Chapter 74

The Pirate Isles

I recall Walter and start travelling to the border of zone 8. I want to get into zone 9 and try a dungeon as quick as possible. That way we can judge whether or not it would be a good idea to stay and grind here or move back down to zone 8 for another reset period. When I cross the border the welcome message arrives.

Welcome to zone 9. Each dungeon in this zone will earn you 5 points.

I call the kids and Walter out of storage and we start exploring the area for a dungeon. As soon as I spot one on the map I rush over with everyone, I do not want anyone else to claim this dungeon.

We enter and I see this message.

You have entered the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. Winning conditions are set to the following.

1. Conquer more than 50% of the island group

2. Eliminate 2 other island nations

3. Destroy 3 or more pirate groups and their bases while suffering no more than 10% losses to your forces.

Please choose your forces.

1. Merpeople (Bonus to Sea Defense and Attack, Penalty to Land Defense and Attack)

2. Catkin (Bonus to Land Defense and Attack, Penalty to Sea Defense and Attack)

3. Dwarves (Bonus to Land Defense and Attack, Penalty to Sea Defense and Attack)

4. Human (No Penalties or Bonus)

5. Insectoids (Bonuses dependent on sub-race selected)

Dang it, a special dungeon right off. Once we finish this one we will have to conquer another dungeon just to see if this is normal for zone 9 or if this is an anomaly.

“Who do you guys want to work with?”

“Master, the dwarves have worked with us before.”

“That’s true Walter, but dad I think we should try something new.”

“Okay, we have already helped out dwarves, most of us do not do well in water, sorry Azure, so we can eliminate merpeople also.”

“Dad, how about we try insectoids. We can then further choose which sub race we want so we can tailor it to our playing style instead of trying to fit in with the other styles that are listed.”

“That is a great point Elvira. Everybody ok with that?”

After getting a round of affirmatives I selected the insectoid option.

Please select from the following list.

1. Ants (Bonus on land)

2. Wasps (Flight Possible)

3. Beetles (Defense bonus in all terrain)

4. Striders (Bonus on water)

5. Assassin Bugs (Offense bonus in all terrain)

After another round of discussions, we decide to go with Wasps. It was decided that flight would compliment our own ability to fly and let us finish faster. Instead of trying to conquer we could just hunt pirates from the air. I select wasps from the menu and we find ourselves teleported into a war room that has 5 individuals from the wasp insectoid race surrounding a table top map of the island group I suppose we are currently in. One of the wasp people speaks up.

“Welcome your majesty. As you can see we have been discussing what we can do to expand our kingdom. Our territories are in green, those that are neutral to us are in black, and those that are hostile to us are in red. Known pirate areas are shaded orange.”

That was a rather precise info dump. I do not think that these are actual thinking beings but rather intelligent A.I.’s used by the game for this dungeon. I will just roll with the situation.

“Thank you for the summary. Give me a second to refresh myself with the map and I will give you your instructions.”

As I move forward and look at the map I see that my “kingdom” currently holds 3 of what looks like about 200 islands. There are ten areas shaded black or red. Seven of them are neutral and three are colored as hostile to my new kingdom. There are four areas that are shaded orange. Each orange area has 2-3 islands in it and every other kingdom has at least 3 and most have 6 to 10 islands in their grouping. I assume the other islands are unaligned at this points and ripe for conquest. Time to get some more information.

“What exactly is needed for us to control another island?”

“My lord we just need to eliminate the 3 highest leveled monsters on the island and build a defensive structure.”

“What is the average level of the monsters on the unclaimed islands?”

“Level 1700-1800.”

“What is the average level of our troops and the other nations and pirates?”

“All of us are about equal with troops ranging from levels 1,100 to 1,250.”

“How long would it take to build a defensive structure and how many could we build at once?”

I could see a little pause, this must be an unusual question.

“I predict that we could build a defensive structure in 48 hours and we have enough troops to simultaneously build 10 at once and then man them.”

“How long before new troops are available?”

“Each conquered island doubles its troops every 72 hours.”

Let’s see that means I will have 13 islands in 48 hours, and enough troops for 13 more in five days, so by the end of the week I could have 26 islands. Three days after that I would have enough troops for another 26 islands bringing my total to 52 islands. One more round of waiting and then conquering would bring me up to 104 islands which should be enough to trigger the winning condition of owning 50% of the islands or more. So I should be able to win with the expansion route in just over 2 weeks, say 15 or 16 days.

I expect that with the level of the general troops each island conquest should take the other groups about 1 week if they started immediately. They could at most probably get three islands a week at the beginning. I can just fly around with my high level group and wipe out the three highest monsters on each island and have my troops follow me to build defensive structures. I should not lose any troops. Everyone else even if they take an island will lose troops and have to replace them, whereas my replacement troops will just add to the number of islands I can conquer every round.

Common wisdom dictates that an invading army would need three times as many troops to defeat the defenders so my previous conquests should be safe with the single group that stays there. I am going to try this route of conquest for the dungeon. It is fast, almost faster than anything I found in zone 7 or zone 8. For a bonus this win will give me 5 points, so even if it is slightly slower, my overall points earning time will go down.

“Here are my instructions. First you will treat my companions as your superiors, they shall speak with my authority in all things. Second you will assemble the troops and follow my companions and myself as we go and conquer islands. When we are finished destroying the three highest monsters or the defensive structure on the island you will immediately start construction of our defenses. Every cycle after that the entire new group of soldiers will assemble and we will repeat the cycle. For your information my companions and I will be transforming into dragons to speed up the conquest.”

“Very well my king. Assemble the troops.”

For once we did not hit any snags in my plans. The first round went splendidly. The second round went ok, we did have to sink a couple of pirate ships that were sneaking around our islands during the build phase, but nothing serious. The third round to get to 52 islands was about the same as the first two, a few more pirate ships but not much different. The last and final phase involved attacking some of the other kingdoms as there was not enough unclaimed islands left at this point for us to reach my goal of 104 islands. It was rather easy, since we only had to get rid of a single structure instead of hunting three separate monsters I just powered up my new Primal Meteor Swarm and let it rip. A few minutes later, my troops would then start constructing a new defensive structure on the sight of what used to be the old one.

Forty-eight hours after the last round of conquests I received the expected Great Game message with a little twist.

Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. You may choose to exit at this time or to continue and double your rewards if you fulfill another one of the winning conditions.

Well, would you look at that. I already own 50% of the map and now I can get double rewards if I either conquer two other kingdoms or destroy 3 pirate groups. Of course I am going to continue. I let my group know what was going on that we would conquer two kingdoms next. Luckily I had only attacked the islands of the hostile nations this last round. That meant that the other countries were still neutral to me and probably would not attack next round and that my enemies were down a few islands.

When I check the map in the strategy room I can see one kingdom has 12 islands left and the other one has 15 islands. That means I can double my points in just one more round. I only need to defeat 27 more islands worth of enemies. I suppose that the Great Game never expected such a large area of effect spell as my Primal Meteor Swarm and thus did not realize how easy this was ending up being. With double rewards we were going to farm this dungeon for centuries. It had a variety of creatures you could work with also so the boredom would be handled better than if we had to repeat the exact same thing each time. We can change up things whenever we get bored.

“Alright generals, here is what I want. 54 groups of troops will follow me and my family next cycle. We are going to conquer the two countries that are hostile to us. Everyone one of the other new troops will reinforce the borders against the other countries just in case.”

“Yes my king.”

We invaded the other kingdoms as soon as the reinforcement cycle was finished. Several more Primal Meteor Swarms with a little clean up and then we had to wait another 48 hours for the structures to be built. Once again as soon as the wait period for claiming was done I received another Great Game Message.

Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles part 2. You may choose to exit at this time or to continue and double your rewards if you fulfill the last of the winning conditions.

I can do it again? I wonder if that means it doubles from last time or is it just 3 times the original? Oh well, it does not really matter, this is going to be the dungeon that we will stay with throughout this entire reset cycle. At the least we will get 15 points after about a month’s worth of work plus dungeon materials, at the best 20 points. I once again let my group know that there would be a slight change in plans.

“Alright generals, next we are going to take care of the pesky pirate problem. If we have not returned by the end of the cycle, then just reinforce the borders against the other countries. My family and I are going pirate hunting.”

“Yes my king, do you wish for anyone to accompany you?”

“Nope we will go and do this ourselves.”

Walter climbed up on the back of Azure and the five of us dragons took off and started searching the areas on the maps that had been orange. These were the suspected hideouts of the pirates. Over the next 3 days we wiped out four pirate armadas and two pirate towns. As soon as we sank the last ship in the fourth armada I received the notice I was waiting for.

Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. Your rewards will be calculated and given out after 12 hours outside of the dungeon.

Alright that means we need to exit and let this thing reset. After leaving the dungeon and taking a brief rest I checked on our rewards. It was a double of a double. We received 20 points, 4 sets of dungeon materials, and 4 times the experience. I did not think the doubling rewards would cover the experience also. This is fantastic. Normally my next step would be heading to the safe area, but I cannot risk someone else claiming this dungeon to farm. We are going to stay here for another 248 years and then go to the safe area to wait out the reset. This should significantly decrease the amount of time we need to collect our points and level up.

It only took 3 or 4 more tries to optimize our strategies and speed the whole dungeon dive up. Because we occasionally changed the races we used for varieties sake our clearing times were not exact but they remained fairly close. We averaged one clear every 3 weeks for a grand total of 4,290 dungeon clears. This netted us a total of 85,800 points and I still have to turn in our dungeon materials. We have 17,160 sets of complete materials to trade in because of the doubling rewards. Once we reach the safe area and trade them in we should have enough points to travel into zone 10 if we want too. I have not checked my level this entire time, but I will as soon as the material trades are done.

We found the safe zone in only 8 days. We were moving quick because we did not want to risk losing the fantastic bounty we had earned these last 250 years. I needed to be in the safe area so I could stop worrying. As soon as we saw the safe area I once again recalled the kids and Walter. Surprises against others could save my life someday. Once I entered the safe area I headed straight to the Great Game kiosk in the center. I selected the sell dungeon materials for points option and saw a new part to the message.

Zone 7 dungeon materials exchange rate: 5 dungeons for 2 points

Zone 8 dungeon materials exchange rate: 3 dungeons for 2 points

Zone 9 dungeon materials exchange rate: 1 dungeon for 1 point

I was kind of expecting this based on what I saw in zone 8. Just like before higher level dungeons are worth more points. Trade all.

Scanning, 17,160 zone 9 dungeon sets traded for 17,160 points.

I now have a grand total of 114, 731 points. If my level has hit high enough, and I think I will be safe, it will finally be time for me to cross into zone 10 and try to figure out what this whole thing is about. I move into a building that faces the center of the safe area and recall all of my group.

“Keep watch while I check our progress and then we have some decisions to make.”

“Yes Dad.”

“Yes Master.”

Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (True God)

Level: 2,439 - 38%

Unspent Attribute Points: 6500

Str: 3,391

HP: 33,910 (X2) 67,820

Int: 3,741 +500% MP

MP: 448,920 (X2) 897,840

Wis:3,741 +500% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 3,391

MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Con: 3,391 +500% HP/Regen

Luck: 3,391

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

650 levels in 248 years. I was getting 6X the experience in that dungeon which has really helped. I did not think that I would hit this point for at least another 250 years and maybe not until the reset cycle after that. I distribute the points.

For reaching 4,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of Primal Being.

For reaching Primal Being status before level 3,500 your HP and MP have been tripled.

Granted the title Primal Being + 100 to all stats.

For reaching Primal Being status before level 3,500 you are granted 100% resistance to the primal element.

Once again the title and stats seem a little unnecessary at this level, but I guess free stuff is free stuff so I can’t complain too much. Especially the Primal element resistance. With my history of self-inflicted wounds, resistance to my strongest element is a great addition. Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Primal Being)

Level: 2,439 - 38%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 4,571

HP: 45,710 (X3) 137,130

Int: 4,931 +500% MP

MP: 591,720 (X3) 1,775,160

Wis:4,931 +500% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 4,571

MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Con: 4,571 +500% HP/Regen

Luck: 4,571

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

After all that I wonder what my companions reached.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 2,375- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 2,367 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 2,376 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 2,379 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 2,435 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

Fantastic. Everyone has basically caught up to me. A hundred levels difference at where we are is almost negligible. I am more than likely still stronger because of my stats and titles bonus, but I do not have to worry about level differences when entering dungeons anymore. We are close enough I won’t have to do all the mental math to make sure the kids are safe.

“Alright crew here is the deal. We have enough points to cross into zone 10. Dad has been upgraded to a Primal Being, whatever that means. What we need to decide is if we play it safe and stay here for another cycle to cross our level 2,500 goal or if we go ahead and move forward.”

“Well dad, as much as we want to finish this you have taught us that we need to be safe. I vote for another reset cycle.”

“Master, I agree with Esmerelda. I want you all to be safe.”

“Does everyone agree?”

“Yes dad”

“Yes master.”

“Alright then we will wait for the reset, then go out and wander around zone 9 doing random dungeons. There is no pressure to finish a certain amount or earn points. We will explore and reevaluate our progress after the next reset just to be safe.”

This is precisely what we did. We waited the next couple of years out in the safe area so we would not be reset. After the reset we wandered fairly carefree and completed dungeons as we wanted too. I think that this break from grinding and trying to earn as much as possible is actually doing us some good. Everyone experimented with their powers or breath weapons, we refined tactics, and just enjoyed ourselves for another 248 years. Once again as time got close for a reset we headed towards the safe area to update and trade things in.

There was no need to hide my companions this time and we all walked in together.

“Hey dad.”

“Yes Bruce.”

“Since we do not need any more points are you going to trade for something else?”

“I never even considered it. What do you suggest?”

“Well how much supplies do we have?”

“We probably have another 250 years worth or more.”

“Why don’t we trade half of our dungeon materials for coins and save the other half in case they prove useful in zone 10. Then we can teleport down to zone 4 and Get supplies from the Dwarves and re-enter and go to zone 10. We have enough points already to do that and more.”

“I like that plan Bruce. Does anyone have any objections.”

There were none so I went to the Great Game kiosk in the center of the safe area and for the first time read the messages carefully again to make sure all the other options had not changed.

Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below.

A. Purchase Supplies with money

B. Purchase Supplies with points

C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money

D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points

I chose C this time and was pleasantly surprised at the next announcement.

Zone 7 dungeon materials are worth 200,000 mithral coins

Zone 8 dungeon materials are worth 500,000 mithral coins

Zone 9 dungeon materials are worth 1,000,000 mithral coins

It makes sense I guess. The point values for the dungeons went up so the worth of the material trade ins went up also. Over this last time period we finished 650 dungeons. So our total points went to 117,981. We definitely do not need to trade these materials for their point value. Trade 325 zone 9 complete dungeon materials for coins please.

Scanning complete. You have sufficient materials for trade. Exchanging 325 dungeon materials for 325 million mithral coins.

“Well everyone we are rich.”

Everybody just laughed.

“Ok, standard bit guys, lets pick a building and claim it and I will check our current statuses and then we can wait out the reset and finish off our resupply per Bruce’s plan.”

Once everyone was settled in I checked up on how we were doing.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 2,605- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 2,612 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 2,606 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 2,609 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 2,648 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

They all went up about 230 levels. That is a little less than 1 a year. Not bad for no experience boost and us taking it easy.

Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Primal Being)

Level: 2,650 - 89%

Unspent Attribute Points: 2110

Str: 4,571

HP: 45,710 (X3) 137,130

Int: 4,931 +500% MP

MP: 591,720 (X3) 1,775,160

Wis:4,931 +500% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 4,571

MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Con: 4,571 +500% HP/Regen

Luck: 4,571

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Excellent. I have gotten past the level 2,500 goal and I should have enough to break 5,000 points in every stat. I distribute the points.

For reaching 5,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of Cosmic Entity.

For reaching Cosmic Entity status before the level 5,000 cap all current stat bonuses have been doubled.

Granted the title Cosmic Entity + 500 to all stats.

For reaching Cosmic Entity status before level 3,000 your affinities and resistances are tripled.

Alright breathe Mark. A lot just happened there. New title and huge bonus check. Information on a hard level cap for the Great Game check. Ability to still get stronger and dominate anyone else that has reached this level check. Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)

Level: 2,650 - 89%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 5,521

HP: 55,210 (X6) 331,260

Int: 5,591 +1000% MP

MP: 1,230,020 (X6) 7,380,120

Wis: 5,591

+1000% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 5,521

MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Con: 5,521

+1000% HP/Regen

Luck: 5,521

Affinities: Earth - 300%

Water – 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

Resistances: Earth - 300%

Water - 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

Ok this is insane. First off I am sure no one associated with the great game ever expected anyone to actually get these bonuses. In fact, I picture a meeting of geeky people sitting around the table just arguing.

“Well what if someone can do it faster.”

“No one can do it that fast.”

“You don’t know that what if they can.”

“Fine if they can reach that power level that fast then we will double everything.”

“That sounds fair.”

“What about affinities and resistances?”

“We will triple those.”

The random meeting of imaginary geek people sitting at the table start nodding their heads.

My family finally notices that I am spacing out and probably drooling at this point.

“Master what is wrong?”

“I think I broke everything.”

They all just stared at each other and me.

“Can you explain what that means daddy?”

I shake my head to clear it.

“Give me one second and then I will answer your questions.”

Help are you there?

Yes.

If someone theoretically had a greater affinity than another person’s resistance would their spells do damage equal to the amount above their resistance.

Yes.

If someone theoretically again had a resistance greater than 100% what would happen? Please give an example if you can.

If person X had a 100% affinity in fire and shot person Y who had a 150% resistance to fire with a fireball. Person Y would be healed instead of hurt for the damage amount times the difference in resistance and affinity in decimal form.

Help off. So basically If someone shoots me with a magic fireball I now get healed for 2 times the amount of damage it would normally do. I can even shoot myself with spells to heal my health. This has been one of my biggest gripes with the Great Game system. There are healing pills, potions and salves, which do not work very well at the higher levels by the way, but no direct healing magic. Now I have a loophole. I can cast my most powerful spell and now have it do triple damage to my enemies while it simultaneously heals me for double the damage amount.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I can’t decide if the Great Game is helping me or setting me up for something horrible to happen in the future.