Norris, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, wearily sized up the two dwarves who had kept him from sleeping well for days.
He picked up the record board and asked:
“Can you design underground structures?”
“No.”
“Any large-scale cavern excavation experience?”
“Nope.”
“Surely you have mining experience?”
“Not much…”
Norris asked finally, “Then you must have some specialty, right?”
Thorin scratched his head, uncertain. “Uh… good at adventuring?”
Norris nodded expressionlessly, wrote “None” in the specialty column, and marked “C-rank” in the top-right corner.
He muttered, “No mining experience and you call yourselves dwarves…”
In the mushroom garden’s captive ranking system, C-rank was the lowest tier: neither exceptional strength nor special use.
Below that was D-rank… reserved for “special talents” personally “cared for” by the Boss.
Record complete, Norris announced the sentence in fluent Common:
“Thorin, Glenm. For the crimes of illegal entry, public bribery, collective jailbreak, violent resistance to arrest, and attempted abduction of a mentally impaired dragonkin, you are sentenced to five thousand contribution-point shares of labor reform. Appeals may be filed within five days; the Boss will personally judge.”
Thorin raised a hand. “Uh… what exactly does five thousand contribution-point shares of labor reform mean?”
“It means working your asses off every day. Probably one to two years before you earn enough points to regain freedom.”
Glenm protested, “We’re innocent! We had no idea this was your territory. It’s all a misunderstanding! I want to app—”
His words were cut off as a squad of Puchis dragged a wailing human past. “Why?! Three days of work and my penalty jumped from 8,000 to 12,000 points?! I don’t want this! Nooo!”
Once the poor bastard was dragged away, Norris turned back. “You were saying? It was noisy; I didn’t catch that.”
Thorin and Glenm both shook their heads, indicating no further questions.
They were then handed over to a thinly dressed human covered in mycelium. Most eye-catching was the “B” formed by mycelium on his chest.
He seemed very enthusiastic. “Oh? Two dwarves? That’s rare! I’m Jeff, in charge of getting you familiar with the work environment. What are your names?”
“Thorin.”
“Glenm. You… were captured too?”
“Captured?” Jeff looked at them oddly. “Nah, I was traded.”
Without further explanation, Jeff showed them what their future work would be.
The far-north fortress city was less than half finished; naturally they wouldn’t turn away labor. The two dwarves were assigned to it.
Being turned into demon slave labor was, among all the worse possibilities, relatively not terrible.
As for the “earn freedom” thing, both dwarves were skeptical; they hoped it was real but didn’t dare believe it.
What was strange was that all the demons here seemed to have mycelium on their bodies and worked alongside swarms of Puchis in surprisingly good coordination.
The sight was quite novel to them.
They also quickly noticed differences among demons.
Demonkin with a magic core on their chest were generally overseers or task assigners.
Half-demons and lizardmen were mostly laborers like the humans. So the lizardman who had sentenced them was apparently an exception.
Of course, they didn’t much care about demon internal hierarchy. They were more concerned with something else.
“Jeff, question… how are you all dressed so lightly? Aren’t you cold?”
The freezing wind blew. Thorin and Glenm pulled their issued beast pelts tighter and sneezed violently!
Jeff turned, lifted Glenm’s clothes, and nodded knowingly. “You haven’t completed symbiosis with the mycelium yet!”
The wind rushed in. Glenm yelped and yanked his clothes back. “Mycelial symbiosis? You mean like what’s on you? What does that have to do with being cold?”
Jeff stroked the mycelium on his arm. “This mycelium has extremely strong cold resistance. Once you symbiose, you won’t feel cold anymore. Not only that; symbiosis also lets you command Puchis, greatly increasing work efficiency.”
The two dwarves finally understood the coordinated labor they had seen.
Thorin still didn’t get it. “Symbiosis makes you immune to cold? What’s the principle?”
Jeff shrugged. How would he know!
Suddenly he seemed to remember something and looked at the dwarves with sympathy.
“Uh… what now?” Glenm asked uneasily.
Jeff explained, “I know why you haven’t been offered symbiosis. You missed the good times…”
He led the confused dwarves to the central notice board covered in parchment notices written in both demon and Common.
Some listed tasks and corresponding contribution points. Some publicized names and penalties of rule-breakers. Others were simple announcements.
Jeff pointed to one:
[Due to certain tribal members repeatedly trespassing to freeload full symbiosis services, effective immediately, new captive workers no longer receive free symbiosis. However, considering work needs, new captives may still apply for “use now, pay later.” The required 1,000 contribution points for symbiosis will be added directly to your labor debt.]
“This is…”
“Exactly. You missed the good times. When I arrived, symbiosis was free for all workers. Blame those tribesmen always looking for loopholes to scam freebies.” Jeff stroked his arm mycelium with faint superiority.
Thorin opened his mouth, unsure where to even start complaining.
Glenm looked at Jeff like he was an idiot, feeling the guy and everyone here had something seriously wrong with their heads.
Cold resistance or not, letting foreign matter grow through your flesh and blood? Just thinking about it gave them chills.
Their brains must be frozen!
…
A few days later.
“Why?! Three days! I slaved for three days! How is that only 5 points? You get over thirty a day!” Glenm roared angrily.
Jeff, unfazed by the dwarf’s temper, patiently explained, “Contribution points are based on work done. I control over forty Puchis; I do more work, I earn more points. You working alone, 6 points in three days is already impressive.”
“6 points? It’s 5!”
“That one point was the fee for the warming Puchi you used. The mushroom garden only covers food and lodging for us captive workers.”
Finally, Jeff kindly advised, “I really think you should get symbiosis soon. It costs 1,000 points now, but once you can command Puchis, you’ll earn it back fast. After that, it’s all profit.”
Looking at the earnest “veteran” before them, the two dwarves shivering in the freezing wind began to waver.
(End of Chapter)
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