"Eerwww"
I came back to awareness and the hangover feeling. I had made it to level six, which made me happy. The death of three teams in a single day had pushed me across the threshold. You must love overeager/greedy adventures and the stupid things they did to get killed. I decided to open an alert flashing in the corner of my vision first.
Congratulations!
You have reached another important milestone!
It is not easy for a Core to walk its Path and develop in the world, but you are making headway. For achieving your sixth floor, you are awarded an additional 25 CP points permanently.
To aid in Dungeon development, as long adventures remain on floor five or above, you can work on any floor below.
Continue to gain more rewards!
"Now, this is something I can get behind."
This was a huge thing, giving me a bonus that would help me develop faster. After the reduction from the Core Refinement, I had plenty of CP to use. The second part was more important, meaning I could work on floor six without interruption during the day. I opened my status sheet to see how much I had to play with.
Name
Bhaldor
Essence
0%
Race
Dungeon Core
CP
183(700) 6.3 phr
Level
6
Corruption
0%
Floors
6
Health
100%
"Right, that's a lot of CP. What can I do with it?"
The Dungeon was secure and everything was in order. It was a day outside and I opened the Dungeon. It would take time before the adventurers would reappear, and I used this time to start digging out the stairwell room location below the present one. I would shift my Core room down when the floor was finished. If I had done it before, it may have raised suspicions.
The room was made and nothing was discovered or found.
"So far, so good. Right to the east we go."
The stone gave way as I started to cut out the first room. This floor would not have rooms but caverns, so that I could be more haphazard with their layouts. The cavern was slow going, but it was taking shape. Above, an individual had entered the Dungeon and descended the stairs.
"They will be here to check to see if the new floor was open."
I continued with my work. As I suspected, they reached the bottom, looked around and then returned to the surface. By the time they left, the first cavern was finished. I was pushing the limits of height and depth when this cavern was finished. I filled the bottom with earth, levelling it with the floor of the stairwell room. This was room 6B, as the stairwell was 6A.
"Now, the plants."
I smiled in my mind as I chose them. The first adventurers were now entering the Dungeon. I ignored them as I continued my work.
"They will not expect these."
I did some planting and added a little water to help things along. Now, to the next room, I turned south. Expanding my aura, I claimed the stone and removed it to form the cavern. Another took form, and I filled it with earth as the first, listing it as 6C. Checking my CP count, I knew I could go a bit further.
I went west with my aura. As I expanded, I found something that triggered an alert. I stopped and opened it.
Alert!
You have discovered a silver vein. Fully claim it to discover its amount and quality.
"Well, that might be a problem."
I reached out again and claimed the vein on the southern end of the cavern I was planning. As I expanded, I got more worried as it just kept going. It exhausted my remaining CP, but I brought it under my control. I opened another alert.
"It's how big!"
The numbers before me were a bit scary. This threw my plans into considerable disarray.
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"Well, I cannot go on for now. I need to think about this."
I settled in to think about this problem while the adventurers continued to come and go. The miners appeared, indicating that the day was coming to an end and then they went to the two resource nodes. The fifth floor took longer to reach, but they made it with their escorts, claiming the rewards for the kills. The copper was quickly extracted and they packed up and left.
The night rolled in and still, I thought, turning the possible scenarios over in my mind. This would be the time I was working, but I was still waiting for my CP to recover. The caverns were large and took time to create. The silver vein could become a resource node, but it would cost me dearly if I chose to do this.
"I could just absorb it and be done with it."
Near dawn, I returned to work finishing the cavern I counted as 6D. I had decided to leave the vein's fate until the floor layout was completed. The earth and plants were added to the space and I turned my attention northward. Any cavern was formed here with the earth and plants added; I labelled it 6E. I continued north once more but had the cavern turn east; this would be the guardian room 6F. I connected it to the stairwell room. I went back and put all the earth and added the plants.
I felt good about the floor. It was smaller than the one above, but only slightly. I had thought about going more extensively, but I was using this floor as an experiment to create full environments. The other floors had aspects of environments, but they would be tailored to the minions here.
"Talking about minions, better get the first one made."
I opened the creation screen and got to work. Selecting the snake I had been working on, I increased its CP cost from six to eight and went about making it. The motes of light began spinning and the pressure came to my mind. I concentrated on keeping the image in my mind. The small whirlwind of dust and earth joined the motes. The snake began taking form and, with a pop, came into existence.
Alert!
You have created a new type of minion and monster in this world. Please name it…
I said nothing and looked over at the snake. It was similar in size to the Rock Worms above. Its scales shimmered and seemed to blend in with the surrounding earth. What drew my attention was a diamond-shaped marking on its head, and then I knew.
"Diamond Head Snake."
Alert!
A new Diamond Head Snake has been created!
Design gained – Diamond Head Snake.
With this done, I went into the details of my newest creation. After much experimentation, I had given it crystal-like fangs, which I had learned from the minions above.
"Let us see what you can do."
Name
Diamond Head Snake
Level/Class
1 - Dungeon Minion
Race
Dungeon Snake
Essence
0%
Health
140/140
Mana
40/40
Stamina
120/120
Corruption
0%
STR
8
8 Damage base
DEX
8
AGL
12
END
8
VIT
14
PER
10
INT
4
WIL
4
LUCK
3
Skills:
Strike 1 – 0%: + 20% to an attack. Cost 10 stamina.
Equipment:
Bite: 4 DAM(Piercing) + STR
Perks/Restrictions:
Tough Hide: -2 DAM
Camouflage: +40% stealth attacks.
"Well, not bad, not bad at all."
It was not as tough as the Rock Worms but had no restrictions and some decent perks. Its ability to ambush was far better combing it with its strike skill could do some severe damage.
"It's a fair trade-off."
I looked around 6B, the room where I had created the snake. The first green shoots of the plants were appearing. Now, I had a question to answer, as I ignored the loot allocation alert. How many were in this room?
"Shall I ease them in? Or through them in the deep end?"
By now, they should know the score if they had reached this floor. Suppose they have jumped some, well, more fool them.
"Time to take the gloves off."
I checked my CP and created three more snakes. They are assigned to the room and open the loot alert.
Loot Assignment.
The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the four Diamond Head Snakes.
Cythian Copper coins x24 (Chance – 80%)
Cythian Copper coins x30 (Chance – 20%)
The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will increase the room respawn's overall support cost.
Do you wish to alter the rewards: Yes or No?
I read over the list and thought about it. I wonder if this is a bit too thrifty? The system rates the minion and assigns what it thinks is a fair reward but allows me to change it. Over the last few years, I have understood that the additional benefits brought financial gain to most of the adventurers. Plants, minion parts and resource nodes were where the money was.
Is that the wrong approach?
I thought about it a bit longer, but I felt that, in the end, I was on the right course, as the adventurers were generally happy to venture through my floors.
"No."
Dawn had arrived, and the bottom of the stairwell was rechecked to see if entry to the sixth was possible. I looked around the cavern and again at my plant list. My CP total dropped by 32, which was assigned to the snake's respawn cost.
"Should I keep the silver vein?"
I still had no idea what to do with it. With my low CP count, I would have to wait for it to regenerate. But my rate had increased to 6.9 per hour, so there was that.
The day passed as most others had, and I waited while watching the adventurers. The first to third floors saw all the action, while the bottom two floors were ignored for the time being.
In the end, the miners cleared out and I had enough CP regenerated. I could have started earlier, but I wanted to have a good number to work with. Before I did anything, I was going to deal with the silver vein.
Resource Node Created!
Congratulations! You have created a resource node (Silver seam, Quality—common). Do you wish to make this a permanent resource node? If you select yes, once every 72 hours, the node will be regenerated back to its initial amount of silver (100 pounds). This will cost twenty-five Creation Points to permanently assign to this resource node.
Do you wish this to happen: Yes or No?
"Yes."
Twenty-five CP points were painful, but not as painful as I feared. Silver is a higher-grade metal, and I had created a large node, so the regeneration time was three times longer. This made sense, as producing too much of a valuable metal could crash the local economy. I'm back to work in room 6C. The plants are growing nicely and will be fully grown in a day or two.
"Looking good."