[So, it has once again been quite a while since I've posted this story. I'll give a quick recap to catch readers up.
Dr. Gynoid, the main character, got isekai'd into an underground cave system. He gained the ability to create little golem creatures to do his bidding, known as golemites. They start of really basic, like just being able to construct simple buildings and clear rubble from the cave.
But as Dr. Gynoid levels up and gains new monster cores, he's able to enhance them further. He even obtains two special creations known as gynoids, who have a more human appearance. These two are known as Miss Smith and Miss Secretary, and their roles in the story should be obvious from their names.
Anyway, he rescues a princess named Ryza, who was trapped in the nearby city that's been taken over by bandits. Now Dr. Gynoid is gearing up to help Ryza recapture the city from the bandits, but to ensure victory, he needs more power. Hence, why he's exploring deeper into the cave system.
He runs across a warrior-like lizard creature called a slith. They're basically like goblins, except with a more advanced society and more intelligence. After conquering the area around an underground lake, Dr. Gynoid is using it as a base of operations to explore, level up, and eventually take out the sliths that infest his cave.
That's where the story picks back up, with them having just finished clearing out the underground lake of random monsters that had claimed it before he arrived.
Also, here are some images of the characters for you to chew on.
Dr. Gynoid - This is just a concept sketch, his real character art will have him looking older and cooler xD.
Miss Secretary - She was made from a pearl, which is where she gets her porcelain skin color.
Miss Smith - Made from copper ore, which is why she looks like she's made out of bronze.
Golemites - Various types and sizes, depending on what kind of monster core and material was used to create them.
“You’ve entered my range!” Ryza shouts a familiar voice line with a tone that doesn’t contain a bit of mockery.
The pull of a trigger later, and there are two roars, one from the barrel of her shotgun and the other from the mutated fungus creature that looks a little too much like a walking mushroom.
The result is, of course, yet another monster core added to my collection.
“Excellent work, Ryza.” I pick up said core. “With this, each and every monster who sought to lay claim to my underground lake has been eradicated.”
“Yay! Does that mean we got stronger?”
“One more level, more GP, and an armful of cores.” I pull out the large core from that slith warrior. “And it’s time to put them to use.”
The underground cavern is even larger than I suspected, proving to be several times the size of even my original domain above. Though I plan to expand it to at least the size of this lake cavern.
The sound of the waterfall assaults my ears, the final walking mushroom having chosen to plant its fungal roots just next to where the water spews from the stone ceiling.
“Let’s return to the entrance.” I step away from the lake’s edge, where a fine mist flows thanks to the nearby waterfall. “We’re having visitors soon.”
“Visitors already?” Ryza’s shotgun disappears somewhere, her hands now brushing off the dirt from her dress.
“There’s no need to hide the result of our efforts.” My shotgun also vanishes. “Though it’s fortunate we can now set up a permanent bath.”
We take a victory lap along the water’s edge, heading back to the entrance we took to reach this underground lake. In the darkness ahead, I can already see the glow of lightstone torches spilling into the cavern.
Those glows grow brighter, with figures spilling out into the cave just as Ryza and I arrive back at the entrance.
“Good job coming here.” I nod to Miss Secretary and Miss Smith.
“It was easy.” Miss Smith raises her hammer, the remains of unfortunate monsters still splattered on its metallic head. “Oh, and we got those.”
Miss Secretary raises an arm, a bag in her grasp. “Only one of any significance.”
“Excellent.” I take the bag of monster cores. “Even the lesser ones can be useful if I recycle them to craft more powerful cores. Although it’s not very efficient compared to just finding strong ones from the beginning.”
My two gynoids aren’t the only ones to come here. They’re accompanied by a small army of golemites, over half of my total.
“Go forth.” I motion toward the wide-open cavern. “Expand my domain.”
Dozens of golemites spread out, separate into groups, and begin the construction of my required buildings and amenities. All of the information has been shared through my thoughts, my masterpieces recognizing the images I have in my mind and working to bring them to reality.
As for me…
I raise the large core that I still hold in my grasp. “It’s time to create a warrior capable of leading my army.”
“Here.” Miss Secretary pulls out a chunk of gleaming silver.
“Your help in bringing this material to me is much appreciated.” I grab the silver damask from her hand. “With this, I can ensure that my domination of the slith tribe will be absolute.”
With the metal in one hand and the monster core in the other, I place them in my system interface. The result of the fusion appears even before I activate the creation skill, showing me what kind of golemite I can expect to appear.
Golemite General. Just as anticipated.
But the GP cost is…
Although I’ve gained two levels clearing this underground cavern, it would take every point I earned here to create just this one golemite. More actually, eating into the GP I’ve managed to save until now.
Cost and value are almost always directly correlated. If it costs this much, then certainly he will bring an equal value to my domain.
With the doubts erased, I activate the golemite creation.
The monster core used to make the Golemite General is larger than normal, having come from that slith warrior who could survive even a blast from my shotgun.
As such, it’s no surprise that the golemite created with the core is also considerably bigger than its brethren. Made from silver damask, the metallic golemite gleams like a suit of well-polished armor.
The Golemite General salutes, as all my creations do upon their arrival.
“Good job answering my call.” I stare down at the commander who will lead my golemite army. “I have a special task for you.”
Several other cores and materials appear, then vanish into my system interface. In their place, four golemites rise. Although lesser creations than the Placeholder Golem, they are made for battle, rather than construction.
At my telepathic call, even more golemites gather around. Sixteen in total, with each one of them being the most battle-oriented creations I’ve made since my arrival.
“Sixteen golemites, four commanders, and one general.” I scan the squad gathered at my feet. “This should suffice for your first expedition.”
Artillery leaps up and down on my shoulder, waving his little arms.
“You want to join them?” I bring a hand up to my shoulder, and Artillery leaps into my palm. “Do as you wish.”
I lower him to the ground, and he joins the sixteen golemites in back. Since Artillery was just a normal golemite made from a random core, he fits right in with the rank and file chosen for this expedition.
However…
“You do yourself a disservice, Artillery.” I point to the four commanders. “Step forward and join the commanders.”
With a wave of his little arms, he wobbles toward the middle of the formation to join the ranked golemites.
After a final nod of approval, the Golemite General begins the march, heading toward one of the many dark tunnels that branch off from this underground lake.
“Should I go, too…?” Ryza watches their backs as they step into a tunnel.
“If you desire it.” I look toward the lake. “As for me, I believe I would like to take a bath.”
“A bath!” Ryza suddenly remembers the first building that we’re constructing down here, a bathhouse. “When will they finish it?”
“With the Evoker Golemite helping, the building can be created with magical stone in under an hour. And while they’re working on that…” I take the flask of lake water out from my inventory. “I’m going to ensure our dip into the lake won’t end with regrets.”
Chapter 13
“Hup, two, three, four!” Ryza’s voice flows alongside the distant waterfall.
Marching lockstep behind her are the golemites who’ve been clearing the rubble and constructing the buildings. Though the only ones with her are those who are recharging their power between tasks.
“You sure are lively this early in the morning.” I kneel next to the clean and clear water that fills this underground lake, using it to wash my face.
“Early?” Ryza stops, as do all the golemites. “It’s noon!”
I look around the stone that makes up this dark cave system, my face dripping water. “Curses. To think the sun would hide such valuable information from me.”
I stand from the edge of the lake. “Well, back to sleep.”
“Why are you going back to bed!?”
“Why? Because it’s only noon. I don’t want to be up this early.”
“The day is already halfway over!”
I nod. “If only it would hurry so the comfort of night can wash over the land.”
“You don’t act like anyone else in this entire world!”
“Well, of course.” I finally dry my face with a towel given to me by Miss Secretary. “I’m not from this world, after all.”
“...Eh?”
“Ohhhh!” I can’t help but show some excitement. “Excellent! I leveled up during the night, giving me even more GP than I thought I would have today.”
“Don’t just ignore the previous subject!”
“Hmm. The amount of experience I get when my golemites hunt is much lower than if I were to do it myself. But since they made so many trips into the caves last night and fought so many strong monsters, it actually ended up being quite a lot.”
As soon as I speak of them, the warrior golemites return. They’ve been clearing the caves near this underground lake, gathering monster cores and materials for me. And at the same time, granting me experience points.
“Excellent work.” I stand proud over my masterpieces. “But what happened out there?”
The general in charge of the expeditions gives me a salute, his shield cracked and broken. It’s followed by a flurry of arm movements, describing their recent battle in detail.
“The sliths attacked?” My mind recalls the lizard-like creature that could even survive a point-blank shot from my shotgun. “And they were hunting you, thinking you were dangerous because you got too close to their lair?”
The general lays a bag down, several cores rolling out onto the ground.
I reach down and pick one up. “A slith core. With this, I can make more powerful warriors.”
It’s not the only slith core in the bag. The golemites were attacked by four of the creatures, which means I have just as many cores.
Though they didn’t get these rewards without sacrifice.
“Those sliths were right about one thing.” I look at the warrior golemites, several of whom are missing, having been destroyed in the battle. “There’s something very dangerous coming for them.”
Operation Domination has begun.
----------
“Rise.” I spread my arms wide. “Rise and become part of the coming Domination.”
A golemite forms from the materials placed in my System Interface, appearing at my feet and growing until it towers over most of the others.
Like the General, my new creation was formed from the core of a slith, granting it size and power beyond that of a typical golemite. I now have five such creations, each wielding a different weapon.
After a quick salute, my new Commander joins the rest of his brethren, lining up behind the General.
Beyond them, a large army of Warrior golemites stand ready. Unlike the General and Commanders, they lack the strength to stand against the slith alone, but their numbers have grown since their last venture into the depths.
The expansion of my army came at a cost, however.
“All of my GP, gone.” I look at the egg-shaped zero sitting in my status. “But it’s an investment that will pay dividends after today.”
“Wow.” Ryza looks over the golemite army. “Is this how you were planning to retake the city two days from now?”
“It is an essential part of my plan, though we still have more work to do before we’re truly ready. But we are ready for something.” I raise one hand. “Prepare to march!”
The golemites turn from us and face a darkened tunnel. Through the sideways hole and down a dozen branching paths lies my domain’s largest threat, a tribe of slith.
“I see. Yes. Understandable.” Miss Secretary writes in her notebook as she seemingly has a conversation with herself. “I’ll pass it along.”
Her pearly white hand perfectly pulls the perforated page from the notebook, holding it out to me.
I receive it and look over its contents, noting that the handwriting is as immaculate as ever. The information contained within has already been absorbed, of course.
“Miss Smith requires some exotic materials, does she?” I place the list into my pocket. “That can only mean she has further advanced the smithery to create more powerful weapons.”
“That must be the case. And she believes these materials will be a necessity when retaking the city.”
“Then we shall prioritize gathering them after dealing with the sliths.”
A small weight on my shoulder begins moving as Artillery waves his arms around. His enthusiasm resonates with the rest of the warrior golemites, filling them with a desire to step into the tunnel and find the slith.
“Yeah! You tell them, Stubby!” Ryza encourages the little runt of a golemite that’s standing on her own shoulder.
With a final gear check that includes my shotgun, ammunition, and various explosive devices, I confirm that there’s nothing else stopping me from total Domination of this cave system.
“Golemites.” I motion toward the dark tunnel. “March!”