A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

Well done.

Vie and Pee's fight had been excellent. Honestly, I hadn't been entirely sure they could take the gator down without using magic to bypass its defense, but they had proven me wrong. I was immensely proud of them for that. As for the Plated Gator species as a whole, I was slightly less enthused.

On the surface, they were great. They had strength and defense aplenty, and their sheer scale made them walking fortifications. I was sure they could take down low leveled warriors with ease, but I had also seen the way they fell over dead if hit with so much as a slightly magical breeze. Obviously, that was an exaggeration, but the essence of it held true. They were far from unkillable.

I could have done something about that if I really wanted to. I did still have two unchosen monsters left, after all. It would have been easy to pick up an aspect that covered their weaknesses, and I had briefly considered doing just that. In the end, I had decided against it, though.

The amount of mages I had seen so far was shockingly low. For being in world full of magic and adventure, there were hardly any to be found, at least not around my Dungeon. Add in the fact that half of the people with magic that I had seen were healers, and magical damage wasn't a major concern for me in the immediate future, but the issue remained. Worse, that was only half of my problem.

I was just as concerned about the monsters' strengths as I was their weaknesses. It felt like they were the exact wrong kind of deadly. They were too weak for their presence to make me feel safe, yet they were also so strong that problems could arise from me having them. That was made worse by the extra stats they gained from my achievements and modifications. It left them in a weird place in terms of balancing for me, and I was unwilling to do anything to push their strength out of that limbo in either direction.

The last thing I wanted was a repeat of the bandit raid. I needed strong monsters to prevent that, but if they were too strong, the Adventurers Guild would get pissed off at me for being too deadly. Honestly, they probably already were. The absence of anyone entering my Dungeon for weeks on end after what had been a near constant stream of invaders attested to that. I didn't need to poke that sleeping bear any more, so I had to limit the power of my monsters.

I did, of course, know all of that before picking the monster. I also had a fairy that constantly raised those concerns with me before, during, and after that decision. I had still decided on it anyway. It was a risk, but it was a calculated one, and besides, I had taken countermeasures that would hopefully buy me some leeway. The Alchemical Garden was a part of that, and so was the second of the three perks I took.

That being the case, I tried not to dwell on the subject any more than I had to. I had already done what I could, and what would follow would follow regardless of how much time I spent agonizing over it. Worrying wasn't going to help me; a clear mind was more likely to do that. That was why I chose to ignore the threat looming over my metaphorical head and, instead, to find distractions for myself. My adorable snakes' victory over their empowered adversary was one of those distractions.

So, Vie, how do those new stats feel? Are you happy with them now?

“Yes, they are most wonderful. Thank you, my queen.”

She bounced her head around in excitement as she answered. That made me happy to see. If spending a little DP on them could bring her so much joy, the price was well worth it. It was a shame I couldn't spend more on them.

I wanted to. In fact, I had to hold myself back from just pouring points into them, lest I go overboard. Sadly, at some point, sinking all my resources into only a few defenders would negatively impact the running of my Dungeon. I had to strike a balance. Besides, there was more than one way for them to get stronger, and if they were going to continue to be my fiercest little protectors, I needed them to put in effort to grow as well. Luckily, one such method had presented itself yet again.

[Achievement gained: Tyrant!]

From the name and context alone, I could guess that it would reward Vie and Pee directly. I had no immediate idea as to what the trigger condition for us getting it was, though. As far as I knew, Dungeons weren't generally rewarded for their monsters fighting among themselves. With that being said, I could easily find out, so I willed a menu to appear and read the details the System provided me with.

[Achievement: Tyrant

Description: One of your monsters has killed 100 of your other monsters that were less than half of its level.

Reward: The monster has gained +1% to all stats!]

It made a certain degree of sense. I had gotten a Friendly Fire achievement the first time I had my monsters kill each other. What I actually found surprising was that my snakes had killed one hundred of my other monsters already. I quickly did the math and came to an understanding. A small handful of mindless sparing partners per day, none of which lasted too long, didn't take long to start adding up.

The implication I found more surprising was that I had gone through nearly one hundred variant designs for my monsters for them to kill. Sure, many of them were experiments I hadn't expected to work in the first place, but it was still a representation of how much I had been playing around with Monster Customization in an attempt to find better results.

That really is a lot.

“What is?”

“Huh?”

Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. Anyway, congratulations on your new stat boost, not that it looks like it changed any of your actual values yet.

“We earned extra stats?”

“Yay!”

I chuckled. They were so cute that I could have easily spent entire days just doting on them. Sadly, our long-term survival was at stake. I didn't have the luxury of spending more than a few hours with them, Archie, and Fabian per day, and the time I set aside for that was still a ways off.

So, what do you want to do now? I could give you a few weaker monsters to fight, but you're probably tired after that. Archie is busy, and Fabian isn't here …

I didn't want to leave them alone with nothing to do or entertain themselves with, but the last time I suggested they hang out with Archie, it resulted in me getting the Alchemical Mishap achievement. Archie did not enjoy losing out on time he could have otherwise spent playing around in his lab due to being dead, so that was out. Then, it struck me.

Hold on. Actually, would you like to come see my project and how it's coming?

“Yes. It would be an honor.”

“We'd love to, mother!”

With a surge of happiness directed toward them, I had found a way for us to spend a little more time together for the day. With their enthusiastic agreement, I began moving my perspective through the Dungeon. They followed alongside me. I could have just split my concentration or teleported my vision back to where we were heading toward, but I opted to take a stroll through the Dungeon with them instead.

It was nice being able to do that. Back before I was a Dungeon Core, before I had my soul plucked from my old world and shoved into a crystal here, I could have technically gone on strolls if I had wanted to. It was just that, between the hassle of moving around in my wheel chair and never being able to find the motivation to do so, I didn't do that much. Here in my Dungeon, however, I could move around freely and with little to no effort. Sure, I couldn't leave, but it was still a step up for me, so I made sure to enjoy the simple pleasure while I could.

Hmm, how do you two like the Dungeon anyway? I asked offhandedly.

“It is very defensible. You have done well making it the impervious fortress it is, our queen.”

“Our home? It's all nice, dark, and cozy! I love it!”

It was probably my mistake for expecting what I would have considered to be normal answers to the question from them, but at least they seemed to like it. That could have been due to them not having any frame of reference to compare it to, but I'd take it at face value. I also liked the Dungeon after all. As terrifying and filled with death as it was, it was also my new home.

With the realization of how much it meant to me, I looked around and took it all in. I had been staring at it nonstop for weeks, but I hadn't taken much time to really appreciate what I had painstakingly built. We were still in the arena, a new room I had carved out for Vie and Pee to train in. It wasn't any grand structure like the name implied, but the medium-sized room was still oddly beautiful. The earthen floor and rock walls were plain on their own, but the glowing crystals of varying colors I had embedded in the ceiling above gave it a mystical feel.

Those crystals were a new acquisition of mine. I had gotten them from one of my perks. They were magical in nature and held elemental mana like strange volatile batteries. The mana crystals, as they were called, had been a part of an environment perk, and thanks to them, I hadn't regretted choosing it for a moment.

[Environment: Great Caverns Passage

Description: You can incorporate aspects of a passage of the Great Caverns into your Dungeon.

Effect: Allows you to summon and modify different types of stone, basic mana crystals, and some types of subterranean vegetation.]

The Great Caverns, from what Fabian had told me, was a massive underground cave system that spanned continents in length. Apparently, it was filled with monsters, people, animals, and other forms of life that, according to everything that I knew, should not have been able to survive so deep underground. It also contained magical, glowing crystals. That last part was more relevant to me.

I had been messing around with the things nonstop ever since I got them, and I was learning a lot about their properties and interactions in the process. The semitransparent chunks of crystal came in a variety of colors, each one containing mana of a different element. There were apparently a lot of different types of them, but the ones I had access to were stone, air, water, fire, shadow, and light. The last of those kinds shone particularly brightly, but aside being good for lighting, they had a variety of uses to me, the most prominent of which being bribery.

They, along with the magical plants from Alchemical Garden, were coveted by adventurers. That contributed a lot to me choosing to get them. I hoped their value would be enough to make the guild overlook my oddities. I wasn't holding my breath on it, though.

Still, even if that didn't work out, their usefulness didn't end there. They had alchemical properties, something Sir Archibald II had been taking the utmost advantage of. Then, there was the fact that they were at the center of my new project. Overall, they were likely the most versatile resource I had at my disposal.

What do you think of the crystals?

“The shadow ones are nice.”

“They're pretty!

I smiled internally at their answers. I liked them a lot, and while I knew Shadow Vipers were more naturally inclined toward darkness, it made me happy to know they appreciated them too. I hadn't had many opportunities to focus on aesthetics while building my Dungeon, so things like them that were pretty and low effort were nice. It was why I had placed so many of them in the areas that weren't meant for adventurers. I could afford that small luxury.