It was no surprise that the Porters jumped at the chance. Since I had raided the Lord's castle armory, I had plenty of weapons. The most useful was the pike, so I gave them each one. Then we went ahead to basic weapon drills. Things like pointy end must stay away from one's own body. You wouldn't believe how important that was for some people.

Then, when I was sure they wouldn't poke each other's eyes out, the porters diligently obeyed my instructions as they poked the hay bale and the leather-covered straw dummy I had in my storage. We spent two hours working on their basic proficiency and that was enough. All they had to do was to poke each crippled Gibbermouth once, anyway. It didn't matter if they dealt any damage or not; the System would reward them with Experience all the same.

"Good, good. That's a wrap, folks!" I shouted. "We are now going to get the Gibbermouths. Let me tell you how we will do this. We will fight Gibbermouths until everyone reaches level twenty and has taken part in fifty monster kills. Once you reach level twenty and get your Perk, let me know and stay away from the fights. Make sure you know which Perk you want to keep and if you have a good Class unlocked. By then, you should at least have the Rare Dungeon Delver Class unlocked."

The main criteria for obtaining the Dungeon Delver Class were to spend more than a full day inside a Dungeon and take part in the death of fifty monsters inside a Dungeon. It was harder than it sounded, especially because almost nobody had the chance to have a Dungeon all for themselves like we did. Earning a Rare Class was no small thing. This was a unique opportunity and they knew it. The porters all grinned at the thought. Becoming level twenty in a Rare Class was a reward as good as the heaps of gold the Lord promised them.

I continued. "You don't have to take it, though. If you got another Rare Class unlocked and wanted to go for it, please do. Just let's not waste this opportunity with what? A uncommon? Bleh." They laughed. The porters were so giddy I could have called their mothers names and they would still grin. "After everyone has earned their prestige, we will continue killing monsters until you reach level twenty in your new Class. Hopefully. It's going to take hundreds of them. Let's see what we can get."

Or if we run out of time. But I would stand my ground and get these men to level twenty in their prestige Class at any cost. If not with the Gibbermouths, then with the Mantids that certainly had already respawned in the second floor tunnel. And here was the second reason this project was so important. And why I chose pikes. By uplifting these men, we would gain another six combatants that could at least harass the bugs and keep the pressure off the knights. We already suffered one fatality; if we lost more fighting power, the expedition would fail.

"I trust you to know where you should put your Attribute points after the reset. I have knowledge about usual Adventuring and Combat Classes Attribute distributions. If you need advice, ask me. Given our circumstances, please consider adding a few more points than normal to Endurance. Does anyone have any questions?"

My reply was a chorus of "no". They were eager to turn their lives around.

"Good. Now, sit down, rest, and drink some water. I'm going to get us some monsters."

I whistled. Sleepy and William rushed to my side and we vanished into the dust. I paid attention to it. The wind that carried the illusion around was real. I could feel it on my skin, it moved my cloak. All I had to do was to find some monsters. And then find how deep this Dungeon ran, get Hector his second Main Class slot, and probably help raise a despot.

*

*

William charged and headbutted the last Gibbermouth of this pack, cracking some monster teeth and knocking the creature down. He ended his movement on top of an arm and the side of the torso, pinning the Gibbermouth down under his weight as the monster clacked its claw in frustration. Sleepy pounced and bit on the free arm, crushing the carapace and ripping it off. I followed and hacked the legs off with an ax. Chop, chop, chop, and chop.

Behind us, the other monsters of the pack, already crippled beyond recovery, struggled to crawl and attack us. They didn't have a single functional limb and were unable to stand up or attack. Once we cut the last claw off, the Gibbermouth was defenseless. The only way it could damage us was if we put an arm or leg inside its mouth.

I cheered with my pets. Sleepy barked and leaped to bop my hand with his nose. "Good job, guys. Now, let's drag these things back to the boss room."

I made deliberate use of my new Perk to hogtie the monsters and pile them on a folding cart William pulled. Those clubs really had too much room. Along the way, I kept my ears sharp for any signs of another pack. I took some grazing hits from the monsters and so did Sleepy. Nothing too serious but the compounding HP drain could become a problem if we were ambushed by a second pack while fighting the next. Differently from MP that ticked up every now and then when you kept from spending it, HP only really recovered during sleep.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

If that happened and I believed too risky to subdue the monsters, we would switch to murder mode. Sleepy was itching to go into murder mode. No matter how far it rolls, the apple wouldn't go so far from the tree. The little guy was a monster and belonged to a remarkably vicious species. The same if we were ambushed. But the Gibbermouths did so much noise walking around that it was impossible to not hear them approach.

I saw the lights and knew we were okay. This time. I lined up the monsters and had each porter poke it, before letting Sleepy deliver a shocking headbutt to them.

It seemed to me that the Wolfertingers got some sort of high when they used their electricity on a creature.

> For killing level 15 Spider Half-Gibbermouth, you gained 2 Experience points.

The already low reward was divided seven ways. Another nine notifications like this one came. The Porters were all smiles. I could imagine how long they had to work to earn that much Experience carrying stuff.

Back to the dust we went, to farm more monsters. At the end of the first day, I had met my goal of letting each porter take part in the killing of fifty monsters. Now, to prestige and level them all over again. This time with double the Experience.

It wasn't too hard. The first five monsters pushed everybody up one level. Then six, seven, and so on. To bring all of them to level 20 safely, we would need close to nine hundred monsters. It all depended on how many Gibbermouths the Dungeon was willing to spawn for us.

I raised the Rare porters, now Dungeon Delvers, to level sixteen before Hector called us to break camp. The results were ludicrous, unbelievable. They had tripled their Attribute points. Quadrupled their resources, HP and SP. They were even better at carrying heavy weights because their Strength score was more than double than before.

They also gained more Perks but these were from the new Class. I really regretted that I couldn't level them up to twenty. They would get another Perk and a subclass. But the smiles told me their morale was sky-high. It climbed all the way from “pit of despair” in three and a half days.

They also did a lot of practice with the pikes. As the wounded recovered, some of the knights decided that now that all the hard work was done by yours truly, they would make use of the porters as a backup force. Between one shipment of crippled crab monster and the next, they performed discipline and weapon drills.

The idea was that they should be capable of wielding these pikes from the back row and harass the Mantids. Yeah, we were a hundred percent sure the Dungeon had filled that tunnel with so much giant locusts we would swim in their blood.

I was happy but tired. Subduing monsters was never easy. But the result spoke for itself.

*

*

As we marched down the stairs, Hector approached me.

“I stand corrected,” he said out loud. “You were right to make use of the time to train the men. Perhaps if we cooperated more, Sir Alexanders would be still alive. I now recognize my mistake.” He then addressed the expedition. “It won't happen again. If you have anything you want to say, any of you, please do. The only way we will survive this is by working together.”

A touching speech. I had my doubts but Hector had quite a lot of points in Charisma. All leader-type Classes had. Perhaps he even had features which enhanced the effects of Charisma in certain situations, just like I had to improve my perception.

“Sure. I agree with everything. We will get this Dungeon Core and secure a bright future for our city.”

The men cheered and clamored. Hector's name lived on their lips and hearts. I didn't resent Hector for taking the Core. The “bright future” part was part of my mission to keep the city safe. A strong ruler meant stability. In Yznarian, entire countries lived and fell based on their ruler's Attribute points. Some battles were decided based on the leaders’ personal power. As an example, no matter how strong an army was, without an unit or individual strong enough to at least counter or neutralize Alice, the level five hundred elf would win the battle every single time.

Once we reached the end of the stairs, the chittering resumed. This time, the Dungeon didn't bother to hide the Mantids. No, it spawned them in what seemed the entirety of the tunnel.

I examined the ground. Some black soot could be seen, proof that the remains of the earlier Mantid swarm burned really well.

I hated when I was right. But Dungeon behavior was one topic the Guild had a vested interest in. Throughout thousands of years, we figured out how they behaved pretty well. I only hoped it wasn't one of the explosively suicidal ones. Some Dungeons would rather choose death over imprisonment or getting broken.

The Mantids were getting closer. “A hundred or more Mantids, coming fast at us!” I shouted. “ Get ready for combat!”

I wanted to see if my PP would trigger on the kills I hadn't taken part in. If only someone had an Experience sharing feature. Some Classes, especially leadership Classes, could gain them as a Perk. Dungeon Delvers were amount these but they didn't get it at this low level.

We finished setting up. This time, the porters were lined up with their pikes in front of me. Two rows of three, one line next to each wall and another in the middle.

The noise was almost unbearable. The clacking of chitin, the buzzing and chittering of a hundred Mantids. I didn't just pick a number. I estimated a hundred based on the sounds I heard.

The opening engagement was a repeat of last time. While it was harder for me to shoot, the pikes could be very effective in keeping the Mantids from going all-out on the knights.

Their much higher level could also be a boon for the porters. Their own levels would skyrocket as the Experience points rolled in. One Mantid could be worth more than a few dozen Gibbermouths.

So, I kept an arrow nocked and a vigilant eye over the combat. If a good opening presented itself, I would take the shot.