《The Experimental Dungeon》 Chapter 1: The Afterlife - or not Day 0 <> When Claudia wakes up, she can only see an unfocused fog and everything turns and twists around her. ¡®Ugh ¨C Focus, Claudia, focus and concentrate. Left is at my feet, North is hammering at the back of my head and Peppermint is that way ¡­ what kind of direction is Peppermint anyway? I don¡¯t remember drinking last night, and my twentieth birthday party was a week ago¡­¡¯ After what feels like an eternity, but probably is more like five minutes, the hammering in my head lessens and I can see what is around me. I stand on some form of island made out of glowing green blocks in a river that consists of ghostly shapes, and a sky that shows multiple galaxies moving around in a different green glow. To one side of the island are four pedestals with three statues of ghosts on them. To the other side is a modern but empty desk, with a person in a black suit sitting behind it. When my eyes fall on him, he begins to speak. ¡°Greetings, Claudia White, are you coherent now?¡± I quickly check myself ¨C yep, what part I can see of my arms and body looks to be like a transparent grey ghost with somewhat fuzzy borders. Either this is a very bad dream or this is some form of afterlife. ¡°I think so,¡± I answer ¡°but why does this look like the tower of hades section of that action RPG game? What is going on?¡± ¡°A while ago you died, and your soul has travelled the afterlife, slowly forgetting your life from the end to the beginning. This would have continued until your soul would have lost all memory and be ready to be reborn ¨C if I didn¡¯t fish you out before that. And because no mortal soul can comprehend the Afterlife, your sub-consciousness provides an image of an interpretation of something similar, something that you knew in your old life.¡± My first suspicions are confirmed ¨C looks like a lot of the fanfictions have a base in fact. Or are some people truly remembering something similar? And why doesn¡¯t he fit in this game but look like someone straight out of Man-in-Black? But that would most likely mean¡­ ¡°Who are you, and what do you want from me? You probably had a reason if you really fished me out of this river of souls¡­¡± The man begins to smile ¡°Good, you are one of the quick ones ¨C I so hate wasting time with explanations. I¡¯m what you would call a Higher Power ¨C no god, neither of the Christian nor the Greek variants, but one of their troubleshooters. And I get to fish out souls to help me solving some problems.¡± ¡°Am I to believe that you just randomly select people to mess with for some nebulous purpose?¡± ¡°Not exactly ¨C while the fishing is completely random, I usually get several hundred tries to find someone who can handle the current task, and if I find a truly exceptional soul I can freeze it on these pedestals there to use in a later, more difficult task. You are at neither end of the possibilities, and are actually the third soul that meets the minimum conditions for my current problem. Which isn¡¯t much to say, as those minimum conditions are only knowledge of System-Fantasy-Type worlds without being too strictly opinioned in how such a System has to work. You can now either choose to jump back into the soulstream ¨C which would continue to erase your memories from the twenty years currently left to you, until you are ready to be reborn ¨C or you can try to convince me to use your soul for my current task.¡± ¡®OK, having all memories erased would be second best ¨C unless this Man-in-Black is one of those agents out to truly screw me over like in a lot of those reincarnation or isekai fanfics. I suppose I have to ask for more details.¡¯ ¡°What can you tell me about that task I would have to do?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste time with details when I don¡¯t even know you can handle this, so in general it is a classic System Fantasy with Dungeons, souled Cores and Adventurers. And as usual out of fear and greed some adventurers are conquering and controlling most of the dungeons despite that stalling almost all further development on that world. Most cores have animal souls that are advised by dungeon pixies. They very rarely have local intelligent souls, but we sometimes send human souls from other worlds there to try to fix the problem ¨C but that hasn¡¯t worked so far despite several hundred tries. The problem of that specific world is that there are requirements for dungeon growth. The mortals don¡¯t understand those requirements, resulting in the growth of conquered dungeons usually ending around floor 20 or 30. Even without that, the animal souls are normally not intelligent enough to get beyond floor 50, when the rules get trickier. The pixies assigned to those animal souls help a bit, but they aren¡¯t miracle workers either. Because of this we are willing to modify the system for a small number of experimental dungeons. That is what I¡¯m offering you ¨C control of a dungeon with some modified rules IF you can give me an idea how you would handle this. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Ideally you would find and give proof of a way for future dungeon cores to grow deeper, but currently I¡¯m also willing to settle for an exception that just let a single dungeon grow to floor 60 or 70 as that would help buy more time for other tries. So you would have to convince me to send you to this world instead of throwing you back into the stream. There are only two limits to this: your imagination and out-of-the-box thinking on one hand, and a somewhat limited energy budget to make your proposed changes reality on the other hand.¡± I begin to muse about this ¡®Being locked into an unmoving crystal while controlling a murder hole ¨C no thank you. But breaking those restrictions might actually be the key to the solution.¡¯ ¡°What if I have a realistic, living Avatar ¨C not demonic like in Dungeon Keeper, but more or less regular looking ¨C and then pretend to be someone who luckily gained control of the dungeon earlier or pretend to work for a mysterious figure who already controls the dungeon. Then I would build with features that look more like a controlled dungeon ¨C for example teleports to bypass early floors to get higher level parties down to where they want to go, just not entirely down to the core. How about that?¡± A computer-like screen (blue of course) materializes behind the desk and the being bend over to check a few things before answering ¡°That idea has some value. You would need to use stairs for those bypasses and a few other differences where your idea does not fit the rules of that world, but all that can be handled easily. But you would also need to be able to leave the dungeon and to build outside of it as a proof that you aren¡¯t a dungeon monster, and that can¡¯t be allowed without further restrictions.¡± ¡®OK, he didn¡¯t reject that out of hand. But he wants more restrictions. And despite that I would need a bit more help for this idea, at least some reasonable contact and advice on the civilization there to proceed. So what to ask for and how to phrase it¡­¡¯ ¡°If I¡¯m teleported back to the dungeon if I go farther away than about like 5 miles or so, then I would have to have a contact that can tell me about the land I¡¯m in and how everything operates. Otherwise there are too many chances of honest mistakes due to missing knowledge.¡± The Power makes some calculations before answering ¡°The dungeon rules are always explained by a pixie ¨C no need to change that. The contact or contract would only be for info on civilization and how adventurers handle the system, but that would also be up to your negotiations. Usually a core or its pixie can form a contract with someone reaching floor 10 as a bonus gained for building that floor. I can change that to someone in the outside influence range, but 5 miles is too much of a range there. We are talking about a medieval society with limited travel options after all. And that still doesn¡¯t address the limit of building outside the dungeon itself. What can you think of to build outside?¡± ¡®I doubt he¡¯ll let me build a village over the dungeon with that comment, and I wouldn¡¯t have the people to populate it either. But I need at least some building there that can double as a fortress and/or an interaction point like an adventurer¡¯s inn or a dungeon shop.¡¯ ¡°Does that world have Towers as an alternative to Dungeons? And could I build some hybrid and pretend that the upper floors are some Adventurer¡¯s Inn or so?¡± ¡°No, that world doesn¡¯t have Towers,¡± the man thinks out loud ¡°but that would actually be in your favor. No one would expect a Dungeon to build up instead of down, and having a Tower-Variant of the regular dungeon restrictions is acceptable to that worlds System. But now we are coming up on the limits of the budget, and having a weak Avatar would make your idea fail very soon.¡± ¡®Shit, I¡¯m drawing a blank. The thing is obviously angling for something or he would have dismissed me already, but asking a Power for a Boon almost never ends well in any of those stories. But I don¡¯t think I have a choice here other than accepting oblivion.¡¯ ¡°I agree ¨C I need to be powerful enough to handle regular customers either as adventurers in the dungeon or as guests to an inn above it, but those are two almost opposite form of skills or powers.¡± ¡®That¡¯s as open as I can word it without directly asking for a Boon¡­¡¯ The man¡¯s face lights up and he snaps his fingers ¡°Handling and controlling people in multiple ways ¨C that reminds me of some other tasks down the line that I never considered using a dungeon for until now. I¡¯m also tasked with introducing a few new races and classes to that worlds adventuring guilds. No crystal core could do for this, but since you want a living avatar you would quality for that. And since you won¡¯t need a new home or something to keep you fed, the energy to provide that could go to other things. Let¡¯s check those options ¨C Schiriak¡¯Tzah, possible but not ideal, Sareni, that could be a go, Cwareen, no, that would require an aquatic dungeon, and the rest of that list is not fit for adventuring at all, hmm ¨C Sareni or High Sareni it is. Your Avatar would be rather powerful and be able to handle most regular opposition ¨C G to E rank adventurers should be no problem even at the beginning. But you would have some dietary requirements that you¡¯ll have to use dungeon mana to compensate for until you can handle them for real.¡± ¡°Dietary requirements ¨C you¡¯re not proposing to make me a vampire type, requiring to drink blood, are you?¡± ¡°Oh no, perish the thought. I can absolutely promise you that you don¡¯t have to do or eat anything that you haven¡¯t done or eat in your past life on Earth either. It would just be a requirement instead of a choice, and you would get enough additional budget for a small nest-egg as a dungeon as well.¡± ¡°And it isn¡¯t a monster or hunchback type form that would scare away everyone?¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t worry ¨C the main racial power of the Sareni is a limited body transformation, and one of that limited number of forms is a human. And you¡¯ll have both combat forms and cute forms to use where you think they are needed.¡± ¡°And it would be wasting your time to ask for more details on this Sareni race, right?¡± A beautifully wide ¨C and silent ¨C smile is all I get for this. ¡®Shit. I know he is up to something with this. Stow it for now, Claudia ¨C try to get as many advantages as you can without falling into another trap.¡¯ ¡°I think the best contact for me, especially if I have to turn it into a contract, would be a reasonably honorable travelling or adventuring merchant type. Is that possible?¡± The being in the black suit frowns at that. ¡°I can¡¯t really guarantee who travels first to your dungeon, and manipulating that on top of our current decisions would cost too much energy. We should begin your transfer to your new world, do you agree?¡± ¡®So he already got what he wanted and I have to think fast to get some extra from him¡¯ I start to think quickly how to phrase my probably last words around here. ¡°But we haven¡¯t discussed the dungeon placement at all. So unless you neglected to tell me about some very important facts at the beginning, you should be able to look for a mostly honorable travelling merchant and then place the dungeon in a way that his or her next camping site is within range of the dungeon. That would also give a good chance for other resources for the dungeon around, because merchants usually don¡¯t travel to poor regions when looking for profit.¡± The frown turns into a pout of some sort before the Higher Power speaks again. ¡°You¡¯re right, and it is a reasonable request to be placed near a common camping site on a trade route. However guaranteeing that meeting would require you to meet at the end of the first day, otherwise the merchant might decide to change his route. Are you sure you want to do this? You will probably need at least a few days to handle the dungeon. But if the merchant is several days away there is a chance of you missing them.¡± ¡°Do I get an alert if something comes into range? Then I would settle for a high probability of the merchant stopping in five to seven days. And what normal access would I have to traps, monsters and so on?¡± While I¡¯m speaking, everything begins to slow down and become fuzzier. But I still hear the last answer clearly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that will be handled by the System in the usual way. The pixies will probably send in your assistant in an hour or so depending on the Systems preparation for a transfer ritual. You also get some resources and a few books about your race and class as a starting help from me. But one last suggestion: Don¡¯t absorb those books as dungeon treasures, at least not until you read them for yourself¡­¡± The last part is almost lost when everything around me fades to black. Chapter 2: Surprises Day 1 Phase 1 The first hour <> Suddenly I stand in a walled room without any doors or windows. I know that the room is thirty feet long and wide, but before I can look around a blue screen appears before me.
Dungeon Setup in Progress Dungeon Core: not found Priority Override %&#&¡ì$¡±! by ????? Override accepted Dungeon Heart ¡°???¡±: present Dungeon Keeper ¡°Claudia¡±: Connected Randomizing Startup Resources First Monster: White Tiger (Rank E) First Trap: Loose Floor Tile (Rank G) First Treasure: Bag of Copper Coins (Rank G) First Obstacle: Stone Statue (Korventin) (Rank F) First Rune: Mana Collector (Rank G) Welcome to your new existence on Nerwara, Dungeon Core A Dungeon Pixie has been requested and will arrive shortly to explain everything to you. Additional valuables detected in Core Room. Do you want to absorb them as treasure? (Y/N)
¡°No¡± ¡®That must be the reason for that last comment from that man, and I prefer to see what I got before it gets absorbed anyway.¡¯ After the window closes I begin to check myself. I have no mirror, but from what I can see and feel I¡¯m still human ¨C no elven ears on the head or orcish fangs in the mouth. Although I seem to have white and very long hair now. I¡¯m wearing a very simple peasant cloth ¨C not even a shirt, just a piece with a hole for the head and then falling down on front and back. Both sides open, only loosely held in place by a simple belt with a pouch, no panty or bra at all. Although I seem to have gained a cup or two to my boobs as an additional change to my body. But nothing else looks as if I am a different race than human, even white hair could be normal. I look around the room next. ¡®A white tiger sleeping on the first square, a very obvious loose tile in the second square and a cheap looking cloth bundle or bag on the third ¨C that have to be the random startup resources. Then in the center of¡­¡¯ I gape at the Dungeon Heart. ¡°He had to take that comment about Dungeon Keeper literally, didn¡¯t he?¡± In the center of the room is a heart ¨C a very large but otherwise realistic looking heart. Including the heartbeat and blood flow from what I can see. Four chains bind it to the ceiling and another four to the floor, with a small basin to catch drops of blood falling down. And of course the basin is surrounded by purple glowing symbols that I somehow know do nothing but glow for cinematic effect. ¡®No adventurer should ever be able to reach this room, or they¡¯ll probably go berserk thinking of demonic rituals. I only specified that the avatar itself should be alive and not demonic when giving that comparison to Dungeon Keeper, and that bastard used that against me.¡¯ I sigh, nothing I can do about that. There is a table visible behind the heart on the other side of the room - that has to be those other valuables mentioned before. And in the edge there is some sort of statue. I go around the heart to check what lies on the table. A package with several rolls of bread, half a dozen books and two dozen chips or coins made out of different materials. No markings on any of the chips, and when I take one I get another prompt.
Carved Piece of Oak Do you want to absorb it? (Y/N)
¡°Yes, let¡¯s test what happens with that.¡±
Wood Absorption ¨C 2 Points gained, Wood 0 (4%)
When the second window appears, I also get some form of taste of the absorbed wood. It¡¯s strange but not too bad. ¡®Not much in points or skills ¨C and I don¡¯t think I will get more from absorbing the books. I would probably have lost the information within them if not for that warning. Let¡¯s see what titles they are¡­¡¯ ¡°The Fall of Korventin the Seventh ¨C Last Mage-Emperor of the Holy Beregra¡± ¡°Biology of the Sareni ¨C a Study of an Artificial Race¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen ¨C the Six Claws of Fighting¡± ¡°The Brat of Gradeen Forest¡± ¡°How to reach control through any means¡± ¡°Make-up for the Kama-Sutra¡± ¡®I can read the titles despite never having seen those type of letters, it is not an English alphabet. And that is a very ... eclectic ¡­ selection of books. I wonder why I got those titles, because I doubt that this is at random, not with such titles.¡¯ I look around ¨C no door or any form of opening on any of the walls. What am I overlooking? ¡®Right ¨C that Power mentioned a System Fantasy type world, which means I have a¡¯ ¡°Status¡±
Name Claudia Level 11 (1)
Race High Sareni (10/25) Free Points 11
Classes Slitar (1/25)
Body 21/21 (1) Senses 1/1 (0)
Mind 4/4 (0) Presence 33/33 (1)
Agility 12/12 (1) Karma 1/1 (0)
Active Skills Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen 1 (Ag, 0%), Kissing 1 (Pr, 0%), 1 empty slot (Bo)
Inactive/Passive Skills Observation 1 (Se), Inventory 1 (-)
Perks Reincarnated (20), Dungeon Keeper (???), Transformations (High Sareni) 10, Magic Kisses, Cursed Kisses, Language (Beregra), Language (Nerwaran Common Trade)
States Pregnant (1/283 days)
¡°PREGNANT????¡±
< > In a somewhat cluttered room a teenaged girl ¨C or perhaps a very young adult ¨C is sleeping on a large pile of cloth pillows. She looks almost human if not for the half-transparent colorful wing membranes coming out of her back. The room has strangely smooth and rounded walls, and only a few holes in those walls for storage. Suddenly a deep sound echoes through the area. ¡°Dwhuuuuuuuup¡± ¡°Just another five minutes, mom¡± I sleepily murmur while turning the other side. ¡®Mh? Wasn¡¯t I already living on my own?¡¯ ¡°Dwhuuuuuuuup¡± ¡®why don¡¯t you let me sleep another minute?¡¯ ¡°Dwhuuuuuuuup¡± ¡®what?¡¯ ¡°DUNGEON ALERT¡± With a shout I stand on my bed. I have to get to the village square with the System Focus fast or there might not be a dungeon left for me. ¡®Wait a second ¨C it¡¯s still two months to the Summer Solistice, why is the Dungeon Alert sounding now?¡¯ ¡°Dwhuuuuuuuup¡± ¡®Questions later, panic now ¨C where is my bag of treasures for the Core?¡¯ I slip into a dress and grab everything from the wall into a bag and are almost out of the door when I remember ¡®Shit ¨C my personal bag. Why didn¡¯t this alert wait for the Solstice, then I would have had a go-bag ready to run. Quick ¨C some pyjamas, a bottle of nectar, where the hell are my wing dusters¡­¡¯ Five minutes later I¡¯m flying through the tree branches to the center of the village. Looks like I¡¯m the last to arrive, but the Elder has not yet started his speech. There he is¡­ An old and very distinct looking pixie flies in front of the two or three dozen teenagers. ¡°Hello everyone. This is not a regular dungeon call ¨C not only is the regular call still two months away, but instead of the usual fifty to sixty cases, this time the System has only requested four pixies. With five villages scattered on the continent, the random selection will probably get only one of you from this village. Because of this, only pixies who completed their schooling and already tried four month ago in the winter solstice will be allowed to step on the system focus platform. Everyone younger, please step away and watch.¡± ¡®YES!! My chances just went up ¨C there are only five of us who didn¡¯t get a Dungeon last time. But only four calls? With five pixie villages for dungeon assistants that still means the chances are lower than with the regular time for dungeon creation. Well ¨C everyone can still try again on the next solstice, but these dungeons have to be special to be out of the regular sequence¡­¡¯ Five pixies (three male and two female including Parsi) line themselves up before a crystal set into the ground on the border of the village place, while the other twenty-seven watch from a greater distance. Two older Pixies fly along the line, handing out another small bag to each of the candidates while everyone waits. Suddenly a large blue window becomes visible to everyone.
Processing Dungeon Assistant Requests 1 Request available for this transfer point Scanning available Pixies: 1..2..3..4..5 5 Pixies available for transfer Randomizing selection Opening transfer corridor Transfer engaged
¡°YIPPppiieehh¡± The other pixies only hear the beginning of the shout when a light focuses on Parsi and draws her into the crystal. ¡®Here I come ¨C my own dungeon to manage. I hope the core has a nice animal for its soul, something that will give me a good partnership.¡¯ I barely see the blue walls of the system¡¯s transfer corridor blur by as I¡¯m drawn at a high speed to wherever the core room of the new dungeon had been placed. ¡®There ¨C that has to be the end of the corri¡­¡¯ ¡°Squish¡± ¡°EEEeewww¡± ¡®What is this bloody mess? I would have faceplanted into it if not for my outstretched hands¡¯ ¡°What¡¯s going on? Where is my Core Crystal?¡± I look around. It seems to be a normal dungeon core room, but instead of a crystal there is a beating heart two or three times my size in the center of the room. There is also an additional table with treasures and a¡­ ¡°What is a human doing in a Core Room of a new and still closed Dungeon?¡± I shout into the room. The human was apparently in some sort of daze that she now shakes out of and turns to me. She is very beautiful with blue eyes and long white hair that falls almost down to her hips, but clothed only in a very cheap cotton poncho of sorts ¨C it goes down to her knees but is too small to really cover her at the sides, especially barely being able to cover her impressive top. After watching me for a few seconds, she speaks: ¡°Hello, my name is Claudia. I¡¯m the Dungeon Keeper of this new form of Dungeons, and you must be the Dungeon Pixie that that bastard mentioned before sending me here.¡± ¡°What the hell is a Dungeon Keeper, and what bastard are you talking about? I don¡¯t know any bastards in our village, everyone there was born honorably.¡± I glance at the human suspiciously. ¡®Is she trying to gain control of the Dungeon away from me? But no one should be able to get here this early.¡¯ ¡°Sorry, let me try again. I just had a brain freeze due to another surprise done to me, and am not at my best. I died a while ago and was reincarnated by some agent of a God or a Higher Power or someone like that. We never were properly introduced. That being is what I referred to as a bastard because he tricked me in several ways before sending me here without even the basics of what is going on. He also told me that the System would send a Dungeon Pixie to help me setup this dungeon that I would be the Keeper of.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you ¨C you are a human that just tries to conquer this Dungeon. But you outsmarted yourself ¨C no one can lie under a System Contract Negotiation. System, please initiate Dungeon Pixie Contract Negotiation for this Dungeon¡±
Dungeon Pixie Contract Negotiation (Historical Standard modified for local Dungeon)
Dungeon Contractor Dungeon
Dungeon Pixie Dungeon Keeper (Soul)
Persiphone Leafbottom Claudia
Dungeon Heart (Core)
???
Contract Rules
  • The Dungeon Pixie helps the Core/Heart/Keeper by collecting resources outside the Dungeon itself
  • The Dungeon Pixie teaches the Core/Keeper the rules for the functions of the Dungeon and advises on best use of the available assets.
  • Pixie requirement needed
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five floors of Dungeon Size
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five race levels of the Dungeon Keeper
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains access to Dungeon Construction with (Choose: lesser/equal/higher) priority.
  • The Dungeon Pixie helps in the defense of the core/heart room until she is at 50% primary attributes or 25% secondary attribute.
ADD Contract Rule EDIT Contract Rule
REMOVE Contract Rule
Persiphone Leafbottom: Claudia ???
ACCEPT Contract ACCEPT Contract
REJECT Contract REJECT Contract
¡°You didn¡¯t lie¡­¡± Chapter 3: Negotiations and Explanations Day 1 Phase 1 Second hour <> ¡®That¡¯s just too cute¡¯ I can¡¯t help it. I know that I should concentrate on the contract, but a 40cm small pixie with a pouting face is just too cute. But after a few minutes watching her sitting on the floor I shake myself. ¡®I don¡¯t know what she thinks she has lost, but I still need some advice and help, so I have to get her to the contract negotiation again. What kind of hints can I already get from that?¡¯ I glance back at the still open blue window.
Dungeon Pixie Contract Negotiation (Historical Standard modified for local Dungeon)
Dungeon Contractor Dungeon
Dungeon Pixie Dungeon Keeper (Soul)
Persiphone Leafbottom Claudia
Dungeon Heart (Core)
???
Contract Rules
  • The Dungeon Pixie helps the Core/Heart/Keeper by collecting resources outside the Dungeon itself
  • The Dungeon Pixie teaches the Core/Keeper the rules for the functions of the Dungeon and advises on best use of the available assets.
  • Pixie Requirement needed
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five floors of Dungeon Size
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five race levels of the Dungeon Keeper
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains access to Dungeon Construction with (lesser/equal/higher) priority.
  • The Dungeon Pixie helps in the defense of the core/heart room until she is at 50% primary attributes or 25% secondary attribute.
ADD Contract Rule EDIT Contract Rule
REMOVE Contract Rule
Persiphone Leafbottom: Claudia ???
ACCEPT Contract ACCEPT Contract
REJECT Contract REJECT Contract
¡°Hi Persiphone. I don¡¯t know what problem you currently have, but I still need some help and advice. And I¡¯m willing to enter a contract if you explain a few things to me ¨C for example what the bonus level mean for you.¡± With a sigh the pixie looks up to me from where she is sitting on the floor. Then she stands up and flies up to head-height before speaking. ¡°Sorry about this, I don¡¯t do surprises well and had everything planned out differently. Let¡¯s start again. Hi, my name is Persiphone Leafbottom from the Village of the Spring Thaw. Most people call me Parsi. Reincarnated intelligent souls are known to pixies, but they are very rare ¨C most dungeons get reincarnated animal souls. As such a lot of our training involves learning how to handle different animal types and how to bribe them into giving us control of Dungeon Construction. That is because it is very rare to get a dolphin or some other animal intelligent enough to handle the dungeon without being stalled long before reaching floor 25. And that number is very important to us pixies. We pixies are a tier-1 race, what bad people usually call a sub-race or monster race. Tier 1 stops at level 5 maximum, which is bad because the first system threshold is the number 10. So we need to get at least 5 additional levels by contract to be able to learn a class, and with one bonus per five floors that means we have to get the dungeon to floor 25 or we are blocked forever. Depending on how much experience you have with Dungeon Construction on your previous world, you can probably handle that on your own and that means I won¡¯t get much from the contract.¡± ¡°Thank you, Parsi, for that info. In return I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret: there were neither a System nor Dungeons on the world I was originally born on, and as such most of what the contract says is still unknown to me. For example what about the additional bonus levels you get from my race levels?¡± ¡°WHAT!!!¡± the little pixie swirls around to look at the Contract Window again. ¡°I didn¡¯t read on after confirming that you were indeed the Dungeon¡¯s Soul. That line is new, and is really something, since you humans are tier 2 and can go to level 10, which means only fifteen more floors would be needed for me to reach class level. But on the other hand it is probably why the System added another requirement line for my side since I will get more out of the contract. But you had no System? How can you even live without a System?¡± ¡®Interesting¡¯ I think about what I learned from that. ¡®I¡¯m not human anymore, and that line High Sareni (10/25) in my status probably means that a High Sareni can go to race level 25 instead of 5 or 10. If that is correct she would get a lot more out of that contract, unless I lose too much to that.¡¯ ¡°Do I lose anything for the levels you get from the contract?¡± ¡°No¡± the pixie turns back to me, ¡°that is why they are called Bonus Levels. But the System will place penalties on anyone that tries to evade Contract Requirements, which can be in the form of reduced experience gains or increased costs of skill use. But most of that would be on me because I would have to earn those levels. We would have to come up with an additional idea of what I can do for you before the System will allow the contract ¨C right now the accept button is disabled for both sides. And I think the regular work collecting outside the dungeon is reduced if you have a body to leave the Dungeon.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After a bit of thought I answer ¡°Not as much as you think ¨C I can leave the dungeon, but only to a range limit that I don¡¯t know yet. So that work outside still exists, you would just have to go farther away to handle it. But what is your situation in the larger world? By that I mean the interaction of dungeon pixies with adventurers or civilians. There has to be some or you would not have mentioned how humans call your race.¡± At this Parsi blushes and flusters a bit. ¡°Not exactly¡­ Pixies are known to the world, and sometimes even serve as familiars or helpers to other races. But we keep the fact that we can enter Dungeon Contracts a secret, and all of us who do are told and trained to keep ourselves hidden as long as possible to adventurers in the dungeons. We know that some adventurers have already seen and reported us, but they seem to think that we are a regular dungeon monster option and not contracted people. Which is another reason why some call us a monster race.¡± ¡°That would actually fit together with my plans, even as vague as they currently are. One of the problems in this world seems to be that too many adventurers take control of dungeons, and as one of the two tasks I have been given I¡¯m supposed to prevent that for my own dungeon. And the current idea to that is to pretend that I either am such an adventurer that had taken control, or to pretend I¡¯m working for one such person, so that no one else tries to take that control away. I have also the idea to manage some form of dungeon shop or adventurer¡¯s inn above this dungeon as part of that pretense, and if you can play a helper hired by that shop or inn that would help as well. Are you interested in the contract with that work added?¡± I watch as Parsi thinks about this. After a while she answers me ¡°Possibly, but who would we tell this secret, and who would it be kept from? I would have to tell my elders to prevent a bad reaction from my people if someone reports me, and we would need some more people to handle a larger inn, especially if the Dungeon continues to grow. And continuing to grow will cause some questions about the controller as well.¡± ¡°We will have to discuss this, but basically I agree ¨C it has to be kept secret from most people, but a few key people need to know or there could be too many other problems coming up. However I also have questions about the last point of the contract and the limits mentioned there, what is that about?¡± ¡°Right, you said that you didn¡¯t have a System before. Body, Mind and Agility are the three primary attributes. If either of these attributes ever falls to zero, you can die. The secondary attributes Senses, Presence and Karma can¡¯t kill you by being zero. The last contract rule basically means that the pixie has to help in the defense of the core room if that is assaulted, up until wounds or exhaustion drives the attributes below those stated limits.¡± ¡®That probably explains why the status has no hitpoints or magic points, the attributes double as points here. OK, everything seems reasonable then¡­¡¯ ¡°OK, that contract seems to be reasonable then. Can you edit it based on this, you have more experience with the system and I will check for clarification while you do this.¡± I tell the pixie. ¡®Let¡¯s see how she phrases the rules on her own. That should help me learning how far I can trust her.¡¯ While I watch her editing the contract window I continue my questions. ¡°What is the problem with dungeon construction and the floor numbers? The contract and your descriptions make it sound as if there is a big problem. And the Power who sent me here said that he would be satisfied if I get sixty or seventy floors.¡± ¡°Ha! Then that Power really screwed with you, because sixty floors is a sugar dream. No pixie with even two brain cells to rub together will ever consider floor sixty reachable. Opening the next floor becomes more difficult the deeper you get, and beyond floor fifty every floor needs to be perfect to open the next one after that. OK, there is a lot more to it but basically in each construction phase the System assigns you three random room templates that you have to place into your dungeon. If you don¡¯t place them, they will be randomly put down, until there is no space to place anything. If you can¡¯t place anything anymore, construction becomes impossible, you are stalled as a dungeon. The construction phase then becomes a third adventuring phase with all the disadvantages to that. And additional floors are only opened to placement once you fulfilled several requirements each floor.¡± ¡°You mean I can¡¯t dig my dungeon any way I want, but have to play Dungeon Tetris instead???¡± The pixie looks at me confused and asks ¡°I don¡¯t know what this tetris is, so I can¡¯t really answer that question.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a game in my old world, and your description sounds similar to it. Can you show me how this Dungeon Construction works?¡± ¡°Only after we both accept the Contract, I don¡¯t have the rights to access it before that. It is almost finished, you just have to decide on the Priority for the Dungeon Construction:¡± Parsi points to the screen where she made several changes to the Contract:
Dungeon Pixie Contract Negotiation (Historical Standard modified for local Dungeon)
Dungeon Contractor Dungeon
Dungeon Pixie Dungeon Keeper (Soul)
Persiphone Leafbottom Claudia
Dungeon Heart (Core)
???
Contract Rules
  • The Dungeon Pixie advises the Dungeon Keeper in the area outside the Dungeon that the Keeper can walk in and handles collecting resources as well as non-dangerous tasks outside that area
  • The Dungeon Pixie teaches the Core/Keeper the rules for the functions of the Dungeon and advises on best use of the available assets as well as how this world¡¯s civilizations and adventurers work.
  • The Dungeon Pixie pretends to be a helper working in the shop/inn/tavern outside the Dungeon
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five floors of Dungeon Size
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains +1 Bonus Level for every five race levels of the Dungeon Keeper
  • The Dungeon Pixie gains access to Dungeon Construction with (lesser/equal/higher) priority.
  • The Dungeon Pixie helps in the defense of the core/heart room until she is at 50% primary attributes or 25% secondary attribute.
ADD Contract Rule EDIT Contract Rule
REMOVE Contract Rule
Persiphone Leafbottom: Claudia ???
ACCEPT Contract ACCEPT Contract
REJECT Contract REJECT Contract
¡°If you have higher and I have lower access, then I can see the options and advise you, but only you can place the rooms. With an animal soul I would have wanted it the other way around. With equal access, we both can place rooms and would have to coordinate, at least if I¡¯m inside the dungeon during the construction phase.¡± ¡°You mentioned those phases before ¨C what could prevent you from being inside during that time?¡± ¡°There are three phases during each day, one construction phase and two adventuring phases. During construction the dungeon is closed and cannot be entered ¨C if I was outside and didn¡¯t get back in time you would have to construct without my help.¡± ¡°And what happens if I was outside during that?¡± I ask. ¡°oops ¨C right, you are not bound inside a core. If no one is inside the System most likely defaults to random placement.¡± Parsi almost panicked at that idea. Deciding to get some details on the other phases I ask ¡°And what about the other two phases, the adventuring phases? Why are they split into two instead of just considering it one continuous open time?¡± ¡°At the beginning of each phase you get to collect Mana once ¨C that is the energy needed to create any placement inside the rooms. So the adventurers learned to split the entering into two phases to allow the dungeon to restock between those times. Additionally there is a type of limit to the adventurers entering each phase, but it is not a hard limit. Instead the System assigns you a bonus if more adventurer enter than are allowed during a phase.¡± Parsi explains to me. ¡°And how do the adventurers know how many can enter without the dungeon getting advantages?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t ¨C they usually have to guess until the first party reaches the core room, and until the dungeon stops growing the limit will rise over time. One party per floor is the known limit, which is why the Guild is careful to send in only a lower number of parties until it is known how many floors a dungeon has. All pixies hope to confuse the issue, and the greed of adventurers to go in for the treasure can be used to get a few of these bonuses. Which is also why the guild punishes adventurers that go in without clearance.¡± ¡°That gives me a nice idea. How about we pretend that the controller of this dungeon is something like an archmage that reserves the lowest floors for his own experiments. And when we have for example four floors, then we place an announcement that floors four to six are reserved for him, but the guild can send in five parties to floors one to three¡­¡± ¡°Ooohh ¨C nice trick, but we probably have to wait longer or use lower numbers to avoid being found out, dungeons take some time to grow.¡± Parsi grins at the thought. ¡°So most of what I considered seem to be workable with only some stones thrown into the process.¡± I reach for the Contract controls while continuing: ¡°I will make two changes to the contract you have written. First, we will have equal access so that you can handle construction if I don¡¯t get back into the dungeon in time for a construction phase. However I expect you to follow any previously discussed plans when doing so. Second, there will be no pretending to be a helper ¨C you¡¯ll have to do the work for real, but you will also get a regular wage to buy your own things in the dungeon shop or in the next town or village or whoever we trade with. If you agree, you can show me the Dungeon Construction next.¡± Parsi grins at that. With a ¡°No Problemo¡± she accepts the contract and then flies to the heart. She touches it and concentrates a short while, until another Window opens. Chapter 4: Dungeon Tangram Day 1 Phase 1 Third hour <> The newly opened window is horizontal like a table and makes an almost three-dimensional effect with the symbols and pictures placed on it. In a grid of eleven by eleven spaces four rooms are already placed, but six more are floating on the side. Three of the floating rooms are blinking red, the others are a stable light green. To the other side are two smaller windows, the first with a list of entries and a ¡°Mana (1)¡± line on top while the other one has only bullet lines. Parsi flies around the display and looks at everything, frowning most of the time. After a while she tells me ¡°There are several things different than they should be, although the interface itself is not changed. But this reads ¡®floor 0¡¯ instead of ¡®floor 1¡¯, there are three rooms already placed that should not be there, then entrance is to the side and does not hold the dungeon barrier, that is instead on the heart room. I do not understand these differences.¡± ¡°I think I know why in most cases. The Higher Power considers this an experiment, which means it does contain several changes. I know floor 0 is above ground in a structure like a building or a tower fundament, which is why the entrance is to the side. And the dungeon barrier is probably here because this is where the dungeon will go underground. But what are the three added rooms? Let¡¯s look at their description.¡± I look at the bottom room and suddenly there is a text floating about it [Observe Result] [Deep Stairwell 20] [Stairwell that connect floor 0 to a deeper floor. Will terminate on floor 20] ¡°OK, looks like those are intended to become direct connections to deeper floors, opening and ending on floors 20, 40 and 60. But that also means that for the next twenty floors, each floor will need one of the long corridors to fill the space at bottom left ¨C not ideal. We currently have one of these, how often do we get them, Parsi?¡± ¡°Since we have one of them, the chance is one in twenty. Each dungeon has a list of twenty room structures from which we randomly get three each construction phase. But the total list is somewhere around thirty different pieces and we will only know what is on our list when we get the rooms. But we don¡¯t need to fill everything, the requirement is (fifty plus floor number) in percent. So we need only to fill sixty-one squares here to open the next floor down. However we get a bonus whenever we manage to fill a floor completely even later.¡± ¡°And that is why you said that floor sixty is a sugar dream, because by that depth we would need to fill each floor to 100%?¡± ¡°Exactly. If we go down as quickly as possible and leave the remaining space on the top floors open, then we can use that to dump unwanted pieces that do not fit on the lower floors. But even such a dumping ground will get full the deeper we go. And sooner or later we will fail and be stalled.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s talk about the other end first. We have three big rooms, and I would like one to be directly at the entrance to be used for the shop or reception. If we use the biggest room there, it would directly connect the entrance to the heart room. Or we could use one of the smaller ones, but that would require another small corridor between the two rooms. Which would be better in your opinion?¡± ¡°Claudia, the big 4x4 room would be a very bad idea there. If we want to pretend someone else sends parties in, we need to have a corridor with multiple doors between. And I would really prefer to use the big ones for boss rooms if possible. Although we will get a number of them over time since we have at least three different big rooms. That means three out of twenty rooms we get should be usable as boss rooms on average.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Right. If we use the branching corridor there and both smaller rooms, we will have a small hole of two squares. Does a room for that exist?¡± ¡°Yes, the two-square-corridor is the smallest piece possible. There is a good chance that we have it, but I can¡¯t guarantee that. But this is better than using the big room, and it places the three rooms we have to place now. The other three rooms are in our reserve, they could be placed or we can keep them for tomorrow when the system assigns three more rooms to place.¡± ¡°OK, let¡¯s set that first¡± I reach for the window and try to drag the 3x3 room into the edge, but it snaps back ¡°Parsi, why can¡¯t I place that room as we decided?¡± ¡°Everything has to be connected in a way to the core room ¨C heart room for us. So you¡¯ll need to place the branching corridor first, and then you also get a free door on a connecting wall of your choice. Additional doors could later be placed for 1 Mana, but please do not do this for now.¡± ¡°OK, this works. And it cleared some of the requirements. Let¡¯s see what is left to do. 56/61 squares to fill, and have to connect all deep stairwells to other rooms but not each other. The gap between the stairwells and the core room means that we either have to use a long corridor (which we have) or a second branching corridor (which we don¡¯t have), or are there any other possible rooms or corridors that will fit?¡± ¡°Theoretically yes, but I can¡¯t tell you if or when we will get them. And since we have to connect everything from the existing rooms out, we will have to fill that gap quickly. I agree that we should place the long corridor there. The branching corridor would be the worse solution anyway due to the way it will add its branch even if we are lucky to get one tomorrow.¡± ¡°OK, done, the next step would be placing the doors those stairwells give. Why are those colored orange instead of grey?¡± ¡°Orange means they are conditional and can¡¯t be opened until the condition has been fulfilled. It would be nice if we have some sort of riddle doors ¨C no, the condition says they can only be opened once the other end of the stairwell is connected, and this condition can¡¯t be changed. The only thing left now are the placements. Please use the one Mana we have to purchase five Mana Collector Runes and place them somewhere in the first room, it doesn¡¯t matter where. We will have to spend Mana for collectors for some time because we currently get only one Mana each phase otherwise. But together with that one collector from your firsts this will give us seven mana in the next phase, which will help in setting up.¡± ¡°OK. Are there any other ways to gain Mana? It seems that placements are expensive, the white tiger for example has costs listed as Mana: 4/40 ¨C why two cost numbers anyway?¡± ¡°The first mana cost is always the temporary one ¨C the mana collector runes for example will vanish when collecting one mana each. And the tiger would be lost once killed. The second cost is for an automated respawner that spawns a tiger once each phase if the tiger gets killed. As for mana income ¨C we get one mana for each floor for each phase. Above that all mana have to come from either mana placements or the adventurers, and we can have only one placement on each square. Monster or trap or treasure or rune or obstacle, never two of them. As far as the adventurers go, we get mana based on rank if an adventurer is killed in the dungeon ¨C one mana for rank G, two mana for rank F, four mana for rank E ¨C doubling every rank. If the adventurer is not killed but leaves alive, then we get one mana flat, no matter the rank. That is where the party size comes into play. We can set that number, and change it later for a certain mana cost. A smaller party size is more likely to be killed, but it limits the income when they survive, and the guild is usually wary of dungeons with small party sizes. A large party size means they can easily survive and even reach the core room, but the mana gain on them leaving is higher. The System limits are three to ten for party size, but most commonly used are the numbers four to six.¡± ¡°I would then prefer a size of six if we can handle it without the adventurers reaching the heart room. I assume that in any room or corridor segment all monsters and traps placed work together, but not over to the other rooms?¡± ¡°Yes, almost ¨C but no need to worry about our defense too much for now, you got really lucky with your firsts. Getting a rank E anything is a one in a hundred chance ¨C usually only one of the new dungeons each year has that. And rank E monster is the best for defense ¨C a treasure rank E would have been very bad in comparison. There are two 50% chances for rank F, and the rest is then rank G. The nicer obstacle is a waste of the rank F of course, but the white tiger is very nice even if we will need a lot of Mana to place them.¡± Parsi answers my comment. ¡°Why would a high rank treasure be bad?¡± I ask ¡°A treasure basically has three effects. Inside the dungeon it gives a bonus to the defending monsters and traps in the same room, although secondarily it also gives a reward to the adventurers if they overcome the defenders. However the third effect is a lure or bait outside managed by the system as soon as the dungeon is opened. Our copper coins target intelligent people, but a rank G lure is weak. Meat would target monsters, plants and berries would target animals. And the System gives out indications of that treasure to any target that comes in range. A rank E treasure would have drawn in the targets for many miles around. That is only good after we have equally strong defenders." ¡°So is there anything else to do for the dungeon? We have no Mana and the two remaining rooms can wait until the next construction phase with their placement. Anything else?¡± ¡°Not really ¨C you can check what your class or race gives you if you hadn''t had a system in your previous world, but mostly we now need to wait until the construction phase ends in five hours or so. Then we can leave to see where the dungeon is and what other valuables are around to collect. Anything before that would be more guessing than planning.¡± Chapter 5: Transformations Day 1 Phase 1 Fourth to eight hour < > ¡°So why do we have to go to the entrance room? The door will not open for another four hours or so. Although it is strange that it is closed because the barrier itself is in the heart room.¡± I ask Claudia. ¡°I want to make some experiments without risking what valuables we have in the heart room. And this is the biggest room we currently have.¡± She answers me. ¡°What you haven¡¯t realized is that I only look human ¨C that asshole of a Power gave me both a race and a class I never heard about before. And I have some suspicions that I will like neither of them. My race is High Sareni, and it seems to give me a transformation ability. My class on the other hand is called Slitar, and its abilities seem to include both magic kisses and cursed kisses.¡± I raise an eyebrow about that. ¡°Eemh ¨C I never heard of Sareni, Slitar or cursed kisses, but magic kisses are known to be an exclusive ability of the Courtesan classes. Are you planning on opening one of those inns here?¡± ¡°No¡± Claudia almost spits fire answering me ¡°I have no plans on going that way, especially since that thing additionally gave me a pregnant state when reincarnating me.¡± ¡®OK, I¡¯m beginning to see why Claudia doesn¡¯t like that god which reincarnated her here, whoever that was. Especially if there are more such surprises waiting for her. I better try to calm her down.¡¯ ¡°Then your reactions are very understandable. Are you willing to tell me which tiers those have? They both sound to be of a higher tier, and that could make you rather powerful. Oh ¨C I almost forgot that you said you have no experience with a System in your old world. The quickest way to determine their tiers would be to look at their maximum level behind their names on your Status screen and divide that by five.¡± ¡°Very well, High Sareni is level 10 out of 25, and Slitar is level 1 out of 25.¡± She answers. ¡°EPIC TIER???¡± I shout. ¡®She got both race and class in tier-5, the rarest and highest of all known tiers? By the Great Nymph¡­¡¯ I stare at her for a minute or so, before I manage to collect myself again. ¡°Let¡¯s just say that you have the highest and rarest tiers known in both race and class, and that our chances of handling things just went up considerably, no matter what disadvantages might be connected to those two classes. Unfortunately that is far above my head ¨C as I already explained we pixies have problems with the lowest numbers and I can¡¯t even guess what you have to look out for with tier five¡­¡± ¡°I expected something like this, so don¡¯t worry about it¡± Claudia dismisses my concerns. ¡°I also checked some other entries to my status page while you were otherwise occupied. Mostly I want to check the transformations that come from my new race, because in my old world we had only humans and no one could transform. However there is some info for you before: I have a Perk Dungeon Keeper that connects me to the heart and the dungeon, but that perk has three additional abilities for me. Two of them seem to be normal for Dungeon Cores and are only transferred to this body, Unaging and Sleepless. These two abilities seem to be as a guarantee that the core or in this case my body can continue to control the dungeon at all times. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I answer, glad to be back on familiar territory, ¡°that is normal and I also got them when the contract changed me into a Dungeon Pixie. And if everything went normally the third ability should be something to heal the core (or in this case the Heart) slowly for free, similar to repairing one crystal facet per day.¡± ¡°In that case there have been more changes. Yes, it is healing, and both for the heart and my body. However it is instant but not free. I can pay one mana to restore any one attribute point lost on my body or on the heart.¡± Claudia explains. ¡°Uh ¨C that is both better and worse. For an older Dungeon it is nothing to pay twenty or forty mana, but currently we can¡¯t afford to waste even a single point. On the other hand it means that you might even pay mana for skill use when we have enough in several weeks. But you said you wanted to test the transformations?¡± ¡°Yes, there seem to be several options. Is there any way to show you the System Screen that comes up when I want to use the transformation perk?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Open it up, then concentrate on sharing it ¨C but I have to touch you skin to skin during that time.¡± I fly to sit on Claudia¡¯s shoulder while she concentrates.
Transformations 10/10
Skin
<< ??? << Caucasian >> ??? >>
Anatomy
<< ??? <<< Human >> ??? >>
¡®Looks similar to the controls of shapechanging dungeon monsters, but with two instead of one control. But unfortunately the options aren¡¯t listed, they are currently unknown. Strange ¨C unless the god wants to force her to explore.¡¯ I explain to Claudia ¡°It looks similar to the known way of shape-changing dungeon monsters, but with two instead of one control line and ten points instead of two or three. If we get such monsters later, the core would have such a control to decide what form they would have at the beginning of each adventuring phase, and the monsters would have that number of points for changes during the phase when they decide they might need that. And it would reset at the beginning of each phase.¡± ¡°Here goes nothing ¨C I¡¯ll try with the skin option first.¡± Claudia¡¯s body shudders a little bit, then she continues to speak. ¡°The middle field now reads White Catgirl and the right button field Caucasian. I also seem to have slightly better eyes and ears.¡± I launch from her shoulder and fly around her. ¡°You also have a tail now, not only cat ears and eyes. And your skin has black stripes like the White Tiger, but no fur. Anything else on your Status?¡± ¡°According to my Status I gained Senses+1, Agility +1 and Claws, but I have no idea on how to use claws.¡± Claudia answers me and raises her hands to look at them. I fly to her right hand and look at it. ¡°Your finger nails seem to have become sharper and retractable. Let me poke at them.¡± ¡°Arbkl¡± ¡°What is it? Did it hurt when I raised the claw out?¡± ¡°No, but when you moved it I felt muscles of which I didn¡¯t even know they existed.¡± Claudia feels her right hand with her left one, and after a minute or so she is only partially successful in raising and retracting her claws. ¡°It seems like I have to learn how to use those muscles the same way a baby learns to grip something.¡± ¡°OK, do you want to try the next transformation? You should still have nine more points available, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes, let me go the next step and ¡­ shshaacr, that feelsh shlike morsh happsh¡­¡± ¡°Full morph into humanoid white tiger, with all around fur and tiger head. And the reason for your speaking problems is your new snout.¡± I grin at her. ¡°Aash Beesh Cee Dee EE ¨C speaking is more difficulsh but I shink I got it with a bit of conshentration. And thiss form has a higher bonus ¨C Body +1, Agility +2, Senses +2, Claws and Bite. It iss labelled assh Albino for whatever reashon. But those few pointsh are still nothing compared to my bashe valuesh.¡± ¡°Of course not ¨C the changes are only skin deep after all. But for that it is a nice effect and bonus. You should have no problem posing as a monster in this form, if you want to go that way.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that would be shuch a good idea, I hav¡¯ to tshink about it. Next shtep.¡± I look over her new variant. ¡°It seems to be only a color change to blue ¨C light blue fur with dark blue stripes now.¡± ¡°But the form ish lishted as Shareni now, so thiss is probably the original skin. Which would alsho exshplain why the otsher was called Albino. However it iss sstill not the end, I can go to a further form. Sheven points left, sso here I come.¡± I watch as her blue tiger head shrinks down to a more human-like head and the fur vanishes, but the skin remains blue striped with light blue base and dark blue markings. ¡°You seem to be back to a catgirl form, although a blue one. Looks nice by the way.¡± I wait while she checks her Status again. ¡°You¡¯re right ¨C ah, nice to be able to talk normally again. All blue skins seem to have an additional Presence +1, but otherwise I¡¯m down to the same bonus as the white catgirl form, and yes this is called blue catgirl by the System. Still question marks on the left button however.¡± I almost choke. ¡°What? You already have displayed five different forms and not even touched that other anatomy control. And there are still more skins? That is highly versatile ¨C an epic versatility so to say.¡± ¡°Yes, but I think the transformations circle. And if that assumption is correct, the next form would be a blue human that removes more of the current bonuses. But you said that the monsters with that ability get their points reset each phase? If that is not the case for me, we need to save some points for emergencies until we have enough mana to recharge them. I think I make one change on the anatomy control only for now and then we wait and see if the next phase really gives me points back.¡± ¡°Yes, that is probably a good idea¡± I answer after thinking about it. ¡°You should have five points left after that, enough to get back to human if that is needed. And you can even test if that assumption of a circle is correct in the next phase, I¡¯m willing to risk the needed two mana for that clarification then.¡± Claudia nods, and then I watch her grow a full pixie height further. She almost loses her balance and stumbles while flailing her now four arms, but she manages to catch herself. ¡°Well¡­¡± I tell her while watching how she tries to sort out her arms ¡°your torso stretched by a foot or so, which is where the additional arms grew out of your sides. So it is good that your poncho is open there. But instead of going down to the knees, it now ends farther up, barely covering your bottom parts. You also have six boobs now, three pairs one above the other. What does your status say?¡± I have to wait a few minutes for an answer. It is a bit amusing to watch her trying to coordinate her arms, especially when she tries to grab another arm and misses high or low because she used the wrong arm for the grab. But the smile is also for the advantages this will give her after she learned how to use them properly. After a while Claudia sighs and answers me. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much it is because there is a new designation in my status. The numbers themselves are far lower than I thought. Body +4, Agility +6, Mind +2 and Senses +2. But there is a 150% marker at Body and a 200% marker at Agility. And an obvious new Perk of Multilimbed (6)¡±. ¡°YES!!¡± I pump my arm ¡°This means that while you didn¡¯t get many points for direct use, each of your points is more effective in its secondary uses like carrying capacity or speed. We pixies for example have a racial body efficiency of only 10% because we are too small to carry things, and are quickly affected even by smallest amounts of poison or disease. We have an Agility of 140% to help with our flight and speed, but your 200% there means that you will almost always be the first to act in combat, especially since I suspect you already have more than 10 points in basic Agility anyway. Only high-rank adventurers would get to more than twenty or thirty effective Agility, and we would be screwed anyway if a Rank D or C comes in at the beginning.¡± ¡°Nice to know, but for now it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll use the remaining hours until the opening to try to learn how to use these middle arms. That is not easy because their movement range is more limited ¨C they have no shoulder joint to swivel around on. If I succeed even halfway I¡¯ll use this form for the first scouting outside, otherwise I¡¯ll have to transform back to human before leaving.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan¡± I answer. Chapter 6: First Exploration Day 1 Phase 2 <> I¡¯m trying to shake my left hands with my right hands ¨C both at the same time ¨C when Parsi flies to me and interrupts my only partially successful attempts. ¡°Hi Claudia, in about ten minutes the next phase begins and the entrance will open. But there is one choice I forgot to mention. In an adventuring phase, we can only do mana placement, nothing else. We will only get one mana from the system, but the six mana runes will automatically be collected and vanish. That gives us a total of seven mana, and there are two different ways to use those points. We can either create another white tiger for 4 mana and fifteen mana runes from the remaining three mana, or we can use all seven mana for thirty-five mana runes, giving us much more mana in the next phase. I think we should risk going all mana, especially if we stay nearby ¨C one white tiger is already a Rank E defense after all. What do you say?¡± ¡°I agree with the 35 mana runes, there are too many things that need mana at the moment. And you said there is no maximum storage. I will also remain four-armed for the first scouting, despite my problems with coordination. Because carrying is much easier, I only need to slowly pick up one thing after the other.¡± I answer. ¡°Now just hurry to the Heartroom to be able to set the mana runes while I wait here in case something dangerous waits directly before the entrance¡± About five minutes later a system screen opens next to the entrance.
Construction Phase ends Path between Entrance and Dungeon Heart detected Opening Dungeon Entrance WARNING: Entrance cannot be closed. Dungeon Barrier will not become active until floor 1 has been created. Dungeon Heart will remain unprotected even during Construction Phase until moved to floor 1 PERK GAINED: First Hybrid Tower/Dungeon on Newara established One Random Bonus available on command.
While I wait for Parsi to return, I read the screen and look out of the entrance. ¡®About what we expected and discussed, only the perk is a surprise. I wonder what that random roll will give us? And the outside looks like some form of light forest, similar to European forests. No direct danger or even any animals visible.¡¯ ¡°Hey! What does this mean? Hybrid Tower/Dungeon???¡± Parsi has flown in and checked the screen for herself. ¡°That Power that send me here changed some of the rules so I can build outside the original dungeon, but still restricted by similar rules. I don¡¯t have any details, but we can build up in addition to building down.¡± I answer her question. ¡°And you didn¡¯t think that was worth mentioning to me before? Aaarggh ¨C this could mean a lot, but we better use the time to collect things now. But next construction phase you¡¯re going to tell me everything that that god told you, who knows what else might be important.¡± Parsi throws up her arms in frustration, then heads to leave the dungeon. I slowly follow her. The walls seem to be five feet thick, which makes the entire structure 36 by 36 meters. It is in some form of clearing, the forest begins about forty or fifty meters out from the entrance. ¡°Sorry, there was too much to learn and discuss, it slipped my mind. Can you fly up to get a better view around? I¡¯ll jog around the ground floor of the dungeon in that time.¡± Parsi nods and begins to rise. I slowly walk around the building that houses our dungeon. It is in the center of a roughly circular forest clearing, with the trees between forty and up to sixty meters or so distant. The floor is mostly grasses and ferns, although there are two bushes with blue berries on the opposite of the entrance ¨C south I guess if the entrance was really to the north and not just a map convention during the construction phase. I grab a handful to show to Parsi before continuing the walk. I can see the pixie descend when I¡¯m approaching the entrance again. She speaks ¡°We are in some form of half-valley between two different mountain ranges. To the west and partially the south is a really impressive mountain range going up to snow-covered tops in the distance. To the north there is a more modest mountain range that seems to go from west to east as far as I can see. This half-valley opens to a plain in the south-east. In the north-west the ground rises slowlier and seem to and in a mountain pass between the two ranges. Most of the area is covered by forest, but there are a dozen large clearings, and two lines where the forest is interrupted. One line is more or less the center of the valley, going from the mountain pass in the northwest to the plain in the south-east. The other line begins in the hills in the north and passes east of our dungeon on its way to the south, but turns south-east as well a bit later. Both interruptions seem to join each other going southeast in a distance of several miles. The top of our floor zero building looks a bit peculiar however. Where we have rooms placed it is an area of mortared stone blocks, but where the rooms are missing it is basically mudfill.¡± ¡°That mudfill sounds strange, but nice overview otherwise. The clearing is mostly grasses and ferns, but there is a berry bush on the other side¡± I show her the berries I collected. ¡°Nice ¨C the berries themselves aren¡¯t anything special, but it will start the material skill that will allow us to get a berry treasure and lure in animals later. Basically we need to collect samples of every material, but there are diminishing returns for the same material and starting at the entrance would have us miss special options like those berries. What is considered the best option for dungeon pixies is to fly out a hundred meter in a direction, then circle the dungeon in that distance collecting only the more valuable materials but noting everything for later. Should we split up to cover more ground that way?¡± she asks me. ¡°No,¡± I answer ¡°not yet ¨C I don¡¯t have enough knowledge of this world to see what is special at the moment. And the large building instead of a small hole means we better use a larger distance. How about this: we go out two hundred meters to circle, and you basically ride on my shoulder and show me if something noteworthy is found. Then we repeat at 500 meters if there is nothing of note.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan¡± Parsi flies to me and settles on my shoulder ¡°Giddy-up!¡± Since I can somehow feel the exact distance and direction to the Dungeon Heart, I set out north (or what I assume is north) from the entrance until I am 200 meters away, then turn to circle. I don¡¯t know any of the three or four different types of trees here ¨C hell, as a born and bred city girl I don¡¯t even know the different nature noises and voices we can hear around, aside from a few chirping birds. There is less grass between the trees and more ferns and similar underbrush, and at a particular large patch I stop to collect several bushels. At that Parsi speaks up. ¡°We can use some grass to bait animals, but there is a diminishing return on absorption. You¡¯re collecting too much, that will not give more than a dozen points.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not planning to absorb most of them¡± I answer ¡°I have currently no idea how it was done, but there were people on my original world who could create bags by braiding long grass blades. I want to try if I can do the same, to make collecting things easier.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Good idea ¨C and right, you can learn crafting skills and perhaps use them on traps or treasures later. Most pixies don¡¯t bother due to our tier limitations, and later we would get dungeon-granted skills that are rarely crafts.¡± Parsi looks thoughtful about these possibilities. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anything special so far ¨C the wood and trees can be sampled later. Wait ¨C what is that noise?¡± Before either of us can react, a shadow suddenly launches itself at me. I try to hold it with my arm and are rewarded with a sharp pain as something bites into it. ¡°Wolves!!¡± Parsi shouts and takes off at high speed somewhere. I can¡¯t spare any attention to this betrayal as I¡¯m in a fight for my life against three ¨C no, four wolves. ¡®Hey ¨C isn¡¯t that wolf going to¡­¡¯ before I can even realize what happens, my two left clawed hands strike out to one of the wolves, tearing up its entire side and dropping it. But it costs me another bit in the ankle before I kick the third wolf away. The rest of the fight is a blur between terror and confusion. Somehow I¡¯m able ¨Cagain and again ¨C to strike at the wolves in critical ways even though I can barely remember which hand is which for the rest of the time. Finally I stand panting and bleeding over four corpses. All the wolves are dead and I¡¯m still alive somehow. At least the system hasn¡¯t blinded me with any screens during the fight ¨C some decent bars on the side of my view were all. The screen only happens after the last wolf dies.
Combat results: Victory 4 Forest Wolves have been slain 7 Body points and 8 Agility points temporarily lost State: Minor Bleeding received (-1 Body per minute, 2 minutes remaining)
New Title: Rank G You solo-killed your first Rank-G-creature and are now recognized as a Rank-G-being by the System Reward: 200 XP
New Title: Animal Killer I You killed an animal of the same rank as you are Reward: 100 XP
Level-up: Slitar Your Class: Slitar has leveled up to level 2 You gained Mind +3, Presence +2, Agility +1 and one free point
I stand there for a few minutes, panting and slowly calming myself down. ¡°Claudia?¡± I hear someone calling ¡°Claudia?¡± I look around and see Parsi slowly flying nearer, high up in the trees. ¡°I¡¯m here ¨C no thanks to you¡± I call back. The pixie quickly approaches me at that. ¡°Hey ¨C wolves are BIG ¨C would you have stood there if an elephant had been charging you? Besides ¨C we are trained to lure all predators to the dungeon where the core could fight and absorb them. I was almost at the entrance before I realized that you were not following me¡­¡± ¡°OK, we are both new to this, and this is another case of different expectations and training.¡± I think aloud ¡°We really need to sit together and compare notes soon. Especially since I¡¯m not sure what happened during that fight.¡± ¡°Oh? Please tell, perhaps I can explain something. And even if I can¡¯t explain it, it might help the next such situation if I know what might happen.¡± ¡°I had almost no coordination problems with my four arms during the fight, but afterwards I was back to those problems, although a bit reduced. Additionally there were several moments during the fight when I just knew how to strike for best effects.¡± ¡°That sounds as if you have been granted a combat skill. That is actually one of the rarer results of the Dungeon Bonus Roll we gained an hour ago, the option to give a monster or a contract a single skill without training it. But because you haven¡¯t trained it, the skill can take over for you until you have used it enough to gain a level or two in it.¡± ¡°Yes, I have a skill called Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen that went from 0% to 16% during the fight, and one of the book titles I got is ¡®Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen ¨C the Six Claws of Fighting¡¯. So it sounds as if that is a combat skill.¡± ¡°Then I think we should cancel exploration for now, at least until you¡¯re healed. Unfortunately we won¡¯t have the mana to heal you for another six or seven hours. But we need to carry those wolves to the Dungeon for absorption anyway. And if you allow, I would really like a look at your status then.¡± Parsi says after a bit of thinking. ¡°If you give me the same and promise to explain what we can read there, then OK. And I hope that we won¡¯t need mana by that time ¨C when I look at my missing points the system informs me that I have a regeneration of +1 per hour.¡± I answer. ¡°That sounds like a rank F or E healing ability ¨C a rank G human can regenerate eight points total once every 24 hours.¡± I hear from Parsi, while I start picking up wolf corpses and the ferns and grasses I dropped. It looks like we have to leave one of the corpses. There is no problem carrying one each under my upper arms, but the lower arms are not articulate enough ¨C I can only carry one corpse by holding it in front of me with both arms. ¡°Should I run back to get the last corpse after depositing these?¡± I ask. ¡°No, that corpse will draw scavengers too quickly, and you won¡¯t know how many or how strong they will be.¡± Silently we walk the rest of the distance to the entrance where I drop everything and proceed to absorb one of the cadavers and some of the grasses.
Absorption Summary 4 Blueberry berries 1 Wolf corpse 6 Soft Tree Fern 2 Silver Tree Fern 5 Goosegrass
Berry Absorption ¨C 7 points gained Fur Absorption ¨C 3 points gained Meat Absorption ¨C 3 points gained Ivory Absorption ¨C 2 points gained Claws Absorption ¨C 2 points gained Ground Plant Absorption ¨C 12 points gained
Skill levels improved Berry 0 (14%) Fur 0 (6%) Meat 0 (6%) Ivory 0 (4%) Claws 0 (4%) Ground Plant 0 (24%)
After studying the screen, Parsi comments ¡°Everything looks as expected. If you had fought and killed the wolves inside the dungeon, you would have gained about three times as many points and a chance to get a wolf monster entry for the dungeon, but that¡¯s in the past. Anything you want to know about this screen?¡± ¡°Yes, I would like to know what those skills can do and how do we access them? And I assume that the ivory is for anything from teeth?¡± I ask. ¡°At zero they do nothing. But later we will be able to access them during placement to change whatever we are placing, from traps to obstacles to monsters. And the higher we can get those skills, the more complex our creations can be.¡± Parsi answers. ¡°What about the books I got there on the table?¡± ¡°There is a material skill ¡®Writings¡¯ that is increased by absorbing books, scrolls and the like ¨C but until the skill level is higher than the level of the writing, all contents would be lost. And we are currently at zero there as well, so don''t absorb them until we know they are useless or we have a better skill. However once we have a higher skill, anything we absorb after that could be recreated with mana. The mana cost for magic scrolls is unfortunately rather high. Can we exchange Status now?¡± ¡°Yes, just let me absorb the other two wolves, then we can share. I assume it works the same way as with the transformation window?¡±
Name Claudia Level 12 (1) ¨C Rank G
Race High Sareni (10/25) 15% Free Points 12
Classes Slitar (2/25) 25%
Body 16/21+4 (1) * 150% Senses 4/1+3 (0)
Mind 9/7+2 (0) Presence 36/35+1 (1)
Agility 12/13+7 (1) * 200% Karma 1/1 (0)
Active Skills Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen 1 (Ag, 16%), Kissing 1 (Pr, 0%), 1 empty slot (Bo)
Inactive/Passive Skills Observation 1 (Se), Inventory 1 (-)
Titles Rank G, Animal Killer I
Perks Claws*, Multilimbed (6)*, Reincarnated (20), Dungeon Keeper (???), Transformations (High Sareni) 10, Magic Kisses, Cursed Kisses, Language (Beregra), Language (Nerwaran Common Trade)
States Transformed (Blue Catgirl, Sareni)*, Pregnant (1/283 days)
Name Persiphone Leafbottom Level 3+2 (0)
Race Pixie (3/5) 37% Free Points 1+2
Body 2/2 (0) * 10% Senses 1/1 (0)
Mind 1/1 (0) Presence 1/1 (0)
Agility 2/2 (0) * 140% Karma 1/1 (0)
Inactive/Passive Skills Knowledge (Dungeon Construction) 2 (Mi), Knowledge (Dungeon Core) 1 (Mi)
Titles Dungeon Assistant, Collector, Flying High II
Perks Dungeon Contract (???), Language (Nerwaran Common Trade)
¡°Oooohhhh¡± I watch as Parsi stares slack-jawed at my Status. And watching her numbers I can¡¯t feel anything but pity for her. ¡°Sorry about bitching after the fight, Parsi¡± I tell her ¡°I hadn¡¯t realized how bad your numbers were, no wonder that you have to run from any danger.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that ¨C pixies have been called worse, and you didn¡¯t know. Give me a few minutes to stare in awe, then I can answer your questions.¡± A few minutes later she turns to me and asks ¡°OK, what do you want to know? Fair warning ¨C I know nothing about the Sareni, Slitar and their options or where they came from ¨C this Beregra I assume.¡± ¡°No worry, I¡¯m after more general info for now. Basically the difference between active and inactive skills, and what actions give experience because I got experience only from the two titles, not from the fight or wolves themselves.¡± ¡°Experience from fighting? What a horrible idea!!¡± Parsi shudders at that. ¡°There would probably be bandits going around and slaughtering entire villages if that were to give them experience. Don¡¯t even hint at something that bad. No, most experience comes from skills leveling up, and skills level by usage. That is why deep dungeons are so important ¨C they allow the adventurers to use their skills against equal opponents. Titles are the second source of experience, but they taper of fast if you repeat enough. That animal killer series of titles? 100 XP for the first kill, 200 XP for ten kills, 300XP for a hundred kills and so on. And the same goes for the other killer type titles. OK, let¡¯s talk about skills ¨C not about that horrible idea of XP for kills. An inactive skill can be used normally, but the skill does not improve by usage nor gives XP as a result. For a skill to become active it needs to be place into a skill slot of the attribute it uses. And the first such skill slot is opened at attribute value 10. You can remove an active skill any time, but then it drops to the next full level ¨C any excess usage is permanently lost. You for example would lose the 16% gained from the fight if you were to unslot your combat skill now. Most people that gain access to better skills wait until they leveled their current progress before switching skills. In your case you should spend nine of your free points on Senses to get a slot for Observation. That will help you a lot.¡± ¡°What about that inventory skill? It does not have an attribute assigned.¡± ¡°Inventory is a general skill, it will take the attribute of wherever it is slotted first and then keep that. You might consider slotting it to your empty body slot, especially as you have no body skills at the moment. However a lot of people with that skill wait until they have a slot in an attribute they rarely use.¡± ¡°I agree about improving senses and because that are most of my free point I¡¯ll wait before deciding what to do with Inventory. How do I use that skill anyway?¡± ¡°Oh, that is automatic on your Equipment page. But can we switch to what exactly that god said, the one that send you here? That could become important as well¡­¡± Chapter 7: Bad News and Bad Revelations Day 2 Phase 1 Construction <> After I finish my retelling of the meeting in the afterlife I watch how Parsi thinks it over. After a short while she begins to speak. ¡°OK, since everything was made to look like from your previous life, I didn¡¯t get enough descriptions to even guess which god that might have been ¨C or if it even was someone from this world. But I can tell at least two additional points where you were misled, for lack of a better word. First, pretending to be someone that has conquered this dungeon will be a lot more difficult than you think, because our System enforces truth in its contracts. It is not impossible, but that god accepted your suggestion too fast to really care about your chance of pulling it off. As you already heard, the System in this world enforces the truth. That is not the same as being nice ¨C there are slave contracts after all. But you need to be very careful whenever a System Contract is involved, and you will have to make some of these contracts with adventurers to pull this idea off. Second, any true merchant with that class can initiate a System Trade Contract ¨C and those would actually be better than using a Dungeon Contract for that idea. So if he really changed the regular floor 10 reward (and yes, that is the regular reward then), it has to be for a different reason. Both points together indicate that he has something else planned, something he didn¡¯t tell you anything about. But at the moment I can¡¯t even guess what that is.¡± ¡°True, and I basically expected that. Hell, I was even suspicious while discussing this with that Power, I just didn¡¯t see another alternative to my obliteration as a person. Oh ¨C I just got the notification that the next three rooms have been rolled and need to be placed within the next eight hours. Should we do this now?¡± I ask Parsi. ¡°No ¨C we have eight hours for this after all. I would prefer if we check on those additional treasures you got there on the table. I originally dismissed them as the usual materials, but that was before I heard the story of how you got the job as Dungeon Keeper here. It might be that that god gave you something special with them, especially if it really wanted you to succeed in whatever it manipulated you to do.¡± ¡°Yes, we should check that. But keep in mind that those valuables might be part of that manipulation, especially the books. From what I have seen it is some food, the books and two dozen coins or chips. One of them I already absorbed for some wood points. Why the food however? Do we have to hunt for food in the forest?¡± ¡°No, we can feed on the mana from the dungeon¡± Parsi answers ¡°But I carry a bottle of nectar as well for a reason: in the first two days or so we simply don¡¯t have enough mana and it is better to not draw from it. And later we will want to have some real food for the taste anyway.¡± We slowly walk or fly over to the table, then Parsi continues: ¡°I can¡¯t read any of those books, so I can¡¯t really guess their worth. It is possible for me to lean your language knowledge due to the dungeon magic - that is usually done when a reincarnated soul hasn¡¯t got the local language bestowed on them. Unfortunately that takes some time, so I suggest we put the books aside and I check those other coins.¡± I watch as Parsi begins to check, before she begins to sort them with an exclamation. It looks a bit strange as the chips are as big as her head, but it seems as if she was right and there was something more to those valuables. When she is finished, six black tokens are moved away from the other seventeen remaining coins. ¡°OK Claudia, that god definitely wanted you and our dungeon to get the attention of adventurers. You got six dungeon tokens for additional selections, and I can only classify three of them. They are one trap, two monsters, one rune, one obstacle and one treasure token. The trap and one monster are Rank F, the rest is Rank G.¡± The G monster is classified as a slime ¨C not a problem aside from the question if we really want to have slimes in our dungeon. But the F monster has an unknown classification, and that means it will be of extreme interest to any adventurer. The trap is an unknown holding trap that does no damage. That is strange because it is rank F, usually all F traps do at least some damage. And the treasure is some form of writing. In itself that is not a problem, but it will draw mage-classes and is a type of treasure rarely rolled. The rune and the obstacle are both rank G and completely unknown. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. There are two problems with using those tokens however, and I think we should wait until we have larger space on floor 1 before placing them there.¡± I think a bit about what she explained and how she explained it. ¡°I assume one of the reasons is that we can¡¯t remove them once placed and don¡¯t want them outside the official dungeon, but what is the other reason?¡± ¡°We will need some time to discuss if we really want to use them early. I¡¯ll explain it on the example of the monsters. Only the very first monster you got with the dungeon is truly random, even if I suspect that in your case it was manipulated by that god. You being able to transform into albino tiger variants and the first monster being a white tiger is a bit too much of a coincidence. The second monster roll has a chance of 50% of being of the same classification as the first (animal or cat in our case), with only the other 50% being truly random. And the third is only 33% random and one of the first two classifications 33% each. Basically only the first four monsters have a chance of being new classifications, beginning with the fifth it will always be one of the first classifications. Monsters gained by other means after that will remain available, but they will not add to the random selections ever again. So if we wait until the first slots are filled, we still gain those token monsters but no chance of similar other monsters later. However if we use the tokens early, then it is very likely we get similar monsters of whatever that classification is on later random rolls. This can both be good or bad depending on how the adventurers react to them. I don¡¯t know if you really understand the consequences of a new classification.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Parsi. I understand that very well. In my original world there were a people who said that the worst curse you could place on anyone was ¡®May you live in interesting times¡¯. And I think this is the same.¡± I answer her. ¡°Oh yes, these tokens would make us ¡®interesting¡¯ like that, that is a very good way to put things. OK, then on to Dungeon Construction. We only need to fill one additional square to open the next floor, so that is easy. Let¡¯s see ¨C a new small room 2x2, those are always nice fillers even if we are still missing the 1x2 for that place top left. Another long corridor we already had yesterday ¨C perfect for several places. And a medium room with a corridor from its side that we also haven¡¯t had before. We now know eight of the twenty structures we¡¯ll have in our room list.¡± ¡°That medium room and the small room together would perfectly fit into the 3x4 area top right, and could easily be used as a shop area with a secure storage room, what do you think?¡± ¡°Good idea, Claudia ¨C and that clears the last condition, 72/61 squares filled. See how the requirement list is now replaced by the button to open floor 1? Let¡¯s do that.¡±
Floor Opening in Progress Copying Heart Room as new Entrance to floor below Opening Stairs to lower room Special Function: Copying Deep Stairwell 60 to floor below Special Function: Copying Deep Stairwell 40 to floor below Special Function: Copying Deep Stairwell 20 to floor below Floor 1 Available Dungeon Barrier currently closed
WARNING Dungeon Heart outside Dungeon Barrier Designate new Heart Room on floor 1 to move it into the Dungeon below
(1/2) Hidden Requirements met Tower Staircase can be raised for 100 Mana when all requirements are met. 1: Tower floor number less or equal to half Dungeon Floors rounded up (requirement met) 2: Foundation (floor 0) needs to be 100% filled
Somehow I¡¯m aware of a new room being opened below us, and a stairway going up to a square beside me where the floor turns into an energy barrier, but I¡¯m too dumbfounded by what I read to react. ¡®Hidden Requirements? We have to get the floor 0 to 100% to raise the tower?¡¯ ¡°WHAAAT?!?!¡± shouts Parsi ¡°We are stalled, we don¡¯t have the two-grid-room and can¡¯t fill floor 0!!!¡± She begins to fly in panic through the entire room ¡°I¡¯ll never get a class, I¡¯m a disgrace to the pixies, why didn¡¯t I insist on being careful, I should have demanded priority, we are doomed¡­¡± After watching her panic for a few minutes I grab her out of the air and pull her before my face. ¡°Calm Down!¡± ¡°eeeep¡­ok¡­.ok¡­panic bad, calming down...¡± After another minute Parsi adds ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m calm now. Uh Claudia? You¡¯re squishing my wings¡­¡± ¡°Sorry¡± I set her down on the table ¡°Better now?¡± I watch as she stands up and straightens out her wings, then she nods to me. ¡°It is not your fault ¨C when we placed those rooms you didn¡¯t even know that the tower floors are an option, and neither of us knew of the hidden requirements. And didn¡¯t you say that we may get that room later?¡± ¡°Yes¡± Parsi nods before slowly continuing ¡°The system has somewhere around thirty different rooms in total. I never bothered to remember the correct total number, because only the twenty in your dungeons list will really matter. And since that list is randomly assigned, there is a two in three chance for every possible structure to end up in a dungeon¡¯s list.¡± ¡°So we still have twelve chances to get the room we need, we are not yet doomed. And Parsi? Have you forgotten that you will get up to five bonus levels from my race level as well? So even if this dungeon stalls tomorrow ¨C which will not happen ¨C you are still guaranteed to reach your class level one day. It will just take longer.¡± Parsi brightens at that ¡°Right, I keep forgetting that we have an unusual contract. So let¡¯s go back to the construction window, we still need to place at least one more room.¡± We study the table with our dungeon floor for a while before I say ¡°OK, I know how we could place everything safely, but I don¡¯t want to commit the big 4x4 room yet ¨C not until we have a better idea what other rooms might come. The long corridor needs to go into the bottom left, and that means we¡¯ll have to use that strange cross-edge room here.¡± ¡°Are you sure, Claudia? That will leave a rather rugged edge south of the center.¡± ¡°Yes, I try to never make a mistake twice. If we don¡¯t get the two-square-room, nothing matters. But if we do get it, we can fill the entire floor with the already known rooms. Look, the big room to the east and a second of the cross-edge rooms here, and everything fills. I would just prefer if we find another way because this way we would need four of the two-squares. That is why I don¡¯t want to commit the big room yet and hope to find better rooms to fit.¡± ¡°Right, that would go. So what are we doing for placements? Even after healing and recharging you, we are now at 85 mana.¡± ¡°Pay 40 Mana for two hundred mana collectors for the next phase. Yes, I originally said that 80 mana is enough of a reserve buffer ¨C but that was before the demand of 100 mana to raise the tower staircase. I think we should go to a reserve of 200 before spending anything. And we need more rooms in the floor below to place the monsters, they wouldn''t fit in floor 0 anyway. Keep the other 45 mana for now, I want to try something else first. Due to the dungeon barrier being between floor 0 and 1, we can leave the dungeon now ¨C even during a construction phase at night. This opportunity will be lost as soon as we move the Heart to the next floor, and I want to try to get as much as possible from it before we have to go down. And yes, if we encounter anything I will run toward the dungeon ¨C not only because the tiger here can help in the fight, but also because I hope to get another animal-type predator as a monster option.¡± Chapter 8: The Truth and the Bull about Dungeons and their fates Day 2 late in Phase 1 Construction <> My heart is pumping heavily while I run toward the dungeon entrance. I shout ¡°Parsi, fly ahead and place two more tigers into the heart room!!!¡± ¡®A dozen wolves or more is definitely too much for me and a single tiger. And I think I¡¯ll change my skin to full tiger as soon as I get there ¨C I don¡¯t need to speak at the moment but the additional 3 stat points from that transformation might help.¡¯ I jump over a fallen tree and can now see the clearing. I¡¯m only a hundred meter from the Heart, but unfortunately I¡¯m approaching almost from the south ¨C I have to run around the building to get to the entrance. ¡®If I time it exactly right, the wolves will pass me while I jump around the edge. That should give me the seconds needed to get inside.¡¯ Twenty-five minutes of pain and fighting later I sit down on the floor, panting. To my left a tiger dissolves into nothing while I watch the System Screen.
Party combat results: Victory 14 Forest Wolves have been slain by the party of Claudia and three Rank E Dungeon Monsters Claudia has temporarily lost 12 Body points and 12 Agility points White Tiger A has temporarily lost 14 Body points White Tiger B has been killed White Tiger C has temporarily lost 10 Body points Claudia has received State: Minor Bleeding (-1 Body per minute, 4 minutes remaining) White Tiger A has received State: Bleeding (-2 Body per minute, 6 minutes remaining, DANGER) Nighttime skill use bonus +20% effectivity to Claudia Nighttime skill use bonus +20% effectivity to White Tiger A ¨C ERROR *** Error Resolving Process *** Dungeon Monsters should not be able to fight during Construction Phase/Nighttime Problem: Dungeon Monster outside Dungeon Barrier at Nighttime Problem caused by Prototype Priority Override %&#&¡ì$¡±! by ????? Problem solution requested from Higher Authority Temporary solution: apply bonus to template chance *** Process End ***
Monster Template Chance Calculating chance of gaining Forest Wolf Template 14 Wolves -> 36% +20% Effectivity bonus (+7.2%) -> 43.2% Rolling Success Template ¡°Forest Wolf Rank G¡± available as Dungeon Monster
14 fresh Wolf corpses available for absorption Do you want to absorb them? (Y/N)
Absorption Summary 14 fresh Wolf corpses Fur Absorption ¨C 24 points gained Meat Absorption ¨C 24 points gained Ivory Absorption ¨C 12 points gained Claws Absorption ¨C 12 points gained
Skill levels improved Fur 0 (66%) Meat 0 (66%) Ivory 0 (36%) Claws 0 (36%)
¡°Ugh ¨C more scratches and bites than I can count to care for, one tiger killed and a second about to die unless we can somehow heal our monsters ¨C and all for almost nothing on points? And why didn¡¯t I get the next Animal Killer title either?¡± ¡°That¡¯s life as a dungeon for you, Claudia, grinding from day to day¡± Parsi calls from the heart where she is checking a few things. ¡°If you fight in a group the kills are split between the members, so you probably counted only for four or five of the wolves. Which means you¡¯re still one or two animals killed away from the next title. I told you those titles are only secondary in gaining experience. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! But you should have gotten a decent amount of usage percent for your fighting skill, and you did get us the wolf template.¡± ¡°I may be forced to admit that we got something ¨C but nowhere near what I would consider a good reward for my work and pain. But what do you think about that error resolving process?¡± Parsi looks up at this ¡°What error process? I didn¡¯t check the window because there should be nothing special in it¡­¡± She flies over and reads the messages. ¡°OK, that is a bit strange. But it seems as if it was caused by the same change to the dungeon that allowed us to leave in the first place.¡± ¡°Yes, those strange symbols in the override seem to be the same I got when the Dungeon was first created, but why the question marks? Especially since I have seen the same in our contract and elsewhere.¡± ¡°The question marks are placeholders until the name of whoever it is about is known. In the case of our dungeon it is because we haven¡¯t named the dungeon yet, but in this case it is because you never got the name of the god that reincarnated you and modified the system for our dungeon.¡± ¡°OK, Parsi ¨C but let¡¯s go back to that ¡®daily life of grinding¡¯ ¨C what exactly do you mean by that? Because I think I missed some of the context on that due to not being from this world.¡± I watch as Parsi thinks about this for a minute before flying to the table and sitting down on the thickest book there. Then she begins to explain: ¡°OK, you¡¯re right. I keep forgetting that you had no System in the world you came from, and from the old stories even those who were reincarnated from System worlds often had a different system. And if we want to make our dungeon successful you need to know the details. Especially since what most of the adventurers¡¯ guilds have determined to be ¡®Dungeon Laws¡¯ is a pile of bull. It all comes down to level advancement. For that, you need experience ¨C and the only long-term and reliable source for experience points is skill advancement through skill use. Each time you complete a skill level you¡¯ll get experience points for it, and there is no real limit to the number of levels you can have in any skill, or the number of skills you can learn. However there is a practical limit: the higher a skill gets, the more difficult it is to level through use. But that is where the dungeons come into play. As soon as you get out of the common low levels, the most important fact about the dungeons is that they restock their contents faster than regular animals can grow up or traps can be build normally. And that allows the adventurers to keep using their skills at higher levels in deeper dungeons. Most of the public works written on dungeons is for the beginners and those books still talk about the treasures to be won, but once you are at rank D or C most adventurers only consider the treasures a side effect, not the main draw of the dungeon. Unfortunately they got a lot of things wrong on how the dungeon works, and that is why conquered dungeons often stall out early ¨C the adventurers who gained control give the wrong commands as how to handle things. Some of the reincarnated souls have tried to talk to adventurers and to correct their mistakes, but unfortunately they got that wrong again and are now thinking that an intelligent core is a core where an adventurer that died in the dungeon has its soul trapped and needs to be destroyed to be freed.¡± ¡°So we really need to be careful as to who we talk to about the truth if there are that many misconceptions floating around. Although we might be able to use some of them for our own purpose, especially considering that some of the rules really have been changed for our case.¡± I muse on what I learned for a while. ¡°But are there any rules we have to obey, other than what you already described on dungeon construction? There has to be some reason why the adventurers get something that simple wrong.¡± ¡°None, but as I already said the adventurers got a lot of things wrong. For example take the so-called safe rooms. The adventurers believe that the System forces all dungeons to create safe rooms designated by a safe-glyph and where they can rest in the dungeons without any danger. Which is bull because the System only forces truth but never cares about the survival of anyone. In reality their ¡®safe-glyph¡¯ is the permanent mana generating rune, and because any grid square can hold only one placement the rooms set aside for mana generation are not containing any real danger for anyone. And of course a dungeon with many traps and monsters needs more mana for them, so there are more mana generating rooms when the dungeons are more dangerous to the adventurers. Then they believe that traps are for corridors and monsters for rooms, and any deviation from that points to a strange dungeon. But again there is no law enforcing that ¨C it¡¯s just that in a room a trap can easily be evaded, while monsters in a corridor have difficulties attacking at the same time in the limited space available. Third point is that they think placements can only be done between phases. That is wrong, but most dungeons simply don¡¯t have the mana to make multiple placements per phase unless they are littered with mana-generating room. The only real restriction on placement is that the square grid where you want to place something must not be occupied by anything else, no matter if that is another placement or an adventurer ¨C or something like the table I¡¯m sitting on. Unfortunately quite a number of pixies believe that they are safer by following those superstitions, especially since some guilds tend to send out conquerors to dungeons who break too many of those supposed rules. I don¡¯t agree with that opinion, and we are already off the road considering usual dungeon behavior anyway ¨C so I don¡¯t think it matters for us.¡± ¡°No, we should decide on a case by case basis on what we do. But what are the options of the Guild? How can it react to what we do anyway, because I don¡¯t think they plan to send in the big guns for every new dungeon? Especially as you said there are around a hundred new dungeons each year. And how does that even work with so many dungeons?¡± ¡°Umh ¨C OK, I knew that I forgot a few things ¨C sorry.¡± Parsi says and then hesitates for a bit. ¡°The easy part first ¨C there is no ¡®one¡¯ Guild for the adventurers. There are hundreds of guilds, sometimes even warring with each other. Different guilds can have different rules to handle dungeons, and that can even include stealing access to dungeons from each other or intentionally destroying the dungeons of a different guild. There is a Guild Association that works to limit the worst cases and put up some rules because no one wins if all dungeons are destroyed, but it is limited in its local influence. However one of the tasks of this Guild Association is to declare whether or not a small dungeon to be a failed dungeon and send people to destroy it. This decision is supposed to happen when the construction phase changes into a third adventuring phase, and is based on how difficult or rewarding the dungeon is supposed to be then. The less rewarding ones are destroyed, because there is a limit to the dungeon density in any area. But as usual sometimes politics enter that decision¡­ This destroys about forty dungeons or so each year and is half the reason for the high number of replacements. The other half of the vanishing dungeons ¨C to tell the truth, no one really knows. The elders of the pixie villages have two lists for larger dungeons. One is called the list of Ancient Dungeons, the other is called the list of Older Dungeons. Every year, one to three of the Older Dungeons are magically moved to the Ancient Dungeons list, but around fifty more Older Dungeons simply disappear. I bet that the god who send you here knows why, and I hope that what he did is to increase our chances to become Ancient, but no one else had more than wild guesses about why a few dungeons become Ancient while most vanish instead.¡± Hearing that I just grumble ¡°This is getting more frustrating with every hour ¨C how am I supposed to handle and survive all this? As soon as the current phase ends and we collected the mana, I heal and charge up and then we go out to map the area. Hopefully you find something to tell you where we are and where the way to civilization goes.¡± Chapter 9: Roads to Civilization – or not Day 2 Phase 2 < > I settle down on Claudia¡¯s shoulder while we made the last preparations for heading out. Unfortunately the idea with the grass bag didn¡¯t work out, but after our discussion about our status and skills Claudia set her inventory skill to active in her empty Body slot. One inventory space is not much, but it can hold a small tree-branch. And using it for collecting will get it up to reasonable levels fast, I expect the second slot to become available tomorrow or the day after that. But collecting cheap wood is not where the real treasures are probably hidden, so I try again. ¡°Claudia, I still think you should put more time in reading those books. There has to be a reason why the god gave them to you, and specifically mentioned not to absorb them.¡± ¡°Sorry, but reading those books is like watching an approaching disaster ¨C and one where you know that it will involve you yourself. Didn¡¯t you tell me that there is a ritual that allows you to learn that language from me? That way you could check them yourself.¡± ¡°Yes, but you have seen my status ¨C with a mind of 1 that ritual will really hurt and put me out for a day or two until I recover. I would really prefer if you could handle the books.¡± I answer. ¡°Not going to happen fast.¡± Claudia says to me ¡°There is a reason why I put down the books. OK, everything looks good now, we can talk while going out. I think directly west until we hit some landmark, just to get a better overview and allow you a better guess of where we are.¡± ¡°Ah ¨C I think there is a translation error. The words you were looking for are not ¡®put down¡¯ but ¡®throw at the wall at the other side of the room¡¯¡­¡± I try to get her to joke about it. Which unfortunately fails when she answers dryly ¡°Hardi har har ¨C sorry, that is nothing to joke about for me. I think I better explain what I read to that point. Korventin was an arrogant idiot. Or more probably an arrogant idiot-savant because he was great in one thing and an absolute idiot in all others. Basically he created biological life with his magic ¨C including the Sareni, the race I¡¯m now a part of. And you can¡¯t tell me that is something regularly done.¡± ¡°WHAT???¡± I¡¯m absolutely stunned. ¡®Even most of the gods around here have to put in some work to create a static monster race, and that mortal mage created a variable shapeshifter epic tier race? That is so much more than genius¡­¡¯ ¡°No, Claudia, that is not normal. Isn¡¯t Korventin the name the System gave to the statue we got as an obstacle? I thought it was a very regal looking mage¡­¡± ¡°Yes, from all what I can determine that is a statue of that piece of shit. Because you haven¡¯t heard what exactly I read last ¨C the reason for the creation of the Sareni. He wanted his sex-slaves to double as his bodyguards, despite everyone suggesting that this would be a bad idea. And the reason why he still followed through with those plans despite the negative advices? He didn¡¯t want the aesthetic view of his inner chambers to be disrupted by having veteran soldiers stationed there.¡± ¡°Ohh ¡­ key¡± I mumble shocked ¡°That would explain the focus on Presence and Body for the Sareni. And I heard that a lot of humans have strange fetishes like the catgirls¡­¡± Suddenly there is a clawed finger before my face and Claudia mentions ¡°You might want to reconsider what to say and remember that I was human before being reincarnated as a Sareni.¡± ¡°Oh, look at this branch here on the tree.¡± I fly up ¡°The tree is partially dead, and in this branch there is already some moss and fungus growing, as well as some insects. If you break it here you should be able to store it in your inventory slot, getting everything in one go into the dungeon.¡± We slowly continue west in silence for a while. There is no landmark or anything special so far, but at least no wolves either. ¡®We probably got the main pack of the area last night, so it will be a few days before the system can guide more wolves to this part of the forest.¡¯ After half an hour or so I quietly tell Claudia ¡°I will spend one of my free points to Mind this evening, and then handle the language ritual after the dungeon rooms are placed. You could use that time to absorb the tokens we got, just consider the order of the two monsters when triggering the tokens for them. The first token used will appear more often in the random list as the second token used.¡± ¡°Thanks, I appreciate that.¡± is her equally quiet answer while we continue west. After another ten minutes I suddenly see something. ¡°Hey Claudia, I think the forest ends there. The bushes are suddenly denser, but I can still see more light coming through. A hundred meter or so, then we should be clear of the forest.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I raise up from her shoulder when we leave the forest. ¡°It¡¯s a forest lane, cleared for a high road in the middle ¨C let¡¯s search the road for a marker!¡± and I speed up ahead. But before I can fly even half the distance to the road, I hear an ¡°Ouch¡± and a thumb behind me. Turning around I see Claudia sits on the grass rubbing her nose with one hand while using the other three to keep herself in a sitting position. I fly back to ask her ¡°Claudia? What happened?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was trying to jog to the road myself when I suddenly hit something invisible.¡± Claudia stands up while telling me this and waves her hand in front of her. ¡°There ¨C look, here is some form of invisible wall. Wait a moment¡­¡± Her face takes a really pissed off expression while she makes a number steps to the south, trailing that wall that isn¡¯t even there. Then she begins to hit that wall with her forehead while shouting ¡°Aaargh.¡± It looks really strange. There is no wall, but I can see where her skin is suddenly contracted as if she really hits a wall with her forehead. I ask her ¡°You found something? What is going on?¡± ¡°Yes¡± Claudia answers with a sigh ¡°We are exactly one mile away from the Dungeon Heart, and this invisible wall curves to stay at exactly that distance. Or in other words, this is how far I am allowed to leave the dungeon. That Power did say that five miles was too much, but I hoped for at least two or three miles, because one mile is basically nothing.¡± ¡°But what are we doing now if you can¡¯t get to the road, Claudia?¡± ¡°Oh, I can get to the road ¨C just a bit farther south. The road goes from northwest to southeast after all, and about five hundred meter or so along the barrier it should have reached our dungeon area. Until then, you¡¯re the one who has to check everything beyond the border as it doesn¡¯t exist for you.¡± We walk along the border toward the south. I have problems keeping a grin of my face. ¡®Yeah, so I can still do my regular job as a dungeon pixie ¨C getting things from beyond the reach of the dungeon into it. This barrier might be bad for Claudia, but it assures me that I still have a job. Hey ¨C isn¡¯t that¡­¡¯ ¡°Claudia, please stop and wait here ¨C I think there is something interesting on the other side of the road.¡± I fly to the road where I slow down a bit to check it. ¡®Definitely a reasonably maintained High Road. It even looks like a Varelian High Road, but there is no marker in sight to be sure. OK, on to the bushes on the other side¡¯ A hundred meter further I see my guess confirmed. ¡®Yes, Falanna-Bushes, the staple of animal fodder. Now how do I get those thorns broken to get at the berries..¡¯ Ten Minutes later I¡¯m back with Claudia. ¡°Hi Claudia, I was right. But I probably need a few minutes to carry a batch over here. These are the thorns first ¨C careful, they are almost as long as my arm. But they make good materials for some traps. I¡¯ll get the berries next ¨C don¡¯t eat them, they are too sour for most people but very liked by a lot of animals. And since we didn¡¯t have them yet they should give us enough points for the berry skill to become usable.¡± As we continue along the barrier, the road comes closer and closer. Ten minutes later I see a marker ¨C shortly before the road reaches the barrier. I fly and check it before returning to Claudia with good news. ¡°Claudia, this is a High Road of the Varelian Empire. The marker there told me that the next rest place is five hundred meter inside our zone, and that the next settlement is to the southeast as well.¡± Claudia marches the last meters until she can examine the road as well. ¡°Hmm, on the world I was born on previously this would barely count as a dirt track. Is this Varelian Empire one of the smaller ones?¡± ¡°Hu? No, the Varelia is one of the largest empires on Nerwara. Only the Varelians and one of the smaller kingdoms bother to clear one hundred meters on both sides of their High Roads to protect from bandits and the like. And look at the work they put into creating the road on the raised bed of gravel¡­¡± ¡°In my old world, two thousand years ago the Roman Empire paved most of their roads with stone. And your Nerwaran Common language doesn¡¯t even have to words to describe how we made our current streets. And we need those streets because travel is much faster than a horse-drawn cart. For our cars 50 miles per hour was normal and not fast.¡± I fly to her to get more information. ¡°That sounds as if you had a very high level of magic in your old world.¡± ¡°No¡± Claudia answers ¡°We had absolutely no magic at all, everything was done by craftsmanship. Extremely advanced craftsmanship admittedly, but no magic involved at all.¡± ¡°How is that even possible¡± I wonder loud, but unfortunately Claudia shatters my hope. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I never went to college to learn something like that. I became a clerk in a clothing store shortly after school. I was a pure city girl without any knowledge about nature or crafting. And my memory ends about one or two years later, the rest has already been erased by the soul river when that Power took me out. Let¡¯s follow this road to the camping site, so we know how to reach it from the dungeon.¡± I settle down on Claudia¡¯s shoulder again while we wander along the road. It slowly turns more to the east, but after a short while I can see that it turns to the south again after the rest site. When we reach it I fly up to better check it out. Everything seems to be normal ¨C a gravel place of 50mx50m with the road in the middle, a small 2mx2m stone hut to the side with grips so a guard can better climb to the roof, and a stone slab for a fireplace. ¡°Hi Claudia, to explain a few things: That stone hut is basically only a place to keep firewood and firedung dry. All travelers are supposed to replace what they take with fallen wood from the forest and/or dung from their Crevans ¨C that is the most common beast of burden around here. You can check if there is anything inside that we¡¯re missing. Most likely we already have each wood sample, but sometimes caravans have broken wheels or similar things they place there as firewood. It also serves as a tiny guard tower. The stone slab there is where you are supposed to make your fire. Any questions?¡± I watch as walks around and checks everything before answering ¡°No, everything is cleat and I see nothing special here. But is there a place for handling trash on such sites? If a caravan has some things that can¡¯t be burned to throw away? Broken leather pieces or bones from food they carried might help us with materials as well.¡± I shake my head ¡°No, there is a lot less trash than you assume ¨C most travelers and especially caravans learn to repair and mend almost everything, because you can¡¯t carry too many replacements with you. The rest is often kept until the next village where it still might be of use. And since this place is only one day from the next village, it is unlikely that something is left here in either travel direction ¨C either it was fixed on the last stop or is kept until then. However let me check the forest border ¨C if there is some trash it is supposed to be deposited or buried there.¡± I fly along the forest on both sides but as expected we aren¡¯t lucky. But since we already have found a lot, we decide to return to the dungeon and deposit what we carried. While we were checking the shortest way between the dungeon and the rest site, Claudia has some additional questions. ¡°Parsi, how far is it to that next settlement exactly? You said one travel day?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s about eight miles to the village.¡± ¡°What? But most people I knew could walk that distance in two or three hours, why are you calling that a travel day?¡± ¡°That sounds about right for light encumbrance and good weather. You¡¯re forgetting that most travelers or caravans have only three or four hours a day for travel because they also need time to forage and hunt for food, to take down and setup their camps, to collect firewood and so on. Messengers that carry their own food often skip one or two camping places per day, but for regular travelers eight miles is a lot.¡± I watch as Claudia shakes her head again. ¡°It seems I have a lot to learn¡± she tells me. ¡°There is the dungeon. We still have a lot of hours until evening, I suggest we do another round for more berries, we are short of getting their material skill usable.¡± Chapter 10: Treasures of different kinds Day 3 Construction Phase <> I watch as Parsi flies loopings shouting ¡°We got the two-square-room! We got the two-square-room!¡± while I place the room to fill the first of the tiny holes in the ground floor of the tower. ¡®We still have the big 4x4 room left in our reserve from the first day, but the other two reserve slots were empty. The other two new rooms fill that up ¨C one a snaking S-type corridor of 5 squares with two turns that we didn¡¯t know before and that has nowhere to fit, the other a second one of the cross-edge rooms. Theoretically I could use the small and the big room to start filling floor 0, but I don¡¯t have to place more today.¡¯ I close the construction window hoping that tomorrows three new room give better options than the one that requires three more of the two-squares. Then I wait until Parsi calms down a bit. ¡°Parsi, this time we got lucky, but I don¡¯t want to commit to a structure early ever again if I can avoid it. So I suggest we wait for tomorrow with the next rooms and the token placements. I¡¯ll go continue collecting in the area we already checked while you should try that ritual for learning my language ¨C or do you need me for it?¡± ¡°No, the existing link is enough ¨C and I¡¯ll need almost a full day for it, so no problem with that idea. But please don¡¯t go too far and come checking in case another wolf pack gets in while I¡¯m occupied with the ritual or recovering from it.¡± ¡°Will do ¨C and I will also carry the table to the side rooms, so that we can add another tiger here.¡± With that I grab the table and the books on it to carry them out. Over the next several hours I carry a lot of samples into the dungeon and absorb them, with some really interesting results while Parsi goes through the language ritual. I can even handle a few forest wolves that come out in the night ¨C they must be strays from the large pack yesterday, but without numbers I have no problems with them. And as she told me Parsi is knocked out by the ritual and sleeping after I return for the fifth time, so I continue gathering.
Day 4 Construction Phase < > ¡°Ungh ¨C what a headache.¡± ¡®It¡¯s worse than we were told when those mind rituals were described back at home. Let¡¯s just hope it was worth it to learn the language of those books.¡¯ I sip a bit from my almost empty nectar bottle. We now have enough Mana to sustain ourselves, but real food is still better, so I¡¯ll have to preserve the rest of my nectar for important occasions. Five minutes later I¡¯m recovered enough to look around. Claudia has the construction window open and is probably considering options there. ¡°Right ¨C we are into the next construction phase. Did we get anything interesting?¡± ¡°Yes, Parsi¡± She answers me ¡°All three rooms were new to us, and two of them fit perfectly into our problems. A long corridor with a right-turn that covers the gap on floor 1, and a small room with an extension that allows us to handle the ground floor with lesser numbers of two-grid-rooms. The third room is a T-section that I let stay in the reserve when placing the other rooms, have a look:¡± ¡°Oh, that looks much better than yesterday. You paid Mana for additional doors?¡± ¡°Yes¡± Claudia explains ¡°We will need a way to get from one side to the other in the back. Just to be able to handle everything without being seen or disrupting adventurers entering the dungeon floor below.¡± I look around ¡°You moved the table with the books out to place another white tiger here. Do you have the tokens or are they with the books? If you absorb the tokens while the construction window is open, we will both be able to see their description and they only need to be placed before we close the window.¡± Claudia holds up her hand and shows the six tokens. ¡°I¡¯ll keep the slime token for later and absorb the others first, that way the System will know which monster we want as third and fourth option.¡±
Token absorbed: Rank F Monster Name: Karak-Tel Classification: Landkraken Dungeon Skill learned: Landkraken 2 (30%) Small singular hunter-type landkraken, equivalent to a dire wolf without any pack instincts
Token absorbed: Rank F Trap Name: Summoned Tentacle of Holding Classification: Holding Trap Dungeon Skill learned: Magic Traps 2 (0%) If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. This trap summons a tentacle to hold whoever or whatever triggered it for up to four hours with a strength of BODY-5
Token absorbed: Rank G Obstacle Name: Eldritch 3-wall Special: Does not block placement Three thin walls around a grid position where something can be placed. 50% visual obstruction for looking through the obstacle, choice of structure displayed, can be destroyed (BODY-10)
Token absorbed: Rank G Rune Name: Simple Confusion Target: Invader Effect: state: drunk, resisted by MIND Dungeon Skill improved: Magic Traps 2 (90%) This is the same state as people gain from consuming alcohol (including the individual reaction to that state), with only the difference that it is mind-resisted instead of body-resisted.
Token absorbed: Rank G Treasure Name: Random Strange Knowledge Scroll Classification: Writings Dungeon Skill learned: Writings 1 (50%) Scroll will contain random bits of non-magical knowledge drafted from what is available to the Dungeon or its contracted people. This knowledge will be rephrased into riddles or broken sentences out of context to make reading it more difficult.
¡°Oooohhhh¡± I stare at the option we now have. Even the ones where I knew the classifications for are completely new and were previously unknown to me. ¡®This will make our dungeon very ¡­ interesting ¡­ for everyone¡¯ However my study of this is a bit interrupted by Claudia starting to curse, although not as extreme as some times from the last days. ¡°What is it, Claudia? I don¡¯t see any problem with any of these options.¡± Claudia sighs ¡°Objectively there probably isn¡¯t one, but to someone from my old worlds there are some implications here, especially on the first two. The Karak-Tel looks like a dog-version of a mixture between Giger¡¯s Alien and Cthulhu with some kraken thrown in, although apparently without either the acid blood of the aliens or the craziness of Cthulhu. It will probably be a nice addition, but it can creep some people out. And that doesn¡¯t even take into account what this says for higher-ranked ¡®landkraken¡¯ we might get later. And the less is said about the implications of that tentacle, the better for now. The last three options are less special, but all look to be able to help in creating a dungeon atmosphere that goes into the same creepy directions.¡± ¡°Less special? I get a headache from trying to understand that obstacle wall, that is much worse than the landkraken or the tentacle.¡± ¡°Relax, that is just an optical illusion.¡± ¡°Huh? But obstacles can¡¯t contain magic, so where did this illusion come from?¡± I ask again. ¡°No, that is not a magical illusion¡± Claudia answers ¡°it is an optical illusion. We had artists that specialized in painting such things. Someone named Escher was the most well-known for doing similar artwork. But if your world never had artists like those, then it will probably be more confusing to adventurers until they understand it.¡± ¡°That is probably a good assumption. OK, let¡¯s see the slime token and then you should show me where you stored the table with the books.¡±
Token absorbed: Rank G Monster Name: Oiling Slime Classification: Slime Dungeon Skill learned: Slime 1 (90%) This slime secretes a very fine oil that tries to cover everything it touches. Anyone needs to succeed AGILITY checks or lose equipment or balance.
Claudia harrumphed on reading the new screen, but I¡¯m very glad. ¡°This all points to options of making a difficult but non-lethal dungeon, ideal for pretending to be already controlled. Now we just have to place everything and close the window. What do you think, Claudia?¡± ¡°You handled the early placements, but when I placed the additional tiger this morning I saw that we can set a reaction range of some sort on placement. Can we change that later? And are there more options than that limited number of settings?¡± ¡°No, once a monster is set nothing can change that until it is destroyed. And in case of a spawner that replaces killed monsters for free it costs a lot of Mana to change any setting before the next respawn.¡± ¡°Ok, then what about these placements? If you agree we can close the construction and go to check on the books¡­¡±
Day 4 Construction Phase ¨C 10 minutes later <> I watch as Parsi¡¯s eyes get bigger and bigger the more of the books she checks. It looks like they do have some value after all. After she finishes with the last one I ask ¡°What are those books to your experience?¡± ¡°Four of those six books are recognized by the System, and that gives them additional value ¨C a lot of value in one case. But let¡¯s start with the least value. Two of the books are regular books where the content might or might not be valuable. Those two books are ¡®The Brat of Gradeen Forest¡¯ and ¡®The Fall of Korventin the Seventh ¨C Last Mage-Emperor of the Holy Beregra¡¯. In both cases we will have to read them to learn if they contain anything of value. Since you are already working through the second one, I can take the first one over the next several weeks. Then there is ¡®The Biology of the Sareni ¨C a Study of an Artificial Race¡¯. The System classifies them as Knowledge (Medical) books, which means someone with medical skills can trigger an absorption of the content that counts as skill uses. But I think you¡¯ll want to keep that book a secret, because it lists all the transformation forms of the Sareni, even the ones you haven¡¯t tried yet for lack of time. And oh boy, are they something, although you probably will have more problems with the flying one than with the walking ones¡­ But back to topic. Even more valuable are the two skill books that come next. I can¡¯t learn the skill from ¡®Sar¡¯mra¡¯shen ¨C the Six Claws of Fighting¡¯ because it requires to have six clawed limbs as a prerequisite, and you already have that skill. At the moment I don¡¯t know any other race who could learn it, but there is always interest in such books if you don¡¯t want to keep it for your children. The second skill book is for a combo-skill, and combo-skills can only be learned with a class-level of 10 or higher. Combo-skills are valuable because they require only one of your skill-slots for multiple skills, but I don¡¯t know the two skills that are combined within ¡®Make-up for the Kama-Sutra¡¯. Both skills don¡¯t translate to my language, one of them seems to be about disguises that are not disguises, and the other about that Kama-Sutra, whatever that is.¡± Parsi points to one of the books while looking expectantly to me, and I go to the table to check it. ¡®Yep, cosplay and kama-sutra, including lectures on building costumes and makeup. But that is strange¡­¡¯ ¡°Parsi, about the book itself let¡¯s just say that we can probably sell it to courtesans. But what is really strange is that your language, Nerwaran Common, does not have any words about , or and so on in it. Can you tell me anything about that?¡± ¡°Hmm¡± Parsi seems to be in deep thought for a few minutes before answering ¡°From what I can get through the language those seem to be advanced forms of storytelling and bardcraft, but they conflict with part of the System that enforces truthfulness. There are some skills like that, but in most countries they are declared illegal and only handled by illegal classes. Although nothing I get from your language indicates there is anything illegal with those skills. I simply don¡¯t know, so I suggest we keep that book hidden as well until we can talk to someone with more legal or system knowledge. Which brings us to the last book, which is basically a class book for your class Slitar and not only a very big treasure but also a problem. There are three ways how anyone can gain access to a class. You can do something that gains you a title for the class, you can fulfill the class prerequisites or you can read a class book for it. And the higher the tier of the class, the more difficult are the titles and the prerequisites. This makes tier five class books extremely valuable. Unfortunately one of the prerequisites for the Slitar is a restricted class, which puts the book legally under the same restrictions and we should check with someone before advertising it as well.¡± ¡°I have to admit that I have a few suspicions based on what I know about the perks I have in my status, but let¡¯s make it official ¨C what are the prerequisites for the Slitar class according to the book?¡± ¡°Three attribute minimums ¨C Body, Mind and Presence both at 10 or more ¨C and three rare classes of tier 3 completed: Courtesan, Dominatrix and Black Witch. The Black Witch is the restricted class, the others can be learned normally if you find someone to teach you.¡± With some effort of will I keep from cursing the Power again ¡°We will not talk about what my class means to anyone, at least not until I found an alternative.¡± Parsi nods to this ¡°OK, but I have to tell you that a lot of people would take the class anyway, just for the attribute gain ¨C epic classes give seven points each level, that is more than my entire race gets in total for all five levels. But I admit that is easier for people that already have other classes than for someone who got this as their first class." Status: delayed, still working on it Hi I am still working on the story, the delay is due to both my own health being a bit more down and for RL-reasons (92-year family member passing away). Next chapter will be as soon as I find the time to finish it, but I don''t know when that will be. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I don''t know yet if I describe the testing of the other forms mentioned in the book about Sareni Biology directly or just describe the results, in all cases followed by the exploration of the last third of the area where Claudia can go and what surprise they''ll find there.