The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

“Very nice selections, Tacca.  Though, I’d probably say that you’re at the bare minimum of what you need to keep both sections running smoothly.”

You’re right, but I didn’t want to spend needlessly unless absolutely necessary.  Having more Dungeon Force or regeneration would always be helpful, as well as the Control Limit, but is there something else I should be looking towards?

“That really depends on your plans, I guess.  What are you planning to do when you finish filling this section?”  Shale likely had an inkling of what she had planned, but she hadn’t shared everything with him quite yet – which meant that he was asking an important question: What did she plan on doing next?

Simple enough – expand and grow her dungeon.  While at the same time, keeping each section intact.

The problem with that, of course, was that if she kept the first section the same, and then the second section, the Dungeon Force and Control Limit she currently possessed would be consumed with keeping those running.  Unless, naturally, visits by Raiders were slow and she had a lot of time to restock and change things around, but that would be the opposite of what Tacca wanted; she had enjoyed having groups running through her dungeon almost constantly, and she wouldn’t want to have to adapt the methods that other Cores needed to use, with having to wait half a day or so before the next group could enter.

That was the main reason that when Cores increased their CI Levels, they typically eliminated the weaker parts of their dungeons so that they could create something more difficult, losing those Raiders at the bottom rung of their careers but gaining stronger visitors at the same time.  It was also the reason why Tacca was so popular, at least according to her instruction at DAPS, because entry-Level dungeons didn’t stay that way for long.  They increased in difficulty quickly, as it was much easier to get stronger within the first 5 years of their existence, and Dungeon Assistants were taught to encourage change to make dungeons more appealing and challenging.

It made sense, most of the time, but Tacca was really hoping to keep everything running, so that she had many Raiders running through her rooms at the same time.  With the unique way she created the exits, as well as the two separate entrances she had planned, it was possible to have more than 1 group in her dungeon at a time – a feat that was near impossible for most older Dungeon Cores she had learned about.

So…what do I do?

Whether it was her still trying to adjust to being in the world again, or she ended up damaging her mind when her Level increased so much, but Tacca was having difficulty planning ahead – something that she’d always been great at.  She didn’t think it was permanent, thankfully, but for now she was just a bit overwhelmed.

Fortunately, she had an Assistant that was there to help for exactly this reason.

Chapter 6

The solution had been a simple one, and Tacca hadn’t even seen it.  Fortunately, Shale had considered it a bit, his mind working on a different wavelength than the Dungeon Core entirely.  Simply put, the answer lay in the Special Characteristic menu, which she had basically all but ignored once she had paid back the Points to get rid of her negative Characteristics.  They had served their purpose, getting her access to all of the Variants for her creatures, but for some reason purchasing more Special Characteristics[1] hadn’t occurred to her.

From her increase in Level, she had already acquired an extra 175 SCPs – 25 per Level – for a total of 225 SCPs.  Now at Level 20, this was the last opportunity she would get to acquire more SCPs at a rate of 12 CIPs to 1.  It was certainly more expensive compared to the old 4 to 1 ratio she enjoyed all the way through CI Level 10, but if she waited until she was Level 21, the rate would go up to 36 to 1.  In addition, the next time she went through another Level increase, she would end up having to wait for another year for her countdown to end, similar to how her Dungeon Assistant status was right now.  At least until Level 41, when the countdown would increase to 5 years.

For a total of 14,100 of her CIPs, she could convert them into 1,175 SCPs; added to her previous total of 225, she could have 1,400 Points to spend on Characteristics.  If she didn’t convert them, then she could increase her Dungeon Force maximum by another 1,000, her regeneration by another 20 per minute, and add another 900 to her Control Limit – with a handful of Points left over.  It was a hard decision, and one that would affect the rest of her life as a Dungeon Core, because if she messed up it could have dire consequences.

Fortunately, she wasn’t one to take the easy route.  Looking at my original choices for Special Characteristics just emphasizes that point. 

Crossing her non-existent fingers in her mind, Tacca converted nearly all of her remaining CIPs and brought her total up to 1,400 SCPs.  Before she had committed to this endeavor, she had already perused her options and knew exactly what she was going to purchase.

For exactly half of her available Points, she acquired Decreased Dungeon Force cost for all creatures and traps: 40%.  As soon as she confirmed her purchase, she felt an immediate shaking in her Core, as if something large had smacked it like a bell with the flat of its fleshy hand.  When she stopped reverberating, she was thankful that she didn’t feel that any cracks had formed as a result of acquiring the Characteristic. Instead, Tacca’s Core felt…freer, somehow.