Remarkably, 3 days had passed without much of note occurring. Well it was not entirely uneventful, there was another interface wide notice that a contender had been eliminated. It had not shaken them up nearly as much. Potentially it was because of the goblin army that they were slowly building. They currently had 14 full squads, 24 core guards, and 2 reanimated corpses. Mark was adding 3 squads each day, and now there were plenty of archers intermixed in the squads. Mark had decided that 3 or 75% of a squad was a good number.
Then there was the fact that there was a new earthen bulwark encircling the center of the clearing. Now that they had the buildings tech Mark saw no reason for the goblins not to be put to worth, so goblins were either making spare weapons or fortifying the wall. He would not trust them to build any buildings but digging and packing mud together should be something they couldn’t mess up. The wall was four-ish feet in height with a step on the inside for even the green goblins to be able to peer out over it. It was uneven in height and thickness, definitely something you could tell that goblins had built, but it was serviceable.
The first reanimated corpse was the green goblin. It had 2 good abilities, but other than that was nothing special. It moved pretty slowly to be considered a true threat. It would be bloody hard to kill, but once enemies started having mages, Mark doubted that it would be too effective. Mark had tried to name it Stein, since it had been raised from the dead. Amelia had not got the reference, but it had not worked anyways. Apparently, dying and coming back to life was not special enough for the interface to designate the unit name worthy.
The second reanimated corpse was their old neighbor, Mr. bear. The fight against the bear on the evening of day 7, had not been anything special. A few unlucky green goblins lured out the 12 foot length creature into the rest of their forces. They had over a dozen archers at this point who continually peppered the bear with stone tipped arrows. Stone tipped spears kept the bear from pushing through his forces, till eventually the wounds accumulated and the bear collapsed. They had still lost 15 green goblins, but 375 worth of green goblins for a 3.4 power rating beast was a trade he would make any day.
Mark had left it to Nasal to use the life essences. Mark could finally trust a goblin with such a task. The corpse had taken all 9 measures and still wanted more. They had been 1 measure short, but it had been enough to reanimate the bear at a reduced power rating of 3.1. It was a minor setback. The bear was still a beast that could easily wipe through a dozen of his other best troops.
The battle had other benefits as well. A good half of the conscripts that had taken part of the hunt had popped up to recruit and dropped the annoying experience penalty. Now they were fielding 4 complete squads of units at the recruit level. There were a couple of others as well intermixed in the other squads.
Day 11 was the day Mark had been waiting for. They finally had 10 DP to build the first floor. Mark was carrying 5,630 MP in case he needed it for the dungeon. Otherwise he would likely be using most of it to finally build the 3rd manna bellows. It was unfortunate, but he had to increase their defenses. A manna bellows and 2 shade henchmen would pay for themselves in 10 days, but there was always the question on whether they had 10 more days. After another contender was taken out on day 9, this had felt more justified.
Mark glanced over at Amelia, who was already putting on her shoes. It was far from her normal wake up time, but actually starting their dungeon was a big event she did not want to miss. Technically their territory was a part of their dungeon, but it was more like the front doorstep of a house. It was not really the house itself. "You ready?” Mark asked, when she had finished. She nodded.
They proceeded out of the hut. The hut was just inside of the earthen walls, besides for the pedestal it was the only other thing that was. The coal generator, manna bellows, and the unfinished research building all lay without. At some point Mark could expend the DP to add them to his dungeon. They would actually slowly rebuild themselves if destroyed.
Without belaboring the point, Mark brought up his interface, so that Amelia could see and spent 10 DP to unlock. A notice immediately popped up.
[Notice: Mark Fields has unlocked the first dungeon floor. Once completed your dungeon core will automatically relocate to the lowest part of your dungeon. Dungeon daily DP production rate will be increased by 1 DP. Any unit slain in the dungeon will give an increased amount of MP, and can provide other potential benefits.]
[Warning: Another entrance to your dungeon has been established. Once found, enemies can send a party through and challenge your dungeon. Party size will depend on the dungeon level of the challenger. Just like attacks through the main entrance, the dungeon will enter a rest period after 5 minutes after not being challenged. This does not prevent enemies from entering through the main entrance. No improvements can be made when the dungeon is being challenged, build up your dungeon defense. ]
Mark stared at the warning dumbfounded. Amelia gasped as well, her eyes became as big as saucer plates. The interface made a shortcut to their dungeon. Party size? This could be a real problem depending on how big the parties were allowed to be. Hopefully, the other entrance would remain hidden. There was nothing Mark could do about it now. He continued with what he was doing.
[Upon creation of a floor, you have the one time option to designate a unit as the floor guardian. Guardians are immediately eligible to become named units. You can currently designate 25 defenders in total. Number can be increased, but defenders once assigned cannot be changed. They also cannot be improved, nor will they gain experience. Defenders will also be unable to exit the dungeon. Your other units cannot enter the dungeon. Defenders will respawn indefinitely. Respawn rate will vary depending on the unit’s strength, position, and what floor they are on. Current defenders 0/25]
Mark did not really need to think about who to designate as the floor guardian; he immediately selected the reanimated bear corpse. It was their strongest unit by far. It did not have any intelligence, but it did not really need it to be a guardian. Kill any and all intruders was simple enough. Mark named it Winnie, Winnie the reanimated bear corpse. Amelia raised her eyebrows and looked at him. She obviously would not get it, but he would. Now every time he saw it, it would give him something to be tickled about.
The reanimated bear corpse had popped back up to a 3.5 power rating. It did not have any special characteristics or abilities like the reanimated goblin corpse, but it would still be difficult to kill. Hopefully for level 1 dungeons, it was an insurmountable mountain too difficult for them to climb. Mark also assigned the reanimated goblin corpse to the dungeon. The tight and narrow confines of the dungeon would be a perfect place for a slow unit like him. The other 23 defenders would have to wait, preferably when Mark had better than hobgoblin conscripts.
Then came the actual floor design. It could be changed in the future, but it would require DP to do, so Mark would rather nail it the first time. Mark had spent some time thinking about the design. He had even designed a few elaborate mazes. If enemy units were like their own, then they could spend a lot of time going around in circles. He had also thought up designs to effectively use traps once they unlocked them. Mark did not know what to expect, but pitfalls and other ideas had come to mind.
Mark grimaced when he saw what he actually got to work with. The dungeon gave him 1,000 blocks that were a 5 x 5 x 5 cube. A note said that the dimensions would be increased by 2 1/2 feet per a dungeon level. Which basically meant that it would become wider and taller so that big and strong units later in the game would be able to transverse. Mark could manipulate the blocks to an extent, by twisting their dimensions, but he could not change the width and height.
Mark immediately went to work. The interface allowed him to design the full floor before actually building it. Mark included various things that they could use now, and included designs that he could take advantage of in the future. He made a couple of big rooms where archers or mages had room to fire their attacks, but there were also plenty of tunnels. Winnie would practically fill up the narrow tunnels. Then of course he included inclines. His troops would of course fight with an uphill advantage, always.
The dungeon seemed to be in another plane of existence, instead of burrowing down into the earth like he thought. So the only limits were the block size and the level of incline. He could not make inclines too steep. Finally, Mark placed the guardian room. Unless the guardian was dead the doors would not open. The guardian was by no means required to stay in the chamber however.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Mark did not need to leave blocks for the core chamber, beyond the guardian room. It was automatically built and was huge to begin with. It would auto locate below the lowest dungeon floor. The interface also said it was free to relocate contenders' personal effects to the core chamber. Their hut would relocate there if they desired. Which of course Mark did. It would decrease the chances of them getting assassinated or something. The guardian room door could lead straight to their dungeon entrance, so even when they had a lot more floors they would be able to instantly exit from the core room to the dungeon entrance. A entrance pedestal would be located to the side of the entrance, so that units outside the dungeon could still contact them
It had taken a couple of hours of him rearranging things before Mark finally solidified the design. He was then given the choice for their dungeon entrance. Mark decided to put it outside the goblins earthen walls. Attackers would not have to kill all the defenders before entering the dungeon, but would chance facing the goblins attacking the portion that had not made it through if attackers attempted it. The opportunist goblins would definitely like that.
Mark would immediately have them start building another earthen wall around the entrance. There would be enough defenders and obstructions to impede entrance into the dungeon allowing the main goblin force to make their move. It was 10 feet tall. One side had a big opening that he would set facing the goblin’s main fortification. The backside had a slope that would be difficult to climb without a lot of effort.
The dungeon was built and Mark got the goblins scrambling to make preparations. The dungeon creation had not taken any additional MP, so it looked like he would be getting the new manna bellows after all. He already had 6,000 MP plus, so he could build it and the two shades. He would have plenty to pay for unit maintenance and would even be able to build another 3 squads tonight.
Mark found that he had gotten the extra DP for the day from having built a dungeon floor. He did not know what the criteria for that was. Perhaps, as long as he had built it before 2359 or midnight he could get the extra DP for the day. Mark already had a use for it, he added all 3 manna bellows, coal generator, and the research building to the dungeon. There was some extra from that DP point that went to waste, but Mark could accept that. Now his production was ensured, given enough time for the buildings to regenerate.
Their goblin forces could be destroyed, but Mark would like to see a unit that could take down their undead bear. Mark had no idea just how soon that it would be put to question.
Day 12
Crassius watched as his forces approached their 3rd dungeon. The morning light had just illuminated the clearing, yet the camp was seemingly still all asleep. “Well they will wake up soon,” Crassius laughed. Just like for the last dungeon, Crassius would enjoy watching as the dungeon defenders started panicking. Crassius considered for a moment whether enjoying this was wrong. After all he was going to end 2 people’s lives this morning. The dungeon owner was just a young girl according to his scouts. She had been one of the silly contenders to appoint a champion.
Crassius would have never wasted 10,000 MP. At the beginning of the battle 10,000 MP was a precious commodity. Some appointed champions to give them a better chance of winning, but others did it just because they did not want to be alone. The battle was likely to last a couple years, well it usually did. Crassius planned to end things much sooner than that.
Still he could not blame a young girl for appointing a champion. For a moment, Crassius thought about his younger sister. She could have been sent by the Nacht family if he had not gone. Of course they would have tried to give her a good aide to act as her champion, but it still would not change the fact that they would have been sending her as a sacrifice. Many of the family would have liked to do just that. Crassius was an up and coming potential family head after all. He was only 51, but he had already proven himself in business in many of their eyes.
His sister was only 26. With a sweet and charming personality she was an endearing person to be around, but her capabilities were just average. Crassius hoped that she would live a simple life, get married, and have children. Something that this contender would not get a chance to do. Crassius felt slightly bad about killing a girl that he could only picture as his sister, having not seen her. She was likely just a throw away sent by her family to compete and die. Viewers would feel bad for the sweet young girl and would feel sorry for her family. Their prestige would rise, like flowers blooming through the fertilizer of her death. Crassius dismissed the thought. The business world he had been a part of was cut throat and he had ordered several unsavory things already, so it was not as if he could not stomach it. It was not his sister after all.
Crassius looked out over the encampment. Luckily there was a nice hill to the Northeast with a bare spot that gave him an unobstructed view, overlooking the dungeon. Crassius was not going to go into things blind after all. Luckily the last contender had the tech contender capabilities which did a number of things, but of most importance to him It gave an additional 10% MP for units defeated and allowed him to link to several different units and he could now communicate and give orders from 20 miles away. He had not even had to send word by scout to his force after their last conquest. The army left straight for dungeon number 3. Now he could send out units like a master marionettist.
Crassius’s second unique reward was a military academy. It was a unique building that would not play apart in today's battle, but it would take his forces to the next level. He could have up to 2 dozen units partake in a two week course. Upon completion the units would automatically be regulars, receive the top level of one of his available classes, and would have a good chance at gaining abilities and skills. Crassius already had plenty of regulars. He even had a few veterans, but getting several dozen regulars every two weeks would replenish his losses.
It would also save MP from not having to pay for classes when getting these units. The 10 MP at level 1 was not a big deal, but it became 30 MP to give a second level. The third level and beyond would surely be another big jump.
The army approaching the dungeon in front of him was already pretty strong for a level 1 dungeon. He was currently fielding 3 types of orcs. All of them had blunted pig faces with tusks jutting out from their lower jaw, big flared nostrils, and coarse black hair. Their skin was an amalgamation of various shades of greens, browns, grays, and black. It did not seem to matter what type he built, they could come out in any color. It was different from the goblin army they would be facing where all the small goblins were green and the larger ones were yellow.
The base unit for the orc branch was the orc imp. They cost 100 MP and had a power rating of 0.7. His force had a lot more of them then he would like for now, but then again numbers were also important in battles. The second type was a regular orc. They were a foot taller than the imps at 5 to 6 feet. They cost 250 MP and had a power level of 1.3. The last unit available was the Brute Orc. They could range up to 7 feet tall and were far more muscular. They cost 500 MP and had a power level of 1.8. It was all that he had available. His army actually only had 1 of them. They were expensive, and it had cost 10,000 MP to just unlock the type on his unit research tab. Although he had built 4 more to be a part of his first official military academy class.
Overall even the imps with boosts from experience were near a 1.0 power rating, and with ranks his Orcs and the Brute Orc Colonel got additional boosts due to their ranks. Colonel had a power rating that rounded up to 4.1 with all his boosts. He currently only led 152 other orcs, which was basically the minimum size for a division, but the advancement had just happened. Even after receiving the MP from the last dungeon, he had prioritized filling up his military academy positions instead of reinforcing his army save a few squads of imp orcs. Still in 2 weeks he would get 4 brutes and 20 regular orcs that could bring devastation. The only limiting factor was how much MP he had to spend. It would be difficult to build 2 more division sized forces.
Crassius knew he was lucky. He had started out with 5 coal mounds to mine, so was bringing in 4,800 MP daily. After seeing two other dungeons, he knew that was not the case for everyone. Both the other 2 dungeons had 4 mounds, or what he considered the normal start. This dungeon only had 3. Although this dungeon had some fan like contraptions that Crassius could only guess what they did. The shade henchmen were pumping away so they were probably important. Although it would be difficult for Crassius to get them anytime soon due to his specialization. Regardless, he had a top start and this dungeon had a poor start. It was not fair, but few things in life were.
The dungeon had changed from his reports from a few days ago. There were a lot more goblins, although they were all of the same types. Crassius would not have numbers in this battle, but he doubted that mattered. Then there was a large mound of earth that was identified as the dungeon entrance. Interesting, Crassius had not seen one yet. It would give him the potential to steal the dungeon feature tech, but he doubted that would be the best choice for him. His strategy was to continually pour out military units after all. He just had to leave a dedicated force to defend his own dungeon. The dungeon also had earthen walls. Not really a big deal, since they were shorter than even the imps. Still he would lose more troops. It was unfortunate, but he would recoup most of the MP upon destroying the dungeon. It was a part of the business.
He rubbed his hands together as his army closed in. The goblins started scurrying about in a panic. The gnomes roused slowly and upon realizing that an approaching force was coming they scampered off in the opposite direction. Crassius guessed that they were not a part of the dungeon then. Crassius laughed they would not have been much, but would have been a little help.
A minute later the black shades left in that direction as well. The champion was trying to prevent Crassius from killing them. If the dungeon survived the battle it would take a lot of MP and potentially days to summon them again after all. Crassius did not care to try to chase after them. Nor were his units going to focus on destroying the buildings, although that might happen anyways since orcs liked to rampage. The dungeon would not exist in another hour or so, tops. It was too late for them to use whatever remained of their MP to summon more units afterall.
Crassius would soon see whether the champion of this dungeon had anything more in store for him, but he highly doubted it. The succession battle was only halfway through the second week and Crassius was already feeling unstoppable.