Cameron
[You cannot resummon Vie and Pee for another 4 hours, 58 minutes, and 34 seconds.]
I glared at the message. Then, I looked at the mangled corpse of my beloved two-headed snake still on the ground with their heads caved in.
I simultaneously felt many things and nothing at the same time. A small part of me couldn't help but to liken the situation to what had happened to my best friend and Archie, but no. It was different this time. They might have died, but they weren't gone. They would be back. I knew I should have felt horror at what had happened or maybe relief that I had survived. I didn't. All I felt was exhaustion.
“Cameron, are you okay?” my fairly frantically asked as he dove onto my core.
Somehow. That was too close.
“You did amazing! They clearly had the advantage, but you managed to turn things around. You survived.”
If I had done amazing, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere near my core, Vie and Pee wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't have been half a misjudged second away from having my core shattered. No, that wasn't amazing. That was bad, and I can't let that happen again.
“You still survived. That is the important thing here, and speaking from experience, many Dungeon Cores wouldn't have been able to if they were put in that situation.”
That's the problem. I should never have been put in that situation in the first place. It was preventable; I was careless … again. You kept telling me about how dangerous life as a Dungeon Core would be for me, and I blew off your advice. I've been adverse to killing any adventurer that wasn't after my life, and I haven't done enough to make my Dungeon truly lethal. That needs to change.
Fabian's face twisted into a grimace, and I felt him want to say something, but after a few long seconds, he shook his head.
“You have my full support. What do you have in mind, and what do you need?”
I should at least have the DP to work with now, so the plan is to completely overhaul this place, but first, I need to know all of the tools I have available.
I shared my logs from the raid with Fabian. Then, I began looking through them in far greater detail than I had previously been able to.
[Achievement: A Useful Skill
Description: One of your monsters has learned a utility skill.
Reward: The monster has gained 1 level in the utility skill!]
I hadn't been expecting to get that, and I didn't even know what the skill was, so I opened the status of Vie and Pee to check.
[Skills: Throwing, Stealth]
[Skill: Throwing
Level: 1
Description: This skill affects your accuracy when throwing things.]
[Skill: Stealth
Level: 2
Description: This skill allows you to hide and remain undetected.]
They had acquired the first skill from a previous achievement. That meant it had to have been stealth that they had gained. It was a great skill for them and would pair perfectly with their Shadow Cloak ability. With my curiosity sated, I put two of their unassigned stat points in VIT and two each into Vie's Will and Pee's SOUL respectively. Then, I closed the screen and moved on.
[Achievement: Up Close and Personal
Description: One of your monsters has killed an individual with a melee attack.
Reward: The monster species and its evolutions have gained +1 to STR!]
[Achievement: Punching Up
Description: One of your monster has killed an individual 10 levels higher than it.
Reward: The monster has gained +5% to all stats!]
[Achievement: Monster General
Description: You have earned 10 single-monster upgrades for the same monster.
Reward: The quality of the monster's evolution choices will be improved!]
More bonuses were always welcome, and the two Vie and Pee had received were extremely good. I had little doubt that a second boost to evolution quality would be indispensable in the long run, but what really caught my eye was the percentage bonus. I looked at their status again to see that only two of their stats, their DEX and Vie's WILL, were actively benefiting from an extra point. It wasn't much, but as they continued to grow, that percentile benefit would become much stronger.
Still pleased with that bonus, I opened the last two achievements and gawked.
[Achievement: Right Back at You
Description: One of your monster has killed an individual with their own attack.
Reward: You have received 6,000 experience!]
[Achievement: No Survivors
Description: An entire group has died within your Dungeon.
Reward: You have received 12,000 experience!]
I brought up my experience next.
[Experience to next level: 24,866 / 36,000]
I had leveled up three times in a single day, yet I was already two-thirds of the way to gaining another level. The rate of my growth was jaw-dropping, even if I didn't have a jaw anymore. Content with my gains, I opened up the last reward I had received. It was the one I had worked so hard for.
[Title: Lord of Chaos
Description: You have eared 50 achievements within a single day.
Effects: While this title is equipped, the holder benefits from a +40% bonus to all experience gained from achievements and an additional experience reward equal to its holder's level x 100 every time an achievement is gained.]
It was much more limited in scope compared to my Summoned Hero title, but as long as I equipped it before going out of my way to get any new achievements, it would make them more impactful and help me to grow faster. It was a wondrous boon.
Hey, Fabe, about those advancement bonuses that the notifications said were available, I know you mentioned them back when I was picking my specialization and traits, but could you go a bit more into detail as to how they work?
“Sure. Every five levels, a monster gets a bonus of sorts. Functionally, it's similar to your perks but more narrow in scope. There will always be the same three options to choose from: extra stats, a new spell or ability, or an upgrade to something it already has; however, the bonuses are tied to their species more than their individual actions. Their actions still do impact the options, just not as much. You will also be able to choose from three possible bonuses from whatever category you decide on. Think of the category like your focus.”
He paused for a moment. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “There are also some good achievements for delaying the bonuses, but I would only recommend going for those with Vie and Pee. Your ability to resummon them paired with all of the enhancements they already have makes them the only worthwhile candidates.”
How many levels would I need to delay the choice?
“There are multiple achievements for that, so it depends. At minimum, you'd have to wait five levels. At most, though it isn't confirmed, there is likely an absurdly powerful achievement for reaching level one hundred without taking any bonuses, but whether or not it would be worthwhile to go for that or even possible is questionable.”
Are there any downsides to doing that?
“Only that they won't get those bonuses immediately. The achievements will make up for it if you get them, though.”
Okay, so I'll put making a choice for them on the back burner for now. In the meantime, I'll choose the Trenti's and Horned Draco's bonuses.
I started with the Trenti.
[Please select a type of bonus.
Extra Stats / New Spell or Ability / Upgrade]
Any guess as to what each choice would offer?
“Stats help guide it down a chosen path and influence its evolution options. The stat bonuses offered will mostly mirror the stats it naturally gains when leveling up, but since you have pushed it so far in a magical direction, it could also get options to boost its magical stats.
“Also, since you have pushed it in a magical direction, you might be offered a simple spell if you choose the second type. It's more likely that you will be offered abilities of a more physical nature, but the possibility is there. As for the upgrade, it wouldn't affect any aspects or abilities granted by enhancements, so you'd likely be offered an upgrade to Bark Skin and a couple of improvements to its body. Since you can already modify that, unless you want the ability upgrade, I'd recommend against that option.”
His words instantly brought to mind my perk selection offering me two items I couldn't use at a crucial moment because I had left it set to Items, and I decided that I wouldn't be choosing Upgrade, at least not now. Bark Skin was useful, and an upgrade to it would certainly be good for my Trentis as a whole, but my guard Trenti was built for magic. I didn't think a Bark Skin upgrade would be helpful to it in particular.
That left stats or a new spell or ability. The memory of Archie dying made me decide against stats. As grim of a thought as it was, there wasn't much point in trying to shape a monster's evolution if it was unlikely they'd ever get that far.
New Spell or Ability it is.
As I made my choice, I hoped for a new spell. Spore Wave was proving lackluster, and a more direct attack spell would doubtlessly be a useful weapon to the little forest goblin. A new ability wouldn't be bad either. In its last fight, it had been forced into melee combat, and it had been useless. I would welcome anything that would help prevent that near disaster from repeating itself, so with those thoughts in mind, I brought up my new choices.
[Ability: Power Throw
Cost: 10 SP
Description: Your muscles swell, allowing you to throw an object with enhanced force.
Effect: You throw an object with 20% more force than your strength would normally allow.]
[Spell: Wind Burst
Cost: 10 MP
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Description: You create a blast of magic with yourself at the epicenter.
Effect: Wind explodes out from your position, pushing back everything around you within a 5 foot range. The strength of the wind is based on your (SOUL), and for every 20 points of (WILL), the range increases by one foot.]
[Ability: Regrowth
Description: You heal at an accelerated rate.
Effect: You regain 1% of your maximum health per minute.]
I had initially wanted a new spell for the Trenti, but the one offered was, in my opinion, lacking. It could be good for getting enemies off of it once they were in close range, but as it stood, I was convinced it should stay out of close range to begin with. The spell did little to change its prospects in that regard.
The first ability was worse. I had ordered it to throw multiple things at the raider woman, but all that did was momentarily slow her. Maybe if I were to get more harmful potions or even bombs for it to throw, it could be useful, but with my current arsenal, the ability was next to useless.
That left Regrowth. It was an ability that I would normally view as being useful for tanks, units that specialize in taking damage, but the monster's Spectral Form changed that.
How would the added health regeneration work with anima?
“It would go off of the anima pool's total size, not just what its health would be.”
Isn't that a bit broken?
“No, it should work perfectly well.”
That's not what I–never mind. That is an extremely good synergy, isn't it?
“It's a powerful option, yes. For all intents and purposes, that means that it would be able to rapidly regenerate its mana. For a caster, that kind of ability is indispensable.”
If only it had better spells to use that mana on. Is there any reason for me not to pick it?
“No, it's a good choice.”
I made my selection and put the Trenti's unassigned stat points into SOUL, raising its anima and, by extension, anima regeneration rate in the process. Then, I brought up the same menu for the Horned Draco.
[Please select a type of bonus.
Extra Stats / New Spell or Ability / Upgrade]
Having just gone through the process, I made my decision much quicker. Unlike the Trenti, a new ability wasn't likely to do much for the small lizard, and it didn't have any innate abilities to upgrade. I figured that it would be possible to upgrade its wings, but with Velocity Transference, the ability that allowed the weak creature to kill that invader far stronger than itself, and its pitifully low stats, I figured a few extra stat points would likely go the farthest.
[Stat Growth: Swift
Effect: The monster gains +3 to AGI and +2 to DEX.]
[Stat Growth: Accurate Gliding
Effect: The monster gains +5 to DEX.]
[Stat Growth: Magical
Effect: The monster gains +2 to SOUL, +2 to WILL, and +1 to COM.]
Speed and mana were the lizard's two bottlenecks in terms of combat potential. The faster it was, the more velocity it could transfer, and the more mana it had, the more it could overcharge its ability. For that reason, I ruled Accurate Gliding out. Then, I chose Swift since more of the points went to what I wanted than the ones provided by Magical. Then, for good measure, I dumped its four unassigned stat points into SOUL.
With all of that taken care of, it was time for me to choose a new monster. I planned to save one of my two remaining choices until I better understood what I needed, but I was going to use the other. In general, I needed to know more about my countless options, but that could wait. All I immediately needed was information on a single monster type.
Tell me more about the various plant monsters.
With that, the ordeal of reworking and expanding my Dungeon began as I listened to my fairy drone on about the requested subject matter. Grateful for his help, I couldn't help but think that I really needed to get around to my gift for him as soon as I had the time.
* * *
Gyle
“I fail to see the issue.”
Sirius Toadskill was sitting across from me in my living room, deeply troubled. I could not wrap my head around why that was.
“How is this out of the ordinary for a Dungeon?”
In response, the young head of the new Adventurers Guild branch heaved a heavy sigh as he shuffled papers around on my table. The exhaustion on his face contrasted with his otherwise bright appearance. It was almost as if the dark circles under his dulled blue eyes was muting the colors of his bright blonde hair and colorful outfit.
“Peter, I'm going to tell you something that isn't being spread around farther than it needs to be, so keep this quiet. For the past few months, all Dungeons that have formed have been acting erratically.
“You're right. It isn't unusual for people to die in a Dungeon, especially not people who aren't experienced adventurers. What is unusual is a group of individuals more than ten levels stronger than the monsters in a new Dungeon going in and not coming out. Add on the fact that it was within a day of half a dozen people vanishing without a trace, word to anyone that they care about, or any of their belongings and yes, it is weird.
“And, no, it's not out of the ordinary for a Dungeon to change entirely or have slight differences between delves, but it is an anomaly for a Dungeon's monsters to remain the same and act predictably, for them to suddenly mutate and employ new, coordinated strategies, and then to go back to the way things were beforehand as though nothing had happened.”
“Ugh, you're right. I'm no expert on Dungeons, but when you put it like that, even I can't deny it. Is this going to be a problem?”
“I don't know yet. I'm going to report this to the higher-ups and send my best team back in to scout out the Dungeon in its entirety. We'll wait and see how things go, but at the end of the day, the decision is out of my hands.”
I frowned. I knew the situation was probably nothing, but I didn't like things to be outside of my control, and I needed the Dungeon.
I should to put countermeasures of my own in place. The boy has been doing well, but I need to push him to advance. It also might not be a bad idea for me to go back in there and get a better idea of what's going on personally.
I grunted in annoyance as I signed my name on another paper.
If only it was that simple.
Unfortunately, taking on the role of a noble once more came with drawbacks, mainly paperwork and having to involve myself with my new territory. Until the two families I had taken under my wing got the hang of things, most of the work was falling on me; my hands were tied.
I'll see what I can do for Lawrence when I get a chance.
* * *
Cornelius
“What's this?”
I took the report from my servant and read it over. As I did so, I found my mood souring.
“So, that washed up fossil got his nobility reinstated and a dungeon to boot. Marcus, send word to the Tarnished Blades for me. Tell them that I have a job for them and that I will pay them well to get it done.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, and one more thing, spread word that I am in the market for a Dungeon Core to the areas surrounding Firmsoil but not to it. Say that I am willing to pay three times the normal value.”
“It will be done.”
“Good, you are dismissed.”
He turned and left on the spot, leaving me to my own musings.
Peter, I ruined you once. Don't think I won't do it again.