The one thing that Tacca hadn’t mentioned was her outrageously shortened Countdown; she hadn’t thought of any reasonable explanation for it yet that might make sense, and that – more than anything about her – was different enough to raise some questions. She knew that it would come up eventually, especially when she removed all of the small Confusion traps she had all over her rooms – which, strangely enough, he hadn’t mentioned…or perhaps even noticed. The 497 Experience – actually 512 now with her additional rooms she had built – on his Countdown would drop down to 15 when she removed them; he couldn’t “save” any Experience until his year was up, so he would certainly notice those fluctuations…if he was paying attention.
She might be able to get away at the end of her third month by proclaiming it her year being up already, but the next month would be…difficult. Not only that, but when she was able to use more Dungeon Force than normal, as well as her Control Limit being higher than normal…well, she had no explanation for that. Shale didn’t seem like he was exceptionally intelligent, nor did he seem stupid; regardless of his smarts, though, Tacca just hoped that he wasn’t observant enough to add everything up. She herself was obsessed with numbers and strategic planning, so it came naturally to her, but she knew not everyone was like that.
When all of the rooms and tunnels between them were built, that’s when she started to decorate. For the first time, Shale didn’t agree. “Why are you adding all of this? From what I learned, most dungeons don’t add any Environmental Objects until they’re much larger and stronger, when they have the luxury of spending Dungeon Force on such…trivialities.”
To Tacca, adding elements of her Forest Environment wasn’t trivial; in fact, they were essential to her plan, and would pair phenomenally well with her creatures. “It’s all just another element of the plan, Shale. In light of my Special Characteristics slowing my growth, this is all part of a long-term strategy.”
“What do you mean? I was never taught about any long-term strategies in school.”
Exactly. “That’s exactly what Tacca told me when we were discussing future plans. She mentioned that a lot of what you Dungeon Assistants are taught is focused on quickly progressing, becoming powerful quickly and then just…fizzling out after a period of time. I wanted something that I could develop that was long-term and would sustain me for years and years – and it needed to be something that would keep me constantly interested. Tacca mentioned that some Dungeon Cores could exist for centuries, if not thousands of years, and if it isn’t kept fresh and new for me, I figured I would get bored and not care after a while.”
Technically, she wasn’t really worried about being bored herself, mainly because she could just Hibernate as long as she wanted to pass the time; her statement was more of a reflection of Raiders’ viewpoints than her own. Everything she was doing, as much as it seemed strange to Shale, was for the future – and not necessarily now. That wasn’t to say that what she did now wasn’t important, because it was; she needed to have a steady foundation, after all, and that was what she was building.
“Fine, do what you want. You seem to have this all in hand like you said, though don’t go blaming me when the Raiders invade and barely look around at what you’re decorating with. From what I’ve heard, they’re more interested in killing creatures and collecting rewards than looking at trees,” Shale said sullenly. Tacca could tell he was a bit perturbed that the Dungeon Core wasn’t taking his advice, and he was probably feeling a bit useless; she could understand that better than almost anyone else, especially based on her recent experiences with her own “problem” Cores.
“I appreciate your advice, but I’ve got this first part planned out fairly well. I may need help in the future on the next stage of my plan, if you don’t mind helping me with getting all of the details settled,” she offered, trying to placate him a bit. It worked.
“I would love to; I’m feeling kind of unneeded here, and I’d like to help out where I can.”
Of course, the next stage of her plan was a bit of a ways away; she was telling the truth, though – she really hadn’t worked it out except for a few general ideas. It all hinged on whether this first part worked.
Using a constant stream of Dungeon Force with Carve Earth was even safer now that her Core was basically all repaired; she upped the amount of time she spent using it from three hours to twelve, before giving it a rest for an hour. Even then, Tacca was confident she could constantly use it for even longer, but she was still being a little cautious – she didn’t want to stupidly crack her Core again. That all changed when it came time to fill her dungeon with Environmental Objects, as she spent more Force at one time than she had previously.
First, she spent 2 DF per cubic foot of soil to fill in each of her rooms, though she did it slowly, so as not to stress the amount of Force streaming out of her Core. It was interesting to watch the creation of Environmental Objects, because – unlike creatures and traps – the time it took to create them wasn’t measured in minutes or hours, but seconds. As soon as she directed her Dungeon Force to create soil, for example, it shot through her tunnels and rooms in a flash, pooling in the spot she selected; after a few seconds, fresh loamy soil appeared in relatively stable blocks. If she left them alone for a few minutes they would collapse and fall apart, but if she kept the process going – by adding another block a little bit of time after one finished – she was able to keep it going until she filled up the entire room.
All in all, her seven rooms required a lot of soil to fill completely. After it took 2,500 cubic feet of just plain dirt – totaling 5,000 Dungeon Force and 7 hours of constantly creating another block every 10 seconds – she began to understand a little of what Shale was talking about. The amount of Dungeon Force and time she spent making Objects that didn’t add any Core Improvement Points, weren’t necessary to defend her dungeon rooms, and were usually applied for aesthetic purposes was staggering. Finally, after three days of placing dirt everywhere – except her Core Room and connecting tunnels – she was done.
Then came the next part that made the Forest Environment a forest: trees. Not just trees, but ferns, shrubs, lichen, moss, and Tacca’s favorite – wildflowers. There was one room that was completely full of ferns, one full of the wider and fuller shrubs, another that had hundreds of wildflowers, and still others that had combinations of all of them. Where she ran into trouble, however, was when she filled her Boss Room with trees stretching up to the ceiling; as it was her largest room with 50ft ceilings, each tree cost 50 Dungeon Force to create – the most expensive single item she had made so far.
After creating a dozen of them in way too short of time, she felt that same “knife-stabbing” feeling in her Core and heard a sharp cracking noise coming from her Core Room. Looking at it from the outside, she saw a large crack running from the top to halfway down her fragile form.
“Whoa – what happened, Tamara? Did something hit you? I didn’t see anything in here – is your dungeon under attack?” Shale asked as he panicked and fluttered around the Core Room.
“No, we’re fine – I’m just stupid. I spent too much Dungeon Force too quickly, mainly because I was eager to get the placement of all my Environmental Objects done.”
Her Dungeon Assistant flew closer and got a better look at her Core. “Is that…why you had so many cracks in your Core before? I’ve never heard of something like that happening before; as far as I know, you should be able to freely use your Dungeon Force however you want,” he stated, sounding extremely confused.
“Well, I guess I’m just special or something, because my form here seems to get stressed if I use too much Force or for too long. Maybe it has something to do with my Special Characteristics?”
Tacca didn’t even want to attempt to explain what she thought the real reason was – having a Dungeon and Assistant soul in the Core at the same time – so she figured one explanation was as good as another. “Hmm…I guess that could explain it. I’ve never heard of any dungeons
taking those negative Characteristics before, so it’s quite possible. But if it happened to you before, how did you repair all of those cracks?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested.
Oops. “Uh…I’m not entirely sure, I think they just repaired themselves over time.”
“Huh. Well, I guess that another thing I’ve never heard of…I guess I should’ve paid better attention in class, right?” He laughed it off, but Tacca could tell that her impromptu explanation was bothering him. There was nothing she could do to help other than tell him the truth, though, and that wasn’t something she wanted to do right now.
From that point on, Tacca was a bit more cautious in her Force expenditure. She found that it wasn’t necessarily the larger cost of the individual trees that had caused her to develop another crack, but the rapid expenditure of that amount one after another. Although, she had to admit that she was a little worried if a larger amount – like 200 Dungeon Force or more – was needed to create something, such as a trap, but there was no other way to find out but to try. If I give the Force a rest before and after, I think I could use even more – but it’s a risk, certainly.
It took another five days of filling her dungeon with trees, ferns, shrubs, and wildflowers; Shale was impatient by that time because she hadn’t gained even a single CIP for all of that effort. He wasn’t necessarily concerned for himself; he – like most Dungeon Assistants like herself – was taught that gaining as many Points as you could while you were smaller and weaker was the way to do things. Looking at it from his perspective, it did seem a little wasteful and unnecessary; with reluctance, she thought that she would’ve probably agreed with him – if she was still a Fairy Dungeon Assistant. As a Dungeon Core, however, she found that her priorities had changed and that she was in charge of her own destiny, not Shale or any other Assistant.
Next came the creatures that she wanted to use in her dungeon. She’d already seen the foxes that she could create – for which a few Variants would work wonderfully with what she had planned – but now she needed to see exactly what she was working with. To most with just a passing familiarity with the Canine family, the Wolf species would normally be considered the deadliest and most powerful. To a certain extent, of course, they would be right; they were larger than most other members of the canine family, had powerful jaws, and worked together in packs to take down their prey – in this case, Raiders – with deadly efficiency.
To those who did a little more research, there were other possibilities—
“Ok, so I know you said you chose a ‘family’ instead of a singular species and Tacca somehow exploited a loophole to make it work for you, but I have to ask…why Canines? I can think of dozens of other ‘families’ that would be better suited to being in a dungeon, and really, all you’ve got are wolves that are any good. I mean, what is a fox possibly going to do?”
Shale interrupted her as she started creating suitable Variants of each of her different species in her Core Room. Tacca wanted them all together so that she could visually see what she was working with, so she had started with a Root Fox again – since she was planning on using that Variant in her dungeon. She almost ignored his question at first because she didn’t need to explain herself…but she figured this could be a teaching moment. Shale evidently hadn’t spent much time researching every single creature available and had likely dismissed some without really looking at them.
Therefore, as she created each creature she was planning on using in her dungeon, she explained her reasoning. “First of all, this Root Fox Variant may look like it won’t do much, but that is the first part where you’re mistaken in your statement. It may not be able to take on a Raider by itself, but most Canines – which I’m sure you know about wolves – are pack hunters by nature; when they attack together with any 2 or more others from the Canine family, they get a bonus to their physical attack. When you add in the Root Fox’s natural extra defense, they can be a handful in larger packs that many weaker Raiders would have a hard time defending against.
“On a side note, Canines are the only family of species that the Pack Hunter’s special circumstances apply to every single species in the family; while there are other creatures that have that special bonus, they only apply to members of their specific species, and with some they have to be the same Variant.”
“Huh. I didn’t know that about—”
While she was talking about the Fox, her next creature was already forming. As soon as it “popped” into existence so that Shale could see it, she continued her lesson. “Now, this Branch Jackal Variant is unique in the fact that can climb trees with ease, using special nails that grow out of their paws; not only that, but their fur is specially shaded to camouflage them either on the side of a tree or on top of a tree branch – hence their name. They are larger than foxes and have stronger jaws that can rip and tear easier, which means they have a slightly stronger Physical Attack, though they can’t withstand as much damage as the Root Fox; however, when you add in the fact that they can climb trees and attack from above, their surprise assaults can quickly overwhelm an unprepared group of Raiders.”
Shale was still invisible, but she could make enough of him out to see that he was shaking his head; whether it was in confusion or denial she couldn’t tell until he spoke. “That’s…interesting and amazing all at the same time. Did Tacca teach you all of—”
She didn’t let him finish, because the former Fairy Assistant was enjoying herself for once; excitedly talking about species Variants with someone else was something she’d never really been able to do before, so she was taking advantage of her relatively captive audience. The next creature was just finishing, so she continued her lecture, really getting into it now.
“Next up we have a Frond Coyote, with its distinctive coloring. If you’ll notice, the dark-green stripes on its back and sides – along with its dirt-brown base color – allow it to blend in with ferns and other small shrubs found in a forest rather well. And just like the fronds of a fern can bend and flex with surprising alacrity, so too can a Frond Coyote; its hind legs are enhanced to the point where it can spring forth from a hiding place and leap up to 15 feet away. Of course, like the others, the Pack Hunter attribute it also possesses means that it will do more damage when attacking in conjunction with others.”
Shale didn’t even say anything as Tacca kept going, her next creature appearing a few seconds later. “I’m sure you know about the Forest Wolf, which is just a Variant suited to my particular Environment with a mottled brown and green coloring to its fur. It has one of the strongest bite forces – and therefore a strong Physical Attack – of all of the Canines and packs of them can tear Raiders apart, though their natural Physical Defense is relatively weak. What you may not know about this particular Variant, however, is that it possesses a unique ability to freeze itself completely when threats are near.”
Silence still came from Shale, though he finally asked the question Tacca was expecting to hear. “How is freezing itself completely beneficial—?”
“I’m glad you asked. What I mean by freezing itself is a complete cessation of its movements – including its breathing. When it’s in that ‘frozen’ state, it’s nearly indistinguishable from nearby Environmental Objects; it could even pause in the middle of a pathway and be mistaken for a bush or small fern unless it is carefully analyzed. This ability allows the Forest Wolf to work together with others of its kind to set up an ambush for a group of Raiders, and they would have a hard time even noticing they are there.”
It was fascinating to Tacca how diverse the different Variants were, and how they could really take advantage of the Environment to enhance their own attack skills. She had loved looking over the descriptions of each and every one while she was still at DAPS, and actually being able to create so many of them was like a dream come true.
“Ok…I can see that I might’ve been wrong. You obviously have had some extensive training from Tacca about your creatures—”
“Hol
d on, I’m not done yet,” she said, as another creature appeared next to the Forest Wolf. It barely fit in her Core Room, though, because it was so large; in fact, it was almost as large as a small horse. “Normally, you might think of domesticated dogs as those that Raiders sometimes use to hunt with or keep as companions – and you’d be fairly accurate in your thinking. What you may not have come across in your studies, though, is that there are a few Variants of dogs that are bigger, stronger, and can be even deadlier than a wolf. Take this Mastiff Dog Variant, for example; whereas the Forest Wolf is nearly 90 pounds in weight, this Mastiff is nearly three times that, as well as being almost a foot taller. Granted, it’s less agile than a wolf or any of my other Canines – as well as having less bite force – but its weight alone can knock down a Raider if used correctly; as you probably know, a Raider on their back is much more vulnerable to other attacks, so it can easily be taken advantage of.
“There are other Dog Variants that are a little smaller but can still throw their weight around, as well as having almost as much of a bite force as the wolves, though I’m not going to create all of them right now for this demonstration. Do you know the best thing about these Dog Variants?”
“Uh…no?”
Tacca didn’t think he’d know, because it was kind of obscure information. “The best thing about these ‘domesticated dogs’ is that they aren’t classified in the same type of overall…category…as the others. The other Canines are considered to be ‘wild’ and ‘hostile’, which means they consume more of my Control Limit. This Forest Wolf, for example – despite only being Level 1 – takes up 5 of my Control Limit; the larger, heavier, and potentially deadlier Mastiff, on the other hand, only contributes 2 towards my Control Limit. Oh, and if you weren’t following what I was saying earlier, even these ‘domesticated dogs’ take advantage of the Pack Hunter bonus, so that makes them even better.”
The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) Page 17
