With gloom still staining his thoughts, Ian turned his focus to Cynthia and Mirielle.

“Cynthia, bring Mirielle to my core room. You’re both my contractees, so nothing should hurt you. ….Well, nothing will be antagonistic towards you at least.” Ian thought back to the cloud wolves, “Maybe you should directly transport from the transfer formation in the boss room.”

“Alright, but you better answer the question you ignored from before,” she said with venom lacing her words.

….If her bad attitude continued past him saving her village, he would have to address the problem. He didn’t mind a little snark, but the fact that saving her friend didn’t do much to calm her anger was a bad sign.

While Cynthia made her way to the core room with Mirielle, Ian told everyone else, including the spider automata, to come to the core room.

The goblins and spider automata eyed the newcomers warily, as Cynthia lurched into the core room.

“Okay, now that we’re all here, I’ll tell everyone my plans to rescue Cynthia’s village and destroy the ogre tribe Kath’lak,” began Ian. “But first, Cynthia, is there anyway to expedite Mirielle’s recovery?”

“An abundance of sunlight would be good.”

“Does it have to be sunlight or would magic light suffice?”

“It would have to be a lot of magic light, it’s nowhere near as potent as sunlight.”

“How about the light levels on the G- rank floor?”

“That would be better than the no light we’re currently in.”

Oh, yeah, there were no lights in the core room were there. Oops.

“Okay, I’ll make a room of light for her to recuperate in. It’ll be done after I talk to everyone.”

“....Thanks.”

Ian turned to his dungeon monsters, “Did you understand that conversation?”

“We didn’t hear anything,” replied Yervin, “Were you talking?”

“Did you want me to include them?” interrupted Cynthia.

“Yes, but I had hoped the dungeon’s translation function would auto include them. It seems I was wrong,” shrugged Ian’s core.

“....Okay. I’ve included them into our conversation.”

Ian addressed his monsters, “Please tell me if you can’t understand her. Hopefully, the translation function works between dungeon residents.”

The seven of them gave nods of affirmation. The spider automata gave more of a crouch up and down, however.

“To begin, everyone, these are Cynthia and Mirielle, dungeon contractees. All I know about them are their names, that they’re telepaths, that they’re sapient plants, and that they can leave the dungeon without dispersing into mana. Beyond that, I have no idea. However, if I save their village, I’ll get eight hundred plus dungeon contractees. I consider that a major boon with the absorption function.”

Cynthia whispered to herself, “It was so upfront about the dungeon contract and healed Mirielle so easily, I forgot this dungeon only appeared ten plus days ago.”

Ian ignored her (he could get more information from her later) and continued his explanation, “To save them we have to battle the ogre tribe, Kath’lak, which is over five hundred strong. Considering where we’re located, I doubt they’re basic ogres. Of course, I’ll be asking Cynthia any details about them before we go into battle. The main boon and detriment to this dungeon war is anyone that dies outside the dungeon stays dead. So, all of you will have to make sure to stay alive.”

“Of course, my lord!” shouted Mina, while the others gave serious nods.

“The boon is that any monster that dies outside the dungeon will release mana into the world, the main purpose of dungeons. I don’t know if I’ll receive any direct benefits, but not having to deal with mana dead zones is a massive boon unto itself.”

Ian tried to avoid thinking about it as much as possible, but he really hoped dungeon contractees could talk to others without any restrictions.

Ian focused on Cynthia, “I’ll ask now: what’s the average rank of the ogres?”

“A rank,” replied Cynthia.

“That’s a little lower than I was expecting, but it still poses a problem: I don’t have the mana to make the S rank spider automatas, cloud wolves, or flesh tongues. While the blink hobgoblins might be able to pit themselves against the ogres, even with a lower rank, I don’t have enough mana to create five hundred of them. I assume there’s at least a couple S ranks and maybe an SS rank, Cynthia?”

“Yes, the leader is SS+ rank, and his inner circle are all S to SS- rank.”

“How big is his inner circle?”

“A minimum ten members, but most likely more.”

Ian turned his focus back to his dungeon monsters, “With those numbers, even five hundred blink hobgoblins wouldn’t stand a chance. Of course, the chance of them making it past my EX rank floor is still zero. Thus, the only way to kill them with great success is to lure them into the dungeon. However, I want to take advantage of this war and have as many of my monsters die outside the dungeon as possible.”

The seven monsters all gave him wary looks.

Ian sighed, “Not you guys. There’s a reason I’ve attached you to the respawn rooms.”

“Well, you did scare us when you forcibly brought out our mana manipulation abilities,” said Yervin.

“....Are you going to bring that up everytime I bring up something that might harm you guys?”

Yervin just smirked in return.

“Anyway….” Ian grumbled, “my plan is to have Yervin lead the blink hobgoblins and a horde of lower rank monsters to attack the ogres. The lower rank monsters will lead the frontal assault, while Yervin and the hobgoblins use guerilla tactics and try to eliminate the stronger ogres.

“While this battle is going on, Cynthia, Mina, Izu, Pugi, Botan, Narcy,....Arc, and Mirielle, if she’s awake, will go to the villagers and lead them into the dungeon.

“Depending on how much I can perceive of the battle and rescue, I’ll either be giving directions or be back in the dungeon expanding the town.

“First, I need to build up the army, so the rescue team should make their rescue plan with Cynthia, while Yervin gathers the blink hobgoblins on the EX rank floor and gets used to ordering them around.”

The group started to go their separate ways, except for Arc, the spider automata, who was frozen in place.

The edges of Ian’s cover twitched upwards as he said, “You should follow them, Arc.”

Arc twitched and did a little hop as they scuttled after the goblins.

Ian’s focus turned to Cynthia who he called out to, “Wait, Cynthia.”

Her green moss covered body with stumps for legs turned around to face Ian. ….It seemed even though she didn’t have eyes, she still had a preferred front.

“I’ll ask the Helper why you were a dungeon contractee before I did anything, and I want to know how you know the rank and number of the ogre’s inner circle.”

He could feel the mental connection and her impatience for answers, but it seemed she wouldn’t respond to his question until he answered hers.

“Hey, Helper. Why did Cynthia become a dungeon contractee before I had completed any of her requests?”

“Equivalence.”

Ian felt a spike of irritation from Cynthia, “....Could you be more specific?”

“Yes.”

Both of them waited for about a minute as the Helper said nothing else. Right, sometimes it could be an annoyance, like now, but it could also be helpful, like when he asked about the dungeon contract. His dungeon contract questions would be considered more ambiguous, but he got a better answer right off the bat. He wondered what the difference was.

“Alright then,” Ian began, “What do you mean by Equivalence?”

“Equivalence is-”

“No! I know what equivalence is. I mean why is her becoming a dungeon contractee before I do considered equi-oh. Did she become a dungeon contractee before I completed any of her requests because the reward she offered for rescuing her village from the ogres and healing Mirielle wasn’t deemed enough?”

“Yes.”

“What?!” shouted Cynthia. “If he didn’t save Mirielle, then he would have one less dungeon contractee. How is just being able to save one person equal to being able to not fulfill any promises and still get a dungeon contractee?!”

The metal ball that was the Helper focused on Cynthia, “The dungeon contract prioritizes the dungeon over the dungeon contractee. Besides, just because you do not consider them equal, does not mean you are correct. Simply put, unless you got a god to manifest themselves, then the only way to save your friend was to bring her to this dungeon.”

Ian watched the far more articulate metal ball glow a slight red as it moved its focus away from Cynthia. He did have friends in high places, but inhabiting the Helper just to correct a girl with some misplaced anger was a bit much.

He turned to Cynthia, “I know you’re angry, and I’m not going to tell you to get rid of it immediately, but I am fulfilling my side of the bargain, so you’re going to have to get rid of it at some point. For now, just formulate a plan to rescue your village with the goblins and spider automata okay?”

“....Okay,” Cynthia muttered back.

As she started to leave, Ian piped up, “Oh, wait! How did you know so much about the ogres?”

“I’m still in telepathic communication with the rest of my village.”

“Hmm, alright, thanks. Before you go, there’s a transfer formation in the town that will lead you to a light floor for Mirielle.”

“T-thanks,” she said a little louder this time.

The first thing Ian did after everyone left was see if a body he possessed could leave the dungeon. A goblin body bolted out of his entrance, stretched, and did a few jumping jacks, but didn’t return to mana. This was good, but he was still within his sphere of perception. As the goblin reached the edge, Ian’s consciousness jerked out of the goblin who fell over dead. Now he knew that wouldn’t work and had a pounding headache. Still, he watched the goblin disappear into mana, it had its uses.

For his next experiment, he needed to make a leader evolution. No monsters in his dungeon had any leadership experience, and while that would come with time, he needed it now. He could just use DP to purchase up an unused evolution tree, but ever since he started placing his consciousness in bodies, he’d had an idea.

He created a normal goblin, but did not let its consciousness develop. His consciousness spread inside. Rather than inhabiting the goblin, he tried to implant specific memories of initiative, army strategies, troop movements, and attack patterns. It wasn’t his forte, so it was quite lackluster, but should be more than enough for goblin tactics. To finish, he pulled his consciousness out of the goblin and let it gain its own consciousness.

Once he did so, the goblin’s body fell to the ground with its mouth open as drool leaked out. He checked its status which called the goblin a Vegetative Goblin. It seemed he had rid the goblin of any ability to think. He transferred it to the room full of monsters, and hoped the slimes and jellies would take care of it.

With his first attempt out of the way, he continued his experiments. It only took a couple more tries before Ian realized he needed to evolve the goblin before it gained a consciousness. After a couple of evolutions, he kind of got what he wanted in the form of a Dumb Goblin General. The worst part was it couldn’t evolve anymore. It seemed to have reached it peak evolutionary potential. The positive fact was his information implants were having an effect beyond destroying the brain as he doubted he would have gotten a Goblin General otherwise.

Next, Ian tried to reduce the amount of information he was inputting into the goblin brain. A task which was much harder than simply realizing he needed to evolve it. Over time his goblin generals were having less and less problems with them, until he was finally able to get a normal C rank goblin captain. Yeah, when they had brain damage, they were generals, but as soon as he got a normal goblin, it became a captain. It was normal, as he did not have the mana to make an A+ rank monster. But still.

Ian made a few captains and more than a few first and second lieutenants. Compared to normal goblins, they were taller and more chiseled while wearing finery, but the largest differences weren’t physical.

Satisfied with the captains and lieutenants, Ian moved them to the leftover monster room. He moved the babies and creatures that couldn’t fight to the side, so the army would have room to train. The captains began to organize the few troops they had. Ian gave them around one hundred goblins to get them started.

His vision shifted to Yervin who was talking to the blink hobgoblins.

“Hey, Yervin. I’ll make you an entrance to the leftover monster floor, so go there and work with the goblin captains and lieutenants.”

“Okay. Should I take the other goblins on this floor too?”

“No, even if the traps are the real danger on this floor, there still needs to be some monsters in each room….that means you’ll have to leave some blink hobgoblins too.”

“Hmm, okay. Let’s go then. You three,” Yervin pointed at the hobgoblins in the back, “stay here and make sure each room is properly populated.”

The three hobgoblins left kicking stray rocks and sulking.

Ian went back to the leftover floor and began creating goblins. Due to creating Yervin, he had a variety of different types. He created goblin thieves, goblin apprentice mages, goblin fighters, and goblin warriors. Admittedly only half of those came from Yervin’s evolution, but eh. After he saw how the captains worked with what they got, he’d think about creating higher rank goblins. For each evolution he created one hundred of each, which would allow for groups designated for certain tasks.

After he finished creating the four hundred goblins, Yervin came into the room and began discussions with the captains. Ian watched them for a while, before realizing he should get Cynthia and the others here too. The army needed to know the terrain they would be fighting in and how to properly distract the ogres from the village of….huh, he didn’t know what they were called.

“All of you should go to the leftover monster floor/room and strategize with the army. Cynthia likely has knowledge of the terrain that they’ll need.” The group jumped slightly as Ian interrupted their discussion. “Also, Cynthia, what is your race called?”

“Just check my status,” Cynthia answered curtly.

Mina glared at her, while the others frowned disapprovingly.

“Okay,” shrugged Ian. He thought it would be better to get it from her own mouth, but if she wanted to be that way then fine. Her status appeared before him, and he saw her species name was Groonvat, a sapient plant species that used telepathic powers. It seemed they could spread their tail out to increase the area for photosynthesis, and their roots would extend from their legs to gather water and nutrients. Their efficiency and rate of photosynthesis and nutrient gain far outstripped their non-sapient, stationary counterparts, which allowed them to spend less of their day basking in the sun and anchored to the ground.

Please at this gain of knowledge, his vision moved to observe his burgeoning army. It was a good start, but it needed more. He needed to create weapons and armor for each of them. Not only that, but it was currently lacking in variety. Since his army lacked the strength to fight the ogres on equal terms, it needed to defeat them through numbers and surprise. The guerilla tactics from the blink hobgoblins were a good start, but invisible, teleporting hobgoblins would only remain a surprise for so long. A coordinated attack from a wide variety of monsters may surprise them, but it could also just make them think ‘dungeon’.

As Ian watched the group training, he started to think about the ogre tribe. Why were they attacking the Groonvat? He assumed it had something to do with him, but he originally thought it was due to the movement of the flesh tongues. However, if the leader of the ogres was as strong as Cynthia said, then the flesh tongues would have been an annoyance, but one they could have gotten rid of. Hmm, he should just ask Cynthia.

“Cynthia, why are the ogres attacking your village in the first place?”

“‘Cause of you.”

“It’s good to have that confirmed, but could you be more specific?”

“....They want to set up a village around your entrance, and use what they find within you to establish their dominance in the region.”

That sounded like exactly what he wanted, except he thought it would be with sapients rather than ogres.

“There seems to be plenty of space around my entrance, and I’m doubtful your village is just outside my perception. Even if your village was in the way, couldn’t you have let them pass?”

“If that was an option, we would have!” shouted Cynthia while shaking. “As soon as they happened upon our village, they demanded we serve them as slaves! The messenger group immediately refused them and were slaughtered in response. We broke their messenger’s minds, and ran away hoping they wouldn’t follow. However, breaking the minds of their messengers made them furious, so they pursued us. Mirielle and I were sent to you to make a dungeon contract. The village is currently holding out in a defensible area, but as long as their mages protect their minds, our greatest weapon is useless.”

“The flesh tongues caught you on the way to the dungeon?”

“Yeah, all they said was they were so happy a dungeon appeared as they could finally do what the voice told them to do. Since we knew they were going to the dungeon, we followed their orders hoping once we entered the dungeon, we’d be split up. If not, we’d have pleaded telepathically with you to make a dungeon contract with us.

“What we didn’t expect was the stupid way they tried ascertain your strength. If they hadn’t forced Mirielle to control all those monsters, especially the cloud wolves, then she wouldn’t have had to deal with destroying her telepathic organ!” Cynthia spat out with agony in her voice.

Ian let her spill her guts out before asking his question, “By the way, how did you know that dungeons can form contracts?”

Having calmed down a bit, Cynthia answered, “One of our oldest memories mentions the fact that dungeons are sapient and can form contracts with both monster and sapient creatures. ….That memory did warn to only form a dungeon contract when the survival of the species was at risk, though.”

“And you decided to invoke it when only your village was at risk?”

“....”

“Unless, your village is your entire species?”

“No, there’s a number of other villages in the region. The ogre tribe might attack them, but they’re much farther away from your entrance than we are.”

“Hmm, well thanks for the information, Cynthia.”

“....You’re welcome,” she muttered.

He continued to watch the group without speaking to them. Should he fulfill his contract? He’d feel like an asshole if he didn’t, but what he wanted was a group entering him and taking stuff out of him. Did it really matter if that was a village of ogres or normal sapients like humans? In fact, considering the racist and evil nature of the ogres, they’d be more likely to kill others on the surface making his job easier. Still, supporting that kind of village didn’t sit well with him.

As much as a dungeon’s job was to kill intruders and release mana into the world, nations that had a large number of dungeons tended to prosper. That spoke to either dungeons being bad at their jobs, the design of dungeons themselves being bad, and/or the fact that no one would enter dungeons if there wasn’t a consistent increase in a nation’s prosperity due to them. It was doubtful that the ogres would care about anything other than weapons, and once they had their weapons, would they still need the dungeon?

There were a number of reasons, but perhaps the biggest reason Ian decided to fulfill his part of the contract was sapient telepathic plants were far more interesting than normal ogres.