Watching the metal eaters bolster their ranks yet still too afraid to approach me, I wondered how much pressure the queen Arganath was putting on them to actually face me like this. Still, I figured having more choices for a negotiating partner was preferable, though I had hoped a mid tier metal eater would have shown up by now. Sighing, I looked at Bas, who was busy swinging his bony tail around and shuffling in anticipation for a fight. Once in while, I even heard “Kiiiilll.....” or “Dieee...” through my link to the summoned creature. I had the choice to disconnect the link of course, but with Bas being my first real mid tier minion, I preferred to keep a closer eye on it to get a better idea of what to expect for any future summons.

So I put up with its blood thirsty thoughts and wondered about the memories I had gleaned from its soul, which I had been rummaged through in the process of taming Bas. I had done the same with the mid-tier metal eater, but most of its memories had been of its brethren, the metal it had eaten, and some dark tunnels. However, Bas had given me some interesting information. Its last memories of outside the fortress had been one of an endless desert and what looked like some humans and their caravan getting slaughtered by some large creatures in the night while hatchling Bas huddled in its cage in terror. Somehow or another, Bas had survived and later found Neduzar's fortress buried in desert.

More importantly, the fact that the fortress was sitting in a desert was disturbing, since it had formerly been in the middle of a large forest. The only thing I could think of was that something had gone wrong with the the self destruct, spell formation that had once surrounded the fortress. I once again got the urge to face palm myself. “Fucking lunatic...”

Giving up trying to remember what other crazy shit Neduzar had planned to occur upon his demise, I turned back to my own plans. Grabbing one of the books that I had floating next to me using a [Float] spell, I flipped through it until I found the correct spells I was looking for. [Calm] was self explanatory as casting it a few times settled down most of the metal eaters in front of me, kind of like pumping them full of Xanax. However, [Befriend Animal] was an interesting spell, as depending on the amount of mana one poured into it, it was able to brainwash the creatures in front of me to think I was their best friend for a while. Mind you, the higher tier the enemy, the more shallow the brainwashing was and the more likely the creature would break free. Thankfully, I was just dealing with the peons among the metal eater hierarchy.

Next came the more annoying move. [Mind Speak] was a neutral, mid tier spell allowing mages to speak to the minds/souls of others. It was kind of similar to the soul link I had with my summons, though only useful if my target allowed me to establish the connection. Fortunately, some of the metal eaters in front of me were my best friends now. Casting it a few times took a few minutes, but I eventually connected with a few of my new buddies. “I come in peace. Take me to your leader.”

However, it didn't exactly go as planned as there was no response in actual language and instead it was just a jumble of emotions, images and even memories of scents coming back at me. One of the little bastards seemed to be asking me if I wanted his favorite chunk of metal, while the other seemed to commenting on its fear of Bas standing next to me. None of it was actually words or even coherent thoughts. “Shit! I knew this would happen.” From Lichopedia, I knew there were other spells that could actually translate what a creature was trying to say using its movements, pheromones, sounds, and even color, but unfortunately my loyal brownies hadn't included them in the books they had left behind. Not that I could blame them, of course, since Neduzar hadn't exactly been the friendly, animal loving type.

Eventually, after a good amount of using my imagination and mental imagery communication, some of the damn bugs understood my intent. For a brief period afterwards, the metal works area was filled with loud scrapping noises and metal eaters beating on one another. Eventually, it seemed as though my new friends had won the debate against their fellows who were less convinced, as a few metal eaters took off into a dark passageway that most likely led to their nest. I knew that I had succeeded in getting my point across as most of the metal eaters kept their peace even after the effects of my spell wore off.

Now, I wasn't being stupid going through all this effort, though killing them all off would have been the easier option. However, as far as I was concerned, they seemed to be relatively okay outer guards to keep out any other interlopers. Moreover, based on what I had seen of the fortress so far, I knew that most of the magic constructs and defenses had been destroyed for some reason. That meant that the large mana pool and the associated necromantic constructs it had powered probably no longer existed. As such, there was no way I would be able to power another large undead army to protect my fortress any time soon. Killing off all the metal eaters would gain me maybe a couple more mid tier servants, but considering the size of the fortress, that just was a drop in the bucket. So, I was willing to negotiate, kind of like the United States did with Japan with the atomic bomb.

I wasn't sure how long I waited, though I didn't mind, as I was busy looking through the six books, trying to figure what rhyme or reason the brownies had for the spells they had stuck in them. Still, I was thankful the little dolts had done a decent job remembering that Neduzar had been a lich and a killer. So, many of the spells did technically fall somewhere in that direction. However, eventually, I heard a rumbling noise and saw most the of remaining metal eaters in the metal works area waving their claws and stingers about as they scrambled around.