The Dungeon Core, or rather the System Relay Node floated in the middle of a small, sparsely furnished room. There was a chair, a small table, and that was it. There wasn’t even art on the walls, being covered by decorative drapes instead. However the drapes just hid plastered stone, no windows. There was standing room for three people to comfortably stand around the giant glowing sapphire, and Will, Emerys, and Amalise had the honor of going first.
“What do we do with it?” Will asked. He was apprehensive of touching the thing given how the last time went.
“Just touch it.” Emerys said. “It will do the rest.”
Will sighed, and did as Emerys said.
Dungeon: Deep Woods Fortress Dungeon Complete!
Time: 7 hours 26 minutes
Calculating Rewards…
Rewards increased for Quick Clear
Rewards decreased for Large Group
Rewards increased for Under Level Clear
Rewards increased for Greatest Contribution.
Rewards increased for completing (1) Optional Area
Rewards increased for circumventing (2) Mandatory Areas
Reward decreased for Incomplete Clear
Reward increased for use of unknown magic
…
Magic identified as lost magic
Reward increased for use of Lost Magic
Reward greatly Increased for completing a dungeon with catastrophically low stat (Luck 5)
Calculating Rewards…
Rewards calculated…
Insufficient power to grant reward. Please provide a beast core.
Will blinked at the wall of text. Without removing his hand from the crystal he summoned a beast core from his inventory and touched it to the Dungeon Core.
Beast core received. Disbursing rewards.
Greater Boon of Luck Granted
Node SRD4368 ownership received
Class choice expanded.
Will focused on the first reward.
Greater Boon of Luck: Gain one luck per level in addition to class stat points.
It was all Will could do to hold back his excitement long enough to examine the other rewards.
Node SRD4368 ownership: Due to having the greatest contribution, you have been granted node ownership.
Class choice expanded: Due to not yet having a class, your class choice has been expanded
Will removed his hand from the system relay node to grin at the equally grinning Emerys and Amalise. They each started talking at once and had to stop. Emerys ended up going first.
“I got a boon that increases my affinity to stone. My body is now more dense, and I can use stone creation and manipulation better.”
“I got a boon that allows me to project my spirit farther while casting spells. I can now extend my spirit far enough to cast from in front of our formations!” Amalise seemed ready to explode from the bottled excitement. After a moment they both looked at Will. Will smiled smugly at them.
“I got the Greater Boon of Luck.” Will reveled in the looks of outrage and envy on Emerys and Amalise faces. “I gain one luck every level.”
“Well, damn you and your luck.” Emerys said. “How did I ever believe you had low luck? It is probably 15, not five.”
“Reward increased for completing a dungeon with a catastrophically low stat.” Will read smugly.
“He is a hero.” Amalise sounded more resigned than jealous. “Still, I am glad you got that. Such low luck was likely part of why we had to flee Frostfell in the first place.” She turned to leave the room.
“Oh, I’m not done.” Will said with a bland smile. The other two turned back to him with murder in their eyes. “I also got the node and increased class choices.”
“Oh.” they said in unison.
“Well I suppose it isn’t that bad.” Emerys said.
“I thought the legend of the hero had struck again.” Amalise said. And they both walked out leaving Will alone in the room. He was then unceremoniously kicked out by three of the followers, who very much wanted their rewards. Will went back out to the main room and slumped into an unoccupied chair.
“So this is home now?” Will asked.
“Unless you got a better idea.” Emerys said. “We did work kinda hard to clear this place out, so it would be a shame to just leave.”
“Sure, sure. At least the furniture is still here. Furnishing such a large building would be quite difficult.” The three sat quiet for several minutes as the followers chatted and got their rewards.
“So, what now?” Will asked.
“Now, I am taking a vacation.” Emerys said. “Things have been too stressful recently, and I am going to take a week to get settled in.”
Amalise nodded in agreement, along with half the followers. Will agreed as well. Even if someone tracked them down here, it would be difficult for them to get into the fortress. It meant that they had a safe place to train and experiment. Will had all the equipment the alchemist had left behind, along with his research notes, and more than enough ingredients to make the upgraded size enhancement pill. They had plenty of money for the moment, but it would run out soon enough if they didn’t make any.
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A flashing in the corner of his vision reminded Will that he had not looked at his notifications in several days. Truth be told, he hadn’t wanted to after killing the bandits. While he felt surprisingly ok with killing all of them, something about gaining experience from it put him off. Will shook the thought from his head. He had taken their merchandise without issue, and this was no different.
You have slain Human Bandit x10
You have slain Human Merchant x1
You have slain Corrupted Fox x5
You have slain Skeletal Workers x300 (Group Kills) (No experience is obtained from enemies more than five levels lower than you)
You have slain Skeletal Soldiers x178 (Group Kills)
You have slain Revenant x63 (Group Kills)
You have slain Revenant Lord (Group Kill)
You have finished Deep Woods Fortress Dungeon and gained control of the Core.
You are now level 25. Additional experience will be banked until you choose a class.
Concept Manipulation is now level 30.
Spirit Inscription is now level 20.
You may now choose a class! Please visit a System Relay Node to choose your class.
Will stared at that last line for a few minutes. His class. It had been a pet peeve of his to see the line where it said he had no class. But now he was a bit hesitant.
“Hey, Emerys. Is it possible to get a bad class from the system?”
“Not really. Amalise can explain it better, but the system is bound by what class your soul can accept. What that means is that the more crazy things you do, the more your soul can handle. I highly doubt you will be given bad choices. Bad choices are for lazy sons of nobles who buy enough treasures and protections to ride their way through the trial and gain the system.” Amalise was listening and asked a question.
“Did you hit level 25 then?”
“Uh, yeah, I did.” This put a smile on everyone’s faces.
“You know what that means!” Emerys shouted into the far too small room.
“Class party!” the group yelled back.
“Will, you need to go choose your class, but don’t tell us until you join us downstairs in the kitchen. Everyone else! Follow me!” and they all turned and left. Will was left slouching stunned in his chair, but got up anyway. Before going to the node, he decided he was going to look around a bit. The room they had fought in was a large sitting room. All the furniture had been shoved to the sides where they would not be damaged. Through one door was a cozy dining room that had access to the kitchens through a servant’s staircase. Attached to the dining room was a bedroom with a large four poster bed and a smaller round table. Then attached to both the bedroom and the living room was an opulent office with a giant desk and dozens of filled bookshelves.
However, in the bedroom was something very interesting. Three giant chests overflowing with gold, jewels, and other expensive items. A quick glance however showed that very little was actual coinage. There were rings, chains, necklaces, broaches, even bars of gold and silver. However each piece would need to be pawned or fenced at significantly below market value. Maybe the adventurers guild would take it off their hands for a fair price.
With his exploration done for the moment, Will returned to the room with the System Relay Node. It floated there serenely, bobbing up and down gently as though by an unseen tide. Will stepped forward and placed his hand on the crystal.
Welcome, Will Thompson,
You have been recognized as the node administrator for this node. This node is in dungeon mode, serving as the core for the Deep Woods Fortress Dungeon.
What would you like to do?
Access Node Settings
Access Base Modification System
Access Individual Services
Access System Network
Curious, Will selected Node Settings
Node Settings
Mode: Dungeon
Additional settings unavailable due to low access level.
Will selected mode.
Please select new mode.
Dungeon (Basic)
Base (Basic)
House (Basic)
Castle (Basic)
Institute (Basic)
Modular Castle With Mine. (Tier 2)
Will looked curiously at the modes, which were all labeled basic except for the last one. He focused on the last option and additional information popped up.
Modular Castle with Mine (Tier 2)
Analyzing structure…
Current base matches blueprint at 33% completion and 78% health. Would you like to switch to this mode?
Along with the text, it showed a three dimensional image in Will’s mind not unlike a CAD drawing. It showed a massive fortification big enough to swallow a small city. What had been built already was only a small portion of the whole it was meant to be one day. Moreover, this wasn’t even the final castle, just a wing of it. Eventually it would be expanded into what looked more like a palace. That was, if anyone cared to finish the job. Still, Will decided that he might as well switch to the new mode. Maybe the Node would build it automatically over time. That would be cool.
Will switched back to the first page and selected the Base Modification System.
Repair Base (Estimated Time: 3 Weeks)
Expand Base according to Blueprint (Estimated time: 20 years)
Manual Modifications
Will chose manual modifications and looked over the blueprint. Apparently there was a mine of some sort behind the castle that he hadn’t known about, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He started with the garderobe connected to the main bedroom. It was a primitive bathroom that consisted of a long shute leading down to the bowels of the castle. But it simply wouldn’t do. He imagined a nice modern bathroom with nice modern plumbing, and was surprised when a pre-built bathroom blueprint slotted nicely into place. It gave an estimate of three hours until it was finished, and Will was glad to see that a storage building on the premises already had all of the necessary materials, and he set it to building. There were several points that needed to be enchanted for the system to work properly, but he could do that.
Unfortunately, he had to rely on the primitive rainwater system on the roof of the building, as there was too little material to fully plumb the place, which also meant that he had to be strategic unless everyone was to bathe in tubs with water from the stove. That pretty much meant that he had to do some sort of communal bath, and not even a gender separated one. They would have to schedule times for each group or something, but he figured people wouldn’t mind given the opportunity for a warm bath. He set that to build, pausing the previous construction. The baths already existed, it turned out, they just needed to be plumbed properly. It meant the construction time was like twenty minutes.
When he was done he finally turned away from the base modifications and selected Individual Services.
Congratulations, William Thompson, on reaching level 25. You are now able to receive a class.
Analyzing soul for class compatibility…
6 options available.
* Magus of Frostfire- Magi are adept spell users. With your concepts of heat and cold, you show remarkable aptitude for the rare frostfire. Frostfire will change spellcraft of both heat and cold subtypes into something far greater. Cast spells like Burning Blizzard and Icy Inferno and devastate your enemies.
* Desolate Swordsman- The desolate Swordsman wanders alone, bringing ruin to all with his Sword of Desolation. Beware, this is a long and lonely path, where you are as likely to fall and join the reapers as rise to the peak.
* Inscriptionist Dedicate- Dedicate your life to advancing the art of inscription. Your insights have already been remarkable. Become the Inscriptionist Dedicate and raise enchanting to new heights.
* King of Change- become the one around which all flows. Creation and destruction all at your word. Who needs a sword when you control thousands of men with swords? Not you.
* Elemental Master- Master the arts of the four elements, abandoning restrictive spells, using only concept manipulation and mana manipulation to get what you want.
*
The classes were all great, but Will knew which one he would pick the moment he read number six.