After finishing my work on the giant body, I make a backup of my current set up, though I didn't have any more water iron to coat the spare. Still, it'll be nice to have a functionally identical body if this one gets damaged. Naturally I store both and have the new Kobold type follow me, before heading out to the Guildhall to look for a hunting or extermination type quest. Even if I level up a couple times before Crimson clears the next floor of the dungeon, I won't pass the new limit. On top of that, I might find something interesting.

I briefly speak with the black haired receptionist, Rute, if I remember right, about those sorts of quests, and end up picking a hunting quest for ten of a plant monster called a Strider Spud, described in a way that made me think of a potato with four to eight legs depending on its size. The reward is listed as three copper coins each with a quest completion bonus of five coppers. He recommends attacking the legs to leave the body intact. I also consider a repeatable extermination quest for insect monsters called Alloy Beetles, which both eat, and are partially made of, metal. But Rute said that was a quest from the system, and I wasn't ranked high enough to actually accept it. Given that my rank doesn't match my strength, I decide to hunt them freelance, if I happen across them.

The quest tracker function is a little more vague this time, perhaps because it is indicating areas they appear in, rather than specific targets. After maybe an hour of wandering out of the town, I have my first encounter with a Strider Spud, which it turns out looks kinda like a spider with a potato for a body and root legs, it's about the size of a beach ball, and that's just the four legged version. Its stats were, unremarkable. Even at level five none of them were over six. Between myself and the Kobold type, we could probably carry a few, but I decide I return to the Guildhall to turn in the first one. I hand it over to the gray bearded dwarf at the back, apparently a butcher or at least the secretary for the butcher's department. He introduces himself as Zanamaz, which seems rather different to the other dwarves I've interacted with.

Then I go talk to the blue bearded dwarf at the vault. His name is apparently Auguite, and ask how much it would cost to commission Flynt for a cart. Two silvers was the estimate, which is over half what I had in my balance. The others had picked up some quests in my 'Party's Name' apparently, which just means it doesn't count towards quests I've actually done, but rather as ones that were done by allies who aren't guild members, and sold off all of the dungeon loot that they didn't know for sure I could use for crafting automatons. Bit of a shame, I could probably have found uses for some of it yet, but money can be useful too.

After withdrawing the silvers, and a bit of extra currency just in case, I return to the workshop, speak to Flynt, who has been up for a while now and is just looking over the Napalm Wood Mannequin. I make it a point that the cart can be made of normal but sturdy wood, so long as it can handle the local terrain off road fairly well, but he seems weirdly excited anyway. Once he's run off with the Mannequin in tow, I ask Goibniu to watch, and build a pair of Dire Wolf Autotéras to pull the cart. Like with the Kobold type, they have mouths and sharp teeth.

I play around with one of the Wolf bodies myself while waiting for Flynt to come back. Once he arrives, now with another dwarf following along with the Mannequin, I switch back to my main body. The new dwarf is rather plain looking, and has the name Gabbrone. A leatherworker here to set up a harness for the cart. I animate the Dire Wolf bodies and have them stand in place for the construction of the cart. Flynt is working with an oddly uniform looking golden brown wood. It doesn't have rings or knotholes or any other inconsistency I can spot. Just that single color no matter how he cuts or carves it.

Once the cart is complete, I pay the men and head out to properly hunt down some of those Spuds. I set the Kobold type to work a while to judge its skills and how useful the claws and fangs are. The answer is, not bad and likely to be much better later on. Once the cart is full, I check the status of my sword, gun, and companions. I didn't level up, but most of them did, so it was still worthwhile. After that, I turn the dozen Strider Spuds in, I managed to overshoot the quest's requirements, but they still bought the extras. I kept twenty coppers, or two magic coppers worth, and left the rest of the reward in my account, then returned to the workshop to check in. Since Crimson and the other's aren't back yet, I head out to search for the Alloy Beetles.

When I finally find one, the sheer size of it surprises me. It looks like a hercules beetle with a mottled rust red and faint gold shell about the size of a small car. Its stats aren't bad, at level six, they average fifteen, with Vitality being the highest at twenty. Its wisdom is the lowest, so I figure I'll try the idea that I thought would help grind my magic skills up. I wait outside of its notice, take a moment to think of a chant, then draw out fifty points of MP, convert it into fire mana, scatter it about as I throw it towards the giant bug. "O Fire, hear my call. Consume one percent of the mana, burst to life, burn and repeat until the mana is exhausted. Will-o-wisp Swarm."

The first few mini-fireballs ignite before reaching the beetle, but the bulk of the storm hits home. It's hard to keep track with the goal being a hundred small spells, but I'd say it fell a little short of that mark because of mana's tendency to disperse. [Fire Magic 2›3] The beetle shrieks and starts charging towards us, but it has already lost over one hundred and fifty points of its HP. Its shell is steaming, and it seems pained by every movement. I ask Sapph to cast a water spell like the fire spell I just cast to finish it off.

It was meant to test if she could come up with her own spells that easily, and she manages fairly well. It seems like she actually did one small spell per point of MP instead of two per. But that's still plenty down on the cost compared to the basic system assisted spells. The rapid drop in temperature cracks the shell in many spots. Which I use as starting points to break it down a little. I carve off most of the metal from the shell and break it down enough to put in our baskets, then cut the body into a few pieces to more easily put on the cart. I take the beetle's remains back to the guild to see if it can be sold off. They apparently don't buy anything other than the shells, but some of the other parts have alchemic uses.

So I visit Sergu's shop and discuss a deal with her, we settle on one beetle's useful organs for two doses of Spirit Potion. After that, I show her the Kobold type's progress, and ask if she has any name ideas for them. But she insisted, that as the 'Parent' I should give them a name. So I'll think on it a while yet. She did seem happy about the beetle though. Even talking through what parts she has uses for so I don't waste time and effort hauling back nearly whole corpses in the future, and then drags me off to a blacksmith's shop for some proper carving tools.

I end up getting a simple set of two different knives, a small bone saw, and a cleaver, all of which I turn into a 'Butcher's Tool' Spirit Arms a while after leaving the shop. After that, I decide to keep hunting the beetles to gather extra metal and reagents. At least, until Crimson returns, then I'll animate a few more automatons before I re-enter the dungeon for some proper leveling.

After bagging a few more alloy beetles, one of which even had a primarily golden color, I return to the workshop. Finding Crimson and company there, I almost get to work, before noticing that the automaton with the claw weapon has their left arm detached. During the hunt, I got most of my magic skills up, so I go ahead and heal them with light magic, then set to work reattaching their arm and repairing the metallic components that weren't restored by the magic's effect. While I'm at that, I tell them the names I had in mind. Mustard for the clawed one, after the color of a comic book character's costume, and Onyx for the chain scythe wielder. The weapon reminded me of a certain ninja, but I decided to just go with a dark color name instead of referencing that boisterous character.

While I'm handing out names, I buckle down to decide a name for the Kobold type. Eventually settling on the name 'Pendra' After Arthur and Uther Pendragon. A lazy way to take it? Perhaps. But I like it, and I suspect Sergu will as well.

When I set to work building a squad of six dwarf type automatons, I ask Crimson to explain what happened in the dungeon. Apparently Mustard lost the arm during the second floor's boss fight. A rather large hobgoblin they guessed to be an evolved Goblin Brute. I'll have to look into that myself. Once I'm done building the dwarf types, I talk to Goibniu, explaining liquation as best as I understand it, so they can work on separating the metals from the alloy beetle shells, and ask them to equip the dwarf types with the best guns they've been able to create during their work so far. I hold off on animating them for now though. I want to see if Blanks and Spirit Arms made from soul fragments together at the same time will synchronize when they awaken.

I take Crimson, Mustard, Onyx, and the crew I've already been working with, out to hunt while we wait for the dungeon to finish the progression of its cycle. Assuming none of the local adventurers are still in it, it'll take another day. Auspiciously, the first beetle we find after increasing the party is a variant. Specifically a 'Steel Beetle' instead of an Alloy Beetle. Which, probably just means that it has a decent quality steel alloy instead of a slapdash combination of metals. Its stats are a couple points higher all round, and it has the skill 'Vital Reinforcement' at level three. Which apparently raises defense by a percentage of the Vitality stat. Thirty percent for level three. After hunting that one, none of the others we find seem all that interesting.

When I re-enter the dungeon I notice pretty quickly that hobgoblins are almost as common as normal goblins, even on the first floor. The levels of both groups of monsters are still fairly low, the average seems to be up to five instead of three, but the hobs are a bit stronger. I send the dwarven blanks armed with gun type Spirit Arms off on their own to see how they do without instructions beyond using the guns to kill monsters on the first floor. It'll be unfortunate if they die, but not a huge setback by any means.

I charge through the familiar floor, rushing forward and beating down the Goblin Commander again. All the while, I collect any Automaton components from the dungeon's monsters and storing them in my Warehouse. The second floor has an average level of seven, and more hobs than basic goblins. Aside from hunting any new variants of hobgoblin we see, I have Crimson lead the way to the second floor's boss. When I scan it, it is listed as a [Hobgoblin Savage] and its stats are about as high as mine, but not as well balanced. It has thirty in both strength and vitality, twenty five in agility, and fifteen in wisdom. Its skills basically just enhance its strength and HP though, so it's still fairly easy to deal with. I finally level up when we kill it, but for some reason I gain the [Tame Monster] skill instead of leveling a skill I already have. I don't know exactly how that happened, but maybe leading the other Automatons when they don't count as proper 'Races' in the eyes of the system caused it?

After scanning it again to acquire a blueprint, we head onwards to the third floor, which is populated almost entirely with hobgoblins and a slime adjacent monster, [Mould Sphere]. They're rather similar to slimes, but have a thicker consistency, and are fairly opaque. For some reason they have really high vitality, but not much else going on. A level ten Mould Sphere has a vitality of forty, but its other stats are all around ten. Their skills are about the same as the slimes in the earlier floors. When they die, they drop magic stones, but don't seem to have cores the same way Slimes do. Despite that, the blueprint I get for scanning them uses the Machine Core part. Likely the Artificer just treats them as similar enough to use the compatible part instead of inventing a new process to manage it. On top of that the blueprint gives me a new research topic, {Quasi-Liquid Banding} which I guess to be how it'll manage the high vitality stat?

We continue to hunt in the third floor for a while, occasionally heading back out to drop our loot. For some reason it's taking me much longer to level up this time around, perhaps because most of the enemies are too much weaker than me. But it's fine. Once the others reach the point of slowing down the same way I decide to progress to the third floor boss. Which turns out to be a dark cloaked Hobgoblin with a retinue of a dozen other assorted Hobgoblin Variants.

[Magic Configuration: A magic skill that allows for chanted spells to be saved for quick casting. Level 1: Spell Record 1: Save a singular spell for instant casting later. Precast 1: Expend mana to store along with saved spells, max of 10% of Spell Cost.] Making the custom spells more like the system assisted spells? I suppose that's one way to take it. Kinda a shame I already have most of those skills. It'd be a waste overall to use it for myself instead of making another magic focused Automaton. Choices for later, I suppose.

[Hobgoblin Warlock: A rare Hobgoblin variant, typically born from the pairing of a Hobgoblin Witchdoctor and a Hobgoblin Aeromancer. It has greater magic skill than any other Goblin or Hobgoblin variant, with exceptional talent in dark magic.]

I start off by trying to clear the room of the other Hobgoblins with a stronger version of my Will-o-wisp swarm spell, investing most of my mana into it. Several of them died, and even the Warlock lost half of it's HP, despite having higher wisdom than I do. It responds with a mass of swirling darkness launched straight towards me. I use the rest of my MP with the level three light spell 'Shining Wall' to defend. The dark spell pierces the light shield, and hits hard enough to reduce my HP to 200/270 and my SP to 200/320.

After that I quickly use Sure Aim to shoot it through the eye and end the boss before it has a chance to attack again. After that, my companions swarm the few remaining Hobgoblins. Perhaps, next time I should focus on the strongest target first. Especially if it has a way to deal SP damage. I scan the Warlock, and any other hobgoblin variants in the room I hadn't seen before. From the information I've gathered, I'm up to nine out of the thirteen basic Hobgoblin variants to get a Hobgoblin Prime blueprint. Though of course special variants like the Savage and the Warlock don't count towards that.

⌈Conqueror, state your desire for the [Goblin's Rest] Dungeon.⌋

The Dungeon's Avatar appears, currently bearing the form of the Hobgoblin Savage. Though that changes quickly as it takes in the soul of the Warlock. Once it has finished with that process, and gained an appearance like a darker reflection of the Warlock, it seems to look around with more awareness than it had before. "Increase the number of ore veins spawned throughout the dungeon."

⌈Understood, material resource nodes will spawn in more areas and more frequently. Additionally, higher quality nodes will spawn in boss rooms after the death of Floor and Dungeon Bosses. As a bonus, the Dungeon will spawn one now in the [Hobgoblin Warlock] boss room. Dungeon entrance sealed from the outside. Please allow twenty four hours after all invaders have left for the dungeon Cycle to progress.⌋

The Avatar vanishes, and a lump of stone with some black metal peeking through appears in its place. I have a moment of excitement before a certain, point, hits home. I slump slightly and look through my current allies. "We don't have any miners here. Or, even a spare pickaxe. Haaah~"

After some brief consideration, I have the Dire Wolf types dig at the ore vein instead. Seemed like the best option, anyway. Once they dig enough for a piece of the metal to come free, it turns out to be rather interesting. [Shadow Steel Ore: Unrefined steel alloy with dark mana fused into it] After a moment of thought I look to Crimson, then when the Dire Wolves are done digging I consider the amount we got. "Might use this for your next body when you evolve into a machine soul. If you like that idea, of course. There isn't quite enough for a full body of it, but, a second batch should be plenty." They nod emphatically.

As we go through the process of putting the ore lumps into our baskets I find another interesting item. An extremely vibrant looking red gemstone that I can feel mana from. [Magic Rhodonite: A brilliant red gemstone that has its own magical potential] Hmmmmm. I tuck the gemstone away in Sapph's pouch to investigate further later on.

On the way out this time, we pick up the dwarf types, who have all managed to make it up to level ten. From what they tell me, their guns basically shred through the Goblins and Hobgoblins when they work in a group. That's pretty good, for now, but I'll need to test it on stronger monsters. I don't know for sure, but their guns seem to work for them pretty well despite starting with soul fragments that should count as pieces of my soul. Hopefully that means the idea worked.

Shortly after exiting the dungeon Marel approaches to complain about how quickly I cleared the dungeon again. Something about raising the difficulty, and needing to map things out. Apparently I should slow things down a little. I laugh awkwardly and agree to check in anytime I want to clear it in the future.

One Week Later

I spent most of the week hunting Alloy Beetles, experimenting with making light bulbs, building more automatons, leaving most in storage and only animating enough of a variety of bodies to bring our numbers up to about fifty, occasionally delving into the dungeon, and training all of my creations so far in at least basic mana control and spirit control skills, most of them have even gained all six basic magic types. I also took enough proper work to get my rank in the guild up to E, so now I can take quests for the Beetles, when they show up.

Only two more levels since clearing the dungeon? Mmm, I guess it slows down more and more the further you go. Despite my griping, I have at least used my swarm series spells to get all of my magic skills up to five and found an, interesting trait of them. At level five they each grant an ability such as Fire Magic's [Mana Source-Fire] that allows a magic user to turn mana still in the pool into elemental mana. Naturally cutting out the conversion process by having elemental mana stored speeds spell casting up even further. At the moment, I keep forty points of each mana type in my pool.

When I asked Sergu about this, it turned out that she hadn't even known. She is pretty quick to set that up with the magic types she has already mastered to that degree, and thank me for the information. Then drag me along to visit Erlulu again to try and convey that point to her and gather more of her slime. During the second trip, we didn't encounter a Lesser Dragon, though I could likely have taken one on properly with the giant body now, so I find that to be, almost disappointing.

Beyond that I also spared the time to build the Mechanical Dragon Wings component, scale it down, and alter them based on close observations of Sergu's wings, to upgrade Pendra to be close to a Koryuu. I briefly consider upgrading myself with wings as well, but considering my fear of heights, and how long it took Pendra to obtain the Gravity Resistance skill despite only having a few skills at the time, I figured it wouldn't be worth it.

Around dawn of the eighth day, I put in a bit of work polishing up the final details on Crimson's intended next body, an all black figure with bright red eyes and a few built in weapons. I figure she, and yes, many of the automatons have settled on their own individual gender preferences, will decorate her body with various clothing later on. The body as is has useful effects though. [Custom Automaton: Defense +50, Attack +20, Dark Attribute Resistance +40%, Strength +10%, Vitality +10%, Stealth Skill duration +20%, Stealth Skill perception evasion enhanced: A handmade Automaton body that draws clear inspiration from organic life, comprised primarily of Shadow Steel]

I inhabit the body myself for a while to test things out, finding everything built in to be functional, I switch back and store it for now. I have also talked with some of the others to see what they might like in newer bodies, most just want an upgrade to the Musculoskeletal setup, now that they have decent mana control skills. Still haven't worked out why the Mannequin could operate that way straight away, but my one attempt to animate an Automaton with that set up had to practice magic skills for days before being able to move properly. I wonder what I should do next?

After a while, I settle on going to the guild to find a quest, I'm mostly looking to find some new creature to hunt, just to see if I can find something unusual or curious. But, when I arrive, I am asked to visit the Guildmaster's office. Figuring it to be nothing major, I head on up to see what they want.

When I approach Marel's part of the office, I feel something, off. Spiritually speaking. There is something up ahead with a lot of SP, or another way of putting it, something with a very large soul. I did end up looking at Erlulu's soul during the last visit, but, this feels even larger than her over eight hundred points. That puts me a little on guard, but there doesn't seem to be any hostility around here. I head in and, immediately come face to face with a figure I don't know.

The first thing I notice is that the eyes don't match. One is green, and looks normal for a human, the other is red, and has sort of a square pupil? The red right eye has stitch marks on the skin around it. After that I see that the face is feminine, and has dark skin. But when my focus moves out, her right arm has a lighter skin tone. Until the elbow, at which point there are stitch marks again, and after that it is similarly dark. Beyond that her other arm and legs are uniform, as far as I can see, at any rate. She has most of her figure covered up by a stylish looking red silk dress that goes a little past her knees, but leaves her arms mostly visible.

Before I've had time to process all of that, she speaks up in a voice that seems a little deep for her appearance, but has a seemingly affected bubbliness to it. "Hiya! By the looks of your soul, I'd say you're who I'm here to see, right?" I focus my Spiritual Perception properly to look at her soul, or rather, her spiritual body. Her spiritual body is mostly white, and has a two tone gray spiral moving across it at a lazy pace, but it fills out the approximate dimensions of her body, same as mine. She moves on without waiting for a response. "Good, let's head on over to your place, kay?"

She grabs my arm and drags me back the way I came from, I don't seriously try to resist, but I get the impression that I'm nowhere near strong enough to actually shake her off. I overhear Marel grumble, "Finally." as she takes me away. He was apparently having a hard time dealing with her. Despite me not getting a word in edgewise, she starts off in the right direction. At a guess, her Spiritual Perception is good enough to tell where most of the spiritual activity in town has been happening.

Chaos_Sinner777

I, really wasn't sure where to cut off on the time skip segments. I guess I had a lot in mind for what would happen in the time skip, and didn't want to just legitimately skip over it? And that part after the status update, felt disjointed? Huuh. Oh well, maybe I'll sort it better next time. Lastly, next chapter will have some answers, but this one was running a little long for this story.