It had barely been two hours since I conjured my crew of Gremlins when I received a veritable barrage of notifications simultaneously.
2* Basic Gremlin has evolved into Gremlin Nuclear Physicist
4* Basic Gremlin has evolved into Gremlin Engineer
3* Basic Gremlin has evolved into Gremlin Radiation Worker
1* Basic Gremlin has evolved into Gremlin Health and Safety Officer
Gremlin Nuclear Physicist: A Gremlin who has turned their attention from hands-on engineering to the underlying sciences behind the operation of nuclear reactors, Gremlin Nuclear Physicists can help other Gremlins see possibilities on nuclear projects they might have otherwise missed, hastening progress. A Gremlin Nuclear Physicist can leave the dungeon for 90 minutes before going feral.
Gremlin Engineer: A Gremlin who has developed significant prowess at designing new machinery, Gremlin Engineers can work on R&D projects when you're occupied with other things. They are also adept at performing repairs on existing machinery, but it's really not their specialty. Gremlin Engineers can spend 2 hours outside the dungeon before going feral.
Gremlin Radiation Worker: A subset of Gremlin Technician specialized in radioactive systems, Gremlin Radiation Workers are equipped with both a hazmat suit granting heavy radiation resistance and an encyclopedic knowledge of radiation safety protocols. Gremlin Radiation Workers can spend one hour outside the dungeon before going feral.
Gremlin Health and Safety Officer: When working with dangerous systems, it pays to have someone to double-check that proper safety protocols are being followed, and shut things down if they're going out of control. That is the job of the Gremlin Health and Safety Officer, who significantly reduces the probability of deadly workplace accidents with projects to which they are assigned. Gremlin Health and Safety Officers can spend 90 minutes outside the dungeon before going feral.
Notification: The Engineering Lab has completed a blueprint: Version 2 Proton Pile Reactor
Notification: There are guests at the entrance!
Quickly, I decided that I would be prioritizing what the Gremlins had to say over the individuals at the entrance, switching my perspective to the Engineering Lab in what would soon be my right shoulder. Immediately, I told my research team "Good job on leveling up and your work on the reactors so far. Now, would you mind summarizing what you've actually done?"
One of the Gremlin Engineers turned to look at my... perspective was a good enough term, before saying "Well, we haven't quite gotten it to the level you specified, but we've managed a pretty good interim step with about three times the effective output. See, we noticed that most of the mana cost associated from running a Proton Pile was from conjuring new coolant, so we-"
I interrupted my subordinate, saying "Thank you. I very much appreciate the explanation, but right now I need to check on something happening at the door. It would be appreciated if you would write down the technical details for my later consumption."
With that, I switched my perspective to the entrance, to see who it was that I would be needing to deal with. To my surprise, it was actually Seth, the shepherd who had both given me that mana bead and wound up being forced to visit me during the incident with Karyll Scaleridge. There were a few people accompanying him, along with his sheep and a couple dogs, meaning that he had probably brought his family.
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Quietly, I directed my first Basic Clockwork to the entrance, while also opening the doors leading from the exterior to my first floor safe room. My machine then spoke to the incoming batch of townsfolk, saying "Hello, Seth. I take it that this is your family?"
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"Hello, Seth. I take it that this is your family?"
As the dungeon's minion spoke, Seth nodded, saying "Yes. Dungeon, meet Djain, Samuel, and Adam."
There was a brief pause, before the metallic being replied "Nice to meet all of you. Anyway, there must be some reason why you came to speak with me, so you might as well get right to the point."
The shepherd nodded once more, before he said "Now that Karyll is dead, the Supreme Leader will almost certainly think that the county is in open rebellion. As soon as he hears of this, he will be coming here to kill everyone who could possibly be a threat to him, and I want to get my family out of here before that happens."
There was another brief pause, before Seth added "I can even pay you." and revealed the small jar of shining purple beads he was carrying with him.
The Dungeon seemed vaguely stunned for a few seconds, before he asked "Seth, were you by any chance aware that every single one of those beads is made out of pure compressed mana?"
The shepherd shrugged, saying "After you mentioned last night that you probably wouldn't have been ready for Karyll without it I figured you had some use for them, but I hadn't quite known what, I'll admit."
With that, the Dungeon's minion nodded, saying "You can wait in the safe room while I come up with something. A good chunk of my attention will be focused on other tasks, but rest assured that I will do my level best to make sure you can get out of here safely."
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In the basement of the Supreme Leader's palace, a mannequin began to write. This was no ordinary mannequin, quite obviously, instead being a form of sympathetic magic based on the ancient practice of making a voodoo doll of someone. Instead of the mannequin having an effect on its original however, now the original was having an effect on the mannequin, causing it to mirror their movements as they sent a report back to the capitol. The movement of the mannequin tugged on a string, which then caused a bell to ring in the supervisor's office.
The supervisor walked through the corridors to the writing desk, arriving just in time to see the report from Gyrten County completed and stamped shut with the official wax seal. Picking up the report, the man took it back to his office, before walking up the stairs directly into the Grand Throne Room. After all, the Supreme Leader took a very dim view on anyone possibly being able to smuggle messages out from the official communications system.
The Grand Throne Room was by far the largest building in the entire kingdom to anyone's knowledge. Dwarfing any cathedral anyone had ever even heard of, the massive structure was held up almost entirely by magic, for the simple reason that none of the mundane architects thought the job was possible. They had been promptly executed for their refusal. The Grand Throne itself was similarly massive, such that a hundred men could stand shoulder to shoulder on it and still have room to spare. The official occupant of said Grand Throne, on the other hand, found it only barely large enough to be comfortable.
As soon as the supervisor of the message system made it into the throne room, he turned and bowed to the Supreme Leader, before he said "Your magnificent greatness, I come bearing a message from the Drake Guard in Gyrten County!"
Sunlight from the impossibly large stained glass windows glittered off the Supreme Leader's cobalt blue scales as they leaned down and ordered him "Very well then, read it!" the heat from their dormant flame radiating throughout the room as they did so.
The supervisor nodded, before popping the wax seal on the report and reading "A cloud of smoke appeared on the horizon near the town of Cleft. Deputy Karyll Scaleridge took a contingent of Drake Guard to investigate, accompanied by a levee of peasant conscripts. Several hours later, the peasants returned with no sign of Karyll or her Drake Guard contingent. Subsequent interrogations of several of the returning peasants indicated that they had been brought to a Dungeon, which had killed the Drake Guard but had secretly hidden the peasants in a concealed room."
With that, the man looked up at the massive Grand Dragon ruling the country of Regno, as he asked "Should I compose a response, sir?"