Worthy Core

DAY 803

As the next few days progress, both sides take the time to prepare for their next moves. Although Domain reinforcements continue to make their way up the mountain, they hold off on advancing into Floor Two, waiting first for their new replacement gear to be completed. Xenia continues to do whatever she can to annoy them through the power of dungeon creation, but she also holds off on ordering any more ambushes - there's only so many ways to hide the approach of a raiding party, and she would rather reserve those tricks for a more critical moment.

Instead she focuses on getting each of her dungeon guardians upgraded, and assisting them with their needs when it comes to practicing their new skills. A number of arenas get slight adjustments, and as the guardians spar with monsters and mortals alike, more notes for further improvements continue to file in.

On top of that, Xenia also prepares for upgrades of a more material sort.

After spending a fair bit of time on equipment designs, the dungeon master calls in a few of her guests to join her in the conference room - along with Emma and Valkyrie Brightsky. As the mortals make their way inside they spot Emma leaning against the table, wearing Xenia's shape. "Hey all! Go ahead and take some seats, and stop looking so worried - today's a good day for you!"

"Worried? Who's worried?" Battle Alchemist Tinsel fiddles a bit with her vest with one hand. "It's not like there's anything dangerous going on or anything we'd need to be worrying about."

Paladin Sable smirks at the much-smaller mousekin as she claims the next chair. "What's this? An alchemist worried about risk? Must be one-of-a-kind."

"Hey, if I'm mixing shit, at least that's shit that's under my control!" Tinsel takes a deep breath to steady herself. "I don't like not having any idea what the Domain is up to out there."

As Prince Thaddeus sits down on the opposite side of the table, he gives her a shrug. "Think of it this way, Battle Alchemist. They don't know what we're doing down here, either."

"Good point. Do we know what we're doing down here?"

Bank, the human leader of the Miserables team, looks just as confused as he claims a spot. "Yes, ah, just to check, should I have been invited to this? I don't believe I'm considered part of the command structure, am I?"

"This isn't a command meeting, this is a...tactical meeting." Emma gives Paladin Tolla a grin as the dwarf enters, alongside Beatrice. "And there's our last. This isn't just about the people specifically in this room, some of this involves your teams as well because today we have...gifts!"

Brightsky frowns as she examines the others present. "For the mortals, yes? Is there a way I can assist in this?"

In the case of the green-skinned elf, the invisible Xenia is able to answer directly. "You might not be mortal, but I wasn't able to help you out with the dungeon upgrades earlier since you're not a dungeon monster either. That doesn't mean I can't do nothin', though. I've actually got something for Dave too, but...yeah, I ain't inviting him to the public meetings, still. Elementals, too, but that's a different meeting."

"I see. Well, in that case, please proceed."

"You got it, V-B!" While it's Xenia's voice which answers, it's Emma who steps forward. "So, there's been talk about upgrading our defenders with dungeon gear, as some of you might recall."

Thaddeus nods. "And as I recall, I believe there was a mention of it being too expensive? For high-quality gear, at least."

"Far too expensive to equip every random Challenger, yeah. But we do still have some mana left over at the end of the day, and there's no point in spending all of it on replacement arrows and health potions." Emma grins, though she turns more serious quickly. "Now, even just limiting it to the parties represented here, that's still a lot of people. So we're not just playing Santa and dumping out a big bag of presents for you all today. Today's more of a...product demo."

"Santa?" Sable furrows her brow. "Er, regardless, what exactly is there to demonstrate? We've all used enchanted equipment before."

"Ah - but you haven't used S-tier enchanted equipment, have you?" While the question's importance flies over the head of many of those present, Tolla gasps at the phrase.

"S-tier - that's dungeon lingo for Supreme-tier, yeah? I've heard some crazy stories about what that stuff can do. Extremely rare, too! It almost never goes out on the market, so unless you hang out with a lot of Supremes, odds are you never even see the stuff!"

Emma blinks. "Supreme-tier...huh, maybe it is. Well, anyways, you don't need to be a Supreme-tier Challenger to use it. But yeah, it does generally come with a little something special. We're not just talking about tougher armor, sharper swords, blastier wands. We're talking whole new abilities. For starters, Brightsky!"

The elf perks up. "Yes, Xenia - er, Emma?"

"So, keep in mind that this is not like your normal gear, that respawns with you. You die, and any random punk standing around can just pick this up off your corpse. So like, don't die while using this, got it?"

"I...shall endeavor my utmost."

"With any luck, this'll also help you with that!" Emma waves her hands towards the center of the table, but it's Xenia who actually activates her inventory system to summon an item atop it. Fortunately it spawns directly onto the table's surface, because if the heavy piece of metal had fallen any distance it would've certainly done noticeable damage to it. "For the Valkyrie of the Lord of Shields, we have creatively crafted for you - a shield!"

"...You certainly have." Brightsky's eyes grow wide as they trace over the enchanted item - a shield designed in the shape of a pair of feathered wings, folded in towards the center. There's no gold nor decorative gems, but as she looks closer the elf can spot trails of tiny enchantment runes running along the edges of every feather. "...This craftsmanship is beyond what mortal hands could produce, I would wager that. But I don't know how to interpret these - what are its special properties?"

Emma gives the explanation, for the benefit of the other guests. "You can go ahead and pick it up! Just, uh, don't try activating anything in this room, it ain't really got the space for it." The Valkyrie does so, her brow furrowing in confusion as she fixes it to her shield-arm.

"I...I don't feel the weight?"

"Nope! We're calling it the Shield of Judgment's Scales! Obviously, it's way tougher than your average shield. But while you're holding it, it also puts its weight into reserve." Brightsky opens her mouth to ask a question, but Emma jumps right to the answer. "When you're in a battle, just pick a target - they'll be carrying the weight of it for you!"

The elf experimentally waves her arm around a bit, apparently disbelieving her own experience. "The construction of this artifact is not light, I am certain of that. That could prove...very useful against a foe not prepared for it."

Tinsel leans forward, her eyes wide. "Are you saying all of us here are gonna get cool shit like that!? ...Uh, though I don't really use shields or swords or stuff. Maybe if you've got some...light armor, maybe?"

"Oh, we got something special for you!" Emma holds out her hand in Tinsel's direction, palm up, and Xenia fills it with a tiny box containing six potion bottles. "S-tier Potions of Free Refills! If you use something up but the bottle still has at least a few drops of potion in it? Pour a drop of Refill potion in there and it'll restore the bottle to full!"

The mousekin blinks for a second before quickly reaching out and grabbing the box. "Seriously!? One drop, and you've given me six bottle of the stuff!? I could turn one health potion into like, a hundred with one of these! This cuts down on my crafting time so much..."

Emma's grin turns into a frown as she grumbles. "Yeah, well, it costs as much mana as a hundred health potions, too. But this gives you flexibility and lets you replenish whatever it is you're using in the field. ...Plus it'd probably be way harder to actually carry a hundred health potions."

Thaddeus looks like he's about to speak, but Emma turns in his direction and interrupts him. "Don't have anything for you today, sorry. We decided we like your wife more. No offense."

The prince's jaw works a few times before words come out. "...None taken?"

A wand appears in Emma's hand, which she plops down in front of the man. "Wand of Mirrors. It turns the target invisible while creating a copy of them. The copy is physical and can move and fight and stuff, but if it takes any serious damage it shatters like glass. It can hold a fair few charges before needing to be recharged, though."

"I see! Tizzy will definitely find this useful, maintaining an illusion that has some physicality to it and moves like the real thing is quite taxing for her, even after months of practice. I thank you on her behalf."

"Mrm-hmm." Emma turns towards Sable without further fanfare. "Paladin! We actually had Bountiful Mother Hammerdown help us out with this one - we were able to make an item suitable for a divine blessing, which she helpfully provided. With Kahlia's aid, of course."

A sword appears on the table in front of the red-skinned paladin, encased in a sheath decorated with tadpoles swimming up a stream. "Behold, The Virgin Killer."

Sable practically chokes on air. "The - the what!? What...how...does it work?"

Emma grins. "It does significantly more damage to someone who's never had a kid, and a fair bit more to someone who's only had one. Someone with two kids takes the normal amount of damage, which is, y'know, still lethal if you're using it right. It does keep dropping though, someone who's had a dozen brats will just have it bounce right off them." The reflection shrugs. "Not technically about virginity, true, apparently you need Taina's blessing for one of those. But hey, branding is important."

Sable snorts. "The world's most lethal paternity test. Should be useful more often than not, I suppose. Most soldiers are relatively young..."

"Should we have gone with The Paternity Tester...? Mmm, nah. Paladin Tolla!"

The dwarf nearly jumps out of her seat. "Ah! Aye? Something fancy like that for me too, is it?"

"We know you're more of an axe girl, but we didn't want to spend the souls on getting that up to S-tier too, sorry. I hope you can live with a sword."

Tolla's eyes narrow. "I can use a sword, aye...though what kind exactly, I wonder."

The sheathed blade that appears before Tolla is smaller than Sable's, but still elegantly decorated with lines of chained spirals. "Also blessed by the big momma, behold, The Legacy's Strike."

The paladin peers at the weapon curiously. "Intriguing name, but I've got no bloody idea what that means."

Emma nods. "It needs a bit of prep work, and some volunteers. If you can get two parents who've had a kid together to shed a bit of blood on the blade, you can use weaker versions of some of the abilities they might have. For example, if you get Parker and Laeniel to volunteer a few drops, you might get some of the strength of a Rabbit Patriarch...and the mathematical skills of an accountant? I dunno, there might be other couples in here you could find. If you get a new set of parents to feed in blood, it overwrites the previous set."

"Huh." Tolla slightly unsheathes the blade, examining it. "Normally I'd be right wary of a blade that needed sacrificial blood to get it goin', but I suppose I can see the logic of it. I'll see about finding those two after this."

"We can point them your way. Bank!" The reflection turns next to the young human from the Miserables. "Good news!"

"Oh? I can't wait to hear it."

Emma grins widely. "S-tier item enchantments also include S-tier curses, as it turns out. Guy says that gets used pretty rarely, though - creating a cursed S-tier item is a pretty huge expense compared to, like, just stabbing someone you don't like."

For his part, Bank is not grinning quite so much. "And...how does this apply to us?"

Emma tosses him a wand, which he catches but nearly drops as it occurs to him that it could be dangerous. "Wand of Fate's Focused Eye. A curse-multiplying curse-caster. It doesn't create any new curses, but if it hits someone who's already cursed, it makes it three times stronger for the next day."

It takes the man a moment to sort out what that means. "So...if Slinz casts this on herself, with the bad-luck curse on her from her family..."

"You basically get your luck stretched to the maximum that fate probably allows. Just, uh...be careful about going outside after using that. No telling how bad it could hit you without the dungeon affecting your luck. That curse of yours might actually kill you out there if it's that much stronger."

Bank takes firmer hold of the gift. "I'll be sure to let her know!"

Beatrice gives the man a smile before turning towards Emma, knowing she's next. "And I assume I'm getting something? My team's been busy doing their own thing for the most part, though if you have a healing item for Janey that could be useful..."

"No, this is for you." Emma gestures towards the warrior, and a third sword appears. This time the sheath is decorated with carved flames, but it's the hilt that catches Beatrice's attention. It seems made of gold, and a large, clear crystal sits on one side. Turning it around, a similar yet darker crystal can be found.

"Emma - Xenia - this is..."

"Yup! Went with a design we thought you might be familiar with." Emma smirks. "We call it the Dragon Slayer."

Beatrice pauses at that, before quickly pulling her helmet out from one of her storage items. Placing it on her head, she triggers the enchantment on it that allows her to see Xenia's ghostly form. "Xenia. What. Is. This."

Xenia shrugs. "Sword of +3 dragon slaying, you know how it is. Uh, metaphorically 'plus three', I mean, there's not really numbers like that. Also very effective against draconics, slightly good on kobolds."

"Xenia." Beatrice's stare is obvious even through her helm. "What exactly do you expect me to do with this?"

The reincarnator meets the stare evenly. "Whatever we've gotta do."