Mark set himself up on the second level of the archer tower for a cup of coffee and to enjoy the ambiance before he opened his interface to perform his first status check of the morning. Once he did that his mind would once again be embroiled with the seemingly infinite possibilities the interface offered. More than seven months had passed since he had been pulled to this virtual world to act as a champion of one of the contenders, Amelia Cromwell, in a ruler succession battle royal where only one of the dungeons could be left standing at the end. The victor would be the next ruler of the Arcadian realm. In another 19 days he would close out the 8th month and have officially been here for half of the 16 month standard year in the Arcadian realm.
The recognized time intervals did not quite line up to those of earth. The weeks were the same as were the number of days in a week. The time in a day was near the same as far as he could tell. All these similarities were seemingly universal constants that showed up throughout various lower realms and planets time and again. With hundreds of planets with life, days could have any amount of length, so they had chosen an arbitrary median between them to determine the passage of time among the factions. The result was sixteen, 28 day months resulting in 448 days in total.
Regardless, even by earth standards, Mark had already been here for half a year. It was only a fraction of the near 25 years of existence by earth standards, yet already his life on earth seemed like a far distant past. His thoughts seldom went back to things from there. It was odd since he had been to far more places, interacted with more people, and seen more things before being summoned here.
For the last 204 days, he had spent all of his time within about the same half of a mile worth of space, and that distance had been far less before he had used DP to move the dungeon entrance and other structures against the rocky outcropping of the nearest plateau a week ago. The endless bluff map he had been brought to was filled with the near sheer faced rock protrusions. Luckily one had been located partially inside the territory of their dungeon. Mark had elected to build a fortress against it.
Mark took another sip of his coffee before inspecting their defenses. A half circle stone outer wall arced around the two tiered pagoda archer tower that he now stood on. The wall was around ten feet across its entire length and abutted into the cliff face on both sides. While it seemed quite tall, it was not near high enough to protect from the monstrosities that could soon be assailing it.
Of the 35 dungeons that the succession battle had started with, only 8 remained. While at the start of the battle, this wall would have been a near insurmountable obstacle it now was far from sufficient. Of the eight dungeons remaining, only one other was near them. That dungeon was held by Gale Barbary. Which unsurprising meant that of the remaining contenders, she was the dungeon that they knew the most about, and she had both trolls and giants that could probably hurdle right over the wall as it currently was. Not to mention magic and enchanted items that could do who knows what.
According to the seventh month rankings, Gale was still only in fourth place. His and Amelia’s dungeon on the other hand was ranked seventh. Only one away from being last on the list, and that was more likely due to the likelihood of one of the other dungeons being deemed more likely to be taken out before them than being based on their strength.
Amelia was the only contender left from the weakest group of factions, and could be said to have already survived longer than anticipated. Even the medium sized factions only had 2 contenders remaining. Since one of them was ranked eighth, it soon might be only one. The other, Daniel Hale, was actually also doing uncharacteristically well. For the first few rankings he had even led the rankings, although he was now only residing in third place. Likely whatever hype had given voters cause to rank him highly had died out.
Now two of the pre battle favorites held first and second place, Nick Holt and Leonard Boulevic. Nick Holt was from one of the richest families in the realm and Leonard was from a republic that consistently put all their eggs in one basket to support one of their contenders to victory, and support really mattered. Sponsors could send sponsorship packages, each of which could equate to about a day’s worth of a dungeon’s production. While the sponsorship feature had not been available initially, once the first dungeon had advanced to level 2 the feature had been unlocked. Dungeons became able to open one of their support packages a week. More than a month ago, one of the dungeons had hit level 3. Now each dungeon could open up to three a week.
Each sponsorship package was ranked 1 through 5 could be purchased with the cost to sponsors increasing exorbitantly. The major faction contenders would of course be getting a lot of packages, contenders like Amelia on the other hand were not expected to make it far in the first place due to features like this. It meant that most contenders from a minor faction received little or no support.
In the first five months, they had only received one, and that had been a rank 1 package that would not even be able to affect the outcome of the battle. A hot tub that had been sent to them… for who knows what reason. Mark did not want to think about it. However, since they had taken out a second dungeon some support had trickled in. Investors deciding that a sponsorship despite the cost might be made up for in advertising. Still the best of the packages they had received over the last month were at the third rank or below and it would only take two weeks to blow through the five packages whenever Mark decided to open them.
The fact that they were at a major disadvantage during this succession battle had still yet to really rear its ugly head. Since so far they had really yet to go against any of the powerhouses of the battle. Gale was likely extremely strong, but luckily for them her strategy had been to seclude herself and build her strength through the early part of the game. It had allowed the other dungeons in the region to deal with each other, eventually leading to Amelia and him coming out on top. While it had been fortunate for them up to this point, eventually it would work against them.
From what they had gathered, Gale had been among the first to level up her dungeon to level three. She also had two tier two unit branches unlocked compared to them having opened none of them. Not to mention the fortress that she was building herself in the middle of a swamp. The outer walls of which were three times the comparatively puny wall they had currently erected. On top of an army having to approach through water and muk, taking her off the map seemed like it would be virtually impossible.
Still weaker contenders had their own way to compete. The interface that ran the succession battle was robust. Different types of units, unit upgrades, research, crafting… The possible routes that the dungeons had available to grow their strength was practically infinite. While Mark had considered it unfortunate at first, Amelia had made several decisions that had defined their course prior to summoning him as her champion. She had chosen the dungeon specialization social interaction, which allowed for them to negotiate with the neutral factions or natives on the map.
Mark had been entirely frustrated with her decision. That decision was compounded with her choosing to unlock the cheapest branch on the humanoid unit tree, starting them out with goblins. The goblins were not strong fighters, nor were they very intelligent. Seemingly the only advantage they had was how cheap the goblin unit types were.
Seven months later, Mark could only admit to himself that they likely would not have made it as far if the decision had been left to him. From the other examples Amelia had been able to recount, Mark would have most definitely chosen something else. However with hindsight, the specialization had given them several edges that gave them a fighting chance, and even her pick of the goblins had been mitigated later on once they had obtained named units and other unit branches.
Currently, they had five named units outside of their dungeon. Nasel was the first of them. The yellow hobgoblin was relatively weaker, only having a power rating of 1.6, but since Mark basically used him as an administrator to keep the other goblins in line it hardly mattered. Then there were the two scouts Lewis and Clark. Also yellow hobgoblins, the two despite being on the weaker side had survived dozens of scouting missions earning their names. Which was a good thing since they had already died several times since.
Named units could be respawned. It was based on their power rating, meaning two weeks for the three weaker named units. The two scouts were currently awaiting respawn after being killed by some of the number one contender’s undead army to the south of them. Three weeks prior they had been killed by the third ranked contender’s beasts. It was unfortunate, but they had uncovered almost the entire western side or nearly a third of the endless bluff map.
The best of the named units was Henry the Relentless. A bugbear, named after a butler of the Cromwell family, who Amelia had been quite fond of. The bugbear had earned himself the Relentless title in their last assault on Mareth’s construct dungeon. The bugbear commander had fought the odds and been instrumental in their victory, and now was the general of their forces. Bugbear’s had a base power rating of 2.2, but Henry was all the way up to 10.6. Over the last month since the battle, he had gotten far more powerful.
The relentless title had boosted his stats and given him the Jolt ability. On top of that they had been able to promote him from a colonel to general, and now being at an expert experience level the bugbear general was now almost twice as strong as he had been when the battle began. The power rating increase was not the only boost. The bugbear had also picked up the other three basic skills over the last month, making him a real powerhouse.
The only downside was that the bugbear was smaller in stature than some of the larger units out there. A six foot something humanoid with a power rating of 10 might have his work cut out for him to deal with something much bigger with even half the power rating. Still Mark had not seen the new and improved bugbear in battle. Perhaps with the four skills and the electric jolt ability he might be able to go toe to toe with the best other dungeons had to offer.
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The other goblins comprising their forces were far below Henry in strength. It was hard to get any even into the 4’s power rating wise. Luckily, they had some other unit branches that they had been granted by the interface. Both had come from a special feature gained by having a research lab expertly crafted by the gnomes, Amelia’s choice of social interaction had allowed them.
The second branch they had obtained were the creepy crawlies. Bugs and arachnids that had brought some much needed strength and versatility to their forces. Thanks to them, Mark had been able to conquer their first dungeon. They had been able to choose the thrasher bear as their unique reward, which had also unlocked the humanoid-beast cross bugbear units who had become their elite fighters.
The third branch they had been given was the flower branch from the plant tree. The plants were surprisingly incredibly powerful. Mark was currently using them as their main defensive force. Mark glanced down. Fifty sunflowers were interspaced across the hillside. The fifteen foot tall plants would be able to blast enemies with their magic and special sunburst ability from behind the wall. Then there were the 40 bloodrose units that would be able to act as a second line of defense if the outer wall fell. The forty units could form a literal hedge of brambles when next to each other. In support were a handful of midnight lotuses which boosted all nearby plant units with their malevolent aura. They had also been given the health germination route that would allow them to heal the other plants.
The best thing about the two branches was that they had been given to them for free. Finding unique locations had been the only requirement of the research lab special feature. However, obtaining them did have its downsides. While the three different unit branches offered a lot of unique capabilities, having them had prevented them from unlocking a higher tier branch since the cost of successive branches increased for every one you already had. Most dungeons would likely be hard pressed to get more than three or four. The diverse branch types also all had their own unique upgrade routes, which meant Mark would have to expend more of their precious MP to make each of the different types stronger.
Luckily, the unique reward they had obtained for defeating their second dungeon had given them a way to avoid having to unlock some of the upgrades. The gymnasium building, Mark and Amelia had chosen would allow them to train up to 10 units to obtain skills. Once their dungeon level had hit level 2, they had been able to unlock 4 different basic skills. Of course to maintain battle balance they would have had to unlock successive slots to be able to attach multiple skills to units.
The second slot to allow a unit to have 2 skills already cost 100,000 MP. The third and fourth would have cost many times more. It would likely have been another half to a full year before Mark would be able to get to unlocking them. Now he likely never would. They could only train 10 units at a time, but the units could gain a new skill each week they spent in their training. Henry and nine of the other surviving bugbears had been the first to be sent through. Being able to use all four skills made them even more of powerhouses. The gymnasium could only be used for the humanoid units, the same as their barracks, but there were other solutions for the other unit types.
Mark glanced at the greenhouse. It was still cast in shadow this early in the morning. In the shadow of the plateau it would likely be several hours into the morning before the sun would glint off of the glass the building was made out of. Like the gymnasium the greenhouse could only house 10 plants at a time. Each week spent in the greenhouse would give a plant a 10% boost to their power rating. Plant type units did not have experience levels, nor could they have skills or classes. Each week they spent in the greenhouse made them bigger and stronger, adding a dash in the row below their name if they were analyzed with the interface.
Right now, Mark had 10 sunflowers with four dashes working on their fifth dash. Battle balance made it likely there would be an upper limit to how strong the greenhouse could make the plants, but apparently they would be able to get at least a 50% boost from the building. It was a slow power up method, but every little bit might matter when they were disadvantaged in many other aspects.
Mark had not built a beast specific building yet. The creepy crawlies also could not have classes or skills. They had bloodline evolutions, which Mark had unlocked to the fourth rank.
The barracks complimented the gymnasium allowing them to increase unit experience levels up to regular giving units a 10% power rating boost as well as allowing them to train their classes. It allowed them to save MP, or allowed them to advance previously summoned units. It was basically the only way to power up Henry at this point, unless they got another skill. Since they could send 50 units at a time through each side of the barracks it was a real force multiplier.
As far as getting more skills, there was a solution to that in the research laboratory. The research building had been the first building Mark had commissioned the gnomes to build. After two additions, they could not have six research focuses. Although they currently only had five since the last lab room was being used by the Ezekial, the special unit they had received after completing the research lab.
The projects they had researched was the source of their dungeon’s strength, namely the enchantment focus. In addition they had the specialized class focus, Pharmacology, Essence, and Embuing. The last two were the most difficult subjects so progress was slow, but they also promised a big payout. For the Embuing focus they still had not completed a project, but that would not be the case very soon. The essence focus had several projects completed. For the pharmacology focus they had completed a handful of projects, but there would not be any more.
Mark had pushed for the last remaining projects to be completed, so they could then swap the focus to researching skills to make use of their new gymnasium. He could not afford to give up the enchantment, essence, embuing, or specialized class focuses, so Pharmacology was the only option. Pharmacology had delivered everything Mark felt they needed from it. Still pharmacology had finished on a high note, with its last three projects being potentially its best.
The stamina potions would allow their troops to continue on through prolonged battles. The soldier pills would similarly keep their units going in another way. Units would have their physical aspects boosted to a degree. Their stamina would recover quickly and their wounds would bleed less. It was something akin to a berserking pill.
The final project was not something that would really be effective in battle, however it was not something to be looked down upon. The enlightenment pill would boost mental acumen by a large degree. One of the things that had limited their ability to get equipment, pills, or potions to higher quality levels was the physical limits on crafters or brewers. The enlightenment pill promised to push those limits. While the project had only been complete for a few days, Mark was eager to make some. Unfortunately, they had to wait on some more ingredients to be brought in. Luckily, scouts had already located the various ingredients. Mark only needed to be patient until they brought them back.
The enchantment projects put into practice with their crafting house had been the two features that had allowed their forces to be victorious or fight off enemies. The enchanted gear and weapons had been the only advantage they had over their enemies. It was what allowed the relatively weaker goblins to compete.
Other than the tent city where the gnome workers lived, there were only two other structures. The magic mine and the forge. The mine allowed them to gather resources from seemingly an alternate dimension. They just had to be dug out. Metals that would allow them to utilize their forge, but also some other special resources such as the electric essence could be pulled from there.
Another benefit of Amelia having chosen the social interaction specialization, they now had hundreds of kobolds in the mine working on top of the 300 goblin mining division. The kobolds were contracted to produce five stone blocks a head every day, on top of turning over a portion of the other resources collected. Without them, the wall would maybe be a third of its current height. The deal alone was worth it for the produced stones and the pile of basic metals the kobolds continually brought forth. Getting what little of the allotted better resources they were supposed to get was a bonus. Overall, they did not lose out on anything since the goblins mined the other sides of the mine.
It was not the only advantage their relationship with the kobolds had brought. Their third resource settlement had been shown to them by the reptilian humanoids. Then there was the fact that they had found an underground route that had allowed Mark to put an army in Mareth’s territory before the other contender could make any countermeasures. Thanks to that, conquering their second dungeon had proceeded far easier than it likely would have otherwise.
Mark turned open hearing the ‘clump’ after ‘clump,’ of someone climbing the ladder to the second level. Soon Amelia’s head appeared from below. Seconds later the rest of her emerged. The girl was on the shorter side. The pajama bottoms she still wore bunched up at her ankles and the sweater top had just as many folds on her smaller frames. Together with the youthful face, she looked almost like a little girl who had put on her mothers clothes. Although Mark knew she was quite a bit older than she appeared.
In fact, she was a bit older than him. The difference was that she had grown up in a higher dimension. In the arcadian realm, humans could live several centuries before they died of old age. It was one of the factors Mark attributed for why she seemed younger than she was. Being able to live so long, humans of the Arcadian realm did not seem as driven to develop emotionally or in other words grow up as quickly. There was not as much of a push to become independent, get a job, get married, all so that you could have kids before you became physically incapable of doing so.
The second factor was a little darker. Mark had not been explicitly told so, but from various statements and talks they had over the months he had gleaned that she did not have a high standing with her family. The society in the Arcadian realm seemed to be more clan-like. It was hard for an individual to live independently. Amelia had been a part of the top family in Altaire, but her mother had not been her father’s wife. She might be from a top family, but she was an unwanted part of it.
Neither the Cromwell family or Altair anticipated their candidate being able to win the succession battle, so they normally prepared someone disposable to take part. Someone else had been slated to fill the role. They had been trained and prepped for years, so they would not make a fool of the family. The throw away had decided to run off just prior, resulting in Amelia filling that role for the family and Altair faction. Since she was grossly unprepared, it was apparent the family had intended her to be some endearing sacrifice. Without his help and some good fortune, she likely would have.
Things had been a little shaky between them at first, but the girl had eventually come around. She was actually the best they had at crafting since it required an artistic touch in manipulating one’s manna input, something he was more lacking in. However she was far from capable of making decisions under pressure and high levels of strategy. Kind of funny since the winning contender would be the ruler of the realm.
A faint smile touched Mark’s lips at the thought. She would be far from equipped to handle such a role, but then a ruler just needed capable people under them. For this battle, it was him. There had been indicative statements the girl had made that it would also be his role should they somehow win. Mark would never be able to go back to Earth, so apparently his choices were either death in the succession battle or to serve Amelia as the queen. It would be difficult for him to manage in the higher realm without any support, so it was not as if he could go off on his own.
Moments after she appeared a small platter of food appeared on one of the tables. Mark grimmaced. The amount and quality probably meant she had just spent around 100 MP. She gave a knowing smirk in reply. Mark rolled his eyes. He supposed it was a special occasion. Today they would be leveling up their dungeon to level 3. It was still some hours out…Well another couple minutes now that she had spent so much MP for breakfast.