Cameron
[Achievement gained: One of a Kind!]
[Achievement: One of a Kind
Description: You have filled your Dungeon to capacity with only a single monster species.
Reward: You have gained 240 experience!]
I had used all of my available Dungeon Points to summon Shadow Vipers. I even modified two slightly in order to hit my DP cap exactly. That had resulted in me gaining two more achievements.
[Achievement: A Different Color
Description: You have spent a Dungeon Point to customize a monster in a purely cosmetic way.
Reward: The cost of Monster Customization to perform cosmetic changes is halved!]
[Achievement: Defective
Description: You have spent a Dungeon Point to customize a monster in a way that weakens it without giving it any benefit in return.
Reward: The cost of Monster Customization to perform disadvantageous changes is halved!]
The rewards weren't game-changing for me, but they were all easy enough to get, and an achievement was an achievement. I also had a feeling that I could make use of them, even if they sounded lackluster at first. I could certainly think of a few ways to use camouflage.
The usefulness of the first few achievements aside, the looks of confusion on the faces of my original delving group were priceless. I had initially been worried about how people would react to me making changes and doing one-off things, but Fabian assured me that Dungeons making changes to their layouts wasn't anything anyone would care about. It was apparently common practice.
“Again?” the beastkin named Dan let out an annoyed shout as he ripped another snake from his arm before impaling it with his spear.
[Your Shadow Viper (Level 1) was slain! 3 experience gained.]
At the very least, it seemed like the upgrades my monsters had gotten since their last visit had increased their experience yield slightly.
[Achievement gained: Behind You!]
[Achievement: Behind You
Description: Your monsters have sneak attacked an individual 5 times in a single delve.
Reward: You have gained 600 experience!]
“Argh, give me more antivenom!”
Ah, there it is.
I knew I couldn't rely on achievements for experience in the long-term, but not getting every last drop of experience from them early on, when it would make the most difference, seemed like a waste. There was also something else I was after, but I needed to focus on the present.
It was the morning of next day after everything had happened. The group I was starting to become familiar with had barged in soon after the sun rose, and they were better prepared than before, or so they had thought. Their improved equipment, especially their leader's new shield, would have definitely helped if there had still been Trentis running around. Sadly for them, all that there was were snakes, and they didn't care much for his shield.
“I didn't bring enough for this. Here, it's the last vial,” Lawrence offered his leader a small vial, and I saw my chance.
Now!
At my command, a Shadow Viper that had been hiding in the small tunnels I had carved all throughout my walls and ceiling launched itself at its target.
“Ah!” the alchemist's apprentice hollered as he stumbled backward.
Got it!
As I instructed it to, my monster hadn't aimed at any of the trio. Instead, it had knocked the jar of glowing fluid out of the man's hand. It crashed to the floor and shattered.
I wasn't a fan of the ever-present darkness in my cave. Sure, I could see perfectly fine without light, but aside from my glowing core, my Dungeon lacked any form of illumination. I probably could have made use of that darkness, but I would rather do that on my own terms and sparingly. As far as I was concerned, the sooner I unlocked some lighting options, the better.
“You really need to learn some composure. Isn't that an important stat for alchemists?” Autumn, the female beastkin of the group commented as she put the snake down with an arrow between the eyes.
[Your Shadow Viper (Level 1) was slain! 3 experience gained.]
“It's–uh–less important than you'd think.”
“Don't you need to regenerate mana? How is that not important?”
“At my level, I'm not using it enough to need to worry about it.”
“Well,” Dan interjected, “start worrying about it. If you're going to be delving with us, you can't be running out of mana.”
“Uh, right.”
His cheeks were a bright red, and I felt a little bad, not too much, though. After that, with the threat of venom that they couldn't cure hanging over them, they left in a hurry.
[You have absorbed 8 units of Light Magic Infused Water! Absorb 4 more units to unlock this item.]
I needed to make sure I got that unlock the next time that particular group showed up, but with them gone, I returned my focus to what I had been doing before they had shown up: modifying a Shadow Viper extensively.
The reason I hadn't confirmed the changes beforehand was because I had been waiting for a group to finish off six of my seven Shadow Vipers. Until that point, I didn't have anywhere near enough available Dungeon Points for the modifications I had made.
Are you sure this will be enough? I asked my fairy.
“Even if it isn't perfect, it should be close enough.”
Taking his word for it, I confirmed my changes and felt a surge of joy at my reward.
[Achievement gained: Indistinguishable Species!]
[Achievement: Indistinguishable Species
Description: You have customized one of your monsters to more closely resemble another species than its own.
Reward: You have unlocked that species of monster!]
It worked!
“I told you it would, but are you sure that was the right choice? You can only get a new monster type through that achievement once.”
I know, its weak, but it has potential.
If I physically could have, I would have shuddered at the DP cost of all of the modifications I had to make to get the achievement to do what I wanted. Adding legs, adjusting its size, reshaping the body, and figuring out how to make bones move in strange ways, it all cost Dungeon Points, forty-seven Dungeon points to be exact. It wasn't even remotely practical, but it didn't need to be. It didn't even need to function properly, which was a good thing because, just from looking at it, I doubted it would. Luckily, it only needed to resemble another monster; it did. I brought up the information on that newly unlocked monster.
[Horned Draco
Level: 1
Cost: 4 DP
Health: 5 (15)
Stamina: 10 (20)
Mana: 40 (60)
Stats: FORT 1 (3), VIT 2 (4), STR 3 (5), END 2 (4), SOUL 4 (6), MIND 4 (6), WILL 4 (6), COM 2 (4), DEX 14 (16), AGI 14 (16)
Skills: None
Abilities: None
Description: One of the weakest draconic monsters. It is little more than a lizard with retractable flaps of skin that serve as wings that it can glide with. It has a small horn on its head and a bad temperament.
Upgrades: Professional Amateur (+1 to every stat), A Walk in the Park (+5% to DEX and WILL), Too Close for Comfort (+1 to every stat)]
They weren't powerful, but they were cheap, and I had some ideas for them. Sadly, the one I had modified didn't share that low cost. It was nothing more than a massive sink on my DP.
I'm sorry about this. Do it.
I didn't feel good about it, but I needed the achievements, and I couldn't reveal my new monster type to people yet.
[Your Shadow Viper (Level 1) had died! No experience gained.]
[Achievement gained: Wrong Place Wrong Time!]
[Achievement: Wrong Place Wrong Time
Description: One of your monsters has died to one of your traps!
Reward: You have gained 120 experience!]
[Title gained: Agent of Chaos!]
I had Vie and Pee manually activate my rolling boulder trap, killing my monster. I kept telling myself it had been necessary, but I still felt horrible doing it. I pushed through the disgust I felt with my actions, and in an attempt to distract myself, I focused on the title.
[Title: Agent of Chaos
Description: You eared 20 achievements within a single day.
Effects: While this title is equipped, the holder benefits from a +15% bonus to all experience gained from achievements.]
It was good, but it was far weaker than my Summoned Hero title. Fabian had told me about it along with the unlock conditions of many achievements. It wasn't useful to me, but he had told me about one other title that was. It was one of the few static titles he said could situationally hold up to my original one in terms of effect. All other similarly powerful titles he knew of had been awarded after great feats were accomplished. They were unique, ones with unlock conditions that couldn't easily be replicated.
The one I was after wasn't like that. It was within my reach, if only barely. The only problem was that I had only a handful of hours to get what I was after before the fourteen achievements I had gained from the raid stopped counting toward my goal. I had to act fast. There was too much to do, and if I failed, I would almost certainly never get the chance to gain so many achievements in one go ever again.
Shaking myself from my daze, I did something that I had been procrastinating doing. I summoned a new Trenti.
I had been hesitant to summon a new one after losing Archie, especially since it would benefit from two one-time bonuses from achievements that I didn't want to go to waste. That being said, there wasn't much I could do but summon it. Not having Trentis at my disposal was a huge disadvantage that I couldn't afford, and my Dungeon was momentarily undefended aside from Vie and Pee.
“It's okay. You've got this,” my fairy encouraged me.
With the mental equivalent of a deep breath, I did it. Then, I summoned two normal Trentis and a Shadow Viper in my first room. With that done, I brought up the details on the first Trenti's new ability that it got from the From the Dead achievement.
[Ability: Spectral Form
Description: Your existence lies somewhere between the physical and incorporeal.
Effect: You no longer have health or mana. Instead, you have anima. Anima functions as both health and mana and is equal to your (FORT) x 5 + (SOUL) x 10.]
Oh, that's good!
I hadn't known what to expect from the spectral ability, but I felt like I could work with that. It wasn't flashy, but being able to block damage with its mana and cast spells with its health was a solid ability.
“Remember, don't get attached,” Fabian reminded me.
Right.
My mood was instantly brought back down, but I still found myself somewhat excited. Whether it would last or not, the ability seemed useful. I knew that I would have to be careful when taking advantage of it; otherwise, the Trenti could easily get itself killed. If used properly, though, it would serve my personal guard well.
It was a shame it only had one spell, but its new ability would certainly improve its magical capabilities. That was the deciding factor for what I did next. I had already been considering it, but I had been unsure until that point.
Fabian had told me about another achievement that rewarded a good ability, but I didn't feel comfortable making the changes it required to my two-headed snake. I didn't know how they would effect them. With the Trenti, on the other hand, I could push past my better judgment and do it, knowing that it would be fine.
Mind made up, I started customizing the Trenti. I did hesitate for a moment, but then, for the cost of two Dungeon Points, I confirmed my changes before I could second guess myself.
[Achievement gained: Mindless!]
[Achievement: Mindless
Description: You have customized a monster to not have a brain.
Reward: The monster has gained the ability Abstract Intelligence!]
[Ability: Abstract Intelligence
Description: Your intelligence is separate from your physical form.
Effect: Your ability to think and your (MIND) are not dependent on anything biological.]
I nervously watched the Trenti for a few moments to make sure it was alright. It stared at my core blankly, and panic began to set in. Then, it blinked, and I remembered that the vacant stare it was giving me was normal for a Trenti, so I probably hadn't hurt it, I hoped.
Next, I modified it again, but this time, it was to do the exact opposite. I couldn't undo the change I already made to it, but I could add a new brain. I had no clue how that worked, but it did, and I wasn't going to question it.
I stared at the Trenti for a moment. Then I figured that, if I was already going to the trouble of improving it, I might as well go all the way. I paid two more points to increase the size of the mushroom on its head. Then using the extra space that made, I doubled the size of the brain and spent another four DP to flood it with mana. Once I was done, its cost had skyrocketed, but its mind stat had more than tripled, not to mention the improvement to its other magical stats.
[Cost: 12 → 26 DP]
[Stats: FORT 7 (10), VIT 12 (14), STR 5 (7), END 12 (15), SOUL 5 → 7 (10), MIND 8 → 32 (34), WILL 5 → 7 (9), COM 8 → 12 (15), DEX 6 (8), AGI 8 (10)]
I liked what I saw. It was a bit expensive, but would make my protector stronger, and hopefully, prevent him from meeting the same fate as his predecessor, or at least buy him some time until then. Satisfied with what I saw, I went to confirm my choice, but I ran into a problem.
[You do not have sufficient mana.]
Well, that's a new message.
Clearly, I hadn't been paying enough attention to my reserves. I brought up another screen.
[Mana: 13 / 80]
Seriously? I'm one point short?
I could recover all of my mana over the course of twelve hours, and I could absorb things that didn't count toward unlocking extra summon options to gain additional mana. In the case of my dead monsters, if the delvers didn't insist on stealing away some of the bodies, like my first group always did, and as long as there was enough left of the bodies, unlike the monster I had killed with my rolling boulder trap, I could reabsorb them to recover half of the mana it cost to summon them, their cost in mana being equal to their Dungeon Point cost.
That meant I couldn't do much for a while, or at least, I wouldn't have been able to, had I not stashed away four of the bodies from the group that had tried to kill me. According to Fabian, the amount of mana I could get from absorbing them would decrease the longer they sat there, but I had only planned to save them until I ran into this problem. It felt wrong, and I didn't like keeping them around, but I didn't have time to worry about that.
I absorbed one and was about to confirm my changes, but then I looked at the projection of the goofy, oversized mushroom on the Trenti's head and got an idea. I adjusted it in a couple of ways that didn't add to the cost and confirmed my changes. A moment later, my newly modified Trenti stood before me. On its head was an oversized red mushroom covered with white spots. I had modified its shape to resemble a wizard's hat and moved some of the moss growing on the creature's body to its face to mimic a beard.
I felt strangely proud of my creation as it hefted its staff and stood there like a tiny forest wizard. Then, my fairy ruined it for me.
“Remember, don't get attached.”
With a mental sigh, I moved on, trying to figure out which achievement to go for next.
[Your Trenti (Level 1) was slain! 4 experience gained.]
That was fast.
With another group having shown up, it seemed like my choice had been made for me.