[100 units of anti-mana in weight collected. Protocol 4 completed. Blueprint for Type 1 Slave Mind imprinted into databank.]

‘Could this be what I wanted?’ Custodian thought as it started navigating its mind for the blueprints.

Once found, Custodian began scanning and analyzing the blueprint. After a throughout scan of all the details, the A.I. was genuinely pleased.

While Protocol 3 was for producing materials, Protocol 4 was for producing worker units, specifically the brain.

It seemed that the Type 1 Slave Mind could only handle smaller bodies, and such processors could only handle the simplest tasks available.

Nevertheless, it was still a stepping stone to producing better and stronger workers. Custodian wondered which level or tier were his original ten drones are at?

[Type 1 Slave Mind

Basic processing unit.

Produced using 10 units of anti-mana in weight and an equal amount of biomatter and mana matter.]

‘Expensive!’ Custodian complained. Not only was the cost of producing the brain high, Custodian still had to make a skeleton to place the body in, so the cost was more than what it was mentioned.

The A.I. had to think carefully what its first self-made drone would be. Then again, in theory, the brain could be transferred from one body to another.

‘Let’s start with something simple.’

Custodian’s two arms were once again extended from its body. Using fresh bio-iron ingots, it started to construct a small basket. Afterwards, wires and conduits were carefully molded into place. Altering some bio-iron, Custodian placed a small bulb made out of transparent bio-material to act as a light source and eye. Finally, six spider legs were attached to the bottom of the basket.

At last, the body of the planned worker was made. Essentially a basket with legs, Custodian wanted to remove the need for the drones to return to the core room by making these new worker drones, or ‘spider drones’ as Custodian called them to distinguish them from the original ten drones.

After meticulously checking that the body worked and was intact, Custodian started creating the processing unit - the brain. After Drone 1 loaded Custodian with the necessary materials, the A.I.’s glass body started vibrating.

After a few seconds, a black square chip was produced. There were no distinguishable features about the processing unit. It was like a tiny black square pebble.

Custodian carefully installed the brain into the empty carrier husk using its claws. Upon completion, just like when the drones first woke up, the basket spider’s glowed from the gaps of its body.

It shivered then the eye at the front glowed red. It raised its body slowly from the ground using its six legs, then stood still, waiting for orders.

‘Assist the closest hunting drone. You are now a carrier,’ ordered Custodian to which the carrier drone obeyed without a word.

The basket spider lacked any means to communicate except by warning Custodian about any imminent danger through, what Custodian now dubbed, hivespeak.

If the carrier does it job well by increasing efficiency, Custodian would produce more carriers. If not, the A.I. would have to think of a new way to make use of the Type 1 Slave Mind.

[Protocol 4A started. Collect 250 units of anti-mana in weight. 3.52% completed.]

‘Great! Let’s work hard for the next tier!’

Ratslayer, formerly Drone 10, placed another corpse on top of a pile of dead rats. He didn’t really know why he became fixated on killing rats or why he wanted them dead.

However, something awoke in him when he felt unable to do anything when the first rat chomped onto his leg. Despite being a metal puppet for a floating ball of glass in a room, it still managed to develop a grudge against rats. Or was it really just against rats?

Before he knew it, he wasn’t just thrusting his spear forward. He was also slashing with the tip, bashing with the pole, and using feint strikes against the rats. His simple sidestep slowly changed into clumsy full rolls, but he was steadily getting the hang of it.

His master had already given him permission to go deeper into the caverns, but only if there was another nearby drone.

Material is precious, and any rat corpses left unattended might be eaten by slimes and other rats, so retrieval was the utmost concern.

Of course, Ratslayer didn’t disobey. For some reason, the only times he would disobey was when it involved rats. His grudge would overcome Custodian’s directive, for better or for worse.

As he organized the pile of corpse, Ratslayer detected movement quite unlike he encountered before. He faced his new opponent, his spear pointed forward and ready.

[Alert: Unidentified hostile organic detected.]

Ratslayer’s relatively deeper voice alerted his master.

The unidentified organic had eight hairy legs. Two fangs laid on the front of its face, dripping with green liquid. It was much bigger than the rats Ratslayer had encountered.

‘Organic is now identified as ‘Spider’. Sending reinforcements to you now,` alerted Custodian from the hivespeak.

It was ironic that Custodian modelled the spider drones first before it could even encounter a real spider.

‘Affirmative. Should I hold or move back?` Ratslayer asked.

`How many rat corpses do you have?’

‘I have six here.’

‘Hold position unless you think you are being overwhelmed,’ instructed Custodian.

Ratslayer gripped the spear hard, and lowered his upper body. The spider raised its two front legs in an attempt to intimidate Ratslayer, but the metal puppet wasn’t amused in the slightest.

He made the first move and charged, pushing his spear through the air aimed towards the chest area of the spider.

The spider side stepped then spat green liquid at Ratslayer, catching him off-guard. He raised his fur coat up to block the glob of liquid while charging.

As soon as the liquid splattered against Ratslayer’s coat, it sizzled the fur, and began melting small bits of the coat.

‘Careful, that’s precious material that’s being melted,’ warned Custodian.

‘Affirmative,’ replied Ratslayer.

He tried to close the gap between him and the spider, but the arachnid continued to jump away to shoot acid from a distance.

‘Can you see if you can use magic against that thing?` Custodian asked.

Ratslayer raised one arm and pointed at the spider. Mana was sucked from the air as he charged a standard shock attack. Alas, the magic attack didn’t hit very far.

Trying once again, Ratslayer charged his arm up for another shock attack, but the spider spat at him once more. He raised his fur coat which made him grab his spear with both hands by reflex.

Unexpectedly, the shock coarsed through the spear and towards the wall, creating a greater impact at a greater distance.

‘Do that again, but towards the spider!’ Custodian commanded.

This time, Ratslayer pointed his spear at the spider and used it as a conduit for his shock magic. A bolt of electricity flew out of the spear and towards the spider.

The bolt reached the spider faster than it could react, stunning the beast. Ratslayer didn’t waste any time in leaping onto the spider, skewering the spider with his spear.

With one last twitch, the spider finally died, just as Drone 8 and Drone 9 arrived on the scene.

‘Well done. Everyone, get those precious materials back to me. I’m interested in how much a spider would yield,’ ordered Custodian.

Ratslayer placed a foot against the spider, and tried to pull the spear off it. Unfortunately, the spear broke.

‘How fragile…’ thought Ratslayer.

“Another broken spear, I see,” Drone 9 commented as they grabbed a rat and carried it across their shoulder.

“Your observation skills are noted, Drone 9. The weapons would degrade fast given that I seem to encounter hostile organics every few minutes,” Ratslayer replied. Not only that, he was also experimenting ways to use the spear. Recently, he found a great alternative to stabbing the rats at close range was to throw the spears directly at them.

But now, it seemed that he had reached a new hunting ground: The spiders. As the efficiency of the drones increase, so did the size of their hunting ground, giving each hunting ground enough time to repopulate its size. Drone 8 and Drone 9, the farthest hunters, were slowly losing slime hunting grounds.

It won’t be long until the two drones would be solely assigned to rat hunting.

Ratslayer tied the broken spear together, then slung it against his back. Custodian could process broken weapons once more, so the A.I. encouraged recycling.

“There may be an alternative to the spears given by Master Custodian,” remarked Drone 9.

“There is?”

“While I was waiting for the organics to spawn, I explored some pathways which might have some… peculiar rock formations,” Drone 9 explained.

“What do you suggest, Drone 9?” asked Ratslayer.

“The next time I’m idle, I wish of you to escort me to prospect the rocks. The area might potentially have a number of dangerous organics,” Drone 9 replied.

“Very well, I will have to prepare,” Ratslayer noted as all the drones marched back into the core room.

Two pairs of metal footsteps echoed across a damp, dark cavern. Using the lights coming out of the gaps, Drone 9 and Ratslayer illuminated their path. The latter led the way, carrying a bundle of short bio-iron spears on his back while Drone 9 stood in the back, giving the directions.

Custodian had already produced a number of carriers to assist the drones, up until Drone 9 was idle almost half of the time. This meant that Drone 9 was free to do miscellaneous tasks like exploring or helping Ratslayer carry corpses back to the core room.

Unfortunately, Drone 9 didn’t engage in rat hunting as it was more inclined to wait for reinforcements than take on the beasts by itself.

“Rat ahead,” Ratslayer whispered to Drone 9. Since he was more experienced in hunting rats, Drone 9 allowed Ratslayer to go ahead without them. After all, Drone 9 knew it would become more of a hindrance to its veteran brethren.

Ratslayer crept up on the unsuspecting rat, which was devouring a slime. Since he was starting to become more of a hunter than the hunted, Ratslayer began learning and experimenting ways to get the upper hand in hunting by striking first, which included tracking rats from a farther distance and sneaking.

Ratslayer raised a spear with one hand, pulled his arm back, then pushed the spear straight into the rat, puncturing it before it even knew it was dead. On the other hand, he simply used magic to shock the slime to death in order to get its monster core.

The rat hunter stood up straight, and was about to pull his spear off the dead rat when he realized something was off.

“Drone 9, get over here!” Ratslayer barked at Drone 9.

“Is it safe?”

“Now!” Almost as soon as he finished his order, a rat leapt at Ratslayer from behind. Thanks to his experiences, he managed to roll away from the imminent danger. At the same time, he counter-attacked by arcing his spear around, slashing the rat by the arm. Though injured, the rat wasn’t dead yet.

“It’s not safe! Why did you tell me to come?!” Drone 9’s complaints were cut off as another rat charged at it.

“Dodge!” Ratslayer shouted.

Drone 9 clumsily stepped to the side to avoid the rat’s teeth, but managed to get grazed. The only reason why their leg wasn’t badly punctured by the rat’s sharp teeth was because the fur leg armor protected them.

Drone 9 took out their knife used for skinning rats since only Ratslayer was given spears. Besides, the drones didn’t really think they would encounter more than one rat at the same time.

“Perhaps we are close to their feeding ground?” Drone 9 theorized.

“Noted. Get close to me, protect my back and I will protect yours,” Ratslayer ordered.

With their backs locked against their each other, the two drones guarded themselves as the two rats circled around them. Occasionally, the rats would lunge forward, but not commit fully into charging them. In response, the drones would thrust their weapons forward.

“Grab a spear from my bundle if you can,” Ratslayer told Drone 9.

“I don’t know how to use a spear well,” Drone 9 complained.

“We’re both the same. If I can use a spear, so too can you,” Ratslayer replied.

As soon as Drone 9 took a spear from Ratslayer, the two rats immediately began their attack once again. Ratslayer pushed Drone 9 out of the beasts’ way, then rolled the opposite way. Unlike the rat slaughterer, Drone 9 wasn’t an experienced fighter so they simply tumbled on the floor.

The two rats switched targets to the obvious greater threat, Ratslayer. Their combined assault were starting to tear apart his layers of fur, but he continued to remain unrelented. For every bite, he managed to get a cut against the rats.

Seeing that their brethren was in trouble, Drone 9 charged, spear on hand. “Get away, you inferior organics!”

The rat Drone 9 was targeting side stepped out of the way and lashed out with its broad tail, causing the faceless automaton to slip into a crouch and drop their spear. The rat took some distance from it and the inexperienced drone, preparing to charge the helpless metal puppet.

Drone 9 wasn’t stupid. It knew of the incoming danger, so it searched for its fallen spear. Unfortunately, there were only small rocks. In desperation, Drone 9 took a sharp rock and tossed it at the rat.

The rock flew fast straight into the rat’s head, burying itself deep. Brain splattered as the body skid into a halt, and rolling lifelessly on the floor. By the time Drone 9 managed to kill its opponent, Ratslayer was finished with his.

“That worked well,” Ratslayer noted.

“Good timing, too. That’s the rock formation I was talking about,” Drone 9 said as they pointed at the wall. Against the dull, brown rock, there were grayish cracks across the wall. “The last time I was here, there weren't any organics here. Perhaps some organics moved to here. Nevertheless, Master Custodian had provided me with this tool to mine and bring back some samples.”

Drone 9 took out a large, heavy stave hanging out of their thigh, then started bashing against the rock wall using the pointed tip of the stave, mining out small chips of the gray rock. While Drone 9 mined, Ratslayer organized the corpses and watched for intruders.

Once a handful of rock was dug out, the two drones made a swift return to the core room. In the core room, Drone 1 was slaving away, tossing basket after basket of monster core into Custodian.

“You’ve returned. Drone 1, cease for a moment. I want to see what Drone 9 had returned to me,” Custodian ordered.

The handful of gray rock was passed into Custodian’s body to process, taking only a few seconds for the A.I. to finish. A gray lump was produced as a result. When Custodian used its claws to grab the lump, it bent easily.

“It’s soft?” Custodian mused.

[Pure iron. Extremely hard to make, but useless. Mix with biomatter for further processing.]

“Then, let’s do that.”

Since Drone 9 and Ratslayer brought some rat corpses with them, they decided to use those corpses for biomatter. After processing the materials together, a gray ingot was made.

[Pig iron. Basic production material. Stronger than bio-iron, but not that much better.]

“We could perhaps make a better weapon with this,” Custodian concluded as it raised the ingot to its face. It was using its claws to check its hardness, and surprisingly, it wasn’t as soft as it originally was. “But there’s too little of it. Bring back more. Drone 9, you’re free from your job of hunting slimes. You will be scouting around for these types of ores.”

As the two drones left to do their tasks, Custodian brought its attention to the fact that its production efficiency had greatly increased since the start of the rat hunts and the creation of the carriers. By now, all the anti-mana was being converted into a round shape, the size of a coin.

Eventually, Custodian would have to start sending drones out to hunt rats, instead of slimes. Then again, Custodian didn’t know if the rat population would replenish like the slimes - popping out of nowhere.

It would have to send out some drones to find out. For now, the A.I. was worried about maximizing slime hunting efficiency. It would be great if Drone 1 could be replaced as the production slave, since it could be better used for hunting, or even for Custodian’s experiments. Unfortunately, using claws to extract matter alone would slow the rate of refinement and production.

As Custodian tried to think of a way, it realized that the Type 1 Mind Slave might be useful in this aspect. It would have to construct a conveyor belt going to its body, but it could free up Drone 1.

Maybe automated cranes would work as well? After all, the Type 1 Mind Slave was meant for basic automatons like automated doors. Perhaps it was time to convert the core room into a basic factory.

Better yet, it would be great if slime hunting could be automated.

[250 units of anti-mana in weight collected. Protocol 4A completed. Blueprints for Type 2 Slave Mind and Type 1 Serf Mind imprinted into databank.]

[Protocol 4B started. Collect 500 units of anti-mana in weight to unlock new production capabilities. 50% completed.]

‘Just in time.’