A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

Out of my three options, there was no clear winner. Arid, desert terrain would be accommodating for my reptiles while also facilitating entirely different types of plants from what I could already grow. It would also give me access to sand, which–if my testing with ice was anything to go off of–I could likely find uses for in unexpected ways.

As for Mana Crystal Efficiency, it was an upgrade that would affect an entire category of monsters, one that I had just decided I would continue using and investing in going forward rather than a single species alone. It could empower what I already had, and I could continue to build off of it in the future. Those kinds of perks weren't something I had many of.

Then, there was the monster. It paired well with the birds I didn't use but still had access to. More importantly, though, its abilities were unique with a ton of potential. If I could extract one of them, it would open the doors to endless new possibilities.

All three options were amazing, and if I'd encountered them individually, I likely would've taken them all. The problem was, they all came at once, and I could only select one of them. It was why I'd yet to level up past twenty, but now that I'd taken my time to test out a few things, I could no longer justify putting the decision off any longer.

First up, deserts. What are the pros and cons to them? I began walking myself through the decision.

Having access to sand might open up the door to glasswork, maybe. That would be a side benefit, though, and even then, access to glass as an environment would probably do more for us than something that can theoretically be made into it. Other than that, there's not much I can think of that sand can do that dirt and gravel can't, except for possibly quicksand, but even then, that would be something I'd need to try to figure out with no guarantees, much like ice had been. Other than that, desert plants would be the biggest benefit to taking this perk, which just leaves the questions of whether or not this world's desert plants can offer anything that others can't and, if they can, if I'd actually need desert terrain to make the most of them.

Those were a lot of ifs, none of which I had definitive answers to. If I still had Fabian, I could've probably gotten some, but even if elder Rodrick's offer was still on the table, it had too many strings attached to it. I wasn't going to carelessly accept access to the Fairy Council's information when doing so would tie me to them again, whether it was to a lesser extent than before or not. I also wasn't going to agree to get involved with the Dungeon up north until I had more information on it, so for the time being, I was on my own.

Going solely off of what I'd learned from my experiments with making ice, I saw potential in sand and was more interested in the perk than I'd previously been, but that didn't mean it was the best option available. Overall, as favorable as I'd come to see it, there were still too many uncertainties involved with it. As useful as ice was proving to be, getting it to a workable state hadn't been straightforward, and I knew far more about ice than I did quicksand. That meant I was probably best off skipping the option for now, as interesting it could be.

Crystalline Mana, then? I wondered next as I brought up the details of the attached ability.

[Ability: Crystalline Mana

Description: You're mana pool is specialized for the transfer of mana between yourself and mana crystals.

Effect: You can transfer energy between yourself and mana crystals 50% faster.]

It was generic enough that it could almost universally be applicable to crystal monsters while still being specialized enough that I could build off of it. Add on the fact that I wanted to invest more heavily in mana-crystal-related unlocks, and it was a great choice. The only problem was how simple it was.

Fifty percent faster transfer rates was useful for sustained combat. For the right crystalline monsters, that basically meant fifty percent faster mana regeneration. It did, however, do nothing for burst damage, and that was what both Crystal Puffers and Crystal Munchers seemed to be good at. The ability was worth considering, but after coming to understand how Crystal Munchers worked, it didn't seem quite as useful as it initially had, and that just left–

–Kirbyan Talons.

The monster was bloat. It paired well with birds, and I'd already decided I wanted mana-crystal-related monsters as a tertiary focus. Even if I decided I needed a fourth type to build synergies with down the line, I already utilized a lot of shadow monsters, so that would've been a better pick. There was no reason for me to specialize in birds. If I ended up with one I could find a use for down the line, I'd still take it, but I felt no need to give the System any more reason to keep offering them to me.

The thing about Kirbyan Talons that made the decision much harder, however, was that, if I took them, it wouldn't have been for the species itself. What interested me wasn't having access to a unique type of bird. It was the abilities I could strip from them.

[Ability: Kirbyan Form

Description: As you grow, your form changes to closer resemble the species that raised you.

Effect: As you grow in age and power, your physical appearance takes on traits such as color, shape, and more unique details from your primary caregiver.]

[Ability: Inheritance

Description: Over time, this ability changes to match one of your primary caregiver's.

Effect: Over a period of time that is dependent on the ability being copied, this ability changes to match it. The copied ability can either be a physical trait or a magical one. You cannot control what ability is copied, and once the process of copying begins, this ability can no longer become anything else. If your primary caregiver dies or you are separated from them, progress on copying one of their abilities will be halted. Once the ability has been copied in full, Inheritance will become that ability.]

The first of the two was interesting, and I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I gave it to a monster before having another species raise it. The idea of having Plated Gators physically resemble amorphous beings of shadow, birds, or even magical plants was one I couldn't shake. It was, however, the worse of the two options. Being able to copy abilities outside of aspects onto other monsters sounded far more versatile. There was just one problem with it: time.

If I chose Kirbyan Talons for their Inheritance ability, I would be making a massive time commitment. Crystalline Mana, in comparison, was an immediate benefit with no downsides. In contrast, with Inheritance, I'd need to actively have my monsters raise each other so that they could slowly copy a random ability from their caretaker.

Anything I gave this to, I couldn't just have be a random monster in my Dungeon. It would need time to develop the ability–how much, I didn't know–and I'd also need to dedicate resources to having different monsters serve as caretakers. Because of that, it would only be useful for elites and unbound monsters, and even then, there were no guarantees with it. It was all a gamble, and if it wasn't for the fact that Stein was practically already raising new generations of monsters and training them, I would've dismissed it outright. Since I did have my Mimicry Ghoul filling a similar role already, though, the perk did warrant consideration.

In spite of the forgetful undead's more unique quirks, Stein did have access to some powerful, unique abilities that I didn't have as traits. If I could raise a set of monsters with those abilities, they could be an extremely potent force. If they could mimic skills like he could, they'd be able to take up any profession they needed to, and if they could copy abilities on the fly, that'd make them unpredictable in combat. There was just one issue. Not all of the ghoul's abilities were good.

[Ability: Decaying

Description: Your body and soul are in a constant state of decay.

Effect: You no longer have a (VIT) stat. You can not recover health, stamina, or mana through normal means. You are also immune to poison.]

Anything that pulled his Decaying ability through random chance, if that was how it worked, would be served a death sentence. The only method of healing they'd have would be through me–so long as they were a Dungeon monster, that is–or through the use of potions, and Stein, as we'd recently figured out, couldn't use potions. I wasn't sure if that was a byproduct of Decaying's poison immunity or something else entirely, but I suspected that the questionable ability might've been the cause. I also considered it a candidate for the source of the undead's short-term memory loss, not that I had any hard proof of that. Neither of those disabilities were things I wanted my other monsters inheriting, and that was to say nothing of the stamina and mana concerns involved.

Even with that risk, however, the benefits were clear, and I could already think of a few ways to get around the downsides. It was only a matter of weighing the ability against the one my crystal-related monsters stood to gain. In the end, the deciding factor came down to a single point. Inheritance, despite being harder to use, had more potential.

This is a risk, I noted as I gave the other perk one last longing glance; then, I dismissed it and took Kirbyan Talons.

Moments later, the species was no more, and in its place on my status sheet was a new aspect, one that cost more than any other I'd gotten, even Phase. That alone caused me to do a double take.

Thirty DP!? I sputtered.

That was more expensive than most of my monsters and nearly as much as my Plated Gators, which I already considered prohibitively expensive. Immediately, my plan to have all future unbound monsters begin picking up skills from Stein before gaining sentience was called into question. While that method may have allowed me to discard those who ended up with Decaying before they could gain awareness, at that price, it would've been I had to wonder if it would be worth it.

No, it will definitely still be worth it, I quickly reassured myself, Besides, I still don't know for sure how it works. For all I know, the ability it chooses will end up being consistent rather than chance on a case by case basis. I might not have to summon entire groups to get the one ability I want on a single monster. Yeah, that's it. It could be predetermined.

I didn't trust my own words, not even as I thought them. Optimism was a dangerous thing, and I knew there was no way I was getting that lucky. Still, the choice had been made, and I'd need to live with it, no matter how expensive it ended up being. With that being the case, rather than dwelling on it, I pushed that problem to the back of my mind. I could worry about it later.

[Experience to next level: 2,429,999 / 400,000

Level up?

Yes / No]

Yes, please!

Without hesitation, I did what I did best when confronted with a problem I had no immediate solution for. I distracted myself, and what better distraction was there than my next level-up perk?