Cameron
It wasn't long after the sun had risen that we got our first visitors of the day. That in itself wasn't unusual, but I did find the group in particular concerning. It was the scouts from the Adventurers Guild, but they had an extra person with them: the alchemist's apprentice. What they were doing with each other, I had no clue.
What I did know was that I had shown myself to be more dangerous than I should have, and the Adventurers Guild wasn't likely to take kindly to that, not that it could be helped. After all, it wasn't as if I had much of a choice. Regardless, it was too late to backtrack on that now, and even if it wasn't, to do otherwise would mean putting the lives of those that I cared about along with my own on the line. That was not something I was willing to do, so in the end, all I could do was hope that the group assembled in my first room weren't entering my home with hostile intentions.
“Remember,” I listened intently to their leader as he stated flatly, “stay in the middle of our formation, and don't get in our way. We are escorting you, and you'll only make our job harder by trying to help.”
“Uh, right,” came Lawrence's response.
I had no clue as to whether his presence alongside the others was a good or a bad sign, but it, along with the fact that I had been dreading the rest of their return, was enough to put me on edge. As far as I was concerned, the only I know for sure was that targeting him like usual would be a bad idea. It didn't matter if I only needed a little more of his glowing water to be able to summon it myself; it was not worth the risk, especially since the rest of the group would almost certainly report my antics as something strange.
As I was thinking that, the insectinoid of the group scaled the wall at the entrance in a blur. She had a pair of blades tearing through the Trenti waiting there before it could even process what was happening. From the scowl on her face as she did so, it was clear that she was back with a vengeance.
Maybe I should have ordered the Bloodthorn Vines to go easy on them last time.
“She does look mad,” my fairy agreed as I shared the visuals through our link.
I didn't know what I expected after the gruesome display. Maybe I figured she would start searching the shadows for hidden monsters, or maybe I was waiting for her to kick the body for good measure. What I wasn't expecting was for her to instantly go from glaring with an expression more intimidating than any of my monsters to a wide smile and light tone of voice.
“All clear up here!”
Following that, they cleared out the other two monsters with almost comical ease. Neither managed to so much as ready themselves to attack before falling dead, the group only taking a moment to comment on the other Trenti not giving the swordsman experience this time around. From the indecipherable looks on their faces, I wasn't sure if they were happy about that being the case or extremely disconcerted by it. Either way, they were moving fast, and the whole situation was making me feel uneasy.
What do you think? I asked Fabian, Should I reveal my core to them again and hope for the best or stay hidden?
“It would probably only cause more problems if you hid. Revealing yourself should be safe, and it would avoid actively antagonizing the guild.”
I did not like that, but he was the expert on these things, and that strategy had worked out the past couple of times. What else was to be done? It wasn't as though keeping myself hidden would stop them from searching for my core anyway. They'd probably turn my entire Dungeon over looking for it if they had to, and that would land me in even more hot water. As much as I didn't like it, I knew what I had to do, so as I watched, I cursed my luck. I began the process of changing rooms and turned to watch as they finished making their way through the tunnel.
“Looks like Oct was right,” their swordsman spoke, “It's different from last time.”
“Of course, it gets easier after I almost died to it! Hows that fair?”
Their moth-like rogue loudly complained, but oddly enough, she did so in an enthusiastic and animated way that did not suggest actual anger at the situation. I did not understand her. It was like she was a walking contradiction, a walking contradiction with four deadly blades and a reaction speed that bordered on instantaneous. Who knew? Maybe if I was a badass killing machine, I'd stop making sense too.
“You are, and you never did to begin with.”
Wow, thanks.
I glared at my friend, or at least that was my intent as I focused on him with annoyance. The message seemed to get through as he shrunk back a little. Satisfied, I turned my focus back toward the invaders.
“Be careful,” their leader spoke, “With how many groups have gone missing in here, the vines' levels should be much higher than last time. Since the first room only had level ones, everyone has to have died here.”
His logic was sound, but his conclusion was wrong. About half of the experience from the raiders that died went to Vie, Pee, and the elite Horned Draco, which they wouldn't be encountering. The rest went to either the Bloodthorn Vines or the other lizards, but they didn't maintain it. Most of the lizards died soon after, and the Bloodthorn Vines eventually followed, losing their accumulated experience in the process.
It would have been easy enough to add it back to the newly summoned ones, but I had opted to leave the experience points in their respective pools until I needed them instead. As far as I was concerned, there was no point in making the already deadly room even deadlier, not for the time being.
On top of that, leveling the monsters up would have lessened my experience gain. The bonus they got from killing those at a much higher level then themselves was a significant chunk of the income. Also, I didn't want to throw away twenty percent of the gathered experience every time one of my monsters died, so it was better to keep it safely banked away.
That meant there was only one monster above level one for them to face, and it was the second set of Bloodthorn Vines. Having finished off the only group that had reached them so far, the monstrous vines were sitting at level four. It was a shame, in a way, that the monster hadn't reached level five. I was curious what upgrades it could get from its advancement bonus, but I would have to wait to find that out. The current situation was more important, and I wasn't about to waste all of that experience while digging myself into an even deeper metaphorical hole solely out of curiosity. As for a deeper literal hole that I could hide in, that didn't sound like too bad of an idea.
Better safety measures that I couldn't attain in the short-term aside, my current ones weren't holding up particularly well. My first Bloodthorn Vines were already going down. The rogue's impressive speed and efficiency as she balanced acrobatics and knife throwing was enough to briefly make me rethink my decision, but in the end, I knew it was the right call.
“Well, that's my cue to go,” Fabian chimed in, “I can't let them see me, but good luck. You've got this.”
With that, he zipped over to the other room, ready for me to seal the entrance between them back up behind him. I did so, and just like that, I was left alone to face the impending danger.
Great. It's not like I needed someone to talk to anyway.
My nerves instantly spiked. It was far too easy to take his presence for granted. Without him, I was alone. I paused. Was that really true?
Vie, Pee?
“Our queen?”
“Yes, mother?”
That would do nicely. It also gave me an idea for something I could do while I waited for the group to handle the other monster. A little extra protection never hurt.
Tell me, if you could have some extra stat points, what would be most useful?
I had, up until this point, been allocating their stats based on what I thought would help them the most, but they were the ones doing the actual fighting. Surely, by this point, they would have some insights that I didn't, and I felt like it would be wrong to not get their input on it.
“More speed would be helpful, strength too. My physical power is falling behind. It is starting to hinder me.”
“I want more magic power! Control is probably more important, though. I can't use my spells as well as I'd like.”
Strength and agility for Vie, and willpower and soul for Pee, then. That's a lot.
I was a little surprised by their contrasting answers. I admittedly had pushed Pee toward a more magic role more than Vie by putting so many stat points into her SOUL, but I hadn't realized just how much of a distinction was starting to form between them in terms of combat preferences. I could see it being either a benefit or a disadvantage for them, but only time would tell which it would be. Regardless, if it was what they wanted, I would support them to the best of my ability.
Quickly, I opened up Monster Customization and got to work. With my latest achievement, their DP upkeep had lowered once again, and I also had a bit of wiggle room since I hadn't added any new monsters after my last level up. With that being the case, I decided to splurge on their upgrades.
I knew that if I made them much larger, it would start hindering them, but I could still increase their size a little bit for free. The physical stats gained from that were worth the point of dexterity it would cost, a point I could easily get back from other modifications. Also, as long as I didn't keep upsizing them, it shouldn't make them too much bigger of a target. It was a worthwhile trade off in my mind, so I made the adjustment. I also played with the texture on their scales a bit to make them faster.
Next, I added in the upgrades I had yet to give them. I sharpened their fangs, and I expanded Pee's soul. Afterward, I flooded it with four Dungeon Points worth of mana. I figured that should be enough of an upgrade for her, and I moved my attention to the best modification I could think of for Vie: enhanced muscles.
I spent two points on them, not receiving any discounts since the change fell under the same undefined category as the improvement they had to their heart. Then, I flooded those newly enhanced muscles with another two points of mana. I figured that should be enough and went to confirm my changes.
[Cost: 16 → 24 DP]
[Health: 20 → 25 (45)]
[Stamina: 25 → 30 (50)]
[Mana: 90 (130), 200 → 320 (370)]
[Stats: FORT 4 → 5 (9), VIT 23 (30), STR 9 → 18 (24), END 5 → 6 (10), SOUL 9 (13), SOUL 20 → 32 (37), MIND 4 (8), MIND 4 (8), WILL 17 (22), WILL 8 → 12 (17), COM 12 (16), COM 12 → 16 (20), DEX 17 → 18 (23), AGI 20 → 26 (32), TBD (Limited) 0 → 20]
When taking the percentage bonuses they got into account, it was an improvement of forty points, fifty-eight counting the unassigned ones provided by the Two for One achievement. With a new sense of comfort, I glanced back at the group to see them finishing off their enemy.
Well, if you try anything, let's see what happens.
With that thought, I accepted the changes and was met with more notifications than I expected. As I read through them, it was enough to put me in a stupor.
[You have gained 700 experience for acquiring a new achievement!]
[Achievement gained: Power of Customization!]
[You have gained 700 experience for acquiring a new achievement!]
[Achievement gained: Master of Monster Customization!]
[Achievement: Power of Customization
Description: You have customized a monster to have 10 levels worth of extra stat points.
Reward: The cost of each individual customization is reduced by 1 DP!]
[Achievement: Master of Monster Customization
Description: You have gained mastery over your specialization, pushing it to its limits by customizing a monster to have 10 levels worth of extra stat points. This was done without spending more than the monster's base DP cost on customizations. Congratulations!
Reward: The total cost of customizing a monster is reduced by 20% after all other price reductions are applied!]
Huh!?
The first one I had known about ahead of time. It was the last in a set of three achievements I had already been collecting, and I figured that I could get it by modifying a Horned Draco that I was fine with dying afterward. That way, it wouldn't have just sat around acting as a DP sink. Clearly, I hadn't been counting stat points well enough since I unintentionally earned it.
As for the second achievement, I most certainly did not know about it, and as I, fully taken by shock, continued to stare at it in disbelief, I failed to notice the cheering group of adventurers or the notification alerting me of my monster's death.
Why didn't Fabian tell me about such an absurd achievement?