World Sphere - 74 - Profitable Devling

Chapter 74: Profitable Delving

We gave Fera a few minutes to stare around in awe at the dungeon before moving into the forest. Without Talia’s ranged magical assistance, the large bees were slightly more difficult to deal with. Fera had a staff, and Gareth was working with her, encouraging her to strike a bee. When she finally got one of the bees, she was beyond excited and immediately gained confidence. I continued secretly using the bee’s stingers to train my neutralize poison spell.

When we approached the first hive, I asked Gimble, “Are the hives all going to be in the same location as last time we were here?”

Gimble approached and said, “Some dungeons just reset, recycling the landscape. Some dungeons make changes, so it is not easy for delvers to pass the level each time.”

Gareth yelled as he cut a bee in half. “This dungeon just resets. That is why delvers can run it so quickly. All the levels just reset, so you know where everything is.”

I nodded. “Ok, everyone. Let’s start mapping where the hives are near the dungeon entrance. If we can map out the closest hives and hit them quickly, then we can leave and make two runs every visit.”

Gareth offered helpful advice. “You can just buy the map in the adventurer’s guild hall for a few gold coins. I would suggest getting maps of the entire dungeon, though, as it will be about ten gold for all five levels.”

I produced a large gold coin and tossed it to Gareth. “You can get it when we get back.” Gareth caught it with a flash, and it disappeared into his pocket.

We started making faster progress. Gimble cautioned us to keep our wits about us as we got slightly bolder in taking on more and more bees at once. Fera got stung on the third hive when Sammie and Gareth got overwhelmed and couldn’t occupy their attention.

Fera crumpled to the ground. “So cold,” she rasped. I moved to Fera and used my spell to remove the poison. As she quickly recovered, the others handled the bees. Gareth clearly taking out his anger on the bees for stinging Fera, with violet bisections of the buzzing insects. It was a dozen seconds before she stood. “Thank you, Storme, my muscles just sort of locked up.”

“It is ok, Fera. I know it is hard the first time you get stung. After a few dozen times, your body figures out how to continue functioning through the coldness and pain,” I offered in support. Everyone gave me strange looks, so I explained. “I have been training my spell up by stinging myself from the dead bees.”

Gareth nodded sagely. “I thought you were trying to harvest the poison glands, Storme. They are extremely fragile, and you really need an extraction spell to retrieve the glands undamaged. I think the spell can be found in the first-floor reward chest about 10% of the time.”

“You can get spells from reward chests?” Fera asked Gareth.

Gareth nodded and grinned at Fera, happy to share his knowledge. “It is rare, but dungeons have a massive variance in rewards. A whole class of adventurers logs floor rewards to see how likely they are to be found in dungeon chests. I have a book that details the chances for all the dungeons in Skyholme if you want to borrow it,” Gareth offered.

I closed my eyes, searched all the dungeon books I had purchased, and materialized one in my hand from my dimensional storage. “This one?” I asked, holding up the book and reading the title, “Statistical Analysis of the Chest Rewards for the Dungeons of Skyholme.”

Gareth’s jaw didn’t work for a second. “Yes, this is it, and it is the seventh edition. Mine is just the fifth edition, so yours should have better information. Are we going to attempt the floor boss on this delve?” Gareth asked excitedly, forgetting I had shown him up a little.

I ignored him for a moment, opened it to the page for the Icy Vault dungeon, and looked at the first floor.

Frost Vault First Floor Reward Chest

Sample Size 366

100.0%            2 gold 3 silver

9.3%    Spellbook: Surgical Harvest, Tier 1 Healing spell

24.0%  Frostskin Gloves

35.2%  Frostskin Boots

35.2%  Seeking Shot Slingshot

0.5%    Anomaly

I looked at Gareth. “Is it always the same amount of coin?”

Gareth nodded. “Yeah, entrance to Skyholme dungeons controlled by the Triumvirate are usually priced based on the total coins from the first two floors. You also have to exchange those coins for Skyholme coins when you leave the dungeon.” I nodded, remembering that. I looked down at the item descriptions.

·      Surgical Harvest (tier 1 healing spell), remove an object or organ from a deceased creature or person

·      Frostskin Gloves, sizes to the person opening the reward. chest. Extremely durable and gives minor resistance to cold.

·      Frostskin Boots, sizes to the person opening the reward chest. Extremely durable and gives “sure footing.”

·      Seeking Slingshot, increases accuracy.

Gareth moved to look over my shoulder while the others pulled out the wax-filled chambers. “The surgical harvest is a popular spell for delvers. Stronger monsters have aether crystals in them, and it makes it easy to get them out without cutting them out.” He tapped the two clothing items and left a blue smear of bee blood in my book. “Sorry bout that. These two items are both made of white leather. They are extremely comfortable from the accounts I read, but they get dirty so easily and can only be dyed with alchemist dyes.”

I focused my cleanliness spell and cleaned the smear from my book. Gareth grinned. “See no problem for you, Stormy. The gloves and boots are popular in the capital. I think they go for around 10 gold each. But sales are taxed by the Triumvirate around 20%.”

“How about the spellbook?”  I asked curiously.

Gareth squinted, thinking. “Forty gold, I think. It is a very common spell. Getting one is always a blessing on a delve.”

I nodded. “So I could just buy it. I think I remember seeing it at Kali’s Spells and Cantrips.”

Gareth, sensing that he was losing me from trying to attempt the floor boss, prodded me. “Storme, you would look really good with white gloves. And with your cleaning spell, they would always be white!”

I could see Aelyn smirking at Gareth’s efforts to sway me. Gareth turned to Gimble. “We could take down the hobgoblin, right?”  Gimble looked over from scanning the sky for more bees.

“If Talia was here, then I would think we could safely handle the goblin village and the hobgoblin chief. We should wait till we have her back in the group,” Gimble said in an even tone. I was waiting for Gareth to argue, but instead, he nodded and dropped it. Listening to the delve team leader was the number rule for delving.

As we continued to harvest the beeswax cells at a good pace, I asked Gareth a question. “What does anomaly mean in the reward chest? It is rare, showing only twice in 366 delves.”

Gareth shrugged while stabbing a bee on his sword and flicking it away. “Usually, it means the dungeon is awarding something typically found in a chest from the lower floors of the dungeon. But it could mean almost anything. Dungeon essence, double loot, no loot, something completely useless. I think anomalies occur more frequently if you solo a dungeon.” Gareth pointed out the next hive in the distance with his sword.

“I think after we hit this hive, we will exit and reset the dungeon,” I stated, and Gimble nodded. Gareth charged forward, to Sammie’s dismay, as she followed him. He wasn’t being reckless. He just found this was the easiest way for the bees to focus on him. I could tell he felt it was his fault that Fera had gotten stung.

When we finished the hive, we made our way to the exit. We had just about matched our first honey harvest, and with some work, we could double it. As we exited the dungeon, the two guards were standing and talking with a man in armor. A nearby backpack indicated he was clearly a delver. Probably getting ready for a long delve…nope, his body odor assaulted me as I got closer. He must have recently exited.

I turned to Gimble. “You all can head back in and start again on the hives. I want to see if this delver has time to answer some questions.”

Gimble looked at the delver and then at me. “If you are not with us after we finish the first hive, we will exit.” I noted Fera and Sammie did look a little tired from the all the work.

I nodded and turned my attention to the delver, that was looking at me curiously. When I approached, he asked, “Are you the new delve team in Aegis city?”

I held out my hand to shake and did so, “Storme Hardlight.”

“Roarke,” we shook. “The guards were telling me you are focusing your efforts on the first floor?”

I nodded. “Yes, we are trying to get honey in significant quantity.”

He chuckled. “Bee careful! It is not in any of the books, but the dungeon hates it when you focus on the bees. You might spark a swarm.” My eyes went wide in, and I planned to run into the dungeon to get my team out. “You don’t need to worry. It takes around twenty delves of only harvesting the bee’s honey to initiate a swarm. The last time it happened was twenty years ago, but it did wipe out an experienced party. All the bees from the woods just grouped and attacked the group.”

“Thank you, that is valuable information and saved us from possibly doing the same.” I took a large gold coin from my storage space when I put my hand in my pocket and passed it to Roarke.

He flipped the coin and pocketed it to wide-eyed guards. “No problem. The dungeons are alive, and don’t let anyone tell you any differently.”

“So, how far did you go with your team?” I asked, curious about the experienced delvers delve.

“We always work our way to the third floor and kill the frost moles down there for their aether crystals. The frost goblins riding them are not too challenging, but those mole teeth and claws are vicious. Each one gives a decent red crystal, usually four or five units worth. Every once in a while, you can find a goblin leader riding a pack leader and get an orange crystal. That is an easy six gold.”

He shifted his stance. “We usually spend about ten hours on the third floor before returning. Since you are new, you should know that if you spend any more than twenty-three hours on a single dungeon floor, this dungeon gets—antsy. It tries to get you to leave or advance by increasing the threats you are facing.”

He thumbed his finger at the entrance. “We usually have three teams enter every time we make a reservation. If you have quality teams, they can reach the second floor in a few hours, letting the next team in, and then we can merge on the second or third floor. That way, there is almost no danger to us. It was nice talking Storme, but I have to get to our guild house, shower, and see our tallies.”   

I watched him walk away, and one of the guards said, “Roarke is the guild leader for the guild Inevitable Carnage. One of the better men who delves. He usually only loses a team member once or twice a year, and he takes it pretty hard each time.” I nodded and logged the guild and man in my memory. I returned to the dungeon to catch up with my team.

Once again, Gimble informed us when it was time to leave. We more than doubled our harvest from last time. Just like Roarke, my team smelled awful, and they headed to the bathhouse. Most of the showers in the Shiny Platinum were working, but I still need to work on increasing the water pressure.

I left my team to clean up while I cast my cleanliness spell and continued to the restaurant. I went to the warehouse and emptied our harvest of wax and honey. It was more than twice our initial yield. We had plenty of containers to store the honey. Remy had ordered two hundred casks that could hold 12 gallons each. About half had already been delivered. I gathered six cooks to help transfer the honey into the barrels and melt the wax between the walls.

The delve team returned clean and in great spirits, and I had the cooks prepare a feast for them and let the alcohol flow freely. In the middle of the celebration, Mera returned from her apprenticeship with the brewer and joined us. Fera revealed her sister with tales of her harrowing delve.

I stayed late and returned to my room alone. Remy knocked almost immediately after the door had been closed and handed me the harvest log for the delve—96.2 gallons of honey. I smiled. We had just made a profit on delve. Remy had detailed expenses and projected profit from selling the honey or turning it into mead. The expenses even included armor and weapon repairs and taxes if we sold the honey.

“Amazing job, Remy. And this is the bottom line is we turned it all into mead?” It was much more promising than I had thought it would be.

Remy glowed in the praise. “Yes. You didn’t harvest the berries, but I also prepared profit sheet for that resource as well.” I reviewed the papers with Remy, seeing how managing a delve team’s finances worked. We had the bonus of being able to turn our honey into a more valuable commodity and then avoid taxes by selling it in the Shiny Platinum as there was no meals tax.

A drunken Gareth knocked loudly. “Stormy! Let me in! Where did you go? People are asking after you.” I opened the door, and he stumbled into the room. I touched his neck and cast neutralize poison. He halted his stumble and shook his head, regaining his senses.

“Bloody demon’s piss, Stormy! Do you know how much I have to drink to get drunk? All that work, and now I have to start over!”  Gareth fell heavily on my couch and looked surprised. “Why are your couches so much nicer than mine?”

I rolled my eyes at my friend. “Gareth, the good news is we actually made a profit on the delve. Not having to drain the honey out of the wax saved us a lot of time, and we doubled our harvest.”

“That’s all well and good, Stormy, but the celebration is half over. Come and join us!” Gareth begged. “Mera was asking after you when you left,” he winked, but it just came off as cringe-worthy due to his size.

“We return to Hen’s Hollow for the second term tomorrow night. The restaurant opens tomorrow, and I need to have a clear head to ensure a smooth opening. Hopefully, after tomorrow it will run itself,” I said.

“Fine! Can I tell Gimble to get tokens for every seventh day? I don’t think Fera will want to try a dungeon again, but she may have changed her mind after you give her a share!”  Gareth sounded excited. “Sammie also came a long way today. We are working much better together. I hope we can try the dungeon boss next seventh day,” he asked with his best puppy dog eyes, but on the massive Gareth it was creepy.

I sighed. “Yes, if Gimble thinks it is a good idea. I should have your sword finished by then as well,” I said, and the double-good news had Gareth rolling off the couch and giving me a bear hug. Gareth forgot all about dragging me back down to the party and went to find Gimble to make sure he got tokens for every seventh day.

I sat down on the couch after setting my alarms and arcane locks. I pulled out my thermostatic aura spellbook and started studying. I added a privacy bubble when noisy people began to go to their rooms.

I set the book aside a few hours later and finished working on Gareth’s sword. Before going to bed, I made some gold coins for Remy so he could pay the bills while I returned to Hen’s Hollow for the week. I managed to get my exhausted body into my very comfortable bed and fall asleep.

I was awakened by my alarm spell. It triggered when someone knocked. The image the spell displayed in my mind was Talia with a young man standing behind her. That must be her alchemist friend she wanted me to hire.

I cast my cleanliness spell and made my way to the door. “Talia, I said as I opened it. You missed all the fun yesterday. I assume this is your alchemist friend? I have a lot to do today so let us start this interview!” I tried to sound as upbeat as possible, but my body was fatigued from the eight-hour delve.

Talia had a bright smile, but excused herself from the interview. “I will let you get to know each other.”

The man had a sweaty palm when I shook it. “My name is Lachlan Cade. Talia said you were looking for a good alchemist?” He sounded hopeful.

The truth is, I didn’t think I needed an alchemist at all. “Perhaps. Tell me what you can do for me that makes it worth paying you five gold a week?” 

“Five gold a week?” He seemed to consider. I interrupted his thoughts.

“That is five gold for a full day’s work, Lachlan. I am assuming you only get one day off per week to work for me. What did you have in mind?” I asked carefully.

The young man shifted, still uncomfortable. “Oh yes, that would make sense. One day a week—that sounds fair.” But his eager tone, I could tell I might be over paying.

I grumbled. “I still have not been given a good enough reason to hire you. What can you offer the Shiny Platinum?”

He sat taller. “I brew an excellent topical healing salve. It can close wounds quickly to prevent blood loss.” My stare didn’t help the young man’s confidence. We had healing mages. “I have an alertness potion useful for long delves. If I had higher-tier ingredients, I could extend the effect from 1 hour to 4 hours. It helps sharpen the mind.”

I still wasn’t impressed and was ready to give him the bad news. He fumbled. “I found a reference to Frost Berry Mead in the academy library.” My eyes opened in interest, and he grasped at it. “The ingredients are the honey, frost berries, and the stinger gland from a queen bee. All found on the first level of the Icy Vault!”

I was intrigued. “What does the potion do?”

He sighed, a little defeated, “It is kind of useless but tastes fantastic and is extremely intoxicating, according to the texts. The potion makes the imbiber warm and cozy in almost any cold climate. The effect lasts for eight hours, and the shelf life of the potion is an impressive 180 days.”

I churned over the information in my head. “How long does it take to brew this potion?”

Lachlan pulled out his notes, “The yeast from the queen’s gland works extremely quickly. It takes about two hours to turn a gallon of honey and berries into Frost Berry Mead.”

“So, it is a one-to-one conversion? No water added? If I just turned the honey into mead, then I could get four gallons of mead for every gallon of honey.” I said thoughtfully.

“No water is added,” he said sullenly, thinking he wasn’t getting hired.

“Do all the levels in the dungeon have similar potion recipes? It seems this was intentional by the dungeon,” I asked curiously.

Seeing a chance, Lachlan got excited, “Yes, most dungeons do something like this. The Icy Vault dungeon has potion recipes for each of its five levels.”

Even though I would have stumbled on this eventually, I thought it warranted a trial period. “Excellent! You are hired. You can request materials from Remy to equip an alchemy lab in a corner of the brewery. I want you to copy all the potion recipes from all the Skyholme dungeons and beyond. Compile them into a book and get it to me,” I said.

I had no plans to get into alchemy but having a list of the ingredients that made the potions would help us identify what we should focus on harvesting as we expanded our delving operations. None of the books I read said anything about the queen bee’s glands being useful in alchemy.

He looked like he wanted to object, but just said, “Thank you.” Shook my hand and left to find Remy.

He was a somewhat useless alchemist but maybe the Frost Berry Mead would be a big seller in the restaurant. I went down and helped get ready for our first opening. I lightly guided the kitchen staff prep, and when the doors finally opened for lunch, I eagerly went to watch.

The first customers into the restaurant shocked me. Loriel Miaden, Bylura, Isla, Tess Torrent, Leda, and Cilia. They entered together and sat at the same table. Loriel’s massive Wolfsguard stood directly behind her, keeping an eye on others entering the restaurant. I decided to go and say hello to this unexpected gathering and my first customers.