Chapter 13: Dungeon Found

I worked through the night on the library plans, engrossed with what I was doing. With the sun starting to rise, I left the house. I found Simba chasing a weasel. I stopped to analyze the small feline.

Simba (Tallis’ Companion), Level 3

Simba stopped his pursuit and trotted over to me confidently. “Morning, Tallis. I am ready for another spell. I have unlocked tier 4 in nature magic.”

“Good job. Let’s go see if we can find Sanso before I hit the plains for some hunting.” I headed north to his tower. Sanso’s tower was now four stories high and looked like a rough castle tower. He obviously didn’t have an artist’s touch or an architect’s mind. Sanso was nowhere to be found, though. I knocked, and no one answered, not even an earth elemental.

I looked at Simba. “Well, next time I see him, I will get him to teach you a new spell.” I ignored the cat’s protests and headed toward the guard tower next to the plains.

My hunting group was there and ready. I also saw Ophelia and Trista riding the black steeds back to town from the tower, getting them some exercise. They waved at me as they passed. I was sure all the horses now had good names bestowed on them. I still could not believe this was just a game. I would have thought everything was real if it had not been for the magic and screens. When I got to the tower, I learned the girls had just come by to drop off food for the tower watchers.

My seven hunters were all geared in blue-and-white leather armor; thanks to Curraen. They looked sharp, professional, and ready to go. We headed out on a path toward the nearest pride master respawn location. We killed a few creatures on our way there. The pride master was resting with two regular lions. I split our forces to focus on the minor lions first, and once their target was down, I had everyone focus on the pride master. The pride master managed to close on the group, and I went melee to keep it occupied.

My new armor was awesome. I never took more than 98 damage from a hit, but I thought I probably shouldn't have tried to solo a pride master yet. When the pride master went down, I received a notification that I had leveled up!

I eagerly opened the combat log, feeling the endorphin rush. Bam, there it was. I scrolled through the logs and noticed the exp for this pride master was about 70% higher than yesterday. I had to think about it. Maybe it was the presence of Galana? Yes, that made sense. Was that why she held back from combat on our first hunting trip? It was quicker to level for everyone else. But yesterday, I ordered her to participate. She should have explained the experience differential but didn’t.

 Not wanting to waste time, I dropped two points in masonry, and for stats, I added four intelligence and two magic.

I got the group moving toward the next site for a pride master. When we got there, this pride master also had two guardians. We repeated our battle plan. Throughout the morning, we hit all the pride masters marked on my map. Every one now had two guards. Was the game adapting? It made no difference as we were still strong enough to take them easily.

Resting for a few minutes after the ninth pride master, I opened the map to plot a path. Returning to the tower was a long arc covering some new territory. It should allow another six hours of grinding. Halfway through the arc, we found four porcupines together. I marked the area on my map, hoping it was a spawning site for Glana to get a collection of quills daily. We took them easily, and one of the militia found a strange rock nearby and asked me to inspect it. I used analyze on it.

Entrance to Crypt of the Phoenix King, Level 20, Floors 5, Scaling Dungeon

I had to use the wiki to sort out the notification. It was pretty simple; level 20 was the average level of monsters on the first floor. The average level went up by one on each floor you descended. That meant the 5th floor was level 24 monsters. The scaling dungeon was interesting. Once the final boss on the lowest floor was defeated, the dungeon would increase in difficulty when it was reset. I changed my map marker from ‘porcupine harvest’ to ‘Quills and Crypt.’

Inspecting the stone, I saw it was a large circular object about six feet across. Unreadable script ran along the outer edge. Was it trapped? Was it a riddle? I took a screenshot and saved it. I didn’t want to share this with other players. A scaling dungeon sounded awesome, and it was only about six miles from my village.

It being hidden in the grass made it almost impossible to spot…except by air where the circular shape would definitely be easy to discern. I ordered the militia to cover it with dirt. Best to hide this for now and return when I reached level 20.

The rest of the hunting trip was uneventful. We had a pretty good haul for the day.

72 Cleardusk Plains Lions15 Giant Porcupines21 Cleardusk Plains Deer11 Cleardusk Pride Master Lion

The militia was tasked with turning in the harvest. I went home. Simba came bounding up the road. “He is in the general store!” Was all he said as he raced back in the direction of the store. I figured it was probably Sanso. I diverted and went to the store. It was dusk, and the kids were probably all inside.

Sanso was buying some goods from Elice when I went in. I smiled and asked him if he had time to teach me a new stone spell tonight. I felt Simba’s claws dig into my leg through the leather! It also lost a durability point.

After pausing for dramatic effect, I added, “Please teach Simba a new nature spell as well.” We talked about the stone spells he had. He had a summon stone that would expedite building but required a large amount of mana and was tier five. I would take it but also wanted something offensive. Hail of stones was a tier-five spell that pelted a small area with fist-sized rocks. I took that as well.

And for Simba? He reminded me that his nature spells were limited. He had a tier-three vine growth spell, which could be used to snare one opponent, but the vine’s strength and health were only equal to the caster’s nature skill. Anything with a higher strength could break free. Excellent, teach us both!

His only tier-five nature: plant spell was wood elemental. It summoned a three-foot wood elemental that could manage a garden or orchard. It was a very weak combatant but had some plant growth spells. I also learned that the number of elementals one could summon was equal to one, plus their charisma was divided by 10. We went to my house, and I paid him for the spells through store credit. It was 60 silver for a tier 3 and 2 gold for a tier 5 spell. Everything was draining my coffers. I did need to utilize my magic more in building and hunting.

Summon Stone Earth: Stone Tier 5, Magic Cost: 200, Effect: Summon stone with volume 27 cu feet, Casting Time: 1 minute, Range 5 yards

Hail of Stones Earth: Stone Tier 5, Magic Cost 50, Effect: A hail of apple-sized stones pelt an area of 20 feet by 20 feet for five seconds, Damage: 100 per second, Casting Time: 5 seconds, Range 100 yards

Vine Growth Nature Tier 3, Magic Cost 25, Effect: Vines grow beneath target and ensnare them, vines strength is equal to nature skill, vine health is equal to nature skill x 4, Casting Time: 3 seconds, Range 120 yards

Summon Wood Elemental Nature: Plant Tier 5, Magic Cost 500, Effect: Summon a level 5 wood elemental to aide you, Casting Time: 10 minutes

The vines were a little stronger than Sanso had said when we talked, but oh well. I rushed outside and cast summon stone, setting the stone for a 9’ x 9’ x 1’ slab. It appeared at the end of the path to my house. No wonder Sanso was able to lay roads so fast.

Next, I summoned two wood elementals and set them off to the garden on my property. They looked like stick men with bark skin. They didn’t speak, just gestured, but responded to commands well. My property had plenty of brush and weeds that needed to be cleared. I was out of magic after the castings. Sanso had left while I was playing with my new toys. Simba was out in the dark using his new spell to hunt, and I saw that he had just caught an owl. He was a brutal hunter.

I went to my drafting table and planned to work till morning again. Jaesmin brought me some tea and pie. At first light, I stretched for a bit and went outside. The area surrounding the house looked like a professional landscaper had worked magic last night! The grass was trimmed. Bushes and flowers were transplanted to be appealing. Those wood elementals were a good investment!

I walked to the guard tower to head out again with a new group. Galana was there waiting for me. She was smiling and happy with our hunt results yesterday. She wanted to check out the porcupine spawn area we found. It seemed we would only have six militia members with us today.

The seventh one had to tend her fields after something had gotten into her garden and had stolen some plants last night. I had some idea what had happened but kept my mouth shut. I went to my interface nonchalantly and set the wood elementals to be confined to my property.

I saw on the map one was a little north of it. Since they were doing such a great job, I decided to give them more freedom and just banned them from the villager’s properties instead. I was drawn back to the ongoing conversation. Galana said the scout had probably made it back to the orc settlement by now, and if they chose to attack, it would be in 3-6 days. They had 200 warriors according to Kytalia, so if they came in force, it would be a massacre. I hoped they wouldn’t, but the quest seemed to make it inevitable. I analyzed our militia. Everyone was up a single level. Not good enough.

I practiced vine growth on every target today. It had a low magic cost and slowed the cats down for everyone else. It also helped keep the deer in range as well. We soon reached the dungeon site, and there were four porcupines there! Galana was extremely excited that she now had an easy way to harvest quills. Normally, the porcupines were found alone. She could usually get about a dozen usable quills from each animal.

“This is great. I will come here every day on a horse,” Galana said excitedly.

“Wait, what? You can ride?” I asked, looking doubtfully at her size and thinking of those black steeds.

“I started to learn the riding skill,” she said simply. “The elven sisters are preparing a mount that can carry me.”

I was a little jealous. I was a bit jealous, and I might need to learn the riding skill as well. A thought occurred to me. “You should have all the full-time guards should learn riding as well.”

“That was my plan. When my proficiency is high enough, I can teach them,” Galana said astutely. I smiled inward, as she could teach me to.

I showed the new militia and Galana where the crypt was. We brushed it off, and Galana recognized the script as giantkin writing. Did each race in the game have its our unique language? It was old, but after we brushed it off, she could make out most of it.

It says, “The Third King of the Brighthall clan was buried here with his devout warriors to guard him. The Brighthall clan used to number in the thousands before the war between the giants. The giantkin were used as pawns in their struggles before breaking away,” she explained the history.

“Now, there was a strong animosity between true giants and giantkin. I think the stone just needs to be moved aside to enter,” she said reaching for it.

“No!” I stopped her. “Leave it sealed for now.” I was worried that once it was revealed, other players could find it.  Why don’t you head back to town with the quill harvest, and we will hunt pride masters.” Galana reluctantly retreated to the town so we could get better experience.

After finishing off eleven pride masters and some other minor beasts, we returned to Malcum. We went to Curraen to drop off the haul. He had another gift for me.

Unique Bear Cloak, Weight 20 lbs, +5 strength, +5 constitution, +5 stamina, +5 charisma, Immunity up to tier 5 cold spell & effects, Durability: 240/240

It was heavy, but the strength bonus made up for it. I put it on and put my lion cloak into my bag. It made me feel like a Stark wearing this monstrosity. I wouldn’t have been able to fight well in it, but it did create an imposing image.

The weather was just starting to turn, so this was good. I was told we could get snowfall in a month or so. I thanked him and went home. I took a meal from Jaesmin to my drafting table. I was on my fifth redesign of the library. It was no longer a library and school, just a library. It was eight stories, with the central chamber holding a massive skylight. There were five wings. The sub-basement had three levels, two for archives and one for a vault. The first floor was full of academic research space and offices for librarians. This building was going to be my masterpiece!

I worked almost until morning but did feel the need to sleep for a few hours. I climbed into bed with Jaesmin. She was not wearing the sexy gown tonight; she wore her laborer’s clothes from the day. Still alluring, I turned my back to her and dreamed of completing my library. I fell asleep and awoke with her sprawled across me. She smelled of earth and her faint lavender perfume. Before I could get aroused, I got up, put on my gear, and left.

I went to the site of the inn first. Jaesmin had finished the hole. Only in a VR game could one single woman excavate so much earth. I went down in the hole and cast five slabs, using all my magic pool, but started the basement floor. If I did this in the morning and at night, I could work on the inn without slowing down elsewhere.

I then walked to the guard tower but stopped. There was smoke coming from the blacksmith’s forge building. I rushed over, thinking there was a fire in town. When I entered, I saw a panther man stoking the fire. A cheetah woman held two small ones. They all looked nervous as I burst in without announcing myself. They also looked emaciated.

After a pause, “Sorry, Lord,” the panther said. “We arrived late last night and were told to take shelter here until the morning.”

“No worries, I thought the building was on fire, so that caused my violent entrance.” I went to the village tab, and Manarag was the blacksmith’s name. “Welcome Manarag to Malcum. I see you are anxious to get started.” He nodded. The group of them did not look too enthused.

After talking for a bit, they eventually opened up. They had been robbed twice passing through the human lands. The first time their wagon and goods were stolen, and the second time, their personal possessions and coin. This really sucked. My village was centered within human lands, and I was beginning to think racism was prevalent outside my village.

I listened to them for a good hour, retelling the tale. The cheetah woman was worried that since this was a human settlement, they would also be abused here. I allayed her fears as much as I could. When it was time to negotiate salary, he asked for two gold a month. Rather than haggle with him, I affirmed the wage and said they could take goods from the general store on credit to furnish their home. They were surprised that I gave them a house for free.

I showed them the building I prepared for them, and they both immediately seemed to feel more comfortable. That not-so-shy elf child with an orc girl in tow came up to the two male catkin children and asked them to play. They both looked to their mother. I interrupted, “They had a long journey and need to eat first.”

The elf looked disappointed, but before she could ask a hundred questions, I shooed her away. I went with them to the store and told Elice to give them two gold credit in the store. I felt like I had worked all day, but the sun had not yet crested over the plains. I went to the tower for another hunt.

The elf horsekeepers were riding two mounts through town, with the other children cheering. I waved and slipped away. The tower had only two militia on guard that day. I climbed the tower and asked where everyone was. Apparently, when I didn’t show, Galana took the hunting party instead. I was shocked, but then decided I needed a day off.

I decided drafting the library was a good way to relax. I stopped at the inn site and made a few more slabs on my way home. I learned I could use the interface to lock the slabs together by adjusting their ‘materialization shape and location’. I would come out and do this again every six hours when my magic was restored and hoped to finish the sub-basement soon.

I got to work on drafting and set a timer in my HUD. The first time it sounded, I almost ignored it as I was engrossed in drafting. But why waste the free experience in magic and building skills. I walked to the inn and started casting. The village was fairly quiet this hour. A few people mingled here and there. I caught sight of one of my tree elementals. It was carrying what looked like a strawberry plant toward my house. I quickly finished my castings and ran to follow the stick man.

The elemental carried the plant toward the river behind the mill. I found an expansive garden of vegetable plants and berry bushes around the corner. The second elemental was watering the plants; the one I followed was planting the strawberry plant very carefully and ignoring me. I cast analyze on the plant.

Sweet Wild Strawberry Bush, difficult to grow in gardens. The fruits of this plant are valuable for cooking and potion creation

Walking through the garden, I saw beans, squashes, tomatoes, root crops, and many herbs. I was busy analyzing everything, and I caught one of the elementals cross the river. Damn, they must have been harvesting and replanting this garden from all over the area, including the forest, since I wasn’t allowing them to partake from the townsfolk’s properties.

The other elemental had finished planting and had cast a spell on the strawberry bush. It grew a few inches and took solid root. The little woodman then left to gather something else. I spent the next hour sampling the vegetables, fruits, and herbs. They were all fantastic and fresh. The wood elemental returned from across the river with a new herb plant. I analyzed it, too.

Sweet Blue Basil, a herb used primarily in cooking

There was just a wealth of variety here. I opened my commands for the elementals and noticed my charisma was now over 30, meaning I could summon a third one. I did so immediately.

Then, I looked at the command protocols I had given them. It was open, just indicating to landscape and garden of my estate. Since I had no garden, they had made one. The new elemental seemed to converse briefly with one of the existing ones before heading north along the bank of the river. By selecting the individual elementals, I could refine their duties. It took me a second to ‘think’ out the command to harvest the garden and deliver it to the town store. This way, I could sell a variety of fruits and vegetables and hopefully increase morale.

That done, I went inside to continue drafting. Elice came by two hours later to ask about the produce and herbs. I told her to sell them in the store and also alert the townsfolk about my elementals. We talked briefly about prices, and basically, I wanted everything affordable for the townsfolk. She returned to the store happy.

Eventually, my alarm went off, and I cast some more stone slabs. I was short of magic from summoning the elemental, but that was fine. On my way back from the inn, I found Simba battling a raccoon trapped in vines. After he fished it off, I approached. “How goes it, Simba?”

He seemed to ignore me as he started off looking for more prey. A child came from around the corner and took the dead raccoon, saying, “Pardon my Lord, just collecting the spoils of war.” And then the child was off.

“Simba, get back here!” I said more forcefully. The cat stopped and turned, looking at me for a minute before coming to sit before me, tail twitching in irritation.

“Yes, do you need me? Perhaps in selecting your new talent?” I was stumped. Talent? Oh, that is right. I was in level 10 and had not selected a talent yet. Actually, I hadn’t checked on my skill advancement in a while. I should really do that. It was hard to remember that this was actually a game.

“Yes, I need help with my talent selection. I am also trying to figure out your single-mindedness in hunting everything in sight?” I said.

“I am trying to reach level 10 as quickly as possible to gain the skill nature: beast.” And the cat just stared at me like it was the most natural thing in the world. It seemed something else was going on here, but I couldn’t figure it out, and Simba was not talking. It was probably nothing to get worked up over.

“Fine, help me while I'm at the drafting table, tonight.” I returned home, sat down, and opened up the notifications I had ignored.

Let me see what we have. A single level in axe and two-handed axe. I would have to work on this skill. It was my only melee skill right now. No advancement in carving. Six points is drafting! Amazing, skill level 24! This was great, 48% quicker build time to go with it. I momentarily marveled at the number 24 on the screen before continuing. Earth magic was up six points, and earth: stone was up seven. All that hunting on the planes had paid off! Masonry foundation was up two, and the masonry structures were the same. Foundation was at 19, and I needed 23 for the inn. I was getting close.

Nature magic was up three, so the vine growth spell in combat was effective. Ranged had gained six points, but I was not surprised with all the stone bullets I had cast. My newest skill, analyze was up to 11, having gained 10 points! I had been using it on everything in and out of combat. But the high skill gain meant combat had definitely accelerated its leveling.

Simba was on my shoulder, digging his claws into me to get my attention. I had been ignoring the little beast as I studied my screens. “Yes, please give me a list for talents that are best suited for me,” I said, opening my talents widow and seeing the unallocated point there.

The smug cat advised me. “From your current skills, I would suggest the following,” Four talents came up in my holo display. Before I could even look at the Simba, he jumped down and left the window open. Well, that little cat was getting an attitude. I looked at his talent suggestions.

Broader Skills I – your cap for skill count is raised from 23 to 26

Great choice. I was already planning to look for this talent. Broader skills II increased to 30, and broader skills III to 35. This affected all skills; I currently had 20 skills, so I was getting close. Maybe wait till level 20. What other suggestions…

Axe Mastery I – the axe is an extension of your body, +10% damage with axes, +5% defense when wielding an axe

This talent again. I looked at the progression. Axe mastery II increased to +15% and 10% when wielding an axe. Axe mastery III +20% damage and +15% defense. Each level added another 5%. I would go this route if I had planned to be just a melee fighter.

Connection to Earth I – you are linked to earth magic, 10% reduction is magic cost when casting earth spells, 5% faster skill growth in earth magic skills and earth secondary skills

This was a real possibility. Connection to Earth II of this reduced cost by a total of 11% and 10% faster skill growth. It looked like this skill went up to level 20 with a final 29% reduction in casting cost and 100% skill growth. Very useful. And the last suggestion by Simba…

Lord’s Call I – gain +2 bidding slots in the NPC auction house

What! This was awesome. It wouldn’t make me more powerful, but it sure would help the village grow.

So, should I choose the village over my own advancement? Or should I view the village’s advancement as my own? I selectedLord’s Call.