FINAL CORE - Chapter 48 (Patreon)

THE CHAPTER STARTS FURTHER BELOW

If you don't have access to the tier 2 poll for ability choices, these are the abilities we were able to choose our one newest ability from this time, after the Perchta fight. =)

- [Holy] -

Grand Icon –  When the name of Isaiah is uttered outside of the dungeon’s territory, the tower will passively receive experience points. The further away this happens, the larger the gain of experience.

Birds of a Feather – Birds of all kinds are particularly affine to the tower and to the tranquility it offers. They will flock around its heights and aggressively swarm any creatures that are UNDEAD or DARK

Gloria – Augments the dungeon-core itself with a variety of higher tier combat, summoning and support abilities

- [Bastion] -

Traps – Allows your worker minions to develop simple traps and snares in your dungeon, in order to hurt enemies before they can get too deep.

Spatial Room Refactoring– Allows the separation of choices floors into smaller collections of rooms, rather than simply one room per floor.

Advanced Smithing – Allows your workers to create advanced weapons and armor, such as high-quality swords to augment your monsters that are capable of using equipment.

- [Sanctuary] -

Precipice of Hope {1} – Anyone who has been marked by any of the statuses: [CRIMINAL][CURSED] will be restored to full HP and SOUL one time upon entering the dungeon territory, once a month. All negative statuses will be removed and they will receive a 25% bonus to all stats for a duration of 1 hour.

Garden of Peace – Nourished by the hallowed ground, extremely rare plants and fungi take root here that can not exist fruitfully anywhere else.

Whole of Body – While on the grounds outside and inside of the tower, all living creatures receive +1 HP / five minutes. All DARK/UNDEAD/DEMON entities are damaged at a rate of -1 MAX HP / five minutes

v CHAPTER STARTS HERE v

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Dungeons come in many flavors.

Often, a dungeon will specialize itself. We assume that this is defined by their circumstances of birth, as would a person receive the color of their hair or the shape of their mouth.

For example, there are fire dungeons, that field an array of FIRE based monsters and traps and the thematic design of the dungeon usually will fit to this, commonly with themes of caves and volcanoes and dragon’s lairs.

Or the NATURE dungeons of the world, which are found in deep forest groves and hidden away in beautiful grottoes.

This is the same for people too.

A caster will usually follow one, single school of magic and devote their lives to it. In this, we are the same as dungeons.

However, people don’t just have their class that they’ve chosen, their primary profession. Everyone also has the possibility of taking on a so-called ‘sub-class’, which is a secondary set of skills that a person attempts to master.

Common examples to see are fighters with the sub-class ‘field-medic’, druids with the sub-class ‘herbalist’. Oftentimes, adventurers will also take crafting sub-classes, such as blacksmithing, in order to make their own repairs and equipment during their dungeoneering.

Much the same, a dungeon can also have a sub-element.

A fire dungeon can sub-specialize in something that is not fire.

An ice dungeon can sub-specialize in something that is not ice.

We do not know where this system begins and where it ends, as we can only explain what we have seen with our eyes. But it seems that dungeon-cores are just as adaptable as any person is.

~ Excerpt from Barnatus Barnacious’ Big Book of Dungeons

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Salvator

???, Male, Wizard (Wind)

The stones rumble beneath his feet from the pressure of the downforce, as the man stands there, his staff in hand. Black hair billows in the powerful gales that collect around himself. He widens his stance to ready himself for the impact to come.

— A deafening screech fills the air, causing him to fight his instinctive reflexes to wince and shut his eyes, as the massive shadow crashes down into the bridges. A shockwave erupts out, the stone walkways quivering like the pulsating veins of a sprinting body as the force of the wind rushes against him.

The boss, a giant, monstrous bird that is easily the size of an adult dragon, lands on the platforms. Its feathered riled and stiff, its eyes glowing with animal violence. Its massive talons wrap around the crumbling stone bridges, causing pieces of them to crumble off and fall down the slanted roof below them.

(Garuda  {☠️}) has entered [Phase 2: Ground Phase]

It hunkers down, pressing its massive body forward past the gigantic bell in the center of the tower.  “Now!” cries Salvator. Wind presses through the open arena, blowing strands of hairs of many colors as his party makes their move.

(Salvator) has used: [BOOST: Swiftness]

Applied Status: (BOOST: Swiftness) to (Quare)(Maorore)(Consumeris)(Noli)

• + 25% DEX for 120 Seconds

His group charges towards the boss, using their enhanced dexterity to cross the gaps between the broken bridges, jumping across and over them.

This is the run. He can feel it.

They’ve been after this boss for a week now and died every time so far. But this is it. Today’s the day.

Salvator runs on forward, wind collecting around his staff as they all move in to make their shots, before the ground phase ends.

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Isaiah

- [Holy] -

NEW (HOLY) ABILITY - Grand Icon {Passive} –  When the name of Isaiah is uttered outside of the dungeon’s territory, the tower will passively receive EXPERIENCE. The further away this happens, the larger the gain of EXPERIENCE.

Isaiah nods. It had a very wide array of abilities to choose from after the fight with Perchta. But after thinking about it, this one makes the most sense to take. The tower is undeniably growing in popularity. The tokens of pilgrimage are being seeded into the hands of adventurers, as they were given to the bishop and his following.

Prayers drip into the tower like water filling a basin.

Adventurers have set up camp outside in tents and have begun harvesting the dungeon. The strongest group of them makes it up to the boss on floor ten regularly, but they have yet to beat Garuda. They seem to be trying again right now though.

Isaiah wishes them luck.

— Nothing against Garuda. But it would be interesting to see the humans finally try to break through the higher floors that are yet untested. In a way, it’s almost like a game at this point.

It hopes the bishop will be able to sell its message well to the people of the city.

“Hey, chief,” says a voice. Red. Isaiah turns to look at her. “Whatever happened to that ‘dungeon sub-specialization’ you got?” she asks. “Remember? With all of the level-ups from the second inspection team?”

Isaiah nods and then swipes away the menu. “In truth, I have been unsure of it,” it says. “I was meaning to ask you, but I never managed.”

“What? You mean you don’t know what it is?” she asks, landing on a branch, her legs dangling off.

[Pilgrimage]

The tower gains ambient magic from the arrival of strangers.

+09 EXP

2889/2950 

 Isaiah shakes its head.

Red spins a finger. “You know how we’re a holy-themed dungeon?” she asks. Isaiah nods. “Well it means you can pick a second thing, to spice life up a little. Another element.”

“No! No!” pipes in a voice from the side. Crystal flies in. Red rolls her eyes. “We can’t take another element. We have to stick with the holy-theme!” he says, crossing his arms. “The entire aesthetic of the tower will be ruined if we take something else.” He looks towards Isaiah. “We should sub-specialise in a holy sub-element, instead of something completely different.”

Red looks around. “…So, were you working? Or were you just hiding here to eavesdrop?”

“Architectural decisions shouldn’t be made so lightly!” says Crystal. “It’s important. Our image is everything.”

Red sighs. “You take this too seriously,” says the uthra. She lifts her hands behind her head and leans back against the trunk of the tree, crossing her legs. “Let’s take something fun like fire and then just… set the entire outside of the tower on fire.”

“Absolutely not!” argues Crystal. He begins going onto a whole tangent about how the tower is already built into different sections with different elements. By taking an external element, like fire or water or lightning as the tower’s sub-specialization, it would throw the entire balance of the tower off, as its meant to represent everything.

“…So what you’re saying is that we should take ‘dark’, then?” asks Red.

Crystal gasps. “That’s not what I’m saying at all!” he says. “We can’t do that! Dark is what the demon-king used for his dungeon!”

Red waves him off. “It’s fine. Don’t be a baby.”

Isaiah listens to the two of them continue their arguments for a while.

It is certainly something worth thinking about. A big decision.

Their arguments are interrupted by a sound, unusual for this time of day; the ringing of the bell.

They look at each other and Isaiah closes its eyes, looking into the eyes of a statue.

___________________________________________________

Salvator

???, Male, Wizard (Wind)

[Shortcut Unlocked]{Floor 11}

His chest heaves, sweat and blood dripping down his face and his shaking hands.

— They did it.

Salvator’s fingers tremble, his body shaking as he does his best to hold on.

— He did it.

The others all died during the fight. But they finally killed the boss. He got the last spell off and it died. A week. It took them a week and just as many deaths as days. But they did it.

The man laughs, his chest aching and his feet kicking as he dangles freely in the air, hanging off of a broken bridge with the last of his remaining strength. He can’t pull himself up anymore.

He looks over his shoulder, down towards the very, very distant ground.

It’s fine, right?

It’s not like he’ll die.

Salvator exhales, fighting off the last of his instincts as he lets go of the bridge and plummets to the ground.

___________________________________________________

Salvator flies out of the dungeon-gate. Four other people are violently flung out, as if booted out of a tavern by a doorman. They all land in a jumbled heap.

After a moment to collect themselves, they rise to their feet and start laughing.

“We did it!” calls Noli, their group archer. She waves out to the other adventurers down in their camps. “We beat the boss!”

“We’re the first ones!” cheers the party tank.

Salvator stumbles, wheezing as something strikes him in his back. There is a loud thud and the five of them turn around to look at a treasure chest that has been thrown out of the dungeon-gate. It is adorned with an ornate trim, covered in the markings of a boss-chamber.

They look at each other and then down towards it.

Is it their drop for beating the boss?

— Now the other adventurers down in the camps are more interested, perhaps having needed some proof that is more tangible than words and claims.

Salvator bends down and opens it.

(Rare)[Boss-Core {Garuda’s Feather}] x 5

A powerful core of magical energies. This feather can be used as a powerful crafting ingredient. It will imbue intense magical properties of wind into whatever item is made from itself.

Weight: 0.1kg

Value: 500 Obols

(Rare)[The Calling Bell] x 1

An ornate, metal bell, engraved with the detailed, beautiful imagery of the grand tower of Isaiah. It shines with a silvery, calm hue and has the chiming tone of a spring bird’s song.

• Effect: While inside the tower, ring once to summon the spirit of a holy-priestess to assist you for the duration of 1 hour.

Weight: 0.8kg

Value: 890 Obols

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Isaiah

“You’re too soft, chief,” says Red, shaking her head as they look down off of the side of the tower, towards the very distant ground below where people are having a wild celebration of this latest achievement. “It’s all fun and games now. But later on, when they’re trying to kill us again, you’re gonna regret this whole ‘mercy’ and ‘rewards’ thing.”

“Perhaps,” says Isaiah. “But I have a soft spot for it, though,” says the entity.

“’It’?” asks Red. “What’s ‘it’?”

“- Growth,” answers Isaiah. “They’re still young, Red,” it says, gesturing towards the group down below. “I find that I like to watch them grow.”

“Yeah?” asks the uthra. “That’s the best time to kill them, when they’re young. They learn, boss. Fast. Don’t take this so lightly.”

Isaiah looks at Red and then nods. “You are right, Red,” says Isaiah. “I will control myself. But we must maintain good relations for as long as possible.” It rises up to its feet and flaps its wings, flying into the air. There is work to do inside of the dungeon. There are many rooms that need to be designed and many monsters that need to be summoned. “The days are good now. But they will not remain so forever.”

Red nods, looking at Crystal. The two of them seem to have put their arguments to the side for now.

“Let us get back to work,” says Isaiah.

___________________________________________________

The Humming Man

???, Male, Chronomancer

He hums as he works, fiddling around his home to arrange things as they need to be.

The humming man stops and looks over his shoulder for a moment. Noticing something, he casually walks towards a window and pulls it open and then returns to his work.

He grabs a feather-duster and begins dusting off his latest token, the sun-dial that he had gotten from the tower, before moving on to the other commodities of his trade.

The tower is an interesting development. Strangely enough, it was something that even he hadn’t expected. Things of this nature are rare. Usually as a chronomancer he’s very in touch with the happenings of the world that are and those that will be. Although, an exception is to be made here for things such as the magic of a witch, which works outside of the traditional rules of the cosmic-system that governs the world.

But the tower isn’t related to the witch. They’re just neighbors. The world is a small place, he supposes.

He bends down, picking up an old book that had fallen to the ground. An insect that had been hiding in its shadow flies up and into the air and then immediately shoots out of the window that had been opened before.

The humming man shuts it and looks out through the glass, down at the city below and towards the tower that rises up in the distance, cutting into the sky.

He has made all the adjustments that he needs to make for his plan to work, for the moment.

Now, it is just a matter of time.