Like what Doyle had just done except in reverse, the kobold’s soul stretches out. But instead of trying to leave the floor it splits up right away with a small blob at the end of each tentacle. And then these blobs are all thrust into her companions, the herders, the leader’s five goats, and her companion’s five stone wolves. Once inside the body, those blobs expand like a balloon, filling their bodies.

At this point Doyle is just aware enough to be confused at what is happening. Then as one all of the beings this had just happened to once again turn towards the kobold leader and bows. This time, though it isn’t from some prompting by Doyle, rather it is a spontaneous action and sign of deep respect. Then a barrage of System messages distract Doyle from the floor.

{Soul captured...

Implant successful...

Altering base body...

Leveling up Boss...

Stats updated...

Remnant skills recorded...}

{Warning: Previous life remnants coalescing

Soul compatibility with chosen role exceeding system control

Natural Path forming...

1%

5%

18%

36%

71%

100%

Foreign Path detected...

New Path being analyzed...

Path database updating...

Path named “Soul of the Community”}

{Congratulations! You have discovered a Path unknown to the local system.

Rewards: Basic explanation of the path, New beneficial material, Unlocks the Pathfinder path}

{Soul of the Community: Found on members of a species on the cusp of becoming sapient. Though not quite there as a whole, some members of such species will gain a soul by chance. After much work to help their fellow species rise up, their soul has developed the ability to reach out and provide pseudo-souls to those in their community. This is limited to 20 others.

Special Note: The memories of the 20 are saved in the bosses own soul. Though only as long as the same monsters are there when the boss is respawned.}

{Synergy detected between dungeon’s completed path “Kobold Community” and unnamed kobold’s path “Soul of the Community”

Stat bonuses provided by both are retroactively doubled}

{Choosing new material...

Material gap [Gems] detected

Creating samples of Quartz...}

{First Boss created...

Dungeon Stability increased...

Instancing for all floors before the first boss unlocked

10 instances available to be distributed among all unlocked floors

Instances automatically distributed: 4 to 1st, 3 to 2nd, 2 to 3rd, and 1 to 4th}

Doyle takes a moment to go through the seven blue boxes and can only shake his head. Creating the boss did more for him than when he created his first floor and it’s kind of silly. Though the first thing that stands out is the last message. His dungeon now has instances. Not distributed like he would prefer, but that can be fixed.

In fact, before something else distracts him, he gets right on that. ‘[System, I want the first floor to have five instances, the second floor to have three instances, and the fourth floor to have two instances.]’ And as he finishes saying that he can feel something shifting. An odd feeling to say the least and he can definitely tell it was something he would eventually learn how to do himself. For now, it is out of reach. Good thing the system can do it for him instead.

While instances are nice, he doesn’t want any on the third floor on account of the mining area. Maybe once he has a better place deeper in, he can change things up. For now, though, this new setup will have to do.

That finished, Doyle turned towards the pile of quartz that had been dropped in a corner of his core room. The system had been quite generous. While it had said quartz, it hadn’t limited itself to just literal pure quartz but gifted him all of the major varieties. With a sweep of his mind, they all get deconstructed.

{Pure Quartz pattern lv30 acquired

Amethyst pattern lv30 acquired

Blue Quartz pattern lv30 acquired

Citrine pattern lv30 acquired

Milky Quartz pattern lv30 acquired

Rose Quartz pattern lv30 acquired

Smoky Quartz pattern lv30 acquired

Green Amethyst pattern lv30 acquired

Pure quartz, Amethyst, Blue quartz, Citrine, Milky quartz, Rose quartz, Smoky quartz, and Green amethyst merged into Gem patterns lv32}

Doyle’s core glows bright for a moment, ‘Well the system doesn’t cheat you when you find something new. Though I doubt it is actually new to the system, as it specifically mentions the local system. I’m just the first person in this universe to discover the specific path. There are probably a bunch of generic paths the system already knows, and this just falls outside of it. Now what’s up with that path that was unlocked? [System, show me my paths].’

{Points: 29

Class: Dungeon Core II 10/10

Completed: Kobold Community 15/15, Goat Supremacy 20/20, Energy Well I 3/3, Commanding Subordinates 12/12, Ageless Queens 15/15, Earth’s First Home of the Limit Breakers I 1/1, Biomes Aplenty 5/5, Potion Dispensary 10/10, Elemental Animals 5/5, Cows for Milk 12/12, Vegetation Variety 20/20, Divine Border 1/1

Started [2/3]: Dungeon Core III 35/100

Available: Vine Warper 0/15, Kin Slayer 0/100, Voidborn 0/250, Axe Sharpener 0/5, Energy Well II 0/6, Expansionist 0/30, Fire’s Flying 0/7, Deal Broker 0/10, All the Potions 0/60, [UNIQUE] 0/1, Kobold Community II 15/30, Community Driven 0/10, Community Builder 0/30, Boss Builder 0/50, [TRINITY] 0/1000, Pathfinder 0/1}

Doyle stares at the display for a solid minute before shaking his core. Some of the paths make sense. Some? Not so much. In fact, they are so out of the ordinary the only choice is to talk to Ally about it. While the one is costly enough that he can sit on it, the other costs a single point. Beyond that, the Pathfinder path costs a single point as well, and as far as he can tell, the single point options are all specialty choices of some sort. If the limit breaker and divine border paths are anything to go by.

Though first there are a few things left to check out in relation to the new boss. The synergy between his path and the bosses’ path for instance mentions it being retroactive. While it would be a little hard to check on his kobolds, he remembers getting some stats for it as well. Not much but they were per a level type buffs so it should show up. The one he can remember off the top of his head is Karma. Kobold Community had given him a point of growth at every level and he had 40 before this nonsense if he remembers correctly.

After a quick check the message proves to be quite true or he had forgotten what his Karma had been because it was now 42. That’s two points higher, and he had grown by two levels since getting the path. The math checks out and makes him hopeful for any future bosses. Though going by the messages, this whole path thing is out of the ordinary.

Doyle sighs before moving onto the most interesting part of it all. His new boss. ‘[System, show me the status of my Boss.]’

{[Unnamed] Kobold Boss lv13

Paths: [5] Soul of the Community 100/100

S[32] A[61] C[32] I[46] W[63] P[34] D[33] K[62] L[33]

Skills: Animal Handling lv28, Teamwork lv22, Mace Mastery lv22, Commanding Presence lv18, Shield Mastery lv15

Cost: World Energy[1500(2250)]}

Doyle does a double take at the bosses’ stat line. ‘Well, that’s a bit extreme. Is the Soul path that powerful? [Hey system, can you show me the path progression for Soul of the Community?]’

{Processing request...

Anomaly Detected: Path existing on boss before fully under Dungeon’s control preventing observation of the paths development

Request deemed valid but abnormal enough to elevate...

Request forwarded to Admin #42,603,518,808,366

Waiting for response...

Request approved}

{Soul of the Community*

5/100 - You have earned +3 Wisdom and +1 Wisdom/Level

10/100 - You have earned +3 Intelligence and +1 Intelligence/Level

15/100 - You have earned +3 Perception and +1 Perception/Level

20/100 - Non-sapient members of your species are more likely to follow your orders, You have earned +3 Karma and +1 Karma/Level

25/100 - Non-sapient members of your species more easily learn what you teach them, You have earned +3 Destiny and +1 Destiny/Level

50/100 - Non-sapient members of your species that have been in your community for over a year have an increased chance of becoming sapient, You have earned +3 Luck and +1 Luck/level, You have earned +3 Agility and +1 Agility/Level

75/100 - Non-sapient members that have been in your community for over a year are loyal to you, To properly lead them your lifespan has been significantly extended, You have earned +3 Constitution and +1 Constitution/Level, You have earned +3 Strength and +1 Strength/Level

100/100 - Path Complete, Your soul reaches out to the 20 closest non-sapient members of your community and grants them a pseudo-soul, Non-sapient members of your species that have been in your community for over a year have an increased chance of their offspring being born sapient (both parents can provide the bonus and it stacks), Every ten years someone has a pseudo-soul they have a chance of gaining a soul of their own barring outside influences, You may designate a sapient member of your species as your successor and they gain access to the Soul of the Community(Successor) Path, When you die if you have a successor the role passes on to them and their path loses the successor modifier and all the benefits they would have gotten from the Soul of the Community are retroactively applied

*Synergy from Kobold Community path doubles all given stat values}

Doyle shakes his core, ‘Well a lot of those special benefits aren’t exactly going to help me. In fact, the only bit from the path completion part that matters is the pseudo-soul stuff and not even all of it. The thing even specifically points out that they only have a chance to gain a soul barring outside influences. Going to bet being a dungeon monster counts as an outside influence.’

‘Still, going by how things seem to work, the per a level things are counted as having been gained at second level because that is what I am. Eleven level ups with each stat getting two a pop is going to skyrocket the values. That’s 22 points to every single stat. 22 alone is enough to outdo every other monster in my entire dungeon.’

‘Even if it didn’t synergize with my community path 11 to each would still make it a monster supreme. I am honestly worried that people will die like crazy on the fifth floor. Nevermind the fact that the companions get to learn from experience like a boss. Because of course with a boss like that I need not one, not two, but five minibosses.’

‘That path is definitely meant for propping up a leader. Though most won’t be able to abuse it to quite the degree this mess has. While it only costs 100 points, the description says gain a soul. Not born with a soul. From all I’ve heard, getting to the point that something can gain a soul isn’t easy. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a more natural setting this path would only become available to monsters well beyond level 100. Sure, they might be able to buy it up all at once, depending. But at that point they won’t be leveling all that much.’

‘Especially since the whole theme of the path is to have been working on developing a community. Not exactly much time to go out and grind experience when you’re teaching others how to be civilized. Though at this point I have to admit I’m just procrastinating the path thing. I have to work up the nerve and talk to Ally. I hope she can see what I said was to help her. I’m not exactly one for speaking up about stuff like that but I also know you need to snip things like that in the bud. Seen way too many kids in my grocery store. Well, I guess the grocery store I used to work at. Anyway, way too many kids who would throw tantrum after tantrum only to consistently get given candy and other such nonsense to shut up. That of course only worked as long as the candy lasted.’