A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

After the raid from the bandits, I would never have guessed a day would come where I was left wanting people to enter my Dungeon, yet somehow, that day had come shockingly fast. I wasn't complaining about the peace and quiet the relative solitude provided. It was a wonderful change of pace. The problem was that between Fabian's paranoia that something was going on with the Adventurers Guild and the complete lack of delvers, a bit of his anxiety was starting to rub off on me.

On the bright side, I actually found myself with time to spare for once, and things were progressing smoothly as a result. Two entire weeks with no interruptions went a long way toward me getting the place into a state I was satisfied with. That wasn't to say my time had been spent completely uneventfully, evident by the explosion I was hearing from one of my deepest rooms.

Again? I thought.

I paused in my work temporarily as I willed the System to bring up a screen. A stylized box of text with a beige background and wooden framing appeared in my field of vision. I ignored most of the information it listed out, my nonexistent eyes instead darting toward one field in particular.

[Sir Archibald II (Awakened)

Anima: 342/420]

Well, he's not dead at least, I thought as I split my focus, my field of vision doubling.

One line of sight remained where it had been, allowing me to continue working on my current project in the background of what I was sure would take up the bulk of my attention for a minute or two. As for the other field of vision, I willed it into the chamber the explosion had occurred in. In the next instant, I could see what was going on there. Those were the perks of having your soul stuffed into a magic crystal, I guessed. There were conveniences that came with that, and there were inconveniences. I wasn't entirely sure they fully balanced out, but I wasn't going to complain about what I had going for me.

Archie, you good?

“Huh?” a voice sounded from in the room. It was interrupted by a coughing fit before answering, “Why of course I am!”

Had he not given me that reply, I wouldn't have had much more than a vague guess as to his condition based on the fact he had only lost roughly twenty percent of his effective health. Even that wouldn't have been much to go on, though, since the plant-like mushroom goblin didn't even have a normal health pool, instead relying on some strange combination of both health and mana called anima. Actually seeing him would have given me more to go on, but as it stood, I couldn't even make out his silhouette through the cloud of smoke permeating the room.

Um, I take it that you'll need another cauldron? I asked hesitantly.

“Yes, I believe that would be most appreciated, mistress of the stone. I didn't blow this one up completely, but it is surely too cracked to continue using in its current state.”

Hey, at least you didn't kill yourself.

“Of course, that is quite the boon indeed!” he said cheerfully as the smoke finally began to clear from around him enough for me to see the short creature sporting skin of wood and a mushroom shaped like an oversized wizard hat that was actually part of his head, “After all, the six hours of lost productivity the last time my experiments led to my untimely demise were quite dreadful.”

But, you didn't even experience that time. You said yourself that it was like one moment you were dying and the next you were alive again once the cooldown on me resummoning you ran out.

“That may be true, but all of the hours of experimenting I missed out on during that time, it pains me deeply just to think about.”

I sent him a mental shrug through our bond and began resupplying him. With a small cost in mana, I summoned him a new cauldron, multiple vials of potion base, and several already complete potions. With a larger mana cost, I caused new colorful, strangely shaped, and magical plants to sprout in the corner of room. The environment I had unlocked from my level ten perk, Alchemical Garden, was definitely, as my fairy assistant would say, a huge mana sink, but the plants I gained the ability to create were well worth it.

They didn't do anything on their own, but they held alchemical value. My recently awakened Trenti, Sir Archibald II, had been taking full advantage of that, slow as his progress may have been. He started out with only a single level in the Alchemy skill that he had gotten a while back and had yet to produce much in the way of results. What results he had gotten were mostly explosive, but progress was progress. Through his newly acquired habit of throwing any combination of ingredients he could get his hands on into a boiling pot, he had managed to learn both a working recipe and a plethora of ways not to make potions. That consequently earned me a handful of achievements.

[Achievement: Crafting Accident

Description: One of your monsters has seriously injured themselves in the process of crafting an item.

Reward: The monster has gained 1 level in the related crafting skill!]

[Achievement: Alchemical Mishap

Description: One of your monsters has died from making a mistake while performing alchemy.

Reward: The next monster you summon will gain the Alchemy skill and one additional level in it!]

[Error, your monster was unable to gain the Alchemy skill. A skill can not be acquired by a monster that already possesses it.]

[Error, solution not found.]

[Achievement: Experimental Alchemy

Description: One of your monsters has created a functional alchemical concoction through trial and error.

Reward: The monster has gained 1 level in Alchemy!]

I was sure the three extra levels to his craft had expedited his progress greatly, even if the second one of those achievements had slowed mine. I wanted him to get the Alchemy level from it, so I was unable to summon any monsters until he respawned. That was a full six hours, one for each of his levels. That being said, I did find the error from the System that resulted from that particular achievement to be concerning.

As with the other errors I had encountered up until this point, it seemed fairly harmless, but the mere existence of errors and the fact that I kept stumbling into them unintentionally had me worried. It seemed ominous, and I wasn't keen to see if something could go wrong in regards to them. Still, it had been worth it.

At some point not long after that ordeal, he had first success. I had him stop experimenting for a while after that, so he could produce the potion he had discovered in bulk. I absorbed each of his successes, and soon enough gained the ability to summon it directly.

[Item: Minor Strength Sapping Poison

Cost: 10 MP

Description: A magical concoction that temporarily weakens the drinker.

Effect: When consumed, the drinker suffers from -5 points and -5% to their STR for thirty minutes.]

It was the direct opposite of the Elixir of Minor Strength that I already had access to, and that was because he had used it as the base for the new recipe. Somehow, he had managed to reverse its effects. The downside was that it needed to be consumed in order to work properly. Just splashing someone with it, as Fabian had explained to me, would hardly do a thing.

I had some ideas on how to make use of it regardless, and my Trenti alchemist was actively attempting to give the poison contact effects through his experimentation. It wouldn't help Sir Archibald's skill level as much as learning through trial and error, but even if neither of those things panned out, Fabian had said he would look into basic alchemy recipes while he was off at his meeting with the dreaded Fairy Council.

It was better him than me as far as I was concerned. After all, he didn't have something massive to hide from them like, for example, the fact that he wasn't under their mandatory magic contract. No, it was only me hiding something on that level, and not even Fabian knew.

He still thought my actual name was Cameron. He had no idea that was a fake name I had used when we first met to get out of the magical contract he made with me. I did feel kind of guilty about that, but it was too late to go back now, and I wanted to avoid the wrath of the Fairy Council once they found out for as long as I could, preferably forever.

Well, I thought to my alchemist as I decided my my presence there was no longer necessary, keep up the good work. I'm gonna to go check on the others before getting back to my own project.

“Ah, right. Best of luck to you then, mistress.”

With that, I moved my field of view. I spared a glance toward the miniature dragon resting atop a pile of coins, weapons, armor, and a lone wooden eye that he had decided to claim as a trophy to add to his hoard for some reason. Adraugon, my second awakened monster, had done practically nothing but lounge around and sleep since the raid. I had tried talking to him a few times, but little came of it. As it stood, I believed it was best to just leave him be, so instead, I turned my attention toward my first awaken monsters, Vie and Pee.

My two-headed Shadow Viper was training as per usual. After hearing about the ordeal we had gone through without them due to their being dead and waiting to respawn during the raid, they hadn't let up on practice. I was concerned about their all-consuming dedication to the task, but I also appreciated their efforts immensely. Also, they were also directly helping me through their practice.

When my vision switched to focus on them, I didn't say anything to them. Instead I watched. Unlike before he had awakened, Sir Archibald II didn't spar with the pair anymore. In his place, I gave them other monsters to fight, ones that were experimental variants of my base monsters. They were unintelligent bundles of instincts. That meant they were less effective than skilled opponents would have been, but it also didn't matter if they died. In fact, their deaths only served to free up my resources, allowing me to experiment with different modifications to my monsters. Because of that, there was no need for them to hold back.

Teeth snapped together, causing a loud clacking sound to ring out. Between them had been only air. Vie and Pee had dodged the attack, moving to counter not a moment later. Fangs snapped back at their opponent with futility, unable to pierce the tough scales that stood in their way.

Those modifications seem to be doing well at least.

Their opponent was a large reptile, my newest and largest reptile to be exact. It was one of my newly acquired monsters, and I had enhanced it further, turning its scales and thick hide into impenetrable armor. I had noticed in the raid that, while I had plenty of firepower, I was severely lacking in monsters that could take hits. My solution to that problem was to get alligators, or the monster equivalent at least.

[Plated Gator

Level: 1

Cost: 32 DP

Health: 60 (90)

Stamina: 60 (90)

Mana: 40 (100)

Stats: FORT 12 (18), VIT 12 (19), STR 14 (21), END 12 (18), SOUL 4 (10), MIND 4 (10), WILL 6 (12), COM 10 (16), DEX 12 (18), AGI 8 (14)

Skills: None

Abilities: Forceful Chomp, Scale Plating

Description: A monstrous alligator with unnaturally solid scales. Between its unflinching resolve and powerful bite, it is a dangerous predator, but once it closes its jaws, it struggles to open them again.

Upgrades: Professional Amateur (+1 to every stat), A Walk in the Park (+5% to DEX and WILL), Too Close for Comfort (+1 to every stat), Deathtrap (+1% to every stat), Forceful Eviction (+1 to STR), Toxic (+1 to VIT), Kill Zone (+1 to every stat), Mass Grave (+1 to every stat), Raid (+1 to every stat), Great Raid (+1 to every stat), Generalist (+1% to every stat), Grand Raid (+1% to every stat)]

[Ability: Forceful Chomp

Description: You can bite harder than you should be able to, but you struggle to open your mouth.

Effect: When closing your mouth, you can make use of double your (STR). When opening your mouth, you can only make use of half of your (STR), and the action takes 4x the amount of stamina it normally would.]

[Ability: Scale Plating

Description: You are protected by your thick scales.

Effect: You benefit from 20% reduced physical damage.]

Those were the stats of a basic level one version of the monster. The one my precious little snakes were currently fighting had been made a lot stronger and was at higher level. It was going to be a good show.