Elias was jolted back to reality as he felt a particularly violent pulse in his connection with Tinder. This normally happened when she was murdering ants, as usual, but Elias felt the need to check on her anyways. He saw her just sitting in the mound, seemingly waiting. He pushed worry through the connection and she stood up and started circling around. What's wrong with you?

  Then, something happened; Tinder started lightly trembling and Elias felt almost actually worried until he saw it. She laid an egg. He hadn't seen her so that like...ever..she lets the spawner create termites. The egg was kinda big, like the size of a golfball, and Elias wasn't sure if termite eggs got that big. Then, Tinder laid a second, and then a third. Whatttt, the shit? He shouldn't be so freaked out but it was weird.

  Elias probed at the connection and Tinder shot back a feeling of satisfaction. Was that it? You wanted him to watch you lay eggs? At the slight irritation that passed through the connection, Elias would have sweatdropped if he could have. However, curiosity got to him and his consciousness hoevered over the eggs. Unfortunately for Elias' non-existent heart, a pop-up appeared and scared him.

  [Termite Elite Units Incubating]

  Elias would have blinked slowly if he had eyes, but he then rested on just staring blankly at the pop-up. What is this? What the hell are Elite Units? He knows what Boss Monsters are, but hes never heard of Elite Units before. He knows about games having bosses because, you know, there are always bosses in games like these. But Elite Units? That sounded more like something from the military or something. Just as Elias thought that, another Pop-up appeared and this time he could scroll and read it.

  [Elite Units — Overview]:

  [Elite Units are advanced Dungeon Monsters created through Direct Core Production OR Boss Monster Production.]

  [Elite Units tend to be smaller, lesser versions of the Boss entity, are significantly stronger than standard monsters of that type, and are often capable of independent behavior, akin to the Boss. However, a limitation is that Elite Units can only be three in number at a time, with nothing higher and sometimes less.]

  Elias took in the information slowly, mostly because he felt like if he thought too hard on this, then he'd explode. So they were like lieutenants or something? Or second in commands. Tinder kinda did need that, termites must be hard to manage as one being. That's actually really smart when you think about it, now she doesn't have to do things in her own. "Good job, Tinder."

  As he spoke, Tinder sent a bit of pride through their connection and Elias chuckled and sent a loving feeling back. He can't help but consider the Bosses as his babies, well he kinda made them so they probably are. "I'm not inflating your ego more than it already is, you already went feral on the ants until they made a tactical retreats." Elias sighed as he thought about how Tinder seemed very aggressive with the ants.

  He starts to wonder about how big they'll get, hopefully not as big as Tinder, though, because that'd be terrible to manage. Giant termites...sounds like a horror dream of a carpenter trying to build a house. Or also someone trying to sell a house that is cursed to someone else. Elias then suddenly felt a sharp burst of mana and quickly went to the source, realizing it was under the stairs and was the Opossums.

  They had a cat, in past tense, as Elias noticed how the body was very scuffed and had its neck at an unnatural angle as one of the younger Opossums had it in its mouth. The mana from the kill flowed in nicely and Elias felt very happy at the fill. He's been getting quite a bit of mana from these cats, and he's not complaining whatsoever.

  Suddenly, a worried feeling came from the connection of Hopps and Elias immediately darted towards the front porch. Elias couldn't see the front porch all that much still but he could see Hopps trying to keep something away. It finally came into his sight and Elias realized it was a giant spider. Holy crap. It was somewhat similar to the smaller spiders, just much bigger and much more of a threat.

  Hopps can you take it? Elias could hardly finish that thought before Hopps hopped forwards to meet the spider's lunge. Hopps took the brunt, which wasn't much, and continued to try and push forwards to get the spider in its back. The spider struggled though and it's legs stabbed into Hopps, whomst jumped back. Sharp things. Hopps, you need help?

  Hopps sent back an aggressive spike through the connection and Elias would have leaned back if he could. Alright, buddy, you got it, no one's taking it from you. Hopps jumped over the spider to avoid a lunge before he turned and jumped onto its thorax, mandibles tearing in before the spider could even turn. It ended up dying and it's body collapsed onto the ground. Elias got the mana worth of two small spiders from that bugger one.

  Elias saw that Hopps hadn't moved yet and his conscious zoomed closer. "Hopps? You okay, buddy?" He asked as Hopps sent back a wary feeling and Elias saw a bite on one of Hopp's legs. Oh crap, the spider must have bitten him when they collided together. "Sit down, let the poison dull out." Elias spoke and Hopps hopped over to the stairs and then laid his body down as the other crickets hopped near him while clicking worriedly.

  "It's okay, guys, he'll be fine." Elias reassured as he could see a small pop-up over Hopps. It was a couple of bubbles, and he assumed it was the effect for being poisoned. The bubbles were actually disappearing, so Elias assumed the poison was leaving Hopps' body over time. However, now he's wondering where the giant spider came from. Though, it probably came from the place where the small spiders keep coming from

  Elias then checked up on Hopps and sighed before he felt worry began to overtake him. Despite the poison leaving Hopps, he still seemed to tremble due to the pain. Tinder seemed to have felt his worry from where she was, because she felt her comfort slither to him from her side of the connection and he forced himself to push through some comfort right back to her. He's fine, he's fine.

  Elias really didn't think that he'd get attacked to some insects but he guesses he couldn't help it. They were the only saviors for his literal sanity because he's sure he'd go crazy being here all by himself. He didn't know how much he missed human interaction until he literally physically couldn't have any anymore. Well, he might be going a different type of insane if he keeps this up. Like those people who talk to animals because they don't see people a lot.

  Elias groaned before he paid more attention to Hopps, who was making a fast recovery from the poison, which relieved him. He was even hopping around with the other crickets, whomst seemed glad that he was okay. Elias then went over to Tinder to make sure she was also okay and she was and he tried to send a nice feeling to her but ended up sending some Mana accidentally. Oops- wait, what.

  Different from what he wanted, Elias noticed the Spawner instead taking the mana instead of it just dissipating into the air or something. But that made him curious. A small bubble appeared above the spawner as more and more mana went into it, the bubble slowly filling up before it disappeared and an icon instead filled it's place.

  [Termite Spawner Upgrade Available]

  [Choose Path]:

  [Giant Termites (GT)]: Increased size and durability, reduced population count, higher individual mana yield.

  [Magic Termites (MT)]: Standard size, appropriate magic capability unlocked, increased tactical utility.

  [GT/MT]

  Elias didn't know what he has been expecting but it wasn't totally him getting an upgrade on the Termites. However, anything is possible in an odd fantasy world, he supposed, he shouldn't be surprised anymore. He began inspecting both paths and weighing their pros and cons like he was in a war room like a general preparing for war.

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  Giant Termites would be useful for attacking bigger things and also probably being not useless against way larger enemies. But he also likes the fact that there are many of them, literally 30,000+ of termites, so that there isn't a struggle of population between them. Additionally, they might struggle with the ants due to being bigger, and Elias likes the flow of near constant mana he gets from the ants. Also, magic termites in itself sounded very interesting to him, and they'd probably do more damage to the ants more than giant ones could anyways.

  Elias found himself leaning towards the Magic Termites option before finding himself clicking the button and then waiting for something to happen. Something did, as Elias noticed the spawner and it's residents glowing, along with a panicked feeling from Tinder herself before it dulled into acceptance. Huh, it must feel weird but not painful.

  Elias watched the mound for a little bit before watching as the glow faded and the regular termites looked a bit off-color. Instead of being mostly white, they were somewhat near a yellowish-white now. Their antennae also seemed to buzz with little arcs of electricity. Oh, this is the coolest thing! One of the new Termites went over to another worker before zapping it; the zapped termite flinched and skittered off but Elias noticed it wasn't harmed, but probably very offended that it got zapped.

  So the magic that they received was electricity, or thunder magic. Cool! Elias then went over to Tinder, whomst was standing in place whilst moving her legs, as if getting used to the feeling. "You okay?" Elias asked and Tinder sent back a feeling of satisfaction and joy. Aww, you're welcome! Elias then noticed something as another zapped into the wall near the mound. However, instead of burning, the wood seemed to darken and tighten together, as if becoming reinforced somehow.

  That wasn't physics?? Was it? Elias didn't know because he wasn't a carpenter or anything of the sort. However, his attention was soon picked off by Tinder skittering into the mound with a quickness. What's wrong? She sent back a feeling of excitement through the connection and Elias realized what was happening. The Elite Units were hatching.

  Elias tried to minimize his concentration into the mound before he ended up reaching the small area Tinder was in. He was just time, too, as the eggs started bursting open in violent ways. They have the traits of their mother already. They were larger than workers but Tinder still dwarfed them, making it clear who the boss was. When they came out of their eggs, they all turned to look at Tinder, whomst was gazing down at them. Elias then had something pop-up as Tinder sent him a questioning feeling.

  [Are Elite Units satisfactory for the King?]

  [Y/N]

  Woah? He didn't think he had much of a choice in the matter but this is cool. Yeah, they seem alright, he didn't see anything wrong with them. But this was odd, this didn't come up when the bosses were made. Did Tinder ask for this directly? Huh, maybe that's why that happened. When Elias hovered over the Y, the pop-up disappeared and Tinder stood there for a moment before clicking her mandibles.

  The Elite Units scattered away immediately, almost like they were afraid of Tinder, which was odd but Elias wouldn't question it considering how terrifying she must be at that size. While Tinder was the size of a small dog, the Elite Units were about the size of small cats, maybe kittens? Think of Tinder like a corgi and the Elite Units like kittens but slightly bigger. Elias watched as the Elite Units fanned out in the Termite Boss Room, giving orders like there was no tomorrow.

  Elias watched at the Termites seemed to get faster in what they were doing, Elias even received a small pop-up that the entire populations working speed got boosted due to the Elite Units. Elias came to the conclusion that if the Elite Units were gonna be here for a while, and boss everyone around, he thought It'd be good to give them names. Though, they had to be ones that fit them, right?

  The first-hatched and oldest was in the Ant Tunnels, killing off ants with ease with its lightning abilities. The termite seemed to take on Tinder's aggression, so it'd probably be best to name this one Sparky, for its personality. The middle child was currently assisting with the termites in making the mound more durable. This one seemed to take on being more apart of the colony than anything, so this one would be named Key, like a key to the heart. The youngest didn't seem to be doing anything significant until Elias looked closer.

  The youngest was looking at the wall, which Elias noticed was becoming more and more sandy by the second. Finally, some ants burst out and the you test proceeded to lightning-blitz them back to the hell they came from, additionally using the lightning powers on the wall to reinforce it. Elias hummed before thinking about how smart this one was. Conductor! That will be its name!

  Elias felt the names settle into stone and just settled his conscious before he glanced back at his core. It was definitely bigger than when he first got here, he actually doesn't know how much time has passed but he knows it's kinda been a while. Time is useless when you're a literal crystal in a house full of animals that don't age at all. He settled comfortable before noticing one of the Opossums looking at him.

  Hey, little guy. It seemed to notice that his attention was on it because it made an adorable sound. They all sounded adorable, even the big guy was. The Opossum sniffed into the hole before a sudden hiss was heard and Elias shuddered. It came from below, like below Elias. Did he have a basement? There wasn't any door or anything down here to commit to that. Maybe it was just a ditch below that had a snake family or something. Regardless, Elias wasn't going to bother it.

  Elias fluttered his conscious over to Hopps and the crew, whomst just got finished crushing a spider. Elias looked at their little spawner and had an idea as he spilled Mana into it. The bubble appeared and got filled but slower than with the Termite Spawner. Maybe it's because the crickets are naturally stronger than the Termites, and bigger. However, it didn't take too much Mana, and Elias got to see the bubble disappear before the pop-up appeared.

  [Termite Spawner Upgrade Available]

  [Choose Path]:

  [Giant Crickets (GC)]: Increased size, increased impact damage, reduced agility.

  [Silver Crickets (SC)]: Moderately increased size, bodies composed of living silver, high mana conductivity, highly attractive to collectors, miners, and wealth-driven entities. Not suitable as food

  [GC/SC]

  Elias looked at the two options before looking at the Silver Crickets option. It seemed interesting and it sounded interesting as well. Crickets made out of pure silver. No wonder wealth-driven creatures will come after them, imagine seeing something made out of pure silver. While Giant Crickets seemed interesting, Silver Crickets also got a size boost, just not as badly. Elias didn't really care for size, as evidenced by the Magic Termites instead of the giant ones.

  Elias then pressed a concerned feeling towards Hopps through their connection, attempting to gather his attention. The Cricket Boss hopped towards the spawner before hopping back and forth, as if attempting to look for something that wasn't there. Oh, he can't see it. Regardless, Elias felt indifference come from the bond, making him think that Hopps didn't care about what he chose. This made Elias hover over the SC option and the pop-up disappeared as the Spawner and it's creations started glowing.

  It didn't glow yellow like the Termite Spawner had, but instead glowed a nice silver color, like what the crickets will look like. However, despite all the other crickets seeming to glow a silver color, Hopps himself was glowing a yellow color. When the glow subsided, the crickets were now larger, the normal ones now reaching the size of a large cat. Their bodies gleamed in the sunlight due to the segmented plates of silver reflecting the light. Everytime one of them hopped, it made a soft chiming sound, like what would like like if someone clicked two coins together.

  Elias thought they looked very cool, and shiny, however, his gaze landed on Hopps, as the Boss took slightly longer to finish, and Elias realized that Hopps wasn't silver like the rest. He was GOLD. Elias could not hide his amazement at the golden cricket, whomst was gleaming under the bright sun and was more larger and solid than he ever was. Elias recognized that Hopps was now the size of basically a beagle, which was a good-sized dog. The normal Silver Crickets looked like planets revolving around a sun, with how small they were compared to Hopps.

  Hopps then hopped in place and a solid sound that seemed like a bell being rolled was heard. "That's gonna be terrifying for anyone who likes money." Elias chuckled and Hopps made a pleased sound as he continued hopping around happily. Hopps landed on one of the Silver Crickets and it didn't struggle. It was made of silver now so it's not like Hopps' weight hurt it anymore, unlike when it was a normal cricket. Hopps made a low clicking sound and Elias fondly sent exasperation through the connection and Hopps got off of the cricket, whomst hopped onto Hopps.

  It made a solid ding as the Silver Cricket rode on top of Hopps, who didn't seem to mind as he hopped around excitedly as the Silver Cricket held onto him. Elias watched them for a while before glancing back at the spawner, humming to himself. Tinder had Elite Units, so why wouldn't Hopps? Thinking about it, Hopps needed Elite Units more than Tinder really did, no offense. He was Elias' first in command when it came to attacking stuff about to come into the house, he obviously needed some help if anything strong came along.

  Elias focused onto the cricket spawner before pouring in some Mana, slowly, so that the spawner didn't think that he was trying to upgrade it again. The bubble didn't appear this time, but Elias was sure that something was happening because the spawner was draining his mana. He was almost near to running out, he really hopes that it is enough. Right before his mana ran out, the spawner stopped taking it and a pop-up finally appeared.

  [Cricket Elite Units Incubation Initiated]

  [Estimated Emergence Time: ~1 Hour]

  Elias sighed with satisfaction before allowing his conscious to finally relax instead of darting all over the place. He felt oddly calm, like he did before when he "slept", but he didn't feel like it was sleep, just like dulling his awareness a bit. Speaking of awareness, he focused in on himself as he looked at his core, making the recognizable pop-up appear.

  [Dungeon Mana Amount: 21]

  [Dungeon Monsters: Termites, Crickets, and Opossums.]

  [Termite Count: 34,654]

  [Termite Boss: Tinder]

  [Termite Elite Units: Sparky, Key, and Conductor]

  [Cricket Count: 21]

  [Cricket Boss: Hopps]

  [Dungeon Core Size: 6 Inches long, 2 inches wide.]

  Ah, Elias realized the problem immediately; he got bigger. No wonder it felt so cramped down in the little hole. He shifted his consciousness to the room where the Termite Mound was, with Tinder inside of the mound giving orders. "Tinder? You got a moment?" Elias spoke and immediately felt her attention through the connection that him and her had, making him smile softly.

  "Yeah, uh, hi, can you help me move? Probably into the cabinet in the kitchen?" Elias asked and Tinder immediately ordered some termites to go towards the kitchen and Elias brought his attention to one of the younger Opossums, whomst was already awake. "Come on, let's meet them there." Elias felt his mana tick downwards from both ordered and felt the Opossum sniff the little hole Elias was in before licking him up.

  Eughh, yuck, oh God. Elias endured the very uncomfortable feeling of being in the Opossum's mouth as it brought him inside of the kitchen and to the awaiting Termites on the counters. "Put me in one of the upper cabinets, please." Elias spoke softly as the Opossum set him down so the termites could grab him. The Termites scales the walls before moving upside down and then into the cabinets. It's obvious they've been in there before, if the signs of wooden shavings and little to no dust was a sign.

  The termites put Elias down on the cabinet and Elias felt much better; with the space and also not being touched. This felt much more nicer than he thought, he should have assumed that a hole in the floor wouldn't have been permanent. He's kinda getting used to this, he can't wait to see what will happen soon if he gets to expand again.