New Dungeon Monster Name
Salt Strider
Success! Sort of. It appeared as though the Tiny Salt Cube brought down the Mana Cost of something called a Salt Strider from the original 20 to only 10. The Mana Cost of activating the Skill was a bit high at 1,000, but if it worked, then that could make up for the cost quite quickly. The 20% Potential Viability was a bit of a concern, but Sandra didn’t have any idea what that meant – other than it was low.
Throwing caution to the wind, she mentally confirmed the skill and felt the required resources flow out of her; she waited a few seconds for something to appear, but nothing seemed to materialize. Suddenly, she received another notification.
New Custom Creation unlocked through Dungeon Monster Creation Skill!
Constructs (All):
Salt Strider now available!
Salt Strider
Mana Cost: 10 Mana
Ah! So that’s how it works. Pulling up her Core Selection Menu, she found that there was a “1” in the Custom Creation Options list; sure enough, Salt Strider was available. Without waiting any longer, Sandra created a Tiny Copper Orb for a Monster Seed and used it to create the new Monster. A second or so later, the new Custom-made Dungeon Monster was revealed in all its…glory.
Similar in size to the original Clockwork Spider, the Salt Strider was anything but a Clockwork construct. Instead, as she probably should’ve assumed but didn’t consider, the Strider was made almost entirely of salt. White and clear-colored salt. It was animated without the need for internal “gears”, so locomotion wasn’t really an issue; what was an issue, however, was that every time it took a step, cracks formed within the salt of its long legs. After a dozen steps, large pieces of its legs and even its body started to break and fall off, causing the Strider to stumble and finally fall on its side, shattering the rest of its body parts in the process. Needless to say, it disappeared and left behind a Tiny Copper Orb, a sad symbol of the failure behind its design.
Chapter 13
“What…was…that?!”
In all her excitement and hurry over playing—experimenting—with her new Skill, Sandra had neglected to tell the Dungeon Fairy about what it was and what she was doing. She remedied this by informing Winxa of the Skill’s details and her disastrous results, lamenting over the loss of a little over 1,000 Mana for an essentially useless Dungeon Monster. Unless some attacking Monster was allergic to salt or perhaps a giant slug, Sandra couldn’t see a real use for something that would destroy itself after taking a few steps.
So, obviously, that 20% Potential Viability was an indicator of how “viable” it would be as a Dungeon Monster; in this case, not very viable.
“Yes, I can see that. Please tell me you’re doing this for a reason and not just for fun, Sandra,” Winxa chided, waving her finger as if she was scolding a misbehaving child.
The Dungeon Core laughed, finding humor in the Fairy’s actions, and it felt like a balm of calmness over her mind. The insane raving at the back of her thoughts wasn’t gone, as much as she would’ve liked it to be, but it was a bit more muted as she reveled in the first little bit of laughter she’d enjoyed in a long time. Oh, Winxa, it feels good to laugh again. And don’t worry, I’m not doing this just for fun, though I will admit that it is exciting to see what I can create. It’s not quite the same thing as crafting, yet it’s interesting in its own way.
So saying, Sandra spent a few minutes plugging in different Monster Seeds, seeing if she could figure out something that was inexpensive-yet-“viable”. Different kinds of metals, including Titanium, almost all had a 100% Viability, but even Copper and Tin were at least 15 Mana more than the normal Powered Arachnid. Pine wood was less expensive at 15 Mana, but only had a 50% Viability; whether that made it splinter apart after traveling a mile or so, or because it was otherwise fragile was hard to determine, but Sandra didn’t want to waste another 1,000 Mana to test it for just a small savings in the end.
Thread and leather were equally poor choices as far as Viability went, with a rating of 5% and 15%, respectively. Gemstones like Sapphire and Onyx were at a 90% Viability, probably because they weren’t necessarily as durable as metal, but they were outrageously expensive at 500 Mana. Not that she couldn’t afford to create them, but they wouldn’t help her with her absorption issues.
Weirdly, Raw Bearling and Crag Hound Meat had a Viability of 75%; she couldn’t even begin to picture what these would look like, and was hesitant to even attempt it. Fortunately, the Mana Cost for them was 50, which made them too expensive as a means of easier absorption.
Clays of different types were around 30% to 40%, which either meant they were soft and pliable, or fired hard like pottery; either situation wouldn’t work well in terms of durability if they were traveling around the wasteland and beyond. Sandra pictured a hard-fired Pottery Spider falling down a small hill and shattering into dozens of shards upon impact.
Dragon Glass, as opposed to what she had expected of “glass”, had a Viability of 95%! It was too bad that it cost 800 Mana for a single Monster, but it was good to know that she could create something like that if she ever had to invade the Beast dungeon, which was full of heat and flame traps.
Lastly, with the “normal” Monster Seeds unsuccessful, Sandra turned to her Elemental Orbs. Unfortunately, trying to select one of them for her Powered Arachnid was impossible – it was like they weren’t available at all.
“Based on the results you’ve had so far—” Winxa interjected— “I think the Elemental Orbs would impart a certain element to the original Dungeon Monster. Since they are already all of the elements, it probably isn’t compatible.”
That would certainly explain it. Hmm…if that’s the case, I wonder if….
Dungeon Monster Creation
Dungeon Monster
Origination Material
Monster Seed(s)
Binding Agent
Radiant Giant Pegasus
None
Tiny Fire Elemental Orb
Fairy Tear
Potential Viability
80%
Initial Skill Mana Cost
20000
Initial Raw Materials Cost
6000
Dungeon Monster Mana Cost
9000
New Dungeon Monster Name
Radiant Ember Giant Pegasus
That was certainly interesting; there was an option to add another element to one of her Dungeon Monsters via her Advancement Options, but this Skill looked like it could do the same thing. Granted, the Initial Skill Mana Cost was high at 20,000, and the cost of creating the new Fire-and-Light-Element Pegasus was 9,000 as opposed to the original 8,000, but it might be worth it. The 80% Viability was lower than she expected, however, though some experimentation with larger Orbs and even Cubes eventually brought it all the way up to 99% – bringing all of the Costs up greatly as well. Not only that, but the name changed with the different sizes, ending up using a Radiant Inferno Giant Pegasus with a Large Fire Elemental Cube. Perhaps it gives the Dungeon Monster additional elemental energy? It was impossible to tell without actually going through some experimentation, but she didn’t have the time nor the Mana to do that right now.
Which brought her to the only other thing she could add to the Powered Arachnid to affect some sort of change that would make it less expensive: Origination Materials. A very quick check of most of them, including everything she had used as Monster Seeds, revealed that they had exactly the same Viabilities as their Seed equivalent, though their Initial Mana Costs were about a third of the Seed Costs. For example, the Salt Strider she had created before, which cost 1,000 Mana and 100 Raw Materials, only cost 350 Mana and 35 Raw Materials; she was disappointed with herself for not trying that part out first, saving her some resources. Despite these savings, though, the Dungeon Monster Mana Cost was exactly the same.
That left a short list of Origination Materials that weren’t used for Monster Seeds at all, but that could be applied to her construct.
> Non-Monster Seed Origination Materials:
Coal
Jute Seed
Flax Seed
Cotton Seed
Finely Woven Burlap Cloth
Finely Woven Linen Cloth
Finely Woven Cotton Cloth
Oak Tree Seed
Maple Tree Seed
Pine Tree Seed
Ash Tree Seed
Cedar Tree Seed
Birch Tree Seed
Redwood Tree Seed
Yew Tree Seed
Ironwood Tree Seed
Apple Tree Seed
Pear Tree Seed
Peach Tree Seed
Plum Tree Seed
Apricot Tree Seed
Orange Tree Seed
Lemon Tree Seed
Lime Tree Seed
Crude Cedarwood Oil
Wheat Seed
Barley Seed
Hops Rhizome
Potato Cutting
Clear Glass
(more)
Unfortunately, after using everything on the list, none of them had a Viability over 25% – and that was for Coal, of all things. Making a Dungeon Monster out of cloth or a seed probably wouldn’t work that well, so that made sense.
As she selected the “(more)” option to the list, she was no longer holding out hope. She had almost resigned herself to just doing what she could with her normal Powered Arachnids, dealing with decreasing resources as time went on. Luckily, there was an interesting surprise on the last page of the Non-Monster Seed Origination Materials list.
Non-Monster Seed Origination Materials:
Territory Ant Egg
Paralyzing Spider Venom
Crag Hound Stone Carapace
Solitary Broat Mass
(back)
Of course! How could I have forgotten about those? Eagerly slotting in the Paralyzing Spider Venom (because, well, the Powered Arachnid was a spider, so why not?), Sandra was a little disappointed to see that the Mana Cost to create one jumped up to 100. Might be good for defending against Goblins or even Beasts, but too expensive for what I need. The same result happened when she put in the Crag Hound Stone Carapace as well as the Solitary Broat Mass, though for some reason the last one was 200 Mana!
That left the Territory Ant Egg, one of the very first Origination Materials she had ever received, back when she was still hollowing out her original Home room. She couldn’t see what sort of benefit it would have, but she slotted it in anyway.
Dungeon Monster Creation
Dungeon Monster
Origination Material
Monster Seed(s)
Binding Agent
Powered Arachnid
Territory Ant Egg
None
Fairy Tear
Potential Viability
25%
Initial Skill Mana Cost
600
Initial Raw Materials Cost
80
Dungeon Monster Mana Cost
300
New Dungeon Monster Name
Fragile Territory Arachnid Queen
Darn – I knew it! Not only was the changed Dungeon Monster at 25% Viability, but it also cost 300 Mana, a 1,500% increase! That definitely wouldn’t work, and now she was out of options—wait…
She was about to close out of the Skill menu, but then she saw something that caught her eye. The name of the new Dungeon Monster was Fragile Territory Arachnid Queen. Flashbacks ran through her mind at the incessant production of eggs the Territory Ant Queen had created, and how it had taken everything she could throw at the Ant matriarch to defeat it. But it wasn’t just eggs that had been produced; the Territory Ants that spawned from those eggs that had nearly been Sandra’s destruction. Does that mean what I think it means?
She wasn’t sure if it was actually possible, but she was willing to take a chance; the Dungeon Core didn’t really have any other clear prospects, at least. The problem was that the Queen seemed to lack Viability; at only 25%, it was possible that it would just fall apart if it tried to move. Can I fix that? There was only one way to try.
Sandra found that she could add additional selections to the Skill, though only in the form of Monster Seeds. Of those, she could add an unlimited amount, apparently, though the Initial Costs increased exponentially. Only needing one thing to help strengthen the Arachnid Queen, she started placing metals inside; Copper brought the Viability up to 30%, Nickel and Tin to 35%, Lead to 40%, Bronze to 45%, and Iron to 50%. It was only as she added the stronger metals did the Viability come into range of where she thought it was acceptable. Steel provided a 65% Viability, and Titanium was at 75%; not perfect, but it would have to do if she wanted it to work.
The Initial Mana and Raw Material Costs shot up to 12,000 and 6,000, but she was gambling that it was going to be worth it. If not, then she had wasted a small chunk of time and resources on nothing, and she was back to having no other options than the Powered Arachnids.
New Custom Creation unlocked through Dungeon Monster Creation Skill!
Constructs (All):
Titanic Territory Arachnid Queen now available!
Titanic Territory Arachnid Queen
Mana Cost: 7000 Mana
It was a far cry from the cheap, inexpensive alternative she was looking for, but she could only hope that it did what she thought it would. Spending the 9000 Mana required to make the Monster Seed and the Queen itself, she waited for it to form inside of her Home room.
“I can see why it might have been only a 25% Viability at first,” Winxa remarked upon first glimpse of the large spider on the floor. Sandra couldn’t help but agree.
At 5 feet wide from leg tip to leg tip, the Spider was a scary-looking construct. Not necessarily because of its size, which was horrifying to someone who didn’t like insects to start with, but because it was made from different materials. First, the Territory Ant Egg material was what made up the “skin” or “shell” of the strange construct, which was a squishy, gel-like substance that creeped her out just looking at it. Inside of the semi-translucent Egg material, however, were legs made from what Sandra assumed was Titanium, as well as where they connected to the body. Unfortunately, that Titanium didn’t extend to all of the main body, which was a disgusting mass of Egg material and random thin plates of Titanium scattered over its different parts. Assumedly, if the Titanium hadn’t been there, then the Queen would’ve had to try moving around with Egg-legs, which probably wouldn’t have worked too well.
Well, shall we try it? Without waiting for Winxa’s answer, she sent her new Arachnid construct down through the Roc tunnel, and was surprised at how fast it was. The Queen skittered down the tunnel quickly, aided by its strong legs for movement; its body was squishy and vulnerable, but if it had room to run, then anything trying to catch it would have a hard time. In minutes, it had traveled out of her dungeon, so she sent it about a half-mile away from her dungeon entrance to see what it would do.
Nothing. Not a single thing. She was expecting it to dig down into the dirt and establish some sort of nest, but it did nothing of the sort.
Darn it! What went wrong?
“Um, Sandra? This is a spider, remember?”
Yes, I remember – what of it? The Dungeon Core wasn’t sure what Winxa was trying to get at. Using one of her available Shears to look at the Arachnid Queen standing there in the full sunlight, even more disgusting-looking with more light, it finally occurred to her. Never mind, I think I got it.
It took another few minutes for the Queen to travel the distance to the nearest forest, close to where the Undead dungeon had caused so much havoc not so long ago. Almost immediately, the Queen climbed up one of the trees and started to string a web from that tree to another, made from glistening Territory Ant Egg material that seemed to exude from its rear end.
While she was sure there were spiders that dug holes in the dirt, most spiders she knew of preferred to spin webs between two nearby objects; that was where she had erred. It didn’t take more than a few min
utes for a complete web to be built strand-by-strand, and then the Arachnid matriarch perched itself in the middle of the web, as if waiting for something.
That was it. It did nothing else, which was a disappointment. What am I missing? The Territory Ant Queen that Sandra had fought had relentlessly created eggs one after another, but her new construct wasn’t doing anything of the sort. Why isn’t it making eggs?
“Why would it make eggs? Is its territory under attack?”
Such a logical question, and yet it made Sandra feel ignorant. Simple enough to fix; all she had to do was send orders to the Titanic Territory Arachnid Queen that its territory was under attack, and—
Immediate action took place as the Queen jumped off of the web, landed on a nearby tree, and started devouring its leaves and branches. 30 seconds later, it jumped back onto the web and started to lay a gigantic pile of tiny eggs which clung to the sticky material; Sandra had to look away during the whole process because it was a little disturbing and disgusting.
When the laying of eggs was complete, the Queen jumped to the other tree and started to feast on the foliage again. I’m assuming it needs the material to create the eggs? That was the easiest, and likely the correct, explanation, because otherwise the construct would be making the eggs from nothing. Well, not nothing, because she could also sense that the ambient mana around the web was thinning; she could almost see the flows of Mana being sucked into the egg pile attached to the web.
A minute after being laid, the eggs started to hatch, releasing their contents in a wave of brown sticky legs and green bodies. What? As soon as they all separated and landed lightly on the ground, before scurrying off in all directions, Sandra could see why they were brown and green: they were literally assembled from sticks and leaves. With 8 thin sticks as legs and a leafy green mass of a body, they seemed to be assembled by what the Queen had consumed. They appeared to be relatively fragile in their construction, as if a good slap would completely destroy them – but they weren’t there to fight.
The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Page 14