Lia ended up waiting for only a couple of minutes before a goblin made its way over to the piles of junk. Once it reached her, it knelt respectfully, clearly awaiting orders. Lia had it sift through the pile of stuff in front of her, separating it into multiple, smaller piles based on what she wanted with it.

Most of the armor and weapons went in one pile, lanterns and fuel went in another, stuff she didn’t know what they would be useful for went in another, and, finally, she had a pile of stuff she wanted to try when converting things.

The whole process took about half an hour, by which point Rose had set herself up, and one of the patrols had even returned, bringing with it three cocooned goblins and their gear. The patrol looked…well, she couldn’t tell if they had suffered any losses, since she had no idea how large the patrol had originally been, but there were still five goblin foot soldiers, a few rat foot soldiers, and an ironclad.

None of them looked terribly injured, though the goblin foot soldiers had some cuts and bruises, so they had probably encountered a little trouble along the way. The group walked up to where the cocoons containing rats were, and deposited their much larger cocoons in a pile next to them, then left to go…do whatever Rose had set them to doing.

Lia scurried over excitedly, opening her mouth and willing a drop of venom to come out of her fang and drop onto the cocoon. She repeated the process with a rat, combined their cocoons, hardened the cocoon up, and looked at her options. There were the standard goblin and rat options, but there was also a set of new conversions available.

They were for a kobold, specifically a rat-type kobold. It was just Drone, Foot Soldier, Burrower, and Sentry, but each of those were prefaced with “greater” instead of “lesser” or nothing. That was probably her buffs to rats being applied to the kobolds, since they fell in the category of “rat-like minions”.

Lia made a note to convert goblins into kobolds whenever possible. Even without her influence, kobolds were smarter than goblins while retaining similar or better stats, so there was really no downside. Starting off as a “greater” whatever was just the icing on the cake, really.

She got that pair converting into a drone. She only had one drone that had actual hands, and she doubted it was close to evolving. While it was possible to gain experience from things that weren’t combat, it was a lot slower than fighting unless it was something directly tied to your Class.

Though…maybe “Swarm Drone” counted as a Class for that purpose? No one was totally sure how monster experience worked, and it was assumed that most of it came from combat, since monsters were generally adversarial by nature.

Whatever the case, having more drones that could use tools wasn’t a bad thing. So, with that started, she took a moment to go talk with Rose again.

Did you find anything interesting, Lia? Rose asked, turning to face her the moment Lia began to start walking over.

Yes. It appears that by combining goblins and rats, I can create rat-kobolds, which are then strengthened by my nature as a Rat Queen. This means that they go a step up in terms of like…lesser and greater and whatever, so I was thinking that we should try and do that whenever we can, and for that we’re gonna need more rats.

Rose paused, then nodded. I believe you’re correct. It…might be worth setting up a farm, since I imagine we’ll be using rats for a long time to come if we can translate things to be rat-like like this.

Do we…have the means to do that? Lia asked. Surely that needs like…food and water and… Lia trailed off. That…wouldn’t actually be an issue, would it?

Lia? What’s the matter? Rose asked.

Did I ever tell you why I’m so keen on getting into the market?

Rose thought about that for a moment. I don’t believe you have. I was under the impression that it was to strengthen our forces by obtaining both the goblins’ infrastructure and the goblins themselves. Is that not the case?

I mean, it kind of is now, but that’s not the original reason. Lia said. Originally, I wanted to get to the center because Amelia installed food and water dispensers in places in the dungeon, and I’m pretty confident there’s gotta be one in this market.

Understanding dawned on Rose’s face. So…you’re saying if we get that, we can solve the issue of figuring out how to feed the rats. I was going to suggest feeding them goblin corpses and…well, I actually hadn’t quite thought through the water yet. I guess they’re not monsters, so they need that a lot more than we do.

Speaking of, what have you guys been drinking?

Same as you, goblin blood.

Lia blinked. Is there…enough of that to go around? Is that even a proper substitute for water?

Rose gave her a smile. Have you felt thirsty?

Not particularly, but…

That’s because we’re monsters now. We can partially derive our nutrition from magic in the air, especially in environments rich in magic like dungeons.

Oh. How…do you know that?

Rose paused. I can’t say. I think I might have read it somewhere, but it also feels like knowledge that even if I had my memories I wouldn’t remember where I learned it. That sort of…common sense type of thing. Is that not common knowledge nowadays?

Maybe? Lia replied. I didn’t pay much attention in my classes on monster biology except when they were about how better to kill the things. Do you happen to know why I feel so hungry when I evolve?

Ah, so you felt it too? That I can’t say for sure. Perhaps what we had eaten before is no longer enough to satiate our new form? Honestly a lot of things about monster evolution are an unknown to me, so that’s a pretty big guess.

Yeah, I figured. Lia said. A lot of stuff about monster evolution is still unknown, so I would be surprised if you did know. Thought I’d ask just in case, though.

Of course. So, should we proceed towards securing the food and water dispenser with aims to make a farm then? In the meantime, I can have groups out looking to stockpile rats for you.

That’d be awesome, thanks. Lia said. I’m going to get back to experimenting now, I’ll send the kobold your way once it finishes converting. It’s a drone, so hopefully that should help with labor.

Of course, Lia. Let me know if you have anything else I can help you with.

With that, Lia turned away and got back to her experimentation. Her next order of business was to test out the lanterns and see if she could make kobold lightborns. She wasn’t sure she would make one right now, she just wanted to see if she had the option.

And, as it turned out, she did. She pondered that for a second, then decided to check her stocks before making a decision. She had about five rats and two goblins left, including the ones she was considering making into a lightborn. She would get more goblins soon, and rats were…probably a non-issue, provided Amelia was still awake.

Well…could she split up cocoons that had been merged like this? It would certainly be convenient. So, she softened the cocoon and pulled on an edge, focusing on trying to take the rat out.

It didn’t work. Her instincts were telling her that she could undo the cocoon entirely, losing the modeling wax used in its creation and letting its inhabitants free, but that wasn’t really ideal. If she wanted to separate the contents without doing that, she would have to have something take away part of the exterior, reach in, and grab whatever was inside and pull it out.

That really wasn’t worth the trouble, so she just set the cocoon to converting into a kobold lightborn and began to look through her pile of stuff that she wanted to try converting things with.

It was a relatively small pile, containing only a few things that she thought could be helpful or interesting. There was a bow and a pile of crude arrows, a stack of paper, a small set of tools like hammers and screwdrivers, and, finally, a rather cheap-looking magician’s staff. The staff was the type that you would find as loot in many low level dungeons, barely more than a stick that could be used to channel magic, but it was a staff, nonetheless.

Too bad Lia couldn’t use it as she was now. She would have to evolve into something that had hands first. By that point she’d probably have something better, or would be able to purchase better from the Dimension of Discounts, so using it for a conversion would be no great loss.

The question was which to check first. In terms of combat, she was hoping that the bow would make an archer and the staff a mage, so those were probably high on the priority list. She wanted some sort of builder from the tools, and the paper…well, she was just curious. The papers were all things like ledgers and inventory forms, so she was wondering what would happen if she converted something with those in there. Would that affect things at all?

Well, she would have enough goblins to try all that out soon enough, so best to start with the staff. She put it in with a rat and goblin, and looked over her options with anticipation. And, to her delight, there was something available.

Lia barely even had to think about whether or not she wanted to make that right away. More magic was always something she would be delighted to have, regardless of whether or not she actually ended up using it; just having the option was nice.

She set it to converting and settled back to wait. It took another five or so minutes for the first kobold to finish. Once it had, she took a moment to look it over. Though she had heard of them, she had never actually seen a rat kobold before. There were only canine and reptilian kobolds in the areas she had lived, so she was curious.

The kobold was about as tall as a goblin, and was covered in a thick layer of white fur. It had hands and feet that ended in sharp claws, and a rat-like tail. Its head was more…predatory looking than the average rat’s, too; the muzzle was almost more akin to a wolf or fox’s than a rat’s, and the teeth were the same, rows of sharp things clearly made for tearing meat. The ears nose and eyes, however, remained roughly the same as they would on an ordinary rat.

It was definitely a better look than the goblins had, Lia decided. That wasn’t a particularly high standard, since that really only required something to have correctly proportioned limbs and not look like it had been rolling around in mud, but an improvement was an improvement.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what she would look like when she gained a humanoid form. With the way things were going, it was almost guaranteed to be some sort of rat based thing, but anything was a step up from not having proper hands.

She would have to convert a lot of foxes. She had gotten onto her current path by doing a lot with rats, so it only made sense that she could hop paths by doing a lot with foxes. Now that she had Preservationist, she didn’t have to worry about losing the benefits to her rats, either, so there really wasn’t a reason that she couldn’t hop paths once she got the opportunity.

Perhaps she was placing too much value on what she used to be, but she had liked being a foxkin. She had only briefly tried being transformed into something else, but even so she had found her native form the most comfortable to be in.

…Not that she thought she would feel any less comfortable physically in some other humanoid form now, since evolutions really helped her adapt in that regard, but it would make her feel better mentally, and it gave her a goal to work towards. Plus, in the future, if she ever wanted to infiltrate sapient society, it would help to be able to pass herself off as a foxkin instead of some other thing, since she was intimately familiar with their customs.

She was snapped out of her ruminations by a new set of goblin cocoons being dumped in front of her. There were only two this time, but Lia could see the corpse of a third being dumped in another pile, likely meaning that the raiding party had run into some sort of trouble.

That was fine, she couldn’t expect perfect successes every time. So, she got her remaining rat cocoons, added one to each goblin cocoon, then added the bow and arrows to one and the tools to the other, then looked at the options for the one with the bow. And, as she had hoped, there was indeed an archer of some sort.

She got that one converting, then took a look at the one with the tools. There were actually two new options this time, which meant she had to decide which to go with.

The craftswoman was tempting, as she would be able to make things that Lia would then be able to use in further conversions, but she was lacking in the raw material for that at the moment. It was definitely something Lia wanted in the future, but seeing as how she was currently…well, reinforcing fortifications, the builder seemed more immediately useful.

She set the cocoon to converting into a builder, and was about to go speak with Rose again, when a note popped into existence in front of her.

Hey, it’s Amelia again. The note read. I just ran out of rats, sorry. I had a lot for use in my experiments, but you’ve been using them at a pretty large rate, so I’m going to have to find a way to get some more. I’m still working on making a generator of some sort, but it’s proving to be more difficult than I thought, so…sorry. I know it should be possible, since the Dimension of Discounts has one, I just need to figure out how to replicate that myself.

Basically, I won’t have more rats for you for a couple of days while I go fetch more. I saw that you and Rose were looking to start a farm, though, which I think is a good idea. Maybe work on that in the meantime and by the time I’m back you’ll have something ready? The food and water dispensers should be more than enough to keep any number of rats fed, since a single one is designed to have enough for a large swarm of decently advanced monsters completely satisfied.

P.S. – I’ll look into the fox thing for you. They’re gonna be a bit harder to find than rats, since I can’t just buy those from a supplier, but I’ll figure something out.

Lia nodded and gave Amelia a mental thanks before resuming her journey to Rose.

Yes, Lia? Rose asked, turning away from the messenger she was talking to.

Sorry to bug you so much, Lia said, but I figured there are a couple of things you should know.

Ah, about the conversions? Do tell.

Well, yeah, those and a bit more. The good news is that I’ve been able to make a kobold that specializes in building, so that should dramatically help your fortification efforts.

That is good news. Rose agreed. What’s the bad news?

Amelia just dropped a note saying that she’s out of rats. We’re gonna have to make do with the natural number around here until she can get more in a couple of days. She did say that the food and water dispenser should be plenty to feed our farm, though, so we should aim to capture that ASAP.

Rose nodded. I suppose we couldn’t keep expecting that forever. I’ll keep a few teams out hunting in safe areas, but until then, it would be best if we…she trailed off, looking away in embarrassment. Sorry, I was about to give instructions, force of habit. Might I make a suggestion?

Yes. Lia giggled. I really don’t mind, though. Just as long as you’re not too pushy about it.

Yes, but I mind. Rose replied. It is not my place to give unilateral instructions to you. It makes me feel…bad. I know you are generous and do not care, but I still feel it too rude to do.

Fine, fine. Lia said. If it makes you happy.

It does. Rose confirmed. Anyway…might I suggest we keep at least five rats in reserve while we do not have Amelia’s assistance? Just in case we come across a particularly strong goblin or a rare item we would want to use for conversion.

I was thinking the same thing. Lia replied. I say let’s keep five reserved for experimentation and five for strong goblins. Uh…let me see if Analysis will tell me how much time we can keep things in cocoons, since we might want to cycle them depending on how long they can last.

It’s a complete time stop. Lia relayed. So, we shouldn’t need to be worried about that.

To Lia’s surprise, Rose was hardly paying attention. Rose?

Rose jumped, a chagrined expression on her face as she looked at Lia. My apologies, my Queen. She said. I got distracted by the prospect of potentially gaining Analysis. I…feel like it was something I had once wanted greatly, so to hear that it is something we are capable of obtaining distracted me. What were you saying?

Just that cocoons completely stop time for things within them. Lia replied. But…I’m kind of surprised you haven’t gained Analysis already. It was one of the first things I gained, and you’ve been doing a lot more management-type stuff than I have.

Yes, but those gave me Skills related directly to management. Rose explained. I would imagine Analysis needs me to…well, draw my own conclusions and act on them instead of just relaying orders from you.

Is that not what you’ve been doing? Lia asked. You’ve made quite a few decisions on how best to do things.

That’s…different, that’s just the dealing with the details of what you want . Rose said. Or, at least, it feels that way to me, and I think that’s what matters.

Lia nodded. I understand. In that case, I’m putting you in charge of taking over the market, and will be giving you no further orders until you do so. During this time, I will be following your orders unless they would directly lead to my death, so I expect to be given some, and I expect my talents to be fully utilized, do not keep me in reserve unless I am overkill for a task or it would be much, much too risky.

T-that’s not what I meant when I said I should act on my own conclusions instead of relaying your orders, my Queen! Rose said. I-I couldn’t–

You still have Skills you can obtain this evolution, yes? Lia said. And don’t lie to me, if you say you have none, I will check your status and see for myself.

Y-yes, but–

No buts. This is an order as Queen, and I will not have you disobey, understood?

T-then, once I get Analysis, c-can we go back to you being in charge?

Not until the market is taken. Lia said firmly. Think of it as me testing you to see if you can be trusted with an army as well as with more…civilian management. I have no doubts that you can, but I want to see for myself.

Rose slumped. Y-yes, my Queen. She said. When are we beginning this?

This is effective immediately. Lia said. So…I’m awaiting orders.

Fighterman481

I've been 'planning' for kobolds like this for a while, but never really got around to it because there were other things that were happening, so...here they are.

Uh...well, the only other thing I really have to say is that figuring out exactly what stuff should be in the "try to convert this stuff" pile was harder than I thought.

So...next time we'll probably getting a Rose PoV as she takes over the task of defeating the goblins, so look forward to that, I guess?

And, as always, thanks for reading!