Jimmy had explained to Rick that the Spell & Sword were searching for the Snatchers and that they could all use a breather.
“That’s true. You’ve all earned it as well,” Rick said. “I’m assuming some of you have leveled up?”
The way their mouths twitched as they held back smiles, told Rick all he needed to know. Despite the horrors they had just faced, the System rewarded them, easing the mental and emotional strains.
Rick produced some pizza and beer for the men, steaks for the wolves. Penny got her favorite bargle steak and a mountain of eggs. She had been known to steal some off the table in the past if he’d left his breakfast unguarded.
Danny and Dane got a mountain of sweets. Rick absorbed a large assortment while burning the trash. He’d assumed that the candy manufacturers wouldn’t be in business anymore and everyone could use a sweet treat once in a while. He made a note to put them in his treasure chests in the future.
The young brothers’ eyes sparkled as they saw various chocolate bars, sour gummies, cupcakes, and hot chocolate chip cookies appear before them.
With everybody happy, Rick took the opportunity to go through his Alerts as well.
—Alert—
* Level 9 Obtained
* +700 Energy
* +2,000 Challenge Points
* +1 Free Minions
* +30,000 System Credits for Dungeon Employee Stipend Fund
—Alert—
* Level 10 Obtained
* Free Floor Expansion Available
* 1 Free Floor Available
* +5000 Energy
* +50,000 Challenge Points
* +20 Free Minions
* +50,000 System Credits for Dungeon Employee Stipend Fund
* Loot Credits Upgrade
* 1 Free Auxiliary Room Synthetic Atmosphere Available
—Alert—
Core Upgrade
New Skill Available
Rick was stunned at the Alerts. While reaching Level 9 offered good rewards, Level 10 contained more than his previous levels combined in some respects. It would take him quite a while to decide on what to do with the CP, Minions, and new floor.
And as a cherry on top, his Core was upgraded with a new skill choice available. Before spending any of his new resources or building a new floor, Rick decided to check his skill options first.
—Alert—
Core Upgrade: By creating an Energy Vortex, your Core has undergone changes. Among these changes are:
* Core is more difficult to damage
* Energy use is more efficient
* Physical interaction within domain is easier
Being more difficult to break was always a welcome addition to Rick.
More efficient Energy use? He put it to the test on the second floor by using Spatial Expansion. Rather than the 100 Energy it typically cost, it only siphoned away 50. With his expanded Energy pool and more resources to burn, he couldn’t wait to go on a growth spurt.
The last part of the upgrade confused him, but he intended to find out soon. Did physical interaction mean physically communicating with people? That had always been difficult if they weren't directly tied to him like Jimmy, Atrono, and his minions. Before attempting to talk to the boys, Rick focused himself within his core, only viewing his direct surroundings within the safe. It felt too soon to go back into himself like this, but then he tried to move.
Unlike the calming sensation of weaving the nature magic, this made Rick feel as if he were about to unravel. A flare of Energy burst out of his core, melting the sides of the safe around him into a molten slab. Thankfully, the Energy burst hadn’t melted the top of the safe and it clanged on top of him harmlessly. His vortex shrank as a staggering 4,000 Energy was burned.
“Easier my ass,” Rick said, shaken by the Energy usage. It felt as if everything he did lately came at the risk of zapping all of his Energy.
Even with these last couple of scares, a whole new world of possibilities had opened up to him. This latest development showed him that he might be able to physically move around his domain. Perhaps one day, he might be able to walk and feel his environment similarly to the way he had as a human.
And clearly, as he grew, risks would grow with him.
Rather than risk blowing up the whole floor, including his own Core, Rick moved onto the three available skill choices.
1) Absorb Curse: Allows you to absorb curse magic, transmuting it into Energy.
Rick read the short description. While he could burn the curse magic, it also harmed whoever was infected by it. If he could simply absorb the magic, would he be able to save Dane? What side effects would happen if he were to try that? He’d need to know more before committing a skill choice to it.
2) Shifting Floor: Assign a floor to take a life of its own. The layout will shift periodically, taking Challengers by surprise.
While Rick thought that it would be nice to put a floor on autopilot, he knew that it would cause stress on his minions to constantly shift their environment around. He had already seen that with Luca and couldn’t imagine how Billy or the lizardfolk would feel. If he went with this skill, he’d likely put it on the new floor and fill it with less intelligent minions or ones with nomadic tendencies.
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3) Mental Resistance: Your mind and the minds of your minions will be immune to mental attacks and mind control.
Now this one was interesting. It was almost as if the System knew that there might be some naughty players from the multiverse causing chaos on Earth. After seeing and hearing first hand about how his minions had lost their minds over the curse, Rick had to admit that the results could be catastrophic.
He didn’t want to think about the havoc he’d be able to cause if some bastard came in and began mind controlling him. They could potentially make him recreate nuclear weapons over and over.
The System had truly laid out cruel choices for him to make.
The first choice sounded like it could help him cure Dane as well as anyone else who became infected by such a curse. He assumed Marv would be out there hurting more people. Rick would of course ensure that Marv had no choice in reentering the dungeon to infect his minions again.
The second choice was the most fun in Rick’s opinion, but it would be foolish for him to take it over the first.
The last choice is what made this cruel of the System. He’d have to forgo having a cure for anyone infected by the curse in exchange for immunity from mental magic. But, if he were to ever fall victim to mind control, a lot more people would get hurt. Not to mention, a not-so-small part of him loathed the thought of becoming a puppet. One of the main reasons he had become a shop owner was so that he didn’t have to listen to some office clown telling him what to do all the time.
Rick fought with himself for what seemed like hours. While the curse was terrible, Rick could beat it. However, if he didn’t take it, Dane and other innocents could die.
But if he took it and then mind control bastards came through, they’d all be doomed.
He looked at the third option once more. Immune to mental attacks and mind control. That meant his minions would be immune to any sort of outside manipulation. He’d never have to worry about a forced betrayal from one of them. He could see it now. Some mental mind fuck wizard waltzing in and ordering his minions to off themselves until they get to the treasure room and steal his core, forcing him to nuke the surrounding areas.
Rick was truly conflicted. There was a chance that mind manipulators never showed up at his doorstep. If he chose the third option, he’d have a hard time living with himself for choosing not to save people here and now.
Even then, something told him that the System wanted him to take this skill. The other skills appeared catered to him. This one should be no different, right?
Directing his gaze upon the boys, he saw Penny nuzzling Dane. A soft glow withered the curse within him, weakening it as she had done before. However, she faced similar limitations with the curse being inside of Dane. She couldn’t just destroy it like he could. He wasn’t sure if it was her comforting presence, or if he just willed himself to believe it, but he had faith that Penny would find a way to remove the curse within Dane and anyone else who needed her aid. He had to put more trust in her.
With that, he made up his mind and selected Mental Resistance and promised himself to do everything in his power to find a safe cure for Dane.
The familiar presence of his Snatchers reentered the dungeon through the Auxiliary Room. Rick observed as he saw the Spell & Sword carrying them in squirming bags.
Alex, drenched in sweat, yelled out, “How do I get these things to their damn floor?”
Jimmy’s eyes refocused as he abandoned his Alerts and rushed over to the group, “Here, let me do it.”
Rick watched as the Snatcher filled bags stopped squirming as Jimmy took them and opened the bags.
“No, don’t!” Sarah yelped, raising her wand.
“Relax. I got a new skill. They recognize me as Rick’s second in command and won’t harm anyone here,” Jimmy gave the closest Snatcher a pat on the oddly human head, drawing a large smile of sharp teeth.
Diane shuddered and plopped to the ground, “The last one took us five hours to catch.”
Jimmy chuckled and led them through to Luca’s floor.
Rick conjured some beers for them and got back to his Alerts. He had plenty of questions for the Challenger group regarding the outside, but that would just have to wait. Rick also wanted to talk to both Atrono and Jimmy about the new floor and what they should turn it into. He had a whopping total of 21 new minions to fill it with or add to his existing floors. This time, he’d include his two confidants in the process.
Instead, he skimmed down to the bottom and chose something that he had been wanting for quite some time – the Auxiliary Room Synthetic Atmosphere. Rick expanded the Alert and read the description:
Comfort (or torture) guests in your Auxiliary Room with a synthetic atmosphere. These System powered synthetics not only come with the illusion of your desired atmosphere, but come along with scents, weather patterns, and more.
It was nice to know that it was System powered. This removed any obligation to him to manually control it, but he still hoped that was an option if he or his people disliked the atmosphere.
Much like his free minions, he was able to choose the synthetic atmosphere from the shop. Of course, this made it more difficult as there were millions of choices.
Rick fiddled around with the filters and narrowed it down to some of the more popular choices among humans throughout the multiverse. Out of curiosity, he’d also searched for what centaurs preferred and found they all had expansive skies with a bright sun. Being from Arizona, some people may enjoy that, but Rick was sick of bright, hot days.
He was surprised to see that one of the more popular synthetic atmospheres among humans made people feel as if they were under water. There was a short preview for him to view. It showed the sky and walls being surrounded by water, making him feel as if he were in a reverse fishbowl, for the viewing pleasure of the surrounding fish. It really was beautiful, but it may be a bit too claustrophobic for some.
Another one made the sky appear to be the canopy of a massive tree. Alien critters and birds flew to and fro, and the scent was earthy. Rick may have picked it for himself, but it had the same problem as the water for being too closed off.
Finally, he found a happy medium. The walls of his Aux Room would be that of trees. They gave off various scents. Some earthy, some sweet, but all were fresh and invigorating. The sun gave the room a familiar light, but it would never rise fully overhead. The nights were longer and filled with countless stars and a large moon. It reminded Rick of when his dad would take him camping when they were younger, filling him with a happy nostalgia.
Rick chose the atmosphere which was called, “Achlama System-34 (Tranquil)”. Immediately, the air took on a slightly cooler feel along with some humidity.
Danny, Dane, the members of Spell & Sword, and Penny all looked around in awe.
Atrono nodded in acceptance as he looked around. Neither excited, nor disappointed.
Jimmy whistled as he reentered the floor.
Everyone was content. Rick wouldn’t spoil the moment for now and let the people rest and enjoy the night before pestering Jimmy and Atrono about his new floor.