For herself, she set up her little sphere of Singing Blademasters around her Core again, though she added a few Small Animated Shears to add some variety. When everything was as ready as she thought it was going to get, Sandra asked Winxa if she was ready.
“Of course I am! I’m actually very excited for you to Upgrade to Size 20 and finally unlock your Advancement system; it’s been a long time since I’ve been around a Core for this long, and since…Wester…that I’ve been near a Core that knows about the special Advancements they can choose,” the Dungeon Fairy said happily. “And hopefully you’ll find some way to stop the Elves from wanting to destroy you,” she added, with a faint hint of worry in her voice.
Well, I’m excited, too – but probably for different reasons than you. I can just see the potential for crafting that will come from it…
And with that, Sandra confirmed her decision to Upgrade her Core Size – and her awareness shrank down to just a small portion of her Home room. It was as boring and mind-numbing as ever, but the potential rewards for reaching Size 20 – along with Winxa’s conversation and Sandra’s flying constructs – made the experience not as horrible as she remembered. Either that, or she was getting used to it enough to not freak out every time she was trapped within her Core.
Core Size Upgrade Stage complete!
12/12 Completed
Your Core has grown!
Current Size: 20
Mana Capacity increased!
Raw Material Capacity increased!
New Advancement Options Available! (Unlocked)
I did it! Finally, Sandra had done it; getting to Core Size 20 seemed like an insurmountable challenge when she first learned about the Advancement system, but she had reached it within only a few months. It helped that she had quite a bit of Mana coming into her Core from her AMANS up above her dungeon, but she was actually most proud of the fact that she survived the helplessness she always felt when she upgraded. It reminded her a little of when she was alive as a Human; her deformed hands had made many “normal” activities difficult to manage, and she’d felt like she couldn’t do anything – or at least anything right.
“Approximately 52 hours, give or take a few minutes,” Winxa said unprompted. “I figured you’d ask how long you were out, like you usually do,” she continued with a smirk.
Thank you, Winxa – I was just about to ask you that, she sent towards the Fairy with amusement in her voice.
She didn’t have time to talk anymore, because she was taking in all of the new sensations her Area of Influence was giving her. Not only had it expanded again – significantly – but she was aware of some…voids underground. Nothing had changed about what she could perceive aboveground – which was essentially nothing without a visual from one of her constructs – but under the ground was entirely different. She couldn’t accurately measure the distance she could now reach, but she wouldn’t have been surprised to know that it was six miles or more in every direction.
And those voids (some of which were quite significant) worried her; there hadn’t ever been anything that was hidden from her before – at least underground – so she wasn’t sure what it was.
“Those are the other Cores nearest you…well, their dungeons, at least,” Winxa responded after Sandra asked about them.
How come I can’t see inside their dungeons?
“You can’t see inside theirs, and they can’t see inside yours; it’s apparently a rule that applies even to you without your contract. If you have one of your Dungeon Monsters enter inside one of those dungeons, then you should be able to see it through their eyes – or whatever they have that allows them to see,” the Dungeon Fairy said, looking at one of Sandra’s Small Animated Shears nearby.
How do you know they can’t see inside my dungeon?
“That’s simple; if the reptile-based Core had seen all of the traps inside your dungeon beforehand, I highly doubt it would’ve even tried to invade with the weaker monsters it sent against you. Think of a foreign dungeon like the area aboveground; you can’t see it unless you have a construct up there, and the same applies to a dungeon as well.”
Makes sense, I guess. Now that she knew what she was looking at, Sandra could identify the outlines of rooms and tunnels connecting them whenever she worked her way around the voids. All in all, she could detect eight distinct “voids” or dungeons within her Area of Influence – two per stretch of forest separating the different races. They almost appeared as if they were deliberately set so that each race would have to face two dungeons close to them that could reach near the closest villages, but not get anywhere near another race’s village. When she thought about who placed them there – the Creator – she figured that was indeed the case.
Most of them were actually larger than her own dungeon, but when she “felt” her way around their Areas of Influence, they were much, much smaller than her own. What Winxa had said earlier about her ability to access all of the elements reflecting on how much she expanded must’ve been correct, because she couldn’t think of another reason for such a difference. As they hadn’t been able to access her own Area of Influence through that loophole that the reptile Core had taken advantage of, she reasoned that they were likely the same or a higher Core Size than her own.
But now she needed to check if that was still the case. Looking through the senses of her Shears hovering over each of the villages, she quickly zipped them through the air and had them locate each of the dungeons aboveground; it was fairly easy to find them since she knew where the voids were, though they apparently took pains to camouflage themselves. Three of the eight had their main entrances hidden in the trunk of large trees, two of them were partially hidden beneath some hanging foliage covering a hole in the side of a small hill, two others were camouflaged at the bottom of some overgrown pits, and the last was literally a hole in the ground.
With so much ground to cover, however, Sandra enlisted the help of another two dozen Shears from her AMANS to help with the searching; she didn’t want to miss an attack from one dungeon while she was checking out another. She spent about 30 frantic minutes looking everywhere she could throughout the forests, finding that she could range even farther than she had initially thought. Her Area of Influence now covered a significant portion of the other Cores’ Areas, with some being entirely swallowed up by her larger one.
She saw plenty of Dungeon Monsters – or at least she assumed they were by the way they walked aimlessly around – but nothing alarming. There were beasts like boars and bears and even some real-life Jaguars (as opposed to her constructs) from one of the dungeons nearest the Elves and slimes that oozed through the forest from the other; near the Dwarves were interesting-looking dirt and stone golems that reminded Sandra of her own constructs from one Core, as well as some various-sized goblins that were quite ugly and disgusting (but she had to reluctantly admit that, in the right light, some were about the same size as a Gnome) from the other.
The Orcs were hemmed in by small and large red-eyed Unicorns with sharp spiraling horns mixed with little white weasel-looking creatures on one side, and all sorts of deadly – and annoying – birds on the other. Only one of the Shears that she had sent in near the avian-based Core came out “alive”, as the birds didn’t take kindly to intruders invading their territory; the worst part was that she barely saw them before her Shears were attacked and basically snapped in half by the powerful beaks of the birds.
As for the Gnomes, there was fortunately little sign that the reptiles had started to move anywhere except for around the nearby forest. Though, alarmingly, the Area of Influence from the reptile Core was much larger than it had been before; it now reached all the way to the Gnome village all by itself, whereas before it had only reached there because of Sandra’s own expansive Area. Worse than that, it had grown so large by that point that it was in danger of reaching through the forest it was in and finding the Elves on the opposite side.
Luckily, they weren’t there quite yet, and the o
ther Dungeon Core on the opposite side of the village was still small – and full of various undead. Sandra saw walking skeletons, decaying zombie-like forms, and even a few mist-like figures that floated above the forest floor. Those last caused her to get her Shears out of there, as they appeared to spot her construct – she didn’t want to lose any more unnecessarily.
Everywhere – except for the Gnomes, of course – there were teams of people hunting down the Dungeon Monsters as a matter of course; they performed their culling that the villages were theoretically all there for, bringing back the dungeon loot that the monsters dropped when they were killed. And other than the reptiles staying relatively near the Core in the Gnomes’ territory, everything looked…normal. There were no swarms of Monsters gathering and heading towards one of the villages, nor was there any indication that it would soon happen.
In fact, the only Core that really worried Sandra was the reptilian-based one, as it was an anomaly that was different from the rest.
How did they expand so quickly?
Winxa answered, even though Sandra hadn’t technically been asking her. “It’s likely that it stored up most of the Mana it had acquired from killing the Gnomes and upgraded more than once. Its upgrade time was likely still less than yours, and it might’ve been able to complete two of them since it first appeared that upgrading was what it was doing.”
That seems like…a lot. With the appearance of those Ancient Saurians, I doubt they would’ve had enough to do that; not only that, but if I think what is happening is true, then it appears as if it is doing it again.
The Fairy thought about it for a few moments before responding. “You’re right, that doesn’t seem possible—wait a minute! Didn’t you say that the Core looted things from the Gnome village?”
Yes, but what does that have to do with—oh. If the Gnomes had been gathering “dungeon loot” for a while – from two different dungeons, probably – and hadn’t shipped any away to the capital, then that village was probably like finding a treasure trove of Mana and Raw Materials. This could be very bad.
“I agree – but what are you going to do about it?”
Sandra…had no idea. I have no clue, Winxa. Give me a little bit to think that over; they are no danger to anyone right now, fortunately, so I think I have some time.
With everything else looking as normal as could be expected, though, Sandra finally turned back to herself and her dungeon. Looking around her rooms, everything appeared just the way she left it, though Violet was down adding her own enchantments to the RRPs in the Enchantment Repository. The Gnome looked like she was going to be there for a little while, so Sandra opened up her new Advancement menus with anticipation…
Chapter 35
Sandra first opened up her Classification Menu and saw that she had…89 Advancement Points! How did I get that many? She didn’t have to wonder long, as she brought up another menu that described in detail where she had gotten them.
Advancement Points (AP)
Source
Criteria
Point Value
Lifetime Earned Points
Lifetime Spent Points
Core Size
Receive AP upon Core Size upgrade (does not count for Core Size 1 nor upgrade stages)
1 per Core Size upgrade
19 AP
(19X Core Size Upgrades)
0 AP
Number of Rooms
Receive AP for each distinct dungeon room at least 4,000 cubic feet in size (20ftx20ftx10ft minimum)
1 AP per qualified room
25 AP
(25X Qualifying Rooms)
0 AP
Unique Dungeon Fixtures
Receive AP for each never-before-seen fixture in your dungeon
2 AP per fixture
26 AP
(13X Crafting Stations)
0 AP
Creature Eradication
Eradicate sources of nearby creatures (i.e. lairs and spawning areas)
3 AP per eradication
6 AP
(1X Territory Ant Colony, 1X Bearling Lair)
0 AP
Sentient Race Elimination
Eliminate members of sentient races
1 AP per 10 eliminations
8 AP (12X Orc, 71X Gnome)
0 AP
Sentient Race Bonding
Form a new Dungeon Visitor Bond with a member of a sentient race
1 AP per 2 Bonds
5 AP (1X Orc/Dwarf, 1X Elf, 9X Gnome)
0 AP
?????
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
?????
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
(?????) Denotes an unknown, unique Source of Advancement Points. Perform this unknown action to unlock more information.
Essentially, she received 19 AP from her Core Size being at 20, 25 AP for having 25 distinct dungeon room, 26 AP from having 13 unique Dungeon Fixtures which included all of her different crafting stations (apparently her VATS didn’t count, as it was essentially just a series of traps without actual fixtures), and 6 AP from eliminating the Territory Ants and the Bearlings (even if she hadn’t done it all herself). Sentient Race Bonding – the newest Advancement criteria that she discovered when she had bonded Kelerim – also gave her 1 AP for every 2 Bonds she made with members of a sentient race, meaning she ended up gaining 5 AP from those.
What made her sad and confused to look at was the 8 AP she had gained from the deaths of people; she only gained 1 AP for every 10 members of sentient races that she “eliminated”, and the numbers didn’t really add up.
Winxa, why does it say I “eliminated”…71 Gnomes!? And not only that, but it says I also killed 12 Orcs, but I distinctly remember there only being 9 of them that invaded my dungeon – and Razochek was technically killed by Kelerim.
“Hmm…I think that those numbers are tallied by every time you absorb the Mana that is dropped by them upon their deaths. Even if you didn’t kill them, you absorbed their Mana.” Winxa shrugged apologetically.
That makes sense with the Orcs, I suppose, but I didn’t absorb anything from the Gnomes—
“Lest you forget, you shared that Mana with the other Core when they absorbed it, so that apparently still counts.”
Sandra didn’t like seeing that number; she was already being crushed by guilt over the deaths of the Gnomes and her involuntary absorption of the Mana they left behind. But now it appeared as though she was profiting in other ways from their deaths she hadn’t been counting on. Unfortunately, there was no way to tell the system that it was wrong and that she hadn’t actually “eliminated” them, nor would she want to risk the ire of the Creator.
What’s done is done and I can’t do anything about it; if I can keep that number where it is from now on, I’ll have to consider that a victory. Now, to see what I can spend those Advancement Points on, even if a few of them are rather ill-begotten.
Advancement Options
Current Advancement Points
89
Advancement:
Cost:
Choose 1 Dungeon Monster from another available Classification (Repeatable)
5
Give your Dungeon Monsters the option of having a chosen accessible elemental attribute in addition to their base element – Cost increases with each purchase (only works on Monsters capable of using/applying their element) (Repeatable)
10
Reduce the Mana cost of Dungeon Seeds by 15% – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/4)
15
Reduce the Mana cost of Dungeon Monsters by 15% – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/4)
15
Reduce the Raw Material cost of Dungeon Seeds by 15% – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/4)
15
Reduce the Mana cost of Dungeon Traps by 15% – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/4)
15
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Extend your Area of Influence by 10% – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/10)
50
Advance a current Classification 1 level to acquire access to stronger and larger Dungeon Monsters – this also includes any “Advancement Unlocked” Monsters – Cost increases with each purchase (Advancement 0/3)
75
Select a second available Classification to hybridize your Core (This option is only available once)
150
Even if she knew what she wanted, she didn’t have nearly enough AP to select a second Classification, so she was going to have to find something else to spend her points on. The one thing she had been thinking about, however, was the first, least expensive option: choosing a Dungeon Monster from another classification. With a mental selection of that option, she focused on it and another menu popped up and overwhelmed her with the choices she could select from. After about 15 minutes of perusing them and eliminating the ones that she didn’t think would have any hope of achieving what she wanted, she narrowed down the list to a few base options.
Dungeon Monster Selection (Base)
Bipedal (Fire/Natural)
Jumping Springhare
Deranged Quokka
Boxing Kangaroo
Stealthy Chimpanzee
Barking Gnoll*
Silent Kobold*
Armored Troll**
Horrendous Ogre***
The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2) Page 27