I awoke into a dark space. The moment I entered into the realm of the living, my Mana spread out from my core. It felt a little bit stuffy back in the Styx, but I'd say it was definitely worth it! As worth it as worth can get!

What surrounded me, however, was somewhat less so. It was rather cramped, barely tall enough for an adult kobold to stand at full height. That same kobold wouldn't be able to walk more than four paces from corner to corner. It was truly miniscule.

To compound upon misery, there were a litany of these such rooms, each holding at least one Kobold, the majority of which were sleeping. The remainder, however, were either trying to escape their confines, or breaking down.

A few hours of Influence expansion revealed what seemed to be the bounds of the cage warehouse. On the outside, there appeared to be some form of map, afixed by a set of small spikes, though I couldn't tell what they were a map of. They certainly didn't match the warehouse's layout. Perhaps it was because they were doing that “ink-saving technique”? Mayhaps.

Turning back inside, I quickly surmised that these kobolds hadn't put themselves in here. That much was abundantly clear. If they had, they would have made exit tunnels, or hidden the keys within their rooms. These had no such things. In fact, the locks appeared enchanted in some way, responding only to a “real” key, held elsewhere.

Unfortunately, these enchantments were made entirely of “foreign” Mana, over which I held no power. Unfortunately for whoever designed this place, they failed to account for my mastery of Kobolds. I was a bit rusty, having spent 5 “weeks” not using my Kobold skills in the Styx, but it was hard to forget something you spent your life doing.

There were three ways I could improve a monster; Uplifting, Enhancement, and Evolution.

Uplifting had the most drastic effect on an individual, greatly increasing physical and magical strength, but came with the greatest downside; only one Uplifted monster, or “boss”, as adventurers tended to call them, could exist on a single floor, meaning that I had to choose them carefully.

Enhancing came with no downsides beyond a light Mana cost, but didn't tend to do much, only advancing a single Level or less most of the time.

Evolving, on the third claw, was a long-lasting change, and could easily be up-scaled (heh) to a wider population, making large changes to a large population, but was greatly Mana- and time-intensive, taking a day or two.

I feel that Evolving would be the best course of action. While it would take a while, it could bring the most help to these poor souls.

[Monster Evolution]

Are you sure you wish to initiate [Monster Evolution] upon 37 [Kobold]s for 370 Mana?

I agreed.

Advance Evolution

Automatically assigns each Evolving monster a Race based upon various personal and environmental factors.

Dracobold

Automatically assigns each Evolving monster a Dracobold Race based upon various personal and environmental factors.

Flame Dracobold

A Dracobold, closer to Flame Dragons than their Kobold kin. Gains the ability to expel flame as breath innately.

Ice Dracobold

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A Dracobold, closer to Ice Dragons than their Kobold kin. Gains the ability to expel frost as breath innately.

Storm Dracobold

A Dracobold, closer to Storm Dragons than their Kobold kin. Gains the ability to expel lightning as breath innately.

Toxin Dracobold

A Dracobold, closer to Toxin Dragons than their Kobold kin. Gains the ability to expel toxic gasses as breath innately.

Elemental Kobold

Automatically assigns each Evolving monster an Elemental Kobold Race based upon various personal and environmental factors.

Air Kobold

A Kobold, strongly attuned to the Element of Air.

Earth Kobold

A Kobold, strongly attuned to the Element of Earth.

Fire Kobold

A Kobold, strongly attuned to the Element of Fire.

Water Kobold

A Kobold, strongly attuned to the Element of Water.

Heavy Kobold

Less magically capable than their High Kobold cousins, Heavy Kobolds make up the difference with physical strength and Stamina.

High Kobold

Less physically powerful than their Heavy Kobold cousins, High Kobolds make up the difference with magical prowess and Mana.

As always, I chose to simply Advance their Evolution. These typically helped with any general location-based problems, which I'd class this whole “imprisonment” thing as, whilst still letting people keep their individuality and not encroaching on their right to choose for themselves.

[Monster Evolution]

Evolution initiated: [Kobold] >> [Ice Dracobold]

Wait, what?

~¤~¤~¤~

Venfar threw open the door to the warehouse. They'd gotten a good amount of Kobolds from that weird dungeon off in the south, 37 in all, 18 arranged in breeding pairs, 18 individuals, and one egg. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get too much of a share from the sale, but it was still a bit of income on the side.

However, when he looked into the cells, they were all sleeping. Must be nocturnal. Oh well, he'd just get them hauled off to the auction house and wake them up there.

“Come on, guys, get this all loaded up!“ He shouted to the transport team. He'd hired them for relatively cheap, given the amount of cargo that needed hauled, though they seemed to need instruction every step of the way. Probably just starting out. He felt a bit bad, taking advantage of newbies in any field.

Only a bit.

They offered the price, he'd probably give them some advice after they'd hauled the cargo. In the mean time, he'd have to make sure they new what they were doing. It would be awful if any of the goods were to die, especially the egg. That is easily the most expensive thing they had. While it may not be that useful right now, they could make a killing selling it to some nobleman's daughter as a pet or something.

Though, really, that brought up the best part of selling through auction; you don't need to seek out a buyer. All you need to do is put up flyers, then, like magic, folks who want what you're selling come pouring in.

Oh! While he was thinking, the folks had finished up loading the cargo. “Alright, let's take it slow now, lads. We got delicate cargo, and it's valuable, so keep an eye on it. And no stealing! I've got this stuff in a precise count.“

~¤~¤~¤~

After a while on high alert bringing the cages of sleeping kobolds to the auction house, a check through by an auction supervisor, and an hour or so, the scheduled time for the auction had arrived. Several rounds of auctioning later, and…

“Next up, this Kobold egg, confirmed fertilized. Reports say this was the child of a Kobold Leader and a Floor Boss. Bidding begins at 50 Gold Coins.“

“51!“

“51-and-a-half!“

“51-and-three-quarters!“

It was going to be a long bid.