After Jo left, Chris closed the portal, before sending a mental message to T'ka to check on their progress. *Hey, how's it going? Have you guys found any leads on the hobgoblins yet?* Chris sent, as he teleported over an ability core, studying it as he considered how to process it.

*Yes, Master. We are almost finished.* T'ka sent back respectively.

*That's good.* Chris nodded absently, frowning as he remembered he didn't have any electricity in here, which was a bit of an issue. He really needed to buy a generator. Maybe get some blueprints for a power plant? How do power plants work? Would he need to create waterfalls? Chris paused. *Wait, what do you mean when you say 'almost finished'?* He asked T'ka, frowning.

*We have subdued the hobgoblins, as well as the majority of their goblin subordinates. However, there are still a few stragglers that fled into the tunnels which we need to hunt down.* T'ka replied.

Chris blinked a few times as he tried to process the new information. *So… huh. I really expected to have more involvement in that.*

*Should we have waited, Master?* T'ka asked, sounding concerned.

Chris paused, thinking about it. Should they have waited? Did he need to be personally involved every time he took over a tribe? What did he contribute? A plan? But they obviously did just fine without one. Plus, as they did it more and more, they'd get better and better. Chris knew he didn't have a natural talent for strategy in the first place, so maybe he should find a subordinate who did and let them take over.

*Master?* T'ka asked again, sounding even more nervous, worried his silence meant they had made a mistake.

*Hm? Oh, no, sorry, you guys are fine. I'm just… considering a new direction.* Chris sent back absently, falling back into his thoughts. What he needed was some sort of command structure for his subordinates, something new subordinates could be easily integrated into as he subdued more and more. Something that would allow talented creatures to rise through the ranks.

Chris's first thought was a rule of five. Five creatures would combine into a team, five teams would combine into a squad, five squads would combine into a platoon, and so on. Chris didn't have the patience for anything more complicated. At the moment, he didn't see any need for anything larger than a platoon, and even that seemed to be a bit overkill, but he had no idea what they'd be running into once they got to the higher levels of the Maze, so he figured it'd be best to be prepared.

As for command structure, Chris figured that for teams and squads, the commander would be embedded, one team member being the team leader, and one of the team leaders doubling as a squad leader. After that, however, the commander needed to be separated, looking at the overall view, leaving the minor details to their subordinates. "Pretty much where I am now, huh?" Chris muttered to himself. With the current size of the Immortal Tribe, it didn't make sense for him to be personally involved in combat. He was more useful on the back lines, coordinating, telling teams where to go through his mental communication. It'd be pretty difficult for his subordinates to coordinate without-

Chris paused. "Wait, how did they coordinate that attack?" He muttered to himself, frowning. He reconnected with T'ka. *Hey, how did you guys manage to plan the attack on the hobgoblins? How did you even manage to get together for it?!?*

*We talked to each other?* T'ka answered tentatively, confused. Wasn't that how all plans were made? Through communication?

Chris rolled his eyes. *Okay, yes, sure, but how? You guys shouldn't have even been close to each other!*

*I don't- we- we talked like we're talking now?* T'ka answered hesitantly, becoming increasingly confused. Chris wasn't anywhere close to her, yet they were talking just fine. Why wouldn't she be able to do the same with Dyrdek, or any of the others?

*Not-* Chris began to shake his head, before pausing. *Wait… you guys can use the connection with the world to talk to each other too?* He asked.

*Yes?* T'ka replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. *For fucks- ugh, whatever. Sorry to bother you. Let me know when you guys need a portal.* He grumbled back.

*You could never bother me, Master. I live to serve.* T'ka sent back seriously.

Chris frowned slightly. *Right…* He trailed off, before shaking his head and moving on. "So, my subordinates can talk to each other through their connection with the world… not sure what to do with that." Chris muttered to himself. At least it meant that they could coordinate on their own, without his interference which… he wasn't exactly sure was a good thing. Besides the fact that they were all completely loyal to him, Chris was beginning to learn that his subordinates were a lot more independent than he'd previously thought. The more he interacted with them, especially after they mutated, the more they began to feel like… well, people. People with their own dreams, desires, and ambitions. People whose values didn't necessarily line up with his own.

As his forces grew, he gradually lost the oversight he once had, leaving his subordinates more room to act without his permission, without his knowledge. What if they did something wrong, like attacking a Scout patrol? It wouldn't even take all that much. The Scouts would attack a group of strange creatures instantly, especially one showing signs of advanced intelligence and organization. His subordinates would just be defending themselves. However, even if it would be understandable, he couldn't condone his subordinates killing humans. On the other hand, could he really ask his subordinates to just roll over and die whenever they ran into humans? Was that fair to them? Sure, it wouldn't be permanent, but it'd be painful. They'd suffer. Even if they were loyal to Chris, could they really avoid building up resentment if they kept being killed by humans? Maybe not against him, but at least against humanity.

"Stupid people and their stupid emotions." Chris grumbled, rubbing his temples. He really didn't have the patience for this kind of thing, especially since if he was the affected party, it'd be a non-issue. He really just wanted to say fuck the creatures, a little bit of resentment won't hurt them. His control over them wouldn't let them act on it either way. But he couldn't. It wasn't right, and Chris just didn't have it in him to do something he believed was wrong, even if it'd be easier for him. No, he had to find a way to make sure his subordinates and the humans would have the least amount of interaction possible.

Chris sighed, returning to his thoughts on organizing his subordinates. What if he had teams dedicated solely to moving through the Maze as stealthily as possible, doing their utmost to avoid detection? As long as the humans didn't know his subordinates were there, it wouldn't be a problem. Additionally, anything else his subordinates would run into, they'd first report to him, so he'd be able to make decisions on how they engaged. Besides, thinking about it, it probably wasn't the best idea to have a giant army killing everything in the Maze as it climbed higher and higher. The sudden power gap would throw everything into chaos, which would do nothing to benefit the City, and defeat the purpose of him climbing the Maze in the first place.

Unfortunately, there was the other issue of how he was going to feed his subordinates. Without the massive amount of hunting his subordinates did every day, their food and water supply would begin to dry up. Even though he could now make anything he wanted from the Immortal World, it still couldn't leave the Immortal World. Just like the strange base substance he'd first created, anything made without using matter would simply disappear once it exited the Immortal World. If he wanted his subordinates to be able to leave the Immortal World without dying, he needed matter to feed them, which meant he needed to gather resources. Thankfully, he wasn't limited to hunting creatures. As long as it was matter, he could turn it into whatever he wanted. He'd just need to dedicate a certain portion of his subordinates to digging up rocks, but that would mean yet another division he had to create and organize.

Chris sighed, rubbing his temples. "Alright, so, I'll need a stealth/recon division, a combat/capture division to actually take over the tribes, a resource division for food, a division for convincing creatures to submit… anything else?" He muttered to himself, listing the divisions off on his fingers as he went through them. Suddenly Chris paused, frowning. Something was bothering him about all this. He couldn't deny that his subordinates needed to be organized, but… something felt off.

Chris's thoughts spiraled for a moment, before he shook himself. "Okay, let's refocus. What is my goal at the moment? To climb the Maze. Simple. How do I accomplish that? By continually moving further and further up the Maze. How do I do that? Hm… well, it is possible to do it by cultivating stealthier and stealthier subordinates, who can sneak past powerful creatures without being noticed, but… that seems to miss the point of climbing the Maze. It isn't just about getting up there, but having the power to actually influence the area once you're there. Like, as much as humanity can reach level nine and above, we're not strong enough to control it, so we can't say it's our territory like we can when it comes to the lower levels. No, reaching the highest levels of the Maze would be pointless without the accompanying power.

"So… how do I build my power?" Chris pondered thoughtfully. "Hm… well, increasing our numbers is one way, obviously. No matter how strong you are, if enough people gang up on you, you're gonna have a bad time. Of course, throwing wave after wave of expendable minions at a problem until it goes away is probably not the most efficient method. Other than that, my subordinates do get stronger through mutation, but they need to face some actual challenges for that to be effective… having them travel around surrounded by a literal army all the time probably isn't the best for that. Maybe I should send the more promising ones on solo trips? Sort of like a reverse Trial. Travel through the Maze, looking for tougher and tougher challenges, until you die. Then do it again."

Suddenly, it clicked. Chris knew what had been bothering him! He realized that at some point he'd gotten a little off track. He became more focused on taking over more and more tribes than his actual purpose. His goal wasn't to take over tribes, but to climb the Maze! If he kept taking tribes indiscriminately, while he would accomplish his goal, he'd also leave a huge power vacuum in the Maze where those tribes used to be, throwing those areas into chaos. It wouldn't be too bad if it was just one or two tribes, but what about ten tribes? Twenty? Fifty? More? If he'd continued the way he had been, entire sections of the Maze could have been cleared of tribes, completely destroying the natural balance in those areas!

Additionally, he realized he'd been removing himself further and further from the action. Look at this latest situation. His subordinates had taken down a tribe without him! And he was trying to figure out how to let them do it again! What was the end of that? Him, sitting in his Immortal World, doing nothing while his subordinates went out and took care of everything? Did he really want to be stuck in the background again, watching everyone else fight while he just stood there, helpless? "Fuck, what have I been doing?!?" Chris groaned, rubbing his temples. Having subordinates was just so convenient, he'd practically forgotten the true nature of his world! Power through endless challenges! He had to stop making things so easy for himself. So what if he could learn the layout of the Maze by subduing a creature and going through its memories? So what if he could create an army and mow down everything in his path? None of that helped him grow! If he wanted to climb to the upper levels of the Maze and stand on equal grounds with the creatures that lived there, he needed to challenge himself. He needed to give up some of his advantages and work on his weaknesses.

Of course, that didn't mean he would just give up on his subordinates. Despite his recent revelation, it was also true that they were simply too useful. When he eventually did want to start taking over the Maze, they would be the foundation he'd build off of. He'd need to make sure they would grow with him as well.

T'ka contacted him a short while later, letting him know they were ready to begin transporting the captured goblins into the Immortal World. Chris moved to the kobold cavern and opened a portal for them. His subordinates immediately began dragging injured goblins inside, who moaned and whined pitifully as Chris's subordinates tossed them in a pile, before returning through the portal to grab more of the goblins. Dyrdek strode through the portal not long after it opened, carrying three larger, paler goblins, one over his shoulder and two under his arms. He looked around before finally finding Chris and rushing over, throwing the three hobgoblins at Chris's feet.

"The hobgoblins from the upper levels, Chief!" Dyrdek announced proudly with a salute.

Chris glanced down at the hobgoblins, waving his hand to send them somewhere else to wait, along with the rest of the goblins his subordinates had brought in. "Good job. Wait here. I have something to say to all of you." Chris explained, motioning for him to wait off to the side. Dyrdek shot him a strange look, but did as he asked, moving to the side. Slowly the rest of the goblins were moved into the Immortal World, before being sent off by Chris, his subordinates beginning to crowd around as they finished their tasks.

Jello immediately bounded towards him the moment she arrived, tossing the goblin she'd been carrying roughly to the side. "Big brother!" She exclaimed excitedly, leaping into his arms.

Chris sighed in exasperation as he caught the excitable slime. "Jello, this is not the time. We have important matters to discuss." He told her seriously.

"We do?" Jello asked, pulling away and cocking her head. "About what?"

"About how we're all going to operate in the Maze in the future." Chris explained. Jello frowned, not quite getting why they'd need to talk about that. Weren't they just going to keep going up? That's where all the stuff was, right? What else was there to talk about? Chris sighed again. "Just wait a bit. I'll explain once everyone is here." Jello nodded, hopping down from his arms, and sitting on a nearby rock to wait.

Finally, not much later, the last of his subordinates returned, the last one to step through the portal being T'ka, who'd stayed on the other side to organize everyone as they worked. She headed straight to Chris the moment she came through the portal, bowing before him. "We have finished moving the hobgoblin tribe, Master." She announced succinctly.

"Well done." Chris nodded, before coughing, drawing the attention of the rest of his subordinates to him, looking over the crowd as they all stared at him with varying levels of curiosity. "You all have done a fantastic job today. I couldn't have done it better myself. The hobgoblins were subdued, along with the rest of the goblins, giving us access to the path to the higher levels. This is exactly what I asked you to do, and you did it perfectly." Chris began, praising his subordinates as well as he knew how. "However, I have a question for you all. What is the reason we climb the Maze?"

The creatures looked between each other, looking confused. "For better resources?" Firbolt answered tentatively, raising her hand.

"To escape the humans?" One of the kobolds offered.

"For more stuff!" Jello exclaimed.

"Isn't that what Firbolt said?" Dyrdek chimed in, scratching his head.

Jello rolled her eyes. "Not stuff stuff. Stuff stuff!" She explained, which in no way cleared up anyone's confusion.

Chris shook his head. "Those are all reasons, yes, but you're thinking of the question from the wrong direction. Yes, we want resources, we want safety, we want stability, we want stuff, but how do we get it? Why did you not climb the Maze before? What was stopping you?"

"We were weak." T'ka replied seriously.

"Exactly!" Chris exclaimed. "The only reason we get to climb the Maze now is because we have power! When we didn't have power, we were stuck, unable to advance, left at the mercy of those stronger than us. Now, do you think we're strong enough to reach the highest levels of the Maze?" The creatures all shared a few looks, before turning back to Chris, shaking their heads. They knew they were stronger, but they also knew the higher levels were full of creatures that could crush them in an instant. They wouldn't stand a chance. Chris nodded. "Exactly. Compared to the creatures at the higher levels, we're still weak. And that's a problem. My strategy is a problem. I've been sending you out in larger and larger groups, letting you win through numbers. Keeping you safe. Leaving you unchallenged. This is an oversight on my part. My strategies, though effective, have stunted your growth. Have stunted my growth. We don't gain power by taking the easy way. We gain it through pain. Through struggle! By charging into a pack of wild creatures alone and unarmed, screaming in defiance as we die, taking as many of them with us as we can! Because for us, death is not the end! It's merely a stepping stone on our path to greater and greater power!"

Chris paused, looking around at the still confused looking creatures, before sighing and continuing. "Basically what I'm saying is we aren't going to be running around in teams anymore. Well, at least not regularly. We're going to venture out into the Maze, alone, and challenge ourselves. Think of the areas you want to improve and find a way to push yourself in those areas. You want to be better at fighting? Go find something strong to fight. You want to be stealthier? Try sneaking through the middle of a tribe without getting caught. If you keep winning, then try something harder. You keep beating creatures one on one? Go fight a pack. You keep sneaking through tribes unnoticed? Try doing it while wearing bells. Whatever it takes to make things harder for yourself, because that's how we improve." Chris looked the creatures over again, still seeing some hesitance and confusion on their faces. "Uh… any questions? Comments? Concerns?"

Dyrdek raised his hand. "Do we just wander around the Maze? Randomly?"

Chris scratched his head. "I guess? Hmmm… hold on." Chris frowned, thinking about it for a second. If he unleashed his half a hundredish subordinates on the Maze, or more like a hundred if you included the new goblins, he'd run into the same problem as before. They'd kill too many creatures, disrupting the balance of the Maze. "Shit, that's not going to work, is it?" He grumbled, his frown deepening. But he needed his subordinates to actually fight something if he wanted them to get stronger. He supposed he could have them fight each other, but… they needed new, unpredictable situations to give them the best results. The Immortal World worked off data, and the more variety in the data set, the better.

Suddenly, Chris paused, an idea occurring to him. He had three basic types of subordinates, right? Stealth, control, and combat. The stealth subordinates needed to focus on avoiding creatures, so their impact on the Maze would be minimal. They could be the main force he sent into the Maze. They'd focus on moving up the Maze, finding resources, and… identifying powerful creatures. Once they'd identified the powerful creatures, that's where the control subordinates would come in. They'd be in charge of capturing the powerful creatures and bringing them into the Immortal World. Powerful creatures were themselves disruptive to the balance of the Maze, so removing them would actually be beneficial. Meanwhile, the combat subordinates would focus on training by fighting each other, as well as any creatures the control subordinates captured. In the Immortal World, the creatures wouldn't die, so his subordinates could fight them to their heart's content, adding variety to their experiences. He could even create different environments for them to fight in, adding even more variety. Hell, the control subordinates could use the combat subordinates and captured creatures to practice as well.

Chris slowly nodded as he thought through the idea. "Alright, I got it. Here's how we're going to do this." Chris laid out his plan for his subordinates. As he explained everything, their confusion quickly cleared up as they got some clear direction. They weren't sure what to do with Chris's vague directions earlier, but searching the Maze? Capturing creatures? Fighting? They knew how to do that. Once he finished, the stealth subordinates headed out the portal to sneak through the Maze. Chris then made a series of sparring rooms connected to the kobold cavern, before turning to the rest. "So… who wants to be my sparring partner?"

While that Chris was being swarmed by the female kobolds, another Chris formed in the Coreforging suite, getting back to work on processing the ability cores, before pausing. "Shit, right, no electricity." Chris cursed to himself, before sighing and opening a portal to the City. He had to buy himself a generator. He supposed he could use one of the ones the squad had bought, but those weren't actually his. He headed to a farm supply store, quickly finding himself a decent generator, before pausing as he passed the plant section. "Huh… my world could use a bit more green in it." Chris muttered to himself. After a few minutes, and with the addition of an extra cart, Chris pulled into the checkout line.

The cashier's eyes widened slightly as she saw the cartfull of over twenty plants, at least a dozen flower bulbs, a pile of different types of seed packs, a sack of grass seeds, a grow light, a generator, and a small can of fuel. "Are you trying to make a greenhouse in your basement or something?" She asked incredulously.

Chris shrugged. "Something like that."

The cashier frowned. "Well, you're going to need more than a single grow light if you're trying to grow all these plants inside. You'll need to give them proper access to the City lights or some other source of wide spectrum light if you want them to survive. For grow lights, you need at least one per bed, which… you have over ten beds worth of plants here, and that's just the minimum. Also, you'll need to buy the proper soil. Plants need nutrients. You can't just put them in dirt you dig up from your yard."

Chris paused. "Isn't the soil in these pots good enough?" He asked, gesturing to the plants he'd picked up.

The cashier rolled her eyes. "Of course, we use the finest soil for the plants we sell, but what about those seeds and bulbs you bought? Where are you going to plant those?"

Chris scratched his head. "Well, it kinda gets into the specifics of my ability, but basically, I can copy things, so once I have one of something, I have as much as I want. Once I analyze the soil, I'll just make enough for everything."

The cashier blinked at him, glancing down at his carts, before looking back at him. "Oh…" Suddenly his strange purchase decisions made a lot more sense. "Uh… I'll- I'll just ring you up then." She flushed, quickly getting to work scanning his items.

Chris smirked slightly, shaking his head. "Actually, I do have a question for you. Why is it that crop seeds come in these small little packets, while grass only comes in these large sacks? Seems like it should be the other way around, shouldn't it?"

The cashier shook her head. "The plants we sell are for personal home use, not for farms. Home gardening and the like. Farms buy their seeds straight from the distributor, not from small little stores like ours. As for grass… Well, have you ever heard of someone wanting just a tiny patch of grass? You need enough to cover a decent sized area, so we sell sacks."

Chris cocked his head. "I suppose that makes sense… Okay, last question. What are these pollination requirements?"

"Those are the instructions for when and how to pollinate your plants. If you actually want them to produce seeds and fruit, you need to follow those directions." The cashier explained. "We sell the required pollens if you'd like to buy those as well."

Chris frowned down at one of the seeds packets, reading the pollination directions. "Wait, so, if I don't do all this, the plants won't actually produce anything? Seriously? Isn't that- How do plants actually survive without human help then?"

"Well, before we moved underground, the pollination was done by tiny insects, like bees." The cashier paused for a moment. "Actually, that's probably still the case, on the surface… Anyway, now that we're underground, we don't have those tiny insects, because those tiny insects now have abilities and they would be way too dangerous to keep around. But, we still need plants, so now we have to do the pollination instead."

Chris frowned. "So plants developed so that they needed insects to survive? Man, talk about a lack of independence."

The cashier rolled her eyes. "That's how the world works. Think about it, if it was just us humans, with nothing else in the world, would we survive? No! We need plants and meat to eat, water to drink, air to breathe… a place to live… basically, we need all these things that are not us to survive. It's called the ecosystem. Everything lives in balance with everything else, perpetuating life itself! When you remove a component, the entire system goes out of sync, threatening the collapse of the whole thing."

Chris nodded slowly. "Sort of like the Maze, huh? Without the proper balance of creatures, the entire thing would devolve into chaos."

The cashier frowned. "I-I guess? I don't know much about the Maze… I try not to think about that place too much."

"Fair." Chris sighed. "Anyway, I guess I should get some of that pollen, huh?"

Chris grabbed the pollen that he needed for the plants he'd picked up, which, since he'd grabbed every plant they had available, was all of them. The cashier quickly finished checking him out, and Chris waved goodbye, before heading out. He opened a portal, pushing the carts through, analyzing everything he'd bought and bringing the carts back, placing them in the cart return, before returning to the Immortal World. Now that he had the plants, he needed to find somewhere to put them, but he'd deal with that later. For now, he'd focus on his original purpose, which was to provide power for his Coreforging lab.

Chris recreated the generator, filling it with fuel and starting it up. He wasn't quite sure how to connect it to the outlets, but then he saw a plug sticking out of one end, so he plugged it into the wall. He then plugged the hot plate he needed to heat up the solution used to melt the core into another socket, turned it on, shrugged, figuring that must have worked, and began concocting. He was about half way through when he suddenly paused, staring at the hotplate, then at the wall, then at the generator, then back to the hotplate, which suddenly lost power. Chris blinked, then blinked again, then pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming. "That… there's no wires in the wall! None of those outlets are even connected to anything! Why… how the fuck did you have power?!?" He yelled at the hotplate, glaring at it like it'd done something wrong. When he'd copied Jo's Coreforging studio, he'd only copied what he could see, which didn't include the wiring! The walls of his copy were just solid concrete, with outlets that didn't connect to anything. He'd completely spaced these details, since he was just focused on working on an ability core.

He then turned to the generator. "And you! Generators don't work by plugging them into a socket! That… fuck I'm an idiot. Why do you even have a plug!?! You're a generator! You don't need power! You make power! Why am I asking you? Where's the damn manual?" Chris looked around, before remembering he'd analyzed it, smacked himself in the head, and remade the thing. He flipped through the pages, until he got to the right section. "Automatically turns the generator on and off as power is disturbed, allowing for seamless transition and minimizing waste… huh, that's actually pretty neat." He flipped through the rest of the manual, looking at the instructions on how to connect the generator to your home's electrical system. "The fuck is a power transfer system? Fuck, do I need to get an electrician in here?" Chris paused, turning back to glare at the hot plate again. "Wait… why the fuck did you work?!?" He asked incredulously. The hot plate had acted like it actually had power for a good ten to fifteen minutes! Why? There was no way for it to actually get power! Where did the power come from? And why did it suddenly stop?!?

Chris frowned, going over what had happened in his mind. He'd been concocting the solution, when he'd suddenly remembered that there weren't any wires in the wall. He looked between the wall, the generator, and the hot plate, and realized that there was no rational way the hot plate could be getting power, and then… it didn't. Chris paused. "Wait… did it stop getting power… because I thought it shouldn't be getting power?!?" He muttered to himself incredulously. He looked at the generator, which was still running, then back to the hotplate, then back to the generator again, before returning to the hotplate, a strange expression beginning to form on his face, as he slowly decided that he did in fact believe that plugging the generator into the wall socket would provide the hotplate with power. The moment this thought solidified, the hotplate came back to life, quickly bringing the slightly cooled solution back to the optimal temperature. Chris stared at the hotplate in disbelief. "My world… my rules."