Gi awoke to Tiria coming into the Underbridge house after night had fallen. After a brief confusion as to why he and Poe were sleeping on the ground, Gi explained everything that had happened from his Heart getting upgraded to the Soul Sickness that even now ached. Tiria left and grabbed them some food from Grung and the three of them sat and ate while Gi turned to Tiria for updates.

"So how is the clan business?"

Tiria sighed, dropping her hand that was poised to put another bite of fish in her mouth. Gi wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't Pike. "The protection money has been paid without incident. That's twenty four gold. There was a small conflict with the Charging Rhinos-

Gi flipped open his notebook. "They dig tunnels, right?"

"Right. Some new clan of moles was harassing them to try and take over digging rights, but Jalx ended it."

"That's good news."

Tiria sighed again. "That's the only good news unfortunately."

"The bordello?" Gi took a bite of his fish and chewed mechanically. The sensation that his body was far away hadn't lessened at all since falling asleep.

"Yeah. The slimes rehydrated in a week like Plums said. However, we've only been doing about half as much as expected. We've made twenty gold in the last two weeks."

Gi started doing some math in his notebook. "That brings us to..."

"Sixty four currently or eighty six by the Assembly."

That would put them at fourteen gold short. A potentially impossible amount to acquire. The only clans dealing in that much gold were ones they'd rather not mess with. Tiria wasn't done with her analysis though.

"I took the liberty of asking Rocky about buying some of our loot, but the Twinned Daggers of Slaying are the only ones big enough to matter. Rocky thought he could find a buyer for them at twenty gold, but they were too rich for him to buy directly."

"So if Rocky comes through, we're good. If not... I'll figure something out." Gi rubbed his paw on his cheek. With the Soul Sickness, the gesture didn't help as much as it normally did. "Our short term focus should be on the Dungeon though. If we manage it well, we will go from the three of us to a real clan."

"I wish I could go," Tiria said. Gi didn't respond. He wished she could go too, but they couldn't afford to give up another Elite slot. Poe might could go as he was considered a passive of his [Bishop] skill, but he didn't want to risk him in case things got serious.

Talking over a few extra details, the three of them finished their meal and went to sleep. In the morning, he and Tiria hunted Dragon Pikes until they'd managed to get the fifteen Soul Orbs that he needed to get back to zero.

The sensation as though he was controlling his body from far away finally abated, but the pain and soreness on his spirit was still there. Using his Aether felt like the equivalent of limping spiritually, but it felt great to have it restored. He'd have to be extra careful in the future about using their services.

They met up with Elizabeth and Jalx later that day in the Underbridge. Both of them plus Gi, Poe, and Tiria all sat around outside of their house. For the second time, he explained what happened on his journey. Elizabeth wasn't pleased.

"You are a fool. How can you not take stock of your own injures before going to the Angelic Mice? Better yet, why are you getting injured to begin with? You're stronger than most jobbies around."

"You try fighting giant Spiked Eagles and monsters that are immune to your main method of attack." Gi knew he shouldn't take that tone with Elizabeth, but the drowned looking human looked more surprised than angry. If he could read her dull expressions that is.

"Spiked Eagles? You fought a jobbie of one of the Sky Clans? I suppose these injures make sense then."

Other than his spine, the worst injuries had come from the Glassborn Sprites and their landscape, but Gi didn't feel like correcting her if she was giving him a pass. The other information did surprise him however. "The Spiked Eagles are a Sky Clan?"

Poe perked up then. "Oh, did I not mention that?"

Gi sighed. "No, Poe, you seemed to have forgotten to bring it up."

"Oh well, they're a Sky Clan."

"Good talk..."

Jalx who'd remained characteristically stoic during their whole conversation had clearly lost his patience. "You've trained in a Fighting Style with Doyle. You've upgraded your Heart. You're about as prepared as we can make you without spending either a lot of time or money."

All of them turned to Elizabeth then. She tapped her finger on her armor as she considered it from all angles. It must have been acceptable to her. "Very well, let's go.

Jalx placed the mouthy Coastal Goblin, Park, in charge and took a handful of his people with him. They were all jobbies, but they must have been the most skilled. Gi assumed they wouldn't count as his Elites and a quick question to Elizabeth confirmed it. Strangely, he also brought Hazz, the creepy child.

As they prepped to leave, Tiria fussed over him, making sure that his pocket was as full of weapons as it could be. She gave him the Twin Daggers of Slaying and two maces. A shield wouldn't quite fit, but that didn't stop her from ramming it into his underarm several times to verify. Finally, she stuffed every inch of his pocket full with miscellaneous items from their inventory.

Both Poe and Tiria seemed nervous, but there was no true dissent as he, Elizabeth, and Jalx left with the Coastal Goblins in tow.

It hadn't even reached mid-day when they departed from the Underbridge. Gi wasn't sure where he expected the Dungeon portal to be, but they didn't cross the river towards Myshk nor leave into the Barrens proper.

They circled around Igna until they reached the north side of the mountain. There was no path up the mountain from this side that Gi could see, but there was a slight divot in the side of the mountain that Elizabeth led them to which turned out to be a small cave.

Inside there were no decorations or other ornaments, but there was a portal to the Dungeon Stream. Seemingly embedded into the rock with veins of reflective black nothingness, it pulsed like a heart beat. Flanking it on either side, two Faithful stood with spears barely short enough to fit into the cavern. Like Kukri and all other Faithful, the kobolds wore the white masks with painted red claw marks across it.

Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead. The Dungeon Stream should already know who you want to bring with."

Gi glanced around at the people that would make the journey with him. Last time, he'd been by himself and had to take on a strange group of adventurers. One of them had been strong while the others were weak. He'd exploited that to win.

He had no illusions that any of them would be weak and unexperienced this time.

Gi took a deep breath and stepped into the portal.

Entering the Dungeon Stream.

The dark portal enveloped him and he fell into a river of light. Darkness framed the light on all sides, like a vulture waiting to consume the dying. The light felt comforting though like drifting along in a river while taking a nap.

Searching for appropriate space in the Dungeon...

Parameters: Level 25, No currently assigned Clan...

Searching... Found!

Using space set aside for The First One.

Pulling additional entities... 6 additional monsters.

2 Elites detected... Level too high!

Restricting powers to Adolescent level.

Additional entities status... Approved.

Exiting Stream...

Like before, there was no noticeable change, but this time when he appeared in a nondescript cavern, there was nothing else in it. No lakes or stalagmites or anything other than a large round room with craggy walls.

Just as he took in the room, a glowing blue crystal appeared in the center, reminding him of the Encampment crystal below the lake. Before he could examine it, more bodies started to appear in the room just as he had.

Elizabeth. Jalx. Four Coastal Goblins. Hazz.

Then the small space became completely filled with otters. Every single one of them wore a generic grey robe and had the dark brown fur just as he'd had before gaining his Unique Constitution. It was... awe inspiring.

All of them started to look around at their surroundings and chatter excitedly. This was his clan. It hadn't always felt like it, but everything he'd done until this moment had led to this. Getting the traits he'd gotten as a slime. Barely managing to complete the Child Stage. Becoming a Ground Clan.

This was it.

Before he could talk, three, well four, otters stepped out of the crowd of the clan and Gi immediately recognized them as his Elites. The first was a veritable giant of an otter who towered a full head over Gi himself. His broad shoulders looked almost comical on an otter, but with his muscular arms holding a giant makeshift warhammer, the sight looked more intimidating than anything else.

The next had a build similar to himself and Tiria. Lithe and agile, she seemed to float naturally through the crowd until she arrived in front of Gi. She held a river stone in each hand, seemingly ready to use either of them at a moment's notice.

Last, and perhaps the strangest, were actually two otters. Both of them were small and lean compared to the majority of otters around them, but the two of them walked practically in sync to get to the front. Like when he looked at Jalx or Elizabeth, a sense of danger radiated from each of his Elites. Out of the three, the strange paired otters had the slightest edge.

Gi was feeling a little overwhelmed, but thankfully, he didn't need to think about next steps as his Elites started to introduce themselves.

"Samba," the bulky otter said which Gi assumed was his name and then shared his sheet with him.

Name: Samba

Race: Gang Otter (Paladin- E)

Job: Fighter

Level: 4

Squad: None

Stats

Strength - E+

Agility - E

Vitality - D

Wisdom - G+

Leadership - 3

Trait:

Swim Speed

Expanded Pocket

Trait Skills:

Iron Stance

Gluttonous Physique

Charge

Skills:

Light Armor

Medium Armor

Blunt Weapons

Without thinking, Gi flipped his notebook out and started taking down notes. He compared Samba's sheet to what he remembered of the traits he'd gotten as a slime. [Iron Stance] must be [Iron Skin] which made [Gluttonous Physique] be from [Gluttony]. [Charge] came from [Speed Boost] as he already knew from Tiria.

This was an Elite that had been made from his own efforts.

"Welcome aboard, Samba," Gi said.

"Happy to be here, boss. Just point me where you want me."

The dual wielding rock elite stepped up next, flipping open their stat sheet to share without adding anything extra. She a sharp glare that almost seemed to challenge him.

Name: Kumo

Race: Gang Otter (Skirmisher - E)

Job: Fighter

Level: 0

Squad: None

Stats

Strength - E

Agility - D

Vitality - E

Wisdom - G+

Leadership - 3

Trait:

Swim Speed

Expanded Pocket

Trait Skills:

Iron Counter

Skulk

Quick Steps

Commander

Skills:

Light Armor

Perception

Kumo's looked a lot like Tiria's as he checked his notes, but hers was more evolved. Still, it was interesting to see how even though Samba and Kumo had some of the same traits and job that they manifested differently. What was the difference?

"Welcome, Kumo." The dual wielding elite gave him a nod and stepped off to the side. She fidgeted impatiently as though the entire spectacle was taking too long. The paired otters came up next and introduced themselves with their speech starting with one and ending with another.

"I am Wax..."

"...And I am Wane.

"I'm sure you'll find our abilities...

"...Useful."

It was a very, very strange manner of speaking and Gi wondered just what the hell he'd done for one of his Elites to manifest like this. Luckily, they provided their sheet and he got his answer.

Name: Wax and Wane

Race: Gang Otter (Twin Prophets - E)

Job: Cleric

Level: 0

Squad: None

Stats

Strength - G+

Agility - E+

Vitality - F+

Wisdom - D

Leadership - 3

Trait:

Swim Speed

Expanded Pocket

Trait Skills:

Divine Bolt

Danna's Light

Danna's Conduit

Twin Souled

Skills:

Religion

Persuasion

[Twin Souled] was the Skill providing the oddity. He vaguely recalled fighting a pair of slimes in the Infant Stage that had gotten him the [Twin Core] perk. Gi wondered how that would manifested if he'd taken that as one of his own main skills. Would another version of him have spawned in the Child Stage?

Either way, they were Clerics like he was and had his chief skill of [Divine Bolt]. They would absolutely be helpful here with the small army he'd gathered.

"Useful indeed," Gi said and the two twin otters looked pleased. He addressed all three of his Elites. "Try and gather otters with a similar build to yourself and get me a head count. I want to know what we have to work with. Clerics to the twins, Agility Fighters to Kumo, and either Strength or Vitality to Samba.

"On it," Samba said in his easygoing rumble. The others simply left to do his bidding. As soon as he turned to go investigate the crystal, Elizabeth intercepted him.

"The goal for monsters at the twenty fifth level is to survive. Obviously the best way to do that is to murder the adventurers, but their goal is to kill half of the monsters on a level or the boss. They won't make it easy."

"Half of my clan?" Gi looked out at the excited otters who were being wrangled into groups by his Elites. This was his new family. He couldn't allow that.

"We all lose if you die so that is the backup."

Gi really didn't like that. "Are the adventurers that strong at this level?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said, her cold emotionless tone not rising to the heat in his voice. "At the early levels, they are inexperienced. At this one, most will have progressed their Knot and have upgraded their skills quite a bit. All of them will be at the level of a Progenitor."

"...How many can we expect?"

"Four or Five normally. It depends on their Leadership skill since that will dictate the size of their squad. The bigger their group, the more dangerous they are and not just because of having more people."

Gi nodded in understanding. "Leadership is derived from the average of the highest two stats. More Leadership means better stats."

"Or an upgraded Leadership skill, but yes, that's correct."

They probably should have had this conversation prior to coming here, but if it was like the last Dungeon, they had time to plan. Gi stepped up to the crystal, placing his paw on it.

Dungeon Menu:

All stats at cap.

Insufficient Soul Orbs to increase beyond cap.

Establish Squads?

Build Dungeon?

Gi mentally selected the Establish Squads and a full list of all the monsters here appeared. It was a little overwhelming so he backed out of it and selected Build Dungeon instead.

The crystal in front of him shined. That gentle blue light slowly coalesced into a model of the room that they were in. The crystal on the model glowed brighter than the rest of it as well as a small section of the cavern.

This model was apparently visible to everyone as Jalx and Elizabeth stepped up to it and examined it. Elizabeth pointed to the section of cavern that was highlighted.

"That's the exit that the adventurers are aiming for. You have to create a series of rooms that can each house a single Squad. If they don't have an Elite, that's a minimum of three monsters. There are some tricks you can do to make that less punishing, but we'll be outnumbered in almost every single room."

Gi nodded absently. Something about the blue light called to him. He stuck his finger inside of the light into a section of the cavern and twisted. It felt almost like it did when he churned his Aether, but this was something else.

The light responded to his touch and grinding rock announced that the model and the cavern were connected. He'd created a small hallway off of the crystal cave they were in. He smiled and let the light that was suffusing the model die for now.

He pulled out his notebook and started sketching out a design for the Dungeon that he would create. Elizabeth stepped over to watch him, calling out any obvious weaknesses and showed him her trick for combining more than one Squad.

They'd only gotten a quarter of the way through the design when Samba and the other Elites walked back up.

"Hey, boss. We're done."

Gi paused what he was doing with Elizabeth and turned to him. "What do we have to work with?"

"Sixteen Clerics, twelve Fighters similar to Kumo, and nine Paladins like me."

Wax and Wane stepped forward weaving around each other like a strange pair of snakes. "All the Clerics have [Divine Bolt]...

"...except three that have [Danna's Touch] instead."

"What's [Danna's Touch]?"

"It's an upgraded....

"...[Cure]"

Talking with Wax and Wane was going to be a pain, he could tell, but that did open up his options. If he could make sure at least one of the Clerics with [Danna's Touch] survived the Dungeon, it might mean he had to spend less Soul Orbs with the Angelic Mice. If it was like Doyle's [Bubble Cure], it shouldn't even cost Soul Orbs.

Elizabeth pointed at two parts of the rough design they'd worked out. "Use your Clerics that have cure to keep your Paladins alive. If you use this river idea of yours, you can get them fighting the same Squad over and over. By the time the adventurers get to us, it should be simple to finish them off."

Jalx, who'd remained mostly quiet, finally spoke up. "I'll be at the front."

Gi looked at him quizzically. "When they're fresh? You don't have any ranged attacks."

Jalx shrugged. "If I die, I die. As long as I achieve my goal, that's enough. I can't risk my target dying before me."

Gi looked to the rest of the Coastal Goblins, but they all had hard looks on their face. Every single one of them had come prepared to die today. Gi admired their resolve, but he hoped it wouldn't be required.

"You'll be second. Let's get as much information as we can first."