The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

After dealing with the spiders, the time had finally come to do something about the snakes.

I sat in the granary, where four snakes hissed at me, reporting their latest achievements. They had even prepared a presentation on a few sheets of paper, explaining how much more they could help if I honoured them by appointing a scion. While I was impressed by their effort, I was just in a state of mind where I couldn't take anything seriously anymore. That's why I ignored their educated hisses and focused on their evolution tree. Disappointed, I discovered that snakes had nothing that remained small. A gigantic anaconda-like monster would require huge swaths of land to keep it around, while a Hydra would be even larger. Quetzlcoatls, Sea Serpents, Lindworms, Nidhoggs...

I sighed, which saddened my snakes. I focused on them and their presentation just before freezing. The word Cadeseus was painted in large letters amongst their stained papers, and I smiled. Once more, I opened the evolution tree, and there it was. A support class. It was hidden on the fringes of the evolution tree as a subclass of the only reasonable-sized snake: a Naga. I quickly picked their evolution path, which made my snakes so happy they started dancing. I paid the upgrade cost and looked at the spawner... Where is the spawner?

I turned around and saw it blocking the entrance to the granary. It was a two-story fountain with an alabaster statue of... Medusa? Yes. That, for sure, was Medusa, a very detailed monument depicting her sitting on top of the fountain. She was holding a large half-open basket with water flowing out of it where her knees should be. Her tail was wrapped around the central column she was sitting on, and its end disappeared into the upper bowl of the fountain. The lower bowl of the fountain was quite big, at least three, maybe four metres in diameter, with water inside much deeper than it should be. I could not see the bottom when I came closer to inspect it.

I had to move it somewhere else. Maybe to the central plaza near the unused alchemist lab? With a wave of my hand, I moved it and teleported myself there just in time to see my first Naga spawn. Her head, covered in blonde hair, emerged from the water, steaming with vapour as the water covering her skin froze and sublimated in the cold air. She looked at me with her big green-blue snake eyes and timidly smiled at me. Then she quickly pulled herself out from the water and stood in front of me on her coiled green scaled tail, which was detailed with a cobalt blue pattern. She was wearing an unbuttoned, long white lab coat, under which she was wearing strange attire made of very light material decorated with copper. The large amounts of copper and polished glass were probably a substitute for proper jewellery. She bowed her head, awaiting my orders.

"Yes, indeed..." I looked at her, trying to come up with a good name.

Now that I could take a better look at her, I noticed green and blue streaks in her hair, matching the scales of her tail. It was not helping. At my first reflex, I wanted to give her a name from Greek mythology. But Echidna was evil in nature, and I was not a fan of tempting fate, mostly because I had learned my lesson: words and names have power. She looked at me with hope but uncertainty, wondering what I was thinking when the last rays of the setting sun illuminated her. Her still-wet skin and scales reflected this last light for a brief moment, brightening the cold air with green and blue halos. I smiled warmly, knowing the perfect name for her.

"Welcome, Aurora."

She smiled back at me, visibly happy about my choice. She bowed even deeper to me, wagging with the end of her tail before she swiftly returned to the fountain to transform into a scion. I stood there for a moment, wondering if I had sorted everything out when I felt something tugging at my pants from below. When I lowered my gaze, I saw a giant rat looking at me with determination in his eyes.

"Piiip?" he asked me with hope in his voice.

"No! I have not forgotten about you!" I put on my best poker face, trying to look offended by his suggestion.

"Pii, piip!" He sat on his rear and used his upper limbs for gesticulation. "Piiippp, prriip. Piiip ippp ippprrip."

"Seriously?" I raised my brow and closed my eyes to check their evolution tree.

The poor rats had literally four evolution options. The dire rat was the largest option, being the size of a large dog but much thicker. The ratkin option was disabled for me. Hmmm... Why? Ohhh... I couldn't establish any enclaves. I sat on the brim of Naga's fountain, and the rat hopped near me, so I automatically started patting him. I was reading more information about enclaves, and finally, it began to make sense to me. While dungeons affiliated with death had their upkeep cost lowered, all the other dungeons could establish enclaves and change part of one type of denizens into residents.

Such an enclave would act as an independent village; its citizens would no longer respawn, but they would obtain free will and start acting like people of this world. This explained how most dungeons produce their mana. It made perfect sense. Kill people and allow your enclaves to grow and feed you with mana. So why can't I?

Ummm, I guess? Ohhh... Everlight. That made perfect sense. The system must have blocked the option of creating enclaves because that would be cheating. I blinked a few times and looked at the sky, laughing. Cheating... As if that had ever been our concern, right, Eriar? Anyway. I could evolve my rats into lab rats or scavenger rats. While the idea of an army of rats walking around in lab coats was incredibly appealing, I already had Nagas for this. So Scavenger rats...

More intelligent and cunning than the baseline rat, it's a subtype of the Ratmen Family, to which Lab Rats and Ratkins also belong. Scavenger Rats are too loyal to their dungeon, lacking the natural ingenuity of Ratkins, who live outside of dungeons as free people. They excel in gathering materials and rare items, so sending scavenger rats with exploration teams increases the chances of finding all grades of items according to their current level.

Interesting. Rats might only have four evolution options, but their additional upgrades fully offset that. Fine. Accept.

"*sigh* yes..." I rubbed my eyes. It had been a long day already, and I had to come up with a third name that would make sense. Bob? Ratsy? Chip? Dale? No... Argh...

"Theon?" Amber's voice mercifully interrupted my growing headache.

"I'm sorry, Amber. I should let you know that's everything all right," I replied, still rubbing my eyes.

"It's okay. One of the maids informed us that Twirll repelled the invaders. However, you look exhausted." I felt her soft touch on my shoulder. "What is the problem?"

"I can't think of any good name for my rat scion!" I admitted with a sour face, finally looking at her.

"Well... I won't help you, my Dear." She smiled. "Stella got something from the hornet, so you can check on her later. Don't give up on the name!"

She waved her hand and winked at me, vanishing from the plaza. I looked at the Rat and decided to check on their new spawner in the lower castle, hopefully getting some inspiration as in the cases of Crawline and Aurora. The rat spawner was placed in zone nine, and before the upgrade, it was an underground nest with a small hole. Now... God damn it... It was a regular small shack, neatly done, looking like some sort of workshop or tiny warehouse. I sighed. With the spawner looking like this, it would be a bad idea to leave it here.

Wait.

Could I move it to the corner and push it into the wall? I could, which meant it would look more natural. Putting it into the corner and hiding it behind the rocks... What do you mean I'm not allowed? I internally yelled at my building interface. This was the first time ever it prohibited me from doing something.

Due to the role of Scavenger Rats, it is advised to merge the stockpile/warehouse building with the spawner. This action will increase the stockpile and warehouse storage capacity as well as allow Rats to learn corresponding jobs.

Ohhhh...

"OOOOOO!" I yelled, struck by enlightenment, making a stupid yet excited and happy face.

Stella could work in the Magic Tower not because she was a Faé but because I had merged her spawner WITH the Tower. Sebastian's spawner was merged with the Palace; that's why slimes were great at cooking, were fully educated, and acted as my assassins. The kitchen, my private library, and my war room were in the Palace, as well as a few other facilities. Galahad's spawner was merged with barracks and knight quarters, so naturally, he was able to excel as a commander. And Thor and Arani, whose spawners were basically merged with defensive towers, were my scouts and rapid response forces.

Suddenly, everything started making sense. Why didn’t my denizens build or craft on their own? Because their spawners were not connected with any building! Time to test that idea. I looked at the alchemy lab and built a small shrine of Eriar next to it. I couldn't merge them. But when I tried to merge the shrine, lab, and spawner, bam! The Naga spawner was now closer to the Lab; the shrine was gone, but I could see a central fountain column now had flower motifs. So, it looked like my experiment worked, which drastically improved my mood. Huh? Now, the Naga spawner unlocked a hidden monster. Lamia... Nice!

With a happy smile, I teleported once more, and using the Rat spawner, I merged the granary, warehouse, and stockpile together. A few details visually changed, but I could see that the underground complex was now insanely large. So fucking awesome! I had not been this excited in weeks. A giant rat came out of the warehouse building, walking on its rear legs. It was maybe one or one and a half meters tall, wearing cargo pants and a utility vest over a grey t-shirt. He had a grey hard hat and a pair of safety goggles.

I stared at him in the utter silence of the early night while holding my breath, knowing full well if I spoke now, I would lose it. I did everything in my power to hold my laughter, but the Rat was busy fixing all of his tools in various pockets throughout his attire. When his tail arced over his head, I noticed he was using it to somehow hold a clipboard... A FUCKING CLIPBOARD... I was done. I started laughing, and there was nothing I could do about it. It lasted for about five minutes when all of my tension and the entire day's absurdity were finally vented off with cheerful laughter. When I calmed down, I saw the Scavenger Rat looking at me patiently, without any scorn or sadness. On the contrary, he was so happy I had given him such an important role, waiting and ready for my orders.

"I'll name you Jasper." He saluted me and quickly returned to his spawner.

•••

*Now* I was finally done with spawners. I was still giggling like crazy, though.

•••

"So what have we got here, Stella?" I asked my Faé.

"King... It's complicated…" she hesitated.

I looked at the table and saw the Hornet General locked under a clear glass bowl. It was sitting miserably in the middle, buzzing from time to time. Stella tapped gently on the top of his prison and took it off. The hornet turned towards me and squealed sadly.

"So your Hive Master sent you here... To kill me?" I asked, tilting my head and listening to buzzing.

"But that makes no sense!" I exclaimed.

A long time ago, I had stopped paying attention to the fact that I'm functionally a Disney princess. I talk with birds or wolves with little trouble. If I could understand spiders chittering, knowing what hornet’s buzzes meant was not that far-fetched. He chirped and buzzed for a while, now complaining about his master. I took a chair since it looked like he was going to take a while.

"So tell me..." I tried to ask but was abruptly interrupted by his louder chirps.

"So your dungeon is located three days away, and it sent you just for fun?" I was flabbergasted.

The hornet was trying to jump up, its chirps sounding even angrier. I looked at Stella, who just shrugged, but I could see in her eyes how amused she was. We allowed the Hornet General to bitch about his dungeon as much as he wanted, which took him almost an hour. I scratched my head and loudly exhaled the air. It was almost painful to hear all his remarks about how stupid his core was and yet how everything was siding with it because it was compliant with the will of Cridia Kingdom. It looked at me intensely in silence as if it was weighing its options. Suddenly, Stella gently touched its head, and he looked at her in disbelief.

"Hahaha!" She burst into laughter and whistled. "Twirll?!"

After a few moments, the brave bird joined us and landed on Stella's finger. He bowed to me and looked at Stella.

"Twit?" he asked, confused as to why she needed him.

"Tell your prisoner how long you have been here."

"Twiiiippp... Prrip?"

The hornet looked at me in fear, but I just confirmed. "Yes. Twirll joined us maybe a week ago."

The hornet rolled painfully on his side; it was the first time I saw an insect cry. I almost pitied him, but he quickly looked at me.

You can recruit now a Nightmare Hornets.

"Yes," I shrugged and looked in surprise at the insect.

"Yes," I sighed.

Truth be told, I could make some use of such monsters. But no more scions today, please. I had enough for one day. I would just place their spawner... Hmmm, what would happen if I fused them with a beehive? I copied an apiary and fused the hornet spawner with it. That's interesting! While it retained its shape, letting the Nightmare Hornets keep their nasty skill, they also became hive warriors. They produced honey, and their hive was a cure for Nightmare Poison. To be honest, it could now be used as an ingredient for all sorts of potions and antidotes. This was excellent information. I moved this spawner to the garden of the Alchemist Lab for easier access. The hornet buzzed happily but looked at me in concern.

I looked at the wounds of the hornet and sighed. Yes...

"You are Lance," I said. "Ok... Stella, we will retaliate against... Mead Hallow Dungeon... What a stupid name. Prepare a draft with Arani and Twirll."

•••

The last thing I had to do was to talk with Wendy. Once again, I teleported and knocked at her door. She opened the doors, surprised to see me.

"Good evening, Wendy. I want to upgrade the tailor shop, so to be on the safer side, I wanted to ask you and Nicole to leave the building for a moment."

"Nicole told me they are going with Marie, Fiona, and Sally to see Clovis and Dahlia for a sleepover. So I think I'm ready, my King." She smiled.

"Oh, one more thing. Before I start, do you like spiders?"

"Oh yes! I would love to have one for myself. But your Highness, spiders are just basic creatures, so it's..." I saw her hesitation, but she very quickly found a way out. "... Not optimal for taming, my King."

"Huh... Why exactly?"

"Why would I like to have a spider, or why are Avalon spiders not exactly ideal?" she asked uncertainly.

"Well... Both?"

"Every tailor dreams of having a spider, but not just any type. The type from which dreams are made of is a death-weaving spider whose silk is most delicate and soft. Oh, my Lord, what I would create, having such a spider!" I saw the sparkles in her eyes that dimmed with a sigh. "But no dungeon spawns them. Only huge brute spiders, or very rarely an Arachne *sigh*. My Lord, it has been my dream since I was a child when I first showed talents similar to my mother's."

I closed my eyes and noticed that one of the spiders from Wendy's dreams had already spawned, and I summoned it here. I said nothing, waiting for it to come while Wendy looked at me with a face flushed with embarrassment.

"Avalon Spiders are just the most basic one. I mean, my Lord, they are great and strong, but the quality of their silk is very low. This is all that I can do with such material." She pointed at my magnificent robe and other clothes in her workshop. "And I can only have one familiar, so I wanted to wait if maybe, just maybe, my Lord would not find anything else interesting."

I smiled at her since this made sense; she was just practical. With a smile, I watched the death-weaving spider silently lowering itself from the roof. I opened my palm, deciding that scaring Wendy was not worth it, no matter how funny it sounded. The spider jumped into my hand at the exact moment Wendy looked at me in surprise. She screamed nonetheless, but in excitement and awe as she gazed at the spider she had dreamed about her entire life. I looked at the big critter, which chirped in excitement as it pointed at Wendy; 'Can she be my seamstress?' It looks like the love between death-weaving spiders and tailors was something else.

"Yes, she can be your master. Take good care of her, Wendy." I put the spider in her hands.

While Wendy went through the same process of figuring out a name that I had done four times today, I focused on my next task. I tried to fuse the spider spawner with the tailor shop but couldn't. However, when I accidentally added one adjacent empty building to the mix, I noticed that a number of looms had disappeared from the stockpile. That empty building was transformed into a fabric factory, with the spawner now moved underground. Excellent!

"All right, Wendy. You can return home. I moved the spider spawner underground, and this building is now a fabric factory." I pointed at the building. "Check later if you need anything and ask our Dwarves to make you all the necessary equipment."

"Thank you, my King!" Wendy patted her spider happily, like a little girl with a puppy.

I waved her goodbye and teleported away. It was late, and the day had been long and ridiculous. On the bright side, I learned an important thing about how the System worked. So, at least that was something.