While Stew sent the panthers to search the rest of the level and Eira and her revenants to block both entrances, Raek dug through the belongings of the three intruders, starting with the deceased one, Vercig. He held up a copper brooch and an iron dagger. "Helvetian or we're supposed to believe they are." He spoke mind-to-mind still to avoid eavesdropping, but Stew shared the connection with all of his level bosses and minions.
"You think they are flying a false flag?" Lorelei said.
Raek shrugged. "Sometimes things are just what they appear to be, but they showed up the day after a Roman legion camped at our door."
"Did you send for wolves?" Eira's thoughts came from where she guarded the level three entrance.
Bossy replied. "They thought they might be of some help identifying our guests."
"Let them through," Stew said, though he wondered what wolves, however magical, would know about geopolitics.
Lassie and her squire, Rin Tin Tin, arrived at the scene of the skirmish at a lope, snuffling at the underbrush and vaulting over standing water. They made a wide detour around the bound prisoners and continued into the underbrush to where Vercig's body lay.
Fluff rose from his lounging, watching the prisoners, and followed them, oozing curiosity. Stew followed. He looked through Fluff's eyes. He still found it disconcerting to share the minds of the wolves, possibly because of their tight bond with Bossy.
The two wolves sniffed at the body with so much interest Stew thought he might call them back in case they started eating it. He reminded himself they were minions in a dungeon. This was one of the perks for them, but he also felt Fluff's growing irritation. This was his kill, he should get the first bite.
Stew could feel Fluff's hunger as if it were his own, but he found he didn't have to settle a dispute. The wolves drew back and trotted back to where Raek and Lorelei remained with the prisoners.
Lassie shared with him an impression of high mountains, lakes, and the smells of particular plants and herbs. Somehow, he understood what she was saying meant "Helvetian" in wolf.
"Well, the wolves agree. This seems to be a group of Helvetian scouts," Stew shared with everyone. "That's less awkward. We already have enough issues with the Romans."
"Less awkward, but it means the Helvetian main force must be getting close," Eira said.
Raek shared a feeling of agreement with the group. "This might actually work in our favor. We can hand these over to the Romans as a sign of goodwill, along with explaining the troll flood by hinting that you are an Incarnate unfamiliar with our world. That trade of information may give us some time and protection."
Stew noticed the way Raek said "us." He hoped he meant it.
"Protection. Do you mean to ask the Legion to protect us?" Eira sounded more than hesitant.
"That's what they are ostensibly here for," Raek replied. But I share your doubts. Let's gather Theus and see if these three can tell us something about the location of the rest of the force. Search magic works best with a physical affinity." He paused and continued, directing his question to Stew. "Unless you have some methods you would like to try first?"
Stew decided he still couldn't completely trust Raek, not enough to tell him he had know idea what kind of methods the man was talking about. "I would rather see what Theus comes up with. I've only seen him in action once, and I was distracted by your skulking around at the time."
Raek had the courtesy to be abashed and share that back along the link, slight though the feeling was. "I needed to know more about who I was working with."
"Likewise." Stew sent for a squad of martial arts golems to come pick up the two prisoners. He added a half dozen level 10 halberdiers to make a show of some variety in his forces.
He decided to leave the body for the panthers, wolves, and Lorelei since they all had some claim on it now. He just asked that they leave the level 16 core the kill would drop for him to experiment with later. He wanted to see what the difference was between a human core and a monster core.
While Raek and the golems carried the prisoners and a false core to the surface to meet with Theus and then Caesar, Stew turned his attention back to his to-do list.
Everything that had happened above ground in the last few days might count as progress toward Make myself more valuable alive than dead, but with the likelihood of not one but two armies in the neighborhood, he needed to get back to Learn. Grow. Build, and especially, Make myself too tough to kill, even if they try.
He had asked Bossy to put steam catapults at the top of his list, but he had to admit he didn't even know where to start. Maybe he could hand that to the trolls as long as he made sure to check their work very carefully. He might send them to the same bunker he eventually planned to build to test mana cube stacking for safety checks once they came up with something. He made a mental note and put that under "Maybe."
Speaking of mana cubes, despite all of the commotion, mana, and action production had continued without interruption. So much had happened that it seemed like weeks since he learned to create a mana cube, but it had only been three days. With a little automation, it had been a very productive three days despite all of the distractions. He had let the process run with Grow turned up to eleven, using every extra bit of the output beyond what he needed for maintenance to build more capacity, but it was time to work back toward Build and Learn.
Looking over the numbers gave him a warm glow of satisfaction. The ancient world probably wasn't ready for what a reasonably solid assembly line could do.
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He had been up to 10 new fonts per hour for 72 hours now, and the mana production just built on itself exponentially. He wasn't using divine milk or even actions to generate mana anymore.
Unnamed Core - Category 1 Gray Core
09:18
Levels: 5
Minions: 192
Monsters: 281
Mana: 3,300 / 5,609,400
Average Reaction Efficiency: 0.05
Cumulative Mana Recharge: 230,220/hr
Actions Remaining: 245,640
Action Fonts: 732
Action Recovery: 175,680 / day
1. Generate Mana
2. Monsters And Minions
3. Build
4. Customization
5. Inventory
6. Consume Mana Cores
7. Press The Button
It was time to stop building mana cubes and start accumulating mana. It would take less than half a day to hit his new capacity, then he could start spending the excess upgrading the cows to produce more milk for more divine fonts. He reset instructions for the forges and controllers.
Meanwhile he hadn't had time to even properly name all of his levels. He had a hunch that ten named levels might be a significant number.
He sent mining golems down to the sixth floor to start digging more levels and turned his attention back to Femur on the first level. With all of the shuffling, the first level was really just a nameless floor now.
"What do you think about calling this level 'The Goblin Market?'"
Femur was busy roasting a haunch of rat meat over the fire in his cave. "Not much of a market if it's just me. Maybe call it 'Femur's Market?'"
"The gold is here. Once they hand it over, we should have enough to bring on more goblins. Do you think your family and friends would be interested?"
Femur scratched his chin. "Might be. Not sure how to get a message to them though. I just followed the quest you sent and haven't seen any others show up, so I'm guessing I was the only one interested."
Quest? Stew hadn't thought about the details of how Femur, Bossy, and Cecil had arrived. The wolves had been following a quest, too. Was that just some effect a dungeon had? Could he deliberately create one? "I think it was just a quest for one." If he brought up the minion menu, would he just get a random goblin? Would that work out? "What if I just invited random goblins? Is that something you would be ok with?"
Femur stood quickly and snatched his dagger. "Fine with me. Just let me hide behind something so I can stab them in the back if they're some of that Moss Hill bunch, or worse, city goblins or some nobody clan. Oh! I know, summon that filthy thief, Long Toe. I've been looking for him since last summer."
"Forget I asked. You said you're family calls themselves the Hidden Falls people?"
"Hidden River. Hidden Falls would be a stupid name for a clan."
"Got it, and how many are there?"
"Counting every squealing kid and grumpy elder." Femur thought, counting in his head as Stew watched. "Fifty-five, maybe a few more or less."
"I'm going to try something. Don't stab anyone."
Femur grimaced but put his dagger away.
Stew concentrated on creating a quest for any Hidden River goblin to bring their family to the dungeon for a guaranteed job. He imagined attaching the contract. Nothing happened.
On a hunch, he opened the main menu again and thought at it:
1. Generate Mana
2. Monsters And Minions
3. Build
4. Customization
5. Inventory
6. Consume Mana Cores
7. Press The Button
Create a quest for any Hidden River goblin to become a dungeon minion. Families welcome.
Quest Creation Failed: Insufficient Resources
Even though it failed, he was encouraged. It looked like he was at least moving in the right direction. He thought he might know what resource he needed. He told Femur he would get back to him and switched to Raek's mind. He was standing in one of the tents the town building crew had raised around the worksite with Theus, Garrik, and two burly builders.
The prisoners were no longer bound and gagged, but the way they sat on the ground looked unnaturally stiff. Their eyes were glassy and staring.
Stew had questions but stuck to his current task."About that gold you owe me."
"It's here. We can deliver it this afternoon, but Theus has something he wants to tell you." Raek nodded to Theus, who turned and stepped outside through the tent flap. Raek followed.
Theus lowered his head and spoke in a low voice to Raek and Stew while Garrik stepped out and stood a little away, pretending to dig through his travel pouch. Stew saw that the young fighter was keeping an eye on the builders nearby.
"I've found an affinity link back to the main Helvetian force. I was able to get a good look before I had to withdraw to avoid discovery." He glanced up to the mountains in the general direction of the pass. "They are five to seven days away, closer if they make a forced march, but I doubt they will. It's rough terrain just on the other side of the pass."
"Why are we whispering?" Stew whispered with Raek's lips.
"You don't have any sort of formal alliance with Rome, and, so far, you haven't made it clear what your thoughts and preferences might be about that." Theus glanced at the tent and the Helvetian prisoners. "Other options."
Garrik's assignment as a lookout suddenly made more sense. He might think he was watching for eavesdroppers, but Theus had sent him away so he wouldn't hear his mentor talking this way. The question was, who was being played here? Garrik or Stew? Both?
He thought about what he knew of the Romans in his world and this one. They were definitely not the good guys by any measure. Then, from what he could tell about the Helvetians, their allies, and especially this Merlin, it was likely they weren't saints either.
Greek Macedonia and Phoenician Carthage were unlikely to be very trustworthy. Though, these two spies representing them had behaved themselves for the most part. Raek said Stew had a "sister" out there somewhere, an Avatar that might have some answers about what he was now. Now, he could see why Raek had dangled that information in front of him. He couldn't be sure if it were true.
It also wasn't lost on him that this was one more distraction from the one thing he had come here to find out.
"Bring me that gold. Then we'll talk about alliances."
Stew switched back the the fifth floor. He needed to see a Troll about a cannon.