Viktor regretted his tone as soon as the remonstrative words had left his mouth. He knew it was dangerous to speak that way to the Exalted One.
“We both know you cannot be killed that easily.” Dark laughter echoed from the crystal. It sent shivers down the necromancer’s spine.
“I am surprised, though,” the voice said, “that she sent Marcus and the twins to that dungeon. I wonder what is so important about it.”
The voice trailed off, as if lost in thought.
“What shall I do?” Viktor asked. He had not only failed to make a deal with the dungeon, but to destroy the town. Failure was not taken lightly by the Exalted One.
“Rest and heal, Viktor. I will send a messenger to you after I deal with another inconvenience the Guildmaster has thrown my way.”
With that, Viktor was left in silence. Groaning, he rose to his feet, pulling more darkness around him to heal his wounds. Next time, he would get his revenge.
Chapter Forty-Two
“If this keeps up, we should hit Bronze One this week,” Ryan said
It had taken the remainder of the night for Ryan to shake the dark shadow the necromancer had left over him. He and Erin had been unusually subdued following their near-death experience, and rightly so.
However, looking at his experience triangle, Ryan was cheerful as the fourth group of the day departed the dungeon. His improved mobs had definitely increased the challenge to the groups, and two adventurers had fallen out of the twenty that had entered so far. Both had been high Bronze, and Ryan knew he was close to reaching Bronze Rank Three.
“Mm-hmm,” Erin agreed. “Those infested ratbies really are deadly.”
The first group of the day had managed to clear the first room with only a few extra scratches, but it was the second room that really cost them. While they had been struggling against the much faster victorious skuirrels and the sturdier champion skrats, the infested ratbies had managed to bite two different adventurers.
The group, used to receiving ratbie bites, rushed towards the boss room. Ryan knew they planned to beat Steve as quickly as they could so they could get the bites healed outside of the dungeon. A perfectly sound strategy for regular ratbie bites, but a fatal mistake for infested ratbie bites.
Seconds into the fight against Steve, the group’s tank and one of their fighters fell to the ground, paralyzed. The moment of panic, along with the sudden incapacitation of the tank, allowed Steve to send his bone spikes into their other Bronze One fighter.
The rush of experience Ryan felt had lifted some of the exhaustion hanging over him following his long night and brought him one step closer to Silver. It was amazing how a near-death experience could put things into perspective. Ryan found himself caring less about the death of an adventurer, as it meant a greater chance at life for him and Erin.
With two members paralyzed and another dead, Ryan had thought the adventuring group finished. However, their Silver leader had surprised him, unleashing an earthen attack that managed to shatter one of Steve’s legs, allowing the Silver and his companion to finish off the boss mob. A few minutes later, the ratbie paralysis wore off, and the group, now a member down, limped out of the dungeon.
“You think I should offer the antidote mushroom as a loot drop?” Ryan asked.
While Ryan was resolved not to pass up deaths, he was still hesitant about there being too many. He wanted to grow strong, but couldn’t get too carried away, lest the guild decide his dungeon was no longer suited for training in. Even if he wanted to grow strong enough to survive the necromancer, it wouldn’t mean anything if he scared away the adventurers, or worse, brought the wrath of the Adventurers’ Guild down upon himself. Ryan was suddenly curious as to who was stronger: the necromancer or Sean?
“You have a mushroom that cures paralysis?” Erin’s eyes were still bloodshot from the sleepless night, but Ryan noticed she was relaxing more as time went on.
“Yup, yup,” Ryan said. “That room is actually full of herbs that have healing properties, mushrooms that can cause, or cure, paralysis, a few mushrooms that I think are edible, and of course, my poison ivy.”
The paralysis lasted under a minute, and even less for stronger adventurers. As such, the only adventurers who seemed to fall as a result of the paralysis, weren’t giving him much experience. For that reason, he figured he could throw the adventurers a bone, and help them figure out a way to cure it. The stronger they grew, the more he benefited, after all.
He ran through the list in his mind, noting that some of the mushrooms had differing types of toxicity to them. Ryan wondered what types of effects they would have on adventurers.
“I mean, if you want to, why not?” Erin was definitely not fully herself, judging by the way she didn’t try to talk him out of helping the adventurers. He paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to cheer her up.
“How about I add all the plants and mushrooms as possible drops?” he asked. “That way, sometimes adventurers will get drops that can be used to heal, and others that can be used to harm?”
Part of Ryan just wanted to direct the adventurers’ attention to the plants in the room. Most of the time, groups just burned them away, and he had spent a lot of time deciding what to grow in there. Maybe if the plants started showing up as drops, adventurers would appreciate the room a little more.
Erin offered him a smile, and he could feel her mood perk up a little.
“That could work. It would be funny if they ate the wrong ones.” She let out a giggle, and Ryan smiled all the more. It had taken most of the day, but they were casting off the feelings of dread left by the necromancer.
“Deal,” Ryan said.
Ryan mentally assigned the plants to his skrat and skuirrel mobs in the room, increasing their loot pool from just copper coins to include the different plants. Since they were growing in the room already, the plants had a common loot level.
“Next up is Blake’s team, right?” Erin pulled her silk cloth around herself as she stifled a yawn.
Ryan turned his attention to the entrance of the dungeon, looking for signs of the next group. At first, all he saw was Sasha, the female twin who had saved his life, and a cleric standing outside his entrance.
As he continued his search, he saw a group of five breaking from the trees. Even from a distance, he could hear laughter, and something about turkey wings. It was a laugh he had gotten used to; the laugh of the Silver thief, Jack, which meant Blake’s team had arrived.
Ryan hoped Blake and his friends could help them forget the necromancer, if only for a little while. He always found Blake’s team’s presence therapeutic.
“They’re here,” he said, excitedly ensuring all his mobs had been summoned and the rooms were ready. Ryan even paused the fight that was currently ongoing in skeletal fight club. In the chaos of the necromancer’s arrival, Ryan had missed what he could only imagine was an impressive turn of events, because when he finally had enough energy to check back in on his mobs, the victorious skuirrel was scattered about and the champion skrat was, well, victorious.
Ryan wasn’t going to miss any more of this impressive skrat’s battles, and he wanted to devote all of his attention to Blake’s team.
“Want to bet on who gets bitten by an infested ratbie?” Erin asked as Blake and his team reached Sasha. The fairy’s mood had definitely picked up.
Ryan found himself chuckling, remembering Blake’s past encounters with the regular ratbies.
“We both know it’s going to be Blake,” he joked.
Erin’s laughter at his remark chased the remaining darkness from his core room as Blake and his team stepped into Ryan’s dungeon for another dive.
Chapter Forty-Three
“All right, that paralysis sucked,” Blake said.
His group laughed, and he couldn’t help but smile. They all sat at their usual table in the inn sharing a round of drinks. It had become a tradition of sorts over the past few weeks.
“Well, those new victo
rious skuirrels aren’t much fun either.” Matt offered Blake a smile as he took a drink. Blake returned it with a knowing grin. Matt had finally managed to land shots on normal skuirrels, but the new victorious versions were too fast for him to shoot, so he was back to square one.
“What type of archer runs out of arrows?” Jack asked, holding a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. Blake had to hold back a laugh as Jack sprinkled a handful of marshmallows into his drink.
“Hey, archers don’t have infinite arrows, you know. Sheesh. And I was certain I would be able to hit at least one of them.“ Matt took another sip. “Though if I become an arcane archer…”
He let the thought hang in the air.
“I thought you wanted to be a ranger?” Blake asked.
When Blake had first met Matt, the archer had told him his dream was to become a ranger, a specialized version of archer that specialized in hunting and tracking. Gold and Platinum-ranked rangers often worked with the elven nations to track down enemies of the light and dangerous beasts.
“I did,” Matt mused, half to himself. “But the more I think on it, an arcane archer would probably help our group more.”
Blake knew arcane archers were a special archer class that allowed the archer to utilize their affinity to create various arrows and effects. Because physical classes only allotted twenty percent of their mana to class skills and abilities, very few archers chose the arcane path.
“You should choose the class you feel best suits you and your dreams for your future,” Karan said, looking at Matt with a small smile on her face. “Don’t just look at just the short term, because once you choose your class, you can’t choose another.”
“I know. I won’t make the choice carelessly, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it will be the right path for me.” Matt offered her a smile, holding out his glowing palm. “Besides, after today, I can officially pass into the Silver ranks.”
Matt had filled his experience triangle enough to break into Silver. Emily was about halfway through Bronze One, and Blake had just reached Bronze One.
“Well,” Karan said, “we have one more dive before the three of you will be ready to progress, so please spend a few more nights thinking on it.”
To pass into Silver, they would need to go to their class trainer, who would help them break into the Silver ranks as well as discover their affinity. From what Karan and Jack told them, it would be about a month before they would be ready to return to dungeon dives as Silver-ranked adventurers. As such, they had agreed to hold off on ranking up until all three Bronze members could do so at the same time.
“I can’t wait to rank up,” Emily said as she stared at her glowing palm.
Blake found himself doing the same, dreaming about how close he was. He could already imagine how proud his father would be when the paladin finally returned from his mission to the north.
“Are you still set on becoming a summoner?” Blake asked, and Emily nodded in return, a huge smile on her face.
“What about you, Blake? Still planning on becoming an even better meat shield?” Jack asked. He flashed him a grin as he took a sip of his chocolate. If Blake didn’t know any better, he would have thought the thief was starting to enjoy the sweet drink.
“I’m not a meat shield,” Blake replied, a little testily. “I’m the tank. And yes, I’m going to become a knight, and grow one step closer to becoming a paladin.”
He could already see himself as a paladin, clad in shining armor, holding a shield emblazoned with the scales of the Goddess of Justice, standing proudly besides his—
“What happens if you don’t get a celestial affinity?” Jack’s words pulled Blake back to reality and instantly killed the slight buzz he was getting from his liquor.
“Well, my father has a celestial affinity,” Blake said.
No one knew how affinities were decided; merely that for some reason, when adventurers hit Silver rank, they would awaken to one of seven kinds of mana. These seven types – celestial, earth, fire, wind, water, darkness, and chaos – were said to stem from the seven deities that ruled over the land.
An adventurer’s affinity dictated the types of abilities they could use, and sometimes restricted the types of classes they could become. Paladins to the Goddess of Justice, for instance, had to have a celestial affinity, which was the affinity said to stem from the Goddess herself.
“Doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll get. According to my mother, my father’s affinity was darkness.” Jack stared into his mug as he summoned a small amount of wind to make the steam coming from his drink dance. “But, as we all know, I got wind.”
“That’s just because you’re filled with so much hot air,” Karan chimed in, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder. She passed him a look and turned towards Blake.
“Don’t listen to the lowly thief, Blake. I am sure the Goddess has plans for you and will choose you to inherit a celestial affinity.”
She gave Blake a smile, which he returned. However, his mind was racing, filling with dark thoughts. What would he do if he didn’t have a celestial affinity? All he wanted was to become a paladin like his father.
“And no matter what your affinity, Blake,” she went on, “remember that you are a valuable member of our family.”
Karan’s words and her smile helped calm his fears a little, and he took another drink. Surely everything would work out. He couldn’t see any reason why the Goddess wouldn’t choose him.
“Enough talk of gods and goddess and affinities and whatnot,” Jack said. His hand shot into his pocket, and the thief pulled out a deck of cards. Another tradition the group had started was playing cards every night together. Karan wouldn’t let the group gamble away their coin, reminding the Bronze members they had save for their class gear.
She would, however, let them gamble in dares, with the loser of each round having to complete some sort of usually embarrassing dare.
“Who’s feeling lucky tonight?” Jack asked, his eyes twinkling.
“Count me in,” Blake said, and offered the thief an evil grin.
He was going to get Jack back for that turkey wing dare.
Chapter Forty-Four
Ryan stared at his experience triangle with hunger in his eyes. Another adventurer, the Silver Four leader of the group, had just fallen, and the resulting experience had filled the bottom triangle. The difference this time, though, was that Ryan was currently Bronze One, and with this experience, he was ready to climb into the Silver ranks.
“Tell me again why we have to wait?” Ryan asked.
“Because proper etiquette is to at least wait until the end of the day to ascend into the next rank,” Erin said. She acted annoyed, but Ryan could tell from her emotions that she was just as excited as he was.
I hate etiquette. He really did at times, though Erin had explained to him countless times that dungeons that broke etiquette rarely survived long. The Adventurers’ Guild apparently had a reputation for eliminating dungeons they deemed too dangerous or out of control.
“How many groups are left?” Ryan asked.
He really wasn’t paying much attention to the groups now. Blake’s team had come and gone for a fifth time the day before, and they were really the only team he cared much about. They had seemed especially happy after their last dive, and Ryan felt proud of both their group and himself. They had all grown so much since Blake’s first dungeon dive, and Ryan felt he had played a large part in helping Blake grow.
“Two more groups today and then we can begin your ascension.”
“Fiiiine.” He let out a long sigh and turned part of his attention back to the entrance, watching as the next group prepared to enter.
They presented their crystals to the male twin, Rasha, and stepped into the dungeon. This group consisted of four Bronze One fighters and a Silver Five warrior. Judging by their ranks, it was going to be a rather uneventful dive. That just meant Ryan could turn his attention back to his favorite pastime: skeletal fight club.
Having reached Bronze One, Ryan had access to a total of one hundred mob points. Steve cost him twenty-five. His second room, with its two infested ratbies, eight skuirrels, eight skrats, two victorious skuirrels, and two champion skrats, cost him forty points.
His first room, with six skuirrels and four victorious skuirrels, cost another fourteen points. Altogether, he was spending seventy-nine points on mobs in his dungeon, which left him twenty-one points for skeletal fight club. Ryan had not wasted any of his time and points, and he had results to prove it.
His champion skrat had finally evolved two days prior, creating a new version that cost three total mob points. Ryan could tell the new mob would be worth that extra point. It was covered in plate-like bones, giving it extremely strong defense. Atop its head was a bone spike. Additionally, the new mob had grown larger, nearly knee height on the average adventurer. Ryan had decided to call this mob a plated skrat.
Because he had reached another evolution with his skrat, Ryan was now working on getting his skuirrel to its third evolution. For the past two days, Ryan had been running his evolution pits at full steam for a total of 20 points.
After each battle, the surviving skuirrel was healed with dark mana, and once healed, a new victorious skuirrel was summoned to fight. It was a rather repetitive process, but one that Ryan had found effective. Generally, once a victorious skuirrel began winning, it would keep winning. This ensured it would continue to gain the most experience and draw ever closer to evolving.
In fact, as Ryan looked over his pits, he was pleased to see signs indicating an evolution was near. The victorious skuirrels in each pit that had been continually winning had dark mana constantly swirling around their bones. Ryan found that when his mobs became close to evolving, his mana would begin to cling to them, slowly preparing to make a change. It was almost reminiscent of how Steve had been created, though a much slower process.
Perhaps creating a boss mob is just advancing a mob’s evolution multiple times? Ryan wanted to ask Erin about this, but his skeletal fight club rules were absolute.
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 18