[D'sP] Two Or A Double - Chapter 456

Ally shrugs, ‘I think you should try a patch or two of bramble, anyway. You’ve got basically an area that has grown wild. The trees are too far apart to be a forest. That tall grass is spaced out more like fields. Then you add in boulders?

‘Might as well make them walls of stacked rocks and square up the grass a little. Then you would have a land conquered by monsters. Left long enough that much of the original civilization has weathered away, but bits still poke through.’

Doyle dims, ‘Mmm, I, I don’t want that. The boulders will just be that, it doesn’t have to be a realistic landscape. Well, besides looking alright.’

Ally, ‘Fair, they’re not exactly going to do anything to the delvers. We’d have to wait for higher quality plants before a bramble patch is going to do more than boulder could. At least a boulder is solid.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Wouldn’t a tougher plant end up a monster?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘Stuff enough magic into a plant and sure, there is a slight chance it turns into a monster. Well, out in the wilds. That is basically a non-existent chance in a dungeon.

‘However, more likely is that after certain points, plant dependant, the foliage toughens up. Remember, the more power something contains, the harder it is for those with less power to affect them.

‘And this is just about them containing the power. Not using it for anything. If they’re using the magic, then they’re either monsters or mystical herbs. Same with rocks and such.’

Doyle sighs, ‘I think at this point, none of us here really get the full depth of what that means.’

Ally nods, ‘Even people who have lived with the system their whole lives miss out on this. It is only those who travel a lot or live near a dense world energy zone that tend to be this.

‘I guess a good example would be that you could take a seed from a normal plant out in the town’s field and if you grow it in such a place? The resulting plant, if brought back here in a container that kept the world energy from leaking, could not be chewed on. Ace could gnaw on a stalk of grass all day and there wouldn’t be a single mark on it.’

Doyle, ‘I note that you specifically mentioned needing a container that kept the power from leaking?’

Ally shrugs, ‘If the plant isn’t a monster or mystical herbs, there’s not much holding the power in. At least the power leaving the plant isn’t destructive. It isn’t like putting marshmallow in a vacuum or a deep sea creature being brought to the surface.

‘Though I will note, it is a lot easier for the power to leave than it is to enter. That stalk of grass would quickly become like any other stalk of grass around here. However, you bring the stalk back to where it grew and the stalk won’t go back to how saturated it was before.’

Doyle, ‘And mystical herbs, monsters, and people with a bunch of levels can hold on to their power?’

Ally, ‘Ish. It is harder to regain spent power beyond the local density of power. Though yeah, once you actively make use of power, it gets locked into your being.’

Doyle, ‘Fair enough. Though that won’t help with the current floor.’

Ally turns to the floor, ‘True. Not that you need it as the basics are set down already. A slope with three flat spots for the monsters to group up. The general terrain is sparse trees, tall grass, and boulders once you add them. Oh, and you know what monsters you want.’

Ally turns to glance at Doyle, ‘So. Want to give me a hint at the boss?’

Doyle sighs, ‘I’ve got a plan already. Though I do wonder how much of a boss, I should make it.’

Ally, ‘Ah, trying to decide between a regular boss or adding in a few extra boss slots to make it more of a challenge?’

Doyle nods, ‘I’m split between a regular boss or double up.’

Ally, ‘Hmm, as in two bosses or one boss empowered with two slots? Because they’re somewhat different.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘What is the difference?’

Ally, ‘Well, I guess the overall power isn’t that different? The big thing is that multiple boss slots in a single monster will tend to result in something about them ranking up. Though sadly, if they do end up evolving because of it, you don’t get the evolved pattern because it is still technically the original monster.’

Doyle, ‘So more like digital monsters instead of pocket monsters?’

Ally squints at him, ‘I get the reference and I accept it was probably an easy way to relate, but not quite. If I understand the source correctly, even the temporary evolution involves the monster turning into the new form.’

Ally shrugs, ‘There isn’t an easy way to explain it because for most intents and purposes, they act like the new form. Plus, they don’t turn back into their old form. This isn’t a temporary power up.’

Doyle, ‘Blarg, can’t be easy, I guess.’

Ally nods, ‘True. Though studies show that it is likely that having a boss evolve into a new form, makes it easier to later gain that new form as a pattern.’

Doyle, ‘But the monster evolving isn’t in any way certain?’

Ally smiles, ‘Oh heavens no! Even a full raid boss doesn’t make such a change certain. Sometimes? They just gain strange abilities.’

Doyle sighs, ‘I’ll settle for two bosses. Though that does raise a question. Could I make a variable floor? Like, having one boss that stays in the farm until a big enough group arrives on the floor?’

Ally, ‘Well, that wouldn’t exactly work. The previous floor isn’t a “raid” floor so multiple teams can’t meet up. Which means they can enter the 20th floor with one team, which locks the floor, them have the second team enter. And that wouldn’t even need to be on purpose.

‘They would simply have to enter at slightly different times. An easy thing to line up when they’re in different instances on the previous floor. A raid floor fixes this by basically allowing groups to wait until the others in their raid group are also waiting at the portal.’

Doyle, ‘Hmm, well, can I have multiple bosses without it being a raid? Like, if there was two bosses and they weren’t in the same fight?’

Ally laughs, ‘We both know the answer to that.’

Doyle nods, ‘Yeah, the whole point of having multiple boss slots on a single floor is to make it a raid.’

Ally, ‘The act of using multiple slots on a single floor is what opened it up. No matter how they are spent. The idea of having a boss in the farm? I’ll be honest, that is on shaky grounds. It may or may not have worked. As in, there are dungeons that have done this and it does not always work. Even within the same dungeon, whether it works or not isn’t certain.’

Doyle, ‘Welp, I’m going with a single double slot boss. Anything I should know before I do it?’

Ally, ‘Well, you already know the two methods of making a boss. When you add more slots in, you don’t get any extra control. If anything, there are even more hidden variables.

‘Create a boss off a monster that is already equipped with stuff? A normal boss doesn’t care, besides the gear resizing to fit the boss if they were dungeon spawned gear. Extra slots being used? Maybe it doesn’t do much, the gear might upgrade with them, it might get absorbed into them, or they might evolve to better use the gear.

‘This is also how you can get odd elemental variants. Turn a goat into a raid boss under water? Chances are it becomes amphibious in some manner. However, change them in the middle of a room full of steam and you might get a heat resistant aquatic goat, a steam goat, or a fire and water goat. It isn’t technically random as far as the professors at my school could figure out. But in the same way that your people did not solve the three-body problem before the system, we aren’t figuring out how a raid boss will turn out now. Though I feel like I’m forgetting something.’

Doyle, ‘Okay, fair enough. Well, I guess it is time for me to figure out how to place the monsters and if you remember, you can come tell me. Before that though, quick question. Boss in the middle flat or the last flat?’

Ally hums as the look down at the floor. ‘I’m tempted to tell you to put it in the middle. Really tempted. But yeah, no, the best place for it is the last flat.’

Doyle nods, ‘That was my feeling as well. The center would be interesting. Except, it breaks the flow of the floor. If I was doing two bosses, I could do one at both locations, but that isn’t an option with a single boss monster.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Is what is.’

Doyle nods and turns towards the floor, pulling up how many points he has to spend and the costs of his four monsters.

{

Points: 146,280

Monsters:

• Windcutter Axebeak: 900

• Razor Fox: 50

• Void Kobolds: 50

• Elder Void Kobolds: 100

• Cyclone Goats: 200

}

Doyle cut the points down, leaving 120,000 points for the floor. The twenty-six some thousand extra points left over for the farm and boss. Though that raised another question.

Doyle looked up and thankfully Ally hadn’t left yet so he didn’t need to disturb her. ‘Heyo, how much does the extra boss slots cost me? A regular boss is five levels above the floor’s max and all, so does the double boss slot change things?’

Ally snaps her fingers, ‘That’s what I was forgetting! Anyway, each boss slot after the first is an additional five levels. Though at the higher levels, this obviously doesn’t scale well.

‘In fact, even with normal bosses, those extra levels begin to matter less and less. You can consider the level thing more of a signifier for people. This creature feels higher level than anything else and this, it is the boss!

‘The important detail will be the paths. Which thankfully, you don’t have to pay for. Because for each boss slot you put into a monster, the more paths they get and the more points can go into a path. Though the paths are similarly as “random” as the changes or more properly, they are related.’

Doyle, ‘So a kobold with a dagger that changes to better use the dagger will likely also have a path related to said dagger?’

Ally nods, ‘Exactly!’

Doyle sighs, ‘I should have figured. Everything wraps back around to paths.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Paths are the building blocks of power under the system. I’m sure that in other universes, the way bosses work will be different to match. If there’s a universe where skills are power, bosses would likely gain rare and powerful skills.

‘Here? If you’re going to get more skills than five on a boss, that’s going to be the result of whatever path they receive. Raid boss or not.’

Doyle sighs again, ‘Well, just more things I can’t plan around. Maybe I should have saved the first floor kobold for a raid boss position? I’m sure they would have gotten some really good paths.’

Ally scoffs, ‘As if they didn’t! Pseudo-souled? That basically isn’t a thing. The only way you get a boss who can use proper teamwork beyond instincts, both inborn and skill based, is to have two bosses and thus a raid.’

Doyle, ‘Fair enough. I guess I’m probably not putting as much stock in it since the fifth floor boss uses them to lead other kobolds instead of keeping them together in a single squad.’

Ally nods, ‘That does spread the effect out and makes it less noticeable. Though that is probably best for the fifth floor.’

The Setup For 20 - Chapter 455

The Basic Beasts - Chapter 457