There are all these dead goblins around my cave. Someone may see it as disgusting, see it as nothing but pure carnage. I see an opportunity. A raw material.

So, I figure I need to bring them all in. Let their bodies go to feed the Dungeon. Why should they all go to waste? They can produce the energy I need. I mean, they should at least serve some purpose.

I know that moving them is kind of stomach-twisting, vomit-inducing, but we try not to look at them as we pull them by their legs and take them to the first cave.

We really don't need to try to piece them together. Just dump them and let the Dungeon feast on their dead body parts.

As we start, I fear that carrying the severed head would be the worst. But, I just imagine it’s not real, and do not dare to look into its dead eyes.

Yeah, it's just a Halloween decoration. Some may see a goblin’s dead flesh as disgusting. But, I see it as another unit of energy, and I don't care.

Actually, the worst is carrying the body that rolled all the way down to the tree lines. It's because of the trip up. Oollie’s out of breath as we make it up, and I can’t blame him. I definitely am getting a stronger helper the first chance I get.

For the rest of the day, all I want to do is take it easy. I’m still very upset over the kid. I know I’m experiencing a lot of stress because all these crazy ideas are running in my head and I just can’t calm down to think rationally.

I go downstairs and stare at the wolves. I could so use a friend now. I look at them, hoping to see Sam among them, the old golden retriever I got from the shelter when he was just a puppy. Fed him ice cream. And hard pretzels. Loved him so much that when he died, I could not bring myself to have another dog.

I look for Sam among them. But Sam is not looking back at me, only the cold blue eyes of the wolves, ready to sink their fangs in me the first chance they get.

Still, I can’t give up on them. They are all I’ve got now. So, I choose to stay there and work with them. Their leader, the one with a white strip of hair on its head, has started to growl less and less at me each time I bring the water or food. And as he becomes friendlier, the other two follow.

I try to step into their leader, and after concentrating for like ten minutes, I do find a door in its mind. But as I put my foot in, he starts to growl, so I instantly back off. Maybe with time, he would not mind. But now, I do not want to pressure anything. No good can come out of it.

But what I do is decide to assign one card to him. I even name him.

“From this day on, you will be known as Whitehead… That’s what we called the upper management while I was in training in Pittsburgh, PA. And let me tell you, you are less scary than some of them were. So, yeah, Whitehead. It sounds about right.”

I look at my dungeon stats and can see that now I have 4 denizens under my care. So, even though they have one card as a pack, I get to count each wolf as a separate denizen. That’s good to know.

As I goof around with them, I decide I need to improve my productivity. So, I instruct Oollie to go out and start plundering all the areas around. There are still two hours of daylight and might as well put it to good use.

Right now, I’m getting one LIC Energy unit every six hours just by the Dungeon processing a little of leftover that is scattered around from the dwarfs and what we brought in yesterday.

I figure the Dungeon is big enough that if I can cover the whole floor with grass and wood and branches and whatever Oollie can find, I think we can increase that drastically. I’m probably using not even one percent of its capacity.

What I will need is workers to bring things in. That is my bottleneck now. And maybe wolves can help. But I do not know how I can train them. And how long it would take once I try. And without the training, I am afraid to let them loose outside. They would kill a kid or someone who is helpless and can’t defend themselves sooner or later. And that would be on me. No. There has to be a better way.

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Maybe if I like… teach them not to like the human flesh. If I get the Constructor to create some human flesh, then spoil them somehow, and give them to eat it. They would get sick and maybe learn not to like it anymore. Maybe… too many maybes. It would take forever to do that. And… do I really want to do it? I mean, little Oollie would need to carry the chopped human legs and arms downstairs, and… how would I poison them enough that would make them sick but not kill them? No. All of that seems very complicated. There has to be a better way.

First, I need to know what I’m working with. And besides, have to start growing my stack of cards. So, yeah, I need to card them. Whether they like me poking my nose in the outmost private parts of their inner beings, or not.

I start with the leader. I do the same thing I did with Oollie, and now that I know where to look, it does not take me that long.

Whitehead growls at me as I step in, but I tell him to hush.

“I am not here to hurt you. So, calm your horses.”

In the end, he listens to me, and I can step inside where the energy beacon is. And I press an empty white card against it.

Whitehead lays down on the floor, maybe finally submitting to me. Maybe it’s not hurting him at all, or giving him some kind of sense he even appreciates. But as I start to fill the card, he is very quiet, almost not moving at all. And the other two wolves come and start licking him, squealing shyly and licking him as if trying to help him out.

Nice friends, I have to say.

I suddenly feel their connection, the strength of their bond, feel their energy as well, and it is all being pulled into a card! And I don’t stop, not even when all three lay down and squeal as if they are crying their last breaths.

Cool! Now I have another card.

I open it up.

And to my surprise, it’s not Whitehead alone. It’s a whole pack. Three wolves. I guess I got three for the price of one. I’ll take it.

[Name: Whitehead Pack

Soul Absent (SB) Units

Bonding 1 percent

Karma Not Applicable

Physical Attributes

Mental Attributes

Recommendation:

Strong: Scouting, food finders, supply wagon interceptions, surprise attacks, and raids.

Weak: Front Line Attack

Please remember any unit without a soul suffers a fifty percent reduction in physical and mental attributes and performances]

I already have an idea of how to use them. Will put some kind of basket on top of their backs. Yes. Train them to bring stuff in. Each time they come with a basket, they’ll get a treat. Each time they try to run away, I’ll think and find a way to catch them or train them before I let them go outside. Yeah, that plan with a basket just fell on its head.

An alarm suddenly rings in my head. My heart is suddenly beating at triple the rate.

It’s been almost an hour since Oollie left. He came up two times, bringing a bunch of berries he found and some roots he dug out with the pick we saved. He dropped it next to his sleeping bed, obviously securing himself something to eat other than cold porridge. So, I send him out again, saying we need to bring in some wood for the fire, and some to let the Dungeon process and fill its BioMaterial storage.

So now, he is back foraging around, and I feel… No! I actually see… I do not know how, but I can see dimly through his eyes. As if through a fog. Not very clearly. But I see him dropping pieces of logs he was carrying and running through the forest toward the dungeon.

Damn. I’m sure it is real. I even hear him vaguely, but good enough to hear he is breathing deeply. See him making it to the trail, and I run upstairs to greet him, to see if he is being chased by goblins, wolves, or some other nemesis.

Might be the fourth wolf that stayed behind is after him. Shit. I completely forgot about him! That was so stupid! How could I have let him go out knowing the fourth one is still roaming around? No wonder my wife used to get upset at me. It's the same old me, neglecting my family life again, thinking only of profit and business?? What a bastard of a father am I?? Poor little Oollie, you deserve someone better than me.

My heart races faster than his, and his feet run slower than his heart.

Too slow.

Come little fella, run, run, Oollie!!

I could have made a monster with twenty legs who could have defended this dungeon, one who spit acid ten meters away, a serpent that could devour a whole cow! How stupid of me!

In his frightful run, Oollie suddenly turns around, and I see… not a wolf. It’s not very clear, but… it’s definitely not a wolf. It's something taller, something bigger. Something weird. What I see vaguely is a long.. brown coat. A man. He is running after Oollie.

Damn! I’m not ready to lose Oollie. I’m up by the entrance and see a stranger two steps behind Oollie running and extending his hands to pick him up.

I do not know what to do. I can run down and jump into Oollie and then try to fight the man off. I can send the wind down from the cave, but that would hurt Oollie probably even more than the intruder.

I watch in horror as the man leans over and picks Oollie up as if he is nothing more than a little kitty or a doggy.

Makes me regret I never taught him any martial arts or self-defense. He could have gone all Yoda on him if he only had a chance to master those skills.

And now, the way that guy is holding him, I'm afraid, it may all be too late.

Damn!