A young high troglodyte woke up as the village crier started his daily ritual of croaking loudly in the morning. He got up, stretched, then wore the thick fur coat given to him by the village’s head, Razugotter, before tying some leather straps around his webbed feet.

As usual, the young troglodyte got out of his stone hovel and made his way towards the village center. When a group of metallic spiders passed by, he bowed his head towards them and moved out of their way.

“Torvogotter, come. We should head to the center before the Iron Lords get impatient,” a large high troglodyte in full chainmail called out.

“Chief Razugotter! Good morning!” Torvogotter greeted and approached. Upon closer inspection, the young troglodyte squinted his eyes and croaked softly.

“What is it?” Razugotter asked.

“Chief, I feel like your horns are getting bigger by the day. If I get older, would I also have horns as big as yours?”

Razugotter touched the horn on his head and pondered, “Is it really getting bigger?”

“Yes, chief.”

“Erm… I suppose you might also have a bigger horn if you serve the Iron Lords well,” Razugotter coughed. “Now, we better get to the village center. We don’t have time to waste.”

The two troglodytes went straight to the center to join the other high troglodytes huddling around the tallest heating pillar. Metal baskets with crab-like legs distributed raw meat to the villagers to cook and eat along with some edible plants gathered by the low troglodytes, creating yet another hearty festive-like feast. When the villagers were all done eating, they rose up and shouted, “We thank the Iron Lords for the gifts!”

“Chief Razugotter, will Lord Erudite teach us how to inscribe the runes again?” one of the troglodytes asked.

“I am not sure. I did not receive any orders from His Divineship, and-... Wait, look over there!” Razugotter cut himself short and pointed at an approaching figure.

Standing tall with his black greatsword, a large drone awed the troglodytes with his gleaming armor. The troglodytes bowed down to him, and Razugotter timidly advanced towards him with short steps as if he was a child that had done something wrong.

“Lord Princeps! May this lowly one ask why you have come here?” Razugotter asked.

“Request. Hunters needed. A road has to be cleared of monsters,” Princeps said.

Upon finishing his sentence, the troglodytes got fired up and started crowding the drone. It wasn't the first time Princeps had asked for hunters, and every time he returned, the chosen troglodytes were always rewarded with some form of weapon or armor.

“Lord! Me! Pick me!”

“I shall go! I will slay the beast that dare to corrupt this holy land given to us!”

“I shall demonstrate my prowess to you, my lord!”

“Declaration. You, you, and you,” Princeps pointed at random and called out.

Luckily for Torvogotter, he was one of the chosen ones. He had not been chosen before, so he never had a chance to really stand proud with the rest of his friends who had already hunted with Princeps before. His mouth went wide from one corner to another, and he felt a burning sensation inside of him as adrenaline started to soar. “I shall make the Gotter caste and the Iron Lords proud!” he declared.

The three troglodytes were each presented with a set of chainmail robes, a wooden shield, and an iron spear. Torvogotter’s feet trembled as the chainmail robe was handed to him by Razugotter, and he clumsily hung the armor around his body. Though Torvogotter felt slightly weighed down and hot from all the things he was wearing, he felt invincible.

“All good, Torvogotter?” Razugotter asked as he handed an iron spear to the young troglodyte.

“Is it true that only the Inners ever had a chance to use such… materials?” Torvogotter questioned as he stared at the shining iron spearhead.

“Indeed. It seems that the Iron Lords are so generous, they don’t feel the need to hide such powerful weapons from us.”

“I will repay the Iron Lords for their kindness!” Torvogotter shouted garnering the cheers of his fellow kin.

“Very good. Take these polas, and lead them well. We mustn’t disappoint the Iron Lords!” Razugotter insisted.

The hunting group was joined by a group of low troglodytes who only wore blocks of wood or fur as armor. While some were armed with scavenged weapons or makeshift clubs, most relied on their large claws. The hunters divided the group amongst each other so that each of them had a number of low troglodytes under their command.

Princeps, who was just watching the troglodytes from afar, called out, “Question. Are the preparations completed?”

The three chosen troglodytes stepped up, beat their weapons against the ground and croaked, “We are ready to fight!”

Princeps nodded and said, “Acknowledgement. Very well, follow me closely.”

Princeps left the village and continued down the mountain road built by the drones. Along the path, Torvogotter noticed that there were some lines of metals placed on the ground.

“What are those things?” Torvogotter asked.

“I heard those are purification trails left by the Iron Lords to deter monsters,” one of the hunters said.

“No, I heard that’s just a road that only the Iron Lords can use,” the other said.

“Whatever they are, we best not get near it. It is a sacred thing, and we mustn’t defile it,” Torvogotter pointed out which the other two hunters agreed.

The troglodytes marched on, cautiously watching the trees while keeping the low troglodytes away from the metal tracks. Meanwhile, Princeps paid no heed to them and continued casually until he finally found some wrecked drones next to a set of unfinished tracks.

The destroyed drones bore large claw markings, and bloody footprints trailed deeper into the forest. The low troglodytes began picking up weapons from the dead drones but the high troglodytes stopped them.

“Stop! What are you doing?! The Iron Lords did not give you permission to defile their polas!” Torvogotter shouted.

“Question. What is a pola?” Princeps asked.

“We are tilapolas,” Torvogotter explained as he pointed at himself, then to one of the low troglodytes. “They are polas. Much like how you, my lord, is a tilapola, they are your polas, yes?”

“Reply. I do not understand, but I will not delve further into this.” Princeps pointed at the scattered remains of his fellow drones and said, “Order. Get weapons, then hunt down the beast. Follow the trail of blood.”

“You will not join us, lord?”

“Answer. I will watch from afar.”

With that, the troglodytes delved into the forest, armed and ready. Along the blood trail were battered pieces of spider drones, bits of machinery, and there were even fallen trees. Warrior drones laid scattered across the forest floor, suffering from a wide range of damages from decapitation to mauling. There was even a drone that was as flat as a metal plate on the ground.

The troglodytes were used to hunting large monsters that roamed the forest, but Torvogotter surmised that this monster was larger than anything they ever faced. He gripped his spear harder, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

At the rustling of leaves, the high troglodytes turned towards the direction of the sound it came from while the low troglodytes rushed out with their weapons raised. The troglodyte charge was stopped when they realized that it was just a woodland critter running across the forest.

Torvogotter sighed and was about to lower his spear when he was jumped by a hulking, hairy beast. It was like an oversized bear with bones protruding out from its torso, and its black sharp claws were as long as short sword.

Despite the ferocity of the wild beast, the force of each strike were dumbed down by Torvogotter’s padded armor, and small amounts of sparks flew each time the claws went for a slash. Not only that, his large troglodyte body further softened the monster’s attacks.

Torvogotter retaliated with a few spear thrusts towards the bear monster’s face, and the monster was forced to pull back from the troglodyte. The young hunter clicked his tongue as he realized that he had missed the eyes, though it did managed to cut some wounds against the beast’s face.

The low troglodytes screamed as they jumped at the monster, and several of them were swatted away at once. One of the high troglodytes moved in for a stab against the backside only to be kicked away.

Torvogotter got up and immediately joined the assault, using his shield to defend against the large claws while another hunter sliced the monster’s leg with the spear’s blade.

The low troglodytes continued to swarm the monstrous bear relentlessly until its wounds were too much for the wild animal. It got down on all four, tumbled to the side, and gaped his mouth open. Its eyes lifelessly glared at the troglodytes as its final trickle of vile dark red blood oozed out of its furry body.

“We have won!” Torvogotter announced with his spear raised up.

The troglodytes cheered, croaking loudly. The hunters were bruised up, but they were mostly intact, though they did lose quite a number of low troglodytes.

“Commendation. You have done a good job of not dying.” Princeps appeared seemingly out of nowhere and approached the beast’s corpse. After confirming its death, he turned towards Torvogotter and asked, “Diagnosis. You are injured?”

“Nay, lord. Just a small… Argh! My foot!” Torvogotter groaned.

“It’s broken. You won’t be able to walk for a while,” one of the hunters said after he checked up on Torvogotter.

“At least I have served the Iron Lords well,” Torvogotter sighed with a content smile.

“Excitement. So you are injured! I will need you for another important task despite your injuries. Correction. I need you specifically because you are injured!” Princeps declared.

“Really? Anything for the Iron Lords!” Torvogotter exclaimed.

Within a quiet black room, there was a drone with small glass shields in front of his body. He poured some liquid into an open incision cut on Torvogotter’s foot before working on the bone chips within. Using organic material, the drone fixed the broken bones before stitching the incision cut up.

‘Question. Are you finished repairing the organic, Apoth?’ Princeps asked in hivespeak as he stood in the corner of the room with his arms crossed.

‘Princeps, I’m a chemical expert, not a repairer of organics. I’ve cut bodies before but this is the first time where my objective is to keep the specimen alive,’ Apoth replied with a tired tone.

‘Inquisition. So that is a yes?’

Apoth took off his membrane-like gloves and tossed it towards a nearby basket drone. ‘Affirmative. Mostly. I was relying on my knowledge from captured troglodyte specimens, though. If he dies, he dies. More biomatter for us.’

‘Comment. If the organics would prove to be good tools, it would be good to keep them repaired. Yes?’

‘I would need more… practice to get this right. Send a taskforce to capture more organics. I need to find a better way to knock them out before performing repairs on their squishy organic bodies,’ Apoth noted as he cleaned his hammer.

‘Affirmative,’ Princeps replied with a nod. ‘Declaration. I will take this organic back to the surface when he wakes up.’

‘Actually, just dump him out already. His blood is affecting my lab. I think I need a separate room for this…’

As Princeps carted the unconscious Torvogotter towards the surface, Custodian called out to him and asked, ‘Did you finished the report on the combat effectiveness of the troglodytes?’

‘Report. Required number of combat tests to estimate effectiveness reached. Phase One is complete. The organics are much more numerous and sturdier than our frontline drones, though they are less… efficient. It is possible to move on to Phase Two - training.’

‘Affirmative. Have fun.’