Repeating the trick with the fragmenting container, I drew another batch of lizards toward the entrance, which had been simple enough. I killed them all, but the weakest one, which I wrapped with a chain, and started dragging it toward the dungeon gate.
The more I dragged it toward the gate, the more it reacted in agitation, but ultimately, I was able to drag it to the entrance. The moment it touched the gate, the lizard started thrashing even more, but the chains were able to keep it immobile.
To my surprise, it was able to enter the dungeon, but I felt the dungeon lashing against its presence. The lizard started to act weak and listless in the presence of the dungeon mist. It looked harmless, but using the chains as a medium to use Observe, I could see that it actively consumed the dungeon mist to affect the lizard-like.
"Damn," I said as I killed the lizard, but left the claws on, watching the mist slowly attack the body. A minute later, it disappeared just like an insect's body. Visually, there was no difference between that and the way the insects disappeared, which was probably why Maria approved the strategy to get inside.
From her perspective, even if the monster density reached a point that they were willing to enter inside, dealing with them would have been much easier. So, in the brief time before her departure, she focused on more important topics.
The reality differed. Admittedly, the difference was slight, enough that I doubted that I would have looked for it had my connection with the dungeon not given me a new perspective about how it functioned.
When the insects had been killed, the mist decomposed them back into their magical entity, returning to the dungeon to create more monsters. That way, the dungeon continued to provide more monsters efficiently.
Of course, that also meant that constantly bringing the shells or other materials outside to sell was a good way to weaken the dungeon. Whether that was intentional or not was another question, but not an urgent one.
I was more concerned about the implications of letting the lizards enter the dungeon. The more lizards entered the dungeon, the weaker the dungeon would get. Considering how critical the mana from the dungeon was— both coming from the shells, and through my direct connection to it — letting it weaken would be a bad idea.
"But, there's the issue of my connection with the dungeon," I growled. With that, I didn't know if it was better to make the dungeon stronger, or weaker. I sighed. At least, if I decided to do the former, I had a method. Just import cheap dungeon products from other dungeons break them inside, and let two different types of tainted energy neutralize each other.
Another thing for the future.
"I need to figure out a better way to defend the dungeon," I muttered, frustrated. The whole idea was to keep everyone inside, and whenever there was a significant attack, temporarily switch the dungeon entrance to the fifth floor to use the corrosive land.
It had been a simple yet effective strategy that gave me the confidence to handle the situation in their absence. Unfortunately, it turned out that the fundamental assumption we based that strategy was faulty.
I sighed as I piled the claws I had extracted, bringing them to the first-floor workshop. A gate to the fourth floor to pick some extra ingots, and I rapidly turned them into another set of weapons, predominantly spears, but I also forged a thousand arrowheads to give our troops a ranged option.
They weren't very good weapons, but they were workable.
As for creating Epic quality weapons, I didn't dare to yet, still afraid of an adverse reaction.
Only after I finished turning the second batch of claws into weapons, I opened another gate to the third floor, this time directly to the base. I glanced around, happy to notice that there was a second mine that was already being dug. It was a good show of initiative.
Harold approached me the moment I appeared. "How's it going?" I asked Harold.
"We have discovered a second mine, sir, and the production line is updated as you asked. Currently, we produce about fifty tons of iron every hour, but we expect to triple it once the rails connect with it," he added.
"Excellent," I said. "How did you discover it?"
"It was Terry, sir," he said, pointing toward the young man who was at the center of the group. "He managed to use the roots of the trees to explore the area and discover a mineral deposit."
"That's good," I said, and listened to the rest of the report, which had nothing particularly unexpected. While he was going on through the report, I paid closer attention to the crowd, trying to see if there was anything problematic about the situation.
"Excellent work," I said, then looked around. "I need a team back on the first floor to hunt the fire lizards to keep their numbers low," I said.
"Should I mobilize the guards, sir?" he asked.
"Not all of them," I replied. "Make sure it's a mixture of the guards and the farmers that want to upgrade their class. Prioritize the ones that had to use Skill stones to upgrade their class skill," I added. While I was yet to identify the reason for people's inability to upgrade their skills naturally, assuming the same variable had played a role in upgrading to the mana variant was a reasonable guess, fitting to Occam's Razor Principle.
If one had two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, the simpler one was preferable.
Of course, it didn't necessarily mean that the simpler explanation was the correct one, which was why Occam's Razor should be used to pick a sequence to test various theories rather than pick the simpler one like I was doing. The history of the world was filled with dangerous misunderstandings based on trying to use it like I was doing.
Unfortunately, with the situation forcing my hand from many different directions, I didn't have the luxury of making optimal decisions.
"Are we sure, sir?" Harold asked, interrupting my thoughts. "It won't be safe to hunt the lizards. I have seen them from a distance, and they are quite mobile. I'm not sure the farmers could handle them. We can't risk their lives."
I smiled, realizing that he misunderstood the source of reluctance.
"Don't worry, the team doesn't have to get away from the dungeon gate. As long as they stay next to the gate, behind the fortifications we're about to build, the risk would be minimal. Then, they can just limit themselves to ranged weapons until we upgrade their classes," I said.
"Really, sir,?" he asked, then paused. "Has the number increased that much already," he added.
I sighed. His response made it clear that the way the dungeon monsters reacted to other dungeons was another common knowledge I had missed.
"I have a way to bring the lizards closer to the dungeon. Just arrange the team. The rest will be easy," I promised.
He nodded, accepting my conclusion. I was glad that, apart from hiding my class, I didn't give any reason for him to not trust me. "I'll lead them personally, sir," he promised.
"No. Pick someone you trust to lead that team. You have a different task," I said.
He looked around. "You're right, sir. I need to stay here and make sure everything goes well."
"Not that," I said. "With Eleanor gone, I need someone that I can trust to hold the front line. So, we're going to make sure you are suitably equipped for the task, including the appropriate external skills."
He sighed. "I hate to admit, but I'm not exactly a fast learner when it comes to combat, sir," he said.
I couldn't help but smirk. "Don't worry about it. That won't be as big of a problem as you think it would be," I said. "Just focus on collecting the team. I need them to start hunting so that I can automate the production of the equipment," I said.
While Harold arranged that, I went toward the blast furnaces. "Every Blacksmith has already upgraded their skill to uncommon, sir," he declared.
"Excellent," I said. "How about the apprentices?"
"They have already reached the limit of their external skills and are ready to work, sir," he added, then paused. "Many farmers also want to join the team. Should we allow them?"
"Go ahead, but keep it limited to three hundred for the moment," I said, both surprised and impressed by the efficiency the things had been moving forward with. But then, maybe I shouldn't have been. I was alone, yet it merely took days for me to create a primitive workflow that allowed me to refine several tons of iron every day. Here, not only did they have the equipment I created to copy, but they also had the cooperation of hundreds of people.
No wonder it was impressive. I threw him an ingot. "What's this, sir? It feels more volatile, almost like it can shatter with a hit."
"That's the point," I said. "It's an alloy against the lizards, ready to shatter against their skin. I want you to try and make arrowheads from it."
He nodded, and a minute later, I was looking at a dozen arrowheads.
"Excellent," I said. Admittedly, I didn't need their assistance to make arrowheads, as that was easy to standardize, but it felt like a good point to start. "Now, what I want from you is to build a production line …" I said as I quickly drew a structure, which would allow me to quickly turn thousands of claws to mana ingots in quick order.
That way, I didn't have to spend all my time creating armor and other equipment. I could just create the ingots in bulk, while our team of blacksmiths would handle the rest.
"It'll be done, sir," he promised.
Once that was done, I returned to the team that had been collected by Harold.
I had a defense to plan.