So, another chapter out. The slow release this time has been due to me overthinking things. That always makes things turn for the worse in my case. I know there is a lot of boring stuff right now. But as said I love a steady progress. I guess I will have to look for someone to discuss my ideas with in the future. But we will see how it works out.

On another note there is another .5 chapter coming up. This one is going to be... bloody and yeah read at your own discretion.

PS. I was messaged by Trebeh recently. I apologize that I did not answer but every try to respond to the message was met with a error message from this site.

Ugh so much to do.

At this point in time, it slowly dawned on me how much work it actually was to be a King. All of the organizing, issuing mundane orders and making plans became increasingly difficult to keep track of.

Bah… If I wasn't a Dungeon with plenty of resources growing right out of my ass it would be an insane task to handle. I need paper and a secretary soon! Wait…the goblins can't even write yet !! Fuck… I would have never thought to be actually craving for paperwork.

It has been a week now since the talk with Kalannar. The progress over this time has been going quite well but many things are now additionally requiring my attention. For one of course there are the matters that have been talked about with Kalannar. Not just the actual plans but also the hidden implications.

(Gobar):”The plans seem to be quite sound from what you have told me so far. It would be in our best interest to follow them… to some point. ”

I was sitting in the crystal room together with Gobar right the next day after the daily lessons were over. I had just finished retelling everything that had been spoken about and the old goblin was nodding thoughtfully, yet keeping his eyes narrowed. I loved how he hinted at the hidden intentions behind the Drow’s words.

(Me):”So you realized it too. Good that means I am not just paranoid. ”

Gobar huffed at my words and made a dismissive gesture to my words before he gazed around the room slowly for a moment.

(Gobar):”As if you were really doubting your suspicions at all. Isn't that why we are holding this meeting explicitly in the most guarded room? You are even limiting your language skill.”

Sharp little fellow.

The eldest goblin was indeed right with that. Since the moment I was made to realized that, unless the language skill is controlled properly, everyone understands what I say perfectly, I had made sure to pay more attention to and train the use of this skill. So right now only someone that spoke fluent goblin would actually understand either part of the conversation.

No matter how good the Drow are, I cannot imagine them to be this quick to learn a language even if it is goblin.

The reason for this was of course that I was constantly thinking about how easily the first Drows had slipped into our cave and pressed a blade to my neck. I was of course seriously doubting that they were not paying close attention to our moves.

(Me):”Then let's see if our thoughts align on the various points or if one has noticed something that the other did not. Starting with the plan to take out the tribes. Basically what they are saying is that they will help us reach a certain level of strength to take out and/or enslave the tribes that serve the elves. But this also implies that we cannot get too strong or we will be noticed by the field sooner or later. They will most likely use this as pretense to limit our advancement. Though speaking of which what are your thoughts on that search field. ”

(Gobar):”Yes that is my thought as well. Even if we take slaves from those clans and tribes there will not be any warriors of significant strength or skill, since the Elves would have recruited those to fight on their behalf. At best we will be able to gain some decent hunters. About the search field itself… I doubt that it is as much of a threat as the drow make it out to be.”

I listened attentively to the old goblins words before arching a brow slightly.

(Me):”Well I wonder. If it was not the case why would they not target the tribes ?”

(Gobar):”Such a huge field as the Drow describe it would consume enormous amounts of mana. Even if they are Elves and even if the description of the Drow about the weakness of this field is accurate, it would be too amazing. In my opinion the ability of this field to detect beings according to their race and power should be rather vague. Most likely they would get a rough idea that maybe there is something that could meet their criteria within a certain area. But not more… As for their reasons on not attacking, that would be that they need their talented personal on the frontlines and are vary of actually using important soldiers on uncertain missions. Most likely they were already in the process of formulating a long term plan to deal with the tribes but now see the opportunity to use us. If we lose soldiers it is of no consequence to them or even of advantage. ”

(Me):”Yeah, I imagine that will also be the way for things to go in the real war later on. They will most likely try to maneuver us into things that will cost us a lot of soldiers. So that afterwards they are able to dispatch us much easier if they deem the need for it.”

Gobar agreed to this as well and started drawing some things on the floor by using a stone to make the white lines. They actually looked like things about provisions and other things related to the domestic interest.

Hah.. some food for the theoretical spies.

I leaned over and acted as if the doodles actually made any sense while talking.

(Gobar):”Even the plan for Golems is geared towards that. If one is prepared for them as enemies it is quite easy to deal with them unless they have a high level to support them. The same goes of course for magic. By teaching us, not only do they control what we learn, they also get knowledge about our skills and weaknesses. We need to prepare some trump cards. But for now we need to play along and prove ourselves useful to the Drow or else we have no chance.”

I will not be the one to lift a hand against them first. But if they plot against me and my little servants then I want to have a way to fight back.

After that we still discussed some ideas but it was nothing concrete yet so we switched over to actual organizational matters. We also agreed that we should keep our thoughts to ourselves, since some Goblins would surely be unable keep their animosity in check.

As for the rest of that day I started with the exercises that Kalannar had explain to me. Apparently he would need to catch up on the reports that had been sent to him about the war situation since his departing. So we would begin with my training the next day. I would have loved to start on alchemy as well but I still lacked some plants. Luckily it wasn't that hard to get a hold of this new skill just after a few hours I was rewarded.

You unlocked the skill:

Spirit mana manipulation low

Well that was fast, guess the other manipulation skills helped to get this one easier. Though spirit mana really feels particular.

I had tried out the new skills that I received from the Grimoire. The elements felt kind of substantial and it was a lot easier to move as I wanted. With the Spirit mana it was actually hard to even make it leave my body. When it actually did leave it dissipated much too quickly.

This won't be easy to learn and it seems to be really the only element that has to be within my body.

After that I continued on to play with my manipulation skills and did all kind of things. After all I needed to get acquainted with my skills in a practical manner. To not have my mana take a change I mainly used elemental crystals as a source. What about Spirit mana you ask ? Well basically every being has Spirit mana inside itself. It is basically a part of your soul or something like that, Kalannar wasn't clear on this topic. I had the feeling he didn't quite understand it himself. The rest of this day mostly continued on with the only exception being that I ate and fed my little pet. That was until Gobtar returned.

Your scouts have successfully returned

Map was updated with scout information

Scouts brought back the following plants:

Traveler´s Salvation

Wolfshat

Demon´s Spit

Regisherb

Merlax´s Breath

Maiden´s Tear

Morning Dew

Honeypot

Dream Fluxroot

Eodivel

Bearberry

Ghost Toothwort

Chirpanor

Fangnettle

....

Plants were added to your spawn skill.

Woa they seriously did some searching there.

I went to check but they really had carried over a buttload of plants over. The list was quite long and further down there were also some more mushrooms and some more tree seeds. With this I had more than enough plants to go at my alchemy career. After complimenting and promising them the slave women´s first time as reward I went to my lab, leaving behind some quite happy scouting troops.

Hmmm now how should I do this.

After pondering a bit I decided it was time for a more extensive greenhouse with all of that. I carefully moved the farms and orchards south by one black and then spawned another layered farm above them. The first thing to do was that I took a quarter of this farm and joined the floors into one room with an entrance on each of the three layers. Into this I moved my laboratory. I then quickly built little separations into it just like in the previous greenhouses. Once that was done I spawned into each separation a different one of the new and old plants before also adding a good many into the labyrinth and the insect homes. Since the goblins had brought some live plants at well I had them carry the stuff down and into the laboratory. Here I started right away to use the samples to test out my own and the equipment's capabilities. The end products were a few potions and poisons that were infused with some nature mana. In their effectiveness the poisons would barely be better than the stuff that I could get out of gobs veins. The potions most likely somewhat around the lowest level of actual healing spells.

Well for a first try and with limited ingredients… not bad.

Of course this part of my Dungeon was now a big time eater over the week but it was important after all. Starting the second day I had actual lessons with Kalannar. They proved to be quite interesting as we did not just stay on the topic of magic but he also shared some information on the war situation. But to learn real magic proved to be a good bit harder than just the manipulation of mana. Actually the hardest part was to get my conscious mind in contact with the subconscious one. As human back in the old world I had no concept for this at all and never attempted such things as communicating with my inner self. I was not of the spiritual or esoteric kind of guy. After each lesson I felt as if I had a knot in my mind which was a quite unnerving feeling. This went on through all the week and this drowish teacher from hell insisted on pounding his magic teaching into me with all the persistence of a sledgehammer. But in the end it was quite worth it. Once I had gotten over the step of picking up communication it actually progressed quite quickly.

Unlocked the skill:

Mind magic low

This was my personal highlight for the week. Of course the degree of effects I could cause with the low ranked magic was very limited. It mostly consisted of magic´s such as the ‘Calming Touch’ or other such minor effects. But it gave me actually a much greater reward. Namely I understood how magic was constructed. It was not unlike programming something on a computer just using my unconscious mind as the calculating hardware. Especially it cleared up some things that I had learned from the enchantment skill before. Anyway, still on the second day the scouts returned with a few new additions to our home.

Your scouts have successfully returned

Map was updated with scout information

Scouts subdued the species:

Giant mountain Rabbit

Scouts unlocked the skill up to the level:

Trapping mid

Sling handling high

Scouts unlocked the class:

Apprentice Hunter

Well well they sure worked hard again. Rabbits huh? Perfect. I hope they do multiply as quickly as the ones on Earth.

The name pretty much gave away everything that there was to know about the beasts. It was huge. The goblins actually were carrying one each and as such they had brought back 6 of them. Luckily it was a ratio of 4 females to 2 males. Of course I right away went about to make a new home for these fellas next to the farms. It was basically just like any other home block just that it consisted completely of grassy floors and some hills. They seemed to be happy enough with that. As for the unlocked class, it was actually quite useful.

Apprentice Hunter

The most common providers of food in a tribe.

Requirements:

Hunt a prey for food

Trapping skill

1 ranged combat skill

Stealth skill

Detection skill

Bonuses:

Heightened Senses

Strengthened Hunter skills

That description is kind of mean…Well I guess it is true that hunters are a pretty common thing. Still…

I was slightly stumped by it but then again the effects of the class seemed to be pretty useful. Some of the goblins asked to be allowed to take that class after it was unlocked and I agreed. After all it seemed like they would offer useful abilities on the plan to get the tribes. The rest of the week I did my best to get the production of potions and other goods flowing towards the trade with the Drow and they seemed quite happy with how things were going. They even brought over several large glass flasks for transportation of the liquid goods I was producing. Not that the quality was actually that good, but ever potion could help in their war efforts to get more soldiers treated and back on their feet. Speaking of soldiers there was one more thing I built for my troops training regime.

(Me):”Well then Gobtar, Vierna…What do you think ?”

The two people were looking around curiously and inspected my new creation. I had taken 4 blocks and converted them into a wood area. It was made to resemble what I had seen outside. Plenty of trees and all sorts of plants were put out randomly and accelerated in their growth until they had reached an acceptable degree of height and development. Of course there were also sources of water sprinkled across the area.

I will have to put some of the rabbits in here later when there are plenty of them.

(Vierna):”It seems a bit excessive. But I guess it serve well as a training area to train actual combat situation between army forces.”

I nodded pleased since Gobtar nodded agreeingly as well. I was no military genius as such, but I knew at least that conventional strategies were of little use in a real wood area. Why? Because you cannot use formations or for that matter really march inside a forest as primal as this one. It was imperative to train ambushes and detecting enemy ones.

(Me):”I will let some rabbits take residence within the forest as well. The younger goblins can get a feeling for the hunting then.”

The two of them offered some suggestions as well as we strolled through the wood. They also reported various things to me.

(Me):”So the goblins are far enough to start the attacks on the tribes?”

(Vierna):”Yes they are. Gobtar´s unit especially has grown quite proficient in the use of wind elemental mana to reduce their sounds to almost nothing. They also learned how to hide their smell which will be crucial on most beast type clans. At least a trial run should be initiated with some of our soldiers accompanying them. There should be a couple of tribes that send their members out of the detection field far enough for us to be of assistance and to prevent the worst case. ”

That sounded good enough to me and I approved for them to start planning the first expedition. Though the condition was added for them to bring back as many tribesman as possible alive. The slaves that we had so far had begun to do simple work in the farms, but they still looked more dead than alive.

I guess my pet has recovered the best out of them all since I have taken personal care of her.

My elf seemed to slowly get comfortable in her position. Over the course of the week I had spent some time with her each day bringing her meals and treating her in a manner befitting of her status. She still seemed reluctant, but since it was leagues better than what she had experienced before she actually begun to warm up to me. With her it was also that the last major event of this week took place. A Messenger came to me from the Drows.

(Messenger):”The Ambassador wishes to inform you that the special packet arrived according to your specific wishes. ”

Wonderful ! Now this will become real good entertainment.