Karmic griffins are expensive. More expensive than even my karmic small dumb mimic, which was the second most expensive creature I had made. And not just a bit more expensive but a whole 80 more mana before the 50% extra and my discounts. For the base cost that is. The griffins' level up cost is actually less. Probably 'cause leveling up a mimic makes it stronger and better at hiding, while leveling up griffins just makes them stronger. The reason the griffins base cost was that high was likely due to their Ability to deal 120% damage while guarding a treasure. The definition of 'treasure' is subjective though. I consider my mimics to be treasures as it took me so long to design them. And even longer before I had made one, I could use. As such, I had gotten my griffins to guard my mimic while still getting the 120% damage bonus. Honestly, I think griffins are meant to be on the 6th or 7th Floor. If they're expensive to me with all the discounts I'm getting, then I don't think a normal Dungeon would be able to make one before the 3rd Floor if they really tried. But then you have to factor in that mine are also the much cheaper karmic versions. Thus skyrocketing the price of their non-karmic cousins.
All that being said I could still easily afford them even without using my Mana Bank. Griffins were just much more expensive than what I had made beforehand. For instance, karmic griffins were more than 3 times as expensive as the bā zú lung dragons. If I were to make them without using my Mana Bank, I would have needed to have done it 2 levels at a time.
The mimic was - as its species stated - dumb and so I had to slowly repeat the words it had problems with. It would have taken way longer if I hadn't! Still, its sentences sounded like a 3- or 4-year-old.
With all the discounts I had gotten I no longer had any problem counting the fledgling lightning sea serpents as dragons in my mental count to make sure my Floors were roughly 90% dragons.
Like the 2nd Floor the 3rd Floor also had only three rooms due to me making rooms bigger than the standard room size. The rooms of the 3rd Floor had been dug but it was far from done. No puzzles, no traps and only three kobolds. The Watchtower Crossroad was actually the only room where the environment was done as I needed Kobold manpower to finish the rest. Though I might decide to add more watchtowers to the Crossroad later on.
Due to the kobolds' ability to gain classes every kobold was spawned with a weapon. As their creator I got to choose what weapon they spawned with, as long as it wasn't super powerful compared to the kobold's level. In the case of a kobold with a crossbow, the material of the crossbow and bolts would change based on the kobold's level.
The kobold talking to the Chief added some nuances I hadn't told it of. The fact about people with 10% karma level or lower being unredeemable I hadn't even thought about yet couldn't help but agree with once I did.
The Chief didn't seem to notice that the kobold was speaking in an entirely different language. One consisting mostly of growls, yips, hisses, and bellows. Oh well. Maybe someone else will notice.
Chief Nerok left my Dungeon having gotten his options and I began planning for the future.
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The whole Tribe had kept close to the Dungeon Portal as the time neared for their Chief to return. More than an hour had passed, and the Tribe had gotten excited. "The Dungeon must be able to communicate with him if it takes him so long!" many stated. A few skeptics in return pointed out that the Dungeon might just have gotten a new Floor. This didn't stop the excitement from mounting though.
Shouts and cheers got out as the Chief appeared out of the blue next to the now stone Portal.
Nerok quickly noticed that the Tribe was already gathered around him. He put on his new griffin feathered cape, raised his hand to quiet the crowd and spoke to his Tribe. "Yes, as some of you have guessed I have successfully communicated with the Dungeon!"
"How?!" Asked the curious and the skeptics.
"The Dungeon has finished its 2nd Floor and has begun making its 3rd! The 2nd Floor has a single creature with the ability to speak!" Multiple "What?!"'s and other sounds of surprise could be heard from the Tribe. Said sounds got louder when the Chief continued speaking through the noise. "The 3rd Floor only has three creatures for now yet all three are speaking draconic humanoids!"
Nerok paused and soon the crowd was quiet once more. "The Dungeon has a plan!" The cheers returned louder than before. Nerok simply waited for their curiosity to quiet them down again before continuing. "The Dungeon fears no elves as it has plans on how to survive without even being enslaved by them!" This time the cheers almost shattered everyone's eardrums. Meeting elves and not getting enslaved? That seemed like an unachievable dream to the Tribe, but of course their local Dungeon god would know a way!
It took much longer before the Tribe calmed down after that announcement. And when they did, they all had one question on their minds: How is that possible?
Knowing this, Nerok stated: "Naturally the Dungeon did not wish to inform me on how it intended to escape the effects of the Dungeon Core Cage. It only stated that its confidence wasn't simply due to believing it could win over 2nd and 3rd tiers!" Happy mumbles appeared. Now knowing their Dungeon wouldn't fall to the elves, they were once more worrying about themselves.
"The Dungeon gave us two options on how to deal with this!" The Chief continued. "We can evacuate while the Dungeon deals with the elves." Several people booed at this, not wanting to leave their new god and safe haven. "Or we can stay in an unfinished Floor while the elves are here!"
It took the Tribe hours to decide on all the details. Then ‘First Party’ was sent into the Dungeon both to inform it on their decision and to gather more loot for the Tribe.
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My favorite Party clearly didn't know how to talk to me, now knowing I could hear and understand their every word. Still, they informed me of the Tribes decision to stay in an unfinished Floor. They added the Tribe's worry that the elves would know the Tribe was in the Dungeon by looking at the allowed number of sapients. To this I responded by making a Rule.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
New Dungeon Rule: Chosen Family: The Dungeon Core may choose to see certain sapients as a part of its Dungeon just like its creatures are. The sapient then stops counting as a sapient to the Dungeon's allowed number of sapients per Floor. This includes allowing children inside in Dungeon, though those children cannot earn EXP from the Dungeon. Creatures will only attack them in self-defense, and traps will not be activated by them. Adult sapients can still earn EXP and loot like normal but can choose to bypass any puzzle in their way but won’t then earn EXP for the puzzle. No sapient with a karma level of 25% or lower can be seen as a part of the Dungeon nor any with evil intentions towards the Dungeon Core. Currently chosen sapients: The Tribe of Chief Nerok.
Due to Begdar, Morghar, Nalir, Taozcec, Thenac and Zaktak's current presence in your Dungeon they will get the option to accept this change now or decline it. Should it be declined the Rule will simply take effect next time they enter.
New Achievement: A Friend in Need (I): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Condition: Go out of your way to help someone without expecting any compensation for doing so. Reward: 100 EXP and 105% Charisma. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 105% Charisma changed to 5% discount on karma creatures.]
You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick two to be passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement.
Before it could start listing my Achievements, I had already decided on which two should be passive, so I interrupted. Have A Friend in Need and Dungeon God be passive.
A Friend in Need (I) (Passive): Reward: 50 EXP and 3% discount on karma creatures.
Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 3% mana discount on all creations.
A Friend in Need (Passive) rewards you 50 EXP.
The Party saw no reason not to accept the Rule and thus did so right away. They also understood that it was my way of informing them how the Tribe would be hidden in me.
Zaktak petted with and cooed at the mimicking dragonet as always before the Party continued towards the 2nd Floor. Unlike the Chief, they commented on how the Safezone wasn't bare unlike all other Dungeons'. Begdar is so gonna ask me why it's different. And so many other questions too!
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‘First Party’ entered the 1st room of the 2nd Floor. This room was double the length, width, and height of the rooms of the 1st Floor. With that came taller trees but otherwise it was just a bigger forest room.
"Pitfall trap. And another one over there." Thenac had finally gotten her desired Trap Detection Skill. Skills could only be granted before adulthood - but then only a maximum of 10 - or during a level up. And the level ups one got while tiering up didn't count here. Having been stuck at level 9+ for most of her life, she had only now been able to level up and gain a new Skill. Her Trap Detection was still only level 1, but it would still work really well on the 1st Floor of a Dungeon. Especially combined with her already existing expertise on traps.
"Karmic woods wyverns, huh?" Begdar had looked up while Thenac was looking down. There appeared to be about half a dozen of them in the trees in front of them. Though their brown feathers were a good natural camouflage, so Begdar wasn't sure if there might be more, she just hadn't noticed. When asked, Thenac informed her that there were indeed more hidden.
"To the right. Ground level." Thenac had noticed movement behind some trees.
Bā zú lung dragon Level 3
A roughly 5 meter long, serpentine, 8-legged, wingless dragon walked past the Party barely sparing them a glance. Its orange coloring and red highlights made it very visible in the green forest. It had a neural spine sail going from the beginning of the neck and around the other side of its tail making the tail look like a double-sided weapon.
"It's not karmic either? Like the bìxié?" Begdar wondered out loud.
The Party decided to walk straight ahead for now while avoiding the traps. They knew they didn't need to do so but liked to keep in practice doing so.
Thenac kept an eye on the trees as much as on the ground and noticed a key in the biggest one nearby. Taozcec was quick to take over and began convincing a wyvern to give them the key. The wyvern got closer but didn't seem to understand what the vulpinekin wanted it to do. Seeing that it wasn't working Nalir simply climbed the tree, got the key, and jumped down again.
"Good job, hun!" Begdar said and gave the felinekin a kiss on the cheek. Nalir's eyes softened, and a small smile appeared on his lips. "The key seems to be located in a bigger concentration of wyverns and there don't appear to be any lung dragons around here. Most likely the next key is in the territory of the lung dragons. Though that is assuming they have one."
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Not long after finding the first key of the Floor, the rhinokin again noticed an item. "Is that a treasure chest?" Walking closer she pulled the climbing plants off of the chest. Said chest was big enough to contain one of the small shields they had gotten earlier and high enough for a helmet.
Thenac opened the treasure chest and found some dragon leather along with three medium copper cubes.
Morghar picked up a copper cube. "You don't normally see copper before the 3rd Floor, right? And sometimes first by the 4th?" His Party agreed. "Thank you kindly then! You even went so far as to make them medium sized!" The ursakin said to the Dungeon. As a small cube was 1×1×1 cm, the medium 2×2×2 and the big 3×3×3, each size had a volume much bigger than the previous size. Going from small to medium was an increase of 8 times the volume while there from small to big was an increase of 27 times. That and the fact that the bigger sizes made it quicker to gather them meant that the Party was really pleased.
Next to the chest was a stream guarded by log crocodiles like the ones from the swamp room. The stream had logs laid over it at places and steppingstones at others. On the other side of the stream the wyverns and lung dragons were level 4, but the room looked otherwise the same.
The Party reached the wall on the other side of the room, but the opening wasn't immediately in sight. Thenac's Trap Detection detected several traps to the right, so the Party decided to go that way.
Entering the lung dragon territory the Party quickly found the 2nd key half hidden under a rock. The lung dragon territory had fewer trees and instead big rocks stood amongst the wildflowers and ferns along with small puddles of water. Thenac identified a proximity trap around the key but couldn't tell what kind. A stick was used to retrieve the key.
The Party ended up walking past the opening as they had noticed another chest. This one contained a pair of dragon leather boots and another 3 medium copper cubes.
Exiting the room a larger than usual amount of loot dropped. Plenty of different dragon leather items the Tribe already had and while most of the cubes were medium sized, they were all aluminum. 6 BO's dropped as well, and the Party felt weird having to ignore them. With the Tribe still so primitive and without access to trade, they had no use for any more of them. As such the Party only gathered the aluminum cubes and the dragon meat.