[D'sP] Doyle Is Kicking Himself - Chapter 451

There was one thing Doyle figured out that would change things in the future. At least, once the town found out, which wasn’t likely until some regular people got to floor 18. The giant wave of doom? That water park slide of death?

Yeah, a little light on the death part. Oh sure, the wave would kill the kobolds and axebeaks that got caught in it just fine. Probably even manage most of the squishier delvers. If the wave caught them unaware.

Those twisty tunnels? The wide rooms? The fact that the whole thing was only at a gentle slope?

To survive to get to floor 18, meant whoever it was, likely also was tough enough to survive the water. Oh sure, banging into the walls and such would hurt them.

But a tank? Or someone with magical defenses? Well, it was just water and stone. If this sort of situation was set outside with the current world energy levels? None of the town’s original people would be dying to the water at all.

The water might not even knock over the strongest. Those stone walls would shatter on them like it was a movie prop. In fact, the only thing that would stop any of them from staying in place would more likely be the fact the stone would break away from so much force being concentrated where they are trying to hold on.

At least this deep in the dungeon, there was enough world energy in the water to pack a proper punch.

Doyle turns an eye towards floor 19, not that he is worried on that front. It was just a nervous tic. That floor was perfectly fine. A simple flat floor with enemies to fight. No fancy water works to slog down the enemy. Which made him think more deeply about the 20th.

The layout is basically done in his mind. What is holding him back? Simple enough, he wanted the results for those goats on floor 15. They were still facing the wind and something told him that it was close.

Though for a dungeon? Who knew the time frame meant by “close”. Especially when you consider that later on, a new floor might not be formed in a year or longer. So it might take more time than Doyle is willing to wait.

And honestly? If the goats didn’t pan out, he might as well redo the floor. Doyle had designed everything with an eye towards the wind theming and wind-based goats would be not the cherry on top, but rather the actual finishing touch.

Doyle sighs and turns to the currently empty floor 15. There are goats playing around above the wind line. This wasn’t originally a literal thing, like how mountains have a snow line.

Except Doyle had noticed that over time, the wind did tend to strip away anything that stuck out from the terrain. Whether that was bushes or boulders.

Not that he minded this. Instead, Doyle let this stripping of the terrain settle in permanently. Though not for any real reason, besides, it looked cool.

There is one other effect which if anything, helped with the goat project. By stripping so much of the area clean, the goats were forced to move around more while grazing.

But what if there were gusts of wind? Right now, the wind isn’t the same speed at all times, if only because the terrain breaks the wind up. But actual gusts? Maybe that would push the goats towards something?

So Doyle began to implement his idea. Though it wasn’t a once and done thing. The goats needed to be challenged, but survive. Well, a decent number of them, at least.

No chance for change if the challenge was insurmountable. You need to ride the edge for growth. A tree that grows up without wind, would be weak and fall over at the first sign of challenge. However, just as equally, they can’t adapt if they never grow up enough to release any seeds.

And no matter how high-brow and intellectually he puts it. What this really meant is that Doyle was throwing goats off the mountain and toning the gusts down until the goats managed to stick to the mountain side. That or enough survive. Doyle was perfectly fine with them being flung around if they could live through the fall.

All the while, Ace and Jim struggle their way through floor 18. Well, “struggle” isn’t really the way to describe it. “Slog” was definitely the better term, especially after a few waves of water.

This wasn’t planned by Doyle, but while the grass kept the soil in place. It didn’t stop the dirt from being soaked through. Some spots with a deeper soil level even felt like walking on a water bed because the grass layer floated over the water that had collected.

But in the end, the floor couldn’t hold them back. It might act to check anyone struggling to keep up, but that described neither of the teams. Though this time Jim’s team are the ones who reached the next floor first.

Jim stood in front of the exit portal for the floor and laughed, “Hah, we got here first!”

Kellinger raises an eyebrow, “By staying a half hour past when we were supposed to leave.”

Jim waves it off, “The water was coming so quickly after the horn, it was obvious we were close. No reason not to push.”

Kellinger shakes his head, “And it had nothing to do with the fact you figured Ace’s team would have enough time to reach the end themselves?”

Jim shrugged, “Looks bad if a mayor takes too much of a lead over the local Guild leader. The Adventurers Guild is known for having fighting leaders. You don’t get to stay in the position by being a paper pusher.”

Kelly, “How does that work? You’re a clever sort, but I can see a meathead getting the position and bungling things up something fierce.”

Jim grins, “Strength isn’t only measured in physical might. Oh sure, it is a part of it, but a meathead wouldn’t survive in the position for long unless they were truly a galactic class power in a planetary position.

“And at that level? As long as they aren’t harming the Guild’s reputation, no one cares. A single planet is only important to those native to it. Otherwise, planets aren’t even towns on the universal scale of big organizations.”

Tess, “I’d figure planets would be worth more? Well, habitable planets at least.”

Jim shakes his head, “You’re thinking about this wrong. What counts as habitable is much broader once you include magic. Even if you ignore the fact that after a certain level, most regular planets are considered entirely survivable. Relaxing even.

“Terraforming can fix so many things, including the gravity if it isn’t too far out of line. Too little gravity? Open up a portal to somewhere that doesn’t need it or if there isn’t somewhere close enough? Well, the elemental planes are a decent secondary choice.

“Removing mass is even easier as you can open a portal a bit beyond the planet’s gravity well. Toss it towards the sun or some other places so it does stick around. Unless you want a small moon, that is.”

“The bigger difficulty is more related to the distance from the local sun. Oh sure, you can set up sun shades or some such. In the end, though, even more than altering a planet’s mass enough to affect gravity. Moving the planet’s orbit messes with the solar system as a whole too much.

“Not that they don’t for the right planet. They just let the solar system settle for a few hundred years or so.”

Kelly, “I would figure magic could solve the three-body problem.”

Jim shrugs, “No clue about that.”

Jeremy, “I’d guess not. Or rather, even if they’ve solved the orbit for three bodies, solar systems aren’t just three bodies. Orbits and gravity is a problem that scales wildly with every added object you need to keep track of. I’m surprised they can manage the planet’s gravity.

“Or rather, I’m surprised they do it that way. I’d figure they would use a more magical solution. Our pre-magic technology was technically advanced enough to do that, if slowly.”

Kelly shakes her head, “If you’re talking about using planetary formations or some such? I can easily tell you why it isn’t used if unnecessary. Such a large magical working is both comparably fragile and hungry.

“Though it is the second one which would put a stop to the use. The power needs to come from somewhere. That place? Well, I guess they could use magical crystals or some such. But the reality is it would take world energy from the planet itself.

“Which we might have in abundance, but most planets, especially those inhabitable by regular people by just a bit of terraforming, do not. So to power such a formation would almost certainly curse everyone on the planet to live their lives at a low level.

“And it wouldn’t even be worth it as an agricultural world. The produce would be too low on magic to be worth the effort.”

Jim yawns, “Okay, makes sense. Now let’s see what floor 19 is like! Come on everybody.” And he walks towards the gate, forcing everyone else to keep up.

They step through and are welcomed to more canyon, except going at a decent grade upwards. Jim raises an eyebrow, “Maybe we’ll be out of this constrained space.”

They continue upward, and crest over the edge, welcomed into the open plateau. Though they can’t tell that is what they’re dealing with right away. The tall grasses from below are prominently on display, which also meant almost everything else was hidden.

Jim frowned, “Well, I guess birds back on the menu. Again. Now, I can tell we’re meant to go that away.” And he points deeper into the floor.

Jim turns around, “But how about we go in the other direction? See what kind of edge this floor has. We’ve seen all kinds of floors so far, especially the 17th and the solid wall painted to look like the floor kept going.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “We’ll do that, but then we have to leave. We won’t be late because there’s no backtracking involved. Well, no backtracking through an entire floor.”

Jim shrugs, “Eh, we got here first. That’s the achievement. Well, and completing the floor. Either way, I want to see the edge.”

So the group hikes to the empty edge of the plateau. Doyle hadn’t actually planned too much around people going that way and so hadn’t placed monsters on the way.

Which means the party easily makes it to the edge and they get a good look. Jim, in particular enjoyed the view, though he had one thing that stuck out. “Huh, I was half expecting to see the five lakes from 17. It wouldn’t match up one to one, but it would be fun.”

Jay laughed, “You’re expecting too much from a newborn dungeon. We’ve got a strange one, sure, but it’s still just a dungeon barely a year old. I just hope this entire floor isn’t one giant monotonous field of grass.”

All the while, unknown to the team, Doyle is kicking himself for not thinking of that “view of the 17th floor” thing. It would have been great! Though once they left the floor, he did have some changes he could make.

In particular, the first thing he focuses on is varying up the floor a little. Not that he was leaving bare spots in the grass. No, instead he placed blobs of wheat, since Ace seemed to have loved that so much in the past!

It kept the theming, but was shorter and generally looked different. Which broke up the floor so it wouldn’t be as boring. Oh, and provide something to navigate by besides the ravines places to keep them in the right place.

Magic Is Like Gravity - Chapter 450

So Many Goats Go Flying - Chapter 452