The following hours, the Zcarbbs searched the surroundings of the cliffs in the hope of finding the treasure of the quest. If they managed to observe a few rainbows generated by the mysterious light and the water falling at a regular rhythm, they could not find the “foot” where the treasure should be. They fought a few Gnomes and sometimes encountered a few giant insects that did not show themselves to be hostile.
Abandoning this chimerical treasure, they headed towards the luminous palace where the enemy boss should be: it was time to finish this dungeon.
The palace bordered a vast pond where other strange luminous constructions rose. The Gnomes swarmed around, transporting multiple materials from one place to another for some mysterious activities.
Kol-Gaar seemed to be having fun with his new skill, ambushing the enemies to gradually reduce their numbers before the assault on the palace. If, seeing a strange luminous symbol appear on the ground, some Gnomes avoided the trap, the Zcarbbs had until then always managed to eliminate them quickly enough to prevent them from raising the alarm.
Then, it was the final assault!
Emerging from everywhere, the Gnomes fired with their small projectile weapons, slowly nibbling away at the attackers'' Hit Points. Their resistance was however futile, so their trump card entered the field.
The doors of the palace opened wide and a small man, smaller than the majority of the Gnomes, came out. He was dressed in a strange metal armor from which multiple dials and gears emerged. He seemed to be tampering with it using his tools, modifying it, adding components similar to weapons, all this with astonishing speed.
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Big Ears, Boss level 10
Hit points (HP): 230/230
Energy Points (EP): 440/440
Vigor: 80/80
<u>Abilities:</u>
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Stamina: 8
Intelligence: 22
Mana: 2
Armor: 1
<u>Description</u>: Big Ears leads the Gnomes of the Night Garden thanks to his fantastic intelligence allowing him to control a mechanical army.
<u>Attributes </u><u>(0)</u>:
<u>Skills</u><u> (6):</u>
Imaginary Sounds [E] (Magical Power) Allows everyone to hear sounds that do not exist and seem to originate from a specific point. Costs 1 Energy per second.
Detection (D): (Supernatural Power) Increases the probability of detecting traps, invisible things and points of interest.
Identification (D) (Supernatural Power) Allows you to discover the properties of a target, including the uses that can be made of it. [Identification can allow you to discover part of the history of the identified target.]
Trap Construction (D) (Natural Power) Allows you to build simple traps from a small amount of material.
Dodge [D] (Natural Power) [Get a 15% chance of avoiding a targeted attack. The higher the enemy''s Agility is compared to yours, the more the percentage will decrease.] [Each point of agility more than your opponent increases the chance of dodging by 1% [Max D=+10%]]
Universal Translator (B) (Supernatural Power, [Fusion]) Resulting from the fusion of “Reader” and “Polyglot”. Combines the two skills based on the higher of the two.
<u>Class Skills</u><u> (6):</u>
Gadget (D) (Natural Power) Allows you to quickly design small, useful but weakly durable equipment using a minimum of materials. The characteristics of the equipment will be more interesting with a high Intelligence.
Repair (E) (Supernatural Power) Allows you to restore resistance points to equipment or a machine using a minimum of materials.
Summon Tools (D) (Magical Power) Allows you to make tools and a minimum of materials appear out of nowhere for immediate use. Costs 5 Energy points per minute. The materials used will not disappear if the power is ended. [Nature of summons differs depending on the class]
Summon Weapons (E) (Magical Power) Summon weapons out of thin air. Costs 5 Energy per minute. [Quality varies with skill rank.]
Summon Armor (E) (Magical Power) Summon armor pieces out of thin air and automatically equip them. Costs 5 Energy per minute. [Quality varies with skill rank.]
Summon Mechs (C) (Magical Power) Summon mechanical creatures from the Workshop to fight at your side. Costs 10 Energy per rank for each creature to summon for 1 minute, and X Energy per creature per rank to maintain each hour thereafter.
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As new devices were added to his armor, powered by some magnetism, the little creature took a useless pose that it must have thought impressive and pointed at the adventurers:
“Take on someone your own size instead!”
Xicackna glanced at Kol-Gaar, saying silently, “An easier dungeon?” Kol-Gaar raised his eyebrows and said silently too, “Dungeons are unpredictable.” and then, “Come on, he doesn''t look that bad.” Then he gave his movement orders. Three soldiers to eliminate the henchmen, or at least keep them busy to deflect the shots, all the others were to approach the enemy to lure him into the magical traps that the prince summoned in his blind spot.
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But the leader of the monsters wouldn''t let himself be approached, summoning eight automatons out of nowhere. As hideous to the Zcarbbs as their creators, because they looked like them, they grotesquely waddled their metal mass to surround their creator with a protective circle while lively music echoed in the air.
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Mecha-gnome, Level 5 [Rank F] Mechanics
Hit points (HP): 145/145
Energy Points (EP): 70/70
Vigor: -/-
Fury: 0/5
<u>Abilities:</u>
Strength: 10
Agility: 2
Armor: 10
<u>Description: </u>The first thing a Gnome inventor dreams of is creating servants that look like him.
<u>Attributes </u><u>(1)</u>:
Mechanical (Natural Bonus) [Immune to effects intended for biological beings.]
<u>Skills</u><u> (4):</u>
Arcane Engine (F) [Artificial Power] [Allows you to use certain skills for an Energy cost instead of Vigor. Consumes Energy for each action. Each offensive action provides 1 Fury point.]
Detection (F): (Supernatural Power) Increases the probability of detecting traps, invisible things and points of interest.
Armored (F) [passive natural power, +10 Armor, +10 HP]
Soundtrack (F) [Artificial power] [Allows to generate background music during combat phases.]
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Zcarbbs and Gnomes fought for a long time, but compared to the fight against the giant automaton, this final boss was hardly impressive. Compensating for his low vitality by summoning new, sometimes more advanced, mechanics to replace those whose cogs filled the battlefield, the leader of the Gnomes also used multiple gadgets to cause significant damage or escape his enemies.
A machine gun as effective as human ones, back thrusters lifting him into the air, giant mechanical armor offering him additional protection... Despite all his tricks, his Hit Points eventually reached zero.
As he collapsed, struck to death in the middle of a pile of debris from his inventions, the other Gnomes scattered in a frantic flight. Surrounded by the triumphant Zcarbbs, Big Ears had a last gasp of agony despite his statistics already indicating him as “dead”. Words escaped his lips like a whisper of regret:
“We were… so close… to the truth…”
Then he stopped moving.
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BOSS: Big Ears (E), Level 10 Defeated:
Combat XP: 20
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Xicackna circled the enemy’s remains in triumph a dozen times, totally intoxicated by her successive uses of “sprint” during the battle. She had discovered that despite its absence from the description, acceleration increased the chances of dodging, reminding her that normal physics always interfered with the absurdities induced by the System. This had encouraged her to serve as a distraction by attracting the attention of the automatons. Despite Kol-Gaar and the soldiers’ disapproval of her endangerment, the tactic had worked well and limited the damage suffered by their group. Reassured of her ability to be useful to the group, she circled three more times before collapsing to the ground with a spinning head.
Kol-Gaar sighed but made no comment, also enthusiastic about this victory without loss of troops and without feeling like he had come close to death.
They gathered around the spoils to share it. There was a book called “Secrets Discovered”, a pair of metal gauntlets that had mysteriously been the right size for the wrists of the two noble Zcarbbs and those of the soldiers by some visual aberrations, a “mana potion” and a strange metal box called a “wave jammer”.
Xicackna quickly grabbed the book before Kol-Gaar could claim it for his hive.
“I''ll take that!”
He didn''t answer but grabbed the rest and put it in his inventory, completing the division. It didn''t matter much: Xicackna was convinced that this book contained some really interesting secrets. There was little pragmatism in her reasoning but a strong feeling. Opening the book, she saw a window offering her the possibility to “consume” it. Inwardly amused by the idea of ??literally “devouring a book”, she accepted.
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The Recurring Book
You have already read this book.
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And... That was all?
Reviewing her memory, the young Zcarbb could clearly see the contents of the previously absorbed Intelligence tome, but the new book invariably gave this result. Panicked, worried, but mainly frustrated, she shared her dismay with Kol-Gaar and shared the vision of this window with him. He was also surprised:
“No: I don''t see what that means. I''ve never heard of such a thing. We''ll see about that later: how much XP are you missing? Ah... So, absorbing the Dungeon Heart won''t be enough. We''ll have to hunt Gnomes... About twenty, unless we manage to make you deliver the finishing blow... But are there still that many Gnomes left?”
“Or else we find three that we eliminate and we validate the quest consisting of killing 100 enemies?”
Visibly embarrassed, Kol-Gaar didn’t admit to having forgotten this quest and approved the plan. The soldiers immediately set off to hunt for survivors. They even brought back two alive so that Xicackna could finish them off.
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"Hunting" (F)
<u>Group Quest Completed</u>
XP Bonus: 100
Current Experience: 2601
Stored Experience: 3907
Experience needed for next level: 99
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“Good.” Kol-Gaar said, picking up the Dungeon Heart and handing it to the princess. “It’s time to leave now.”
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Dungeon Heart [The Night Garden] [F] [Proof of conquering a Dungeon. Can be consumed for additional experience, stat, or skill gain.]
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Dungeon “The Night Garden”
Dungeon Boss Defeated
Big Ears [Rank E]
Time Remaining Before Dungeon Destruction: 1 min
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“Dungeon Clearing” (E)
<u>Group Quest Completed</u>
XP Bonus: 100
Current Experience: 2651
Stored Experience: 3957
Experience needed for next level: 49
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As the Zcarbbs quietly passed through the usual portal, the two nobles were surprised at the shorter time than usual before the dungeon was destroyed. What could be the reason? Could there be hidden secrets? Would the world of the dungeon, with its monstrous colossus inhabiting the cliff, disappear or did some dungeons actually remain intact? None of these questions would be answered during this discussion.
Finally safe from all danger, Xicackna swallowed the heart of the Dungeon. She was beginning to find them particularly pleasant to taste, no doubt due to some psychological effects. This was the third Heart she had absorbed. Would she end up receiving an achievement if this continued?
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You obtain the skill:
Plant Control (E) (Magical Power) Allows you to manipulate vegetation and multiply its abilities. Power varies according to level and Intelligence.
You have no skill slots available. Please select a skill to destroy, or the option to convert this skill gained for 200 XP.
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After hesitating for a long time, without being able to choose a skill to sacrifice, Xicackna opted for level-up. After all, there wouldn''t always be plants available around her, so she might as well choose to discover the next skills offered by the System with the new level...