A few days of mugging ranbi and capturing them really shows just how much you've grown. Bomber and Ivy's growth rates are more palpable and easily viewed because of the ranbi attacks; they fight one-on-one in most situations and their difference in power can be seen easily.
With only my current base MP, I can cast multiple Gemskewers, Thornbursts, or even Thorntwists. All three of these abilities similar killing power, albeit Thorntwist is an AoE, and can kill most ranbi instantly. Destruction-wise, the only one who holds a candle to that is Bomber when he uses his kick; he can cast a few more than I can but his high STR stat seems to make him almost always instantly-kill similar to these attacks.
That's before accounting for even just one of the four MP crystals I made. I can adequately charge one of them through the day but if I can ever find a way to teach the other three to charge theirs as originally planned, I'd be able to fight with well over four-times my current MP limit. The killing power of my spells means that I could probably kill all three of my summons alone and still have MP to spare.
That's rather terrifying the more that image hits my head. So far, there's no reason to not believe magic-users in Brogdar are well above SP users.
Of course, there is a chance I'm vastly wrong. I mean, I can say what I want... but comparing myself to Bomber, he could kill me with a single hit most likely. While I can kill all of them multiple times over, every single one of them including Ropert has an advantage if they can get a single strike in. I may have spells to defend myself but they're far from perfect... and there may be SP-uses that allow someone to fight high-MP builds like mine.
... Sorry. I know it's hard hearing me out when I go off on unrelated things like this, but I swear it's important. Because that scale of power needs to be properly understood for what it is.
I've leveled up only once and evolved into a randomly chosen evolution.
Sure, I completed quests and also obtained titles. That doesn't change how daunting that scale of power feels from Day 1 to now. Creatures that had me worried on my first day are completely conquered and now getting farmed by me both kill-wise and pen-wise.
Ranbi Minions in captivity so far act just like ones in the wild; though they're not hostile, they're very active and spent most of the day running around, sniffing, and eating the grass we tossed in the pen. During the night, however, I noticed a few of them weren't fully sleeping; of the three pairs we managed to get, one of them was actually entirely active in the night.
When morning came around, though, I was even more surprised; the grass had already been put in the pen. The only answer is that our infrastructure-related food production must be somehow auto-feeding it.
Not that I mind. I'm happy to not feed ranbi every morning.
The ranbi do seem to already pair up, though; on day two of my ranbi observations, they had actually broken up into male and female pairs on their pen-exploration. It was actually pretty adorable to see since instead of trying to charge us with murderous intent they were nuzzling one another and speaking in their squeak language. At one point, Ivy approached and seemed to be squeaking to one of them.
Coming back on day three, however, I got a surprise.
Critter Pen #001 Congratulations! 3 Ranbi Minion(s) is/are now pregnant!
It took only three days for the ranbi to do what rabbits do best. But that's not even the biggest shock. That came on day four.
Critter Pen #001 CRITTER PEN FILLED!
Overflow births converted into pure Favor.
+ 1.5 Favor (3 Ranbi Minions)
Ranbi litters are big and fast enough to produce multiple kids in only a day. I had six in there but when I woke up there were twelve. Additionally, three more had been born and immediately converted into Favor. They didn't produce corpses, though, and instead were converted into raw Favor.
Right now, for the price of an affordable 1.2 Mana, I stood to potentially gain well over 5 Favor a day. The ranbi in the pen had already paired which means that the pairs each produced at least two... and those two were enough to form non-incestuous pairings. If that's the case and I have a litter of three or so per pairing, then I could easily earn 9 Favor per day.
That's before talking about the idea of butchering them as they get stronger or I need supplies.
The pen is definitely the best option for gaining Favor at the cost of mana. I'd create another if it wasn't for the need to start stockpiling stones and that it'd end up eating even more of my Mana income. I need at least three more points or so in Mana Income before I feel comfortable putting down more mana-requiring objects.
This is fantastic, though. The pen rewarding such success gives me a lot of paths to improving this place, especially if the Recruit chances can raise. It'll be a few months before I can have it either at full chance or high enough to feel comfortable risking it, but this is good.
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It's about time I start profiting off the back of these little fuckers.
Plus, this Favor could be useful for making more houses. If I successfully recruit them in the future, it'll be a good idea to have homes for them.
It shouldn't take more than a week at our current Favor gain-rate alongside the Critter Pen's income to reach enough for the Teleportation Chamber. I'll be able to convert a bit of my mana to make stone, too, so that I'll just need to wait for the Favor to top off.
...
I think I've been in Brogdar for almost two months now but I can't help feeling more excited now than I ever have. I created the new room and it's thankfully set-up beside my room and the storage. My dungeon is now perfectly rectangular.
Construct. Teleportation Chamber. Confirm.
[Notification] Room isolated...
Placing Teleportation Chamber.
Similar to the washroom and toolroom, the Teleportation Chamber's construction starts by extending from the room itself. A wide pedestal rises, quickly followed by slower-moving rings that follow it upwards. The inner section stops about three feet higher, then the rings - each a foot thick - start locking around it like stairs.
A normal-sized person could scale the stairs in maybe two steps but it has four steps total, perfectly sized out for smaller creatures or beings like my current body.
Rather than step on it, though, I'm just going to keep watching. And it's a good thing, too, since the inner pedestal's inner part starts lifting up. An arch about as wide as the pedestal itself rises, going all the way to mere inches from the ceiling before it locks into place.
[Notification] Teleportation Chamber established.
Teleportation is now available.
Great. Now, let's see if I can figure out to use it and-
[Notification]
CONDITIONS MET.
DUNGEON EVOLUTION BEGINNING.
CHOICE RANDOMLY PICKED.
Oh no. No. No no no-
The floor shakes and throws me off-balance, yet when I fall it's not just a simple fall. My body slaps the floor of the dungeon and my human-like ghostly shape rolls free, tumbling out of the room and into my bedroom.
Shit. This is bad.
Standing up isn't easy when the entire dungeon is rumbling and shaking, but with my human-shaped form it's a lot easier to catch myself and get upright. I clasp one of the storage cabinets in my room for balance, looking through the doorway to my body.
The only problem is that it's missing.
ESTABLISHING DUNGEON EVOLUTIONARY STAGE 2.
CLEARING ALL NON-DUNGEON MATERIAL AND ENTITIES.
Thanks stupid dungeon for kicking my body out but not my mind. Piece of shi-
Fuck!
I clutch the storage rack tighter, clinging on as tight as I can as the room's violent shaking intensifies. I'd never been in an Earthquake in my previous life but this is unlike anything I can imagine; despite how violently it shakes me, the entire room's furniture is completely unphased. Even the washroom nearby isn't tossing out water.
Yet here I am getting thrown around. The lack of calls from my summons makes me at least certain that there's nothing happening above ground. At least I really hope not, because if the shaking is this bad then it'd probably have completely destroyed everything on the surface.
DUNGEON UPGRADE AT 90%.
PROCEEDING WITH DUNGEON MASTER UPGRADE.
Wait, what does that-
My sight burns white; the colors and shapes sear out of existence beneath a sweeping blinding glare. I can't think in this state, all I can do is what comes naturally. I grab at my eyes and lose my grip on the storage shelf, tumbling through the shaking dungeon and slamming my head against the floor. Even if I'm a ghost, I still can feel pain when I interact with my dungeon... and that hit definitely... hurt...
...
...
... ur...
... urgh...
I... well, I'm not dead.
I open my eyes, seeing not-stone.
In fact, I'm pretty sure those are batten boards over stone brick. The color of the stone is still the same but the wooden struts crossing the ceiling are a rich, darker brown. Sitting up, I turn to check out the walls and doorways since I figure they're no different.
And I'm right. The walls are mostly the same but have a matching wooden trim running along the bottom. They completely encircle the room, meeting up with wooden frames and actual doors.
They're simple-to-slide doors but for the first time, I have real doors.
[Notification]
Dungeon Evolution Complete.
Congratulations, you are now part of the 0.8% of DMs within Brogdar.
User Kaden will now be offered optional personal quests.
Auto-Mode (1-Week Mode) now available.
Experience-on-kill now available; slaying enemies of similar or higher level will now reward experience.
I'm not even mad that I got the shit knocked out of me anymore.
As far as I care, getting this teleporter and tripping like a jackass is officially my strategy for advancing in this world.