Dungeon Alterations

Jerrod just looked at Grant with a bit of confusion and slight surprise at the arrogance in his statement.

"I am going to go handle a few things related to the dungeon.

Please go make sure that everyone has a place they can relax for now. We will be going to find building materials later so we can start constructing places for these people to live."

"How are we going to build on this rocky ground? It doesn't seem feasible."

"You let me worry about that. Just make sure everyone has calmed down and there is nothing brewing under the surface.

If you face any problems, find me or Skit. We will handle any dissention."

With that, Grant walked down the corridor heading towards the room where Ally and her kids were staying. Once he reached the room, he walked up to the wall that was hiding the dungeon core and passed through it, heading directly up to the dungeon core and opening the menu.

{Welcome to the Dungeon Editor for the Earth side of the Earth & Renrarth Dungeon.

To view any of the following options, simply speak their name out loud or focus on them:

Dungeon Interior

Dungeon Layout

Dungeon Defenses

Transfer To Renrarth

Mana available for dungeon modifications or transfers: 872}

[What the fuck? 872? When did we get so much mana?]

"You should wipe that stupid look off your face. I assume you want to know how you managed to gain so much mana for the core?"

Grant just looked at Skit and nodded his head up and down.

"I use all of the cores from those coyote's to increase the available mana. They weren't very strong cores anyways."

"Then why did you tell me that I couldn't use them to repay the favor of you saving my life?"

"Because that was one thing, and this is another. Saving your life means you owe me a personal favor. Donating these cores, allows you to create a livable camp for your people who, if trained properly, can contribute to our cause later. Call it an investment in the future."

"Well, I appreciate that. Thank you."

"Ohoho, looks like you owe me another favor."

Grant was starting to feel like he was going to be in debt with Skit for the rest of his life.

Since he couldn't pay him back at the moment, he decided to focus on the dungeon modifications and worry about the rest of it later.

"Dungeon Interior"

{Dungeon Interior: To modify any aspect of the dungeon, subsequent mana cost must be paid in full. Price is determined by size of the area you wish to modify.

Which of the following would you like to modify?

- Temperature

- Ground Material

- Plant Life

- Animal Life

...

...

- Dungeon Size Modification}

"Temperature"

{Current temperature is set at 65 degrees fahrenheit.

To change temperature, please say, Change Temperature to #}

"Damn its cold here. I never realized.. maybe my body naturally neutralizes the temperature around me? Strange.. Well whatever, lets raise it to 75. Seems like a fair temperature for normal people.

Change Temperature to 75 degrees fahrenheit"

{Temperature will increase to 75 degrees over the next six hours. Please give time for the change to take place. The cost to change temperature is 50 mana.

Would you like to continue with the modifications? Remaining Balance after Cost: 822}

"Skit, how does the dungeon determine cost of the changes?"

"The dungeon, much like the bodies of people who walk The Path, intakes mana and then purifies it so that it is more dense and purer. The cost of changes aren't high numerically but it is much more mana than you can imagine.

At least that is the deduction my people have come too after using dungeons for many years."

"Makes sense.. well whatever, I need to make the changes no matter what so doesn't really matter.

Continue with modifications!"

{Commencing temperature change. 5 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds until completion.

Would you like to continue with modifications?}

"Yes, Ground Material."

{Please select the material for the dungeon ground from the following list. Only effects the first 6 inches. After that, the ground is based on the natural material of the dungeon's location. To increase depth, please specify the depth and the mana cost will be re-calculated.

- Granite: 125

- Sand: 100

- Soil: 250

- Lava: 500

- Ice: 500

- Tundra: 200

...

...

- Clay 175}

"Well shit, I really want to choose Lava just to see what it would look like, but I'd rather not commit suicide because of my curiosity...

It just seems boring now... but...

Soil."

{The material composition of the dungeon will change over the next 24 hours. Please give time for the change to take place. The cost to change the ground composition will be 200 mana.

Would you like to continue with the modifications? Remaining Balance after Cost: 622}

"Yes."

{Commencing ground composition change. 23 hours 59 minutes 56 seconds until completion.

Would you like to continue with modifications?}

"Yes."

Over the next few hours going through all of the menu's to get a better idea of what he could possibly change to better accommodate the people that would call this place home.

The most fascinating section for Grant, aside from the actual dungeon layout and design, was the Animal life. Grant had asked Skit if they would be monster versions of the animals or the original non-man eating versions.

Turned out that you could buy either version. Which meant that he could purchase animals through the dungeon system, breed them, and then be able to provide different food stuffs to the survivors. Things like, eggs, milk, cheese, etc. could all be achieved through husbandry.

The system also provided plant life in either their ungrown or full grown versions. The full grown versions cost more because, according to Skit, the dungeon would use the extra mana to forcefully grow the crops.

Hearing the explanation, Grant wondered silently to himself if he or someone with strong control over mana could influence plant growth with their own mana.

{Of course it's possible. Besides, Grant, aren't you relying on Skit a bit too much lately? Have you forgotten that I was created to help you and answer questions such as those?}

[Goddamn Sherlock, you caught me off guard man! Don't just speak out randomly like that!

Are you feeling lonely or something?]

{Very funny. No I am not feeling lonely. I just think that you should not rely on a singular source for information and make sure that the information you receive is verified and correct.}

[Yes yes, fine. I will make sure that I consult you more often from now on.

Are there Paths related to husbandry and other agricultural professions?]

{Yes, many in fact. There are normal ones such as Farmers and Ranchers as well as Unique ones such as Stockman who specialize in raising certain types of livestock.

They are rare since it is hard to fight while walking such Path's but they are not unheard of since some people's fear of death far outweighs their desire for strength. And these Path's allow them to remain away from danger for the most part.}

[Fascinating. We need to find someone with those skills so we can level them up and get them onto that Path.

They would be a huge boost to our survival chances.

By the way, Sherlock, can we eat monster meat? I've been curious about it all this time, but I didn't want to take the chance if I didn't have too. But eventually we will run out of existing food stocks and it would save a lot of effort and time if we can eat monster meat.]

{It depends. Stronger monster have much vaster amounts of mana running through their body, so weaker humans will be unable to digest their meat without being overwhelmed by the mana contained within.

However, monsters who have not started walking their Path, basically anything below Enlightened Tier, would be edible for normal humans since they have not unlocked mana. Since a monster doesn't begin to condense and purify mana until it enters the Enlightened Tier it dissipates quickly after the monsters death.}

[Good to know... alright well it's been a few hours, lets go check out how people are settling into their new home.]

As Grant exited the dungeon core area, he re-entered the room where Ally, Richard, and Robin were staying.

Seeing him finally return, they greeted him and asked him to join them for breakfast which he readily agreed too. Unfortunately since the ventilation of the area wasn't so good, they weren't able to light a fire or anything to cook with so they were eating sandwiches and other packaged goods that didn't need to be heated.

[Guess I need to figure out a way to create some ventilation so that we can use fires. There are going to be many small issues to resolve...

Shit.. what are we going to do about the bathroom situation?!

Sherlock, do dungeons have plumbing?!]

{You're joking right? Of course not. If you want something akin to this worlds plumbing, then it will be your responsibility to create such a thing.}

[Awh shit.. I'm scared to go out into the main area now... If I see some grown man defecating then I'm leaving and never coming back...]

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A/N: Hey guys, quick update for you. Yesterday at work I was helping one of our store managers to build a new wall in their restaurant and my hand slipped and I drilled a hole right into my finger. Ended up having to get stiches and a nice wrap on my hand. That being said, it is nearly impossible for me to type normally so it took me forever to finish these two chapters for the day. I won't stop updating but the release rate will stay less than three until I can get rid of the bandage. Thanks for your understanding!