by Aleron Kong
One thing that Roswan was sure about was that each Dungeon Point could be traded for ten Experience Points. If Richter was right about the ratio though, even if the Dungeon could somehow allocate 100% of its DPs to leveling, it would still take more than two hundred and sixty days to connect to the Labyrinth. The Dungeon Keeper told him that was another reason why Dungeons needed to feed. They could channel 100% of the energy they gained from kills to any area they wished. That was when Roswan pointed out that if Richter unlocked another of the village’s Powers, then the Dungeon Points generated each day would gain another 100% boost.
Richter shook his head. He just wasn’t willing to do that yet. There would be many benefits to unlocking another Power, but it would also make the lands around his village more dangerous. Each Power awakened was like a beacon, attracting more and stronger monsters. So far, his people had been able to keep up with the dangers of the forest, but activating another ley line didn’t just step up the danger, it leapfrogged it.
Before he had claimed his Place of Power, it had been wolves and foxes that he’d had to deal with. After claiming Mastery over Air magic, those had become timber wargs and giant scorpions. After gaining his second Mastery in Life magic, he’d had the distinct pleasure of being chased by a twenty-foot-tall rock giant. He just didn’t know what the third level of Mastery would bring, and he wasn’t willing to risk the lives of his people to find out. Not until they were stronger.
Both men knew that another way to easily grow the Dungeon was through its consuming Adventurers, but neither proposed feeding villagers to it. However, as Richter discarded the idea another occurred to him; he wouldn’t feed his people to the Dungeon, but other creatures…now that was an interesting idea.
“Can you channel more Dungeon Points into the defenses?” Richter asked. “Specifically, the Siren Rock?”
Roswan responded that he couldn’t funnel many of the DPs, but he could redirect some of them. Richter smiled. Maybe there was a way to unlock his third Power, get the Dungeon more points and keep his people safe! It definitely merited more thought.
The Dungeon Keeper kept explaining. He admitted that at first he hadn’t known the difference between Dungeon Growth and Leveling either. He’d discovered that the former referred to physical growth. Each Dungeon had a tendency to dig deeper and wider. Roswan had found he could influence whether that expansion was generally to the north, south, east or west, and even if the Dungeon grew a second floor. The last option required a massive amount of Dungeon Points, but would also open up a good deal more opportunities. Even better, Roswan could use his mist workers to directly influence the Dungeon’s expansion.
Normally, excavated rock would regenerate inside the Dungeon, literally allowing endless opportunities for mining. Roswan could keep that regrowth from happening. On consideration though, it presented some amazing possibilities. Richter immediately gave the elf an order. The Dungeon Keeper said he would get his mist workers started on it right away.
The next tabs Roswan explained were Loot Allocation and Resource Allocation. The Dungeon made both periodically. The frequency with which items and resources appeared depended on how many Dungeon Points were allocated to the task. Right now, Loot Allocation and Resource Allocation were receiving 5% each. The type of loot and resources provided were randomly produced in various distributions. Roswan had the capability to affect this as well to an extent, but it depended on several factors: for example, the rarity of loot or resources and their inherent magic concentration.
In regard to items, Roswan could spend DPs and make it more likely for specific loot to drop. Even then, a drop was not guaranteed. While it might only require one DP to make it 10% more likely for a common item, such as a copper coin, to appear, it might take one hundred DPs to increase the chance of a scarce item dropping by a mere 1%. Each boost only lasted one day, though again, the Engineer said there were Talents that could extend this timeframe or decrease the initial cost of certain drops appearing.
Resources were a bit harder to nail down. Just as with loot, the rarity of a resource came into play; however, the odds of it appearing were further complicated by the relative abundance of the material in the lands surrounding the Dungeon. While both copper and iron ore were common, for example, it was far more likely for iron veins to appear in the Dungeon, as there was an iron mine nearby.
It cost more to affect resources than loot, but the tradeoff was that the increase was permanent until that resource actually appeared. If Richter ever got his hands on some elementum ore and dropped it down the Well of Offering, he could use DPs to increase the incidence of a vein appearing all the way up to 100%. It would probably cost something like a million points though, seeing as elementum wasn’t even native to Richter’s plane of existence. Also, each time you increased the likelihood of a resource appearing it cost more, so increasing the incidence from 2% to 3% was more expensive than going from 1% to 2%. The cost of this could also be improved through Roswan’s Dungeon Keeper Specialty.
A third factor that came into play were any requirements for certain resources to even exist. Plants like shiverleaf fronds, for instance, required deep water and darkness to grow. As the Dungeon lacked an area like that currently, it had zero chance of providing that herb. Thankfully, it had already been established that Roswan could make new Rooms and terrains inside of the Dungeon, so the possibilities were endless.
Richter could see a list of the currently available loot and resources, just like before he had made Roswan Dungeon Keeper. Now though, he could see exactly what the chance was for each to appear. There was also a modifier at the top of the chart showing that the incidence of resources being generated was increased by 30% thanks to Richter’s Life Mastery ability, Bounty of Life. In addition, the yield of resources would also be increased by 25% and rare resources were 25% more likely to appear thanks to the Quickening being level two. In a short while, the Dungeon might fix the village’s money issues!
Richter was both amazed and happy that the Dungeon had so much new functionality, but he was concerned about how Talent Point-intensive the elf’s Specialty seemed to be. The main way Talent Points were obtained was by leveling. The main way to level was through quests and combat. If Roswan was always stuck constructing buildings or tinkering in the Dungeon, Richter didn’t know how he’d be able to get the requisite XP needed to rank up his Talents.
That was when Roswan dropped the bombshell. His Specialty came with a unique quirk, just as Richter’s did. Though the chaos seed didn’t know it, both Essence Enchanting and Dungeon Keeping were epic ranked Specialties. Neither was quite mythic, but they were only one level shy. The nearly-unique Talents offered by such high-level Specialties were only one reason that highly ranked Specialties were so coveted. The other was that they normally had built-in mechanisms that encouraged their own growth.
Essence Enchanting allowed Richter to trade his Experience Points for Talent Points. Initially there had been a serious penalty to any XP he earned after buying TPs, but he’d been able to advance his Specialty to reduce that cost. As Dungeon Keeper, Roswan was awarded 1% of all of the experience gained by the Dungeon. The elf revealed that this was one area into which he’d already invested his Talent Points. It had cost one hundred and fifty TPs, but he’d been able to increase that to 3%. Roswan also told him that on his Dungeon interface there seemed to be an option to use Dungeon Points to purchase Talent Points, but it was currently greyed out. The elf hoped that he would unlock the option soon, but as of right now he had no idea how.
Richter made sure to stress that Roswan needed to remember his obligations to building up the village as well. If this new gnome builder worked out, then the portal was the next project he wanted started. The chaos seed would feel a lot better if his closest ally, the Hearth Tree, was only a step away rather than a three-day hike. He also charged the elf with finding a good location to build the portal, somewhere that balanced accessibility with defense. The portal itself needed to be protec
ted, but Richter was wary of placing the gateway inside of the village walls in case the other end was ever compromised. It would be the same as rolling out a welcome mat to hostiles.
The elf’s mustache started doing a “thinking” quiver as he mused over the problem. He promised Richter that the Townhall would be completed within the next three days, two if they got lucky. The chaos seed smiled at that, seeing as how currently the village was flush with Luck. More than ready for sleep, he placed his hand on the transport sphere and focused. An instant later, he was standing in front of the snake’s head entrance. Jogging back to the village, he kept an eye out. Night had fallen, but the many mist lights hanging outside of the walls made a sneak attack extremely unlikely. Richter made it into the village and then into his bed without any further issue. His dreams were restless and filled with battle.
CHAPTER 85 – Day 148 – Kuborn 38, 0 AoC
The next three days passed without major incident, though everyone in the village started to react subconsciously to the looming conflict. People still laughed, but it stopped a second faster than it would have before. Children still played, but a bit more quietly. The village was preparing for war.
The good news was Hisako’s army kept the village safe from monster attacks. They were more than worth whatever food they ate. They even helped with the village larders by bringing back dead creatures and monsters every day.
They didn’t just find roving monsters. In three days they had also found a den and two larger nests. Both could have grown into lairs, and possibly even swarms of monsters, if they hadn’t been dealt with. Once again, the sprites had helped deal with a serious threat to the village. Richter had personally only found one nest before, the assengai spiders. They had caught the assengai infestation early, but there had been thousands of eggs just waiting to hatch. Richter told Terrod about the upsurge in nests and the captain promised to increase the number of patrols in response.
There was good news on that front. One hundred and forty-eight of the new villagers had agreed to join the village guard. Another twenty-two had experience as hunters and so added to the village in that capacity. Not only did it help the food situation, but they also doubled as scouts to look for nests and other enemies. Even the pixie children were pitching in. Just as Elora had told him she would, she now allowed her children to range into the surrounding forest. If they left the village, they mostly did so in the company of their meitu’sprites, but she also allowed them to fly around the village unescorted in small groups. Their small size worked in their favor as potential predators rarely saw them and even when they did, their racially augmented speed let them avoid danger.
In fact, it was the pixies that found a fourth nest, filled with diminutive rat-like creatures that could walk on their hind legs. Though the rats were small in stature, they were almost as wrathful as a dragon. The two-foot chittering monsters could use ice magic, and although the bolts they fired were only the equivalent of weak rank one spells, they still caused damage. Even weak magic could kill when it was fired from hundreds of little hands. Richter took his full warband of Professional Warriors, Mages and Rogues to deal with it, and they destroyed it without too much difficulty. He felt a bit of déjà vu clearing the nest. It reminded him of a great story he’d read once. The only bad news was that there was no sign of the last sakeru pixie. Knowing how powerful monsters could become after they underwent sakeru bonding, Richter was not looking forward to the battle that might be looming on the horizon.
Richter’s knowledge of enchantments also grew by leaps and bounds. As always, he spent a good deal of each day enchanting in the Forge. Not only did it help him train his primary skill and Profession, but it also helped to outfit his fighters with deadlier arms and more resilient armor. The increased Luck of the village proved to be exactly what he needed to learn the last Forge enchantments that had been eluding him. Gloran, Krom and several other smiths learned new enchantments as well, something that excited them to no end and increased their regard for him. Even knowing one or two enchantments made a smith valuable. If they ever had to leave the village, they would be employed in a heartbeat. That, of course, was not what Richter wanted and something he planned to avoid at all costs. It was a worry for the future though. The celebration of the now was that he had gained complete access to the Forge’s enchantments. Now every single colored light that danced inside of the central anvil was his to command!
He was even able to learn most of the enchantments from Nien’s armor. The exceptions were the Greaves of Shadow Pull and the Dirk of Piercing. Those merely crumpled to dust, unfortunately. Even with greatly increased Luck, there was always a chance of failure. He didn’t risk seeking the enchantment from the runed gauntlets. Those went to Bartle and Bea to aid in their rune research. He made sure to warn them not to touch the necromium without heavy gauntlets.
In the first two days, he gained all of the enchantments that had been learned by the Forge. He also spent Talent Points to unlock the spell schools of Fire and Air.
You have purchased the Talent: Unlock Spell School: Fire Magic for 10 Talent Points. You may now convert your known Fire Magic spells into Enchantments.
You have purchased the Talent: Unlock Spell School: Air Magic for 10 Talent Points. You may now convert your known Air Magic spells into Enchantments.
You have: 106 Talent Points remaining.
You have now purchased the (Weapons) enchantment: Weak Flame
Enchantment Size: Unknown
Enchantment School: Fire
You are currently at 0/2,400 of the mana cost to unlock this enchantment.
Effects: Unknown
You have: 105 Talent Points remaining
Learning the enchantment didn’t take more than a few hours.
Congratulations! You have learned the enchantment Fire Damage, Level I
Enchantment Type: Weapons
Enchantment Size: 3
Enchantment School: Fire
Effect 1: +1 Fire Damage
Richter began practicing with it immediately in the forge and quickly gained a few ranks. The true coup though was advancing his level two sonic enchantment to the fourth rank. That, in turn, increased the rank of his level one sonic enchantment as well. A thought was all that was required to add another column to his enchantment screen showing if they had been learned from the Forge or from his Essence Specialty.
Name (cost)
Level/
Rank
Base Effect per Rank
Source
WEAPONS
Attack +1 (5)
STATIC
Increases attack by +1
Forge
Attack +2 (10)
STATIC
Increases attack by +2
Forge
Freeze (3)
I/V
+1 Cold Damage*
+1% chance to Freeze
*+100% vs Fire creatures
Forge
Life Attack (2)
I/V
+1 Life Damage*
*+100% vs Death creatures
Essence
Death Attack (2)
I/I
+1 Death Damage*
*+100% vs Life creatures
Essence
Ignore Defense (3)
I/IV
Ignores +2% of Target’s Defense
Forge
Goblin Slaying (3)
I/IV
+6% Damage vs Goblins
Forge
Dark Attack (2)
I/IV
+1 Dark Damage*
*+100% vs Light creatures
Forge
Tracking (2)
I/II
Struck creatures leave an obvious trail for 250 yards
Forge
Analysis (4)
I/II
Know information about the struck creature. Depth of knowledge dependent upon multiple factors including, but not limited to, rank of enchantment, level of creature, etc. Each enchantment rank can Analyze
up to 5 levels.
Forge
Mana Stealing (3)
I/II
2 mana stolen per hit
Forge
Beast Slaying (3)
I/III
+6% Damage vs Beasts
Forge
Sonic Damage
(Level I: 3)
(Level II: 4)
I/IV
+1 Earth Damage
+1% chance to Disarm
*+100% vs Air creatures
Essence
II/IV
+2 Earth Damage
+2% chance to Disarm
+1% chance to Shatter
*+200% vs Air creatures, +300% vs Crystalline creatures
Essence
Soul Trap (2)
I/III
Traps the soul of the struck creature for five minutes. Can capture up to Special level souls
Essence
Charm Humanoid
I/II
Increases the chance to charm a humanoid
Allows you to Charm a humanoid up to level (rank*5)
Increases length of maximum Charm effect by 5 minutes (baseline 5 minutes)
Essence
Multishot (5)
I/V
Creates 1 extra projectile upon being shot
Forge
Confusion (2)
I/II
+1% chance to cause Confusion
Forge
Savage (3)
I/I
+1% Critical Hit Chance
+25% Critical Hit Damage
Forge
Fire Attack (2)
I/III
+1 Fire Damage (+3 vs Water Creatures)
Essence
ARMOR
Life Defense (3)
I/III
+1 Defense*
*+100% vs Death
