first lair, clear!

While shaken by the sudden discovery, it didn't linger in Alex mind. All he had to do was destroy the lair, for the threat to cease-to-be.

Re-starting his hunt with renewed vigour, Alex would equip his bow every time he exits a nest, ready to shoot any goblin to avoid a swarm.

His forethought was rewarded soon, as the number of goblins treading the pathways grew when he entered the fourth ring.

From this instance, another pattern emerges. From each level, the female belly size reduce. Linking the number of rings and the size of their protruding bellies, he understood that the longer they were pregnant, the higher they were in the cavern. The only explanation he could come with was the growing amount of available wide magic the higher one was.

After seeing how taxing variant inducted pregnancy were, it was logical that they needed more energy. This also brought another question for Alex. If they didn't need anything other than magic, why the goblins had fought over a rabbit?

-I think I know.- CS said interrupting Alex train of thoughts.

'Why?' Asked him, more curious than irritated.

-Mating right. In the animal kingdom, similar situations can be observed. Adelie Penguin is known to collect plebes and construct a nest. The more important it is, the more attractive the mate. It's a social status. If the mate can collect plebes and defend its nest, then the female is assured that it would be able to look over the chicks and feed them.

Perhaps it's the same with the goblins? If they can hunt prey, then they are competent and robust goblin. That and the meat is a possible attraction, helping the female during the pregnancy?-

CS hypothesis made a lot of sense in Alex mind, and he wasn't against leading a small experient later. All he would need would be a couple of males, a female and some rabbits.

'Food for the tough, it may also help me discover how dungeon core form, or if they already exist in the first place. With the rapid maturation of goblin, it wouldn't take much time.' Nodding at his plan of goblin rearing, Alex continued his actual extermination mission.

~~~

Alex knows that the lower he was diving, the higher the possibility of his discovery. So when one goblin stumbles on him above a dead, pregnant female, he expected the cry. Thankfully for him, the goblin was far enough to react in time and dodge the knife he threw.

While they weren't made for this action, he had enough power to keep the weapon relatively straight on the short distance.

He was now mid-way through the seven rings. His collection of core and gems had growth to an impressive 69 and 36, respectively. This far, CS prediction was shown right. He was near the bottom of the cavern, and he only encountered 36 females. The number of immature goblins was ever-increasing, and his action would soon be discovered, as no all goblins were keeping to the floor.

By the time he completed the eight ring, he only encountered seven other females but crossed the path of thirty goblins alone on it. Another particular sight was the fact that the dungeon core light had dwindled quite a bit since then.

Every time he plucked a Monster gem, in fact. This gave Alex more reason to think that a Dungeon core appears once a certain number of goblin gathers. All he needed to discover was what it needed for one to appear, but this could be answered once his rearing plan came into light.

If he was right, he might have discovered a way of producing Monster gems.

~~~

'Last ring. I never thought that I would be able to clear all of them until left with only the ground.' Commented him after pocketing the last core he gathered.

Sniffing the air, only the stench of the goblin was overpowering the smell of blood. The fact that Alex has thrown every corpse in room' pits helped.

Knowing that stealth wasn't an option anymore, he bolted to the only opening leading out of the cavern, having sealed everyone before going to the lower ring.

The loud shrieks of the surrounding goblins made it know that he was finally busted, but it was too late. Throwing a flying kick at the lone goblin about to exit the cavern through the tunnel, he took the large chunk of stone he gathered from the hole's surrounding, before summarily plug the entrance.

Done with his task, he turned around, witnessing the forty-some goblins gathers rapidly in the cavern.

'You were right; they protect the female.' Say him, seeing the goblins gather on three spots around the walls. Their wild short yell to the superior ring and told him they were trying to call for the rest or warn them. Seeing that none moved, he took his bow.

~~~

The following five minutes turned into a rather depressing game of cat and mouse. After he shooted half of the remaining goblins, they finally snapped and threw themselves at Alex. All he had to do was, dodge, fall back and fire, rinse and repeat.

With the male dies, the females were left defenceless. While their new pregnancy wasn't impeding them to move around yet, they weren't a threat to him. Were they acting more humanly, Alex would have probably wavered, but they haven't so he didn't.

After swiftly disposed of them, he dugs out the last Monster gems.

'And that was the last. I would never thoughts that they were so many goblins left here how much?' Say, Alex.

-68 Monster gem, thirteen from the variant ring. Other than that, you gathered 186 goblin cores and 13 variant.- CS informed him.

When he looked at the massive stalactite, the rock glow had completely extinguished, depriving the lair of most of its natural light. Still to kept sure, he shot an arrow at the concretion. When the arrow landed, the stone shatters like glass, showering anything under in clear crystal dust. A core similar to the Monster gem falls. A little larger than the other, the polished core had a bluish glowing neon colour.

Pocketing the core, only then Alex had received an update on the mission, informing him that he cleared the lair.

He lightly jabs at the thin layer of stone covering the entrance, shattering the built wall.

~~~

Once he exited the lair, he stretched merrily while taking a deep breath, happy to return above ground and breath other than stale, putrid air. Turning the entrance, he moved some surrounding rock, welding them to the rock, erasing the access for all but him.

'That one took care off, let work on the next latter, I need to return to the settlement and take the cleared path to them. That would take me at least a good half-day, and I have nearly nothing left to eat.' Thought Alex, while settling in his pre-made stone chamber. Taking a backpack, he thinned the leather top, taking the lining layer protecting it of water.

Turning the retrieved sheet of leather, he made makeshift pouch, before filling it with the cores. "186 cores, with 13 from variants and 48 Monster gems? That another 4.240 Valis, or 42,4 buck, not bad for half a day of work, but not much either, from Eina words. I don't need to buy much for now, everything I can either trade, harvest or create."

Now that he had much more space gems, he threw eight back in his storage.

{[Monster gem detected, would you like to integrate the Monster gem with the Pocket space? Y/N]}

Choosing to accept this time, he could feel the eight Monster gem flew to the eight corners of his storage, before melting in them. In an impressive lack of reaction, Alex dumbly looked at the newly doubled space.

{[Monster gem detected, would you like to integrate the Monster gem with the Pocket space? Y/N]}

Before he could react, another message appears. As Alex looked closer, he sees that the first wave was from the goblin, the lowest grade of gems he had. Seeing that he just doubled his available space, he didn't hesitate to accept it too.

'We have still another four lairs, I don't think gems will come to lack, and it just eight, so why not.'

Contrary to what he expected, the 80 centimetre-long edges didn't double, but triple, bringing the size to 240 centimetres. In a few seconds, Alex storage growth from less than half ha metre square to nearly fourteen square metres.

His excitement was slightly dampened when he couldn't use more gems as if it was a one-time trick, be he didn't let it bother him. Even with just the previous growth, he had now more than enough place to store all his things securely.

-Why do I smell a poorly hidden plot to make you fight stronger monsters?- Deadpan CS.

'Who cares, at least this time I feel like I earned it!' Cheerfully responded Alex, not bothered at all.

~~~

-You did only use the lesser-powered one, and they are from a goblin lair. I don't know if the race had an influence, I wouldn't be surprised if it does. With our inability to create items without magical material, you may make expended pouches out of them. your space is also unique, you may have a better result, or the same with fewer gems if you uses them that way.-

'Your right.' Sigh Alex. 'Plus, with those limitations, I won't fall into my old kinks. I wonder if I will be able to use the hobgoblin leather to make some?'

-I don't think so, not entirely. You always say that leather wasn't good runes-holding material. Perhaps with some magical iron or something.-

'Steel, magical steel. I know it existed in Danmachi, I sure they must have something similar. They wouldn't be able to craft resistant equipment and weapons otherwise. As for leather, it was because it came from magically powerful creatures, with hobgoblin, it more a neutral one, so it may work. If it did, the pouch would just have a frail frame, that all.' Commented Alex, his spirit lifted by CS.

-Might want to ask the old smith, if there something such as magic blacksmithing, there no reason that magical metal didn't exist.- Added him.

'I was already planning to return to the settlement tomorrow anyway, might as well stop and ask. I could always turn the hatchets in steel ingots for him.'

-That could work, but try to ask for his own supply of iron. You don't have a large reserve, only twenty-three, that around eleven and a half kilo.-

'Your right, *sigh* I was acting like a young master before, throwing ingot of gold, like it was shit, in the vault.' Sighed Alex at his past exuberant behaviour.

-True, but as long as you keep your head on your shoulder from now on, it shouldn't be difficult, plus I doubt you will be able to rack in gold any time soon.- Agreed CS.

~~~

Closing the chamber for the night, Alex ate the rest of his provisions, after re-heating them, before going to sleep.