His kingdom has more depth than expected.

"Hello Algernon!" replied John to the rabbit sized rat standing on his hind legs. He was happy to see that the crown worked as described, he and Anna were recognized as rulers of the place and were able to communicate with its inhabitants.

"Oh yes, yes. Great honorification you do self in giving self a name. Self rose full of strengthenment, grow tall, many females to bear my Youngs, yes, yes. Self control the pack, sons and daughters better than any other rats, the pack is gaining terrain against the swarm, many crunchies to eat, much food for the babies. Then see that have the speechiness and that your speechiness sounds to ears. So talk to Pack Master, who brought our ancestor, who made the pack strong, who gave us the food from the gods, yes, yes! Good broodmother you chose Pack Master, bear many youngs, feed them all, yes, yes!" replied the rat in a broken English that was almost hilarious. John was amused that even a rat's comment about her body was able to make Anna blush, at least the humor of the situation and the explanation had calmed her, she didn't seem to fear him any more.

"John, what is he talking about?" she asked though, it was too weird of a situation not to be curious about it.

"When I got the computer in the dungeon, mice appeared too. You know with that element that makes animals pop up. Them and the beetles living in the Maze are feeding from each other and the mushrooms growing here. I have a summon spell, near useless, often useless creatures that last a very short time. I got a very intelligent super lab rat once, while trying the spell, and he had a little fun with the mice. Now apparently most of the rodents in the castle are his descendants, an army of hybrid super rats fighting an endless war against the insects for control of the first meters of the Maze. This is Algernon, once while I was going there and had extra mana I didn't want to waste, I picked up a rat that looked promising and enhanced it, making it bigger, stronger, smarter. Now he rules over them and his progeny will spread, giving them the upper hand against the insects," explained John.

"So you have a castle, a harem and are creating an army of rat men in the depth of your dungeon. Remind me how you are not an evil overlord?"she asked him.

"First of all, rats aren't evil. Second, everyone in my harem is there of their own freewill. Third, would you really fall in love with an evil man?" he replied, holding her in his arms and kissing her neck.

"I guess not, it's a good thing you have a wise queen at your side to prevent you from turning evil. Hello to you Algernon, I'm Anna, John's queen and I am glad to meet another of the kingdom's subjects," she replied.

"Pack Master John, good choosing, Broodmother Anna have the smartiness and lookiness to her, yes, yes! Good mate, many youngs to you, may your pack spread plentiful," replied the talking rat.

"I wanted to do something to help you. I really don't want my castle full of beetles. Algernon, do you think you could gather some carapaces from the dead beetles? And bring a few of your warriors. Anna, we'll give them the empty room near the end of the stairs on the second sublevel. I'll be back," he said. The group got down, Algernon running away and screaming orders to some rats no one had noticed waiting in the staircase.

John got up to the floor with all of his crafting tables. Checking his stocks he noticed something strange. He had 120 bottles of concentrated purified sap in stock, Sylvia really took a liking to alchemy it seemed. More than 75 units of slime material, some meat from goats, rabbits, squirrels and fish, raw or cooked. A lot of fruits and herbs, pelts from animals... The three girls had not stood idle while he was gone, his kingdom was starting to generate resources on its own. If only he could have them gather stone or wood he could... He had a sudden flash and got an idea, with some tinkering it could probably work. But it necessitated to go farm for materials first and he wasn't sure he would be able to do it today.

He took a notepad and a pencil, scribbling a few designs until he was satisfied, then he got some metal out and focused on them while casting Craft.

His own weapon was a sword, which was only a weapon. Weapons for the rats shouldn't be like that, John inspired himself from fantasy dwarves and their philosophy. Every tool should be able to be used as a weapon and every weapon should also have other uses. Anything less was just wasting metal.

He had little metal left in stock, but the low scale allowed to craft 10 or 20 weapons per unit. He had chosen two designs for them. One was a glaive, the shaft an empty tube with an hand hold, tipped with a long, slightly curved, double edged blade, serated on the top side, it was designed to slip between the carapace plates of the insects and rip the organs when getting out, it could also be used to cut the soft stems of mushrooms when harvesting them. The other one was a sort of pickaxe, the lower edge of the triangular section sharpened, made to pierce the hard shells but focusing all the energy on a single point and then using the hole to crack open the whole scarab, it would also allow the rats to dig where their claws and teeth couldn't.

All of them were simply spawned from raw metal and didn't have the quality a hand forged weapon or tool would have, but would already be an immense improvement. With 20 of each weapon in bigger sizes and 40 of each in smaller sizes he left his crafting table and rejoined the others in the room he had allocated to the rats.

Dozens of rats of various sizes were running in and out of room, some of them carrying scarab shells, other some very young rats. John found his court looking at this great migration, amazed at the the speed of it. Already some sort of nest had been created in a corner of the room, where females were feeding dozens of small rats. John noticed one of his gallon sized water bottles near a bowl that seemed to get empty really quickly. A huge pile of shells was growing near the door as the army of rats gathered them here.

"We gave them some water, but we'll need to find a better system soon," explained Anna. There often were puddles of water in the tunnels, formed by the the water seeping from the walls. His castle did not have running water yet, something he would have to see to really quickly.

"Like this? Master? Yes, yes, many shells! And younglings safe from the scrawlies, safe in big stone place. Greatly generous, much appreciation. Shells on rat was good idea, help a little, but only a little, big rats hard to get inside. What are those for? What have for the pack, most generous master?" asked Algernon. John realized that he could get a bit of what the biggest rats were saying too, but the smaller ones seemed to only have a vocabulary of maybe a dozen words. He could understand what they said, but they weren't saying much.

John picked a few handful of shells which stacked in his inventory and a bit of slime material. He looked at Algernon with attention and used Craft the result was some sort of elastic suit made of slime material, linking together thick plates of chitin. It covered mostly the upper body and was just slipped on like a sweater. Algernon's eyes glistened when he saw it and put it on. He started running, moving, jumping and even climbing to a wall before doing a back flip and landing gracefully.

"Marvelous grace, eminent qualitiness, a rat moves like wearing nothing, yet is protected," he hit the armour for emphasis. "Thicker than even the big scarabs. Invincible you made self."

"More sturdy that's all, never believe yourself invincible. It is how you get yourself killed. Try these, I want to see if the size is right. And call a normal rat too."

In a few minutes, John had created armors and handed weapons out to the rats. The squeaks of joys and chanting were everywhere. The girls had watched him taking care of the smaller inhabitants of his kingdom with a smile and helped him handle the situation.

More water and drinking bowls had been brought. And Anna who quickly discovered that rats were not dirty, smelly and evil creatures, but fluffy ones was helping them put on the armors.

"Sylvia, I see that you have made a lot of things while I was away. I want to thank you for that. I can't spend a lot of time here and often feel I wasted occasions to do things. I'm happy to know that I can count on you to take care of the place while I am away," he told his green girl.

"You gave me the greatest gift imaginable. I am only repaying some of your kindness. The alchemy thing is very interesting, you can add properties to the elixir we make, using extracts from plants. And I think I can do some of the enchantments when using the staff you gave me, but only related to health or nature. We started feeding the failed batches to the slime jars and when topped with water they filled very quickly, so we kept emptying them in the storage chest. Both your and Anna's idea of growing food will occupy our time too for now. We will turn this land into the kingdom you envisioned. Of course, it will require more people..." she explained. Having the rats around would be helpful, especially if he kept making them grow to a size in which they could do some useful things. But he needed more and for that he would need Tricia's help for his plan to work.

"John? Are you listening?" he had been lost in his thoughts for a second and missed something Anna told him. "I was asking you if you were able to make another suit like the one you made for Vesta."

"Oh, sorry. Yes, that would be easy with all the materials I have now. Why? Do you want one?" he asked, making her blush.

"It seems really comfortable and I... Well, yes I'd like one. I'm sure it would be a nice swimsuit," she said. John had to admit that the sensation offered by wearing slime items was pretty incredible. They had finished taking care of the rats who were cheering them, at the limit of worship. The group left them to their own devices and got back to the highest level of the castle.

While creating two new slime suits and upgrading both his armor and special boxers to have a slime coating inside, he explained some of his plans.

"I think I have found a way to allow you to extract resources from the resource spots. One of the first enemies I fought were some sort of mutant rats in a barrier I created at the junkyard. They dropped some half metallic bones as loot. I used it all since, but it had a property that increased materials gained if used to create an extraction tool. I think that if I gather some of it and improve an axe or pickaxe with it, or use it as focus for an enchantment I might be able to make an item that would give a bonus lvl to my Harvest skill. If I manage to do it, someone without the skill using the item should have the level one of the skill while holding it. And you would be able to use it to gather materials to upgrade the castle. Sadly the junkyard is on the other side of town, I don't think we will be able to do it today. On another note. Anna, do you think I should invite the scientist I told to you about before? Having her willing to meet you will make things easier in the long run," he asked.

"Do you think it is a good idea that she meets me like this? And didn't you have some other activities planned? Unless you want to include her in it," she explained, showing her naked body, only covered by a glistening layer of translucent green slime. She couldn't stop caressing her body, the material of the suit reacting to each touch, giving her an indescriptible sensation. The suit was cutting her off from the outside world, like if her body was floating and each touch on it was a jolt of pleasure. Apparently his mindset had an influence on his crafting skill, Vesta's suit was an utilitarian thing, designed to allow her to live a normal life. Anna's suit was more akin to the cock sleeve he had made for himself, albeit a full body one. The best part was that when removed it rolled itself in a ball the size of a baseball. John had created another one for himself, but with his powers he was able to switch on or off the pleasure part of it.

"You're right, let's think about it later. There is no hurry!" he admitted. He had put on his own suit, which rather than restricting his erection was simply covering it, making him look even more naked than Anna. She was laughing a bit about the ridiculousness of the looks it gave him. John suddenly manifested a dozen of tongues and hands around Anna, which began licking and caressing her, everywhere!

She gasped and almost fell to her knees, only caught at the last second by an helpful Sylvia, who kissed her on the mouth sensually while helping her back on her feet. John's sword would have had trouble cutting the sexual tension in the room, so thick was it.

The whole group started running to the bedroom, jumping on the bed. There were important matters to tend to.