Dungeon’s Path

{Mithril (lv20) pattern gained at lv20}

Doyle spends the time waiting for Ally to get back staring at the remains of the mithril sample. There was only about a sliver of the stuff remaining after he had deconstructed enough of it for the pattern. On top of that, unlike the other samples, this pattern was low level. Oh, and of course the fact it seemed to have two levels attached to it.

Though even without Ally, he had a pretty good feel for what the first level meant. It likely worked the same way as when monsters had it. At least, that is what made sense to him. As for why it would have such a restriction? That would have to wait for Ally. Good thing she didn’t take too long.

Ally nods, ‘Correct, works just like with monsters. That means you’ll have to wait a few more floors. Though you will be able to introduce mithril at the same time as you do the bird monster you won’t name.

‘As for why an ore has a requirement when none of your other non-monster patterns have not? To put it simply, everything else you have is tier zero trash. Though it does make some sense. After all, about the only stuff you do have that wasn’t from your world pre-magic is the potions you got from Moota.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘I have the enchantments and the one array. Things I’ve been using before the supposed level limit would allow. I don’t even really know why I guessed it would represent a limit.’

Ally shrugged, ‘They aren’t the same. It is a bit nit picky, but the arrays and enchantments use square brackets instead of parentheses. Though you can actually have something with both. As for what the difference is between the two?

‘Square brackets are requirements placed on those who use it. While parentheses are requirements based on where something can be created. A really simple comparison would be a heavy sword made of steel. There are temp requirements to forge the weapon in the first place and strength requirements on who can wield it.

‘Though dungeon cores are some of the few beings who regularly see parentheses. Not that they don’t exist, the system just doesn’t bother showing them for the most part because it isn’t useful information for most. After all, knowing that a specific variety of bird can only give birth when the local world energy is enough isn’t going to cause many waves.

‘Of course people understand the concept and the Guild certainly has people specialized in analyzing how dense the local thaumaturgic levels are and what can be created there. This is especially true for things like magical ores and herbs. After all, if you know mithril needs a level 20 thaum reading to form, you aren’t going to mine for it in an area below that even if the place looks prime for it.

‘Of course a level 20 field isn’t all that much. Sure, right now your planet is averaging more around a five, but that is because it was just integrated. Most planets balance out around 50 with areas that are denser such as the deep sea or under a waterfall.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘I can see the sea, but what is up with waterfalls? They are a classic trope for training, but I always thought that was more learning to resist it or some such?’

Ally, ‘Power is sticky. Air that is left stagnant in a dark cave will gather the power of darkness itself if enough is around. Though on a more general level, if you pick up a pile of dirt in an area with a dense thaum field and move it somewhere with less, it will take a while to equalize.

‘On top of that, the more solid something is, the easier it holds what it has and the harder it takes in new power. Water? That stuff even without magic is magical. Just consider the properties it has when frozen. Normally you freeze something and it gets denser.

‘Not water! There is a reason ice floats and that little difference is very important. If ice sank, bodies of water would freeze solid a lot easier. So without floating ice, your world would be a lifeless ball of dirt with maybe a few extremophiles hanging out around deep sea vents.

‘Anyway, water is fun magically because it takes in power easily, holds onto it better than ice, and when disturbed loosens its grip. This means that power will accumulate at the bottom of waterfalls. On top of that, even if someone has fully absorbed the excess energy there, the flow is constantly bringing in new power and releasing it.’

Doyle, ‘If they’re so great, are we going to see a bunch of them artificially set up once people figure it out?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Sort of. After all, the water does need to pick up that power in the first place. You can’t have tiered waterfalls, one right after another. Though if there is a stream flowing through a magically dense area, chances are someone will set up a waterfall right after.’

Doyle, ‘What about redirecting a river through such an area?’

Ally laughs, ‘Any place with dense enough world energy is either going to be tightly controlled by someone or there will be powerful monsters. Neither of those are going to be happy with someone running a river through their home. Though even if you managed to make it work, an actual river is a danger.

‘While oceans are mostly a danger because they collect a ton of power, but some of it is because creatures in water can grow a lot bigger than not. Now, with magic bigger does not always equal better.

‘A mouse can beat a lion quite easily if they’re a powerful species of mouse. However, more mass does mean more space to hold power. So a whale with the same level as a human will nearly always have magnitudes more magic to throw around. This is partly why giants tend to always overshadow humans if they’re both in a more primitive setting, even with magic.

‘So, trying to run a river through an area strong enough to be worth it is just asking for trouble. It might not happen within a decade, but eventually some sort of giant river monster is going to make its way down river and find a bunch of squishies hanging out near the water. And don’t think a tall enough waterfall is going to solve anything. After a certain point, the way water monsters can swim becomes absolutely supernatural.

‘Anyway, what do you plan to do now? I suspect things outside are going to heat up a bit. With that whole nonsense, the place up the river is either going to walk away from the edge or throw themselves into the abyss. Either way though, Melonie and her group will be able to use this to make a move.’

Doyle sighs, ‘I should work on the eleventh floor. However, I have an itch.’

Ally smiles, ‘I didn’t know crystals could itch.’

Doyle rolls his core, ‘Not a literal itch, rather the artistic type. I’ve got something in me that wants to be expressed and I’m going to go for it. Good thing I have the perfect place to carve it.’

Ally, ‘So the seventh floor is finally going to get some art on that big ol’ sphere you sectioned out? What are you planning to illustrate?’

Doyle, ‘A duality. The sphere is going to be a monument to my history and two big events just went down in relative proximity. First was the kobold monument, a sign of hope and uplifting. Then came that whole failed raid and their judgment, a sign of despair and downfall.

‘Sort of a ying yang, heaven and hell sort of comparison piece. One side showing that even the lowest can be lifted up and the other side warning that even those at the top can fall down. I’ve got a rough idea, but to really get it right will take time. For now though, I want to rough it out while I still have the events fresh in my mind.’

Ally frowns, ‘What kind of effect are you even going for with this?’

Doyle, ‘I’m not aiming for some specific effect. Instead, I’m delving deeper into what a concept actually means and how that applies to my carvings. Though once I’ve got the rough draft figured out, I will probably just hop into making floor eleven.’

Ally, ‘What about checking your paths first?’

Doyle nods, ‘That is a good idea, though I think I’ll do that right before I start the next floor to have the most points to work with. Sorry if you wanted to pour over what I have again.’

Ally rolls her eyes and the two go back to doing their own thing and a few days pass as things ferment out in town. The one dungeon farming team was punished and escaped, while Melonie increased her control over the others from up river who regularly visit Wolf’s Rest. All she is waiting for is a spark.

Ace in turn, has a few plans to help improve her odds. First was almost ironic. The attempted raid on the eighth floor had all been for some bags of holding when of course they actually come from the third floor. A floor that regularly got cleared by someone from the inner circle to open up the area to mining.

Within a couple of days of the incident, guess what? A third bag dropped and while the town could always use more. Ace figured two was enough for now so gifted the third to Melonie to help smuggle stuff in and out of up river. The obvious things were weapons and food.

Any uprising is going to need the two. More interesting and beneficial for Ace was the fact that Melonie had decided to pull out every education book still in town. The council wasn’t particularly watching those at the moment and no one wanted them to go burned earth.

With each passing day, pre-system knowledge piled up in Wolf’s Rest. Most of it coming from a community college library that some teachers had taken over early on. Those teachers hadn’t been exactly keen on Ben and so had stayed out of the limelight. A good thing as it left them to study how magic and the system was changing things without the council breathing down their necks.

Now though, Melonie was more their type of leader. Whereas Ben was mostly focused on moment to moment upkeep, Melonie took a broader view of things. While she didn’t try to pull out a roadmap for the future, her plans impressed the intellectuals allowing for this transfer of knowledge to take place.

From there, Melonie was basically planning to just let things ride until noticed. Most people and goods were in place within a week. After that she had people start to basically hollow out the existing buildings. As a place that was originally a city, there were a ton of buildings on the outskirts which were deemed too dangerous and unneeded, yet were left to rot.

Melonie didn’t even want the material or supplies at this point. She just knew they had to go and so prepared for it. In fact, this was something she had brought up multiple times to the council when she was the leader of the town guard. The buildings only provided cover for potential monster infestations.

The council of course scoffed at this. They saw it as unneeded worry and that they would connect up with the rest of the world soon enough and more people would show up. Though some of their unwillingness came from the perceived loss of power. A big city, even if it lacked any really tall buildings, was more prestigious than a smaller town.

Now though, Melonie’s people were working their way through the abandoned buildings and removing everything they could. A task that became easier and easier as mages and crafters honed their skills. In the end, it wasn’t any of this construction or the smuggling of weapons that lit the fuse. Melonie and her people weren’t even involved.