berserker mice are inside of the tunnel, while my snakes, and my copper creature gather just outside the opening to surround anything that attacks. Lychee is situated near my core at the back of the dungeon. Lychee still hasn''t completely taken control of his new rock, but he should be done, a little bit after the enemies arrive.


    I notice the enemies arriving at the front lines of my mice. One of my mice dove forward, and swiped a claw at the possum leading the charge. The possum responds lighting fast by dodging backwards, and springing forwards again, biting my poor creature in half. I close my eyes, and grimace as the screams of my poor mice echoes through my lair. I open my eyes once again, and I smile in surprise, a group of my mice has surrounded the main possum up front. They spring forward, claw, and bite. One of the mice manages to distract the possum, but the rest of the mice dive at its left back leg. They bite, and tear, pulling flesh from bone, and disabling the invader. My mice are all dead. But the possum is severely injured.


    I smile. The possum flies out of the entrance to the tunnel. Landing upon my copper raccoon, who twists, and grabs the possum before throwing it, in between Heracles, and Julia. Julia dives forward, planting a fiery bite wound, on the possum neck, before the copper raccoon jumps atop the possum, and tears its head off with its razor sharp copper claws.


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    I need a name for you. I could call you razor, but honestly kinda cheese so instead i''ll call you razzle. I smirk. Razzle. Perfect.


    The first raccoon exits the tunnel, and is quickly murdered by Heracles, and Julia. Before my forces can recover the third raccoon dives out of the tunnel. Landing on top of Heracles who tries to squirm away. The fourth, and final raccoon also dives out, and lands atop Julia.


    Uh oh.


    I close my eyes. Oh no¡­


    *Ker-Chunk.*


    Lychee stands above, a dead raccoon, with the spiked hunk of rock attached to his arms buried in the skull of the raccoon standing over Heracles. I smile, and turn to check on the fourth raccoon, which is being torn to ribbons by Razzle.


    I shudder in ecstasy as the mana from so many creatures channels itself into my core. Spectacular. I need to kill more.


    I chuckle, and check on my minions. Lychee is nearly a foot and a half tall and wide. With thick heavy clubs for hands, unlike the sharp but fragile blades he had before.  Heracles, and Julia have grown in size, and become thicker, with strong rippling muscles beneath their scales. Razzle has grown in size as well, but his scales seem to be too tight on him. I tilt my head, and watch with interest as Razzle walks up to a wall, and begins to sniffle, and push at it with his nose, before using its claws to tear away dirt revealing a hunk of Copper. he bites into the raw ore, his teeth purpose built for this, and begins to chew away at the metal. As he eats his scales grow in size, and thickness.


    I smile in amazement. That is really interesting. Wait a second¡­ Razzle is not a he¡­ Oopsie. Oh well, nothing to be done about it.


    I return my attention to the corpses of the Mice, as well as the corpse of the raccoons, and the Possum. I smile, and move their corpses to the back of the cave, and direct my small squadron of animals, and a rock to guard the tunnel, and kill anything that comes through. I turn my attention back to the corpses, and begin working. First I recreate the bodies of the berserker mice. Same size, and muscle mass, and just the exact same. But this time I don''t alter their minds leaving them completely sane. I then mass produce that 9 more times to produce nine, very large mice. I did alter their minds to make them eat meat, hunt, hunt in groups, and be more accustomed to their large size.


    I smile. Perfect.


    Now I have an army, in the making...

 OPOSSUM - chapter 8

    I''ve recreated more copper raccoons. Same absurd size, same copper armor, and veins. I''ve recreated the copper raccoons 4 more times, so now I have a squad of five copper raccoons. I need a new name for them as a species. Copper Raccoons is a mouthful, so i''m going to go with Cancuns. Like kind of a mix of copper, and raccoons, but also cocoons already exist so CANCUN''S! Are you proud of me? I chuckle.


    Now that I have a stronger force I need to go drive off my enemy.


    You know, I''ve really learned something from my enemies'' mistakes. When facing other dungeons; overkill, is not overkill, because if you fail during an invasion then your opponent will drastically grow in strength.


    I smile. Time to play with the opossum¡­


    I get to work on making the blueprint for my opossum. First I make it larger. This is difficult to do without other meat to use, as fodder so it can grow easier. So, I sent out two of my Cancuns, as well as my group of +sized mice.


    Bring me meat. Dead or Alive.


    I return my attention to the opossum. The main thing I did was make it larger, and far more muscled. I use mostly fast twitch muscle, this thing is going to be a sprinter, and it''s going to be fast. I reinforce, and lengthen its teeth, and claws with copper. Its teeth simply have copper plating, but its claws actually have copper mixed into the claw reinforcing it, and lengthening it. The next thing I do is attempt to make it more intelligent. I don''t really know how to do this, because I''ve never really studied the brain, so I basically just make the whole thing bigger to fit the much larger animal. Once it''s done it will be almost 3 feet long. Too big to really fit in my tunnels.


    I frown, and turn my attention to my miner.


    Expand the tunnels. Make them far wider. I also want you to expand the tunnel to the enemy. I will deploy a Cancun, to guard you.


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    I swiftly return my attention to the blueprint of the SUPER OPOSSUM¡­ What else should I give this thang? Thicker skin, and fur? Yeah, why not, make it more resistant to slashing, and stabbing. I just grab its skin, and basically make magical copies of them, and layer them over each other until it is twice as thick as before. I smile. Perfect.


    I finally begin altering its mind. I allow it to retain basic functions, such as reproduction, and eating, I also imbue it with the knowledge that it is a predator, and can hunt, and kill as it likes.


    When imbuing it with mana to increase power, or give special functions, I imbue with dark mana. I haven''t really worked with it in the past, so I''m curious what will happen. I smile. As i pump it full of dark mana.


    *Clunk* I blink in surprise. Oh. I''m out of mana. That''s no good. I guess I can wait for my hunters to return. I smile, and turn my attention to my regular mice. Both of the females were pregnant last time I checked. I smile, and when I open my eyes, and view, a burrow filled with 15 baby mice. Both of the female mice gave birth, one gave birth to nine cute little mice pups, and the second gave birth to six. fourteen of them look like strong healthy mice pups, one of them looks rather sickly, and weak, it appears that in total 18 pups were born but 3 of them died shortly after birth. Well, that''s no bueno. I shrug, what are you going to do.


    I turn my attention to my miner, and find him on break eating blackberries, from the vines growing abundantly through my lair. The Cancun I assigned to guard him is also eating. The hunters I sent out just kept coming back with more dead things. There is a large pile of bodies in the front room of the cave, in various states of being eaten, or damaged. None of them died in my cave, though, so I didn''t get any of the mana that comes with it. But while my attention was elsewhere it was a good food source for my carnivorous animals.


    I shrug, and try to use the bodies to fill out the blueprint of the opossum before realizing. Ope. I need mana to fill it out as well. Of which I have none. I can either have my hunters bring back living things, which will be difficult, and slow, or I can have my hunters only feed themselves, and let the pile of corpses draw in some hungry guests. Which will be slow, but easy.


    I think I''ll do the latter.

 MURDER - Chapter 9

    I smile, and admire the mass of birds that have settled on my pile of corpses. For some reason the corpses in my Lair don''t decompose, which keeps most of it pretty fresh for the animals that would want to eat it. The pile is a popular place to visit for crows leaving me with quite a few crow souls, twenty to be exact. As well as some wonderful mana, juicy crow bodies, and most importantly, feathers, something I haven''t acquired before. Meaning I can make arrows! Hurray! Not that it really matters because I don''t have any creatures that can hold a bow.


    I turn my attention back to the floating blueprint of the mega opossum, which I have been slowly but surely filling out with meat, muscles, bones, and tendons. It is mostly done, I just need a little more dark mana. Which I now have, and am going to use. I quickly pour dark mana into it like pouring water into a glass, I keep pumping it full of mana, until it is just about to explode.


    I jump. Oh ya. My enemy dungeon is on the attack. I smile, and finish manifesting my mega opossum, which I need to think of a name for, because I can''t keep calling it mega opossum. My opossum finished forming, and it''s nearly 3 feet long, and absolutely huge with very thick, fur, and skin.


    I jump, oh they are moving fast. Its ten raccoons, led by an over-sized fox. Which wouldn''t be able to fit in my tunnel. If I hadn''t ordered my miner to expand the tunnels¡­ I facepalm. They are almost here. I order my newborn opossum to lead the squad of five copper raccoons, to defend against the invaders. They are supplemented by Heracles, and¡­ Where is Julia? I look around, and find Julia in Heracles, and her burrow, sitting around a clump of 3 large eggs. Oh¡­ well I''m not gonna make her leave, and to be honest, I''m not worried, so¡­ I''ll just leave her be. I turn my attention back to my forces, I specifically leave out the +sized mice, because I don''t think they are strong enough yet.


    When they arrive I''m ready. The fox burst through the entrance to the tunnel, and is met by the jagged teeth of my mega opossum.


    Who I have come up with a name for in fact. Megs. Because she is a mega opossum. I smile.


    The fox is quickly wounded by the powerful force that is Megs. Quickly following behind the fox 3 more raccoons burst forward, and are quickly torn to shreds by my just slightly overpower Cancuns.


    I shudder, and moan, as their mana flows into my core. Megs charges forward, and in an instant tears out the throat of the opposing fox, and leads the charge deeper into the tunnels, which she barely fits into, and the slaughter begins, they rush forward tearing, and shredding through flesh. Megs single handedly murders a squad of ten raccoons, and in doing so displays intelligence, an ability to go invisible when standing still in darkness, cruelty, as well as speed.


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    I smile. My Magnum Opus.


    I smile. We will finish off the enemy.


    Advance, destroy the opposing core.


    Megs squirms, in joy before scurrying forward, followed by my squad of Cancuns. They quickly tear down the tunnel, and as they go I use my mana, and push on the barrier to the opponents Domain. My power collides with theirs, and unlike last time I am pushing back against my opponent, I slowly but surely make progress before, eventually breaking through and getting the first glimpse of their actual cave. This one is more stony, and square. I kind of like it, I think I will take notes.


    Megs quickly arrives, and bursts into the cave, her natural mana assisting me allowing me to push back the enemy at a steady pace. My forces push wiping out group of animals after group of animals, before they eventually leave my domain, but leave my enemy weakened, and i''m growing faster, because my enemy is growing weaker. I smile. So basically my units can be used like little influence spreaders, making it easier to maintain, and spread my domain. I quickly follow my units, who have landed at a stalemate, in a battle with a large group of Raccoons once again.


    ¡°WAIT! PLEASE!¡±


    I jump, in surprise, ¡°What the?¡±


    ¡°Oh Thank God you are conscious, please don''t kill me! I''m sorry!¡±


    I shudder. ¡°You tried to kill me!¡±


    ¡°I''m sorry I didn''t know I made a mistake!¡± he pleads his voice cracking with fear. I shudder in pleasure as his fear turns to mana in the air.


    ¡°NO! I''m going to destroy you, and feed on your corpse!¡± I cackle, and groan evilly as he screams, and begs, and cries for mercy.


    *CRACK* I shudder in pleasure, as Megs reaches the crystal, and takes a bite out of it, just a gentle nibble.


    ¡°NO! PLEASE NO! IT HURTS!! I''M SORRY!¡± he sniffles, and cries as my pets torture and devour him. I smile, and laugh in ecstasy as his mana is released into my domain empowering me. I moan, as I grow in strength in an instant nearly doubling in mana capacity, and how much mana is in me.


    *CRACK* I flutter my imaginary eyes as his core shatters into multiple pieces, the last of his internal energy blasting outward in a cyclone of delicious mana. His death throes give me more satisfaction than his death itself.


    Delicious¡­

 Mineshaft - Chapter 10

    I smirk happily, and rub my imaginary belly with my imaginary hands. Good times. My vision sits directly above the shattered body of the core I just shattered. I turn back, and turn my attention to the rest of the cave. Woah. This thang is huge. I push forward, and find that most of the cave he was in wasn''t even under his control. This appears to be a man made mineshaft, the cave being lined with supports, and such. As I delve deeper with my vision, I also bring along my squad of Cancuns, not a single one of them dying during combat with the opponent, on the contrary several grew in size. As well as Megs, who also grew in size, if only slightly.


    As we delve deeper eventually we find a large open cavern. At the center of the cavern we find. Light. A torch, or two. We delve deeper into the cavern discovering. A palisade, made of wood seemingly scavenged from the mine shaft. The whole thing is lit by torches. I push my vision inside of the fortifications, and discover. An encampment¡­ Of goblins? I think? Disgusting little things with green skin, long ears, that curl, and shrivel at the end like dying leaves, their feet are cloven with hooves like satyrs. Fingers that bend in all the wrong direction, and sharp needle teeth, that scare even me, a non human creature.


    I frown.


    Wipe them out.


    My squadron of Cancuns, as well as Megs rushes forward, and bursts through the entrance of the fortifications. The fortifications are small, measly, pathetic, and with my thoughts I guide my minions onward to crush more. I shudder in pleasure, as a goblin has its legs torn off, and quickly dies of blood loss.


    Amazing¡­


    I shudder as its mana fills me, even such a small pathetic creature, has more mana, than the other animals I kill. Is it because it''s a humanoid? Or something else. I shrug without a care, and watch as my minions rampage, eventually surrounding a pocket of gobliny resistance


    *SHRINK*  I shudder, as one of my minions is stabbed by a goblin. A Cancun, it must have been ambushed, a long thin knife, practically a stiletto, is shoved through a gap in the armor, its armpit, and straight into its heart, killing it instantly.


    *FWOOM* a fireball sails across my vision once again landing atop a Cancun, cooking it, from the inside out.


    Megs dives forward over a group of Goblin warriors, and lands in front of the one who threw the fireball. Megs swipes with her paw!


    ¡°Wait! Wait!¡±


    In an instant I stop Megs.


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    ¡°You are dungeon right? You need minions? I be minion!¡±


    I lean in. Can I talk to it?


    ¡°I have minions, what do I need you for?¡±


    ¡°Y-you no have spirit with you? Right? I can taste through air!¡±


    I frown.


    ¡°What do I need a spirit for?¡±


    ¡°Dungeon don''t get spirit, dungeon go crazy, and humie kill dungeon!¡± he throws his hands into the air, as he finishes his sentence in a raised pitch! ¡°I serve you! Teach magic!¡±


    I cock my imaginary head. It sounds like something I could use. May as well take it. Worst case scenario, I have to kill it later.


    ¡°Deal¡­ What is your name goblin?¡±


    He glances up, with fear. ¡°I no have name¡­¡±


    ¡°Gotcha, Gairy it is¡­¡±


    Gairy shudders as he receives his name, and grows slightly in size.


    ¡°Thank you master¡­¡±


    I raise my eyebrows in pleasant surprise.


    ¡°Your voice is more eloquent.¡±


    ¡°Unnamed creatures have less intelligence, dexterity, and mana in general. Not that I was dumb beforehand, I simply am able to voice my thoughts better now.¡±


    I nod my head.


    ¡°You said you would teach me magic?¡±


    He raises his head.


    ¡°Yes, I guess the first lesson is, can you use mana?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°May I see It?¡±


    I frown. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Simply will it to be so that I may see it.¡±


    I frown, and try to follow his instructions.


    ¡°Ah, thank you my Lord. It appears you have not been filtering corruption. Can you see the corruption?¡±


    Now that he mentions it, when I look inside myself I notice my core is ringed with some disgusting material. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Ok, well you need to remove it. This is quite a difficult process because you need to-¡±


    ¡°Done.¡± I simply reached into my core, and controlled it like mana, and removed it.


    ¡°-Spin your mana, into a whirlpool shape, this is called Cultivating which will pull the Corruption out- WHAT! How did you do that!?¡±


    ¡°I just grabbed it, and removed it¡­ No biggie.¡±


    Gairy grabs his head, as if he has a headache. ¡°What the Hell¡­¡±


    I chuckle¡­

 Dungeoning - Chapter 11

    Gairy walks forward, into the main area of my dungeon, and wrinkles his nose.


    ¡°This is horrible. Do you never get any Dungeon divers?¡±


    I frown. ¡°No.¡±


    He shakes his head, and his eyes get wide. ¡°Boy are you lucky to have me. Dungeons get energy by killing things inside their domain. You get things to come inside your domain, by A. having a mana rich environment for them to soak up mana, and get stronger. B. By tying rewards inside the blueprints of your monsters. Get it? Once you''ve found something in your dungeon you can recreate it, sorta. You can transmute other materials to make it. You can turn wood into gold but wood has less mass than wood, so you would need a lot of wood to make a bar of gold.¡±


    I shake my head, as my mind reels with all the information being pumped into it. ¡°Slow dow-¡±


    Now because of this, you want A, your dungeon to be pretty, and B you want your dungeon to be FAIR. If a newbie walks into the first floor, and finds some super overpowered fuck, guess what, they are going to assume you are a Failed Dungeon,¡± He puts this one in air quotes, ¡°And destroy you.¡±


    I shudder.


    ¡°So either you need to start expanding FAST, because you are just about big enough for humans to discover you, or you need to move into the mineshaft.¡±


    I shudder at the thought. ¡°I''ll expand this one¡± I quickly begin the process of making a blueprint for a miner, and in no time flat, I have a fleet of miners, expanding my front cave.


    Gairy nods. ¡°With how small you are right now, you can have one main, big room, with a boss room, at the end, or a couple smaller rooms, with a boss room at the end.¡±


    I imaginary shrug. ¡°Big room, I guess.¡±


    While my miners continue to dig, I converse with Gairy.  ¡°So, I don''t really like just the empty stone room, do you think I could give it nature vibes? How would I do that, and how would I get light in here?¡±


    Gairy nods his head at me, ¡°Well, you can make stones that mimic the sun, by simply channeling light mana into a rock.¡± Gairy picks up a rock, and it slowly begins to glow.


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    I nod, and recreate his demonstration, and am left with a big glowing rock, which I embed in the ceiling.  ¡°Gairy, take a couple Cancuns, and go out, and gather some plants, and mushrooms.¡±


    Gairy nods, and takes a squad of 4 Cancuns, to start searching for plants for my cave.


    I turn my attention back to my dungeon, and begin working on the boss room. The boss room is perfectly circular, and the walls have intricate designs showing plants, and humans, and animals fighting. The floors are plain enough, but do have just some random squiggly line for decoration, and the ceiling mirrors the floor. The room is about 12 feet in diameter. This room is for Lychee. I would have put someone like Megs, but I think she is too powerful for the first floor, and so will start making a second floor.


    On the note of difficulty, I don''t know what to do about the regular mobs for the first, and second floor. I think for now, I''m going to just put a couple Cancuns on the first floor that will act independently, and on the second floor, I will put Cancun''s that work as a team. As well as Megs for the boss. I don''t know what to do, about Heracles, and Julia. I feel they might be a little under powered for this so far. So I don''t know yet. For now, I''ll just relocate their base to the old base of that other dungeon core. I smile, lean back, and enjoy the site of my work.


    Gairy reenters the boss with an assortment of mushrooms, grasses, and other plants, which I plant amidst the blackberry vines growing up the walls, all over my base. I smile. My Dungeon is so pretty.


    Gairy starts speaking. ¡°So master, when people kill your mobs, they will get a portion of their mana, and increase in strength, but, you don''t want to have to manually recreate them every time. That''s why I''m going to teach you how to make wisps.¡±


    I tilt my imaginary head. ¡°Ok. Go on.¡±


    Gairy continues, ¡°A wisp is basically just a mana construct you imbue spells on, and are common in dungeons. You can imbue them with the blueprint of whatever creature they will make, and when one of those creatures dies, they will go over, recreate their body, and put their soul right back in. You do have to refill them with mana every once in a while though. ¡±


    I nod my head, ¡°So won''t dungeoneers just attack my wisp?¡±


    ¡°No, they won''t, because well, they can''t see them.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Ok, explain how they are made.¡±


    ¡°Basically really similarly to make any other mob, you make the shape of them, which can just be a little ball, than you pump them full of a ridiculous amount of mana, they do need a soul, which you can alter to just keep recreating Cancuns, when they die, and you can instinctively give them the knowledge of the blueprint you want them to make, and remember to give them a blueprint with some rewards inside of it, as well as a reservoir of rewards for them to choose from.¡±


    I nod along, and begin the process of making a Wisp, for making more Cancuns. It takes me a while, and to be honest, I don''t understand the whole thing, but once I''m done, I''ve got a little guy, floating around, who will¡­ Hopefully make other Cancuns!


    ¡°Yippeeeeeeeeeee!¡±


    Gairy covers his ears, and sighs.

 Da Boys - Chapter 11.5

    Milo trudges along the dirt. Followed closely behind him is his neighbors, Conrad, and Wade. He scratches at his thick black beard, and pushes his long, oily black hair back behind his ears.


    All 3 men are farmers in the desolate valley they live in. Milo owns a wheat farm, at the bottom of the valley, while both Conrad, and Wade, own orchids on the other side of the valley, where they grow apples, and some other seasonal fruits. But this land they stand on, is un owned, and wild land.


    ¡°I swear a saw a fucking Goblin!¡± Milo grunts out in a thick Scottish accent.


    Wade interjects, ¡°We believe you Milo, that''s why we came to help.¡± he says in a soothing voice.


    All 3 men are armed with makeshift weapons, Conrad carries a thick butcher knife, and Wade a heavy makeshift club. While Milo has a pitchfork, he uses on his farm.


    All 3 men jump as they chance upon the scurrying of an animal of some sort. Conrad rushes forward, and nearly trips, and breaks his neck, falling into a hole in the ground. Conrad calls out, in his deep voice.


    ¡°Found somethin¡­¡±


    Milo, and Wade inch forward, pushing the brush aside revealing a pit, nearly 2 feet deep, it has a small ramp off to the side that they missed.


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    Milo hops directly down from his spot into the hole, where he finds another tunnel snaking downwards. Conrad is already headed down. Wade quickly goes around, and walks down the dirt ramp.


    Milo follows shortly behind Conrad. They continue to walk until they shortly find a large room, with a high domed ceiling. The room is filled with plant life, and mushrooms, the roof has a large crystal radiating sunlight out across the room.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna be fucking rich¡­¡± Conrad smirks, and steps forward.


    Wade, and Milo follow shortly behind, they walk through the room, and find nothing interesting. They continue along a trodden path through the tall vegetation until they find a doorway, they peek through the doorway but don''t see anything. Conrad frowns, and steps forward into the circular room.


    *CRACK* Milo, and Wade jump as Conrad''s shin bone, is smashed to bits by something. Conrad screams in pain¡­


    ¡°AH PLEASE, IT HURTS!¡±


    Milo, and Wade freeze.


    *C-THUNK* Another blow lands this time, on Conrad''s head, and they finally identify the assailant. A 2 foot tall, little golem, made of granite. Both men quickly retreat.


    Wade starts shaking, and smiling, ¡°I''m gonna be rich!¡± He shakes, and looks down at his hands. Milo interjects.


    ¡°We¡­ Are going to be rich.¡±


    Wade spins to see Milo, and frowns. ¡°No¡­ You¡­ Are going to be¡­ DEAD!¡± He swings his club at Milo''s head, Milo ducks backward, and¡­


    *SHLINK* claws slice through Wade''s leg. ¡°Help¡­ me¡­¡± He groans.


    I stand up. ¡°Fuck you you bastard.¡± I stab him in his stomach with my pitchfork, and run out of the cave while he bleeds.

 Da Boys - Chapter 11.5

    Milo trudges along the dirt. Followed closely behind him is his neighbors, Conrad, and Wade. He scratches at his thick black beard, and pushes his long, oily black hair back behind his ears.


    All 3 men are farmers in the desolate valley they live in. Milo owns a wheat farm, at the bottom of the valley, while both Conrad, and Wade, own orchids on the other side of the valley, where they grow apples, and some other seasonal fruits. But this land they stand on, is unowned, and wild land.


    ¡°I swear a saw a fucking Goblin!¡± Milo grunts out in a thick Scottish accent.


    Wade interjects, ¡°We believe you Milo, that''s why we came to help.¡± he says in a soothing voice.


    All 3 men are armed with makeshift weapons, Conrad carries a thick butcher knife, and Wade a heavy makeshift club. While Milo has a pitchfork, he uses on his farm.


    All 3 men jump as they chance upon the scurrying of an animal of some sort. Conrad rushes forward, and nearly trips, and breaks his neck, falling into a hole in the ground. Conrad calls out, in his deep voice.


    ¡°Found somethin¡­¡±


    Milo, and Wade inch forward, pushing the brush aside revealing a pit, nearly 2 feet deep, it has a small ramp off to the side that they missed.


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    Milo hops directly down from his spot into the hole, where he finds another tunnel snaking downwards. Conrad is already headed down. Wade quickly goes around, and walks down the dirt ramp.


    Milo follows shortly behind Conrad. They continue to walk until they shortly find a large room, with a high domed ceiling. The room is filled with plant life, and mushrooms, the roof has a large crystal radiating sunlight out across the room.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna be fucking rich¡­¡± Conrad smirks, and steps forward.


    Wade, and Milo follow shortly behind, they walk through the room, and find nothing interesting. They continue along a trodden path through the tall vegetation until they find a doorway, they peek through the doorway but don''t see anything. Conrad frowns, and steps forward into the circular room.


    *CRACK* Milo, and Wade jump as Conrad''s shin bone, is smashed to bits by something. Conrad screams in pain¡­


    ¡°AH PLEASE, IT HURTS!¡±


    Milo, and Wade freeze.


    *C-THUNK* Another blow lands this time, on Conrad''s head, and they finally identify the assailant. A 2 foot tall, little golem, made of granite. Both men quickly retreat.


    Wade starts shaking, and smiling, ¡°I''m gonna be rich!¡± He shakes, and looks down at his hands. Milo interjects.


    ¡°We¡­ Are going to be rich.¡±


    Wade spins to sea Milo, and frowns. ¡°No¡­ You¡­ Are going to be¡­ DEAD!¡± He swings his club at Milo''s head, Milo ducks backward, and¡­


    *SHLINK* claws slice through Wade''s leg. ¡°Help¡­ me¡­¡± He groans.


    I stand up. ¡°Fuck you you bastard.¡± I stab him in his stomach with my pitchfork, and run out of the cave while he bleeds.

 Negotiation - Chapter 12

    ¡°Hah! That was fun, I hope more humans come!¡±


    Gairy interjects, ¡°Since that one survived, I''m certain others will come.¡±


    I smile, and return my attention to working. I need to start making the second floor, and for this one, I think I''m going to make it like a series of rooms, for people to go through.


    The first room I build is similar to the boss room, with designs on the walls, and just plain floors, and ceiling, but I put small burrows, for Cancuns, to sleep on the sides. This will be a squad of 3 Cancuns, working together. The next room I build is slightly bigger, with a squad of 5 Cancuns, the third room is almost twice as big, and fits a squad of 8 Cancuns.


    Finally I start working on the boss room, which is just going to be a long rectangular room, almost as big as the big main room, upstairs. This one only has torches lighting one side of the cave, but the rest is in darkness. Perfect for Megs to hide in. On the note of light, I also put several lanterns, and candles all throughout the second floor rooms,to light the place.


    ¡°Master, Master, Master, Master, MASTER!¡± Gairy has to repeatedly call for me to gain my attention.


    I look down, ¡°what are you yelling for man?¡±


    You have been engrossed in making the second floor, for almost 3 weeks.


    I imaginary blink¡­


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It took you nearly 3 weeks to make the second floor, and I couldn''t reach you for that entire time period.¡±


    I shake my head again. ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°Also, your mouse population is overpopulated.¡±


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    I blink again¡­ ¡°Think I could just release them into floor one?¡±


    Gairy nods. ¡°Sure, just make sure that the Cancuns eat them, or that the humans have a reason to kill them, because they get way overpopulated.


    Milo


    The first person to arrive was a magic user. They seemed rather strong, at least compared to me. They told me they were from a Guild called Oats. Which I thought was a weird name, but they told me they were a very powerful Guild. They asked me to take them to the dungeon.


    ¡°Good, Golly, the mana in here is pure! This will make a very good training dungeon! Who owns it?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± I speak up, and explain that I bought it, shortly after discovering it. Due to this land being so empty, inhabitable, and being directly in between the Warring Orcen tribes, and the Humans up North.


    ¡°Oh, Good! we¡¯ll buy it!¡±


    I shake my head, ¡°Uh, It''s not for sale. I''ll let you use it for a tax though?¡±


    He frowns. ¡°I don''t know. I''ll have to get a representative out here to negotiate. I was just sent here to assess, and if it was any good buy it¡­¡±


    I nod, and stroke my thick black beard, ¡°Probably for the best, feel free to encamp yourself somewhere around here. Just ask first.¡±


    He nods. ¡°I''ll probably have to leave, to go get a representative, and you know how far away this is from Brindle, which is the nearest place where I can get a representative.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Ok.¡±


    Shortly after the mage left another group of people showed up. They said they were also from a Guild, called Ebonmane. I did the same thing with them that I did with the Mage from Oats. But this time, when I proposed use of it, with a tax they immediately gave me an offer.


    ¡°We¡¯ll give you a Gold, every month, for use in this dungeon.¡± The burly man, nearly as big as me, crosses his arms, and waits.


    I nod, ¡°I''ll go with that, but only for 6 months, at the end of the 6 months, I want to renew the contract.¡±


    He grimaces, but nods. ¡°Fine. We will get our scribes to write the contract.¡±


    I also interject with, ¡°And, your use to the dungeon, is not reserved, I can sell rights to others.¡±


    He grimaces again. ¡°Fine¡­¡± he grits his teeth in frustration. ¡°Where can we build?¡±


    I wave my hands in the air, pick a spot, and come ask me.


    He turns to me, and asks. ¡°How much of the land do you own?¡±


    I smile, flashing him with my bright white teeth. ¡°The whole valley, and all the mountains surrounding it¡­¡±

 Ivan - Chapter 12

    Milo smiles as he overlooks the vast plot of land he owns. The representative for Oats, had come back to negotiate. An older man, with a graying beard, and animal fat slicking back his hair, wearing simple, but well kept clothing.


    ¡°How much do you want for the rites to use your dungeon?¡± The man grunts, immediately getting to the point.


    ¡°I don''t know, a gold a month?¡± Milo smiles, ignorant.


    The man looks down, before rubbing his face, ¡°Probably shouldn''t say this, but you know anyone who agreed to, or suggested that before this, was scamming you. As a guild we charge a flat 10% of everything that our members take out of that dungeon, and we can make stacks of gold, in a month, in a good quality dungeon like this one.¡±


    Milo blinks¡­ ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    The old man waves his hand. ¡°Tell you what, 7% tax, but for the first couple months we will take 3% of that money, to outfit you with gear, help you learn how to cultivate, and even allow you to party up with people from our Guild. Kapeesh?¡±


    Milo blinks in surprise at the old man''s helpfulness. ¡°That sounds great, thank you!¡±


    He nods, ¡°A couple of the earth mages are getting kind of antsy, with the whole being so close to the Orcs thing, and having no fortification, so they were wondering if they could build fortifications to live in.¡±


    Milo grimaces. ¡°I quite like the natural beauty of this area, I''d rather they not.¡±


    The old man smirks. ¡°I''ve seen what they mean by fortifications, it won''t make it worse, and I GUARANTEE, it''ll look better than just having our camp spread all throughout. Also do you understand how the adventurer ranking system works?¡±


    Milo shrugs, ¡°I guess I''m ok, with you building, just make it look good, I care very much about vanity. Also, I do not know how your ranking system works¡­¡±


    The old man nods, ¡°By the way, I''m Ivan.¡± Ivan holds out his hand to shake Milos hand.


    Milo holds out his hand, ¡°nice to meet you Ivan, Im Milo.¡±


    Ivan nods. ¡°The ranking system runs by lettering, and number, F all the way to SSS. It runs from whatever letter to 9. Like right now you are a F-1. But I am an A-4 rank and my class is earth mage.¡± Above, the rank of A, the people you meet are going to spike in strength because then we gain enough strength to start manipulating Souls, which are much more potent than mana.¡±


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    Milo nods along, ¡°so how do I get more powerful, and honestly, why do I want to get more powerful?¡±


    Ivan nods, ¡°All good questions, you want to get more powerful, because, you own, a dungeon, with VERY pure ambient mana inside of it, as well as owning enough land that if you acquire enough wealth, which you will, im certain the Kingdom, of Morovia, will instate you as a noble in the region.¡±


    Milo nods along. ¡°Soo¡­ Why do I need to learn to cultivate.¡±


    Ivan rolls his eyes. ¡°You youngsters are so impatient. A with an abundance of wealth, and power, people WILL try to assassinate you, and B, do you know how old I am? I probably look 70 or so right? Wrong, I started cultivating when I was 70, that was 86 years ago. While the Morovians were still at war with the western herd. I''ll probably be alive for another several hundred, and if I can reach the S ranks, no S rank has EVER been recorded dying of natural causes.¡±


    Milos, eyes widen. ¡°Fair enough¡­¡±


    ¡°Also, you get stronger by doing two things, cultivating, and killing beasts. Cultivating is usually just cleansing your system, but it also makes you draw in ambient mana slightly faster, but to be honest, it is easier to just kill beasts.¡± Ivan explains.


    Milo nods along. ¡°Ok, that makes sense¡­ How do I cultivate.¡±


    Ivan nods and begins to speak. ¡°That!... Will take me too long to explain, I''m going to need to guide the other earth mages in making the fortifications, there is only one other A ranked mage, and she is a newborn A ranker, so I''m going to have to guide her as well. You¡­ Instead¡­ Take this note,¡±He scribbles something onto a scrap of cloth. ¡°and go into our encampment and look around for Alistair, once you find him, give him this. Once you are done with that. Take this other note.¡± He quickly scribbles out a second note. ¡°Find Luther, and give him this note. He will guide you in opening your cultivation circuit.¡±


    Milo nods, and blinks as his brain absorbs the long stream of information, Ivan just gave him. ¡°Uh, Ok.¡±


    ¡°Oh! Uh, wait!¡± Ivan once again, stops Milo, and turns him around.


    The encampment is in the center of the valley, but about a third up the mountain, is a basin surrounded by steep stone cliffs, where in the center of the basin is a moderately sized lake. The dungeon is just slightly more up the mountain side to the basin.


    ¡°Is it ok, if we build in there, and around there?¡±


    Milo, raises an eyebrow, incredulously. ¡°Sure. I don''t know how you''re going to build much of anything, but alright. I''m considering making people pay to rent the land, just a moderate amount of money, but I''ll probably increase it depending on the usefulness of the land, and how disputed it is¡­¡±


    Ivan shrugs. ¡°Well, that basin is useless, so as long as you don''t charge us lots¡­¡±


    Milo shrugs. ¡°I¡¯ll just let you use it for free, because it''s completely useless, and you were the first person to explain to me I was being scammed.¡±


    Ivan smirks, and pumps his arm. ¡°Being nice finally pays off.¡±


    Milo chuckles.


    Milo walks down into the valley, and Ivan starts herding mages, towards the basin.

 Construction - Chapter 13

    After Ivan gave Milo the notes, he headed down into the valley to enter the entrenchment of camps. He very quickly found Alistair hiding inside of a wagon, where he had an assortment of gear.


    ¡°W-what type of weapon do you want?¡± Alistair stutters out, his hands raised as if he was afraid Milo was going to hit him.


    Milo, shrugs. ¡°Something easy to use.¡±


    Alistair quickly sizes up Milo. ¡°Y-you look like you are strong, could use a big heavy weapon.¡±


    Milo responds quickly, ¡°well I would prefer as much armor as possible to keep me as safe as possible, as well as a shield, and again, I don''t know about the weapon.¡±


    Alistair nods, and rushes to the back of his wagon, and retrieves a heavy suit of angular armor, spiky, and unfriendly looking, but palatable, as well as a large square shield, which looked like glorified planks strapped together with metal trim. He also retrieves a sharp looking short sword. Milo picks up the short sword, and actually finds it very dense, and heavy.


    Alistair starts explaining again. ¡°The shield will be hard enough to move around in tight spaces, if very well defendable, so you should use a smaller weapon, especially inside of a dungeon.¡±


    Milo nods along. ¡°I guess I''ll take it, how much for all of it.¡±


    Alistair waves his hand. ¡°I-Ivan said in the note you don''t have the money yet, but will pay me back, with Guild credit, so don''t worry about it.¡±


    Milo thanked him, and left before quickly looking for Luther.


    Luther happened to be a very slim man, lightly armored, with leather armor, but with a wicked serrated knife, and a small buckler strapped to his arm.


    ¡°Hello, Ivan told me to come see you.¡±


    Luther glares at Milo, before accepting the note. He quickly opens it, and sighs. ¡°Damn, old fart. Ok, Sit down, let''s do this thang.¡±


    1 week later


    The process for opening ones core, happened to be not, only very confusing, but very painful, as there are also, basically magic veins running throughout your body, that you have to clean out, and Milos core, was filled with junk, and his veins practically clogged, leaving many painful hours of cleaning them out, bit my bit.


    When Milo was finally done cleaning his core, he could view himself, and found himself to be very clean. Part of keeping oneself clean is moving mana throughout your body, called cultivating. There are many techniques for doing so, but Luther said he will teach him later in the dungeon.


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    Once all that was over, Milo got to view the creation of Ivan fortifications. Apparently a cool process took Ivan a long time to gather all the earth mages, and required material. Luther, and Milo, gather near the basin where Ivan, and the other earth mages stand on the edge, with piles of stone, and something Luther called mana crystals all around them.


    The mages begin to do weird things, with beautiful lights flowing all about from each other, but they all eventually lead to Ivan. Unbeknownst to Milo, what they are doing is channeling all their power into Ivan, as he is their most powerful mage, so he can shape the earth for them.


    At the center of the lake, the water begins to ripple as a peak of stone pears through, and more is dropped into the water, from the piles of stone around the edge of the basin. Slowly a large squat tower begins to emerge from the water, the walls a gradient of regular stone, and a dark almost obsidian colored stone, but much stronger. The tower quickly rises to half the height of the basin before.


    *Thud* The mages around the basin begin to drop, one by one, the weakest first, followed by the low ranking, and then eventually. Only Ivan, and one other female mage remain standing, the construction of the tower slowing to a crawl.


    The fallen mages quickly rise, and put their hands on the mana stones surrounding them, and suddenly, they are rejuvenated, and once again, begin powering Ivan, like a man sized 3D printer the power being funneled into him is converted into the growth of the tower.


    Once the tower reaches the height of the basin, it is still squat, and thick, losing barely any width during the rising process.


    Instead of continuing to grow, bridges begin to stretch from either side of the tower, 2 bridges stretch across the basin, stone, and dark wood, interlinking to create a beautiful bridge with the top of the tower, as a meeting place, or square.


    It doesn''t stop there. Where the tower meets the bridges it continues to rise, around the bridge, leaving a hole in the tower, which a arch is quickly built over, and the tower quickly continues to rise. It rises enough to create the arch, and about 2 more stories worth of space, and then a slightly curved, but mostly flat rooftop, is place over the left, half of the rooftop, but the tower continues to rise, in the greatly reduced amount of area, that is left, it continues to rise, before copying its earlier form, with a slightly curved rooftop, and then a much smaller tower continues to rise, cresting at a beautiful bell tower.


    Every last mage surrounding the basin collapses into a heap, even Ivan. Ivan especially appears to be bleeding, sweating blood from the strain.


    Milo rushes to Ivan, and supports the man, lifting him, with an arm over his shoulder.


    Ivan grins at Milo, ¡°You technically own that tower, so, you better be nice to me, ya little brat¡±


    Milo chuckles. ¡°Of course, how else would I treat you.¡±


    The people around quickly begin cheering, and thus, the rush. Anyone under the Oats banner quickly rushes in to find a place to stay, apparently every last bottom floor turned into a living space, for people to live in, except for the occasional storage room. The center of the tower, where the bridge runs through, no doubt, when traders arrive they will be vying for a place to set up stalls in that marketplace. The two floors above that, were a tavern, with a dance floor, a kitchen, tons of seating, and beautiful views. The floor directly above it being a suite, which Ivan claimed, and above that a bell tower.


    Now, despite everything just said, there are barely any people here other than the Oats Guild, but they only brought 50 something people, and the tower was big enough to fit hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. It was humongous. The Ebonmane people barely have a party worth of people here, but they continue to trickle in. Merchants also slowly trickle in, wagon by wagon, they carry their wares into our valley, to sell to people looking to get their start in adventuring.

 Chapter 14

    What should I do for my third floor?


    ¡°What should I do for my third floor Gairy?


    Gairy glances up from the rune he is carving into his staff. ¡°Oh, make a series of 15 rooms, and have a Meg every 3 rooms, and a squad of Cancuns, in each as well. Slowly make the squads bigger.¡±


    I glance around. ¡°That''s boring. Tell you what, I''m going to make two different ways to get through, one will have Megs, and one will have lots of Cancuns.¡±


    Gairy shrugs. ¡°Unusual, but ok.¡±


    I smile, and begin working. The first route will be long, but easier, with Cancuns. It will have 5 Cancuns, in the first room, and I''ll add 3 more Cancuns, for every room. I''ll have 12 rooms, with plus 3 Cancuns, for every room.


    The second route will only have 3 rooms, the first room, with one Meg, , the second room, with 1 Meg and 3 Cancuns, and the last room, with 2 Megs.


    The biggest question of what I should make the boss room? Maybe, I just supersize a Meg, and drop it in there?


    I consult with Gairy. ¡°What should I do for the boss room? I don''t know what to do, so I''m considering just making a super sized Meg.¡±


    Gairy nods. ¡°You could do that. Or you could try to make something completely new from scratch.¡±


    I grimace. ¡°What Soul would I use for that?¡±


    Gairy blinks, ¡°Just mash together a bunch of weaker souls, and make something stronger.¡±


    I blink. ¡°I can do that?¡±


    Gairy chuckles, ¡°yup.¡±


    I begin the process of making the creature I want for the floor boss. I want to model it off, Heracles, so I basically just make a snake, but huge, almost 10 feet long. But he struggles to move, because I must have messed something up, in his creation.


    I quickly call in Gairy to Cull my monstrosity.


    I begin to work again. My creature ends up being nearly 10 feet long, and I give up making it be wormy, and instead give it legs. give a multitude of limbs that extend every half a foot. Each arm taken from Goblin, I give it 20 arms in total, 10 on each side. Instead of Giving it a snake head, I plant on the head of a Goblin, and give it a couple crude weapons, to grip in its front hands, like a heavy brittle dagger, or a stone spear, even a light buckler, with a sharp little spike on the front of it.


    I smile, and zoom, out to view my creation, I flesh toned snake, 10 feet long, with humanoid arms extending every half a foot, the front couple of hands, are holding crude weaponry, and at the front of the snake, is the Head of a Goblin, that for creepy point, I dissected the skull, and used string, and small nails to peel away the skin revealing the brain to open air.


    My creature is in constant pain, and screams, and cries like so.


    I implemented it into the boss room, and showed Gairy.


    Gairy pales. ¡°Might¡­ Be a little much for the third floor?¡±


    I purse my imaginary lips. ¡°Nah¡­ If it ends up taking out too many people, I''ll move it.


    Gairy shudders. ¡°First time, I''ve ever felt pity for those damn humies.¡±


    Milo


    Milo clutches his short sword close to the tower shield. ¡°Shit, this stuff is heavy.¡±


    Luther chuckles, and swishes a curved serrated knife back, and forth. ¡°Yup, that''s why I don''t wear none of that shit. Just a little beast leather is enough for me.¡± He gestures to his outfit, a loose robe, covering most of his body, with openings, and folds to hide knives, poisons, and crossbows.


    This is the first time Milo will be entering the dungeon, for real, and this time, with Luther''s, party!


    Luther, of course, being a sort of rogue, who uses sharp poisoned knives, but actually uses a variety of crossbows, as well as a short re-curve bow, hidden away on his person. He is actually far more dangerous outside of the dungeon, specializing in horseback combat, while using his bow.


    The damage dealer, Harkon, a tall, and exceedingly skinny man, nearly 7 feet tall, he wears light chain mail, with some spots protected by thin steel armor. He uses a fearfully difficult to control looking weapon, he calls a chain whip. It has a handle like a sword, and then it has a series of metal segments, before right at the end there is a sharp double edged blade, that from my understanding he uses simple wind magic to control the whole thing better.


    ¡°How do you control that damned thing?¡± Milo gestures to Harkon''s weapon.


    Harkon smirks. ¡°I use wind magic to direct things the way I want them to go, but I also have some EXTENSIVE training from my family.¡±


    Milo opens his mouth to ask about his family. Luther gives him a gentle sucker punch to the arm before shaking his head no. So Milo leaves it be.


    Next, we have Theo. Theo is almost as tall as Harkon, but quite a bit wider, he was the party''s tank, and will now be spending a lot of time teaching Milo how to use his armor.


    Lastly we have Aeryn, an older woman, looking about as old as Ivan. Further consultation, apparently she started cultivating when she was 50, and is now closer to 80, she actually is also a damage dealer/mage, being a respectable 5 foot 8, but with a heavy, and wide frame. She uses a large axe, and earth magic to support the group, mostly. She can also do some minor healing, but is unskilled at it, and so avoids it as much as possible.


    Theo grunts, and scratches at his armor, being completely redundant because he can''t reach the skin beneath, but it seems to make him feel better. Theo leads the way into the dungeon, shoulder to shoulder with Harkon, Milo right behind them, standing next to Luther, who mostly supports them, and finally behind them, is Aeryn.


    Luther swings his knife back, and forth, seeming to be something he enjoys doing, he smiles, and flashes his bright white teeth to the group.


    Aeryn, unphased, by the ambiance of entering the dungeon grunts, and scratches at her graying hair. ¡°Let''s get this over with. Newbie, just don¡¯t die ok.¡±


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    Milo chuckles nervously. As they get further into the cavern they find it widens, out, and gains height being nearly 20 feet tall, and nearly twice as wide, and almost 80 feet long. They enter the room, to find a small cobblestone, and dirt path leading through the forested part.


    Theo chuckles, as a Cancun rushes from a bush, which he punts off into a far wall.


    ¡°FUCK! Now we either got to go all the way over there to get the loot, or we gotta just leave it!¡± He lectures Theo. He rolls his eyes, ¡°keep going.¡±


    They continue onward into the dungeon, to find the first floor is not very dangerous. The Cancuns try their best, but they are uncoordinated, and small.


    As so, they pretty much just release Milo, into the first floor, to kill things by himself, while one of them keeps an eye on him at all times, and everyone else cultivates.


    *Shlink* Harkin boredly dissects a poor Cancun that was sneaking up on Milo.


    ¡°Can we move on to the next floor?¡± He groans, and turns to Luther, who stands.


    ¡°Yeah, the mana density in this one has dropped, probably for the best.¡±


    They strut forward to the boss room, a narrow granite hallway forces them to walk in a line, with Theo at the front, and Harken shortly behind him.


    They poke their heads out of the hallway into a circular room, with cool little squiggly designs on the wall. There is a pile of rocks sitting directly in the center of the room.


    Theo steps forward, and nears the rocks. He turns and looks back at the group. ¡°Nothin.¡±


    Theo is alerted by the grinding of stone, but is too slow, and before he can turn. A hollow clang echoes through the room, from where the big ol¡¯ chunk of granite collides with the back of Theos knee, surprising him, and dropping him to his knees.


    Harken steps forward, and swing his whip, the links extend, and the sharp blade at the end clatters against the granite of the 4 foot tall Golem standing at the center of the room.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Luther steps forward, and kicks the Golem pushing it back, and allowing Theo to stand.


    Theo quickly stands, turns around, and punches the Golem, the blow shattering the granite making up its body, and it crumbles to dust.


    ¡°Thats fuckin annoying. The only one here that really uses blunt damage is Theo, so if there are a lot of Golems later on, that''s gonna be a problem.¡±


    Milo, steps forward, ¡°The limbs were connected by some sort of plant matter, we probably could have just cut that.¡±


    Luther quickly agrees with Milo. ¡°Oh¡­ Yeah¡­¡±


    They continue deeper into the dungeon, and find the second floor being a series of rooms. The first room, having 3 Cancuns working together, which they quickly killed. The next room, having 5 Cancuns, which they once again slaughter, and the last room, having 8 Cancuns. Which once again, was very easy, Harkon practically soloing all of this, his blades being perfect for finding, and dissecting weak points in armor.


    They quickly enter the Boss room.


    ¡°Fuck its dark in here.¡± Luther steps forward, and swings a crossbow back, and forth in front of him.


    They step in, and quickly Theo lights a torch, and steps forward.


    *HISS* A giant Opposum dives forward, attacking Milo, having identified him as the weak link.


    ¡°AAHHH!¡± Milo swings his shiels like a lost child, and manages to completely luckily block the giant creature.


    Two crossbow bolts in quick succession, bury themselves in the side of the creature, with a thud, It hisses, and retreats, injured, but still dangerous. As It retreats into the darkness, before it can get there, a stone spike rises from the floor, spearing the poor thing in the belly.


    Aeryng grins, steps forward, and beheads it, with her axe. ¡°Easy loot.¡± She chuckles, and collects the copper coins dropped by it, as well as a pair of small stilettos seemingly made from the claws on said giant Opposum.


    ¡°Mine.¡± Luther quickly snatches the knives, and drops them into a sackcloth bag, which he quickly squirrels away into his coat.


    Harkon snorts. ¡°Greedy much, you little man.¡±


    Milo chuckles, Very few people can call Luther little. He is nearly 6 foot 4, but Harkon is far taller.


    Luther glares. ¡°Not everybody is shitting money, like you are, and it''s not like any of you are going to use them, they¡¯re stilettos.¡±


    Aeryn waves her hand. ¡°Calm down ya little shit, we get it.¡±


    Theo, grunts, and taps at the stone. ¡°Found something.¡±


    Harkon, strides forward, quickly crossing the distance with his long strides. ¡°Staircase, next floor, come on.¡±


    Milo, runs forward. ¡°Oh, yay!¡±


    They quickly walk forward, down the spiraling staircase, and find themselves in a moderately sized room, with two warm glowing lanterns hanging from the ceiling illuminating a sign, one arrow points to one hallway, another arrow points to a second hallway.


    The arrow on the left has a long line next to it, and one skull.


    The arrow on the right has a short line on it, but 2 skulls.


    Luther steps forward, and grins, he taps the sign with a knife. His teeth practically casting a glow over the room, his neck length long blonde hair swings. ¡°I don''t really feel like being in here for longer than I need to, let''s just take the one with 2 skulls.¡±


    They step forward, once again in something like an arrow position, with Milo, completely messing up the arrow position, not to any fault of his.


    As they step out of the hallway they find another dimly lit, small circular room. They venture inward, and quickly discover Meg, this fight ending much slower than the last, as they forced Milo to the front to get some experience. The only experience he got was painful bruising, as well as finally getting a solid hit, on one of the more powerful mobs.


    ¡°That fucking hurt.¡± Milo complains.


    ¡°Oh, get over it ya bitch.¡± Luther quips back smiling.


    They continue onward, and step into the second room.


    They jump as a Cancun hisses, jump from the darkness, and lands on Milo''s face. ¡°AAAAAHHHH!¡±


    They chuckle, and Theo steps forward, and ends it by giving the Cancun a good whack.


    Milo steps back, ¡°AAH!¡± He screams, as he steps backwards stepping on something uneven, and fleshy, he falls backwards, before he hits the ground, another Meg dives forward, tears Milos helmet off, gets a good swipe right on his face.


    A wet Schlink spreads through the room, as Luther beheads the offending creature. The knife burying itself in its neck, before Luther continues to saw, using the serrations in his knife for their purpose.


    ¡°AAHH!¡± Milo shrieks, and cries holding his face. ¡°I CANT FUCKING SEE!¡±


    ¡°Stop crying you fuckin baby.¡± Aeryn spouts before grabbing Milo, and pinning him down. ¡°Ill fix ya up, don''t worry.¡±


    *HISS!* They once again jump in surprise as another Cancun, jumps from the darkness with a footprint on its back, and dives towards Aeryn. Aeryn grunts and casually swings her axe beheading the poor creature, and begins to work on Milo.


    Milo screams even louder when Aeryn starts to heal him, as it feels like his eyes have been replaced by Pumice, and are grinding the inside of his head to dust. Then it''s gone. He has his vision back, and the pain is slowly fading.


    Luther walks up to Milo, and pats him on the head. ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it buddy.¡±


    Milo shudders.


    They continue onward, to find a second room. Harkon steps forward, and before we can identify what is in this room, he swings his whip forward, and a wet splattering noise can be heard throughout the room.


    However, he only got one, and the second one, jumps from the shadows, and attacks Harkon, who like he has done it a million time, steps to the side, just in time for a crossbow bolt to pass next to him, and embeds itself into the skull of the creature.


    ¡°Yippee!¡± Milo jumps celebrating.


    Luther chuckles. ¡°Boss room now.¡±


    They turn, and enter the hallway to begin their adventure to the boss room.


    They step closer, and Theo peers around the corner. ¡°What, in the fuck is that?¡±

 Chapter 15 - The Ball (not plural, dont even go there)

    This is pissing me off. Why are these guys so strong? They just finished off the pathways with Megs, and headed toward my boss. They peak in, and the large heavy set man leading the pack says.


    ¡°What in the fuck is that?¡±


    He steps into the room, quickly followed by the others where they view my creature. The first four arms are given weapons, one a light spear, one a short sword, one a shield with a spike in the middle, and the last, also being a spear. The muscles bulging in the arms to hold the weapons like the spear one handed.


    Milo


    Luther steps back, and draws his bow, firing off multiple quick shots, one of them bounces off the shield this monstrosity carries, but two of them bury in it side. The monster, unfettered, skitters forward, the meaty clapping of the hands hitting the floor resonating throughout the room.


    Theo steps forward, and squats, planting his shield. The monster simply plowing over Theo. Harkon quickly strikes at the creature, leaving a gash in its side, and intestines spill from the tear. Aeryn also steps forward, and takes a chop at it with her axe, but instead it swings one of its spears like a club, and gashes her chest deeply.


    Luther continues to fire his bow, landing *thud, thud, thud* of three more shots into its side before finishing with a blow from an over sized crossbow he had hidden inside his coat, which, by the way, appeared to be far bigger on the inside than the outside.


    This still isn''t enough to finish the bastard off, Theo, currently buried under the mound of flesh that is this creature punches upward, his blows rupturing flesh, and finally it falls. Its brain, open to the air, spills outwards, and splatters over the stone.


    Luther steps forward, and scoops up the brain, before sliding it into a glass jar, and into his coat, once again.


    I wince at Luther. ¡°What was that for?¡± He smiles at me.


    ¡°Carnimancers, the freaks they are, would pay a couple silver for a fully intact brain like this.¡± He grins, and wags his finger. ¡°And, if you don''t really care about the morals of it, you can find yourself one of those carnie¡¯s, who like to play with the live ones, and they will pay even more because most of the time they are criminals.¡± He taps his knows. ¡°You¡¯ll figure it out.¡±


    They turn back to find Aeryn healing herself, while Theo gripes about how overpowered it is. ¡°This fuck, was to powerful for this floor! At least another two floors you dungeon bastard! Yeah! That''s right! I''m talking to you. Yeah! Fuck you!¡± Luther laughs.


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    ¡°But yeah, a bit much, am I right?¡± Luther questions.


    Harkon nods along. ¡°Yeah, this would be better for fourth. Not fifth cuz that''s where power bosses go.¡±


    DC


    ¡°Maybe you were right, Gairy. The guys who just finished beating the boss are yelling about how overpowered it was.¡±


    ¡°Yeah boss. Maybe make a new one, and move that one to fourth.¡±


    I nod along, as my delvers leave the dungeon, I begin working on a new boss. This time, I make it smaller, I copy a Goblin warrior, but mix in some meg, and end up with like a Opposum person. He has a weird long snout, and scary looking sharp claws. He is surprisingly intelligent, and fast. He replaces my Goblin snake, who was in the D ranks. He is at most high F ranks.


    Finally I begin working on the fourth floor, and for this floor, I decide to experiment with a couple of new patterns Gairy managed to bring me. First things first he brought me a deer. First, I give it more powerful leg muscles, and the ability to charge said leg muscles with mana. I also grow some big ass horns on top, that should gut most people no problem. These are just slightly weaker than the boss on the third floor. Who I¡¯ve decided to name Bob. He¡¯s chill.


    Once again, I make a large floor, but this time it is quite a bit bigger, being nearly 70 feet long, and 30 feet wide. The deer will roam through here, and hide in tall grass, before sneak attack charging any opponents. For the boss, I don''t think my Goblin snake fits the vibes, so just use the same deer, but make it stronger, faster, and give it more mana. This just barely pushes it into the D ranks.


    I show Gairy, and he comments. ¡°Seems pretty good. Open it up. See what people think.¡±


    I do my imaginary yawn. ¡°Ok.¡± I quickly open up the new floor, and go back to regenerating mana, quietly.


    Milo


    I smile, and talk to Luther about something random. I can''t believe that the first time I dungeon dived was a couple days ago, and I''m already making such good progress. We just got out of the dungeon, for today, and are going to get food, when i''m interrupted.


    ¡°Sir, Sir!¡± A young man, red faced from running, his face covered in acne scars. ¡°Ivan wants to talk to you.¡± He falls down, puts his hands on his knees, and breathes heavily. Ivan. talk. outside. tower.¡± He points.


    I smile, and toss him a copper coin, and run off. The only place offering food was a mess area set up by the Oats, and it was just next to the bridge running through the tower. I quickly jog forward, to find Ivan sitting on the bridge. He quickly stands, and walks towards Milo.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a problem.¡± He scratches at his head.


    He quickly turns, and begins moving quickly towards the tower. Milo follows him, until he enters the area where the bridge runs through the tower. Ivan opens a thin wood door, and quickly begins gliding down the stairs. Seemingly ages later, they near the bottom of the tower. The bottom 3 floors are open for storage, with simple stairs running along the side. At the center of the tower is¡­ swirling ball of energy. It''s almost 2 stories tall, and is sort of ovular. It has a ring of dark purple magic, which seems to move to ring the ball where you move.


    Ivan scratches his head. ¡°I don''t know what the fuck it is. But it''s radiating a hell of a lot of power.¡±

 Chapter 16 - The Dude

    Milo scratches his head. ¡°You¡¯ve been in the business of magic far longer than I have Ivan. I don''t have a fucking clue.¡±


    Ivan squeezes his eyes shut, and rubs the bridge of his nose ¡°I just wanted a peaceful time, in a pretty place, with lots of young naive adventurers, to teach. Why do I have to deal with the giant ball of floating mana?¡± He quickly opens his eyes again. ¡°I guess I will post guards around it, keep you updated, and contact the kingdom? They probably send some damn research, like spatial mages, or the like. Don''t tell anybody about this, It''ll cause panic.¡±


    I nod along. ¡°Yeah, sounds good.¡±


    Ivan reaches into his pocket, and has a crystal ball the size of a egg in his hand, which he lifts to his mouth, and starts calling in guards.


    I turn, and leave up the stairs passing a couple guards going down, several powerful looking mages, as well as-


    ¡°Oh hey Milo! Makes sense you''d be clued in on this.¡± Luther stood at the front of a line of my party members, Harkon, Theo, Aeryn, and of course, himself. ¡°Yeah, crazy right. Depending on what this is, it''ll either make you incredibly rich, or kill everybody in hundreds of miles, and make this land barren for centuries. Like a dimensional bubble.¡± He shrugs and grins.


    Milo, having heard this, turns pale. ¡°Oh, noo.¡±


    Luther laughs, and pats Milos shoulder, ¡°don¡¯t worry too much, there have only ever been two dimensional bubbles recorded, and both of them were due to multiple S rank or above individuals colliding, and literally tearing each other''s souls apart.


    This only slightly eased Milos fears.


    DC


    I smile, and ask Gairy. ¡°Fifth floor! Ideas?!¡±


    Gairy purses his lips. ¡°Well¡­ I mean¡­ I dont know.¡±


    ¡°No! Tell me! Tell me!¡± I beg.


    Gairy relents, ¡°Oh, fine, you could make a goblin village for some of my kind to live.¡± He blinks innocently.


    I shrug ¡°ok.¡± I make this floor mimic the one I find in the mine, just a plain stone floor, but with a wooden palisade wall that stretches from wall to wall, forcing adventures to breach the wall to continue. I actually put secret passageways that I will only open for the goblins, for an underground floor, where I allow them to live as they please, as long as they supply me with a garrison of goblins up top. Specifically I only allow 20 Goblins on the walls, and they cant be above D-4, or below D. The living space for said goblins is nearly 360 feet in every direction, a forest underground. I use mana to make a fake sky for my Goblins. It''s not the biggest, but in the future I''ll make it bigger, huge, maybe even one day I''ll get powerful enough to make it the size of a continent! When I had that thought I struggled. How would I do that?


    ¡°Gairy, How do dungeons get as big as they do? Won''t they eventually run into other stuff?¡±


    Gairy nods. ¡°Yeah fair, when dungeons get about D rank, which you are actually nearing, they can start using spatial magic to make spaces bigger on the inside than on the outside.¡±


    I smile. ¡°So, I see. Thank you Gairy.¡± I quickly return my attention to the space


    I fill it with some deer, and other flora, and fauna, and a drop a couple regular goblins down, As well as putting 20 goblins for the garrison at the top, and another 20 in the bottom, that way they cant alternate out, and at night they will go down to the floor, with their families. For the first couple years I''ll just re-spawn them, when they die, but I hope that eventually they can supply them, themselves. I give them permission, and urge them to breed, which will give me more souls, and mana.


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    I turn my attention back to the boss room for this floor. Gairy interrupts.


    ¡°Every five floors you need a power boss, a jump in difficulty. For this one, you could probably just use that Goblin snake, but make it longer, and more powerful. In fact doubl the length, and quantity of arms, wouldn''t be unreasonable.¡±


    I nod, and do just that. Doubling the length of the entire thing, and outfitting it, with more weapons, more spears, shields, and sword, as well as a crossbow, which it doesn''t know how to reload, but it can fire once, and than when the adventurers leave, or he dies, ill reload for him.


    I also decided to name him Serp. To be honest, he''s a bit of a freak. But whatever.


    Milo


    Milo sits in line outside of a stall set up right outside the tower. The specific stall sells spectacular sandwiches which Milo is getting some, for Luther, and the gang.


    ¡°Hello.¡± Milo jumps as someone sneaks up to him. A man. Average in every way shape, and form, except for the knife, in his belt, the spool of string, and the subtle smell of roses coming off of him.


    ¡°Hi¡­¡± Milo responds questioningly.


    ¡°My name is Alistair! I''m here representing my guild, and wanted to talk to you about dungeon rights.¡±


    I nod. ¡°Ok, um, what is the guild name?¡±


    ¡°The dark knights¡­ Super cool right?¡± He nods his head.


    I smile, ¡°ok, say 10% flat overall tax, anything you take out of the dungeon you can use free, but money is taxed, and if you sell anything that is taxed.¡±


    He frowns. ¡°No, I will settle for no more than 2% tax, and items sold, no tax.¡±


    I gawk at him. ¡°Then you may feel free to leave, OR accept 5% instead of 10 but with the same tax on sold gear.¡±


    He glares. ¡°Fine.¡±


    I smile, and point him in the direction of the secretary Ivan made me hire. She''s a skilled scribe, and makes mana contracts. She has a series of contacts pre-made, and pre-signed by me with that same rate.


    I turn, and walk to the tower, before heading down, and finding the party chatting while sitting on the edge of the platform overlooking it, feet dangling over.


    I toss each of them their sandwiches.


    ¡°I just got another offer made by a Guild.¡±


    ¡°Oh, weah¡± Luther says through a mouthful. ¡°What Wuild?¡±


    I glare. ¡°Not while eating man¡­ But they are called the dark knights.¡±


    Harkon laughs. ¡°Really? The church will not be happy.¡±


    Milo frowns. ¡°Why?¡±


    Luther interjects, ¡°they¡¯re a bunch of dark mages, like necromancers, and hemomancers, and the like. While not illegal, or anything, you know how the church disapproves. But to be honest, most of them are pretty chill.¡±


    ¡°Somethings happening!¡± The B ranked fire mage appointed to guard this thing starts yelling as it starts rippling, and shimmering, and¡­ Something steps through.


    A young man, of average height wearing a black shirt, made from some strange material, that reads out, smashing pumpkins. He has pants on that seems to be made from some bluish rough material, and long knotted hair. He holds a wooden board between his hands, with wheels on it.


    His eyes widen, and he turns, and dives back through what we now know is a portal, with gusto.


    ¡°Do we follow him!?¡± The fire mage asks. ¡°Someone, go get fucking Ivan!¡±


    A young man sprints by using air magic to speed his travel, and disappears up the stairs, shortly followed by Ivan, heading down. He jumps from the platform down to the bottom floor, where he guides a team of people to begin entering. He will lead, while the Pyromancer follows close behind, and of course a team of C-rank adventurers.


    Ivan quickly steps into the portal followed by his team of mages.

 Chapter 17

    Ivan


    When Ivan steps through the portal the first thing he feels is amazed. He is standing on some sort of black stone, and on either side of him are buildings towering even taller than some of his biggest creations. He is old, and he has seen some huge creations, but this many, so close together, and so big, How much mana did it cost!


    ¡°Who are you!¡±


    He refocuses downwards, and finds himself, surrounded by a semi circle of young men, and women, not wearing regular armor, but weirdly wearing some sort of black material, and not holding swords, but some sort of metal staff with holes at the end.


    ¡°State your purpose for being here!¡±


    Ivan once again, has to refocus.


    ¡°A portal opened in our territory. We were waiting for people more competent in spatial magic to arrive when that man stepped through.¡± he points to the young man, wearing the smashing pumpkins shirt, who seems to be pinned to the ground, by another one of the young men, in black, while he is put in restraints.


    ¡°We then decided to do some adventuring.¡±


    Eli


    I grunt, and squirm. I saw the portal open, and all of a sudden my fantasies just started running in overdrive.


    I''ve lived an ordinary life my whole existence, but when I saw that portal, I decided, that sucked. So I waited, and waited, and eventually I got past the cops, who were guarding it, for the time being. A bunch of important people even showed up, but most of them just didn''t know what to do with it, so just left some scientists, and cops to try to figure out what to do with it.


    When I saw my chance, I ran, and dove in.


    On the other side though¡­ I pussied out.


    Then I got arrested. Which sucked. Then they followed me¡­


    Ivan


    The young man addressing him laughs. ¡°Oh, yeah magic, cuz we all know that exists. Prove it. You dick.¡±


    I frown. ¡°Yes, everyone does know magic exists, but if you insist.¡± a stone spike the size of a human pierces through one of the metal machines surrounding us.


    An older looking lady steps forward. ¡°Ok, ok, we believe you. Can you wait here for someone to negotiate with? It won''t take long.¡±


    Ivan glares suspiciously. ¡°We¡¯ll stay. First let me inform some people.¡±


    Milo


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    Ivan steps through the gateway, and quickly tells his guards to stay guarding, and that he is waiting for negotiators. He quickly reenters the portal.


    ¡°Okie doke...¡± Luther mutters through his mouthful of food. ¡°Either you are going to be very rich, or we are gonna ship in a bunch of S-ranks, and slaughter some extra dimensional weirdos.¡±


    Milo rolls his eyes, and stands¡­ ¡°Freak.¡± He quickly starts heading up the stairs when the same young man, who came out first, came back.


    He dives out of the portal, and in a stumble looks around before running to the first stairway he can see. Before he can even get there he is interrupted by a mountain of a man.


    ¡°Hey¡­ Who are you¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, uh, I''m Eli¡­. Can I please go up there? I hate the world I come from, and I just don''t want to be there anymore.¡± He stutters out.


    ¡°No, of course you can''t just go up there.¡±


    Milo interrupts. ¡°Hey, it''s fine, I''m curious so he can come with me. I mean check his cultivation base, even a F-rank like me can handle him.¡±


    The large man looks up at Milo. ¡°Whatever but if Ivans pissed, he''s pissed off at you.¡±


    Milo shrugs. ¡°It''s fine.¡± He waves at the young man. ¡°Come on up.¡±


    Eli smiles, and begins the trek up the stairs stopping halfway there to take a breather before he gets to Milo. ¡°Hi¡­ Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Soo¡­¡± Milo starts as they climb the tower. ¡°Why don''t you like your home world?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Eli begins to explain. ¡°We don''t have magic. We don''t have magic, or dungeons, or adventurers, or anything like that.¡±


    Milo stops. ¡°Really? But I can see mana inside of you? Not being cultivated but there.¡±


    Eli shrugs. ¡°Maybe we do but nobody knows how to use it.¡±


    Milo chuckles. ¡°Tell you what. If I find someone, and pay them to give you a crash course on magic, and unlock your cultivation base. Will you teach me, and others about your world?¡±


    Eli''s grin widens. ¡°Absol-fuckin-lutely¡± he spouts.


    As they exit the tower onto the bridge Eli gawks in wonder. ¡°This place is beautiful. The cliff sides, the trees, the tower, the water¡­ Everything¡­¡±


    Milo smiles. ¡°Why thank you¡­ Just bought it.¡±


    Eli looks at him. ¡°You own all of this?¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± Milo responds with a smirk.


    ¡°That''s amazing¡­¡±


    Milo is quickly distracted by Alistair walking by. ¡°Hey! Buddy! Alistair!¡±


    Alistair quickly turns, and addresses Milo.


    ¡°Alistair, if you teach this fellow about his cultivation base, and magic, Ill give your whole guild a 10% on the tax for the first month!¡± Milo offers.


    Alistair smiles. ¡°Spectacular! Come here boy!¡±


    3 weeks later


    The Representatives from the Kingdom arrived shortly after, and took Ivans place of negotiating with the representatives from the other Kingdom.


    Eli, who Milo chose to recruit, seems to have a talent for the dark arts, which Alistair took great joy in, and even offered him a place in their guild. Now it''s time for Eli to make good on his deal. Milo, and Ivan listened attentively as he described his world of technology, barren of magic which is the lifeblood for their world.


    Finally its done.


    Eli


    ¡°Do you guys want to know the color of my moms panties too? I''ve already told you pretty much everything there is to know.¡± Eli complains. He''s bored. He''s just finished unlocking his cultivation base, and Alistair, having nothing better to do, offered to teach him some basic magics, and stuff. But now he''s got to explain what an air conditioner is.


    ¡°I mean¡­ I guess you can go.¡± Milo responds dejectedly.


    ¡°Sweet.¡± Eli pumps his fist, and runs off to find Alistair.

 Chapter 18

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Alistair speaks. He quickly draws a heavy book from a bag, and begins flipping through it. ¡°I am mostly a carnimancer. You will probably end up learning from me, so that''s how you¡¯ll end up, but the best start is always necromancy. Unless you want to be a Hemomancer, but I don''t know anything about being a Hemomancer so I''m the wrong guy. Now, there are a couple ways to get bodies for use as undead spirits. Some people, rarely will put in their wills they want their bodies to be used by necromancers after death. This is fine, but most people don''t do this, and the ones that do, usually and in things like saying they have to be a high level, sentient undead. If you join the army, you can raise anyone you kill. You can also just use animals. If you find a dungeon, you can quickly infect the corpses with your mana which will stop the dungeon from eating the corpses. Now some illegal methods are grave robbery, or murder. But generally I''m going to try to steer you away from those.¡±


    Eli nods along.


    ¡°Also, this is almost always frowned upon. But when making undead you only use their corpses, and your mana sort of takes the place of their soul. But if you so choose, you can start manipulating souls at higher levels making smarter undead, and even stuff like wraiths, or specters.¡± Alistair explains.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Alistair quickly slips the book back in his bag, and grabs at Eli''s shoulders. ¡°So, i''m going to show you how to do this spell by using my mana to move your mana. It should only take 20 minutes or so.¡±


    True to Alistair''s words it only took 15 minutes for Eli to feel like he had a grasp on the spell, being ingrained in him.


    Alistair smiles. ¡°So this specific spell is purely necromantic with nothing else. It is a low level version of the spells that high powered necromancers can use. Now the reason this one is low leveled is because at max it can raise something as big as a human. Max. Also, the summoned creatures will be weaker than they were in life. Higher level, or rarer spells would allow you to keep, or even augment the strength of the creature, or summon larger stronger creatures. Also you are going to want to start keeping a spell book, because that knowledge will slowly start fading from your mind, and as you get more, everything starts fading faster making a spell book necessary.¡±


    Eli nods. ¡°I don''t have a spellbook.¡±


    Alistair nods. ¡°Yeah, have this one. It''s blank.¡± he passes Eli a large blank book bound in sheep skin.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Eli quickly turns, and starts to head into the dungeon.


    ¡°Wait Eli.¡± Alistair says. ¡°Let''s go back to my wagon first.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Eli utters?


    Alistair chuckles. ¡°Im, a carnimancer who specializes in the creation of minions. Did you think I''d go into a dungeon with a newbie, and nothing to protect myself with?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ I¡­¡± Eli stutters. ¡°I don''t know. I guess not.¡±


    Alistair guides Eli to the dark knight''s encampment, where Alistair actually has multiple wagons, but he opens one, and reveals a giant fleshy golem. It looks like when you''re a child, and you try to make a person out of play-doh, and it ends up in a vaguely human blob. That''s what this is, and its skin is clearly stitched together patches from a variety of different races, and species. The arms even have some skin of ashen gray coloration.


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    Alistair beams. ¡°One of the first real flesh golems I''ve ever made. Crude but effective, and most likely when, or if you get to the point of carnimancy, this is what you¡¯ll make.¡±


    I shudder. ¡°Freaky as hell, but ok.¡±


    Alistair chuckles. ¡°How rude.¡± he quips good naturedly.


    They turn, and begin the trek to the dungeon. Once they get there, they enter the line, pay the clerk, and quickly begin the delve. Eli watches in awe as Alistair''s golem quickly tramples every last piece of vegetation in the room, and everything within it dies quickly.


    Alistair stops. ¡°Normally we would have you raise, one, or a couple of these for your first minions, But I heard they have Goblins down there, and those, with a little assistance from me, will be perfect first minions! Now if you were any other class I would have made you fight just now. But you must understand for necromancers, it''s less about experience, which dont get me wrong can still be very useful, but more about tactics, numbers, and the design of your minions.¡±


    They once again descend a floor, and find themselves wading through a sea of little copper raccoons. Which the Golem once again slaughtered easily, leaving quite the hall of copper coins.


    They step through to the boss room, where the Golem gets ambushed but still wins with not a single wound.


    They go all the way down to the third floor, and find a branching pathway. They pick one, and find EVEN more of the little copper bastards.


    Finally they enter the boss room. ¡°Oh, my goodness, Eli, this will be a perfect first minion!¡±


    With one blow from the Golem the little Possum man is thrown against the wall, and killed. ¡°Quickly touch him Eli!¡±


    Eli complies, rushing forward to fall to his knees, and place both hands on the corpse.


    Alistair grabs him by the shoulders. ¡°You are just barely too weak to raise this yourself, so I will lend you a small amount of power. Quickly perform the spell I taught you!¡±


    Eli without any resistance begins the spell, finding it required every last drop of mana he had, and then some, which Alistair loaned him. But in no time, at all the little Possum man rises to his feet, and Eli. Instinctively know.


    ¡°His name is Bob.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°His name is Bob.¡±


    ¡°I heard you, but thats just such a stupid fucking name for a boss monster.¡±


    Eli shrugs. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±


    Alistair gives Eli¡¯s new Mob a quick appraisal. ¡°He is an F-6. That''s good, he''s even a couple levels higher than you. I''m surprised you got that to work.¡± He nods approvingly. ¡°Now sit down, and start cultivating. This Dungeon is awesome in that it is almost completely neutral, so it''s perfect for you to cultivate in.¡±


    Eli nods, and quickly begins cultivating.


    Alistair smiles, and waits¡­ And waits¡­ Wand waits¡­ Patiently as Eli uses his sub-par F ranked cultivation technique to slowly but surely gather mana. Finally Eli is done.


    Alistair smiles. ¡°Spectacular! You¡¯ve broken into F-4! Pretty much all of the F ranks is just gathering mana, so it shouldn''t take too long until you break into the E ranks. That''s a little more complicated, but don''t worry about that.¡±


    Eli smiles. ¡°yay.¡±

 Chapter 19

    Milo


    Milo steps forward from his muddied puddle. Now that a bunch of people have moved in they''ve all been bathing by the stream. I must say it is extremely disgusting. A week or so back we had an incident when someone shit up river from the spot everyone bathed.


    Milo shivers in disgust as he remembers the smell.


    Now the river is disgusting. Mud, and the water spread everywhere, and naked people just wandering around. Including a disturbing old man, who¡­ Has some stuff going on. To say the least.


    Recently though a dwarf visited, and bought most of the riverside land, and is working on constructing it into a proper bath house. It shouldn''t take long since he¡¯s an earth mage. He also told me he was planning on hiring an enchanter to make runes to heat, and clean the water. Which to Milo just sounds absolutely lovely.


    DC


    ¡°THOSE FUCKERS! HOW DARE THEY STEAL MY PRECIOUS BODY BUILDING MATERIALS!¡± The dungeon quickly calms himself, taking deep breaths of mana in, and out of his core. On the bright side he now has a new spell. He can use this to create undead. Maybe that is the plan for the sixth floor. He has already decided he wants just one big room.


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    No. Nevermind. Currently I can barely sustain a room being 720 feet long. I need a room that is far longer than that in every direction, including up. Maybe I will save this idea for the tenth floor. Or even later.


    Instead. I''m going to max my limits out at 720 feet long, in every direction, but I''m going to move the entrance to the boss floor every week. One week in a cave, one week in the middle of the forest, and maybe another just floating in the sky.


    On the note of the forest. I''m going to make it as tall as it is wide. I''m also going to make it a freezing snowy biome, with a forest, and everything. When you enter It will be a freezing tundra. To the right will be a small range of hills, the trees will be really scattered, and light until they get to the hill, where there will be a thick tree line, and a drop in the hill, shortly after the drop the room, will end. The right however there is a large forest with thickly packed pine trees, and snow everywhere. I don''t actually have the creatures necessary to populate this floor, so instead I''m going to create two floors exactly like this. One floor open for adventurers, and having fixed strength, and type of Mob. But the other one, will basically just be the exact same, but i''m going to drop in a shit ton of creatures, and let them evolve into the snow biome. This includes snakes, deer, mice, raccoons, opossums, Moose, Wolves, Bears, A variety of birds, as well as releasing a ton of the singular fish, some hungry adventurer brought into his dungeon, into the river that will run through the main room.


    Using his mana he can speed up time in this room, to simulate a year in 3 months, which is extremely difficult, but It doesn''t want to wait. It can also use its mana to speed up the time it takes for Evolution to happen.

 Chapter 20

    ¡°Fuck.¡±


    Ivan strides through the halls of his tower purposefully before descending multiple stairs, and continuing along his bridge. As he walks he enters the small encampment where anyone who isn''t affiliated with the Oats guild, or just cant pay for an apartment, stays.


    He quickly strides down the stairs a group of mages carved into the hillside, which leads down into the depths of the valley where a large lake lays.


    He quickly spots Milos home. Milo, the only person who was here before, owns a small stone hut. He also owns a moderate sized farm, along the edge of the lake, that is fed by the river that runs adjacent to the stairway.


    As well as a dark brown barn cut from the rich brown spruce that fills these mountains. The barn has cows, as well as a small off shooting chicken coop.


    He farms small quantities of grain, potatoes, and carrots. The grain goes straight to his farm animals, who give him milk, and eggs. Lately though he has been selling small quantities of his grain to merchants entering the valley.


    Ivan strides through the cobbled path leading through his small farm, and knocks politely on Milo''s door.


    After a second of waiting, Milo cracks open his door, sweating profusely. His forehead dripping sweat into his eyes, a fire blazing in his hearth in the background turning his hut into a blazing inferno of warmth.


    ¡°Yeah. Sorry Ivan, I was cultivating, just broke into F-9. What can I do for ya?¡±


    He opens the door wider inviting Ivan into his house. He has a small table with barely enough space for two people. On his stove sits a pot of bubbling stock, heated by the fire of a separate stove.


    Milo uses a wooden hand carved ladle, and spoons the broth into a bowl, before serving it to Ivan, and getting himself a bowl. His house is darkly lit, only by his twin fires burning and a couple candles. The daylight long gone, fallen behind the mountains.


    Ivan greedily accepts the soup. ¡°Milo. We need to discuss something.¡±


    Milo frowns. ¡°Whats wrong friend?¡± He asks questioningly.


    Ivan grimaces. ¡°We¡¯re starving¡­ The B ranks, and higher are mostly fine, because we can get away with eating every couple weeks to months. But everyone else is starving.¡±


    Milo frowns. ¡°What about all the merchants, and people who have been bringing food?¡±


    Ivan scratches his face. ¡°Well. Since you own all this land, and nobody knows who to talk to about buying or renting land, nobody can farm. Since nobody can farm, the only logical thing to do is to import food. But importing food is fucking expensive. This damn mountain range is right on the edge of the Orcan hordes, so about 50% of the caravans that come through with food get ambushed. Now the Orcs usually let just people through, but they aren''t going to let our money or food through.¡±


    Ivan shrugs, and puts his hands up. ¡°Not only is this starving people, but it''s also decreasing the growth of your little province, slash city.¡±


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    Milo grimaces. ¡°Does the portal not interest people?¡±


    Ivan shakes his head. ¡°No, for sure, the portal is bringing in hundreds if not thousands of new people, but if everyone is just starving, it is still a problem.¡±


    Milo sighs. ¡°Well, I guess I can start expanding my farm. I''ll start paying farmhands to work the land.¡±


    Ivan nods. ¡°You should also set up a  real official office for your secretary, and for people to go to to rent, or buy land from you.¡±


    Milo quickly agrees. ¡°I''ll get to it in the morning.¡±


    Ivan nods, finishes his soup, and leaves.


    The next morning Milo wakes, and finds his secretary. A callous, and unpleasant old lady, named Gertrude. ¡°Gertrude! Hi! How much do you think I should pay a worker hourly to make an office for you to work out of?¡±


    Getrude raises her eyes.


    ¡°I was thinking a silver?¡±


    Gertrude scowls. ¡°Are you stupid you little brat? Just hire a foreman, and his crew will come with him. You just need to pay the foreman for the final result, and then he pays the men the salary. Pay em 5 silver not a copper more. Start at 1 silver, theyll work it up, if you go over 5 you¡¯re being scammed.¡±


    Milo beams. ¡°Why thank you Gertrude!¡± He smiles. ¡°That''s why I pay you good money!¡±


    He quickly turns to leave, the tent flap whipping open. Milo smiles, at the world. And spins on his heel, before reentering the tent.


    ¡°I don''t know where to find a Foreman!¡±


    Gertrude scowls and rubs the bridge of her nose. She takes a pen and scribbles something out on a piece of paper. ¡°Go find them, they are over there.¡± She hands Milo the napkin, and points off in some random direction.¡±


    Eli


    Eli woke this morning to Alistair standing over his bed.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing!?¡±


    ¡°Waiting for you to wake up!¡± Alistair smiles innocently.


    ¡°My God bro.¡±


    Alistair chuckles. ¡°I need to travel to Brinde. That''s where most of my supplies are.¡±


    Eli smiles. ¡°I don''t know where Brindle is, but ok, I''ll come.¡±


    Alistair grins, and ranks Eli free from his bed. ¡°Spectacular! Follow!¡±


    Elistair grabs Eli, and drags him along behind him.


    Eli begins to bluster. ¡°Well, I didn''t mean¡­ Not right now!¡±


    Alistair chuckles. ¡°Of course not! We need supplies first.¡±


    The next several hours were filled with blisteringly boring shopping. Jerky, fruit, grains, and a million other things. Before eventually Alistair had a cart full of supplies. This cart was incredibly heavy, and pulled by a team of undead monstrosities that vaguely resemble Oxen. Standing nearly ten feet tall, on all 6 feet, and nearly twice as long, two of them pull the cart. Their undead bodies ripple with muscles that should have decayed long ago, preserved by a cocktail of chemicals bound together with a spoonful of mana.


    Eli cringe as he works his way around them, as the stench of the chemicals used to preserve them fills his nostrils he quickly climbs inside of the wagon, covered with some sort of cloth, it looks like something straight out of Oregon Trail.


    Halfway to Brindle. Eli, and Alistair came upon a raiding group of Orcs ransacking a small caravan headed to the encampment being built by the dungeon.


    Without a second thought Alistair unhitches his two giant Oxen, who charge forward ramming through the Orcs. most of the Orcs were big enough, or out of the way enough to not be thrown but A few of the smaller Orcs were thrown across the battlefield. The Battle didnt last long, as as soon as one of the Orcs died, Alistair began to resurrect them, and reinforce them, quickly finishing off the whole party of Orcs.

 Chapter 21

    We smile, and approach the small caravan of 3 wagons. All three of them were nearly identical, and there were only a small group of 5 guards, most around D, or C ranked. Alistair quickly greeted them, they thanked him, and even offered to pay him some coin, but he didn''t want it. Alistair animated all the orcs, and had them walk behind their wagons. They had rough but effective weapons, one of them even had something akin to a giant meat hook, on the end of a stick.


    We continued on our journey to Brindle arriving a couple days later. Eli was unimpressed. The streets were filled with shit, and beggars. Poverty was abundant, the cobble of the streets were torn, and patchy, and every person they chance upon recoiled in disgust as the patchy, unpreserved corpses strode by, their every footfall leaving small sheets of decomposing skin sloughing off.


    Eli liked it anyway. Alistair on the other hand. ¡°I forgot how badly this shitty city smells. If they understood anything about how diseases were spread they''d invest far more into keeping it clean.¡±


    Eli nods along, and jogs to keep up with Alistair.


    Alistair sighs, and turns right leading them in between to buildings with dangerous looking overhangs barely holding out above them. It looked as if people reached out the two windows they could have climbed into the building across the way. In an almost cartoonish way.


    Alistair takes another sharp right leading to a small wooden door, and next to it heavy wooden doors that look impossible to open with human strength. The large wooden doors have chains attached to them, and attached to the end of the large chains are vicious looking steel hooks. There is also a heavy lock in the center to stop people from trying to break in.


    Alistair quickly cracks open the lock. In a routine state Alistair takes the Oxen, detaches them from the cart, and hooks them to the heavy doors with the chains. He quickly says a word, and the Oxen strain heavily to pull open the door, their muscles rippling beneath their hides. The doors creak open revealing a large warehouse that occupied far more space than Eli realized.


    Alistair quickly commands the Orc undead to pull the wagon into the warehouse. He points off to the side where a metal stairway leads up to a walkway connected to a private room, with windows overlooking the warehouse. Underneath the warehouse there''s an empty space for the wagon to park. Where the Orcs pull the wagon into.


    Eli quickly turns, and starts exploring. The warehouse has a variety of wagons, but also an entire shelf with weapons, and metals. There are also barrels which, after asking Alistair, are apparently filled with corpses that are pickling, or being preserved in chemicals. The whole Warehouse. Strangely¡­ Is filled with a fragrant aroma of flowers.


    Upon looking at the ceiling Eli realized that Alistair had attached arms to the ceiling in pairs; one holds a lamp, and the other holds a flint and steel to light the lantern. The whole building has a warm dank feeling about it.


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    Alistair smiles, and wipes his forehead. ¡°Home sweet home.¡± He walks into the open space off to the left side of the warehouse, and lights a fire in an industrial hearth lighting up the entire empty space. He also climbs the stairs leading up the platform, and pulls away the tarp covering the window, filling the warehouse with cool rays of light, illuminating the dust floating throughout.


    Alistair smiles. ¡°We will be moving almost all of this back to the dungeon area. Excited?¡±


    DC


    The dungeon would be smiling ear to ear if he had a body. But¡­ Well¡­ He doesn''t. The evolution floor of his frozen tundra has produced some good mobs so he can finally start opening them into the floor for adventurers to use. I filled it with mice, wolves, opossums, dear, and even a bear that Gairy brought me. It''s going to be pretty much useless as It doesn''t have a mating partner, nor do I know how to produce a female bear.


    The Mice turned into the cutest little fluff balls that could blend into the snow, and would just spend hours chilling in the snow, while their fur kept them warm. The wolves actually thrived, with minimum evolution, and will probably be the main enemy for this floor, the deer on the other hand struggled a little bit, at first. A combination of the freezing temperatures, the high wolf population, and low food quantities made it very difficult for them to do much of anything, but after a while, they eventually started mutating to actually shrink in size to be more calorie efficient, but they also grew suspiciously sharp horns on their heads, just to little jabbers of horn, and they got much faster, having a strong affinity to wind. This actually helped them quite a bit so I took copies of a handful of wolves, and deer, and released them into the floor.


    I am going to sort of let the animals fight, but I''m not going to let them evolve, and I''m going to keep their numbers roughly even no matter how many die.


    For the boss I took 3 wolves, and stitched them together, while adding the horns from the smaller deer, all over their body. To be honest it wasn''t very effective, and they just kept screaming, and tearing themselves apart so I brought in a squad of goblins to take them out.


    The Goblins stepped into the room, through the stone passageway from their village. At the center of the room sits the 3 wolves. It''s honestly a nightmare as they tear each other apart, the stitches are rough, and made from pure mana, but the places where the stitches are at are simply torn, patchy, and rough. All 3 of the wolves are howling up a storm, one of the wolves is even trying to gnaw through its torso to release it from the amalgam.


    The leader of the goblin party steps forward, A C ranked Goblin holding two jagged swords in each hand. Standing roughly 5 feet tall, his body ripples with impressive muscle. The other 3 in the group are all D-ranked, still working the walls on the top floor. The Leader steps forward, and tries to rush at the beast, he quickly jabs one of his swords into the side of one of the wolves, causing it to howl, and swing its head. Its horns swing, and tear a gash through the C-rankers arm. He howls, and tears open the wolves guts, and its intestines paint the floor a deep red. The second wolf screams, lunges against the body, causing the whole thing to shift, and he bites the overconfident goblin, and tears his throat out.


    Two more of the D-ranked goblins step forward, grim, but compelled by their God. The D-ranker at the back quickly lifts his crude longbow, and fires an arrow with a hiss into the wolf who killed their leader, but not before it leaves a long curling gash over one of his friends faces. The last wolf is quickly shot to death again.

 Chapter 22

    The dungeon core whistles in appreciation. Let''s workshop that wolf amalgam, because, while fun, it kind of tears itself apart. Instead let''s take a copy of the bear, it had in the Evolution Tundra. Lets increase strength by a ton, and give it a fun affinity to the cold. Its room was large, but not huge, about the size of the first floor, and it was just a small, snowy, garden, large snow drifts cover the entire room, and three large evergreens lay scattered throughout the room. The snow drifts will make this difficult for people, because of mobility, but if they prepare at all, and bring some cheap snow shoes they''ll be fine, or if they have an affinity, and a way to get around it.


    The bear ended up looking large even for a brown bear, as well as having thick fur that worked like armor, and being in a biome that benefits it, and hurts others. It''s already Mid C-ranked but mixed with the biome, and I don''t think I can justify throwing this down already. Fuck. Maybe¡­ Another Gobbo? I leave the small snow biome, and start working on the boss. It''s just a gobbo but I infuse its body with cold mana. This turns the Gobbos skin an icy glacier blue, and its eyes a subtle gray. For vibes I gave it a loincloth made of wolf fur, and a hoodie that covers his shoulder, and head. The hood has the head of a wolf on it giving him absolute vibe points.


    I dropped him into the room, and he was low C-ranked which is what I was aiming for. He seemed to enjoy climbing the trees, or laying in the really deep snow drifts, and just sleeping. For weapons he had a staff to channel mana, and a knife. I had an idea to give him an ability to get stronger mid fight by using the knife to kill people. But to be honest¡­ I don''t have even a clue on how I would do that. So instead I just left him with his cold magic, and his knife.


    Finally I open this room up to the public, and move my crystal room all the way to the back of the new boss room.


    People immediately started challenging the new floor, and it was so fun to watch their reactions to the big wide open floor. Most people just gawked, with their mouths wide open, and then turned, and ran off, but a couple of people dove headfirst into the snow, and just started moving on with it.


    Eli


    ¡°Where did I put the fucking heart!¡± Alistair stomps around the giant corpse on the floor looking for the pickled heart in a jar. The corpse is nearly ten feet tall, and needs a large heart to support that body. Eli recalls Alistair lecturing him on the difference between an anatomical amalgam, and a pure amalgam.


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    ¡°An anatomical amalgam is a body of some sort that actually has all the necessary bits. A heart, lungs, muscles, and the like. These are far cheaper, and much better in the long term, because, all you need to do is direct their movement in place of their brain, and keep their heart pumping with your mana. The hard part is actually making all their bits, and connecting them properly. A pure amalgam is an amalgam that does not have all the necessary bits, and as so your mana is substituting for all those necessary bits. A zombie, or a skeleton could sort of be classified as a pure amalgam, but they are in a different category from pure carnimancy. But that''s why we are going to be making anatomical amalgams, they are far more mana efficient in the long run, if requiring more know-how, and work in the moment.¡± Alistair lectured like this for hours talking about any number of things.


    But anyway they had spent the last week working on making a team of amalgams to pull the monstrously large carts that Alistair had commissioned. The other problem is they also need to be able to perform guard duty, because the Orcs certainly won''t let anything through that they could eat, or that would be worth any value.


    Alistair''s solution was to make something akin to a giant meaty gorilla as opposed to walking on two legs, or really walking on four, it instead lumbered around like an orangutan, or gorilla. On four legs but easily able to stand up on two, and still use those arms. The front arms have 2 joints instead of the one in human arms, being the elbow. This gave it a greater range of motion. Even this wasn''t enough so Alistair gave it another pair of arms jutting from the rib cage of this one. That was the difficult part as it needed to connect with something. Instead we just supplemented it with more mana. Where the hands would be replaced by heavy meat hooks. So those arms could be pulled back, and used to pull the wagons, or they could be pulled forward, and used as combat implements. The whole thing was nearly ten feet tall, and rippling with muscles pulled straight from Orcs, or bought from butchers around the city from dead bulls.


    When the first wagon that Alistair had specialty built was done, all Eli could do was drop his jaw to the floor in awe. Each one was nearly the size of a house. They barely fit through the street, and use monstrous bronze, and steel wheels with studs throughout to give it more traction. One of the huge wagons required two of his huge Amalgams to pull it. But thats exactly what they did, and within a month or so we were almost done packing our gear up into our two way over sized wagons. We only need one more Gorilla amalgam, and we will be done. So¡­ Cut back to the start where Alistairs running around looking for a heart.

 Chapter 23

    Milo steps, following Luther into the cavern, his metal boots clacking on the stone. Through the center of the room runs a long palisade manned by a group of goblins. This floor has been far more difficult, because of the fortifications. That''s why usually we just sit back while Luther snipes them one, at a time. But Luthers made me actually breach this time.


    I sprint forward followed by Theo. Theo slams into the small, but heavy wooden door inlaid into the defenses. The whole door shakes. The draws back, and slams his shoulder into it once again, the door flies off its hinges. A Goblin dives out of the door swinging a hatchet wildly landing a glancing blow on Milos armor before Luther fires an arrow through his neck.


    They quickly rush into the palisade, Theo, Harkon, and Milo at the front with Aeryn, and Luther near the back.The palisade is a thing thing, barely wide enough for two people to stand  shoulder to shoulder, and they shuffle through headed towards the right end of the hollowed wooden wall. They push Harkon to be a rear guard, and put Milo, and Theo near the front because their weapons are easier to use in an enclosed space.


    The thump thump, of little feet is apparent to everyone as a party of 5 Goblins tears around a curve, led by one, taller than the rest, using a shield wider than he is tall, that will protect almost the entire group, another one has a spear, and stand behind the shield man, and the 3 goblins at the very back are all using bows.


    The Goblin with the shield plants it into the ground, the spikes embedding in the soft earth, and than he crouches down, completely out of view. The one with the spear kneels shortly behind the Goblin with the shield, and he slips his spear over top, to defend against any attackers. All the while the Goblins near the rear rain weak poor quality arrows on them.


    Milo steps forward, and chuckles as the arrows are poorly made, and the bows have no force behind them, so the shots are pretty much unable to harm me, as long as I don''t get unlucky, and get hit in the armpit or something.


    I take a big step forward, and swing my sword at the spear in a attempt to chop off the tip of it, but the Gobbo pulls the spear away in a instant, and thrusts forward once again, punching a hole through Milos armor, and driving the hole further, into his groin/hip area.


    I groan, and step backwards. Theo passes me, and jumps over, and on top of the Goblin wielding the spear, killing him with his weight. The Gobbo holding the shield tries to drop it, and stab Theo. he succeeds in dropping it but is shot in the spine before he can do anything.


    Aeryn rushes forward, and begins to channel her healing mana into Milo. She grunts, and a drop of sweat works its way through the leathery wrinkles on her face.


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    Milo grits his teeth in pain, as Aeryns magic works its magic, and stitches his flesh back together. They continue onward like this for a while until they find another wooden door leading out of the palisade on the other side.


    Eli


    Eli smiles, and watches as Alistair reanimates a group of corpses to create a group of weak skeletons, their bones bleached white, and their flesh extracted for other purposes. The giant wagons we had built can¡¯t actually fit down the alleyway to the warehouse. It was already a tight squeeze with the normal wagon, but there was no chance with the gigantic ones. We tried to park them on the main street right outside the alleyway but someone reported us for blocking the entire street, and the guards kicked us out.


    So we had to park the wagons outside the city, and carry the materials all the way there. We tried using just a couple of skeletons or zombies, but they were robbed by anyone with even a hint of power, so we are animating new Skeletons, and taking the flesh to be used in making flesh golems to guard our stuff.


    The flesh golems are crude but effective things, looking like someone took play-doh, and pinched it into the general shape of a man. They are very strong, powered by mana. So we send the skeletons in groups guarded by a flesh golem. Or Alistair just goes with them. But why work when you can make your undead slaves do it for you?


    With only a couple trips back, and forth, and only a couple corpses from would be thieves we needed to deal with. We were loaded up, and headed off within the hour.


    The carts were huge monstrosities with steel axles, and wheels. The wheels had dull studs periodically throughout to help it get traction. Each one must have weighed several tons, and when loaded with cargo  could crack, and shatter stone, or cobble that it ran over. It would sink into mud, and compact the earth beneath its wheels. Hence the giant amalgams pulling us with their inhuman strength. At one point in time they had to cross a river. The river was shallow, but wide, and filled with thick mud.


    ¡°How are we going to cross this?¡± Eli questions, while scratching at his chin.


    Alistair smiles, and swings his arms merrily, while taking a deep breath. He waves his arm, and the skeletons we brought with us start pouring out of the cart. They jump face forward into the mud, under the wheels.


    Eli raises an eyebrow. ¡°Those are not going to work. They will either shatter immediately or just sink straight through.¡±


    Alistair nods. ¡°They will sink quickly, and they will shatter, but they will also provide slightly more resistance, hopeful enough to get through here! Worst case we need to animate more servants to pull us out. Or we just use the flesh golems.¡± Alistair points to the two large flesh golems walking along beside them.


    Eli shrugs. ¡°I''m getting out. If it works i''ll go with the second wagon.¡±


    Alistair smiles merrily. ¡°Your loss.¡±

 Chapter 24

    Alistair cracks his whips, and his constructs continue moving. They step forward, their feet sinking into the muck, but they push forward. The first wheel rolls onto the skeletons, and the skeletons'' rib cage cracks immediately, and their bones turn to dust, barely supporting the wheels. They continue onward, the second set of wheels punch through their spine, and begin to sink, with no more resistance but they pull forward, most of the chain of skeletons holding with only the occasional break.


    The amalgams strain, their muscles rippling beneath their flesh. They groan, and pull, as the back end of the wagon slips deep into the mud.


    Alistair sighs, and waves back to the other side of the river where the flesh golems sit. When he waves they stand, and lumber through the mud before arriving at the wagon. They slide their shoulders under the mud, and push the wagon onto the opposite shore.


    Alistair climbs out of the wagon, and walks to the edge of the river, and yells out to Eli. ¡°I don''t know how we are going to get you and the wagon over here!¡±


    Eli steps forward. ¡°Why don''t you send the flesh golems, and amalgams pulling your cart over here, and we can just brute force it with the flesh golems, and the four amalgams.¡±


    Alistair grimaces, but nods. ¡°Yeah¡­ Ok.¡± He agrees reluctantly.


    Eli watches as Alistair unhooks the constructs from his cart, and they lumber through mud, before arriving at the other side shortly followed by the Golems.


    Eli quickly uses some extra chains to attach the extra two constructs to the cart.


    The Golems slide up behind them, and begin pushing the cart. The four constructs strain, side by side. Their third set of arms in a bow curve behind them. The Golems behind them push their emotionless bodies distorted by the weight of the cart.


    Eli quickly runs around the cart, from the back to the front from front to back, watching as they sink further into the mud, and make barely any progress. The flesh golems are nearly hip deep in the mud, and the constructs at the front are slightly less sunken in.


    Alistair waves his hand, and the Golems swell with strength from his mana flowing into them.


    Eli groans, as the lip of the floor of the wagon dips below the water, and a small quantity of muddy water starts wetting the wood of the floor of the wagon. Eli starts panicking, as the water slowly starts rising. It''s barely covering the bottom of his feet, and not damaging anything yet, but. It will be soon.


    Eli sighs at the Ker-Clunk noise of the wheels of the wagon contacting stone, beneath them, and the constructs stride forward with more vigour, pulling free from the mud, emerging on the bank completely covered. The rest of the Cart follows shortly after leaving a layer of filth, on mud on the floor, and right behind them the golems, who at this point had completely sunk beneath the mud, stride out, their heads emerging like big ole pink thumbs rising from the mud. Alistair smiles, and jogs up, cringing at the sight of the floor covered in a layer of filth.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He smiles. ¡°Guess what you''re doing now Eli!¡±


    Eli tilts his head. ¡°What?¡±


    Alistair smiles, and reaches into a cabinet. ¡°Mopping!¡± He hands Eli a mop, empty bucket, and points to the barrels we stored the water for the trip in.


    Eli cries out. ¡°What!¡±


    DC


    The dungeon whistles an imaginary tune in its head as It watches its tundra evolution floor. He has an imaginary smile in his head, as one of the little fluffy mice jumps down from a rock and onto a big pile of fluffy snow.


    The little creature barely waits a beat before scurrying free from the pile, and lying in the sun on the cool reflective snow.


    He turns his focus to the Goblin floor where Gairy has befriended a lot of the Goblins and has been hanging out with them lately.


    Gairy smiles, flaring his needle teeth, un-naturel even for goblins. He lifts a pipe to his mouth, and takes a deep puff of a hallucinogenic that accidentally evolved in the biome made for the goblins.


    He waves his pipe lazily dousing the goblins surrounding him with its thick oily smoke. They cough, and cover their noses while they listen to Gairy preach about the ¡°Fathers¡± greatness.


    I feel like these poor guys are already filling out this floor. It''s barely big enough for the tiny Goblin village. I''ll make them a passageway to the snow floor, and I''ll start working on the next floor, which I will also make an evolutionary floor into, so that they can explore that.


    In fact I''m going to put in some of those Frostlins into the snow floor so that they can interact with the regular Goblins. I smile, and begin the creation of some more Frostlins. In the end I''m left with a group of 30 little blue goblins. They all have a naturel affinity to Ice, and so have no problem living in the below freezing temperatures.


    A Frostlin drops its icy blue foot onto the snow. Its foot crunches into the snow, and he begins to sink. But his instincts kick in, and in the same way a bird instinctively knows how to make a nest, these frostlins instinctively know how to manipulate the freezing essence pumping through their bodies.


    His frail body is lifted from the snow, and he breathes deeply. His emaciated body takes deep breaths revealing the bones of his ribs.  He strides off into the hills, followed by the rest of the goblins.


    Eli


    Alistair squints his eyes, hands over his eyes shielding them from the sun, while he stares off into the distance. ¡°East.¡±


    Eli raises his head from the task Alistair had him doing. ¡°What?¡±


    Alistair nods once. ¡°We need to turn East.¡±


    Eli tilts his head once. ¡°Why?¡±


    Alistair responds quickly. ¡°Detour. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    Alistair


    Alistair lies deftly. ¡°Detour. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    Alistair turns the beasts, pulling the carts to the east. He glances over the shoulder at the Plague Pilgrims approaching. Too far for Eli''s human sight to see, but Alistair''s eyes have long since been replaced. There frail forms wrapped in cloths soaked in strong spirits, or herbs to hopefully contain their various ailments or plagues.


    If we turn east like this we will be forced to take a longer route to the mountains. But¡­ I worry I would be unable to protect Eli from those bastards. In most scenarios I wouldn''t worry¡­ But I simply lack the resources to handle a force of any size. I would certainly survive. But Eli¡­ Unlikely¡­

 Merry Christmas - Chapter 24.5

    Merry Christmas everyone!


    I probably wont be posting for a while because of Christmas but if/when I get the time I will continue working on my chapter so I should have some chapter up shortly into the New Year!


    Also I have a little sneak peak for you guys.


    Milo sighs, and tears open the letter he received. He opens it, and cracks open the paper, covered in intricate cursive written messily with black ink.


    To the Esteemed Lord Milo of the Mountain Dungeon,


    I trust this letter finds you in good health and high esteem. I am Auschwitz, a humble priest of the Holy Church of the Father of Light, and it is with great solemnity that I address you.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    By the divine will of our sacred order, we have resolved to establish a presence within your venerable domain. As the first step in this holy mission, we shall send forth a pilgrimage of Plague Pilgrims, whose task it shall be to cleanse any filth and corruption that may yet infest your lands. Their efforts will be followed in due course by a procession of worshippers, a priest of our faith, and a band of Battle Pilgrims, who, by their strength and devotion, shall aid in the continued sanctification of your domain.


    May the Father of Light grant you wisdom and protection in all that you do. We remain ever grateful for your understanding and cooperation.


    With the deepest respect and gratitude,Auschwitz, Priest of the Holy Church of the Father of Light


    Milo growls deeply, and pinches his brow. ¡°I hope those fuckers don''t try to kill all the necromancers in my town¡­¡±

 Chapter 25

    Alistair


    Alistair sighs, and urges his beasts forward, up the steep path. They strain at the metal chains binding them to the tremendous wagons, and inch forward, bit by bit. Their feet have unnatural grip leaving deep divots in the hillside.


    Eli sits happily at the top of the hill. Blissfully unaware of the plague ridden bastards chasing us.


    I sigh, and crack my whip aggressively as we barely pull ourselves free from the top of the steep hill, and continue on the long winding path that will eventually pass through a steep narrow pass leading into the mountain valley.


    The gravel under the wheels of our wagons, cracks, and turns to sand. We continue to push onward. Decimating our landscape. Our path narrows between two trees but we roll onward, and our wheels pull the trees down in an instant. They grind over top of the logs, with barely any extra resistance, and they turn the logs into a smooth sawdust.


    We push onward.


    DC


    I sigh discontentedly.


    ¡°Gairy¡­¡±


    Gairy glances away from what he''s working on. He pulls his pipe free from his mouth. ¡°Yes Master?¡±


    ¡°I need more creatures. I don''t have enough and I''m not happy with it.¡± I wine petulantly, and pout my imaginary face.


    Gairy nods his head. ¡°We could try to send some goblins. It is probably a death sentence, but I''m sure a few will make it back with something interesting.¡±


    I make a discontented noise and say. ¡°Why can''t I just make a human, and send them?¡±


    Gairy nods thoughtfully. ¡°Because they are considered an adventurer species. I''m not quite sure where the line is drawn but certain species, including humans, elves, dwarves, and the like, are all considered adventurer species. Now you can''t make them because your mana won''t allow you to. But if a human, or other adventurer species is born inside of your domain you will have two options. You can either claim the baby right then, and there, and it will become dungeon born. This baby will immediately be slaughtered if they are dungeon born though. Or you could simply study it while its shields. ¡° He air quotes shields. ¡°Are down. Once you have studied enough you can then create that adventurer species.¡±


    I smile. ¡°So if I make my floors big enough down here¡­¡±


    Gairy finishes my sentence. ¡°They may try to make a small town or city down here. One way you can encourage this is by making valuable resources down here. For example make a safe floor, and make large copper reserves so that we can get people moving in to mine copper. Of course when you get large enough people don''t want to have to go through your entire dungeon every time, so Cities will naturally form.¡±


    ¡°Soooo¡­ Should I make my seventh floor a safe area with copper mines? Wouldn''t other Ores be better? I can make Iron, Gold, Coal, almost anything really.¡±


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    Gairy shrugs. ¡°I think Coal would be best for this floor as it isn''t very difficult to get down here.¡±


    I nod thoughtfully. ¡°Ok¡­¡±


    I turn my attention back to the floor, and begin working on a hilly area with a valley squat in the middle. The hills are weird rocky mixes of hills, and mountains, standing 500 feet tall or so on average they are rocky, and littered with moderate, to small cliffs, drops, and ravines. A tree hazard for the unprepared.


    At the entrance to the floor I scratch a message in the most known language I can find onto a wooden board which I embed into the dirt.


    Safe Zone


    I smile. The floor is 720 feet in every direction, up, east, west, north, and south. I had the capacity for 900 feet in every direction but I want to save the extra space for downwards. I make it over 500 feet into the earth before I run out of energy and my boundaries end there.


    I fill those 500 feet with huge Coal veins, but I also mix in some unstable areas, and a couple pockets of deadly gas. I chuckle, ¡°They¡¯re gonna need that Canary for the Coal mines, and i''ll get a new species of bird.¡±


    I also lay a layer of bedrock near the bottom, so I can saturate that bottom layer with water. Making it even more difficult for mining. Though this will actually probably be appreciated as it will make them much safer, and less likely to cause explosions.


    I smile, and I copy, and paste this into another floor below it that I''m using as my Evolution floor for this one.


    I filled this floor with any variety of birds that I had. Being not many. I had a couple of Cave swallows, and a type of finch, which I filled the place with hopeful living in the ravines, caves, and crevices scattered throughout the place.


    Due to my lack of a variety of birds. I begin to work on making new types of birds. The first bird I make is a small to moderate sized bird, with hooks on the backs of the wing in the sort of elbow area, and thick durable claws on its feet, perfect for gouging out rocks to make nests. These will be perfect birds for the ravines that run abundantly through the floor, so I release those. I altered their souls so they are quite territorial but not unreasonably aggressive. They kill the majority of each other off quite quickly leaving them each a decent slice of land. They also have a born knowledge of how to build their nests, and chip away at the hard rock faces of cliffs.


    The species of moles I made with the rocky hands, I also release into the floor. They are small about the size of squirrels or moles, but breed quickly, live mostly underground, are rather intelligent, and live in colonies that can become tremendous in size. I release them into the environment with the understanding that if they are left to dig as they like they will cause the entire floor to collapse, and reshape over time, So I seal the whole place with bedrock except for the vents that allow air, and my influence to get in.


    Next is the part I''m most excited about. I take some regular old moles, and I begin to remake them with lots of human influences, and I''m left with a species of blind mole people. as intelligent as humans or more they are rather ugly and spend most of their time living underground. They are slow breeders, but are strong, brave, and have good hiding spots. They have bulging muscles perfect for digging, and their claws are razor sharp, and would tear flesh just as easily as stone. I release a group of 30 of these creatures on the eastern side of the floor, in a cave, and they immediately start digging.


    Next I take a group of rats, and once again morph them with human influences, and am left with a species of rat people. Cowardly, weak, and disgusting. They have hunched backs, and long snouts. They are cruel, and intelligent. All their weaknesses are made up for by their incredible capacity for breeding. I instill in their minds a concept of power, and slavery. They aren''t perfect for digging but hate the light of day, and so spend most of their time underground. They have no care for the world around them, and are the complete opposite of the mole people. I release these fellows into a deep sealed cavern on the western side of the world. They will be the nemesis of the mole people, and hopefully they will be an even match for each other.


    I do need to work on some more creatures for the land above¡­

 Chapter 26

    Alistair


    Eli peers back from the back of the caravan suspiciously. ¡°Who are those people getting closer? There are a lot of them, and they¡¯re armed.¡±


    Alistair cracks his whip once more, the skin on the backs of his beast cracking under the pressure. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± He smiles at Eli. They have pushed into the pass, and within the next hour should hopefully reach the valley, where they will be protected by the rest of the Dark Knights forces, and possibly some other adventurers who wish to join in.


    The pilgrims draw slowly closer, and closer to our caravan, until they are close enough that I can make out the faces of the nearest pilgrims. But as they draw closer, we also draw closer to safety, as the hour draws to a close, we round a bend, and get our first peak at the valley below, we peak in between the stone walls, and emerge in a flat plateau not far from the encampment.


    Milo


    Milo walks through his small encampment. As the city lord his word is law, and his money is worth just as much as any other. So he put together a force of 50 or so adventures. He had hoped to gather more but¡­ Well¡­ He did what he could¡­


    As well as his encampment of 50 or so adventures he also had a group of 3 or so necromancers with them, who volunteered to assist with the defence if it is brought to that point.


    The necromancers weren''t super high leveled but all together they had brought up about 50 more goblin skeletons. Each skeleton was only at about D ranked 3 give or take a level, but a body is a body. As well as the skeletons they also had some weird amalgam of a wolf, and a human, I didn''t bother to ask where they got the human corpse from. But it was C-1 and was on par with a couple of the stronger men, and women on the field.


    Luther, and the gang also offered to come along, so Luther sits on a horse at the forefront of the group, and the others in the party are within the ranks of unruly adventurers. To call them ranks is a lie as they are closer to just a mob of people.


    I walk beside Luther, and raise my spyglass to an eye, and peer off to the pass. I first watch as two tremendous carts pulled by undead abominations, as well as a couple of flesh golems flee through the gap.


    I watch as the undead abominations pull the gargantuan carts down the hill, and begin to approach. Almost immediately as they descend the hill the pilgrims emerge from the gap. The carts quickly reach the bottom of the hill, and when they do the pilgrims begin to gain on them.


    I wave my hand forward in panic. ¡°March! Assist the people in those carts!¡±


    Luther leans down. ¡°I''m going to go ahead of you guys to see if we can calm this down before it devolves into combat, because if that happens, the church is going to send templars, or battle pilgrims.¡±


    I nod solemnly. ¡°Thank you Luther.¡±


    He waves his hand, as he rides off, his cloak catching the wind like a sail but being caught, and pulled down by whatever he has in his pockets.


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    Our adventurer soldiers step forward, and begin to shamble like a mob of zombies in the general direction of the plague pilgrims, our ranks supplemented by skeletons.


    Alistair


    Alistair smirks in joy as he sees friendly faces approaching them with an armed force. He turns to Eli.


    ¡°Eli, you take the carts the rest of the way, I''m going to stay behind and help fight, if necessary.¡±


    Eli begins to speak but thinks better of it, and simply nods. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Alistair jumps from the back of the cart as they pass by the adventurers rambling forward. He joins at the back of the mob with friendly necromancers. He smiles, and greets them.


    Alistair is followed by his two flesh golems but the rest of his abominations continue to pull the carts back towards the encampment.


    Milo


    Milo steps forward. Luther sits upon his horse, bow in hand, barring their path.


    At the sight of the opponents reaching them, a man wrapped in cloth steps forward. He wears simple working clothes, rough pants, and a farmers shirt. Under his clothing his entire body is wrapped in thin cloth similar to a mummy. The same as every other pilgrim. The cloth is soaked in herbs, strong spirits, or opioids in an attempt to dull the pain from their various ailments, or in an attempt to contain their diseases.


    He steps forward, and unwraps his face. He peels it off layer by layer, revealing his head, bald, and covered in rashes. His face is covered in pustules, and cysts. His lips are red, and bloated, the skin sloughing off to reveal the pink flesh below. His face is something out of a child''s nightmares. Pus drips down his left cheek but he wipes it away.


    He reaches into his pocket, and removes a bottle of alcohol. He tips the bottle backward, and the scent of strong Bourbon fills the air. He pours only a small amount into his mouth, but the rest is poured on his face, mixing with the various open wounds, and cysts. He rubs it in, and then, with a rag he wipes it away.


    He sighs, and coughs. ¡°Why have we been met with force?¡±


    I step forward tentatively. ¡°I received the message from priest Auschwits. But¡­ I am afraid that we have a contract with, and a semi-large presence of necromancers here. So we cannot allow you to enter unless you swear not to harm these necromancers.¡±


    The man sighs, and draws his sword, its blade, rusted to near death, but despite it all, it is tainted with the blood of daemons, demons, undead, and worst of all, the humans who raised, or summoned said creatures.


    He runs his hand over the blade, and sighs. ¡°I am simply a plague prophet. I do not have the authority to negotiate with you for our church. If, or when our envoy arrives to install a church, they could negotiate, but I am simply unable to negotiate with you.¡±


    I sigh, and shrug. ¡°Then leave¡­¡±


    The man sighs. ¡°We will camp here until the envoy arrives, and they will negotiate.¡±


    I nod at the agreeable enough compromise.


    At this moment Alistair pushes his way through the mob, and arrives at Milos'' side. ¡°Are we fighting?¡± He asks, confused.


    I shake my head. ¡°They will camp here until an envoy arrives to negotiate with.¡±


    Alistair glares at the prophet. ¡°Why don''t I post up some guards so that they don''t get down to any funny business. Such as trying to spread their variety of plagues to your people.¡±


    The prophet glares at him. ¡°It was an accident.¡±


    Alistair''s glare goes wider. ¡°An accident that killed thousands innocent people!¡±


    The prophet swallows once, and spits on the ground. ¡°Whatever. We are laying our encampment.¡±


    I nod hesitantly. ¡°Sure. Alistair go ahead, and set up those guards, but don''t attack them.¡±


    Alistair smiles, and nods.

 Chapter 27

    Alistair


    I smile, and bounce up and down a couple times. I run over to the three necromancers standing around while the other adventurers disperse.


    ¡°Hey are all of you with the dark knights?¡±


    The first one of the group, an older man, very pale skin, and a wild untamed beard, as well as having a bald top to his head, and the side of his hair poke out like crazy.


    The second necromancer is a ugly young woman, with a short bob, and light, but well made, working clothing.


    The last necromancer is older women, with long hair, with hints of silvery coloration near the top.


    All three of them nod slightly.


    I smile. ¡°Perfect! You and your forces are required by your guild, and as such you are being drafted into temporary service! Use your undead, and guard this encampment until I come back. Don''t let any of them leave, unless Milo, or I say they can.¡±


    The older man spins on his heel at him. ¡°Fuck you!¡± He throws out his finger, and his lips shake, throwing spittle into Alistair''s face.


    I lean back. I reach out, and twist my hand emphatically. ¡°I am your Guild superior, I would rather not force you with the guild contract, but I will.¡±


    The man shakes his head. ¡°Whatever.¡±


    I spins, and stomps off in the direction of his group of skeletons.


    The older woman quickly jogs after the older man, while calling his name. ¡°Igor! Igor! Hold on!¡±


    The young woman nods but cringes. ¡°Do I have to?¡±


    I nod. ¡°Not for long. Just long enough for me to put together a better force.¡±


    She deflates with a deep breath. ¡°Ok¡­¡± She wanders off. This young woman had a smaller skeleton force than the other two but she did have the one C-1 ranked creature.


    I smile, and sprint in the direction of the caravan. I arrive to see Eli already unhooking them but I finish the job, and send my abominations pulling the cart, each around C-2 off in the direction of the encampment, I also send the flesh Golems at C-1.


    I quickly follow behind, and resume control of the defenses.


    Adam


    Adam squats down by the fire. His friend Henry, and lover Abby sit around with him. He unravels the first layer of bandages on his face to scratch at them, before he takes a swig of alcohol laced with opioids so as to dull the neverending pain of existing. Standard issue for the plague pilgrims.


    He passes the bottle to Abby who takes a deep swig, and passes it to Henry.


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    His eye twitches, as a cyst on his face starts leaking. He reaches up, and rubs a little loose whiskey on it, before saying something. ¡°I don''t trust them¡­¡±


    Abby nods along. ¡°I don''t trust em either.¡± Her voice barely coherent through her thick Scottish accent.


    Henry nods, and speaks in his posh annoying way. ¡°No¡­ Neither do I.¡±


    Adam leans in, and gives a creepy grin, his teeth crooked, and black. He is missing one of his front teeth, and his remaining teeth are permanently stained. ¡°Let''s pick a fight¡­ No way we lose. We have Julian with us.¡± He gestures to where the plague prophet resides within his tent.


    Henry sits back, and doesn''t respond, But Abby does. ¡°I totally agree.¡± She nods emphatically.


    Adam stands, and begins to stroll from campfire to campfire, and antagonizes a couple more people. All those people move over to Adams fire. They are left with a fighting force of 10 people. The strongest one being Adam, at C-1. Everyone else is high D ranked.


    He leans in close, and shares the plan. ¡°We stay together, and you see that necromancer over there.¡± He points off in the direction of Alistair. ¡°We cut through the undead fluff, and kill him, and they all die.¡±


    The others nod at his plan as if it is anything other than idiotic.


    Adam smiles, and stands walking over to the edge of their encampment. He strikes first¡­


    With one strike he blows several skeletons to bits, showering a larger group of them with bones. His warhammer shattered their skeletons with ease. Two more skelies walk up to bat, and are turned to a fine powder.


    At this point the necromancer in the distance has noticed, and is obviously directing more forces our way.


    A giant flesh abomination bursts around the corner. A pair of arms emerge from its rib cage with meat hooks attached, and it rushes forward, its rib cage meathooks swing at Adam


    Adam dances back nimbly. He laughs, and strikes forward, landing a blow on one of the meat hooks. The beast unfazed attacks again.


    *Shlink* A wet noise resounds. A skeleton. While Adam was focused on the beast a skeleton snuck up, and stabbed him. He spins, and obliterates the thing with one blow. But the damage is already done. Before he can refocus, the meat hook, and flying, and the abomination''s main hands have locked Adam in place, stopping him from dodging.


    With a wet slapping grinding noise, the meat hooks slide through his midsection, shattering ribs, severing his spine, and then the sharp  clack of the two hooks meeting inside of him.


    His lower half drops, and hits the floor. But his upper half remains held in the construct''s grip. He guts slowly oozes free from the cavity of his chest.


    Another skeleton walks over with a torch, and burns Adam''s body. Preventing any of his diseases from spreading.


    Abby clutches her chest. Her chest binds itself tightly, and she falls to the floor replaying memories of him. A young boy with a tooth gap. They grew up together. His dad was a drunk, who came home every night, and beat his mother blue. One day he just stabbed his father. He went to jail for a time until he left, a meaner man. But a man indebted to light. He did his best to reform. But eventually he caught the plague, and he saw no other choice. He joined the plague pilgrims, so he may redeem his useless life.


    I missed him so much, I ventured off, and got myself sick just so I could come with the dipshit. He always beat me in cards. I could never win. He would always laugh, and tell me one day I''d beat him. He was a heavy drinker, and didn''t know when to stop. He was maybe a little handsy when he got drunk, but he never once hit me. More than anything, he loved me, and I loved him. I would never get to beat him in cards. I''d never get to watch the lord of light free us from our blight. I''d never get to watch our kids grow up¡­


    *Schlick* Abby glances down, and notices the spear, running through her chest. ¡°Ohh¡­¡± She says. *Schl-thuck-schlick* A second spear drives through her side, and glances off the top of the other spear before continuing, and exiting the other side. Her eyes grow wide. But she never cries. She''s stronger than that. ¡°I won¡¯t die¡­¡± She whispers. ¡°For Adam!¡±


    *Thud* Abbies head hits the ground, her matted hair clinging to the mud.

 Chapter 28

    Alistair


    I stomp forward, and wave my hand at the body. A skeleton steps forward, and lights it ablaze, the body a bonfire, in the cold night, anybody on this plateau could see the body burning.


    ¡°Let them be a message!¡± I step forward next to the fire. ¡°Don''t dare attack us, or attempt to leave!¡± I snarl, and stomp off, my boots splashing in the puddles of blood, mixing with the dirt.


    Henry


    I squat back down onto the log by the fire. Unsurprised. Those idiots would get themselves killed one day. I chuckle, and take a sip of the opium laced alcohol. At least I got their alcohol.


    I glance up as Julian storms out of his tent, sword in hand. ¡°What is the meaning of this, you bastards!¡±


    The necromancer steps forward. ¡°Those two attacked some of our undead. We killed them.¡±


    Julian snarls. ¡°I don''t believe it! Our honorable pilgrims would nev-¡±


    I interrupt quickly. ¡°Yup. They did.¡± I take another swig of the painkiller, and point in the direction of the bodies. ¡°They just so happened to lose very badly.¡±


    Julain spins, and blusters. He huffs, and puffs, before storming off into his tent again.


    I turn to the necromancer, and wave my hand, at him dismissing his presence, and return my attention to my drug of choice.


    DC


    For my seventh floor evolution room, I wanted mountain goat style creatures, but I wasn''t quite sure how to make them, so I kind of just played around with a design, and I eventually made something similar enough except they were larger, about the size of a pony, and were far more aggressive. They could jump almost six feet with a running start, and they had huge horns that instead of curling out, curled down, and back forward, so they would point outward.


    They fought for mates, and they would lock their horns together. The ones with the longer horns would have more leverage, and be able to more easily get to the opponent so they usually won the right to mate. Despite this they were still herbivores, and really only ate grass.


    I eventually decided on the name Stallhorns, as they are similar in size to a stallion, and have large dangerous horns.


    I also added a small goblin tribe, mainly because I wanted to watch something try to ride those giant ass goats. I do keep this floor separate from the other goblin floor, as I don''t want the goblins up there to interact with the mole people, or the rat people yet.


    I also add some basic stuff like I do on every other floor, like worms, and shit. I begin to size up a cat someone brought into the dungeon, so I can make something akin to a mountain lion for predators. It basically just comes out as a basic mountain lion, with almost no differences.


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    I allow all this to run free, and immediately enjoy watching it.


    I also begin working on some spies I can send up to bring me new creatures. I basically take a goblin, name them, and make them super intelligent, and then I give them clothing that covers every inch of skin, and a mask to cover their face.


    What you''re left with looks like a last minute halloween costume; aka pulling a sheet overtop of you. But in all black, and with a mask, and little goggles covering his eyes. And gloves. Ok nothing like a last minute halloween costume but the joke still stands.


    I pump out 30 or so of those, and then I just release them up, and into the other area with the order of causing as little chaos as possible while also bringing me all kinds of new creatures.


    I chuckle as I watch them skitter out of my opening, and into the night.


    Alistair


    I tap my foot anxiously, and scratch at my arm. It''s early morning now, the envoy should be arriving in a couple hours, but it seems as if the pilgrims are having problems with undead, and NOT immediately killing them. We had a couple little attacks throughout the night, but we only lost a couple skeletons, and we dispatched them quite easily. The wolf human combo seemed to be quite effective, and punched out of its weight class, so I jotted it down for possibly a future minion. I also reached into my reserves of pickled corpses, and summoned a couple more undead servants including a C-1 ranked bear monster, who I also recognize as punching above their weight class, a giant praying mantis C-2, and a 30 or so pickled goblin skeletons, all around high F ranking.


    Lastly, and most importantly, an Ogre. A pale white skinned thing resembling a human with Eastern features, their belly hangs low with excess fat, their hair short, and greasy, standing at 15 feet tall and in their hand they hold something akin to a knife, but as long as an average human is tall. It was C-9, and probably would have eventually broken into the B ranks if allowed to live.


    Ogres, while technically sentient, and intelligent, had no protections under the laws Alistair followed, and so any he could beat in combat, he could do as he liked with them. Ogres were one of Alistair''s favorite species to work on as they were durable, and strong.


    I smile, and sit back in my chair while I eat a warm breakfast sandwich. Milo sits next to me anxiously with binoculars in hand, peering over the horizon to the hill where the envoy should be coming through any time now.


    Milo puts down his binoculars, and turns to me. ¡°Aren''t you worried? What if they decide to kill us?¡±


    I shake my head, and put up one finger. ¡°No. We can win this battle even with just my undead constructs, and if any adventurers decide to get involved we definitely will win.¡±


    Milo interrupts. ¡°But even after they win they will send more church members to purge this area!¡±


    I continue. ¡°But if that were to happen it would enrage multiple other independent groups, because they would be breaking a treaty about full blown holy wars. Now if they somehow found a way around it, our guild would entrench ourselves further into your society, and send more high rankers here. We have contended, even fought with the church before, and we have held our own.¡±


    Milo jumps in. ¡°But-¡±


    I continue ¡°Despite all this, even if they found a way around it, and we did have to engage, it would eventually escalate into a full blown holy war no matter how much they deny it, and other forces would get involved. The Morovians would most certainly send an army to attempt to subjugate the church, and they would be forced to back down, or be destroyed.¡± I left out the part where if they chose to fight to the death it would enrage many more groups, and the world would likely explode into world war, but that is unlikely so¡­ Whatever!


    ¡°Oh look at them now!¡± I point off in the distance where a small caravan of wagons is accompanied by a group of Battle Pilgrims on horseback.

 Chapter 29

    At the sight of our forces the battle pilgrims stop the procession, and the carts turn around, ready to retreat out of the mountain pass if necessary. The battle pilgrims ride ahead, and are led by a stunning woman on horseback. She wears plain steel armor, with a white cloth trim. She holds a huge lance in her right hand. Slung on her back is a long cavalry sword, and in her left hand is an embellished heater shield.


    The entire thing is steel with a wooden cover over the center with the embellishments.


    She rides forward, and speaks up. ¡°For what purpose have we been met with such a display of heretical force.¡±


    Milo steps forward. ¡°Well, we have a number of treaties with necromancers, as well as a large presence of them here in my establishment, and so we were worried you would try to, uh, for lack of a better word, purge them.¡± He puts his fingers up, and air quotes when he says purge.


    She growls deeply. ¡°Take me to Milo, the leader of this town, so we may negotiate.¡±


    ¡°I am Milo.¡± He explains quickly.


    She raises an eyebrow, and chuckles. ¡°Were you pressured into this by those necros, your poor weakling?¡±


    Milo frowns. ¡°No. I was not, and I do not appreciate your rudeness.¡±


    She laughs. ¡°Whatever, now let me drive out those bastard necros for you.¡±


    Milo frowns even deeper. ¡°No.¡±


    She sighs, and repeats herself. ¡°This is happening.¡±


    Milo growls once more. ¡°No It isn''t.¡±


    She snarls, ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll do this the hard way.¡±


    She stabs forward with her lance, but before it reaches Milo the Ogre steps forward, and lops off the head of the lance.


    Her horse wheels around, and she retreats back with her small force of 5-8 battle pilgrims. Milo runs back, and meets up with me again. The plague pilgrims seeing this immediately strike out at our forces. They run forward, their weapons carving through skeletons like butter, only met with the occasional resistance of the more powerful undead.


    The plague prophet starts wiping out entire groups of skeletons, until he is met by the undead bear, and praying mantis, who tag team him, with the occasional help of the skeletons surrounding them. The battle pilgrims charge forward, circumventing the main force of undead, and heading straight for Milo, and Alistair.


    The thunk of a lance impacting the ogre''s belly resounds throughout the battlefield. The ogre responds with a swift chop of his knife. The battle pilgrim slides off the back of the horse before it hits, but it kills the horse almost instantly with a beheading blow. The ogre tears the lance from its chest, and throws it like a spear at the dismounted battle pilgrim who parries it away with his sword.


    With a resounding clang, the ogres off hand backhands another battle pilgrim off their horse, and into the mud. Yet, they stand unharmed, and charge forward, sword raised high. Their sword sinks into the flesh of the monster''s fatty thigh, before he is once again batted away like a rag doll.


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    ¡°STOP! STOP!¡± A resounding voice fills the air, and a short man appears amidst the ranks. He is a little over 5 feet tall, wearing priestly robes busting at the waist from his generous waistline. His pudgy cheeks hang down like a bulldog, clean shaven, and his already thin hair is receding.


    Alistair glances in the direction of the man. ¡°And who are you?¡±


    At the same time the female battle pilgrim, spins her horse around. ¡°Priest Auschwitz! Please return to your carriage!¡±


    The pudgy man spins upon the women, his girth swings slightly behind him before it catches up. ¡°You! I heard you! You think I couldn''t hear the way you spoke to that poor man!¡± He points his finger at Milo, sitting in the backlines, trying to avoid the conflict.


    ¡°Well, sir.¡± The woman tries to speak.


    ¡°No! We have seen how the intolerant attitude has landed us in the past! Wounded, and crippled, and I will not have you starting a holy war while I''m in charge! I understand your intentions are good, but your methods have failed you, as they clearly have many times before! That''s the only possible way you would be assigned to such a simple task!¡± After a thorough chastising the woman shrinks in her boots.


    He turns to Alistair, and Milo, and begins to waddle slowly in their direction. ¡°Hold on!¡± he puts a finger out, and continues to waddle forward. ¡°I''m a much more tolerant negotiator than her.¡± He finally arrives at the table where the two men sit, and he snaps his fingers. A chair appears. Simple, and made of wicker.


    He drops the chair into the mud by the table, and sits down. ¡°Ok. Let''s negotiate. I want to build a church. I don''t want to be persecuted for anything I do, and I want our people to be equal in the eyes of the law.¡±


    Milo


    I nod. ¡°Very agreeable terms, and I wouldn''t be opposed to any of them. Do you have any form of income other than donations I guess?¡±


    The man nods vigorously. Some of our members, like templars, paladins, priests, even a couple visiting battle pilgrims, will venture into the dungeon. Sometimes we¡¯ll do sales, like baking cookies, or food to fundraise.


    I nod vigorously, and put my finger up. ¡°We charge a flat 10% for any independent dungeoneers. ANything they sell we take 10% of, any money they pull out, we take 10% of. Anyone affiliated with a guild we''ve made a deal with gets 7% instead. Can we just kind of lump the church in as one big guild.¡±


    The priest tilts his head, and quirks his lips. ¡°No¡­ Not really.¡±


    I put my finger up again. ¡°Tell you what. We¡¯ll charge anyone who is in a direct contract with your church, as part of your guild, and only charge them 7%. If they aren''t in a direct contract, and just independent, ill assume them independent, and 10% it is. If they are affiliated with another guild, they will get the rate we charge that guild.¡±


    The priest nods, and thinks. ¡°That sounds¡­. Perfect!¡± he throws his arms up, in happiness. ¡°Where can we build a church?¡± He exclaims.


    I chuckle, and take a piece of paper from my pocket, and jot down the location of my secretary. ¡°How many square feet do you think you''ll need? For the property not the house.¡±


    The priest tilts his head. ¡°Can I get 3,000 square feet?¡± He asks with a slight cringe. I shrug, and jot that down on the paper.


    ¡°I said aiming for 3,000, but negotiable. She''ll talk with you. Also are the plague pilgrims staying?¡± I point at the plague pilgrims.


    He smiles at the note, and shakes his head. ¡°No, they¡¯ll leave for another mission within a day or so.¡±


    I smile, and shake his hand. ¡°Perfect! Also, don''t cause any trouble. If you break any laws we¡¯re gonna have a problem.¡±


    He gasps in mock shock. ¡°We would never!¡± He chuckles, and stands, dusting off his robe. ¡°Good day!¡± He waves, and walks back to the caravan.


    Everyone blinks in surprise as a figure roughly equal in height to Auschwitz, bumps into him, shoves him aside, runs up, and hops atop a horse before riding off into the distance before anyone can respond. ¡°What the hell.¡± I mutter under my breath, but I don''t do anything about it.

 Chapter 30

    DC


    I smile as a disguised goblin enters my dungeon, and dispatches a horse, a variety of fish, and even a frog. The goblin quickly slips deeper into my dungeon, and he explains quickly how he stole the horse from someone important looking, while they were negotiating on a battlefield. Interesting.


    I shrug, and slip the goblin away, and into the goblin floor, where I reward him, by giving him some gold.


    I purposefully edited goblin society so that they used the same currency system as the humans above.


    I also gave him some mana rich food, and just let him chill for a while.


    Once he is done relaxing I decide to see if he''s up for a¡­ longer mission.


    While he devours the roast venison I gave him I begin to speak. ¡°What is your name child?¡±


    He glances up in distress, his nose quivering, and his needle teeth dripping with hot tallow. ¡°G-Gerbet, my name is Gerbet, Father¡­¡± He answers quickly.


    ¡°I have another mission for you.¡± I continue sagely. ¡°You do not have to do it, but I have a mission that someone will take. Whether it be you, or one of your brothers or sisters.¡±


    He scratches his nose. ¡°What mission?¡± He asks suspiciously.


    I smirk. ¡°Venture far off, and away from your home, and bring me back a variety of creatures, specifically sea creatures, and even more specifically, crabs.¡±


    He shirks lower, and picks at his teeth. ¡°What reward would I receive?¡±


    I nod at his question, ¡°Power, money, land, whatever I can give you, and you want.¡±


    He nods, ¡°I accept¡­¡±


    I smile at him. ¡°Stay for a day more, and then don your disguise, and depart.¡±


    He nods, and continues to eat his food.


    I turn my attention away from him, and onto the 7th floor evolution room. I want this room to become bigger because right now, it is quite small. The mole people have expanded quickly with rooms, interconnected by tunnels, but the rat people have gone the opposite way, and have dug out the cavern into huge staggering areas, with grand stone pillars holding the whole thing, and giant furnaces cooking the tremendous quantities of coal to heat the whole space.


    The rat people''s home is actually very dangerous as it is extremely unstable, so parts of it are always collapsing. They very quickly organized themselves into a caste system, where the strongest, smartest or most cunning rose to the top, and became a cruel slave driving, tyrant. The first one who rose to power was an exceedingly strong one, who was larger than the others, and was using a heavy branch as a club.


    He encouraged quick breeding, and so their numbers swelled immediately, growing into the hundreds. A small, undergrown, malnutrition little rat, quickly became something of a crime boss. The little brat was exceedingly intelligent, and cruel. Shortly after rising to power, he invented something. He first created a drug, from a mushroom that grows in the most mana dense caves. He made it by powdering the mushrooms, mixing it with coal, and then burning the whole mixture.


    That mixture created a body enhancing, and hallucination causing effect. Thus, when people would take it, they would have a burst of insanity, violence, and their bodies would be enhanced by the mana inside of the mixture, so their muscles would bulge in strength. Not a tremendous amount, but enough that it was problematic.


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    Shortly after taking the drug, most of the people would have severe vomiting, and cold sweats. If they overdosed their organs would fail, and they would die pretty much immediately. Extended exposure, and repeated use, also lead to organ failure.


    Shortly after creating this drug, in an attempt to make it more potent, he mixed it with the blood, and powderized organs of the rats who overdosed on this, and then put it under extreme heat, and pressure.


    What remained after words, were hard chunks of a rocky substance, I have dubbed, bloodstones. They were a greyish green, sort of puky with red marbling throughout. They radiated more mana than I thought was necessary, and from what I could tell, this rock, was mildly toxic to the rats, just being in the same room, as it, but I also believe it would be extremely toxic to humans, or the mole people, or even other adventurer species.


    Shortly after doing this, he used it to create an engine of sorts. He mixed the bloodstones, with a liquified version of the same mushrooms he used to create the original bloodstones. He then created a hammer of sorts, that you start manually by slamming the hammer down. The hammer contacts the hammer within the chamber.


    This then causes an explosive burst of mana, and kinetic energy, which causes the hammer to bounce back, and hit it again, as well as powering another set of pistons.


    He quickly attached the engine to a metal frame, with wheels, spikes, and a bunch of other hostile themes. He was eventually left with a sort of war train that didn''t run on tracks.


    This was very unstable, and if you got in the way of the moving hammer, inside of the train, it would easily break bones, and I''d be surprised if this doesn''t explode at some point in time.


    Shortly after making the war train, he murdered nearly 20 other rats, and had a spark of genius. He quickly organized a large-scale rebellion with his fellow rats, and they set off for the cave-palace where the leader lived.


    They arrived at the entrance to his caves, to find a group of guards, rats wielding rudimentary wooden shields, and sticks sharpened into spears. His malnutrition rats, rambled forward, driven on, by the whips of his cronies. They screeched, and screamed, but their options were to face the whips, and certain death behind them, or face the spears in front of them, so they fought like caged rats, and threw themselves against the opponents shields.


    As the enemy fights on, slaughtering many of the attackers, they spot the train, cresting the slope. And it''s too much. One of the rat guards, spins, and betrays his comrades, caught off guard, three of his friends go down, before he is intercepted by another guard.


    Just as they are about to engage. They hear creaking, and they glance up, just in time to see the train, speeding up. It mows through another three rat rebels, before carving through the betrayer, and his enemy, their vertebrae crunching, under the spiked wheels.


    They marched forward into the rat palace to find him lounging on a pile of meat, mushrooms, and other food. They swarmed forward, the remaining force, of 170 or so rats, piling on top of him, and his guard. The guards, being the only decently outfitted people, wore leathers of their fellow rats, and had stone clubs, and sharpened tree branches.


    They slaughtered nearly another 20 rats, before eventually being torn apart by their bare hands, and the rat king was brought out, and beheaded. The leaders of the revolt, cooked his body over a fire, and distributed the meat of his flesh to the leaders of their brave revolt, and as they feast, of the 5 leaders of the revolt, four are executed, and our little inventor, continues to eat, as his most loyal servants execute the very friends who helped him rise to his position. He has no desire to share the power with others, not any desire to be stabbed in the back by them, in the same way they stabbed the old rat king in the back.


    He finishes his food, and climbs onto the pile of corpses of his friends, and begins to speak. ¡°My name is Talon Bonechewer! Talon! Bonechewer!¡± He hisses in joy, and strokes his whiskers. ¡°Sit by my feet-claws, and lick-worship, yes!¡± He laughs, and hisses more.


    I laugh in joy at the nature of the cruel little beast. For his sake I craft something, three things actually, and drop them at his feet. A staff, made of iron, but with a pretty gem at the top. A crown, made of silver, inlaid with a couple more pretty gems, and lastly, a knife, short, but beautiful and effective, made out of steel with gold leaf overlaid to make it look pretty.


    He scoops up his new toys, and dons his crown, and hisses with joy. ¡°Our broodmother-father-creator, god-thing has blessed us!¡± He screams, and throws his hands, laden with his new bedazzled toys up in the air, and screams once more. The crowd of rats standing below him hiss, and ooh, and aah.


    He screams out in joy, and descends back into his cave-palace. ¡°Breed lots yes broodmother yes!¡± He cries out behind him, as he marches deeper into his palace to continue his devious machination, to undoubtedly continue inventing horrible dastardly things.


    I absolutely love rat people.

 Chapter 31

    DC


    I turn my attention to the mole people, who have grown in number but only slightly, they breed far slower, and mature far faster than the rats, The rats age about 4 years for every 1 real year that passes, but when they turn 3 they are fully mature, but at the age of two, they are considered, and treated fully mature by the rats, and are usually forced into labour, or combat, or some other thing, and they usually die of old age around 30 years into their life, but few besides the wealthy, or powerfull make it that far.


    The mole people, on the other hand, age at the same rate as humans, but they can live to almost 200 years of age, they will usually be considered mature around the age of 19-20 which is about accurate to their biology.


    These fellows instead of fighting for power, they spoke, and the ones they deemed the most intelligent were placed in power over the others.


    They quickly directed resource production, they mined coal, to create furnaces, to heat the copper, and small quantities of iron. They used rudimentary wooden, and stone tools to remove the iron, and copper, and pound them into the rough shape of a hammer, and tongs. Two important tools for iron working.


    As they had those made they continued to innovate, but less industrialized than the rats, and less militarized, as they had no need for combat, as far as they knew.


    They also started farming fungus, such as certain mushrooms I had sprinkled throughout the cavern, and even collecting, and breeding insects like livestock.


    They began to procreate, and one of the mole people was with a child. She is yet to give birth, but I believe it should be soon. Nearly 11 months have passed within the sped up time of the evolution floor, while only about 3 weeks of regular time had passed.


    I also found I could speed up the time on the evolution floor even more, as I grew stronger, and invested more mana into said endeavor.


    Above the ground of the evolution floor a small village of goblins formed, where the 30 or so goblins I dropped have also born children, not nearly as many as the rats but they have swelled in number, and are nearing 3 digits of population, but they are having problems feeding themselves.


    Their most prevalent supply of food are the stallhorns, but that''s a problem, because stallhorns are strong, and extremely dangerous, and require a lot of effort to catch, and eat. This did seem like it was mildly my fault so I decided to introduce¡­ Some crops! Specifically, crops like blackberries, potatoes, and corn. This was a¡­ Problem to say the least. They ate all the corn immediately, and so were unable to re-plant them. They did try to replant the corn though, but couldn''t fathom the idea of putting food into the ground to grow more food, they just didn''t understand. I''m sure they would have tried if I explained it to them, but I didn''t want to, so those disappeared, but the blackberries¡­


    The blackberries were perfect! Instead of just giving them blackberries i let a couple of the plants grow on the craggy patches of dirt they could find, and they did understand that if they left the bushes for long enough they would grow more berries back, so those worked very well. I also included my little sub-species of blackberry vines, and put them inside or near the entrances of the cave, so as to draw them into the caves, and hopefully maybe even find some of the other species prevalent in this floor.


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    I Also added some stuff like squirrels, so as to have a smaller, less dangerous animal to hunt. Which they liked a lot.


    Milo


    Over the next couple days, and weeks, I watched as the church/monastery was built. They had gotten their goal of 3000 square feet, and had built a 2 story monastery with a basement where people could live.


    The top floor is only accessible by a staircase on the outside of the building, leading up to a series of 15 apartments for monks, acolytes, or others to stay, each is roughly 200 square feet, or so, including an attached bathroom, and small dining area for each apartment. As well as a kitchen, dining room, and tiny little library/study for books to be stored in the basement floor. The central floor is a church, where people could come, and worship, be converted, or baptized, or whatever people do in a church.


    They even had hand pumps in the bathroom, so as to pump water into an overhead pipe, and clean themselves as if it were raining. They could also use those same hand pumps, so pump their waste out through a series of pipes, which dropped it into, what Auschwitz called a ¡°fertilizer bin.¡±


    The whole place was rather pretty, made with rustic bricks, and more of the dark shaded wood that was used in the creation of the tower.


    Anytime Alistair, or one of the necromancers walks by it they glare at it though. I chuckle, and turn. Recently with Luther guidance I broke through into D-0, apparently the D rankings are different from the F rankings as you have to start reinforcing your body with mana. Basically it''s like weaving a tapestry of mana through your body. Luther told me, I could weave it into my muscles, brain, skin, organs, or apparently there were other options, but he explained what each did first.


    The muscles would make you stronger, the brain would make you smarter, the skin, would make your skin more durable, and less likely to be pierced, the organs, would make your whole body run marginally better, and this apparently was one of the really big keys about living far longer as a cultivator.


    I also asked about that to Luther about stuff like undead creatures, or beasts who didn''t know what to do, and he explained it to me. ¡°If something is purely necromantic, i know that all they do is mimic what that person already did with their mana, which is why into the D ranks, and longer, you can''t raise anything higher ranking than you, because you have to be capable of doing what they did, but constructs, where they raise the rank of the creatures, well¡­ I just don''t know enough about that shit to really explain. Ask Alistair.¡±


    He also explained that once you started weaving into one part of your body, you could stop until that part was done, and while you could strengthen your body more like this later on, it will be less effective than in your growth period of being in the D ranks, and you will only be able to upgrade three parts of your body before you break free from the D-ranks.


    He then explained about weaving into your ¡°Aura.¡± Apparently aura is the mana that levitates around you, with your influence on it. That is how people can literally just control the element of their affinity within a certain range of them, because it is within their aura. Outside of your aura if you want to influence your element you have to weave a ¡°spell.¡±


    ¡°So if you upgrade your aura it will grow bigger, and you can control more stuff around you?¡± I ask confused.


    ¡°Correct,¡± he responds with a nod.

 Chapter 32

    ¡°Explain, spells. How do those work?¡± I ask


    ¡°No.¡± He responds promptly, and slaps me upside the head. ¡°Now hurry up, and get to weaving so we can break you into the D ranks.¡±


    I stop him. ¡°Well hold on, what affinity am I?¡± I ask petulantly.


    He sighs annoyed. ¡°You know.¡±


    I frown, ¡°No-¡± I close my mouth. ¡°I do.¡± I smile at the swell of heat in my chest, as it swirls. Fire. ¡°I have a fire affinity. What should I enhance?¡±


    He nods. ¡°Depends. Do you want to be a ranged wizard, or a melee fighter, or some mix, like me. I don''t really take advantage of my element much, at least as you can see because well¡­ My affinity is weak. My strength is the product of countless hours of training. But you actually have a decent affinity so you could probably become a wizard, or mixed, if you want.¡±


    I sigh. ¡°Ok. I think I could do a mixed fighter.¡±


    He nods. ¡°Great choice, I wouldn''t waste a fire element like that, they have great potential for destruction.¡±


    I beam up at the praise. ¡°So, I don''t know, muscles? Organs?¡±


    He sighs, and leans in close. ¡°If I were you, the three I would choose for my D ranks would be muscles, brain, and aura. Brain mostly because you can never go wrong with being smarter, and you also are running a city, so you really need it. Muscles, because they are super useful for melee, aura because you can use spells if you want, but if you want to be a mix of spells, and melee, you want to use your aura more than spells. Your organs you can do once you''re more powerful. Maybe if you were on the verge of death, but you aren¡¯t.¡±


    I nod. ¡°Ok.¡±


    He shudders. ¡°And you¡¯ve never known true fear until you¡¯ve seen a ogre sweeping through a crowd of men, gigantic fucking hammer in hand, wiping men off the face of the earth, every spin leaving a whirl of flame behind, boiling men in their armor like lobsters.¡±


    I chuckle, and I''m snapped back to the present, where I stand with my friends at the entrance of the dungeon, my brain having sped up rapidly already.


    ¡°How deep are we going boys?¡± I rub my hands together, and Aeryn throws me a dirty look.


    ¡°I ain''t no fuckin boy!¡­¡± she throws out there.


    I laugh, and fix my mistakes. ¡°Sorry¡­ how deep are we going ladies?¡±


    Harkon laughs at my joke, but Theo glares like a slighted child, and shifts away.


    I chuckle, and Luther does as well, while responding. ¡°Well, I heard the seventh floor just opened up. And by the way, this dungeon is fucking flying! I''ve never seen a dungeon create floors this fast.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Yeah, well, I''ve never been anywhere else.¡±


    Luther shrugs. ¡°Let''s aim for the beginning of the seventh floor.¡±


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    I nod along in agreement, Theo, begins walking, Harkon, rubs his hands in anticipation, and Aeryn shrugs in indifference.


    ¡°Ok, let''s go,¡± and we make the plunge. The first couple floors, we tear through without issue, and quickly brought to the fifth floor, where a similar scene as the last time meets us, we enter the palisade, and are quickly met by a force of goblins. We slaughter the goblins, with only minor injuries. One of the goblins had managed to knick Harkon with a thrown axe.


    We quickly gang up on Serp, and bring him down with only a minor fight. And we begin to trek to the 6th floor. We enter the sixth floor, and Luther quickly wraps his coat tighter around himself. ¡°I''m glad I wear this long coat.¡± He chuckles, and rubs his biceps. He reaches into his coat, and removes multiple pairs of snowshoes, which he passes around to everyone, who quickly don them, and begin trekking over the snow.


    Everyone throws their head up at the rapid fire crunching noises of hooves cracking through layers of frozen, windswept snow. A buck crests the hill, and cries out, before waving its head around, and charging down the hill, antlers down. The snow shifts beneath its feet, and seems to propel it onwards.


    Theo steps forward, and when the antlers intercept his chest he grabs the creature by its chest, spins it over his shoulder, and throws it into the snow, where it is quickly spiked to death by a thin stone spear rising from the ground.


    He chuckles, and picks at the gouges on his chest where the antlers intercept. Aeryn quickly chastises him, and heals him up.


    I turn away from the sight of the healing, and spin in awe at the tiny world encased in this cavern.


    We continue forward, we reach the edge of the floor, but can''t find the way out, we follow the edge of the cavern, until we make it back to the entrance, we search for longer, before eventually finding a narrow cave, in the ice. We enter, and eventually find the entrance to the boss room, which we enter.


    The boss room is pretty big, with a couple trees scattered throughout. We quickly step through the snow drifts, the powder soft, and fluffy. Luther taps my shoulder and points off at some footprints in the snow.


    We step closer to the foot prints to inspect them when.


    ¡°AAAAAHHHHH!¡± A scream rings out above us, and we all jump. A gobbo jumps from the tree, his skin a pale icy blue, a dagger clutched in his left hand, and staff in his right. As he drops from the tree he waves his arm about, and a sudden gust of wind blows, dousing us with the thick powder, and we can''t see anymore.


    All of a sudden a sharp pain rings in my right thigh, and I scream, lashing out, my sword missing the little goblin by Inches.


    Luther hears my cries, spins, and fires a shot at the boss, the boss raises his arm, and an icy wall rises, intercepting the missile. He cackles, and lashes out with his staff hitting me in the stomach, and stunning me.


    A thud resounds, as Theos fist hits the beasts, and he lifts from the ground, flying, and intercepting with his own wall of ice. He screams in outrage, and he swings his staff again, the snow underneath Theo shifts away dropping him on bare dirt, before more of the powder is dropped on top of him, burying him.


    Harkon dashes forward, attacking the boss with a swing of his whip. ¡°Milo! Get Theo out of there!¡±


    I nod, and dash to the place where Theo was, and start digging, but as I dig I will the air around me to heat up with my affinity, and to my surprise, it does! Not fire or anything but warmth, which melts through the snow, and I quickly intercept Theos head, and I free his mouth allowing him to breathe.


    He grins at me, and I continue to dig him free, freeing his arms, and at that point I abandon him to go help my party as he can free himself, only to find the boss riddled with holes from a crossbow, and hundreds of little nicks from Harkon''s whip.


    I sigh, and in relief, and turn back to Theo to find him having already mostly freed himself.


    Aeryn rushes to my side, and quickly begins healing my injured hip. I sigh, and thank her. ¡°Any good drops?¡± I ask Luther.


    He chuckles, and passes me a beanie with words knitted into it. Frosties Silk Hat


    He laughs, ¡°The Frostlins named Frosty!¡±

 Chapter 33

    DC


    I chuckle at my own joke. None of them seem to understand the nuances of the joke, but I found it funny, and they figured out his name. I also gave them some money, and the nice dagger he was using.


    I watch as they walk into the seventh floor, finding the sign labeling it as a safe zone. They smile, and begin to cultivate in the mana rich area, collecting even more mana.


    I turn my attention to Talon. He cracks his whip parting the flesh of a slave pumping bellows into a hot forge. As soon as Talon came into power, he began industrialization. He took advantage of the already well established slave system to aid his industry.


    He removes whatever he''s heating from the forge, and his weak hands begin to work it. He has spent the last week making simple iron, and copper parts, like nails, nuts, bolts, spikes, and plating. He carries a bucket filled with spare parts to his construction area.


    He begins the construction of a second engine. First he takes more of the blood, and powdered organs of the rats who overdose on this, and he makes another bloodstone.


    Once created he continues the work, and makes two more engines. These engines, he once again mounts on a frame similar to the train. The back engine he attaches to the wheels of the vehicle, but the front engine he attaches to a giant drill bit on the front of the vehicle.


    What he''s left with is basically a train, with a giant drill bit on the front, and cart on the back, which to fill with the rock, and debris that is left behind from I assume digging.


    He quickly deposits two slaves, as well as a guard into the cabin of said train. Points them east, and they begin drilling.


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    As they drill into the wall, he turns to someone nearby him, and says something. "These stones, they no have much power-left! When they run out, they fall-apart, no hold together, BOOM! Explode! That¡¯s why I no ride in those metal-things."


    Oh. So I was right. They do explode.


    I turn my attention back to the mole people, who are just chilling in their cavern, but at the rate that giant drill is chewing up stone, they will break into the mole people cavern, in maybe a couple of hours.


    One of the mole people is collecting insects for food in one of the rooms, when a humming noise, and the sound of metal grinding on stone fills the room. The mole sets its basket down, and peers closer, when KER-RACK The wall crumbles away revealing the drill bit forcing its way through, and into the room.


    The mole backs away fearfully from the metal beast.


    The rats inside the drill begin to panic. "Go back! Reverse! Tell Bonechewer! Quick-fast!" The rat slave scrambles, paws fumbling at the control, pulling back the big-wrench. "I try! I try! No stop! I make it work!" He scrambles, his paws scraping against the smooth metal handle, but he pulls it back, and the train begins to creak, and disappear back down the tunnel.


    The mole glances down the dark tunnel, but instead of following he turns, and sprints back to the majority of the mole people.


    Once he arrives with the other mole people he begins to speak. ¡°People.¡± he points in the direction of the cave he came from. ¡°A metal beast broke free from the wall, and I heard voices from the interior.¡±


    A mole female working the forge stops, and asks. ¡°A metal beast?¡±


    He clarifies. ¡°It had wheels, and a giant drill on the front. It tore through the wall, and then it began to reverse.¡±


    She nods. ¡°I hope they are friends. We shall go speak.¡± She points at a group of 8 or so other Mole people. ¡°I will lead the group.¡± She walks forward, her feet scraping against the stone.


    Back in the rat palace the guard scrambles around the corner to find Talon indulging in meat in the center of the room. "Lord! Meat-meat! Machine-thing smash through, found cave, and I find big-meat thing!"


    Talon scrambles to his feet, and follows his back to the tunnel. "Get guards, many! Battle-train ready! We feast-eat well tonight!"

 Chapter 34

    The battle train rounds the corner, manned by a guard, and followed by a group of 100 or so rat-slaves, and behind them a smaller group of 30 or so, rat guards, outfitted with spears with copper tips, but the same poor quality spears. The only armor they wear are the leathers of their fellow rats. The rat slaves don''t have very good weapons, at best they have a rough copper, or stone knife, and at worst they have a big rock.


    They descend into the tunnel. The battle train, at the forefront, but enough space, on either side for two more rats to walk side by side, on either side, so they force slaves to the very front, on the sides, and behind them the guards urge them onward.


    They slide forward, and all of a sudden, their torches illuminate a group of nine creatures. Larger than the rats by quite a lot, they stand on two legs. They have quite a lot of similarities to the rats except they have large, powerful claws on their hands, and they seem to dislike the light illuminated by the torches.


    ¡°We are friends.¡± A mole person steps forward, and speak in a feminine voice. ¡°We are friends.¡± She repeats.


    Talon''s eyes widen. "Kill-break them! Kill-break! Smash-run over, eat-devour them!"  He throws his hand forward, and in it he holds his dagger.


    The mole persons, eyes go wide, and they put their hands up. ¡°No, we.¡± A rat slave runs forward, and in he holds a heavy rock, between his two hands, he pulls it overhead, and swings it at one of the mole people. The person bats it aside, their claws, slicing the stone, like butter.


    The rat jumps back, in surprise, but then dives forward, again, and bites one of the moles, on the arm. This one is far less kind, and with one swipe of its hand, eviscerates its grey matter from the bone, holding it within its flesh.


    More rats, jump forward, swinging, poor quality weapons, clubs, stones, crappy knives. The knives are very ineffective, as they barely pierce through their flesh. They do hurt, but only barely.


    The stones are unwieldy, but still if they make contact they can hurt.


    But the clubs are the most dangerous.


    More of the rats swarm forward, but the moles are a blur, with every swipe they dissect another rat. They go through nearly 30 rats, before the battle train, in front of them revs, and with a groan, it pushes forward, gaining enough speed in an instant, to kill them. 4 of the 8 moles jump to the right, and the remaining four, jump up, and into the grill of the train.


    A puff of smoke escapes  the train, and one of the moles breathes it in. A mistake, he falls over, and vomits, on the ground, as his eyes water. The four moles on the right side of the train, in a rage, push up against the train, and their muscles bulge, pushing it against the wall, their muscles bulge. The other three moles drop from on top, and comfort the heaving mole.


    The rest of the rat-slaves try to retreat, but screaming ensues, and the spears of the rat guards pierce another 5 slaves, before they turn back to the moles, and rush at them.


    The moles, pull the back side of the train, over, and jm the train in diagonally. Another rat drops down from the compartment, and they quickly slaughter him, before retreating further down their tunnel.


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    Tanol thrashes and rages. "Pull-free it! Gather more paws! We smash-defeat them!"


    But on the other side of the conflict, the moles get to the other end of the tunnel, and begin speaking with their own people. ¡°They are not friendly.¡± The female speaks. ¡°I''m certain, they will try to attack us more. But they are very weak. We should fortify those tunnels, and start making armor.¡±


    Another mole speaks, male this time. ¡°Yes, I agree.¡±


    They quickly return to the tunnel, and build something of a wall, by piling dirt, and rubble up. This sealed most of the tunnel leaving only a one man wide path through. This is very advantageous for the moles, as it prevents the rats from swarming.


    Another mole, all the while is working on armor. The moles, skilled hands, were able to work the metal into something of a piece of armor. First a chest piece. More like two metal plates, with leather straps, over the shoulders, simple, but effective.


    The smith was working on more armor when they heard them.


    The chugging of the train''s engine, and the scraping noises of paws, and the metal wheels of the train.


    They rush to the chokepoint, the female, wearing the armor leading the charge. ¡°Quickly, defend!¡± They arrive at their chokepoint, just in time, to see a slave, poking his head through the gap.


    With one slash, the rat is headless, the body limp on the floor. She kicks the body pack down the path. To this a hiss resounds, and more rats push forward. They are forced into the pathway, one at a time, and so are far more effective.


    But, one by one, as their bodies pile up, they climb up the bodies, and have the high ground over her.


    This is apparent when she kills a rat, and glances up, only to find another rat, jumping downward. Club, overhead, prepped for a devastating blow. She eviscerated him, his underbelly left exposed by his foolish move.


    But before his body even hits the floor, another rat is falling towards her. ¡®


    She grimaces, and pushes forward, in an attempt to climb, this pile of bodies, and so to rid them of their advantage. She steps forward, slowly but surely. Her claws a whirl of blood and death. The matted fur flies around her, blocking her vision as another rat steps forward for the slaughter.


    She slits its throat, and throws it back down the pile, and into the enemy. Her feet sink into the chest cavity of a body, and she glances down, distracted.


    She stumbles back, as a club rings on her chest plate like a gong. She glares at the bastard who took advantage of her distraction, and she throws herself forward, her claws a blur, and the poor rats guts paint her feet. She massacres, more, and more, and more. Until she hears the words.


    "Stop! Stop! Think-new plan, quick-fast!" Talon cries out, and draws the attention to him. He waves his paws frantically, and they begin to retreat down the tunnel, slowing but surely, fading into the darkness.


    The female, turns back, and steps down the pile of corpses towards her comrades, who look at her with awe. ¡°Battle Queen.¡± They whisper reverently, and reach out, to touch her claws.


    She grimaces. ¡°They will come back, we must forge more armor.¡±


    I laugh. So either the rats are really weak, or this chick is very strong. Or maybe it''s just the mole people species, but she does seem to be exceptional.


    I turn my attention to Talon. "She kill-crushed 70 of our rat-kin! We think-new plan to kill-kill her! We must make new machine, or-or use-old machine in new way!" he waves, his paws frantically, and they all nod at his wise guidance, but retreat, back down the tunnel.


    After they leave the tunnel, he gives them an order. "Leave 50 rat-kin here, so we trap-surround her, if she come-back! And-and, leave big-battle train!"


    They all nod, and stand, in a semi circle around the way out of the tunnel.


    Talon skitters off, and into his little laboratory. He quickly begins working on a new way to slaughter the meat.

 Chapter 35

    Milo


    As we walk through the hilly terrain labeled as a safe zone, I trip, and fall. Me being the unlucky bastard I am, I fell off a drop off, right in the mouth of a cave¡­


    I jump to my feet, and wipe the blood from my nose, and slowly slide into the cave. Theo follows behind me. We walk in, and Theo grunts, and rubs a hand along a wall.


    I turn, and bring my torch close, but as it draws near, Theo slaps it away, and says. ¡°Dumbass. Gonna get us both killed.¡± his gravelly voice echoes throughout the cavern.


    I raise an eyebrow, but copy his actions, and pull away, my hands covered with a thick, black dust. ¡°Coal?¡±


    He nods. ¡°That torch in here, at all, was dangerous, as it could light natural gasses but much less that close¡­¡±


    I nod as understanding dawns. ¡°Isn''t this stuff kind of expensive? I don''t really know what it''s used for other than heating buildings.¡±


    Theo nods. ¡°No ones quite sure why, but the southern merchants will buy it for shit tons of money. Then they ship it off to their distant lands. No doubt it will bring in quite a lot of money, and trade for your town. People will probably try to set up a town down here.¡±


    I nod. ¡°Well, more money is always a good thing.¡±


    Theo grimaces, but doesn¡¯t respond.


    He steps deeper into the cave, and returns with a green rock. ¡°Copper too. They will surely set up mining operations down here. You¡¯re probably going to have to deal with shadow guilds, or gangs forming.¡±


    I grimace, but nod with understanding. ¡°I''m glad we were the first ones to discover this, so I can preemptively speak with my secretary, and put restrictions on the trade of coal.¡±


    They quickly leave, and inform the others who have no serious thoughts on it. Other than Luther who was very interested in the location of the cave.


    As we make our way out of the cave, I quickly find my way to the secretary.


    ¡°So¡­ Gertrude¡­.¡± I dig deep into my mind to remember this poor old lady''s name. ¡°The seventh floor of the dungeon is a safe area. It has large quantities of coal, and copper, and I want to set up restrictions on trade, allowing me to profit, everybody else to profit, and to restrict the construction of shadow guilds, or gangs.¡±


    She nods and sighs. ¡°First of all. You really need to get some law enforcement. You are technically a Baron, because of all the land you own, so your word is law here. You need to get some guards, or law enforcement.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Do I have enough money in the coffers to fund that? I know that you¡¯ve payed two guards to collect taxes from people leaving the guild, but other than that i''m unaware of how much funds we can allocate to that.¡±


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    ¡°Well¡­¡± She rolls a pen in her fingers. ¡°You aren''t really spending your funds on much in your territory to be honest.¡±


    I grimace, and agree. ¡°True. What should I spend it on?¡±


    She puts up a finger, and as she speaks she raises another finger for every point she brings up. ¡°Waste, food, and water management, as well as the construction of roads, you should start putting together some basic amenities, like housing, and we probably want to hire a city planner, because this dungeon is very profitable so your city in time should grow quite large, and we want to lay a good foundation, security, defenses  as we are right on the edge of Orc territory. I¡¯d need time to come up with more, but those are the big ones.¡±


    I gulp. ¡°How much of that can we actually afford?¡±


    She sighs. ¡°You¡¯d be surprised. We aren¡¯t making absurd amounts of money, but enough we should be able to hire the city planner, some security, build some roads, and with the addition of large scale mining inside the dungeon, we could have a rapid explosion of income. I recommend we put a 10% tax, one everything piece of mined ore coming out of that dungeon.¡±


    I nod. ¡°Let''s enact that tax on mining immediately, and then I''m going to have you¡­ do all that. Also, give yourself a raise, a large one. I also want some money set aside for me, separately. I want to start my own mining company, and as I''m the first one to discover it, I should be able to do so quickly.¡±


    She nods, ¡°I''ll begin registering you right now, but you can begin some informal mining inside the dungeon, as soon as you want, you just won''t be able to sell large quantities of it. Also, we need to construct a bank, a full scale city is moving tremendous quantities of money through it, and keeping all of that in a safe somewhere isn''t very safe at all.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Ok, priorities, set up tax, build bank, hire security, set up coal mining business.¡±


    She quickly agrees, and begins to work, rapidly writing contracts. She gives me some coin, and tells me to find some suitable miners, and get them down there.


    I nod, and quickly begin looking for labourers. I find a group of 20 or so people, who have little experience with mining but I also find someone who has a background in coal mining to act as the foreman, and I pay a small party of adventurers to escort them down there. They agree, to a couple copper per day, of work, with a bonus, of an extra copper per pound of coal found.


    They will have to set up camp down on the safe floor as I cant keep paying people to bring them, up, and down, in, and out of the dungeon, every night. So they bring enough rations to last them a couple weeks, as well as tents, and mining gear, all paid for by me.


    All in all, the prep cost me about one gold, and I would be losing maybe a silver or two per day until they started getting coal, up, and out of there to sell.


    When I return to Gertrudes office, she hands me two contracts. ¡°First of all, I want you to promote me to a city official. It won''t have a huge upgrade, in pay, but it means that I can write these laws, and contracts, and put them in place myself without making you come in here for every little thing.¡±


    I nod, and without a second thought sign it, and congratulate Gertrude on her promotion.


    Secondly she hands me another contract. ¡°Sign right there, and you will officially be the owner of Milo¡¯s mining company. Also we need a name for the town.¡±


    I sign the other document quickly, and try to hand it back to her. ¡°Keep it, put it somewhere safe, it registers you as the owner of Milos mining company.¡±


    I nod, and tilt my head. ¡°And for the name¡­ Questford. I think it holds some significance as this dungeon is a perfect training ground for young adventurers.¡±


    She nods, and scrolls it down on a piece of paper. ¡°Fine by me¡­.¡±  she mutters, and sweeps the paper away into a vault under her desk.


    She turns her attention back to me. ¡°I should be able to hire the city planner, but I''m going to leave security up to you. Remember, avoid just mercenaries, we want people who won''t just take any bribes.¡±


    I gulp, and nod quickly. ¡°I''ll be off to find that¡­¡± I quickly turn, and leave her office. ¡°Maybe I can ask Ivan¡­¡±

 Chapter 36

    DC


    I smile and giggle as I watch a group of adventurers arrive with a group of 2 miners or so, and then they leave, and they repeat that until they have a group of 14 or so miners there. They quickly set up camp.


    I turn my attention away from the humans, and to the goblins on the evolution floor with the rats, and moles.


    Oh shoot. They¡¯re actually doing it! One of the goblins figured out how to ride a stallhorn. The goblin climbs onto the back of the goat, and grips its horns like handles, and it directs it by pointing its head wherever it wants to go, and kicking it.


    The whole while the stallhorn seems pretty pissed, but it works nonetheless, and it''s very helpful for them, getting over ravines, or up steep hillsides, and surely if they come into contact with those rats, or moles they will be useful for combat.


    Speaking of the rats, Talon is currently making a powdered version of the blood stone. He mixes it into a pipe with one side sealed, and compacts it against the sealed side. Above the sealed side is a small hole, for a hammer, or a nail of some sort.


    A hammer is then attached to a spring which you pull back, and release, causing it to fly forward, strike the compacted powder, and generate a small scale explosion, and the production of a very toxic gas. It''s toxic to the rats but it would surely be very toxic to everyone else.


    Basically he made a musket. He loads a small copper ball into the end, compacting it down with a rod, and tests it on one of his slaves.


    The pop rings loudly, and the ball pierces the slaves chest, who falls, the wet sounds of blood filling his lungs fill the room, overhauled by Talons maniacal laughter.


    They also test it on a metal sheet, but the copper bullets they use aren''t very dense, and so, are unable to pierce anything but the thinnest armor. This upsets Talon, but he produces more anyway, and is left with a small pile of ten or so muskets. ¡°Yes! Talon''s genius huge! Pop pops so strong! Kill-kill meat!¡±


    He quickly orders his slaves to carry his muskets.


    All the while back in the home of the mole people, they have produced a full set of strong iron armor for the Battle Queen. It covers almost every inch of her body, even extending out to cover her extended snout.


    It leaves her claws revealed, and has a small opening near her pits, and groin area, for flexibility, but is still very effective at stopping blows.


    She shuffles around in it, and it decreases her speed, and freedom of movement slightly, but only slightly, and will do much good to protect her from harm.


    They return to their defenses, and set the corpses of the rats alight to free up the open space.


    Milo


    I gather a group of 30 or so people from the Oats guild, as well as a young woman from the necromancers guild, and I take them to Gertrudes office, where we register them as official guards, and we give them badges to declare their authority.


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    I quickly go over most of the things they are going to have to enforce as guards being the basic stuff like, no murder, sexual assault, regular assault, theft, or stuff like that but also about not allowing bribes, and enforcing taxes.


    I also speak with Gertrude about getting Auditors. ¡°I don''t trust all of those guys not to be corrupt or take bribes, so I want to hire auditors, basically police for the police. They will run investigations on the guards to make sure they aren''t being bribed by criminals.¡±


    Gertrude nods. ¡°Good idea, I''ll contact some people.¡±


    As I walk to show them to their posts throughout the small encampment I remind them not to take any bribes as It is a crime, and could result in jail time.


    As I bring them to their posts Ivan jogs up to me. ¡°Milo! I''m gonna have to talk to you!¡±


    I turn, and dismiss the rest of the guard to their posts before speaking with Ivan. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    He nods, and waves for him to come with. They quickly walk to the tower, in the center of the still forming small town. They climb the stairs, pass through the tavern near the top, and just below the bell tower is Ivans housing, as well as an office. Ivan guides me to the stairs up to the bell tower. Up at the very top next to the railing is a small two person table with a view of the entire town.


    Ivan sits down, and gestures for Milo as well.


    Milo obliges, and sits down.


    Ivan pours them both a cup of tea, and begins to speak.


    He sighs. ¡°I don''t know how much this means to you, or how important it actually is, but the Orcs have been gathering lately. Nothing incredibly out of the ordinary, usually every couple decades a really smart, or strong one steps up, and they start having more unified raids on towns, on the outskirts, until a hero, or an army comes, and wipes them out.¡±


    I nod, and agree. ¡°Yes, but we have such a high concentration of adventurers, and we have the natural protection of the mountains. They wouldn¡¯t¡­ Would they?¡±


    Ivan wrings his hands, and puts them up in the universal gesture of so-so. ¡°I don''t know. But, it''s probably a good time to start increasing your armed forces. The Oats guild will support you in any defenses you need mounting, and we have a presence here of a hundred, and fifty or so, but only one of them is another A ranker, and the rest are in the D ranks, or a couple C rankers. And the A ranker I speak of is only low A ranks, A new born really.¡±


    I nod along. ¡°I understand. Well, we have recently tapped into a new source of wealth inside the dungeon, so hopefully we can divert some of that into armed forces. I just finished hiring some city guards, we have 32 in total, but they are all D, and C ranks as well. I''m sure the Dark knights guild would support us as well.¡±


    Ivan nods. ¡°True, Alistair is quite the force to be reckoned with. I doubt I could beat him in head to head combat. Maybe in melee but he would never allow me to get that close.¡±


    I tilt my head. ¡°What rank is Alistair? I never asked.¡±


    He tilts his head down, and says. ¡°He is the closest thing to a saint most people will ever see, and if anyone is to ascend in this generation¡­¡±


    I nod my head. ¡°Understood. Then what is there to worry about?¡±


    He sighs again. ¡°Many things¡­ Oh so many things. Those Orcs are tricky bastards, and there''s a reason they''ve been a plague on the Vorraky for so long. Not many species can say they''ve been on the receiving end of the wrath of their army, and survived. Much less their army led by King Albrick, the horrifying bastard.¡±


    I tilt my head to the side. ¡°What is horrifying about him?¡±


    Ivan waves his hand. ¡°Don''t even worry about it. He''s been alive longer than the kingdom itself, and he will probably live far after it falls.¡±


    I nod, still confused, but I keep it to myself. ¡°Ok¡­¡±


    I turn, and leave, dropping down the stairs two at a time. I quickly rush to Gertrude, and share the news. She sighs, and quickly responds. ¡°I think we should divert some more of the money from your mining project into defenses.¡±


    I nod in agreement. ¡°Yeah, totally.¡±

 Chapter 37

    DC


    For my eighth floor, I really need to work on making that new floor, for the goblins living in the village on the fifth floor. I begin working on it, and I basically just make it a giant wide open plain, with a small forest on the eastern edge for wood. The whole thing is 1170 feet in every direction.


    I want a floor that takes a long time to get through, so instead of making it so you just have to find the gateway, I''m going to close the gateway, and make them find a key to get through. I''m also going to make the keys one time use, so they have to find it again every time they go through.


    Most likely what I''ll do is put a really high ranking intelligent monster as the gate guard, so you have to give the gate guard the key, and he will let you through. What I basically make is a giant goblin at A rank, but as I try to make it something happens. I run up against a barrier.


    I turn my attention to Gairy. ¡°Gairy, for some reason, I can''t build this creature.¡±


    Gairy looks up at the ceiling of his floor, and asks a question. ¡°What rank was the creature?¡±


    ¡°High A rank.¡±


    Gairy chokes, and laughs. ¡°Of course you can¡¯t make a high A rank creature, you''re barely high C ranked.


    ¡°I''m confused, what do you mean?¡±


    He nods, ¡°Dungeons can''t make a creature that is stronger than themselves, in rank.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­. Why?...¡± I ask petulantly.


    He responds slowly. ¡°Well because they are stronger than you. That might not explain it well enough, but our worlds are based purely on strength. Even you need to cultivate to grow stronger. You might not realize you¡¯ve been doing it but when people die inside of you, you soak up some of their mana, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Well you need to be actively doing that. It''s different for people, but as a dungeon, you need to be actively pulling in the mana of people who die inside of you. As their mana enters you, it is spinning inside of you. People need to work actively to do this, but dungeon cores are like little mana furnaces.¡±


    I quickly agree. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°You are currently high C-ranking, you can break into the B ranks, by simply making your spiral bigger. But it''s different when you break into the A ranks. This has been a natural barrier for dungeons for eons, and people have recognized this, so when you break past B ranks, and you can''t go any farther, most likely a kingdom official will come, and guide you through the process.¡±


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    I sigh. ¡°Ok¡­ So no A ranking monsters right off the bat?¡±


    He chuckles, and responds. ¡°No, sorry buddy.¡±


    Then I need your help on something.


    He sighs. ¡°Ok.¡±


    I''ve noticed people are having a really easy time getting through my big wide open floors, so for the eighth floor I wanted to force people to find a key, to get through a gate.


    He nods. ¡°Oh, ok. Dungeons don''t usually make big open areas, because of this problem, and because most fairies don''t know how to do what I''m about to show you.¡±


    ¡°Ok, hurry up man, I''m like vibrating with anticipation....¡±


    Gairy chuckles, and nods. ¡°Show me the area you want the gateway.¡±


    I quickly guide him up to the area, where I want him to put the gateway.


    He begins speaking. ¡°Concentrate your mana into a thin, almost flake, right where you want the barrier.¡±


    I follow his instruction, and begin pouring mana into it, as I do so I notice the mana concentration of the rest of my dungeon dropping rapidly, and so does my reserves. As I concentrate it all of a sudden Gairy starts to speak.


    ¡°Now solidify it.¡± In the same way you might make stone, or gold, you need to solidify your mana there.


    CRACK, and where my mana was being concentrated sits an amber colored barrier.


    He smiles, ¡°now make another small piece, but really small, like the size of my fingernail, and probably embed it in something, like a key, or a ring.¡±


    I follow his instructions, and am left with a piece of the amber coloured solid embedded in a key.


    ¡°Now, take all the mana out of it.¡±


    I frown, but oblige, and am left with a dull brown piece of stone.


    Gairy takes the key, and pumps a small quantity of mana into it, and it changes colours into a maroon sort of coloring. He pushes the key against the amber coloured gate, and it seems to melt slowly around him until he slips right through, As he pushes through the little piece of amber leaves the key, and rejoins the amber colored gate.


    ¡°Basically when you take the mana from it, it''s just a rock, and it can''t go through, but when they add their mana, it allows it to rejoin, and since it is using that persons mana, they think that that person is also part of them, so they allow that person to rejoin as well, but since that person, isn''t a piece of solidified mana, they can''t rejoin, and they just slip right through..¡±


    ¡°How are they going to get back through?¡±


    He pauses. ¡°Oh¡­ You could do a couple of things, you could make a separate way back through, or you could add a little booth! Just a booth, where a goblin sits on the other side, and when someone asks to go back through, they can get a little piece like that!¡±


    I shake my head, ¡°No. I have a plan.¡±


    I put a tank full of the little small things inside the wall, and I put a handle, when you pump the handle, it turns a wheel with just enough space for one key, and it drops in, and drops the key down. That way they can go back through.


    I also put up a sign, explaining the whole thing.


    ¡°By the way, I don''t like people having to go back through the boss rooms to leave, because there''s only one boss, and I don''t want to ruin things for people, so I''m going to make a side hallway, with this same system only allowing people to go one way.¡±


    Gairy shrugs. ¡°Ok.¡±

 Chapter 38

    DC


    I quickly send Gairy on his way, and begin working on the mobs for this floor. I finally have a place to use snakes, and Oh boy do I use them, I pump them up with mana of various types, and release them throughout the little landscape.


    The air snakes are weird, because they have venom that is very painful, but not deadly, but the most dangerous thing about them is that they have wings. Imagine that. A flock of snakes flying overhead.


    The fire snakes came out pretty much the same as Heracles, pumping heat, and flame into their opponents.


    I don''t know what happened with the stone snakes, because they became huge, like, bodybuilders'' biceps thick, and about 40 feet long. They weren''t actually venomous but they constricted, and were strong enough to squeeze a cultivator to death.


    The water snakes did not like this environment at all, and kind of just died without any large bodies of water to live in.


    The dark, and light snakes, were the weirdest. The dark snake had two super dangerous effects, it was completely invisible in the darkness, so that would be very useful during the night time. On the note of night time I realized I only put day, and night cycles on the evolution floors, so I fixed that post haste. Also their venom was very deadly, and would cause the flesh to literally rot wherever it spread.


    The light snakes didn''t change at all, but their venom could heal. This wasn''t very useful as they weren''t cooperating much on this floor so I just got rid of it, but I saved it for later.


    Now the air snakes were not very strong, so I made a lot of them, and they lived in flocks, each one was only about F-9. The stone snakes on the other hand were low C ranked, and quite the threat. The fire snakes were right in the middle at high D rank, and the dark snakes were also technically low C rank, but I think I might need to remove them, as they are definitely stronger.


    Finally to begin working on the boss. To honour Heracles, I make him the boss of this floor. I basically over the course of a couple days or so I pump more, and more fire mana into Heracles slowly. I also add in some earth mana.


    In the end, Heracles grew to be nearly 40 feet long as well, and Mid C rank. His scales are spaced slightly farther apart, and in between each one is a little vein of fire. Pushing up against him heats whatever its touching, and can burn it, or just heat it up incredibly fast.


    For the boss room, I make it a smaller copy of the main room, but the entire thing is burning, and Heracles is rampaging through it.


    To set all that up to work properly, I make it so that the entrance into the floor closes after every fight, so that the pixies I have set up, have time to regrow all the vegetation, and revive Heracles if he dies.


    Once all this is done. I release it to the public, and begin working on the evolution floor.


    For the evolution floor I chilled things out a lot. First I add some Elk, and Deer, than I take the horse, and change it until I have something eerily similar to a Bison, I add some wild dogs, I take some gophers, and change them to something more similar to prairie dogs, I also add some large predatory birds.


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    Once it''s all done I carve a tunnel from there to the goblin village, on the fifth floor, and they slowly start flooding in.


    Also using any remaining power I have left, I actually expand the seventh floor evolution floor, so that everything has more space to expand. The rats, and the moles don''t really notice it other than the grinding of stone slowly shifting, but the goblins, totally notice it.


    It''s kind of funny because they hoot, and holler, and dance back and forth while watching the wall slowly slide away, revealing more terrain for them to conquer, and explore.


    I watch as the goblins on the fifth floor, slowly light the tunnel with torches, and creep through.  A small goblin war party of 30 or so. They slowly take step after step, sliding deeper, and deeper into the tunnel, until they spot light on the other end, and they poke their little green heads through.


    The first goblin steps through, and he spins around waving his spear above his head, while hooting, and hollering in the joy. The other goblins follow close behind, and do the same. They all dance, and quickly begin to jog back down the tunnel towards their village. They sprint through the tunnel, their bodies faintly illuminated by the torches before they break through into their village, almost every inch of space consumed by their expanding village, the majority of them are starving as they are running out of food, and only have small farms scattered throughout.


    They quickly begin gathering space, and rations, and they drop back into the tunnel, and continue their journey into my depths, before breaking back into the prairie area, to the fading dusk of my worlds.


    They drop camp, and begin to sleep. The next morning they wake excited, and a hunting party disappears into the tall grasses looking for something to hunt.


    Actually looking down on this I think it''s too safe. They will never grow stronger without opposition, so I also drop in 10 or so earth snakes, and 5 or so darkness snakes. This way, if they are left to breed for too long, they will grow exceedingly strong, and may even drive them out, but if they are managed they will be fine. I even add a flock of 30 or so air snakes way off. Those will be a pain, but will hopefully force them to be careful.


    All of a sudden I feel an explosion on my seventh Evolution floor. It''s so strong, it''s caved in several tunnels.


    My attention flies to that floor, to find Talon pinned in a corner, while two of his most trusted enforcers approach him. Their spears held high, and their shields held close. The battle train had exploded while they marched. It had wiped out most of the forces, and these two opportunistic rats had seen their chance. They were going to kill Talon, and become the new Boss. Talon waves his knife ahead of him, in panic, and he clutches his staff close in his left hand.


    A pop rings throughout the tunnel, and Talon''s ears begin to bleed, but a smile spreads on his face anyway. The right most enforcer falls over dead. His throat a fountain of blood.


    ¡°No one, outsmarts-outsmarts Talon, yes.¡±


    He drops the small handheld musket he had beneath his cloak, and turns to his other enforcer.


    The other enforcer, who quakes but snarls, knowing there is surely no way Talon can beat him.


    He has no such intent though, and he turns, and sprints away. He runs forward, approaching the corpses of his fallen soldiers, and he raises a musket to his chest. He rapidly packs the dangerous powder into his weapon, as the pitter patter of his betrayers feet approaches slowly. He quickly drops the copper ball in as well, packing it even tighter. He pulls back the hammer, and levels his weapon at his opponent, who peeks through the dust and his eyes grow wide as his stupid under-developed brain remembers the existence of said weapons.


    POP the bang echoes throughout the tunnel. The betrayers'' brains coat the ground, and his corpse collapses backwards, pulled by the weighty lead laden arms of gravity.


    Talon chuckles, and tosses his weapon to the ground.  "Need to arm-claw myself better, yes! So no more betrayals can scratch-pierce me again, no! Never again!"


    I chuckle as his words echo throughout the cavern.

 Chapter 39

    Talon


    He turns to the battle train, mostly unharmed except for the carriage of the train, warped, and twisted, still white hot from the tremendous explosion, while the bones of its occupants break open, and their marrow sizzles on the hot metal.


    He sighs, as a group of slaves, as well as an enforcer begin to scuttle as the dust settles. Screaming fills the tunnels as wounded rats awaken from the unconsciousness.


    He steps into the group of rats. Most of the guards, and enforcers had survived. Their well fed bodies had thrown aside the fodder to make it to cover.


    Only a small force of 40 or so of the slaves had survived.


    Talon grunts, his tail flicking with impatience. "Carry the shooters, yes... start moving the rubble, and make it back to the hive. We must, yes."


    A group of guards scuttle off to retrieve the muskets. The slaves nod, and they begin to one by one, pick up the rocks, and rubble to clear a path through the way back to the rest of the rats.


    Several hours later, they break through back into the hive. Their tunnel, barely one person, by one person wide, but enough to get through, and get the drill.


    They scuttle into their cave, Talon leading the way, his little flintlock, held in his left hand, and his knife tucked into his robes.


    Talon scuttles through his little underground city, and approaches his palace. He enters, and ventures deep. He arrives in his laboratory to find his slaves, chained to the wall sleeping.


    Talon growls, his tail lashing with urgency. "The drill-drill! Clear the rubble, yes! Refresh the bloodstone, NOW!" He snarls, baring his teeth.


    The slaves jump to their feet, all but one, who doesn''t wake, Talon walks forward, and smacks him. ¡°We use this one to make more bloodstone, yes¡­¡±


    The other slaves quickly rush to action. They replace the bloodstone in the drill for new ones. They oil everything, and they push it forward to be manned by slaves, and one guard to control them.¡±


    They push the drill into the blocked tunnel, and begin to tear it away, in barely 30 minutes they reveal the air pocket where the battle train, and the corpses reside.


    As they finish that, they return to Talon, and report to him.


    "Collect the meat, yes! Push the battle train back here, NOW! Quick-fast, no time to waste!"


    They nod, and begin the process. A group of 40 or so slaves pushes the battle train back to the palace, where they push it into his laboratory.


    They also collect the bodies of their comrades into bags, and carts. They carry them back to the hive to be used as food.


    Talon hisses at his slaves. ¡°Bring-bring bloodstone! Not to me, no-no, set it on table, there!¡± He points at a table in the corner of the room.


    They obey him, and they reach into the warped train, to remove the remnants of the bloodstone. What remains is a toxic grey powder. They drop it into a container on the table, and they seal it, with a wooden plug.


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    Talon nods, and begins to work on his train. He removes the warped bits, and reforges them, in no time at all he has fixed the machine beast, and replaced it with a new blood stone.


    I return my attention to goblins on the eight floor who have encamped themselves, and are cooking a deer over a fire. They laugh, and joke with each other in the guttural language. They remove the deer from the fire, and they tear it apart with their rough hewn iron, and copper knives.


    They disperse the meat to everyone around the fire, and begin to eat. Their sharp teeth pierce the soft steaming flesh. They shudder at the taste, and begin to eat faster.


    ¡ª---Somewhere nearby--------


    Luke sprints through the fields, his leather bound feet splatter through the mud, and a drop of sweat drips into his eyes. He  wipes it away with his off hand.


    He bursts free from the wheat fields, and beholds the sight of his village burning. The thatch roofs burn like they¡¯ve been soaked in the oil. The wooden walls catch fire from the intense heat of the thatch, and they char the stone.


    The moon glares down at him as he falls to his knees. The mud soaks through his cloth pants, and dirty his knees.


    ¡°Kill em all boys!¡±


    Lukes closed eyes fly open as the voice resounds through the village.


    He climbs to his feet in a shamble. The tears climb to his eyes, but he breathes in deep, and steps forward. He sprints into the village. Running through the cobbled streets, rain begins to fall, and the flames sizzle.


    His hair falls down, and into his eyes but he wipes it away, and runs further. He rounds a corner, and bounces off a muscled form. He looks up at the beast standing above him.


    Standing above him is a 8 foot tall Orc, his arms covered in metal with loose leather straps holding them in place. ¡°Well, whats dis here?¡± he chuckles, and leans in, but Luke quickly rises, and sprints off in  the opposite direction. ¡°Ya wont get away lil budday!¡± He laughs, his deep voice booming throughout the burning streets.


    Luke doesn''t stop, as he runs the rain pools in the streets, and carried with them are the blood of his friends. Luke passes a corpse but he keeps running.


    Thud. Luke''s mouth flies open in a wordless scream, as the back of his head hits the ground.


    Another one of the Orcs chuckles, and standing above him is another Orc, slightly shorter but just as muscled.


    He stomps forward, his right foot landing right beside his head, splattering the bloody mud onto his face.


    He chuckles. ¡°Oh, is the lil one sad¡­¡± He laughs deeper. ¡°Well, I''m ary happy tonoight.¡± He says in his weird accent, and his axe drops on the other side of his head.


    Another Orc rounds the corner, and says. ¡°Jus kill em already.¡±


    Luke cries, and clutches the back of his head, but even throughout it all, he strokes out, his closed fist smacking the calf of the Orc standing over him.


    The Orc laughs at his pitiful attempt at fighting back. ¡°Well, Why don''t we ave a dua!!?¡±


    He laughs and reaches down gripping Luke by the shoulder, and pulling him up to his feet. He reaches over, and removes a knife from a sheath attached to his back. He leans in close to Luke, his breath tainted by the smell of meat, and alcohol.


    ¡°Ya want the knife or the Axe baby?¡± He chuckles, and asks.


    Luke doesn''t respond, frozen in fear.


    ¡°Knife it is¡­¡± he pushes the knife into Luke''s hand, and picks up his own axe, and backs away.


    More Orcs begin to gather around, and they laugh and place bets.


    Luke clutches the huge knife in his hand, the wicked long thing almost as long as his arm.


    The Orc raises his axe above his head. ¡°Ar we ready for this duel?¡± he laughs, and his voice booms like he¡¯s trying to hype up the crowd in a school yard fight.


    Luke''s eyes narrow as the bastard turns his back. He runs forward, and drives his knife hand forward, sinking his knife into the thing''s hairy armpit, his arms raised above his head.


    The Orc grunts in surprise, and swings backhanding Luke, and throwing him to the ground. ¡°Fuckin Bastard, ambushed me!¡±


    He swings his axe down, Luke''s vision tunnels on the axe dropping straight between his eyes, and it all goes black.

 Chapter 40

    Milo


    Luther swings a knife and beheads Frosty, the boss of the sixth floor; he drops some money, and some other decent loot.


    We quickly peek through and into the seventh floor. I immediately notice my miners camp. When I arrive there the camp is empty so I travel to the mine where I find the miners working, having already filled almost a cart load of ore.


    I congratulate them, and tell them to retrieve their pay at the secretaries office. The foreman was keeping track of how long people were working for, he had soaked everything in water so as not to cause any explosion, and all in all seemed to be being very safe.


    He does pull me aside and speaks to me.


    ¡°One of the boys wanted to see what was on the other side of this whole landscape so he took a trip over, and found another floor open. You should go check it out.¡±


    I nod, and thank him before informing the rest of my team.


    They all agree to at least go check it out.


    We walk through the gate guiding us from this floor, and onto the next. We round a corner, and find ourselves completely surrounded by tall grass. Its all very dry, and tan colored by very tall making it impossible to see anyone.


    I chop my sword, and cut down a swath of the stuff, and quickly reconvene with the rest of the party. ¡°What do we think? Try to get to the end or¡­ leave?¡±


    Luther shrugs. ¡°Let''s try it, why not.¡±


    I agree and we venture forward in a new formation with Harkon at the front, clearing the way with his sword whip thing.


    All of a sudden as we are walking Theo pulls us down into a crouch and points up. High above in the fake sky flies a flock of snakes. I mean a literal flock of snakes with little feathery wings sprouting from their sides.


    Two of the snakes fight over a corpse of something as they fly. All of a sudden Aeryn cries out, and swings her hatchet as one of the flying snakes dive bombs her, she swipes it away, and its corpse falls to the ground, while the wings flap lifelessly.


    Another snake dive bombs Harkon, who slices through its body before it gets close to him.


    We hear a cry, and turn to find Theo with a snake latched onto his bicep. He tears it off with one hand leaving tiny little red holes on his arm. His face turns red, and the area where he was bit becomes inflamed.


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    ¡°Holy Hell that hurts like a mother.¡± Theo pushes out through clenched teeth.


    Luther nods his head, and grabs him by the shoulders, ¡°Let''s turn back, knowing dungeons that poison is probably lethal, we need to get him to check him out.¡±


    We quickly rush out, speeding back through the floors.


    DC


    I chuckle as I watch them panic, and rush out. The snake venom is very painful, and could be compared to fire running through your veins, and it causes a pretty bad fever.


    Nothing a powerful, and stout warrior couldn''t fight through, but definitely makes it more difficult, kind of like a debuff in video games.


    As they pass through the seventh floor I notice that all of the miners are only eating rations, jerky, pemmican, dried things. All in all, nothing that looks good.


    Which makes sense as there is literally no animals to eat, and no plants to eat from. To remedy this I plant Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries all over the place, as well as adding some species of animals.


    First I change a horse to make something akin to a sheep, but they are far smaller, and closer in size to a medium sized dog, but also produce a lot of wool, and have very tasty meat. I once again changed a horse to make something akin to a cow but it is smaller, roughly the size of a sheep.


    I add a moose, which is semi-dangerous but I don''t modify it, so it should be no more dangerous than a moose outside. I was considering adding grey wolves, but the space is too small so I worry they would hunt everything to extinction, and then turn on the humans.


    I add some rabbits, and squirrels who can hide in the sparse trees scattered throughout. I also add some Stallhorns, but I make them much smaller, and closer in size to a regular goat, and I basically give them a lobotomy to make them much more chill.


    I also had something very similar to a weasel which Gairy called a stoat, so I added that in, I added in a variety of birds, and even some grouse, which I put into a pond, that I spontaneously made near the back of the area, as well as some fish like Salmon.


    Shortly after that I decided to add in some bees, which I''m uncertain how those will handle in this environment, but hopefully well.


    And to make it so that they could actually eat them I set the loot they dropped, as their corpse. This would give away a lot of free meat I could use to make more creatures, So I made a pixie sweatshop basically that would just be transmuting stone into flesh for use.


    Perfect. I smile as a bee swarms around looking for flowers to pollinate, and honey to make.


    The miners leave the mine for the day, and are astonished when a bee flies by, one of the miners points off to where a miniature cow stands, and takes a bite of grass. A tiny goat jumps from down a craggy hill, and pulls a weed from a crack in the rocks.


    I chuckle at their astonishment. They surround the cow, pickaxes in hand, and they swing at the same time, killing it very quickly. They all murmur in astonishment, apparently they expected mobs. But instead they got food. They carried the cow off, and butchered it very roughly, before carrying it off, and cooking it over top of a campfire.


    They eat it all, and love it.

 Chapter 41

    Milo


    The next day, as I''m eating Gertrude rushes up to me, her gnarled hands holding a quill like a knife, and her wrinkled face carries a snarl.


    She begins to snake, and speak, throwing globs of spittle over my face, and food. ¡°The coal miners arrived with the first load. A cart load. And they dropped it in my office¡­¡±


    I grimace. ¡°Sorry, I''ll get it out of there. Did you give them their paychecks?¡±


    She snarls once again. ¡°Yes, I did, hurry up, and rent the carts, you''re going to want to take it to the capital, and sell it to the southern merchants, in the port. You might even want to go to negotiate with the merchants.¡±


    I cringe, is there someone we could hire to go with and negotiate with them?


    She nods, ¡°Yes, I know one we can pick up in Brindle, she works on commission as well as salary though, but you will never find a better negotiator.¡±


    I nod, ¡°Go ahead, sounds good.¡±


    Alistair bursts into the scene followed shortly by Eli. ¡°Hey! I heard you were looking for something to transport, and guard your coal on the way to the capital!¡±


    I eye him with mock suspicion. ¡°How did you hear that, that fast?¡±


    Alistair laughs. ¡°I have really good hearing.¡±


    I sigh, and shrug. ¡°Fine, I''ll pay you and everything but any coal that goes missing you are going to be paying for it, because I know for a fact that you should have no problem defending it.¡±


    Alistair smiles. ¡°Perfect! And the perfect chance to show my apprentice the capital, and meet some of my associates.¡±


    I shrug, and point him in the direction of Gertrudes office, and tell him to load it up, and take off whenever he¡¯s ready. He agrees, and says he will leave today, and be back in a month or so.


    I wave him off, and he disappears, off to collect his coal, and leave.


    Gertrude begins talking. ¡°Also¡­ The miners say a bunch of animals have appeared on the seventh floor. Not mobs, like actual animals, that they can eat.¡±


    I shrug. ¡°That''s new.¡±


    She pushes on. ¡°It''s more than weird, it''s new. Like, I''ve never heard of a dungeon doing that.¡±


    I sigh. ¡°To be blunt, I don''t care, and it should solve a lot of food problems.¡±


    She sighs, but it also means that people could enter that dungeon, and never need to leave again. They have food, water, clothing, everything really. You could create a completely in-dependant, dungeon city within their.


    I laugh. ¡°It''s way too small!¡±


    She urges me to understand. ¡°But it will grow! I''m just saying this will invite attention from¡­ Others.¡±


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    I sigh. ¡°Ok. I don''t know what you want me to do about it though.¡±


    She heaves a deep breath out, and wrings her hand. ¡°Neither do I. I just want you to be aware of it, and the potential reactions.¡±


    I put a thumbs up, ¡°Okie, dokey.¡±


    As she is leaving Ivan walks up, and begins to speak. ¡°So¡­ Remember the portal inside the tower.¡±


    I nod. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± He continues. ¡°The kingdom officials have finished negotiating with them, and now, its pretty much open for people to come in, and out. From my understanding of the situation, they aren''t going to really announce it, but they aren''t going to try to hide its existence either, and the people on the other side, are¡­ Pretty much doing the same thing. Apparently the portal opened in the middle of a large city, so large, they couldn''t possibly cover it up.¡±


    I shrug. ¡°So.¡±


    He continues speaking. ¡°So¡­¡± He rubs two fingers together. ¡°We might have a bit of a tourism industry going on here soon enough.¡±


    I turn my head to him in awe. ¡°You¡¯re right!¡±


    He laughs at my enthusiasm. ¡°Yeah, but also a lot of new people causing trouble, so you are probably going to want to hire more guards.¡±


    I nod. ¡°But, Eli said they don''t have magic in their world, so we shouldn¡¯t have to hire high ranking guards.¡±


    He nods as well. ¡°Good point. So just quite a few D or F ranking guards.¡±


    I respond with. ¡°If you want to lease out some of your guild members for some coin, and a steady job I''d appreciate it.¡±


    He sighs. ¡°Well, the thing is most people who join a adventurers guild usually join because they want to adventure, so you¡¯d be better off traveling to Brindle, and hiring some mercenaries from one of the mercenaries guilds there, or even just getting some freelancers, for like a long job. You can basically write leases for jobs so when people are hired they have to perform that job for as long as their little lease agreement lasts.¡±


    I agree with him, and jog off to find Gertrude, and Alistair, so I can go with them to Brindle.


    I find Alistair directing a group of skeletons who are loading all the Coal into the back of a gargantuan cart which does appear to be causing damage to the dirt, and gravel roads, so for future reference dont allow these big  ass carts on any roads we don''t want serious damage on.


    I ask if I can accompany them to Brindle, and they agree quickly, but tell me they are leaving soon, so be ready. I run off, and return with a pack, with a tent, rations, blankets, contracts, and anything I would need really, as well as a horse to ride, and follow them on, as well as return to Questford on.


    They are done packing quickly, and we leave with two of the gargantuan carts pulled by two undead abominations each, as well as two flesh golems, an undead Ogre, an undead Bear, and an undead giant praying mantis. As well as a large force of 50 or so undead skeletons walking along with us.


    One of the carts is filled with coal as well as some other miscellaneous things. We have to camp out for maybe 3 nights. I was expecting to have to sleep outside in my tent but they invited me to sleep in the wagons which apparently had loft beds you could climb up into. I thought this was absurd but neither of them thought it was weird.


    After our short trip of a couple days we arrived at Brindle. Alistair, and eli disappeared off to find the young lady Gertrude said to recruit.


    I, on the other hand, first put up job recruitment messages on the various message boards throughout town, speaking of looking for low ranking cultivators, looking for steady pay as guards. I also put in the location of Gertrudes office within the town.


    I then travelled to a mercenaries guild in the area called the ¡°Gold Munchaz¡± Yes that is how they spelled it on the sign outside.


    When I entered I was surprised to find it packed with not only humans but a variety of other races, including a trio of Ogres in the center of the room, so as to avoid the low balconies around the edges of the room, literally eating gold coins. Maybe that''s where they got their name from.


    When I wandered to the desk where there was a grizzled mountain of a man sitting in a chair behind the counter. If I didn''t know better I would have thought he was an Ogre.


    ¡°Hey, I own a town off to the South-East called Questford, and I''m looking to recruit long term guards who are competent, have good morale, and can work with other people as a team, and actually have decent prices as well.¡±

 Chapter 42

    Milo


    He leans down on the counter, his hairy forearm pressing against the wood. He picks them back up, and pulls a splinter free from one of them. He discreetly points to a gray skinned man in the corner.


    He stands at I¡¯d estimate nine feet tall, every inch of him was draped in thick chains, with bells, and coins attached throughout. His hair was in dreads, and pulled back behind his ears, where more chains intermingled with them, from where they appeared to be implanted in his skull. He had wide narrow eyes, and a short stubby face, with a long mouth. Every inch of skin not underneath chains, was covered in tattoos depicting violence, torture, war, and a variety of other things. By his side sits a long Halberd almost as long as him, with a wicked top made of black steel.


    ¡°That''s Tom. His name isn''t actually Tom, but none of us can pronounce his real name, and the one time we tried he told us we were calling him slurs.¡±


    I laugh quietly.


    ¡°Value wise Tom is great. He''s high C ranking, he''s cheap, and he¡¯ll do what you tell him. He has good morals, and he''s a nice guy who wants to improve himself, and he''s competent. Only problem is. Well two actually, he''s scary looking aint he, and he''s a Feralith, which aint a problem at all. I ain''t one of those racist fellas but he has a bad tendency to go overboard with the violence. He doesn''t mean to but sometimes he just can''t tell how much force is warranted.¡±


    I nod along. ¡°I¡¯ll consider him as an option.¡±


    He points at a human sitting with a group of other humans, they wear matching uniforms, and have matching weapons, being a one handed short sword, and a kite shaped shield beside them. ¡°That''s Jim and his gang. He¡¯s everything Tom is not, he is calm, and has a good eye for judging situations, he''s only a D ranker, but so is the rest of his gang, and they usually come as a package deal. They are more expensive than Tom though. They have average morales if I had to judge but I don''t see them as abusing their power too much. Downsides. He is one of those racist fellas. So I don''t know, up to you.¡±


    I sigh, ¡°I see¡­ Could I take both?¡±


    The large man nods, and reaches into a chest below the table with contracts that have filled in the blank spots, asking about, how long the contract lasts for, how much they are getting paid, and what they will be doing, as well as the names of both parties.


    First I travel to Tom, who is sitting alone reading a small book, while drinking something.


    I sit down across from him at the rough hewn wooden table, and slide the contract across. ¡°Hey Tom.¡±


    He tucks the book away into his variety of hanging chains, and it disappears into some unseen pocket. ¡°Hey.¡± He shoots me a polite smile, his teeth sharp, and interlocking. ¡°How can I help you?¡±


    I smile. ¡°I''m looking to hire you!¡±


    He nods. ¡°How long, what will I be doing, and what will the pay be like?¡±


    I nod, ¡°Im hoping to at least secure a contract for a year, preferably two years, and i¡¯d possibly like to renew it at the end of the two years.¡±


    His lips tip downwards in the beginning of a frown. ¡°Two years¡­¡±


    I nod along. ¡°I''m going to be paying you to be doing something akin to guard work, or maybe bodyguard work, depending on the situation, but you''re not going to be on a battlefield or anything, most likely fighting criminals, not soldiers.¡±


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    He nods his head. ¡°Ok¡­ I''m assuming Jay told you about my penchant for violence?¡±


    I smirk. ¡°Well, the thing is, I''m the one hiring you, so you don''t need to worry about that.¡±


    He sighs. ¡°Whatever. Pay?¡±


    I nod. ¡°How much do you want?¡±


    He quirks his mouth. ¡°A salary of 5 gold a year. Or¡­ About 1 silver, and 40 copper a day. How many days of the week will I be working?¡±


    I nod along. ¡°You will be working pretty sporadic hours so let''s go with that, 1 silver, and 40 copper a day.¡±


    He smiles along. ¡°When do I need to be there?¡±


    I quickly respond. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving again today, I won''t be paying you until you arrive, so arrive within the week.¡±


    He stands up, and grips his halberd in one hand. ¡°I¡¯d best get walking.¡± He turns around, and leaves the tavern.


    I smile, and walk back to the counter where I pass the contract to the man working behind the counter.


    He smiles, and waves. ¡°Thank you for your purchase. Still looking at Jimmy, and his crew over there?¡±


    I grin, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I quickly stroll over to Jimmy, and his crew and place the contract down on the table. ¡°Hey, I''m looking to hire you goodfellas.¡±


    Jimmy looks up at me. ¡°Heya buddy, sure, get to the details bud.¡±


    I smile. ¡°I want to hire all of you, for two years, for guard work within a town, with pay negotiable.¡±


    Jimmy smiles. ¡°Two years is a long time, but if you¡¯re playing good, I guess it''s fine.¡±


    The six of them at the table pass the contract around, and scribble their names onto it. ¡°Hows the pay?¡± One of them asks.


    I smile, how cheap can I bring these guys¡­ ¡°2 gold a year, for each of you.¡±


    They scoff quickly, and wave their hands. ¡°Nah, we need 5.¡±


    I frown. ¡°2, and a half.¡±


    They wave even more aggressively. ¡°No, no, no. 4 gold, at LEAST.¡±


    I sigh. ¡°3 for each, that''s as high as I''m going.¡±


    ¡°Deal,¡± Jimmy puts his hand out, and we shake. We add that to the contract, as well as the time.


    ¡°I''m gonna need you guys in Questford within the week alrighty? I''m not paying you until you get there, and if you go over a week without arriving the contracts off the table.¡± I add in a clause specifying that.


    They nod, and wave me off, so I leave.


    I restock my rations, hop onto my horse, and head out back to town. On the way back I pass Tom, and I decide to slow down, and travel with him for safety reasons.


    Eli


    We stroll through town, Alistair has the contract in his left hand, and a quill loosely in his right hand.


    He glances at the note Gertrude gave us, which takes us to some house. We knock on the door, and a child swings the door open, and glares at us. His face, covered in cracked oats. We laugh, and ask him something. ¡°Is Amelia here?¡±


    He frowns, and closes the door. We hear his feet patter off into the loud house, and a minute later a young woman opens the door. ¡°Hey, Benny said you were looking for me?¡±


    Alistair nods, and hands her the contract as well as the note, ¡°A Mrs. Gertrude is working for our boss, and she recommended that he hire you, to negotiate.¡±


    She takes the contract, and reads it over. ¡°Granny¡­¡± She mutters. ¡°How long will I be gone, and how much will I be paid?


    We nod, and speak. ¡°You will be paid a salary as well as a percentage of the amount of money made during the negotiations.¡±


    She nods. ¡°What are you selling?¡±


    Alistair answers. ¡°Coal.¡±


    Her eyes widen. ¡°The capital¡­ That''s a long trip. How much of a salary?¡±


    Alistair steeples his fingers together. ¡°A silver a day.¡±


    She sighs. ¡°A silver, and 20 copper.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡± Alistair grins, and drops his hands. ¡°When will you be ready to leave?¡±


    She shrugs, ¡°I¡¯ll be ready by the end of the day.¡±


    Alistair smiles. ¡°We¡¯ll drop by at 7 or so tomorrow morning to pick you up.¡±

 Chapter 43

    DC


    I notice that the rats biggest problem is actually two big problems, they are treacherous, and constantly scheming against each other. I''m amazed Talon has managed to hold them together as one group. He literally had to form a sort of secret police force to deal with people scheming. But the second is that they are weak. They resort to mass slave labour to make any real progress on difficult labour.


    I mean their numbers have swelled, and they just peeked into the thousands, but the majority of them are slaves, and the ones who aren''t slaves are guards, or soldiers trying to defeat the mole people.


    One the note of the mole people, they have almost completely outfitted themselves with armor, and have become complete juggernauts, the worst thing that''s happened to them so far was that one of them was shot, before he was fully armored, but they pulled the bullet it out, and he healed INCREDIBLY fast. Like, a week later, the wound is almost completely healed. They¡¯ve had multiple children, but they''re not mature yet, they are still very young.


    I¡¯ve decided for my ninth floor I''m going to create an expansion of this floor. I''ll create tunnels allowing the rats, the goblins, and the moles into the ninth floor evolution room. But there is going to be a creature native to that floor that won''t be so happy about them trying to invade.


    Basically I mix goblins, the small understanding of humans, and bulls, and am left with a nine foot tall, humanoid, with huge horns coming out of their head.


    They are smooth skinned, with little fur on their body, but hair similar to humans, and goblins. They are surprisingly nimble, and fast. They are semi-primitive with intelligence similar to goblins.


    They have exceedingly dense muscle, and can lift up to twice their body weight, and a well trained Bull, can lift up to three times their body weight. They don''t have hooves, and actually have feet more similar to humans.


    Most striking is the giant horns piercing out of the tops of their heads.


    They have an average rate of reproduction with it being very similar to goblins, and similar to goblins, they mature very quickly, and a 5 year old Bull is considered like an older teen. A good comparison would be a human 16 year old.


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    I push the size of the floor to my limits, and it comes away at about 1600 feet in every direction. The whole thing is a gnarled ancient looking forest. The west side has a small hill, with a river leading out of the hill. The river moves through the gnarled forest to find a tiny patch of tall grass, I mean like 9 feet tall grass. Right smack dab at the center of the grassland is a tiny pond, fed by the little stream.


    I also go throughout the forest, and I pump the trees with incredible quantities of mana, what ends up happening is that some of the trees gained a sort of awareness. They grew a mouth, and some sort of spiritual stomach inside of them. They had eyes, which could glow anything from bright red, to piss yellow.


    When they closed their mouths, and eyes though, they looked exactly like a normal tree.


    I also took some of the bulls, and I pumped them full of mana as well, and what was left was a sort of shaman. The shaman could almost speak to the trees, and could calm them, or cause them to attack invaders.


    I added some deer, rabbits, moose, fish, birds, and a variety of things present in trees. The trees were actually carnivorous apparently, but they only ate what they needed, and so weren¡¯t super aggressive.


    I actually changed the adventurer floor, so that the river, flowed towards the entrance into the floor, and then had a horseshoe bend, passing through the center of the floor, through the grasslands, through the lake, and leading to the end of the floor, before it dropped it ended in another small lake.


    I also added a Bull shaman, who sits in a boat, with a long pole, to push them through the river. For vibes I encased the entire floor in a thick layer of fog. They would have to negotiate with the boatmen to take them to the other side of the floor, and than on the other side, they''d have to either venture into the forest to find a key, or they would have to negotiate with the Bulls I put into the forest around the edges of the pond, or in the grassland.


    All of the trees were high C-Ranking, and very dangerous. I''d bet that in the evolution floor, they would be the first things evolving into the B ranks in my dungeon. They weren''t any threat to the Bulls who seemed to soothe them, and they engaged in an alliance of sorts, even sometimes bringing the trees food, and in turn the trees would protect them.


    This floor would take a day or so to get through so they would probably have to set up a sort of tiny, shanty town, in the grassland so they could wait, and sleep there.


    For the boss floor I just took a tree, and put it in there. I was considering trying to make something stronger, but this floor actually wasn''t that difficult, I know the trees were High C ranking, but they weren''t supposed to fight them, or fight at all, it was supposed to teach the adventurers that fighting wasn''t always the answer.


    It will take a second for people to reach this floor, as they just started working through the key mechanics on the last floor, so it might take a while.

 Chapter 44

    i''ve noticed that my jumps in difficulty are starting to outpace my actual abilities, so i''ve decided to slow my advances in difficulty, instead of jumping from D to C from floor, i''m going to drop the difficulty back down to solidly in D, and we are going to dedicate the next couple floors to the D ranks. This will allow me to have more floors, more creatures, it will take longer for the people coming through, and I''ll be able to have way more of everything.


    Eli


    The next morning we walk back to Amelia''s house, and pick her up. Similarly to Milo when we took him here, she brought a horse, and a sleeping bag, and everything, which she wont need, but, whatever.


    We bring her out to the carts, and she gawks in amazement at how big they are. We show her the loft, sleeping area, and tell her, we can curtain off a spot in this wagon, or she can get her own wagon, but she will have to share it with the coal.


    She opts to share a wagon with the Coal, and we help get her set up. We then bring her back to our wagon, and we set off, while we play a dice game, on the floor.


    Amelia is kind of a scary young lady, but very intelligent, and not mean, just¡­ intimidating¡­ And very good at gambling. Which I learn after I lose more copper than I¡¯d like to admit.


    At some point in time, during the second day of travel, a small band of bandits try to intercept us, but as soon as they are close enough to see our guard force, they wheel around, and disappear into the forest we are travelling through.


    Milo


    My horse trots along slowly besides Tom, who trots along just as slow, his halberd held behind his head, and over his shoulders.


    As we walk, Tom''s chains play a soothing melody from the bells interlocked throughout. The bells hit the coins, which hit the chains, which hit each other, which hit the bells, and what resounds around him is a sound similar to birds chirping in the morning accompanied by the soft noises of church bells in the distance.


    I smile, and nearly fall asleep while we walk. At some point in time, while I was sleeping early the next morning I heard Tom''s bells ringing aggressively as if he was moving fast, then he heard a sort of bleat, and wet chopping.


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    I poke my head out, to find Tom skinning, and prepping a goat. He cooks the goat in a pan he brought with, and seasons it with a variety of things, packed away on his person.


    Once he''s done, he shares a small portion with me, but the lion''s share he ends up eating.


    DC


    As I sit I decide that it took me way too long to make that gateway with Gairy, so I look into my reserves of souls to try to find exceedingly intelligent minds that I can revive, and force to research for me.


    I find two goblins from different floors, as well as a frostlin who was very adept in magic theory, I find a rat who died young as a slave in the rebellion but who had a lot of potential, I couldn''t find any others, but I decide to keep a eye out for any exceedingly intelligent people, or souls.


    I quickly reform them, I do use my magic to relax the rat a little so it''s less treacherous, and can speak easier.


    As soon as I form them, in their little luxury underground mansion, with a lab attached I explain what I''ve done to them.


    At first they panic, and even try to fight each other, but I calm them all down, and explain. Most of them even seem pretty okay with it.


    I quickly set them on the task of A; making, and discovering new weapons, and traps, and B; I want a way to speak with the adventurers without putting out signs. Maybe an Item of some sort?


    Then I return my attention to floor eight, where a party is nearing the end. One of them acted as the tank, and his entire body is just covered with bites from the air snakes. He must be in excruciating pain.


    They did have an experience with an earth snake, but no fire snakes, or dark snakes.


    As they near the exit of the floor they spot the amber wall blocking the tunnel. As they draw near they begin to try to break it, but their weapons have no power, so they do eventually, read the sign.


    ¡°A fuckin key!¡± The man covered in bites cries out. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna go get a fucking key!¡±


    One of them drops to the ground, and holds her head in her hands. ¡°God¡­ Dammit¡­ All¡­¡±


    They sigh, and they turn, and venture back into the prairies looking for a key. I specifically put keys in inconvenient places, like buried, within the trunk of a tree, swallowed by an earth snake.


    I chuckle. In fact the earth snake they killed earlier had a key inside, but they didn''t bother to try to process it, so it melted away as soon as they left the vicinity.


    I also decide to work on my tenth floor. I won''t release it to the public yet, but I''m bored. I begin to expand it, and all of a sudden my brain just sort of expands. I can make it double the size of my current ninth floor.


    I turn my attention to Gairy, and I begin to sputter, and speak quickly. ¡°Why is my tenth floor twice the size!?¡±

 Chapter 45

    DC


    He smiles.  ¡°Already on the tenth floor? Awesome.¡±


    I redirect him. ¡°Explain!¡±


    He nods, ¡°Well, after the tenth floor, every five floors, the amount of space a dungeon is allowed to have is doubled. Nobody is quite sure why that happens but there is a legend that the warrior god was tired of slow expansion for his disciples, so he lent a portion of his power to dungeons.¡±


    I smile. ¡°Well, that''s perfect.¡±


    Gairy continues to speak after I leave, but I don''t listen. Something about how, most dungeons don''t use all that space, and just level up their mobs, but¡­ I don''t care!


    For the tenth floor, I actually just decided to make it the same as the ninth floor, but bigger, and I connect it to the ninth floor.


    At the end of the river on the ninth floor I add a waterfall dropping into the tenth floor. I also add little passageways inside of some of the trees. Inside some of the sentient trees too, so a Bull shaman can tame a tree, and have their own little guarded passageway down.


    As well as three tiny, narrow staircases, cut into the side of the floor, for the goblins, rats, and moles to use.


    Now that I have that all built and the bulls know of their existence, and have a solid hold set up, I finally build the passageways from the seventh floor, into this floor. I built three different passageways into this floor, one for each race. The goblins get something right by their village. The moles get something right by their village, and the rats get something right by their city.


    This might have been a mistake as immediately a portion of the rats, nearly a third of the population, started a rebellion, and fled into the ninth floor. Sadly the majority of them were massacred by the bulls.


    The bulls were weaker than the mole people, dumber than both, and less populous than the rats. Despite all of this they held their own just fine, their shamans taming powerful trees, and beasts who defended them, all while they used devastating hit, and run tactics.


    The Goblins appeared through their gateway. All of them mounted on a Stallhorn, and they spotted the enemy rats, swarming a fleeing Bull shaman, all the while casting spells back at them. Trees rising from the ground, throwing rats to, and fro.


    The goblins see this magic with awe in their eyes, and they charge forward to assist the mage, in hopes he will teach them.


    The Stallhorns plow into the backs of the rats, piercing spines, with their horns, and trampling skulls underfoot.


    When they enter the melee they begin to buck, and dance back, and fath, slamming hooves into faces, and slicing horns back, and forth. The goblins on their backs hoot, holler, and swing their spears like clubs, the rough hewn stone tips, slicing many throats before eventually breaking on bone, but they do not notice, and just use them like clubs.


    They devastate the rat lines, who run, and disappear off to somewhere else.


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    The goblins slowly approach the bull shaman, and they begin to converse. The grunting bull language is unable to communicate with the guttural goblin language.


    But using their body language they begin to work a sort of treaty out. The Bulls will allow the goblins safe expansion into their territory, and coexistence, as well as teaching the goblins some magic. But they will also engage in a military alliance should the rats decide to come back.


    All the while they negotiate below their feet the rats have already begun to carve shallow tunnels. Occasionally hitting the roots of the treants above them, who then wreak havoc, and collapse that tunnel.


    The moles have only just begun to expand, as they mostly lack the numbers to turn away from the rats, and go elsewhere. The remaining rats are still maintaining a regular bombardment of the moles. They have begun sending guards armed with muskets, who fire towards the enemy moles. Most of the moles are unharmed but occasionally one bullet slips through, and they are forced to retreat so that they can heal.


    This repeats many times over. The rats attack, the moles wipe out a ton, before one is injured, and they must retreat, as they can¡¯t afford to lose any of their number.


    Now for the real tenth floor that adventurers can access¡­


    I want to do an ocean floor, but I don''t really have any ocean creatures yet. I guess i''ll just tuck that away for later.


    I decide to make the entire floor another underground cavern. I''ve already made one, but this one will be different. It will be a mushroom forest. I fill the whole thing with mushrooms that I supersized, and made bio-luminescent.


    I cover the floor with moss, lichen, and thin patchy layers of slime and algae, as the whole thing, has a slight trickle of water running through it, and it''s oppressively humid. So humid, that it rises to the ceiling of the cavern, where it condenses, and falls back down, draping the entire cavern in a perpetual state of a trickle of rain.


    I really like this so I contemplate making an EV floor, just like this. In fact I''m totally gonna, on the eleventh floor.


    For the boss, I do the same thing I did to the trees, but with the mushrooms, and create something terrifying similar, but different. I actually had to get rid of it, because the spores it released when interacting with living beings turned them into like; fungus zombies.


    I killed the thing and filled the entire cavern with white hot flames. Not the main cavern, because it was just in the boss room, but the entire thing turned into a red hot drippy mess of lava. Hopefully no spores would spread.


    I decide to populate the boss room after I populate it with regular monsters. I decide to do another goblin thing, as it seems like a sort of goblin vibe to have an underground mushroom forest. Most of the goblins are D-5 or D-7.


    The goblins are a little bit weaker than the average mob in this area, but their tendency to work  together made them more dangerous. I put some frogs in there as well, and made them bigger, and stronger. The frogs were about the size of a small pony, but plenty dangerous, with a poisonous saliva, so if it breaks your skin, it will poison you.


    Occasionally an exceptional goblin would hop on top of these giant frogs, and ride them around. I called these ones Rogue Goblins, and I only added one every 10 days, and they were stronger than the rest of them by a decent bit, and would drop very good loot.


    Milo


    Me and Tom trott along through the grass before breaking through back into the town.


    Tom swivels his head solemnly overviewing the village. He nods once again solemnly. ¡°Do I have somewhere to stay?¡±


    I shrug at him. ¡°Find a tavern, or somewhere. Or just stay in a tent. You''ll start getting your pay soon, and that should be enough to find a place to stay. Housing isn''t too expensive, and worst case you live in the tiny little village being raised inside the dungeon. I heard the price of living there is non-existent, because food is abundant, and nobody owns the land so you can build anywhere you want for free.¡±


    He shrugs noncommittally. ¡°Ok.¡±


    I once again spur my horse forward, and we begin the walk towards Gertrudes office.

 Chapter 46

    DC


    Talon, gives a young rat a smack on the back of the head.


    The young rat he is slapping is his apprentice, and the first, sort-of mage the rats have acquired. He is an extremely weak Carnimancer. But so far all he''s been doing is augmenting the rather weak Rats, and he seems unable to enter any sort of real combat.


    His most recent work was a rat, whose hands they replaced with dual bloodstone muskets. With Talon''s help of course. This was, in fact, not very effective, as it''s hard to reload, when your hands are guns.


    This poor creature ran into enemies before being killed. Far too much effort, for far to little reward.


    They continue to work but¡­ I''m certain this won''t last long. One thing I have irrefutably programmed into the brain of every rat is that the moment they gain an inkling of power, they must have it all. This rat will surely rebel, and start his own group of rats.


    As they continue working they hear screaming, and gun fire. In the central cavern a group of goblins riding Stallhorns breaks in.


    Five Goblins, one of them is the highest ranking creature so far other than the treants. He and his mount are covered in armor made from the bark of a fire attuned treant, who volunteered itself to create this armor.


    His entire body is wraithed in white hot flames. His mount feels not a bit of the heat, protected by the armor. He dances forward, and swings his spear. The long obsidian tip slicing through flesh with ease. The wave of heat that follows his swings leaves many rats broiled alive.


    His Stallhorn bucks, and drives his back hooves through a skull dashing many more rats with his brains. His rider the goblin holds onto one of his horns with his left hand while his right hand holds the spear by the base, and swings it wildly.


    The goblins following behind him cringe at the heat he emanates. All the rats surrounding him slowly back away in fear of being cooked alive.


    The few rats armed with the bloodstone muskets raise them to their cheeks, and fire.


    The goblin laughs as their muskets embed themselves into his armor, but fail to break through.


    Another shot rings out, and pierces through a gap. He gasps, and reaches into the wound removing the copper ball, before throwing it back at the rat firing on him. The copper ball flies faster than the musket made it fly, and collides with the rat''s skull, killing him instantly.


    The other rats eyes widen, and begin to fire on him with more gusto hoping to kill him.


    He growls, his flames flaring up, and burning hotter. The wound quickly cauterizes under the blistering heat.


    He charges forward, and mows down 8 or so rats on his mount before arriving at a musket man, just in time to receive another full wound through a gap in his armor.


    The rat man smiles as he pierces the flesh of his assailant but gasps as it fails to kill him. The rat quickly attempts to draw a small knife, but is speared before he can.


    This continues on for a while. Our goblin protagonist wipes out nearly 200 rats, while his lackeys follow behind cleaning up whatever he doesn¡¯t get. He is eventually intercepted by Talon aboard the battle train.


    The train rides into battle, crunching over the corpses of their comrades. They arrive to find the goblin smiling, his body covered with holes, most of them cauterized, but some still bleed.


    At the sight of the train he jumps forward onto the train, and attempts to get inside of it. He jumps aboard, and scratches at the metal doors. He pushes, and pulls in an attempt to brute force it, before forcing his spear through one of the holes usually used for muskets. Instead of his spear hitting anything the tip is lopped off by a pissed Talon.


    Talon draws his flintlock, slipping it through the firing hole, and blasts the goblin. The goblin takes the shot straight to the chest.


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    He lands on the ground, and as he tries to get back up, 3 more shots ring out, this time from rifles. They slip through the armor, their marksmanship the best of the best.


    He stumbles, and his vision finally begins to grow blurry from blood loss. His muscles begin to ache, and his mana begins to run dry.


    He turns, and stumbles aboard his mount, and they disappear back down the passageway to hide in the safe forests of floor nine, and ten.


    Talon sighs, and cracks open the doors. ¡°Collect meat-meat.¡± He waves his hand dismissively at the corpses littering the ground.


    He grits his sharp teeth. ¡°Need-need stronger weapons.¡±


    I turn my attention to the Goblins, who gallop deep into the forest of the ninth floor, before meeting with a Bull shaman, who allows them to use a tree passage to drop a floor deeper into the 10th floor.


    The strong one drops himself into a pile of leaves. His skin, turning a shade of brown as it attempts to turn red but mixes with the green. He shivers as steam pulses from his flesh, and the leaves tickle his bare arms.


    His stallhorn stands standing beside him, before dropping to the ground, barrel chest heaving in and out with deep breaths.


    The other goblins gather around, and drop into crossed sitting positions while their Stallhorns lap up water from the puddles.


    The goblin laying on his back reaches into a pouch, and removes a clay container holding a salve of some sort. He quickly rubs it over his open wounds, as well as the closed wounds.


    ¡°Did I miss any?¡± He asks quickly, and spins around trying to look at himself from every angle.


    Another goblin grabs his leg, and stabs a finger into a hole cutting deep into his calf. ¡°There.¡± He responds shortly. Before removing his finger, and wiping it on his clothing.


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± The strong goblin curses out the other one who just smiles, and seems to enjoy his anger.


    The stronger goblin calms down quickly, and his anger turns from real anger to mock anger. ¡°Screw you,¡± He chuckles, and rubs a closed fist over the weaker one''s head before squatting down again, and quickly packing the wound on his leg with the salve.


    The surrounding goblins chuckle, and laugh.


    The stronger goblin reaches out, his hands covered in the greasy salve, before rubbing it into the sparse hair of the weaker goblin, slicking them down to his skull.


    The smaller goblin reaches out, and wacks away his hand. ¡°Leave me alone, you ass.¡± But he chuckles along anyway.


    The strong goblin squats down, laughs, and throws up something akin to a rude gesture.


    They all laugh along.


    As I turn my attention back to Talon I finally notice some adventurer breaking through the gateway on the eighth floor. It''s the same group as before, but one of them holds the simple key clutched in a white knuckle fist while their tank''s entire body is red, and covered in puncture wounds from the air snakes.


    I laugh, and they step forward. They press the key to the gate, and they slip right through. They appear on the other side, with no key, and completely surrounded by fog.


    The large man who was acting at the tank waves his hands back and forth as if to wave away the fog, seemingly intoxicated, either by a loss of blood, or by the high quantities of snake venom pumping through his veins.


    They continue to walk, and one of their backline fighters cries out as his foot sinks into the edge of a river.


    ¡°Wet! Water! Cold!¡± He yelps, and tears his foot free from the mud, ¡°My slipper!¡±


    He holds his staff by the top and tries to use the bottom of it to grab at the slipper, but it disappears below the surface of the mud.


    He sighs deeply, but the others just laugh at him.


    The woman reaches into her pack, and removes a pair of simple leather, and fabric sandals.


    The man once again nods dejectedly, and thanks her. ¡°Thanks Donna¡­¡±


    She sighs, and pats him on the back empathetically.


    They step deeper into the fog and along the river edge. Until a clack rings out. The poor man who lost his slipper has found the wooden dock. His staff clicking loudly against the opposing wood.


    The others gather around him in a tight formation, and they step forward, slowly but surely, probing forward with the staff so as not to fall in.


    Another crack rings out. They all peer to where the wooden staff has met with another wooden staff disappearing below the surface of the slow moving water.


    They peer back upwards to find the Bull standing in his boat, glaring at them, his staff planted firmly in the mud.


    They quickly draw their weapons, and step forward. He waves one hand, in a slow, and calm gesture.


    They step forward, the tank leading the charge. Our Bull instead of responding with combat simply pushes off in his boat, and disappears into the fog.

 Chapter 47

    Eli


    The first part of the capital we saw was the slums. The road led straight into the slums with no walls, or protections or anything. Buildings just started appearing. Buildings made of mud, and brick, the entire place gloomy, and almost immediately they began to stack upon each other.


    Mud, and wood huts, precariously stacked upon each other, some times, even arching over the street with out of place stone supports put in probably by the city to keep it from collapsing.


    Alleyways in between buildings littered with shit, blood, and a variety of effluvia, but most prevalent were the people. A huge wondrous variety of people, of different skin colors, genders, and even species.


    Crouched in sketchy alleyways, groups of armed men, and women hang. Boots planted firmly in the mud, hands locked on their wicked assortment of weaponry.


    We keep our eyes down, and we roll forward. We finally peek through, to find a bridge. The space around the bridge is empty, no buildings, and a group of 8 or so armed guards stand around talking to each other. Long kite shields hanging from their backs, and longswords strapped to their belts.


    The river has been reinforced by concrete, as it seems to have degraded, and the real river, is 20 feet lower, as the bottom of the concrete ditch. Pipes protrude from either side of the ditch, and sewage, waste, blood, and whatever waste is produced by the city flows into the river, before eventually traveling to the sea.


    ¡°Halt!¡± A guard throws up a hand, and tells us to stop before turning to one of his buddies. ¡°Always wanted to do that.¡± He whispers to him with a grin, who laughs at him.


    They walk close, and one of them begins to speak. ¡°Fuckin necro.¡± He mutters, and scowls.


    Alistair frowns, and opens his mouth as if to speak but is interrupted by the guard before he can finish.


    ¡°It doesn''t matter what you have or what you are doing, those wagons would tear through these bridges, and fall into the river below. You want to trade something, make the deal, and then meet at the industrial docks on the east side. Got it?¡± He explains promptly his scowl never leaving his face.


    Alistair nods, and smiles. ¡°That is fine.¡±


    The guard smirks. ¡°I know. Now get ye bastard.¡± He waves us off, and we slowly turn our carts around, damaging the stone tiles we roll over. Once we''ve turned around we head our way back out of the city. As we cart ourselves away we get lots of glares from people.


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    We quickly roll out of the city, where we park the carts in the dirt,  and Alistair quickly says. ¡°Eli, you stay here with the carts, make sure nobody steals anything.¡±


    I nod and respond. ¡°Sure. Do I keep our guards?¡± I say with a gesture to the skeletons in our cart, as well as the other beasts guarding us.


    Alistair shrugs. ¡°Go ahead. I don''t care.¡±


    I throw a thumb up, and nod his head while Alistair, and Amelia get off to hopefully find a trading partner.


    I wander back into the cart, and I begin working. First I remove a head from a jar of preservatives, as well as forearms, and the attached hands. I lay each out on separate sheets designed for dissection. Next I remove the teeth, and the lower jaw from the head.


    I then replace it with the lower jaw of a goblin, slowly, stitch by stitch I attach the flesh, before using mana to bind the bones in place. Goblins have extremely high bite force, as well as sharp needle-like teeth.


    Next I snip off the ears, and replace them with joints, held in place by mana, and a big bulb of tissue, after the joint is the arm, and the hand at the very end. What is left looks like a demonic bat of some sort. The lower jaw protrudes out slightly, and the teeth run out of the mouth, and over the lips above.


    The arms sprout from the side of its skull, the base being surrounded by a cancerous growth of tissue, all stitched in with shoddy craftsmanship, a needle, and some string, as well as a little bit of magic.


    Finally he removes three forearms from a barrel filled with arms. Each arm has no hand, but has the elbow joint, and the wrist joint.


    He quickly attaches the arms together but as he does so, he adds a secondary joint made of mana. This allows the arm to rotate ninety degrees, and then bend with the help of the fleshy joint. Once it was all attached he attached the end of it to the base of the skull right at the neck area. Finally using a strip of tissue from the stomach area of a human he creates a sort of belt made of human flesh. He attached to the side of it, and then attached his new appendage to his belt.


    What I am left with is almost a snake-like appendage protruding out of his waist, and at the very end are two hands, as well as the head, which was creepy as hell, which is a big bonus, as well as being strong enough to deal some serious damage.


    This was all actually very mana efficient as I retained most of the muscles in the body by using pickled parts instead of bones or rotting flesh. This means I only have to place blobs of mana throughout to tense the muscles, and un-tense them allowing me to control the whole thing while barely using any mana. As well as the mana needed for the joints of course, which were the most expensive, but very helpful.


    The downside of this Is I need to learn what each muscle does individually, and learn how to control them. Which is a bit awkward, but I''m sure ill figure it out.


    Finally I stand, and peek out the caravan to find the sun has set long ago. If I had to bet its probably around midnight. I wonder where Alistair, and Amelia are?


    I shrug, and look around. We parked ourselves in an empty field just outside of the slums, so I wouldn''t be surprised if shady characters made some visits around here occasionally. In fact¡­ I swear I can see a group of people walking around way over there¡­


    I quickly give the order to my loaned undead guards to not let anyone get close unless they were Alistair, or Amelia, and then I climb up to the loft above the rest of the place, removing my fleshy belt, which was rather creepy, and heading to sleep.

 Chapter 48

    The next morning I wake to find Alistair still not there. I begin to panic a little before I descend the loft, and find him passed out at the bottom of the ladder.


    I laugh, and give his sleeping face a good kick. ¡°Get up ya bum.¡± He stirs slightly.


    ¡°Ah, fuck, my head. I haven''t been that drunk in a long time.¡± He scratches his disheveled hair. ¡°Those southerners really know how to party.¡± he scratches his head some more. ¡°I mean, I dont think ive had a blowjob that good i-¡±


    ¡°Stop! Stop! Stop! I don''t want to hear about the blowjob you got!¡±


    Alistair cackles, and rubs his hands together. ¡°You¡¯re just jealous.¡±


    I glare at him. ¡°No, I actually got work done.¡± I point to my flesh belt which is sitting on the table, the head peering at us, with creepily limp eyes.


    Alistair smiles. ¡°Wow.¡± He climbs to his feet, his hands holding onto the ladder.


    ¡°Yup, made it all by myself.¡± I puff out my chest, and cross my arms, while beaming.


    Alistair chuckles. ¡°A Little shoddy, but for an amateur who''s never done this by themselves, I mean, really good!¡±


    I smile


    ¡°What time is it?¡± Alistair asks, concerned


    I shrug. ¡°Like, 11 O''clock, I think.¡±


    He jumps, ¡°Oh, we need to be at the industrial docks by 12, we¡¯ll take both carts just so nothing gets stolen. You go get the other cart.¡±


    I rush over, and hook up the beasts to the cart, before we begin rolling out. We skirt the edges of town for a while until we find the east side docks. These docks are set in a delta on the eastern edge of the city.


    The city is broken into two parts, the slums, and the rest of it. The whole thing is built on a giant peninsula, the slum are closest to the mainland, but the rest of it is sort of like an island, because they are cut off from the slums by a river that cuts straight through the peninsula.


    There are sort of four different docks, unless you count the nobility''s private cliffside docks.


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    There are four big docks, two are built on the wealthy side of the deltas, and the other two are on the slums side.


    Most large scale trading is done on the eastern docks, the slums side has even been made out of steel, because they are often transporting large quantities of items that are very heavy.


    We eventually have to travel through a portion of the slums, as they are ever expanding, and manage to grow around the industrial docks.


    When we finally arrive Alistair points to a group of men wearing turbans standing besides some sort of ship. Unlike the other boats in the wharf, it is a metal square barge, and appears to be a paddle boat of some sort. Though, what powers it, I do not know.


    One of the men waves his hand, ¡°Hello!¡±


    We approach, and he pulls us close. ¡°Show us the coal, and then if it is an accurate quantity as you told me last night, then we will give you the pre-portioned out money.¡±


    Alistair guides them to the cart, where they crack open the cloth, showing it full of coal.


    ¡°I was told we were hauling 2 tonnes. We should have regular shipments coming through every month after this, of the same size or bigger.¡±


    The man whistles, and says. ¡°Eh, we will buy every month at the same price, if we want a different price we will make sure to send a message with the most recent seller.¡±


    Alistair nods. ¡°Perfect.¡±


    He waves his hand to his men. ¡°Load it onto the ship boys.¡±


    He turns to us, and reaches into his pockets to remove a small pouch. ¡°forty silver. A copper per pound. This isn''t a lot, but if you keep sending more, and keep expanding, it will be worth it. I¡¯ll tell you something. If you are unfamiliar with coal mining, a group of 20 motivated men, in a mine with plenty of coal, will easily produce 250 tonnes of coal in a month.¡±


    Alistair grins from ear to ear. ¡°Sweet.¡±


    Milo


    Oh my god. I had to pay another group of workers to produce a literal silo, for me to store all the coal in. By now, I should have at least 200 tonnes. When is Alistair, gonna get back, I''ve lost almost thirty silver, and I''m sinking another 300 gold into hiring fleets of carts, as well as guards.


    I rush back, and forth, in an absolute tizzy.


    Also, the entire town is being flooded with tourists. All these tourists wear really weird clothing, and seem to have their own lingo, and set of shit.


    They are soft, and really fucking annoying.


    I quickly walk free from my house, and walk up, and into the gradually forming town. A man wearing a rough pair of bluish pants, and a t-shirt with a mouth with red lips sticking out their tongue.


    He glares at me, and I glare back. The whole town is infested with these brats. And they are making me a lot of money. They do use a different kind of money than we do though. They use a weird sort of paper money, but we have mostly just been refusing to use it, and making them use other things.


    But the things they have been bringing with them are very helpful, food, wine, people, coffee, and a variety of other resources like copper, or steel.

 Chapter 49

    Miguel


    ¡°Hey, so we''ve tried bringing guns through the portal.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, you tried? It didn''t work?¡±


    ¡°It''s weird, they just stop working, it''s like they clog up and can''t fire anymore.¡±


    ¡°Well, figure out why, I don''t care how.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don''t think we¡¯ll be able to.¡±


    ¡°If we want any sort of power, we need these weapons. We don''t have any magic users save one of two guys who only just recently started learning.¡±


    ¡°Sir, I understand, but I don¡¯t think guns will work.¡±


    ¡°This is our only chance, Miguel. Figure it. The fuck. Out.¡±


    DC


    A crack rings through the cavern, and Talon stands over a slave while growling menacingly.


    On the opposite side of the cavern from him is a small armada of rats. Standing at the forefront of the opposing rats stands another rat. Weaker than the rest, and around him are rats never seen before. Goblins, Bulls, a variety of other animals, and even a mole person were dissected in this rat''s pursuit of perfection.


    Instead of perfection, he created creatures capable of such violence it was amazing. Rats grew 9 feet tall with bulging muscles, another rat is small but his hand have been replaced with menacing looking blades, coated in poison. Short story he had created a freak show of rats. A freak show that was exceptional, at one thing. Violence.


    The rat standing at the forefront throws up his paws in a grand gesture. ¡°I am Bonemuncher, the flesh carver! Yes! Yes!¡± He screeches in joy before spinning in place, and than throwing his hands forward, and his beasts charge into the fray.


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    Talon, every ready was prepared for this though, and had created a new weapon. He quickly screeches, and giant cannons lie  ready next to him. Less like cannons, and more like the ottomans giant bombard they fire giant shot of granite that fracture, and tear his opponents to shreds.


    As the beasts run forward giant balls of stone land around them, shattering, and peppering them with shrapnel, disabling or slowing most, a direct hit is certain death for the ones lucky enough to get that.


    At a range that is dubiously accurate the rats lower their muskets, and unload a volley into the enemy beasts rushing towards them, the front lines of the rushing monsters fall, and the rest sprint over them. A giant rat bull tramples over the corpse of one of the knife handed rats who cuts through his achilles heel accidentally taking him down as well.


    The rats armed with muskets turn, screeching, and sprint through the crowds of slaves who stand, fear in their eyes, their hands full of useless weapons.


    The first rat bull arrives, and he lowers his humongous bulbous shoulder before slamming into the crowd of rats, almost ten rats are thrown back, and a giant gap is created. The slaves try to turn, and run but are shot by musket men, or stabbed by the more competent guards.


    The slaves screech, and turn back. They pick up their spears, and stab away. Occasionally the slaves get lucky, and when the opposing rat bulls charge into their ranks they will impale themselves on a particularly sturdy spear.


    The rat bulls, and other monstrosity tear through any semblance of formation, as the knife handed ones quickly advance, and cut their opponents down with brutal efficiency.


    Luckily the horrid monstrosities towering above the rest are easy to shoot at, even amidst the friendly lines of rats, and the musket men, one by one, focus them down. Every rat ball is pumped with line, after line, after line of copper projectiles before collapsing. As the slave chafe finally dissipates the guards stomp forward, their slightly more competent hands armed with well made swords, and shields.


    They clash with the knife hands, and their discipline, and shields overwhelm them, quickly causing the remaining small force of knife hands, rat bulls, and other monstrosities to retreat to an absolutely pissed Bonemuncher.


    Despite this Bonemuncher was prepared for the possibility of failure, and so had a pre-prepared set of tunnels for him, and his comrades to escape into.


    They rush away, and disappear into the depths of my caverns which I have been regularly expanding for them.

 Chapter 50

    Milo - One Month Later


    ¡°What the fuck are you doing!?¡± I rush forward to slap the idiot loading the cart. Alistair returned just recently, and we are using one of his carts to start transporting coal. We are also using a fleet of other carts that we bought, or rented out from merchants, or just random peasants.


    What we are left with is a fleet of about 500 carts that will be traveling across the continent. The problem with this is guarding it. We had originally been planning on trying to find a crew of merchants to transport it across the continent, but every merchant we found was lowballing us so much, we would be making negative money.


    So, instead of doing that, I dumped 100 or so gold coins, plus a carefully negotiated agreement with the Dark Knights, onto the whole situation.


    The 100 gold went towards buying the 500 something wagons, and the agreement with the Dark Knights, allowed us to contract a small army of 50 or so of their finest people to come guard our caravan. Most of them were in the high C ranks, and slightly less than half were in the B ranks, while they were led by an A ranked Hemomancer.


    A hemomancer apparently being someone who aided themselves in combat by controlling the blood in their bodies, and the spilt blood on the ground.


    In total the whole situation was a bit of a monstrosity as each one of the necromancers, being a rare breed, could field 500 or so F-D ranked undead, and if they preferred, a smaller force of C ranked undead. What ended up being fielded was a field of nearly 20 thousand undead creatures, surrounding a tightly packed caravan of wagons, the caravan carrying roughly 1 million copper, worth of coal, or 100 gold. By the time they came back two months from now, I¡¯d be able to do the whole thing over again, or hopefully I would have found a better way to do this, as it was very inefficient.


    I was only making a total of -25 gold from this trip. Yes, I mean I would be losing money. Which was sad, and even worse than that even more of it, would go into paying the miners.


    I quickly find Gertrude, and we talk. ¡°We need a different method. This is inefficient, expensive, and we are barely making any money.¡±


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    She nods in agreement. ¡°I suggest a couple things. First, reduce how much you are paying workers. Second, you aren''t going to be paying 100 gold every time you run a caravan. Most of the expenses are already paid for. So all you have to do is cut out the dark knights, who at the current time are taking 50% of your profit which is fine, for now, but in the future replace them with other guards. Hopefully keep the budget at 25 gold or below for the guards. Per caravan of course.¡±


    I nod. ¡°I see, so I¡¯ll actually be making closer to 75 gold every two months with the caravan.¡±


    She interrupts, ¡°Actually, not right now. Remember you still have to pay your workers. You lose about a silver a day paying those twenty men, that''s five copper a day for each of them, and you lose 60 silver, by the time your caravans come back. This doesn''t seem like a lot, but it''s enough. Right now, three other decent sized mining companies have formed in the depths down there. Most of them are producing similar quantities of coal to us, but they are making more money. Because they pay their workers less. About 2 copper a day, quite a big difference.¡±


    I nod, and grimace. ¡°Wow.¡±


    She nods again. ¡°Most of them employ predatory contracts, where once someone has signed it, it can be enforced using force. So, they most likely have guards down there keeping them working longer hours, for less pay, and less food.¡±


    I nod, but she smiles. ¡°But that''s actually great for us. Because this game is rigged in our favour. We own the dungeon, and we tax them, but we are also mining. We get unlimited tax breaks, plus we make money off of our competitors'' success. So, we pay our workers a little less, 4 copper a day, and we double the operation. Now, we will be losing 80 copper a day for every twenty workers, and since we are doubling it, we will be losing 1 silver, and 60 copper a day. But also doubling our mine output. The problem with this; we also need to double our fleet of carts. So, you need to start searching for more wagons to double it. See if you can get Alistair to make some more of those big wagons, and I''ll have a couple adventurers take me down to speak with the foreman.¡±


    I nod, and quickly rush off to try to find some more carts for sale at a cheap price, but as I run I''m interrupted by her again. ¡°Hold on. 500 tons of coal isn''t a lot for the scale of mining you are doing. It doesn''t seem like a lot, but in big coal mining cities, with pro miners, they can produce 5 tons an hour, per person. Your workers haven''t figured out all the little tricks, and shits yet. Give them a couple more months, and you find your coal output is easily ten x-ing, you''ll be producing five thousand tons, instead of five hundred.¡±


    I grimace, nod, and then run off to find more wagons.

 Update

    Just wanted to let you guys know of same changes, as well as the fact that I made a map. First of all, every time I said Vorrak, or Vorraki, so far, I meant Morovia, or Morovian. I''ve also noted this in the footnote, the other day, but most zombies, are not ranked at all, they are just normal. Like they have no more power than the average human. I don''t really know what else to say, but if you guys want some little short stories from people in the other stories, say so, because, like, especially the elves, have a really complicated political system.


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    Sorry for the poor quality map, but this is what I made. Questford is currently marked with a little castle, and flag nestled in the mountains, of southern Morovia. The elves are in Valindor, the dwarves are in Durkhall, and if yall want more lore, and world building for it all, I''ll try to integrate it in.

 Chapter 51

    DC


    My safe zone floor, filled with coal, was a huge success. I mean there''s already a little town forming. They don''t really seem to have a government, people just started putting up huts, and living there. The whole place appeared to be controlled by four major mining companies, and they were constantly squabbling with each other, except for one of the mines, which never engaged in any sort of combat. The other three would sometimes engage in full gang wars. I mean, not the miners, but each mine had guards to keep the miners mining, and the guards just ran up there, and absolutely slaughtered them.


    The crazy thing is, the one mine no one messed with was the biggest mine, and it had no guards. The guards probably just like a challenge so they can get stronger. Maybe I should add monsters into the mines, so the guards have to fight them off. I giggle maliciously.


    I quickly notice an old lady being escorted by a team of adventurers into the depths of the seventh floor, which I find very curious.


    She quickly waddles her way into the mineshaft, specifically the mineshaft with no guards, and she speaks with the foreman. From what I could tell she was reducing the pay, and she was hiring more workers.


    I giggle at that news which is just perfect. Then, all of a sudden, I notice something. Those same guards, who were just previously fighting each other over their mines, are rushing in this direction, towards the mine.


    Gertrude


    I sigh, and wipe the dust from my wrinkled brow. These mines weren''t very large in size as the coal replenished every day, so as long as they were big enough for every miner, to mine at the same time. But they were very hot, all the different workers, banging away at the walls, generating sweat, and heat in an enclosed space.


    The whole place stinks to high hell too.


    ¡°You¡¯re reducing pay?¡±


    I nod feigning sadness. ¡°We are simply running out of money. Dont, worry though, you are still making double what the other mine workers are making, and working less hours.¡± I pressure the young man.


    He sighs. ¡°Yes, it is the truth.¡±


    I chuckle. ¡°Don''t worry, with the town popping up down here, they''ll even have a place to spend their money, and in comparison to the other mine workers who make up the majority of the population down here, they will be rich!¡±


    A man rolls by, covered in soot, and coal, pushing a heavy cart up a pair of tracks running out of the mineshaft.


    ¡°How, have you been getting the coal outta here anyway?¡± I ask, to distract him.


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    He nods, ¡°Oh, Milo gave us a budget for that too, we just pay adventurers passing through, really it''s super cheap, just a copper per load, and they carry it all up. Most of the ones, who are going all the way into the dungeon, can carry 150 pounds or so, per load.¡±


    I frown. ¡°What''s the budget for that?¡±


    He nods, and responds, ¡°Oh, a uh silver a day.¡± he stutters.


    I sigh. ¡°I see. We are going to need to work on a better method for that. How do the other mines get it out?¡±


    He shrugs. ¡°They pay someone. Usually an ex-adventurer who has a family so they want a job that doesn''t require them to fight monsters above their level. Probably more efficient than our way to. I suggest we switch to that.¡±


    I nod, in agreement. ¡°Yes, it sounds more efficient, he could probably move 9-12 tons a day won''t he?¡±


    He nods in agreement. ¡°Yes, but a silver a day is nothing to scoff at.¡±


    I sigh, and wave my hand. ¡°Yes, yes, but a necessary cost I do believe.¡±


    He shrugs, and I begin to think to myself.  The cost of living above ground is beginning to rise, due to the lack of space, the whole city being built into a tiny little valley between mountains. If we could artificially lower the cost of housing down here, in the dungeon, and raise the cost above ground, we could encourage more people to move down here. Especially poor people, who don''t have the money to live above there. Those poor people need jobs, well look at that, we just so happen to be looking for workers in a coal mine.


    I chuckle maliciously. ¡°How much does it cost to buy, or rent a house down here?¡±


    He looks at me. ¡°Well, nobody owns the land really, so we just started putting up houses. No cost for land, and if you want to buy a house, it''s really just whatever emotional value the owner has.¡±


    I nod. ¡°I see. If someone owned all the land down here, how much money would you spend to buy a plot of land so you could build a house, or grow some food, and stuff.¡±


    He gives me a suspicious side eye before responding. ¡°Whatever I had to.¡±


    I nod with a smile, and open my mouth to speak again but with a loud boom I am interrupted. I look up, and dust fills the air, clouding my vision.


    ¡°What is happening!¡± I cry out, and grab a wooden post.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± The foreman yells.


    The miners rush upwards, and begin yelling. ¡°What the fuck!¡±


    ¡°I don''t want to die!¡±


    Gertrude runs upwards, and breaks free from the suffocating confines of the mineshaft.


    With a boom her guards are pushed back, as a group of men, and women surround, and attack relentlessly. A ball of liquid so cold, it freezes on contact with anyone slams against one of her guards, a young man, fighting from the back lines with bursts of flame.


    He is immediately coated in a layer of ice, and collapses to the ground, stiff as a statue.


    Another young woman at the front of the party swings a shortsword back, and fourth before in rapid bursts attacks, using her small buckler as just as much of a weapon as her sword.


    But, in doing so, she leaves herself open, and an arrow slips in between her ribs.


    Her guards collapse, and the few survivors surrender, gather their friends, and sprint off.


    ¡°Ah, let''s look at you old lady.¡± A young man with black teeth, and blacker eyes steps forward, his dagger sways lazily between his fingers.

 Chapter 52

    Milo runs around, his eyes wild, and glaring at the note in his hands.


    We want 25 gold, plus ownership of all mines, and property within the dungeon. If you do not comply your secretary Gertrude is dead. Meet us at the entrance of the town on the seventh floor.


    I have no intention of following through on this. ¡°I attempt to gather my guards but a large group of other worlders calling themselves the ascendants had started rioting so they were unable to come.


    I did find Tom, and my favourite party of adventurers. We blitz through the first six floors, but when we arrive on the seventh floor, we rush to our mine, and find the outside looking like a battleground.


    The whole place is cut up. The grass is torn, and thrown about, with patches of fire burning on exposed coal seams.


    The foreman, a young man, with a terrible stutter rushes out of the mine, and begins speaking. ¡°I-I was talking to her, and then there was explosions, a-and she ran out, and s-some guys just snagged her, and ran off!¡±


    I grit my teeth. ¡°Quickly, we need to get to the town.¡±


    We turn, and begin our march, Tom runs ahead, his long legs carrying him forward, at a speed we simply can''t match. Most of us are D ranked, but Luther is low C ranked.


    As we rush forward we arrive to find Tom standing in front of a group of nervous men, stamping back, and forth on the ground.


    One of them wrings his hands, but grits his teeth, and speaks anyway. ¡°Our demands?¡±


    I nod my head. ¡°Where is she?¡±


    He sighs. ¡°I can''t tell you that.¡±


    ¡°Then you don''t get the money you retard. Show her to me.¡±


    He growls, and sighs. ¡°Fine.¡± He quickly begins to walk, and we follow behind him. We arrive at one of my competitors'' mines, the biggest competitor. He nods his head. ¡°She''s in there.¡± He turns back to us, his lackeys turn, and look at us as well.


    I nod, step forward, and begin to rifle through my pockets as if to find some money, before with a flash, a knife tears through my pockets, piercing the man''s gut. I draw it upwards, leaving a gaping maw that runs from his belly button to his collarbone.


    He collapses his guts slipping through the flap of skin like eels or snakes escaping from hiding places.


    His friends round on me, but in a flash Tom has split one in half. His halberd colliding with his skull, spraying viscera before continuing downwards, splitting him like a watermelon.


    The last one, more prepared, throws his hands up, and a thin wall of ice blocks the bolt freeing itself from Luther''s crossbow.


    Then he spins, and with a slick side throw, a knife slides from his sleeve, a thin black stilleto. Before it reaches me, Tom has pulled me out of the way. The man''s eyes grow wide, but it''s too late. Luther has already reached him, and tore him open.


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    I smirk, and strut into the shallow decline descending into the hillside


    The whole place is soaking. The walls have a mysterious mold growing on them, from being soaked in water. None of the workers have any safety gear, and most of them look malnourished, and exhausted.


    ¡°Did any of you see where they took them?¡± I ask, cringing internally at the state of most of these workers, who are in horrid conditions, and some of them even seem to have wounds on their body.


    A young man steps forward, he wears a ragged shirt made of a cotton like material. The shirt has a design on it similar to the other-worlders. The design is circular, and blue, with sparkles throughout it. The center has letters that read out NASA. Not sure what that is, but whatever.


    ¡°Hey, I''m an other-worlder. I know where they put her.¡± The others cringe at his words.


    I nod, but he turns slowly, and as he walks he talks. ¡°At first, I just came through the gate, because I was tired of living with my mom. She was tired of me living with her, and kept telling me to go get a job.¡±


    I frown, but he continues.


    ¡°I came through the portal with some delusions of becoming a great mage, or warrior. But, I obviously didn''t know any magic, so¡­ I went searching. I eventually found a group of people who promised to teach me, as long as I became her apprentice. I agreed, and took me into the dungeon, but as we entered the dungeon, she attacked me, and I was knocked unconscious, and dragged to a basement, or-or, a cellar of some kind. The whole thing was disgusting, and smelled like shit, rot, and body odor. Not only that, but the entire place was jam packed with other people like me.¡± He sighs deeply.


    ¡°I stayed there for a day or so, before they knocked me out, and I woke up here. They whipped me, and made me mine for coal. I tried to resist but everytime I did, one of them would just beat me severely. When I still did not comply they would force someone to dig a hole, and they would bury you in it, up to your neck. They would leave you there for days at a time. They would drip water onto my face, or step on it, the only food they would give you was jerky of some kind.¡±


    He steps forward, and raps on the stone walls. I turn, disgusted, to find a large chamber. The chamber was filled with wooden posts, and hanging from the wooden posts were simple hammocks, and right near the back, Gertrude sat, glaring, from a chair she was tied into.


    She opens her mouth. ¡°Took you long enough lazy bones. What''s that young blood for if you can only get here that fast. Back in my day, me and my 4 year old brother would each have to do that exact same shit, twice a day, and we liked it!¡±


    My eye twitches. ¡°Whatever Gerty¡±


    A vein bulges on her forehead. ¡°What¡­ The¡­. Hell¡­ Did you just call me, whippersnapper!¡± She tears free from her bindings, standing up, and smacks me upside the head.


    I recoil. ¡°If you could have gotten out by yourself, why didn''t you!?¡±


    She glares, ¡°Shut up lazy bones, didn''t want to make things any easier for you.¡±


    I sigh.


    She responds. ¡°You need to get the rest of the task force down here.¡±


    I frown slightly. ¡°Why?¡±


    She laughs her anger seemingly forgotten, ¡°Because they are getting slaves from somewhere, oh, and I was wrong, turns out that they aren''t paying their workers, they are just using slaves, which to be honest would actually be cheaper, so maybe we should switch to that in the future.¡±


    I shrug. ¡°I know where they are getting slaves from. They are kidnapping helpless other-worlders.¡±


    She nods, ¡°I see. Makes sense really.  Though we need to tax that. We should make a visa of sorts, so kidnapping, and enslaving people from the other world who have a visa is illegal, but if they don''t have a visa, then they are free pickings to be taken as slaves. We tax the slave market, and we charge them for owning a visa. It''s genius. This way we make maximum money.¡±


    I nod, ¡°good idea. What about the people down here who own this mine?¡±


    Gertude nods, ¡°We kill them, and make them a shell corporation, we can give it to someone else, as long as they promise to develop the land down here, and bring more people in to live here.¡±


    I nod, and shrug. ¡°Good Idea. I don''t really want to deal with another mine anyway.¡±

 Chapter 53

    I quickly got Gertrude out of the mine, and took her back up to her office. From now on I told her not to go into the dungeon, and just to send a messenger.


    I also put together a strike force made up of most of our guards, Tom, and Jim''s gang had also finally arrived. They stormed down, into the dungeon. They searched through the whole village tearing places apart until they finally found a large wine cellar below a tavern, which was filled with the slaves, and it also had the deed for the business hidden in a safe down there.


    We took hold of most of the slaves, and me and Gertrude decided to sell them on the free market, or keep them.


    The deed was taken, and renamed to Deepside Mining Co. we didn''t find the owner but it was listed as a Jesse Lanthid. What we did do was sell it to one of the dwarves who was living in the town, and helping with construction projects. We also made him the mayor. His name was Grugnar.


    I''d never seen a dwarf so I was a little bit surprised by the beady red eyes, and the pointed teeth, but he was very nice, and has a small family. He only paid half the asking price, but in return he promised to develop the town, and land, bring in more citizens, pay taxes, and be willing to cooperate with our administration.


    Me, and Gertrude also set up a visa system that costs 10 silver at the start, and 20 copper a month to allow them to keep. We basically just set up a desk right outside the portal with someone working there, and little pamphlets explaining why they would want that visa.


    This was more difficult than we anticipated because most people didn''t have copper, silver, or gold when coming out of the portal, but that was easily fixed when apparently the foreign government set up a little shop just on the other side that allowed you to exchange their money for our money, which worked very well.


    The visa system was slow, but it very quickly started making a lot of money, as the slave market expanded. A whole district of our city is now pretty much just dedicated to selling slaves, and the majority of them are other worlders, who did not pay for the visa.


    We also enacted taxes on the slave market which created a spectacular increase in income, allowing us to hire more guards, and pay a group of contractors to start putting defenses in place.


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    Due to our cities location it is very easily defensible. We are completely surrounded by mountains, meaning if we wall up the three passes that go through the mountains, we are pretty much safe. Speaking of expansion, the city has grown incredibly rapidly, and has now packed the entire valley with zigzagging narrow streets with tight overhangs, and shady alleys. Except for my private land of course, which is about an eighth of the valley. The valley is separated into two parts by a river, and I do not allow any development other than farming on one entire side of the river, and that is where I live.


    It is selfish of me, I know, but also¡­ I don''t care. I''m a selfish person. Plus we need to grow food somewhere, so we aren''t importing ALL of our food.


    Because of the tightly packed city people are starting to expand up, even chiseling houses into the mountains side, or erecting beams near the side of the mountain, and placing houses on top, so they can go above the other houses.


    The houses being chiseled into the mountain side are very popular with dwarves, and our population of dwarves has actually risen quite high. I wasn''t sure about why this was, but apparently the Herdlands had been waging a war against the dwarves in the eastern mountains for quite some time, and many dwarves wanted to get away from the fighting.


    Due to this our population has skyrocketed, but also cleanliness has slid down the drain. Since most of the land in this entire valley is within my fief as a Baron, I can also tax everyone living here, which is what I have begun doing. Just a light 10% income based tax.


    Using those taxpayer dollars, and the money from the visas, i''ve been working on setting up a sewage system, because right now, i''ve been paying Aquamancers to flush the shit through the streets, and out into the river, which is really annoying because I would rather not have my river filled with shit.


    So I''ve been hiring earth mages, who have slowly been tunneling under the city, and directing all the waste into a series of incinerators, which will be manned by fire mages.


    The urine will be directed into earthen wells which drain the urine into the earth. The earthen wells are about 20 feet below the surface, and are mostly made of hard non-porous stone, but the very bottom of the well has been churned to make a very soft area for the urine to eventually be soaked into the earth. The whole well is completely sealed, the only way being the sewage pipes that pour the urine into it. As well as the whole thing being 90 feet deep, and almost 20 feet in diameter. The whole valley is set up with 20 of these urine wells, and 20 of the shit incinerators. Of course that is the plan. It''s only about halfway set up, but Ivan has been helping so it should be done within the month.


    And, the coal shipment should be back in about 2-3 weeks.

 Chapter 54

    Theo


    My steel boot drops into the mud, and the water seeps between the cracks, soaking my toes, in the frigid cold.


    I grit my teeth and turn, climbing up, and into the wagon. They are empty of coal, and we have begun our trek back. We are nearly half way back to Quesford. Our wagons are empty, and light barely leaving tracks through the mud.


    But in the distance we notice the green horde approaching. Not nearly as large as our horde, but just as deadly.


    As we wheel forward, our masses of undead shift, to stay between us and our opponents, but they grow closer to us, quicker, and quicker.


    First, we send a couple hundred of our undead off to distract them. Sadly they are turned to a paste, filled with chunks of shattered bones.


    As we push onward, they continue marching after us. Soon, they are so close, we can hear their ramblings, and rantings,


    Orcs. Green muscle bound beasts, weaker than Ogres, dumber than humans, yet far more prolific than both.


    As they grow closer I dismount, and the other necromancers climb high into the tops of the wagons.


    With a smash, I watch as the first Orc reaches our shambling front line. We have nearly 25 thousand troops, and they stretch far in either direction. But one zombie is no match for an orc, hell even 20 zombies isn''t a match for an Orc. But a 50 to one ratio is something I will bet on, even in these conditions.


    Not to mention that D to C ranked specialized beasts sprinkled through our lines. Plus, me. A high ranking fighter like me, being A ranked. Can easily turn the tide of a battle.


    I rush forward, my Montante resting on my shoulder, and armored boots sink into the mud.


    I wear a full set of armor, with leathers, padding, and chainmail below it. To someone in a lower rank with a similar fighting style to me, they may abandon the armor to save speed, but an A ranker is quite strong enough to have both speed, and armor.


    I have no shield, instead favouring a 20 pound Montante, specially made, nearly as long as I am tall, with a pair of barbs sticking near the handle to allow for better control, and a better close up technique.


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    I whirl into battle, my body a whirlwind of blood, and steal. I swing my sword over my head, my momentum carrying me forward.


    I chop, and whirl, and every opponent I kill is drained of their blood, like nothing more than blood bags.


    Their bodies are torn apart, and the blood reforms as hard spikes circling my lower body, while my sword swings with a vengeance above my head.


    As I wing, and I chop, my sword resounds with a clang against a metal axe blade, but instead of it stopping my, my sword rebounds, and I spin, swinging back around, and chop into the left arm of the beast confronting me. I chops through with little effort, dropping it to the ground.


    He raises his right arm as if to chop into me, but with a ringing noise, the blood gathering near my hips, fires outwards, with a shot, a hole is torn in the poor bloke''s torso. He collapses to the ground, and I rush onward in my rampage, my sword slicing body after body.


    10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, my kills keep climbing. I kill more, and faster than I can count, every body pours its blood free to aid me. A never ending feedback loop of kill, get stronger, kill, get stronger. Then with a spike of energy, my blood swings out in a ring, killing nearly all that remains before dissipating, and reforming around my waist.


    In an instant I am no longer surrounded. I''ve killed a third of the enemy forces, and they have begun to retreat.


    I chuckle, and the blood that gathers around me solidifies into hundreds of tiny little balls.  I begin to cast a spell, my mana weaving a tapestry, and with a crack, every one of those balls of blood, fires off, at the escaping line, they bring down a hundred more before I chuckle, and stop firing at them.


    I turn back to my men, my sword swing lazily before I plant the tip in the soil. I lean resting my hands on the pommel, pushing my bum outwards lazily  ¡°That was fun lads.¡±


    I laugh, as my comrades poke their heads free from their wagons, where they shivered in fear through the entire battle. Most necromancers have little to no combat use other than raising the dead, because raising said dead is a very specialized field¡­


    I chuckle, and spin my sword one handed above my head, a feat of impressive strength, gaining oohs, and ahhs, from the untrained necromancers.


    I begin my walk, trekking through the mud, quickly I mount back up, on the cart.


    ¡°We should get back to Questford. I haven''t seen a horde that big in a while, and where there are hundreds, there are thousands. They will definitely try to raid Questford. Especially since all the money, and goods being produced, as well as it being such an easily defensible position. The hordes have been vying for a position they can hold against the kingdom for decades. But, they do not know how to develop land, they only know how to hold defenses, and take them. So, once Questford is able to put up some walls they will be perfect for the horde to occupy, and then hopefully hold against the Kingdom of Morovia. ¡° The other necromancers nod.


    ¡°Yes, good idea, we should hurry.¡±

 Chapter 55

    Milo


    ¡°Our scouts have noticed gatherings of Orcs outside the basin.¡± Ivan speaks bluntly, with no introduction, he just starts speaking.


    I frown. ¡°How many?¡±


    He frowns. ¡°Our scouts have noticed multiple groups of Orcs coming together, and joining, but we estimate they number around 30,000. We believe they are led by a high ranking leader of some sort. Otherwise they would never group up like this.¡±


    I follow up with another frown. ¡°Why not? Isn''t it common for hordes to raid the villages in this part of the world?¡±


    He shrugs. ¡°A raiding party is usually a couple hundred people at most, usually organized by a B ranker, or something. But a horde is hundreds of those raiding parties put together. They would never be able to cooperate. Which is why they need someone stronger to direct them.¡±


    I nod. ¡°If you assist with building the walls how quickly do you think they can get done?¡±


    He shrugs. ¡°If the dwarves are helping too, I need a week. I think we have enough time, but I''m not sure.¡±


    I nod reassuringly. ¡°I have several hundreds gold in the coffers right now, ill start throwing it, at hiring adventurers, or warrior. I''ll also ask Alistair if he will start building up a force to help fend them off.¡±


    Ivan purses his lips grimly. ¡°I don''t know how much time we have left. Alistair is by far stronger than me with prep time, but he doesn''t have much of anything prepped right now. Ill try to delay them when they arrive, but make sure Alistair is producing.¡±


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    I sigh, and nod.


    The rest of the day is spent talking with Alistair, the dwarves, and trying to hire adventurers to help defend.


    ¡°So you think the orcs are going to attack?¡± Alistair questions while leaning back into his chair. Alistair paid for a nice apartment built into the side of the mountain that has a great view of the city. This is where he lives now, and it is very nice, and the dwarves who built these apartments were smart enough to install a device that uses weights made of stone, to allow you to rise up or down the mountainside without the long walk.


    ¡°Yes, I really do. I need you, and any other necromancers to be producing as many undead as possible. But don''t alert people, I don''t want to cause panic.¡± I speak, gesticulating with my hands. The leather of the chair is soft, and cold soothing my frayed nerves.


    Alistair sighs, and reaches under the beautiful wooden table, and removes a bottle of alcohol. Not sure what it is but it seems expensive.


    He reaches down, and pinches the cork between his thumb and pointer finger, and pops the cork free from the bottle. He sighs deeply, and pours two glasses, before sliding one to me, and sitting back. ¡°Milo. I am many things. I am a battle mage. I am a necromancer. I am a carnimancer. I am a Cadre of the black nights. But before all of that, I''m a coward. If for even a moment it looks like i''ll die in this battle, I will flee.¡±


    I grimace, and twist my face.


    He continues, ignoring the faces I''m making. ¡°So, for your sake, I will stay at the back lines, and send forth many beasts. I have five tons worth of material to work with that I brought with me from Brindle. Once I am done working with all of them, I can run a purge on the local wildlife, and have 10 tons. Once I''m done working on them, I can run, another purge, and have 20 tons. Don''t worry. You don''t get to be in the A ranks for nothing, one A ranker could turn the tide of a battle by themselves, but two A rankers, and if Theo gets back in time¡­ I doubt we will struggle too much.¡±


    I smile gratefully. ¡°Thank you.¡±

 Chapter 56

    Alistair


    Me, and Eli rush down into the city, rushing through crowded streets, and pushing people out of the way. We keep pushing, until we finally arrive. We had acquired a warehouse while here, where we were storing our materials.


    I quickly jangle my keys free, from my pocket, the cold metal feeling pleasant against the palm of my hand. I reach out, and open the door, wiping my hands on my shirt, as the door was wet from the rain earlier today.


    We push into the warehouse, and I quickly light the place up. I replaced my sketchy head lamps with much brighter lamps that use a chemical reaction to create a bright white glow.


    First I remove a pickled elf corpse, their long, and slender bodies with high dexterity perfect for the job I need them to do. I lengthen their arms, similar to the way Eli made his belt, and at the end of the arms I replace fingers with surgical tools, like scalpels, or tweezers. I also add more arms protruding from its rib cage using magical joints to hold them in. The eld im left with is very top heavy with arms that can snaked halfway across the room, and all the surgical tools they could possibly need built into them. Because they are so top heavy, I simply chopped their legs off, before re-pickling them, and attaching the main body to a cart that I can roll around.


    Lastly, I do something I do not enjoy doing. Working with souls. There is a field of magic revolving around the use of souls, but it is very confusing, and I avoid it, as well as having no talent in it. Which is a severe disadvantage to any necromancer but I got around it. First I use a tool, a scalpel, and embedded inside the scalpel, are three dungeon cores. A dungeon core has an instinctive knowledge of soul magic, and so they can be used to allow people non-gifted in the art to shape souls. Though they cost a fortune, literally thousands of gold, so they are still very difficult to acquire. This particular tool was a gift to me from my master in the infancy of my A ranking.


    I reach into a locked, and warded cabinet, and I remove three very valuable possessions to me. 3 jars, each jar long, and thin, about the size of my finger, it would probably make more sense to call them vials. They are made from handcrafted, and heavily enchanted glass. The glass is so heavily enchanted that you can barely see through it, due to the surplus of engravings, and the magical glow of mana.


    Even the cap is made of the same enchanted glass, with a seal of mana used to hold the cap onto the man bottle.


    I gently, fearfully place the bottle down on the tray next to the body. The first vial, I pop open and with speed only acquired by an A ranker I slip my scalpel into the bottle, and pierce the swirling mass of thoughts, emotions, ego, and memories.


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    With a whirl I''m transported into the soul, and I begin to shape it. When working with souls you have to shape loyalty into them, otherwise they will disobey you. Most undead are simply more akin to puppets being run by a pre-made magical program, that program being the spell, but anything with a soul can control itself. Unless of course you brand loyalty into the very soul giving it the ability to revolt. I also make sure the memories haven''t been damaged. This was the soul of an accomplished necromancer I had killed a while ago. He was extremely adept at the art of mutilating, and shaping bodies, and will make an excellent Chirurgeon. Lastly I implant the soul into the body I have shaped.


    With a shudder it rises to life, its body twitching, and spinning, the arms begin to flail, but I exercise my control, and lock them down. The Chirurgeon calms down, and glances through the warehouse. His eyes replaced with glowing balls of purplish mana. I reach into my bag, and remove something. I''ve always made similar things to thai in times when I need more production of forces, and so once I''m done using them I extract the memories, so that the next one I create will be able to more easily start working. The thing I remove from my bag is a memory stone. I step forward, and press the stone against the creature''s head, and it twitches, a couple times, before stirring back to life.


    I give it its first assignment. ¡°Begin creating war zombies.¡± War zombies were something I invented long ago that has brought me great success. Similar to regular zombies, but they are stronger, and require the same or less mana. Simply plate their body with weapons, and steel. What you are left with is a patchy rusty thing, with holes all over it, and yet it is still far more effective.


    I also put a sign outside of my warehouse labeled.


    Please leave any spare metal scraps you have, rusty, or polished, we don''t care.


    The Chirurgeon sturs into action, and its arms begin to spin, and the first war zombie is constructed in minutes, then the second, then the third, and within the hour, we have 20 war zombies. Sadly in reality five tons of necromantic material isn''t a lot, and that was two tons worth of it. All 20 of those zombies I animate, and have Eli lead them into the dungeon, to bring back more goblin corpses.


    I then begin working on the rest of my corpses. First I have a Centaur directly extracted from the Herdlands. The beast weighs nearly a ton just by itself. I don''t change much, except covering the whole thing in a heavy metal plate, and attaching a long lance to its right arm, as well as extending a second arm from the chest of the horse part of its body to more easily hold the heavy lance. In its left hand I weld in place a 15 pound monstrosity of a shield that drops all the way from the head of the human part of the horse, all the way to grazing the ground as it runs. I just decided to replace that entire arm with an Orcs arm, so as to make sure it isn''t too much for it.


    About this time Eli, and the battle skeletons return with little armfulls of corpses. Eli is pushing what looks like a cart usually used by fruit vendors, and the thing is loaded high with corpses, as well as each zombie having a corpse under each arm. The chirurgeon starts working immediately, and the zombies just start walking towards the dungeon to do it again. As soon as the goblins are done, landing at around low C ranking, I send them to catch some of the wildlife, as they are smaller, and will probably do better at that.

 Chapter 57

    I sigh as I watch the zombies sweep the goblin floor again, completely wiping the floor with them. It pisses me off that they are just coming in here to farm me. But whatever.


    It''s finally time to start working on the eleventh floor. I have enough mana, and everything.


    I''ve finally decided it''s time to make another safe floor. The whole thing will be 4160 feet x 4160 feet, and will be huge. The floor will be filled with copper veins, as well as silver veins. Now, I say this floor will be a safe zone, but every month a boss event will sort of occur, and I''ll just summon a boss. I''m not quite sure of what boss yet, but I''ll think of something.


    The whole thing will be a huge heavily forested oak kind of forest. I actually pre-made all of the mines, there will be three copper mines, in 3 of the four corners, but one of the mines will actually be a silver mine, to encourage them to fight over the mines.


    For the evolution floor I honestly just do the exact same thing, but I replace all the mines with Iron instead so they can be used to forge more weapons. Then I connect the whole space back up to the main system where the goblins, the bulls, and the moles, are all warring against each other, but mainly the rats, who are, quite impressively, managing to hold out, but are also fracturing. The faction being controlled by Talon is still the main power, but his ex-apprentices faction has grown in power, and engages in regular raids on Talon as well as fighting on quite equal footing with the other species. But as all this happens we see champions rising amongst the other species.


    The strong female mole has been crowned their queen, the goblin I observed in the past slaughtering rats has risen to B ranking, the highest ranking creature in my dungeon yet, the bulls have collectively grown in strength but one is nearing the B ranks.


    Now to turn my attention to the frostlins, the creatures have remained in mostly a closed system, so I decided to expand their world, as well, not by linking them to the other one, just making this one the same size as the new evolution floor I just created.


    Once I''m done with that, I give a quick overview of my whole dungeon, and appreciate how awesome it is.


    Alistair


    I sigh, and dodge a flying arm, my Chirurgeon working on three different corpses at once. I slide to the side, to get around the pile of corpses, which are leaking blood, and other gunk. I allow the Chirurgeon to finish working on the zombies he was working on, and then I tell it to stop.


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    The working zombies quickly load the rest of the corpses filling the room onto a series of large carts that we commandeered. We swiftly begin our trek, we drive our carts, all throughout the city until we arrive at the first pass leading out of the city. Their are three, and all of them are controlled by armed guards. Two of them have complete walls, but this third one is still being built, and so there''s plenty of space for a little necromancer operation. I reactivate the Chirurgeon, and it immediately gets back to work turning corpses into zombies.


    Our forces, nearing the end of the day today, have reached about 500 or so. But we are still going to slow, so I return to my warehouse, and build another Chirurgeon. This one I also cart out, and it starts making war zombies. Finally I do it a third time, and have three Chirurgeons working vigorously on turning corpses into soldiers.


    Near the next morning our forces reached about 1750 but they kept growing. Our goblins that were ransacking the forests were coming back with lots of deer, which were great, for cavalry, or for making beast like soldiers. One of the chirurgeons I even totally redirected to working on the deer corpses, simply preserving them, and making sure they retain their quick muscle mass.


    Some deer, I strip away their back half, and create a sort of wendigo thing, and I make about 400 of these things before the next morning. These were quite impressive, and around Mid C-ranking.


    Day 3


    During the morning of the third day, me and my chirurgeons having worked throughout the night, we had bloated our numbers up to about 1300 war zombies, each in the high D rankings. Despite them being in the high D rankings, they would still get shredded by Orcs, of any kind, so 1300 isn''t nearly enough. The ranking system is weird, in that a move from D-8 to D-9 can be such a power shift. Especially if they are different species. A zombie of the same rank as an orc will always be weaker than the orc.


    We continued to work, and at about that time, I started receiving bear corpses, probably brought down by the wendigos. I immediately started resurrecting them. I didn''t even need to modify them, and they still landed at about C-1 ranking. Which is perfect, and I decide to have two of these creatures guard me in case I need to make an escape into the mountains. I make about 30 of these before we start running out of them, and they just stop showing up.


    We also started getting wolves, but we only got about 20 of those before we couldn''t find anymore. I upgraded them by giving them iron teeth to make them sharper, and enhanced their muscles with mana. I''ll use them as a sort of shock cavalry.


    Then, another interesting thing happens. Adventurers start bringing us stuff they killed in the dungeons. We get frostlins, we get goblins, and we even got a couple of those massive stone snakes.


    I resurrected the three snakes, and they each landed in the low C ranks.


    As we finally near the end of the day our numbers have doubled once again, and I am forced to produce another Chirurgeon to keep up with it. We are running low on scraps, but luckily the dungeon drops a lot of crappy metal weapons, so the adventurers are donating lots.


    We continue to work through the night.

 Chapter 58

    Day 4


    The next day we get to watch as the dwarves with the help of Ivan put up the wall in a flurry of motion. They didn''t finish the whole thing but they used a mix of magic, and dwarven work to make a lot of progress in a burst.


    Our forces had more than doubled overnight once more. With the help of the Chirurgeons, our forces had grown to 7020 strong, in war zombies.


    Finally the local wildlife had started to run dry. Thankfully we are an adventuring city, and oh so many adventurers get injured, pulled out of the dungeon, and then die. Good for us though because we get to keep their bodies, and use them to create more soldiers.


    We also started slaughtering horses, and turning them into another form of the Centaur. They weren''t the same as most of them were crappy draft horses, and the corpses we were stitching onto their torsos were usually goblin corpses but they landed in the high C rankings usually, so whatever.


    By the end of the day I am forced to build another Chirurgeon, and our forces have again, more than doubled, eventually landing at about 14040 war zombies. This number seems un-impressive thinking about the usual number of zombies required to make a difference in any large scale fight. I mean the twenty five thousand sent with the caravan even seemed a little lax to me, but luckily Theo offered to go with. But, also a war zombie is easily 5 times more dangerous than a regular zombie.


    Day 5


    Milo has confirmed it. Two days from now, on the seventh day, the Orcs will arrive. They have begun their march. Because they are Orcs, and incredibly stupid they seem to all be moving to take the western pass which is completely fortified. The bad news is that they number about 50,000 strong. We believe they either have someone in the S classes leading them, or multiple A rankers collaborating. We pray for multiple A rankers, because if they have a S classer with them, we are all doomed.


    Our forces have once again more than doubled, and land at about 37900 war zombies. This is actually very problematic because they are flooding the streets, and taking up more space than we have so I''ve started redirecting groups into the pass to wear them down before they arrive.


    Each group is about 1000 strong, and we are redirecting them out into the pass every three hours. I also dispatched the wolf pack led by Luther on horseback to lead them in harassing the enemy, and gathering information.


    We are only going to dispatch troops until we drop down to thirty thousand, I don''t want to go any lower than that.


    I also started redirecting the Chirurgeons to create amalgams made up of masses of goblins, in the favour of quality over quantity.


    A common creature created by high level necromancers is lovingly called the abomination. Basically you mash the flesh of tens of bodies together, and create giant blobs of flesh. This flesh will then surge through the battlefield, and will grow by consuming the dead. They usually start at about the high D ranks but if they consume enough they can grow to consume entire buildings, and if the necromancer has enough mana even peak into the A ranks.


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    I set the Chirurgeons to only make abominations using the goblins we were still pulling out of the dungeon. Each abomination requires a couple hundred bodies though, and hours of work, so by the end of the day we have 5 Abominations. They are all in the high D ranks, but I immediately set them upon the piles of corpses being extracted from the dungeon. Hopefully by the next morning they will have grown.


    DC


    I simply can''t believe the quantity of goblins being extracted from my dungeon. This could be considered mass genocide. So much so that I''ve stopped pulling them from the EV floors, and I''ve just been converting stone to meat to turn into goblins, and give to the zombies. Luckily the creatures in my dungeon are generating such a large quantity of mana that it''s not really a problem, but it''s still an annoyance.


    Alistair


    Day 6


    By the next morning the abominations have already reached into the high C ranks. Hopefully by the time the Orcs get here tomorrow they will be in the B ranks. We''ve also created another 4 Abominations in the high D ranks. Since they are much less grown they will probably not live for nearly as long as the other. A well fed abomination against the right enemy can sometimes grow quicker than they take damage, and absolutely destroy an enemy army. Sadly I think they will be focused down by the enemy commanders before they can become true threats.


    The dwarves have built shelters deep into the mountain sides where civilians are being evacuated into. The civilians are even being evacuated into the dungeon, or into the disabled sewer incinerators below the ground.


    Pretty much any adventurer above F ranked has been drafted with the promise of persecution if they do not join, and tax breaks, and we¡¯ve also managed to put together a militia of regular humans who we have armed with bows, and arrows to act as the rank and file archers. These all add together to number at about 5,000 or so melee fighters, and about two thousand archers.


    Milo has also managed to put together a decent sized army of mercenaries at around 2,000 or so adventurers. Most of them are C ranked, but there are also some weaker ones who mostly specialize in archery.


    There are three B ranking Artillery mages, mages who specialize in large scale long range attacks. Each is about B rank, and were sent as representatives for various guilds like Oats, Flamekeepers, and the Gilded manes.


    The Gilded Manes are one of the rare few groups that originate from the Herdlands, and so have offered to spearhead the melee as long as they get large tax breaks. We of course agreed, no one can match a minotaur in combat, not even an Orc. This is another one of those things about different races being stronger or weaker regardless of actual rank. A Minotaur will always dominate in the melee against other species of the same race.


    Sadly there aren''t many of them, only a 200 or so of them, but those 200 will shred in the melee. They also have a small force of 400 or so satyrs who will mostly stay at range, but will hold their own in melee if necessary.


    In total we have about 34,000 regular melee troops, as well as 735 elite troops, not including my 8 Abominations. 4 of them have peaked into B ranks, and the other half are only just in the Mid C ranks. We have 3 high ranking Artillery mages who we are just gonna plant on the walls with a large retinue of guards, and have them fire away, as well as having about 2400 decent archers, who will also be planted on the walls, and lastly around 2,000 adventurer mages of varying rank.


    Our plan to redirect about 7000 zombies to slow them down, failed. Luther has reported back that they didn''t slow them at all, but they did reduce the numbers to about 47,000. As well as destroying the majority of Archers, an already rare commodity in an army made up of Orcs.


    Luther''s reports say he believes there are a minimum of two commanders at about A ranking, as well as having a small group of three mobile catapults, manned by teams of goblins. All three catapults were destroyed, but it doesn''t mean that it isn''t concerning, as no Orc is capable of that kind of engineering.

 Chapter 59

    Day 7


    Early that morning, while dew was still dripping off of the leaves, and water mages were still funneling shit into the sewers, the first Orcs were spotted.


    7 foot tall muscle bound men, their skin tinted with splotches of green, and twisted wretched faces that look like boiling water.


    We heard them before we saw them, the sound of their weapons knocking against each other, the footsteps, the speech of the ever loud Orcs. It reverberated through the canyon, before hitting us like a wave. The sound of thousands of feet marching, sounded like thunder in our ears, their weapons like bells, ringing furiously through the storm.


    They sent no scouts, they didn''t need to, overconfident in their numbers they round the bend, and stand face to face with thousands of zombies.


    Not only had we built a large wall sealing the pass, but we had also cut passageways into the side of the canyons, allowing the archers, and mages ro rain hell down upon the enemies.


    Our archers loose their arrows, and for a moment the sky darkens, before with screams of rage, they barrel forward, and into the ranks of zombies. Our mages do not hold back, they''d rather accidentally hit our front line of zombies, than not fire at all.


    One of our B ranking Artillery mages steps forward, and throws his hands up. His mana begins to course through the air, thick like honey it solidifies, before with a scream he throws his hands out, and it begins to rain fire.


    Balls of liquid fire drop from the sky, impacting the enemies, and tearing their ranks apart, leaving armor, and weapons red hot, burning the feet of those that trample overhead.


    This barrage lasts for many seconds, and blasts giant holes in the enemies blobbed up opponents.


    They rush forward, and our lower ranking mages begin firing. Their spells drop liquid fire, followed by liquids so cold, they freeze on contact with the opponent, balls of earth drop onto the ground before splitting into golems, and tearing a orc into two before being swarmed, and taken down.


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    The same fire mage steps forward, his steps lag but he pushes on anyway, with a grunt he raises his hands above his head, and the fire begins to coalesce. It starts as a ball the size of a fist, before growing, and condensing, and growing some more, before condensing once again. This process repeats, before with a grunt, he hefts the ball into the largest clump of enemies he can find.


    But as the fire descends, something rises from the crowd, a bolt of clear energy rises up, before separating out like an umbrella. The ball of fire collides with it, and it bursts. With a scream it explodes, tossing liquid fire into the lines of zombies, killing hundreds, and blasting hot air all around, blasting friends, and enemies alike with a dry desert like air.


    Our fire mage collapses to the ground, his mana spent, and his body taxed. He sighs and coughs deeply, dripping phlegm onto the ground. A guard quickly rushes forward, throwing him over his shoulder, before retreating him back to a pre-prepped field hospital.


    The one who blocked the ball of fire steps into the line of zombies, and with a swipe of his hand, clears a line of zombies. His mana slicing through them like butter. He begins marching forward but as he walks Ivan impacts the ground. His body is encased in a blackish colored stone, and as he walks he picks up more dirt, and he grows.


    First he grows to six feet tall, than seven, than eight, than nine, than hes doubled the Orc, and he stomps forward. The Orc steps forward, his body lightly covered with furs, and with a flash he collides with Ivan, and they disappear, they flit through the battlefield, and with a flash of light, the Orc collides with the cliff side, and than with a flash disappears back into the lines of Orcs, and they begin to retreat slowly.


    The lines recede backwards, while the A ranker stays near the front, probably in case we attempt to follow them.


    ¡°Are they gone?¡± Mile asks me.


    I glance at Milo. ¡°No, it''s a tactical retreat. They will be back.¡±


    Milo sighs, his eyes twitching, and darting about. ¡°Are you going to use those corpses to summon more corpses, or feed your abominations?¡±


    I shrug, in response. ¡°Probably the abominations. They strike terror in the enemy, and if we can hold out until Theo arrives, he is commanding a sizable force, and is quite the little terror himself. He''s a fresh A ranker, but he is still quite the threat. So, we are better off, routing them repeatedly to slow losses, and hopefully allow Theo, or the Kings forces to draw near. But I''m counting on Theo coming first.¡±


    Milo nods in response. ¡°You¡¯ve been doing this longer than I have.¡±


    I purse my lips. ¡°Indeed.¡±

 Chapter 60

    My abominations roll through the piles of corpses, many of them burned, but bones are still a perfectly viable material. Their flesh sloshes forward as if it were a liquid, and they roll over themselves, using the bones sticking free from their blobby bodies to drag themselves forward over the bodies, which are consumed, and emulsified into the mass.


    The four weakest of them are in the Mid C ranks, but they grow incredibly fast in active combat, and the 5 strongest of them have pushed into the B ranking, one of them leading the way at B-4.


    That high ranking abomination is easily the size of a 10 story building, and can consume very quickly.


    As they draw close to any wounded enemies, the many limbs protrude from their bodies assemble into long spindly appendages, with bones protruding throughout it, and like a whip they swing the arm, the bones piercing the bodies of the still living before they are dragged back to the main body, while the lucky ones lay limp, and dead, but the really unlucky ones scream, and scratch at the dirt as they are dragged until their fingernails fall off, and they are pulled into the mass where the bones grind them up into a mash, and their flesh joins the abomination.


    I reassess the zombie forces, and we lost about 900 or so which bodes well for our future, because if we can buy that much time with only that quantity of losses we will be doing well.


    As we wait, and buy time, I withdraw my abominations from the cleaned battlefield. 222


    Milo


    I grimace as I stand on the wall, and watch Aistairs abominations eat. I turn away from the gory uncomfortable sight.


    I turn, and walk to the city hospital where our B ranking fire mage is being kept. I enter the hospital, and find his bed, where lesser fire mages form his guild surround him, and channel mana back into his body. He used every bit of mana he had to cast those spells, and was completely drained. With the help of his fellow guild members he should be full up again by the next time they attack.


    I sigh, and glance at him. A tall man, probably 7 feet tall, but with barely any meat on his bones. He is clean shaven, with a round babied face, and yet today he displayed such power.


    ¡°Curious isn''t it?¡±


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    I jump in fright, and spin around. Standing behind me was Eli. He''s eating some type of crunchy food out of a weird yellow bag. But the weird thing is he was wearing that creepy belt of his, and the belt was holding the bag of food in its weird little hands.


    I sigh. ¡°What is?¡±


    Eli nods, and continues. ¡°His power. He''s only a B ranker, but his power is spectacular.¡±


    I shrug. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Eli continues. ¡°Alistair told me about this, Artillery mages are usually nobles, because they are usually people who have naturally large mana pools, and have access to expensive items that allow them to increase that. Then, when they would usually spend time, expanding the size of their aura, or the strength of their body, they put it all into casting spells like that, and into a big mana pool.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± With a rasp, the tall fire mage opens his eyes, and stares at me. ¡°That''s exactly what happens. Instead of strengthening our body, or our aura, we put it all into our mind, and our mana. Usually this is something we fix once we enter into the A ranks, if we are able to make it. But it''s rare to see an Artillery mage not from a noble house, because we are so useless for anything other than providing artillery support for large armies.¡±


    I tilt my head to the side. ¡°Then why would anyone want to be one?¡±


    Eli interrupts with a wild wave of his hand. ¡°Because its fucking awesome!¡±


    The tall man chuckles. ¡°No, no, it''s because when you''re a noble, and the head of your house tells you to do something, you do it. I''ve been raised since a young age to be nothing more than an Artillery piece, and yet I do kind of enjoy it, and when I enter the A ranks, i''ll be able to retain that powerful spell strength while still gaining the majority of the physical benefits of being a mage.¡±


    I nod. ¡°So, either they are forced to, or they want the trade of being frail at the beginning of their career in return for lots of power?¡±


    The tall man nods. ¡°Indeed. Have you thought about what you would like to specialize in? Even being a generalist is a specialization. People don''t realize it, but if you are a generalist, you specialize in doing a little bit of everything. So in truth even generalists are specialists in generalizing.¡±


    I nod, and tilt my head, in thought, before the man interrupts me again, and puts his hand out.


    ¡°Ah, my name''s Lysander by the way.¡± He puts his bony hand forward.


    I smile, and shake vigorously. ¡°Nice to meet you Lysander.¡±


    He smiles. ¡°Nice to meet you Milo. I should hopefully be back in the fray of things by tomorrow, leading the defenses, as our artillery.¡±


    I smile, ¡°Indeed, we need all the help we can get.¡±


    Lysander smiles. ¡°Of course, of course, I''m very helpful.¡±


    I nod, and then turn to leave. ¡°I¡¯ll be seeing you Lysander.¡± I wave my hand over my shoulder as I leave, my boots leaving tracks of dirt, as a walk.

 Chapter 61

    I hear screaming. I tear myself free from my covers, my thick woolen sheets pull me down, but I tear myself free anyway. I clamber to my feet in a daze spinning, before hastily strapping my armor to my body, and pulling my sword from the table.


    I tear open the door of my hut, and sprint through my fields. With a clicking noise I transition from dirt to the cobbled bridge passing over the river, and into the city. As I run, other adventures stumble out of their houses, and I hear yelling coming from the walls. A minotaur barrels down the street headed towards the walls. I follow him.


    In no time at all, we''ve arrived at the walls. I pull myself up the ladders, and up the stairs, before bursting up, and onto the walls. I glance down, to see a small force of zombies being annihilated by a far larger group of Orcs. They draw closer, slicing through the walking corpses with ease.


    I grit my teeth, ¡°Adventurers! To the gates, we must repel them if they break through!¡± I turn to rush to the gates, then, someone steps forward. A tiny wretch of a woman, she must barely be five feet tall, and truly a horror she is. Thin, and malnourished, her face looks sagged, rough, darker than the rest of her body, and twisted. Her body is thin, and her skin hangs off of her bones, with no extra meat, and yet, she carries a presence.


    She sighs, and begins to chant. A purple glow appears on her, then thick red mana seeps from her torn skin, and she groans, but continues to chant, with a sudden crack, a tear is torn into the sky, and from that tear a hand climbs free. A deep disgusting obsidian color that seems to be swirling. Big enough to crush the entire wall, it lands amidst the Orcs, and crushes a thousand of them in an instant, before it melts, and its inkiness is spread. The ones who were not actively crushed, but were affected spin, and they turn on their friends. Their axes swing with vigour, and their skin slowly turns a deep shade of black, until every single one is dead. Little more than a thousand dead in a night. Quite the win for us.


    I turn to talk to the woman, but she has collapsed. Other women tend to her, not as wretched, but by no means what would be considered attractive. With a burst of the same red mana, the girl used to activate the spell, she stirs, and snarls up at them. ¡°Take me back to the house already, im fucking tired you whores.¡±


    The others flinch, and respond in unison. ¡°Yes Via.¡±


    I recoil backwards at the words, but stop myself from saying anything.


    She glares at me, but doesn''t say anything, and her friends carry her off.


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    As she is carried off, Alistair begins to speak. ¡°That would be one of those artillery mages I was talking about. I basically had to promise to let her, and her coven get away with doing some more¡­ Unscrupulous activities, as well as some pleasant tax breaks. I''m not quite sure what she''s getting up to, but I must believe she hails from Avarelle.¡±


    I flinch at the mention of that country. ¡°I see. No wonder she''s so wretched looking.¡±


    Alistair nods. ¡°Wretched on the inside as well. No morales whatsoever as far as I can see.¡±


    He shrugs, and flashes me a smile. ¡°Better have her than not. Want to get a drink? You¡¯ll be buying of course.¡± He says with a predatory grin.


    I chuckle. ¡°I''ve heard too many horror stories of people going bankrupt trying to get a ranker drunk.¡±


    Alistair clicks his tongue in mock disappointment. ¡°Disappointing. But understandable.¡± He switches back to his comfortable grin. ¡°Well, I am going back to my apartment now, I would like to sleep. Technically anyone above B ranks doesn''t need to sleep, but it''s still pleasant.¡± He flashes me a grin, and heads on his way.


    DC


    There haven''t been a lot of people inside of me lately. I wonder why? Am I just not as pretty as I used to be? I chuckle at my own joke. Im so fucking funny.


    But seriously, I wonder where everybody went. I mean, the mines are still active, and everything, but no adventurers running about, and the adventurers that used to haul the coal to the surface aren''t there anymore so it''s building up on the floor. I mean, everytime a coal vein dries up I just refill it so, if this keeps going for long enough they could possibly fill up the whole cavern, which would obviously break the illusion I have set up to make it look like they aren''t in a cavern, with a fake sun, and everything.


    I checked the eleventh floor as well, but it looks like nobody made it that far yet. I guess it makes sense since I''ve been setting up those mana walls which slow people down a lot.


    I turn my attention down to the Evolution Floors where the rats under Talons command have commandeered one of the Irons mines. Talon has figured out how to work it on a mass scale, and has started to produce more cannons, war trains, and muskets, on an industrial scale.


    He¡¯s employed slave labour in large assembly line style factories which have been pumping out more machines. First he has been training the most skilled smiths he can to work the metal into the pieces required, which are then cooled, and put on the assembly line, where each worker adds another piece.


    The only people who are paid are the smiths, and the enforcers. Most of the enforcers stay on rafters above the workers, and have specialized muskets that fire small sandbags, or they fire small canisters filled with powdered bloodstone, which explode, similar to a flashbang, but they also fill the air with the bloodstone powder which causes excessive coughing, vomiting, and long term effects similar to cancer.


    I think it goes without saying, but the troublesome workers don''t tend to live very long. Or their neighbors on the assembly line.

 Chapter 62

    DC


    The result of all of Talon''s industrialization is that they have begun mass production of weapons that have allowed the rats to push back their enemies even further. The downside is that now the forces lead by Talons ex-apprentice, who is now going by Fang Fleshcarver have been conducting regular raids on Talons factories which have required him to put up better defenders to keep away raids, but still. If the opponent is successful they gain access to a large quantity of stockpiled weapons waiting to be moved out.


    And even worse, would be the death of any of the smiths. The smiths are quite rare, and so are treated with special respect, and with multiple body guards per smith with the sole job of getting them out of harm''s way in the case of any raids.


    Also, Talon has begun the creation of a new type of weapon. It''s sort of a battle suit. I''m not quite sure how it works, but I''ll do my best to explain. Near the groin area there''s a sort of boiler, where you burn bloodstones. The bloodstones create an explosive force that is sealed in by mana. Then the operator, who is nuzzled inside of a cavern within the machine, sends pulses of mana into the machine, causing hydraulic pistons to move allowing their arms, legs, or fingers to move.


    The only problem with this, is its very difficult to control, mana intensive, bloodstone intensive, and the whole thing heats up, and burns the operator alive most of the time, without proper usage. You can''t store more than a certain amount of explosive energy within the machine, so you have to be very careful with the quantity of bloodstone the machine is consuming. It''s a delicate balance, too little the whole thing stops working, and the user is locked within a metal cavity, too much and the user is cooked alive.


    I''m considering stealing the design, and attempting to perfect it into a mob of some sort. Problem being, they are pretty high level. Also, Talon hasn''t thought of it yet, but because the whole thing is controlled through pulsing mana through a series of passages, you can give them as many limbs as you want, as long as the person operating it has enough mana.


    So, I do follow through on that, and steal the design for one of them, and recreate it. Then, I find Gairy, and I ask him something.


    ¡°Hey Gairy. I was wondering something.¡±


    Gairy sighs, and lowers his pipe away from his mouth. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well, I stole a machine from those rats you are fighting on the bottom floors, and I want you to help me perfect it, so I can use it as a mob.¡±


    Gairy sighs, and sets his book on the table next to him. He stands from his chair, nods. ¡°Take me somewhere, so I can see it.¡±


    I teleport Gairy away, and into a work room. At the center of the work room is the machine as well as some blood stones, and a couple of kidnapped rats which I''ve brain washed, and am allowing Gairy to experiment on.


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    ¡°So, the thing has a multitude of problems, but basically if the user runs out of mana they can''t control it anymore. Those bloodstones, are filled with a type of mana, that is also very explosive if smashes or burned or anything, I want a way to hook bloodstones into the person mana, so that as long as they have bloodstones they won''t run out of mana, also I''d prefer if they didn''t have to eat food, so they can just live off the mana from the bloodstone.¡± Gairy glares at the machine.


    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡±


    I chuckle nervously.


    He continues. ¡°You know I''ve got a life in that village you know? Why would I-¡±


    ¡°A life that I gave you.¡± I begin. ¡°And, can take away.¡± I finish.


    Gairy glares, but does not argue, and gets to work experimenting.


    He keeps doing this until he eventually finds that if you agitate the stone by lightly stabbing it with needles underwater, then the mana will slowly diffuse into the water. You can then pump the water through piping which is surgically implanted into the user''s stomach. The water is then diffused into the bloodstream, releasing mana into the body. This works very effectively as long as the bloodstone is removed before it runs out of mana, because then it would, like, fully explode, and it would cause a blast of water to travel through the pipes, into the user, and blow them apart from the inside out.


    The good thing about this system, is that if you set up two of those mana diffusing systems, the mana over saturates the body, and begins to replace the need for food. If you have three of them, then it completely removes the need for food. But, they should be able to live for months at a time with only the two diffusers. But it is similar to rationing, and they can''t survive that way forever.


    Also, because of the water filled with mana running through the body, it also acts as a cooling system. There is still a risk of overheating, but it''s much less now. Due to the pipes being surgically implanted in the stomach even the slightest jostling can disrupt the whole system, so instead of just leaving them in a compartment I just had Gairy fully stitch them into the machine. This way they have less of a chance to tear themselves open.


    I had Gairy make three of these monstrosities. One of them is just the same as a regular human, but with an extra pair of arms protruding from the stomach area of the machine. INstead of having regular hands those bottom hands instead have curved blades that attach to pistons allowing them to close all the way, like scissors, cutting things. Installing those on both of the lower hands makes it more combat-able, while the upper hands are better for anything that requires more dexterity.


    The second bot is more closely related to a centaur. This one was actually really cool, because they had a bunch of open space in the horse area where I''m considering putting archers, or some rats with guns. They also had two sets of arms, in the exact same pattern as the other Mech.


    The last Mech is fucking terrifing, and its basically a giant spider. The legs instead of having flat gripping surfaces have something more similar to drill bits made of steel that I then hardened with mana.


    A couple caveats to this whole thing, would be the fact that Gairy was completely unable to follow through with these designs by himself, so what I basically had to do was kidnap Talon, force him to do it, and then reshape his memories to forget the whole thing happened so he wouldn''t try to copy me. His innovations must be his own.


    All in all what I was left with was three very large defenders, who I placed within my core room to protect me from anyone who actually wants to hurt me. It wont do me much, but they are the first creatures I have made who I would classify as in the low B ranks. Sadly I can''t really tell, because they are machines, so they might be closer to high C ranks.