A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

I looked around me at the faces of my closest confidants and advisors. We, assuming my disembodies perspective floating above an empty, crudely craved chair counted, were gathered around a table off to the side of the pond in my core room. It was a rough setup, especially considering the mismatched stools that were necessary to accommodate my various monsters, but it was composed of everything we needed for the time being, not that the quality of the setup was a major concern to begin with. The matters we were about to discuss were far more important than that.

Now that everyone's here, I began, let's begin the first official Dungeon meeting.

In light of what the scouting group had informed us of the morning after they'd interrogated us, things had become hectic in the Dungeon. Truthfully, I still didn't know what to make of it. The about turn from them threatening us with a bomb to plotting against their own organization and bringing us gifts, information, and warnings was just too much for me to wrap my head around, especially when that change took place over the amount of time it would've taken them to get a good night's rest. Still, their warning had been too important to ignore and their show of goodwill too significant to dismiss. For those reasons, we took the threat of a Hero coming to exterminate us seriously.

As bad as an overleveled Hero of all things sounded, surprisingly, I didn't find that it changed all that much. We'd already been preparing for the bear to turn on us for a while now, and I estimated the Hero to roughly be of a similar threat level as it. Because of that, I saw this as more as a matter of our timetables changing than anything else. That was unfortunate considering the slow nature of our preparations up until this point, but it wasn't as though we were caught unaware with nothing that could be done about it. Unlike usual, we actually had advanced warning for this threat.

I had no intention of wasting the time afforded to us. Days wasn't much to work with, but it was better than nothing, and thanks to that alchemist accepting a request from us, we had the resources we needed to work with. As much of a pain as he was, it turned out that establishing a line of contact with the baron capable of keeping all delvers out of our cave for a few days had its benefits.

A lack of delvers meant an excess of mana, and without having to handle our normal operations, we were able to put everything we had into readying our defenses. From there, our limiting factor had shifted away from our mana reserves to my own capacity to handle the mountain of work that needed to be done. Luckily for me, I had people I could rely on to split the burden with

After panicking only a little bit, I'd divided up tasks between my intelligent monsters and thrown myself into handling the ones only I could. Coordination and cohesion were key at this crucial time, though, and that led us to starting a new tradition. From now on, we were to hold nightly strategic and developmental meeting.

First up, I announced, we'll start with progress reports. Does anyone want to go first?

“Ooh, I do!” Pee immediately volunteered, and all eyes shifted to land on her.

Okay, what's your verdict on learning spells?

“I think I figured it out! There's not going to be enough time, though.”

Could you give us a more in-depth explanation? You can have your assistant show us anything you need to.

“Okay! Page twelve please!”

At her command, the Lizard Man leather worker I'd temporarily assigned to help her flip pages, write, and generally just use his hands on her behalf placed what could only generously be referred to as a book on the table. In reality, thanks to our lack of functionally tanned leather to make a cover with, it was more of a stack of papers loosely tied together than anything else, but it served its purpose. It was the copy we'd made of Octavia's spellbook.

“The diagram shown is a spell!” she explained, “Each symbol means something individually, and when put together, it should make fire! I'm still figuring out what everything means, but once I do and memorize it, it should just work!”

That's it? I asked, You only need to decipher and memorize it?

“I think so? Her notes make it sound more complicated than that, but that seems to be the process!”

How far along are you with that?

“Not very. There are too many symbols.”

I see. Is there anything you need, anything that could help?

“A lot of it is memory-based, so Record Memory would help! I know we don't have the Dungeon Points for that right now–”

–Done.

“Mother?”

It only costs eight DP. If I need to cut a draco after this or something I can. You and this are more important.

“Mother!” Pee cheered, warm emotions flowing from her alongside her words.

Anything else?

“Nope! That's everything.”

Okay. I want you to keep working on this. Even if you can't finish before the upcoming fight, figuring out spells is still a priory for us. Now, who wants to go next?

Even with Pee's report out of the way, we still had a lot to get through. Everyone had been hard at work, and even if it had only been two days, I wanted to make sure I was up to date on everything. That way, I could act accordingly.

“If I may,” Archie spoke up, “I do have a matter of pressing importance that needs to be discussed.”

That doesn't sound good. What's wrong?

“While I hate to request additional resources at such a critical time, we desperately require an expansion to the garden. With the rising need for food production, we are quickly running out of space and prepared soil for the amount of alchemical ingredients I require.”

I cringed internally at that. It was a new problem for us, but with our ability to accelerate plant growth, I'd assumed we'd have more time before it became an issue.

But, I thought there was plenty of space left? I objected in disbelief.

“Unfortunately, our early estimates have proved wrong. Some of the plants we assumed to be edible turned out to have less than desirable effects that didn't appear within the test subjects due to the short notice we had to work with.”

The two that were having stomach problems today?

“Indeed. On top of that, there are other plants they refuse to eat due to concerns with taste. It is, in large part, only plants that are specialized for alchemy that we have access to. They are not ideal sources of food, and unfortunately, it would seem most of the varieties that can be used as such require spacious growing conditions.”

I see.

It was a downside with our new loophole for theoretically limitless intelligent monsters. While, so far, it did seem to be working as intended, we'd quickly come to realize unbinding monsters came with its own downsides that stopped them from being quite so limitless. As it turned out, once a monster's bond with me was severed, the laws of physics began to catch up with them. That meant they started needing sleep, water, and, most problematic for us, food.

So far, we only had nine unbound Trentis. I'd been hesitant to summon anything other than humanoids that were capable of speech since unbinding them resulted in the loss of mental communications, and while the Lizard Men were better in some ways then the Trentis were, the plant-fungus-goblinoid hybrids were cheaper and more versatile in the ways that currently mattered. As a result I'd exclusively been abusing Bond Familiar to assemble a small force of them.

After testing things out with the first two summons, I'd determined Bond Familiar's cooldown to be an hour per level that the monster I unbound had. From there, I'd decided on leveling each Trenti I summoned up to level five before going through the process with it. That allowed me to strike a balance between strength and numbers. It also meant I was increasing my forces by just under five Trentis per day.

Technically, just summoning giant Plated Gators to feed them with would've been more cost effective, but these weren't normal Dungeon Monsters I was dealing with anymore. They were sentient beings that deserved a good diet and the best living conditions I could provide them with. They needed acceptable food.

Also, I was no slaver. My contracts with them ensured they took no hostile actions toward me along with a few other safeguards I'd kept in place, but if they decided they no longer wanted anything to do with Heroes, bears, and the like, I wasn't going to force them to stay. I'd even switched to waiting until after I'd converted them before creating magically binding contracts with them due to it feeling wrong to force them to accept when they had no way to refuse. It reminded me too much of how the Fairy Council operated.

I did not want to become like the Fairy Council, and I refused to use the same methods as them. To that purpose, I'd had Stein dredge me back out of my pond and had begun personally contracting with them once I dispelled our bonds. There were risks involved, and I knew it. Still, I did it because I believed it to be the right thing to do, and apparently, the System agreed. That was if the excessively broken achievement doing so had earned me was anything to go off of, anyway.

[Achievement: First Subordinate (Obsolete)

Description: #Bookmark_2 Trigger flags: “Soul_Contract = success”, “Subject_Type = Monster_Subordinate_Contract”, “Target_Parent = Monster_Handling”, and “Target_Metadata_Contains: 'Revolutionary' = true”; Congratulations, you have taken your first step as a Dungeon Core! Treat the monster your assigned fairy has provided you with well, and grow strong.

Reward: Reward flags: “Target = Soul_Contract_Counterparty”, “Target_Give_Experience = 100”; Your new subordinate has gained 100 experience. This is still broken. Come back to it once a method of stealing greater permissions from Monster_Handling has been determined.]

Ominous, broken achievements that I didn't currently have the luxury of time to read into aside, I'd committed to my chosen method of unbinding monsters, and while that was good for whatever remained of my morals, it did make things more difficult. Ultimately, even if the monsters I summoned retained their innate sense of loyalty toward me, I had no guarantee that wouldn't change with time. The way in which Adraugon had awakened was proof enough of that being possible. It meant that, if I wanted to retain their loyalty, I needed to win them over, and that started with keeping them safe and well-fed, which unfortunately led to our current food predicament.

Okay, I responded to Archie after thinking things over for a moment, I'll see what I can do about that after the meeting.I'd like to get us actual crops eventually, but an extra plot in the farm is going to have to do for now.

“That should last us a while,” he confirmed, “We haven't completely run out of space yet, but with the rate at which you are producing more of my kind, it is only a matter of days until we do at best. An extra plot should remedy that for the foreseeable future.”

Good to hear. Now, is there anything else you need? Also, how's progress with the enhancers going?

“Well …”

That wasn't a good sign.

Yes?

He sighed before saying with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, “Success within the current time frame remains possible. However, I regret to inform you that progress has slowed.”

Even with all of those mindless Trentis I've been giving you?

“Unfortunately so. They have certainly increased productivity in some ways, but …”

But?

“Using them has slowed progress in others, though the fault for that falls on me.”

What? Why? Is it because you can't control them well enough? What about the achievement I saw you earned earlier–good job for that, by the way. Does the ability it granted not help?

The achievement in question was actually the second one he'd earned today, and while the first one only granted him an extra level in Alchemy for reaching level ten in the skill, the other was much more special.

[Achievement: Cognitive Micromanagement

Description: One of your monsters has coordinated 3 or more manually mind-controlled individuals' to cooperate on a single task.

Reward: The monster has gained the Mental Packeting ability!]

[Ability: Mental Packeting

Description: You can condense simple concepts into thought packets.

Effect: By simplifying basic concepts into compulsions, instinctual impressions, and nerve impulses, you can reduce the mental cost of transmitting data to other individuals.]

“No, control is not the issue,” he refuted my assumptions, “and the ability does help, though not with that. It actually makes everything else easier at the cost of precision. It is wonderful for controlling multiple bodies simultaneously. However, I'm unable to use it for anything that requires a steady hand.”

Then, what's the issue?

“The problem is that the ingredients I am working with are volatile, and the assistance you have procured for me is fragile. I am used to taking risks with my alchemy for the sake of progress, but where I can usually survive an explosion thanks to my large pool of anima, other Trenis cannot, and even if they could, they tend to end up debilitated where my Spectral Form keeps me whole. Due to these differences, I have been forced to approach this project slower and with more caution than usual.”

Um, Archie?

“Yes, mistress?”

They're unawakened, non-familiar, and unreleased Trentis. They not intelligent, and they're disposable.

“That may be true, but they still have a cost. So does the garden, and so does adding to our long-term forces, and so does everyone else's projects. Even with the additional resources we currently have available, I cannot afford to be wasteful. Sadly, that means fewer attempts and fewer still successes.”

Archie, listen to me. According to Lawrence, those permanent enhancers are our best bet at a peaceful resolution when the Hero gets here. We need them. However much mana it takes, it's yours to use for this. Also, let me know whatever else you need, and that includes more Trentis. I summoned them for you so that you wouldn't get yourself killed and have to suffer downtime. Don't let them slow you down instead.

“If you say so, mistress.”

Good. Anything else to report?

“No. I am still putting my all into creating a permanent MIND enhancer since that is the only recipe we have all the ingredients for.”

Got it. Keep up the good work.

“Of course.”

I think that does it for your update. Who's next?

“Blurb!” Prism gurgled enthusiastically the moment Archie's report concluded.

I toned down my seriousness as I directed my attention toward the adorable little blob.

Prism, Noctis, what do you two have for me? I asked.

“Little, master,” Noctis answered before placing down two papers in the center of the table.

At a glance, one was a mess of scribbles and symbols, and the other was a list of words with little pictures drawn next to them. It was a hand-drawn map and key. I'd tasked the pair with scouting the forest.

“I've marked the areas of interest that were absent from the maps we found in town, but we have yet to locate our main objective.”

Prism gurgled less enthusiastically at the Shade Lurker's words.

Got it. Keep up the good work, but be careful. I want to know where the Onikuma's den is, but not getting caught looking for it is more important, and remember, don't go anywhere near Firmsoil for the time being. With a party of high-leveled adventurers showing up any day now, it's far too dangerous.

“Understood.”

“Gurgle.”

And that just leaves you two, I stated as I turned my attention toward the last remaining pair at the table.

“Humph! What about me?” Adraugon took immediate offense to my words.

Um, haven't you just been sleeping this whole time? Do you have something to report?

“No.”

Okay? Um, would you like to report anything anyway?

“Humph.”

I blankly stared at the miniature Dragon who I was still surprised had even shown up for this meeting for a moment before asking, Is there anything you need, then?

Seconds ticked past in silence before he responded with a somewhat dejected, “No.”

Okay. Keep up the good work, I guess? Um, Vie, Loot, you're up.

Across the table, the snake and Shade Lurker looked at each other for a moment before trying to speak simultaneously.

“Our queen, we–”

“Master, we–”

They then proceeded to fall silent for a moment before Vie picked back up, “The communication barrier has proved difficult to work with, but we have made progress on what you've asked of us.”

Ah, right.

I'd been concerned when I'd paired them up together to work on something since they couldn't actually understand each other except for through writing, but as the two most suited for the job, I'd done so anyway. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.

Good job working through that! I encouraged them, What have you come up with?

Taking my words as her cue, Loot shaved a stack of papers forward and began spreading them out for us to see.

“Lady Vie has come up with some wonderful ideas. Some of these may be too expensive, but they should be able to buy time.”

I stared at the pile of schematics expectantly. If this was the result of their work, it had been well worth it to pair the two up in spite of their difficulty communicating. Between Vie's cunning and Loot's in-depth familiarity with the Dungeon, they had been the perfect candidates to reassess and propose upgrades to the one part of the Dungeon I'd heavily neglected: traps.

You've put a lot of effort into this, I noted before finishing with, Good work, you two.

There were a lot of designs they'd come up with and ideas to be discussed, but it was exactly what we needed. In the end, I couldn't have been more proud of the two of them and everyone else present at the meeting, except for maybe sulking miniature dragon, but even he had made the effort to show up, so I had to give him some credit. They'd all done amazing; our meeting cemented that. It filled me with confidence that we could survive the coming days.