“So, how is Avery…?” Mark asked, trying to engage the only other person he got to talk to these days.
“Oh, same same, she is just dealing with Derrick, he wiped out one of her outposts with a gargoyle army, and she did the same with her treants to one of his. He’s a bad match up for her, especially when he brings out the level 2 gargoyles. The only good counter she has are her treants, and they can’t be everywhere at once. Because of having to constantly deal with each other she keeps having to dip into her savings for level 3,” Amelia sighed for her friend's plight.
“You know, you guys probably shouldn’t be getting that far into details with each other, right?” Mark posed. Amelia mouthed the word ‘okay,’ and rolled her eyes. “There is a saying from my world, ‘loose lips sink ships.’ Means giving too much information through casual conversation and other things…”
Amelia once again mouthed the words ‘O my god.’ Her eyes once again took on the distant look as she went back to messaging Avery. It was not the first time they had had this conversation. Before he had gotten answers like ‘I’m being careful’ or ‘we are learning just as much about her and her dungeon. Get off my case.’
“Surprised, you haven’t tried chatting up our good neighbor in the swamp?” Mark asked questionably. I think other than Avery she is the only other female contender still in the battle.
“Oh, I sent out a feeler several weeks ago, but she is way too boring…” Amelia remarked casually. Mark gave her a fake smile. He was restricted from the chats, so he had no idea what the girl was up to. She had tried to chat up their nearest neighbor…? Avery was one thing, she was on the other side of the map. Gale on the other hand could have an army on their doorstep by the end of the day. Hopefully she had not told her anything useful.
“I didn’t tell her anything. I tried to get things started with her, but she is far too adult like you know what I mean. She seems like she would be zero fun, sure you two would get along alright though,” Amelia purposely glanced Mark up and down.
Was she saying he wasn’t fun to be around…?
“Anyway, who else are you talking to?” Mark said after a minute.
“Uh, no one really. Daniel Hale seems like he would be alright. Nick Holt is a spoiled rich kid. Obviously not going to talk to Derrick, and we don’t have access to the other two yet. Not that I would want to talk to either of them. Avery says that they both suck.”
Mark nodded along. As much as he did not like her giving out their information, Avery had been a great source of intel. They knew specifics about several of the other dungeons thanks to her. Derrick Blackwell, the other dungeon in the Northeast, was supposedly the last construct dungeon on the map. After dealing with Mareth for so long, he could sympathize with how hard dealing with a construct army could be. Assuming Derrick got taken out, there would only be two undead dungeons, two other humanoid dungeons, Daniel Hale’s beast dungeon, and Avery’s plant dungeon left for them to contend with.
Avery had fed specifics on them all. Of course the information had been a two way street. Avery knew more about their dungeon than he would care for her too, and she had gotten a full scoop on Gale. Amelia and him were kept almost constantly apprised of what went on with Gale, thanks to the harpies to the north. They would not venture far enough to give info on the other dungeons, but they got daily reports on Gale. They would also likely be made aware of any armies headed this way.
Avery was soon re embroiled in her interface. Mark could only shake his head. She was getting almost as bad as a teenage girl with a cell phone. Luckily she would still set aside a good portion of time to craft every day, but Mark was starting to wonder if that was just so that she had something to brag about. Avery Kingston would undoubtedly have a good idea on their capabilities if and when the two of them were required to face off against each other. Mark only hoped that Amelia had just as good idea of their opponent’s capabilities.
Mark sat around just relaxing and snacking as they waited. The settlement came alive. The goblins started ferrying stones to the wall and construction resumed. A half hour later the gnomes had joined the effort. More deposits of metal were brought to the front of the mine. It was kept in a front room of the mine to protect from the elements. Only a little was brought outside to the forge each day, but the piles of various types of metals were getting bigger by the day. Soon Mark would need to expand the forge if he wanted to keep up with the volumes of raw ore that were piling up. It would likely be more of a concern for when they were able to increase their metal working capabilities.
A harpy landed near the animal pens. Minutes later the harpy departed, a squawking hen clutched by one of her taloned feet. It was probably a morning report on Gale. Probably nothing really of note, but a chicken was a small price to pay to keep the information channels open. They now continually made an effort to pass by the dungeon throughout the day and hopefully immediately notice when something of note actually occurred.
The goblins were not too pleased with the exchange, but as long as their moral was kept in the content range, he could not care how they felt about things. Low morale could cause units to disband and abandon their posts. It really would only happen if the units were not well taken care of. The occasional ale or meat, however small, supplemented the foraging and meager rations he actually paid to keep them going.
Mark perked up when his most recent check on the interface showed that it would only be a couple more minutes. He waved to grab Amelia’s attention. She practically skipped over to join him.
“Avery was about to get her daily massage anyways,” Amelia remarked plopping down by him. “I’m so jealous. Her assistant Mckayla does massages, acupuncture, aromatherapy you name it. The girl is literally living her best life over there. Meanwhile I… should have added a couple more stipulations before I summoned my champion. She said the last part under her breath.
Mark still caught it. When summoning her champion, Amelia had been able to put in a sort of wish list and the interface did its best to pick a good candidate with those traits. What she had said to get him… He had no idea, but apparently she now wished she had added a few things. More often then not it seemed she wanted qualities that would make her life more pleasant than having to do with actual strategy.
Mark sighed pulling up his interface as big as he could in front of them. He shared it so that Amelia and him could go through the changes together. Seconds after their MP total hit 1 million, Mark clicked the button to upgrade their dungeon to level 3. Nothing changed, except the information on their screens.
[Notice: Dungeon has been upgraded to level 3. New features are available.]
There were not too many changes on the home page. Three hashes now delineated them as a level three dungeon. The upgrade tab changed to dungeon level 4, and now had a 3 million MP cost. Their daily DP had been increased from 4 to 6, and RP had been increased from 5 to 8. The 2 and 3 point jumps alone would be a significant boost to their dungeon progression. Things were getting far more expensive, so the extra DP and RP would cut costs for upgrades significantly.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
However, Mark did not focus on the increase for long. Both he and Amelia were far more eager to see the other benefits level 3 brought, Mark cycled to the tech tab. Level 3 only had six technologies.
Tier 3 Research Cost to Unlock Magic Energy Production III 1,000,000 MP Dungeon Features III 1,000,000 MP Advanced Metallurgy 1,500,000 MP Higher level Learning 1,500,000 MP Gun Powder 2,000,000 MP Settlements III 2,000,000 MP
Only two of the techs were a real surprise. Higher learning? What could that offer? But the real eye opener was the black powder. Was the tech really offering gunpowder? Were they going to potentially have guns?
Mark tried to dismiss the idea. If there were guns they would likely be only at the level of muskets. Long reload times and other issues to maintain the game balance. But then the brimstone essence they had access to came to mind. Mark did not really know how to make gunpowder, but he at least knew that sulfur was one of the key components. His jaw dropped at the idea.
“What?” Amelia questioned.
“Nothing,” Mark replied, moving on. There was no reason to get her all excited. It was a faint possibility, and likely quite a bit further in the future. At the very least they would have to get magic production and settlement III first since they would increase the daily production. With the high costs of each of them, getting any one of the techs would take another month.
Mark moved on shifting to the units page. It was what Amelia and him were most excited to see. Mark has spent the last month praying for at least one level 3 unit. The goblin branch had tapped out at level 1, although there had been a combination humanoid-creepy crawly option. However both Amelia and him held out hope for their other two branches. They had gambled a bit moving onto level 3 without snagging a new level 2 branch. Trolls or giants would be a great addition, but Mark was also hesitant to fall behind Gale by another two weeks. She was already a month and a half ahead.
Mark let out a sigh of relief when he saw that there were four new units. There were two new creepy crawlers and two plant combinations. Of course Mark’s attention immediately went to the creepy crawler options. The first was the Black funnel web spider which was the weaker of the two from the branch with a power rating of 3.2. It had a cost of 85,000 to unlock. The second more powerful unit was the carnivorous centipede and had a power rating of 3.8. It cost 132,000 MP to unlock. It was by far the most powerful of their new unit options.
The last two units were two different versions of the same combination unit. A Knotted spore spider with a power level of 3.0, and gnarled wood goblin. They both cost 70,000 MP to unlock. Interestingly enough the combinations came with a prompt.
[Topiary combination: Every dungeon that opened a branch from the plant tree and a branch from any other tree will get a topiary combination unit reflecting the standard for that branch. Units will follow the unit upgrade path for the other branch. You have unlocked two other types of branches, so will get a topiary combination for both branches.]
“Someone has a weird hobby,” Amelia remarked.
Mark nodded in agreement. He was happy to get two more units, but Topiary, which Mark could only assume was the art where people shaped hedges into the shape of an animal or an object, was a weird inclusion into the battle.
“Oooooooo, I wonder if Avery will get one,” Amelia exclaimed her mind already having moved on. Her eyes glazed over. She was likely informing Avery right away.
Mark’s hand went up reflexively to stop her. Then he thought over it. The myconids were already a sort of cross branch between plants and humanoids, but they did fall under the humanoid category. It was very likely that Avery would get one as well. Mark chuckled at the thought that the resulting combination figure would basically be doubling down on the plant aspect.
Then the thrash bear came to mind. “Damn,” it was a shame the combinations had been extended to branches. A wooden bear would have been nice to get, however it was just a stray thought. Overall he was quite pleased with the four options that they had. The centipede alone was going to be a real powerhouse. With only the level 4 beastline upgrade they currently had, they could build a giant centipede with a power rating of 5.3. If they unlocked the fifth bloodline it would jump up to 5.7. He could just picture a swirling army of legged centipedes crawling through someone’s dungeon. Then it occurred to him.
Mark checked the units they currently had. The capacity of each unit had been extended. The level 1 units all now had a capacity of 750. They would literally be able to summon 3,000 green goblins alone. The level 2 unit capacities were now at 250. Going off of that, Mark could only conclude that the level 3 units would have a capacity of only 100. It meant he would only be able to build 26 of the centipedes and around 30 of the weaker level 3’s. It was a bit disappointing, but since Gale had like four new different varieties of giants and several level 3 types of trolls they were probably better off for having the balance the battle creators had imposed.
Mark also noticed that there were no new unit humanoid branches. They would not be able to unlock any additional level 3 units. He had held out some hope that there would be a new level 3 branch, but he supposed he should have known better. He could not imagine humanoid unit types that would surpass giants or trolls.
Mark’s musings were interrupted by Amelia exclaiming, “On no.” Mark shifted his eyes to the girl. “Oh, its not too big of a deal. Avery said that apparently Daniel Hale has the tree branch opened as well, so he should get one of those topiary combinations,” she explained.
Mark frowned at the news. Daniel Hale getting a level 3 topiary combination was not to bad in and of itself. The fact that he had the tree branch was far worse. It would likely mitigate some of the disadvantages of having mainly beast units. Mark had always wondered what an all beast dungeon would look like, but now it appeared they would never know. Their own creepy crawly units were not the easiest to control for precise instructions. They only excelled through use of brute force. Not to mention he likely had multiple beast branches open. Would he get a topiary for each…?
Mark supposed it did not matter. It was what it was. Except for when their scouts Lewis and Clark had been ambushed by some of the dungeon’s beasts, they had not had any interactions with the beast dungeon. There were closer alligators to the boat as far as he was concerned.
Gale was a close nestled threat, but she had not made any moves. More worrisome was the undead threat from the number one contender from the South. Mr. Holt already had made a settlement at the halfway point between his dungeon and theirs. A volcano that evidently gave out some sort of fire essence. On top of that there were six mounds of coal making it a great resource base. Unfortunately, the number one had already snagged it.
Mark could not help but have a bit of a suspicious feeling when he thought about it. Mareth had showcased some sort of fire type essence. The fact that the rock golems looked like they were filled with molten lava, made Mark think that they had found the likely source of the essence. Except now it was owned by someone far more dangerous.
Mark scanned through the other tabs. He did not see anything new. Apparently when the upgrade notice had said new features were available it had not been so literal, or perhaps the new units and techs were considered additional features. Or maybe it was pointing back at the chat feature which had been made available to everyone whenever the first person had reached the threshold.
Mark only had one thing to do before he swiped the interface away. He allotted their research points to unlock one of their cheaper level 3 unit options. It would take a couple weeks, but it was not as if he would be able to spend MP for the next month and a half. It would take another 40ish days before they had enough MP to unlock Magical energy production III. Increasing their daily production was the obvious first step.
The next month and a half would be similar to the last month. They would add to their ever growing stockpile of enchantments, potions, and pills. Many of the other dungeons were likely doing the exact same thing, meaning in another 2 or 3 months every dungeon would have a lot of resources to burn through. When the blows did come, they would hit far harder than anything they had seen before.