Dungeon Core Online 24 Chapter 24

"Now, what do I do?" James was staring at the screen that had appeared before him just as the last of Z's group had fallen. Just as he had figured, the wipe of that party had given him enough experience to b.u.mp over 10,000 xp, meaning he had earned his first rank up.

Rank Up!

+1 lvl to all mobs

+1 upgrade points for mobs

+ 10 mob points

+100 maximum resources

Apply all changes now? Yes/No

James looked over the list, excitement and trepidation flowing over him. If he selected yes, his dungeon would instantly become more difficult, with all of his mobs leveling up by a point. James was curious what type of increases leveling up gave his mobs. What would an extra level do to their stats? He glanced at the floor below him, ignoring the flashing as another group attacked Old Man Jenkins. He had more important things to focus on.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." James mumbled to himself as he selected the yes option. As he did, a bright light washed over his...o...b.. and multiple windows opened up around him. His character sheet pulled up, showing he was now a Tier 1 Rank 2 Dungeon, with 10,016xp, leaving him with 89,984xp till his next tier. Not bad for 9 hours of adventurers diving in.

The next screen that opened up was his Mob Generator screen. As expected, the screen showed he had 10 unused mob points, and a glowing number at the bottom of each mob. His d.i.c.kens had a glowing +3, his sacrificial lambs had a glowing +2, and the others all had a +1. James figured the number meant how many upgrade points he had for each mob.

"Let's see what we can do." He didn't want to make the dungeon too difficult just yet, knowing that the sudden jump in mob levels, even if only by one, would potentially cause issue for the players that hadn't started diving yet. At the same time, he wanted to at least look at what options he had for upgrades, and apply one or two points at least to his d.i.c.kens and lambs. While they were the easiest mobs in the dungeon, they had definitely been putting in good work for him, and he wanted to reward them for their efforts. He also just really liked watching adventurers die to d.i.c.kens.

James made the decision not to even touch Old Man Jenkins, his boss was strong enough already. He figured the first time Old Man Jenkins was defeated, he would give his boss a once over. Till then, the demonic farmer was just fine.

As such, he turned his focus to the strongest mob in his dungeon first, his Mad Cow. Focusing on the mob, he pulled up its window, taking note of the changes in its stats.

Mad Cow (5) Level 2

Type: MOOOOOOOOB

HP: 50

MP: 10

Atk: 8

Def: 5

Unique Traits:

Bullish Nature (pa.s.sive): Will agro the first adventure in its sight 30 +lvl yards away

Mad Cow: The color red on an adventurers will cause the Mad Cow to become enraged, instantly drawing the Mad Cow's agro. While enraged, the Mad Cow has +40% Atk, but -20% Def.

Looking at his mobs stats, he was interested to see the Mad Cow had gained 10 HP, 2 Atk, and 1 Def for leveling up. James figured the amount each mob gained for a level up would vary on the mob, and was intent on checking out how his d.i.c.kens and lambs had fared. James quickly scrolled over his upgrade options for the Mad Cow, and decided he was going to save the upgrade point for later on. Flipping through Swiners and Scapegoats, he made a similar decision. When he did eventually upgrade them, players were going to cry though.

"Mary had a little lamb-" James started humming the childish tune as he opened his sacrificial lamb's sheet. He was glad to see his lambs had increased their HP from 10 to 15, and their Def stat had increased by 1, putting them at 2. In essence, the lamb's survivability had increased, meaning they would be able to survive more attacks as they attempted to get near enough a party to explode. James was all for that.

The part he was really excited about though, was looking through the lamb's upgrade options. He pulled up the tab, and started to scroll through the available options in the upgrade tier. He currently had three options to choose from.

Steel Wool- Sacrificial Lambs gain +1 Def

Wolf in Sheep's Skin- Sacrificial Lambs gain +20% movement speed

BLOODSPEAKER!- Blood for the Blood G.o.d has a 10% chance to land a 5 second stun on players

James looked over the three options, scanning not only the unlocked options, but also the tiers they would unlock if he choose one of them. If he only had 1 point to put into his sacrificial lambs, he would likely have dumped the point into Wolf in Sheep's Skin, figuring the increased movement speed would give his lambs a better chance to detonate on groups. However, because he had two points to use, James couldn't help himself.

He put his first point in Steel Wool, instantly giving his sacrificial lambs another point in defense. More survivability was good, but what it unlocked, was what he really wanted. By choosing Steel Wool, he was given the ability to unlock Shear Terror, which upgraded Baa Baa Boom. Grinning, James read over his upgraded ability.

Upgrade: Shear Terror- The explosion from Baa Baa Boom will launch clumps of wool flying in all directions. Each clump of wool will detonate on impact, dealing an additional 3 x lvl damage.

Upgrade: Shear Terror- The explosion from Baa Baa Boom will launch clumps of wool flying in all directions. Each clump of wool will detonate on impact, dealing an additional 3 x lvl damage.

James couldn't stop grinning at the upgrade. His sacrificial lambs now had cl.u.s.ter bombs. He could only imagine watching the string of smaller explosions play havoc on adventurers. Oh how he was starting to love his mobs. Speaking of, he quickly closed out of his sacrificial lambs, and pulled up his d.i.c.kens. With three points, James was about to have a lot of fun with this mob. Especially because he had already decided to summon 10 more of the d.i.c.kens using his 10 mob points that he gained from his rank up. He figured more d.i.c.kens would mean even more chances for bird based shenanigans. Plus, watching adventurers scream in terror as a flock of d.i.c.kens descended upon them had yet to get old.

d.i.c.ken (1) Level 2

Type: Demonic Poultry

HP: 15

MP: 10

Atk: 2

Def: 1

Unique Traits

Birds of a Feather: d.i.c.kens double all stats when in groups of 5.

Flock together: If d.i.c.kens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the agro of all d.i.c.kens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.

James was glad to see his d.i.c.kens had gained not only 5 more HP, but also an extra attack point. Even though the increases seemed small, thanks to their abilities and buffs, his d.i.c.kens could quickly become a nightmare. He loved these birds. Barely able to contain his excitement, he pulled up the d.i.c.ken upgrade screen, scanning over the options. There was a logical path of progression for them, but then, James figured he could afford a few points, to further his amus.e.m.e.nt, and the ire of players.

Because of this, and because he had 3 points to upgrade his mobs with, he decided to take a bit of a trolly route. He was a gamer after all, and he couldn't resist. The first thing he did, was pump a point into an option called Growth Hormone. This upgrade made his d.i.c.ken grow from their roughly 1 foot size, to 2 foot in height, while increasing their HP by an additional 5 points. Sure Growth Hormone seemed like a logical choice for an upgrade, but James wasn't choosing it for that reason. No, he was choosing it for what he was eying, the skill he would be able to unlock with his third skill point.

By choosing Growth Hormone, James gained a few new upgrade options, and instead of choosing the logical option, which would have further increased his d.i.c.kens stats and size, he went with an option called Demonic Mutation. This upgrade did absolutely nothing stat wise for his mob, but unlocked access to demonic skills for his d.i.c.ken.

The first three skills unlocked, courtesy of Demonic Mutation, had James nearly in tears. It was actually going to be hard for him to choose between the three, but he had his mind made up. He scanned over them once more, just to make sure.

Yakitori- d.i.c.kens gain the ability to breathe fire, at a range of 2 yards + lvl, dealing 3 + lvl fire damage.

Gren-eggs? - d.i.c.kens gain the ability to lay….eggs? d.i.c.kens can temporarily take flight and drop explosive eggs on enemies. d.i.c.ken eggs do 3 + lvl fire damage in a 1 yard radius.

H5 N-fernal 1- d.i.c.ken strike apply one stack of bird flu debuff. At 10 stacks, players suffer a 10% decrease to their stats. This debuff will increase every 10 stacks.

All of the options were good, all of the options James wanted his d.i.c.kens to eventually have, but for now, he went with the most trolly of the bunch. He figured the debuff stacks would be too brutal for players right now, and he didn't want the players to feel overwhelmed by what was supposed to be his easiest mob. And as much as the idea of fire breathing d.i.c.kens chasing adventurers made him smile, again, he felt that would just be a little too op for now. No, what he wanted, what he was envisioning would bring him the most laughter while he waited for his next rank up, was Gren-eggs. Without a second thought, James applied the upgrade, chuckling to himself darkly as he closed the screen. He couldn't wait for a new instance to open up, so he could see his mobs in action.