The next day was somewhat the same as yesterday, except that I had Ria and Wilma with me. Wilma was going to try her hand, or hammer, at the challenge rooms while Ria wanted to test if she could take on a floor 7 challenge room.
I also had something to do in the dungeon today. My goal was making a Card Summoner skill orb. I tried to do it by combining my cards with skill orbs, but I couldn’t do it. I could make a bunch of other skill orbs, like Sword Technique skill orb, Lightning Magic skill orb and so on, but I couldn’t make one for Card Summoner. Laura ended up testing every card I have in my Collection, but not a single one, when installed into a blank skill orb, resulted in a Card Summoner skill orb.
So because of that, I came to TinaWood dungeon, the dungeon that can give that skill. My idea was that if this dungeon can make/give the skill, maybe if it learns how to make skill orbs, it can learn to make a Card Summoner skill orb. Then if I can analyze that skill orb, I should be able to make more with HomeBase.
Because I decided to prioritize my objective, I headed straight for the dungeon’s core room. We can go up from there and take on the challenge rooms on the way.
At the core room, I opened up the core so I could look over all the dungeon details. It took a while, but I think I finally managed to learn why Card Summoner can be given as a reward.
Basically, the challenge rooms have a set ‘loot table’ where they pick a reward from. These are all the different kinds of weapons the dungeon can give out, and they can of course be made of different materials. The dungeon automatically prioritizes weapons that are used by the person that challenged the room when rolling for the drop, so for someone like Unika who carries a bow, arrows and a knife, it would prioritize those drops, lessening the chance of her getting something like a spear or a sword. But she could still technically get a spear or a sword, the chance of that happening is just very low.
Now as for where Card Summoner comes in, well it comes from a chance rollover. Basically the dungeon calculates your performance based on how much damage you did, how fast you cleared the room, how much damage you took and so on, and from that, it gets a number that decides your drop. The value should always be between 0 and 1, but if that value exceeds 1, the dungeon doesn’t have a set drop for that so it defaults to the highest ranked drop it can give, which is giving out the Card Summoner skill.
(Laura, can you calculate the optimal way for someone to get that value to over 1?)
(I can, but it has to be done on an individual basis and can only be done after we know what they are facing. And even then we would have to have a perfect battle plan and it would have to be executed flawlessly. And if any of the monsters they face do something I didn’t predict, then the plan is useless. In short, it cannot be humanly done.)
(... shame. Well, let’s check if we can make this skill orb.)
Because Ria got bored while I worked, I opened a path for her and Wilma to get to floor 7 of the dungeon. They should be able to manage, as Ria has some good cards and even without them, she is quite powerful. I’ll just keep an open screen to the side so I can keep an eye on them while they do what they do.
And if they run into any real trouble, Klaus will surely inform me.
“Are you sure it is smart to go without Brian?” I asked.
“We’ll be fine.” Rhianna reassured me. “The worst we will run into is an A-rank and we can take care of an A-rank.”
“... if you say so. But are you sure?”
“I’m level 99 and B-ranks are not overly difficult for me to take on. I think I can take on an A-rank.” Rhianna said with clear confidence in her voice.
“A-Alright.” Level 99? She is max level? I mean, she has been with Brian even before me and if he has been leveling her up it does make sense, but it is still surprising to hear. “I’ll … I’ll do my best to back you up.” I decided.
I then opened up my Item Box, bringing out my hammer and shield. The once heavy weapons now felt light in my arms. Maybe I should make myself a new shield and hammer. I wonder if Brian would be able to get some adamantite that I could use for them? It is the ultimate metal in terms of durability, as far as I know. So if I could use some of it, I could make an unbreakable shield and the mightiest hammer. But can Brian acquire some?
… Or maybe I could make some, like how we made Star Titanium. I’ll ask Brian if he has any ideas about that.
We stopped next to a solid rock wall which leads to the rest of the dungeon.
“Alright. Behind the wall should be the dungeon’s boss.” Rhianna said. “I’ll take care of it, so can you try and keep the lesser monsters off of me?”
“Y-Yes. I think I can do that.” I said, as I took a better hold of my hammer.
“If the opponent is an A-rank, I’ll summon a monster that will deal with the lesser monsters so that we can both focus on the boss.”
I simply nodded in acknowledgment. I wonder what monsters she can summon? She has that skill needed to use Brian’s cards, so maybe she has a super strong monster.
I wonder what Brian would give me if I had the skill? Maybe I could have that large golem that can be piloted? That one was fun. I wonder what other mechanical creatures Brian can summon?
“... what if the boss is something we can’t deal with?” I asked.
“Don’t worry. Brian has given me cards that can deal with even S and SS-rankers for emergency use, so we can manage.” Rhianna reassured me.
Does Brian really have cards that powerful? Is it really that easy to take down an SS-rank monster?
… No. I saw the recording of their fight against the Fenrir. I know he has them. I just … it feels so strange. SS-ranks are creatures that only legendary figures can take on alone, and despite the time I’ve spent with Brian, I refuse to accept that I live with those kinds of people.
“Alright.” Rhianna spoke up. “Brian! Can you open the door for us?”
{Sure. Be careful, the boss is A-rank.} I heard Brian’s voice echoing around us. {I’ll open it in 3, 2, 1.}
After Brian counted down, the door opened and Rhianna rushed forward. I realized I wasn’t moving, likely because Brian told us that we were facing an A-rank monster. Why was I so brave when I was in that mechanical monster? I wasn’t afraid of an S-rank monster when I was in it, but now, an A-rank frightens me.
NO! Just… take a step forward. Then another.
As I focused on just moving, I didn’t even realize that I began to run towards the boss. As I got visual, I realized that maybe we aren’t as screwed as I thought. The A-rank we were facing was a large skeletal bull-like creature, with two massive sword-like horns coming out of its head. But compared to the mithril golem, not to mention something like the Fenrir, it honestly didn’t look that scary.
“Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!” I heard Rhianna call out. I think she just summoned a monster.
Spoiler [collapse]My suspicion was confirmed when a golden flaming bird appeared in the room. It was very beautiful, and the heat emanating from it did make me feel a bit more calm.
“Wilma, come give me a hand.” Rhianna called to me, so I ran to her side, but before I could make it, the skeletal bull attacked her with its sword horns.
Rhianna dodged the attack with just minimal movement, while repeatedly punching any part of the bull she could reach.
I then watched as a pair of wings extended out from her back. She used them alongside her Flickering Step skill to boost her movement, repeatedly striking different parts of the bulls body with quick punches.
{ROAR!}
The bull let out a powerful roar that did some damage to me. It must have recognized us as a real threat.
I … I should get its attention so that Rhianna can keep attacking. But how? I don’t have the Taunt skill.
(Just hit your shield with your hammer and yell at it. That should work.) Klaus told me.
… that’s it? … well, alright.
“Hey! Ugly!” I called out. “If you weren’t just bones, I’d eat you for dinner!” I yelled as I hit my shield with my hammer.
It seemingly worked, as the skeletal bull looked directly at me. It then began charging mana in its mouth, before firing a beam of light at me.
I quickly positioned my shield in front of me, using it to block the attack, but it still hurt, as the energy dispersing around me hit my arms and legs. At least I avoided most of the damage.
“Are you alright?” Rhianna called out, not letting up her punch combo.
“Just a bit of damage! I can continue.” I responded.
“Good.” Rhianna said, as she quickly moved to my side. “Can you point your shield up and give me a boost? I want to get onto its back.”
“Y-Yes.” I responded and raised my shield up. I then braced myself, as Rhianna jumped onto the shield. I pushed up with all my might with her jumping off of the shield for extra height.
She jumped almost all the way to the roof of the room, before she used her wings to slow down her fall, landing gracefully on the skeletal bull.
She then began throwing powerful punches to the bulls back, while I again tried to taunt the bull so that it wouldn’t use a spell that would knock Rhianna off.
“Hey! Are those bones for show or do they do something?!” I yelled.
Good. The bulls attention is on me again. It began to rush at me, so I moved to the side a bit, and used my shield to parry the sword horns to the side, and when I was right next to the monster's cheek, I hit it with my hammer as hard as I could, leaving some cracks in the bones.
“Wilma. Fall back. I’ll use a big one.” I heard Rhianna call from top of the bull.
I quickly looked up and saw her body engulfed in flames. I hope that is her magic and not the bulls, but even if that is hers, it would still hurt a bit if she doesn’t have Fire Resistance.
“Flare Impact!” I heard Rhianna call out as she brought both of her hands down onto the skeletal bulls skull. I then heard some cracking sounds, as the skull gave away under her power. The skull then began to dust away, and with that, the two sword-like horns of the bull clattered to the ground.
We did it. We took down an A-rank. … and it wasn’t even that difficult.
“Here. Have a potion.” Rhianna had activated another card that made a potion bottle that held some red liquid. I opened it up and drank the liquid inside, feeling the wounds inflicted by the bulls attack heal.
“Thanks. … you were right. We did manage an A-rank.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you. You were able to keep its attention so I could attack freely. I didn’t know you had the Taunt skill.”
“... I don’t. I just … did what felt right.”
“Maybe you should get it. Brian can give it with an install, I think.”
“... I’ll consider it. But what about you? That last attack was amazing!”
“... thanks. Agunan showed it to me, but that was the first time I actually used it outside of practice.”
“And what about that Phoenix? Is that your strongest monster?”
“No, second strongest. Brian also gave me an Infernal Flame Emperor.”
Spoiler [collapse]“... I don’t know what that is.”
“You should search for him in the Factory. Unlike most of us, you can access it freely.”
“... how did you know that?”
“Oh? Was it a secret? I’m sorry. And Agunan told me.”
“... just don’t share it around. I don’t want to be famous for having the System Support.” I told her.
“Don’t worry. I already keep a bunch of secrets, so I can keep my mouth shut. At least when talking to someone who doesn’t live on HomeBase.” Rhianna said. “Now come on. Let’s go before Neppy kills all the monsters.”
“A-Alright. But what about the … Wait! Where is the corpse of the skeletal bull?”
“Brian probably absorbed it for points. Come on. Let’s go! We have more monsters to kill.” Rhianna said, as she took a hold of my right hand and dragged me behind her.
The next day was somewhat the same as yesterday, except that I had Ria and Wilma with me. Wilma was going to try her hand, or hammer, at the challenge rooms while Ria wanted to test if she could take on a floor 7 challenge room.
I also had something to do in the dungeon today. My goal was making a Card Summoner skill orb. I tried to do it by combining my cards with skill orbs, but I couldn’t do it. I could make a bunch of other skill orbs, like Sword Technique skill orb, Lightning Magic skill orb and so on, but I couldn’t make one for Card Summoner. Laura ended up testing every card I have in my Collection, but not a single one, when installed into a blank skill orb, resulted in a Card Summoner skill orb.
So because of that, I came to TinaWood dungeon, the dungeon that can give that skill. My idea was that if this dungeon can make/give the skill, maybe if it learns how to make skill orbs, it can learn to make a Card Summoner skill orb. Then if I can analyze that skill orb, I should be able to make more with HomeBase.
Because I decided to prioritize my objective, I headed straight for the dungeon’s core room. We can go up from there and take on the challenge rooms on the way.
At the core room, I opened up the core so I could look over all the dungeon details. It took a while, but I think I finally managed to learn why Card Summoner can be given as a reward.
Basically, the challenge rooms have a set ‘loot table’ where they pick a reward from. These are all the different kinds of weapons the dungeon can give out, and they can of course be made of different materials. The dungeon automatically prioritizes weapons that are used by the person that challenged the room when rolling for the drop, so for someone like Unika who carries a bow, arrows and a knife, it would prioritize those drops, lessening the chance of her getting something like a spear or a sword. But she could still technically get a spear or a sword, the chance of that happening is just very low.
Now as for where Card Summoner comes in, well it comes from a chance rollover. Basically the dungeon calculates your performance based on how much damage you did, how fast you cleared the room, how much damage you took and so on, and from that, it gets a number that decides your drop. The value should always be between 0 and 1, but if that value exceeds 1, the dungeon doesn’t have a set drop for that so it defaults to the highest ranked drop it can give, which is giving out the Card Summoner skill.
(Laura, can you calculate the optimal way for someone to get that value to over 1?)
(I can, but it has to be done on an individual basis and can only be done after we know what they are facing. And even then we would have to have a perfect battle plan and it would have to be executed flawlessly. And if any of the monsters they face do something I didn’t predict, then the plan is useless. In short, it cannot be humanly done.)
(... shame. Well, let’s check if we can make this skill orb.)
Because Ria got bored while I worked, I opened a path for her and Wilma to get to floor 7 of the dungeon. They should be able to manage, as Ria has some good cards and even without them, she is quite powerful. I’ll just keep an open screen to the side so I can keep an eye on them while they do what they do.
And if they run into any real trouble, Klaus will surely inform me.
“Are you sure it is smart to go without Brian?” I asked.
“We’ll be fine.” Rhianna reassured me. “The worst we will run into is an A-rank and we can take care of an A-rank.”
“... if you say so. But are you sure?”
“I’m level 99 and B-ranks are not overly difficult for me to take on. I think I can take on an A-rank.” Rhianna said with clear confidence in her voice.
“A-Alright.” Level 99? She is max level? I mean, she has been with Brian even before me and if he has been leveling her up it does make sense, but it is still surprising to hear. “I’ll … I’ll do my best to back you up.” I decided.
I then opened up my Item Box, bringing out my hammer and shield. The once heavy weapons now felt light in my arms. Maybe I should make myself a new shield and hammer. I wonder if Brian would be able to get some adamantite that I could use for them? It is the ultimate metal in terms of durability, as far as I know. So if I could use some of it, I could make an unbreakable shield and the mightiest hammer. But can Brian acquire some?
… Or maybe I could make some, like how we made Star Titanium. I’ll ask Brian if he has any ideas about that.
We stopped next to a solid rock wall which leads to the rest of the dungeon.
“Alright. Behind the wall should be the dungeon’s boss.” Rhianna said. “I’ll take care of it, so can you try and keep the lesser monsters off of me?”
“Y-Yes. I think I can do that.” I said, as I took a better hold of my hammer.
“If the opponent is an A-rank, I’ll summon a monster that will deal with the lesser monsters so that we can both focus on the boss.”
I simply nodded in acknowledgment. I wonder what monsters she can summon? She has that skill needed to use Brian’s cards, so maybe she has a super strong monster.
I wonder what Brian would give me if I had the skill? Maybe I could have that large golem that can be piloted? That one was fun. I wonder what other mechanical creatures Brian can summon?
“... what if the boss is something we can’t deal with?” I asked.
“Don’t worry. Brian has given me cards that can deal with even S and SS-rankers for emergency use, so we can manage.” Rhianna reassured me.
Does Brian really have cards that powerful? Is it really that easy to take down an SS-rank monster?
… No. I saw the recording of their fight against the Fenrir. I know he has them. I just … it feels so strange. SS-ranks are creatures that only legendary figures can take on alone, and despite the time I’ve spent with Brian, I refuse to accept that I live with those kinds of people.
“Alright.” Rhianna spoke up. “Brian! Can you open the door for us?”
{Sure. Be careful, the boss is A-rank.} I heard Brian’s voice echoing around us. {I’ll open it in 3, 2, 1.}
After Brian counted down, the door opened and Rhianna rushed forward. I realized I wasn’t moving, likely because Brian told us that we were facing an A-rank monster. Why was I so brave when I was in that mechanical monster? I wasn’t afraid of an S-rank monster when I was in it, but now, an A-rank frightens me.
NO! Just… take a step forward. Then another.
As I focused on just moving, I didn’t even realize that I began to run towards the boss. As I got visual, I realized that maybe we aren’t as screwed as I thought. The A-rank we were facing was a large skeletal bull-like creature, with two massive sword-like horns coming out of its head. But compared to the mithril golem, not to mention something like the Fenrir, it honestly didn’t look that scary.
“Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!” I heard Rhianna call out. I think she just summoned a monster.
Spoiler [collapse]My suspicion was confirmed when a golden flaming bird appeared in the room. It was very beautiful, and the heat emanating from it did make me feel a bit more calm.
“Wilma, come give me a hand.” Rhianna called to me, so I ran to her side, but before I could make it, the skeletal bull attacked her with its sword horns.
Rhianna dodged the attack with just minimal movement, while repeatedly punching any part of the bull she could reach.
I then watched as a pair of wings extended out from her back. She used them alongside her Flickering Step skill to boost her movement, repeatedly striking different parts of the bulls body with quick punches.
{ROAR!}
The bull let out a powerful roar that did some damage to me. It must have recognized us as a real threat.
I … I should get its attention so that Rhianna can keep attacking. But how? I don’t have the Taunt skill.
(Just hit your shield with your hammer and yell at it. That should work.) Klaus told me.
… that’s it? … well, alright.
“Hey! Ugly!” I called out. “If you weren’t just bones, I’d eat you for dinner!” I yelled as I hit my shield with my hammer.
It seemingly worked, as the skeletal bull looked directly at me. It then began charging mana in its mouth, before firing a beam of light at me.
I quickly positioned my shield in front of me, using it to block the attack, but it still hurt, as the energy dispersing around me hit my arms and legs. At least I avoided most of the damage.
“Are you alright?” Rhianna called out, not letting up her punch combo.
“Just a bit of damage! I can continue.” I responded.
“Good.” Rhianna said, as she quickly moved to my side. “Can you point your shield up and give me a boost? I want to get onto its back.”
“Y-Yes.” I responded and raised my shield up. I then braced myself, as Rhianna jumped onto the shield. I pushed up with all my might with her jumping off of the shield for extra height.
She jumped almost all the way to the roof of the room, before she used her wings to slow down her fall, landing gracefully on the skeletal bull.
She then began throwing powerful punches to the bulls back, while I again tried to taunt the bull so that it wouldn’t use a spell that would knock Rhianna off.
“Hey! Are those bones for show or do they do something?!” I yelled.
Good. The bulls attention is on me again. It began to rush at me, so I moved to the side a bit, and used my shield to parry the sword horns to the side, and when I was right next to the monster's cheek, I hit it with my hammer as hard as I could, leaving some cracks in the bones.
“Wilma. Fall back. I’ll use a big one.” I heard Rhianna call from top of the bull.
I quickly looked up and saw her body engulfed in flames. I hope that is her magic and not the bulls, but even if that is hers, it would still hurt a bit if she doesn’t have Fire Resistance.
“Flare Impact!” I heard Rhianna call out as she brought both of her hands down onto the skeletal bulls skull. I then heard some cracking sounds, as the skull gave away under her power. The skull then began to dust away, and with that, the two sword-like horns of the bull clattered to the ground.
We did it. We took down an A-rank. … and it wasn’t even that difficult.
“Here. Have a potion.” Rhianna had activated another card that made a potion bottle that held some red liquid. I opened it up and drank the liquid inside, feeling the wounds inflicted by the bulls attack heal.
“Thanks. … you were right. We did manage an A-rank.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you. You were able to keep its attention so I could attack freely. I didn’t know you had the Taunt skill.”
“... I don’t. I just … did what felt right.”
“Maybe you should get it. Brian can give it with an install, I think.”
“... I’ll consider it. But what about you? That last attack was amazing!”
“... thanks. Agunan showed it to me, but that was the first time I actually used it outside of practice.”
“And what about that Phoenix? Is that your strongest monster?”
“No, second strongest. Brian also gave me an Infernal Flame Emperor.”
Spoiler [collapse]“... I don’t know what that is.”
“You should search for him in the Factory. Unlike most of us, you can access it freely.”
“... how did you know that?”
“Oh? Was it a secret? I’m sorry. And Agunan told me.”
“... just don’t share it around. I don’t want to be famous for having the System Support.” I told her.
“Don’t worry. I already keep a bunch of secrets, so I can keep my mouth shut. At least when talking to someone who doesn’t live on HomeBase.” Rhianna said. “Now come on. Let’s go before Neppy kills all the monsters.”
“A-Alright. But what about the … Wait! Where is the corpse of the skeletal bull?”
“Brian probably absorbed it for points. Come on. Let’s go! We have more monsters to kill.” Rhianna said, as she took a hold of my right hand and dragged me behind her.
