"So, all this is a ploy to get the alpha planeʼs attention?"
"No. I just do as I like and mildly modify my plans to suit the convenience of my allies so long as it doesn't restrict me too much."
"And what will my role in all this be?"
"Your role will be to train an expendable secondary army for me. Most things I can spawn inside my dungeon are restricted by how many I can spawn over a certain period or by what floor they can descend to. That is inconvenient and will deplete my forces if I send them in without thought."
He makes a dramatic pause before smiling at me in a regal manner.
"Kobaloi, or skull goblins as you call them, however, can be summoned without limit and at a bearable cost. If you can train them to not be as pitifully weak as they are when I spawn them, they may prove a great asset in my plans."
Skull goblins? Apart from their overwhelming numbers, I see no quality that would make them an asset. That's how they thought even when I was with them last time.
But does this suffice to make them qualify as an asset in a war of this level?
"I'll need equipment for them."
"Hmmm, I can give you equipment but this is supposed to be low budget. What did you have in mind?"
"If we need to keep costs low I can make crude wooden weapons myself so long as you provide wood. In addition, I'd like some of the slingshots you commissioned from Hippo and his crew. I don't need many, just twenty will do."
"That can be arranged. I'll have the wood delivered as early as possible, the slingshots will already be there once you arrive. For now, I have spawned one thousand students for you. If I like what I'm seeing I will increase that number as I see fit."
One thousand? To begin with? I knew this guy had resources to spare, but this is ridiculous!
So I have a cheat-like ability now? Damn, I wish it was something more directly usable like.
Don't all VR dungeons employees have those?
I guess not.
"Now, I would send you down to the 15th floor using the Janus circle but it seems quite bothersome to let you walk all the way over there if you can just respawn there. Apologies for what I am about to do, I shall make it as painless as possible."
His words sound ominous but I have little time to process them before I just black out. He just killed me, didn't he?
Can't you just spawn me there? Like how you spawn me into dungeons from my room?
Why?
How?
And what does dying change in this equation?
Security protocols then. Still, couldn't you have just despawned me like how I usually leave a dungeon?
The darkness of death around me fades and I appear on a large, expansive grassland that stretches as far as the Colosseum walls surrounding it all.