I face planted onto the mess hall table and groaned in defeat. No matter how I cut it I was still short of getting to build the shrine. There was so much more to worry about, a long term food plan, bathing, water storage and much more. Living in a modern world had given me easy access to a comfortable living standard yet hid so many of its necessities, necessities I took for granted, necessities humanity had worked decades for to develop, build and carefully plan.

“Well we can hold off on the shrine for now.” Rolada said with a pout. She poked my head and asked. “We can still make a library for our study dates rig-?”

“We need to make underground farms with the seeds you bought or we will run dry in the winter, we can’t rely on buying food in Wyrmbreath.” Burn interrupted “The by-products will help me make potions or salves that can aid us too, so I’m going to need my own work space to -”

“We need space to train, that fight on the mine track was sloppy. Josh nearly got SKEWERED by a spear from a low tier grunt” Lin shouted over the crowd.

The mess hall had turned into a debate hall as everyone chimed in with what was best to build next, creating an inharmonious mess of words and sounds. Something inside of me snapped as my attempts to calm everyone failed.

I slammed my fist down and felt my veins run hot. Fire spilled out of my hand and covered the table in soot. I huffed and tried to calm myself as I spoke in a measured tone. “Can I have some peace and quiet please?”

The mood in the room took a nosedive for the worst, with people backing up and vacating my presence. Burn’s eyes were wide as he tried his hardest to sneak out of the room and avoid my detection. The others apologized and shuffled out of the room hastily. Except for two, left behind was a stubborn dwarf and Drone 1 who offered me a plate full of cold berries which I gladly took. I gave him an affectionate pet and told him to take a break with the other minions.

“Sten.” I said.

“By the old beards Josh, you need to watch that temper. I know it’s ironic coming from a raging dwarf but not only are you a keeper, but a wizard too. The rage of your kin has marked these lands for generations and remained all too well in the memory of folk trying to scrape by.” The dwarf said sagely.

“I’m not a leader Sten, I’m just a guy in his mid twenties who was barely keeping it together. Now I’m marked as some kind of villain and have to worry about getting killed. I nearly got stabbed to death by some rabbit with horns on my first day.” I said.

The dwarf drank his berry juice and looked me over with a critical eye. He took off his helmet and smoothed out his hair. The wild warrior seemed to transform in front of me over the course of a few seconds. Now sitting across from me was a stately looking noble dwarf with a handsome face, and a somewhat wild beard.

“Aye I remember what you said before lad. Stop pretending to be what you're not, stop thinking you're a villain just because you are told what you might be. As for the rabbits, well I’ll hack them down for you.” Sten said.

“I was the manager of a small department store. I didn’t even know how to use half the crap we sold. I can’t fix pipes or build a chair and because of that the minions can barely do their job now.” I said in defeat.

“Then be that lad, be a manager. Let the folk who know what they're doing do their jobs while you direct the flow. That main minion of yours did a fine and upstanding job while you were gone. Guess where he gets those talents from?” Sten asked, jabbing me with a finger.

I tried to retort but failed to find a proper argument. He was completely correct, it was how the system worked. At Dan’s store I had managed to turn a group of unruly teens into some decent workers and history was repeating itself. This dungeon was liveable and had only sprung up in a few days.

“Alright, let's look at our resources one more time. I’ll concede on the shrine and look at getting this place to be comfortable for the winter.” I said.

“That’s what I like to hear. Now not to push my own ideas again but I need a furnace to turn that ore into usable metal. It won’t pass quality control like back home but I can fashion some nails.” Sten said.

Resource stockpile

200 wood

400 stone

5 metal (50 unrefined)

200 food

Rare items

5 mana crystals

50 gp worth of silk

“Sten, you have seen the minions put some things together. Do you think they can make most of what we need?” I asked.

Sten hummed and tugged at his beard. He shook his head and said. “I’m quite doubtful, you said they rely on your talents and the best I’ve seen them do is turn mud and rock into bricks and mortar.”

No pop up appeared listing everything the minions could and couldn’t do. I frowned and tried to think of what else we would need in the near future that could be built by us. Burn claimed to be able to make soap which meant he had some knowledge of chemistry. We would need to refine the rabbit pelts and cloth into something usable before the cold set in.

“Does Rolada know how to sew?” I asked hopefully.

“The lass is quite skilled with a needle, she has been patching up my shirts since I met her.” Sten said.

“Then let’s get a workspace area for you two. A furnace and forge, then a tailor shop. Might even make a space for Burn to do his work. We need ventilation for that and I’m not sure how to go about it. There’s also the issue of space.” I said, drumming my hands on the desk.

“Lad.” Sten said sternly, tapping his foot on the ground. “We are underground, we can dig a layer down. I already had the minions open some vent holes up top for air flow too.”

He was right, we could build down and make sure there was drainage into the underground river. Thinking over the network of pipes I wondered if we could make crawl spaces between the levels for the minions. It would let them maintain the place and even gave me a new idea.

“What about heated floors?” I asked.

There was a restaurant in my old town where you sat on the floor on pillows while the tiles underneath were heated by water pipes. It was certainly different but it had always made me want heated floors if I ever managed to get my own home.

“Oh I’d love that as much as a warm cider by the fire. The hill forts back home had such a thing, if you can get spare heating crystals I can probably rig up a boiler.” Sten said wistfully. “We would be living like proper dwarves down here.”

I went over the scraps of papers people had written their suggestions down on and compiled them into priorities. We would get the workshop area built up so people could make things. Next would be flattening out a spot in the mine and running water down for underground crops followed shortly by the bathrooms so we could all take a spa day. As I readied the job orders a pop up informed me the minions would need a full day to set it all up and recommended more minions.

“I’ll let everyone know you're already in a better mood. Just remember to take it one day at a time. You got a fortified home, we have food and drink, and soon space for you to train up. Just don’t set this place up in flames.” Sten said, elbowing me in the hip.

I tried to elbow him back but he evaded my attack and slipped past me heading into the hallway. I organized the remaining notes, keeping them on me for the coming days. It would be a busy time for the drones and I knew they would enjoy the work. I mulled over in my head if I wanted to manage more drones at once, the extra help would be a god-send but I might also back myself into a corner down the line if I needed more scouts or guards.

The commands were sent off and the frenzy began. The drones ran into the storage room and piled up with materials before starting to attack the walls with ferocity. Dust and rock bits rained through the room so I had them drape an old sheet across the work area to absorb the worst of it.

“What did you decide on Josh?” Lin asked behind me.

I showed her the notes and explained, “Work stations first so we can use all the raw goods we bought. Then food production followed by the hot baths. Might take till tomorrow to get it all done-”

“Can we move up the baths? Having a hot shower reminded me of why I miss living in town.” Lin asked.

I shook my head and said. “I don’t know what other minions might come up so I'd rather keep the head room right now.”

“Can’t you poke them with a stick to work faster then?” Lin asked. Her stone cold expression broke a moment after and she snickered. “I’m joking, the little guys can work at their own speed.”

The cloth curtain to the work area parted and a very dusty Drone 1 approached me. He started to make strange sounds and a pop up appeared to show me his request. He asked for two more drones to be added to the workforce.

“What’s he going on about?” Lin whispered to me.

“He wants more buddies to manage I guess.” I said.

Drone 1 wiped away the rock dust and had his hands on his hips. He had a stance that suggested he was worried but was trying to play it off cool in front of the big boss. A twinge of familiarity struck a chord with me. I had played this exact same scene out in front of Dan back home for years. Getting piles of work with only one or two workers and my pleas for an extra hand always falling on deaf ears.

I wasn’t Dan, nor did I plan to turn out like the tight fisted man. I sent a new request to Drone 1 to fish out some less desirable wood and our older stocks of food. We had the resources and needed the help so it made little sense to hold ourselves back.

He tapped the required materials and they vanished into thin air. We made our way to my room to head to the crystal. I made sure to listen out for Burn and Bent to see where they were. Currently they were in a far unclaimed room talking to Rolada about what they could get for their own space.

With them distracted, Lin, Drone 1 and I reached the crystal. The tiny clear crystal looked comically small compared to the other one we had seen. My hand started to twitch and my desires almost flipped, why build a shrine to a priestess when I could use all the gold to improve its power. Why rely on strangers who doubted me when I could have a legion of friendly helpful minions instead?

I tore the thoughts from my mind and tried to beat them down with logic. The shrine would get me the favour of the goddess of magic, which is what I was building myself on. A demon priestess to help us and remembering Vixa’s rather impressive stats and level I felt confident that this priestess might be even more powerful. Getting more power to my crystal would be helpful, but so would allies.

Willpower save : Success!

The crystal hummed with energy and the pressing desire vanished, almost if it was never there to begin with. The light coming off the crystal I noticed had a slight purple hue to it and deep in its facets I could see the colour was changing towards purple as well.

“Hello, do I need to stick my tail in your mouth Josh?” Lin asked.

I closed my mouth only realizing it had been hanging open. I wiped the spit from the corner of my mouth and said. “Sorry, just a weird thought came across me. I’m fine now. Drone one, let’s get you some new workers.”

With three units of food and wood placed in front of the crystal I queued up the menu and sent off my command to the crystal. Black and purple smoke wove together to form a tendril of energy that tapped each pile of material. It vanished and a small hovering orb formed in each spot the tendril had touched. Tiny portals popped into existence and dumped onto the floor our new minions. Once the new hires had been deposited the portals blinked out of existence.

The new minions had the same stats, the same coloured shirts and the same damned name tags. They looked around bewildered for a few moments until they spotted us and they jumped up to salute us. Drone 1 marched in front of them and let out a short speech which must have been inspirational because Drone 4 wiped a tear of joy from his eye.

“Welcome everyone, I’m Josh and I’ll be your keeper. This here is my good pal Lin, and this will be your manager, Drone one. You will find lots of orders already put out and we need to get plenty of work done in the days ahead so I hope you like to work.” I said, trying to be cheerful.

It must have done the trick because the minions looked absolutely ecstatic to start working. They were vibrating with excitement and Drone 1 gave each of them their orders. The moment an order was given the new drone would take off like a sprinter trying to earn a gold medal.

A silver pop up appeared in the corner of my eye, its box also filled with a star shape. It was very different from anything else before and I tapped it. This one came up with some fan fare, as a small horn sounded in my mind and a shimmering effect surrounded the border.

Charisma has increased to 12!

“From that smug look on your face I assume someone just got some good news. Now I might be curious as a cat but I know better than to pry for personal information.” Lin said. She put a hand on my shoulder and drew me into a hug. “But I’m also not against learning what it is.”

“I just increased my charisma, I didn’t know stats could go up like skills.” I said, returning a light hug.

“Usually it's really hard to increase stats, this calls for a little celebration then!” Lin said with a grin. “Drinks can be on you tonight.”

“Did we even bring alcohol back with us?” I asked.

“A bottle or two.” Lin said coyly.

“After the minions get the work done, I’d like to include them in our little celebration.” I said.

“I’m going to go take stock of my new fun toys. I’ll let Rolada know you have some time to kill so you can learn a new trick or two to show us at the party.” Lin said. She raised her hand and saluted me while sticking out her tongue. “Now do I call you keeper, or master?”

“Just Josh please, getting called master by the maids was a bit weird if I’m honest. I don’t need my friends to call me anything but plain old Josh.” I said.

“Alright then, plain old Josh” Lin chuckled to herself and sauntered off to her room. After she left I groaned and marched to my little office. I wasn’t the biggest party goer and for some reason the way she smiled made me think there was going to be a little too much to drink.