Peter had a lot to unpack from this congregation. Not only had he witnessed more intermediate battles he had even seen 3 centurion battles. Emma and Fellett’s advice to work on the auxiliary aspects of battle could not have been better. The weapons and armor were only one aspect of it. Swords that carved through flesh like butter. Magic armor that protected high level targets against a hurricane of attacks.

  Humanoids had seemed fairly week in comparison to other dungeon types. A perfect example was that Gretchen, the dark elf core, being the only surviving dungeon out of the 5 rookie cores. They were generally weaker and slower for their tier, so it made sense that every single one of the five had lost their tutorial battle. Then for the other four, they had been eliminated the very next year. Perhaps Gretchen had done a better job equipping her forces prior to her second battle or more likely she had relied heavily on other unit types and trade to get her through.

  Regardless it was obvious that standard infantry like forces were used by most of the older dungeons to some extent. He would need to work on his own.

  Peter had also witnessed mass spells, artillery, and other interesting capabilities including steampunk like weaponry. He had seen waverns form formations and cast mass spells. The gargoyles of the gargoyle core, 232, had literally done something that petrified several hundred all at once. The capabilities that could happen were frightening.

  Then there was teleportation, used in mass to bring large units or groups of unit from high up in the dungeon. Emma had mentioned this offhand, but it was different to see a force of units arrive just in time to stop a break in a defensive line.

  The centurion dungeon's finesse in battle had also given him hints on how to better manage or arrange troops to prevent his fights from becoming more brawl-like, although he still did not feel like he had the idea entirely. It was not tangible, he certainly could not put words to it. He would have to have more predictable forces, and conduct some trial and error.

  Perhaps the biggest lesson from his own battle along from watching others was force structure. The S tier’s might be the heavy hitters, but the B and C tiers had their place as well. Numbers were its own strength. He could not summon a bunch of E tiers and expect much, but even D tiers could serve some function. At the very least C tiers seemingly took on the brunt of the fodder role, B tiers to a lesser extent.

  Generally, A and S tiers acted in support or were sent out in small strike squad, although he had also seen a division of hundreds of A tiers be used by one of the insect dungeons to quickly hammer the defenders breaking a stalemate. He had seen forces routed, forces lose all cohesion, and one sided slaughters. He had even witnessed a squad of unsupported S tiers fall under a swarm of lower tier attackers their owner was unable to get them pulled out.

  Just one more consideration, when battles ranged for days. He had even seen it with his near all ape assault army. They might have ferociously fought on but they were clearly exhausted. Pulling units or groups of units in and out of battle was an art in of itself. He had also seen cases where a powerful S or groups of A ties were brought in to deliver one devastating attack. Normally they were then quickly withdrawn, but obviously things did not always work out, such as the extraction where 4 S tiers went down under a wave of B tier enemies. That had to hurt even for a centurion dungeon.

  A knock at his door broke him from his musings. Peter opened the door to find a welcome surprise. It was Delilah. Her arm was in a makeshift sling, and she already sported a black eye patch despite it only being about noon the day after the congregation.

  “An eyepatch,” Peter asked pointedly.

  “Figured it was a better look than this,” she said, lifting the patch showing a milky white eye. Her face around the eye was nearly unmarred, just a few feint pink lines that extended down her cheek, but apparently restoring the eye’s function was not something that could be managed through his dungeon’s current capabilities or her natural healing. At least not yet…

  Mark felt a bit sick. It was unlikely that even in the future her sight could be restored since it had already healed back the way it was. His mind flashed to hundreds of the D tier one offs based off of Delilah. He could not recall any by name, but he certainly had seen them around. If anything he should feel guilty about them. Not knowing the rank and file had been intentional since he knew that many of them would die. Even the thought of the hordes of ape units that had charged in under his banner and for the most part died, elicited some regret. Not that he wouldn’t do it again. It was just a reality of being a general.

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  “Its fine,” Delilah said, forcing a smile. “Probably won’t be able to get up close and personal like I would like, but then I guess I was pretty handily outclassed in that regard.”

  “I was thinking more of an alternate dimension force commander position for you, going forward,” Peter suggested.

  “I see, grievously wounded, and you were already plotting to send me right back out again,” she said with a pout, but it quickly morphed back to a smile.

  “Just kidding, bossing a bunch of units around sounds like a lot of fun. Still I will want something to add my own little contributions with, and even with one eye I’m still an elf. Bows are practically second nature to us.”

  Delilah looked him up and down in an innocent manner. She had of course demonstrated her talent with the bow before. She was probably smiling now because she recalled him then trying to use her dark wood bow. Forget her bow, he was barely even able to move the drawstring of a bow used by one of the D tiers. For her bow all that had moved were his arms as they shook back and forth with effort.

  Peter glared back. Basically anything above E tier was bordering on the super human levels, although he liked to think if properly equipped he might manage to beating a D tier in a one on one battle. Fact was, he was relatively weak in comparison.

  “Yup, you are so amazing.” Peter said exagerally. He rolled his eyes for good measure.

  “Good that you know it. Some of us have to fight while you hang back in headquarters where it's safe,” She said with a wink. “If you want to come out into headquarters there are already a bunch of people. Khan is just dying to give you his input.”

  Peter sighed. “Great, I cannot wait,” Peter said, following behind her.

  True enough there were already dozens of units hard at work. Everyone of the clockworks were there along with a handful of the dark elves. The clockworks had their own version of sleep or reboot, but it only lasted for an hour or two every day. Sure enough, Peter was rapidly approached by the old elf. Boris followed a few steps behind.

  “I think we need to go over yesterday, determine what our next steps are, and plan for our future. I can have the other deans assembled in short order…” the old elf said, rubbing both hands together in anticipation. The guy likely had a laundry list of things to go over.

  “Geez, it's almost like you’re the dungeon core,” Peter said frustradely. He shot a quick glance at Boris. It was really his fault. Peter had fully intended to go with the caster option until his aide convinced him the old guy was the better choice… Well at least that would be his stance on the decision going forward. All the damn robot’s fault. Wasn’t that the main reason to have aides? So you could blame them when something went wrong.

  “Well if this dungeon goes down, we are all along for the ride,” Khan replied after meeting his gaze for several seconds.

  “That is true,” Delilah added, unhelpfully.

  “Not helping,” Peter said, shooting a look at the woman who smirked back at him. She loved stirring things up.

  As for Khan, he was definitely a boon to the dungeon, but it was beyond annoying dealing with someone who clearly thought they could manage things better. Perhaps he was right in a technical or practical sense. Then again, sometimes things were more art than science especially when dealing with other people. Khan was more the type to play on the safeside with careful moves and strategic takedowns when opponents were vulnerable.

  Hundreds and thousands of dungeons had done that over the years… How many of them had defeated a millennial. Obvious smart moves or careful moves had their place, but they would not get him to the finish line. Khan had been against his decision to choose the ghost core, and based on how close the battle had seemed he would definitely feel that his position had been validated. Regardless, the guy was starting to get worse. He needed to balance some things out.

  “Not now,” Peter said, holding up his hands. Before khan could say something else he added. “We can have a meeting this evening. How about over dinner? That we can all take our time and formulate our plans. I hate group meetings where no one knows the answers and they try to group think to get somewhere.”

  Khan nodded clearly, not happy with the decision, but he dismissed himself anyways. Borris, seeing that he was not required also returned to his station.

  “Oooo, way to go…” Delilah said, pumping her fist. Something she had obviously picked up from him “So what’s the plan. Want me to deal with him,” Delilah asked, making the throat slit motion.

  “No… Where I’m from we have an idea of what's called ‘checks and balances.’ Like I’ve mentioned before, I think a few more different race humanoids might naturally curb off the problem.”

  “You mean the moon elf bitch, you are trying to replace me with,” Delilah asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “How could I replace you.” Peter looked away to hide his smile.

  “Uhhhuh, smooth… so you said other races. Did you get some others?”

  “Yup I got two more. Gnomes like I planned too, but I also got a dryad card. That core hangs out with the handful of plant cores, which I would like to get in the future. For now though I feel like racially diversifying things will settle things some.”

  “Won’t hurt that Khan’s competition will all be A tier.”

  “Yes, that is a good touch.” Peter admitted.

  “Still I wonder and maybe secretly want to witness how this all blows up in your face,” Delilah said with a wolfish smile.

  “Hey what happened to the whole, ‘if this dungeon goes down so do we,’ mentality?”

  “Oooo, well that was Khan that said that. Besides I think that you are doing pretty well floundering about as you are. Now come on. Are wegoing to do lunch today or what?”

  “Ahhh, a ‘woman after my own heart’ I was thinking of introducing you to sushi.”