As Helvina walked out of the dungeon, four figures could be seen behind her. One was recognized by the soldiers standing guard by the entrance, while the three put them on edge. They were taller than most men were and were armored in what looked to be bronze from head to toe with a simple but odd helmet, but with monsters, appearances were often deceiving. They carried with them a spear, a short sword, and a great circular shield, attached to their back at the moment.

  "These three are with us, no need to worry about them."

  "Uh-Yes, my lady."

  Passing them, the guards could help but feel an intense heat coming from the monster's bodies as they passed, like looking into a lit oven. But the moment soon passed as they went through the heavy doors and made their way through the fortress. People looked and whispered but made no move against the group. Monsters were something of a common sight now, and despite the difference in appearance, these were likely no different to the people in the fort. As they reached the front gate house, the three hotplites waited for the gate to slowly open, turned into a quick bow to Helvina, and all three broke into a sprint through the gate.

  Thankfully, I could sense them more accurately than the hobgoblins, but still lacked a deeper sense of what they felt or saw so far from me. Their current orders were to comb the mountain for any trace of Arthur, and in the best case, return him home without significant injury. I don't know what they'll find, but hopefully, they'll find it soon. I don't want to chance any problems from his family, and I see him, his brother, and wife(?) as friends. Still, whether or not they find him was a matter of the hobgoblins and hotplites finding him. All I could do now was prepare for the future and all that it might come with.

  My current project would be the sixth floor, which I'd decided to dedicate to a mixture of the hotplites and the hobgoblins. The main thought was to create a floor that would take advantage of the single combat approach by the hotplites, while also using the adaptability and numbers of the hobgoblins to dogpile invaders alongside them. To that end, I've dedicated five nodes to the hobgoblins with the rest being for the hotplites.

  The rooms of them were are as follows.

  As well as the hotplites.

  That... was rather concerning, actually very concerning if I was honest. The issue I'm having is that it's directly-

  Ice crawled into my brain.

  I... wha?

  What was I thinking?

  Never mind, the sixth floor is my present concern.

  Spawning the nodes, twenty-five hotplites formed from nothing, standing just as tall as the three I made before. With a simple thought, they dispersed, each going their way towards an empty house. The settlement was inspired by ancient Greece but was dotted with metal plant life, much like the two floors prior; the air was cleaner, but was doubtlessly hotter by far. The air had that wavy texture when things got hot, and the only plants I could see were the ones that dealt with heat in some sense. Looking inside, they weren't actually that bad, a bit barren and unlived, but that was natural, a nice open concept, with basic furniture and storage present, no bed though. All in all, it would go for 3k a month back home.

  Hm

  Concerning the past left there, though, I looked to the hobgoblins.

  Their caverns were mostly just that, caverns; the big draw was that they had come attached with marble and granite ruins, similar in design to the settlement, but only if it had been left to rot for a few decades, maybe more. Metallic foliage covered the walls and hung off the broken pillars in a display of reflective gold, bronze, and silver. The hobgoblins themselves differed in appearance, reds, yellows, a few were a light grey, but all took on some major color from the room itself. As for the rest of the room, I decided to start modifying it, using a decorations pack I bought to place wide rust-colored plateaus along with rock formations to give the idea that they were in a deep canyon.

  The idea was that the hotplites would use the tight spaces to effectively fight off larger groups or use it as an advantage over superior foes. On the flip side, the hobgoblins would use their nimble bodies to surround the invader, allowing their numbers to either overwhelm or sufficiently distract them. With hope, this, including the prior floors, should cover the bases. Towards the more reward-focused end, there were many new things. The hobgoblins provided some called 'goblin oil', some kind of be-all oil used in just about anything, from cooking to weapon maintenance. Goblin oil is apparently good for anything, just don't ask how it's made. But on the less disgusting and more interesting side was what the hotplites could make. It seems that what the system meant by 'what the other world had', that being Earth, it truly meant that.

  Small gardens and orchards dotted the settlement, growing the mechanical equivalent of several Earth veggies and fruits. Olives, lemons, and an assortment of rock fruits, all of which were changed into some machine version. The interesting thing is that the hotplites seemed to even trade these amongst themselves and with the hobgoblins once they finished their daily training. Oil for bronze apricots, metal tree bark for spears and knives, and I even saw a hob trading rope he fashioned from steel reeds for a large transparent peach. It was oddly wholesome to him; everyone just living their lives, even if they were a bunch of hours-old killing machines.

  But as I walked through the cobbled streets, seeing the sights of my creation, I saw something, a little girl just at the edge of the room playing with an oddly still hotplite. She looked kind of fam...?

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