When in Doubt, Upgrade; and Another Fucking Pile of Rocks

The master’s orders were absolute. Master had ordered the slime not to touch him when he was still. The slime had begrudgingly obeyed, sticking to cleaning up after the master and his favorite noisy bad tasties after their romps.

Then three delicious tasties had come. Though as flavorful as they were, those tasties had always been much too strong for the little slime to ever hope to do more than get a single lick in before it died. At least that was the way of things before. Master had made it strong. Strong enough to beat furry good tasties and even hold its ground against the wandering delicious tasties. The slime wanted to please its master. It wanted to prove its worth and be rewarded. It wanted more. Because no matter how good, none of the other tasties compared to the master’s seed.

When the tasties had been beaten back, the slime’s reward was less than it had hoped. The master had taken his time with the last one, using its ugly rigid body for his pleasure. Yes he had allowed the slime to eat once he was finished. It had scoured every centimeter of the creature, inside and out, sucking up every scrap of the master’s ultimate essence. Then the slime had turned its attention to the tasty itself. Why did the master use it and not the slime? Why did the master pass over the slime who had worked so hard for him? The slime took its time examining the tasty, looking for answers. Its juices tasted good but the master's were so much better. Its jerking movements and half formed screeches as it struggled were no different than the tiny furry tasties the slime sometimes caught. The master paid those things no attention unless he wanted their bits to cover his noisy green pets. Was it the shape? The tasty did have a similar shape to the master’s favorite pets. It was round in the front and back yet soft in the middle. Though it was larger than the green bad tasties. The slime flowed over the tasty, memorizing every nook and cranny. The tasty fought and struggled against the intrusion. It fought to breath. Even the slime could understand that if it continued to encompass the tasty it would die and be absorbed. But the slime didn’t want that. Not yet at least. The tasty wasn’t fair. It had gotten to enjoy the master’s attention instead of the slime. Now the struggling tasty needed to pay. The slime withdrew. Just a bit. Enough to let the tasty suck in more air before filling the gap once again. Some of the outer layers of the tasty were already dissolving bit by bit. The juices it released added to its flavor. The pulsing and rippling of the tasty as it fought to move was also interesting. Maybe the master had enjoyed that as well? The slime repeated the process, allowing the tasty just enough air and traction to hold out as it’s struggles started to cease, then attacking again and peeling away even more layers inside and out as it tried to understand its master’s interest and reasoning. Finally though the game had run its course and slime found no new information wherever it looked. Only then did it begin to absorb the tasty in earnest. The rush of power when the tasty perished filled the slime with warmth but its attention was already focused on itself and how to use the things it had learned.

The master went about his day. He went around his dungeon. He took the slime on a walk to the tasty forest. Then he went around his dungeon again making changes. Eventually the master stripped off his decorative coverings and laid down in the soft place. The master did this often, and the slime knew that when he did he wouldn’t move or talk again for some time, ignoring the world around him. Better yet, the master hadn’t brought any of his annoying pets to use. The slime took its time in the shadows under the soft place, slowly practicing stretching and reforming itself. It was hard enough to form its one of the long appendages, much harder than the whip like tentacles that moved naturally. Worse were the wiggly bits at the ends. How many were there supposed to be again? Did they move this way or that? Why did so many of the tasties have such rigid forms? Didn’t it hurt to stay like that? Moving in any direction it wanted was so much more convenient and melting felt so good. But the slime was getting distracted. This was for the master. Finally the slime was able to make the long forms and move them around its body to the right places. Though it still had to even out the pieces that were too long or too fat and didn’t quite match the others. The slime had thought that was the hardest part was now over. The little details at the top would just be a matter of sucking bits in or pushing bits out. But holding those bits in place as they wanted to slide down from the top proved harder than it first thought. Even worse were the thousands of thin strings sprouting from the very top. The tasty’s string were separate, each similar but not quite identical. The slime had memorized each individual strand, and all of their differences, but now that it tried to replicate them it found making such long thin bouncy tendrils was horribly difficult. And due to the nature of the slime’s pieces wanting to stick together, the individual strings it put so much time and effort into making quickly clumped into solid masses. Eventually it just had to compromise and keep the overall form while sacrificing the individual pieces.

The slime stood at the master’s feet. It was an odd sensation to stand. Everything looked different from up there. It stared at the master for a long time, working up the courage to act. This wasn’t disobeying the master. Not really. The master had ordered it not to touch without permission, but the master had used the tasty the slime was now using as its form. That counted as permission, right? The slime worked hard to justify its next step to itself.

The master moved atop the soft place, making a short grunt, as the furry coverings fell away to expose his long shaft. It was already hard and twitching. Filled with the delicious cream the slime craved.

It was all the invitation the slime needed.

It slid onto the soft place and gently mounted the master. It carefully lowered itself into the master’s shaft, sucking it into the carefully crafted sensitive spot near its core. It sat motionless, waiting for the master to explode in anger for its disobedience, hoping for his approval. Instead the master laid still, his beautiful thick chest slowly rising and falling with each shallow breath. Slowly, carefully, the slime began to move. Rising and falling imperceptibly on the master’s thick part. Feeling each vein and the bulbous head as it parted the wrinkles and folds of the sensitive tunnel the slime had mimicked. This was very different than any sensation it had before. It could still taste the master’s sweat and juices, but unlike the tentacle it had used to suck them up before, there was now an **** stimulation to accompany the delicious flavors.

The slime hadn’t realized it had increased its pace and ****, but it felt it immediately when the master grabbed on and joined in the thrusting. The slime was so glad, the master wasn’t angry, he was enjoying it as well. The slime beamed with happiness as it studied the master’s peaceful face. So powerful. So perfect. The master’s eyes opened. His movements suddenly stopped. Why?! What was wrong? His face was changing but it was impossible for the slime to read something as minor as facial expressions. The slime rocked again it wanted those good feelings back. Thankfully the master responded. They slowly regained their former pace as his fingers dug into the slime’s plush sides. It used the little tricks it had learned of the master’s preferences after watching him and the others. It also squeezed its tender bits as it wriggled in the way the tasty had. The master’s shaft pulsed and strained. It was making him happy! The master was growing even larger inside of its soft place. He was nearly reaching its core with each powerful thrust. The master froze as he buried himself deeply into the slime, holding it in place with his hard grip as the slime squeezed and vibrated around his intruding member. It felt the shaft lurch and swell as the ambrosia flowed out and coated its core, feeding it directly from the source. The pleasure from the act, as well as knowing the master enjoyed it as well, temporarily overwhelmed the slime as its senses burst.

“Suo is it you?” The Orc asked as he fought to catch his breath.

The darkened elvish woman cocked her head as she stared down at him with a spent smile.

“What? How?” Baal was speaking aloud but to himself. “You... copied her?”

“Suouo!” The slime responded happily, still stealing his fading manhood.

The orc pulled himself up, reaching out his hands to feel along and examine the slime-elf.

“That’s a hell of a trick!” He complimented it. “You copied her nearly exactly...”

The orc trailed off as his hands shifted from its sides to its top and finally came to rest on its front.

“A bit too exact,” the orc continued with a slightly disappointed tone as he felt the slime’s petite breasts.

The elf has been beautiful, that was true, but sadly she had been a bit underdeveloped in her womanly attributes. Or maybe he had just become spoiled by the sultry curvy body of Bunny or Feather’s toned physique.

The breasts shifted under his grip once the slime understood the meaning of his words. Slowly they started to inflate from tiny hand holds, to juicy blobs that spilled out from his fingers.

The master’s deflated member twitched back to life at the action. The slime sighed in contentment and continued to grow.

Baal watched the breasts in front of him continue to enlarge, bursting around his fingers until they became large hanging udders bigger than his own head.

“Enough!” the orc warned, slightly concerned the slime would overwhelm and smother him at this rate.

The humongous knockers slowly shrank once again, until Baal stopped them at slightly more reasonable size. He was almost sad to see the ridiculously large size go, but knowing he could have them back at any time certainly gave them a few interesting ideas. Still the slime-elf was left with two large proud peaks that were nearly obscene themselves on the petite elvish body.

“Suo?” The slime burbled as it squeezed down on his re-hardening member. Apparently the master really appreciated the changes.

Baal felt it too. No sooner had his cock twitched than the slime began to pulse and squeeze and coax it back to life. But as enthusiastic as his partner was. And as pleasurable as the encounter had been. It was all a bit much.

The orc moved to push the slime-elf off though in practice it more slid off of his lap. He swung his lower body free and sat at the edge of the bed. Notifications were already blinking for his attention. He needed a moment.

Fame increased!
Fame: 178
Survive an Enemy Vendetta for 1 week! +10
A Quest Against You has been Updated! (Expanded)
Quest Failed (x2) +5
Quest Accepted! +1
Quest Accepted! (X3) +1
Got a minion! +26 (Expanded)
Domain Sired lesser minion (x17) +1
Domain Sired minor minion (x3) +3

Baal closed the menu. Plenty more fame was nice. He would spend it soon. The strange quest log was... whatever. Not worth thinking about now. His bug minions just kept on growing. Just so long as they stayed in the maze and gave up materials he was fine with that. But he had the sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t be able to ignore the vendetta much longer. Adventurers had found the dungeon.

He re-equipped his gear as he stood up from the bed. The slime quickly followed behind, still in its elf form. Disturbingly however, it didn’t move its limbs to crawl forward. Rather it stayed stationary as it slid towards the edge of the bed, its lower half then stretching awkwardly to meet the floor.

“Just... go back to the ball,” he ordered the slime, barely hiding the distaste from his voice. He really didn’t need to see that.

The walk down to the minion level took slightly longer now with the throne room expansion. He descended the altar room stairs, and passed through the entry level with its dozens of pending alcove constructions. There was already activity on the minion level. The sounds of weapons clashing rang from the training arena. Pleasant smells wafted from the mess hall beyond the barracks. However he left them both and moved for the crafting area.

The Pebble Person elemental had worked through the night. It had completed the upgrades on both the magic and item workshops, and had begun working improving the trap workshop.

Before he did anything, Baal ducked into the first door to the storage. Of course all the resources were running low again, it was the eternal struggle of the dungeon, but his focus now was on the rare resources. Namely the gemstones. The minimum mining from the day before had resulted in five new unidentified gems. He also saw the bronze bug remain that had been added to the dungeon inventory.

Even with his new ability to identify the things he observed, the orc still needed the appraisal table to play the small game to reveal the gemstones. In this case he was rewarded with two opals, a sapphire, an amethyst, and a piece of amber.

He next moved to the smith to see if the room upgrade had also upgraded his crafting options. The typical scrap ore options were still present. As were the options for the bronze piece. But more interesting were the additions for two other metals he had carried with him all this time: silver and gold.

Golden Ceremonial Armor
+1 Defense

.

Silver Ceremonial Armor
+1 Defense

Even if they probably looked more appealing, they were actually less useful than the armors he could craft using scrap ore. At least the bronze option was a bit more appealing

Bronze chest plate
+3 Defense

There were equally useless looking weapons and shields for the new valuable metals. Baal was actually rather displeased with the cost of the room upgrade if this was the result, but then he reached the accessories. Unfortunately the preview window couldn't tell him if the new rings and necklaces were any better than the scrap variety, but at the cost of a single coin, it was worth at least testing.

Baal wasn’t exactly sure about the money of the realm, but it seemed to him that a single silver coin probably wasn’t equivalent to a gold coin, since it took a stack of copper coins to make a single silver one, and another stack of silver to make a gold coin. Still he had little other use for the coins. And after considering his options he also added the piece of bronze as well. Smithing each piece actually went rather quickly after that and he found himself holding three rings: bronze, silver, and gold.

Returning to the magic workshop he took the three rings and the new sapphire to the enchanting table.

Bronze Sapphire Ring
5% Water attribute damage
10% MP regeneration

.

Silver Sapphire Ring
5% Water attribute damage
10% MP regeneration

.

Gold Sapphire Ring
5% Water attribute damage
10% MP regeneration

Ok, so it didn’t seem to matter which metal he used, they each had identical results. At least that made saving the bronze for more useful armor an easy decision. And all three were better than the sapphire ring he already wore.

Tarnished Sapphire Ring
2% Water Attribute damage
5% MP regeneration

With the results being the same and given that gold was supposedly the more valuable currency of the realm, he decided silver would be the best material. He quickly crafted the silver ring and replaced his older tarnished one. Still standing at the table, now was as good a time as any to try the disassemble option for the first time. The tarnished sapphire ring was easily broken down into sapphire gem and a tarnished metal ring.

Another trip to the smithy and Baal had crafted another silver ring as well as a necklace to replace his remaining accessories. The tarnished, bronze, and gold rings were returned to the smelter and came out as a scrap metal, bronze, and gold ingot respectively. From there they could once again be used to create any form of equipment.

If the orc were capable of understanding, he might have questioned how a piece of metal the size of a ring could also be used to craft something the size of armor or a shield. But it wasn’t a question he was allowed to form. It was simply the way his world worked. Instead he was left with a vague sense of unease but dismissed it as the broken way the system seemed to let him get away with more than he should lately.

The bronze ingot was therefore quickly pounded out into the chest plate he had considered earlier. As nice as the defense boost was compared to leather armor, he wasn’t quite done with it. Taking the chest plate and the piece of Amber he had earned earlier to the enchanting table he was rewarded with a new enhanced piece of equipment.

Bronze Chestplate of Life
+3 Defense
+10% HP

It was arguably better than the mage tunic he still wore. But as tempted as he was to keep it for himself, he had already taken the gear off of the fallen adventurers. Meanwhile the minions were still very much lacking.

Though that didn’t mean he was done upgrading himself. The tarnished opal ring and necklace he wore were quickly stripped of their gemstones and replaced with new accessories.

Silver Opal Ring
+10% MP

.

Silver Opal Necklace
+10% MP

There was a sizable boost to his manna pool just for exchanging a few accessories. The gemstones were certainly a powerful addition to any equipment and he needed to get as strong as possible as quickly as possible. He had the idea before but it seemed like there was no use putting it off further...

Breakfast was a simple gruel. Some mush the goblins had thrown together. But it was warm and filling. Ash wore more of her own food on her face than she got into her mouth as she sat on his lap and played with his beard as he chewed in silent contemplation.

After breakfast, with the exception of the lookouts and the two builders busily catching up on the nook construction of the entrance, the minions were assembled in the training grounds.

First was a fast but expensive way to increase a minion’s strength. One he had only used weeks before on the simple slime. Baal opened the fame menu and found the Empower Minion option. He had one hundred and seventy eight fame points. It was worth spending fifty a piece to empower his other core minions.

Feathers, Level 15 Goblin Barbarian
Monster, Goblin, Explicit
Experience to Level Up: 727
Attributes:
Strength 33 (+10)
Dexterity 33 (+15)
Endurance 26 (+10)
Charisma 15 (+10)
Intelligence 14 (+10)
Wisdom 17 (+10)
Skills:
Hand Ax fighting - Rank F
Feats:
Barbarian Rage - Barbarians are likely to fall into an uncontrollable frenzy while fighting, increasing damage while decreasing chance to hit as well as environmental awareness. May lead to damage to allies if Friendly Fire is enabled.
Goblin Cunning - Racial Trait. Goblins are opportunistic scavengers and crafty, if simplistic, builders. Increased chance to find additional items while looting corpses or containers. Decreases time for trap crafting or placement. Decreases time for item crafting.
Persisting Endurance - {Liegelord feat} - Absorb an otherwise fatal blow and remain at 1 HP. Can only activate once per day.
Liege Empowered (Combat) – Gain one time experience as if you had defeated your liege in combat. Gain a passive buff to your Attributes equal to half your Liege's Level (rounded down). Gain a Skill, Feat, or Spell based on your Liege’s abilities.

.

Bunny, Level 13 Enchantress
Monster, Goblin, Explicit
Experience to Level Up: 835
Attributes:
Strength 19 (+10)
Dexterity 28 (+10)
Endurance 16 (+10)
Charisma 38 (+10)
Intelligence 27 (+10)
Wisdom 34 (+10)
Skills:
Dagger fighting - Rank F
Feats:
Goblin Cunning - Racial Trait. Goblins are opportunistic scavengers and crafty, if simplistic, builders. Increased chance to find additional items while looting corpses or containers. Decreases time for trap crafting or placement. Decreases time for item crafting.
Liege Empowered (Combat) – Gain one time experience as if you had defeated your liege in combat. Gain a passive buff to your Attributes equal to half your Liege's Level (rounded down). Gain a Skill, Feat, or Spell based on your Liege’s abilities.
Spells:
Tranquility - Causes target(s) to become more agreeable to the caster. Can be cast on number of targets (Charisma/2). Costs MP to maintain. (Intelligence + Charisma) x .75 must be greater than target’s Charisma or target will be alerted to spell failure. Invalid on hostile creatures.
Charm - Target will follow caster’s basic commands as long as they do not result in harm or violate target’s ethics. Costs MP to maintain. (Intelligence + Charisma) / 2 must be greater than target’s Willpower or target will be alerted to spell failure. Invalid on hostile creatures.
Fear - {Liegelord spell} - Reduces enemy moral and chance to hit. Critical success causes target(s) to flee the area in terror. Can be cast on number of targets (Charisma/2). Costs MP to maintain. (Intelligence + Charisma) / 2 must be greater than target’s Willpower or target will be alerted to spell failure.

Both goblins immediately leveled up from the influx of experience empowering granted them. Feathers' new ability was very promising, especially considering her usual reckless fighting style. Bunny’s new spell might not have the same utility but there was no such thing as a bad spell or skill as far as the orc was concerned. It was yet another tool in the goblin’s bag. If used properly she was becoming quite the control mage.

The scavenger spearman was awarded the new bronze armor, which he eagerly replaced the leather tunic. The bronze chestplate was just that, two simply sculpted plates that hung over his front and back and were strapped together over the shoulders and around the sides. Swirling amber runes were faintly visible on the polished bronze surface that was sculpted to mimic a muscular frame the wiry goblin noticeably lacked. Still morale was up, the minion was happy and the others were eager to prove themselves and earn their own rewards.

Unfortunately he didn’t have enough metal and gems to give them all upgraded equipment right now. But increasing their weapons skills and drilling them in teamwork and military formations were also ways of increasing the dungeon's might. Plus of course, the free experience they gained from training in the arena. If he could have, the orc would have spent the entire day there himself polishing his own skills to the newly unlocked E rank. Unfortunately; however, there were resources to gather and a mission that would require his own abilities.

After a few hours in the arena, Baal called an end to the training and formed two new teams. As the newest minion, the large goblin was still the most inexperienced, he and one of the tricksters would stay behind at the watch. Of course little Ashteroth and the elder were near useless so they would stay in the dungeon as well, doing... whatever. He didn’t particularly care as long as they didn't burn the place down while he was gone. He paused to consider the order for the builders but ultimately they had much work to do and were currently only using up the large stockpile of stone resources so he would let them work. In that case Feathers would take the two remaining tricksters, the sole remaining scavenger, and the smith up the mountain to hunt and mine. The forest was a richer and easier area, but he had spent the previous afternoon there; and with his plan for his own group he thought it better to keep them closer in case anything went wrong. And considering it honestly, when had things ever gone according to plan?

Feathers' group left the dungeon first as Baal lagged behind. Bunny was hardly the ideal crafter. She had no skills of her own. If not for the boosts of the dungeon she would probably be absolutely useless at the crafting bench. But thankfully the dungeon was forgiving. He ordered her to the alchemy table to produce a stockpile of potions.

In the meantime he busied himself at the forge, first using some of the dwindling scrap ore to craft two new spears and short swords. Joining those were several cheap wooden shield and pieces of leather armor. None of the weapons or armor were enchanted but he did take one of the new opals to craft another silver Opal ring. There was only a single piece of spiders silk in the dungeon inventory as well. But it was enough to make another kind of accessory. Taking one of the many rat fangs he made a simple fetish.

Necklace of the Rat
5% chance to cause status effect Disease on hit

A quick stop in the mess for a variety of fruits and meats from the forest and Baal’s inventory was full with the collection of items. Finally the orc, Bunny and Suo set out on their own journey up the mountain.

While he still took the opportunity to mine the few boulders they passed immediately near, the goal of this trip was not resource harvesting. At least not that way. His inventory was already overburdened. For once he was relieved that items went directly to the dungeon. Most of his effort was instead given to avoiding encounters with monsters or adventures.

At one point he saw a small party of adventurers climbing the main trail. Thankfully they were far enough away they didn’t notice him. He couldn’t identify or hear them, but just looking at their shiny polished armor made his skin itch uncomfortably. Holy users: Monks, healers, clerics, blessed fighters, or paladins. Whatever they were, they were his mortal enemy even above and beyond the usual adventurer. Holy magic burned him to his very core. Just seeing them brought back ugly memories. He kept his group out of sight and as far from the common paths as possible.

The air seemed to change as they climbed higher. The goats and invisible lizards gave way to giants and ram headed minotaurs, yet more beings he wanted nothing to do with. Thankfully though, his prey liked to mark their paths with easily recognizable if indiscernible scratchings.

Kobolds

He had thought to go up the mounting the large settlement at the peak. But in avoiding the adventurers, and not wanted to go around the mountain sides and enter harpy or griffon territory, he readjusted his plan to go to one of the smaller encampments on the mountain.

It helped having Suo and Bunny looking for the markings. The average kobold was a bit smaller than a goblin. Being similar in size and lower to the ground, they found scratchings and signs he might have overlooked. After all, while he knew they were there somewhere, it wasn't like he had ever gone looking for a group of kobolds before. Back when he was a lowly level three hermit, a single small kobold was more than a match for him. And unfortunately, kobold were pack hunters. He vividly recalled being torn limb from limb by the toothy hunters after being caught out in the open on the mountain.

Eventually they found their way into a small valley, little more than a crack in the side of the mountain. If not for the bound and sharpened sticks lining the entrance he might’ve overlooked the settlement completely. The kobold’s dwellings being little more than small mounds or tiny holes in the natural rock of the mountain side.

As they neared the edge of the kobold encampment the group was quickly met by four of the lizard creatures. Not quite three feet tall. Covered in tiny scales that probably did as lousy a job of protecting them from the elements on the mountain as they did protecting them from damage. They were dirty rust colored monsters, their softer undersides and joints shading towards a dull mustard. Thin whip like tails and long protruding snouts full of jagged teeth being their other defining features. These particular kobolds wore a hodgepodge of dented metal and worn leather armor pieces they had likely scavenged, and were pointing an equally strange, if no less lethal, variety of weapons at the orc and his minions as they hissed their displeasure at his intrusion.

Level 10 Kobold
Monster, Kobold, Explicit
Attributes:
Strength 19
Dexterity 24
Stamina 18
Charisma 8
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 13

Baal resisted the urge to activate his armor spell. No sense inflaming the situation further. And since their average level was ten, they posed little threat to him whether they realized it or not. He held the bristling slime back with one hand as he gave Bunny a silent signal with the other.

A sudden calm fell over the kobolds as the gobliness activated her Tranquility spell. They were still wary of the strangers but seemed less inclined to snap at any second.

“Be at ease and take me to your leader,” Baal stated with the authority of one used to getting his way. “I am here to trade.”

The kobolds looked at one another uncertainly. Their aggression seemed to be lessened, but neither were they moving as he had asked.

The orc let out a sigh as he pulled a single small red phial from his stuffed inventory.

“A small sample,” he stated as he placed the healing potion on the ground between them.

That caught the lizard’s attention. The first one quickly pounced on the potion and scuttled off into the settlement as the remaining three awkwardly avoided making eye contact.

Baal took a seat on a nearby rock and drank from a water skin of manna spring water before offering the remainder to Bunny. The more he studied the kobolds, the worse they looked. Tiny cuts and scratches marred their scales. Their equipment was bloodied, though whether it was their own blood or the blood of the unlucky adventurers they had taken it from he couldn’t say. They also appeared a little too skinny, even for their stretched lizard bodies. Malnourished he guessed. Not that there was ever much to eat on the mountain.

After several long minutes of waiting the guard returned with another small group kobolds. At the center of the group was a slightly larger kobold, though still dwarfed by the orc’s size. This kobold’s scales were a little redder. Its tiny row of horns slightly longer and sharper. And it was wearing a blue cape attached to a dull silver half plate that covered the left area of his chest over his heart.

Level 14 Kobold Warchief
Monster, Kobold, Explicit
???

Level fourteen. That was respectable. Given that the orc couldn't peek at his status, he might actually be stronger than Bunny.

“Hand _hiss _over your potions hiss or perish hiss!” A snake like tongue flicked from the kobold's long snout as he spoke.

No sooner had large kobold and his group reinforced the guards than they all resumed hostile positions.

“Make a fair trade offer or I’ll find someone who will!” Baal countered, staring down the at the kobold’s slitted eyes but refusing to stand or otherwise participate in a fight.

Another long pause.

Oh well. Worst case scenario he’d just massacre the entire encampment and take what he wanted anyway, though Bunny and Suo would have to carry the haul. Still, he had hoped for a more lucrative relationship.

“We know _hiss _who you are, u-hiss-surper . You intrude _hiss _on the great one’s _hiss _territory!”

Oh gods listening to the thuggish thing talk was grating on his nerves.

“You are nothing _hiss _to the great one hiss! Your meat will feed his _hiss _children!”

Fuck it. **** it is.

The orc stood to his full five feet, towering over the kobolds as he rolled out the kinks in his shoulders. He hadn’t yet activated any of his spells but the blood thirst suddenly emanating from him washed over the kobolds forcing each of them besides their leader shrinking backwards.

The lizards craned their necks quickly as they looked at one another, uncertain of the turn of events. A new kobold ran out from the encampment. This one wore no armor and carried no weapons. Instead it was adorned in a simple smock the front of the chest tented just enough to hint that this one was female, its snout pierced with a simple golden ring. The new kobold ran to the leader and whispered something in the tiny hole that served as its ear.

The leader shifted his head to the side to listen before turning back to the orc.

“Potions _hiss _now!”

Baal dropped all pretense at nicety. Armor of darkness activated, shrouding him in black fog. Miasma quickly followed as the fog rolled out past the gathered kobolds. A summoning circle opened in front of him at the point where his staff met the rocky ground and the armored skeleton emerged. Baal noted that its appearance had changed once again. The dilapidated shield was now a solid, if worn and patina coated, piece. The leather rags that wrapped it were now covered with scraps of rusted and broken chain mail. And it wore new metal gloves and boots to match its dented and bruised helmet.

At the same time the slime rolled between the kobolds and its master, enlarging in size and hardening like a rock to shield the orc. Meanwhile the goblin had dropped her nice Tranquility spell and instead activated her new Fear spell as she fell in behind the orc holding her pointed knife with two shaking hands.

The skies themselves seemed to darken over the assembled kobolds as the towering monster in front of them charged a spell in a ball of dark arcane energy. The pack cowered in terror. All but their leader. Instead he snarled in impotent rage.

Kobolds were pack animals. Strength was everything. Being part of the pack made them strong. The Great One made them strong. The mountain made them strong. He thought he could intimidate the fool who wanted to ‘trade’... but the true fool had been himself. The orc was stronger than all of them. It was clear. Strong enough to do something as ridiculous as trade on the mountain. The kobold was almost out of time. He was completely out of options.

“_Hiss _Trade!” The kobold leader exclaimed as he took off the blue cape he wore and threw it at the ground in front of the orc.

The evil black fog rolled back and the skeleton warrior melted back into the ground. The cloak surrounding the orc faded and the goblin peaked out from behind him though the slime-boulder remained entrenched between them.

“Deal!” Baal exclaimed with a toothy grin.

He took a peek at the tattered blue piece of cloth as he retrieved it.

Nobleman’s Cape
+2 Charisma
+1% Gold drop rate

Not great. But it was a start.

“Suo,” the orc ordered as he placed a hand on top of the slim-boulder.

The slime slowly lowered as he pushed down until it was about a foot and a half off the ground at which point it smoothed out to a flat slab.

“One potion,” the orc offered as he produced another phial and sat it in the slime-table.

“Five hiss!”

“Two”

“_Hiss _Four”

“Two and the one I’ve already given you!”

The kobold leader hissed again in indignation but nodded his agreement. No sooner than he had given his consent than the unarmed female rushed forward to grab the phials off the slab and dashed back into the camp.

“You seem to be in great need of healing potions,” Baal observed. “So allow me to cut to the chase. I want gems. Shiny stones. Whatever else adventurers would come to steal.”

As he spoke he pulled several wooden containers from his inventory and placed them on the slime-table, each holding a dozen of the red potion bottles.

The deals started flowing. As it turned out the kobolds were in great need because they been attacked by a group of adventurers earlier. Not that the rare healing potions weren’t always invaluable to monsters when they could get their hands... claws... whatever, on them. The adventurers hadn’t even bothered to take anything or finish off the wounded. They had just marched through the camp, hacking as they walked. Half the kobold group had been killed or injured. Dead or dying they were left where they fell.

Little wonder they were **** for healing potions.

After the kobolds had brought out their first batch of normal gems, Baal offered to double their asking price for any of the rare obsidian gems. However, it seemed the pitch black stone was sacred to the Great Wyrm the kobolds worshiped. Trading it away was a step too far even despite their great need.

Once their immediate need was filled Baal, revealed the other items he had brought, weapons, accessories, and food. However the kobold's scavenged weapons were as good as, or better than, the ones he could produce. While they showed some interest in the accessories, what truly caught their attention was the meat from the forest. They had already traded more than a dozen gems for the crates of potions and it seemed they had run out of the rare stones. Whether they had found, mined, or were gifted the items from their master; the orc didn’t know and the kobolds weren’t saying, but they suggested they would have more soon. Instead the kobolds offered the worst of the gear they had stockpiled. After more bartering he traded meat, spices, and a bit of fruit for three swords and two axes. He even threw in the blue cape as a token of good will. The ugly thing was useless to him and offered no combat boost to his minions. He could make something better with the gems, but the new items he received from the kobold camp were nice enough.

Iron Sword x3
+4 attack

.

Iron Ax x2
+4 attack

All rather used, rusted, and plain but still decent weapons. Besides he had other plans to put them to even better use.

At the end of the negotiations a fragile peace was declared. However it was that the kobolds restocked, they were willing to trade gems every few days for more potions and meat. Baal took care to remind them he may be too busy to come himself, but to treat his emissary as they would him, lest they suffer his wrath. Though at the end of the day there was little need for worry. The arrangement was simply too beneficial for both parties. As pretty as the gems were, they were near useless bobbles to the kobolds. Mere fodder for adventurers to scrounge while marauding. Meanwhile the orc could produce potions as quickly as he could pick grass and draw water.

It wasn’t quite the success he had hoped it would be. The orc was returning with nearly half the items he had brought after all. But the day had hardly been a failure. Once they were refined the gems would enchant a dozen pieces of armor or weapons beyond the abilities of even the things the kobolds refused to trade.

Knowledge and power.

Today he had gained both. And while he hadn’t quite made new allies, he noted he had gained more than he expected.

Fame Increased!
Fame: 80
Diplomacy +2 (Expanded)
Rumors of your cunning and wealth are spreading! + 2

Thankfully going down the mountain was always easier than the climb up. Still, avoiding the strong monsters and adventurers slowed their progress. There was no sign of Feathers and the gatherers as they neared the dungeon but neither were there signs of combat or distress. The orc moved down the narrow final path and stopped in his tracks.

There in front of the door was a new small stack of stones.

Another

Fucking

Pile

of

Rocks

What was going on? No way it was adventurers. They took whatever wasn't nailed down, they didn’t leave gifts. Nor was it the kobolds. Were the gods taunting him? As they entered the dungeon and found the resource group had returned safely, Feathers confirmed there was nothing when she had entered. Likewise the lookouts has once again seen nothing. Baal had had enough.

“Suo!” He ordered, “stand guard outside and find what’s doing this! If it’s a threat, kill it. But I want to see!”

The slime wouldn’t sleep and it was a hell of a lot better at following orders than the goblins. In the worst case, whatever was doing this would be scared off or not show. But he was tired of that particular mystery.

The items not traded went back into the dungeon inventory. The minions went back to doing whatever they did when he wasn’t watching. Baal himself spent the evening in the crafting room.

He had bartered for fourteen gems from the kobolds. First things first was identifying them.

Amber x2
Opal x1
Amethyst x3
Emerald x3
Ruby x4
Sapphire x1

And from his own inventory he still had a remaining opal, sapphire, and amethyst. The five iron weapons went into the forge and were quickly melted down into iron ingots. Before anything else, he immediately went back to the entrance to use two of the new ingots to upgrade the scrap metal gate into an iron portcullis. He wasn’t sure it would keep another Dire Bear out, and he wasn't in a hurry to find out, but damned if he wasn’t going to do all he could to prevent it. The builders were put to work on the upgrade as he retreated back to the crafting workshop.

Three pieces of iron remained. Weapons or armor? Which was better? Which did he need more? Ultimately it seemed that weaponry was the better choice. The minions armor was slowly improving but their weapons had stagnated. No more!

The short bows we’re already decent with the improved walnut wood. Spears then. Iron spears. With walnut shafts. And elemental enchantments.

Iron Fire Spear x2
+7 (14) Attack (Fire Element Attack)
25% Chance to cause status effect burn

.

Iron Storm Spear
+7 (14) Attack (Water Element Attack)
Bonus Feat - Knockback Wave

The pieces of amber and emeralds went into the minion's existing leather armor to boost health and defense.

A third fire bow was crafted for the last trickster. And lastly the barbed arrows he had won off the invading adventurers were combined with an amethyst to create even more lethal projectiles.

Barbed Arrows of Wind (x83) -
50% probability to cause bleeding status effect
+25% piercing damage
Increased flight speed

Not a lot to spare, but shooting those bastards out of a fire bow should make an impact.

The remaining gems he didn’t have an immediate use for. Magic accessories were pretty much useless for the minions and he was already upgraded. He could hoard them for now. However, the air elemental returned from a sweep of the labyrinth with another prize. Although it brought no new bronze pieces it did bring another bundle of silk which he turned into a second rat fang fetish. Stacking the ability to cause disease would be an ugly surprise to anyone foolish enough to cross his minions.

Baal passed around his new gifts and headed to the arena to train some more. In truth he wanted little more than to fill his stomach and go to sleep, but he had neglected his own skills too much. Between staff fighting and bare handed fighting, he had two combat skills he needed to raise to the next level. And he didn’t want to be caught unprepared again.

More mindless hours attacking training dummies and the bar had progressed nicely. Though even with the room bonus it seemed it was going to take several more long days to get to rank E.

He finally took his meal. Though this time he ate alone, long after Ashteroth had been put to bed for the night. Bunny tried to keep him company but she too feel asleep in the bench next to him as he ate, exhausted from the days events. Today he even outlasted Feathers who had ended her own efforts in the training grounds before him. Baal carried Bunny to the barracks and laid her next to Ash drooling on a pillow as she sprawled sideways on the bed. He finally limped up the winding spire to his own quarters. The dungeon was quiet. Just the rain sound of the waterfall. He sat at the edge of his bed as he unequiped his gear. It was practically morning already. He’d need to be up soon and start a new day. No sooner than his head had hit his pillows than the air elemental burst into his room

Buzz buzz

Fuck

The orc vaulted out of bed, re-equipping items as he rushed towards the door. This couldn’t be good.

The elemental lead him through the throne and altar rooms and down the spiral stairs.

“Boss... thing!” One of the goblins on watch shouted at him as he descended.

“What fucking thing?! Good thing? Bad thing?” He shouted back towards the narrow window.

“Uuugh...”

Fuck it. At least the goblins weren’t panicking. It probably wasn’t an invading adventurer in that case.

Baal noticed the fire elemental perched in another sconce near the entrance as he waited for the newly repaired and reinforced portcullis to rise. The elemental silently watched him as though it were stalking him from the flames. Creepy fucking thing, but it was probably a better watchman than the lazy goblins.

He pulled his staff out just in case as he crossed the empty entry room and slowly pushed open the outside doors.

“Suo!” The slime burbled from the darkness.

Baal took a torch out of his inventory and the narrow entrance path was bathed in flickering light. The slime sat in the middle of the path but it wasn’t what caught his attention, rather it was what the slime had caught. Embedded in the slime and squirming for freedom was the very creature that had been leaving him the gifts all this time. A pointed red cap. Rosie red checks. A giant bushy white beard...

Aw fuck