Milo was enjoying a quiet afternoon, two days after the battle with the snails. It was relaxing to simply sit and read, with a large mug of herbal tea. It reminded him of the time spent in the library of the Tower of Strife, minus being injured. He had been 'Sharing Knowledge' with the Collective for two days while waiting for the Deep Rock Engineers to complete the elevator project. Based on the reports he'd seen posted, he thought he had about two weeks to peruse the collections of books they had available, starting with the small bookshop in the merchant quarter.

  Milo was allowed to read any of the books in the shop. Besides gathering knowledge, he was trying to impart important concepts like not dumping chemicals in the local snail swamp. The Collective focused on the better mulch and larger warforms, assuming that they could control the snail population. With no military experience, they were unaware of the growing threat. The way the snails had arrayed for battle showed intelligence and planning. The Myconians simply summoned an army and marched forward. If he had to bet on which species would be here in a hundred years, he'd probably put a sizable bet on the snails. Purely based on their evolutionary speed and military acumen. He would rather deal with the Myconians, who valued trade and had books to read. Milo had promised to bring them basic books on military tactics and animal breeding.

  His new friend was doing what he could to find Milo more to read. Grothmar was not used to meat creatures who could scan a hundred pages in a minute and commit them to memory. At first, he had thought Milo was unhappy with the contents of the books. This changed to consternation when he found his guest could quote from any page and had completely digested their knowledge.

  "The Collective finds you unnerving. They are having to reconsider what they know of meat creatures. Compared to the others they have studied, you are an outlier. Are there more like you? Or are you simply a mutant aberration, like Gargantua?"

  "A few more, for sure. And, of course, I can't speak for all meat creatures, but I suspect as you meet more and more of them, you may be surprised again. I advise caution and politeness as you assess each one. And, you may need to revisit old assumptions when contrary information is found."

  "Confusing concepts, but the Collective can understand the need for caution. Turning the wrong creatures into mulch can spoil the taste. Can you give an example of information that must be evaluated and relearned?"

  Milo thought for only a second. "Let us consider dwarves. What do you know of dwarves, and what is the Collective's opinion of them?"

  "Ah, this I can answer with certainty. Dwarves are a known race, and the Collective has studied the 112 dwarves that have come to our city to trade and do mercenary work. They seem to fall into two categories. The darker-skinned variety with thick black facial-moss extending to their knees speaks little, values gold and other forms of exchange, and only drinks a poisonous liquid called firewater, which renders them unconscious for part of a day. They are obsessed with possessions and efficiently making profits before moving on. By contrast, what we have dubbed 'low dwarves' value rest and fermented barley beverages. This variety is disappointing, often behind on their rent, and is hard to motivate. The Collective was amazed at your display of leadership skills and tactics that made them slightly useful."

  Slightly useful was generous, Milo thought. At least these weren't the only dwarves the Collective was aware of. "Please pass on to the Collective that the dwarven city far above this cavern is inhabited by two more varieties of dwarves, unlike what they have encountered before. Both types make useful allies and dangerous adversaries."

  "Dangerous? We had not catalogued other dwarves as dangerous. What is different about these?"

  Milo ticked the differences off on his fingers that he thought the Collective would understand.

  "Firstly, both types are far more competent when motivated. The Engineers work until they drop from exhaustion, and the Scavengers fight until you've killed them three times over. Secondly, they employ weaponry that makes the cannons on the bear look like apprentice spells. Thirdly, their tolerance for 'firewater' and fermented barley drinks rivals your love of mulch, and they have no limit on what they can imbibe. The Engineers are motivated to make the largest guns they can, and the Scavengers delight in firing them. As allies, they might be interested in hunting snails and helping to determine just how much trouble the snails can cause you. As enemies...well, best not to think about it. It would be very sad to see them lobbing huge artillery shells at this city over a simple misunderstanding when you turn one of them into mulch."

  Grothmar nodded slightly as he absorbed the data. "I think I understand...like you, these new varieties could easily be underestimated, which could lead to complications, but are far more useful when problems arise." His eyes became unfocused, and his voice deeper. "Explain further the dangers of having these dwarven varieties as adversaries. There seems to be an implied threat of some sort."

  Milo shook his head. "Oh, don't misunderstand. They and I will work to be good friends. But so must you. Remember, we killed the Chimera with only a handful of deaths."

  Grothmar returned to normal. "The Collective thanks you for the promise of friendship and for explaining the dangers of becoming adversaries. Few meat creatures explain things with such clarity."

  "Glad to help. And I have a question. I notice you have Volumes 1, 6, and 17 of the Shroompedia. Might there be another library where the other volumes reside?"

  Grothmar looked at the numbers on the spines of the books. "Once again, I underestimate you and your meat-brain. Yes, a much larger archive, higher in this trunk. Let me show you the staircase, but I must caution you, the air in this area is full of the spores from the collective with limited ventilation. This can cause problems if you inhale too much. Might I inquire your level of Disease Resistance and Nature Resistance? Normally, it would be rude to inquire, but I would hate for you to expire while reading. The decision of whether to turn you into mulch would be difficult to make, and everyone would want a taste of you. It might cause riots."

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  "I must admit that I only have Weak Disease Resistance, which was trained upon the spores of common mushrooms. And I have not been able to gain the skill Nature Resistance."

  "Oh, we must rectify that, then. It will negate the chance of unfortunate accidents. I'm sure that now that the Collective has a better understanding of what you saved them from, they will be generous. Let me commune with them." Grothmar retired to his mulch room, and Milo began a new book. An hour later, a message appeared.

  Milo knew he hadn't volunteered to explore the area, but was intrigued by what he might find there. Superhard organic materials have many uses. Milo immediately bought both of the abilities. Anything that let him read more books was a good thing. These two abilities were more subtle than something like Fire Resistance, where the effects could be easily seen. Lower depths and stronger creatures meant he needed to be stronger to survive. He jump-started both of these abilities by putting 2200 into Nature Resistance to raise it past Rank 6, and the rest of his Boss Experience went into raising Strong Disease Resistance to Rank 7.

  While waiting for Grothmar to return, he slowed his reading rate and considered the 150 Enhancement points he'd earned. He started by increasing his Toughness. Fifteen points for +3 Toughness was a bargain. With Toughness giving him +100 health and +2 universal mitigation per point, it would always be his first stat to raise with Enhancement points. Without his 'dwarven cheating stat' as both players and the system referred to it, he'd be much frailer.

  Slashing Tail 2 he raised to Slashing Tail 4, and brought Sharp Claws to four as well. That was a total of 55 points, and it was long overdue. With the upgrades to his tail, claws, and Shadowblight, he should be able to easily deal with Tier Four creatures he encountered. His armor and Toughness would let him endure damage long enough to take the measure of each opponent. If he were overmatched, he'd scamper away and think of another way to either avoid the danger or deal with it.

  He considered many other things, but his recent activities had shown him that he needed more mana and stamina. Ancient Runes and Plasma creation took far more mana than normal spells. Even though his high stats gave him a mana pool that would drive most players green with envy, he needed more. Increased Stamina 2 was only ten points and gave him a small boost of another 100 stamina. Mana was more important. Raising Increased Mana 2 to Increased Mana 6 used up another 70 points and neatly brought him to zero, and gave him another 2050 mana. He was over 16,000 mana now, and every point of INT, CHA, or WIS he earned would increase it by a further 80, and he had new skills that would help him raise his stats.

  Alchemy would raise his INT, and both Rustic Cooking and Minor Medicine were WIS-based. There were many connections between Chemistry, Mycology, and Alchemy. He had found seven books in this part of the library that gave him insights into the new skill, and his Mycology skill was soaring as he read more and more books on the subject. If he managed to convince the Collective to agree to a treaty with Cracked Rock, he'd find Harry and get his trollish friend down here to trade knowledge with the Collective. Since Rustic Cooking included many mushroom dishes, he felt confident he could raise that skill quickly. Mushrooms grew everywhere in the underground, and he could cook with what he found, assuming they didn't kill him. With that in mind, he carefully re-read the entries on mushroom types he hadn't encountered before, especially the ones marked 'Probably Poisonous to Meat Creatures.'

  It was a reminder that the Collective might not know everything about mushrooms, and who could eat them without becoming a pile of mulch.

  Four hours later, Grothmar returned, refreshed and smelling of lilacs and sunflowers, his new favorite mulch. "The Collective has agreed to let you ascend this trunk and visit the upper libraries. If you start to feel odd, please make loud noises and pound the floor. I'll take that as a signal to drag you back downstairs and try to revive you."