Simon tapped the table restlessly. He needed to head back and report to the clan leader immediately. Not only had the castle of foreign Kobolds fought clan bighorn, they had won.

They had crushed them utterly, wiping out some thirty Kobolds. Beyond just that, there were so many mysteries to be unraveled here.

Like this growing fortress. It was strange, and made his scales itch when he saw the wall shift ever so slightly. Even as he watched, the castle at the edges of the courtyard he sat in was growing. Changing. With him inside of it. It wasn’t too ridiculous, being that he had seen the castle rise from the ground previously.

Maybe this Mark and Alverost truly were gods. Even if they weren’t, they were beings that shouldn’t be reckoned with, capable of lifting castles from the earth and producing food. To them, mushrooms were so cheap as to be used as decorations. Simon’s eyes flicked from Valleria sitting across the table, to the ring of glowing mushrooms around them. They had started rising from the earth only after he had climbed the stairs, and yet, they were already a full head taller than Simon. Perhaps clan head Zeek had asked for too little; five baskets of food seemed like nothing to them.

As if they could read his mind, the Kobolds took that moment to complete their march up the stairs, carrying baskets in each hand. Five Kobolds arrived, carrying with them full baskets of brightly glowing mushrooms. Valleria tilted her head to the side, sitting on the other edge of the fungiwood table.

“Five of these are to secure our alliance. The other five are to trade for silver.” Valleria said, before pausing again. “Your guards will stay here while you and I head back to your camp. Our Kobolds will help carry the mushrooms.”

His guards will stay there? An instruction? It made sense. They would keep them as collateral and to deter any future attacks.

“Very well.” Simon said, agreeing and standing.

“Wait. There is more.” Valleria said, raising a hand to stop Simon from standing. “Also… we’ve prepared several shipments of clothes in the baskets.”

“I… see.” Simon said.

“We should head out now.” Valleria stood.

“By the night? Dark has already fallen.”

“The mushrooms will light our way. It isn’t that far.” Valleria replied.

Simon stood. “Alright.”

Mark was diving through the creator pane for a single egg. It was one of several Kobold eggs, sitting on top of a bed of tiny fungus. They, in turn, were on top of a huge pile of mulch.

“You’re sure they be fine?” Mala asked, inspecting each of the eggs in the clutch. His speech was showing more fluidity, something Mark was paying close attention to. He had recently been adapted to the latest changes in their Kobold models — version 3, an adapted Kobold made from what they learned from Valleria.

Version 2 would be their own attempt at correcting the rat Kobolds, and version 1 would be the Rat Kobold’s they had found.

“See that pile of compost its under?”

“Mud dirt.”

“Theres bacteria in it.”

“Bacteria?” Mala leaned in close, trying to see it.

“Its too small for you to see. Bacteria are like tiny little worms. They process certain chemicals in the mulch and create heat as a byproduct. It should be plenty for the eggs.”

“Chemicals?” Mala asked, shoving his hand into the mulch and nodding. “Very warm. Good for egg.”

“How long do you think it would take to hatch?” Mark asked, idling flipping around in the creation pane before bringing a feral Kobold’s creation page up, side by side. He was pulling it up through a dessicated piece of flesh that had been preserved from the fight. Most of it had already been cleaned up, but they had saved one of the corpses. Mark wished he had some kind of preservation mechanism. Even some resin would be great.

He probably would have a few days to copy this feral Kobold’s parts before the body degraded too much to be of value.

It wouldn’t take that long though. He worked dedicatedly, copying the various parts.

“Bighorn Kobolds. I heard they crazy. Throw themselves at wall. New babies like them?” Mala asked, inspecting each egg in the clutch.

“Maybe one of them. It looks like the dungeoncore did a number on them. I only added those changes to a single Kobold, though. The rest I added a few of the hormone changes and increased muscular and skeletal density. Theres even some new muscles here. They’re also hunched over compared to our Kobolds. Lower center of gravity.” Mark paused, inspecting the sequences of DNA again. “I’ll try copying a few different sections. The real difficulty though is going to be making them grow fast like the Mushrooms or Centipedes.”

“Centipedes do grow fast. Longback already full size. Big enough to ride, eh?”

Longback. A name the Kobolds had recently given one of the centipedes. Mala mostly maintained the farm or worked in the kitchen directing the other Kobolds, so he was one of the closest to the insect. It was their first attempt at making a creature without using an egg, creating a full juvenile centipede. And it had worked, though the cost in mana was extremely intensive.

“Thats true. He did grow rather fast… but why? Its not like the Kobolds grow any quicker than regular creatures.” Mark sighed. Or at least, he did a dungeoncore’s best impression of a sigh. “It has to be mana, doesn’t it. I’m digging around in DNA and hormones and— theres nothing there. Its gotta just be magic.”

“Did you say magic?” Alverost asked, his voice bubbling.

“Whats got you so happy?”

“Our dungeon drops. We won’t even need to trade anymore.”

“What drops did we get?” Mark asked, eager to find out what they had gained.

“More silver than we can use, for one. A dungeoncore drops loot and weapons that it understands… and the official currency of my nation is mostly silver. Come take an inventory. There are some drops I don’t recognize… some strange cloth and pieces of metal. I don’t recognize the function of your strange metals and the paper seems almost like a worthless talisman?”

“Hold on a second. Can you help me with this?”

“Ha, of course. What is it you’re failing at?”

“I’m not failing at anything. I’m trying to figure out what mechanism enables the mushrooms and centipedes to grow so fast and put it onto a Kobold… but I think its magic related. Can you take a look?”

“I’m sure it will only take a moment to figure it out.” Alverost replied.