24 Gains, Losses and the prelude to war

——— POV: DM Blueberry ———

The lookout gobs have just informed me that the hunting team has been spotted in the distance. They seemed to need help so I sent the slime whacker gobs to give them a hand.

Soon the procession comes stumbling back into the cave where Stewbag already has an energizing meal prepared.

From what I can see, we seem to have lost one of the henchmen. RIP Slash'gut you never got to use a blade.

His body is ceremoniously laid down in a grave and soon he is reclaimed by the land. By that I mean he was tossed into the pit trap and melted in exchange for DP. Recycling FTW!

I buy another 2 gobs cuz why not. Then assign them to Stron'kest who will train and guide them.

Stab'gut and Smash'gut mourn the loss of their brother, but soon forget about that as they dig into the feast prepared for them. They both have a few odd arrows lodged in them that Berry'wart is working on removing.

Smearing what I believe to be smashed pillberry into the wounds he nods in satisfaction before also joining the meal.

"I need a report" I demand, "and explain THAT while you are at it." I indicate to the dead bodies laying on the ground.

Stron'kest scratches his head a little as he tries to get his facts straight.

"We hunt." He announces, as if that explains everything. Pausing a little, he nods as if satisfied with the results too.

"Details!" I push. I'm strongly considering sending a smarter gob like Trap along next time to just report back to me after the hunt.

"We hunt fox. Humans shoot Slash'gut through bush. Fight 4 vs 3. We kill one, they kill one. Time to run." He pauses to drink some berry juice.

"Good thinking." I affirm his tactical retreat. "Staying to fight would have been very risky."

"Coward follows us, shoots arrows." He points to the two henchmen. "Stab and Smash too slow, they get hurt so I climb tree. Coward sneaky but not expecting falling gob. We catch him and whack him."

It's all clear now. That ranger who came snooping around a while back must have blabbed. Though it's uncertain if the cave is the target or the goblins who evacuated it are.

Considering that we've got 2 dead rangers, and one who escaped, the situation looks like it'll escalate quite a bit. Got to prepare for high level baddies storming the cave.

First order of business is getting some eyes in the sky. Knowing when and where the enemy will strike is vital!

I scroll through my menu looking for features that can help. I pay with the editor for a bit

Buying a few new bats to use as test subjects I go to town on editing. It's not pretty.

Half an hour later there are several specimens flopping around weakly on the ground. I'm sorry. I have them delivered to the slime for recycling.

I start over with one of my old bats after bolstering their numbers again.

Bat 2 was it? Not sure. Either way, this bat has stored up a lot of EP due a diet of gem berries. Here goes.

I first spend some points to boost its ability to absorb and use ambient mana instead of food water and breathing. This manifests itself in the form of a small mana core near the heart that is quickly wrapped in blood vessels. I then remove its mouth and entire digestive and respiratory systems. That cleared up a lot of space. EP-wise I think I've gained a little through that edit.

Doing some remolding and resizing, I relocate the heart and mana core to the head, which gets enlarged to make space for it. Wings replace the ears and the eyes are enlarged. By the end of it, all that's left is a ball with 2 eyes and 4 wings. I feel like I've seen something similar before but can't remember exactly.

I pump it full of mana in an attempt to communicate with it. No response.

I want to see through those eyes!!! I focus my mana on them. I feel my connection to the eyebat strengthening. This is a good sign.

The eyebat's eyes are soon glowing, and I feel that I am close. That is, until a message pops up in the system.

"Ding! Level too low. Please level up to access shared vision function."

That's what I'm looking for! Guess I need to do more cultivation. I release the abomination I've created, and soon it flutters away bumping into every obstacle possible.

Oops... although bats have decent eyesight (in spite of popular belief), my Eyebat has not adapted fully to depending entirely on its eyes for flying. Even all my boosting couldn't make up for the loss of echolocation. It's possible that the extra set of wings is making things more complicated too.

I wonder if it can even survive long enough to multiply. I buy a few more Eyebats and send them off to play.

Right at that moment, Trip and Trap come scurrying in to report the sighting of Blue fanged goblins about a days journey away.

They're back for more eh? This could actually be beneficial. I'm suddenly glad I never knocked down the brick wall that separates my original cave with the gobs' old treasury and living quarters.

I've got a plan. It could be brilliant, but that remains to be seen.

It's time for some rearranging and tidying up.

"Alright gobs!" I gather the team. "I want everything cleared out of the Bluefang goblins' old hideout and moved to the deeper level ASAP."

The gobs scramble to get my order fulfilled.

I do my part and pour mana into expanding down and deeper. I still haven't taken over the place we found slimes.

There are two entrances to my dungeon from outside located on different sides of a small tree covered hill. One leads to the old gob hideout, the other is a small opening and winding tunnel that leads to my first cave and then further down into the deep. The only connections between the 2 sides were made through the bricks by shredder worms and those are only large enough for the smaller ants to fit through.

After the gobs have evacuated to the lower levels it's time to work my magic. Trying to recreate what the scene looked like when the goblins left, I supercharge the area with mana and let the mushrooms go wild.

Fireworks!!! I'll never get tired of this.

A short while later, I set the mana level down to reduced levels.

The stage is set.