A New Minion

Fifty Fame was subtracted from his total. The stone in front of him began to heave and crack once again. The stone floor itself began to rise and assume a vaguely humanoid shape. A mouth formed in a silent scream as calcified limbs broke free of the surrounding stone. The orc watched in mute wonder as the dungeon itself gave birth to his first follower: an earth elemental.

To be more precise it was the cheapest of the elemental minions, a dust golem. The creature was made of rocks and pebbles held together by a dusty haze in a rough approximation of the shape of a man. Its eyes and mouth were little more than indentations and cracks in the composite rocks and sand. It had nothing to resemble a nose or hair. However it did have an impressively thick and powerful looking build. At least for a creature only a foot and a half tall.

The golem saluted him smartly as a greeting and remained fixed as though it was asking for orders. The orc gestured towards the pending construction and the golem waddled slowly into action. For a moment the orc began to regret his choice. He had chosen a follower that wouldn’t thirst, hunger, or tire. An earth elemental seemed the perfect choice for the inside of the mountain. But he had to admit he pictured something more... impressive.

These thoughts were interrupted as the dust golem finally made it to the archway, braced it’s squat legs, and began to press the stone wall rapidly with both arms. Very rapidly. The speed and noise was mind boggling. The orc had no frame of reference for a jackhammer so all he could imagine was that the golem was somehow vibrating itself at an incredible pace. The noise it produced was also equally incredible. A system alert hovered above the diminutive golem.

Construction: Skill Bonus, Strength Bonus, Tool Bonus

O...k... maybe it was a good choice after all. The orc summoned his skeleton to watch the exit then took out the hammer to help boost construction himself

Construction: Strength Penalty,
Skill Bonus, Tool Bonus

The dust golem may have literally been made for this work but he wasn’t going to allow himself to be outdone by his own elemental.

He kept a good pace for several minutes but as time progressed the orc had to admit he was falling further behind. His breaks were also coming more frequently while the little thing kept its inhuman pounding. The orc had had a long day. He had parted with the goblins, killed an adventurer, made himself a name and a dungeon, braved the mountain for resources, and worked into the night on new construction that was still barely a third of the way complete.

He left the golem to its work and joined the skeleton keeping watch over the nighttime forest. Different beasts were active after the sun set. It would be a bad time to be caught out, not that there was really ever a good time to be caught unawares. From his high vantage point the orc could see several bright spots, campfires made by other monsters or adventurers.

And like that the orc realized he was standing in the mouth of a well lit dungeon entrance, a literal beacon shining out into the night sky announcing its existence to anything or anyone to look up and see. He quickly brought up construction options and picked the first door he could find.

Two days ago it had been his search for a door that had started everything. How had he forgotten?

Construction:
Baal’s Dungeon Door
Requires:
2 Wood (Any)
1 Ore (Any)

He grunted an order for the golem to help him. Despite the noise, the dust golem immediately stopped its construction and waddled back across the hallway. It took the stubby legged creation longer to make the walk than it took the two of them to construct the wooden door. Once the door was finished, it wordlessly returned back to its previous job.

The new door was really a set of thick double doors that curved at the top to fit the archway and would swing open inwards. The hinges and braces on the door were all made of more of the rough metal to match the light fixtures along the walls. Two large metal rings on the outside served as both knockers and handles. On the inside, in addition to two more rings, there were also brackets that could hold a plank in order to barricade the door shut.

That should keep the light in and the cool air out, he thought to himself as he pulled the hide from his inventory and tried to get comfortable against a wall for the night.

The noise from the golem was a distraction but it was necessary enough he decided to try and let the thing continue through the night. He was a boss now. He was a mere micro boss to be sure, but a boss nonetheless. His new Liegelord ability came with the possibility of converting new followers. He hoped for a female one. Someone plump and soft and juicy. Someone to help him during the day and keep him occupied and warm at night. That night he had restless dreams of female adventurers. Dreams of bending them to his will, toying with them as they had him for so long, and finally holding them down and driving his manhood into them at an impossible rate.

The noise finally overcame his exhaustion sometime just before dawn. He was pleased that at least the progress bar had jumped to roughly halfway. It somewhat made up for the inconvenience of the night; but, more importantly, at this pace it would be complete before the end of this day.

He took one of the pork bellies out of his inventory and checked the fatty pink meat. It looked tasty enough. He didn’t have a cooking fire, but looking at the sconces on the wall he had an idea. The open flames were small and a little too high in the wall for him to reach, but what better use for his summon than menial tasks.

“Hold this here,” he directed the skeleton, positioning the bony arms to keep the slab of meat where he wanted.

The skeleton actually took some damage, either from the fire or the searing meat itself, but it didn’t matter to the orc. He intended to dismiss the undead creature as soon as it finished anyway. He chuckled to himself at the memory of his previous idle thought of a skeleton chef. Close Enough.

The rapid hammering sound was joined by the noise of sizzling pork and a mouth watering aroma. The orc simply couldn’t hold himself back any longer when he finally took the half cooked hunk of pig away and dismissed the summon to regain his MP. He ripped a quarter chunk off the slab of meat and returned the rest to his inventory. A new pop up interrupted his feast

Inventory:
Half Eaten Cooked Meat x1

The orc dismisses the inventory screen but realized his character sheet had a notification

Wisdom of the Ages has activated
Attributes:
Strength 19
Dexterity 10
Stamina 26
Charisma 10
Intelligence 14 (+1)
Wisdom 18
Luck 23

He had been alive three days now. Apparently that resulted in one point. Not much overall but he would take any boost he could get. When was the last time he had lived long enough to get that point? The orc honestly couldn’t remember, but hoped this would just be the first of many.

His hunger slaked, his mana regenerated, and the sun finally risen; the orc opened one of the large double doors to leave. Before stepping out however, he had a thought.

“Golem can you harvest?”

The floating mass of rocks and dirt that made up the dust golem’s head spun around disconcertingly to look at its master while its body continued its work. The golem cocked its head as if it didn’t understand the question.

The orc considered his options. He could leave the minion to work as he gathered more resources or they could work together to gather quicker or he could send the thing out to gather on its own so he wouldn’t place himself in danger.

“Come!” He ordered the golem.

Almost immediately he reconsidered. The thing moved at a snails pace as it pumped its stubby lumps of legs. If it took this long just to cross the threshold did he really want to babysit the thing on the mountain? The risks didn’t seem worth it.

The point became moot as the small golem reached the door and stopped.

“Come,” The orc ordered again

The golem stepped and tried to move forward but was stopped by an invisible wall. That answered that. It appeared the earth elemental was tied to the dungeon and unable to leave. Perhaps that was why it was so cheap. Or perhaps it was a trade off for its construction skills. In any case it the orc's decision was made for him.

“Go back to work” he ordered the minion while pointing at the half filled progress bar at the far wall.

Rather than waste time watching the golem trek back across the hallway he closed the door behind him as soon as he was clear. Outside for the first time, he was pleased to see the archway and door were somewhat inset into the side of the mountain. There were a precious few feet of natural rock before he reached the narrow path leading to his home. Hopefully that would provide enough shadow to somewhat disguise the unnatural door in the side of the mountain. But at least it was still better than the light that would otherwise pour out at night.

The orc moved to head down the path and almost immediately stepped into a puddle. Or at least he would have if the puddle didn’t move out of the way at the last second.

He recoiled charging a blast of Dark Energy as a subconscious response to danger. The puddle reformed as a thin roughly circular blob in front of him letting out a strange sort of squishing sound

“Suo”

It took the orc longer than he would have admitted to see the green title floating above the puddle.

Slime - ???

A slime? A friendly slime? He had never really bothered with these quasi intelligent things before. They always seemed more animal than a true monster. They were all appetite, seemingly eating, or absorbing, or whatever it was they did, just about anything they could fit their gelatinous bodies around.

“Suo” The squishy thing repeated.

It was a noisy little beast despite not having vocal cords. A new pop up appeared

A wild slime has asked to join you.
Accept slime into dungeon?

The orc paused. Did he really want this puddle for a minion? He had selected the elemental partly because it would work without food. This thing was all mouth, or stomach, depending on how one looked at it. On the other hand this was a free follower he didn’t need to pay for out of his limited fame, and an extra set of hands.... or... whatever. He needed all the help he could get at the moment. Could he afford to be picky? He was leery of inviting the goblins because he wasn’t sure he could provide for; or, more importantly, control the large group with his current abilities.

No point standing out in the open all day he finally decided as he pressed accept

Slime has joined

The slime’s status changed from green to blue. He guessed blue meant it was part of his faction. But he was disappointed that he still couldn’t view the other monster’s stats. If it was his minion one would think he should be able to see its character screen as well, but apparently not or at least not yet. He was doing the best he could with these new options and abilities, who knew how far they would expand. For now however, there was a new pop up

Fame increased!
Fame: 179
Got a minion! +8 (Expanded)
Got a minor minion! +1
First time bonus! +5
Adoration recruitment! +2

It wasn’t much but it was nice to get more freebies for something he was going to do anyway. Though it brought up an interesting issue. Although he rightfully considered his new dust golem a minion, apparently the system didn’t recognize it as such. Probably something about its makeup and inability to leave the dungeon. As long as it followed orders he didn’t particularly care what the system called it, but it was still odd.

And with that the orc took his new minion up the narrow path to find more resources. Despite its squishy body and lack of legs, the slime had no problems keeping up with the much larger orc. It seemed to glide over or around any obstacles. Even without eyes it had no problem knowing where it was going.

The orc followed the same path as the day before. When they arrived at the first resource boulder he decided to run an experiment.

“Slime, harvest,” he ordered authoritatively.

“Suo,” the slime bobbled in place but otherwise made no attempt to do as it was told.

With a heavy sigh, he began tapping the boulder with his hammer. Perhaps the creature was more hindrance than help.

Harvesting: Skill Penalty, Dexterity Penalty,
Tool Bonus

Without warning a long thin tentacle reached out from the center of the slime and joined him in his tapping.

Harvesting: Skill Penalty, Dexterity Penalty, Tool Penalty

Not so useless after all. The orc began to reconsider. The slime obviously had some intelligence, but it needed to be shown what to do. It was like an infant he realized. The simple monster didn’t view or interact with the world the same way as him.

Their combined tapping quickly has results as the first piece of stone popped loose from the boulder.

“Suo,” the slime announced as it wrapped itself around the drop.

For a moment the stone hovered inside the clear body of the slime. Pieces of the stone began to peel away as it started dissolving.

“Suo,” The slime spit the stone out, seemingly unsatisfied with the way it tasted.

“Don’t eat those!” The orc ordered.

He was here to collect the massive amounts of resources he needed for the first section of his dungeon not find a slime breakfast.

“Suo,” The slime responded as they resumed tapping.

They had progressed up the path and just finished their third boulder when the orc caught movement from the side of his eye. He had been cautious to keep an eye out for threats, and he hadn’t seen anything approach, but he was certain there had just been movement somewhere among the rocks nearby.

He began charging a blast of Dark Energy with his staff as he scanned the surroundings again. The rock to his right suddenly lunged forward. Sharp jaws that had been aiming for his neck missed and closed around the staff instead. The **** knocked him over as the thing continued to scratch at him and chew his staff. As it’s camouflage faded the orc saw the large round eyes of the creature pivoting independent of one another and the scaled crest that protruded from its head and disappeared down its back

Igneleon - ???

The status was pink. Both hostile and stronger than him, or so the system believed.

Damn lizards. They were ambush predators on the mountain, using their camouflage and patience to attack unsuspecting prey. But that wasn’t the worst thing about the four foot long reptiles. The lizard released his staff and reared back it head. The orc quickly thrust his staff in its mouth and fired the spell he had charged. The lizard recoiled and finally jumped off him. The orc tried to scramble back to his feet without loosing track of the igneleon. He couldn’t afford to let it camouflage again and loose track of it, and he certainly couldn’t let it use its long tongue. Its poisonous tongue. The slime surged forward and wrapped itself around the large lizard's tail, trying feebly to help its master. The orc began charging another blast as the igneleon whipped around and slammed a very hand-like clawed foot down on the slime. The slime jiggled but stubbornly refused to let go even as half its health bar drained. The lizard prepared another kick. The orc could have sacrificed the slime to further charge his spell and make sure it would be strong enough to kill the lizard but as quickly as the thought crossed his mind he was already firing the orb as it was. The blast of Dark Energy slammed into the lizard disrupting its attack. Electric streaks of lethal energy wrapped around it, ripping off scales, and doing continuous damage from the charge.

+20 experience

With a final hiss the great lizard collapsed. Its corpse still slightly smoking. Even without the effects of Dark Energy the lizards didn’t taste good, and given that he lacked any skills to make use of the corpse, the orc left it be.

“Suo,” The slime chimed in as it stayed near the dead lizard. Almost like it was looking at him expectantly.

“Keep an eye... keep alert for those things!” The orc ordered the slime. It bobbled slightly but continued to somehow silently beg him until the orc relented, “Just do as you like!”

It was like having a dog. A needy dog. No sooner had the words left his lips than the slime stretched to encompass the dead igneleon. Its membrane was stretched thin around the larger beast but somehow it made it fit.

“Don’t cry to me if you get a stomachache,” the orc informed his minion.

As he watched the lizard dissolve he also saw the slime’s health bar rapidly refill. That was a useful skill. Taking the chunk of half eaten cooked meat from his inventory he took another couple of bites. It wouldn’t refill the missing section of his own health nearly as fast as the slime, but it would help.

Once their HP and MP were refilled completely they proceeded even more carefully, alert now to the odd shimmering of the igneleon's rock camouflage. By the time they had cleared the plateau’s boulders of their resources, the pair had killed three more lizards. The fifth lizard fell on their return trip down the path.

No sooner did the experience register than a blast of system music erupted and the slime jiggled slightly as it grew imperceptibly. The slime’s HP rejuvenated along with its level up. It didn’t need to eat this lizard to heal but it proceeded to feast anyway and the orc didn’t bother stopping it. If the slime wanted to eat the disgusting things it just meant he could save the better food for himself.

By the orc's count from fifteen boulders they had harvested another 59 stone, 13 ore, and 3 more gemstones. It should be just enough to finish the current construction but he wasn’t quite sure. Especially not if the slime had snuck any more snacks of ores or gemstones when he wasn’t watching. Again he wished for a way to check his dungeon’s inventory.

But he had to admit the slime had pulled its own weight. It had helped him fight, it had alerted him to dangers, and it had helped him harvest somewhat faster.

“Good work,” he recognized the small blob.

“Suo,” the slime responded. Bobbing happily like a dog wagging its tail at being praised.

It wasn’t yet midday but he had had enough of the mountain. They would continue to harvest in the forest but first the orc decided to check back in on the dungeon on the way. Again he was pleased to see that in the few hours he was away the progress bar had filled to roughly three quarters full. The little golem kept pounding away robotically as he examined the wall.

Construction:
Baal's Dungeon Spire Floors 1,2, and 4
Requires:
75 Stone,
12 Ore(Any)
6 Wood(Any)

There was no system error when he pressed accept so he must have had enough resources.

“If you finish this floor before I return continue to floor two,” he left the commands for his golem.

While he had been checking the construction the slime had been exploring the stone hallway before eventually settling on the purple and black tunic still lying on the floor.

“Do not eat that!” The orc commanded when he realized half the shirt was already inside the slime. Then watched as the slime spit out the shirt then slowly backed away as if it hadn't just been caught in the act.

Pausing again to watch the golem’s progress. The orc did some quick mental calculations. Even with his help it seemed like it took about a day to create the single large room. Three more rooms meant three more days until the spire was complete. The resource cost was already paid and he was set to gather even more.

The orc pulled his menu open and selected another dust golem at the cost of fifty more fame.

“Get it done!” He ordered as he left.

The slime followed him obediently down the narrow mountain trails towards the forest. This time he stayed close to the base of the cliff and found several more boulders to harvest on the way to his favorite tree spot. The slime also seemed interested in several weeds as they moved through the brush but the orc didn’t feel like indulging the glutinous blob and refused to stop for it. When they did find a resource tree along the way, again the slime didn’t seem able to make the connection of the sparkling dot on the boulders with the same dot on the trees. So once again the orc found himself demonstrating how to harvest before the slime started to tap with its own long tendril.

The increase in his strength and stamina was apparent even with a single level. Harvesting trees went quicker and took less of a toll on his health. The orc decided to take a slightly longer path back to the cave so he could harvest more from any trees or boulders they found along the way.

It was during this trip that he once again caught a fleeting movement on his peripheral vision. This time it was a flash of green and for a moment the orc thought it was a camouflaged lizard that had made its way into the forest. At least he feared as much until he caught site of it again. This green was a bit of text floating in the air. A system status.

Goblin - ???

“Ohh! Smart Orc!” The goblin stood up from the brush.

It was clearly one of the goblins from the friendly tribe he had met before though he didn’t recognize this one in particular. A relatively young looking male with a simple leather loin cloth and no apparent weapon.

“Why were you hiding?” The orc asked suspiciously as the slime quietly positioned itself between the possible threat and its master.

“Chief say many adventurers come! Many many more than before! Chief say hide when we go and not get chased!” The goblin eagerly explained. “But me not need hide from Smart Orc! You is friend! You is Chief fucker!”

The orc decided to let the last comment pass and deftly signaled for the slime to stand down. It seemed like the update had brought with it an influx of adventurers. The goblins might not be safe much longer in the forest, but he wasn’t sure if he was much safer in his fledgling dungeon.

“I see,” the orc replied diplomatically. “I am certainly a friend to you goblins. Tell your chiefess I appreciate the warning. Tell her I have made progress in my search for knowledge.”

Taking one of the raw pork bellies from his inventory, he presented it to the goblin,” And tell her this is one of many gifts I will bring your tribe!”

The young goblin drooled over the generous prize. The orc had helped them build huts when they could not. He had shared the deer and now another large chunk of delicious meat. He had even participated in the goblin mating ceremony and claimed the chief herself! He was a very strange monster. But he was as smart, and he was strong, and he brought hope. The goblin nodded eagerly as they parted ways and a new pop up filled the orcs vision.

Fame: 131
Diplomacy +2 (Expanded)
Rumors of your generosity and wisdom are spreading! + 2

Again, not what he had intended but he’d take the free points. He’d gathered some new information and plenty of resources. It felt like real progress as he slipped back into his dungeon.

The archway on the far side of the entryway was now open. Just as he planned the dimmer interior made it hard to make out details from the better lit entry hall, not that there was much to see yet in the spacious room. There were two sets of stairs curved along opposite sides of the wall leading up to the solid rock of the ceiling were they would eventually lead to the floor above, and two more pairs of stairs disappearing around the curve down to the floor below from where the pounding of more construction could be heard. The smooth cut stone of the circular path ringing the room gave way to a pit of jagged natural rock in the center of the not yet hollow column. And as he had planned there were more of the filled archways along the room’s perimeter waiting for future construction.

The orc went to the first archway next to the door and checked his current construction options. The different workshops caught his eye. So did the storeroom and bedroom. But he had a different plan for this floor. Rather than a room or hallway he selected a simple horseshoe curved indentation four foot wide at the archway but barely three foot deep at its curve. It was more ornamental than a proper room, the type of recess to hold a brazier or trophy, and as such cost only a single unit of stone to construct. One day he would ring both the upper and lower stories of this room with them, but for now he just wanted the one as a place to rest that wasn’t completely out in the open. He summoned the skeleton to serve as a sentry per his habit and collected the useless shirt still waiting on the entry floor. If it couldn’t protect him, or serve as a proper trophy, it could at least make a pillow.

He snacked more on the half eaten cooked meat from his inventory, reducing it down to less than a quarter, as he crafted more plans for his dungeon in his mind. And with the noisy golems now working on the level below he eventually fell into a more restful slumber.

***Author's Note***
A wild slime has appeared! I very nearly chose the slime as my main character before ultimately settling on Baal the Orc Magician.
I was inspired by DosEsh's imaginative start to the story. I wonder if I'll inspire anyone to tackle a slime as I continue to flesh out my characters.
Thank you very much for reading and for the encouragements!
Suo!