I teleport back to the throne room where I left Vulcan, and show up to see him shadowboxing after fully recovering. I don’t want to bother him while he’s training, so I just set up a boxing exercise with glowing orbs and leave him to it. Dungeon delvers would soon be infiltrating the dungeon to destroy the dungeon core. That caravan of dungeon delvers is probably just a vanguard force. I couldn’t ‘Identify’ because of the distance, but they didn’t look strong enough to handle the lower floors. There are several options to consider when handling the upcoming invasion. I could try to make the dungeon seem like everything is operating as usual, before my shenanigans. They would still probably make their way to the dungeon core to make sure nothing is wrong. My next option would be to rearrange and concentrate monsters to specific areas to better fend off dungeon delvers. Most of the dungeon’s monsters are base-level evolutions fresh from a spawner. Floors 4 and 5 have second-level evolution monsters, but none of them have a higher level than 5, with equally low skill levels. Difficulty is increased solely from increasing the number of monsters per engagement rather than increasing the quality of each monster. This option would, of course, result in the dungeon delvers knowing the dungeon is changing and push them to destroy the dungeon. The last option I can think of is to basically bribe them. One of the options in the dungeon store was a dungeon modification, “mana crystals”. They’re basically the crystallization of the latent mana in the dungeon air, being especially useful for magical items and armaments. They also have the added benefit of greatly increasing Entropy production. The tradeoff is the increased attention by humans, but that could also benefit me in my current situation. The only problem is that I have to fend off the dungeon delvers long enough accrue the 5,000 Entropy needed to buy them. I’m sitting on 450 Entropy, so it’ll take another 16 Earth days to save up enough without buying anything else.

  ?

  Of all of my options, I think the best strategy is to try to trick the dungeon delvers into thinking everything is business as usual, while building up my forces for the worst-case scenario. The mana crystals would be a last-ditch effort, but I’ll probably buy them no matter how this ends. I always preferred to build up my economy before building up an army in strategy games in my last life. Surely basing important decisions in a fantasy world on video games will end well, but it’s all I really have, as a certain somebody gave me a religious text instead of a dungeon guidebook. I’m sure she’s laughing at my progress, but all I can do is keep going. For now, I have a plan to build up my forces. I’m going to do what I did when I first met Pim. I’m going to pick up random monsters from the dungeon and train them up into formidable warriors like Vulcan. We’re all under strict time constraints, so I’m going to recruit mostly second-level evolution monsters and a few base-level evolutions. The goal, if I survive this, is to raise them enough to start training monsters under them and eventually raise the abilities of even more monsters. Of course, any death will result in a fresh spawn without any training or levels.

  ?

  Vulcan and I can’t train too many monsters at once, so I’ll limit the selection to 5 monsters. I’ve looked over the list of available monsters in the dungeon info screen, and I’ve settled on my choices. I’m going to summon a Hobgoblin, a Quazit, and a Lizardman. A Quazit is the evolution of an imp, so it should fulfill a more mobile role as Pim did. I also know how strong a Hobgoblin and Lizardman can be, even though I’m reluctant about the Lizardman if their personality is similar to Leron. But, I need strong monsters, so I hope they’re agreeable enough. For the base-level evolution monsters, I’m going to pick up an arachne, a spider-like monster, and a skeleton. I chose these 2 so I could learn more about the capabilities of monsters I’m not familiar with, and because they both have interesting evolutionary possibilities. The arachne has the potential to specialize in a given physical attribute, a combat style, or a leadership role. The skeleton’s evolutions can split based on magical or physical skill sets. I don’t know the specific conditions to produce these evolutions, but I can influence the skills they earn to see how that affects evolutions. Vulcan is an evolutionary variant, but that doesn’t mean his evolutionary path has diverged too much from a copper golem. His next evolution should be a steel golem, which is a variant of an iron golem that is normally evolved from a copper golem. After that, his evolutions have the potential to branch out into multiple types of golems and new monsters like elementals. But that is all far into the future, so I don’t have to worry about it too much right now.

  ?

  “Hey, Vulcan. I’m going to summon a few monsters to add to our group. Can you help train them up?”

  ?

  He stopped his training and looked towards me, speaking in his gravelly voice. “I need… to be stronger… Can’t lose… another friend.”

  ?

  Oh, so this is how he’s processing the loss of Pim. I want to help him get as strong as he can, but we don’t have that luxury right now. “De’gon was right about humans coming to destroy the dungeon. They’ve already sent a large group that’ll reach the entrance of the dungeon soon. We need stronger monsters to handle what’s to come in the future, plus you’ll get stronger while helping train the others.”

  ?

  “...Hmm.”

  ?

  “Will you help me with this, Vulcan?”

  ?

  “...Okay.”

  ?

  I’m glad he agreed to my request in the end. I know I could always use the authority of the dungeon master to force him to do my bidding, but I’d rather avoid using it at all if I can. Using it would just make the monsters under me equivalent to tools to be used, rather than their own beings with sentience. I don’t want to resort to that kind of mindset, so I’ll try to get the monsters under me to want to work with me. We’re running out of time, so I’ll get to my current task. I’ve already located the specific monsters I want, so all that’s left is to summon them. Concentrating on each presence, I exercise the dungeon functions granted to me, five monsters appearing before Vulcan and me. They all look around for a second, but as soon as they see me, they all kneel or position themselves as if in deference, since some of them can’t exactly kneel. They must be able to sense that I’m the dungeon master if their actions are anything to go by. Before I can say anything, the Lizardman speaks up.

  ?

  “Oh, Dungeon Master, it’s an honor to be summoned to your presence. What can we do for you?”

  ?

  Wow, his demeanor is much more agreeable than Leron’s. Maybe how he was treated by De’gon caused him to be prone to so much anger. As I’m absentmindedly thinking this, the Lizardman continues.

  ?

  “What is it you wish for us? We can see how strong you are from your presence alone.”

  ?

  He’s really buttering me up, but I don’t mind it. But he’s got a good eye if he’s able to discern my abilities just from a brief glance. It isn’t until his next sentence that my ego deflates a bit.

  ?

  “We will work hard to become as strong as you have, an evolved golem.”

  ?

  They then all look up at Vulcan, not even sparing a single moment for me. I had a feeling they were misunderstanding our dynamic, but I really didn’t want to admit it until I was forced to by reality. These monsters were looking at Vulcan in expectation, but Vulcan was just looking at me in confusion at this development. I wasn’t bitter at all, definitely not, I was just waiting for Vulcan to clear this up and introduce me. Thankfully, he eventually does after I only told him to go ahead and introduce us.

  ?

  “...I… am Vulcan… Willow is… the dungeon master.”

  ?

  He then pointed at me as he said that last part, drawing these monsters’ eyes towards me for the first time. They looked at me, then looked back at Vulcan, switching back and forth until the idea of Vulcan not being the dungeon finally processed in their minds. The Hobgoblin was the next one to speak up in his confusion.

  ?

  “The wisp is the dungeon master. Not you?”

  ?

  I couldn’t bear this atmosphere anymore, so I finally decided to speak up and announce myself to this group.

  ?

  “Hey there. I’m Willow, a Soullight Phantasm, not a wisp. I evolved from a wisp, but I took over this dungeon from the previous dungeon master by training up Vulcan here from a Stone Golem to a Bronze Golem. I’m going to do the same with all of you, so get ready to raise your skills and begin your path towards evolution.”

  ?

  This must have been the last thing they expected, as they were all staring at me, frozen, after I had given my speech. Pim was also just as surprised to see a wisp talk, so it must be even more shocking to see an evolved wisp as a dungeon master. Either way, this group has a long and dangerous way to go to get to where I need them to be, so I’ll give them a temptation to get them on my side.

  ?

  “Alright, to start off with, each of you needs a name.”

  ?

  That snapped them out of it; I could already see the excitement in all of their eyes at my words.