Doyle shakes his core, 'So, how long are they going to be basically banging their heads against a wall out there?'

Ally shrugs, 'It isn't so much a matter of how long they're willing to do it and more a matter of how long it will take a stronger fae to move in and help them complete it. They've honestly got the short end of the stick there. It's like they're trying to solve for two and keep just multiplying by one. The actual difficulty of piercing your territory out there isn't hard, but they're all just so weak that even quantity doesn't have enough quality.

'Plus, if I tried to help them that would be adding my own story to the mix and nobody's ready for what might show up then. Even with the System blocking, just having thematically similar fae popping up would create a local nobility. Then things go from dealing with a redcap to potentially a hunt.'

Doyle nods, 'Anyway, it feels like I can probably milk this situation for more than a few levels. Why is it so effective at doing nothing, yet training my skill?'

Ally waggles her fingers, 'Because it's magic! Or more seriously, because it's Fae magic and not just a fae using magic, but the proper racial cornerstone. The same sort of stuff that let Ace almost reduce that one person to nothingness when kicking them out.

'While all fae can use it, the basic stuff like hospitality and fairy rings are more like forces of nature compared to someone turning a fan on. Royalty, even a queen like my mom, isn't above them.'

Doyle tilts to the side, 'Still, this feels like getting wind resistance for standing on the beach and enjoying the breeze or water resistance for standing out in a mild drizzle.'

Ally shrugs, 'More like a mage casting a low power breeze or water ball spell at you over and over. While extreme weather can develop skills, to get something from a weaker power requires there to be something living behind it. In this case, those fairies who keep trying to activate the ring.

'And if I had to guess, you're going to cap out at around level 99 in the skill. While not always true, this system likes to put the first major bottleneck for levels at 99. From what I've been able to gather this is more of a psychological manipulation than any actual natural law. Whoever made the system had figured out that most sapients hate being so close to a round number like 100 and so will work harder to break through because of it.'

Doyle nods, 'Getting stuck at 99 would bother me. Though I also feel that territory control won't be hard to break through with.'

Ally, 'Eh, it happens. Like I said, the system is sometimes adjusting things to make it pan out that way. It is quite possible that the skill doesn't actually have a proper bottleneck there and one was artificially inserted. That or the whole, being a dungeon core, thing makes it easier for you to breakthrough.

'After all, cores aren't the only sapients with the skill. Rather, that skill gets a lot of use with the more elemental crowd, including the fae. So like, a water elemental will get the skill if they control something like a pond.

'In fact, now that I think about it, you're likely going to have an easier time of it because you keep growing your territory. Once an elemental or similar takes over a place, they will generally run against boundaries. A water elemental can't exactly control the air above the pond or the dirt along the edges. You on the other hand cheat and have a constantly growing internal space.'

Doyle, 'Fair enough, now with that out of the way, what should we do about the fairy ring?'

Ally shrugs, 'Why should we do anything about it?'

Doyle pauses for a second. 'Ah. Huh. I, hmm. Doing nothing hadn't really occurred to me.'

Ally nods, 'That will be your dungeon instincts. This is like if a seamstress was weaving a blanket only to discover an earlier part had begun to come apart. You want to go back and fix it.

'The thing is, once the connection is made it won't bother you anymore. The hole goes from loose threads coming apart and turns into a purposefully placed hole with proper reinforcements along the edge of it. Same thing will happen with any teleport circles or portals the town might set up.'

Doyle sighs, 'So I can just leave it alone then. I guess it will be good for training my skill.'

Ally laughs, 'Nah, shut it down. While you could leave it alone with few consequences, having those fae that close will only cause problems. I was mostly just using this to point out the instinct so you can recognize it.'

Doyle tilts to the side, 'So I shouldn't just ride out the passive skill gain?'

Ally nods, 'All it takes is one slightly stronger fae coming along to finish making the connection and it becomes a lot harder for you personally to shut down. Ace and friends could do it, but they would have to know about it in the first place. Right now though? Like the weaver example, all you have to do at this point is tighten a few threads. The fairies will be attracted towards some other point of interest or just wander and we won’t have to deal with a growing fae enclave being that close. Go on, give it a try!’

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Doyle rolled his core, turned his attention back to the fairy ring and yep, space was a bit loose. In fact, if he hadn’t had the experience with grabbing the souls of his bosses from the Void, it would have likely caused quite the headache. There isn’t really any pure way to describe what he is seeing with the closest example being one of those pictures that show space as a sheet and gravity like a ball pulling it down. Except in four dimensions and the fourth isn’t time.

There might also be a fifth, but he didn’t let that get to him. Instead he focused on how he could go about fixing it. He could tell that obviously if the dimple in reality popped, the portal would be connected.

That wasn’t all that hard to understand as his own portals have a similar effect going on. The difference is that his portals aren’t this weird. Doyle’s best guess is that the extra dimensionality comes from the need to connect to the fae realm. Of course part of it should also come from the connection being made with fae magic.

None of that mattered in the end though, as the solution Doyle came upon when using his control skill sidestepped all that complex magic. After all, why try to untangle the knot if cutting the thing solves it just as well. The biggest difficulty in the end was the fact that it wasn’t inside of his dungeon proper.

That just meant putting a good bit more power into smoothing it out. So just like making a bed sheet look nice and flat, Doyle mentally ran his hands over it until the thing stopped trying to wrinkle up again. Though the more visual sign of this working was the fact that a bunch of the mushrooms in the circle wilted and fell over.

With the ring out of the way and a quick check for any others that might have popped up. Doyle turns back to his paths. Oh, and apparently smoothing things out was enough to get those last three levels of territory control before it hit 99.

{Points:56

Class: Dungeon Core III 100/100, Awakened Dungeon Core II 10/10

Location [2/1 I]: Heritage Kobold Community I 15/15, Communities of Myriad Heritages I 15/15

Completed: Goat Supremacy 20/20, Energy Well I 3/3, Commanding Subordinates 12/12, Ageless Queens 15/15, Earth’s First Home of the Limit Breakers I 1/1, Biomes Aplenty 5/5, Potion Dispensary 10/10, Elemental Animals 5/5, Cows for Milk 12/12, Vegetation Variety 20/20, Divine Border 1/1, Know Your Enemies 10/10, Pathfinder, [UNIQUE] 1/1, Community Driven 10/10, Monster Rancher 50/50, Community Builder 30/30, Extra Accommodations 75/75, Energy Well II 6/6, Kobold Community II 30/30, Engraver 5/5, Boss Builder 50/50

Started [1/3]: [TRINITY] 31/1000

Available: Awakened Dungeon Core III 10/100, Awakened Spatial Dungeon core I 0/1, Dungeon Core of Awakened Intent I 0/1, Vine Warper 0/15, Kin Slayer 0/100, Voidborn 0/250, Axe Sharpener 0/5, Expansionist 0/30, Fire’s Flying 0/7, Deal Broker 0/10, All the Potions 0/60, Godly Negotiator 0/500, Heavenly Gate 0/350, Clan Head 0/25, Five Cornered Square Initiate 0/100, Raising The Floor 0/100, Into The Infinite 0/60, Floors Within Floors 0/10, Phrenic Friend 0/120, PsiBane I 0/200, PsiBoon I 0/200, Deep Rules 0/500, Time Will Wait 0/500, Monster Rancher II 0/100, Energy Well III 0/18, Gatekeeper 0/5}

Doyle laughed when he saw the last path. It did say something about what he just did, though he wasn’t exactly planning on grabbing it. No, a few others stood out to him and it isn’t like he has all that many points for the moment. First was the next rank of Energy Well and second was the next rank of Monster Rancher. A bit boring to just be going for rank ups of his current paths, but both had some fun things attached to them.

Energy Well was a simple enough path that up until now had simply increased his passive recharge rate. A fun little perk that for the previous two ranks wasn’t the most impactful. Except the first rank was by 20 and the second by 200. Now, Doyle wasn’t expecting an 18 point path to give him 2000 points of world energy regen. However, he had to try.

Then there was Monster Rancher. Doyle wasn’t going to be able to finish the path even if he didn’t buy Energy Well. However, it was a path that gave a bonus to all of his monsters and while it had been mostly in his down time. He had seen what the extra points of Strength could do for his monsters, let alone the others.

Doyle’s best memory was when one of the sixth floor farmers got mad about encountering goats instead of cattle and tried to punt one of the critters. The goat in turn gave the guy a nice headbutt that sent the guy flying into the ceiling. Sure, the guy didn’t hit the ceiling hard enough to hurt him, but the blood splatters from a couple of pre-existing wounds were quite artistic. So, while he wasn’t planning on having his goats specialize in giving adventurers flying lessons, it would be nice if most of the monsters could keep up.

After all, it works both ways, especially as people from further and further away start showing up at the dungeon. Just as the one goat was able to launch an unprepared guy, his early level monsters were getting bashed around by people on the level of Melonie’s group. Of course, that solves itself quickly enough as those types beat the fifth floor boss and move on.

‘[System, 18 points into Energy Well three and 30 points to Monster Rancher two.]’ He had considered dumping all the extra points into rancher, but decided to leave himself the eight points spare as most paths liked to keep the benefits to round numbers.

{18 points applied to Energy Well III path...

3/18 - You have earned +50 passive World Energy recharge rate, +1 Presence

6/18 - You have earned +50 passive World Energy recharge rate, +1 Presence

9/18 - You have earned +50 passive World Energy recharge rate, +1 Presence

12/18 - You have earned +50 passive World Energy recharge rate, +1 Presence

15/18 - You have earned +50 passive World Energy recharge rate, +1 Presence

18/18 - Path Complete, You have earned +150 passive World Energy recharge rate, +3 Presence, Sapients near an entrance portal but outside of your dungeon gain a buff to the recharge rate of any energy pools they have}