Exp Crystals
These crystals are unique items that can only be obtained in one way or another through dungeons. Either by killing a dungeon boss with a 0.1% chance of it dropping, or break a small part of a dungeon core if you can locate it.
Another method is unique to dungeon makers and it is their only method for leveling up several unique class skills that don’t get exp through usage such as Dungeon Archive.
Exp Crystals can be used to increase the base level, as a power source for tools, materials, during the creation of magic items that can possibly grow stronger like a hero’s artifact, and most importantly leveling up skills.
There are even rarer types of Exp Crystals specific to a single class.
*** (exclusive access)
Dungeon Maker Magic Holes will only ever produce dungeon maker exp crystals and only after 20,000 mana is gathered or else the mana will be stored within the Book of the Dungeon Maker to instantly merge with the next magic hole you open to complete the crystal or to be used for other tasks such as repairing minions or fixing your dungeons. A unique feature of dungeon makers is that these can aid in upgrading and leveling up minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all known items contained within the book.
“So, this is why the royals were so shocked, this low-grade item is much more valuable than I had expected,” I muttered to myself in the corner of the magic training room.
The window I had just read came from the help system when I asked what exp crystals were. The moment I saw the drop rate, I understood why the men were so hungry for the crystals.
“In other words, this thing functions for me as skill points for several skills,” I muttered. “I wonder why?”
I looked at the book and a theory crossed my mind.
“Maybe the book needs to be upgraded so that it can handle the skill, that makes sense,” I muttered and looked at the pen and sword.
I had yet to figure out how the artefacts truly worked and all the other heroes were in the same position.
“Still, I need to upgrade the archive skill but… ‘A unique feature of Dungeon Makers is that these can aid in upgrading and leveling up minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all known items contained within the book.’ I can upgrade my minions, corridors, rooms, traps, and all items within the book. It's a broken yet balanced system since I need to kill enough monsters to gather the mana to make these puppies,” I cursed. “Ah whatever, most important part now is leveling up archive. Now how do I use this thing?”
While examining it I tried to put my mana inside and pull some out.
You are about to use a Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystal. For what do you wish to use the Exp for?
Level up Base Level
Level up Skill Level
Upgrade Minion
Upgrade Layout
Upgrade Rooms
Upgrade Traps
“Level Up Skill Levels,” I said.
Which Skill do you want to level up? (Warning all exp will go to this single skill and you can only level up dungeon maker exclusive skills).
Dungeon Archive
Level 1
Magic Hole Formation
Level 2
Crafter Level 5
Short Sword Mastery Level 4
Short Sword Arts
Level 3
Runic Writing/ Language
Level 5
Minion Summon Level 1
“Now that I think about it, how do skills and base level raise?” I muttered and call up the help.
Base Level Growth Chart
Level 1-5 exp requirement increases by 100 = 100, 200, 300, 400, 500
Level 6-10 exp requirement increases by 200 = 700, 900, 1100, 1300, 1500
Level 11-15 exp requirement increases by 300 = 1800, 2100, 2400, 2700, 3000
Skill Level Growth Chart
Level 1-5 exp requirement increases by 500 = 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000
I looked at the charts and frowned.
“I don’t get the info from the levels beyond the ones I have. But if I add 600 for skills after level 6 then Archive will reach Level 8 in one go. This system really is broken.” I thought.
“Level up Dungeon Archive,” I said.
At once, the crystal began to glow and rose up. It slowly moved to the now floating book and embedded itself on the cover before being slowly swallowed inside.
The book began glowing and when it ended, I saw the book had gotten some golden trims and details on the spine and looked more detailed than the plain white book.
Dungeon Archive has been leveled up to level 8.
Dungeon Archive:
Level 8
This skill allows the caster to seal constructed parts of the dungeon within the Book of the Dungeon Maker and make copies.
The archive is a separate dimensional space within the Book of the Dungeon Maker. For the dungeon maker to seal the construction layout, you must place the Dungeon Maker Rune Pen in the structure and say 'Archive Corridor/Room/Trap.'
Can currently make layouts for 11 dungeons.
You can store only 10 different corridor layouts.
You can store only 10 room types.
You can store only 2 boss rooms.
You can store only 12 different traps.
You can store 8 types of minion.
Repairs to dungeon reduced cost by 5%.
Repairs/Recovery rate of Minions is 5% faster.
Mana Cost to cast Archive decreased by 10%.
Dungeon attracts monsters and demons from two km away.
Dungeon can gather naturally from the air up to 5000 mana to run the dungeon and to attract monsters.
Dungeons can now support plant life if they are made of dirt or other organic materials.
Runic Pen Option:
You can now access ‘Magic Circle Pen Mode’ and can return to ‘Runic Pen Mode’ by speaking either name.
My jaw dropped as I read all the options and effects.
“Isn’t this skill a bit broken?” I said.
My eyes were soon drawn to the bottom option. Instantly I pulled out the pen and noticed it looked the same but…
“Magic circle pen mode.”
The pen shone a moment and I saw some movement on the metal tip. When I looked close, I saw runes on it.
Taking a small sheet of paper, I began to write on it but as soon as I moved the pen from its original point a magic circle appeared but I felt a huge drain in mana. When I looked, I had already lost over 50 mana points.
I started to sweat and then got a new piece of paper and ripped it into the size of a talisman in anime. I drew a circle from the center to the edge and sweated a lot as I saw the circle needed 100 mana to set up.
“The upgraded skill is good, but the upkeep is overkill. Fuck! I finally got the magic circle, but it still sucks due to the cost!” I cursed.
Still, when I looked, the circle was still there which made me sigh. I could make 13 in a row and after I gathered enough I could start experimenting.
As I looked at one circle on the paper, I noticed a rune I didn’t write.
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I looked at it but it didn’t seem familiar so I did the most irrational thing you shouldn’t do with something new and dangerous. I pulled up the fireball runes and put that one at the end to the see the effect.
The result, the runes floated in the air for exactly 10 seconds before the runes converged making the fireball.
You have discovered the ‘Delay Activation’ rune.
I had a blank expression on my face from the shock and joy that it made my brain stop working for a moment.
I quickly pulled out the human’s runic dictionary and looked for it and found it among the unidentified ones.
“No wonder I never found it, it wasn’t even part of those they had found any meaning for,” I said and began laughing.
I looked at the circles on the paper, and then at the book on magic formations and began to read how the circles were made up.
The method was simpler than it looked. First, you had to draw the rune for the element in the center of the circle. Then, around the outer edge you wrote the other runes. This was for simple circles that could allow you to cast spells with delayed effect, but the best benefit is for seals that require large scale circle formations.
If anyone watched Naruto it is easy to understand the concept. Several dozen talismans would be placed strategically, and then the effect would be activated from a central one that spread out the seal connecting the effects slowing making the effect larger until it became a large-scale formation.
“At the moment, I can only make ammunition from talismans so I can fight in battle more efficiently since magic for me is more costly. Still...” I thought and looked at the books.
I opened the rune dictionary and pulled out the runic pen. I set it to write runes then looked through all the words that had some form of translation arranging them into different categories of actives or effects. Put more simply, draw them alone or with an element.
***
“Urg!” I moaned weakly on the ground.
“Ace, you must be more careful with using your magic. Overcasting can drain your life-force to feed a spell,” Havorine said while casting a spell over me to help heal my health and mana regenerate.
“How the hell was I supposed to know a rune you guys translated with 'Appear' actually meant 'Spawn!'” I cursed at him.
“Yes, we indeed poorly translated that one,” Havorine said with a forced chuckle.
A screech was heard from behind.
What had actually happened was this. I was testing the runes while using fire as the base element for the spell. Since just fire and a second rune wouldn't cause much problem since I already knew the 'Explode' rune. I wasn't worried, but when I put this 'Appear' rune I hadn't understood what it meant. As you guessed, putting the two runes together ended up giving me 'Fire spawn' which was a monster unique to volcanic places and dungeons specializing in fire monsters.
It was a large ball of fire with two white eyes and a fixed grinning smile. Two other smaller fireballs below it took the form of claws. The best example is Hunter from Pokemon but on fire.
As soon as the spell activated the fucker began to suck my mana dry. As he formed his body, he drained my mana even my health supplied its formation leaving me with only 230 hp when all was said and done. Thankfully Havorine was there to cast a spell called Water Prison which sealed a target in a large ball of water. To the fire spawn it was a death sentence, but it persisted. It had grown weaker and had also evaporated a lot of water.
At that time some red robed wizards walked in.
“What is going on and why is a Fire Spawn in the training room?” the oldest man asked.
“Dorian, calm down, I have subdued it, it was due to a magic accident, but no one was hurt besides the caster. He had his health drained to a degree,” Havorine said.
“I see. This is the dungeon maker I presume. I had heard he was a rune studier due to his class. Still to summon a Fire Spawn is dangerous, making life or summoning it requires a high level of mana and control,” Dorian criticized me.
“Dorian calm down, the boy was experimenting and discovering the runes true effects. It was partially our fault due to poor translation,” Havorine said.
“Yes, I understand. Still what of the Fire spawn?” Dorian asked.
“Fire wizards use fire-based familiars and can harness their strength, right? If you can tame it, you are free to take it. It has already been weakened significantly. It shouldn't be too hard, and since it just spawned it is newborn making a good familiar to raise,” Havorine said.
Dorian's eyes sparked, and even though I wanted payment for this I couldn't speak with my pounding head.
“Since the boy summoned it I shall leave some compensation, 10 gold coins should be enough. Hand it to the boy when he recovers enough,” Dorian said and spoke no more as he walked to the ball of water and began casting a long chant.
I stayed on the ground for a while until my mana recovered enough to stop the pounding. Then I looked at my rune list.
Elements
Shapes
Unique
Directions
Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning, Sand, Iron, Mana, Wood,
Ball, Spike, Shards, Pillar, Chain, Sword, Spear, Lance, Wall
Enchant, Harden, Accelerate, Shrink, Explode, Trapping, Lengthen, Shorten, Widen
Forward, Upwards, Curving Left, Curving Right, Backwards, North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest
Weak effects
Action
Trigger
Beast
Slow Healing, Slow Poison, Weak Antidote, Weak Fear, Weak Paralysis
Lunge, Spin, Revolve, Guard
Delay Activation, Slow Charge
Spawn
I had gained six new runes and had 55 after obtaining spawn. I had leveled up rune writing too.
“Ace, don't practice more today, just rest now,” Havorine ordered.
Even if he didn't say it, I wouldn't have done it. From then on I would take advantage of the 'Slow Charge' rune, which I discovered actually pulled ambient mana and slowly changed the runes. It was a good way for me to set up several runes before they activated.
It had become a very important rune for me.
“Don't worry, I'll just rest here for a bit and do something else,” I told him.
“Good, I shall take my leave for tonight. Here are the coins Dorian left you,” he said and tossed a small bag to me.
I thanked him and deposited the money in the small pouch I had on my side.
This world needed an inventory spell, seriously.
“Now what?” I muttered as I rested against the walls.
I opened my book and flipped through the pages until I found the minion page.
When I saw the health bar it was stagnated at 25%. Below it was a message.
Warning: Minion repair rate has caused the consumption of mana to be beyond what the Book of the Dungeon Maker can currently supply. Repairs still continuing but at a greatly reduced pace.
Current minion condition has restored all skills. One of which will allow the minion to heal of his own accords. Suggested summon and self-healing be done.
I was a bit surprised to see that, to think the book had its own mana regeneration rate.
“Wait, maybe this puppet knows something, it seems to have some intelligence so maybe it can teach me something good,” I said out loud.
I waited until my mana was full before summoning him.
“Minion summon, ‘Low grade guardian puppet,’” I said.
A small ball of light came from the book and then expanded to the guardian's size before taking his shape and it finally stopped glowing.
The large puppet appeared upright, all the dents on his body were gone, but rust persisted.
“Master,” the guardian said and bent down on his knee like a knight.
“It is fine. Stand, I wish to ask you some questions,” I said.
“This servant lives to serve,” it replied in a deep tone.
I sat and ordered him to sit as well.
“Okay then... tell me about your race, your strengths, and give a comparison,” I told him.
“This servant is a low grade guardian puppet, this servant’s strength is currently at half its strength because Master’s power has yet to restore all the runes within this servant's body. This servant at full power can be considered a boss monster within a 50 floor dungeon, and a mini-boss within any dungeon of larger proportion up to the 75th floor.
“This servant has all skills restored, the skills are 'Natural Weapon Creation', 'Planting Root', 'Longsword Mastery', 'Longsword Arts', 'Runic Magic,'” he said.
“Besides the sword skills explain the other three,” I asked.
“This servant serves,” he said and three windows appeared.
Natural Weapon Creation:
Level 1
A being made of magical wood can control nature. Using a unique magic this user of this skill can slowly raise trees he plants by spreading his roots and separating a branch to make a magical tree, he can shape it into his preferred shape and make a weapon.
Current skill will cause weapon to take 3 days until it has fully grown.
Planting Root:
Level 1
By spreading one's roots into the ground, the user of this skill can absorb mana and other nutrients or energies to increase their normal rate of regeneration. This skill is restricted to beings of a plant-like nature.
Current Regeneration Increase: 5%.
Runic Magic:
Level 1
A magical being who is servant of a Dungeon Maker can use Runic magic using his master’s knowledge of Runes to cast spells. Strength of skills depend on skill level.
Rune magic consumption decreased by 1%.
The skills were rather impressive for a level 1 skill but still. “Why are your skills level 1?” I asked.
“This servant’s skills are reset when bound to a new master,” he replied.
“How intelligent are you?” I asked him.
“This servant has no intelligence, for this servant isn't a living being and possesses no soul,” he replied.
“So, how are you speaking and how do you possess this knowledge?” I asked.
“This servant as a low grade puppet possesses basic levels of knowledge pertaining to this servant’s self to aid Master,” he said.
“Do you know how to build others like yourself?”
“This servant cannot, this servant possesses only basic knowledge pertaining to my function, and how this servant works. This servant does not possess knowledge of constructing this servant’s brothers,” he replied.
I sighed since I wouldn't find out how to make more minions.
“This servant does possess knowledge to make common grade servants,” he said.
“Common grade?” I said.
“Common grade servants are low ranking mob servants who serve within monster dungeons. Strength of lower-class minion and possess no personality unlike this servant’s low grade one formed to better aid Master,” he said.
“How do I make them?” I asked excited.
The runes on his body pulsed once and the book floated up and flipped through to an empty page. New works appeared, 'Artificial minion schematics.'
Below it was a single plan called 'Common Puppet.'
I pressed it and a screen appeared.
Common Puppet
A low-class dungeon monster with simple actions. Common puppets can be made with common materials.
Materials:
Wooden Puppet:
2.5 meter tall log of any wood type
Low grade soul stone
Rock Puppet:
100 kgs of common rock
Low grade soul stone
Dirt Puppet:
200 kgs of dirt
Low grade soul stone
“There are three types of puppets in 1 schematic? And what are soul stones?” I said.
“Common puppet comes in three types. This servant has no other knowledge of different types. If Master wishes for more, it is best to search for dungeon masters within their dungeons for this knowledge,” the guardian said.
“Dungeon masters? What are those? I've heard of dungeon lord only,” I said.
“Dungeon lord is a corrupt dungeon maker who has conquered and enslaved countless dungeon masters. Dungeon masters, to Master’s common knowledge, is referred to as the dungeon consciousness,” he said.
My eyes widened at that. It was quite surprising information. I had thought they were the same, but it seemed it was not.
“How are dungeons enslaved?” I asked very curious.
He lifted his right hand and poked the seal that appeared over the place the exp crystal was placed.
“By conquering the dungeon and binding them with Master’s seal as you have done to this servant,” he said.
“Wait, doesn't that create a demon seal?” I asked shocked.
“This term is incorrect and used by common mortals to signify the seal of the dungeon lord Master refers to as demon lord,” he replied.
I was too shocked to reply and started laughing to myself. Who knew I would acquire such amazing information that pertained toward the demon lord himself. In this case though, wouldn't that make my class the same as the demon lord’s?
“From now on, never mention that a dungeon lord was once a dungeon maker or that the demon lord is a dungeon lord.” I said very seriously.
The room was quite empty, and the fire wizards had left while I rested before I had summoned the guardian so the spread-out mage's hadn't heard anything.
“As you wish master,” the guardian said.
“Now, what are soul stones?” I asked.
“Soul stones are gems found within the creature's Master knows as demons. It exists within their heart, it is a similar existence to what master used to make this servant function once more,” he replied.
I turned solemn as soon as I heard that. Over 1000 of these were lost, since the dungeon had absorbed the bodies into mana.
“Damn, to think I had lost so many from killing the goblins,” I cursed.
“The bodies of dead prey are not converted into mana. Instead, only the being’s mana was absorbed from when it was alive. Master’s book should still be storing them as well,” the guardian said. Instantly the book opened to a new page and titled it 'Corpse storage.'
All the dead goblins appeared as did the butchered wolves.
At the bottom was a button to 'Loot Corpses.'
“Why didn't the book show this earlier?” I asked.
“The Book of the Dungeon Maker is linked to Master's own knowledge. As such, as long as Master doesn't know of such things they will not appear,” the guardian said.
I sighed deeply hearing that and solemnly looked at the page and pressed the loot button.
Loot Results
Goblin ear: 427
Goblin eye: 685
Low Grade Goblin soul stone: 42
Dire wolf flank: 356
Dire wolf fang: 589
Alpha dire wolf fang: 3
Next to the corpse page a loot page appeared.
“42 only?” I said shocked.
“Masters abilities still lack and will not have 100% chance of extraction,” the guardian said.
I sighed as he said that but was getting tired.
“I am getting tired, tell me how do you use 'Plant Roots' to heal in the most efficient conditions?” I asked.
“If this servant was within a virgin forest, this servant could heal three times more efficiently and train said skill,” he said.
“Too bad, if we were still in the Jagged Mountains, we could have healed you quicker. Come, let's find you a corner to slowly heal during the night,” I said and got up.
He also rose and we left.
I eventually settled for the far-left corner of the training field where he would be hit by the morning sun. I didn't know if he needed to photosynthesize but if he did then better for me as he would recover faster.
I also had him plant his weapon. The sooner the better I thought.
He stomped his feet, cracking the ground and got on all fours. From his hand and feet the metal moved aside, and roots spread out.
To his right soon a small sprout shot out.
All his runes slowly glowed green and a faint pulse that could only be seen during the night spread out.
I returned to my room and collapsed in it after calling back my artifacts.