As a Dungeon Core, Ragnar didn’t need to rest or sleep. His crystalline mind could work tirelessly forever. The biological processes that made one tired didn’t exist, and that combined with the dvergar’s industrial mindset allowed Ragnar to work tirelessly. His routine was to harvest sixty-seven raw materials from the rock over half as many hours, converting those into 1 mana. Every forty-six days he gathered 1 point of miasma. It was a slow grind but after one year and a half, he had enough miasma and mana to rank-up.
“You are so dumb!” The fairy berated him. “You could have ranked up on your own in less than two hundred days if you had done nothing but wait for your miasma to fill up on its own.”
“You have a point. In less than a hundred-fifty, actually. I’m so sorry for wasting your time... I’m not used to having a brain smaller than an ant,” Ragnar grumbled back.
“There’s still a chance to erase these stupid modifications and make two branches and two roots as you should,” She half-offered, half-teased.
“No. What’s done is done. I’ll move forward.”
With that, Ragnar pulled the rank-up menu.
> * [Rank Up]
>
>
>
> * Shard Tetrahedron
> * Tiny Cube
“I have two choices for a rank-up,” Ragnar commented.
“I can see your full Status, stupid dvergar-turned-seed.” The rejected fairy pouted. “Since you are a tiny dumb oaf, you will pick the small tetrahedron choice, even though it is a stupid choice. Square faces have more options to pick from.”
Even angry and bored as she was for spending a whole year doing nothing but digging minute chunks of stone, the fairy still gave sound advice. She grew a bit in Ragnar’s eyes. She got a point. Since he would be layering his crystallizations over one another, going up a size might not be the best idea. But he needed more information.
“What comes after a tiny cube?”
“Tiny octahedron. Twice the fun of a tiny tetrahedron. Then a tiny dodecahedron, which grants the rare pentagonal facet. Finally, the tiny icosahedron. Keep in mind that a tiny icosahedron can’t fit inside a small tetrahedron, so you have to pick another shape. Most cores rotate from an octahedron to an icosahedron, eschewing the cube and tetrahedron forms. The cube and dodecahedron are the only ones with non-triangular faces, so they are important. However, if you cycle from a cube, the resulting icosahedron will skip two sizes instead of one as it grows too big.”
He would grow his core by crystallizing over his current shape and growing in size. Which led to the question,
“How many sizes are there?”
“Twelve. Tiny, Shard, Large Shard, Very Small, Small, Medium, Small Gemstone, Gemstone, Large Gemstone, Large, Very Large, and Huge. Once you get to medium, non-regular polyhedra open up. You usually can squeeze three or four crystallizations in each size category if you are careful in your choices. Some spiky non-regular polyhedra use too much volume.”
Not only the number of faces but the geometry and volume were important. Since the previous shape had to fit entirely inside the next one, some combinations were less efficient than others.
“Therefore nobody goes back to the tetrahedron,” Ragnar mused.
“Correct! Maybe there’s hope for you. Let me explain to you how the different facets work. You can always inscribe a lesser glyph on a higher facet, but that’s a waste. For example, you could - but shouldn’t - inscribe a branch in a pentagonal facet. Don’t do it.
Ragnar groaned but didn’t answer. He lost the fairy’s trust and he knew it. And with his resolve to not grow his tree limbs, she was even more distressed.
“Square facets are for storage. You can increase your Mana, Miasma, and Raw Materials storage with these facets. The storage goes up with each crystallization but a few cores want bigger reserves. Relying on passive absorption through branches and roots is the best, however.”
In Ragnar’s assessment, the fairy was a poor salesperson. She couldn’t sell rotten meat to starving wargs if she had to, he thought.
“The pentagonal ones?”
She clapped, excited. “Oh, they’re for crafting! Your core has the ability to create magical items! You use mana and raw materials to create treasure as a way to reward adventurers for clearing up your Dungeon.”
She tapped her cheek with her index finger.
“Your purpose is threefold. One, you circulate mana and miasma between the realms... Through. The. Branches. And. Roots. You. Don’t. Have. I can’t force you to grow them, but please do consider doing that? Your life will be so much easier if you do!”
“I can give it a thought, but the answer will be no,” Ragnar answered honestly.
She sniffled a sob. “Well. Your second goal is to create a Dungeon that can lure in monsters and keep them inside. Midgard’s surface is currently a dreary and dangerous place, with monsters spawning all over it. Without any kind of control, they will destroy the Realm. When you exhale miasma to take control of your domain, the excess will leak out of the Dungeon, and lure in monsters. Then the adventurers will enter and kill these monsters in a controlled environment. Once the monsters are dead, you can lure more after the adventurers are gone.”
“And the third goal, what is it?”
“You give rewards to the adventurers when they diligently clear an entire floor. You’ll obtain later on the power to divine the adventurers’ wishes and needs. Then you craft adequate magical items for them and grant it to those that did their job. This way the adventurers grow in power and ability, allowing them to reclaim Midgard.”
That sounded too naive for Ragnar’s tastes. He needed only one piece of information to assert his conclusion.
“Can I communicate with people?”
She laughed. “Of course not! Can you imagine? Even if you could, if people knew Dungeons can communicate with them, they would start to pester you for items all the time! Most of them don't even know the Dungeon Cores exist, and nobody can learn they are sentient. You’ll just sit here in the depths, grow some branches--”
“Quit it, fairy,” He warned with a stern tone. “If you continue to push this issue, I’m going to stop talking to you.”
“Okay, okay!”
“Can’t you help me? Am I the only Dungeon Core around?”
She snorted a laugh, “Of course not! The Lord of Midgard is not a fool! There are hundreds of Dungeons out there!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Ragnar sighed. “So why is it so important that me, of all the hundreds of cores, grow some roots? There was only one Yggdrasil, after all.”
“Because!” She interjected with her index pointing up. “Because it is the proper thing to do! You’re a seed, you should sprout.”
“You’re a fairy, so you should be annoying, is that what you’re saying?” Ragnar shot back.
“No! How mean of you, Ragnar!” She pouted even more and turned her head to face away from his Core. “I’m not annoying!”
“According to whom?” He pushed.
She sniffled and sobbed. The fairy’s emotions seemed like an unloaded knörr on rough seas, going from one end to the other in a matter of seconds. Too unstable, the dvergar-turned-core reckoned.
“Do you think I am annoying? Do you dislike me?” She finally spoke after a few minutes of awkward silence.
“I think the disliked one here is me. You are too focused on turning me into a vegetable to even notice we’ve been together for more than a year and you haven’t told me your name. It tells me you only stay here because your task is not complete. It’s obvious that you worked with other cores before. If you are willing to respect my decisions and treat me like a sentient being, I may change the way I deal with you.”
She stared at the crystalline tetrahedral seed for a few moments. “I can do that,” she mumbled. “I’m not a kid. I’m three hundred years old!”
To the millennia-old dvergar, she was a kid.
“My name is Midnight, Ragnar. Pleased to meet you. I was assigned by the Lord of Midgard to be your assistant. I don’t know why, though. I have assisted several very successful Dungeon Cores over the last couple of centuries.”
It felt repulsive to Ragnar, hearing someone speak of Jormungandr’s spawn with such reverence. He spoke his mind.
“Don’t you think your Lord made a mistake?”
That offended her. Midnight did a one-eighty. She glared at the core with cold eyes, picked it up, then flicked it to the wall of the chamber. “That’s why you should have some limbs, little tree. Let me tell you, if you can’t prevent people from taking you out of your little cave, you are powerless. If you leak miasma on the surface, you are going to draw monsters to come and eat you. Do you think you are the kind of seed that can survive a monster’s digestive tract?”
That cemented Ragnar suspicion that the fairy had one or five bolts loose in the gearbox inside her noggin’. Yet, he could remember how much pride one could have from serving a worthy liege. He was in the wrong.
“I’m sorry I offended your lord,” he apologized sincerely.
She simmered her anger for a while before picking Ragnar and putting his core back in the middle of the chamber. “Apology accepted. You are from the old universe. Let me tell you, the Lord of Midgard is nothing like his father or grandfather. He’s honorable!”
“Okay, okay. Lesson learned, lady Midnight. I don’t think a magnificent fairy such as yourself would serve a vile being.”
She preened her wings, shivering with glee at the cheap praise.
“Would you tell me about the other cores you coached?” he asked. “How are they faring?”
She frowned. “The cores I coached ended up with hundreds of roots and dozens of branches. Yes, a core ends up needing more roots than branches.”
Miasma feeds monsters, while mana creates treasure. So the cores were feeding more monsters than giving out treasures. But that many roots…
“Doesn’t it bring Midgard closer to Helheim than Asgard?”
“These places are no more…”
Midnight spent a few hours explaining the changes in the universe’s cosmology to Ragnar. How instead of nine realms there were now only three, and where each one of the old realms went. Ragnar’s crystalline heart soared as he heard that Myrkheim fused with Midgard. It meant he wouldn’t need dimensional travel to reach his former home, just ordinary means of travel.
“I think I’ll rank up now, Midnight.”
“Sure, go for it. You can always… nevermind.”
“Better,” he sighed. Maybe she could change and give up on pestering Ragnar about this tree thing. It was getting boring, even a dvergar’s patience wore off after a whole year.
He selected the option to rank up into a tiny cube.
Ragnar’s collection of raw materials and conversion processes halted.
“Damn, what’s happening? I don’t feel so good.”
“Calm down. Let the core do its thing. Don’t mess up things now,” Midnight soothed him.
He felt his reserves plummet as they were pulled out of the core to crystallize around him. His lower facet was covered by a thin film of crystal while the space around his three upward edges filled up with crystal. He had no idea how long it took.
“All done! You are now a tiny cube,” Midnight cheered. “First crystallization is always the most troublesome. Some cores can’t hold it in still and end up with some flaw, but not you. Good job!”
Ragnar sighed internally, “That’s the kind of thing you warn people before it happens.”
“Nah. It backfires if you are aware of it. The souls inside the cores get so nervous they don’t crystallize right if we tell them. Trust me, we’ve tried. Worst-case they crack and die, best scenario they just lose the regular polyhedra bonus. In the average case, they are flawed or cracked in a corner and lose three or four facets. Not you, though. Check your Status”
> Name: Ragnar
>
> Core Type: Cube (regular).
>
> Core Rank: 1
>
> Facets: 6 Tiny Square
>
> Free facets: 6 Tiny Square
>
> Inscribed Facets: None
>
> Crystallized Facets: 4 Tiny Triangular (MRG, EG, MMC, MC [Expand] ).
>
> Current/Maximum Mana: 0 / 250
>
> Mana Absorption: 2 / day.
>
> Matter to Mana Efficiency: 1.5%
>
> Miasma to Mana Efficiency: N/A
>
> Current/Maximum Miasma: 0 / 250
>
> Miasma Absorption: 1 / day.
>
> Mana to Miasma Efficiency: 1.5%.
>
> Current/Maximum Materials: 0 / 250
>
> Excavation rate: 3 / hour.
>
> Mana to next rank: 200
>
> Miasma to next rank: 200
>
> * [Inscribe Facet]
> * [Erase Facet]
> * [Rank Up]
“I’m getting 1 free miasma per day. That’s great news!”
She laughed, “Yeah. One miasma. Great. Get your crystalline ass to work. We need to inscribe your facets. I would recommend two of each type of storage, but it is your Core. Do as you wish,” Midnight finished with an unsure voice.
“Thanks for trying, Midnight,” Ragnar said and checked his new glyphs.
> [Inscribe Facet]: Tiny facets cost 2 mana and 2 miasma to inscribe. The following glyphs are available for square facets:
>
> * Midgard Storage: Increase your Raw materials Storage by 1% upon acquisition and at each Rank Up.
> * Celestial Storage: Increase your Mana Storage by 1% upon acquisition and at each Rank Up.
> * Infernal Storage: Increase your Miasma Storage by 1% upon acquisition and at each Rank Up.
“They compound,” Midnight said before Ragnar could answer. A Core has more than sixty rank-ups. If you purchase two of each, you will have double the storage later on. There are some tight spots for ranking up if you want some special shapes. Unless you have a large storage, they are impossible to obtain. Bigger facets give bigger bonuses too. But regarding storage, the most important step is this one right now.”
“Wait, compound?” Ragnar was unsure as to what kind of compounding she was talking about.
“Yes. Let’s say you inscribe all six facets with Mana Storage. You won’t get a flat six percent increase. You’ll get six one-percent increases, one on top of the other. And when you rank-up, you’ll get another batch of increases. Over several crystallization stages, you’ll feel the difference. Oh, and there’s the regular polyhedra bonus. So it’ll be one and a half percent instead. Even faster.”
“The suggested setup is two of each, right?” Ragnar asked just to confirm. He remembered her saying that.
“Yes. But you won’t do that, right? I believe you’ll eschew Miasma and put three on each of Matter and Mana storages.”
It wasn’t that Ragnar went against the current, but he wanted to make his own choices, informed ones if he could. “Isn’t miasma as important to crystallization as mana? I’m thinking of not increasing my material storage. It’s not as important as the other two.”
“No! Materials are super important, you need lots to create bigger items. And if you skip now, you’ll miss on four rank-ups worth of increases to your storage. That’s a lot.”
“Maybe once I have enough resources I can... Wait. Does it compound the conversion glyphs too?”
“No. Those are linear.”
Ragnar would be surprised if they weren’t. It would be too easy to… wait, “Can it reach more than a hundred percent conversion efficiency? Is there an upper limit?”
“No, there’s none. Some cores do as you say, and they add the conversion bonus as passive regeneration since the process is almost automatic. However, you can get much more resources by making…”
“Roots and branches, gotcha.”
“Not happening, gotcha,” She replied, doing finger guns.
“I’m adding three each to Mana and Miasma. Raw Materials can wait,” Ragnar declared. If these “special shapes” as Midnight hinted at were the solids he was thinking of, it was worth the risk.
He had to wait for twelve days to gather all the required Miasma.
> Maximum Mana 250 → 261 (+4.57%)
>
> Maximum Miasma 250 → 261 (+4.57%)
Midnight wasn’t pleased but she didn’t comment on Ragnar’s choice. She probably decided to adopt a “wait and see” posture for now. Without much to do, Ragnar just gathered more Mana and Miasma. This time around, it took only a bit more than two hundred days to rank up. His choices were a medium cube or a tiny octahedron. Following his build plan, he stuck to the tiny size.