Dungeon POV
Over the past few days, I've noticed more and more people making it to the first-floor boss. Most even manage to defeat the boss. Some going on to challenge the second floor. They usually don't make it past the second room and so far, Clyde's Party is the only one to make it past the fourth room. It surprises me that nobody thinks to check inside the little abandoned cabin in the second room. Then again, most dungeons use only the minimum number of mobs at the highest level possible as well as the fewest number of rooms for that floor. All in an effort to go as deep as possible as fast as possible. Only using chests with loot because they wouldn't be able to lure in delvers otherwise.
Trying to make yourself as unfriendly to delvers as possible and then trying to lure them in seems paradoxical to me. Then again this is all information from the perspective of delvers. I have no idea what those other dungeons are thinking. After all I've heard some wild theories about myself as well. Mostly about why the first floor is so big. Those theories run the gambit from not knowing I could go deeper to simply not feeling the need to go deeper since there were no delvers in the desert.
While amusing I try not to dwell on such gossip. Instead choosing to finish fleshing out the third floor. Thanks partly to the mana I got from those who delved the second floor even a little bit. As for the first set of branching paths. I plan to continue making the two sides Identical. So, I choose to work on both sides simultaneously, something I'm only now realizing I can even do. First, I add a level 13 skeleton party. The party in question will consist of a tank a fighter and two mages. As always, I give them a chance to drop a random piece of gear. Then I add a few orange trees to the room. The trees are added mainly for decoration. I did however decide to make them orange trees as opposed to some other kind because for one they seem to enjoy having alternatives to rat meat. On top of that I feel like they would be getting tired of berries as well by now. There are a few nonhostile creatures scattered around but since they mostly hide rather than fighting, they need to be actively hunted. No such thing as a free meal.
For the next room I decide on three more branching paths. For the northern path I place four level 14 wolves lead by a level 15 alpha. This is followed by six level 15 wolves. I don't bother adding anything else to the rooms except for grass. Aside from the chest in the last room that is. As for said chest I give it a loot table consisting of potions and coins. Including minor health potions, minor mana potions, copper, and even silver coins. having only just recently acquired the mana potion pattern. Sadly, the mana potion doesn't really work on me since it only restores what it costs to make the potion. I suppose if I ever have a surplus of mana, it could be used as a type of battery backup.
The southern paths I give four level 14 skeletons in the first room consisting of a tank a fighter a rogue and a mage. I place an identical group of level 15 skeletons in the next room. As well as a chest containing a random assortment of high-quality stone rank gear. I would even consider enchanting some however below obsidian rank the quality is just too low to hold an enchantment. Well technically you could do it, but the effect would be like putting a new air intake on an old clunker. Sure, the performance might be slightly better but it's still an old clunker. It's never going to be able to fully utilize it.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
For the paths that would be straight ahead relative to the direction towards the main path from here I chose goblins. Four level 14 goblins in one room and six level 15 goblins in the other room. as for the chest I have it contain a combination of gear, potions, and coins at random. I also set it up so that each chest contains at least twelve items.
As for the next set of branching paths I decide not to go too crazy and just make them straight lines. For the next room in either path I include a party of four level 14 skeletons. For the eastern path it's a tank, fighter, mage, and healer. For the western path it's a tank, rogue, archer, and healer. along with various low-level skills for both groups. The next rooms will have an identical group of six level 15 skeletons including a tank, two fighters a rogue, an archer, and a mage. As for the chest I decide on some high-quality stone rank gear.
With that the third floor is officially finished. Time to start on the fourth floor ... whenever I get enough mana that is. I plan to continue my pattern of doubling the room size for each floor. It wasn't my original intention but somehow it just feels right. Before officially starting on the fourth floor however I plan to get a few things from the system shop. Seeing as nobody has even made it to the second-floor boss yet I'm not in any hurry. There are higher level delvers out there but from what I understand I still have to few floors to interest them.
One thing I plan to finally grab system shop is the fire and air skills. I'm not sure what I'll actually do with the air skill just yet, but I do have plans for the fire skill. Some other themes like the campsite theme and the volcano theme as well as many others require me to have the fire skill before I'm even allowed to purchase theme. The only one that I really want is the campsite theme. It comes with tents, bedrolls, a lite campfire, and cooking equipment. As well as an assortment of skins, meats, and trinkets. The trinkets won't help them in battle, but it still might be a nice change from the normal loot.
One other thing I plan to get now that the rooms will be big enough for it to matter is a dungeon rule that will automatically simulate the sky outside the dungeon. hopefully it only simulates the sky and not the dry heat. I don't plan to recreate the desert in my dungeon. It's enough that they must survive it to even get here. Though logically speaking some kind of permanent route will likely be established soon if it hasn't already.
It has taken longer than I care to admit to actually save up enough to get all that. During this time Clyde's party made six more attempts on the second floor getting a little further each time. The main issue right now is that Darrel and Lily keep running low on mana. Come to think of it I haven't seen Clyde's party delve in a few weeks. ever since Clyde reached level 10 and officially became stone rank.
Fortunately for me more and more teams are making it to the second floor. Some are starting to even push past the fourth room, though just barely. Otherwise, I don't know how long it would have taken me to afford everything.
As I begin to think about what I want to do for the fourth floor, I still want to get new mobs after all. I since Clyde return to the entryway of the first floor. He's just collecting water this time. However, this does give him a chance to brag about being officially recognized as stone rank. According to him Chandra, who is currently level 8, must reach stone rank before they can be officially recognized as a stone rank party. The reason that is important is because once that happens, I will officially be recognized as a stone rank dungeon since I will have been able to completely nurture a stone rank party.
Dungeon ranks are apparently different from delver ranks. Dungeon ranks are based on the highest rank that dungeon has nurtured. They don't need to start at level 1 but everyone in the party must go up a rank while delving. Once I become officially recognized as a stone rank dungeon that will attract delvers of between levels 7 to 10. In other words, stone rank dungeons attract delvers who are close to stone rank. Right now, that won't really help me much since almost every dungeon reaches at least stone rank eventually. combine that with the fact that I'm apparently extremely remote and I might see a handful of new delvers coming for the novelty of delving a new dungeon. It would seem the only reason I'm as popular as I am, is that while remote, I'm also the only dungeon in this kingdom.