Ally shrugs, ‘miscellaneous potions wouldn’t help all that much, anyway. They tend to be quite situational and you have the best of a bad lot picked from whatever trash the other gods handed off to Moota. Though even then they are less than useful right now. About the only good one for the settlement would be that oil of magic weapon. Eventually some monster will show up that requires magic weapons to damage and it will save their butts. Just add it in as a drop somewhere on the third floor and they should eventually get it.’

‘More important than the potions though is all those skill levels you just received. To be honest? You’ve fallen behind the curve on that kind of thing. For a dungeon that isn’t too important, but it still isn’t fun to hear. Now though, you’ve shot a head on two of your skills and creation shouldn’t be too far behind. Kind of hard to get high-level patterns without an equally high level crafting skill to match. All you need to do is get a few of those potions dropping as loot. Now open up your paths so we can see what you now have! I’m excited to see what options are now available after all that nonsense.’

Doyle dims his core, ‘Shouldn’t I use the new stuff in my dungeon first? Not only do I have potions for loot now but want to sub in some cows in a few places like on top of the cliff.’

Ally shakes her head, ‘It is exactly because you got all the new stuff to add that I think you should do paths first. Who knows what will change once you invest your points.’

Doyle rolls his core to the side and sighs, ‘Fair enough. [Lets see those paths then].’

{Points: 53

Class: Dungeon Core II 10/10

Completed: Kobold Community 15/15, Goat Supremacy 20/20, Energy Well I 3/3, Commanding Subordinates 12/12, Ageless Queens 15/15, Earth’s First Home of the Limit Breakers I 1/1

Started [2/3]: Dungeon Core III 24/100, Vegetation Variety 10/20

Available: Vine Warper 0/15, Kin Slayer 0/100, Voidborn 0/250, Axe Sharpener 0/5, Energy Well II 0/6, Expansionist 0/30, Fire’s Flying 0/7, Biomes Aplenty 0/5, Potion Dispensary 0/10, Deal Broker 0/10, Elemental Animals 0/5, Cows for Milk 0/12, All the Potions 0/60, Divine Border 0/1}

Doyle takes a quick look over the list of paths and bursts out laughing at the last option. Ally gives him a strange look, so he points it out, but she still doesn’t get it so Doyle elaborates. ‘The system is giving me a super cheap path that sounds like it will make my dungeon border much harder for gods to go through. Now dungeons already have some natural protection against gods getting into our domain and yet it wants me to improve upon that.’

‘Now think about the skill problem with gods and how much benefit a god would receive if they could invade a dungeon and force the core to customize it for their followers. Just going off that I can guess who ever made the system is low key, not all that fond of gods. The only question left is if I got the path because of the attempt to enter my dungeon or a god showing up in my dungeon. Anyway, most of the other new paths looked exciting. What is your opinion on them?’

Ally shrugs, ‘The only one that stuck out to me as clearly bad is deal broker. That is a well-known path because of how easy it is to get. All you have to do is make a deal that heavily favors yourself. If we were being social with the settlement, I would say pick it up right away. As it is though, gaining the ability to slightly feel how whoever you are making a deal with feels about the deal is near worthless.’

Doyle nods, ‘I’ve made one deal so far and I don’t plan to make it a habit. Plus since it costs so little, I assume it is quite easy to block. Anyway, out of the new paths I’m thinking the border, elemental animals, and of course potion dispensary. Sort of sad that I can’t afford all the potions as that path sounds interesting, but you can’t have everything. Still, I am somewhat surprised I don’t have more options for the assassin vines. I’ve made heavier use of them on the third floor.’

Ally frowns and looks over the list again. ‘Yeah, you should have. This would point towards our guess, or I think I remember us guessing, that biomes aplenty will do something to them. Though honestly? Even if it has nothing to do with them, you should still take it. I can only see it interacting positively with your biosphere skill.’

Doyle nods, ‘That would make sense and since you said nothing against the paths, let's do some math. Biomes is 5, plus dispensary at 10, add elemental animals for another 5, and of course divine border to include that last cheeky single point. The total of it all coming in at 21 points and leaving me with 32 to spend. With that I could go big and grab up expansionist, but that still doesn’t grab me.’

Ally rolls her eyes, ‘Unless it does something unrelated to increasing the size of your dungeon, there isn’t really a point to it for you. Anyway, while I approve of elemental animals, why do you want it? I just see it as being useful when you start summoning all those fun cows.’

Doyle laughs, ‘I can see why you would think that. However, what I believe it instead means is that I will get elemental variants for any animal a lot easier instead of improving currently known variants. Though this mostly comes from what I’ve done so far. In fact, I’d give decent odds on me getting some elemental goats within a week of choosing the path.’

Ally frowns, ‘Huh, I had not considered that. Though it does make sense. You haven’t used the elemental cows yet, after all. Now, as for how to spend those last few points? At least one has to go to your class path. It is sitting at 24 out of 100 and paths like to reward fractions of advancement and 25 would put you right at a quarter through. A 100 point path is a little low to start giving big rewards at that point, but it is a class path so who knows.’

‘Besides that, you shouldn’t forget to complete vegetation variety. It is sitting there, half done. Who knows, maybe if you had completed it you might have gotten some herbs from those potions as well. I’m actually kind of kicking myself for not thinking of that. You got an increased chance of plant patterns from absorbing the stuff made from them, so who knows what you will get for finishing it. That's 11 points there so with the last 21 you could just bank it or maybe throw it all at the class path. While not always the most exciting option, it will never hurt you.’

Doyle skims the list one more time, ‘I’m going to grab cows for milk.’

Ally raises an eyebrow, ‘Any particular reason why?’

Doyle bobbles, ‘I. Hmm, I just. You know what? I don’t really have a reason. I’m just going to be having cows for milking and it felt right to take that path. Besides that, I am thinking I will just save the remaining 9 points in case another path like the border one shows up. Though if I don’t get anything too exciting with a quarter of my class path completed, I might throw another five into that to round it up.’

Ally rolls her eyes, ‘Well, I can’t think of a reason you shouldn’t take it. So we might as well get this over with. Invest your points so we can see what goodies you get to play with!’

Doyle laughs, ‘Who am I to deny a lady? [System, complete the paths Biomes Aplenty, Potion Dispensary, Elemental Animals, Cows for Milk, Vegetation Variety, Divine Border, and throw one point into dungeon core three.]’

{5 points applied to Biomes Aplenty path...

5/5 - Path Complete, Dungeon type advanced to Diverse Strange Caverns, Normal monsters summoned in a room will be created to match the area, All rooms scanned and room patterns created for them

Basic Room pattern goes from lv5 to lv20

Cave Room pattern acquired at lv20

Plains Room pattern acquired at lv20}

Doyle interrupts the system, ‘[Display series of patterns acquired at the same level and of the same type all at once!] I didn’t bother doing this before because it didn’t happen all that often but this is like the third time today.’

The system’s output pauses and then asks {Restart Message?}

Doyle sighs, ‘[Yes, restart the message, but start at the patterns. Don’t go from the very start.]’

{Basic Room pattern goes from lv5 to lv20

Cave Room, Plains Room, Vine Room, Farm Room, Camp Room, Boulder Plains Room, Mystical Mountain Valley Room, Pasture Room, Mountain Side Room, Cliff Room, Forest Room, and Herb Garden Room patterns all acquired at lv20

Room patterns consolidated into Room patterns lv22

10 points applied to Potion Dispensary path...

5/10 - You have earned +2 Intelligence and +1 Intelligence/Level, Monsters capable of alchemy gain +2 Intelligence and +1 Intelligence/Level, Potion loot more able to absorb world energy

10/10 - Path Complete, Potion loot on monsters capable of alchemy develops twice as fast, Potions used in territory have a chance of their pattern being learned, You have earned +5 Intelligence, Monsters designated to perform alchemy gain +10 Intelligence as long as they can actually do so

5 points applied to Elemental Animals path...

5/5 - Path Complete, Animals in your dungeon have a greatly increased chance of evolving into elemental variants, For each animal if no elemental variety is known, gain most common elemental variety

Wooden Goat (lv3) pattern acquired at lv20

Windcutter Axe beak (lv14) pattern acquired at lv20}

{Wooden Goat (lv3)

S[8] A[4] C[30] I[2] W[2] P[5]

Skills: Endure lv5

Description: Depending on your magical heritage, wood can either be seen as the living half of earth or its own element. All the same, this goat embodies this and the concept of growing toughness.

Cost: World Energy[14]}

{Windcutter Axe Beak (lv14)

S[27] A[18] C[10] I[1] W[22] P[42]

Skills: Blunt Damage Resistance lv9, Wind Resistance lv6, Read Wind lv3

Description: If an Axe Beak is wise enough and lives long enough they become able to read the air around them and their ability to track prey, even when at full speed, increases dramatically and they race through the air at crazy speeds.

Cost: World Energy[920]}

Doyle interrupts the system once more, ‘[System pause]! What in the world is with that bird? Ally, why did I get such a high level monster?’

Ally laughs at Doyle’s reaction. ‘14 a high level? I guess for a slow leveler like you it might seem like that! Give a path or two and a couple more floors and it won’t seem so crazy. If a person really wanted to, they could gain their first ten levels in a day, not that anyone would want to. Anyway, those stats are low until you pump it up with some paths. Just look at yourself. I bet by level ten you will have multiple stats north of 50. Early on each single point in a stat seems like such a large amount, but at higher levels people bemoan when a path gives less than 100 points.’

Doyle dims, ‘Do stat points grow your ability by a set amount or what? I hadn’t really thought about it but your right, my stats will grow to quite a level even at earlier levels.’

Ally shrugs, ‘A little of column A and a little of column B. A good example of this is a human’s strength stat. Each point adds a certain amount of raw physical get up and go. However, it also adjusts the body to better fit what it is being used for. You don’t stop gaining that power but like how adding 1 to 10 is a whole lot different from adding it to 100, the same thing applies to strength.’

‘There is also the fact that after a certain point more raw power isn’t worth much. So what if you could technically lift a mountain? try to pull that off and you will just end up with a handful of dirt or maybe a large rock. What becomes more important are the special things you get with more strength. For instance, some races gain an innate tactile telekinesis which solves the lifting a mountain thing. It doesn’t help them with the actual weight but rather keeps together the thing you want to lift to some extent.’

‘Anyway, I’ve gone on about this side bit long enough. How about we resume the path messages? We aren’t even halfway through them yet!’