Congratulations Razum!
* You have finished the Quest [Ranking Up] as shown below!
[Ranking Up]
Type: Repeatable, Advancement Quest
Description: You are on the cusp of advancement. To advance complete the First Room of the local Dungeon alone and without assistance. Boons and Titles may be used as normal, however, rewards will differ based on how many are used. Boons and Titles necessary to complete the Quest, such as natural Boons and Titles, are excused. Class Skills and Abilities suffer no penalties.
* Reward (Maximum): Rank F(2), System Token x5, Attribute Points x10
Congratulations Razum!
* You meet the requirements for Ascending to Rank F(2)!
* Would you like to Ascend? (Yes/No)
Congratulations Razum!
* You have Ascended to Rank F(2)
* Your Class: Mycelial Scion, receives the following improvements:
* Skill Points x5
* +1 Additional Skill Slot
* You have gained the Skill [Mycelial Fleshcraft 1]
* [Mycelial Fleshcraft 1] has become [Mycelial Fleshcraft 2] due to existing Boons
* You have gained the Ability [Combat Fleshcraft]
Razum looked tiredly at the System notifications even as he exited his sister's Dungeon and made his way back to his garden. From the way his rewards sat heavy on his soul, he figured he did pretty well on his [Ranking Up] Quest. He had no idea what a System Token was but five of them plus ten free Attribute Points was obviously the max someone could get.
As he made his way, his body slowly shifted back to normal as he made use of his new skill. It had come to him in a moment of inspiration while he had been fighting. To be fair, he had already had the foundations for the skill. In fact, he could have done the same thing with a combination of Boons, it just would have been slower. [Mycelial Fleshcraft] took hints from the Boons Umbral Infused Fruiting Body, Sensory Mycelium, Sporecap Locomotion, Malleable Sporecap, and Umbral Fleshcraft.
The skill itself was just a simplified confluence of all of those streams of knowledge. He didn’t know exactly when he had got it but had felt the difference when he had been forced to move quickly. His sister's trap had been an unwelcome surprise and he had been forced to spend some of his Attribute Points to increase his Strength and Dexterity. He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them, feeling the almost unnatural vitality giving life to his pseudo-musculature.
His new skill was fascinating to use but the ability had been a bit of a shock. He had wanted to move quicker and so unconsciously combined [Aether Manipulation 1] and [Mycelial Feshcraft 2] together. The ensuing ability not only allowed for explosive growth at the cost of Aether but it also was extremely malleable to the point that he had been able to reshape his hand into a blade within a matter of moments. His body had also shifted, the internal musculature changing to better produce explosive power at the cost of energy.
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It was only now that he was recovering that his body was returning to its pre-combat condition and the strain on his Aether reserves was diminishing. The changes left him tired and drained, his mind weary and his fruiting body aching. Still, he was triumphant, and completing his Quest wasn’t even the full extent of his rewards.
Congratulations Razum!
You have entered a Dungeon Challenge!
* Your party has defeated Grungy Git F(1) x10!
* Your party has survived Dungeon Traps x2!
* Room 1 Challenge Completed!
Calculating Experience…Titles Acknowledged!
The 2560 Xp generated during the challenge becomes 5120 Xp due to the Title -> Progenitor
Due to Title -> Umbral Host, 2560 Xp has been reserved for Ten’Telo as per the covenant
Congratulations Razum!
* You have received 2560 Xp!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 6!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 7!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 8!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 9!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 10!
Warning! You have reached the Level Cap for Rank F(2)! To begin advancement to Rank F(3) please ascend to Level 10 immediately to receive your Advancement Quest! Any further Experience gains will be banked until after your Advancement Quest has been completed.
Razum’s mind froze as he considered the magnitude of his rewards. The implications astounded him. If this was how Dungeons worked all over this plane of existence then his father’s insistence on Obu being able to defend herself was well placed. The Overmind Sporecap’s mind whirled as he attempted to piece together the response a nation or people might have to his sister’s existence.
One response would be to somehow find a way of controlling the Dungeon so that its challenges were simple and direct. He didn’t know exactly how the System controlled how much Xp was given for the challenges but perhaps it was a fixed amount. The second response, if the Dungeon couldn’t be controlled, would be monopolization. Only that country or people would have access and they would use it to empower their warriors and help them Ascend the Ranks.
The third response would be destruction. If it couldn’t be controlled or monopolized and if an agreement couldn’t be reached then the Dungeon would need to be destroyed. It was only simple deduction. Such a magnifier of personal power could engender no other responses unless the truly pure of heart discovered the Dungeon. All of this meant his sister would be in grave danger if discovered. Not that Papa Dug would ever let anything happen to her but the danger would certainly increase.
Razum pondered the situation further even as he entered his garden. One thing he realized quickly is that few other people would be able to do as he had done. For one thing, he didn’t know if there were many Sapients who began as the lowest Rank possible. If he had to guess based on the data provided by the Muskeera and Talpi, true Sapience would probably begin at the start of Rank E or toward the middle.
That meant that not many people would receive such a Quest to enter a Dungeon to Rank Up. He would have to ask the Muskeera and Talpi how their people did it before Obu arrived. Secondly, he wasn’t sure how many would try to complete the room’s challenge completely. From the Quest’s details, you just had to complete the room which he assumed was just reaching the end. Some combat would probably be required to make it but you certainly wouldn’t have to fight every Git to reach the end.
The only reason Razum could was that he was blessed with perhaps the best background you could ever have. He wouldn’t have even died if his fruiting body had been destroyed. It would have been painful and he would have failed in his Quest but his true body was the Mind Matrix of mycelium below the surface of the fungal garden. He wasn’t sure what would have happened had he failed his Quest but he was certain there would be another path forward.
Basically, to those who prepared well and spent their Experience wisely, Dungeons were the epitome of progress. You go in for your Ranking Up Quest and come out with rewards and the Experience needed to progress to the next Rank. Then you use the Experience gained to bolster your foundation of Skills and Abilities before doing it all over again. Also, while he had received that specific Quest, he imagined that there would be others that would allow for a Rank Up. For them, the Dungeons offered a way to gain the Experience needed to reach the pre-requisite level, before heading off on whatever Quest they had.
He had sensed more than seen the party of Muskeera and Talpi as they challenged Obu’s Dungeon. He imagined that parties like them were more of the norm. It would take a true monster to solo entire Dungeons. The mushroom paused as that thought struck him. I guess I am that monster now, he mused to himself. As he made his way further into the garden to find a spot to plant himself he pondered how he would utilize his wellspring of Experience. Perhaps some experiments were in order.