Valknar
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Chapter 80
🕑 Added 2024-11-02 09:38:38 +0000 UTCThe team that first cleared the sixth floor had just left and I was thinking about the results of their work.
I had started on the floor but changed my mind as my CP restrictions came into play. I had to rearrange a few things to make things work. The first thing was moving the first four snakes to the second cavern. First, I placed three snakes and then five in the other.
This marked the exhaustion of the CP and I was at a loss as to what to do now. I had no CP to do anything else, so I was going to have to rethink what I was going to have to do. I removed two snakes from the first cavern to give myself some resources to use. I mulled over the options I had.
“Damn it! What the hell am I going to do? My CP restrictions are really biting me in the backside…. If I had one anymore.”
This led to an hour-long rant about my problems, focused on the usual individual God that put me here. It felt good to have a vent, but I needed to get back to work. Now that I could ignore the comings and goings of the adventurers, I was doing just that.
I expanded the last cavern because I thought it was too small. My aura touched something strange that I had never encountered before in the north rock face. I dug it out, looked at it and got an alert.
Alert!
You have discovered a mana geode. You can absorb it and gain 200 units of mana or 100 units of CP added to your total.
Which will you choose?
It looked like a calcified lighting bolt. Inside, it glowed with different colours and moved like a kaleidoscope. It was beautiful, but I was a Core in need.
It was a no-brainer and I took the CP.
I absorbed the geode, and a massive rush of energy flowed through my Core. The energy was surprising and shocking. If I had a body, it would have been tingling right now. It was a massive infusion of power, like an essence rush.
“Wow! I could get used to that.”
Looking at my CP total, I see that it has increased by a full 100 points. This gave me some new options and I considered what to use it for. I had a few ideas. But first, I looked inside my Core.
I could see the alterations to the crystal brought about by CP increases, but I had failed to replicate this effect so far. My Core had also not increased in size, which posed questions that I would have to investigate at a later date. My vision twisted again and I was back outside looking around the sixth floor.
I replaced the snakes and moved on to the next part of my plan. With one hundred new units of CP, I could now play with a few things.
I started by creating an enhanced snake for 12 CP. It was difficult, but I focused on the motes of light span, debris, and air, like a miniature tornado. With a flash and loud pop, it came into existence. It was longer and thicker than the other snakes but still the same dull green until it started moving and copying the environment around it. I dismissed the alerts to focus on the status sheet.
“Let’s see what we have.”
Name Greater Diamond Head Snake
Level/Class 1 - Dungeon Minion
Race Dungeon Snake
Essence 0%
Health 160/160
Mana 60/60
Stamina 150/150
Corruption 0%
STR 10 - 10 Damage base
DEX 9
AGL 15 - + 10% to Dodge.
END 10
VIT 16
PER 11
INT 6
WIL 6
LUCK 4
Skills:
Strike 1 – 0%: + 20% to an attack. Cost 10 stamina.
Dodge 1 -0%
Equipment:
Bite: 4 DAM(Piercing) + STR
Perks/Restrictions:
Tough Hide: -4 DAM
Camouflage: +60% stealth attacks.
“Ok, that is a step up over the base snake.”
I was happy with it, so I created another, assigning them to the fourth cavern, and opened the loot assignment screen.
Loot Assignment.
The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the two Greater Diamond Head Snakes.
Cythian Copper coins x30 (Chance – 50%)
Cythian Copper coins 35 (Chance – 40%)
Do you wish to accept the rewards: Yes or No?
“A bit basic…. But I am happy with it.”
I moved to the last cavern and thought about the boss. I had resources and wanted something new and different. I opened different screens, looking for inspiration over just a much larger worm. I came to my list of enchantments
I opened a side screen of the Greater Diamond Head design and thought about their similarities. Could I merge an enchantment with this new snake? It was time to try.
I reviewed my options and looked at strengthening the boss’s defensive abilities. I found the best I had and noted the CP cost of creation.
When I started the creation process, I sought to control it more. In the past, I was content and too focused on getting it done, to be honest about guiding what was created. This time, I would try.
The snake began to come as the motes of light started to appear. They began spinning, and I could see the outline of the body. I now added the enchantment and more CP. The pressure in my mind suddenly jumped, and I almost lost it. Mentally gritting my teeth, I stayed on track. The last part was the remaining CP that would bring it to guardian level.
It was like an even heavier load slamming into my mind. I barely focused this time and had to fight for every second. I chanted in my mind, speed, speed, speed. This was the most complex creation yet and the motes were spinning at a speed that was causing after images. The wind was fast, and the grass was being ripped from the ground by it along with the earth.
Every second felt like an hour, and I almost lost it several times, but with an intense flash and loud bang, it was done.
I was disoriented for nearly a minute from the pressure realise and the appearance of the new guardian. I ignored the alerts as I recovered. I opened the first assigning to the room as the Floor Guardian. I looked around for it. At first, I did not see it, but it moved slightly and I noticed it.
It was much smaller and so well blended in with its environment that it was like it was invisible.
“What do we have?”
Name 6th Floor Guardian
Level/Class Floor 6 Boss
Race Dungeon Snake
Essence 0%
Health 250/250
Mana 80/80
Stamina 150/150
Corruption 0%
STR 20 - 20 Damage base
DEX 9
AGL 30 - + 30% to Dodge.
END 15 - -1 Dam from attacks
VIT 25
PER 12
INT 8
WIL 8
LUCK 6
Skills:
Strike 1 – 0%: + 20% to an attack. Cost 10 stamina.
Dodge 1 -0%
Spells:
Enchant Scales - Cost 10 Mana (Duration: 30 seconds) -3 Dam from attacks.
Equipment:
Bite: 6 DAM(Piercing) + STR
Perks/Restrictions:
Tough Hide: -6 DAM
Camouflage: +80% stealth attacks.
“Right, that is…. Interesting.”
The enchantment was integrated with the Guardian but had to be activated to be used like a spell, but it was not a spell. It was a bit weird.
The rest of the Guardian was fast. The snake was built for speed and rapid strikes rather than enduring a beating. That did not mean it was a glass cannon by any measure. Coming in at 30 CP, I expected no less.
It was built for speed and had abilities to improve its survivability if caught. Overall, I was happy and went to the last alert. I read over the list and thought no, then changed it.
Loot Assignment.
The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the 6th Floor Guardian.
Cythian Copper coins x60 (Chance – 50%)
Cythian Copper coins x80 (Chance – 40%)
Cythian Silver coins X3 (Chance – 9%)
Cythian Gold coins X1 (Chance – 1%)
The odds and types of rewards have been set manually, but this will add to the overall support cost of the room respawn by 1 CP.
Do you wish to accept the rewards: Yes or No?
“Yes.”
This all cost me 50 CP, as I also had to pay to regenerate any damaged plants. I was happy, but then I had a fun thought.
I added a pillar to the corner of the Guardian cavern and laced it with Grey Skinn mushroom spores that began proliferating. They would be fully grown in a few hours.
Why?
It would confuse the hell out of the adventurers.
When it was all done, it was night above, so I opened the floor, linking it with the rest of the Dungeon. I moved my Core Room down to the new floor and got settled. I expected that Gran and his team would be the ones sent, but this floor might be too much for them to handle.
Dawn came and the runner checked to find the new opening. Soon after, the exploration team arrived, but it was not Gran; it was a new group. They were well equipped with gear, both mundane and magical. They ignored the rest of the Dungeon and went straight down to the sixth floor.
I found out they were a Bronze-tier group and they pushed through the caverns. At first, they had issues with the snakes, but they soon adapted and started killing them more easily. Only the snake's numbers posed a problem. The snakes used their abilities and environment to good effect. Against a lower-tier group, they would have been far deadlier to face.
The discovery of the silver vein excited them, but they did not mine it and moved on.
The Greater Diamond Heads were slightly better against the team. They were tougher, but they were engaged and killed. I was happy with their performance, as with the less evolved versions.
The team's leader, an air mage of some sort, was powerful, and her attacks changed the course of many fights by quickly injuring the snakes and allowing the others to finish them off.
The Guardian was something else. It performed well above my expectations, pushing the team it was fighting. Once it was wounded, it became easier to track and then kill. The Guardian's speed was impressive as it moved through the grass and when attacking. Its small size allowed it to move through the tall grass with little disruption, allowing it to get close. Due to its size and speed, it could also dodge and avoid attacks with greater effectiveness.
The pillar of mushrooms had me laughing with their expressions as they tried to figure out why it was there.
The team finished the floor and I discovered they were planning by listening to the team. Running the Dungeon from the bottom up was an interesting angle to take. I had thought that some team would try it sometime and today was that day.
The fifth was cleared room by room. The worms were tough, but they were taken out. The traps were disarmed as the group's rogue, a guy by the name of Xerack, got around each of them. Watching how he did it was very instructive for me in creating better traps in the future. Understanding how to get around them told me a lot about the weaknesses I had built into them. The Guardian put up a fight and they took it down. They had a more challenging time as the hide of the Guardian was thicker than they were equipped to handle.
The rest of the floors fell one by one, getting easier as they went up. Queen used her intelligence to prolong her fight. The third was the one they spent the most time on, stripping the bodies of everything they could use. A man named Ator was doing the bulk of the work. He carried a sizeable dimensional bag in his back and pulled tools from his belt as well as it. It was a large pack, but its magic was not very powerful, maybe a fifty per cent increase in storage.
Watching him interact with the rest made it clear he was not part of the team or a new member. He did not enter the room until instructed and took no part in the fighting. The others did not banter with him and only interacted when needed.
The second and first floors were no issue for them. They complained about the water on the second floor while their melee fighters quickly cut the toads up. The archer wiped the wasps out. Nothing unexpected happened.
Now they were gone I had a little time before the next group arrived. I was happy with what I had accomplished with the new floor. The discovery of the mana geode had been a lifesaver. I would have been forced to scale back the floor massively if I had not.
Now it is finished, I will have to start planning the next.
I had been thinking about a floor design for some time and felt comfortable making it. It was going to be difficult, but it was going to be the most dangerous so far.
## ## ## ## ##
Albrot burst into Elians' office at such speed that she screamed and jumped back from her desk. This caused her and the chair she was sitting on to fall back onto the floor.
“Elian, I have….” He paused, realising what he had caused. “My apologies.”
He helped her back to her feet and picked up her chair. Elian glared at him the whole time, but she said nothing. He sat in the chair before her desk after making sure the door was closed.
“As I was saying.” He started again. “I have a now confirmed report that is most concerning.”
This put Elian on high alert straight away. As a Guild Master, when he said, “most concerning”, it could lead to the destruction of a large settlement.
“A ship from Ostrul is plying the waterways heading here. It’s flying the Seamoon family crest.” He explained.
“That is concerning. Do you feel they are seeking revenge for their scion's death?” This was troubling, but she felt there was more to it.
“No. Divine oversight confirmed and approved the review of what happened during the trip. This is something else and far worse.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “This has been confirmed by someone I trust and there is at least one Shi’Tian aboard her.”
This stuns Elian. She knew, as with everyone else, that Ostrul had dealings with the Shi’Tan, but to have them here on the continent was a massive change in their policies.
“If it slivers off the gangplank onto the docks….” She started.
“…. We will have a riot at least.” Albrot finished. Both looked concerned at the implications. “They will be here in three days.”
“Albrot, the history between humanity and the Shi’Tan alone has us walking into a monster's den,” Elain says as she tries to gauge all the possible problems about to appear.
“There is more danger than even you are thinking about.” She looks at him as he speaks. “It's not just the fact it is coming, but it is coming here.”
“The optics will the local powers.” She understood what he was saying.
“We need to get young Lord Goldwind ready as a terrible storm is about to descend.” He pronounced and Elian feared he was being optimistic.
Comments
Matthew Tidcombe
Just finished writing it. The next chapters will be going over the ideas that lead to it.
Thundermike00
What plan do you have for floor 7?
