As expected, they do get some additional [Locations]. A lot of those, in fact. So many that the system did have to reorganize it all to keep it more or less readable. The first category was the [Rooms], and now it had five subcategories: [Dungeon Basics], [Utilities], [Harvesting Zones], [Production Facilities] and [Religious Facilities].
In [Dungeon Basics] they had the [Throne Room, Basic], [Node Room, Basic], [Level Change Room], [Floor Guardian Room] and, surprisingly enough, [First Guardian Room]. And yes, it seems to be the combination between a [Throne Room, Basic] and [Node Room, Basic].
In [Utilities] they had just the [Library]. Not a lot, but they could easily add more by adding new room archetypes for, say, their common room - it would show up here and keep all the appropriate furniture easy to put there.
In [Harvesting Zones] they had the [Mining Area], [Growing Area] and, oddly enough, [Farming Area]. The last bit was a new one, and it seemed to be to a [Growing Area] what organized agriculture was to plants growing in the forest.
Still no idea why they couldn’t just materialize food. There was no logical reason not to, implying that it was some sort of arbitrary rule imposed upon the Dungeons for reasons they were yet to figure out.
In [Production Facilities] they had the [Butcher’s Shop], [Alchemist’s Laboratory], [Necromancer’s Laboratory], [Metalworks] and, finally, [Workshop]. Which seemed to be something of a basic template for workshops that they could further specialize towards, say, smithing or glassmaking.
Thus unlocking new room archetypes for this category.
In [Religious Facilities] they had the shrines for Saevius, Dolositas, Occasa, Luna, Procacitas, Desidius, Cibus and, oddly enough, Mors. Which happened to be the first non-evil god to grace them with a shrine.
The [Lairs] got sorted alongside their origin, usually their religious pantheon.
For the [Wild Courts] they had the [Hamadryad’s Grove].
For the [Rampant Bloom] they had [Spider Breeding Chamber] and [Blood Hornet Hive].
For the [Rapturous Ecstasy] they had the [Feeding Ground], [Rose Guard Barracks], [Moraverian Alchemy Lab], [Court of Dancing] and a [Ghoul Settlement, Small].
For the [Breathless Tide] they had the [Burial Chamber].
And, finally, for the [Elementals] they had the [Elemental Overflow]. Here they actually did notice a difference that they missed earlier, as among the potential Overflow types there was now ‘Stone’.
Shame that they only had a single elemental of this type.
The only category of the [Locations] that saw no growth were the [Halls], since they still had only the [Underground Ecosystem] there.
Alright, so I hate to state the obvious but damn, we’ve scored improvements on nearly every field imaginable and to actually take full advantage of this is going to take us a while.
Yeah, many options, only so much Residual Mana.
And we’re still yet to make that power plant idea of yours into reality.
On the other hand, the valley right now is occupied by the beastkin who are busy laying siege to the mines, meaning that we can take some risks and experiment here and there, right?
Oh, good point.
No one’s going to attack us.
Any ideas that you wish to test in practice?
I have two, but one of them is definitely impractical to test right now.
Go on
The impractical one is whether we can put other things in the [Underground Ecosystem] to change its designation. For example, if putting enough ghouls there would change it into a [Ghoul Settlement, Large].
Ohhhh, yeah, now that you talk about this, it makes sense
What’s the more practical idea?
To find out whether we can put two shrines of the same pantheon in the same room.
And it turns out that yes, they can. They prove it by expanding the [Shrine of the Hierarch of Conquest] on the 1st level and putting Dolositas’ own shrine inside. Which creates a completely new room designation called the [Temple of the Nine Hordes].
Dolositas turns out to be portrayed as a catwoman wearing a short hooded robe, her identity further concealed by a face mask, with one hand pulling what looks like a knife out of a pocket while the other seems to be hiding some shiny in another pocket.
There was only a single offering bowl for the two of them.
The system decides not to play around with them and immediately unlocks not just the [Temple of the Nine Hordes] but also the [Temple of the Rapturous Ecstasy], since they also unlocked more than one shrine of it. And by now, they simply knew that it was going to work like that.
Let me ask the Question.
Are we putting it anyway in the Dungeon?
Uhm.
I’m not a big fan of the idea, but hey, religious tolerance, right?
We set up the shrine of Occasa, so going ‘ugh, no’ on Ecstasy would feel weird.
We’ve set it up to flex on her cultists, not because of ‘religious tolerance’
Oh, right.
Still, I think it’s fine to just set it up by the entrance, if the visitors decide to do some kinky stuff there, it’s their choice but ours Favor.
Unless they do something illegally kinky.
Alrighty there, let’s set it up then.
The statue of Decidius is that of a man reclining on the sofa, surrounded by empty bottles and with empty eyes staring into the void, making it clear that the man was completely and thoroughly high on something.
He seemed to be a human, strangely enough, and the very art style was different from that of the gods of Nine Hordes. Felt much more refined, with smoother contours and clearer details. It was also the only one that was horizontal more than vertical.
The statue of Cibus was, in fact, that of a pair of identical twins, both of them looking to be teenagers/young adults. Humans, again. The sculptor managed to portray movement of the body pretty naturally.
They were clearly wrestling with each other while standing, one of them biting the other in their shoulder, while having their own arm chewed on in return.
Procacitas was a deity whose sculpture they feared the most. In the end, it was surprisingly modest, portraying a woman sitting on a throne and wearing a Roman toga over a tunic, with a laurel crown in her long (and, frankly, fantastic-looking) hair.
She definitely had the body shape of a supermodel/modded Bethesda game female character, the former according to Izuku’s first comparison and the latter according to Tomura.
Well, that could have been worse
She looks like a queen more than a slut, that’s for sure
Which is almost weird to me. Then again, at least the Rose Guard was mostly tame, at least on the outside.
I wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to all of that.
Obviously, lol.
You again
So much about not showing up at all until our mission is concluded (or not).
I lied xD
Only about this, though, not lying about the mission’s results and rewards, though, so no stupid thoughts.
If I backstabbed people that I struck a deal with, no one would be making them with me, it’s just common sense.
I dropped by to see how you’re doing in the aftermath of the First Big Thing of your great tale.
But I guess you’re doing pretty okay.
We do, thank you.
Also, wait.
FIRST Big Thing?
No spoilers ;)
Let’s just say that I’m waiting for some really crazy shit to happen.
But even in the worst case scenario, you have about a month before the hammer drops, though probably a few days until things start to happen.
As for Procacitas’ looks, if you go through all the myths, they are pretty consistent about Tyrannus creating her as his consort after he and Honor made the Creation, making her something akin to a Queen of Hell in these parts.
Makes sure to look the part, even if she definitely doesn’t act it.
You can see how well all of this worked out for Ol' Tyrannus seeing as she was among the Hierarchs that overthrew him and shattered his very existence into pieces.
They probably love each other very, very much after this
Oh, you have no idea lol
One of the rituals pretty common among Procacitas’ worshippers involves one of her priestesses using, errr, a solid implement to attack a man, preferably a captive worshiper of Tyrannus wearing an outfit making them resemble their god, from behind, if you catch my drift.
Seeing as most of the local cultures see this as an ultimate humiliation for a man (of the ‘just kill yourself after this, seriously’ level), you should get a clue as to their, errr, post-divorce relationship.
This is very, very high on my ‘I never wanted to know this’ list.
Yeah
And how does it go the other way?
Well, let’s just say that Tyrannus worshippers like to hit Procacitas’ followers where it really hurts.
Although using their expertise in breaking people to crush their spirits to the point where they can no longer find any sort of enjoyment in anything but serving their captors is also pretty high on the list.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Wow, and here I thought that I was a villain
Only by the standards of your world.
By the standards of this one you were more of a mild annoyance.
UGH
Alright, so spit it out.
Why are you here?
You could observe us without making us aware that you’re there.
Sure, sure, I mostly just wanted to gently suggest permanently fusing Kinoko Komori’s soul with the hamadryad.
I have a hunch that it might lead to some hilarious outcomes, and it’s definitely a necessary step towards something bigger.
Something bigger, as in doing the same thing with Ibara Shiozaki?
Yep.
Don’t you already know what will be the outcome of that? You’re literally a god.
More like an avatar of an avatar of a god.
You didn’t think that I was actually The Luna, right? You’re a fun plot against my sister, a hilariously ironic one even, sure, but ultimately just one of thousands that I have going at every point in time, and that’s just me. As in, me-me.
There are more of me, and there’s also the Big Me, you following?
Mostly. But you didn’t answer my question.
I can see the future and past of humans as I see fit, but daemons are a bit more complicated as their future and past is significantly more… fluid, so to speak.
And more prone to greater powers intervening.
So, while I know what’s going to happen in your corner of the Material World, I can’t say the same about knowing what’s going to happen with her.
Aside from making educated guesses.
And why are we ‘hilariously ironic’?
Because everything in the Material World is a pale reflection of something in the Spiritual World, which in turn is a pale reflection of something in the Radiant Worlds.
Huh?
And it just so happens that all Dungeons are a pale reflection of Panopticon, my sister’s prized prison in the nearby Spiritual World of Damina that her daemons are holding.
A prison without bars, one where it doesn’t matter how far you escape from it, it’s always with you, always knowing your every step and able to take you back into your cell whenever and wherever the warden wishes so.
And boy if it doesn’t sting when one of her servants gets their shit kicked by a pale reflection of one of her own creations, lol.
Oh, so I’m officially a jailer for the bad guys.
God fucking dammit, what a shitty second life to have
Kek.
Alright, so we’ll ask Komori-san if she’s interested in permanent fusion, but if she says no, that’s it.
Are you happy?
Are you there?
Clearly not anymore
Rude
So, are we asking her?
I never said that I’d ask her immediately, and right now I’m greatly interested in being as petty as possible.
Let’s upgrade everyone and decide on potential new servants first.
Lmao.
***
And damn, there was a lot to upgrade or change. Their highest available ETL was 30, meaning that they could push everyone to around that level. And they finally had the means to achieve that.
They started from Uraraka. Her problem was that she was already a [Barbarian Berserker] lvl 30, meaning that to change something, anything in her they needed to take something out. However, Uraraka had an idea.
She wanted to try temporarily giving up on spears, arguing that carrying a spear, a sword, a shield and a few javelins at the same time was seriously straining. And she could get faster if this equipment was lightened.
Especially as she was also carrying a pickaxe, which turned out to not be very useful due to Uraraka not getting to mine anything yet. And they could give it to her if she ever decided to clear the collapsed passage in Aeonia’s tomb.
Tomura then suggested giving her a [Longsword], which was basically a normal sword but with a lengthier hilt, meaning that it was possible to grab it with two hands for some additional oomph behind your hits. Uraraka decided that it was worth testing out.
In the end, Uraraka’s new equipment was composed of [Steel Longsword I], [Wooden Round Shield], [Tribal Berserker Outfit], [Backpack], [Iron Javelin x2] and [Javelin Quiver].
They’ve managed to give her a [Steel Longsword I], which meant that they could finally test what the ‘I’ meant. Though they ended up having to give up on some of the [Skills] and [Abilities] to get that done.
Her full list of skills was as follows: [Shield Proficiency II], [Sword Proficiency II], [Javelin Proficiency I], [Wolf Fang School II], [Mana Pathways II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Spoken VI], [Tracking III] and [Temperate Forest Survival I].
Add to that her abilities - namely [Shield Bash II], [Lesser Slash II], [Barricade Shield II], [Predator’s Advance II] and [Bloodrage] - and you get a [Barbarian Berserker, lvl 30].
Setsuna Tokage went through a similar alteration to her stats. She, too, decided to temporarily give up on the spear, deciding that she had enough other things to specialize in for now.
Her new equipment was now composed of [Steel Handaxe II], [Wooden Round Shield], [Mail Shirt], [Open Ridged Helmet] and [Backpack]. Which should offer a significant improvement in survivability and damage, hopefully.
Her new list of skills included [Axe Proficiency III], [Shield Proficiency III], [Wolf Fang School III], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken V], [Mana Pathways III]. It was definitely on the shorter side, even shorter after removing [Spear Proficiency III] out of it.
She didn’t have Itavian, neither speaking nor reading. She was fine with not reading any book for a while, for as long as it meant that she was good enough in combat. This would eventually change once they’d get some additional ETL.
As for abilities, she had the same thing as previously, just without the [Lesser Thrust]. So, [Shield Bash III], [Lesser Slash III], [Barricade Shield III] and [Predator’s Advance III].
All of that made her into a [Barbarian Warrior lvl 30].
The next problem they were facing was an increasingly terminal lack of new martial arts for their ogre warriors. After some deliberations they elected to go around it by giving them the heaviest armor they could. With an intent of making them proper ‘tanks’ as Tomura called them.
The heaviest armor they could give them turned out to be [Scale Cuirass over Striped Gambeson], a set further enhanced with lamellar pauldrons, splint gloves and boots and a peaked helm over a mail coif.
Which really contrasted with the fact that they were still wielding a small tree as their weapon of choice. They were planning to work on that next, once they would have some free ETL to wiggle around.
The end result was equipment composed of [Ironwood Tree], [Scale Cuirass over Striped Gambeson] and [Backpack]. With the last thing mostly being there because it seemed to cost pretty much nothing.
The skills remained largely the same, with both Kirishima and Tesutetsu sporting [Heavy Blunt Weapons Proficiency II], [Hammer of the Wilds School I], [Mana Pathways I], [Temperate Forest Survival II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI] and [Itavian, Written VI]. Same with the abilities, both of them having [Shockwave I], [Fortify Flesh I] and [Heavy Blow I].
Both of them were now [Barbarian Juggernauts, lvl 30].
Himiko and Mr. Compress had even more changes to them, with their equipment, skills and abilities lagging behind for a long while. But… not anymore.
Their equipment was now identical, and composed of [Tight-Fitting Leather Armor] (in both male and female variants), [Steel Dagger x2], [Slingshot] and a [Bag of Pebbles]. Thus giving them some proper ability to fight at range.
Himiko’s new list of skills included [Dagger Proficiency III], [Slingshot Proficiency III], [Tiger Claw School III], [Mana Pathways III], [Basic Bone Carving II], [Tracking III], [Hunting III], [Temperate Forest Survival III], [Sneaking III], [Pickpocketing III], [Lockpicking III], [Trapping III] and [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI].
She ended up dropping Itavian, both spoken and written to save some points. It was at this point that they realized that the costs of non-combat skills were identical, and depended entirely on their numbers. So, the more of them, the costlier every level was.
Good to know.
Compress instead had [Dagger Proficiency IV], [Slingshot Proficiency IV, [Tiger Claw School III], [Mana Pathways III], [Tracking III], [Hunting III], [Temperate Forest Survival III], [Sneaking III], [Pickpocketing III], [Lockpicking III], [Trapping III] and [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI].
As for abilities, they both had an identical set of those, composed of [Sharpen Claws III], [Bloody Claws I], [Repelling Claws I], [Silent Claws I], [Cat Leap III], [Fall Immunity II], [Feline Grace I], [Dodge I], [Hunter’s Steps I] and [Evasive Stance I]. They ran out of points before giving them a full set of newly available skills.
This made them both into [Barbarian Skirmishers, lvl 30]. Yes, they made sure to hit their level limit whenever possible.
What came next were their mages. And almost immediately they decided that they’re going to need a shaman again - because a solid half of the [Aspect of Blood] spells was healing magic. And they needed healing magic.
Monoma volunteered to do the switch, for as long as they’ll let him stay a white elf. They decided that there was no reason to look for anyone else after that. Besides, whom exactly could they pick for the job?
Yaoyorozu’s equipment stayed as it was, composed of [Hedge Mage Robes] and [Hedge Mage Staff]. Her skills, however, were largely purged out of crafting-oriented skills. They decided that for now they needed a strong mage more than a crafting specialist. And they didn’t have enough points to go for both.
In the end, Yaoyorozu’s skills were as follows: [Staff Proficiency I], [White Core II], [White Magic II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VII], [North Vestirian Language, Written VI], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Spoken VII], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Written VII], [Itavian, Spoken VI], and [Itavian, Written VI].
As for her full list of spells, wow. Her spellbook was growing quickly, and Izuku really looked forward to the results of it.
[Lesser Firebolt II], [Burst of Flames II], [Suppress Ignition II], [Mist II], [Float II], [Suppress Smell II], [Clear Air II], [Lesser Protection from Arrows II], [Stone Shield II], [Remove Footprints II], [Lesser Mana Shield II], [Protection from Physical, Others II], [Protection from Elements, Others II], [Protection from Magic, Others II], [Detect Magic II], [Detect Movement II], [Detect Life II], [Harden Material, Others II] and [Soften Material, Others II].
She was definitely shifting herself towards being a proper support character. It was what mages around here were supposed to be.
“I believe that I won’t be able to hit my full potential as a mage without locking myself into a body and actually learning the spells that the Dungeon can’t bestow.” She comments once she settles on her list of abilities. “Too many spells, not enough points.”
Neito decided to stick to his current clothes, just switching the staff for the brass bells. This meant that his current equipment was composed of [Hedge Mage Robe] and the [Shaman’s Brass Bells].
He, naturally, threw out the [Staff Proficiency] and the crafting skills just like Yaoyorozu did. His new list of skills included [Red Core III], [Wrath Magic III], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VII], [North Vestirian Language, Written VI], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Spoken VII], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Written VII], [Itavian, Spoken VI] and [Itavian, Written VI].
As for his spells, he ended up picking up [Rage III], [Enraged Blow III], [Ignore Pain, Others III], [Ignore Injury, Others III], [Ignore Fatigue, Others III], [Lesser Bloodbolt III], [Staunch Bleeding, Others III], [Mend Flesh I], [Set Bones I], [Hasten Blood Production I], [Blood Purification I] and [Regeneration, Others I].
He was now a [Barbarian Shaman, lvl 30]. She was a [Hedge Mage, lvl 30].
The next problem they were facing was making Kaminari and Ashido stay viable for combat missions. Which was a problem, as they had nothing to improve on their primary combat skills. That is, until Kaminari suddenly had one of his unexpected galaxy brain moments.
“Can’t you give someone more than one sorcery attunement?” He asks, looking somewhat confused at this not being brought up before. “You can do that with White Magic, right?”
And holy shit, it turns out that the answer was yes. They could give sorcerers more than one [Attunement]. They tested it very quickly and discovered how it worked in practice.
The more sorceries of attunement A someone casted in a sequence, the stronger they got (but the greater the risk of the sorcery backfiring on the caster). However, it was possible to then cast attunement B sorcery, which would be much weaker than usual but would desync your leftover mana before starting to attune it with themselves.
So, with a few casts, their strength would be back to normal. In other words, as a sorcerer, you could either hit the enemy with one attunement, over and over again for scaling up damage but greater risk of backlash, or play a rhythm game with attunements, avoiding backlash by switching between them every other cast but also not reaching your peak damage capacity.
They both picked [Water Attunement] as their secondary one. Ashido because it was similar to her [Acid Sorceries], Kaminari because being able to soak enemies in water would make the subsequent electrocution more damaging.
Ashido thus ended up with [Acid Attunement I], [Water Attunement I], [Mana Overflow I], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Written VI], [Temperate Forest Survival II], while Kaminari with [Electric Attunement I], [Water Attunement I], [Mana Overflow I], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Written VI], [Temperate Forest Survival II].
And for their abilities, Ashido had [Corrosive Spit I], [Acid Splash I], [Shield of Acid I], [Deluge I], [Douse the Flame I] and [Shield of Water I], while Kaminari ended up with [Electric Discharge I], [Static Electricity I], [Shocking Touch I], [Deluge I], [Douse the Flame I] and [Shield of Water I].
They both ended up as [Elemental Sorcerers, lvl 29].
Finally, there was Spinner. Who, too, got some significant progress and a lot of new unlocks. His new equipment reflected that, with Spinner now owning a [Recurve Bow], [Cured Leather Lamellar Armor] with an added pair of bronze bracers and a ridged cap over cloth, [Quiver], [Steel Arrows x20] and [Backpack].
His new list of skills included [Bow Proficiency III], [Tail Splitter School III], [Butchering III], [Mana Pathways III], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Tracking III], [Hunting III], [Sneaking III], [Temperate Forest Survival III].
As for his abilities, he had [Lacerating Claws III], [Empower Self II], [Hold Steady II], [Breathe Less I], [Close Wounds III], [Hard Scales III], [Lightning Reflex I], [Vertical Movement III] and [Quickstep I].
All of that ended up making him a [Barbarian Archer, lvl 30].
In the end, only Reiko Yanagi out of their entire combat roster lacked available combat skills and abilities to be brought to ~level 30. Which tied in with the next big thing that they needed to address right after this.
New party members. Who and with what skills and equipment?