Alissa studied the prototype before her. Karl had managed to get his builders functional in a “it can move” sense. The builder was shaped like a beetle the size of a largish dog standing about waist height. Two manipulating arms for its work and the ability to store material on its back and to a lesser extent its underside. Six legs moved it about and a large number of manipulator arms on the belly for additional work capacity. If Alissa chose to it had spots for its own smaller nano and micro bot swarms as well.

Her thoughts were that it was stupidly complex, and she loved it. Despite being the dreaded hybrid most of the time specialization was the best route. As it stood a magical machine that focused primarily on the macro construction that she lacked but had the capacity for finer work was something of a god send.

Her workers, the simplest creations she had, had already been transferred to almost an entirely support role. They focused on transport, management and ‘mining’. The mining was a problem, leaving tools aside they lacked the strength, and mass to actually carve out stone. It didn’t help that they frequently broke due to the shock of slamming tools into solid stone. They just didn’t have the durability she needed, not when they spent more time repairing than harvesting.

In that regard the nano and micro bots were far more efficient, slower though… much slower. And they reduced what they moved into a powder more or less leaving the larger bulk harvesting out of the picture.

Building suffered the same problems on all fronts slow construction using usually prefab material the bots created from the nano materials available. It was anything but efficient.

If the only thing she could get these things to do was harvest material from her mines that would be enough. They more than justified their construction cost, which was obscene, for the bulk harvest capacity. Add in transport and build capabilities and Alissa thought she was in heaven.

The other opportunities that the builder’s completion represented were just as good. Magical construction was already being prepped, along with upgrades to her existing units. Alissa still didn’t quite trust the floating bullshit rock in her core room. She wanted control of her creations for when the shit hit the fan, it was unlikely to be a question of IF.

Magical circuits driving the constructs rather than bullshit magical animus… yes please. It also opened up the possibility to magically create a pseudo network of communication and control. Temporarily bypassing the technological counterparts with crystals and engravings, it would of course require a whole new ‘language’ to program them but well AIs existed. Brute force analysis and simulations followed by testing beat out the entire process of having to build fabrication and processing for modern tools and materials by a long shot.

Now Alissa and Nova would take over the project and let Karl work on other aspects. Inventing was vastly different than implementation, optimization and integration after all. He had proved it was possible and would work on the cutting edge, Alissa would work on making that useful in the real world and finding where to put them to use.

This was significantly better than the less useful parts of her domain. Namely the goblins.

It must be said that like all civilized and advanced races the Voidborne had an incredible lack of tolerance for slavery. Yet here she was arguably participating in it. Why?

First, slavery like all things was a mix of pros and cons. Objectively once a society got to the equivalent of an industrial revolution slavery became more con than pro. Civilization doesn’t develop in a vacuum and there are many connected parts integrating them, once industry has been achieved the race usually had the population, support structure, and now the machines to do work for them.

Slaves provided two things to a civilization manpower and muscle power. The manpower part, feed other portions of the population from menial tasks so they could focus on other areas. Freeing up the citizens to work in more valuable and productive endeavors. If you didn’t have enough people just steal or buy them, cold… but morality kind of died a humiliating death when faced with survival. And preindustrial society was kind of defined by its reliance on muscle powered tools, so if you needed more muscle, you needed more people.

Once tools began to reduce the need for manpower intensive operations slavery became unnecessary. That also included how detrimental slavery was for the developing nations, as slavery benefited the slave owners more than society.

Not that these concerns really applied in her case. She would much rather have the free society model and a primitive form of capitalism/meritocracy for the society she might one day be running.

This still left the question of the goblins. Their instincts, natural tendencies, and general intelligence meant that they were functionally useless as anything but violent fodder to be contained then unleashed.

Second and most importantly, Alissa’s goblins lacked all the fundamental necessities for a slave population, they could currently only contribute one thing to her survival. Numbers and lives. The very few shamans that had popped up tended to die. Either by overexerting their influence and getting shanked or by experimentation.

She had tried with pretty much every level of goblin society to make it functional and productive. However, it would likely require a level of brutal and tyrannical control she was unwilling to finance in terms of resources.

The whole point of the goblins was to pad her numbers, not require her to have their islands swarming with brutal overseers she had to make and control. The goblin population was wild and the effort to tame them was just too much.

Her system of exerting control over certain combat groups and sending them to the front was easy. Once there the kiddos took over, and the goblins were allowed to follow their instincts. Getting creatures to go against their natural instincts required, a level of taming as well as a certain level of intelligence. The intelligence part was so that they might make a conscious decision.

***

In any case Alissa put such thoughts aside and moved on to the next important thing. The goblins that Maria was dealing with. Isabella in contrast had few problems aside from the general attrition of continuous conflict. Isabella’s foe was simple, easy to bring to battle and defeat. The losses on both sides were much more significant, and the invaders were more like a plague. They took resources then fell back outside of the domain.

Returning in numbers to find more and more defenses set up, only to begin the grind anew. They maintained large ‘formations’ and singletons. There was no indication of any overall guidance just swarms of enemies that took what they could and fled. Often dying to others that came to steal from the successful.

Over the years since she created the Firstborn, she had flooded her domain with creations. To the starved and resource deficient underground, at least in terms of food. The multiple sources of nourishment must be causing a population boom, and immigration.

An advantage of tunnel fighting was that until said formations got organized, they were easy pickings for the much more intelligent and better supplied Vampire. Throw in home ground advantage and fixed defenses, and it became quite easy to repulse the invaders while allowing them just enough to avoid a unifying event often enough the invaders killed as many if not more than the defenders.

Maria’s goblins were different they seemed to know far more about the domain than the others. They worked in small groups, much like ‘adventuring parties’. They rarely fell into infighting by comparison, and there was no indication of separate tribes, unlike on Isabella’s side.

That the actions she was observing were more in line with training and well-organized resourcing operations in a hostile environment. Compounded by a level of…courtesy? … respect? For her domain was baffling. The creatures seemed more concerned with getting the goods and generally dumping their built-up corruption than with trying to take over her domain.

And it was working these goblins and the stronger variants were getting significantly stronger, much faster than the dying idiots Isabella was dealing with. Add in the odd… meeting they had in the first room.

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The goblins would escort a large number of non-combatants into the domain and let them sit and meditate in the first set of rooms. Just dumping corruption into her domain. Yet the leader, an apparent shaman, would carefully manage these numbers. He seemed to want to avoid overloading the domain while maximizing the drain of corruption from his people.

The bastard was powerful too. Alissa had the feeling that if he decided to fight, she would have to take the front lines. The Vamps weren’t at his level yet.

Maria had her work cut out for her, and Alissa had postponed the rotation because of it. Dropping another into that blender was not something she was willing to do.

It was also an opportunity. These goblins had her being cautious as they had the potential to much more of a threat in the long run… Yet they played by a set of seemingly simple rules. She could play along. Leave enough of them alive and present challenges and resources while picking them off. All the while mustering and building up her strength.

Maybe it was time to let Maria loose, use these goblins the way they wanted to use her as a testing ground…

***

Maria was ecstatic her mom had given her permission to act like a roving floor boss. She was also letting Conrad in on the fun. The total rotation was given up for a more limited variety. Her siblings would join the fronts periodically to cull their enemies.

Today she would get her first ‘real’ bit of combat. Sure, she had killed goblins before, even fought death matches against the ones her mom kept in the goblin cave. She had hunted some of the roving monsters just to get experience. Now she had a chance to bring the shitheads interfering with her operations to battle herself.

Since they avoided large groups, she picked a few guards and skirmishers for her party. A four ‘man’ group of goblins as bait. As well as a gift from mom.

Her mount, a modified skirmisher designed to run either on four legs or two and larger than the norm. That would let her be more mobile, use her spells and close the distance.

For today her plan was simple. She would just go somewhere to be seen, the filthy goblins from outside had yet to be cowed by her prowess, unlike most of those that served under her. They would be attracted and killed off. Her target was a powerful group that had been getting too uppity, and large for the checkpoint to tolerate. She wouldn’t yet actively hunt, her mom insisted on her keeping a position where support could rapidly arrive, for now.

This attack if successful would be the first step in dealing with the blocking forces to the next room. Unless she widened the tunnel system significantly, she couldn’t send goblins much less her guards through. For now, she would prune the numbers, be that unlucky encounter.

Sitting on an elevated rock near the hunting grounds of the certain goblin attack parties, she waited.

Her magic wasn’t the best for long range, but she was really good at leveraging it to make herself stronger. She had what they decided to call blood, death, and charm magic like her siblings. As well as a talent for what Nova called gravity magic, something that for now she used to match up her strength to Conrad’s ridiculous levels.

The approaching ruckus told her that prey was near. As they rounded the bend and spotted her there was no hesitation they charged immediately. She let them approach. She watched as they broke up to kill the goblins, she compelled to hold their ground. As several of the dozen goblins split off to come after her she sprung her trap. The four weaklings she used died quickly, getting mobbed and hacked apart quite violently.

But now her enemies were dispersed, and the trap sprung into place. Skirmishers had surrounded the group and began their attack. Guards had stepped out from hiding preventing her from getting flanked then she unceremoniously unleashed a cloud of darkness into the charging groups face.

Maria felt a bolt of existential ecstasy as they died, their lives snuffed by the corrosive force of dark magic. She didn’t want to take chances; she would do as her mother advised and keep her strengths to herself. It wasn’t like a few goblins would challenge her martial prowess she would take this time to fulfill the objective of practicing and studying the effects of magic in combat. A few extra spells on her followers and the goblins broke, insensate and killed off.

Maria was a bit disappointed at the lack of challenge and the overwhelming advantage she had. However, this wasn’t a practice field it was a killing ground. So, after they died, she moved on others needed her attention. A few groups a day, two or three and she might go after the guards to ‘her’ chamber and reclaim the hall beyond.

For now, she left the amusing goblin that was hiding just in sight alone, he wasn’t a threat and spent a good deal of time killing off other of his kind. Even being sneaky enough to set baited traps for his brethren. Taking only enough to sustain himself and his pitiful group.

***

Clack was afraid. He had watched as the goblin sized elf, little more than a child, murdered his kin. Not that he cared about the dead in the slightest, no it was the danger that the child represented. It had a number of stone guardians following it. These guardians moved differently than the others, the ones at the far end of the cavern.

Shaman Flamespit had been adamant that the goblins shouldn’t challenge the guardians or their stronghold. Along with strict group sizes and times to enter.

The worst part was that the shaman had predicted the current event, not as it happened. He predicted that a strong creature would show up and attack stupid gobs that got careless or unlucky. He predicted that the stone guardians would come out from hiding and begin to hunt.

The Crooked Nose tribe had captured several of the dungeon’s goblins as slaves, once outside the domain they began acting much like any goblin would. There was even one who was rising to power after killing off its owner. Numerous members of the tribes had found themselves facing the reverse fate as the dungeon captured them. Fair trade in Clack’s opinion.

His group of young underfed gobbos were waiting for him, he had learned several things. Most importantly he had seen how the creature had surrounded and killed off the group. A group that was much stronger than Clack’s. He could use that to his advantage, along with the weapons and bodies left behind. He also noted that the child was wearing armor, as were the guardians. Maybe he should as well, not just for appearance but for whatever they wore it for.

Feeling very smart he ran a little way back to his group and began to punch kick and bite them into order. He was going to learn from this and become stronger, the tiny nub he felt on his forehead told him so.

***

Flamespit sat meditating in the first room of the domain. He was expelling the corruption from his body and ensuring that the idiots of his tribe didn’t anger the dungeon. As such he had most of the females with him doing the same thing he was. The children too, but those he left to hunt the creatures in the room. It was mostly safe only a few dozen died each day, easily acceptable losses that would make his tribe stronger.

It was the chieftains and bosses that bothered him they wanted to go further and take over this place. They thought they were the equal of Big Axe, the great chieftain of the City of Pillers. They were idiots, a dungeon isn’t something to conquer or tame. The presence of dungeon made goblins told him all he needed to know. If the tribes angered the dungeon it would send forth legions of goblins and drown them in blood, at a minimum it would prevent them from utilizing the dungeon’s properties.

Flamespit knew that a dungeon like this was impossible. They were too deep and there was too much corrupt mana for a newborn dungeon to survive. Yet here one was.

It already had a core guardian. One capable of handling a small war party on its own, with powerful magic. He had looked into the goblin’s eyes when the story was retold. Seen the destruction, he was not confident. Not now that the guardian wasn’t alone and had access to more power. Could the goblin tribes destroy the dungeon? Yes, but why would they?

A dungeon cleaned the world, aside from the even deeper corrupt cousins the only things a dungeon brought were benefits. Resources, strength, and disposal of rivals. On the surface entire kingdoms had gone to war just to have access, others had risen to the heights of power by having one in their domain. Kingdoms had been destroyed for attempting to kill of a dungeon.

Even the worst dungeons were tolerated, those that spewed forth undead or demons. At worst they were contained.

Because extermination was a fool’s road. Armies had been swallowed by dungeons; they grew off of the people who entered, especially those who died. Killing something by feeding it was a poor plan.

Even new dungeons were respected. Which was why he was giving the evil eye to the other leaders of his tribe. He didn’t want this dungeon to go away. He was feeling better than he had in decades, and for that alone he would kill these idiots off.

Cooperation was unlikely, so was their ability to remain in place. The dungeon would grow and expand, his tribe would follow its borders. Worst case he wanted to get as much as possible before the shit hit the fan. Other tribes and races would want this place, his own was too weak to hold their position forever.

Gain what they could then move nearby to benefit from the dropping corruption. To do this however he had to make sure his own stupid and greedy kin didn’t ruin their opportunity and bring the tribes of the dungeon down on their head.

He spoke to the captured goblins, delved into their minds. He saw a great cavern holding hundreds of times the number of goblins in his own tribe. He saw the ranks of stone guardians, the spiders and most importantly the elf who was not an elf.

The dungeon’s guardian wasn’t an elf as Clack had thought no it was a Champion of the Void. A hero of the surface world, a member of a race of terribly powerful beings.

If the dungeon had one of them as its final boss, then even the powerful races of the Underdark had reason to fear.

That was why he wasn’t surprised at the arrival of the floor guardian, killing off groups of gobbos sent to gather resources. It was expected and he was just going to go along, lamenting at the lost opportunities. That his people would soon lose the City either to the dungeon, or those like him who felt quite rightly that killing a few hundred thousand goblins and their slaves was a small price to pay for the dungeon itself.

At a minimum the dungeons resources would help with the other problems of the deep dark places of the world.