I’m going to dig out an exit to all of these rooms down here, as well as create a way for new groups to bypass the original section altogether.
“How? Steps leading all the way down?”
No, I have a better idea.
Which was how she ended up with a massive, corkscrewing slide that descended hundreds of feet into the mountain, ending up in a small extension to the very first room of her new section, with the 5 branching tunnels. She didn’t fully open it up yet, leaving about 5 feet of pure stone untouched between the face of the mountain and her new entrance, but once everything was ready she could do it quite easily. The exit tunnel, however, was completed, as she ate her way horizontally out of the mountain, after spending some time connecting every room exit to the same tunnel. Lastly, Tacca made sure all of the Rotating Stone Bridges were in place on all of the passageways, either as exits or as a way to block off access to some rooms in the second section.
By the time she was done, she only had half a day left to wait.
Chapter 5
It was nearly incomprehensible to Tacca how many Core Improvement Points she had accumulated, most of which came from killing the blue-skinned invaders in her dungeon. Not to be completely outdone, the former Fairy-turned-Dungeon-Core had also contributed a healthy amount with the reconstruction and repopulation of her two sections – which was much more than she had gained before, mainly because she didn’t have the same stranglehold over her gains without the 95% reduction in earned CIPs.
Core Improvement Point Awards
Type
Variable Conditions
Potential CIP
Current
Rooms Constructed
Size
1 – 50
9
Traps Installed
Complexity
1 – 20
2245
Monsters Created
Levels
1 – 20
248
Rewards Placed
Valuation
1 – 50
189
Raider Presence
Time
1 – 5
258
Raider Deaths
Quality
100 – 10000
26600
Most of the extra CIPs came from the massive quantity of traps she had installed down below in her defensive room, though she did earn a respectable amount from the creatures and rewards she had placed. Unfortunately, none of the tunnels she had made for her entrance and exit counted as rooms for the “Rooms Constructed”, but that didn’t really matter – she had plenty of Points already coming her way.
As the time ticked down in the last few seconds, Shale chimed in at the last few moments. “Tacca, I don’t mean to worry you, but I just had a thought.”
Uh, oh. What?
“Well, it seems to me as though your Core is a bit more fragile since…you know…and I was wondering how your Core would handle—”
It was too late for him to finish his question, as the timer for the countdown period hit zero. All of a sudden, Tacca went from feeling nothing to experiencing a sensation not unlike her Core shattering again. So many accumulated CIPs were pumped into her fragile form, abruptly transforming and making her Core larger than it was just a moment ago that it felt like she had exploded. Her perceptions of the world around her faded, and she was lost in a familiar limbo-like state; this time, however, there was no pain as her consciousness floated in a sludge-like nothingness.
The view of her world rapidly came crashing back into her, flooding her mind with thousands of small details from around her dungeon. As soon as she could adjust to her surroundings again, she was relieved to be free of pain – and to immediately see that her dungeon was still there. Every single environmental object was present, as well as the creatures and traps she had set up around each section, including her defensive room. She even looked at her Core and saw that it was…larger, but essentially exactly the same.
If anything, she saw even more etchings around her entire form, though none of them appeared to hide any actual cracks underneath. Instead, now that there were more of the etchings and they were more defined, she could see that they were geometric in design, with straight lines running all over her Core. They crisscrossed each other at different intervals, sometimes just a little distance, while others ran all the way around her shape. None of it made any sense to Tacca, though for some reason it seemed familiar; looking at it for a few minutes, trying to figure it out, produced no sudden epiphany.
It was only when she tore her focus away from her Core that she realized that something was missing. To put it more precisely, it wasn’t something, but someone: Shale was nowhere to be found inside of her dungeon.
Shale? Where are you?
“Tacca? You’re back! Are you okay?” Her Dungeon Assistant sounded far away, but distance fortunately didn’t break the connection, only dimming it somewhat so that you could sometimes tell how far away they were. “Hold on, I’m Translocating back to your Core Room now.”
The next moment, there was a small *pop* as Shale appeared in the corner of her room, looking a little windblown, as if he had been flying around outside. “There you are! I was beginning to become really worried.”
Worried? Why?
“Because you were non-responsive for nearly 6 weeks, that’s why!” Her Assistant looked at her Core and crossed his arms over his chest, his Mood Clothes shifting to a bit of a black and red color. What that told her was that he was both angry and possibly a little despondent.
I was out for 6 weeks! It didn’t feel like that long….
“Well, it was.” A lot of the hostile color faded from his clothes as he seemed to relax, now that she was back. “Worst of all, everything seemed to pause while you were gone, so that my increase in my Assistant Rank didn’t progress at all! I still have a little over a month to go.”
It was all very strange, but now Tacca could sort of understand why he had been mad. She had basically abandoned him again, as well as delaying the increase in his Assistant Ranking – which would be very significant at that point, based on all of the Points his Core had accumulated. In fact, if she calculated it correctly, he could potentially be a high-Staged Expert Rank – nearly Master Rank!
Sorry I left you again – I didn’t know it would do that.
“Yes, well, it was something that I was afraid of. I tried to mention it before it happened, but I think the increase in your Core Improvement Level happened before I could finish. I’m just glad all of your work hadn’t been reset like last time.”
Me too. And I’m hoping that something like that doesn’t happen again; I think it only did it this time because I had so many pending CIPs.
Congratulations, Tacca GloomLily!
You have reached Core Improvement Level: 20
Current CIP Countdown: 2989/5400 in 30 days
Core Improvement Points earned: 28300 (28300)
Special Characteristic Points earned: 175 (225)
The thought of those CIPs made her pull up her options – and if she could’ve salivated in her Core form, she would’ve been drooling at the possibilities.
Core Improvements
Available Core Improvement Points (CIP)
28300
2989 in 30 days
Improvement Name
Value
Cost (CIP)
Maximum Dungeon Force Increase
+500 DF
750
Dungeon Force Regeneration Increase
+10 DF per minute
1000
Control Limit Increase
+100
800
Select Additional Creature
1
550
Select Additional Creature Variant
1
25
Select Additional Trap Specialization
1
600
Select Additional Environment Access
1
&nb
sp; 800
Reward Tier Increase
1
400
Convert CIPs to SCPs
1 SCP
12
Not only did she have more than 28,000 CIPs to spend, but she also shot all the way up to Core Improvement Level 20 from her previous Level 12! No wonder I basically exploded when all that happened all at once. During the first year of a Core’s existence, it was common for them to acquire enough Points to advance 5 to 10 Levels (and even more) when their countdown was up, but after the first year it was much harder to gain more than a few Levels per countdown period. When Tacca considered that her Core was a lot more fragile than others, it made more sense about what happened. Of course, she still didn’t exactly know why she was so fragile or even how to fix it.
Now that I’m back, everything seems fine – better than fine, in fact. I have a lot of Points to spend, but I’m not sure what I should purchase. I never really considered this rapid of an advancement in my Levels.
Shale appeared to be returning to normal, the annoyance of the delay in his own advancement overshadowed by his position as a Dungeon Assistant. Tacca did need his help, honestly, because while she knew of a couple things she wanted to purchase right away – such as an increase in her maximum Dungeon Force and Control Limit – that would still leave thousands of CIPs unaccounted for.
“Well, I’m sure you already have an idea what you need—” which she did— “so why don’t you purchase those first, and we’ll see what is left, afterwards.”
Simple advice, but it was what she needed. Having too many choices being a bad thing never would’ve occurred to her before this, as she had been concentrating on what she needed at the moment or very near future; now, though, she instantly had access to the Points that she would’ve likely earned over another year or so, which would’ve come with more experience and knowledge of what would be needed to be most effective.
Therefore, she dug into what she needed most, purchasing one item after another – including multiples of the same selection. In total, Tacca spent over 14,000 of her Points, greatly increasing her versatility.
Improvement Name
Total Increase
Total Cost (CIP)
Maximum Dungeon Force Increase
+2000 DF
4500
Dungeon Force Regeneration Increase
+20 DF per minute
2250
Control Limit Increase
+800
6200
Reward Tier Increase
2
1200
She now had 4,000 Dungeon Force at her disposal, regenerating at 48 DF per minute, and her Control Limit had tripled from 400 to 1200. In addition to those purchases, which would help immensely, she also acquired the next 2 Reward Tiers. Having better Rewards for killing her creatures, making the Raiders better equipped as a result, was a good way to keep them coming; not only that, but she finally had some things that she knew were valuable trade goods, which could potentially bring in even stronger groups of Raiders.
“That doesn’t make sense – why would they come here if they don’t get the Power they need to increase their Raider Levels?”
Tacca answered Shale easily, having both learned about it at her time at DAPS and from simple observation.
While Raiders want to increase their strength through delving through harder and more difficult dungeons, the risk of death also increases. From my understanding, once they reach a certain Raider Level, unless they are wealthy and can afford to equip themselves with powerful gear, they need to acquire wealth from somewhere. Sure, they will acquire some coinage and simple gear from the Rewards they gained to get to that point, but it is usually only enough to sustain them and keep them alive – if perhaps a little more.
But for those that are, say, Raider Level 23 and the next dungeon they have access to readily enough is a bit too strong for them, then delving through some easier dungeons to acquire trade goods can be the way to afford their next delve. You remember those merchants that came here intending to destroy me? The same thing applies to these Raiders when they need to acquire better armor or weapons, usually with enchantments, though definitely to a lesser extent than we saw.
Then there are those Raiders, so I’ve learned, that prefer to get to a certain threshold and then spend all of their days acquiring trade goods, becoming wealthy for the sole purpose of being wealthy. They never advance in Raider Level, but their efforts also help the rest of the Raider community by supplying them with much-needed items.
Her Dungeon Assistant seemed to consider this and then nodded. “I guess I can see that. I never really thought about how the, uh, economy worked outside of the dungeon.”
Truthfully, I don’t have all the knowledge I’d like about it, but what I do know I’ve learned or worked out on my own. Enough to know that providing the right types of Rewards is important.
Tacca pulled up her new Reward Tiers – Tiers 3 and 4 – and pointed out a few examples for him.
Reward Tier 3
Reward
Cost
Minor Healing Potion
50 DF
Steel-banded Oak Shield
60 DF
Sturdy Leather Chestpiece
35 DF
Sturdy Leather Leggings
35 DF
Sturdy Leather Vambraces
35 DF
Sturdy Leather Boots
35 DF
Sturdy Leather Helmet
35 DF
Sturdy Leather Gloves
35 DF
Simple Bronze Chestpiece
60 DF
Simple Bronze Leggings
60 DF
Simple Bronze Vambraces
60 DF
Simple Bronze Helmet
60 DF
Simple Bronze Gloves
60 DF
Fine Cloth Robe
10 DF
Fine Cloth Tunic
10 DF
Fine Cloth Trousers
10 DF
Reward Tier 4
Reward
Cost
Illumination Enchantment Scroll
75 DF
Minor Physical Resistance Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Minor Mental Resistance Increase Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Minor Fire Elemental Resistance Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Minor Water Elemental Resistance Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Minor Earth Elemental Resistance Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Minor Air Elemental Resistance Enchantment Scroll
250 DF
Functional Steel Dagger
80 DF
Functional Steel Shortsword
80 DF
Functional Steel Mace
80 DF
Functional Steel Axe
80 DF
Fine Pine Bow
80 DF
Exquisite Maple Staff
80 DF
From Tier 3, the most important item is the Minor Healing Potion. Raiders all over the continent use them to heal themselves, and I know you’ve seen even the weakest groups consuming them in my first section. Where do they get them? From dungeons that drop them as Rewards in large quantities, that’s where.
The 4th Tier, on the other hand, is where you start seeing Enchantment Scrolls. They are a bit more expensive to produce compared to anything but Gold Coins, but they can be very beneficial for Raiders. Even a minor increase in their Resistances can make a huge difference, which makes these scrolls fairly valuable.
Enchantment Scrolls were a big draw for Rewards, because they could enchant gear or other worn items, such as an Amulet of Illumination – the Scroll of which was less in terms of cost and therefore more common than others. As such, Tacca was planning on making the Illumination Enchantment Scroll be a more common Reward, while the others would be something much more rare, such as from her Boss Werewolf or so
me reward chests she was planning on placing in different places.
As for the rest of the rewards, the armor and weapon upgrades were excellent, as they would also help the Raiders survive longer. Not only that, but she could also equip both her Kitsune and Gnoll creatures with better gear; not all of them would need it, but 1 or 2 per room might be a nice challenge to the groups going through her new section.
Overall, Tacca spent exactly half of her 28,300 CIPs to acquire all she needed to not only finish her new dungeon section, but to keep it running without problems. That still left her with 14,150 Points to spend, and the decision of where to spend them was where she needed help.
“Very nice selections, Tacca. Though, I’d probably say that you’re at the bare minimum of what you need to keep both sections running smoothly.”
You’re right, but I didn’t want to spend needlessly unless absolutely necessary. Having more Dungeon Force or regeneration would always be helpful, as well as the Control Limit, but is there something else I should be looking towards?
“That really depends on your plans, I guess. What are you planning to do when you finish filling this section?” Shale likely had an inkling of what she had planned, but she hadn’t shared everything with him quite yet – which meant that he was asking an important question: What did she plan on doing next?
The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) Page 5