Cameron
What is wrong with that group? I angrily asked the moment Fabian placed his hand on my core.
“What happened?”
I ran him through the events as I resummoned the monsters behind the adventurers on their way out.
“It kind of sounds like things worked out for the best.”
I glared at him, but he seemed unfazed as he elaborated, “Look, they wanted to know why so many people were dying. Now that they saw that it's the work of an awakened monster that guards your core, it might pacify the guild a bit. They didn't actually try to kill you, so you should be fine for now. Also, if they seemed happy about Vie and Pee showing up, that's a good sign. Happy adventurers are less of a threat to your continued existence.”
Wow, that is so comforting, I made sure to emphasize the sarcasm in my thoughts before adding in a more serious manner, Ugh! Vie and Pee were supposed to be kept secret. What am I going to do now?
“As much as you might want to, you can't keep everything a secret. Sooner or later, someone is going to stumble upon something you've hidden, and then, they'll tell everyone. It's not something you can help.”
Whatever. It's not like I can do anything about it now anyway. At least, they didn't kill me. They sure had ample opportunity to.
“See, now you're looking on the bright side!”
I sighed in response. I didn't agree with his optimism on this matter, but all I could do was wait and see what came from the incident. Who knew? Maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised.
Either way, I need better defenses. I won't feel comfortable until I stand a fighting chance against them. By the way, why didn't you tell me about the Master of Monster Customization achievement? If I'd known about it, I would have already rushed it.
“The what?”
I sent him the information on it.
“This is a mastery achievement,” he stated as he stared the details in bafflement, “How did you even get this?”
I upgraded Vie and Pee again with Monster Customization.
He seemingly reread the unlock conditions a few more times before his eyes went wide.
“You're unattuned!” he exclaimed.
What?
“You chose Unattuned as your monster type! The base DP cost of a Shadow Viper is twice as much for you than for a normal Dungeon, making the requirements much easier! Also, Vie and Pee get extra stat points from their achievements. That had to have played a role. All of that combined must have been enough!”
Okay, and?
I did not understand his reaction. The achievement was exceptional, sure, but I couldn't wrap my head around why he was doing mental gymnastics. It wasn't as though the unlock conditions were unreachable.
“Why would I have mentioned an achievement you were nowhere near getting?”
Apparently, he disagreed.
“Mastery achievements are some of the most powerful achievements there are, and they are normally impossibly hard to get. The only reason you were able to get this was because of your absurd setup.”
I was somewhere between impassive about what didn't seem like all that hard of an achievement to get and annoyed by his continued jabs at my choices. In the end, I gave a mental shrug, still too overwhelmed by my circumstances to manage much more than that.
I told you it was a good build.
“I don't know if I'd go that far, but you do seem to be making it work to some extent.”
Just say that I'm not doing a bad job, would you?
“Cameron, risks of bringing the Adventurers Guild's wrath down on us aside, you are doing great for the tools you have chosen for yourself.”
Whatever.
I veered my thoughts away from bickering to more important things. My defenses had failed me, and I couldn't let that stand. I needed to keep moving forward, and to that end, I reviewed the resources I had to work with.
[DP: 39 / 180]
[Experience to next level: 48,912 / 49,000]
Once I gained just short of another one hundred experience, my unused DP would shoot up to seventy-nine. As far as I was concerned, that was more than enough to afford some extra defenses and maybe another elite. I liked that idea a lot, so I began expanding my real core room to be more than a tiny hiding place. From there, I could enhance my security in secret. I would not stagnate. With my goal set, I mindlessly began tunneling away. As I did so, I decided it was finally time to ask Fabian about something that had slipped my mind previously thanks to more urgent matter coming up.
You said you were going to research that powder the alchemist used on me when you went back to your home, right? Did you ever figure out what it was?
“Oh, the Flinth Powder?”
I absorbed some of the same leftover waste from the apprentice who had been using it on me to confirm.
[You have absorbed a unit of Flinth Powder! Absorb 18 more units to unlock this item.]
Yeah, that's the one.
“It's a mana conductive reagent. Most likely, that alchemist was using it to measure your mana capacity to check how powerful you were.”
I froze.
So, hypothetically, if that alchemist's apprentice who was just in here also used it on me, he would know what level I'm at?
“Yeah, or at least an approximation of it. Did he?”
My mental wincing was answer enough.
What are the odds they are going to be questioning why I have so few monsters at my level?
“After Vie and Pee fought with them? I wouldn't worry about it. The mortal races don't understand Dungeons too precisely. Odds are, they'll write it off as most of your power being spent on them. In some ways, that's an issue on its own, but it's a lot less pressing of one.”
I sighed in relief.
So, I should be fine for now, but I'll need to visibly expand soon, right?
“That pretty much sums it up.”
Well, that puts a damper on my secret expansion plans. Unless …
“Unless?”
Hey, Fabe, do you think they would mistake level one monsters with higher stats for my resourcing being spent on their growth?
“Considering the fact that raising their stats would entail you spending your resources on their growth, almost certainly.”
A devious thrill flowed through me, and a surge of worry was my fairy's response.
“What are you planning?”
Well, it just so happens that I am benefiting from a substantial discount to Monster Customization now. I'll just make sure to time me raising my monsters stats with my actual growth, and no one will be the wiser.
“That would mean making your Dungeon even more deadly, though. That's not a good idea. Also, once you reach level ten, they will be expecting two new monster species.”
So, I'll give them two more monsters. I'll be getting another three picks soon on top of the one I'm still sitting on. Until then, I'll just slowly improve the upgrades on my Bloodthorn Vines.
“I still don't get the point of all of this secrecy.”
I'm just keeping the element of surprise.
* * *
Unlike the past few days, it was peaceful from a delving standpoint. Not a single group visited me after the scouts left early in the morning. It probably had something to do with the last encounter, but I wasn't going to question it. It was a boon in my eyes, giving me plenty of time to work on my expansion.
Once I had hollowed the room out to my liking, I grew a single, large tree in the center. Underneath it, I dug a small hole. It was just large enough for my core and Fabian's work in progress house to fit snugly. The roots then wrapped around both, adding a small layer of protection. Then, I summoned a single new monster.
Situated immediately in front of me, I planted another set of Bloodthorn Vines. With how well they had already proven themselves to work, it would have been insanity to not add them to my own personal defenses, but I didn't stop there. I dug extra tunnels throughout the floor for the plant's vines to snake through. I hoped that would allow them to strike from anywhere, making them far more versatile.
Immediately, I ran into a problem. The monster could sense blood, but it couldn't see. The other room was mostly open, so that wasn't a huge concern for the Bloodthorn Vines there. The problem came from me wanting the level of versatility I was after in my core room. Without better senses, the species was ill-suited to subterranean maneuvering.
In the end, I had to scrap the idea. I was sure I could find a solution if I really wanted to, but the price was likely to be high. Instead, I altered my idea a bit. Instead of the vines popping up from different holes, I would just have a single hole for each vine. That way, they could retreat into them for cover.
With the general idea decided on, I moved onto upgrading the monster. I considered starting off by giving it the same customizations as the other members of its species, but I quickly dismissed that idea. I was making it my last line of defense, so I wanted it to fit its role better than the reused modifications would allow it to. I would use the others as a reference but not a template.
Determined to make it as good as it could be from the ground up, I started with the simplest change: its color. Where before I adjusted the natural blood-red of the vines to a green that better blended into the others' environment, I changed this one's color to a mix of rocky tones. The price was a bit higher, but with my achievements, it still more than zeroed out.
Next, to better sell the illusion, I retextured them. I broke up the smooth and even surfaces of the appendages, instead making them bumpy and uneven. By the time I was done, they looked like stalagmites rising from the ground. Content with that, I began filling the room with actual stalagmites. My hope was that they would help the monster to hide and strike from unexpected angles.
After that, I got into the real upgrades. I had adjusted the others with an emphasis on strength and vitality, but with this one, I decided to bolster its defenses. The others were great, and they served their purpose exceptionally well, but I needed something different from this one. I already had a mage in the room, and with Vie and Pee, I had a good source of damage. If I added in the Horned Draco, I also had a disrupter that could sow chaos in my enemies' ranks. What I didn't have was something that could take hits, and with how easily my limited monsters' vines went down, my work was cut out for me there.
My focus was on improving their endurance. That wouldn't do much to help them defend against magic, but there was only so much I could do. With my goal narrowed down, I hardened the vines. Then, I flooded the outermost layer of them with mana, further enhancing their defenses. After that, I increased the density of their plant matter.
Once I was done with that, I found myself spending the bulk of the points I had to work with on one thing: the monster's number of vines. Each new vine cost three points, and by adding an extra four, it ended up costing nearly as much as it would have to just summon another of the creature. I decided the cost was worth it, even if it also raised the price I had to pay for all other vine modifications. Sadly, I had to modify each new appendage to apply any change I made to the others. The cost was exorbitant, but after some mental gymnastics, I managed to convince myself that my safety was worth the cost.
I then increased the length of all of its vines, giving them the range they needed to reach the walls of the room. That also wasn't cheap, and to get the range I wanted, it ended up costing one and a half DP per vine. After running the numbers, I mentally winced. The cost for my changes was more than I could afford. Regrettably, I began to cut back on some of the defensive upgrades to make it work. Eventually, I managed to balance my budget with no room to spare.
Lastly, I threw in whatever freebies I could fit. That only really covered sharpening its thorns and stretching out its soul, but I would take it. Once I was done, I reviewed the results of my work.
[Cost: 16 → 39 DP]
[Health: 60 →105 (115)]
[Stamina: 40 → 100 (110)]
[Mana: 20 → 80 (100)]
[Stats: FORT 12 → 21 (23), VIT 14 → 22 (24), STR 13 → 22 (25), END 8 → 20 (22), SOUL 2 → 8 (10), MIND 2 (4), WILL 2 (4), COM 10 (12), DEX 12 (14), AGI 8 → 6 (8)]
The cost was almost enough to make me rethink my decision. It would take up every unspent Dungeon Point I had, but for the sake of forging myself a new trump card, I resolved myself.
“Are you sure about this?”
Fabian was not as decided as I was, but it was clear to me that my last line of defense was lacking, so before I could think better of it, I accepted the changes. Twenty-three DP for forty-two stat points wasn't horrible, but I also knew it wasn't exactly the best deal. Most of that was going toward extra vines, though, so it was okay, or at least, that is how I justified the expenditure to myself.
With that checked off of my mental to-do list, I brought up the respawn timer for Vie and Pee. They were still a couple of hours off. That left me to figure out other ways to kill time while increasing my safety. What I eventually decided on was upgrading my other elites to take full advantage of every free stat point I could stuff in them.
I opted to do my Horned Draco first. Since it only needed me to enhance the modifications it already had in place, I figured I could finish quickly before devoting more time to optimizing my Trenti. I did just that. Then, I brought up the changes.
[Cost: 9 → 9 DP]
[Health: 0 → -10 (0)]
[Stamina: 15 → 25 (35)]
[Mana: 120 → 160 (180)]
[Stats: FORT 0 → -2 (0), VIT 2 (4), STR 4 → 6 (9), END 3 → 5 (7), SOUL 12 → 16 (18), MIND 4 (6), WILL 4 (6), COM 2 (4), DEX 25 → 29 (32), AGI 33 → 41 (43)]
Hey, what happens if you lower a monster's health to a maximum of zero or a stat to a negative number?
“As for heath, it dies, obviously, and stats shouldn't be able to go into the negatives. The lowest they can get is zero, and when that happens, their bodies usually start to fail. It's either that or you get an achievement that mitigates that problem like you did with the Trenti.”
I sent the screen I was looking at to him and asked, So, will it die, or will I get an achievement?
He scratched his head as he thought. Then, he answered, “I have no clue. Either outcome is possible, at least as far as I'm concerned. It really just comes down to whether or not you want to risk losing it.”
As I looked at the small lizard sleeping peacefully curled up on its copper coin in the ceiling tunnels, I found that I didn't want to take that risk. Instead, I allocated the two thousand and twenty experience from the Horned Draco experience pool to it. That was enough to level it up and get it two free stat points that I could use to mitigate the lost points in fortitude.
[You have gained 700 experience for acquiring a new achievement!]
[Achievement gained: Broken Bonds!]
[Achievement: Broken Bonds
Description: One of your unawakened monsters has exceeded your level, reaching a minimum of level 6 through only earned experience. It has also directly earned at least one achievement, learned a skill, and has begun to develop a sense of self with goals that do not necessarily align with your own.
Reward: The monster has awakened, but your connection to it has weakened drastically! Its Dungeon Point cost is halved, but it is no longer bound to follow your orders and has gained self-agency.]
[Unnamed Horned Draco has been awakened.]
Um, Fabian …
“Yes?”
We might have a problem.
As I finished that thought, the motionless lizard slowly opened a single eye.