After being called back to Ally’s room, Doyle sees a large blank screen up against the back wall. Ally gestures at it, ‘Now before I reveal it, I’m going to go over what will be up there. Of course, there are the stats which start at the starting value. Which, by the by, is what would change whenever you level up the kobold pattern enough to give them a stat bonus. Important because that means all of your kobolds, no matter the floor, would get stronger. I don’t know how yet, but I assume there is a way to limit the stats of your monsters so you don’t accidentally end up with a lethal first floor.’
Doyle snorts, ‘I’m mostly certain that the stat gains from the pattern won’t get too crazy. While yes, some beings get born with a lot more in their stats than others, A kobold that naturally has 100 Strength on reaching adulthood isn’t really a normal kobold anymore. Even if it does happen, I’m most likely going to end up with a variant type of kobold that I get to use.’
Ally nods, ‘That is a fair assessment. Anyway, like I said, there will be the actual stats which I will have by level. Next to that I will include any static bonuses and the bonus per level. For the bonus per level, I will be noting when the bonus is gained separately because you only get a benefit from that on the next level up.
‘Also, I have the breakdown for where all the bonuses come from and I will have an example of that at the bottom for the very first bonus you got for the kobolds, that of per level to Agility. Oh, and I’m only going to display up to level three because after that it is literally just adding the per level bonuses over and over.’
Doyle tilts to the side, ‘So basically a giant spreadsheet?’
Ally shrugs, ‘Why fix what isn’t broken? The real difficulty was gathering all the data, anyway. Though for this, I have prettied up the data. Now let me reveal my work. Oh, there is one last special thing to note. There are some odd bonuses with the first being that kobolds are capable of alchemy and the second, which I will have separate is for monsters in a community. Now here it is!’
{lv0 S[ 4] A[ 7] C[ 4] I[ 6] W[ 6] P[ 6] D[ 5] K[ 5] L[ 5]
lv0 gained *+2A/lv, +2W/lv, +2K/lv
lv1 S[ 4] A[ 9] C[ 4] I[ 6] W[11] P[ 6] D[ 5] K[10] L[ 5] [+2A/lv, +2W/lv, +2K/lv]
lv1 gained +3W, +3K, +1I/lv
lv2 S[ 4] A[11] C[ 4] I[ 9] W[13] P[ 6] D[5] K[12] L[ 5] [+2A/lv, +1I/lv, +2W/lv, +2K/lv]
lv2 gained +2I, +4A/lv, +1I/lv, +4W/lv, +4K/lv
lv3 S[ 4] A[17] C[ 4] I[11] W[19] P[ 6] D[5] K[18] L[ 5] [+6A/lv, +2I/lv, +6W/lv, +6K/lv]
lv3 S[ 4] A[17] C[ 9] I[11] W[24] P[ 6] D[10] K[18] L[ 5] (gained +5C, +5W, +5D for community)
*Kobold Community path 15/15 adds +1 and Synergy from Kobold Bosses’ Soul of the Community path doubles that to +2 (the system said it was retroactive, but what it actually meant was that any newly spawned kobolds would have this bonus added in. Likely if you lost your kobold boss, the bonus would go away for any spawned kobolds in the same way.)}
Ally sighs, ‘It isn’t the prettiest thing I admit, but the information is all there. Especially that community nonsense. I put level 3 twice because technically the actual base stats of your kobolds are equal to the first line, but if there are at least, I think three, kobolds together they get the bonus even if some of them die. About the only place your kobolds aren’t getting that bonus are the ambushes and the axebeak riders on the eight floor.
‘Everything else besides the wolves have more strict requirements for it, though you mostly have it covered. One caveat to that is that the assassin vines and the Udoroot don’t seem capable of benefiting from the bonus? Maybe they would if you stationed other beings with them, but they can’t form their own communities.’
Doyle shakes his core, ‘Of course they don’t. Anyway, even if the stat line is a little eh, the line below it showing the gains helps. Though it does point out to me that the kobolds aren’t really gaining that many bonuses.’
Ally shrugs, ‘comparatively they’re actually gaining a lot. Sure, if you want to look at any random citizen in the town outside, the kobolds are falling behind, but I took a quick look at the other monsters. You need more paths that give bonuses like Vegetation Variety did. That one path gave a bonus to all plants and fungi monsters. The only shame is that it specified monsters. Otherwise, your plants would be tougher in general as long as they can hit level two.
Oh, and I know what we were forgetting. Have you figured it out yet?’
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Doyle tilts back, ‘Not a clue. I haven’t even looked at my path points since I leveled up. Last time I checked was before I built the eighth floor! While I didn’t do anything too crazy on the ninth floor, the eighth had a bunch of tricks on it.’
Ally coughs, ‘Ah, well, you should probably do that. However, you also need to look into your ants. I don’t think either of us can really be blamed for forgetting it since you took the path months ago at this point. But yeah, the Ageless Queens path.’ And she pulls up a new screen.
{Ageless Queens path
5/15 - You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, One ant queen of choice no longer has a max lifespan
10/15 - You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, One ant queen on each floor will be mentally joined to the previously chosen queen to form a true hivemind, Previously chosen queen receives +1 to their currently lowest mental stat for each other queen in the hivemind
15/15 - Path complete, You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, The ageless ant queen has an adjusted chance to become a roaming boss which increases with age and other queens in the hivemind}
Ally, ‘We’re missing out on a hivemind! You now have nine floors and you’ve basically placed ants on all of them except the third floor and you could probably manage something there easily enough as well. That would mean a massive plus nine to the queen’s intelligence, which would put it above everything besides your kobolds and Udoroots.’
Doyle dims for a moment, ‘I don’t even have the pattern for ants. All I’ve got is a more general prey insects pattern.’
Ally rolls her eyes, ‘Well you better get around to fixing that. It shouldn’t be too hard since all you have to do is get a queen to lay some queen and drone eggs. You don’t even need to worry about things like royal jelly since the dungeon will sustain them. My advice is to get an ants pattern before choosing one to be the hivemind focus.
‘Sure, you could change it later, but that would be a waste of the time already invested. In fact, maybe try to get the pattern to the point that it counts as a monster since that will give all the ants the mind stats.’
Doyle tilts to the side, ‘What does turning them into monsters have to do with them getting the mind stats? And won’t the chosen queen get them, anyway?’
Ally nods, ‘Yes she would, but that would be an artificial uplifting and she would be limited in what she can do with the hivemind. While gaining a soul through some system, interference is the same as gaining a soul in general, the same is not true for a mind. Not because the system couldn’t make the perfect mind, mind you. Rather, it was designed to only put in the minimum required mind. Now, normally, that wouldn’t matter.
‘However, for a monster that will eventually have the chance to be a boss you will want a bit more than just the minimum. Oh, and as for why getting monster ants would give the normal ants a mind? That is because the difference between a monster ant and a normal is mostly an artificial system distinction. They would still be ants. What you are thinking of as a monster ant is more properly the giant ant.’
Doyle tilts forward, ‘If I turn my regular ants into monsters, wouldn’t I have to pay for them?’
Ally shrugs, ‘Don’t turn them into monsters. Like I said, there basically isn’t any difference. What you are aiming for is the system to open up the possibility so you can grab the ant pattern with a mind. It is like the difference between having a common ant and what you would call a fire ant.
‘Do note, basically everyone else just calls them red ants. This mostly comes from the fact that to us, a fire ant refers to a magical variant that bursts into flames when it dies. But yeah, technically, the ants have a mind, probably the best mind among the mundane insects. That isn’t saying much, though.’
Doyle tilts further forward, ‘But will I have to pay for them?’
Ally scratches the back of her neck, ‘Eh, maybe? In theory, from everything I’ve heard they shouldn’t. Turning them into a monster is lifting them out of the mundane like how the horned rabbits horn can become magical. That doesn’t make the horned rabbit actually count as a monster you have to pay for out of your floor points. Still, the horned rabbit is a monster under the system’s rules. They’re harmless enough though for them to not show up as such unless you ask the right questions.’
Doyle sighs, ‘You aren’t really certain of this, are you?’
Ally makes a face, ‘I’ve read some reports related to this issue and while talking to Zela she mentioned something similar? I just had to be vague to keep how much I knew about your paths and just in general the information on your paths a secret. Kind of hard to do that if I just come out and start talking about immortal ant queens and such.’
Doyle nods, ‘Fair enough. Now how am I supposed to know when ants have reached the point of being monsters yet not actually counting as monsters?’
Ally shrugs, ‘Not a clue! I suggest only spending a week or two on the project before simply going ahead with choosing a normal ant queen. You have a pretty powerful ratio on your speed up so that should be enough to see results if there are going to be any in the near future.’
Doyle sighs, ‘Actually, I think I know the answer to it now that my mind has had a chance to catch up. Since the turning point is connected to having mind stats, I just have to check the new ants for that.’
Ally shrugs again, ‘I’m going to be honest, this is a little deep in the woods so your guess is as good as mine. That does make some sense, though I guess you would have to check one of the queens right now. They might get the mind stat just because popular mythos ascribes such to them.’
Doyle nods, ‘That isn’t a bad idea. I’ll go and pick one from the first floor since they have been around the longest.’
Doyle pulls up a screen showing the first floor and takes a moment to find one of the ant nests he had placed then pulls up the status of the queen and one of her workers.
{Ant Queen: S[1] A[1] C[2]
Ant Worker: S[1] A[1] C[1]}