[D'sP] Flooding Floor - Chapter 441

{

Eighteenth floor dimensionally anchored

World Energy cap +12,700 [Constitution(127) * 100]

Eighteenth floor spending limit set to 118,920 [Previous floor’s limit(105,240) + Intelligence(114) * 120]

Monster level cap updated

Quintessence debt paid back by 5

}

Doyle dims at the last line, his debt should be under 30 by now. The only thing was, he couldn’t even remember what the debt did! There was a memory of all the heavier penalties being high enough that they didn’t hit him. But there was something he couldn’t remember that was actively affecting him.

He turns to Ally, ‘I’ve only got about 30 quin debt now, but I can’t remember the penalties. I don’t need a reminder of everything, just update me on what is still active.’

Ally, ‘Huh, you are getting close to paying that off. Anyway, with any debt at all, you experience slower skill growth. Which you’ve been skirting around by not depending on the system’s skill growth. Besides that, a dungeon core with 10 or more quintessence debt gain less world energy from invaders. Oh, and as a reminder, at 50 you pay more at system stores which you can’t exactly get to right now so it was never a problem.’

Doyle, ‘What do you mean the slower skill growth didn’t really affect me? My patterns have grown at a glacial pace! I basically have had to go and personally work on each pattern. Even my monster patterns aren’t where they feel like they should be.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Well, yeah, that is the penalty in action. Except, also you skirting around it. The system lets people grind out a skill, especially since skill levels are linear. Each new level is just a plus one to what was already there.

‘So if you just work at the skill, hammer out nail after nail as a blacksmith? Your smithing level will slowly go up. And included in that? Well, with each skill level, the system will slowly download new knowledge.

‘It isn’t going to let that blacksmith who grinded to level 1000 blacksmithing make an amazing sword. They will, however, know ways to make nails that few may have ever learned as well as all kinds of metallurgy needed to bring their nails to the next level.

‘Though generally people don’t get that pigeonholed. An alchemist might specialize in healing potions, but they have spent some time learning all the other options they have available. Besides, this sort of skill grinding won’t ever give you a breakthrough.’

Doyle, ‘Breakthrough? Like with a bottleneck? Because I could use some method to get through that.’

Ally coughs, ‘Ah, right, yeah, no, that isn’t what I mean. Breakthrough is probably the best wording, but I mean it in the sense of a breakthrough technology sort of thing. I guess the best way to put it, is that knowledge gained through grinding a skill is similar to the knowledge your monsters gain. It won’t ever give them something truly new.’

Doyle, ‘So, how is this related to me skirting around the system’s penalty? I’m clearly being heavily affected by it.’

Ally, ‘Well, the system can’t stop you from learning, which at the most basic is what skill levels represent. Which is what you’ve been doing. You haven’t really ever leaned on the system for that. I doubt you would have gained levels any faster than you already did, even without the penalty.’

Doyle, ‘But if the system can’t stop me from living, why am I at a bottleneck?’

Ally, ‘You aren’t being stopped from learning. The bottleneck represents you missing some vital component. It is the difference between learning to speak a language by speaking it and learning a language by memorizing words. No matter how many words you memorize, it doesn’t matter if you can’t say them.’

Doyle, ‘So shouldn’t I be getting some alternate skill?’

Ally, ‘Think of it as you building your foundation. Besides that, you’ll likely have an easier time leveling the skills that are currently bottlenecked. After all, it is a lot easier to build a tower on hard flat ground instead of the side of a sand dune. The bottleneck is basically allowing you to go from one to the other.’

Doyle, ‘Huh, well, I better start on the floor. After that though? Maybe I’ll focus on removing the debt.’

Ally nods, ‘Never hurts to pay back your debts as soon as possible. At least this is to the system and you aren’t being charged interest.’

And with that Doyle turns backs to the floor. He couldn’t just copy what he did with 17. Well, he could, but it would be boring to have another water dominated floor without any reason for the delvers to actually get wet.

Besides, if Doyle was going to be using the windcutter axebeaks, they would need the floor to be designed around them. Except, he didn’t want to just make another mountain valley. Not that he made too many of them, but it lacked a certain panache. A certain je ne se qua. It didn’t pass the vibe check, at least for what he wanted in the next few floors.

Doyle sat back in his core room as he poked at a windbreaker axebeak. It wasn’t like a flightless bird needed to be in a mountain valley to be effective. In fact, pre-apocalypse, none of the world’s large flightless birds did.

Rather, they lived in grass plains and such. The only reason Doyle had been placing the axebeaks in mountain valleys was because their description noted that as their native biome.

And sure, they did seem to be particularly effective when allowed to get a good downhill charge in. But emus won a war on flat ground. Doyle just needed to set up a good arena for them to take advantage of.

That meant something more along the lines of a savanna, which Doyle had come close in the past, but hadn’t really leaned into. So what makes a savanna?

Doyle looks out over the pitch black floor, empty of everything besides air and even that is only there because he finds it easier to work with the floor when it isn’t a vacuum. 

He didn’t want to make another endless field, but also didn’t want to create a fake edge like he had done on 17. That meant a defined edge that made some sort of sense. Well, it didn’t have to make sense, but he wanted it to.

It takes him a hot second, but eventually the blinders fall away. Doyle could just make another cave floor. All he had to do to make it fit, is have the ceiling be more like that of a slot canyon.

Why would there be gigantic rooms filled with tall grass in a slot canyon? Who cares! Doyle was certain he could cobble something together. Blah, blah, blah, the grass rooted during a dryer period and those thick roots allowed the grass to survive the flood. It then spreads in a few areas and when the grass reaches the edges, the roots would break down the walls, creating the rooms. There, that was a good enough backstory and or reason for the design.

So, Doyle began to build the floor. In fact, he had most of the caves and canyons figured out. Except, it didn’t Look right. He had done his best, but it wasn’t worn down right.

Unsatisfied, he grows the wall out about a quarter meter from every surface. Well, except for the floor. There he throws down a layer of soil and gravel upon which he plants the grass he wants. Though after introducing some water, this turns into a many day session of tweaking.

The ground needed to drain quickly so the roots wouldn’t be waterlogged, while remaining moist enough to maintain the grass above. In the end, it took him remembering something about keeping houseplants. Fired clay pebbles.

They were porous and helped maintain water, at least better than gravel did. That plus a bit of sand and giving the grass enough of a chance to mat their roots together put the finishing touches on that aspect of the floor. Though it would take a little more time for the grass to reach full height.

Time which he gave the grass because the next step would work better with full grown grass.

Boom, water.

If there is one thing slot canyons are known for, it is their flash floods and Doyle dumped the mother of all floods into his floor. A flood with a ton of sand mixed in. That sand was why he waited for the grass to be grown.

Even then, it uh, didn’t do so well. The grass survived, but Doyle needed to give it more time to grow back. He didn’t mind though as the flood had done what he wanted. Oh sure, the walls were back to about where he had originally carved them to.

Except they looked Right. The wear and weathering felt natural. Which was mostly because it was now.

Satisfied, Doyle turned to how to integrate the windbreakers. Especially now that after that massive flood, Doyle wanted to incorporate smaller ones. Which ended up guiding him to the answer.

The windbreaker axebeaks have beaks that can be used as an axe. Sure, there aren’t trees around to chop down, but there is something. The sandstone making up the walls.

Doyle sent another flood through the cave, this time a much more reasonable amount of water. He nodded, the water only went so far. The axebeaks could easily stand above the water.

So, all it took was to give them the order to dig nests far enough up the wall to not get wet. And the most shocking part of this was that this worked. Doyle was expecting to either have to dig their homes himself or at least micromanage it. After all, this isn’t their natural habitat.

Doyle ignored that detail, though. If it worked, it worked and meant he could focus on the next detail. The kobolds. Oh, and how many monsters there would be. At 900 points a pop, the windbreakers were expensive.

With 118,920 points to spend, saving 11,920, leaving 107,000 points. Which, given the 900 points per bird and 50 a kobold meant 107 birds, each with two kobolds. Well, except for any pairs of bird and elder. Those would be one to one.

Doyle adjusted that a tiny bit. Well, tiny on the bird side of things. He removed 7 birds for an even hundred. If all kobolds were regular kobolds, that would mean there would be 340 kobolds. You know, instead of 214 of them. To think that the cost of a single bird added up to 18 kobolds.

Now, where to put the kobolds? Well, obviously up in the walls like the bird nests. They could expand things for the birds.

Doyle suddenly glowed bright as he realized a connection. The last floor ended with the kobolds living in the cliff sides. Having them doing the same thing here? That provided continuity!

With that fizzing in his mind, Doyle turns back to the 17th floor. It Needed to Change. The stone was blended and changed to sandstone at the back. A sharp fault line showing a distinct transition and the ceiling is raised to look more like a canyon that didn’t quite open up at the top of the cliff.

Doyle nodded to himself, just what he wanted for it. Ace and friends would notice, but that was fine. It was early enough for change to happen and was limited to right around the exit, as if the change started there instead of ending there.

Doyle nods before turning back to the balance of monsters. 100 birds, and 340 kobolds worth of points. Go even again? 300 kobolds and 20 elder kobolds wouldn’t be a bad balance.

Then, just for fun, Doyle spends a week making the floor somewhat random. Sure, it is still just a slot canyon with some interesting semi-rooms. Oh, and a quartz ceiling at the top marking the boundary of the floor so people aren’t able to just fly away. But at least now people will not know what the next corner will be, let alone what is around it.

Almost satisfied, Doyle has one last thing to add. Though it was simple enough, just a big container full of water to occasionally add a flash flood element to the floor.

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