Chapter 174 - 174

The walk to the new house is a short one, and after only a few minutes they're looking at a rather run down limestone building with slate roof tiles. It looks sturdy, but like nobody has cleaned or maintained it in years. The grass out front is thoroughly trampled though, so Nut Up must have collected their belongings from inside. 

They did, but the inside is worse than outside. Hardwood floors with peeling and worn out varnish, holes in the interior walls, light fixtures that don't work and trash. Trash everywhere. 

"I think we will need a renovation crew before anything. I should have looked at the place before finishing the deal." Cain sighs. 

"Don't forget, I've been here a century. I'll get someone in to begin fixing this up this afternoon, furnish the upstairs rooms and have it ready to start working as a trading post sometimetomorrow if you want." Carlos says, inspecting the damage. 

"Go ahead. We will be a while before opening a trading post, I want to build up higher level supplies first, but having rooms available would be for the best." Cain agrees. 

"With hammocks." Kone and Nemu say in unison. 

"Greetings Darklight, oh this place is a disaster. Hey Carlos, what you doing here?" Symbia greets them from the open door. 

"I got kicked from Nut Up and worked a deal to join the Darklight Host. What brings you here?"

"Guild Master Cain wanted puppets for his class ability. Enough to buy up all my stock and then some. So I came by to bring him what I've got." The Elf giggles, knowing how ridiculous the proposal would sound to someone who doesn't understand. 

"Are you opening a specialty brothel?" Carlos asks confused. 

"No, I can animate them as level 10 constructs. You need to give them specific instructions, like a computer program, but they can be used for domestic help, personal assistants, mannequins, or even mining the Stone Giant dungeon."

"How many are we talking about? Enough to make a difference in mining speed?" Carlos asks.

"I have sixty in stock, at twenty gold each." Symbia says and Cain hands her a heavy pouch full of coins before she opens the trading interface to send him all sixty dolls.

She wasn't joking about not having many male ones, only 5 of them. But this should be enough to get them going on anything they need. They just have to wait for Arial to find the book that should give them basic skills, so they can actually do the mining without micromanagement. 

Looking them over, they're all dressed in the same uniform, maid outfits, even the male ones are in the same dress.

"Did you have anything for the mining crew? Or should I go look for it?" Cain asks. 

"Oh, yeah, I have them right here. Fifty pickaxes and outfits. I thought you might want the male dolls on the mining crew, so I made 5 male miner outfits and 45 female." Symbia smiles happily and passes the items over. 

The dolls stack in inventory, using only 2 spots, the same with the outfits. That's excellent for Cain, he can bring them everywhere without losing all his inventory space. Cain swaps the outfits on his mining crew and takes out the remainder of the dolls in Maid outfits. They're all identical, big breasted Elven women in black and white maid outfits. 

There was an industrial sized garbage bin out front when they arrived, so Cain sets the dolls to work. 

"Puppets, remove all garbage and debris from the building and place it in the bin outside. Avoid collisions with each other and any other people. Return to this point and await further instructions once the task is complete." Cain hopes that's specific enough, and the dolls get to work, taking one piece of debris per hand to the bin, regardless of size. Maybe not the most efficient, but there's ten of them, they'll get it done.

"There are brooms and dustpans in that closet." Carlos points out, looking at the chaos and Cain chuckles. 

"Additional command, use available brooms to fill dustpans with debris to bring to the bin. Do not discard the dustpans." Cain opens the broom cupboard and the tools are quickly put to use, the puppets filling a pan then dropping the broom and going to empty the pan. By the time they get back to where they were, another Puppet has started using their broom, so they drop the pan and go looking for debris. This is even more amusing than last time, but it's working, so Cain lets it go. 

Now, all that's left is to find Arial. 

"I should go to the library and find Arial, she was going to look for a book that gives Summons basic skills." Cain says, hoping that cleaning is among the skills.

"Oh, like the cooking bear guy." Carlos says in understanding. It seems the Druid is a minor local celebrity. 

"No need to find me. I've brought you the book. It's a D ranked skill, so it cost me nothing to make it. What are the puppets doing? Did you set a random cleaning description?" Arial asks from the street out front. 

"No, I just gave them all the same directions and it caused minor confusion." Cain shrugs. 

"Here, use the book. It might help." The Black Dragon in human form laughs, handing it to Cain. 

[Skill Learned: Skilled Constructs] Passive. Basic life skill abilities set to Apprentice 1 for all of the user's constructs without a higher level in that skill. 

The effect is immediate, the cleaning becomes organized, they spread out between rooms, 3 sweeping small debris into piles while 3 run pans to the bin and 4 take out the large debris chunks. Within ten minutes, the house is tidy. In rough shape, but swept clean. 

"We should be ready for the renovation crews now. I'll pack these up so they're not in the way of distracting anyone." Cain says, collecting the puppets that have gathered in the front room now that their tasks are done. 

"I'll call them now. You want to come with us to the Lizardmen dungeon Miss Black?" Carlos jokes. 

"Tempting, but RhickJaymz is already a bit upset we've been spending time with other people. You know how lonely he gets."

"He's just used to always having two Dragons at his side to run all his errands. When they're gone he's got to do things himself." The big Vampire jokes.

"How about the Stone Giant dungeon instead? Try out the new puppets? I really want to see how they do now that you've learned a skill to give them the knowledge." Symbia suggests.

"We can do that. I take it you would like to come along?"

"Oh, yes please. Only 4 of you are transfers, right? So there's a spot left?"

"That's correct. How far is it to that dungeon?" Cain replies, smiling at her enthusiasm. 

"Only about fifteen minutes from here. It's closer than the Lizardmen. It just doesn't have great loot unless you raid it."

The long term members eyes light up at that. 

"So, you can raid the Stone Giant dungeon can you?" Cain says innocently and Carlos gets a concerned look, but Symbia continues oblivious to the overtone. 

"Yeah, it moves it from level 140 to level 180 and you get a whole lot more gems and precious metals. Plus, higher level gear. That's how the mining Guild does it."

"You know a way to raid with only 4 people don't you?" Carlos asks and Cain gestures around the room. 

"The dungeons that can be raided allow you to count Companion type summons as group members. So in their eyes, we've got 9 more valid group members."

"This is going to be awesome. I totally ran away from the last fight, but I've heard amazing things. Sorry for ditching you, but I'm really not a great fighter." Symbia says. 

"What is your class anyhow? I see you keep it hidden." Carlos says, being the only one who bothered to look. 

"Master Artist. It's a life skill class with about zero combat capability. I'm only level 47, But I gain bonus experience from drawing, sculpting and an assortment of other art related life skills." She says happily then sighs. 

Yeah, that might be an issue in everyday life. Sure, you can level up without risking your life, but you've got to find buyers for your art if you ever want to survive on your own. And this is a very expensive city to live in. 

"You'll get a few experience points with us today. I can guarantee it." Nemu teases her, knowing exactly what's going to happen once they enter the dungeon. Trial by notifications.

"You could accompany us more often if you like. Unless the Sculptors Guild you're in prohibits it." Misha suggests. 

"Oh no, they don't mind. It's more of a trade association, we banded together to get bulk discounts on supplies, and to be able to afford a Guild House to use as our workshop. With the help of my grandmother and a few other parents." Symbia says. 

Kone is just standing there with an evil smirk.

[I wonder what happens if we drag someone through a dungeon 130 levels above their own..] She sends in Guild chat and the others all have to stifle their laughter, even Carlos, who doesn't know about the bonus experience.