Before our trip to the Green Dungeon tomorrow, we spent this evening on HomeBase. Just making sure everyone there knew where we were going and that everything would be fine while we were in the dungeon. Sure it should only take us 2 days, but should and will are two completely different things. If I am to be honest, I expected HomeBase to take us two, maybe three days, but it took five to get to the core. And then all of the stuff we did after we got to the core, but that doesn’t count, as we won’t be doing that in this place.
Of course my most important check at HomeBase is, and will always be, food. HomeBase is not self-sustaining. Well, it is if Agunan or I am there to use the True Core, but without us there, just the Citadel Core cannot make food. And we don’t have plantations, yet. I do have plans to turn one of the forest floors of HomeBase into a farm, but that is still in the works, and will likely take multiple months for it to be realized.
Einar and Eline were both interested in also coming with us, only to get disappointed when I told them that it wasn’t possible at this time. Sure they, as well as Wilma, are members of the Card Summoner party, but at the same time, they weren’t invited by the GM, so there is nothing I can really do for now. I mean, as we are now, they are basically off members. Maybe I really should look into turning Card Summoner into a clan faster, that way, we can have those sub-parties.
And if I do end up messing with the Green Dungeon’s core, I will take a sub-party with me at that time. Eline, Einar, Wilma. Maybe even the new girls and Karl. That will also give me an excuse to make them some equipment. … Well, better equipment. I’ll also get an idea on the new girls' battle capabilities. Not that everyone on HomeBase has to be able to fight, but ‘basic’ defensive skills would be good. And by basic, I mean they should be at least around LV.50 with at least two battle skills that are around level 5 or 6. With Level Up cheats, it shouldn’t be impossible. Actually, it is quite easy.
But enough about future plans. I need to get to bed soon, so I can be all rested for tomorrow. We have a dungeon to… well, we won’t full-clear it, so a dungeon to explore.
Our trip towards the town that held the Green Dungeon wasn’t done with our usual B.E.S. transports, but instead in my magic carriage. I really don’t use it as much as it deserves to be used, and it can still reach speeds well over double that of a horse drawn carriage, so the trip will only take a bit over an hour with it. And using a carriage, even a magic one, is a lot more normal than using an invincible spaceship.
During our trip, I showed everyone the route we were expected to take inside the dungeon. We were basically going to go about as straight to the rue moss trade point as possible. Of course killing every monster we run into on the way. We do at least need to get one of those dungeon cards, unless I hack the dungeon. But after we have the card, I can use HomeBase monsters to feed the card dungeon points.
And if that doesn’t work, we can always head to where the dungeon core is. The map does show it, even if it is marked as a ‘do not enter’ area. And it isn’t ‘do not enter’ because they don’t want us to go to the core, but because that area is known to have multiple S-rank monsters living there, so it can be quite dangerous. But I think our party can deal with a few S-rank monsters.
“Show me your permit.” A guard demanded when we got to the town. He wasn’t a knight, or even wearing anything akin to a uniform. He just looked like an adventurer, so it seems like adventurers are the ones running security in this town.
“Don’t have one. We are here for the dungeon.” I explained. “Here are our guild cards, as well as our quest form.”
The guarding adventurer looked over both our guild cards and the papers I got from the GM, and as he did, his face went just a bit pale.
“I-I-I apologize, my Lord. I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“Calm. It's fine. You were doing your job. May we come in?”
“Y-Yes. Of course.” The adventurer quickly gave a sign to the others to open the gate for us.
“And I’d like our papers back.” I reminded him, as the guard adventurer was still holding onto our papers.
I wonder if he assumed we were merchants or something? Maybe it is rare for people to arrive here in a carriage? Or maybe it is because magic carriage? Actually, that should have given away the fact that we are nobles, shouldn’t it? Magic carriages, or really golem carriages, are somewhat rare, right? So only nobles have them, right? Or do the merchants that visit this town also have them? Maybe they do. I mean, you wouldn’t want to bring horses into a town that can be dangerous, as if the horses die in a monster attack, you are kind of stuck. So maybe using golem carriages is worth it?
“D-Do you need a place to park your carriage?” The guard asked after we got inside. “What about recommendations for an inn?”
“No thank you. We will be heading straight for the dungeon. Can you point us towards the entrance?”
“.... of course. It is…”
After we got the explanation on where the dungeon entrance was, we headed that way. But we quickly realized that riding a carriage in this town was … it isn’t a bad idea, but this place definitely isn’t carriage ready, outside of the major road, so we dismounted and I took the carriage into Storage. That got us some looks, but luckily the streets here aren’t filled with people like the capital streets often are.
It was just too bad that even on foot, we still got some looks. Agunan just is a magnet for prying eyes, as he does stand out quite a lot.
We soon got to where the dungeon entrance was. Because of the risk of monster runouts, there were some fortified positions around it, and before we could approach any closer, we had to visit the in town adventurer’s guild. Realistically this was just a ‘check-in station’, which kept track of who had entered the dungeon, not a full guild, but there were still things like a quest board and other regular guild stuff in the building. Though all of the quests were asking for items from the dungeon, not for anything outside of it.
The registration for us to head into the dungeon went just fine, probably better than it would usually go as we had a quest stamped and signed by the capital’s GM, so quite quickly we got inside. Though not before we got a warning.
“We have had some reports of nature sprites in area 2-4-4. You might want to look out for that.”
“Ok. Thanks for the warning.”
Sprites, huh. Haven’t seen any in a while. Last time was with the thunder sprites. Interesting that we have found some again. And the warning is actually somewhat relevant to us, because while my planned path didn’t pass that area, we were in the 2-4-5, which is neighboring the reported area. Not that nature sprites should be a problem for us, but still good to know.
… I do wonder. Are nature sprites corrupted earth spirits? Sprites are spirits corrupted by miasma, right? I think that is what the greater water spirit told me. And the water, well they were specifically rain spirits, corrupted into thunder sprites, so do earth spirits corrupt into nature sprites? Or is it some other attribute? Or are nature spirits born from nature magic? Nature magic is a thing, by the way. It is a racial skill that can be obtained by some evolved races, but the most common to have it are evolved elves. The racial skill non-evolved elves can have is Spirit magic, in case you wanted to know. It is interesting that elves can get Spirit magic before they evolve, but for most races, it is locked behind an evolution, like Spiritual Human.
Remind me to work on Spiritual Human and Spirit magic more. Actually, this dungeon adventure might be the perfect time for that. So when I find a good spot in the dungeon, let’s swap races and summon a water spirit so I can put some real combat practice in. I can also ask what the spirits want me to do about the sprites while I’m at it.
We got into the dungeon and once we got out of the more populated areas, I went ahead and changed my race from Dragon Hearted, where I usually keep it, to Spiritual Human. I then went ahead and used Summon Water Spirit, and received one of the intermediate ones.
After quickly explaining the situation with the sprites to the water spirit, the water spirit asked if it could leave again.
“I… I wish to not deal with sprites.” I told us. “Would you let me go back?”
“Sure. Let’s do that.” I quickly agreed. “Can you tell the greater water spirit about this?”
“Yes. I shall tell her.” The spirit said, as he disappeared.
“... well, that was a wash.”
“Can’t really blame the spirit.” Lua said. “Fighting a sprite is likely like fighting a cousin gone mad.”
“But you didn’t mind holding me back when I went on a frenzy.” Ria commented.
“That is different. I knew how to help you at that time. With sprites, there is no choice but to kill them.”
“... yeah. It is just too sad there is no way to purify them.” I complained, as I wondered how I can be both super powerful and weak at the same time.
“Can’t your cards do anything?” Alice asked.
“No. I don’t have anything to really purify monsters. I do have card called ‘Spell Purification’, but that wouldn’t work on the sprites. I also have cards related to Spirit monsters, but they wouldn’t help here either. Cards like Fengsheng Mirror could likely instakill a sprite and Spiritual Energy Settle Machine would likely make them perceptible to physical attacks, but neither would purify them.”
Spoiler“... then just combine all three. What will that do?” Alice suggested.
“Eh? I guess I can try that. It isn’t like it will cost me more than three cards.”
“You can work as we walk, Master. We shall deal with the monsters.” Agunan said.
“I’ll make up for my loss yesterday.” Ria agreed with the dragon.
“Alright. Alice, can you take over the map then?”
“Sure. I’ll make sure we won’t get lost and that we will run into the 2-4-4 area.” Alice responded.
“That wasn’t the plan.” I argued.
“You’ll have the card ready by then. It will be the perfect test run.” Alice told me.
… fine. Let’s test it out then. It isn’t like anything will change. We should take down the sprites anyway, so if I can’t turn them back into spirits, we will just have to kill them.
As we kept traveling through the dungeon, we quickly acquired ourselves some dungeon cards. We could have all picked up one, but that would make it so that the dungeon points would be spread across multiple cards, so we decided to only take one. Alice was the one to hold it.
The monsters we ran into were mostly living plants. Man-eating plants, living thorns, treants and so on. Most of them were easy prey, as Agunan could just burn them, but there were these certain type of flower monsters which stopped that plan. When they were burned, they would release some gas when they were burned, and it was quite dangerous.
The plant monsters were also quite good at regeneration. If you only cut them a bit, there is a high chance they will recover. Well, of course it depends on the monster, but a lot of them regenerated quickly.
We kept going and eventually we got to the area right next to the 2-4-4 where we were headed. This place had something akin to potato monsters, and they were a small pain. For one, because they were super small and difficult to hit. And for two, they attack by getting close to you and exploding. Freaking suicide bomber potatoes. I don’t like them. Sure they don’t do that much damage so we can just tank the explosions, but if they explode, it is difficult to get any points from them, as there is no corpse.
We finally got close to where the entrance to the next area should be, and I was starting to get excited. I would get to test if my Sprite Purifying Mirror would work as I hope it will.
But before we managed to make the transition from area 2-3-4 to area 2-4-4, someone ran from the direction of area 2-4-4. It was a red-headed girl, probably just over 20 years old. She was dressed in leather armor, which seemed high quality. She wielded two large daggers, actually they are more like short-swords than daggers. They also seemed high quality and even had the striking edge made of a red metal, probably hihi'irokane, so the blades must be quite valuable. She also had on a long blue scarf that flowed behind her as she ran. It looked hand knitted, so it likely was more of a sentimental item, as it really stood out compared to all of her other equipment, which looked very professionally made.
After she spotted us, she made a beeline towards us. This made us be on guard, because it did look a bit like she was going to attack. But with Agunan standing in front of her, I don’t think she will get through. And I do have our set cards ready to go in case of a surprise attack.
But instead of attacking us, the red-headed spoke to us.
“... Please! Help my friend!”
Before our trip to the Green Dungeon tomorrow, we spent this evening on HomeBase. Just making sure everyone there knew where we were going and that everything would be fine while we were in the dungeon. Sure it should only take us 2 days, but should and will are two completely different things. If I am to be honest, I expected HomeBase to take us two, maybe three days, but it took five to get to the core. And then all of the stuff we did after we got to the core, but that doesn’t count, as we won’t be doing that in this place.
Of course my most important check at HomeBase is, and will always be, food. HomeBase is not self-sustaining. Well, it is if Agunan or I am there to use the True Core, but without us there, just the Citadel Core cannot make food. And we don’t have plantations, yet. I do have plans to turn one of the forest floors of HomeBase into a farm, but that is still in the works, and will likely take multiple months for it to be realized.
Einar and Eline were both interested in also coming with us, only to get disappointed when I told them that it wasn’t possible at this time. Sure they, as well as Wilma, are members of the Card Summoner party, but at the same time, they weren’t invited by the GM, so there is nothing I can really do for now. I mean, as we are now, they are basically off members. Maybe I really should look into turning Card Summoner into a clan faster, that way, we can have those sub-parties.
And if I do end up messing with the Green Dungeon’s core, I will take a sub-party with me at that time. Eline, Einar, Wilma. Maybe even the new girls and Karl. That will also give me an excuse to make them some equipment. … Well, better equipment. I’ll also get an idea on the new girls' battle capabilities. Not that everyone on HomeBase has to be able to fight, but ‘basic’ defensive skills would be good. And by basic, I mean they should be at least around LV.50 with at least two battle skills that are around level 5 or 6. With Level Up cheats, it shouldn’t be impossible. Actually, it is quite easy.
But enough about future plans. I need to get to bed soon, so I can be all rested for tomorrow. We have a dungeon to… well, we won’t full-clear it, so a dungeon to explore.
Our trip towards the town that held the Green Dungeon wasn’t done with our usual B.E.S. transports, but instead in my magic carriage. I really don’t use it as much as it deserves to be used, and it can still reach speeds well over double that of a horse drawn carriage, so the trip will only take a bit over an hour with it. And using a carriage, even a magic one, is a lot more normal than using an invincible spaceship.
During our trip, I showed everyone the route we were expected to take inside the dungeon. We were basically going to go about as straight to the rue moss trade point as possible. Of course killing every monster we run into on the way. We do at least need to get one of those dungeon cards, unless I hack the dungeon. But after we have the card, I can use HomeBase monsters to feed the card dungeon points.
And if that doesn’t work, we can always head to where the dungeon core is. The map does show it, even if it is marked as a ‘do not enter’ area. And it isn’t ‘do not enter’ because they don’t want us to go to the core, but because that area is known to have multiple S-rank monsters living there, so it can be quite dangerous. But I think our party can deal with a few S-rank monsters.
“Show me your permit.” A guard demanded when we got to the town. He wasn’t a knight, or even wearing anything akin to a uniform. He just looked like an adventurer, so it seems like adventurers are the ones running security in this town.
“Don’t have one. We are here for the dungeon.” I explained. “Here are our guild cards, as well as our quest form.”
The guarding adventurer looked over both our guild cards and the papers I got from the GM, and as he did, his face went just a bit pale.
“I-I-I apologize, my Lord. I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“Calm. It's fine. You were doing your job. May we come in?”
“Y-Yes. Of course.” The adventurer quickly gave a sign to the others to open the gate for us.
“And I’d like our papers back.” I reminded him, as the guard adventurer was still holding onto our papers.
I wonder if he assumed we were merchants or something? Maybe it is rare for people to arrive here in a carriage? Or maybe it is because magic carriage? Actually, that should have given away the fact that we are nobles, shouldn’t it? Magic carriages, or really golem carriages, are somewhat rare, right? So only nobles have them, right? Or do the merchants that visit this town also have them? Maybe they do. I mean, you wouldn’t want to bring horses into a town that can be dangerous, as if the horses die in a monster attack, you are kind of stuck. So maybe using golem carriages is worth it?
“D-Do you need a place to park your carriage?” The guard asked after we got inside. “What about recommendations for an inn?”
“No thank you. We will be heading straight for the dungeon. Can you point us towards the entrance?”
“.... of course. It is…”
After we got the explanation on where the dungeon entrance was, we headed that way. But we quickly realized that riding a carriage in this town was … it isn’t a bad idea, but this place definitely isn’t carriage ready, outside of the major road, so we dismounted and I took the carriage into Storage. That got us some looks, but luckily the streets here aren’t filled with people like the capital streets often are.
It was just too bad that even on foot, we still got some looks. Agunan just is a magnet for prying eyes, as he does stand out quite a lot.
We soon got to where the dungeon entrance was. Because of the risk of monster runouts, there were some fortified positions around it, and before we could approach any closer, we had to visit the in town adventurer’s guild. Realistically this was just a ‘check-in station’, which kept track of who had entered the dungeon, not a full guild, but there were still things like a quest board and other regular guild stuff in the building. Though all of the quests were asking for items from the dungeon, not for anything outside of it.
The registration for us to head into the dungeon went just fine, probably better than it would usually go as we had a quest stamped and signed by the capital’s GM, so quite quickly we got inside. Though not before we got a warning.
“We have had some reports of nature sprites in area 2-4-4. You might want to look out for that.”
“Ok. Thanks for the warning.”
Sprites, huh. Haven’t seen any in a while. Last time was with the thunder sprites. Interesting that we have found some again. And the warning is actually somewhat relevant to us, because while my planned path didn’t pass that area, we were in the 2-4-5, which is neighboring the reported area. Not that nature sprites should be a problem for us, but still good to know.
… I do wonder. Are nature sprites corrupted earth spirits? Sprites are spirits corrupted by miasma, right? I think that is what the greater water spirit told me. And the water, well they were specifically rain spirits, corrupted into thunder sprites, so do earth spirits corrupt into nature sprites? Or is it some other attribute? Or are nature spirits born from nature magic? Nature magic is a thing, by the way. It is a racial skill that can be obtained by some evolved races, but the most common to have it are evolved elves. The racial skill non-evolved elves can have is Spirit magic, in case you wanted to know. It is interesting that elves can get Spirit magic before they evolve, but for most races, it is locked behind an evolution, like Spiritual Human.
Remind me to work on Spiritual Human and Spirit magic more. Actually, this dungeon adventure might be the perfect time for that. So when I find a good spot in the dungeon, let’s swap races and summon a water spirit so I can put some real combat practice in. I can also ask what the spirits want me to do about the sprites while I’m at it.
We got into the dungeon and once we got out of the more populated areas, I went ahead and changed my race from Dragon Hearted, where I usually keep it, to Spiritual Human. I then went ahead and used Summon Water Spirit, and received one of the intermediate ones.
After quickly explaining the situation with the sprites to the water spirit, the water spirit asked if it could leave again.
“I… I wish to not deal with sprites.” I told us. “Would you let me go back?”
“Sure. Let’s do that.” I quickly agreed. “Can you tell the greater water spirit about this?”
“Yes. I shall tell her.” The spirit said, as he disappeared.
“... well, that was a wash.”
“Can’t really blame the spirit.” Lua said. “Fighting a sprite is likely like fighting a cousin gone mad.”
“But you didn’t mind holding me back when I went on a frenzy.” Ria commented.
“That is different. I knew how to help you at that time. With sprites, there is no choice but to kill them.”
“... yeah. It is just too sad there is no way to purify them.” I complained, as I wondered how I can be both super powerful and weak at the same time.
“Can’t your cards do anything?” Alice asked.
“No. I don’t have anything to really purify monsters. I do have card called ‘Spell Purification’, but that wouldn’t work on the sprites. I also have cards related to Spirit monsters, but they wouldn’t help here either. Cards like Fengsheng Mirror could likely instakill a sprite and Spiritual Energy Settle Machine would likely make them perceptible to physical attacks, but neither would purify them.”
Spoiler“... then just combine all three. What will that do?” Alice suggested.
“Eh? I guess I can try that. It isn’t like it will cost me more than three cards.”
“You can work as we walk, Master. We shall deal with the monsters.” Agunan said.
“I’ll make up for my loss yesterday.” Ria agreed with the dragon.
“Alright. Alice, can you take over the map then?”
“Sure. I’ll make sure we won’t get lost and that we will run into the 2-4-4 area.” Alice responded.
“That wasn’t the plan.” I argued.
“You’ll have the card ready by then. It will be the perfect test run.” Alice told me.
… fine. Let’s test it out then. It isn’t like anything will change. We should take down the sprites anyway, so if I can’t turn them back into spirits, we will just have to kill them.
As we kept traveling through the dungeon, we quickly acquired ourselves some dungeon cards. We could have all picked up one, but that would make it so that the dungeon points would be spread across multiple cards, so we decided to only take one. Alice was the one to hold it.
The monsters we ran into were mostly living plants. Man-eating plants, living thorns, treants and so on. Most of them were easy prey, as Agunan could just burn them, but there were these certain type of flower monsters which stopped that plan. When they were burned, they would release some gas when they were burned, and it was quite dangerous.
The plant monsters were also quite good at regeneration. If you only cut them a bit, there is a high chance they will recover. Well, of course it depends on the monster, but a lot of them regenerated quickly.
We kept going and eventually we got to the area right next to the 2-4-4 where we were headed. This place had something akin to potato monsters, and they were a small pain. For one, because they were super small and difficult to hit. And for two, they attack by getting close to you and exploding. Freaking suicide bomber potatoes. I don’t like them. Sure they don’t do that much damage so we can just tank the explosions, but if they explode, it is difficult to get any points from them, as there is no corpse.
We finally got close to where the entrance to the next area should be, and I was starting to get excited. I would get to test if my Sprite Purifying Mirror would work as I hope it will.
But before we managed to make the transition from area 2-3-4 to area 2-4-4, someone ran from the direction of area 2-4-4. It was a red-headed girl, probably just over 20 years old. She was dressed in leather armor, which seemed high quality. She wielded two large daggers, actually they are more like short-swords than daggers. They also seemed high quality and even had the striking edge made of a red metal, probably hihi'irokane, so the blades must be quite valuable. She also had on a long blue scarf that flowed behind her as she ran. It looked hand knitted, so it likely was more of a sentimental item, as it really stood out compared to all of her other equipment, which looked very professionally made.
After she spotted us, she made a beeline towards us. This made us be on guard, because it did look a bit like she was going to attack. But with Agunan standing in front of her, I don’t think she will get through. And I do have our set cards ready to go in case of a surprise attack.
But instead of attacking us, the red-headed spoke to us.
“... Please! Help my friend!”
