Recruiting

  Checking the status of the dungeon, John was impressed. They had modified its growth requirements and reduced the level that some skills would become available, but he still felt one year didn’t seem like enough. Not his problem though. Randy and his team were scheduled to test the adventure a few times before it was released to the public. They could work out the specifics of the leveling speed for the dungeons.

  He was anxious to get started building, so he gathered up his core. The little guy quickly withdrew his boundaries after absorbing everything he wanted and switched to 100% absorption. The two were off to find some new citizens of the Drake Empire 2.0 to train and protect.

  A few hours later they crossed a ridgeline and saw a massive sprawling city. “I think we won the starting position lottery, little fellow. Let’s move to that spur over there and set up. I’m going into town to let them know we are here. You’ll need to defend yourself, but try not to kill if you can stall long enough for me to return. It should only be a matter of seconds. I’m pretty fast.”

  He felt the eagerness of the dungeon to begin establishing itself. Peeking into his dungeon master tab, he saw that it had purchased a few more templates for creatures and traps in preparation. John was impressed that it had chosen traps that wouldn’t kill, only detain its prisoners.

  Stepping, John teleported himself and the dungeon to the spur and followed his senses to where he felt an essence accumulation beneath them. It was probably a small offshoot of a vein. That would help the little fellow grow and level.

  Picking an outcrop of rocks, he set the little dungeon down. “Remember to levitate and move yourself into your core room first thing. You remember how to levitate?” The core lifted up and flew around John once. “Good. Put your entrance here. I’ll be back in a few seconds if you run into trouble. Follow that vein to see if you can find one of the planet’s main veins. If you find any juvenile dungeons, keep them safe and we can train them to help us.”

  John watched as the dungeon created an entrance and disappeared into its dimensional subspace. With a little hesitation, he started to step to the city when he remembered something important. “Hey little fellow!” he called. The dungeon quickly appeared in front of him. “We need to name you. I’ve been thinking of naming you Binxie. He was the first hero of Homeworld. The last planet I lived on.”

  Feeling a little hesitation, John quickly added. “I’m sure you’ll live up to the name. You’re going to be a hero to millions.” The little dungeon seemed to gather himself and John once again felt the core’s determination. “All right, Binxie. I’ll be back soon. Have fun designing your dungeon. Don’t forget to pick up some level templates for ideas.”

  With that, John stepped to the edge of the city. Metallic vehicles rolled and floated past him as he appeared next to a gate. The guard jumped. John said, “Sorry to scare you. I wish to speak to the leaders of this city. Where may I find them?”

  The guard scowled at him. “The clan leaders don’t have time for chit chat.”

  “I think they’ll make time for me. Is there a guard commander or sergeant of the guard available?"

  “Bill. This guy wants to talk to the clan leaders.” the guard said.

  John heard a gruff voice shout out, “Tell him to buzz off.”

  The guard turned to John to give him the old, “I told you so.” look. However, John was gone and quickly reappeared with another guard in each hand. Looking between the two, he asked, “Which one of you is Bill?” They both pointed at each other.

  The guard who had first spoken to John was a bit more of a man of action and drew a studded club and struck John’s arm with it. The club broke and John barely felt anything. “As you can see, I’m quite a bit higher level then you three. In fact, I could leave this entire city in ruins in a matter of seconds.” Suddenly having a good idea, John created three massive balls. One of fire, another of lightning, and the third of ice. Each one was the size of a city block.

  He took the balls and flew them in loops over the city before returning them to hover over the gate. He cringed when he heard several collisions of metal vehicles. In reality, the balls were more for show than power. John had concentrated on making them bigger, but put little power into each. Sure, they could destroy a few city blocks each, but that wasn’t much compared to what John could do if he put his mind to it.

  “I assume that got somebody's attention. About how long will it take for someone of sufficient rank to show up for me to talk to them?” he asked as he set down the two guards.

  “About thirty minutes. The quick reaction force will be here shortly.” one of the two said.

  “I’ll assume you’re Bill.” John asked and the guard nodded. “Well it will be your job to inform anybody that shows up that I’m just here to talk. Your planet will be invaded in a year. I am here with a dungeon. We’ll help protect you and train you.”

  “I knew the integration usually came with an apocalypse.” One of the other guards said, but quickly shut up when Bill gave him the stink eye.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I see you were even able to keep your technology. That is unusual. I’m interested in seeing what we can integrate into the defense plan.” John said.

  “How do we know we can trust you?” Bill said.

  “You don’t. But you should have figured out that you can’t stop me from doing whatever I want, so why would I bother lying?” John asked.

  “So you can trick us into being your minions as you conquer our planet.” Bill said.

  “That's ... .a pretty good point.” John said with a shrug. “ Hmmm….How do you suggest I get around that one?”

  “You want us to tell you how to trick us into becoming your minions?” Bill asked.

  “I’ll become your minion for a billion credits.” One of the guards said. “Me too.” The other agreed.

  “I was only allowed to bring a few million.” John said. “What would I need minions for when I have a dungeon? I could produce as many as I wanted.”

  Bill shrugged. “That’s a good point. However, people are still going to be suspicious. You’re going to have to offer something they want.”

  “A great place to train isn’t enough?” John said. The guards scoffed at the idea. “Well, I’ll have to think on that one. Looks like you’re up Bill. I should be able to protect all of the innocents, but I won’t promise I won’t destroy a few vehicles if they attack.” John pointed to heavily armored vehicles moving to their position. He released the weaves holding the balls in place.

  *****

  Larry looked out over the gate as his skill warned him that someone was approaching. Seeing Jim, he started to order the gates open, but stopped when a larger, younger person who had a sheen like metal to his skin and the khaki pants and polo shirt he was wearing. A book was floating behind Jim and the three appeared to be arguing about something. All three of them. The book was made of dark leather, but had a raised skull face on it with glowing red eyes. The inside of the mouth was a swirling black hole that was very unsettling to look at.

  The book seemed to be trying to convince the other two of something. “What’s so bad about it?” The book asked and then sang, “I love it when they call me bad booka, sucking all the essence out of the air. Casting all the spells, like I just don’t care. I love it when they call me bad booka. To all the wizards in their towers, reading their books like dummies.”

  “Stop, stop, stop.” The strange looking fellow with Jim said. “Christopher Wallace is rolling in his grave. You can’t just butcher a classic like that.”

  “But…” the book said.

  “But nothing. That’s cultural appropriation. That is greatly frowned upon.” Jim said.

  “Hello, Jim. Who are your friends?” Larry asked.

  “Oh. Hello Larry. That’s Lorem and John.” Jim said. “Lorem is an evil book that wants to suck all the essence out of our planet. And John is a super high level half slime half human.”

  Larry, used to Jim’s antics, asked, “And does John want to destroy our planet too?”

  “Oh no. He’s here to save our planet. He’s got a dungeon we can all hop into and fight out of when the invasion comes. Seems like a pretty decent fellow, all though I’ve only known him a few days. Don’t worry about the book. I’ve got him bonded and we won’t eat the village.” Jim said.

  Larry rolled his eyes. “Okay. I’ll go fetch the boss. You three better wait outside. I don’t know how she’ll feel about me inviting in a world eating book and a super slimeman.”

  *****

  Siegemaster heard the vehicles long before he saw them. Looking around he selected a comfortable looking rock to sit on while he waited for them to reach him. As they approached he realized these vehicles were slower than Chase’s, but heavily armored and armed. Not completely unexpected.

  As they pulled up and surrounded him, he waved and tried to look unthreatening. He was hoping to make a good impression on what he assumed was Chase’s father and some of his strongest fighters. Unfortunately, one of the gunners on the vehicles lacked discipline and fired when the ogre waved. Siegemaster quickly weaved what he thought of as his gummy trap. A tunnel of thick goo formed slowing the projectile and eventually stopping it.

  The humans that had jumped out of the vehicles jumped back in and the drivers started backing away. The ogre looked at the projectile and into its essence and realized it was explosive in nature. Using essence formed tools he quickly took it apart and inspected it. “Ahhh…designed to arm after a certain amount of rotations. Must be a rifled barrel. Some of Billy’s designs worked like that, but his weren’t so crude. Not bad for a newly integrated planet.”

  “Siegemaster, we are here to ascertain your intent. What is your purpose on this planet and what is this invasion you spoke of?” A man who looked like an older version of Chase said.

  “I am here to protect you and help train you. I have a dungeon and we hope to find more to use to protect others. The invaders will be insectamorphs. Powerful hivemind controlled insects. They will arrive in approximately one year.” the ogre said.

  “Do you have any proof that what you say about your mission is the truth?” the man asked.

  Siegemaster shrugged and said, “You are still alive, so I must not be here to kill you.”

  The man just stared at him as he processed what the ogre had said before he chuckled, “Okay. That is sound reasoning. But how do we know that won’t change?”

  “You don’t.” Siegemaster said.

  Not exactly thrilled with the answer, the man asked, “Did you come alone?”

  “No. John and Battlemaster came. His name’s John also, but we just call him Battlemaster. Easier that way. They are strong. Great training partners. I throw rocks at them every chance I get. It’s the best way to gain skill levels. Don’t neglect your skill levels. The gains from skill levels can greatly outweigh the power gained from leveling alone.” the ogre said wanting to impress the guild leader with the power of his friends.

  “Three people to save a planet? That doesn’t seem possible.” The guild leader said.

  The ogre nodded. “We are strong enough to defeat the insectamorphs, but their numbers will be too great to save very many humans if we don’t use our dungeons wisely.”

  “And how do you plan to do that?’ the human asked.

  The ogre smiled like he had been waiting to tell someone his plan. He pointed towards the vehicles. “Battle train. We’ll make it fly and float when we need to, but we’ll mainly stay on the ground gathering up villages, towns and cities. The dungeon will absorb them into its subspaces. It can also build defenses to protect them in case the insectamorphs get inside. While we’re travelling you and your people can be training to get strong and those that want to can man the Battle Train’s weapons and help me save people.”

  The guild leader just stared at him. Then he stared some more. The siegemaster waited. These were Gummy’s people. They would take the bait. No way would they pass up on the opportunity to…

  “You are crazy.” the guild leader said as he turned and started walking back towards his vehicle. Siegemaster froze cursing himself for not investing more heavily into charisma. He should have taken some of the diplomacy classes. He had failed in his first contact with a leader from this planet.

  “You won’t be able to fit into the vehicles. You’ll have to run. I doubt it will be far for you.” The human said. “What will your dungeon need to grow?”

  “She’ll need metals in large quantities. Ores work, but it takes longer to absorb and refine. High essence materials will help her grow also.”

  “Just follow the road. We’ll keep pace with you so there are no misunderstandings or unfortunate accidents.” The guild leader said as he pointed in the direction the vehicles had come from.

  Siegemaster jumped up and started running. It had worked. He had recruited his first teammates. He was so excited it was a few minutes before he realized the vehicles couldn’t keep up with him, so he stopped and waited.