As wood was turned into timber and then into beds by a team of builders working side-by-side in front of the only Workbench, a team of idle unassigned minions ferried the beds into the many homes scattered around the northern and western quadrants, as well as the handful near the farms on the eastern side.

No sooner had a bed been placed into the first home than two genderless minions, a Farmer and a Forager, left their assigned tasks, hand-in-hand, and wandered into a house. Tremors came from the house for a few seconds, and then a cloud of smoke emerged when the door burst open, and the Farmer and Forager emerged with a third minion, the same size as them.

“Hm, that’s pretty lazy,” Imu commented, sitting atop the mustard-yellow toad.

“Why is their child the same size as them?”

“Hey, System!” Imu called and the faceless doll wandered over. “What is this??”

“Congratulations! It’s called nature’s way!”

“But they’re the same size!” he argued back. “How is that supposed to be a child!?”

System lifted Imu off the back of the toad and held him high in the air, before beginning to spin around and laughing.

Watching from above in my essence form, I considered the newly-born minion. “It does make sense in a way,” I commented, while Imu was protesting to System’s treatment in an endless string of expletives. “If they had been born as actual children, they could not immediately contribute to our workforce.”

System stopped spinning and looked towards me, while Imu looked like he was on the verge of vomiting in her grip. “Slaver,” she said.

The Forager and Farmer let go of each other, returning to their tasks and heartlessly leaving their offspring to its own devices. The naked minion looked around, then went over to the idle unassigned minions who were just lounging around.

Congratulations! For having the first minion offspring born in your settlement, you unlocked the ability to construct a Toy Store!

[Crafting List]

>Structures>Vendors

—Toy Store (Workbench)—

Unlocks the ability to evolve a happy minion into a Toy Store Vendor and increases minion motivation in nearby structures

Sells handmade toys that makes customers happy for a full day.

Required Materials: Stone, Timber, & Wrought Iron

“A toy store?” Imu asked, after escaping System’s grasp and steadying himself against his toad mount.

“Does it count towards our required Merchant Shops?”

He pulled his Encyclopaedia out of thin air and started scrolling through it.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

System started running in circles around Imu’s mount, while screaming, “Congratulations! TOYS FOR EVERYONE!!!”

After they were finished sometime in the middle of the night, I started funnelling unassigned minions into the Armoury and Fletchery to evolve them all at once.

“Let’s hope this works,” Imu commented, lying atop the rubbery back of his mount, staring off into the night sky.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

System was still running around in circles somewhere in the northern quadrant, and we could hear her yelling on-repeat: “Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy!”

I sent in the appropriate amount of essence needed to evolve the five would-be-Archers in the Fletchery all at once, and came dangerously-close to exhausting all my essence. After feeding them my essence, a cataclysmic amount of light emerged through the windows of the tall building, then a loud pop of smoke burst out through all openings and sent the door flying off its hinges.

“It worked!” I exclaimed happily.

Then the entity within tried to emerge. Ten arms and legs sprouted from a meatball of conjoined rubbery flesh and skin.

“BURN IT! QUICK!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??!?!” Imu yelled incoherently.

Three of its limbs were trying to drag its disjointed form out of the ruined doorway, but it was too large. I quickly fed it the remainder of my essence and there followed another, louder, pop and limbs and rubbery skin shot out of the doorway to the Fletchery, littering the surrounding area.

Witnessing this, the ten minions waiting within the Armoury all left the building.

You there! I commanded them. Clean this up and bring the remains to the offering altar for the Goose2!

The ten minions looked at each other for a moment, but then got to work. I also called for a pair of Builders to repair the Fletchery.

“No group evolutions,” Imu told me. “Never again!”

I noticed bile dripped down his lower lip. It seemed he had thrown up after seeing the monstrosity.

Congratulations! For amalgamating four or more minions into an Ę̶̢̣͇̥̱̻̖̠̺͇͍̊͗͗ͯ́̐̄̐̈́̓̿̊̅̓̽̋͢͟ľ̴̦̬̱͎̘͖̮͒ͨ̽̂̏ͣ̚͘͟͡d̄̉͘_̷̷̧̘͚͎̤͖͍̄͜r̸̷̸̴̢̮̩͓͚͔̝͖̭̲̗̜͈̙͖̎͂͊̑̀̔́̿͛̑̏͊̓̚͜͞͝͝i̵̶̷̡̢̦̻̰̱̞͓̲̦̱͕̜͗͑͆͛̿̄̋͋͋̏ͯ͝͝ţ̗̖̱͈͕͔͔͙̿̄͋ͮ̋̀͗ͯ͢͡c̗h̢̛̛̬̳͉̜̳̩̟̞̲̣͉͙̪̥͈̅̑͊̅̉̎͗́̽ͦͨ̀͟͜͠ A̷̧̟͋_̵̸̡̨̧̤͎͉̻̩ͭ̈̽͌̂́̏ͭ͢͠ḃ̸̩̱̝͇̳̿̂̐ͣ͗͘̕͞͠ò̷̸̟̜̰̬͔̯̜̰̖̠̯̘ͨ̽̇͐́̓̔ͨͪ̎̚͢͞m̢̮̩̜̙̤͚̼̦̮̬̹̲͙̖͇̠͕̮ͫ̓ͦ͐̓̒͆̂̑͆͆͜͢͜͠ì̴̶̴̛͎̤̠͉̳̻̂ͨ̀̓͊ͯ͛ͦ̍͡ņ̗͎̫͚̙̮̱̆̒̋ͬ́̌ͪ͂́̈̾̋̋͑̾a͓ͣ̎̏͗̚͡_̧̢̬̑ͥ̆̔͡ͅt̵̢̪͙͕̹͎̩̬̰̳̬̠̤̯̘̣̰̲ͫ̽ͣ̆͆͗̊̈́̊ͩ͐ͮ́͗̾̈͛̈́̍̀̉ͯ͢͟͡͝ì͉̣͔͚̏ͣͣͩ_̶̸̷̨̢̰̜̯̩̮̳̲͋ͩ̊̓̀͌̇ͬͪͣ̋̐̕̚͠ơ̴̴̴͖͍͎̜̼͔̭̣̈́̀͒ͨ̂ͤ̾ͥ̐ͮ͒͘͞͠͞n̛̘̦̫͇̱̹̓ͦ̇̉͠_̷̧̡̢̞̜͔̹̦̗͎̝͖ͪ̔͋ͧͪ͂̀ͧ̚̚͜͠, you unlocked the ability to construct the Fleshcrafter’s Laboratorium!

[Crafting List]

>Structures>????

—Fleshcrafter’s Laboratorium (Workbench, Forge, & Hermit’s Lodge)—

Unlocks the ability to evolve a minion into a ???? and construct ????

Required Materials: Timber, Stone, Wrought Metal, & C̶̡̢̟̝̹͕͉̖̼͑͌͛ͥ͐ͣ̆̋̑̍ͪ́͟͡h̷̷̴̵̶̢̢̡̧̬̯̦̗͖͓̗̳̩̘̜̫̾̌͑̅ͫ̈́̊ͫͬ͢͠͠͝t̷̡͓̻̙̻̫̖̱̣͙͓̬̹̑̊̇̑͌̎́̉̈́̀̈̽̎̿̑̓͜͜͡͞h̴̴̛̻͓͈͔̙̥͓͇̳̻̳̎͑ͨ̌̃ͪͬǫ̴̻͕̗͚͈̙̠̟̹̭͍̙̀̀̀ͣ͗̿̋͛̍͝n̶̷̵̶̷̢̢̼̟̣̝͙̘͙̳͖̲̥̠͙̐̓͆̈́̾̽̾̾̂̐̎̏͐͂̽̓̌̓͗̔ͦͮí̵̷̡̛̛̙̼̖͘_̠͊_̦͍̟͕̻͙͌ͦͬͦ̂̊ͣ͞c̷̸̱̺̝̻̘̯ͮͤ̆̉ͅ Ḫ͉̜̮̥́ͯ̂̄̍͠y̸̛̝̯̣̘͕̲͎̦͚͇͕͔̽̆̽ͭ̏̔̐̓͊ͫ͌͡m̧̡̢̨̛̬̭̝͚̫̙̥̙̥̯͖̤͖͉̑̍ͨ͛͛͌̽̐͐͌ͫͥ́̾͊́͂̊̇ͤ̕͡ṇ̤̝̾̄̽ͥͭ̇̒͘

“What’s that for?” I asked.

Imu quickly looked at his Encyclopaedia and, with a face drained entirely of colour, replied, “We are under NO circumstances making that building!!”

After successfully evolving two Guards and an Archer, we were visited during the early dawn by Monroe the Taxman, who was accompanied by a dozen armoured pike-wielding bodyguards, as well as two figures in flowing red robes.

With our new Guards next to him, Imu greeted the Tax Collector and I quickly sent for minions to bring our new batch of wheat flour to the cart the man had brought.

“We would like to establish trade with the Castle Town of your Earl,” Imu told the man.

Monroe nodded enthusiastically, while his guards spread out, seeming to expect the arrival of the Honking Menace soon. “Earl Sharpee and his people would be interested in purchasing your fresh produce, I am certain,” he said.

“We would also like to establish trade relations with other towns and villages.”

“Of course, for a cut of the profit, we would gladly introduce you.”

The two, child-like Myling and inbred pouch-forehead Taxman shook hands, then the latter asked, “Has your settlement expanded since I was last here?”

“It hasn’t,” Imu quickly replied.

Why are we keeping it a secret? I asked him through my thoughts.

With his cart loaded with twice-as-much wheat flour as last time he visited, Monroe and his entourage took off. Imu sidled over to where my essence form floated and said, “If they find out there’s a Core here, even one as bizarre as yours, they will forcefully take over. It’s important that no one discovers the truth until we have the means to defend ourselves from would-be conquerors.”

“Conquerors?”

“There’s a lot of money to be gained from the control of a Core,” he told me. “And we have the ability to produce crops in a fraction of the time it takes for human farms to do the same, making us easily-exploitable.”

He turned to look towards the Taxman and his men as they left through the forest. As I followed his gaze, there came a loud honking and squawking.

“…Ah. Right on time,” he deadpanned.

“Maybe it is lucky we have our local Menace to discourage them?” I commented.

“They will want to send an extermination party to deal with it sooner-or-later,” he explained, as the two robed figures started hurling projectiles of stone and frozen water at the monster, while the guardsmen frantically tried to jab their pikes into the Goose2 that circling in around above and kept bombarding them with powerful buffets of wind from its wings and belches of fire from its gullet.

“What are those robed ones?” I asked, fascinated with their ability to conjure elements out of thin air to launch at the flying waterfowl demon.

“Sorcerers, I’d imagine. Low-ranking ones though, by the looks of them.”

“Will I get minions like that?” I asked.

Imu was about to answer when System came running over and put a hand over his mouth, and whispered: “Congratulations! Spoiler-free Zone!”