12)

Reading as it turned out was somewhat less than useful. I mean it was nice to know the paper packets that Iris poured into a cup with some water was oatmeal. But there were a whole lot of words on the paper packets that were meaningless to me.

Without any context, I just couldn't figure out the meaning of almost anything.

I also was in a spot of difficulty in that all the bugs I had coming at me weren't worth a dam as far as

BP went. I needed at least a mouse to kill now or some new quests.

Either that or use my new ability to read to write as well. If I could get into communication with the owner of the house. It might be possible to make some kind of deal. But somehow I just don’t think that was something that would be allowed to work. I had never heard of anyone who talked to dungeons.

The one plan I did have, involved Wiggles. Champions counted as every type of warrior and worker, all at once. Which meant I could send him out as a scout. Then I just needed for him to track down the ants to their hive. Normally I only got BP for killing things within my reach, but quests pay off regardless of where they got completed.

Of course, a double-sized centipede wasn't the best thing for killing an ant queen buried deep in its nest. Which is why I began assembling an army of warrior ants to go in and kill the queen. I just needed Wiggles to find the nest.

Meanwhile, my ant scout showed me, Iris letting the cat out of the house. Hopefully permanently.

Operation suicide roach was on. The goal was to get the roaches onto the bottoms of her shoes while she sat in front of the box with moving images on it, as she poked at a tray of squares that sunk down under her fingers and then popped back up.

Whatever she was up to also involved a black round thing with a rope going to a box with ropes going to the image box. She moved the black thing around on the table and pressed the end of it with her finger as she muttered to herself.

All of this also involved shuffling and adjusting her feet. Which killed off a few dozen roaches until Buttercup began to shriek to be let back in.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Spiders webbed and dragged off the copper “Pennies" to keep Iris unaware of her kills. At this rate, it would only take another month to get her leveled up.

Meanwhile, Wiggles had found the nest and I was all set to send in my army of assassin ants. Then I realized that any that got killed would make their killers magical beasts.

I had to think about that one.

Ultimately I decided that I just wasn’t worried about ant magic beasts. If they came for me they might even be worth a few BP. So let them come.

The nest was built up against the side of Iris’s house. As Wiggles began tearing it up, it brought out a host of ants to the battle. Which is when my warriors began joining in as the normal ants began dragging the dead into the tunnels. From there it wasn't much of a fight. The queen had her drones and some regular ants to defend her. But I had the numbers.

[You have finished the Killer queen quest. Your reward 10 BP ]

[ Congratulations. You are now base level 6 ]

[ You have earned a new spell. See spell list for selections.]

The only spell on the list was Harvester. Which I took and immediately targeted the now stiff mice.

[ You have received 3 units of rawhide. Built a tannery to tan it.]

[ You have received 5 units of bone. Build an ossuary to process it.]

[ You have received 6 units of meat. Built a kitchen to process it. ]

Right, manual time. “Minimize reports from Harvester.”

Now mice were on my summoning list. As a 7-point unit. Sorry Wiggles you just got replaced. I dismissed my champion and summoned a dark brown mouse which stood up on its rear feet and saluted.

Which was only slightly less weird than when the insects did it.

Turning it into a champion mouse grew it to about five inches from three and its claws became more like talons. "I think I'm going to call you… Murder Mouse, or just Murder for short."

The cat was back, sniffing at the new scent coming from below the fridge. “If only you were a bit bigger Murder. I’m sure that cat is just full of BP for the taking.”

Buttercup narrowed its eyes and then ran off. Wait… it was within my reach. Did it hear me somehow? Naw, even as a magical beast, at such a low rank there was no way it had a high enough of an intelligence rating. Right?

[ Quest: Kill the beast. Kill the Grimalkin Buttercup. Reward. 10 BP ]

Right. That is both tempting, even if it was just killing that cat without a reward, and rewarding. But what the heck? It was the same reward for killing the queen ant. Maybe it was based on the difficulty when it was assigned?

In any case, it was well beyond my ability at the time. It would also probably break the old woman’s heart. Of course at Copper three, I could make a new cat… Nope. Bad dungeon core. Only if the cat became a danger to my landlord. And the best way to keep it from becoming a danger was to keep it from leveling up.

Meanwhile, keep to the plan. Level up Iris while the cat is away outside. Sent Murder to chew open the hole the mice used to get into the house to let other things in as well. Things worth points if I can lure them into my reach with the goo cheese. The nasty, smelly, slimy, goo cheese.

And no more magical beasts.