The first floor went much the same as Cub’s Den had gone, except Tess was behind Alice and Eyfura while the older women sprung the traps ahead. There were only goblins at this point, but they were disgusting enough to make her wish that there were kobolds as well.
Well, provided the kobolds were cleaner. Regardless, the goblins were short and stunted, with proportions that were just…off. They weren’t even consistently off, either. Sometimes one of their arms was much shorter than the other, their necks were of dramatically differing lengths, ears weren’t always quite aligned, and they often had large dents and bumps on their body.
Their clothes weren’t much better; they were ragged and dirty, covered in stains and only patchily covering their bodies. The bodies themselves were green and, like the clothes, covered with dirt and grime. And they stank, too. Tess was glad that she had opted to turn off Keen Nose when not actively using it, because even without it she could clearly smell them from yards away.
Fortunately, as the info sheet had said, they weren’t anything to write home about when it came to actual combat ability. They generally had a front line/back line thing going on, but since none of the front liners were able to notice Tess, she was able to slip in and take out the back liners with a single strike each. Mopping up the front liners was a little more difficult since they were moving more, but a few well-aimed blows would finish them off too.
The only real thing of note that happened on the first floor was when they reached the exit. They were about to go through, but Alice stopped them. “Tess, have you absorbed that core yet?”
Tess started. “Oh, right, I forgot. Sorry.” She took the core out of her bag, “Let me do that real quick.”
The core was far and away the largest she had ever absorbed, but she wasn’t hurting for empty slots, so she wasn’t worried about potentially needing to eject it later. There was still a slight moment of hesitation, but she powered through it and absorbed the core, watching as the core burst into a huge haze, swirled around her, then rushed in.
And, unlike the other cores she had absorbed, there was an instant rush of energy and power from it. It was clearly quite a few steps above even the boss cores she had absorbed, and the long list in front of her reflected that.
You have absorbed an Emperor Lion Core!
Slots filled: 6/8
You have gained 5,700 EXP in Monster Breeder!
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
For reaching level 10 in Monster Breeder, you have gained a new Skill!
Form of the Beast:
Rarity: Phantasmal
Type: Passive
Description: You gain an additional slot for Attributes. This slot functions like the ones from Core Surgery, but any Attribute put in this slot is marked as Fundamental, greatly increasing its effects and potentially providing new ones. Every 10th level of Monster Breeder beyond level 10 grants an additional Fundamental slot.
0/1 Slots used.
Absorb, Adapt, Become
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
Monster Breeder has leveled up!
New core absorbed! Scanning for abilities…
New Skills detected!
Attempting to degrade and obtain Command of the Emperor…
Congratulations, you have successfully obtained Heir’s Will!
Attempting to degrade and obtain Emperor’s Armaments…
Congratulations, you have successfully obtained Opulent Ordinance!
Attempting to degrade and obtain Pollice Verso…
Congratulations, you have obtained Writ of Execution!
Attempting to degrade and obtain Impenetrable Pelt…
Congratulations, you have obtained Unyielding Hide!
Attempting to degrade and obtain Blood Sport…
Congratulations, you have obtained Bloodwork!
Heir’s Will:
Rarity: Epic
Type: Active
Description:
Spend 50 Stamina to let loose a roar. Any enemy that can hear this roar has a 25% chance to be Terrified for 20 seconds, causing them to stop what they were doing and run away from you. Beast enemies instead have a 75% chance to be Terrified for 1 minute and have a further 25% chance to become Charmed for 1 minute, nullifying the effects of Terrified and causing them to treat you as an ally and their allies as enemies until they are no longer Charmed. This ability may only be used once every two minutes.
Claim the respect you are due.
Opulent Ordinance:
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Passive
Description:
Your natural weapons deal 1.5x damage, and effects inflicted with them are 1.5x more effective (1.5x duration, 1.5x damage, 1.5x more likely to be inflicted, etc).
Only the best.
Writ of Execution:
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Active
Description:
Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to mark an enemy with a Writ, causing them to take double damage from your allies for 10 seconds.
So let it be written, so let it be done.
Unyielding Hide:
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Passive
Description:
Incoming physical damage is reduced by 25% while you are above 50% HP
Contrary to popular belief, the best defense is a good defense.
Bloodwork:
Rarity: Epic
Type: Passive
Description:
Any slashing or piercing damage you inflict with natural weapons has a 10% chance to cause the enemy to bleed for 10 seconds, dealing 25% of the original damage every second.
By imposing a blood tax, you have shown that death and taxes are not so different.
Displaying core information:
Emperor Lion Core:
Level: 102
Estimated Power: 3,000
Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 6,000
Current Skills:
Command of the Emperor
Emperor’s Armaments
Pollice Verso
Impenetrable Pelt
Blood Sport
Current Attributes:
Darkvision (Perfect)
Enhanced Hearing (Perfect)
Extendable Claws (Major)
Iron Fur (Fundamental)
Keen Nose
Kemonomimi (Lion) (Fundamental)
Saber Claws (Perfect)
Saber Fangs (Perfect)
Quadrupedal Adaption (Fundamental)
New Attributes discovered!
Darkvision (Perfect):
Allows for perfect sight in nonmagical darkness, even in the complete absence of light. Furthermore, makes the eyes adjust immediately and prevents being stunned, temporarily blinded, or otherwise injured by bright flashes of nonmagical light.
Enhanced Hearing (Perfect):
Intensely enhances the user’s hearing without making them any more sensitive to loud sounds. Provides the ability to filter sounds by focusing on certain sounds, allowing the user to pick and choose what they wish to hear.
Extendable Claws (Major):
Allows retraction and extension of the claws. Claws can be extended up to half the length of the limb with the hand or foot containing the claw and retracted to nothingness.
Iron Fur:
Covers the creature in a thick layer of hard fur, decreasing physical damage by 5% and cold damage by 25%.
Saber Claws (Perfect):
Immensely hardens and sharpens the nails of the creature’s hands and feet, turning them into claws. Doubles the damage of attacks made using the claws and increases the efficacy of bleed effects inflicted with them by 1.25x. Claw size may be adjusted prior to placing this Attribute on a core, with a maximum size of no larger than thrice the normal size and no smaller than half the normal size.
Saber fangs (Perfect):
Immensely hardens and sharpens the creature’s teeth, giving them fangs. Doubles the damage of attacks made using the fangs and increases the efficacy of bleed effects inflicted with them by 1.25x. Tooth size may be adjusted prior to placing this Attribute on a core, with a maximum size of no larger than five times the normal size and no smaller than the normal size.
New Skills discovered!
Command of the Emperor:
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Active
Description:
Spend 50 Stamina to let loose a roar. Any enemy that can hear this roar has a 50% chance to be Terrified for 30 seconds, causing them to stop what they were doing and run away from you. Beast enemies instead have a 100% chance to be Terrified for 1.5 minutes and have a further 50% chance to become Charmed for 1.5 minutes, nullifying the effects of Terrified and causing them to treat you as an ally and their allies as enemies until they are no longer Charmed. This ability may only be used once every two minutes.
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OBEY.
Emperor’s Armaments:
Rarity: Mythical
Type: Passive
Description:
Your natural weapons deal double damage, and status effects inflicted with them are twice as effective (double duration, double damage, twice as likely to be inflicted, etc).
The emperor’s blades are sharper than any other.
Pollice Verso:
Rarity: Mythical
Type: Active
Description:
Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to mark an enemy for death, causing them to take triple damage from your allies and double damage from you for 30 seconds.
Thumbs down.
Impenetrable Pelt:
Rarity: Mythical
Type: Passive
Description:
Incoming physical damage is reduced by 50% while you are above 25% HP
Despite taking a hundred blows, the emperor remained unharmed
Blood Sport:
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Passive
Description:
Bleed effects that you inflict last twice as long. Any slashing or piercing damage you inflict with natural weapons has a 20% chance to cause the enemy to bleed for 15 seconds, dealing 25% of the original damage every second.
A favorite of the masses.
“You there?” Eyfura was waving her hand in front of Tess’s face, a worried look on her face.
Tess blinked. “What?”
Eyfura smiled. “You were super out of it for a second.” She shot Alice a look. “What did you give her? I’ve seen Saberclaw Lion cores before, and that was not one of them. That was at least twice the size.”
Alice looked away, tapping her pointer fingers together. “Well, I figured that if I was in for a penny I was in for a pound, and I keep a fair number of valuable cores around just in case, so…I might have picked an Emperor Lion core? It wasn’t like it was more of a sacrifice or anything.”
Eyfura grinned. “I like it.” She turned back to Tess. “Don’t tell everyone else yet, they think you got a Saberclaw Lion core. Anything you would have gotten from that core you got from the one you just absorbed, so as long as you don’t use the active abilities, they should have a hard time noticing anything wrong. We’ll tell them about later, but until then it’ll be our secret, OK?”
Tess nodded hesitantly. “Um, OK.”
Alice breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, go switch around your Attributes, Ker said that can take a few minutes. We’ll wait.”
As she tinkered, she quickly found that most of the Attributes were considered upgrades of ones she had, and as such, did not stack. The lion’s Keen Nose was the same as the one she was currently using, so that merged into Keen Nose (Greater).
Enhanced Hearing (Perfect) was an obvious choice, so she took that, and swapped out her Night Vision for Darkvision (Perfect). Likewise, Extendable Claws replaced Retractable Claws, and Saber Claws would replace Sharp Claws. Instead of putting it in a regular slot, however, she decided to try and put it in her Fundamental slot.
A new window popped up the moment she did.
New User Fundamental Attribute discovered!
Saber Claws (Perfect) (User Fundamental):
Immensely hardens and sharpens the nails of the creature’s hands and feet, turning them into claws. Triples the damage of attacks made using the claws and multiplies the efficacy of bleed effects inflicted with them by 1.5. Claw size may be adjusted when putting this in a Fundamental slot with a maximum size of no larger than five times the normal size and no smaller than half the normal size.
New concept discovered!
Attributes put in one of the user’s Fundamental slots gain additional effects not present when an Attribute is considered Fundamental for a monster, and any Attribute may be marked as User Fundamental if put in a Fundamental slot.
She decided to keep her claws the same length before, as she was fairly happy with how they were, and she could make them much longer with Extendable Claws if need be. At that point she had used eight of her fourteen normal slots and her Fundamental slot, so she took all five of the Emperor Lion’s Skills. That left her with one slot remaining, and after some deliberation she decided to equip Saber Fangs (Perfect) and make them only slightly longer than her normal canines. Fortunately, it seemed that only her canines were affected, and she could easily wave away the difference if anyone actually noticed.
As she finished, she realized that she was sitting down. That…was not something she really wanted to be doing, considering the state of the dungeon; it was like an old, moldy cellar, covered in all sorts of grime and grease. The wooden walls were rotting, and she could occasionally see dirt or stone beyond them.
And the floor was nasty too. It was made of uneven cobbles, small stretches of wood, or just altogether missing. Even when the floor was there, it was covered in plants, rubble, grime, and generally looked like it hadn’t been maintained in years.
Tess quickly stood up, went to brush herself off, and then decided that it wasn’t worth dirtying her hands any more than they already were, not when the clothes were bound to get dirty again anyway. “Done.” She said. “When you have multiple Skills that increase damage or efficiency of things, do they stack? And if so, is it multiplicative or additive?”
“Yes, and generally speaking, they stack additively between other bonuses from the same category, and multiplicative from other categories.” Eyfura said, “So, all effects from passive Skills or passive effects from active Skills add up to one multiplier, which is multiplied by active effects, which is multiplied by Titles, which is multiplied by buffs, and so on. The biggest exception to this is damage reduction, which is always multiplicative, regardless of the source.”
Eyfura stopped for a moment. “No clue where your Attributes lie on that, though I’m guessing they’ll be considered their own category.”
“So, what’d you get?” Alice asked excitedly.
“Um, a lot.” Tess replied. She gave a quick summary of what she got, and there was a long silence as both Eyfura and Alice stared at her. Eventually, Eyfura pulled out her phone and started tapping on it while Alice watched interestedly.
Tess squirmed around for a bit. “What?” She asked.
Eyfura slowly shook her head, putting away the phone. “I was doing the math on your bonuses. They’re absolutely busted. Six times damage on claw attacks, which will inflict a bleed for one hundred and twenty seconds, which deals one hundred and five percent of the damage of the original attack every second. And on top of that, you plant a parasite that deals another ten percent of every second and heals you that amount.”
She sighed. “I think that actually bumps your overall damage output to above average for your level. Which, by all rights, shouldn’t be happening given your abysmal statline. Seriously, just imagine if you had Ellie’s stats. You’d be the strongest person to ever live.”
“Um, right.” Tess replied awkwardly. “Sorry.”
Eyfura frowned. “What’s there to be sorry about?”
“Never mind. It’s not important.”
Alice and Eyfura shared a look.
“No, it is.” Alice stressed. “That was a hypothetical that would never actually come to pass. Fortune said she chose you because of your low stats. She could have chosen Ellie just as easily, but she didn’t. She very clearly believes in your potential, so you shouldn’t be down about it.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Tess mumbled., looking away.
There was a silence then, but Fortune chose to fill it with a message.
She’s right, you know. Honestly, even if I wanted to give Ellie my blessing, and I didn’t, I couldn’t. It would upset the balance of power way too much. Think of it like this: I believe that, way down the line, you’ll be stronger than Ellie. Not for a long while, yes, but eventually you probably will.
And if someone with literally the worst possible base can make it to be in contention for the world’s strongest with my blessing, then someone with a good base would break everything. The boss just doesn’t allow it.
But, that’s completely irrelevant. I wouldn’t have picked someone else. I haven’t picked anyone else. Honestly, I don’t see myself picking anyone ever again. Not in the way I’ve picked you. I’ve realized that my influence is more…influential than many of the other gods’ and I don’t think I can trust other mortals as much.
I mentioned I’d been watching you for a while. By that I mean I’ve been watching ever since you and Ellie first met when you were like…two. Parts of your dynamic really caught my interest, and I ended up watching you two waaaay more than I should have. I almost feel like a parent, in a strange way.
The point of this is that you’re not a waste of potential. I would much rather have you get this blessing then someone who has the theoretical maximum stats I could get away with giving my blessing to, which isn’t even much higher. In a way, I think it’s for the best that you got those stats, which, by the way, isn’t my doing. That’s completely random, and not even I can touch it. Anyway, those low stats just mean I get to talk with you like this.
“Right, um…sorry.” Eyfura said, snapping Tess back to the situation at hand. “I probably shouldn’t have said something like that. I’m not trying to say you’re not good enough, you’re plenty good, I was just making wondering what if.
“People think about the theoretical strongest set of Skills all the time, and that theoretical strongest is often paired with the strongest stats as a matter of course since they’re talking theory anyway. I was just thinking aloud, and I still haven’t fully come to terms with the fact that this hypothetical is playing out right in front of me.”
“I…alright. Don’t worry about it, it’s fine. I’m just a little stressed right now, sorry. I don’t mean to drag everyone down with my own issues.”
There was an awkward pause, and then Alice spoke up. “Alright, um, Eyfura, what’d you think of Tess’s form?”
“Right.” Eyfura began slowly, “So, couple of pointers, first, when you go in for a big blow, you hesitate, finding the most exact time and place to strike. That has its time, but if your teammates are under fire, you have to be faster.”
Eyfura activated…something, and a pair of gleaming claws materialized on her hands. “Now, the best way to go about it is just aim for the general vicinity of the vitals. Let me show you a couple of ways to maximize your chance of getting a solid hit in…”