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

In fact, if it wasn’t for Raider Presence adding up, she wouldn’t be adding much more than what she had already.  Raider Deaths had nearly dried up after the first 2 weeks, so that there might be one every few days; as her dungeon layout and difficulty was better understood over time, there would be fewer and fewer Raiders dying in her dungeon – which was perfectly fine with Tacca.  She was making it up with their presence alone, which was adding up quickly.  At an average of 22 hours per day in her dungeon, she normally would’ve accumulated around 660 Points in a month when there were groups of 5 Raiders delving through; with essentially 2 dungeons open at the same time, the amount doubled!

All of those things were just some of the reasons that other Dungeon Cores took so many years, decades, and centuries to increase their Core Improvement Level, especially the higher the Level they obtained.  First, they didn’t have the same system of rotating out groups through the exit traps she had developed, to maximize Raider Presence; second, they weren’t necessarily as busy as her dungeon (which had groups delving through at all times of the day and night); lastly, while their countdowns for their first 20 CI Levels was only a year, it jumped to 5 years for the next 20, then 50 years for the next 20, and finally 500 years for any Cores Level 61 and over.  Dungeon Assistant Ranks mirrored this as well, which was why it was going to take Shale 50 years before he could Rank up again.

She really wanted to expand again, in order to open up a whole new section that could potentially cater to Raiders of higher Levels.  The problem, other than her Control Limit being maxed out, was that the constant use of Dungeon Force to regularly replace creatures and traps that were being triggered or Disarmed through both sections was draining most of what she regenerated.  Even with Shale supplying Force through his Energy Transmutation ability, turning his Fairy Mana into something she could use, she wouldn’t be able to sustain an entire third section.

There has to be something I can do, though.  Yes, I can increase my Maximum Dungeon Force and its regeneration, as well as upping my Control Limit using my CIPs – but will that be enough?

She technically had 5,400 Points to spend, which would allow her to increase all of those attributes a little bit.  Ideally, that would be the way to go, but was that what she wanted?

Core Improvements

Available Core Improvement Points (CIP)

5400

11736 in 323 days

Improvement Name

Value

Cost (CIP)

Maximum Dungeon Force Increase

+500 DF

2000

Dungeon Force Regeneration Increase

+10 DF per minute

1500

Control Limit Increase

+300

1800

Select Additional Creature

1

550

Select Additional Creature Variant

1

25

Select Additional Trap Specialization

1

600

Select Additional Environment Access

1

800

Reward Tier Increase

1

1200

Convert CIPs to SCPs

1 SCP

36

Alternatively, she could convert them to Special Characteristic Points, but that would only give her 150 more to add to her 25 she earned from reaching CI Level 21.  175 SCPs would be useful, though she didn’t think it would be of enough use to make a difference for the future.  Tacca had some vague plans, of course, but those all hinged on being able to both create and maintain them; therefore, all she had really done was create a few small rooms and one massive space that was approximately a 500-foot-wide cube. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with it yet, but she had been gradually expanding it over the last few weeks when she had some spare Dungeon Force.

“I’m not sure of the best solution here, to be honest.  What you should do is eliminate one of the difficulties in your second section, thereby freeing up what you used to essentially create two different dungeons there.”

He had a point, but….  That would feel like taking a step back, and I think it’s working out so far, even if it does consume a lot of my resources.  I’ll have to think about it.

Shale just shrugged.  “Up to you, really.  I think the Raiders would get used to the change if you were to open up a whole new section for them to delve through.”

That was true, but in order to arrange all of that, she would have to shut down at least her second section for a day or two to make those changes.  The changeover would require a shift in the creatures and traps there, as well making sure everything was balanced again; then there was the introduction of the third section once she built it, which would take a while to fully stock once she freed up the necessary Control Limit.

Communication with the Raiders was a bit difficult, however.  Since Sterge and Gwenda’s visit over a month ago, they hadn’t stepped inside of her dungeon.  The crowds surging into the small village – now town-like in size – weren’t getting any smaller, which obviously made their work in organizing everything even more important; in fact, the influx of people migrating to the south practically exploded.  It didn’t take long to figure out why.

Chapter 14

An evacuation was underway in the north, one that Malachite wished he could participate in.  The last month had been a little better than the previous half a year, with only another dozen Cores being destroyed in that time, but the fact that they were still being shattered was a point of contention in the Council chambers.

“No!  I know of no way to move the Cores that are still in the conflict zone, so there isn’t any point in even talking about it.”  Head Instructor Lapis