Hello people,

  I've decided to put this book up on the shelf for a while. I'm not really happy with the way it's turning out and I won't write any new chapters until I do a comprehensive rewrite. I'm going to work on a couple of easier projects in the meantime and don't expect to get back to this soon so there's a spoiler in the post author note with info on what I had planned for the rest of the book for anyone who is still invested in Don's journey.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Thanks for reading up 'till now.

  -SmokeyBear

  Spoiler: BOOK I

  - They give him a quest for clearing out the giant spiders that drove them from their old lifestyle

  - (Anansi from african folklore)

  - They can only describe them as having hard skin and too many legs.

  - Kat knows monsters like that and they go after a colony of giant ants mistaking them for spiders

  - (Myrmekes from Greece: obsessed with gold and reagality)

  - Don forces the queen to join him (all the drones are mindless)

  - Queen is indignant and happy to tell them she's not a spider

  - Don + co go after the spiders and get trounced.

  - ColoColo webbed + taken hostage to feed a new brood of young about to hatch (deadline)

  - Unlocks his calling (dark lord: lots of bonus stat points based on the main attributes of his subjugated monster tribes (AGI, STR, and END) but most of the bonuses go to making his minions stronger)

  - increased level cap, life span, attributes, yadda yadda... (based on Don's professions)

  - equips the apes with makeshift weapons and armor and goes after the spiders again

  - Spiders see only brood + food so Don exterminates them and recovers the hostage ColoColo

  - Apes hold off the swarm while Don duels it out with the magic casting queen spider

  - last part of the memory mission is to confront him

  - Uses a [faustian pact] special demonic ability to bind him to a contract (or he will get dragged to hell and respawn updated there too.)

  - Arbiter mainly wants the colony to be stable, he admits Don was used as a scapegoat to help bind the people

  - He agrees to a trade deal so long as Don keeps sending monsters to harass the people and keep them motivated against an external threat. (part of Dark Lord synergises with herbalist and don gets access to [regrowth] which basically lets him respawn his minions with a few limitations)

  - I forget all the aspects of this deal and I can't find it in my notes right now but basically Don is content to drop his grudge in favor of stability. He gets his memories back after the deal is made and he asks after his old friends who end up joining him pretty early in the second book where Don has to chase after the Colonists and rescue them after they are captured by imperial soldiers and carted off to the capital.

  Don builds up a nice little monster empire with ColoColo acting as scouts and support units (supplying potions). The Vanara are the shock troops and the Myrmekes make up a almost tireless work-force. All three together can coordinate attacks with the ColoColo above, the Vanara handling ground level action, and the myrmekes emerging from below-ground or making pit-falls.