Chapter 8

Today is going to be busy, and we have a lot we need to do before we can get started on a second floor. I, quite handily, received another 5 DP from when we defeated the adventurers. This will help with some upgrades I have in mind. We will need to make sure it's all done before the guild shows up, or we could be overwhelmed before we have time to build any strength. First and foremost we must handle the matter of Cook’s evolution and contract. The contract was easy enough to form and she accepted it unconditionally. I assign a research point to create a new boss, using Cook as the foundation. My mana slithers around her, as if sizing up its prey. It starts its work by circling up her body starting from her legs, soaking into her green skin along the way. The skin of her legs starts to fuse together, binding the two appendages into one at her thighs. Her legs are now recognizably a tail, as the former goblin’s skin shifts its shape, turning into a hardened layer of black, shimmering scales. Her ears lengthen and her black hair grows much longer. Her eyes change, becoming not so different from those of a snake, and her tongue becomes forked, darting in and out of her now lipless mouth. As her transformation nears completion, a sharp pain enters my mind once again, urging me to call a name: “Yidhra” I utter through my pain. Shortly after, the stinging fades and I receive a notification.

A monster has been named and successfully contracted. Unique Monster Yidhra: Goblin Naga has been added to the dungeon.

The evolution and contract cost 10 mana total leaving me at 1 mana again. I decide to take a look over Cook, no— Yidhra’s status as well.

Monster Information

Name

Yidhra

An abomination created by the Shiny God. Half snake and half goblin this creature uses venom to paralyze its prey. The goblin naga’s scales can be changed at-will to render the creature invisible or change its appearance to fool others. This creature is a master of manipulation often coaxing those with weak wills into its service. It is rumored this creature gains the power and abilities of that which it eats. As a living abomination, it is the natural enemy of the church.

Species

Goblin Naga

Age

2 Years Old

Sex

Female

Health

Unknown

Skills and Traits

Mana

Unknown

Intermediate Cooking, Expert Butchering, Basic Illusion Magic, Stealth Detection, Natural Venom, Poison Immunity, Fear Immunity, Terror Immunity, Basic Fire Magic, Great Devourer

It seems as if Yidhra has gotten the biggest power boost of all the goblins so far. Let’s see how she’s holding up. “How do you feel Yidhra?”

“Shiny God, thank you for my new form– it's fantastic! I feel like I could easily kill any adventurer now. My only complaint, though minor, is I feel ravenous!” She gives a hearty laugh.

“Good to hear. I was worried about changing your name, but you seem very happy with it.”

“Oh yes Shiny One! This name has brought great power alongside it! I will begin instructing the others on the ways of resource gathering immediately. I have never felt so clear headed! We should begin harvesting the ore in the mine as well! Oh so much to do!” She gives me a thumbs up before slithering away.

I direct my gaze over to Sluggo, who is currently instructing Dimwit on how to run things. Dimwit is now Sluggo’s second in command and is often responsible for relaying his orders. “Hey Sluggo?” I ask.

“Yes Master?” The creature turns away from Dimwit to look at me.

“I am about to assign my last research points, I have learned that we replenish our dungeon points from defeating intruders, but how do I gather more research points?” Sluggo contemplates the question for a moment, before summoning the necessary knowledge from his memory.

“There are a few ways master. However the easiest at the moment would be to construct a second floor, of course we would need to finish the first floor first. We will go over the other ways once you have constructed the second floor.” He advises.

“Thank you Sluggo.” I attempt to give him a nod in recognition, before remembering that I lack a corporeal form aside from my core.

“No need to thank me master, I will always abide to your will. Now as long as you have no other questions please excuse me, as I must continue Dimwits education.” Dimwit salutes towards me and Sluggo nods in approval. I'm glad to see these two are still getting along well as friends. I'm going to focus on Dak’s request next. I move my mana over and begin to absorb the bodies of the goblins which fell in the battle, unfortunately they don't completely fill my mana but it comes fairly close.

“Don’t worry guys, I refuse to let your sacrifices be in vain.” I mutter to myself

4x Goblin Corpses Absorbed

12 Mana Restored!

“Thanks friends.” I say to myself. I would probably be crying right now if I had tear ducts. I should have Sluggo look into making a memorial later. Dak said he needed some soldiers that were more durable. Goblins, as much as I love them, are pretty fragile. I look through my material list and settle on a fairly hardy creature to combine with the goblin. The hellcrab. I hesitantly assign my last research point and I immediately receive the alert and dismiss it before opening my monster list.

Monsters

Mana Cost

Monster Type

5 Mana

Mindeater, limit 1 per dungeon until a second floor is created.

6 Mana

Palmtail Skitter pack. Creates 3 Palmtail Skitters.

6 Mana

Hellclaw Soldier. Creates a Hellclaw Soldier.

10 Mana

Goblin Naga. Creates a Goblin Naga Dungeon Boss. Limit 1/1

Requires a Goblin monster to evolve from.

10 Mana

Goblin Swordman. Creates a Goblin Swordman Dungeon Boss. Limit 1/1

Requires a Goblin monster to evolve from.

Dak is going to need a few more of these to fill out his ranks. In an attempt to salvage some more mana, I absorb one of the fallen adventurers.

Elven Ranger Absorbed!

All equipment will be added to the materials list.

70 Mana Restored!

Excess Mana...ERROR!!!

I feel the excess mana try to leave me, it’s as if every fiber of my being is swelling, and somehow I force my core to hold it inside. I quickly allocate 60 of the mana into hellclaw soldiers. Every second is agonizing and I feel as if my core will break any moment. As the mana leaves me it pools into ten piles and I feel the pain disperse. The new minions are given shape within my view. The creatures have two legs beneath them, resembling a goblin’s in appearance, but covered in a green exoskeleton. The creatures’ right arms are shaped into a massive crab claw with a bright red color. The claw itself is nearly the size of the creature’s entire torso. On the opposite side of the creature rests a much smaller claw, green in color. The torso of the creature is also covered in the same green exoskeleton. Below each clawed arm is a smaller, less armored goblin arm, most likely used for manipulating objects.

Instead of the regular head of a goblin, the creature’s head has been replaced with the body of a crab. It features two eye stalks that are able to look around in any direction to prevent enemies from sneaking up on it. The hellclaws themselves are much taller than a goblin, each one approaching nearly six feet high. Good thing we are already making the buildings larger for Dak! Each of the ten hellclaw soldiers salute me in an almost practiced unison. To be quite honest, their salutes are captivatingly adorable.

“Reporting for orders master.” Says the Hellclaw who first became fully formed.

”Report to Dak, he will give you all your assignments, you can't miss him! He's big and orange!” I say. The Hellclaws all begin leaving the core room in a group march. Looks like they will do well in their guard roles. I hope they like living here. I will have to ask them later if they need anything as well. As I go to begin working on my next project a notification comes into view.

Congratulations! A new skill has been learned from absorbing Elven Ranger!

The Magic Eye Skill has been unlocked!

Your status windows have been improved!

This is what I have been looking for! I should be able to access a lot more information now! I would love to perform a fist pump right now but the lack of hands thing really continues to be an overall disappointing experience. I quickly look around the core room until I find someone. “Hey Hugh Man do a fist pump!” Hugh Man, who has been sitting in a corner with his arms around his knees rocking back and forth, suddenly stops and begins to stand up. He walks over to the core and begins to speak in a terse tone.

“ Look I really don't want to watch you absorb my coworkers, I mean sure, I was going to betray them once we reached the core. But that's not important right now. Also, my name is William.”

“Oh c’mon Hugh Man is a great name and you picked it, so stop trying to change it! Now give me a fist pump.” Hugh Man lets out a sigh as his shoulders slump. He slowly raises his hand and gives an unenthusiastic fist pump as I give out a loud cheer.

Now I have the perfect opportunity to test my new magic eye...hmmm...how do I have magic eyes? I don't have eyes. Oh well, on to Hugh Man’s status window!

An error has been detected while opening an adventurer’s status window.

Please contact your administrator.

Retrying…

Solution found, switching to Monster Information….

Monster Information

Name

Hugh Man

Stats

Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...Error humans can not be dungeon monsters. This dungeon monster is a human...

Species

Error

Strength

8

Titles

Master of the Theatre

Constitution

8

Age

34 years old

Dexterity

16

Sex

Male

Agility

12

Health

100/100

Intelligence

14

Mana

0/0

Charisma

22

Status Effects

Energy

90/100

Wisdom

10

Well Rested, Stressed

Sanity

40/100

Luck

3

Jobs

Job Level

Skills and Traits

Bard

4

Grandmaster Acting, Expert Disguise Creation, Intermediate Illusion Magic, Invigorating Music, Basic Cooking, Intermediate Lockpicking, Musical Instrument Mastery, Basic Fencing.

Actor

50

Oh my, I have so many questions now! There is so much new information! "Hey Hugh Man I have some questions about your status window I would like to ask." Hugh Man gives out a long sigh in response.

"Yes, I already know that it's been a mess ever since we...contracted."

"Well let's take my questions one at a time. Explain stats to me." I command.

"Oh you must have an analysis skill, most of the time we cannot see stats outside of a guild. Well it's pretty simple really there are eight stats and we can influence and grow seven of them. Luck is the exception it never changes.” He furrows his eyebrows as he continues his explanation. “ I'm sure you can see, but my luck is terrible which likely contributed to why I'm here now, answering your basic questions." I decide to interrupt him here, he must be wrong.

"I don't know about that, it seems pretty lucky we got to meet!” He waits for me to finish my outburst before continuing.

"Generally, the normal stat for your average human should be around ten. Every race is a little different though and as we grow, so do our stats.” I interject once more, this is all getting very contradictory.

"But you said the average is ten how come your strength and constitution are so low and your other stats are much higher?"

"That has to do with my jobs, actors use charisma to make their roles believable, agility and dexterity are often used for dancing." He explains.

"Ah, so those stats grew because you were using them the most!" He gives me a few claps to congratulate me coming to the conclusion on my own.

"Yes, and as actors rarely have to do manual labor or participate in any combat my strength and constitution are lacking."

"Well don't worry I won't make you fight I'd you don't want to!" I say with conviction.

"Thanks for that. Although I doubt you would need me in combat." He says while eyeing two Hellclaws at guard near the entrance to the chamber. "As you can see my charisma is quite high. Having twenty in even a single stat is rare, and denotes power in it’s area. Most humans never reach it due to our limited lifespan.” He keeps saying most Hugh Mans but he should be the only one right? Wait it must be like the cook name Yidhra had, every tribe must have such naming conventions!

"So, what are jobs I haven't seen those before." I ask.

"Jobs are how most of the enlightened races are able to grow. It's what separates us from monsters. Without them, we wouldn't be able to resist monsters or survive as we would be far too weak." His lips thin as he pauses. That does make sense. Dak was able to easily defeat them even with their jobs. Hugh Man continues. “Do keep in mind we can have any number of jobs, but the total level cannot exceed 99.” It appears that he has finally finished his explanation.

"Thank you Hugh Man. This information has been very helpful! I'll let you know if I have any more questions. I think you should be in charge of adventurer relations going forward, considering you know a lot about them!" I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. Hugh Man’s body stiffens in momentary shock and after a brief moment he speaks up, with as much courage as he can gather.

"I can attempt to talk to others as they show up, but honestly adventurers are mostly only motivated by money. Without being able to earn a wage, they won't treat this as a town no matter what you do.

"Oh money is important for adventurers. Sluggo did tell me that." I move my mana out and begging materializing piles of gold and silver coins on the ground. I use about ten mana total to construct the currency and hopefully it's enough. "Will this be enough to get started?" Hugh Man stares down at the pile of thousands of coins on the dungeon floor, remaining completely motionless for a few moments. He suddenly snaps back to attention.

"This is great. You know what? We can probably start our own guild here. I'll be your guild leader. We can offer bounties within the dungeon and in the area around it. We can pay the adventures with the currency you manufacture. We can also buy materials like other guilds but we will have you absorb them instead of using them for crafting. We just need to make sure no one from the church sees the abominations like Dak. Goblins should be fine and the Hellclaws can probably pass without too much suspicion.” Hugh Man’s thinned lips start to turn upwards into and even thinner smile. “Yeah, this could work. I'm really glad I came here." His eyes have yet to move from the gold and silver on the floor. I let out a cough to break the silence that had started to encroach our conversation.

"Well let me know if you need anything else. I have a lot to get done today, but feel free to get started." I say before I move my mind out of the core room, but Hugh Man never responds, continuing to stare at the money on the floor. Adventurers must really love money.

I move out into the main room of the dungeon. Goblins are dashing all over the place trying to get ready for Glaakis ritual. The little goblin village has really come together now. They have constructed quite a few dwellings and have even increased the size of both the barracks and the tavern to accommodate larger creatures. Over the past few days I realized something important. The upgrade system for rooms seems to work off of my ideas and intentions and is not something generated in a linear fashion from the system. Now that we decided to turn this place into a real town the upgrade menu should be different. I decide to pull it up in anticipation.

Monster Village

A village built by multiple species of monsters in an abandoned mine.

Cost

Upgrades

5 DP

New!!! Convert the existing monster village and subterranean farm into a monster town. House of Horrors title will effect this upgrade in unknown ways.

40 Mana

New!!! Add a church for the cult of the Shiny God. 0/1

30 Mana

New!!! Add a mining tunnel network where ore can be harvested.. 0/1

30 Mana

New!!! Upgrade the rail system to create a better transportation system for transporting ore.. This feature is heavily influenced by the House of Horrors title.

20 Mana

New!!! Add an adventurers guild 0/1

5 Mana

New!!! Upgrade the goblin totem into a shrine of the Shiny God. Turns the surrounding area into a non combat zone. Initiating combat will inflict the aggressor with multiple status effects.

As I thought, the system definitely can interpret my intentions and change my options to fit them. This also explains how monster fusion has mostly created creatures that can fill their intended roles so efficiently. I decide to purchase all of these upgrades. I move my mana over to the corpses of the other two adventurers and begin absorbing them.

Human Barbarian Absorbed!

All equipment will be added to the materials list.

50 Mana Restored!

Human Priestess Absorbed!

90 Mana Restored!

Excess Mana...ERROR!!!

Once again I force the mana to stay within me and immediately allocate it to all the upgrades available. Some excess mana might still be lost if I dont have anything to asign it to. It seems the priestess contained the most mana, maybe magic users contain more mana? More importantly, I can’t believe the party of adventurers had three Hugh Mans, that has to be confusing in conversations!

My mana stretches out across the entire village chamber before reaching even further into the farm as well. The rooms glow in a violet hue that envelops everything. Some of the goblins stop and stare at the totem in the center of the village before dropping to the ground, kneeling. After a few moments the blinding purple light fades and the upgrades have fully finished. The results swiftly become apparent. The chamber itself has grown so large in size that it would now buckle under its own weight, if not for the multiple massive stone pillars now supporting the roof above the town. Where the entrance to the dungeon used to lie has now expanded and been replaced by two large rail systems exiting the mouth of the mine. A large creature three times the size of a goblin is racing down its tracks. It appears to be a combination of the lightning roach I had absorbed and a minecart. It is mostly roach in appearance, but fused to its back is a large metal cart and in place of legs it has four wheels that seem be given movement from the discharge of its electrical pulses. A goblin who is riding in the cart is either screaming in terror, or cheering. I cannot quite tell the difference.

As the cart passes by I notice a large stone wall now stands around the perimeter of the entire town with four stone watchtowers, thirty feet in height, resting atop it. Two gates stand on each end of the town, one leading to the entrance of the mine, the other to my core room. Located within the town walls is a large garden area with various underground plants growing, including the observer mushrooms and flesh moss. The flesh moss is now growing across most of the mine’s walls in the main chamber, ready to be harvested for hungry citizens.

The tavern has been upgraded and looks like it can now host upwards of thirty guests at a time. The barracks has increased in size as well and now sports an armory and improved prison area. A guard house now sits near the other gate as well. The town has dozens of dwellings that are much better in quality compared to the shacks the goblins had used before. A large building now sits across the way from the tavern and a sign hangs from it reading “Adventurers Guild”. Posted outside of the tavern is a new bulletin board, but nothing is listed on it as of yet. In the middle of the town where the totem once lied is now a massive church, the building itself seems to be constructed from still living flesh and bone. Sacs of pus ooze from its sides occasionally. The totem now erupts from the church’s roof in the same location it once stood and gives off an eerie glow. The totem remains largely the same, but now seems to be carved from bone rather than wood. I notice Glaaki and the other goblins have approached the church and most of them are now kneeling in front of it with the exception of Glaaki, who for some reason can't stop laughing.

Spoiler :

Dungeon Information

Name

Shiny God

A mine that is being used as space for town for various species of monsters. The creatures that live within worship the Shiny God.

Dungeon Name

Nameless Dungeon

Titles

House Of Horrors

Age

5 days

Sex

N/a

Mana

26/50

Current Skills

Theme

Small Mine

Goblin Language, New!!! Common Language, Basic Goblin Construction, Basic Leadership, New!!! Magic Eye

1st Floor

Monster Town

0 Dungeon Points unspent

0 Research Points unspent