Arc Foreword:
Hello and welcome to another new arc of Worthy Core! Before we get started, I wanted to share some of my own notes on my plans and direction for the story. As you might have noticed, the arcs so far have been titled according to the skill levels of the Challengers Xenia was facing (Initiate, Advanced, etc). It was my plan to continue this theme for the whole story, along with a beginning and perhaps an ending arc tacked on.
And then the Experts arc got going and, well, kind of just kept going. Nearly 60 chapters, around 40% of the story so far, and yet I had a problem - Xenia was nowhere near ready yet to start taking on Master-level Challengers. I'm also not about to time-skip straight ahead to Masters while she's had all of two Expert-level teams try her so far. So, we're going off the rails with a second Experts-themed arc! Will I end up doing multiple arcs as well for Masters and so on? Can't say! What I can say is that it's pretty certain that Worthy Core is going to end up being a little bit longer than I was initially expecting. Which isn't much of a surprise, this is how my projects tend to go.
Either way, I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, and are excited for Arc 5: The Nobles! If you haven't already, ratings and reviews are always appreciated if you like the story!
WORTHY DUNGEON
DAY 194
3 MONTHS LATER
It had been an exciting winter in Worthy Dungeon. That was not because there had been an influx of new Challengers, however, which was largely thanks to the changing of the seasons. While the south of the Rainlands was still warm by Rainlands standards, the kingdom often got renamed to 'the Snowlands' once winter hit, and Worthy Dungeon was even worse off thanks to its location on the top of a remote mountain. Challengers tended to migrate like seasonal birds, and almost no one wanted to hike up a frozen mountain in the middle of winter when other dungeons like the well-known Fire Sands were just a short walk down a beach from their local community.
Internally, however, the dungeon had been very busy indeed. Experiments on the monster fertility program were still on-going, although in some respects the project had hit a wall. The Rabbit Champion Patriarch had been confirmed fertile through alchemical testing, and Lollyp and Sincere both believed that the offspring of such a monster would appear to most to be similar to a half-Rabbit Beastkin. It would be an uncommon sight on this particular continent, but not an impossible one, and so a child wouldn't have to deal with the potential scorn of being half-monster. With that success under her belt, Xenia had then moved on to slimes, in the event that Lollyp ever found options of her own for partners.
Slimes had proven a little more difficult, unfortunately. If the crossbreeding system had trouble merging divine sprites with rabbits, it really did not like trying to do the same with slimes, and everything was taking at least twice as long. Like with lagomorphs, there had been a number of basic 'Holy Slime' types added to the bestiary, which were certainly potentially useful. There had even been a promisingly-named 'Breeder Slime' created, which turned out to be a slime which produced more copies of itself at regular intervals. Lollyp insisted that this was not how sapient slimes worked, sadly, and so it was shelved as a potential boss idea for if they ever got its duplication powers to work a bit faster.
There was a further difficulty in that the Church of Bounty had no fertility tests designed for use with slimes. Lollyp was working on theorizing some methods she might use, but it was entirely possible that the only way to know if a slime monster was fertile would be to...'test' it on a mortal volunteer. This related to the largest stumbling block in the project overall: they still had no real ideas on how to convince a Challenger to have a child with a dungeon boss, and furthermore, none of the bosses in question were entirely convinced that they wanted to be parents given their current situation. Xenia had come up with one possible idea, but it would need running by Bountiful Mother Hammerdown before it might go anywhere. In better news, the Floor Five plan was continuing to produce results, with two more pregnancies taking place. One of the parties involved seemed less than thrilled by the news, and given that they were still Challenging months later with no sign of a baby bump it appeared they had decided not to continue with it, but Xenia kept her quest credit regardless. With three out of five down and more than half a year left to go, the dungeon master was still optimistic about her chances of earning that second Divine Favor.
The dungeon had been progressing in other ways, of course. Through a solid week of effort the team had cheated with Xenia's spellsongs to advance their Insects schema to B-tier, and by taking occasional breaks from divine crossbreeding she'd managed to assemble a whole set of fire, lightning, and earth-aspected fae monster types. These had been used for the new crystal-themed Floor Seven, named the Crystal Caverns. The new floor had been built within the stone of the mountain, away from the open abyss, and consisted of a series of chambers spiraling around a central room which mimicked a mirrored version of the forest floor located above it. Here, 'trees' of crystal and stone hung upside-down from the ceiling, providing perches from which magical fairy blasts or Fae Archers could harass those who traveled below. Additionally, adding the floor had provided Xenia with F-grade mimics, which now coated the floor disguised as gemstones. Xenia had fallen in love with the bitey little creatures almost as much as she had fairies, and the only thing keeping her from dumping all her souls on upgrading them was the desire to have a stockpile in case her next round of achievements gave her some better use for them.
The floor was currently using a temporary, unsouled boss, as no new candidates had passed the various applicant tests. There had actually been two candidates to gain the recommendation of the Church, but neither had passed Xenia's own brief examination. One, a female elvish Mage, had been rejected for being too arrogant for Xenia to see herself working with for a few centuries, while the other, a male drider Rogue, had turned out to be primarily motivated by the rumors he had heard about the dungeon bosses here occasionally engaging in carnal relations with Challengers. Xenia had nothing against that, indeed a certain level of licentiousness was almost a requirement at this point. The problem occurred when the Rogue had suggested a few ideas for new challenges or boss fights which sounded decidedly lacking in the consent department, and Xenia quickly decided she really did not want to engage with that option any further.
There had been other new faces as well, of course. While the overall traffic of the dungeon wasn't increasing, the quality was, with more Experts arriving or being trained up from local regulars over time. Floors Four and Six had both been cleared multiple times at this point, indeed two or three times a week most of the time, although this wasn't always done successfully. Three Challengers alone had died to the endless drops in Floor Six - with Sincere needing to fly down later so he could recover their equipment - and four more had died to Taly's hand directly. Trush had also had his first few combat encounters, killing individuals twice, and once slaying three Challengers of a group of five in a particularly brutal ambush.
The most notable deaths however had been to a full party of minor Rainlander nobility. They had apparently come up with the bright idea of having themselves intentionally cursed with bad luck before their arrival, and cleared the dungeon's first six floors twice despite only being Advanced-class at best. This gave them quite a bit of overconfidence, and so on their third run they decided to stop and take a dip in the Floor Four river, enjoying how warm it was compared to the natural river outside. No amount of luck in the world could counteract the stupidity of taking a swim with a school of feisty water elementals, and all five of them had gone under the surface, never to be seen again. Word of exactly how they had died never leaked out, but news of a 'cheating' party disappearing entirely seemed to be a strong discouragement towards others trying the same trick.
Other old faces had remained. The Miserables had been using Slinz's curse to their advantage much more responsibly, and had positively shot up through the Advanced levels at a record pace. Their success had required them to leave town the week before however, as Grassbrook still lacked the facilities and staff needed to train Challengers in Expert classes. The Church of Bounty had begun to set down more permanent roots, with an official Church-specific chapel being quickly established, and funding was currently underway for a larger project in the expectation of a boom in population once the weather warmed up. Elance made visits to trade and speak with the dungeon every few weeks, while Paladin Sable and Priestess Lilly visited slightly more often to take advantage of the Floor Five facilities - sometimes with each other, and sometimes with certain floor bosses, if matters could be arranged.
The Domain party had also remained, although they played things quite cautiously and began focusing their efforts on Grassbrook itself as much as the dungeon. They would check the dungeon once every ten days or so, making sure that the dungeon hadn't suddenly slipped in a new secret floor at some point, but for the most part they spent their time listening to adventurer gossip and reporting the interesting bits back home. Former Field Agent - now Administrator - Alizz had quickly caught on to their allegiances, and even the local garrison officer Commander Paulados eventually caught wind of their presence, but both parties decided that it was better to have foreign agents that they knew about and could watch, as opposed to forcing the Domain to use more cleverly-hidden spies.
As for Grassbrook itself, construction had significantly slowed down during the winter months, but some expansion had continued to occur and like with the Church, funding for more projects was still underway. In particular, a small housing district had finally been completed, allowing long-term residents a place to stay without having to choose between the expensive, highly-demanded rooms at the Lucky Bastard, or the low-privacy housing at the Challenger Association bunkhouse. The growing town had even just recently thrown a small celebration in the name of the winter solstice, one which had been mirrored within the dungeon to a much smaller degree by Taly. Trush and Lollyp also had put on a few celebrations over the months from their own native cultures, although they had failed to convince Xenia to do the same. In her words, "I've been on so many worlds with so many holidays, if I actually celebrated the things that's all I'd ever be doing." Lollyp failed to see the issue with that, but the dungeon master stood firm in her Scrooge-like ways.
Despite the growing harshness of the weather conditions, there were a number of individuals closing in on Grassbrook who would soon be of significant interest to the dungeon. Today, however, the dungeon's interest was more in someone it was sending out, for today Sincere was heading deeper into the mountain with the results of his own personal project. After an hour of trudging through dark yet well-marked tunnels, the demon finally found the light at the end of the tunnel. He gave the light a wave, calling out to it as he approached. "Good afternoon...Cinder? If I'm not mistaken."
The fire elemental gives the man a cheerful nod. "That's me! You're getting better at that! So how's things? Tell me there's progress...those mana crystals you've been having the dungeon make for us have been helping a lot, but they only take the edge off, you know? We could probably survive off those for ages, but I can barely throw more than one or two fireballs a day anymore."
Deciding not to ask what it is she was needing to throw fireballs at, Sincere moves on to the good news. "Progress has reached an end, actually - for the ritual you require is now complete. Of course, we won't know for certain until we try, but I'm feeling quite confident. Just to confirm however, has your family grown any since we last spoke?"
Cinder shakes her flickering head. "No, we're a bit worried that if we try exploring any deeper we'd get totally lost and never make our way back. We did find one small thing...but Scorch wanted to be the one to tell you about it. Should we head on in, then? I bet everyone's gonna be super-excited!"
"By all means, let's." The pair continue onward into the presumptuously-named Elemental Kingdom, which...largely consisted of a half-collapsed former boss arena, creating a large cavern within the earth. The earth elementals had shaped out various homes for their compatriots to dwell within, and torches provided by Worthy Dungeon helped light up the walls, but there was remarkably little else indicating that the place housed a community beyond the presence of the elementals themselves. It wasn't that elementals didn't get bored, exactly, but rather that when active they tended to have the attention spans of a small fish. A few minor amusements along with their own made-up games kept them endlessly distracted, easily whiling away the long months within the old dungeon. Others would go into hibernation, cultivating their personal brand of mana to increase their strength, but in this location that largely only worked for the earth elementals.
Everyone was immediately brought to attention by Sincere's arrival though, and the man was soon crowded by several dozen elementals of both types. Scorch eventually made his voice heard and took charge of greeting their guest, shushing his compatriots. "Sincere, buddy, our majestic non-liege! Today's the day, huh? You're gonna rock our worlds?"
"That's...one way of putting it, I suppose. Cinder here told me you had something for me, though?"
Scorch gives the man a wink, or at least Sincere thinks he does, given his lack of eyes. "Something we thought might make a good payment for your services - but services first, right? Let's make sure this is something worth getting all excited about!"
"Fair enough, fair enough. Now, everyone please back away, I'll need some time and space to set up the ritual circle. We'll then need to take this one person at a time, but I do not believe it should take long, and we should be able to manage everyone today - with the help of a few mana potions." The demon looks around with a smile on his face. "Now...who would like to become the mountain's first magma elemental?"
DUNGEON UPDATE SUMMARY FOLLOWS
Spoiler| ------------------------ NEW CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED/UPGRADED:
LIMITED ITEMS OBTAINED: KNOWLEDGE OBTAINED: CUSTOM MONSTERS VIA CROSSBREEDING: ------------------------ |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIFTY MORTALS. ADDITIONAL FLOOR UNLOCKED. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN YOUR FIRST DRIDER. MANA SPELL EFFECTIVENESS ON DRIDERS INCREASED BY 25%. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIVE GNOLLS. MANA SPELL EFFECTIVENESS ON GNOLLS INCREASED BY 40%. |
| ------------------------ TWO HUNDRED MORTALS HAVE ESCAPED FROM YOUR DUNGEON ALIVE. VOLUNTARY-USE EMERGENCY PORTAL ACCESSORIES UNLOCKED. |
| ------------------------ AT LEAST ONE MORTAL HAS SURVIVED TEN DUNGEON INTRUSIONS. DUNGEON LOOT IS IMPROVED 40% WHEN COLLECTED BY MORTALS WHO HAVE VISITED THE DUNGEON AT LEAST EIGHT TIMES PREVIOUSLY. |
| ------------------------ AT LEAST ONE MORTAL HAS SURVIVED TWENTY DUNGEON INTRUSIONS. DUNGEON LOOT IS IMPROVED 50% WHEN COLLECTED BY MORTALS WHO HAVE VISITED THE DUNGEON AT LEAST FIFTEEN TIMES PREVIOUSLY. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN TEN UNCLOTHED MORTALS. EQUIPMENT-STEALING TRAPS UNLOCKED AT A MODERATE SUCCESS RATE. UNCLOTHED MORTALS TAKE 10% LESS DAMAGE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST TEN OFFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. MAGIC PROJECTILE TRAP COST DECREASED BY 50%. TRAP LEVEL INCREASED BY ONE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST FIVE DEFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. 'ACCESSIBILITY' DIFFICULTY ALLOWANCES INCREASED BY ONE LEVEL. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN AT LEAST FIVE MORTALS WITH LAGOMORPH MONSTERS. LAGOMORPHS DEAL 10% MORE DAMAGE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN AT LEAST TEN MORTALS WITH UNDEAD MONSTERS. UNDEAD MOVE 10% FASTER. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SCORED YOUR FIRST KILL WITH DRACONIC MONSTERS. DRACONICS GAIN 10% MORE HEALTH. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIVE MORTALS WITHIN TWO MINUTES. SLAYING A MORTAL NOW HAS A MODERATE CHANCE OF APPLYING A 5-MINUTE FEAR EFFECT ON NEARBY MORTALS. |
| ----------------------- ADDING NEW BASE 'CAVE' MATERIALS:
NEW BASE 'CAVE' CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED: MANA CAP INCREASED BY 6 TO 290 |
DaScoot
Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Arc Foreword:
Hello and welcome to another new arc of Worthy Core! Before we get started, I wanted to share some of my own notes on my plans and direction for the story. As you might have noticed, the arcs so far have been titled according to the skill levels of the Challengers Xenia was facing (Initiate, Advanced, etc). It was my plan to continue this theme for the whole story, along with a beginning and perhaps an ending arc tacked on.
And then the Experts arc got going and, well, kind of just kept going. Nearly 60 chapters, around 40% of the story so far, and yet I had a problem - Xenia was nowhere near ready yet to start taking on Master-level Challengers. I'm also not about to time-skip straight ahead to Masters while she's had all of two Expert-level teams try her so far. So, we're going off the rails with a second Experts-themed arc! Will I end up doing multiple arcs as well for Masters and so on? Can't say! What I can say is that it's pretty certain that Worthy Core is going to end up being a little bit longer than I was initially expecting. Which isn't much of a surprise, this is how my projects tend to go.
Either way, I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, and are excited for Arc 5: The Nobles! If you haven't already, ratings and reviews are always appreciated if you like the story!
WORTHY DUNGEON
DAY 194
3 MONTHS LATER
It had been an exciting winter in Worthy Dungeon. That was not because there had been an influx of new Challengers, however, which was largely thanks to the changing of the seasons. While the south of the Rainlands was still warm by Rainlands standards, the kingdom often got renamed to 'the Snowlands' once winter hit, and Worthy Dungeon was even worse off thanks to its location on the top of a remote mountain. Challengers tended to migrate like seasonal birds, and almost no one wanted to hike up a frozen mountain in the middle of winter when other dungeons like the well-known Fire Sands were just a short walk down a beach from their local community.
Internally, however, the dungeon had been very busy indeed. Experiments on the monster fertility program were still on-going, although in some respects the project had hit a wall. The Rabbit Champion Patriarch had been confirmed fertile through alchemical testing, and Lollyp and Sincere both believed that the offspring of such a monster would appear to most to be similar to a half-Rabbit Beastkin. It would be an uncommon sight on this particular continent, but not an impossible one, and so a child wouldn't have to deal with the potential scorn of being half-monster. With that success under her belt, Xenia had then moved on to slimes, in the event that Lollyp ever found options of her own for partners.
Slimes had proven a little more difficult, unfortunately. If the crossbreeding system had trouble merging divine sprites with rabbits, it really did not like trying to do the same with slimes, and everything was taking at least twice as long. Like with lagomorphs, there had been a number of basic 'Holy Slime' types added to the bestiary, which were certainly potentially useful. There had even been a promisingly-named 'Breeder Slime' created, which turned out to be a slime which produced more copies of itself at regular intervals. Lollyp insisted that this was not how sapient slimes worked, sadly, and so it was shelved as a potential boss idea for if they ever got its duplication powers to work a bit faster.
There was a further difficulty in that the Church of Bounty had no fertility tests designed for use with slimes. Lollyp was working on theorizing some methods she might use, but it was entirely possible that the only way to know if a slime monster was fertile would be to...'test' it on a mortal volunteer. This related to the largest stumbling block in the project overall: they still had no real ideas on how to convince a Challenger to have a child with a dungeon boss, and furthermore, none of the bosses in question were entirely convinced that they wanted to be parents given their current situation. Xenia had come up with one possible idea, but it would need running by Bountiful Mother Hammerdown before it might go anywhere. In better news, the Floor Five plan was continuing to produce results, with two more pregnancies taking place. One of the parties involved seemed less than thrilled by the news, and given that they were still Challenging months later with no sign of a baby bump it appeared they had decided not to continue with it, but Xenia kept her quest credit regardless. With three out of five down and more than half a year left to go, the dungeon master was still optimistic about her chances of earning that second Divine Favor.
The dungeon had been progressing in other ways, of course. Through a solid week of effort the team had cheated with Xenia's spellsongs to advance their Insects schema to B-tier, and by taking occasional breaks from divine crossbreeding she'd managed to assemble a whole set of fire, lightning, and earth-aspected fae monster types. These had been used for the new crystal-themed Floor Seven, named the Crystal Caverns. The new floor had been built within the stone of the mountain, away from the open abyss, and consisted of a series of chambers spiraling around a central room which mimicked a mirrored version of the forest floor located above it. Here, 'trees' of crystal and stone hung upside-down from the ceiling, providing perches from which magical fairy blasts or Fae Archers could harass those who traveled below. Additionally, adding the floor had provided Xenia with F-grade mimics, which now coated the floor disguised as gemstones. Xenia had fallen in love with the bitey little creatures almost as much as she had fairies, and the only thing keeping her from dumping all her souls on upgrading them was the desire to have a stockpile in case her next round of achievements gave her some better use for them.
The floor was currently using a temporary, unsouled boss, as no new candidates had passed the various applicant tests. There had actually been two candidates to gain the recommendation of the Church, but neither had passed Xenia's own brief examination. One, a female elvish Mage, had been rejected for being too arrogant for Xenia to see herself working with for a few centuries, while the other, a male drider Rogue, had turned out to be primarily motivated by the rumors he had heard about the dungeon bosses here occasionally engaging in carnal relations with Challengers. Xenia had nothing against that, indeed a certain level of licentiousness was almost a requirement at this point. The problem occurred when the Rogue had suggested a few ideas for new challenges or boss fights which sounded decidedly lacking in the consent department, and Xenia quickly decided she really did not want to engage with that option any further.
There had been other new faces as well, of course. While the overall traffic of the dungeon wasn't increasing, the quality was, with more Experts arriving or being trained up from local regulars over time. Floors Four and Six had both been cleared multiple times at this point, indeed two or three times a week most of the time, although this wasn't always done successfully. Three Challengers alone had died to the endless drops in Floor Six - with Sincere needing to fly down later so he could recover their equipment - and four more had died to Taly's hand directly. Trush had also had his first few combat encounters, killing individuals twice, and once slaying three Challengers of a group of five in a particularly brutal ambush.
The most notable deaths however had been to a full party of minor Rainlander nobility. They had apparently come up with the bright idea of having themselves intentionally cursed with bad luck before their arrival, and cleared the dungeon's first six floors twice despite only being Advanced-class at best. This gave them quite a bit of overconfidence, and so on their third run they decided to stop and take a dip in the Floor Four river, enjoying how warm it was compared to the natural river outside. No amount of luck in the world could counteract the stupidity of taking a swim with a school of feisty water elementals, and all five of them had gone under the surface, never to be seen again. Word of exactly how they had died never leaked out, but news of a 'cheating' party disappearing entirely seemed to be a strong discouragement towards others trying the same trick.
Other old faces had remained. The Miserables had been using Slinz's curse to their advantage much more responsibly, and had positively shot up through the Advanced levels at a record pace. Their success had required them to leave town the week before however, as Grassbrook still lacked the facilities and staff needed to train Challengers in Expert classes. The Church of Bounty had begun to set down more permanent roots, with an official Church-specific chapel being quickly established, and funding was currently underway for a larger project in the expectation of a boom in population once the weather warmed up. Elance made visits to trade and speak with the dungeon every few weeks, while Paladin Sable and Priestess Lilly visited slightly more often to take advantage of the Floor Five facilities - sometimes with each other, and sometimes with certain floor bosses, if matters could be arranged.
The Domain party had also remained, although they played things quite cautiously and began focusing their efforts on Grassbrook itself as much as the dungeon. They would check the dungeon once every ten days or so, making sure that the dungeon hadn't suddenly slipped in a new secret floor at some point, but for the most part they spent their time listening to adventurer gossip and reporting the interesting bits back home. Former Field Agent - now Administrator - Alizz had quickly caught on to their allegiances, and even the local garrison officer Commander Paulados eventually caught wind of their presence, but both parties decided that it was better to have foreign agents that they knew about and could watch, as opposed to forcing the Domain to use more cleverly-hidden spies.
As for Grassbrook itself, construction had significantly slowed down during the winter months, but some expansion had continued to occur and like with the Church, funding for more projects was still underway. In particular, a small housing district had finally been completed, allowing long-term residents a place to stay without having to choose between the expensive, highly-demanded rooms at the Lucky Bastard, or the low-privacy housing at the Challenger Association bunkhouse. The growing town had even just recently thrown a small celebration in the name of the winter solstice, one which had been mirrored within the dungeon to a much smaller degree by Taly. Trush and Lollyp also had put on a few celebrations over the months from their own native cultures, although they had failed to convince Xenia to do the same. In her words, "I've been on so many worlds with so many holidays, if I actually celebrated the things that's all I'd ever be doing." Lollyp failed to see the issue with that, but the dungeon master stood firm in her Scrooge-like ways.
Despite the growing harshness of the weather conditions, there were a number of individuals closing in on Grassbrook who would soon be of significant interest to the dungeon. Today, however, the dungeon's interest was more in someone it was sending out, for today Sincere was heading deeper into the mountain with the results of his own personal project. After an hour of trudging through dark yet well-marked tunnels, the demon finally found the light at the end of the tunnel. He gave the light a wave, calling out to it as he approached. "Good afternoon...Cinder? If I'm not mistaken."
The fire elemental gives the man a cheerful nod. "That's me! You're getting better at that! So how's things? Tell me there's progress...those mana crystals you've been having the dungeon make for us have been helping a lot, but they only take the edge off, you know? We could probably survive off those for ages, but I can barely throw more than one or two fireballs a day anymore."
Deciding not to ask what it is she was needing to throw fireballs at, Sincere moves on to the good news. "Progress has reached an end, actually - for the ritual you require is now complete. Of course, we won't know for certain until we try, but I'm feeling quite confident. Just to confirm however, has your family grown any since we last spoke?"
Cinder shakes her flickering head. "No, we're a bit worried that if we try exploring any deeper we'd get totally lost and never make our way back. We did find one small thing...but Scorch wanted to be the one to tell you about it. Should we head on in, then? I bet everyone's gonna be super-excited!"
"By all means, let's." The pair continue onward into the presumptuously-named Elemental Kingdom, which...largely consisted of a half-collapsed former boss arena, creating a large cavern within the earth. The earth elementals had shaped out various homes for their compatriots to dwell within, and torches provided by Worthy Dungeon helped light up the walls, but there was remarkably little else indicating that the place housed a community beyond the presence of the elementals themselves. It wasn't that elementals didn't get bored, exactly, but rather that when active they tended to have the attention spans of a small fish. A few minor amusements along with their own made-up games kept them endlessly distracted, easily whiling away the long months within the old dungeon. Others would go into hibernation, cultivating their personal brand of mana to increase their strength, but in this location that largely only worked for the earth elementals.
Everyone was immediately brought to attention by Sincere's arrival though, and the man was soon crowded by several dozen elementals of both types. Scorch eventually made his voice heard and took charge of greeting their guest, shushing his compatriots. "Sincere, buddy, our majestic non-liege! Today's the day, huh? You're gonna rock our worlds?"
"That's...one way of putting it, I suppose. Cinder here told me you had something for me, though?"
Scorch gives the man a wink, or at least Sincere thinks he does, given his lack of eyes. "Something we thought might make a good payment for your services - but services first, right? Let's make sure this is something worth getting all excited about!"
"Fair enough, fair enough. Now, everyone please back away, I'll need some time and space to set up the ritual circle. We'll then need to take this one person at a time, but I do not believe it should take long, and we should be able to manage everyone today - with the help of a few mana potions." The demon looks around with a smile on his face. "Now...who would like to become the mountain's first magma elemental?"
DUNGEON UPDATE SUMMARY FOLLOWS
Spoiler| ------------------------ NEW CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED/UPGRADED:
LIMITED ITEMS OBTAINED: KNOWLEDGE OBTAINED: CUSTOM MONSTERS VIA CROSSBREEDING: ------------------------ |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIFTY MORTALS. ADDITIONAL FLOOR UNLOCKED. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN YOUR FIRST DRIDER. MANA SPELL EFFECTIVENESS ON DRIDERS INCREASED BY 25%. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIVE GNOLLS. MANA SPELL EFFECTIVENESS ON GNOLLS INCREASED BY 40%. |
| ------------------------ TWO HUNDRED MORTALS HAVE ESCAPED FROM YOUR DUNGEON ALIVE. VOLUNTARY-USE EMERGENCY PORTAL ACCESSORIES UNLOCKED. |
| ------------------------ AT LEAST ONE MORTAL HAS SURVIVED TEN DUNGEON INTRUSIONS. DUNGEON LOOT IS IMPROVED 40% WHEN COLLECTED BY MORTALS WHO HAVE VISITED THE DUNGEON AT LEAST EIGHT TIMES PREVIOUSLY. |
| ------------------------ AT LEAST ONE MORTAL HAS SURVIVED TWENTY DUNGEON INTRUSIONS. DUNGEON LOOT IS IMPROVED 50% WHEN COLLECTED BY MORTALS WHO HAVE VISITED THE DUNGEON AT LEAST FIFTEEN TIMES PREVIOUSLY. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN TEN UNCLOTHED MORTALS. EQUIPMENT-STEALING TRAPS UNLOCKED AT A MODERATE SUCCESS RATE. UNCLOTHED MORTALS TAKE 10% LESS DAMAGE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST TEN OFFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. MAGIC PROJECTILE TRAP COST DECREASED BY 50%. TRAP LEVEL INCREASED BY ONE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST FIVE DEFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS. 'ACCESSIBILITY' DIFFICULTY ALLOWANCES INCREASED BY ONE LEVEL. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN AT LEAST FIVE MORTALS WITH LAGOMORPH MONSTERS. LAGOMORPHS DEAL 10% MORE DAMAGE. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN AT LEAST TEN MORTALS WITH UNDEAD MONSTERS. UNDEAD MOVE 10% FASTER. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SCORED YOUR FIRST KILL WITH DRACONIC MONSTERS. DRACONICS GAIN 10% MORE HEALTH. |
| ------------------------ YOU HAVE SLAIN FIVE MORTALS WITHIN TWO MINUTES. SLAYING A MORTAL NOW HAS A MODERATE CHANCE OF APPLYING A 5-MINUTE FEAR EFFECT ON NEARBY MORTALS. |
| ----------------------- ADDING NEW BASE 'CAVE' MATERIALS:
NEW BASE 'CAVE' CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED: MANA CAP INCREASED BY 6 TO 290 |
DaScoot
Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
