Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 29

"I have no idea how you won that bet." James grumbled as his 100 resources were taken from him by his pixie. As she predicted, the group made a holy hand grenade comment. More specifically, Med Ic had made a comment about preparing to launch a holy hand grenade. He then proceeded to count one, two, five, three, and launched a golden orb at Old Man Jenkins, which had finished the boss off.

"Well, their group is a bit predictable." Rue was grinning as she flicked her wrist, and it seemed she was checking her own screen. She had to have close to 200 resources from him, tricksy pixie.

"But-"

"And at level 10, clerics get a holy blast, which serves as their first actual offensive ability. I figured Med Ic would give the skill a try, especially since he was wearing one of those chicken talon holy symbols. They give him +5 to his magical attack after all."

James had to stare hard at his pixie, as his sleep deprived mind tried to follow what had happened. Had his easy going AI, who just made crude jokes and gave him a hard time, really put that much thought into her bet? She was a lot more devious than he had thought.

"Alright, well I will win the next time." The gamer in him refused to lose to her anymore, and he was sure when his mind wasn't sleep deprived, he would be able to think things through just like she had. He just wondered how many more references she was getting that he wasn't. James needed to figure out what things these players were referencing. His generation of gamers had their own jokes, and he was aware of some older memes from the early 2000s, but anything before that, he was sadly out of his league on. He was guessing the Knights Who Go Ni were an older group of gamers, cracking jokes from their childhood while they played.

"Inconceivable." Rue stuck her tongue out at James, before she broke into a fit of giggles. He smiled softly to himself, she had started out a bit intense, but now that he was used to her personality, he found it made him smile.

"Oh, look, it's time." Rue motioned to a timer she had pulled up, and sure enough, there were just a few seconds left. As the clock struck 0, a bright light washed over everything, and suddenly all of the adventurers were gone. It was just Rue, James, and the demonic farm. At the same time, an achievement appeared before James's orb.

Achievement Unlocked- Sleep is For the Weak- Stay Awake for 200 hours. Are you hallucinating yet? Maybe talking to a pixie or fairy that is really a figment of your imagination? Go you!

Rewards- 10,000xp 1000 resources 5 dungeon tokens

"Huh, that seemed a bit snarkier than usual." James glanced at the achievement once more, finding the strength to grin as he patted himself on the back. He had done it. It had been hard, but he had done it. Another screen popped up after he closed the achievement.

Tier Up!

Congratulations you are now a Tier 2 Dungeon!

Resource base max increased to 2000 (does not include structures

Tier 1 Mobs have all been promoted to level 10

Boss mob has been promoted to level 15

+1 upgrade points for mobs

Mob points for Tier 1 now 200

Tier 2 instances unlocked

New research options available

New loot options unlocked

You are now able to create a Tier 2 floor

You are now able to summon Tier 2 mobs

You have been awarded 5 gold

You have been awarded 5 dungeon tokens

James felt overwhelmed as he read through the list, and closed it out, pulling up his character sheet, to see what else had changed. He was most curious to see how the experience had changed. James knew games had a tendency to increase experience costs at certain milestones. He had even heard Z and his group complaining about the experience jump once they reached level 10. Apparently from level 1 to 10, the cost per level had increased by 100. So from level 8 to 9 it had cost them 900xp, and 9 to 10 cost them 1000xp. But when they hit level 10, it cost them 1500xp for the next level, and 2000xp to get to 12. The only reason they had managed to hit level 12, was because they unlocked an impressive amount of achievements while they farmed mobs. James sighed as he pulled up his character sheet, dreading what he would see.

Glyax Tier 2 Rank 1 Dungeon

Mob Type: Random

102,361 xp

17,639 xp to next rank

197,639 xp to next Tier

Resources: 1013 of 2100

Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum

Dungeon Tokens: 18

"Well, that's not too bad." James commented as he looked over his sheet. His experience from Tier 2 to Tier 3 doubled in cost, but he figured that wouldn't be hard to manage. He also noted his required experience per rank doubled, meaning his floor would be a little slower to evolve than it had been, but he was okay with that fact. He felt his first floor had been evolving at such a rapid place, he and players hadn't really been able to enjoy it fully. He hoped he would be able to spend more time on his later floors.

"Good job Glyax." Rue had settled atop his orb, and was staring down at his screen. She stifled a yawn as she scanned over his information.

"Not bad for the first night of immersion, huh?" James had to wonder how many dungeons had managed to reach tier 2 at the end of the first night. Was it a normal task, or was he ahead? Was that a sign of his dungeon being too hard? James didn't think so, especially since a lot of his experience jumps had come from achievements. He had made sure to check his achievements tab before applying upgrades on his mobs, so that he could further optimize his achievement hunting. Needless to say, it had paid off.

"No, you did really well Glyax. I'm proud of you." Rue looked around his dungeon, and then down at him, her tired eyes sparkling. "So, I know you're tired."

"Uh huh." James was exhausted. He was really tempted to spend this last hour of real world in immersion sleeping. It would feel like 24 hours straight of rest, and give him a little edge heading back into the real world.

"But, you want to start on your second tier?" Her voice was hesitant, hopefully, but James could tell she was really excited for it. So was he. But he was also scared. In his tired state, how would he react if he got some crazy mob type? James was imagining mobs made out of candy. He was certain the developers would have put something like that in the game.

"We can at least create a room to summon a mob in." James pulled up his dungeon creator, and glanced around his first floor. How did he go about creating a second floor? Did he create stairs leading down to a doorway, connecting to the second part of his dungeon? Was it a portal system? How did they developers implement it into the game?

"Need some help?" Rue had picked up on the awkward silence, and pointed towards the bottom right of the Dungeon Creator screen. There, a new button had appeared, titled Dungeon Ascension. How had he missed that?

"Do I just select it? Is it going to create a new level underneath the floor? Or how exactly does this work?"

"By choosing Dungeon Ascension, it gives you access to an entire second floor. You can choose to physically attach it to your dungeon, either below or above your current floor, or you can create a portal that will teleport players to the next level. Either way is free, but you will of course then be required to form your own design to it, and apply influence to it at the cost of resources.

"So, will it still be underground?" If he created a portal system, would that mean he could completely change the environment? Would it create a new instance that served as an environment for his mobs? Then again, he had no idea what his mobs would be. Maybe sticking with a cave environment was best for now.

"How about you choose the option and see for yourself silly." Rue pointed towards the option, and James mentally selected it. The moment he did, a range of floor types spread out before him, ranging from underground tunnel system, to jungle, to even ocean floor. James's sleep addled mind couldn't even begin to comprehend the opportunities this offered to him.

"So, selecting one of these will create a brand new floor type for me to begin modifying."

"Correct."

"And I get to choose where the portal is located on the floors?" James already planned to put the portal in the barn of his first floor, as every group of players he had observed walked into it. He wasn't too worried about players that were under leveled taking it. If they did, they would quickly regret their life choices, and it would mean more experience for him.

"That is correct."

"Alright, well, let's change things up." James flipped through the list, and decided to choose the open plains option. It was an outside level, complete with what James could assume was fresh air and the blazing sun, a bright contrast from his first floor. He figured no mater his mob type, even if it were water mobs, he would be able to adjust the floor to his liking. It all just came down to resources, after all.

"I like it." Rue was grinning as he selected the option, and the moment he did, the area around them disappeared, and he was suddenly floating over an empty expanse of savannah. On his screen, he could see the option to place his portal. He decided to wait on that, until he figured out his mob type, and developed his floor more.

"Now, let's see what mobs we get, before I call it a night." James spent 10 resources to build a small area with his influence, so that he would be able to summon his tier 2 mob. He knew he would come back and to a lot of level design for his second floor before he opened it up, but for now, he was too tired to do much thinking.

"Would you like the honors again Rue?" He pulled up his Mob Generator screen, and was staring at his Tier 2 mob row, which was full of question marks. At the bottom, the famous words Generate Random Mob.

"Gladly." Rue smiled to him, happiness practically oozing off of her, as she hit the button. James silently started praying that he wouldn't have a water floor, or candy mobs. Now that he knew the types of things the developers were putting in, he was really scared of what he might get stuck with.

"Come on, something cool." James was whispering as he watched the area of land that had his influence on it. As before, it took a few seconds, before a form magically appeared before him. James let out his breathe, which had been holding, and found himself cheering as he pulled up his Mob Generator, once again looking at the Tier 2 portion.

On the ground before him, a form he knew very well from movies. One of the most well-known creatures he felt, and definitely a mob he could love. The name under tier-2, labeling the type, explained the mechanical, industrial look to the creature.

Steampunk Dinosaurs was his new mob type, and James had to admit, it had to be one of the coolest options he could think of. Scanning across the list, he quickly narrowed in on the mob that had been randomly summoned. Velocity Raptor, a mechanical, gear and steam powered, velociraptor.

"I think we can work with this." James's voice was tired, yet excited. Rue was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at his screen, to the little raptor, who was letting out a very distinct cry as it looked around. Poor little guy seemed lonely.

"Yes, but first, you need to get some rest Glyax." The pixie was looking at his orb, and James was certain there was concern in her eyes, while her voice was soft, tender. "You did a great job this immersion. I look forward to working with you further."

She was right, and James mentally summoned his user interface, pulling up his home screen. "Till next time?" James's attention hovered on his home screen, watching his pixie.

"I'll be waiting." Rue's grinning face was the last thing he saw, as he teleported back to his home room, the empty white waiting space. James found himself grinning as he closed his eyes, willing himself to drift into the dark embrace of sleep, knowing when he next opened his eyes, he would be waking from immersion, and preparing once again for the real world. James already couldn't wait for the day to be over. He had a dungeon to build.