Expand up? You mean where those kids are? I don’t think I’m ready for that yet, I know they aren’t the only kids up there since I didn’t see the little elf kid this time and I can feel more than just a few pairs of feet pointing on… my ceiling? The floor? It’s kind of weird thinking about if it’s a ceiling or floor and what decides which it is. Ugh, never mind. First let’s upgrade to the max before I even think about expanding.

Spiders up first, so I can get my next special guy. And done! The options I get are spider tank or poison spider. Let’s go poison, to keep us a bit more safe. The first spider that came out looked almost like a widow, and it’s not that big either so let’s make you an assassin. ‘Spider assassin’ now reads above the little ladies head. I figure if it’s a widow might as well be a female. I have no idea how to check if it is or isn’t one so I’ll just assume I’m right for now.

The next spider that comes out though looks more like a wolf spider than a widow, now I’m confused. Wolf spider aren’t poisonous, at least on earth. Who knows what the rules here are? So I just let it be and choose to trust the system.

Next up is the mice- er uh rats actually, looks like I can upgrade them again. Neat! And somehow it doesn’t even take up a quarter of my mana. This keeps getting better. I notice my bar refills at a decent rate, those upgrade already showing good returns! So the rats are just a bit bigger than before but seem to take a beating pretty well.

Ever since the big battle I instigated, the rats have been mostly tanking and the spiders do the damage. Interesting, I didn’t know spider and rats could strategize like that. I try to upgrade the rats again but seems I can’t yet, and it’s not for a lack of mana, it just says ‘requires first expansion’. What is this? A triple A game? I shouldn’t have to buy expansions to play the whole game I should just- oh wait, it means like expanding up. Haha i guess I’m still a little sore from spending over 150 dollars on one game. But that’s behind me now.

I do one last upgrade for the spiders and it shows the same thing as the rat den does. Well let’s poke around and see what else I can do. I focus on things like traps and chests, both of which has a weird little menu to choose things from. I guess I’ll make a chest over here by this wall, I don’t have an option to put anything in it yet though. Oh idea! Hey rats! Get a few of you over here- no not all of you just about two is fine! Okay gotta be more specific from now on.

Ok so I need you to go behind the chest, yes between it and the wall there, and dig out a small area under the chest. One big enough for you to go in and out of, it should be easy seeing as the floor is just dirt down here. Good alright now that that’s done we get to have some fun. Guardian, assassin! I need you two to help. We’re moving my core!

I want the guardian, you know what? Let’s just call you ‘Panzer’ like the tank. Ok panzer, you get to carry the core and take any hits that may come, sorry bud. And let’s be super original here and just call the assassin ‘Widow’, you need to do your best at keeping things away from panzer and in turn me. Got it? Ok with just a few more rats and spiders to help let’s move people!

As soon as my core left the cloth bugs scurried out from wherever they were hiding like a bright light was turned on. I have to say I’m impressed with how well everything was doing at keeping the vermin away from my core. It wasn’t long until we reached my new little home and had a slightly smaller rat push my core into the new hidey- hole and covered it up with a small piece of wood and torn cloth.

Once the core was covered again things seemed to die down a bit, so now I’m a bit more secure, my rats and spiders a bit more deadly and I feel a bit more confident it’s time to expand.

I check to see if I still have enough mana and it actually seems I have twice as much as I need now. So I start to wonder how this will work, they said I was fundamentally changed so I think I can have sentient denizens, but how would that work? Nothing to it but to do it I guess. I accepted the expansion.

Suddenly I can feel a whole new floor, a living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom front and back door, and even stairs to a second level. But they were only labeled such, when I actually inspected each room myself it would be generous to even cal this place a house. And children were living in this? I noticed a small very dusty plaque by the front door that- why I can read that? Whatever angel intervention or something. It reads as simply ‘orphanage’.

Oh, that’s kinda sad. I focus on the human boy I saw earlier, Tommy I think his name was, and a notification pops up above his head, ‘Offer residence’.