《Yagacore: The Dungeon that Walks Like a Man》Chapter 11
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Before checking her notifications, Zaria took a moment to gather her winnings from the town's dead and ensure Vysala gathered the mob shards. One person, a grey-haired man with a hungry look, had tried to take them before anyone had noticed. When confronted, he’d denied it.
A house looming angrily over him had changed his tune rather quickly, and soon he’d emptied his pockets of his ill-gotten gains.
“Thank you for that,” Vysala said. “I would have smacked him with my spoon, but this was easier.”
Zaria shrugged. “Looming comes naturally to me. Did you get enough shards?”
“Yes,” Vysala said, both seeming excited and a bit forlorn, an odd combination to watch. “With your mob shards and the bonus experience people have stockpiled from fighting demons, we can easily get five new herocores out of this. A full party.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Thank you, by the way. That would have been much uglier without your help. And... it was kind of you to let the dead keep their clothes.”
Zaria laughed. “Don’t start thinking too highly of me. I just didn’t need anything from them.” It had been a good haul for Zaria. The scythe, a bow, a crossbow, a gambeson, and a set of chain mail were all hers now. There were a few other items of lesser import, or duplicates of existing items, that she’d stashed away for later use. She was slightly annoyed that the scale wearer had survived the fight, but there would be more opportunities for better armor in the future.
Vysala sighed. “Of course,” she said. “Hungry Night, can’t have you making this decision easier on me, can we?”
“No,” Zaria said, getting a surprised glance from the witch. “I will not pretend to be something I’m not. You deserve to know what you’re agreeing to.”
“That’s… something at least.” She ran her hands through her hair. “I’ll have an answer for you by the time my guildmates arrive. I don’t want to leave this town before then anyway - need to give the new herocores a bit of training.”
“They can always try a dungeon run,” Zaria said. “You know. To test their skills. Rank up some more, get some more shards. Maybe even pick up some good loot.”
“Do you actually have good loot?” Vysala asked.
“I think we both know I do not.”
Vysala laughed, some of the tension fading from her shoulders. “I appreciate the honesty. Then… I’ll let them decide, but after that fight, don’t be surprised if they’re unwilling to face down Maw.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Zaria said dryly, then grew serious. “When you have a minute, I want to talk to you about demons. There’s a lot I don’t understand. And I want to tell you about what I saw through the Fissure.”
Vysala's mood abruptly turned, growing taut as a bowstring. “Bugger me with a broadsword, you saw through the Fissure?”
Zaria nodded.
Vysala's eyes lit up with curiosity, but she visibly bit back the question before it could form on her lips. “Then yes, do tell me more. But… later. I need to tend to our dead.”
“Where are they to be buried?”
“Why?” Vysala didn’t sound suspicious, simply confused.
“I do want to do one small thing for the town.” Zaria saw Vysala's forehead furrow and shrugged. “The sooner it’s done, the sooner we can have more interesting conversations.”
“On the other side of town. That’s where the graveyard is. What are you going to do?”
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“Save you all some work.” Zaria walked around the town to where the graveyard was. Already some people had gathered here with shovels, and they froze when they saw her. Zaria ignored their discomfort and just spoke plainly to the group. “Show me where you’re going to dig the graves.”
One of them, an Aelif that had survived the fight, motioned to indicate where. He was, like many of his species, smaller and slighter than the humans. The feathery antenna on his forehead twitched, a sure sign he was nervous around her. He looked up at her with eyes twice as large as normal for a human’s, and played with his thick wiry hair, the green of copper that had oxidized. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
Instead of answering - Zaria was already sick of that question - she just stepped forward and used her talons to scratch deep, parallel furrows in the ground. Ten in total. “There. Should save you some time.”
“Thank you,” the Aelif said.
Zaria just grunted and walked further away, shedding her body in the process. They’d used up all the shits she had to give about the not-Vysala population of the town, as well as all the energy she had for interacting with people for right now. Besides, she was eager to get to her upgrades. There was just one thing to do before she could - it was time to absorb the Fissure Core.
Maw was guarding the valuable item currently. It was the size of a human head, far larger than Zaria’s core, and instead of looking like a gem, it looked like a perfect sphere made of crystal. On the inside was a churning maelstrom of energy in yellows, greens, and whites - the same colors of the otherworldly sky Zaria had seen behind the Fissure.
Absorbing the object was simple as all else. Zaria just had to reach out towards it with her mana, run her mana through the Core, and then withdraw the mana and core at the same time. The glowing orb flowed like water and poured into her.
Zaria’s entire structure shivered as the energy coursed through her. Her core stability indicator immediately jumped back up to 100%, and notifications flashed in her vision.
Excess Stability Translated to Experience.
Congratulations! You have reached Tin 7!
Congratulations! Core Stability now allows for progression to Copper Tier. Tin 9 and Copper Capstone required for advancement.
Zaria stared. Two whole ranks off that one, low level Fissure Core? This was clearly the fastest way to advance. And already she was close to Copper, after a single fight.
Zaria checked to make sure she understood how things worked. Progression went, as she had thought, Tin-Copper-Bronze-Silver-Gold-Platinum, followed by the option of either Diamond tier or Ascension afterwards. Each Tier had nine ranks to it. As a dungeon core - even a mutant one - she’d get upgrade points to spend every tier, as well as new Features and Rooms. Those latter two wouldn’t be every rank. Normal dungeon cores would unlock new mobs as well, which meant there was never a level without major advancement for them, but Zaria didn’t unlock new mobs in the normal ways.
Before she got distracted thinking of new mobs, Zaria opened up the list of unlocked Features.
New Feature Unlocked - See Nameplates (Tin 3) - You are now able to see nameplates of adventurers and monsters, including class/type, Tier, and Rank when they are within your area of influence. New Room Unlocked - Den (Tin 4) - A recreational room for Servitors to relax and unwind, decreasing their desire for rebellion. Can also be used to create eggs and attempt to hatch new mobs. New Feature Unlocked - See Nameplates, Map (Tin 5) - You are now able to see nameplates of adventurers and monsters, including class/type, Tier, and Rank when they are in your visible range on your map. Does not cover those shrouded by the Fog of War. New Feature Unlocked - Extended Walkabout (Tin 7) - When commanding your mobs to leave your dungeon, they will automatically attempt to return before the timer runs out, and the time they can spend out of your dungeon is increased to one hour. New Feature Unlocked - Fissure Upgrades (Special) - You are now able to unlock special upgrades that use your absorbed Fissure Cores. One upgrade per Fissure Core Tier. Current available Core: Basic Fissure Core (1).
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Zaria felt a thrill for most of these. The Den she set aside - she didn’t have the space for more rooms yet and didn’t want to push how she was using her rooms until she saw the available upgrades. Extended Walkabout was just a pleasant bonus to her mobs. She did test See Nameplates, pulling up her map and looking for Vysala’s icon. She was over by the gravestone, and Zaria focused on her, zooming her vision in until she could see the witch in real time.
“We are gathered here today,” the witch said, looking over the crowd. “To honor those who have gone into the Eternal Night, so that we may continue to walk the Blessed Day.”
Zaria tuned out the funeral speech and focused on Vysala. Words appeared over the Witch’s head.
Name: Vysala
Tier and Rank: Tin Wyrdcore 8
Class: Witch
Mastery: N/A
Simple enough. Vysala was going on about the accomplishments of the dead and people were crying. Zaria pulled her attention back to her dungeon while they dealt with their feelings. She had more interesting things ahead. First thing to do: augment her existing Mimics, and make new ones stronger. Per the Dungeon Instructions, that was done via improved Heart types. So she filtered down her available upgrades to see what options there were for her right now. The good news was, the list was manageable. The unwelcome news was the list was only two items long.
Improved Heart Creation: Allows the creation of Improved Hearts. Mobs created with Improved Hearts have a 25% increase to mutation chance and have 200% improved health regeneration when the dungeon is empty. Bosses created with Improved Hearts gain one extra ability. Improved Hearts provide +50% loot value. 1 Upgrade Point. Elemental Heart: Allows the creation of a single elemental heart. Mobs created with an elemental heart gain abilities associated with that element. Can be taken multiple times. Each time, a new element may be selected. Prerequisite: Improved Heart Creation. 1 Upgrade Point.
While adding elemental abilities to a mob sounded interesting in theory, in practice… how useful would it really be, outside of bosses? On the other hand, Maw’s ability to spit acid had proved critical in the fight. The Improved Heart Creation ability was worth it, just for adding a new ability to Maw and to future bosses. That mutation chance could be interesting too. According to the Dungeon Instructions - a phrase Zaria had a feeling she’d use often - mutation could result in variants on existing mobs, giving her a way to create new ones without needing to find items to turn into mimics.
She took Improved Heart Creation now, and set Elemental Heart aside to consider for later. She had points to spend freely. Five remaining, plus the Fissure Upgrade. In fact… she asked Rav.
Rav cooed sleepily, which Zaria took as agreement, so she filtered again and read.
Demonslayer Mobs: Your mobs gain a temporary Fiendish Ability from consuming demonic flesh, and deal +50% damage to Demons. Stacks with all other damage increases, including those that normally only apply to other creatures. Cost: 1 Fissure Core Slot. Distortion Steps: Your mobs gain a +50% speed boost when in the area of an active Fissure. In addition, all mobs gain a short range teleport usable anywhere within your area of influence or within the area of an active Fissure. Cost: 1 Fissure Core Slot Special: Mobile core types gain 50% speed boost themselves when in the area of an active Fissure. Fiendish Spellslingers: Your mobs gain +25% mana regeneration, which increases to 150% regeneration while within the area of an active Fissure and for one day after consuming a demon. Absorbing the mobs will transfer the benefits to you. Cost: 1 Fissure Core Slot. Diabolical Mutations: Consuming demonic flesh gives your mobs a 200% increased mutation chance. Cost: 1 Fissure Slot. Hellish Cuisine: Throwing a living demon into your Ovens grants the same benefit as cooking a living Sapient. Cooked demon flesh - even if the demon died outside of the Oven - is also safe for both mob and mortal consumption, granting the Demonic Regeneration buff as well as increasing mutation chance in mobs. Cooked demon flesh lasts for 1 month before spoiling. Cost: 1 Fissure Slot. Special: Must be Yagacore, Chefcore, or Devouring Citadel.
Those were all the abilities available to her at Tin Tier, and already Zaria could see how powerful Fissure abilities were relative to the normal dungeon upgrade systems. Just comparing the 200% mutation chance from Diabolic Mutations vs the Improved Heart Creation’s 25%. As interesting as the mutation chance was, Zaria discarded that option for now. She didn’t know how useful mutations would actually be and didn’t want to waste points until she was sure.
After some consideration, Distortion Steps and Demonslayer Mobs were both, similarly, cast aside. While they were useful skills, Demonslayer Mobs wouldn’t provide much benefit against adventurers, and Distortion Steps’ major benefit - the short range teleport - wasn’t especially useful with how small Zaria’s Dungeon was for now.
That left her with Fiendish Spellslingers and Hellish Cuisine. she said to Rav, glad to think aloud.
Rav gurgled and sighed.
The Mimic hadn’t said all that, of course, but the idea had come to her at that moment.
Rav cooed.
Zaria stood up to head back to the battlefield so she could start gathering demon flesh.
Two abilities down, five to go. An idea occurred to her. The list was still long, so after a moment, Zaria added to the filter.
She read over the list. Since every single one read either “Special: Requires Yagacore”, “Special: Requires Mutant Core,” or “Special: Mimic Mobs,” Zaria filtered those phrases from her vision for readability. The mimic abilities all also had the prerequisite of Improved Heart Creation, another phrase she discarded so it would keep the list more manageable.
Raptorial Legs - One of your talons elongates and is raised off the ground, making it a better weapon. Does bonus damage to structures. 1 upgrade point. Grasping Hands - You can manifest hands from the walls of your Hut that you have full control over. You may invest command into the Hands to allow them to act independently, treating them as Mobs for 2 Command per Tier. 1 upgrade point. Baba’s Cauldron - You gain spellcasting abilities. Unlike normal dungeon spellcasting, these spells can originate from the exterior of your structure, and can be cast at targets outside your area of influence. 2 Upgrade points. Prerequisite: Babamorph, Elemental Hearts. Babamorph - Your body can be given a Boss Heart, functioning as a Boss mob. Does not count against normal limits for boss mobs. 2 upgrade points. Structural Mimics - Your mimics can take the forms of doors and windows. 1 Upgrade point. Amorphous Mimics - You gain a new mimic type, the Amorphous Mimic. Amorphous mimics can take any form you’ve seen, but only for fifteen minutes a day. 2 upgrade points. Enticing Mimics - Your mimics look like a higher quality version of the item they are mimicking, making them more enticing to adventurers. 1 Upgrade Point. Lurking Mimics - Your mimics can remain inactive outside of your Area of Influence for up to three x Tier hours without loss of control. This time is counted separately from the time they are active. If, for example, you have 30 minutes of external command, a mimic can leave your area of influence, travel fifteen minutes, go inactive for three hours, then travel fifteen minutes back to you without loss of control. 2 Upgrade Points. Mimic Weaponry - Your mimics, when in the form of weapons, can manifest an arm to wield them. When they are wielded, they are balanced like a mundane version of the same item, even while using abilities that would normally distort their balance. They do 20% more damage than a normal item of the same type. 2 Upgrade Points. Structural Integrity - Your Core Stability decreases 50% less from all sources. 3 Upgrade Points.
It was still a lot to go through. Since her Core stability was doing fine, Zaria discounted the idea of spending three of her precious points on Structural Integrity. Many of the Mimic options weren’t particularly inspiring either, and she discarded most of them - save for Lurking Mimic and Mimic Weaponry.
Those were both very tempting… but she wasn’t sure she was going to stick with just mimics for her mobs. One option she’d seen in the menu was a higher ranked ability that would let her take other mob types, and she was leaning in that direction. Mimics would be the predominant force in her dungeon, of course, but mixing in some other mobs would help keep adventurers on their toes.
Raptorial Legs was tempting too, as was Babamorph. The idea of having a second boss that would always be inside the dungeon, even during Fissure fights, was an enormous boost to her defensive options. Grasping hands was… less exciting, although she could see some fun combinations with Mimic Weaponry. On the other hand… she could probably simulate Grasping Hands from getting gauntlet mimics at some point down the line. Baba’s Cauldron sounded interesting, but would take all of her points to unlock. It was something to keep in mind for later.
After some careful consideration, Zaria went with Mimic Weaponry and Babamorph. If nothing else, she could arm the Candlemen, Maw, and the Babamorph with Mimic weaponry as needed, and the benefit of a second boss at Tin was too good to pass up.
She kept one point in reserve to wait on Vysala’s decision. Structural integrity would stop mattering if Vysala agreed to become Zaria’s Striga. If Vysala declined, by holding onto that one point, Zaria could get Structural Integrity at Tin 9 - which would be critical to allow her more time to find a striga.
If Vysala accepted, Zaria could spend that one point on Elemental Hearts, then either Baba’s Cauldron or Raptorial Legs.
Pleased with her decisions, Zaria settled in to start resummoning her defeated mobs and send them out to collect demon corpses for her.
It was time for a good old fashioned feast.
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