Core Improvement Point Awards
Type
Variable Conditions
Potential CIP
Current
Rooms Constructed
Size
1 – 50
0
Traps Installed
Complexity
1 – 20
511
Monsters Created
Levels
1 – 20
76
Rewards Placed
Valuation
1 – 50
76
Raider Presence
Time
1 – 5
690
Raider Deaths
Quality
100 – 10000
600
There had been even fewer deaths this last month than the month before – only 6 – but they were worth a lot more CIPs: 600 compared to the 30 she would’ve gotten before she eliminated her negative characteristic. The traps she moved around, as well as the new Life-based ones also made a huge difference; based on their “complexity”, which was quite high, they were worth more than the 1 CIP she was getting before – some were worth up to 9 CIPs, in fact.
That all led to acquiring more than enough Points to earn her new Core Improvement Level – and the subsequent CIPs that she could spend. Just like it had been figuratively painful to spend her entire month’s work on eliminating her negative Characteristic reducing her earned CIPs, it was similarly difficult to use everything she had accumulated to eliminate the other obstacle holding her back. It was her last chance to get the most out of her CIPs via conversion, however, so there really wasn’t a choice. Therefore, she converted all 1,400 Core Improvement Points she had into 350 Special Characteristic Points; added to the 200 she already had left over from the previous month and the 25 she earned from her Level-up, she had the 550 required to eliminate the reduction in her creature’s Levels Characteristics.
Again, as soon as she paid to get rid of the Characteristic, Tacca felt suddenly freer, as if some invisible chains slipped off her Core that had been holding her back. It was an almost euphoric feeling, as if an invisible wall that had been in front of her journey as a Dungeon Core was now gone – and she could run forward without anything blocking her way.
She thought a lot about what she had gone through for the sake of having the Characteristic that had provided her all the Variants available for her creatures; she had to admit that she originally had second thoughts about her choices – and how they would hold her back for too long – but now she was glad she did it at the beginning instead of waiting. While it was extremely difficult at first and certainly limited what she was able to accomplish, she didn’t think she’d have had the same success if she hadn’t had access to all of the different Canines she did. That, and judging by the way it was so difficult to convince herself to convert her CIPs to SCPs, she didn’t think she’d have been able to do it once she had a dungeon up and running smoothly. The temptation to increase her Control Limit, or purchase another creature, or unlock another Trap Specialization was just too tempting – and the dream of getting a chance to experiment with the All Variants Characteristic would’ve been just that: A dream.
I did it, Shale! I’m free!
“Nice job, Tacca! I knew you could do it!” her Dungeon Assistant exclaimed happily. They both knew that this was an important achievement, because now the possibilities for her were practically endless. “Now, let’s see if it worked.”
Tacca didn’t hesitate before she imagined creating a simple Root Fox in her Core Room; she was currently in the process of restocking her dungeon, so she had a few points in her Control Limit to use for the moment. Instead of just creating a “normal” Fox, though, she pushed more Dungeon Force into the form. Fortunately, she didn’t have to guess how much to push into it; as she stared at the small silhouette where her Force was flowing, the feedback coming from it let her know each time it increased in creature Level. Finally, when she determined that it was Level 5, she stopped the flow and let it fully form.
Root Fox
This Root Fox Variant specializes in hiding amongst the exposed roots of trees and attacking unwary passersby. Because of its close ties to the forest, this Fox has tough bark-like skin and fur, granting it a higher defense than normal.
Cost (Level 1 --> 5): 5 DF --> 13 DF
Control Requirement (Level 1 --> 5): 1 --> 3
Creation Time (Level 1 --> 5): 3 Minutes --> 5 Minutes
Physical Attack: 1 --> 2
Ranged Attack: 0 --> 0
Physical Defense: 2 --> 4
Ranged Defense: 1 --> 2
Elemental Resistance: +25% Nature
Specials: Bonus physical defense due to hard, bark-like skin and fur
Pack Hunter: Bonus to physical attack if in conjunction with others in the Canine family
It worked! She was fairly confident that it would, but it was nice to have confirmation. She shared the resulting screen with Shale, and he smiled along with her internal jubilation.
“Nice! But…why isn’t it more powerful? I would think that even a Level 5 Root Fox would be much more deadly. It’s obviously a little bigger than its Level 1 counterpart, and the bark-like fur appears a little more sturdy, but the stats don’t really reflect a significant change.”
What? Ah, I understand your confusion. You probably learned at DAPS how increasing Levels in creatures has quite an effect on them; however, you probably only really concentrated on the deadlier, more popular creatures. For instance, the Forest Wolf— Tacca started absorbing the Root Fox and used a few of her available Control Limit points to create a Level 5 Forest Wolf, and showed it to Shale to compare it to one of the Level 1 Wolves still in her dungeon up above.
Forest Wolf
This Forest Wolf Variant specializes in hunting in packs, using its mottled green and brown fur to camouflage within a forest with ease. Has the special ability to completely freeze every part of its form, which can make it practically indistinguishable from the surrounding foliage. While its Physical Defense is relatively low, its powerful jaws and bite force can enact significant damage upon a target.
Cost (Level 1 --> 5): 20 DF --> 80 DF
Control Requirement (Level 1 --> 5): 5 --> 17
Creation Time (Level 1 --> 5): 5 Minutes --> 13 Minutes
Physical Attack: 4 --> 10
Ranged Attack: 0 --> 0
Physical Defense: 1 --> 2
Ranged Defense: 1 --> 2
Elemental Resistance: +15% Nature
Specials: Ability to freeze in place, stopping all movement to camouflage with surrounding Environmental Objects
Pack Hunter: Bonus to physical attack if in conjunction with others in the Canine family
—gets a significant boost in its attack, more than doubling it even. The Level 5 Wolf also received a small increase in its defense, which was already relatively low, but it’s almost on par with a Level 1 Root Fox. Just one of these deadlier Forest Wolves would be more than a match for just about any of the beginner Fighters coming into my dungeon right now, and perhaps even for some of the ones that have increased their Raider Level a time or two.
The price for that, though, is a higher Dungeon Force cost per Wolf in comparison to the Fox, as well as a much higher Control Limit requirement. When you add in the creation time increasing by 2 minutes per Level for the Wolf, as opposed to the 30 seconds per Level for the Fox, you can begin to see the advantages and drawbacks for each creature.
Shale was looking at the two screens she had shared with him, and he nodded his head when he understood. “So, it basically depends on the creature, as to how additional Levels will affect them initially. I’m assuming that if you were to increase the Root Fox in Level enough to be similar in stats to the Wolf, you would start to see some of the same costs?”
Yes and no. This Fox will always have a much higher Defense and would have to be quite a high Level to match the Physical Attack of the Wolf; it just depe
nds on what you’re looking for in a creature: high Attack, high Defense, or a mixture of them both.
“I see, I see. There always seems to be more to learn – and here I thought I graduated from DAPS knowing everything!”
Tacca chuckled mentally. Not everything, but more than enough to get you started. Keep in mind, I did a lot of additional studying through the years, so my knowledge is a little more complete; even considering that, there are still things I don’t know, and I will continue to learn in the future.
“Well, I think you’ve made a good start here; now that your negative Characteristics have been removed, that future is looking brighter and brighter.”
I agree. Speaking of the future, I really need to start designing and creating my new harder, larger dungeon section underneath this beginner one.
“You’re keeping it running, right?”
Of course. I don’t want to be like the other Cores and eliminate a potential source of increasing the “Power” of beginning Raiders by making them unable to delve. I’m an equal-opportunity dungeon – I want all kinds, here.
“I like it – and I’m excited to see what you do next.”
Me too, Shale, me too.
Chapter 20
Thankfully, the weeks and months following the increased tension between the Minister, the other Merchants, the Raiders, and the villagers – including himself and Gwenda – seemed calmer and smoother than it had been before. The open hostility between the two factions was muted a bit over time when nothing happened to incite further aggression; they still didn’t like each other, but the feeling that they were a few words away from a straight-up brawl faded significantly.
Sterge was sure that if something major were to occur – such as a Raider deliberately killing a Merchant or vice-versa – then it would all erupt into insane violence. Luckily, relations were improving enough that more Raiders were visiting the Merchants’ wagons for supplies, interacting with them civilly outside of their “camps”, and a few Merchants had even taken to frequenting a few of the Inns. It was slow-going, but there was certainly an improvement over the overwhelming tension that had been hovering around the entire Village over the last few months.
“The profits from our Store are nearly nothing after the increased cost of the supplies that we’re buying from the Minister,” Gwenda complained to him one night while they were relaxing in the governmental “Town Hall” building – or that was what everyone was calling it, despite them only being classified as a village still. He wasn’t sure what requirements were needed to become a town, but it didn’t feel like they had made it there yet.
“That was as you had expected, though, wasn’t it?”
His best friend grunted. “Yes, well, I was expecting to still make something from there due to raising prices, but we had to drop them after the Minister and his coterie decided to sell those same supplies at a reduced price – pressing us to drop prices as well. Now we’re barely making enough to pay the wages of those working there, and the profit is mainly going to Atero; I mean, he is doing all of the work, after all, but it’s an income stream we don’t have anymore.”
It was Sterge that grunted this time, acknowledging what she said but not really having anything to contribute. All of that buying and selling business wasn’t really his thing, after all, and he had no clue how to fix the situation – if it could be fixed at all, of course.
Instead, Sterge had been focused on getting as much production from all of the farms as possible. They had quite a few helpers nowadays, but no one was in charge of all of them – which left him as the “Chief” to oversee them. From planting and harvesting crops to managing the livestock, he took over the job of organizing them with the help of Gwenda and her skills. Truthfully, when he really thought about it, they didn’t really need him to be in charge because they had some competent people taking care of it – but he needed to do it.
He had thought that turning back to the life of a Raider would fulfill that need to do something in him, and it did, but it wasn’t a full-time job. Especially since he and the others in their group determined that using their privilege to cut in line for the dungeon was better used every 3 to 5 weeks instead of every week; actually, it was Gwenda and I that determined that, but the reasoning was sound. Sterge thought that delving at every opportunity would bring too much negative attention their way; it already caused a little stir and some significant grumbling the 2 times they had already done it, and keeping everyone happy – or at least the semblance of happiness – was important to the entire community. The recent hostile atmosphere was bad enough that it didn’t need something like that thrown into the mix.
Not only that, but their group had acquired a lot more Power towards their Raider Levels than the other groups delving through the dungeon. While it wasn’t quite obvious quite yet, it certainly would be if they became too strong too fast – and weren’t benefitting from going through the dungeon anymore. Sure, they could get the loot that dropped from the monsters inside, but at some point they would stop acquiring any Power from killing them. There weren’t a lot of Raiders nearby that could “Analyze” them, because it was apparently an Ability that most Classes received at Level 5, but there were enough that any significant jumps in Raider Level might be noticed. The way it was going, it wouldn’t be long before they hit that milestone.
Raider Status
Name:
Sterge Stonewell
Class:
Melee
Raider Level:
3
Power:
292/300
Physical Attack:
3 (6)
Physical Defense:
3 (8)
Ranged Attack:
0
Ranged Defense:
2
Magical Attack:
0
Magical Defense:
2
Resistances:
Physical 3
Mental 2
Earth 1
Fire 0
Water 0
Air 0
Nature 0
Life 0
Death 0
Skills:
Blade 1 (32%)
Blunt 2 (90%)
Two-handed 1 (0%)
Block 2 (26%)
Light Armor 1 (94%)
Heavy Armor 1 (0%)
Abilities:
Forceful Smash (Blunt)
Slam (Shield)
Dungeon Sight (Enhancement)
Power Boost +50% (Permanent)
Sterge and Gwenda were doing their best to keep their secret as long as possible – though that secret didn’t last long when it came to their group knowing about it. William, Evy, and Mordecai were good people, though; it was both in their best interest and because they were those good people that they weren’t interested in calling more attention to themselves. It sounded a little callous to think that they had a good thing going and didn’t want to jeopardize it by letting the secret out, but it was nevertheless true.
“The benefits of selling our secret, either monetarily or socially, are insignificant compared to what they are getting by keeping that secret in the long-term. I think they see this, because they are obviously smart individuals, and the future far outweighs the now – especially since they now have some money to support themselves,” Gwenda had told him in confidence one night.
After both delves, Sterge and his best friend had determined to give all of the loot that they had collected to the three others, as it would benefit them more. The two Hill Dwarves weren’t rich, but they were well-off enough that they didn’t really need to delve through the dungeon for loot. In the future, when they would tackle harder dungeons, that might change depending on the loot; for now, though, the others could make much more use of it. So much so, in fact, that they didn’t even complain too much about waiting a month or so before delving again – because they had more than enough to support themselves until then.
The Hill Dwarves’ only expression of th
eir new-found wealth was to purchase some better armor for themselves and their new friends; nothing extraordinary, but it was a step up from what they were wearing before, and his own didn’t feel like it would fall apart if he moved the wrong way. Anything better than what they acquired wasn’t necessarily needed, and would be an expense that they didn’t need to incur; the last time they went through the dungeon, in fact, they hadn’t suffered from more than a few minor bites and scratches – and those were in the Boss room, where there were too many enemies to avoid them all. The rest of the delve was relatively easy because he could pinpoint where all of the dangers were using his Dungeon Sight Ability.
“Sterge?” Gwenda asked, her voice softer than it had been when complaining about profits at the Store. She had gone on to describe what was happening with their Inns, which were still doing brisk business, but he had only been listening with half an ear. The change in tone made him really pay attention, however.
“Yes?”
She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “What are we going to do when we get no benefit from this dungeon anymore?”
That certainly wasn’t what he was expecting her to ask – though it wasn’t like he had an expectation of what seemed to be bothering her. “What do you mean?”
“Well, from what we’ve heard, it usually takes dungeons at least a year to get bigger and more difficult. I have a feeling that won’t be until after the snows this winter, which will be here in about 7 months. If we become too powerful in, say, 2 months, what are we going to do then? Will we leave here with our group and delve through some other dungeons? Wait until this one upgrades its rooms and makes it more difficult? And if we do that, then how long will it be until we out-level that one?”
The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Page 23