“Ryan?”
He turned his attention back to Erin. “Yes?”
“I’ve thought of a name.”
This should be interesting. He pushed the numbers out of his head and gave her his full attention. “And what awesome name have you come up with!”
“The Handyman.”
If Ryan had eyes, he would be staring at her blankly.
That is terrible.
“I’m just kidding,” she laughed. “I was really thinking we could name him ‘One-Armed BS.”
“What’s the BS for?” he asked.
Erin giggled at his question. Had he walked into another trap?
“Bone Slinger.” Oh, that sounds nice.
“Can we just call him the Bone Slinger?” he asked.
“Well, usually bosses have an actual name with a descriptor.”
“Okay, so we need a name for him, and then we just add on Bone Slinger?” Ryan asked.
“Yup. Thoughts?”
How had he gotten roped into helping with the naming? Hadn’t he pushed this task off onto her? Tricksy fairy.
“Umm… Steve the Bone Slinger?”
That sounded so corny. Why had he chosen the name Steve? I hate this.
“Works for me,” Erin laughed.
Well, all right. Guess my first terrifying boss is now going to be named Steve.
“How do we name him?” he asked.
“Focus on your mob, and then mentally assign the name to him.”
Ryan turned his attention on Steve and did as Erin instructed. After a moment, white letters shimmered above the skeleton’s head, forming his name in bold: Steve the Bone Slinger. Immediately after they formed they faded away.
“Hurray! We’ve named your first mob,” Erin cheered, punching the air.
Erin was a lot happier about this than Ryan was. He promised himself his next boss was going to have a much cooler name.
“Hey, Rin, can you name the other mobs while I finish off adding them to the rooms?” He needed to get back to crunching numbers, and he wasn’t too enthused about naming more mobs.
“Sure thing, hun.”
Hun? Did she just call me hun?
She started humming, and Ryan decided to just go back to his task.
He decided to add five more skeletal squirrels to his first room. Ryan didn’t want to overwhelm adventurers on the very first room, and figured zombies wouldn’t be as helpful, since the adventurers could just leave the dungeon to heal if they got bit so early on.
That left him with fifteen more points for his second room. He quickly summoned a zombie rat, which scurried off into the foliage on the floor. Ryan paused before deciding on his next set of mobs, in part because all this summoning was exhausting.
He could add more skeletal beasts, or even a few more zombies now. After a few moments of thinking, he added five more of each skeletal beast, watching his mob points sink to zero on his level triangle. His mana pool was also significantly drained.
“All done,” he said. He was beaming through their bond, and he could feel similar feelings coming from Erin.
“Me too,” she replied. “I’ve got the names for all the mobs down. Now we just have to assign loot, and we will be ready for round two.”
“Right,” he said, trying to keep the wariness from his voice. “Let’s hear these names and get going, then.”
They couldn’t be as bad as “Steve.” Could they?
Chapter Sixteen
“Are you serious?”
Ryan couldn’t believe what Erin had just suggested – keeping the names literal. So skeletal rat, skeletal squirrel, and zombie rat. He was going to be the laughing stock of all dungeons.
“Yup, I think those names are the best.”
“Nothing creative? No unique, fun mob names?” Ryan asked.
Skrat, Skuirrel, and Ratbie were names he had come up with on the fly. How had she not come up with any names during the time he was building mobs?
“I couldn’t think of any. I’m sorry.”
Oh, now she was giving him the sad eyes. She knew he was a sucker for the sad eyes.
“Tell you what, Rin, how about I give them some names I thought of, and we’ll name the rest of the mobs together, once we get stronger?”
She smiled at him, nearly smirking. He had fallen into her trap, and they both knew it.
“Deal!”
“I swear I got stuck with the most manipulative—”
“What was that?”
“Nothing, hun.”
She blushed as he called her hun. Ha, add that as a win for Ryan. Quickly, he assigned names to his mobs, noting how the names showed up in grey, and weren’t bolded like Steve’s name. Interesting.
“All right, now that’s done—”
Erin was giggling.
“What?” Ryan snapped.
“You do realize your skeletal squirrels are just called squirrels now, but spelled differently,” Erin said.
Everyone’s a critic.
“I thought it was witty,” Ryan said.
“Whatever you say. It’s your dungeon.”
“At least I came up with actual unique mob names.”
She shot him a glare before breaking out into a light laugh.
“Yup, Steve and the Skrat pack,” she said. “Behold, Steve and his fearsome skuirrels. That’s skuirrel with a ‘K,’ not a ‘Q.’”
“Are you done?” He could feel his indignation starting to rise.
“I suppose. For now.” She flew off of him so she could look at him properly. “Besides, next up is everyone’s favorite part. Loot.”
Yay! Loot.
“So, you going to throw me a bone and help me figure out some loot?” he asked. Ah, bone puns. He needed to make a list of useable puns, though; he felt like he had used that one before.
“Please don’t try to bring your puns back from the dead.” Erin winked.
Oh good, now Erin was playing the pun game. He wondered if he could get her to play more later. But first, he needed to focus.
“Maybe we should get back to the loot.”
“Probably for the best.” She nodded and closed her eyes, thinking. “So, the whole point of loot is to try and give adventurers a reason to come into your dungeon. Loot and experience are the two reasons why adventurers risk their lives in dungeons.”
“Experience? Like what I got from killing the mage? Do adventurers and dungeons level up the same way?”
“It is very similar – as a dungeon, you level up through experience, which you gain from killing adventurers, and in small part from spreading your influence,” Erin explained. “Adventurers gain experience by killing mobs in dungeons. The amount of experience gained by both dungeons and adventurers is dependent on the level of the slain foe. For instance, your skrats and skuirrels will give the smallest amount of experience in your dungeon, while Steve will give the most. Just like you, once adventurers have gained enough experience, they can rank up!”
“Hmm, I suppose that makes sense,” Ryan grumbled. “So the higher their level, the stronger they are, and that’s based on the experience points they have accumulated. Do they have level triangles?”
“They do, though not physical ones like yours. Those are dungeon specific and can only be provided by a fairy. The other sentient races have different ways of viewing theirs.”
“Do you have one?” he asked.
Erin opened her mouth as if to reply before closing it again and shaking her head.
“I’m linked to you now. Fairies turn their triangles into physical materials in order to pass them on to their dungeon. Once we’ve done that, we lose our individual levels as we share everything with the dungeon we are bound to.”
So, the triangles she had given him were originally hers? Ryan’s emotions shifted swiftly at the knowledge. Was it admiration? Gratitude? A tinge of sorrow? He tried to push them aside and get back on topic.
“So, back to loot,” he began. Erin shook her head, as if clearing away a ba
d feeling, before smiling at him.
“Loot,” she went on. “First, you need to select loot appropriate for the mobs being killed and the level of your dungeon.”
“So, easier mobs drop less valuable loot?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
“How do I know the value of my loot?” Obviously, he didn’t want to drop any of Erin’s feathers again.
“Ah, well, luckily for you, most items – with the exception of coins – have a rarity assigned to them.”
“Rarity?”
“Yes. Loot is classified by common, uncommon, rare, ultra-rare, and legendary.”
“How do I know which is which?”
“By the color of their name.”
Wait, what?
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Erin drifted down to the ground, sitting on the cloth. “Summon one of my feathers in here.”
He did as he was told, and the white feather slowly floated between them. She grabbed it and held it up towards him.
“Now, focus on it like you did with your mobs, and its name will appear,” she ordered.
Ryan did as she said, and after a moment, golden letters appeared: ‘Celestial Feather.’
“Now, reabsorb this, and try to pull up the name of the cloth you summoned in here for me.”
The feather disappeared from her hand, and Ryan focused instead on the cloth. He hadn’t summoned the entire robe in here, just the material, so he was curious as to what it would be called. After a moment, green words appeared above the cloth: ‘Fine Silk Cloth.’
“Oh, I see what you mean.”
“Common items are white, uncommon are green, rare are blue, ultra-rare are red, and legendary are golden.” So, he had dropped a legendary item for Sean and the others. Oops.
“Since you are a low-level dungeon, your basic mobs should only drop common and maybe uncommon items. You can have your boss drop uncommon items, and maybe the occasional rare item.” She flew back on top of him, sitting in her favorite spot. “Of course, you can also drop coins of varying value. Did the mage have any?”
“Yeah, he did. Some copper, some silver, and a single gold coin.”
“Hmm, all right. Well, you should have your easiest mobs drop copper coins, and your ratbies can drop silver occasionally. As for Steve, if he isn’t dropping an item, you can have him drop a single gold coin.”
“Why can’t we just drop high-level loot for everyone?” Other than the feather, none of the objects seemed to take much mana to recreate. And wouldn’t it encourage people to come if he dropped rarer items? He could make gold coins pretty easily. Why not just fill the dungeon with those?
“First, because it is bad dungeon etiquette to just give out high-level items and gear.” Erin fixed Ryan with a stern look. “Second, if you start dropping too-rare items, you will be overwhelmed with high-level adventures like Sean who will just waltz in, kill your mobs, and leave.”
That didn’t sound pleasant.
“And third…” She paused.
There’s a third?
“Because I said so.”
Not much of a third.
“Do you understand?”
“Clearly,” Ryan managed to say, struggling not to laugh at how serious she was acting. “Now, how do we set up the loot? Do I just summon loot for them when they kill my mobs?”
He imagined randomly dropping coins around the room when his mobs died. It seemed amusing, but he was sure it would get old quickly.
“Most dungeons just assign loot to the mob type. When the mob dies, one of those types of loot will randomly appear.”
Oh, it’s like magic. Wait, it is magic.
“Just focus on the mob in your head, and mentally assign your different loot types to it,” said Erin. “Then, when it dies, a piece of loot will randomly be selected, with rarer levels of loot having a rarer chance to be selected and dropped. It’s a part of the magic system that exists for dungeons.”
Ryan wasn’t going to question the workings of ancient magic, so he decided to just take this at face value and go with it.
“Okie dokie, time to assign some loot.”
He closed his eyes, focusing on all the items he had received so far, then turning his attention to his skuirrels. They were the first mobs adventurers were going to encounter, and arguably tied for the easiest mobs in his dungeon. None of the items Ryan had collected so far were classified as common, so instead he gave his skuirrels the chance to drop a variety of copper coins. He then gave his skrats the same simple coin drops as his skuirrels.
Next, his ratbies. These, he could assign uncommon loot to, so on top of giving them the chance to drop a small range of silver coins, he also gave them the chance to drop silk or the fine iron dagger the mage had been carrying. Both were uncommon items.
For Steve, Ryan had a few items to choose from. Almost everything the mage had been wearing was rare, from his robes down to his boots. There was one item, a ‘ring of holding’, that was ultra-rare, but aside from that, Ryan could choose from anything. He gave Steve the chance to drop a gold coin like Erin had mentioned and then shuffled around items from the mage. Once he was happy, he opened his eyes, satisfied with his hard work.
“All done.” He sent a feeling of happiness through the bond to Erin. “Now what do we do?”
Erin pulled part of the silk cloth up onto him, creating a little bed out of it, and lay down. She sighed with contentment.
“Now, we wait for the adventurers to return.”
And with that, she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Ryan was left in silence save for the sounds of his mobs in the dungeon. He prayed for the adventurers to hurry up. He was already growing bored. Maybe he would search for some more skeletal remains while he waited.
Chapter Seventeen
“Is that everything?” Blake and his father stood in front of the head of the Adventurers’ Guild, who had been jotting down notes of their recent adventure. She looked young for her position, but Blake knew she was likely the oldest person in Valta, the city that housed the Guild. She was one of the only Diamond-level adventurers alive, meaning she was close to immortal.
“That is everything, Alice. How shall we proceed?” Sean’s voice was filled with formality and respect, reminding Blake to straighten his back as he stood there.
Blake knew the Guildmaster was far stronger than his father, meaning Blake was but an ant in the room. To be honest, he wasn’t sure why his father had even brought him in for the report. When they teleported back to the city, courtesy of the port stone the cleric had used, Blake had believed that was all for him. Instead, as the cleric went to report to the church, Sean had dragged Blake immediately to the Adventurers’ Guild hall.
Alice closed her eyes – which, Blake had noted, continuously shifted colors – before she spoke.
“The information you have provided is interesting to say the least. It is a little-known fact that dungeons can become sentient over time, acting on their own whims and interacting in strange ways. For a brand-new dungeon to not only show sentience but also appear to have made a decision to save an adventurer, it doesn’t really add up. Especially since it is a darkness dungeon.”
She drummed her fingers on the desk as she paused for thought.
“Are you certain this is what the dungeon produced?” She pulled a chain from around her neck, a glowing feather attached to it. A celestial feather.
“Yes, ma’am. I inspected the item myself. This was not a forgery or some trick by the dungeon. The cleric believes it was a direct sign from the Goddess.”
“Pah, I can’t see that self-righteous woman aligning with a darkness dungeon.” Blake noticed his father wince as the Guildmaster insulted his chosen deity, but his father remained silent, allowing Alice to continue. “But if you swear that is what you saw, I’ll believe you.” She tucked the feather away, smiling sweetly at the two.
“You wouldn’t be hiding anything from me just so your son can have a dungeon to train in,
would you?” Her tone said she was joking but her eyes, still swirling with colors, held a serious look.
“No, ma’am. My duty is first and foremost to the Goddess and the Guild. Family has always come second. You know that.”
Ouch. Blake had always known his father held his duty highly, but hearing him say it out loud hurt.
“I cannot fathom how anyone ever married you.” She leaned back, letting out a laugh.
“I wonder that myself at times.” Sean shared in her laugh, leaving Blake standing there awkwardly.
The Guildmaster was not what he had expected. All he ever heard were stories of how she singlehandedly cleared an entire mountain range filled with air dungeons. Her conquest took her from Platinum to Diamond and made her into a legend among adventurers.
“Do you have anything to say, young one?” Alice was staring at him, her face holding a smirk. Blake’s eyes were pulled to the shifting colors in her eyes.
“No. No, ma’am.” He tried to pull his eyes away, but they were held, trapped. Her gaze seemed to consume him; he felt as if the room were closing in around him.
“Alice.” Sean cleared his throat, and the Guildmaster blinked. The moment she did, the world around Blake stopped spinning and he was able to look away from her eyes.
“Sorry. I was curious what affinity he may acquire once he reaches Silver.” She offered Blake an apologetic smile.
“You can see the future?” The words tore from his mouth before he realized he had even spoken. His father’s eyes fixed on him in a glare, but Alice simply smiled.
“No one can see into the future. However, with these eyes I can see the potential of all things around me. As such, I was simply delving into your potential, to see perhaps what may be for a brand-new adventurer such as yourself.”
“And?” Blake was curious, really curious now. Was he going to be a celestial paladin like his father? Would he wield the holy light of the Goddess of Justice?
“I sought it out for my curiosity, not yours, nor your father’s. I do so enjoy knowing things others do not.”
So, she wasn’t going to tell Blake what she saw. He couldn’t help but feel a slight flash of anger, though the moment he felt it, he pushed it away. His fear and admiration for the Guildmaster wouldn’t allow him to have an ill thought towards her. At least not in her presence.
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 7