“So can you tell me more about this succession battle and the other participants?” Mark bit down on his own buttermilk sandwich and then took a swig from his new water pouch. It had cost 7 MP, but the refreshment it was bringing to his belabored mind was worth it.
“Of course,” Amelia said sitting up. Her demeanor was far more calm than it had been when they first met. She cleared her throat. “I guess it would be good to start with the history behind the succession battles.”
“The Arcadian Realm is composed of 21 different factions that vary in size, but even the smallest have billions of people and control at least one home world. The larger factions have multiple worlds under their control. In the chaotic era there were even more factions, but wars eventually made entire worlds inhabitable, so eventually the factions banned together under one ruler to prevent us from fighting to extinction. Weapons have just become too effective.”
“Of course determining who that ruler was, was the big question. Eventually they settled on various methods of determining the next ruler from one of the factions, and it worked to an extent, but still every 300 to 400 years the successor battles would devolve into wars and assassinations that could result in tens of millions dying during the succession period.”
“Eventually that led to the 1st succession battle held using an interface and broadcasted throughout the realm. The factions quickly bound the entire realm to this method. Now everyone in the realm could watch the next ruler earn the throne, and their future rule would not be questioned. Of course the big factions each send 2 or 3 successors for the succession battle. The weakest 5 factions send only 1.”
“And I’m guessing you belong to one of the latter?” Mark posed. Amelia nodded in response. “So other factions can have 2 or 3 slots? Does that mean that they are effectively working together?” If that was the case, then Mark did not like their chances.
Luckily, Amelia shook her head. “No… Well, usually not. Often it is the opposite where the different successors from the same faction view each other as bitter rivals. To the point where they will spitefully work to hinder each other. They do belong to different families that constantly fight each other for power within their own faction, after all. It really is pretty much a free for all, although I can’t say that teaming up has not ever happened in the past.”
“Past? How many battles have there been?”
“This is the 8th succession battle held using the interface, but these battles are held for many other things as well. Anytime there is a major dispute they are so settled.” Marks eye’d her accusingly. If there had been so many prior battles, she should have been more prepared than she was.
“The battles are always different,” Amelia said, anticipating his question before he could ask. “There are always different settings, different rules, and twists. None of the participants should have an idea on what to expect.”
“But still, I assume that these battles are shown and recorded.”
“I’m sorry,” Amelia said looking downcast. “I was not supposed to be our faction’s successor. It got shifted to me at the last minute, and I had never watched the battles very closely. Being in the contest is far different than watching the abbreviated version shown on the TV.”
Mark nodded understandingly. It made sense. The realm was probably shown a viewer friendly version. They did not go into the details and decisions that participants would have to make. It was probably like reality tv, where they tried to make it as interesting as possible. If the successor position got shifted to her, Mark could only guess as to why. Had the prior successor died? He would eventually find out. It did not seem that she wanted to talk about it. “Then can you tell me a little more about the other participants?”
“Well, nothing specifically,” Amelia stated uneasily. I have never met any of them personally. What I do know, I’m not sure it can be trusted or helpful. What's known about them could just as easily be a public persona carefully crafted and managed by their own factions. The successor battle is the first unadulterated look that people get of their future ruler.”
“Then it should be a fairly equal playing field, since all 35 contenders are basically on their own. Or well with their champions, on second thought how did I get picked as your champion. It does not seem like the type of thing to leave to chance, when you have billions of people in your own faction to choose from.”
“Well uh… You're generally right. Most pick an aide who has trained specifically to take on that role. Unfortunately, I did not have that option, and someone from the Arcadian realm can refuse. They would die if we lost after all… Anyways, I decided getting someone capable from a lower realm would make sense given that the interface options were so primitive.”
“And I wouldn’t get the right to refuse?” Mark said, staring at her. Her eyes shifted away. “It’s alright you don’t need to feel guilty about it anymore. What's done is done, but how primitive do you think people from my world are? Swords and spears are pretty primitive to us as well.”
“Oh they are? I didn’t know, you looked so confident when sifting through the screens,” Ameila stated smiling smugly.
Mark took another bite of his sandwich. It was not exactly welcome news that this girl had been sent here so unprepared. They apparently had billions of people, yet they would not support her. It was almost like she had been sent here to die. Which did not make a lot of sense, since having one of their own become the high queen should be something they were striving for. Did they expect not to win? “Does your faction not expect to win?” Mark posed.
The girl's eyes widened in surprise, before she looked away guilty. “I’m sorry, but not even the medium sized factions that can send 2 contenders have managed to win. The small factions have usually lost half way through. The midsized factions have only had a few contenders make it into the final 3 or 4,” She stated hesitantly.
Mark just stared at her. It had seemed like a fairly level playing field in theory. There were more contenders from the bigger factions so it made sense they won more often. The medium and small factions made up 40% of the total, so statistically it was unlikely that the large factions could remain so dominant. Unless they were cheating… Or the game was not an equal playing field. Mark did not have to ask.
“It should not happen for some time. During the beginning a week or a month of our time is condensed down to a day of the rest of the realm’s time. But later it goes back to a day for each day on the outside. When that happens, faction leadership and other entities can provide support to a contender of their choice for a large amount of money, or they can even impose penalties on other contenders. It could be anything: extra units, weapons, reducing someone's production, etc…”
Mark’s mouth dropped open. The fact that viewers would be able to bolster their enemies was alarming at the least, but they could also throw wrenches into his plans. She did not have to tell him the implications of what this would mean for them.
The more powerful factions likely provided several times more support. Then they were even able to put buffs on their enemies. It was no wonder why the smaller factions always lost, and with that as the narrative, nobody would even bother supporting them since they were destined to lose anyways. It was almost a self fulfilling prophecy. “How long do we have?”
“None of the participants know, although I’m sure they have already publicized it to the rest of the realm. In the past they have used when a set period of time has elapsed, but the last few times they have used a set milestone. Like when one of the bases… Sorry dungeons… Normally the term is base, the dungeon term was probably used since you know…primitive” she scratched her head.
“Anyways it is highly likely that they use a set milestone. It could be when the entire map is explored, all the whatchamacallits have been found, or when one of the contenders reaches a certain stage." She clearly emphasized the last part. It was clear what she thought the criteria would be.
Mark ran his fingers through his hair. He had a feeling she was right. Already he had seen that a lot of features became unlocked when the dungeon advanced a level. The other participants might not know for sure, but they could read the signs. Advance your dungeon to unlock more features. If that was the case, then there was a real benefit for other contenders to rush advancement if they were going to be bankrolled once they reached a certain point.
“It is bad,” she said hesitantly. “But perhaps it is not as bad as I’m making it sound. We are less likely to get debuffed than serious contenders, and we might even get support if we are fighting another faction's enemies. We could even get support if people like us. There are many other entities that can be sponsors after all. One of the smaller faction participants has not won yet, but I don’t think it is truly impossible.”
“Of course, we will,” Mark said smiling, although he was less confident. The deck was certainly stacked against them.
“We can’t do anything about it, anyways. Perhaps we should discuss our next steps,” Amelia posed..
“Very well, as you saw I poured much of our initial resources expanding our daily production. By the end of the first week I would like to max us out our production for dungeon level 1. Meanwhile during the week we can form small scouting teams to scout the surrounding area, so that at the end of the first week we should have a good idea about whats around us and be running on all cylinders, production wise.”
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“I can’t say it's a bad idea,” Amelia said thoughtfully. “However, I feel it's pretty optimistic. I don’t think that we will be attacked today, they should be running an end of the day message, and I doubt they would allow us to get attacked before then. Tomorrow, on the other hand, I mean our dungeon core is just sitting in the middle of the field. You do realize that its basically my heart right? It gets destroyed, and I die. I die and you do…” she trailed off.
Mark looked at her as he considered her words. He could still see a trace of nervousness and fear based on her expressions. She looked very vulnerable, and with her life tied to a stone out in an open field. He guessed she was. “Can you tell me what we should expect in the up and coming days? How many ‘barbarians’ we will have to deal with or when we could expect attacks from our neighbors.”
She looked at him quizzically, “Oh, I get it, ‘barbarians.’ That's a way better term than independent forces, and goes with the setting more.” Mark glared at her. “Right, you are right in that we likely do not have to worry about attacks from other contenders for a week or two. Most of them will be shoring up their defenses and expanding production.”
“The ‘barbarians’ are not something that we can dismiss. Likely, we can expect anything from wild beasts to small forces. It is even possible that we come across a solitary unit that is tiers higher than what we should have to deal with. That is one of the reasons I went with Social Interaction. If we could get some of them to join or otherwise help us, it could give us a real boost.”
Mark nodded. Apparently, the girl had put some thought into things. He remembered seeing it now in the encyclopedia. If the core was threatened they would not be able to build units. Which meant he could not just sit on a pile of MP and build units based on the threat, and if they were to get attacked now then they would die without even getting to put up a fight.
All it would take is one person to destroy it. They could sneak up during the night or make a break for it during the day. The pedestal was in the middle of the field, but the clearing was not altogether that big. Someone at his level could probably reach it in 15 to 20 seconds. That was assuming they even needed to approach it. Perhaps they could hit it with projectile weapons from cover.
Regardless, he suddenly felt that a small group of goblins guarding it were not going to cut it. Afterall, the morale feature made it clear how much he could trust his units. His guards might be inattentive or fall asleep. His mind was still operating off the strategy games that he used to play. In them you always had a good portion of time before your settlement could be invaded, but now he realized how foolish he was being. A misconception like that could have ended up getting them killed.
And when other players came it likely would not be with some inconsequential force. The others had just as much MP to burn through as Amelia had. They could literally build hundreds of low cost units with only 10,000 MP. Without other defenses, his dungeon would likely have to expend an equivalent amount of MP to contest them.
“Of course later in the game, there could even be hordes of units that sweep across the land. Just because this is a succession battle does not mean that the other contenders have to be the ones to wipe us out,” Amelia added.
“Thank you, I feel you may be right. I will go ahead and build some units to guard the core tonight, but what was the end day message you mentioned earlier,”
“Oh it won’t be much. Likely they will talk about something that is unique to this succession battle and then wish us luck. IIt’s more of a one time thing,” Amelia stated dryly.
“Hmmm, okay I think I get it. I will revise my ideas. Can we come up with how much MP we will need to set up our camp tonight.” Mark had meant it as a subtle, ‘let's not spend much more MP than we have two,’ but Amelia had apparently already figured it out.
A half hour later they had a tiny hut in the center of the clearing. It was a simple building with one main room and a small bathroom. It was the only building available without the building tech researched. Mark could only guess it was a courtesy for contenders. They could not make the future realm ruler sleep out in the open after all. Nor could they show the future ruler squatting out in the bushes. Nah, they just had them fight to the death with all the others for the people’s enjoyment. Much more civil.
In addition they had acquired two cots. Mark’s was a basic army cot with a throw pillow and a light blanket, but Amelia’s cot was at least 3 steps up in comfort and aesthetics. After deciding on their dinner Mark was working with 600 less MP. It had been only 588, but the girl had added a couple of desserts and drinks to even it out. Whatever except for the food, they should not need too much else for a while.
Mark once again separated himself to plan how things would go out. Amelia had decided to relax in the hut and read a book. She apparently had access to a whole database, so would not have to worry about having nothing to do.
Mark could not quite decipher the girl. She seemed fairly intelligent, so why did she not want to strategize with him? After a few minutes of deliberation he could only come up with one theory. She was clearly interested in how things were progressing and the outcome, so he could only think that it was some sort of coping mechanism with stress. She could not get herself to dwell on the game without considering the real life threat to her life.
‘Whatever, he kind of liked the prospect of making all the decisions and trying to outwit their opponents. If she could not deal with it, then he would for her. Despite things Mark could not help but feel excited. Developing their dungeon was as exciting as watching his bank account grow. Each decision he made had very immediate results.
His engineering job could not even compare. He had worked there for a year. In all that time he had only worked on 3 projects. None of them had even been carried out. The first had been deemed financially unfeasible as the company went in another direction. The second was a couple years out from realization, and he had barely even started on the third.
Mark's smile quickly faded upon receiving the next notice.
[ Mark Fields converted 1 DP into 900 MP.]
He had been expecting 1,000 MP. A quick check of the encyclopedia revealed the culprit. “Really a conversion fee!” Mark could not help but laugh. Could the interface not have warned him? “At least the games he had played had been a lot less petty,” he mumbled as he shifted screens.
At least he knew now. Since his dungeon was level 1, a 10% fee was charged for every conversion. He could only assume that at level 2 the fee would be even higher. Luckily, only the tech tree required RP. All of the other research options could be paid with either MP or RP as long as there was not a mix of both, so his immediate plans for units would not be affected. However it would put a bit of a damper on him blowing through research. Mark had definitely been planning on pouring MP into RP to research necessary techs once they were established. With only 1 RP a day it would take too long to unlock techs.
Mark moved on. He had already done the math and a 100 less MP would not affect his overall plans. At 8 tonight they would have 3,640 MP.He pulled up the units screen and flipped to his goblin branch.
Goblin Branch (more units will be revealed when conditions are met) Type Base PWR LVL Cost per Unit Cost to Unlock Green Goblin 0.3 25 MP Base unit Horned Green Goblin 0.5 70 MP 1,000 MP Yellow Hob Goblin 0.8 120 MP 2,000 MP Brown Goblin Legionnaire
1.2
200 MP 3,500 MP Red Hobgoblin 1.5 350 MP 5,000 MP
He spent 2,000 MP to unlock the yellow hobgoblin. Hobgoblins were far more intelligent then the base green goblin that they started out with. This made them suitable to be mages, but it also would make them good early game troop leaders. The more intelligent the unit the more likely they would be to be able to negotiate with the barbarians. They were also bigger and stronger, so they would be better fighters than the base green goblins.
At 120 MP per unit, he would be able to buy some tonight and tomorrow. He would form a guard for the core. Then he would send some out as leaders of green goblin scouting units. He was able to open individual units stats and the green goblins intelligence was horrendous. The yellow hobgoblin was still less than an average person, but they would at least be able to attempt to make use of their specialization.
The other upgrade Mark had eyed was a class upgrade. The first level of all the non magic classes cost only 1,000 MP, and each of them gave a 10% boost to a unit’s power level. The power level was an ambiguous metric with a lot of factors. It was not everything. A unit could have a very high power level, but could lack in some areas. With the right match up there was no reason why a unit could not take on another with double or even triple it’s own power level. It was a benchmark, but raising it was obviously beneficial.
A class would not make their goblin’s stronger, but it would make them better at the class’s function. For warriors, it meant general use of weapons and basic fighting techniques. Mark had decided to open warrior first. Units could grow with experience. Not only their power level, but in other avenues as well. Battle hardened troops were less likely to lose morale and would make better decisions in battles.
Once they had enough MP, Mark would unlock warrior and then buy 4 hobgoblins to guard the core during the night. Mark spent the rest of the afternoon pouring through the screens to glean anything new. Then he joined Amelia for dinner.
The end of day message occurred once the sky started to darken. A female voice echoed in his mind. Mark had been anticipating it, but was eventually let down. It was far too wordy. She introduced all of the contenders and what faction they come from. After being mentioned their names would light up on the adversary page, but without other information it did not mean too much for him. All he had were their names and factions.
The twist of this succession battle was another matter. Mark was very interested in it, but the accompanying notice that appeared once announced gave a far clearer picture in his opinion.
[Welcome to the Age of Dungeon succession battle. Throne contenders are spread out amongst the Endless Bluffs. The Endless Bluffs hold pockets of primal essence. The Essence feature will now be available. Began to discover the wonders of primal essence and use it to tear down your enemies.]
Sure enough an Essence tab popped up on his main screen right after the units tab, but It was hard for Mark to get too excited. It sounded cool, but for now iIt was grayed out. There was no restriction notice when Mark inquired about it, so Mark could only guess the criteria was a secret, or… It was in the notice. He would bet the farm that it would be available when they discovered some.