《Dungeon Core Online》


 1 Chapter 1

    "You going to be switching over to DCO?" The question wasn''t directed towards James, but he turned his head, looking for the speaker.


    "I think everyone is." James knew the group having the conversation well. They were seniors at his high school and were a part of the ''popular'' crowd. James sighed and tuned them out, turning his attention to the poor excuse for lunch before him, his thoughts drifting.


    The game they were talking about was Dungeon Core Online. It was a brand-new Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Game, or VR MMO for short, releasing that night. For the past two years the game had been hinted at, but very little had actually been shared. That is, until two months ago, when the developers finally allowed the masses a brief glimpse into the world. The game promised not only complete freedom in character creation and growth but a constantly evolving threat. A dungeon that apparently grew with the characters in the game, growing ever stronger, and offering ever increasing rewards, as players worked together against it.


    James knew the cool kids wouldn''t normally be diving into a ''nerdy fantasy game''. What made this game so appealing, what was going to pull them away from their first-person shooters and sports games, was the appeal of the countless rewards. Ever since society became fully integrated into the virtual world in 2042, games that promised increased rewards generated the most hype. This was because anything you gained in game could be turned into real life currency. That meant a brand-new game, promising ever growing rewards, would obviously draw in the largest crowd.


    At least, that is why James was certain so many people would be logging into DCO tonight, abandoning their other characters, their other games, to immerse themselves into this new game. Even in the year 2057, humans were still always chasing after a single thing, wealth. That was why James was sure the others would play. For him, he didn''t care for money. In fact, he had earned quite the fortune through his adventures in the Warcraft Universe. The reason James was looking forward to playing DCO was for the excitement of the unknown.


    With a grin he stood and headed out of the cafeteria, his mind already swirling with fantasy, his heart throbbing with excitement. All that stood between him and his new adventure, his new life, was-


    James''s foot suddenly found itself caught on something, and as he toppled to the floor, his plate scattering food all over his clothes, he saw one of the seniors smirking. They had purposefully tripped him.


    "Watch were you''re going," the largest of the group, Dwight, said with a sneer. James slowly stood, noting that while his clothes would need to be washed the rest of him was okay. He was especially glad his glasses hadn''t broken. Every student had to have a pair of Augmented Reality, or AR glasses on for lectures. The school offered basic sets to every student, but James had used some of his funds to order himself a special set.


    Most AR glasses had a basic processor and the ability to use the public WiFi to allow users to view the augmented world around them and access the internet. James''s glasses were top of the line, giving him not only the crispest AR experience available but also access to his own WiFi network. On top of the increased browsing and processing speeds he had, he was able to link his glasses via his private network to his immersion system at home.


    Full immersion was only initiated from 10pm till 7am, an effort by the government to regulate society on the same time schedule and to prevent immersion deaths. In the early years of full immersion, many people began to completely reject the real world, choosing to stay fully immersed until they died. The government didn''t'' care too much about the loss of human life, but the loss of a work force had started to lead to a decline in the real world, so restrictions were established.


    While you couldn''t fully immerse outside of the set time, if you had access to your immersion system, say through high powered AR glasses, you could still access many features in the countless games, from monster training mini games, to gear customization and item transfers. It also gave you access to the immersion auction house, where players from around the world traded countless items and services in exchange for V Coins.


    James''s glasses served as his escape from the drab life he lived as a junior in High School and he would have hated to have to use the schools set for the day.


    "Sorry about that." James mumbled as he picked up his tray, trying his best to ignore the senior''s snickers as he started to walk away from them. They loved to pick on him, and the fact he didn''t have any friends in school made him an easy target.


    "Say, Specs." That was the nickname they had given him, because of his upgraded AR glasses. They had tried to steal his glasses once, but James had made sure they were retina locked.


    "What?" He paused and turned slightly, knowing all eyes were on him in the cafeteria.


    "You like nerdy things, right?" Dwight was grinning wickedly. James just stared at him, refusing to respond.


    "D asked you a question, punk." Rick, the second largest senior and Dwight''s best friend, hopped off the table he was sitting on as he spoke, eyes narrowing at James. James knew he should just answer them and be on his way. But he really wasn''t in the mood. Especially with mashed potatoes dripping off his shirt.


    "Yeah, I like nerdy things." He replied through gritted teeth. Why were there never teachers around when this happened to him.


    "So, you going to be on DCO?" Dwight was looking James up and down, his grin growing.


    "Probably." James replied, shrugging his shoulders.


    "Tell us your username, maybe you can play with us." Dwight had an evil look in his eyes. One of the greatest benefits of full immersion was the ability to become whoever or whatever you wanted. Only the government could find out which usernames were linked to individuals, and while many people chose to share their given usernames with their friends, James kept his secret. Partially because he had no friends to share it with, and partially because he was certain if bullies like Dwight found out what his username was, they would endlessly harass him. He got enough of that in the real world, he didn''t need it in the virtual world.


    "I haven''t figured it out yet." James lied through gritted teeth.


    "Well, maybe we can help you figure one out." Rick walked casually towards James, looking down at his hand which he was clenching and unclenching into a fist. James knew exactly what type of help he was about to receive. He needed to get away, fast.


    "Thanks, but I''m sure I can come up with something on my own." James backed towards the door, silently praying for some sort of help. A split second later a bell rang throughout the cafeteria, signaling the end of lunch, and his salvation. As he escaped from the seniors, saved by the bell, he let out a sigh of relief. All he needed to do now was survive the rest of the day.

 2 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    James spent the rest of the day at school scanning works on Royal Road. Dungeon Core, after all, was a very popular literature genre on the site, and the game developers had even credited the site as their inspiration for their game. Most of the Dungeon Core novels James found all had similar features, such as a soul imprisoned in a Dungeon Core, tasked with creating a danger filled dungeon for adventurers. The Dungeon Core was usually guided by some sort of small, magical being, who would offer them wisdom on how to grow. From there though, all the authors seemed to take the stories in fun, unique directions, usually filled with countless puns and quips, and plenty of adventure.


    By the time school was out, his encounter with the seniors was all but forgotten, as was the dried food on his clothes. School ended at 4pm, and it would take him 15 minutes to get to the bullet train station. Another 15 minutes from there would see him at his stop, and another 10 minute walk would find him home. That meant by the time he got home, he would only have about 5 hours to wait for DC.


    After James reached the station, he swiped his wrist over the turnstile, activating the identity chip in his wrist, granting him access to the station. Every human had a chip implanted in their left wrist bone at birth. That chip served as their identity, and everything about them was uploaded into that small chip, constantly updated via the government''s unique Wi-Fi signal. That signal, and the chips, were said to be protected through an unbreakable encryption technique. James just tried not to think too hard about the fact his very existence was on that small chip.


    He shivered as he hopped onto the train, chasing the thought from his mind, as he used his eyes to pull up his latest search on his AR glasses. After browsing stories on Royal Road, James had pulled up some of the original dungeon core novels, which users on the forums where still actively suggesting. James had set a few aside, and he was trying to figure out which one he should read through the night.


    Most families spent the time after school interacting with one another, or going out into the city to enjoy any of the many events that were constantly ongoing. Because of immersion tech, and the booming virtual economy, many people were able to spend their ''waking'' hours simply enjoying the world around them. This was because many transitioned to virtual jobs, spending their immersion hours working for V coin, which they used to fund their lifestyles. Those who worked during the day, usually in government jobs, had the leisure of being able to fully enjoy their immersion hours, with what they made simply augmenting their regular income.


    James'' situation, was different from most though. Both of his parents worked for the government, on some sort of program related to immersion tech. Because of their line of work, James wasn''t allowed to know their immersed identities, and he rarely saw them in person. As such, James spent most of his time at home, alone, simply reading or playing games, waiting for the time that he could immerse himself.


    Immersion technology was arguably the greatest invention in James mind. The technology grew from programs in the early 2000s such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and reached perfection in 2042. The finally project, simply labeled Immersion, changed how the world ran. Through Immersion, humans were able to spend their hours sleeping, completely immersed and aware in a virtual world. What''s more, since humans were technically asleep while immersed, developers had found a way to create a different flow of time. As such, every hour in the real world, felt like a day immersed.


    To an immersed individual, everything in immersion seemed real. A person could taste while immersed, a person could feel while immersed. This was thanks to the direct neural link that the immersion capsule made with the mind. While the body rested, and the mind drifted into REM, the immersion capsule pulled the individual into the virtual world.


    For the first few years, it was uncertain how to fully capitalize on immersion technology. Then, following the popularity of the Bit Coin era, V Coin was introduced, and suddenly, immersion technology was not just meant for hardcore gamers, but everyone. People were able to work, learn, and play all while immersed. Many people began learning new skills and trades while immersed, as the technology gave them a safe environment to experiment in. Others began utilizing the extra time to create commodities and begin businesses.


    Gamers, who were no strangers to using real money for virtual currency, and vice versa, set up the auction house. There, gamers began selling in game items for V coins, which they could then use to purchase items in the real world, or transfer currencies from one game to another.


    Developers were quick to jump on this trend, and began charging not only initial costs to purchase their games or technology, but also monthly subscription fees. However, most users could gain enough V coin through a week of immersion, to pay for their month. If users were good enough, like James, they could earn a fortune over time, which allowed them to simply enjoy immersion. Which is what James intended to do with DCO.


    He finished reading his chosen Dungeon Core novel just as his clock showed 9:55pm, and he nearly tripped over himself clamoring into his immersion pod. As he took his AR glasses off, he made a mental note to pick up the next book in the Elemental Dungeon Series, having found the first book extremely enjoyable.


    He laid down in his pod, easily getting comfortable as a warm gel seemed to envelop his body, while the glass cover sealed him in. His head sunk slightly into the gel like cushion, and green lights began to light up within the pod. A slight hum began all around him as he closed his eyes, and a moment later, the neural link was established, and James began his immersion.

 3 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    The first thing James was greeted with, as he immersed himself, was an empty white room. This room was a generic loading area, allowing individuals a moment to orient themselves before entering the actual virtual world. From this area, people could tweak their appearance, catch up on private messages, or simply relax in the peace and quiet.


    James would normally jump right from this room to the Warcraft Universe, becoming the legendary warlock Glyax. He was one of the highest leveled players in WU, and had many friends and followers. Very different from the real world. However, he resisted the urge to jump in, knowing that today, he would hang up his WU mantle, to begin his next adventure.


    With a swipe of his hand, he pulled up his games list, flicking his wrist to the left until he found what he was looking for, Dungeon Core Online. A timer was counting down, showing that the game was live for character creation and lore, but wouldn''t be fully playable for 24 hours in game time. That was standard practice for most games now. The first hour in the real world allowed players to wrap up whatever they needed to before immersing, and ensured players already logged in couldn''t gain an unfair advantage.


    For most games, unique instances were created based on time zones, allowing mass amounts of people to all play in the exact same world, at the exact same time. This allowed for meaningful continuity and relationships to be formed, that otherwise wouldn''t have been possible if people were all playing at different times.


    Dungeon Core Online, had taken a somewhat different approach. According to the developers, DCO was going to offer a completely new opportunity for the world. Dungeon Core Online was meant to bring communities together. Instances were geolocked, with each instance encompassing only a single city. This meant that every player that would be in James''s instance of DCO, would be from his city. Every player therefore, would have a vested interest to work together against the dungeon, because the better they did, the better the economic gain for their own city.


    In the game itself, players were able to become whatever they wanted. James was planning on becoming a summoner, a class that served well for solo players, and that had caught his eye during the demo. Who didn''t want to have a pet dragon, after all?


    The classes though, were endless, and players didn''t even need to become adventurers to profit. Dungeon Core Online sought to create a massive community outside of the dungeon, meaning there was going to be a demand for countless skills and trades, so people were likely going to open up their own shops, forges, bakeries, and whatever other service they could think of, to profit.


    One of the unique sides to immersion, was that because it was all digital, the government seemed to have very little care what went on. Obviously, there were certain taboos from the real world that couldn''t be carried over in the virtual world either, but for the most part, anything went. Usually, that meant players set up gambling halls, taverns, and brothels in any game within an hour of launch. No matter how futuristic mankind became, there were a few constants that remained the same.


    With a grin, James selected DCO, and pressed launch. Immediately, the room around him disappeared, and he found himself floating in darkness. A single prompt appeared before him.


    ENTER YOUR NAME


    Without a second of thought, James entered his chosen name. Glyax. It was the only username he had ever used, and it is what his in game friends knew him as. He already had a few friends he was planning to form a guild within DCO, so he figured using his same name would help them all find each other easily.


    Welcome Dungeon Core


    James stared at the white text for a moment, his eyes blinking. He assumed it meant to say "Welcome to Dungeon Core Online", and he couldn''t believe there was already an error this early on in the game. For a game that had so much work put into it, he felt that such an early glitch cheapened the experience.


    "Seriously, a glitch already?" He whispered to himself, glancing around at the darkness that surrounded him. He was sure his character creation screen should be loading any time now.


    "Actually, it''s not a glitch James." A strange voice echoed through the darkness around him.


    "Who''s there??" James spun around in a complete circle, but couldn''t see the origin of the voice. "What''s going on?"


    "Currently? One of the largest social experiments ever conducted by the government." The voice seemed bored. "However, I cannot further elaborate on that for you."


    "Then, what''s going on?" James tried to pull up his menu screen, and nothing happened. His mind began panicking. He had read some litrpg''s about people getting trapped in games. It usually didn''t end well.


    "I am here to ensure you understand the rules, and sign a nondisclosure agreement, before you begin the game." A piece of paper appeared before James, along with a pen.


    "Go on." He grabbed the paper and pen, his eyes scanning the document.


    "You have been selected to become the Dungeon Core for your city''s instance. By agreeing to this task, and signing the NDA, you will begin your role as the Dungeon Core. You will be solely responsible for growing the Dungeon that players will interact with, and you will individually shape the world of your players. In agreeing to this role, you will be unable to communicate with other players in the game, and no one will be aware that you, as the dungeon, are sentient. By signing this agreement, you swear to never share this information with anyone, in or out of game. Failure to follow this agreement will result in your immediate expulsion from the game, the destruction of your city''s instance, and your incarceration. Do you agree to these terms?"


    James stared hard at the document for a moment. The idea of being the dungeon core was fascinating, especially after the stories he had just read. However, the downside, the fact that he could singlehandedly lead to the destruction of the instance for his city, as well as his imprisonment, made him hesitate. Did he really want to do this?


    "What happens if I don''t agree?"


    "Then, we will wipe this conversation from your memory, and load you back into character creation. From there, you will get to live out your days in DCO as just another one of the players, nothing more, nothing less."


    James paused for a moment. Immersion pods weren''t supposed to be able to alter a person''s memory. The government had strict laws against such a thing, safeties were put in place to make immersion pods as safe as possible. However, the way the voice said it, so matter of fact, James was worried the threat held some substance. Even more so though, was the second part of the voice''s statement. If there was one thing James did not want to be, it was just another one of the players. He was nobody in real life. He wasn''t going to be nobody in DCO.


    "I agree." He said as he signed his name on the paper. The moment he removed the pen from the paper, it disappeared in a bright flash, causing James to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with a female pixie. Needless to say, he screamed.

 4 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    "Are you done?" The pixie was sitting casually across from James, legs crossed, sipping on some sort of drink. James did his best to keep his eyes focused on her face.


    "Yeah, I''m good now." After he had entered into DCO, and the initial scare he experienced, it had taken him a few moments to regain his senses. Part of this was because of how much he had been startled by her close proximity. Part was because he wasn''t used to being so close to attractive women. And in his eyes, with her blonde hair cut in a pixie cut, her sharp angled almost elf like features, and her stunning blue eyes, well, she was definitely attractive. His biggest issue though, was that after a moment, he realized he didn''t have a body.


    Well, to be fair, that wasn''t exactly true. As his mind calmed, and he looked himself over, he realized he was condensed into a floating orb. And when he says he looked himself over, he meant it. For some reason, he was able to see everything around him if he focused. While it was definitely jarring, it had given him a look of himself. A glowing ball of some sort of stone, with a glowing eye sitting in the middle.


    Go figure, he finds himself alone in a small cave with an attractive pixie, and he is a floating rock with a creepy eye. Shaking his head, er, orb, James pushed the thought of himself from his mind, as he was starting to see himself as a beholder, a giant floating eyeball with tentacles, and his mind was running in all the wrong ways.


    "So, who are you?" James was certain the strange voice had said he would unable to communicate with other players in the game, and would be solely responsible for the dungeon. Did that mean the pixie before him was an AI? It wasn''t impossible, given how far technology had advanced. Many NPCs in games were usually indistinguishable from human players, aside from the fact that they were a little too perfect at times.


    The pixie set her drink down on a table that suddenly appeared in front of her, and leaned forward, looking at James. "My name is Rue. I am your dungeon pixie." She flashed him a brilliant smile, and James felt his heart beat faster. "What should I call you, oh mighty dungeon core?" Her smile turned into a smirk, as if she had made a joke that only she got.


    "Ja-" He started, but remembered he was immersed. It was bad form to use your real name anywhere in immersion. Besides, he had already entered his character name, even if his character was not what he expected. "Glyax. My name is Glyax."


    Rue nodded her head, and with a wave of her hand, pulled up a countdown timer. It showed there was still 23 hours till the game launched. "Well, oh mighty Glyax." Again, a smirk. "You have 23 hours to prepare your dungeon for the players."


    James started to respond, but paused. Now that he thought of it, he had no idea exactly what he was supposed to be doing in the game. In the novels he had checked out, the dungeon core was responsible for summoning all of the mobs, and setting the floor layouts of the dungeon. The dungeon core would have to choose on mob types, assign loot, and essentially manage the whole dungeon. In essence, James felt it seemed a little simulator-ish. Was DCO just going to be a dungeon-simulator for him? That seemed a lot less fun than becoming a summoner and conquering the dungeon.


    "So, Rue." He turned his thoughts away from the dark monotony with which he viewed simulation games, and focused on the pixie. "Since you are my dungeon pixie, what type of guidance can you give me?" Usually in the dungeon core novels, the pixie, fairy, or wisp, would offer up suggestions and advice on how to form the dungeon. Even though this was a game, he was certain the creators would have scripted in a similar feature for the AI.


    "Ah, I''m glad you asked." Rue smiled and again leaned forward towards James, her eyes almost seeming hungry. "First, do you understand your role as the dungeon core?"


    "It is my responsibility to set up, manage, and grow the dungeon for the other players?" He had been told as much before he accepted the NDA.


    "Well, that''s a very simplified way of putting it. This is not going to simply be a dungeon simulation game." She winked at James, and he felt a moment of panic. It was irrational to think she could read his mind. It was more likely the developers had spent a lot of time developing their AI, and James was sure that joke was implemented simply because they understood how gamers would react to the current situation. James was going with that train of thought, because even if she was an AI, he would be mortified if she could read his mind.


    "Alright, then what does it involve?" He tried to regain his composure, and for the first time was glad he didn''t have a human body. His facial features couldn''t give away his thoughts.


    "In essence, you are going to be the game." She said it like it was the simplest explanation in the world.


    "I''m, what?"


    "DCO centers entirely on the dungeon. Your decisions, your growth, everything you do, will shape how the players develop. If you make your dungeon too strong early on, the players won''t be engaged, and they will leave. If you make it too easy, they will quickly outpace you, lose interest, and leave. Your goal is to become a dungeon that is continually engaging and challenging for players, to keep them coming back. What''s more, you have the ability now to directly influence not only their game experience, but through your reward system, the very economy. A successful dungeon, a brilliant dungeon core, has the potential to change the very world around them."


    When she explained it like that, James realized he may have agreed a bit too readily towards this task. He was a junior in high school. He should not have this type of power. Suddenly, his nonexistent mouth was very dry. With a glance at the timer, he saw the time ticking away. He had a lot to do, and less than a day to do it.


    "Rue, what do we do first?"

 5 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    "First, you need to understand the mechanics." Rue pulled up a screen, and turned it towards James. It took him a moment before he realized it was a character sheet, his character sheet.


    Glyax Tier 1 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type N/A


    0 xp


    100,000 xp to next Tier


    The sheet was basic, though James balked at the amount of experience required to hit the next tier. How did a dungeon even gain experience?


    "Currently Glyax, you are a tier 1 dungeon. You have 0 experience points and have not chosen a mob type yet." She walked toward James until she was standing between him and his character sheet.


    "Do you have any questions yet?"


    "Umm, 100,000 seems like a lot of experience needed. And how do I even gain experience?" In the novels he read, usually killing adventurers helped the dungeons grow stronger. Was that how it was going to be in the game as well? Were adventurers assigned a set amount of experience to drop for him?


    "Ah, good questions." She turned and pointed towards his tier. "Unlike adventurers, dungeons are ranked in Tiers. Tier 1 is the bottom tier, and encompasses the levels of 1 through 9 for adventurers. Your rank correlates your strength in your tier, and every 10,000 xp you gain, will increase you rank. This comes with its own perks and benefits, such as increasing your mobs levels. We can go into more detail on rank and tier increases after you''ve set up your dungeon and begin gaining experience."


    James nodded his floating orb, signaling for Rue to continue. It made sense, they were on a time limit, and he was sure he would have time to get more detailed information from her later. For now, they needed to prepare for the adventurers.


    "You gain experience from killing adventurers." Well, James figured that was a given.


    "Do they have a set amount of experience? Are they like mobs to me?" Most monsters in games gave a set amount of experience on every kill, depending on the monsters level and difficulty usually. Was it going to be the same in this game?


    Rue shook her head, and flashed a devilish grin. "No, instead, when an adventurer dies in your dungeon, you absorb all the excess experience they had."


    "I, what?" He had an idea of where she was going with this statement, but he needed it confirmed.


    "If an adventurer at say, level two, died. All of the experience he had gained since hitting level 2, on his way to level 3, would be given to you." James chuckled darkly to himself. He had played games like that, where a death could steal all of your hard earned experience towards your next level from you. More than once, he had killed other players in such games, costing hours, possibly days, of hard work. That high risk, high reward type of system was oddly satisfying to James.


    "Okay, I can get how that works." Though, James had a feeling that type of system was going to make his life as the dungeon core more difficult. He would have to provide a reason for adventurers to risk their hard earned experience, otherwise people would just farm up easy mobs early on. He had done the very same thing more than once in those games.


    "So, with that explained, shall we move on to your mob types?" Rue was already waving her hand, and to James surprise, a slot machine appeared?


    "Umm, what?" In all the stories he read, the dungeons either had the opportunity to select from a list, or took control of the first creatures that entered their dungeon. A slot machine though, seemed a bit, gimmicky?


    "This machine, will generate three different mob options for you to choose from." Rue motioned towards the lever, smiling sweetly, too sweetly, at him.


    "And, what if I don''t like any of the options?" James had played enough games to know the answer. But, did the makers of DCO really do it?


    "Well, if you don''t like the options, you are able to use V Coin to reroll." And there it was, microtransactions. Seriously?


    "Doesn''t that seem a bit, wrong?" Like, he was already stuck as a dungeon core, but now he couldn''t even get free reign of his options, unless he decided to pay? Speaking of which, how did he even generate currency for himself as a dungeon?


    "Actually, the developers put it in as an option to try to further randomize the experience. While they understand some dungeon cores may choose to utilize real currency to get the singular choice they were searching for, they figured many more would simply continue to embrace the randomness that this system provided them. Did you really expect the game to simply give you every option instantly? Where would the fun in that be?"


    James hated to admit it, but Rue had a point. Half of the fun of some games, was the randomness that Random Number Generators, lovingly referred to as RNGesus, gave to the game. The thrill of the unknown, the excitement at getting an extremely rare item, all of those played to a gamer''s senses. As he mentioned before, gamers loved to gamble.


    "Alright, so we are going to play the slots, and see what mob types I may get to choose from?" Rue nodded her head, hand on the lever. "Before you start, what are my options?"


    "That would ruin the fun." Rue said with a grin, and she pulled the lever. Whimsical music started to play as the slot machine flipped through countless options, faster than James could follow. After a few moments, the music stopped, and the screen on the machine showed three different options.


    Random


    Fire


    Earth


    "Tell me Rue, what exactly am I looking at?" He had expected the mob type to give him a creature type to work with, such as goblins, or kobolds, or slimes. But instead, he was staring at two elemental classes, and the word random. What?


    "Mob types are generated based on the Mob element a dungeon has, as well as the dungeon''s tier. For instance, a Tier 1 Fire dungeon would have mobs such as baby salamanders, fire slimes, and lesser fire spirits."


    "So, how does Random work?"


    "Random, is the rarest mob type a dungeon can choose, but also the most difficult for the dungeon core itself." James liked rare things, but what did she mean?


    "How is it difficult?"


    "Well, once you choose your mob type, you are locked into that type. Ever floor would normally generate mobs of that type, dependent on your tier. This allows a dungeon to develop a theme, and have a clear understanding of the mob growth. Random however, is just that. The first time you go to build a mob on a floor, its type will be randomly chosen. So, your first floor could be earth mobs, while your second floor could be wind mobs. "


    James had to admit, that type of additional chaos sounded fun to him. As cool as say, having an all fire dungeon seemed, he was sure as a player, he would get bored of fighting the same types of mobs. From a player perspective, a dungeon that was randomly changing types depending on the floors, seemed a lot more appealing.


    "So Glyax, have you chosen a mob type, or would you like to use V Coin to reroll?" She motioned towards the slot in the machine, which James was sure a V coin would easily disappear into. James could only guess how much money the developers of DCO were going to make on those microtransactions. Smiling to himself though, he eyed his options. They weren''t going to make any money from him today.


    "Let''s go with Random." The moment he said the words, the slot machine disappeared, and his Character Sheet instantly updated itself, removing the N/A next to mob type, and replacing it with Random. He had to chuckle at how vague his sheet seemed. "What''s next Rue?"


    The Pixie looked at his character sheet, and let out a sigh. "Normally, we would construct your first floor according to your mob type." She offered James a small smile. "However, since we have no idea what you mob type is going to be, you should probably first create a simple room to summon a mob in, so we can better shape your first floor."


    "That makes sense." James was nodding at her explanation. She was definitely being a lot more helpful than some of the dungeon pixies he had read about. "So, how do we go about designing a room?"


    Rue waved her hand, and a table appeared before them. Atop the table was what appeared to be a large, empty piece of paper? She grinned as she held a pencil out towards him. "Why, with the Dungeon Creator of course."

 6 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    "Are you really telling me, in DCO, the Dungeon Core has to draw out their dungeon, by hand?" James glanced from the pencil to the paper on the table.


    "Too Dungeons and Dragons for you?" Rue''s reference made James smile. If he had to guess, someone on the DCO development team was a fan of the original table top games. James had played a few virtual versions of D&D, and even took part in a forum campaign every once in a while when he was bored at school. However, every dungeon master he had come across had resorted to using random dungeon generators, instead of drawing them out. His generation had gotten a bit lazy in that aspect.


    "Well no, but there are a few issues I see here."


    "Such as?" Rue was twirling the pencil playfully atop her fingers. How cool was his pixie?


    "Well, first, that seems a bit, 2d." If he was going to create a massive dungeon expanse for players, he was certain just drawing it wouldn''t properly create what he was imagining. "Second, and more importantly, I don''t have any hands." He was a floating orb with an eye. Unless he grew tentacles, there was no way he was going to be drawing anything. And he really wanted to avoid becoming like a beholder.


    "Well, have you thought about tentacles? I''ve heard those are quite, handy." She shot him a wink as she spoke, and James felt his nonexistent face flush. She had hit the nerve of his teenage mind, and he was suddenly stuttering.


    "I, well, um." James cleared his throat. "I''m not going to grow tentacles." Rue started laughing so hard at his reaction that she dropped the pencil.


    "Don''t worry Glyax, you can''t grow tentacles." She steadied her gaze at him and rose a single eyebrow. "Even if you wanted to." Was this how it was going to be? James suddenly wasn''t sure if he could survive being paired with this pixie. She seemed to know how to hit all his nerves. That put him at a huge disadvantage.


    "Can we just move on from the tentacles? How do I really design my room?"


    Rue laughed, and the table disappeared. With a wave of her hand, the room around them completely vanished and James was suddenly outside, staring at a vast expanse of land. He could see sprawling fields, a massive forest, a mighty mountain range, complete with a volcano, and even in the distance an ocean.


    "First, you have to choose where your dungeon is going to be located." She motioned with her hand, and pulled up another screen for him to view. This one had a variety of different terrain options, and at the top, he noted, it said Dungeon Creator.


    "So, I get to choose any of these options?" He was shifting through, waiting for one to catch his eye. Where did he want his dungeon?


    "Correct. Usually, Dungeon Cores will know their mob type by now, so could choose a location that made logical sense for that type of dungeon." She shot him a smirk. "But since the mighty Glyax felt like being vague and mysterious, we don''t know what type of mobs you will have." He was starting to marvel at how much his mob choice was already affecting his life.


    "I get it, Random makes things difficult." He finished flipping through his options, and finally found one he liked. Given how random his mob types could potentially become, he needed something that would make sense. The closest thing he could justify, was a cave at the edge of the forest, leading into the mountain range. From there, he felt he could justify and work around any mob type he got, as long as he didn''t get water mobs for his first floor. He really didn''t want water mobs right away. No one liked water dungeons.


    "Well, I''m glad you understand how much more difficult you our making our lives." She crossed her arms and motioned towards the timer, which had followed them. He was almost down to 22 hours remaining. "So, time''s a ticking. What''s your choice?"


    "I''m going to choose the cave." With his acknowledgement, they were teleported directly in front of the cave. It was a massive expanse of rock, a gaping maw leading into darkness. He instantly loved it.


    "Now that you''ve chosen your dungeon''s location, you can begin to customize it." The dungeon creator before him pulled up the cave''s entrance like a set of blueprints. Surprisingly, it seemed the cave entrance was all that was created for now. It was up to him to generate the rest of it.


    "Alright," James looked at the dungeon creator screen. He could see countless options on the bottom, and it appeared he really did have free reign to build his dungeon. He saw options to clear away expanses, options to add features, options to create pre-generated rooms and paths.The tool even had side bars, that let him completely customize the shape, style, size, angle, color, and any other feature he wanted, of everything he could creator. Hello Dungeon Simulator.


    "Say Rue, what''s with these resource costs?" Other than the ability to clear away materials, everything seemed to have a resource cost underneath it. He didn''t remember that on his character sheet. As he scanned the dungeon creator, he saw a set of numbers at the top right of the screen. Currently it showed 1000, with the word Max written next to it.


    "Resources are what you use to create everything within your dungeon. Also, you can only summon mobs in rooms generated by resources." She sent him a knowing wink. Had she figured out he was planning to just use the remove tool to create his whole floor to avoid using resources? Most gamers tried to figure out ways around resource caps.


    "And how do I generate them?" Glancing at the resource costs on the dungeon creator screen, he could tell dungeon building would get expensive. "Also, how do I increase my max?" He knew how resources usually worked in games, there was always a way to increase the maximum amount. Especially since one of the options he was staring at, energy pylon, cost 3,000 resources.


    "Ah, you are very perceptive." Rue offered him a smile, but he couldn''t tell if she was actually delighted or simply messing with him more. He was certain she enjoyed teasing him.


    "At the very core of your instance, you have a resource generator. This generator is constantly consuming random materials within this instance, and turning them into resources for you. When you are at max, the generator turns off. When you spend resources, it turns back on until you are full again."


    So it was a basic resource generating mechanic, like many of the real time strategy games he had played. Seemed easy enough to understand. "How about my maximum amount?"


    "This capacity increases in three ways. First, as you climb in ranks, your maximum amount of resource held will increase by 100.Second, when you hit a new tier, your maximum resources will increase by 1000. Third, you can use resources to create resource storage units, which will increase your capacity by a size dependent on the type of unit." James used the Dungeon Creator tool to pull up the storage units, noting the cheapest cost 1,000 resources, and increased his maximum resources by 100. He made a mental note to come back to those later. He had a feeling he would need all his resources now to build his first floor of his dungeon.


    "What''s the rate of resource generation?" He needed to know these things, as he now had a little less than 22 hours to completely build his dungeon.


    "Your generator creates 10 resources per in game hour." So, if he started building now, he would be able to spend a total of roughly 1200 resources on his first floor. James could tell it was going to take him a while to create a floor he was proud of. However, the game did advertise that the dungeon would be constantly growing and evolving. He just hadn''t expected to be time gated so hard so early on.


    "Alright, I guess that all makes sense." He glance from Rue to the clock, and back to the cave entrance. "So, before we can really go all out, we need to figure out what type of mobs we have, right?"


    "That would be the best choice, yes."


    "Well, then lets build a basic first room, to get started." With that, James quickly selected a few options from his Dungeon Creator screen. He might not have many resources yet, but if he was going with a cave as his entrance, he could get creative for cheap. He quickly began digging away through the back of the cave, carving out a rough pathway, making it roughly ten feet across with an arching, rocky ceiling perhaps fifteen feet high. He tunneled this path back and forth, making it curve slightly here and there, until he had dug about thirty feet in.


    From there, he made it narrow, until the path was only large enough for a single figure to step through. At that point, he summoned a basic wooden door. The door only cost 5 resource points, and it gave him the effect he wanted. He planned to use the natural formations of the cave the adventurers initially walked through to create a mining area, and a slight sense of excitement. Then, as the cave narrowed, he could imagine the excitement as they came across the narrow expanse, and the random, single door. He knew as a gamer, he would be very anxious to see what was behind door number one.


    On the other side of the door, James spent 50 points to create a large, empty room. He kept it basic, because he didn''t know what type of mobs he would need to build his first floor around. But now, he had a room to summon one in, and with excitement, he turned to Rue, who was watching him intently.


    "So, how do I summon my mobs?"

 7 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    "Mob Generator?" James stared at the words before him. He was going to be deducting points from DCO for originality. First there was the Dungeon Creator, now there was the Mob Generator. Seemed pretty unimaginative.


    "Does the Wonderful Glyax have a better name for such a tool?" Rue was smirking again. It seemed she was always smirking. James thought for a moment, but he really couldn''t think of anything unique. Everything that came to mind was clich¨¦ and over used. Alright, he supposed he could cut the developers a little slack.


    "No, it''s fine." He looked at the screen, scanning over it. It was pretty basic, with the title above, and then a bunch of rows and columns. Each column had a Tier number listed next to it, while the rows to the right of each tier were currently empty. At the bottom of the screen was a large question mark, with the words Generate Random Mob.


    "Not the most helpful screen, eh?" He literally was getting zero information from the screen before him.


    "Well, if you could figure everything out from the screens, there wouldn''t be any point for me here, would there? Rue hovered over to his floating orb, resting her hands on top of him as she leaned towards the screen. James suddenly found himself extremely uncomfortable and distracted.


    "Uh, right." He tried to turn his gaze back to the screen. Having omnidirectional vision was going to be the death of him. "So, what am I looking at?"


    "So glad you asked." Rue used her arms to vault over him, somersaulting over his orb to ''land'' gracefully next to the screen, motioning towards it like a gameshow host. "As I am sure you have figured out, this is where you generate mobs." She motioned towards the blank boxes in the Tier 1 Row. "Normally, these boxes would be filled with all of the mobs of your chosen type you could summon at Tier 1." She motioned down. "And, you would be able to see their evolutions, progressions, as well as new mobs that would be available to you as you progressed in your tiers."


    "Let me guess. Because I chose Random, none of these boxes in the later tiers will populate for me." He already knew her answer.


    "Correct."


    "And, just going out on a limb-"


    "-tentacle" Rue said under her breath, before she started giggling to herself. Who had created this AI.


    James narrowed his single eye towards the pixie, though he found himself trying to both laugh and gather his thoughts at her comment. If it wasn''t for the constant countdown, he would be more than willing to crack these jokes with her. But seriously, they had things to get done. "I''m guessing I need to hit Generate Random Mob, before my Tier 1 will populate with all my mob choices?"


    Rue stopped her giggling and offered him a large smile. It almost seemed like she was proud of him. "You would be correct."


    "Well, would you like the honors, Rue?" He nodded towards the button. Rue''s eyes flashed with joy, and the pixie''s hand nearly blurred with how fast she pressed the option.


    "Please no water mobs." James whispered as he turned from the screen to room he had created. For a second, nothing seemed to happen, and James figured the game was trying to not only generate a mob type, but also a tier 1 mob from that type, for his room. After a few silent moments, a single form magically appeared in the room.


    "What the hell?" James glanced from Rue to his mob.


    "Well, it isn''t a water mob." Rue offered up, her face filled with amusement. "I warned you against Random."


    "Maybe you should have tried harder." James said through clenched teeth, watching the mob move about.


    "I mean, it''s not the worst thing that could have been summoned." Rue was laughing as she spoke.


    "Really Rue? What could be worse-" James motioned with his orb to the mob, "-than a chicken?" Rue fell to her knees laughing as James said it out loud. Sure enough, the mob that had been summoned, was a chicken. It wasn''t even a giant chicken, it was just a normal, unassuming chicken.


    James turned from his less than helpful pixie, to the mob, and let out a sigh. He needed to figure out just what he was stuck with. He glanced back at the Mob Generator, curious what exactly he had been stuck with. What mob type even generated a chicken? Underneath Tier 1, in bold, was the mob type.


    Demonic Farm


    "Demonic Farm?" He turned questioningly towards Rue, but she was still gasping for air, trying to fight the onset of another fit of laughter. James had a sinking feeling that the developers put in a lot of joke mob types, in order to try and encourage V Coin use earlier on. Why had he chosen Random?


    "So see, it could have been worse." Rue was standing slowly, her eyes filled with tears from laughter. "At least you got a Dicken."


    "A what?"


    Rue broke out laughing again, and motioned towards the Mob Generator screen. "A demonic chicken is called a dicken." Sure enough, under the image of the normal looking chicken, was the name Dicken.


    "I hate you." James groaned as his eyes scanned the other mob options. Other than the dicken, four other mobs had populated in the row for Tier 1. "Let''s see, we have a Swiner that seems like a pig. A-" James let out a sigh before he continued. "Mad Cow. A sacrificial lamb, seriously? And a, ugh I hate this game. A scapegoat." How was the last one even demonic?


    His pixie was fighting to regain her composure, as she glanced from the Mob Generator to James. He could tell she was trying her best not to crack any jokes, and he appreciated that. He was pretty sure he was nearing his limit.


    "So, Rue." He sighed as he pulled up his Dungeon Creator screen next to his Mob Generator screen. "Is there anything else I should know, before I try to craft a floor for our Demonic Farm mobs?"


    "Well, you should know you are limited on how many mobs you can create in your dungeon." James took a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh. Of course he was. Every book he read mentioned a limit. Why wouldn''t the developers put one on him as well? He scanned the Mob Generator Screen, and sure enough, he caught a few details that he had missed in his initial disgust over his mob types.


    First, underneath Demonic Farm the number 99 was glowing. Next, for Dicken, there was a 1 x 1 showing. His suspicion on what those numbers meant were confirmed when he looked at Swiner. It had 0 x 3 showing. Logically, that meant the first number was the amount he currently had, and the next number was their cost. By that principle, he guessed at Tier 1 he started with 100 points for his mobs.


    "So, 100 points for mobs at Tier 1, and each mob costs a different amount, likely based on strength?" James was going for the abridged version here. He had 21 hours left, and now he needed to try and figure out how to create a floor for freaking farm animals. "You know my next questions Rue." The words came out filled with annoyance, and perhaps a little more venom than he meant.


    For a split second, James thought he saw a flash of anger across his pixies face, before it was suddenly hidden in a cold mask. Had he angered his AI? "Your mob points increase as you climb in ranks in your tier, by 10 per rank. When you hit tier 2, your tier 1 mob points will hit a max of 200, while your next tier will unlock a new amount of mob points, for your second floor."


    "So, I can''t put Tier 2 mobs on my first floor?"


    "Correct." Well, that was upsetting. He was hoping he could at least augment his first floor when he hit tier 2. "Each floor is limited to mobs of the appropriate tier. As such, each floor also has its own pool of mob points to summon mobs with."


    "So-"


    "Shouldn''t you start building your first floor?" Rue''s voice was pleasant, but her eyes were hard. Yup, he had made her made.


    "You''re right my wonderful pixie." Flattery seemed to work well in the books. He figured it was worth a try. The moment he said those words, Rue''s features softened and her smile returned. Guess the developers were playing the game like a dungeon core novel.


    "Want to help me design this first floor?" He turned his attention away from the dicken in his first room, and back to the Dungeon Creator Screen, scrolling through different options as he did. James had no idea how you could create a space in a cave that would work with demonic farm animals.


    "Really?" Rue''s voice was filled with excitement as she flew over to his floating orb. She leaned over him once again, and started looking intently at the options as he flipped past them. Maybe James didn''t have an idea on how he was going to build his floor. Maybe he didn''t know how he was going to split up his mobs and create a dungeon adventurers could enjoy. But, the one thing he did know, was that right now, with Rue leaning over his orb, none of those other things bothered him.

 8 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    "So, quick question Rue." The two were flipping through the Dungeon Creator screen for what felt like the hundredth time. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the clock counting down. They had less than 18 hours remaining, before the adventurers could enter the game. So far, all the dungeon had was the basic room.


    "What is it?" For the past few hours, they had been brainstorming countless layouts and possibilities for the dungeon. How many rooms it should have, what the hallways should be like, how they should modify it. However, no matter what they thought of, James always hesitated, and changed his mind. He was limited on resources, he couldn''t afford to commit to a dungeon layout he wouldn''t like.


    "Does my first floor actually need to have multiple rooms?" He had been slowly mulling over an idea as he flipped through the Dungeon Creator options, eying all the possibilities before him. If he had to be honest, his Mad Cow mob had also helped inspire him. After he got over the initial anger of his misfortunate mob types, his mind had reminded him that this wasn''t the first time he had come across demonic cows in a game.


    A couple months ago, during a lull in action in Warcraft Universe, James had started looking into old school games. One such game he came across, which he had spent a few nights playing, was called Diablo, specifically its second version, Diablo II. He had decided to play it after reading a few forum posts calling back to what people were claiming was a golden age of PC gaming, and because it created by the same company that had put out Warcraft Universe. What''s more, James had managed to find a 25th anniversary version of Diablo II, which had been remastered with much better graphics.


    After lovingly conquering the game in solo mode, playing as a necromancer, he had dived deeper into the forums on the game, looking for fun things to do. One such thing he came across, was simply referred to as the Cow level. After following the instructions outlined in the guide, which involved combining a wooden leg with a magical tome in a certain area, he had opened a portal into a literally cow level. This cow level was filled with bipedal cows wielding polearms, and a boss known as The Cow King.


    While James doubted his Mad Cows would be anything like those mobs, the level design had sparked an idea in his mind. An idea that he needed Rue''s approval on to initiate.


    "Well dungeons usually have floors filled with various rooms and paths, right?" Rue was staring at him, observing him. For once, James was pretty sure she didn''t have any idea where he was going with his thought process.


    "But, they don''t have to, right?"


    She shook her head. "Well, no. As long as they have mobs and a boss mob-"


    "-thanks." He cut her off, turning back to the Dungeon Creator. As much as he wanted to ask her about boss mobs, something that hadn''t yet been described to him, he wanted to see if he could create a basic layout for his floor first. Especially because if he didn''t act now, he knew he would start doubting himself, and wouldn''t act at all.


    "What are you doing?" She whispered as she watched him flipping violently through the Dungeon Creator, while simultaneously tearing away large expanses of dirt and earth.


    "Creating my first floor." James responded nonchalantly, as he continued to create a large, empty cavern, even destroying the walls of his basic room that he had created, to connect it all. In his mind, he could imagine it. Players opening that small door, expecting to lead finally into a dungeon, but instead being met with a massive open expanse. It was simple, it was unique, and it was brilliant.


    "You know mobs can''t be summoned in areas that haven''t been created by resources."


    "Oh, I know." James had already taken that into account, and had a plan for it. He had found the solution to that problem as he poked around on the Dungeon Creator over the last few hours. Next to the option that allowed him to simply devour and destroy things for free, was a tool that said influence. After focusing on it, he had found details on it, which said he could use the tool to consume resources and essentially add ''influence'' to any given area. That influence, if he was a betting man, was what was actually needed for a mob to be created in an area.


    "So, what are you going to do?" For an AI, Rue was not following, was she?


    "I''m going to use the influence tool, to add my influence to this expanse." He spoke as he finished creating his expanse, holding his breath as he choose his next tool.


    "You''re going to-" She paused as she observed the expanse he had created, and then looked at the tool he had selected. A smile spread slowly across her face. "Oh, you''re good." She said with a low growl, and for a second James faltered. Had she purred those words? Seriously, what cruel developer had given an AI such a personality, and then assigned her to a teenager. Sheesh.


    "Well, we shall see." He started using the tool to draw out the area, watching as the resource cost ticked up. Not only did he want to use this entire expanse, but he also wanted to craft various buildings and add in environment to his first floor. He wasn''t going to settle with just a large empty room. No, he was going to create an actual demonic farm.


    As he brought the tool over the last bit of land, an empty expanse roughly 450 by 450 yards, he stared at his resources. It was going to cost him 900 resource points to add his influence to this expanse.


    "That''s a lot of resources." Rue whistled as she looked at the number. He had started the day with 1000 resources, spent 55 earlier on his door and basic room, leaving him with 945 points. After 3 hours of deliberation with Rue over how to make his dungeon, he had found himself back at 975 points. That meant, he would only have 75 points remaining if he choose to add his influence to this large expanse of space. With a little less than 18 hours before adventurers arrived, he would have, at max, 255 resource points to spend on improving his empty space, before people started entering his dungeon.


    "We don''t have a choice." He said with a sigh. It would be rough, it wouldn''t be what he initially wanted, but for now, it was a start. Rome wasn''t built in a day, as they always said. Without another thought, he spent the resources, watching as they drained, noting how the air in his expanse seemed to take on a charged feel.


    "Well, you''re committed now." Rue patted his crystal, before looking down at the massive expanse."So, what do you want to do next, oh wise and mighty dungeon core?"


    "Next, let''s fill this place with mobs, and go over how exactly I make a boss." She had mentioned boss mobs before, but never explained how he was going to make one. He figured after he populated his first floor, it would be a good time to create his boss. Especially since he had to wait for his resources to refill, before he added any more details to his floor.


    "Sounds like fun."

 9 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    "Anything I should know before I start making mobs?" They were both staring at the Mob Generator, looking at the five images of his available mobs. Below them, the single dicken strolled about, letting out the occasional cluck.


    "As you already can tell, each mob costs a different amount of points to summon." James had already figured that much out. This was definitely one of Rue''s less helpful statements.


    "Mhmm, my dickens cost 1 a mob, while my mad cows cost 5. I''m assuming this is proportionate to their individual strengths?" The gamer in him told him that was the most logical step. It was like when he played real time strategy games, some of his units would cost more points than others, generally denoting they were a stronger unit. That didn''t mean they were superior though. Oh no. He had seen many a tactic that involved creating a swarm of lost cost units to overwhelm opponents. An idea he was already playing with for his dickens.


    "You would be correct." Rue offered him a coy smile. "But please don''t fill your dungeon with 100 dickens." Alright, she was on to him. However, he was not planning on doing 100 dickens. That would just be too many.


    "I promise I won''t create just dickens." He eyed the other mobs, and realized something. He had no idea what his mobs were even capable of. All the screen told him was their names, and how much they cost.


    "Am I able to pull up more information on my mobs? Maybe their basic stats, skills? You know, monster information?" If he was going to correctly populate his dungeon, he needed to know what these mobs did. That way he could better gauge the cost versus benefit of each mob.


    Rue nodded at him, and motioned towards the picture of the dicken. "Just focus on the mob you want to know more about, and it will pull up its information." That was all? Really? As a gamer, he should have figured that out. Was he becoming too reliant on Rue for information? Was he playing too much into the concept of being a dungeon core? James made a mental note to try to avoid making such noobish mistakes again.


    "Alright, let''s see what these dickens can do." As he focused on the dicken, a new screen appeared before him, showing a realistic dicken, filled with information.


    Dicken


    Type: Demonic Farm Poultry


    HP: 10


    MP: 10


    Atk: 1


    Def: 1


    Unique Trait


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens gain +100% to all stats when in groups of 5 or more.


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


    James scanned over the information one more time, and found himself laughing. As much as he hated the fact the developers had made demonic farm a mob type, he was really starting to enjoy these mobs. Even the developers blatant jokes put in, made him chuckle. He could already imagine a swarm of enraged dickens attacking an adventurer. Normally he would pay to see that happen, now, he got to make that happen.


    "Hey Rue." James had been about to dismiss the dickens screen, and move onto the sacrificial lambs, when he noticed a tab at the top of the dickens info screen. It was simply labeled, Upgrades.


    "Yes Glyax?" For once she didn''t add any modifiers too his name. Was AI feeling alright?


    "You mentioned I can upgrade my mobs, right?" He selected the tab as he spoke, pulling up an upgrade page. A basic skill sheet appeared before him, filled with greyed out options. Annoyingly, everything on the page seemed locked for now.


    "Well aren''t you inquisitive." Rue flew over to him, and leaned down, looking into his eye. He did his best to hold eye contact, but his teenage whims were making that hard. "However, try not to get ahead of yourself." She said the words slowly, playfully. He was pretty sure she even licked her lip as she finished speaking.


    "I, uh-" She had done it again. Rue had broken his teenage mind.


    "You can''t even start upgrading your mobs till they are level two." She started laughing and pulled away from James, allowing the fog to leave his mind as his senses returned.


    "My mobs level up?" His mind was still a bit cloudy, but the gamer within was screaming to him that no duh they could level up.


    "Mhmm." She folded her hands behind her back, smiling sweetly at him. "Each time you rank up in your tier, your mobs will level up as well. When they do, you will receive a single upgrade point for each mob." That made sense, and was definitely something James was looking forward to. First though, he would need to gain 10,000xp by slaying adventurers. That still seemed like quite the feat.


    "Alright, so we will leave upgrading alone for now." James focused on sacrificial lambs, preparing to pull up their information. "So let''s see what the rest of these mobs can do."


    Sacrificial Lamb


    Type: Demonic offering


    HP: 10


    MP: 15


    Atk: 2


    Def: 1


    Unique Traits


    Baa Baa Boom: Sacrificial lambs will explode upon death, or contact with adventures. The explosion causes 5 x lvl damage within 1 x lvl yard radius.


    Blood for the Blood God: The blood from sacrificial lambs has a DoT effect of 1 x lvl damage every 5 seconds.


    "I have kamikaze sheep?" James whispered to himself, shaking his head as he tried not to chuckle. Rue raised her eyebrow at his comment, but remained silent. With his anticipation growing, James quickly scanned over his other mobs.


    His Swiner''s he found were bipedal pigs, that put off a stacking debuff called Swine flu. If adventurers stayed within the proximity of the aura for a minute, allowing the debuff to hit 10 stacks, the adventurers would contract swine flu. This was a sickness that decreased the effectiveness of healing food items for 10 minutes. Not overly fatal, but definitely unfortunate.


    Scapegoats, amusingly enough, were a tank mob. They had the most hp of all the mobs at his disposal, with 50 hp points. On top of that, they had a defense of 5. Their unique ability gave them a taunt that could pull agro, if not resisted, forcing adventurers to focus their attacks on the scapegoats.


    James found his Mad Cows to be the most dangerous when it came to pure damage. The 5 point mob had 40 hp, 6 attack, and 4 defense. They would target the first enemy they saw, and had a simple pierce ability on their horns. What made them dangerous though, was their unique ability, unimaginatively named Mad Cow. The ability caused the cow to become enraged and target any adventurer that was either bleeding, or wearing something that was red. When enraged, the mad cow''s defense dropped by 20%, but his attack increased by 40%. He could only imagine how long it would take adventurers to figure out why they were being targeted by the mad cows. Especially because he knew a lot of gamers who loved coloring their gear in different shades of red.


    After looking over all of his mobs, James had a pretty good idea of how he wanted to set up first floor. His 100 mob points limited him slightly, but he know those numbers would go up as he leveled up. What''s more, from his understanding of genre, and gamers in general, he knew he couldn''t overwhelm them early on, otherwise they would be less willing to actually dive into his dungeon. That fact scared James. He wanted to be as successful of a dungeon as possible.


    So, while Rue sat by silently watching James he began mass summoning his mobs in his first floor. The first thing he did, was summon 19 more dickens. That gave him a total of 20 dickens, which would allow his mobs to be spread out, and still relatively easily activate their Birds of a Feather skill. Next, he summoned 10 sacrificial lambs for 20 points, and 8 swiners for 24 points. That left him with 36 mob points remaining for his top to mobs. He summoned 4 of each, the scapegoats costing a combined total of 16, and the mad cows costing him 20. When he was finished, he had 0 mob points remaining, and the beginnings of a demonic farmville milling about below him on his first floor.


    "Are you done dicken around?" Rue''s humor filled voice pulled him from his admiration of his mobs, and back to his situation at hand. A glance at the timer showed him he had managed to waste over an hour and a half planning out his mobs and summoning all of them, leaving him with roughly 15 hours before adventurers began entering the game.


    "Were you trying to be puny?" James responded, noting her smirk. He was in a good mood, even if time was ticking away. He definitely felt he was making good progress with his dungeon creation. If he was correct, all he had left to do was create a boss mob, and then wait for his resources to finish regenerating enough to let him fix up his floor a little more. He had plenty of time.


    "Perhaps." Her smile widened as she glanced from James, to his mob creator tool. She glanced at his empty mob points, and with a wave of her hand, pulled up another screen. "Are you ready to create your boss mob?"


    "Tell me what I need to do." If James had a mouth in the game, it would have spread in a wide grin.

 10 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10


    James would have facepalmed if he could when he saw the screen she pulled up. Boss Mob Creator. Seriously, they had definitely made these screens rather self-explanatory.


    "So, what do we do first?" James asked Rue as he stared at the screen. It had a list of Tiers, all of which were greyed out save for Tier 1. He was certain he just needed to select that to get the process started but wanted to give Rue the chance to explain it to him. He also didn''t want to risk missing anything. There were more than a few times when he had rushed ahead in a game, to miss something really important.


    "Well, as I''m sure you have inferred, this screen will allow you to create your boss mobs for each tier." Ya don''t say.


    "How many bosses am I allowed per floor?" Some of the books he had read included multiple boss mobs on a single floor. He had also played many games where dungeons would have mini bosses as well as a main boss.


    "That depends on your Tier Glyax." She motioned towards Tier 1. "At Tier 1, you are limited to a single boss mob. Tier 2 gives you the option to create a boss mob, as well as a mini boss. Tier 3 starts allowing you to create multiple boss mobs." So, the system would scale with his levels, and likely those of the adventurers as well. He was constantly reminded that while he seemed to have almost free reign on his dungeon, the developers had put in certain restrictions to level the playing field. He had to at least give them that.


    "Alright, so if I select Tier 1 boss mob." He activated the screen as he did, and a new window, along with a slot machine, popped up. "Seriously?" He let out a sigh as he looked at the slot machine. The developers either really wanted players to be affected by RNGesus, or they were really greedy.


    "This slot machine will give you three options for the basic model of your boss. From there, you can choose, as before, to reroll with V-coin, or select a model you like. From there, you will be able to further influence your boss."


    "If you would, my dear." If he had his body, he would have added a flourish in as he spoke. He was trying to be classy.


    "Certainly, kind sir." Rue flashed him a grin and pulled the lever. Once again, whimsical music began, and James watched as the slot machine flipped through various options. How many options could the developers have come up with boss models? A few moments later, he was staring, dumbstruck, at his results.


    Demonic Ear of Corn


    Possessed Tractor


    Demonic Farmer


    Well, that explained it. Just like mob types, they probably created any and all possibilities, no matter how bad, into the game. If James ever met one of the developers-


    "Are you going to reroll? Or do you see an option you like?" Rue was motioning with a grin towards the slot for V Coin. Was his AI programed to try and tempt him into playing the slots? James knew from previous experiences that he, and probably most gamers, had a minor gambling problem. If he started rolling now, he was certain he would burn through a good amount of coin.


    "I think I''ll choose one of the three here." In his mind, he was already doing his best to imagine each of the bosses. He couldn''t help but grin imagining the giant ear of corn as a boss. He was curious if adventurers used fire against it, would it pop? He was half tempted to choose it just to see. However, he was already stuck with a, colorful, set of mobs. James wanted his boss to be at least a little serious. Plus, one of the options fit with his overarching plans for his first floor.


    "I''m going to choose the Demonic Farmer."


    "What, no popcorn boss?" Rue feigned disappointment as the other options disappeared, and information began to populate the blank screen in front of him.


    Tier 1 Boss Mob


    Demonic Farmer ¨C Unnamed


    HP- 500


    MP- 250


    ATK- 50


    DEF- 50


    Unique Abilities


    Donkey Kick- Summons a demonic donkey from the underworld. The donkey will appear beneath an adventurer and kick them, sending them 10 + lvl yards back. Attack will do 20 points of flat magic damage, and cause falling damage. 25% chance to stun for 10 seconds.


    Ol'' Mcbossy had a farm (Aura)- Bolsters demonic farm animals within a 15 + lvl yard radius, increasing their stats by 100%. Any mobs effected by this will come to the aid of the Demonic Farmer.


    "Woah." James couldn''t help but breath out as he looked over the Boss''s information. Compared to his other mobs, the boss was extremely formidable. He highly doubted adventurers would be able to take him on solo, especially not at lower levels. This boss was definitely going to gain him some experience. That second ability, while poorly named, made James smile. He could imagine his boss buffing a group of dickens, who then would gain their additional buff as they swarmed over adventurers. Oh yes, this boss was going to be fun.


    "Are you happy with your choice?" Rue was looking down at her nails, as if she had grown bored while he was looking over his boss'' information. His AI really had a lot of attitude.


    "I am." He gave the farmer''s stats one last look over, before turning back to Rue. "So, do we summon him now?"


    "In a rush, are you?" Rue grinned as James turned quickly to look at the clock. He still had a little over 14 hours remaining. He was definitely not feeling rushed.


    "No, just excited." Rue let out a genuine laugh, as she flew over to him, resting a hand on his orb. "I like your enthusiasm Glyax. However, you''ve still got a little more work, before we can truly play." She shot him a wink and motioned back towards the screen. A new tab appeared, labeled upgrades. The number 5 was flashing next to it.


    "Every time you generate a boss mob, you will have 5 upgrade points to use, prior to summoning the boss for the first time. This is because your boss starts at a higher level than the mobs on each floor do. For instance, on your first floor, your mobs are level 1, but your boss will be level 5. As you gain ranks in your tiers, they will all each grow a level per rank."


    "So, when I hit Rank 2, my mobs will be level 2, and my boss will be level 6?"


    "That is correct. You will also then gain 1 point for each of your mobs to upgrade, and another point to upgrade your boss with." Oh, he was liking these mechanics. That meant every rank would give him more possibilities and options to evolve. He could see how adventurers were reacting to his dungeon and choose how best to adapt against them. That or troll them. He was a gamer after all.


    "Alright, so shall we upgrade him?" James was just about to select the option, when Rue held up her hand, stopping him. She was such a tease.


    "First, before you leave this screen, you should name your boss."


    "I should what?" He had seen the Unnamed option, but was he really able to name his mob? He wasn''t going to be stuck with weirdly named bosses? He could come up with something cool and exciting? The possibilities began rushing through James'' mind.


    "As the dungeon core, you get to name every boss mob, and mini boss, that you create." He focused on Rue, as she stared at the screen.


    "Are there any restrictions on what I name the mob?" He was suddenly worried about his NDA. What if he accidently gave away the fact he was a human by naming his mob? Would it be safer to let Rue name the mob?


    "No. Dungeon Cores are given free reign to name their bosses. Though obviously I would advise against naming a boss "I''m a human" or something that would blatantly go against your NDA."


    "Oh, come on. I wouldn''t do something like that." He wasn''t dumb, sheesh.


    "Well then, I''m sure you can come up with a perfectly reasonable name for your boss." She crossed her arms and watched him as he turned his orb towards the screen. James closed his eye, trying to think. He had so many choices, so many names. But what should he call his boss? What fit the theme of his dungeon, what made sense?


    "Having trouble getting something to come up?" Rue''s voice pulled him from his concentration. He was trying to be witty and had been wondering about giving his demonic farmer some sort of demon related name. Maybe Farmer Ba''al, or perhaps Beezlebob? He was leaning towards the second one personally. At Rue''s comment though, the names fled his mind, and James suddenly felt very uncertain and self-conscious. Would she judge him on the name he chose? At that moment, he decided on a different, safer route.


    "I''ve decided I want you to name my first boss." The way Rue''s face lit up, you would have thought James had given her a fortune. Her wings flapped excitedly, and she zipped over to the screen, hiding it from him. She glanced back at him once, her eyes filled with joy.


    "Are you sure?" Her voice, normally playful and certain, held the faintest tone of doubt.


    "Positive." As he gave her the go ahead, she grinned, and waved her hand at the screen. A second later, she stepped away, allowing James to see what she had chosen for the boss mob.


    "Are you sure?" He read it again, once more. Something about it seemed familiar, but he wasn''t quite sure what. Where had he seen that name before?


    "Positive." The smile on her face showed she was extremely pleased with herself, though her eyes were filled with humor. Why?


    "Alright. Well then Rue, shall we start upgrading Old Man Jenkins?" She broke out in laughter as he said the name aloud. She was laughing so hard she was barely able to touch the upgrade screen. There was definitely something about the name that James was kicking himself for not getting. He made a mental note to search the internet for it after he was done setting his dungeon up for the players.

 11 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11


    "So, I just assign the points as I see fit?" James was looking at Old Man Jenkins upgrade screen, eying the options available to him. When it came to upgrading his boss mob, the developers had apparently wanted dungeon cores to have as much freedom to upgrade as they wanted. That was nice and all, but it meant a boss could either become extremely overpowered, or rather underwhelming, depending on the dungeon core''s choices.


    "Pretty much." Rue had summoned another table and was pouring herself a drink. If James had to guess, she was probably thinking this process was going to take a little time. She was probably right.


    "Can I undo my choices, if I don''t like them?" Some games let you freely assign and reassign upgrade points, so that you could try out different builds. Other, less forgiving games, locked in your choice the moment you made it. That meant mistakes you made in your early levels, would continue to haunt you as you moved forward. James had once played a game that had a mechanic like that. He spent 30 levels worth of points going into a tank build, before he decided he wanted to play a mage instead. It took him a long time to get the levels into his magic to make him a formidable mage, but at least he could hold a giant tower shield to hide behind while he was leveling.


    "For now, your choices will be locked. As you grow as a dungeon, there will be a way for you to reassign points in your mobs, but that will be later down the road." She took a sip of her drink and smiled at him. "So, don''t mess up."


    "Thanks." He turned back to the screen, eyeing all of his options. If they were going to be locked, he needed to really put some thought into the process. Some of the options to upgrade were basic, such as increasing his mobs hp, mp, atk and def by a %. He noticed that the percentages for each option seemed to stack though, which would make the boss scale rather quickly. For instance, if he put a single point into the option labeled Improved Health, the hp would increase by 10%. The next level increased it by 20%, the third by 30%, and so on.


    For a second, James was tempted to just put a point into each of those options, to increase his bosses base stats another level. However, two things stopped him from doing that. First, he had no idea how adventurers would fare against his boss early on, and he didn''t want to increase the difficulty right away on them. Second, the gamer inside of him was screaming that there were better choices to be made, than just improving basic stats.


    "Do I have to use all of my points right now?" He saw a few options he liked for upgrading, but he didn''t see 5. And if he didn''t have to spend all of his points right away, well there was no reason to.


    "Ah, are you afraid of commitment?"


    "No. But I don''t want to make any mistakes if I don''t have to." He was trying to approach this task as logical as possible. What was so wrong with that?


    "You know the saying, nothing ventured, nothing gained." She took a drink, holding eye contact with him the entire time she did. As she set the drink down, she slowly ran her tongue across her lip. "Why not take a chance? It could be fun."


    James was pretty sure his AI was using his teenage mind against him. He was also pretty sure it was working. "You are a terrible influence on me." James grumbled as he turned back to the upgrade screen.


    "I just want you to have a little fun. You seem so uptight." Rue let out a light, musical laugh, as she took another drink. "Maybe you should have a drink, take the edge off."


    "What exactly are you drinking?" She had been pouring the drink out of a teapot, so he had assumed she was drinking tea. Now though, he wasn''t sure.


    "Try some, if you''re curious." She held her cup towards him, and he just stared. He was a floating orb with an eye. He didn''t have a mouth, his voice just echoed from his orb as he spoke. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Rue let out a laugh, and took another drink. "Oh, right." She poured more of the liquid, which he was certain was alcoholic, into her cup. "More for me then."


    "I have a drunk pixie. Great." James mumbled as he turned back to the task at hand. Because of how immersion worked, players could actually get drunk in game. A lot of people actually enjoyed that fact, because they could drink, be merry, and get drunk, without any risk to their actual bodies. James had learned to stay away from liquor, after a rather long night of drinking and gambling in Warcraft Universe, that saw him losing a good amount of coin, and his favorite pet. It had taken him three months to get another one of those pets to drop.


    "I''m not drunk." Rue took another drink, and a small smile crossed her face. "But I''m sure I''m getting a good buzz right now." Because developers were always trying to make AI completely indistinguishable, James had found that the AI could also get drunk in games. Some players would purposefully try to get NPCs drunk, in order to get discounted prices on wares, and sometimes it was even a required tactic to unlock secret quests. James was pretty sure, his pixie getting drunk while she was explaining dungeon creation to him, was not the best idea.


    "How about you try to stay sober until we finish completing the dungeon?" James had been feeling good about his dungeon creation so far and was confident he was going to finish the basic set up of his first floor, before the players started playing. However, he would hate if his pixie got drunk and forgot to mention some important detail to him.


    "Buzz kill." Rue waved her hand, and the drink and table disappeared. "Are you happy, oh mighty Glyax?"


    "Delighted."


    "Well," Rue motioned towards the upgrade screen. "Don''t keep a lady waiting. Finish this up so we can move on." Oh, she seemed mad that he had cut her off. Maybe he should let her keep drinking? He eyed the pixie and shook his head. James decided a drunk Rue was not something he needed right now. He needed to focus on setting up his dungeon, and he was certain he wouldn''t be able to focus if the cute pixie was drunk


    "As you wish." James turned back to the screen and let out a sigh. He had already told her he would use all five of us upgrade points, and so began mentally assigning them. The first three points were easy for him to spend.


    First, he improved the Unique Ability Ol'' Mcbossy had a farm. By dumping a skill point into it, the aura increased its radius to 20 + lvl yards, and increased mob stats by 110% instead of 100%. He wanted to put another point into it but was afraid that would be a little too overwhelming this early on for players. Next, he used a skill point to unlock a new ability for Old Man Jenkins, called Pitch a Fit. The ability gave his boss the power to summon flaming pitchforks to throw at enemies. It sounded amusing, to say the least.


    Third, James unlocked a trait for his boss called Red Neck. The trait was a permanent one, that increased his boss'' defense by 5 points, and gave him a 20% resistance to elemental attacks. While he wanted to save his last two points, he had told Rue he would spend them. Sighing, he dumped a point into HP, making Old Man Jenkins health go from 500 to 550 points. His last skill point went into the ATK boost, increasing his attack power from 50 to 55. When he finished, he closed the upgrade screen, to look at his boss one last time.


    Tier 1 Boss Mob


    Demonic Farmer ¨C Old Man Jenkins


    HP- 550


    MP- 250


    ATK- 55


    DEF- 55


    Unique Abilities


    Donkey Kick- Summons a demonic donkey from the underworld. The donkey will appear beneath an adventurer and kick them, sending them 10 + lvl yards back. Attack will do 20 points of flat magic damage, and cause falling damage. 25% chance to stun for 10 seconds.


    Ol'' Mcbossy had a farm (Aura) +1- Bolsters demonic farm animals within a 20 + lvl yard radius, increasing their stats by 110%. Any mobs effected by this, will come to the aid of the Demonic Farmer.


    Pitch a Fit- Summon a flaming pitchfork that can be thrown. Pitchfork will do 30 points of fire damage. 15% chance to stun for 10 seconds.


    Traits


    Red Neck- Being a farmer sure is a lot of work. After spending ages exposed to rough conditions and the burning sun, a farmer is bound to become more resilient. +5 to DEF, +20% elemental resistance.


    James grinned and closed the screen, looking at Rue. She had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently in the air, but she had a smile on her face. "What shall we do next Rue?"


    The pixie motioned toward the first floor, where the mobs were milling about. "How about you summon Old Man Jenkins, and we can start on the next task."


    "Which is?" James asked as he pulled up his boss screen, preparing to summon his demonic farmer.


    "Loot."

 12 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12


    Chapter 12


    "Time''s ticking away Glyax." Rue was tapping her foot again, waiting to regain his attention. They had been about to start loot, but he froze after he summoned his boss. It was all just, so clich¨¦.


    Old Man Jenkins stood nearly 10ft in height, towering over all of the over mobs that milled about on the first floor. The boss mob was wearing what appeared to be overalls, a dirty and torn shirt, and a rather poor looking straw hat. In his mouth, a corn-cob pipe, that the boss seemed to contentedly be puffing on. In his right hand, a massive pitchfork. To make him appear demonic, the developers had simply given him a reddish tinge to his skin, sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and a set of horns that protruded out of his hat. Oh, and he had the demon like tail, how could James forget that.


    "I know, but, really?" He glanced from Rue, back to the boss. Now he thought about it, his other mobs seemed to have quite literal changes to make them appear demonic. It was like the developers just pulled out their bag of clich¨¦ demonic traits, and applied them, in large quantities, to all of the mobs. James was suddenly feeling like a very cheap dungeon.


    "These aren''t bad, trust me." Rue shot him a level look, with a smirk on her face. James was suddenly terrified to see what his second floor became. What mobs could be worse than Demonic Farm?


    "I''ll take your word for it." He turned his full attention back to Rue, glancing for a moment at the clock. He had spent over an hour upgrading his boss mob, leaving him roughly 12 hours to finish his dungeon creation. If loot was all that was left, he had plenty of time. "So, what do we use for loot, a Loot Generator?" James was certain they developers would continue their basic naming scheme.


    "Oh, aren''t you the quick one." Rue laughed as she waved a hand, pulling up a screen. Sure enough, Loot Generator, showed across the top. He would have claimed the developers were unimaginative, if he didn''t currently have a floor full of exploding sheep and mad cows.


    The loot generator screen was set up similar to the other screens he had seen. With a list of tiers going down it, all but tier 1 being greyed out. Instinctively, James selected Tier 1, bringing up a new window. This window showed all of his tier 1 mobs, including his boss mob. There were also empty spaces on the screen, with a question mark on each of them.


    "What are those question marks for?" James nodded towards one, curious. Were there other mobs he could summon, that would have loot at tier one? He was a bit worried about that. As much as he hated his demonic farm animals, he would have hated it more if there were mobs that didn''t fit the floors theme running around.


    "Those spaces are your special loot instances."


    "Special loot instances?" James wasn''t quite following.


    "Mhmm. Every floor can have special loot instances that offer adventurers a chance at rarer or unique loot that otherwise wouldn''t be dropped on the floor. When you unlock special loot instances, you will be able to apply them to your floor."


    "So, give me an example of one." Was she talking about treasure chests? He had found a wide range of treasure chests on his Dungeon Creator screen after all.


    "Well, I don''t want to ruin the surprise-" Rue looked from him, to the screen, and then back to him. "But, if you really want to know-"


    "I do." His comment made the pixie grin.


    "Very well. Special loot instances can include special mobs that you unlock, that can randomly summon, outside of your control, on any of your floors. Some of these mobs, you will notice immediately, thanks to their tendency to make a lot of noise. Others, you won''t notice appear unless you are paying attention, because they can take on the appearance of-"


    "I get mimics?" James was no stranger to mimics, nasty creatures that usually took on the appearance of a treasure chest, luring unsuspecting adventures to not only a jump scare, but also usually death.


    "Yes. You can eventually get mimics." Oh, James really wanted one of those.


    "How?"


    Rue held a finger up to her lips, staring at him for a moment, before shaking her head, grinning. "Not right now Glyax." She pointed back to the Loot Generator screen. "First, you need to finish the task at hand."


    "Alright." James felt his excitement die down a little. He really wanted some mimics. He was certain watching adventurers get eaten by those mobs would prove quite amusing.


    "So, when it comes to loot, you can control it in a few ways." Rue waved her hand at the dicken, pulling up a screen. Underneath the name dicken, multiple options appeared.


    Copper Coin (X-X)


    Demonic Feather (common) (X-X)


    Dicken Meat ¨C Raw (common) (X-X)


    Dicken Egg ¨C (uncommon) (X-X)


    Dicken talon ¨C (uncommon) (X-X)


    "Are those the options for loot to drop?" James glanced over the items again. Most seemed like reasonable drops for a low mob like the dicken. He was certain different professions in the game would be able to use different parts of the dicken to craft and create things with. For instance, he was sure people would be able to use the feathers for basic arrows, while the meat and eggs were probably for cooking.


    "These are the default loot options for the mob. As the dungeon core, you can control how many of each item has a chance to drop, and also turn on or off options for the drops. Then, when the mob is killed, a number of items will drop randomly as loot."


    "So, if I wanted to, I could make a dicken drop 50 feathers?" He grinned at the thought. While he was sure the game would work like most, where players had to loot the body after defeating it, some of the dungeon core novels he had read had more amusing methods. One such method, was to have the objects immediately appear after adventurers defeated the mob, and in his mind, he was imagining a dicken exploding into 50 feathers. He may have to do that later on, just to get it out of his system.


    Rue snickered at his comment, and James was curious what she was thinking. Obviously the AI would know how the loot would appear, so what was she imagining would happen if a dicken dropped 50 feathers?


    "So, am I able to adjust the loot for each mob individually, or is it limited to just the mob type?" He had 20 dickens after all. If the mobs did explode and the loot magically appeared-


    "Unfortunately, for now you can only assign loot by mob type." Whelp, there went that idea. "But, later on you will be able to not only assign loot to specific, individual mobs, you will also be able to begin creating your own type of loot." Oh, that sounded fun. So he might not be able to make a dicken explode in feathers for now, he had something to look forward to in the future.


    "Alright, does it have to do with my tiers? Does it unlock later on?" So far, everything she mentioned for later on the game, unlocked as he climbed his ranks and tiers.


    "Nope, it''s something you resear-" She covered her mouth, stopping herself from finishing her sentence. Had she been about to say research? There was a research aspect to the game?


    "I can research things?" That opened up a whole new world of possibility. In most strategy games there was usually a research option. Players could use these options to research new skills, traits, abilities, or even to improve the performance of various aspects of their gameplay. If there was a research option for DCO, James wanted to know, and he wanted to know now. Research usually took time, and he had just wasted 12 hours of precious research time building his dungeon. His first task, had he known there was research, would have been to start something researching, before going about the rest of his tasks.


    "Well, yes-"


    "-why didn''t you-"


    "and no." Rue motioned back towards the loot generator and sighed. "There is a specific order that you have to complete things in for now. Once you finish your loot assignment, you will have completed all the basic tasks to building a dungeon. The, the final part of the tutorial, is your research unlocking. Once that is done, and you have started your first research project, the tutorial will be completed, and you will be able to do as you please.


    James stared at his pixie. Did she just call this a tutorial? Was he really stuck in a tutorial right now? He had to admit, now that he thought of it, everything did seem tutorialish so far. However, the fact the developers had hidden a research option at the end of the tutorial was frustrating. Especially since he and Rue had been taking their time with dungeon creation. He could only imagine some players losing themselves to dungeon creation for hours. Those poor dungeon cores wouldn''t have much extra time for research before adventurer''s showed up.


    "So, let''s finish this loot generation, and get to the research option." James absentmindedly started pulling up each mobs screen, giving the items a cursory glance. He found when it came to numbers, he could assign a min and max number for each item to drop. James also noted that at the top of each screen, there was a min, locked in as a 1, and a max, that he assumed was the number of item types that could drop per mob killed. He adjusted that number to 3 for all the mobs quickly, and gave all the items in each mob the chance to drop 1 to 3 of an item. When it came to the coins, he gave his mobs the ability to drop a coin range equivalent to their mob cost. That meant his dickens cold only drop 1 copper, while his mad cows could drop up to five.


    The task took him maybe five minutes, a lot less time than he normally would have spent on his loot distribution. He had also only glanced at his boss''s loot options, so made a mental note to revisit that mob. However, for now, time was ticking away, and he was sure that time would be valuable for something much more important in his mind at the moment, then assigning loot.


    "Loot''s done Rue." He closed all the windows, turning towards the pixie. Her usual smile was gone, and her eyes were filled with fire. If he had to guess, she was less than amused with his antics. However, it was her fault for slipping up about the research, and he wasn''t about to let that opportunity drop.


    "Very well." Her voice was strained, and she waved her hand, pulling up a new screen. The screen James had been hoping for. The name at the top of it, confirmed it.


    Dungeon Research

 13 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13


    The Dungeon Research tab had everything James could ever want, and then some. He scanned through the options hungrily, and excitement built within him as he did. The gamer in him was screaming with excitement and joy at the possibilities the research added to his dungeon.


    "Are you happy?" Rue''s tone reminded James that he had rushed loot just to get to research. But, as he glanced at the options, and then back towards the timer, he had to grin.


    "Extremely." Next to the research options, were time costs, just as he expected. If he had to guess, the time required for the research would increase depending on the level of research he was doing. However, that was normal for games that allowed such things. Heck, he had once stumbled across an old web browser game, AstroEmpires, which had some forms of research taking thousands of hours to complete. How had players invested so much time into a simple browser gam?


    "So Rue." He pulled his eyes from the research screen to reengage his AI. For starters, he didn''t want the cute pixie to be mad at him for too long. And, he wanted to make sure he fully understood how the research tab worked, since in his eyes, research would be one of the keys to making his dungeon truly unique.


    "Yes oh mighty Glyax." Her tone was laced with sarcasm, she was definitely pissed.


    "Would you please explain how research works?"


    "Oh, now you want to listen?" She crossed her arms and shot him a glare. Had he really upset her that much?


    "I''m sorry Rue. Research always excites me in games." He glanced from the screen, back to her. "I promise I will go back to loot, after we finish with research." James tried his best to sound apologetic and sincere, finding he couldn''t really give her puppy dog eyes, since he was merely a giant floating orb with an eye.


    "And?" Oh, the pixie was searching for more. Clever girl.


    "Umm, and I promise I will slow down and hear out your explanations, and do my best to take your advice whenever you give it?" That should be good enough for the pixie.


    "Deal." Her eyes lit up and a wicked grin crossed her face. Had the pixie just played him? James made a mental note to watch out for her. She was tricky.


    "Alright." She flicked her wrist and suddenly she was no longer wearing a fantasy style pixie outfit. Instead, she was wearing a very modern, very form fitting pant suit. To add to the look, she was now holding a ruler in one hand, and had on a pair of glasses. His pixie had just transformed into a sexy teacher.


    "Oh." Was all James could get out as he felt his blood pressure rise. Seriously, who created this AI?


    "Are you ready for your next lesson, Glyax?" She slapped the ruler in her hand, making a loud crack. James felt his orb, and heart, jump.


    "Yes Ma''am." Was this really happening to him? He only saw scenes like this in-


    "Good boy." Rue started laughing and waved a hand again, changing back into her normal outfit. She shot him another wicked grin. "I was always curious how someone would react to that."


    "You''re such a tease." James groaned. He wasn''t sure how much more his mind and body could take of this AI''s teasing. Were all the other dungeon core AI''s like her? He got that most dungeon core novels made the assisting fairy, wisp, or spirit usually a love interest, but this was something different. Rue was a major distraction.


    "Oh?" She leaned towards him, winking. "I didn''t know that." James was worried for a moment his orb was going to begin glowing red, to reflect the flush he could feel on his face.


    "How about we get back to research?" He shook his orb, trying to clear the thoughts racing through his mind. Hormones were going to be his downfall.


    Rue glanced at the clock, drawing James'' attention to it. She had just wasted a good fifteen minutes with her antics. Was the pixie purposefully wasting some of his time as a form a revenge? Oh she was devious.


    "I suppose we can postpone our other lesson." She shot James a wink, and turned back to the Dungeon Research screen. "So, every dungeon core has the option to conduct a single research option, per tier level."


    "So, at Tier 1, I can do one research at a time?"


    "Correct. At Tier 2, you will be able to research two options at a time, and so on and so forth." She acted like she was adjusting glasses, which she was no longer wearing, and continued. "Your research is permanent, and will be applied throughout your entire dungeon." That was definitely helpful, as James could see different research options to increase his mobs various stats, as well as options to increase boss mob stats. That meant, through research, he could also upgrade mobs. Neat.


    "Are there going to be additional research options, as I level up?" The list was already impressive, but he felt a game with as much potential as DCO, would have greater chance for growth.


    Rue looked from James to the screen, then back to him, a smile playing across her face. "You''ll just have to wait for the first patch, to find out." The developers of DCO had already announced a planned patch for a month after release. It seemed they wanted players to be able to experience and get used to the game, before they released certain features into it. The developers hadn''t mentioned what the patch would have, but if James had to guess, he had just found out one of the improvements.


    "I suppose I can wait." James grinned internally. As he scanned the list, he was sure he could spend a month with his current research list, before the patch came out. He was also certain he would be kept pretty busy building his dungeon during that time. How much could he grow in a month of playing? At 7 days of game time per dive, 30 real life days of playing equated to 210 days in game. A lot, he decided, could happen in a month.


    "Good, because you have to." She flashed her wicked smile, and started to continue. "As I am sure you have guessed, the time listed is the time it will take for the research to complete. Once you have started a research project, you can cancel it, but you will not get your time back. There is no benefit to buyer''s remorse here." So, he needed to make sure he was ready to commit to the research option, before selecting one.


    Right now, all of the options had 12hrs listed next to it. That meant he would be able to research one option, to have it completed just as adventurers were able to begin playing the game. He needed to make a decision fast.


    "Is there any way to speed up my research time-" Rue opened her mouth to speak, before James finished his statement. "Other than the obvious one I am staring at?" One of the research options was Enhanced Research. The description for it implied it would decrease research times by 1% per level. James'' gamer instinct was already telling him that option might be worth it, in the long run. But he also really wanted to try researching some of the other options.


    Rue offered him a guilty smile. "Well, other than Enhanced Research, you can use Dungeon Tokens on research."


    "Dungeon Tokens?" James was pretty sure those had never been mentioned.


    Rue grinned, and pulled up James'' character sheet, and as he glanced at it, he was mildly surprised. Apparently, as he had been going through the tutorial, his character sheet had been getting upgraded.


    Glyax Tier 1 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    0 xp


    100,000 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 140 of 1000


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Token: 5


    "Where did those come from?" His eyes were focused on the five dungeon tokens that he now had. This was the first time Rue had mentioned the currency to him, and yet he had 5 of them.


    "Well, when a dungeon core reaches the research portion of the tutorial, they are awarded 5 dungeon tokens to use." He had a feeling dungeon tokens were going to be like special resources in game.


    "And what are they used for?" Special resources usually took time off of thing such as research or build times, and could also be used to purchase exclusive things. Usually, they were used as a way for companies to gain money, as you could use real money to buy more special resources.


    "Well, each dungeon token can take 12 hours off of a research project." Rue was holding up her hand, counting off on her fingers. "Dungeon tokens can be used in place of V coin for rerolling on RNG options." Oh, so he could use dungeon tokens for boss mob choices that might be fun. "Dungeon tokens can be turned into V coin for you to use outside of the game." Ah, James hadn''t thought about it, but he had been curious if he would be able to profit from playing DCO. It sounds like he had learned of at least one way. "And finally, dungeon tokens can be used to refill your resources."


    "To max?" The research time deduction and resources seemed like the best options for dungeon token use to James. He really didn''t need to profit from DCO, he was after all just playing it for a fun new challenge. And he really didn''t think he would reroll too often. That was a slippery slope.


    "Yes. One dungeon token will refill your resources to max." Oh the possibilities. However, that also meant dungeon tokens became much more valuable as he grew stronger. That presented James with a new dilemma, would he use dungeon tokens now on research, or save them for dungeon building?


    "How do I get more?" James was loath to ask this question, especially after he had already seen micro transaction options in the game.


    "Dungeon cores can gain dungeon tokens four different ways." Please no micro transactions. "First, every time a dungeon grows a tier, they are awarded 5 dungeon tokens." Okay, that made sense. "Second, dungeon tokens can be randomly gained through resource generation." Oh, so that was an incentive to keep using his resources as much as he could. "Third, dungeon tokens can be gained by a dungeon core on a very rare chance from defeating adventurers." Experience and potential dungeon tokens from adventurers that seemed nice.


    "And the final way is micro transactions?" James'' voice was filled with venom as he cut his pixie off. He was sure that had to be it.


    "Nope." The pixie grinned. "The developers felt letting players dump their own money into dungeon tokens would be too unfair." What? The developers actually put in a balance to keep wealthy dungeon cores from using their own money to completely bypass time gates? James couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    "So, what''s the fourth option?" James'' mind was racing, but he couldn''t figure it out.


    "How about you select a research option, and find out for yourself Glyax?" She winked at him, and motioned back to the options. James had already decided what he was going to research first, since he had just over 11 hours remaining to wait. His decision had been solidified when he learned about dungeon tokens. He was going to research Enhanced Research, spend a dungeon token to finish it, and then research Traps. The traps research mentioned he would be able to unlock traps as buildable options in his dungeon, with future tiers James could imagine, giving him better options. With the increased benefit from Enhanced Research, he should be able to nearly complete two research options before adventurers began playing the game, with only spending one dungeon token.


    "Fine." James was curious what Rue had meant, but he knew she wouldn''t explain it to him. Whatever it was, she wanted it to be a surprise.


    James selected Enhanced Research, pulling up the option, and selecting to begin research. The moment he did, a bright light appeared in front of him, accompanied with a loud ringing sound. James flinched and floated back a few feet, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he saw two things. First, Rue was on the ground laughing. Second, a new screen was in front of him.


    Achievement Unlocked- Training Wheels- Successfully complete the tutorial


    Reward- 500xp, 100 resources, 1 Dungeon Token


    He looked from the screen, to Rue, back to the screen. His mind was racing, and the surprise nearly made him forget his plan. Scolding himself, he pulled up Enhanced Research, and dumped a dungeon token into it, completing it. Then, he pulled up Traps, selected it, and watched as the timer began. Traps would be completed in 11 hours and 53 minutes. Adventurers would be able to enter the game in 11 hours and 12 minutes.


    With that task taken care of, he closed all his windows, save for the achievement screen. He was still wrapping his mind around that fact.


    "I have achievements I can unlock?" Normally people unlocked achievements as a way to show off their prowess in games, or a feeling of accomplishment for completing a long list of tasks. Some games even required certain achievements to be unlocked, in order to unlock unique features in games. That had been a requirement in Warcraft Universe, in order to be able to freely fly in certain areas.


    Rue nodded her head, trying to catch her breath. Her confirmation was all he needed.


    "Oh yes." The gamer in James had just become even more excited about DCO.

 14 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14


    He spent easily close to an hour browsing the achievements available to him using the Achievements tab that Rue pulled up for him. It would have likely been longer, but James found the developers had organized the achievements quite well.


    The Achievements screen was broken down into different tabs; General, Dungeon Building, Mobs, and Dungeon Vs Adventurers to name a few. Upon selecting a tab, a new window would open up, showing a wide range of different achievements. When James opened his General tab, the first achievement to show up, glowing bronze, was his completed Training Wheels achievement. He wasn''t surprised when he focused on it, that the achievement''s description came up. Underneath, where the reward would have been, was the word Completed.


    As James browsed through the achievements, he noticed many seemed to either be locked, or hidden. The locked achievements were greyed out, with a padlock over them and their specific tier needed for unlocking. The hidden achievements simply had question marks. Even with so many hidden and locked though, the amount available to James was staggering.


    Because of the large amount, and his time remaining, James did his best to take note of any and all achievements he could accomplish in a short amount of time. The gamer in him was all for maximizing early experience and resource gain by completing achievements.


    "Whatcha doing?" Rue''s voice pulled James from his concentration, and he glanced from the pixie, to the timer. He had 10 hours remaining.


    "Achievement hunting." He replied, going back to his task. He had his Dungeon Creator screen up, and was flipping through his options. James wouldn''t be able to gain any Mob or Dungeon Vs Adventurer achievements until players began entering his dungeon. That left his focus on General and Dungeon Building achievements. If he was correct, he would be able to complete about six achievements in the next 10 hours, netting him a total of 2,000 extra experience, 400 resources, and 2 dungeon tokens.


    "Did you forget your promise?" Rue''s voice held the faintest hint of a warning, and James suddenly turned all his attention to her. I


    "Uh-" In his excitement over the achievements, and maximizing his time utilization, he had completely forgotten what he promised her.


    "You need to do your loot Glyax." She fixed a hard stare on him. "Properly."


    James let out a sigh, and closed the windows he had been scrolling through. As much as it pained him to pull away from his task at hand, he had made a promise to her. Besides, even after fixing his loot, he was certain he would still be able to complete his achievements.


    "All right." He pulled up the Loot Generator screen, and tried his best to focus. Unlocking achievements was just so addicting.


    "I''m just trying to make sure you become a great dungeon." Rue flew over to him, and leaned against his orb, looking at the screen he was looking at.


    "I know." James grumbled, though his anger was quickly fading with her presence. However, he now found himself fighting to focus between two different types of loot. Rue looked down at him grinning. She was well aware of what she was doing to him.


    "The sooner you finish properly, the sooner you can go back to your little side quest." Rue cooed, pointing back towards the loot screen, drawing his attention back to his appropriate mission.


    "You''re right." He pulled up his Dicken, taking a quick glance at the loot.


    Dicken - 3


    Copper Coin 1-1


    Demonic Feather (common) 1-3


    Dicken meat ¨C raw (common) 1-3


    Dicken Egg ¨C (uncommon) 1-3


    Dicken Talon ¨C (uncommon) 1-3


    Earlier, he had just blanket given each mob the chance to drop up to 3 items at a time. Based on Rue''s explanation, this meant RNG would determine how many items could be dropped. From there, the loot drops became percentage based, depending on the rarity of the item. Once an item had been determined, the amount dropped was also decided by his preset parameters, and RNG. He glanced at his Dicken''s sheet, and the gamer in him immediately started scolding him.


    "Hey Rue, what''s the difference in drop rate between items?" He wanted to know just what the percentage was, before began fixing the mistakes he had made in his rush.


    "Depends on the item." She shot him a grin, which he responded to with a one eyed glare. Or at least, that was what he was trying to do.


    "So, for my Dicken?" He winced the moment he said it, and Rue started laughing. He swore his AI''s mind was created in a gutter.


    "Well, if you must know about your Dicken." More laughter, but she regained her composure quick enough. "Since Demonic Feathers and Dicken meat are both the most common items your Dicken can drop, each will have a 25 percent chance to drop. Coins will always have a 30 percent chance to be dropped as loot, while your two uncommon items will both have a 10 percent chance to drop."


    So it was based on a percentage, and was dependent on the rarity and types of loot a mob had to drop. James could already begin to see how items could start going up in rarity, especially if a mob has a large loot table. He had spent many days, weeks, and even months trying to get some extremely rare pieces of loot to drop.


    "Is there a way for me to adjust the percent chance of loot dropping? If, for instance, I wanted one piece of loot to be a guaranteed drop?" That way, if his mob had a chance to drop up to three items, the first item would always be the same one.


    "Not right now." Rue shot him a grin. "When you begin researching loot, you will start unlocking more advanced controls and capabilities with regards to what you can influence and manage. For now, you just finished with your training wheels." The pixie snickered at her own joke. Sadly, James had noticed a lot of achievements were either named poorly with puns, or jokes. He wasn''t going to escape them any time soon.


    "Alright, so I know what I''m going to research next." He resisted the temptation to blow another dungeon token to complete his Trap research. He was already an hour in to it, and it would be a waste of a perfectly good token. Besides, he figured he didn''t need to get too fancy with basic loot just yet.


    "Probably a good choice." Oh, the pixie was being smug now.


    "Thanks, I thought so." James, looked back at his dickens, and with his newfound knowledge, made his own changes. He decided it was alright for his mob to have the chance to drop up to 3 items, leaving that to RNG. He figured one of those items would almost always be a single copper coin. The next, either a feather or meat. Those made sense. His main adjustment for his dicken, was the amount of each item that could be dropped. After all, it wouldn''t make sense for a single dicken to drop more than one dicken meat.


    "How''s that look?" He asked Rue once he finished his changes, directing her towards the screen. Dicken - 3


    Copper Coin 1-1


    Demonic Feather (common) 1-4


    Dicken meat ¨C raw (common) 1-1


    Dicken Egg ¨C (uncommon) 1-1


    Dicken Talon ¨C (uncommon) 1-2


    He had limited his meat and eggs to a single drop per kill. Changed his talons to two, figuring one from each leg made sense, and then increased his feathers to 4. Because feathers were usually needed for arrows, which usually took 3, he decided he would make that drop have the highest amount possible to be dropped.


    "See, I knew you could do a better job." Rue laughed as she flew off his orb, hovering lazily in the air. "Now, do the rest of them."


    "I will." James wouldn''t tell Rue, but he really liked the mental aspect of choosing how to assign loot. Something about the control and power it gave him, plus the mental task itself, just felt rewarding when he finished a mob''s loot assignment. Thirty minutes of additional work, the clock now under 10 hours, saw him looking at his boss mob''s loot table.


    Old Man Jenkins ¨C 3


    Copper Coin 1-10


    Cooked Dicken (common) 1-3


    Lamb''s wool (common) 1-3


    Swiner Hide (common) 1-3


    Goat''s Milk (common) 1-3


    Mad Cow Jerky (uncommon) 1-3


    Moonshine (uncommon) 1-3


    Demonic Farmer''s Boots (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Demonic Farmer''s Gloves (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Demonic Farmer''s Pitchfork (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Demonic Farmer''s Overalls (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Demonic Farmer''s flannel shirt (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Corn Cob Pipe (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    Straw Hat (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-3


    "Ugh." James immediately hated himself for blanket assigning numbers to his loot earlier. He had done it so quick, he hadn''t taken time to actually inspect what his boss mob had as loot. Had he not promised Rue, and actually come back to his loot, his boss mob''s drops would have been causing quite the problem.


    "What?" Rue''s voice feigned sincerity, but her facial expression took on an evil smirk. She knew exactly what he was upset about.


    "Old Man Jenkin''s loot is a mess."


    "Well, you did that to yourself."


    "Yeah yeah." He knew continuing the conversation would likely just result in the AI making him openly comment on his mistake even more, and he didn''t want to deal with that. Instead, he needed to fix his problem, so he could get back to achievement hunting. He had a little over 9 hours left, a boss mob''s loot to fix, achievements to claim, and a first floor to decorate. So much to do, so little time.

 15 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15


    "Alright, I think that''s done." James let out a long sigh, looking at his hard work. It had taken him 30 minutes to deal with his dicken, sacrificial lamb, swiner, scapegoat, and mad cow loot. It took him almost 20 minutes of thinking, and reading, to finish Old Man Jenkins'' loot. However, he was pretty sure he had done a good job.


    "How''s it look?" Rue looked up from the table she had summoned. It seemed the pixie had grown bored while he assigned his loot, and she had quickly summoned a table and a deck of cards. Apparently solitaire was more amusing to her than James trying to fix loot.


    "Take a look for yourself." James pulled up Old Man Jenkins screen, directing the pixie''s attention to it.


    Old Man Jenkins ¨C 5


    Copper Coin 1-10


    Cooked Dicken (common) 1-4


    Lamb''s wool (common) 1-4


    Swiner Hide (common) 1-4


    Goat''s Milk (common) 1-4


    Mad Cow Jerky (uncommon) 1-2


    Moonshine (uncommon) 1-2


    Demonic Farmer''s Boots (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Demonic Farmer''s Gloves (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Demonic Farmer''s Pitchfork (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Demonic Farmer''s Overalls (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Demonic Farmer''s flannel shirt (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Corn Cob Pipe (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    Straw Hat (Demonic Farmer Set Piece) (Unique) 1-1


    "Hmm, those set pieces are going to be hard to track down." Rue was nodding approvingly as she skimmed over the list. James had increased his boss mob''s amount of items dropped from 3 to up to 5. From there, he had spent a good amount of time reading about the different items his boss could drop. The common items all seemed pretty basic, and could be dropped by other mobs as well in one way shape or form. As such, James gave each the ability to have up to 4 of those common items drop at once. The cooked dicken had the ability to heal adventurers a percentage of their health, as did goat''s milk. However, the goat''s milk could also be used for cooking, while the lamb''s wool and swiner hide were crafting materials.


    Old Man Jenkins surprisingly only had two uncommon items that could drop, being Mad Cow Jerky and Moonshine. The Mad Cow jerky appeared to be a health item, but could also increase an adventurers strength stat for a small amount of time, likely the reason behind it being uncommon. The Moonshine, on the other hand, seemed to quite the double-edged sword. It would increase a user''s spell damage for 5 minutes, but decreased their intelligence by 1, and the description warned it could make an adventurer drunk after a single use. James was really looking forward to drunk adventurers running around in his dungeon. If there was an easier way to get experience, he hadn''t thought of one.


    With the common and uncommon items out of the way, James had decreased the amount dropped on all the set gear from up to 3, to just one a piece. There were 7 pieces of the set gear, and it gave adventurers bonus at 2 pieces, 4 pieces, and 6 pieces. James was used to that mechanic, and he could imagine adventurers would be attempting to trade pieces of gear around in order to complete their sets.


    "What percentage do you think those pieces will have?" James couldn''t see the percentages, which frustrated him to no end. He really needed his research to complete so he could research loot. It had taken quite a bit of willpower not to simply finish his trap research with one of his 5 dungeon tokens.


    "Let me see." Rue waved her hand, and suddenly percentages appeared next to each of the items. She could do that?


    "What-"


    "Did you think I was going to do the math in my head?" She turned, hands on her hips, as the percentages shimmered. "As your pixie, I have access to skills you haven''t unlocked yet. IF-" she stressed the word, "you ask nicely, maybe I''ll show you a few others later on." She shot him a wink as she turned back to the screen. "So, as we already know, your coins have a 30percent chance to drop." Yup, James already knew that. He had already glanced over the entire list, but figured he should let her continue her explanations.


    "Your common items each have a 12 percent chance to drop, for a total of 48 percent." Her hand moved to the uncommon items. "These have a 4percent chance to drop each, for a total of 8percent." Her hand waved and the numbers disappeared as she turned to face James fully. "And your unique items each has a 2 percent chance to drop, for a total of 14percent." 30 percent for coins, 48 percent for uncommon, 8 percent for uncommon items, and a 14 percent chance at a unique piece of gear. At first it seemed like they had a higher chance to get unique gear over the uncommon items, but James was certain most of their gear would drop as common or uncommon. Especially since even if RNG gave them all 5 items, one of those items would most likely be coins. That left six items, four with six times the chance of dropping as the unique items, and two with twice the chance. And, even if they got a unique item, trying to get a full sets worth, would prove quite the task.


    "Thanks Rue." The pixie smiled kindly at him, as she looked back from him, to the table, and her unfinished game.


    "So Glyax, what are you going to do now?" She glanced at the clock. "You have just under 9 hours remaining."


    "Probably going to do some achievement hunting, and then finish decorating my dungeon." James intended to wait until the last hour to begin actually building things in his dungeon that weren''t needed for achievements, because he wanted his resources to refill as much as possible before he emptied them. He had already mentally committed one dungeon token to refilling his resources when the time came. With the time he had remaining, he could still complete the 6 achievements he had tracked down, before players would begin entering the game.


    "Aren''t you going to sleep?"


    "Sleep is for the weak." He responded smugly, though inside he knew he was going to regret that. Even though players were technically ''asleep'' during immersion, many games incorporated sleep mechanics into them. Most games even encouraged players to sleep, giving them temporary bonuses'', such as increased experience for 1 hour after a full 8 hours of rest. This was because if players slept while immersed, 8 hours of in game sleep correlated to 20 minutes of complete rest in the real world.


    Apparently, scientists have found that such a sleep schedule, called polyphasic sleep, was all that was needed for a human to function at high levels. By encouraging these bits of complete rest while in immersion, they could insure players didn''t miss out on too much immersion time, but still gave their mind moments of complete rest. It was rumored that the idea for such schedules, had been pulled from reports that great minds such as Da Vinci and Albert Einstein and Nicola Tesla had partaken in a form of polyphasic sleep called Uberman Sleep. Needless to say, many people had differing opinions, and there was even a running thread on reddit with whether or not sleeping while immersed was important. James usually chose to sleep 8 hours per 24 hours of immersion play, simply because he found he woke far more rested from immersion if he did.


    James had already made the mental decision not to sleep at all during this immersion cycle. Ironically, it was for an achievement that was titled Sleep is for the Weak. The achievement required him to stay awake for 200 hours of in game time straight, meaning more than 8 of the 9 hours that immersion occurred. James was sure he was going to regret that, but it was worth a whopping 10000 experience, 1000 resources, and 5 dungeon tokens. He could suffer for those rewards, especially this early on.


    "Suit yourself." Rue waved her hand dismissively at him, as she turned back to her game. "Just don''t start complaining to me when you''re tired."


    "Trust me, I''m used to pulling all-nighters." When the last expansion for WoW Universe had come out, he had literally spent an entire week of immersion not sleeping while immersed, so that he could claim a good amount of instance first achievements. He shuddered as he remembered that week in real life. He had practically been a zombie at school, and had even gotten detention for falling asleep in class too many times. However, he was certain pulling one all-nighter wouldn''t be nearly as draining.


    "Probably not in the fun way." James did his best to drown at Rue''s laughter at her own comment, as he pulled his Dungeon Creator tool back up. He was a gamer. When he committed to a task, he would see it through. Even with an annoying AI who kept reminding him of his social awkwardness.


    James glanced at the clock. He had under 9 hours before adventurers arrived. He would do his best to prove he was a somebody. He would show Rue. As he started his task, he glanced at Rue one last time. A thought floated unbidden to his mind, and he couldn''t shake it. Who do I need to convince? Her or myself?

 16 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16


    Achievement Unlocked- I feel Pretty- Populate a dungeon floor with 6 different types of plants.


    Reward-200xp, 50 resources.


    And that completes the last of them. James was grinning as he closed out of the achievement screen.


    "Finally finished Achievement hunting?" Rue looked up from the table, which now had a small slot machine on it. The pixie had been playing with the slot machine and drinking the whole time he had been messing with achievements. James glanced at the clock and was startled to see he had just under 2 hours remaining. Had he really wasted that much time?


    "Hey, it was worth it." James pulled up his character sheet to show her.


    Glyax Tier 1 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    2500 xp


    7500 xp to next rank


    997,500 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 50 of 1000


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Token: 7


    "I''m not going to compliment you, if that''s what you''re looking for." She stuck her tongue out at him, as she took another drink. Sure, she seemed to have been pacing herself, but James could tell she was definitely buzzed. At least the AI wasn''t flat out drunk.


    "Guess I''ll just have to step up my game." He grinned to himself as he flipped through his Dungeon Creator screen, finding more fencing to spend his final resources on. The moment he summoned an expanse of fencing for 50 resources, he dumped a dungeon token into his resources, instantly refilling them. "This isn''t even my final form."


    "Oh, good, because I was a bit underwhelmed." She took another drink, and glanced down at his floor. "I was expecting it to be, bigger." Well, apparently his AI was a mean drunk.


    "Alright, how about you stop drinking, and try to sober up before the adventurers arrive." Seriously, sober she was constantly making sexual innuendos and flirting with him. Drunk she was acting uninterested and bored with him. Was the person who designed this AI purposefully aiming to make her bipolar? Sheesh.


    "As you command, Glyax." She did a fake curtsy, stumbling slightly, as she waved her hand and made the table, slot machine, and drink disappear. "Glyax, the all powerful buzzkill." She laughed as she flew unsteadily towards him. "So, two hours left, hurry up."


    "I would be, if I didn''t have to argue with a drunk pixie."


    "I''m not-" she started before she crashed into his orb. "Okay, maybe I''m a little drunk." James wanted to be mad at her, but the moment she crashed into him, he broke out laughing. Served her right.


    "Just don''t get sick all over me." He had seen that happen in a bar once. It wasn''t a pretty sight. And he was pretty sure there wasn''t an achievement for having your pixie throw up on your orb. If there was, James didn''t want it.


    "Not making any promises boss." As she spoke, James promptly floated his orb away from her. He needed to focus now, so he could finally touch up his floor.


    During his achievement hunting, James had spent a total of 740 resources, thanks to both the resources he was generating per hour, and the rewards he was gaining from the achievements. He had chosen which order to do the achievements in, based upon the rewards they gave, and the amount of resources he had for each achievement. Planning them out, and waiting for resource generation, where the two factors that took the most of his time. However, it had definitely been worth it, and it had helped James develop his floor a little.


    The first achievement was titled Pick Me!, and had required James to set up a mining area in his dungeon. Luckily for him, he had already thought of doing just that, based off of what he had read in Dungeon Core novels prior. Unfortunately for him, he had to resource points to spread his influence all the way to the start of the cave, so that he could add ore veins into the rock. The achievement gave him 400 experience, 75 resources, and a Dungeon token though, so it was definitely worth it.


    After he completed that, he proceeded to work on the next achievement, titled Feeling Moist? This achievement had James establish at least three bodies of water on his first floor. He spread three ponds out around the floor, the bare minimum for the achievement. After it unlocked, he was rewarded with another 400 experience, and 75 more resources. He had to resist adding small creeks and streams running from the ponds for added effect, and made a mental note to touch those up later. His first floor was going to be magnificent, but he had to focus on his current tasks.


    When he completed Feeling moist? James had to slowly wait for his resources to generate, because after completing the first two achievements, he only had 100 resources remaining, and he needed at least 150 to complete the next two achievements. Five hours later, which gave him an additional 50 resources, putting him at 150, he was able to work on the next two.


    These achievements went hand in hand, and were titled. Does the carpet? and Match the drapes? James had noticed a theme with a few of these, the innuendos were strong with the developers, which also explained Rue''s gutter mind. The dual achievements required him to have a source of lighting in his dungeon, that matched the majority of the floor. Luckily, grass was rather inexpensive resource wise. It was the lighting that he needed to wait on. It cost him 9 resources to cover roughly 450 square yards of dungeon floor, minus of course his ponds. Grass was practically free.


    It cost him 140 resources to create a massive glowing red orb that hung from the ceiling, spinning slowly. It cast the most light directly beneath it, but bathed the entire area in varying hues of bright and dull read. To James, it almost looked like a disco ball, but hey, it served it''s purpose. The Dungeon Creator allowed him to change the color of his grass, and he gave it a bloodstained red color to, feeling that helped accent his demonic farm feel. With the completion of both, he was rewarded both achievements, netting an additional 600 experience, and 125 resources, putting him at 126 resources total, with 3 and half hours left.


    Another hour of working and waiting saw James with his fifth achievement completed, titled Cooped Up. The achievement required him to build living spaces for livestock. Conveniently, his mobs were farm animals, so he had that achievement serve a dual purpose. He spent 100 resource points on this achievement, making 4 chicken coops, which cost him 10 resources a piece, and cold hold 5 dickens, as well as creating a fenced in area for 50 resource points, to hold his sacrificial lambs. When that was finished, he received 400 more experience, 75 resources, and a dungeon token.


    He had then used around 30 minutes to complete I Feel Pretty, and was now ready, with less than 2 hours remaining, to finish up his floor to the best of his ability.


    The first thing James did, was create a large barn in the middle of his floor. This barn cost him 200 resources, and was large enough to not only allow Old Man Jenkins to walk in, but also could hold some of his mad cows. Next, he created a few smaller buildings, spread out to the best of his ability, around the area. He wanted to make it feel as much like a farm as possible. After the buildings, he added a few pieces of farm equipment, as well as hay bales, and even a wagon full of hay.


    Next, James grew more of his crops, which he had started in order to complete I Feel Pretty. Because of his farm theme, James had set up different areas on his dungeon floor, to house different crops. He dumped resources into these now, pleased with the effect it was having. He had fields of corn and wheat, as well as small rows of potatoes, pumpkins, and carrots. His final plants were apple trees, which he started to grow along the very back portion of his farm, away from all the other plants. If there was a single piece of food he was sure adventurers would savor, it would be those apples. They would have to work to get those.


    "Ugh, I hate time gates." James groaned as he looked at his dwindling resources. His fields were only a fourth of the size he wanted them, though they were definitely putting on the farm vibe he was looking for. He had 200 resources left though and had wanted to created areas for the rest of his mobs. He used those last resources to create a few smaller pens, which he dispersed around the area. All of his fenced areas, as well as his chicken coops, were meant to serve his mobs, but he made sure they were not locked in any of those buildings. It would be pointless to have roaming mobs with a roaming boss mob, if he locked all of his mobs in.


    "Well, you could always spend another Dungeon Token." Rue was sipping on what James was sure was tea, as she glanced from the timer to James'' floor.


    "No, I don''t want to waste those." Every game always encouraged the use of special resources whenever you had them. However, James knew better. Especially since they could instantly refill resources, meaning as his max resource count increased, the dungeon tokens would be worth even more. Plus, James wasn''t certain if there would come times when he needed to shave 12 hours off of research. That definitely seemed like something to have handy, just in case.


    "Well then, I guess you''re done for now." She flew took a sip from her tea, and looked at him, offering a smile. "Good job."


    James glanced at the timer, noting there was only a few minutes left before players would be let into the game. Grinning, he pulled up his research timer, noting he had about 45 minutes before his trap research would be done. He was excited to see what trap research unlocked for him, as well as to start his loot research.


    "Let''s see." James pulled up his character sheet, deciding to check if there was anything else he could do, before the adventurers appeared.


    Glyax Tier 1 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    2500 xp


    7500 xp to next rank


    997,500 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 0 of 1000


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 6


    With 0 resources, and not wanting to spend dungeon tokens, James definitely had nothing else he could do. He doubled checked all of his mobs making sure they were milling about as they should, while Old Man Jenkins seemed to wander aimlessly around from group of mobs to group of mobs. James had done everything he could in 24 hours, to prepare himself for the adventurers.


    "Here we go." Rue''s comment was accompanied by a giant red number that appeared in front of James, a countdown.


    3- Rue''s wings were quivering with excitement


    2- James'' mind was racing with mental checks.


    1- James could feel butterflies in his stomach. Do orbs have stomachs?


    Brace Yourself, Adventurers are Coming Seriously, an old-school meme? Ugh.

 17 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17


    "Was something supposed to happen?" The timer had gone off, the message had disappeared, but to James'' eye, there were no adventurers. Where were they?


    "Something did happen." Rue had a grin on her face, as she flew higher into the air. "Come with me." James floated after her, heading higher into the sky. As he did, he was able to take in more of the terrain around the entrance to his dungeon. He had to admit, he liked the location. The forest it was near was massive, and the mountain range seemed to be exceptionally large and treacherous, the perfect place for a constantly growing dungeon.


    "What are we-" James stopped speaking as Rue stopped, the pixie pointing in the distant. As James''s mouth would have dropped open if he had one. At the very edge of his vision, it appeared the forest ended into an actual sea. Atop the sparkling waves, James could see a fleet of massive ships closing in, fast.


    "Those ships are going to be transporting the adventurer''s to this land." The pixie spun in a circle, laughing. "The developers had made it to where every character, every race, has to come from a different specific island, to the main continent, where you exist."


    "So, for the past 24 hours, they have been on ships, heading towards us?" James hated to imagine being stuck on a ship for 24 hours, but had to admit, that would be a crafty way for developers to make use of the 24 hour countdown.


    "Eh, more like for the past eight hours." Rue was practically buzzing with excitement, making her rather forthcoming with information."


    "For the first 16 hours, adventurers would go through character creation, choosing their race, selecting their features, and choosing their class.Once they finalized their character, they would be loaded onto the island that existed for their race. During that time, they would interact with NPCs, learn about the lore of not only their race, but also the world. They would learn of the rumors of a mysterious dungeon, promising treasure, adventure, and fame on the lost continent. They would then spend time preparing themselves, practicing with their class, learning to use the skills and abilities they received at level one.


    "And then at the eight hour mark, they all loaded onto ships?" He tried to wrap his head around this fact. Just how many players were loaded into this instance? He knew that the instances were limited to cities, but he couldn''t fathom that, especially understanding now that Dungeon Cores were players too. Sure, his town was one of the smaller ones, with a population of only 20,000, but there were others that had millions of people in them. Were all of those players going to all compete for a single dungeon?


    "Hey Rue?" He needed to know.


    "Yes Glyax?" She was glancing at him, and he could tell from her expression she was curious what he was going to ask. Especially as they watched an ever increasing number of ships appearing on the horizon, all moving towards the continent.


    "How many players are in an instance?" Maybe the developers hadn''t really meant cities?


    "Hmmm, that really depends on the area. As you know, Dungeon Core Online is a massively multiplayer online game encompassing a single city area." Yeah, I read the news about it.


    "Yes, but-"


    "But, as you know, each dungeon core is actually a player. Therefore, it would be difficult, in many of the larger cities, to expect a single player to manage that type of a flow of characters."


    "So-" James was interested to hear what the developers did to manage that.


    "So, the developers came up with a unique solution to this problem." She paused and shot him a smile. The pixie knew he wanted this knowledge, and she was purposefully dragging it out.


    "What did they do?"


    "They decided each instance of DCO would have up to a maximum of 20,000 players, with one player acting as the dungeon core for those people." So given James''s city had right around 20,000 people, he was the sole dungeon core for his city.


    "And for the larger cities?"


    "For those, they sectioned the cities off into grids of 20,000, and assigned a single core to each of those. The developers wanted to wait until the game launched, to announce this change, in order to prevent the possibility that players would pull out of purchasing the game. It was also to try and prevent players from attempting to escape from their 20,000 grid grouping. DCO is about creating cooperation in a community." For a brief moment, as Rue finished her explanation, James remembered the man''s comment before he signed his NDA. The comment about this being a massive social experiment by the government.


    "Alright, so how many players have logged into DCO for my instance?" His city had 20,000 people, however it was extremely unlikely every single person had logged in to play DCO.


    Rue waved her hand, pulling up a screen James hadn''t seen before. Game Population.


    "What the-" James glanced from the screen, to the approaching ships. According to the screen, those ships held over 10,000 players. How was he supposed to entertain that many players?


    "Don''t worry about it Glyax." Rue waved her hand and the screen disappeared. James was curious just how many different screens his pixie could pull up. What other information did she have?


    "There are 10,000 players heading towards me, how am I not supposed to worry?"


    "Well, for a few reason." She raised her hand, with three fingers up. "First, not all of those adventurers are going to be doing dungeon dives. The developers predicted that." She lowered a finger, and James had to admit, that reasoning made sense. He knew a lot of players would choose to build up a town, and establish their own businesses within the town, while other players took on the challenge of diving into the dungeon. "Two," Rue dropped a second finger, leaving just her middle finger up. Real mature. "Developers have put methods in place to prevent a dungeon from being overrun at a single time." James made a mental note to ask about those methods. "And three," her middle finger dropped. "I am sure more players will log in through the next few weeks, as your game progresses and grows, and they begin hearing about the wonders of taking part in DCO."


    "That last point didn''t help me not worry." James groaned as Rue started to laugh. The pixie summoned a chair and sat down, eyes fixed in the distance. The ships had begun to slow, and James could make out a mixture of forms riding on smaller ships toward the shore, along with players seemingly jumping into the ocean and swimming towards shore. He could imagine the excitement in the air, as the players swarmed towards the continent, towards him. It was only a matter of time now, before the first set of adventurers would set foot in his dungeon.


    "Are you ready for this Glyax?" Rue had a pair of binoculars up to her eyes. When had she summoned those? And why hadn''t she given him any? "Judging by the players'' progress, I would say you have about an hour, maybe two, before the first players find your entrance."


    James glanced from his dungeon, to his pixie, to the forms in the distance disappearing into the forest. Who would be the first to discover his dungeon? How would their first dive go? So many questions began rushing through his mind, but one thing was certain. "I''m ready."

 18 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18


    "Glyax, they''re coming." Rue''s excited cry pulled James from his task at hand. It had been a little over an hour since the ships landed, meaning James had been in the game for 25 hours. Because of the extra time waiting on adventurers, his trap research had completed. When it finished, he instantly started loot research, as planned, and had begun searching through his trap options, imagining what he could do with them.


    When his trap research completed, he was given a new option in the Dungeon Creator labeled Traps. In it, there were options for basic traps, while most of the screen was locked behind padlocks with numbers on them, likely denoting needed research levels. James was currently trying to decide which type of trap would work best on his first floor, and how many of each. The lowest level of traps, pitfall traps, cost 50 resources per trap.


    "About time." James mentally dismissed the screen, and turned his attention to the entrance to his dungeon. Five forms were emerging slowly from the tree line, looking around hesitantly .The moment one of them noticed the massive cave entrance, leading into James''s dungeon, the adventurer let out a cry of excitement, and the five of them began sprinting up the hill.


    "Bet they are going for instance first." The moment Rue mentioned players needed to discover his entrance, he knew the developers had put in an achievement for just that. It would only make sense. James himself would have been racing to try and find the dungeon first, to get the much coveted achievement. That also meant the five before his dungeon, were likely competent gamers.


    "We did it." The first member of the group of five called out as he reached the cave entrance, glancing at his companions as they followed suit. Judging by their lithe forms and pointy ears, James was certain they were elves. Way to be original game.


    "I didn''t expect us to have to track down the freaking dungeon entrance, but I''m glad we choose elves." The second figure let out a laugh, glancing back into the forest. "The elf race bonus just gave us a huge advantage."


    "Race bonus?" Many games gave characters unique bonuses based upon their races, something that hailed back to the pen and pencil Dungeons and Dragons days.


    "Elves get a 15 percent movement speed increase when running through the forest. They also gain an understanding of all plants and animals within the forest." So that meant they were able to make their way through the forest faster, but just running into the forest wouldn''t help them find his entrance.


    "I''m so glad we went with your hunch Z." The third member of the party was speaking. At his comment, the first adventurer flashed his friend a smile and thumbs up. "What can I say? The Divine Dungeon Series was madly popular, and that dungeon was based in the mountains. I figured the developers might follow suit."


    "That is not why I choose this dungeon." James had wanted to be unique. But he knew a cave on a mountain was not very unique. Stupid Random Mob type.


    "Well, if it makes you feel better, I''m sure your mobs will take them by surprise."


    "I''m sure no one will be expecting my mobs." James grumbled. At least there was that.


    "Alright, well let''s get to exploring. Bet ya a copper there are mining veins inside." The first adventurer, Z, called out. The others quickly took up the bet, and as group, they all took a step into James''s dungeon.


    The moment they did, two things happened. First, a massive beam of light shot up from the ground, signaling for all of continent the location of dungeon entrance. Second, a text box appeared in front of James, an announcement stringing across it.


    Attention: The [Guild] Knights Who Go Ni, have discovered the Dungeon. The dungeon entrance will now be marked on all maps.


    "Well, that just made everyone else''s life easy." James could only imagine how the other adventurers were taking the news. He was certain many of those trying to find the dungeon first were dismayed, while those who had joined the game to set up the own shops were filling with excitement. Their lives just became easier.


    "Tryhard Explorer?" Z and his companions had stopped just inside of the dungeon, and they appeared to be reading something in the air. Well, that answered James''s question, he couldn''t see their achievements or screens. "Glad to see they are sticking with typical Dungeon Core snarky-ness." Z and the others started to chuckle, as they moved further into the dungeon. "Don''t forget to pay up." His companions all groaned as they made swiping motions with their hands, likely interacting with their own player screens.


    "So, I apparently can''t see their screens or achievements." James looked at Rue as the group made their way deeper. "But, can I pull up any information on them?"


    "Pretty much everything." So helpful.


    "And, how, oh wonderful pixie, can I do that?" Seriously, telling him was able to do something, didn''t help if she didn''t explain how.


    The pixie shot him a look, letting him know he was going pay for his snarky comment, before she replied. "Anything, and anyone, that enters your dungeon, becomes able for you to analyze. All you have to do is focus on them, and imagine you are pulling up their information, just like you would a mob."


    James silently cursed himself for not thinking about that. It made sense. In any game, players were usually able to pull up other player''s information just by focusing on them and willing it to be so. Some of the older games would require players to pull up a screen, and actively choose to view that player''s profile, but still, it was a common practice. And yet, James hadn''t even thought about it. Being a dungeon core was still throwing him off his groove. It could also be the fact he hadn''t slept in game for over 25 hours though as well. Sleep is for the Weak was going to kill him.


    "Alright, let''s see what we are up against." The group was nearing the door, so James pulled up all five of their character sheets at the same time, summoning five different screens before him.


    Z


    Level 1 Archer


    75 xp


    25 xp to next level


    HP: 30


    AP: 30


    Currency: 19 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Oak HardBark


    Level 1 Warrior


    75 xp


    25 xp to next level


    HP: 50


    AP: 30


    Currency: 14 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Med Ic


    Level 1 Cleric


    75 xp


    25 xp to next level


    HP: 25


    MP: 50


    Currency: 14 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Faust


    Level 1 Mage


    75 xp


    25 xp to next level


    HP: 25


    MP: 50


    Currency: 14 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    Elm Strongbow


    Level 1 Archer


    75 xp


    25 xp to next level


    HP: 30


    AP: 30


    Currency: 14 copper 0 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    James quickly scanned the information being provided for him, noting that as well as their basic information, he could see tabs for each character. Stats, Skills, Equipment, Achievements. If James had the time, he would have glanced at each. He was really curious to see how their stats and skills played out. He was certain those stats would give him a better understanding of how each class worked, as well as their skills, to determine their strengths and weaknesses. At the same time though, the group was about to step into his first floor, and he didn''t want to be distracted. James closed the characters'' information, making a mental note to do some research on all the different classes when he wasn''t being invaded. One thing the internet was good for, was people posting guides on every single character class in a game.


    "Everyone ready?" Z was looking at his group, and all four returned his smile, holding their thumbs up. They were gamers, of course they were ready to go. What''s more, they were likely extremely excited to see what the dungeon had in store for them.


    "Let''s do this." Z threw open the door, and while glances at his companions, took a step into the dungeon. The others followed instantly.


    "That is going to hurt." James could barely hold in his mirth. His mobs were able to roam freely around the entire floor. As such, it was random where his mobs would be, and even more random where his boss would be. Luckily for the group, Old Man Jenkins was currently among the apple trees. Unluckily for the group, a Sacrificial Lamb happened to be standing next to the door as they opened it.


    "What the-" Was all Z was able to get out as he walked into the Sacrificial Lamb, activating it''s unique trait.


    The lamb let out a single baa, before its body took on a bright glow, and promptly exploded, sending wool and lamb blood flying, coating the entire group with its blood.


    Achievement Unlocked- Baaaha Blast- Damage a party of five or more with Baa Baa Boom and Blood for the Blood God simultaneously.


    Reward: 200xp, 1 Upgrade Point for Sacrificial Lamb


    James was laughing so hard after the lamb committed lamb-i-cide that he was having trouble closing out of the achievement window. At his side, Rue was rolling on the ground laughing. Whenever she tried to get up, she fell back down chuckling.


    "Well, you can''t say the game didn''t start with a boom." Z was the first to regain his composure after the sacrificial lamb detonated, and he made a motion, likely pulling up his character sheet. "Med, we''re going to need you to cleanse us, that sheep had a DoT." The cleric, Med IC, nodded and his hands began glowing, a moment later, a light washed over the party and removed every ounce of blood from them. This group had likely played many MMOs together. James secretly wondered if he had ever run across them in Warcraft Universe.


    As the light faded, the group surrounded the mess that was the lamb, and made motions like they were pulling up their screens, likely looting the mob.


    "Alright guys." Z waved his hand, dismissing his screen, and turned to grin at his party. "How about we start our dungeon dive for real?" The rest of the group cheered, and set off, with Z in the lead, towards the large barn James had erected in the center of his floor. He could hardly wait to watch their encounters as they explored his dungeon.

 19 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19


    "Are we really supposed to take on a bunch of chickens?" Oak HardBark, the warrior of the group, asked the others. They had made it to one of the dicken coops on their way to the barn, and had stopped to look at the little demonic chickens.


    "What are you complaining about? How many squirrels and rabbits have you killed farming up experience?" Z''s comment was met with a grin from the whole group, and James found himself smiling as well. Many games he had played, usually had adorable furry little creatures, or rats or slimes, as the level one mobs. Countless fluffy creatures had been slain by James, and he could imagine even more by the group below.


    "Yeah, I know, but still, like, it feels like we are just raiding an old farm." Well, you kind of are.


    "Look man, these chickens-"


    "Dickens." Faust, the mage interrupted Z as he was nearing the dicken coop, and the entire party started laughing. The name was even more amusing when adventurers'' said it out loud.


    "-Dickens," James could tell Z was fighting to not break into laughter. "Are harmless." He smacked one of the dickens with his bow, sending the chicken clucking away, though it eyed him angrily. The sound of other dickens growing agitated in the coop could be heard, even by James.


    "They probably shouldn''t do that." James commented to Rue, watching as the other group eyed the dickens. He was thinking about their Flock together skill. James was able to tell there were five dickens in that group, meaning they were already getting buffed. Activating Flock together would result in Z getting swarmed by angry dickens. Hilarious, yet likely tragic for the adventurers.


    "So Z, should we just kill them and keep exploring?" Elm, the other archer in the group, had an arrow knocked and leveled towards the dicken. The others had all drawn their weapons and seemed prepared to attack.


    "Might as well." Z pulled out an arrow and turned towards the dicken he had struck. The farm animal was eying him and clucking angrily, rustling its feathers, preparing to attack. It was so comical, James almost felt bad for the little guy when an arrow punched into its chest. To his surprise though, the dicken simply let out a cluck, and lunged at Z.


    "Oh crap." Z smashed the chicken with his bow, knocking it back as he scrambled away from the coop. The strike elicited even angrier clucking from within. By James''s count, that was three hits on the dicken, all nonlethal. If he were the developers, he had to wonder how many strikes would count as repeated in order to prompt the dicken''s skill. James decided to see if the dicken''s information would offer him any clues.


    Dicken


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 13


    MP: 20


    Atk: 2


    Def: 2


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather (Active): Dickens double all stats when in groups of 5.


    (3 of 5) Flock together: If dickens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the agro of all dickens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.


    Based off what James could tell, Z''s arrow had likely done 5 damage, while his bow strikes did a measly 1. Because the dicken had Birds of a Feather activated, its hp was set at 20 max, instead of its normal 10. So, if James was right, it would take more than 2 more shots from Z to finish the dicken off, meaning Flock together would activate. James was loving this.


    "Z''s in for a dicken." Rue''s comment made James laugh, and sure enough they both watched as Z shot another arrow into the dicken, making it cluck angrily. It was quite comically, seeing a demonic chicken with two feathers sprouting from its chest, as it clucked angrily and lunched at Z. Once again, the archer knocked it back with his bow. "That''s number 5."


    As the dicken landed, and the counter showed 5 for 5, the mood around the party instantly seemed to change. The dicken that had been abused by Z let out a crow, like a rooster would have, and began glowing. At the same time, a burning feather icon appeared above Z.


    "I think you angered it." The group started to laugh, but wisely everyone, including Z, started to back away from the crowing dicken. It was a good idea, as all of a sudden, four additional dickens burst out of the coop, all clucking angrily. As one, the group of five, led by the dicken with two arrows sticking out of it, turned towards Z. It was hilarious, yet terrifying.


    "Do we run or fight?" Oak was edging closer to Z, likely preparing to tank the dicken horde. James knew his role as warrior likely placed him as the group''s tank. They were an experienced group, their composition showed as much. Three damage dealers, also known as DPS, a healer, and a tank. A nice, balanced party. However, what they didn''t know, and what James did know, was Oak wouldn''t be able to tank the dicken mob.


    "They''re low level enough. We should be fine." The others nodded as Z spoke, and without another word, both sides began their attack.


    Oak let out a cry and rushed forward, swinging his sword madly at one of the dickens, smashing it backwards. It was likely at level one, he didn''t have a taunt yet. Even if he did, James had to wonder if it would work against the dicken skill.


    Z and Elm began launching arrows into the dickens, but the chickens were moving fast, rushing past Oak towards Z, meaning the archers missed their initial shots. If James had to guess, the developers hadn''t put an auto aim feature into the game. Many people had found they preferred playing immersion games with as little aid assist as possible. That made things both more exciting, and often times a little more difficult, in the early levels of games. As players progressed, they could usually get skills and traits that almost acted like an aim assist, by adding seeking abilities to spells and ranged attacks.


    "Kill the leader." Z managed to cry out, as four dickens jumped on him, the fifth trying, unsuccessfully, to get past Oak. Z was swinging his bow wildly at the dickens, doing his best to fight them off as they clawed and pecked at him. James pulled up his information real quick, curious to see how much damage his little birds were doing. To his surprise, Z''s health was down to 20 from his initial 30. If he was alone, that swarm of dickens would have easily destroyed him.


    "Medic!" Z cried out as he took another peck. James was certain the ranger was aware of how fast his health was dropping, and also had to chuckle at the name of their cleric again. How witty of the group. Med''s hands began glowing, and James watched as Z''s health climbed up by 5 points, only to be pecked away again a moment later. James was certain this was the end for Z, as the archer''s health dipped below half. Only a few more strikes, and he was a goner.


    "Hey Z." Faust''s voice pulled James and Z''s attention to the mage who James was pretty sure they had forgotten. The mage''s hands were glowing green, and moving in an intricate motion, he was casting some sort of spell. "What do you request?" His comment brought a grin to the entire group, and as if on cue, Z jumped backwards, dipping into a roll as he cried out.


    "A shrubbery!" As these words left Z''s mouth, vines shot up from beneath the dickens, trapping all five of them in place, wrapping around them. Next to him, Rue was laughing hysterically, while James simply stared. Those were obviously vines, not a shrubbery. Was he missing something?


    With the dickens trapped, Z and the others quickly took advantage of the now immobilized mobs, and began hacking away. Shooting the feathered fury''s seemed much easier when they couldn''t move, and after a few moments, Z and his group had slain all the birds. As they sorted through loot Med proceeded to heal Z''s wounds, and the others started to sit down, resting. They knew what they were doing, and weren''t going to proceed carelessly unless they were all healed.


    "Shame, no one died from a dicken." Rue smirked and glanced from James to the group, her eyes wandering across the dungeon floor. "What do you think they''ll run into next?"


    The next closest mobs were a roaming Mad Cow, and a small group of roaming dickens. Closer to the barn, three swiners and a scapegoat milled about. Old Man Jenkins was still by the orchard, though he appeared to be moving towards the corn field.


    "Honestly, I don''t really care. This is hilarious." James wasn''t even angry they hadn''t fallen to his dickens. He was a gamer, and he knew something Rue didn''t. The more successful they were early in the dungeon, the more careless they would be. That means, there was a chance James would get a good amount of experience from this group. A very good amount of experience.

 20 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20


    "How''s everyone doing?" Z was sitting on a bale of hay, munching on a piece of cooked dicken meat. The adventurer party had set up a small camp for a break near one of the ponds, and were roasting some of their dicken meat. So far, James had watched them take on the dickens, a mad cow, and a few swiners. The scapegoat that had been with the swiners early had wandered away, making the fight much easier on the group. Still, each battle had left the party wounded in some way shape or form, though they always had a grin on their faces. James knew how exhilarating the experience must be for them.


    "How long have they been in here?" James really hadn''t paid much attention to when the group had entered his dungeon, and he was curious how far away other adventurers were. What would happen when others appeared? How would that work?


    "Eh, thirty minutes maybe?" Rue waved her hand, and a timer appeared. 00H 26M 47S. "They have been in here-"


    "27 minutes, thanks Rue." James shook his orb, and turned back to the group. It definitely didn''t feel like they had been in there for half an hour already. He was really enjoying the whole watching adventurers explore his dungeon part of being a dungeon core. As he glanced at the group, and the mobs around them, he started to grin even more. His life was about to get a lot more interesting.


    The pond the group had set up on, was near the corn field. The very same corn field Old Man Jenkins had been heading towards. It seemed the smell of their cooking, had started to attract the boss mob, as the demonic farmer had changed his pace from aimless wandering, to purposeful stride, directly towards the group.


    "Hey Z." Elm was facing the corn field, while the others had their back to it.


    "What''s up?" Z had a dicken leg in one hand, preparing to take a bite out of it.


    "You ever read a dungeon core novel with a roaming boss mob?" Elm was staring at the corn field, and his face was starting to pale. Old Man Jenkin''s 10 foot form had disappeared among the ears of corn, as James''s crop stood nearly 12 foot high. However, he had drawn near enough to the party, that James could see his outline, which is what Elm was staring at as well.


    "Hmm," Z bit into his dicken leg, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. "A few, though never on the first floor." He took another bite. "Why do you ask?"


    At this point, Old Man Jenkin''s had reached the very end of the corn field, and was extremely visible to anyone who would look in his direction. Elm, rising a shaking finger, pointed in his direction. As one, the team turned, and cursed.


    "What is that thing?" Z dropped his dicken leg, and the entire party scrambled to gather their things and get on their feet, their rest forgotten. They stared at Old Man Jenkins, and the boss stared back. His eyes seemed to glow with a red fire, and James had to admit, if he were in their shoes, he would have been scared. Black smoke billowed from the farmer''s pipe, as he took in the adventurer''s appearances. By the way his eyes narrowed, James was certain the boss was not amused by their appearance. By the way Z and his guild seemed to pale, it was likely they had realized that too.


    "So, we running or fighting?" Oak''s tone of voice betrayed what he wanted to do.


    "Well," Z seemed to pull up his screen, glancing over his player information. As he turned and looked at his members, James figured he was also checking all of their information. "We are close to leveling." Z''s face showed he was torn on his decision. "But, do you guys think we can take this boss down, at level one?" James had seen that done before, in a few games. It usually required a high level of skill and patience, as lower level players just didn''t have the damage output to burn bosses down like others would. That meant they would need to expertly dodge all of the attacks aimed at them, while landing all of their attacks to maximize damage.


    "Honestly, we probably can''t." Med spoke up as he glanced at Old Man Jenkins. The boss was still glaring at the group, but hadn''t attacked yet. James wondered if they would need to agro the boss, before he started his attack. Or was the boss just waiting to see what they did?


    "But, what if we could?" The way Z said it made the others pause, and grins started to cross their faces. This was what James had been waiting for, this was the gamer aspect he was sure Rue hadn''t planned on. Gamers loved to do things before others. Gamers loved to claim as many first titles as possible. Gamers loved a good challenge.


    "Probably get another achievement for it." Faust commented, steadying himself as he turned to fully face Old Man Jenkins. His hands spread, likely preparing to cast a spell. James knew the level 1 mage had a binding spell, he was curious what else he could use.


    "Another world first for the guild." Z drew an arrow, as did Elm. Oak let out a sigh as he took up position in front of the group, while Med stood in the back with Faust. They were going to do it. James nearly started crying with joy.


    "Besides, what''s the worst that can happen? This is a MMO, not a Souls game." Oh the irony. Souls games were related to the Dark Souls style games that came out in the early 2000s. They were the genre of game that James was aware of, that cost people their hard earned souls, essentially experience, when they died. It was a mechanic that was unique to the Souls games and those that followed them, and James couldn''t think of any MMO that had incorporated such a mechanic. It was a brutal mechanic, and in MMOs, where players often threw themselves at monsters over and over, regardless of if they died, to level and gain gear, and to chase world firsts, the mechanic was going to cost the players a lot. But it was also going to gain James a lot.


    "Let''s do this." Oak let out a roar, and started running forward. At the same time, two arrows burst past his shoulders, fired by Elm and Z. The arrows lodged into Old Man Jenkins''s chest, but the farmer seemed unconcerned. Meanwhile, Faust began changing, and his hands started to glow a strange blue. If James had to guess, the mage either had a basic magic missile attack, a common level 1 attack spell. A moment later, blue missiles of energy launched towards Old Man Jenkins, confirming James''s suspicion.


    "I wonder how many of those he can-"James''s stopped his comment as he turned towards his pixie. Before, his attention has been focused on the party squaring off against Old Man Jenkins. As such, he hadn''t been paying attention to his pixie. Now, looking at her, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing. The AI had summoned a bowl of popcorn, and was watching the fight unfurl below them like someone would watching a movie on TV. James didn''t know if he should laugh at her antics, or be angry at the developers about his pixie again.


    "Magic missile." She said between bites of popcorn. "Level 1 Mage spell. Deals 5 x lvl damage. Costs 5mp per spell. Takes 2 seconds to channel." Wow, she was being surprisingly helpful. James recalled Faust had a total of 50MP, meaning without recharging MP, he would be able to cast 10 Magic missiles, for a total of 50 damage. He seemed to refresh mana at the rate of 1 MP per second. James didn''t feel like doing the math, but he could tell it would take a while for the mage to do enough to chip away at his boss''s 500 HP.


    "So, it''s going to take them a while to kill the boss?" James pulled up Old Man Jenkins'' information, and paused, as realization dawned on him. His boss was not only a boss mob, meaning he was exceptionally strong compared to the other mobs, but was also level 5. If James had to guess, it would likely be a challenging fight for five level five players to take him on. This fight was going to be nearly impossible for Z and his group.


    "Make sure you don''t get hit." Z called out as two more arrows blasted into James''s boss mob, this time peppering his face. One of the arrows found an eye, causing the boss to roar in rage. If James had to guess, that was a weak spot.


    "Easy for you to say." Oak jumped back as Old Man Jenkins swung wildly with his pitchfork, barely managing to avoid the blow. However, he was blasted backwards still by the blast of air that seemed to emit from the swing. "Ooof." James glanced at Oak''s character sheet, and saw even though the attack hadn''t landed, the warrior had taken 5 damage. Things were not looking good for the group.


    "I don''t think we are doing much damage here." Faust cried out as he launched a fourth magic missile. The attack hit, but the boss seemed uninterested, as he swung again at Oak. The warrior managed to roll under the attack, this time avoiding the blast of wind entirely, and putting him finally in the range to use his sword.


    "Just keep at him. Remember our forty minute fight against that elder dragon in Monster Hunter?" Z called out as another arrow launched, finding Old Man Jenkins other eye. The giant boss roared out and stomped, forcing Oak, cursing, to roll away again.


    James had heard of that fight, though he hadn''t been a part of it. Apparently a group of 10 players took on an end game monster the day it released. It had been strong enough to one shot a player, and in the monster hunter games, if you or your team died three times, the mission was failed. So, these guys had been a part of the team that brought it down for world first, interesting.


    "You know we cheesed that fight so hard." Oak cried out as he came up, sword ready. Old Man Jenkins was flailing about wildly with his pitchfork, as he pulled an arrow out of his eye. James was sure in a few seconds, his boss would be able to see again. "We were all ranged, and just kept stun locking him. Even still, you died once."


    "So did you." Z and the others laughed as they continued their attack on the boss. James checked Old Man Jenkins life, amused to find they had only managed about 40 points of damage on the boss so far. It was going to be a long fight for them.


    "E" A loud voice echoed out, as Old Man Jenkins slammed his pitchfork into the ground, his eye focusing angrily on Z. The party paled as they started upping their attacks.


    "I" Fire started to flow from under the pitchfork, creating a demonic symbol.


    "Anyone have a silence?" Z''s voice held a hint of panic.


    "We''re level one, no one has a silence." Faust was backing away, arrow knocked.


    "E" The demonic symbol started to appear under Z.


    "You need to stop pulling agro." Oak was laughing as Z''s face paled. He had a point, Z seemed to pull agro every fight.


    "I" Both symbols burst to life, glowing a bright crimson.


    "O!" Two hooves burst from the ground, kicking Z and launching him through the air, over Old Man Jenkins, and into the corn field. A demonic donkey appeared for a moment after kicking Z, before it disappeared into a puff of smoke. James was certain he heard the donkey laugh as it faded away.


    "Z!" Oak and the others cried out. Elm launched two arrows, again temporarily blinding Old Man Jenkins, as they rushed past the boss, into the corn. James was certain they had made the plan to save Z, and run. It would have been a great plan, one that should have worked, if the party had better luck. However, during the fight, Old Man Jenkins'' second ability had managed to snag a few mobs that were within 20 yards of the party.


    Z, had landed next to one of these mobs, and James was certain, if he hadn''t been stunned by the fall, he would have called out, to warn his teammates. After all, the archer was staring face to face with a sacrificial lamb, while two others appeared near him. He hadn''t touched them, and they hadn''t died, so their ability hadn''t activated yet. However, Oak, smashing through the corn field, searching for his team leader, did. In his haste, he stumbled over the sacrificial lamb that stood just in front of the stunned Z .A moment later, as the rest of the party made their way in, having caught up with Oak, a set of three explosions ripped through the corn field.


    "Popcorn?" From the corner of his eye, James could see Rue offering him her bowl of popcorn, her eyes filled with laughter. Her comment came just as the corn field erupted into a mass of explosions, lamb wool, blood, and ironically enough, popcorn, caused James to break out in laughter. He definitely was going to enjoy being a dungeon core.

 21 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21


    "What''s the worst that can happen? It''s not a souls game after all." Oak''s voice was echoing through the dungeon as he stared hard at Z. When the first sacrificial lamb detonated, it had set off the other two in the area as well, creating three consecutive explosions. Apparently, three explosions, coupled with the buff from Old Man Jenkins, had created enough damage to completely wipe Z''s party. After the rain of popcorn had stopped, James had watched as 5 floating orbs slowly drifted away from where the group had been, all the way to the door that led to the first floor. The moment the orbs passed through the door, it slammed shut. A second later, the orbs materialized back into Z and his group.


    "Hey, at least we found out at level one." Z was holding his arms up in defeat, though he had a grin on his face. "Just imagine the poor saps that learn when they are near like level 5 or 10." When the group had respawned, they had all pulled up their character sheets, and while James couldn''t see the screens they were viewing, he knew what they were about to see. A moment later, the group had started cussing up a storm, having found all of their experience had been taken away, leaving them back at 0 experience.


    James had checked his character sheet the moment they started cursing, just to confirm what Rue had told him about experience gain. Sure enough, he had an extra 594 experience, putting him at 3094 total exp. He had gained 200 from his Baaha Blast achievement, and another 394 from the group. They had been so close to level two, it really was a shame¡­for them.


    "You don''t think word''s going to get out?" Faust was glancing from Z to Oak, and both shook their heads in unison.


    "Who''s going to warn the other players?" Z''s face was taking on a wicked grin as he looked at his group. Faust paused for a second, before a smile appeared on his face as well.


    "You''re right." Faust''s smile grew even larger. "No one''s going to warn the others about that mechanic, at least not early on. No reason helping the competition out just yet, right?" James was certain they were right that no one would share the dangers of dying to other players just yet. In MMOs, players were constantly racing to become the strongest, because the stronger you were, the better gear, and the more opportunities you had to take on and clear challenges before others. All the hardcore players, the ones who would likely end up making the mistake early on of trying to tackle too large an enemy, would want to keep the loss of experience a secret. They wouldn''t want others getting a one up on them, and playing it safe early on. Though, James was sure once enough people had fallen and lost experience, word would finally get out. At that time though, the first few teams would likely have made up their experience loss and still climbed ahead of the others. That was the nature of these games, learn from your mistakes, and continue to grow.


    "So, think we should dive back in, and try to make up for lost experience?" Z turned towards the others, who all let out a cheer. He turned to the door, and approached it slowly, likely worried about opening it up into another sacrificial lamb. The archer put his hand on the door, and tried to open it. However, instead of swinging outwards into the first floor of the dungeon, a red countdown timer appeared on the door. 00hr 59min 58sec


    "What the?" Z and James both asked at the same time. While Z''s party stared at the door, unable to answer, Rue turned to James. Unlike the group, James had a pixie to help answer his questions about game mechanics.


    "That''s a cooldown timer." She smirked as she said it, looking down as Z tried once more to open the door. "When a party either completes your entire dungeon, or is completely wiped out, they are placed on cooldown."


    "They get a cooldown for completing the dungeon too?" James could understand being penalized for wiping and entire dungeon floor. Heck he had played games where instances themselves had time limits, and when the limit was done, your team was done. He had also played games where you had to wait in a que in order to even start an event. Waiting was a pain, but the prizes were usually worth it.


    "Mhmm." Rue reached into her popcorn bowl, only to find it was empty. With a sigh she flicked her wrist, making it disappear. "The developers didn''t want players to simply rush into a floor after dying to keep trying to defeat a boss over and over. They also put in limitations against zerging floors, and free farming experience." This was all news to James.


    "So, what did they do?" He could understand setting restrictions to pace gameplay for characters but was interested to see just how they did it. Such restrictions could be a turn off for players, and James figured he needed to fully understand these, otherwise he could accidently chase away players.


    "Well, first." Rue held up a finger. "The developers have limited the number of adventurers that can dive into a dungeon instance at 20 players."


    "A dungeon instance?" James had read about such things in some of the Dungeon Core novels he had read. One such book, Slime Dungeon, had unlocked the ability to create unique instances per team entering the dungeon, allowing for multiple groups to enter the dungeon at the same time, without running into other players.


    "When players step foot into your dungeon entrance, they will be teleported into an instance of your dungeon. The developers set the default number of instances to a maximum of 10 instances, with each instance being able to support up to 20 players." If James''s math was correct, which he was confident it was, that meant up to 200 players could enter his dungeon at a time, spread out through the 10 instances.


    "Can I interact with those instances?" He was curious if he would be able to not only watch these adventurers during their dives, but also influence the dungeon while they were in it? What if he was adding new mobs, or traps, while adventurers were diving?


    "You can individually monitor and interact with each instance through the Instances tab." Of course, there was an Instances tab. "This tab will pull up individual windows of each instance. By focusing on one, you will be able to make that your main instance for the moment, which will allow you specifically effect that instance in various ways."


    "What if I wanted to implement a new trap?" At 50 resources for a trap, James would be loath to make an instance specific trap, even if it seemed funny at the moment.


    "Jeez you ask a lot of questions." Rue sighed and let her finger drop. "Anything you do that would be permanent, is applied to the master layout for your dungeon via the Dungeon Creator. It will not affect instances in progress, but all new instances after you have implemented your changes will take effect."


    "Thanks Rue. What else did the developers implement?" James could tell he was angering the pixie, maybe he should let her finish her explanations without asking questions? However, he felt the more he knew now, the better prepared he would be later. The more you know, after all.


    "You sure, no more questions?" The pixie stared at him hard, and he shook his orb side to side. "Promise?"


    "Promise." If he could smile at her, he would have.


    "Uh huh." She didn''t seem convinced, but she held up two fingers, continuing her explanations. "The second restriction the developers put in, is a death timer. If players die, but their party is still alive, they will turn into floating orbs, as you saw. For two minutes after their death, they will have the ability to be resurrected by any player that has an item or skill capable of doing that. If, after two minutes, they are still dead, they will be sent to the start of the dungeon and must wait an additional three minutes before they can reenter the dungeon and join their party again." So, that would keep parties from zerging a boss, or simply throwing themselves over and over at a high leveled mob while a single member of their party sat somewhere safe. Made sense.


    "Next?" James really didn''t have any questions regarding that mechanic, at least none that he could think of at the moment.


    "Third, is the cooldown timer." She nodded towards Z and his party, who had all started to walk back to the part of the dungeon with the mining walls. It seems they had given up trying to force past the door. "The cooldown timer activates whenever players clear the entire dungeon or have a party wipe."


    "Does it vary depending on the circumstances?" The question came out before James could stop himself.


    "Just couldn''t help yourself, could you?" Rue had her hands on her hips, glaring at James. She was mad, he could tell, but she looked so cute right there. Blasted pixie.


    "Sorry." He was, really. Sort of. It wasn''t like he had anything better to do right now.


    "If a party completely clears your dungeon, they will be locked out for an hour per floor cleared. If a party wipes, they will be sent to entrance to the floor they had been on, and will have to wait one hour." So, clearing the entire dungeon, if he had more than one floor, would actually lock players out for longer than simply wiping on a later floor, interesting.


    "Why-"


    "Why are they set up that way?" Rue smirked, cutting James off before he could finish his question. She was on to him. "The developers want this world to be like a brand new community for everyone. They don''t want players simply spending every moment in the dungeon. By setting cooldown timers, players will be forced to head back to town, and actually interact with each other. They will grow as a community by doing so. Also, by locking players out, new instances will be able to be formed with new players, allowing more and more adventurers to cycle through your dungeon each day." Oh, that made sense. That way more players could conduct their dives, while also being forced to rest, relax, and enjoy the entirety of DCO. It seems the developers had put a good amount of thought into the world they were creating. James was curious how the players would take such restrictions though.


    "Once players are in an instance, are they free to stay in it as long as they want farming mobs?" That was the final way to abuse the system James could think of at the moment. If players were kicked out for beating a boss, why not just stay and farm mobs? Did his mobs respawn while adventurers were on a floor? James hadn''t checked during Z''s dive as he was busy laughing at their struggles against his farm animals.


    "Your mobs will respawn a finite amount of times per instance. The default is that each mob can respawn one time per player that is in the instance." She motioned at Z''s group. Four of the members were sitting on the ground, tossing rocks towards what appeared to be a larger rock. James was certain they were seeing who could get a rock the closest. The fifth member, Oak, was hacking away at the rock wall holding iron ore. If he had to guess, Oak was the only member with a mining skill. "For their group, each mob would have been able to respawn five times. Once they had finished, ahem, farming," Rue smirked at her own joke as she continued, "they would have received a notice that they had five minutes to attack the boss. Failure to do so, would result in them being removed from the instance."


    James had to admit, the mechanics seemed solid. To his gamer mind, everything was making sense, and he could see the developers had planned a way to allow adventurers to grow at a steady pace, while offering the ability to allow other players to take part in his dungeon. He was also glad there was a cap on instances, as he had been worried what would happen if his dungeon was simply flooded with thousands of players. Old Man Jenkins wouldn''t have stood a chance.


    "What if-" James started, but Rue held up her hand, shaking her head.


    "No more questions."


    "But-" It really wasn''t an important question, but he his curiosity was getting to him. Plus, he didn''t really have anything else to do. He had an upgrade point for his sacrificial lambs, but he didn''t want to use that until he saw more teams dive. He also had less than 10 resources, so not much he could with regards to improving his dungeon. Heck, his research still have over 10 hours left on it before it unlocked. Quite frankly, he was bored, and Rue was his only source of entertainment.


    "-no buts." Rue waved her hand, and a tent appeared next to her. Was she about to go to sleep on him?


    "What are you doing?" The pixie had unzipped the entrance to her tent, and was climbing inside. Once she was inside the tent, she grinned at him, flicking her wrist as she did. Suddenly she was in a very sheer nightgown, and James instinctively looked away. He could feel heat rising to his face. He was really glad his orb couldn''t change colors.


    "Obviously I''m going to sleep. We''ve been at this for over 26 hours you know." She started to zip the tent shut, ever so slowly. "Unlike you, I''m not chasing a foolish achievement." She stopped with the zipper just below her chest, leaning almost out of the tent towards him. "You''re welcome to join me." The way she said it made his blood rise. What exactly had the developer used to create this AI''s personality? James felt like he was in an anime.


    "Nope, I''m good." James was very far from good.


    "Suit yourself, Glyax." She whispered his name, and closed the tent. The fabric could not muffle her laughter. Evil pixie. She was definitely like a girl from an anime. The bane of every teenage nerd.


    "Now what am I supposed to do." James whispered to himself, glancing around. Z''s group still had fourty minutes before they could enter his dungeon for round two. James scanned the area around his dungeon and was surprised to see one of the trees in the forest suddenly disappear. A second later, more trees disappeared. He looked at the edge of the forest, and saw many forms appearing, all seeming in small groups. Some were making their way excitedly towards his entrance. Others appeared intent on looking the area over and clearing out the trees. The other players were finally arriving.

 22 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22


    "And there goes another one." James glanced at the flashing screen, and by focusing on it, enlarged it. It had been almost an hour since Z''s group had party wiped, and since then, more than a hundred adventurers had entered his dungeon. Because of this, James now had six screens floating before him in his instance tab, five of them showing they were full with 20 out of 20, while the six only had seven players so far.


    Without Rue to help him, James had resorted to his gamer instincts, and the moment the Instances windows opened, he began searching around it for settings and information. He hadn''t been able to gather much, but had found a setting that would activate a notification for him whenever adventurers engaged in a boss fight. As such, a flashing screen meant another group was foolishly taking on Old Man Jenkins. James had yet to grow tired of watching such fights.


    He scanned the screen, noting that the instance was one of the full instances, though only a party of five seemed to be engaging Jenkins. The others were spread about farming against various mobs. James was curious if the players coordinated enough, if a 20 man party of level 1 players could take on Jenkins. He knew it was only a matter of time before players grouped to bring the boss down, though first he was certain five man parties would try to race for the instance first achievement.


    "That''s not going to work." James watched as the party, three mages, a cleric, and a knight, faced off against Jenkins. The knight steadied himself, holding up a basic iron shield, as he tried to get the bosses attention. Behind him, the three mages were all beginning to channel their spells, unsurprisingly, magic missile.


    James had watched half a dozen boss fights already, and while all the teams seemed to be competent players, utilizing tried and true team tactics and party compositions, they had all failed. No one seemed to realize just how much stronger Old Man Jenkins was. Ah well, each party wipe was earning him around 100 exp, so he was sitting happy at 3600 experience right now. If this kept up, he was sure he could hit a new rank by the end of the day. Hopefully before Rue woke back up.


    Movement on the screen pulled James from his thoughts, and he couldn''t help but grin as he watched the events unfurl. The group was fighting Old Man Jenkins near the barn this time, and the boss had just launched the knight flying with his Donkey Kick. To the group''s credit, no one seemed to panic, and they all moved as a team near the knight. However, just around the corner, moving speedily towards the knight, who was slowly standing back up, was a flock of dickens. It seems there had been five of them in one of the coops, and Old Man Jenkins''s aura had summoned them to his side.


    A normal dicken had an attack and defense of one. In groups of five or more, their stats doubled, giving them an attack and defense of two. Old Man Jenkins''s aura doubled those stats again, meaning these dickens had an attack and defense of 4, and 40 hp. Needless to say, the adventurers were doomed.


    The group reformed as the five dickens descended upon them, and as the knight did his best to swat the demonic poultry away, he really just made matters worse. There was no way he could 40 damage to a dicken before their ability activated, and sure enough, his form was quickly covered with a glow, a feather hanging above his head. The moment it did, the knight was doomed. As one, all five dickens launched themselves at him, knocking him off his feet as they pecked and clawed all about him. He let out a single scream before he died, and the dickens turned to the rest of the party.


    Achievement Unlocked- The Great Dickening- Defeat an enemy with a flock of dickens enhanced by two buffs.


    Reward: 400xp 1 upgrade point for Dicken


    "Sweet," James checked his character sheet just as the dickens finished off the cleric and a mage, leaving them only two targets remaining. With the achievement, and three enemies defeated, he was sitting at 4067 experience. He was definitely liking his progression. Grinning, he turned back to watch the fight, noticing the dickens were swarming now one of the last two mages, who was panicking so much he couldn''t cast a spell. Old Man Jenkins was amusingly standing back, smoking on his pipe as he watched his dickens in action. It seemed the boss was aware of the fact that his mobs could handle this fight. James had to wonder how much AI the developers had put into the boss mobs in the game.


    "And that makes five." The fourth mage had just fallen, and the fifth, who had turned and started to run away, leaving the four glowing orbs of his buddy, had just taken a dicken to the back of his knee, bringing him stumbling down to the ground. A moment later the other four descended on him, and he too burst into a flash of light. As the group of five orbs moved towards the entrance, where they would have to wait another hour before entering, James had another flash of light go off, with another message.


    "A second one?"


    Achievement Unlocked- The Birds- Wipe out an entire party with a group of Dickens


    Reward: 500xp, 1 upgrade point for Dicken


    Two achievements earned in the span of a few minutes? James was really liking how his progression was going. He was sure it would slow down as players learned and began to level properly, playing smarter and safer. For now though, James was content to watch them flounder as his precious mobs decimated them. Besides, he was now sitting at 4600 experience. He was definitely going to reach 10,000 experience before Rue woke up. James couldn''t wait to watch his mobs level, and assign their upgrades.

 23 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23


    It took nearly 8 hours for James''s experience to climb closer to 10,000, and his first rank. While he had seen a burst of experience courtesy of mob based achievements, the progress had begun to slow. This was due, in part, to the fact that he could only gain these achievements once. It was also do the fact that the players who were doing their dives now, had all started to play a little more cautiously.


    The great thing about gamers, was how quickly they adapted. After their initial deaths, and the realization that they lost experience when they died, the players began to play a lot more cautiously. James had to sit and watch the groups hunted down mobs that they could find in smaller packs, while working to avoid Old Man Jenkins. Generally, they were able to spot the 10 foot tall boss from a good distance away, and quickly turn tail and run. The only place he could really hide was the corn field, and players started avoiding that area altogether. Z''s group wasn''t the only group to run into sacrificial lambs in the corn field. James was wondering if there was an achievement he could unlock related to the field, the sheep, and popcorn. There had to be.


    James scanned through his character sheet quickly, and found it hard to keep his excitement contained. He was sitting at 9,842 experience. One more party, all he needed was one more party to wipe, and he would hit his first Rank. And none too soon, as a few of the adventurer groups had managed to reach level 2 .The saving grace though, was that those who had managed to farm enough experience, usually cleared the instance of all the mobs, meaning they had been kicked from the dungeon for an hour. They obviously had wisely chosen not to engage Old Man Jenkins again so soon


    A flashing on the screen pulled James''s attention to one of his 10 instances, all of which currently had 20 out of 20 adventurers populating the screen. Many of these teams were new teams, still on their first round of farming the floor. Most of the previous teams had left the dungeon earlier, making their way to the rapidly growing town at the base of the mountain. A vast majority of the players were actually down there, likely choosing to be more casual, and take their time with the game. That and the race for players to establish their own niche market, skills, and housing areas. There was a lot of work for players to do in setting up the dungeon town, and James knew some of the first adventurers in the dungeon were going to be taking advantage of the rarity of items right now.


    James focused on the screen that was flashing, casting a sideways glance at Rue''s tent. The pixie was still asleep, meaning he would likely be able to do his rank up before she woke, and surprise her. For some reason he really enjoyed the thought of showing her his progress. He could be a successful dungeon without her, after all.


    As the screen before him enlarged, he had to stare for a second, to double check what he was seeing. Preparing to square off against Old Man Jenkins was Z and the Knights Who Go NI. Amidst the constant coming and going of players in the dungeon, and the string of boss fights James had been watching, he had lost track of the group that had discovered his dungeon. He quickly pulled up their information, and was surprised to see they had all reached level three already.


    James had expected such growth would take a little more time from players, but he figured the more hardcore groups, which The Knights Who Go Ni obviously were, would maximize their farming potential. If he had to guess, they had been killing mobs faster than the others in their instance, essentially allowing them to steal experience from other groups. An underhanded tactic perhaps, and one that James had seen as a flaw in the instances, but it was the nature of MMOs.


    While their levels surprised him, James had to grin as he finished doing his basic math. The group wasn''t foolish enough to try and take the boss on close to leveling. It was likely after they hit level three, they had decided to hunt down the boss, in another attempt to claim instance first. However, if James had to guess, they had still killed all the mobs that stood in their way as they searched for Jenkins. That meant, if their party wiped, they had enough experience that James would hit his next rank. He could hardly wait.


    "Alright guys, you remember the plan?" Z had his bow out, an arrow already nocked, as he motioned towards Old Man Jenkins. The boss was currently leaning against the barn, smoking on his pipe contentedly. His straw hat was pulled low over his eyes, and he was just barely staring at the adventurers. The boss seemed entirely unworried about the group preparing to take him on.


    "Something about me taking all the hits, while you guys pick off his health?" The warrior Oak had picked up a basic shield sometime between the first dive, and his current dive. James wondered if there was already a basic goods shop open, or if someone had been working on their craft and was now able to make basic armor? He had seen players simply spam basic crafting skills nonstop in order to improve their skills enough to make such items. Basic gear, especially in the start of a game, could earn a nice amount of currency.


    "More or less." Z shot Oak a grin, and looked back at Elm. "Though, in theory, you shouldn''t be taking too many hits."


    "Have we checked for any other mobs in the area?" Faust was glancing around, taking note of the dicken coop that was near the barn. James did a quick check, but was disappointed to find the coop was empty of his mobs. Where had they gone?


    "I don''t see any. I''m sure the other players have been doing a good job of keeping them cleared out." Their server did have 15 other players not counting them. In total, the first floor had 46 mobs, not counting Old Man Jenkins. James was sure most of those mobs had to be engaged with other adventurers, or spread out on the floor, or dead. James was silently hoping for option three.


    "Alright, well let''s take this boss down, and claim another instance first achievement. I want to hit level 5 as soon as possible." At his comment, James checked Z''s character sheet, quickly opening the Skills tab. Sure enough, his suspicion was correct. It seemed adventurers, at least archers for sure, didn''t unlock their first actual skill till level 5. If he had to guess, the first few levels just improved their basic stats.


    "Good luck." James said, curious to see how the group would fair. Sure they had two more levels than they had before, but his boss mob was still level 5. Old Man Jenkins also hadn''t really been fighting the adventurers yet. In fact, the boss rarely killed the parties, it was usually mobs in the area that landed the final blows.


    "On my count." Z leveled his bow at Old Man Jenkins, his eyes narrowing as he took aim. He began to count down from five. Elm drew his own bow and copied Z, while Faust took up a stance, preparing to cast. As they took up their positions, Oak let out a sigh and walked forward, shield in hand.


    "Always a tank, never a DPS." He grumbled. If James had to guess, warriors were a dual class, and Oak was stuck playing the tank because the rest of his teammates had grabbed DPS or healing classes.


    "One." As he cried out, he let his arrow fly, and Elm''s arrow flew through the air. James was impressed at their timing, as both arrows impacted into Old Man Jenkin''s eyes at the exact same time. The boss let out a wicked roar, grabbing angrily for his pitchfork as his pipe hit the ground. In his rage, the boss stepped on his own pipe, crushing it.


    "Uh." The sound of the crunching pipe seemed to enrage Old Man Jenkins even more than the two arrows. And the boss angrily ripped the arrows from his eyes, turning to glare, blindly, in the direction of the adventurers.


    "I think you made him angry." Oak called out to Z, as he ducked under a wild pitchfork swing.


    "You''re not going to like him when he''s angry." James responded to Oak''s comment, chuckling to himself. So what if no one could hear his comment, it was funny.


    "Well, it''s your job to keep the angry boss from getting me." Z let fly another arrow landing again in the boss''s eye. Elm followed suit, and James had to admit, he was impressed with their coordination. Roughly eight hours of dungeon diving and resting, and they had polished their abilities and teamwork this much already. James could tell this was a group he would need to keep an eye on.


    "As long as you keep him blind, I''m sure it''ll be-" Oak''s comment was cut short as Old Man Jenkins smashed his pitchfork onto the ground, making the earth crack and tremor. The warrior cursed as the ground around him blasted apart, and he was sent flying sideways.


    "That''s new." Z and the others backed away slowly, keeping up their attack on Old Man Jenkins. The rain of arrows and magic missiles were definitely doing damage to the boss, just not much. James figured they would either need a larger team of level three players to take the boss on, or would need to be level five or higher, with their skills. Right now, James just couldn''t believe they could take out his boss.


    "You get the feeling he wasn''t really trying against us earlier?" Oak had regained his footing, and was staring at Old Man Jenkins, as the bosses eyes narrowed. The greater distance appeared to decrease Z and Elm''s accuracy, as their arrows had missed Old Man Jenkins''s eyes enough that they had healed.


    "You''re being paranoid." Z let another arrow fly, and the missile sailed through Old Man Jenkins''s hat, pulling the straw hat from his head and pinning it to the barn behind him. The boss touched his now naked head, running his hand between his two horns, as he looked down at the adventurers. It was the type of look you would give to a child that had annoyed you. It was the look you had when you were about to punish someone that had misbehaved.


    "E" The pitchfork hit the ground, "I", the pentacle formed, "E" a red pentacle appeared under Oak, causing the warrior to cuss. "I" both began glowing, and Oak took up a stance, steadying himself as he closed his eyes. James guessed he was preparing to be sent flying. "O." The donkey summoned and blasted Oak, sending the knight flying. His form crashed down onto the dicken coop, sending wood and feather remnants flying. Luckily for the group, the coop was empty. James had silently been hoping the mobs would have respawned in it in time for the fight.


    "Let''s go." Z and the others started making their way towards Oak. Z and Elm were firing arrows as they headed towards the knight, while Faust simply stayed near the group. It seemed the mage couldn''t cast and move at the same time.


    "Get off my farm." The words from the demonic farmer took the adventurers, and James, by surprise. Previously, the boss had only ever said his E-I-E-I-O line. As he spoke, and the adventurers paused, he swung his pitchfork in a wide ark, sending a blast of wind, and loose debris, smashing into the entire party. James was certain that attack had done at least 5 points of damage, possibly more based off of the way they all winced.


    "Uh-" Med Ic, the previously quiet cleric, was staring at Old Man Jenkins. The boss was now holding a flaming pitchfork in his left hand, a wicked smile on his face as he looked at the cleric. A second later, with inhuman strength and speed, the pitchfork was flying towards Med Ic. The cleric looked like he wanted to run, to dodge, but before his mind could process what was going on the pitchfork smashed into him. The pitchfork implanted into the ground, leaving a glowing orb where the cleric had been. The move did 30 points of damage, after all.


    "Alright, maybe you had a point." Z''s voice held a hint of humor to it, as he helped Oak to his feet. James knew the group had likely entered the fight well aware they might get wiped, but willing to risk it in order for an instance first.


    "Do we keep fighting gallantly, or run?" The entire group was already backing away as Z spoke, and James grinned as another flaming pitchfork burst into life in Old Man Jenkins''s hand. While the pitchfork, courtesy of the Pitch a Fit skill was amusing, James was grinning for another reason. Grinning for the same reason that his boss was as he let another pitchfork fly, smashing into Faust and causing him to become a glowing orb.


    Z, Elm, and a bleeding Oak all turned to run, and as they turned, they came face to face with the source of Old Man Jenkins and James''s grins.


    "Mooooooooooooooo" A mad cow, eyes blazing with rage, charging at breakneck speed towards the bleeding Oak. There was going to be no escape for Z and his group.

 24 Chapter 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 bump 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 orb, 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 Dickens 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 dickens 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 dickens.


    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 (passive): 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 dickens 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 God 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 cluster 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 dickens. 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 dickens using his 10 mob points that he gained from his rank up. He figured more dickens would mean even more chances for bird based shenanigans. Plus, watching adventurers scream in terror as a flock of dickens descended upon them had yet to get old.


    Dicken (1) Level 2


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 15


    MP: 10


    Atk: 2


    Def: 1


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all stats when in groups of 5.


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


    James was glad to see his dickens 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 dickens could quickly become a nightmare. He loved these birds. Barely able to contain his excitement, he pulled up the dicken 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 amusement, 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 dicken 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 dickens 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 dicken.


    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- Dickens gain the ability to breathe fire, at a range of 2 yards + lvl, dealing 3 + lvl fire damage.


    Gren-eggs? - Dickens gain the ability to lay¡­.eggs?Dickens can temporarily take flight and drop explosive eggs on enemies. Dicken eggs do 3 + lvl fire damage in a 1 yard radius.


    H5 N-fernal 1- Dicken 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 dickens 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 dickens 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.

 25 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25


    "You ranked up without me?" Rue was finally awake from her rest, staring at James with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. The pixie had woken up shortly after he finished upgrading his dickens, climbing disheveled from her tent, wiping sleep from her eyes. She went from tired cute to awake angry really quickly when he mentioned he had ranked up


    "Well, you snooze you lose." James couldn''t help it. She had left him alone for over 8 hours while she slept. What else was he supposed to do? Count sheep?


    Rue opened her mouth, likely ready to launch a string of curses at him, before she stopped herself. She took in a deep breath, and let it out, trying to calm herself. "So, what did you choose to do?"


    "Well, I could tell you." James was loving this. For the first day, all during the tutorial, Rue had the upper hand. She knew everything, and he had to constantly beg and ask for any and all information. Now though, James knew something she didn''t.


    "Glyax-" Rue''s eyes narrowed. She could hate this all she wanted, but revenge was oh so sweet.


    "How about you just sit back, and see what I did?" James pulled up a window, the first new instance since he had ranked up. He could hardly stop himself from breaking out in laughter as he saw the group walking towards the door. The Knights Who Go Ni were back. They were definitely a hardcore group. The only time they weren''t in the dungeon, was when they had their cooldown timers on.


    "Everyone ready to go storm the castle?" Z was grinning at his friends as they stood before the doorway, once again preparing to dive. The other chuckled and nodded. They were having a good time, even if they had just been defeated an hour ago by Old Man Jenkins for the second time.


    "Yeah, we''re avoiding the boss for now, right?" Oak''s comment made Z wince, but the leader quickly regained his composure, grinning.


    "Yup. Let''s wait till level 5-"


    "-6." Oak cut Z off. "We agreed to wait till level 6. That way we all have our level 5 skills, and can get our level 6 gear. Those stat boosts for level 6 gear are bound to be helpful."


    Z raised his hand, smiling sheepishly. "Right, level 6. We will try again at the boss when we are level 6." He swiped his hand, a motion James had gotten used to from adventurers, as the guild leader looked at his screen.


    "So, 300xp for level 4, and if it follows the trend, 400xp till level 5, and 500 xp to get to level 6. We need 1200 more xp guys." Z let out a sigh, as he closed the screen. "Going to be a lot grinding to get there quick."


    The others nodded their heads, and Z led the group into the first floor. As they set off, looking around for clusters of mobs, James was curious just how much experience they had been getting from mobs. He was about to ask Rue, before he bit his tongue. James figured it wouldn''t be wise to ask her a question right now, since he was currently keeping her in the dark. So, hopefully Z''s group would mention their experience gain instead.


    "Alright Oak you know what we gotta do." Z''s voice drew James from his contemplation back to the instance, and he saw the group was approaching their first mob of the instance, a Mad Cow.


    "I hate fighting these guys." Oak drew his sword and shield, and then turned towards Z.


    "Yeah, well we know they seem to agro onto guys who are bleeding, and seem to take more damage when they are enraged." Z drew a dagger from his side, and grinned as he cut a slash across Oak''s face, drawing a line of blood. The warrior rubbed the wound, covering the top of his face with the fresh blood.


    "Oh, what do you call a cow with no legs?" His voice carried across the field towards the Mad Cow, causing the beast to look up from its grazing, turning its eyes towards Oak. The Mad Cow took note of the blood on the warriors face, and its eyes narrowed. The beast let out a snort.


    "Ground Beef!" The group let out groans at his joke, even as the mad cow started to glow, steam rising from its body as it charged. "Moooooooooooooooo."


    Oak held his shield before him as the cow charged towards him. Just as the beast neared him, Oak sidestepped the beast, slashing at its side with his sword. "Ole." He cried out with a grin. The mad cow simply snorted and bucked, kicking his shield and sending him flying.


    "You''d think he would have learned." Z and the others were laughing at the leader''s comment, as they began launching their attacks at the Mad Cow. Arrows sprouted from the beast''s side, while a magic missile smashed into the side of its head. The cow simply snorted and turned, ignoring the attacks as it focused on Oak.


    "Eh, tis but a scratch." Oak managed to get out, before the bull smashed into his shield, its horns punching through it, lifting him up.


    "This guy seem a little tougher than before?" Faust seemed to be the first to notice the mobs had gotten stronger, as he launched another magic missile into the cow. If James had to guess, the mage was taking note of how many attacks the group needed to kill certain mobs, to manage his mp. It was a common aspect players in games would take note of, especially those who had to manage mp usage.


    "Not that you mention it." Oak was still clinging to his impaled shield, as he stabbed down at the mad cow''s eye with his sword. The blade drove in deep, and the cow seemed to slow. James could tell the beast was nearing its limit. "His kick did more damage than before."


    A feather sprouted from the mad cow''s other eye, and the beast was defeated. The group all circled around it, collecting their loot, as they looked at their screens.


    "Looks like the mob leveled up." Elm made the comment as he glanced from the mad cow to the group. "He was level 2 this time. Had more hp, def, and atk. He also gave us more experience."


    Z looked down at his screen at Elm''s comment, a grin crossing his face. "Did you all gain 2 experience points too?" The others grinned as they nodded. "So, it seems the dungeon has already started to grow, meaning our enemies are going to be tougher, but offer more experience. If we are going to get double the experience now from all mobs, that means a single mob clearing run should net us each-" Z closed his eyes, and James could tell the adventurer was doing some quick math.


    He was extremely interested in hearing just how much experience the group would get from a clear of the mobs. James also figured the group was splitting experience, which was a common enough mechanic for games. If each of the members had received 2 experience from the level 2 Mad Cow, he was guessing a Mad Cow was worth 10 experience. There had to be a way for him to check how much experience his mobs offered adventurers, and James made a mental note to glance at his Mob Screen once Z''s group was done diving.


    "-at least 40 experience points per party member for a single clear." Faust commented before Z could finish counting. Of course the gamer choosing to be a mage would be faster at math. "As long as this instance fills up, we can probably snipe mobs as well, like we have been. I think our record is slaying 10 sets of mobs before the floor got empty?"


    "Yeah, I think you''re right." Z was nodding, as the others started to grin. "So, if we can do that again, we can each gain over 400 experience in this single instance. If clearing the whole floor is going to take us about 2 hours, plus an hour penalty every time we clear, then we can be level 6, and ready to take on the boss again, in about 12 hours."


    "What are we waiting for?" Oak''s comment, as the warrior turned head deeper into the dungeon, was met with cheers.


    "Think they''ll take down Old Man Jenkins?" Rue as looking from the party to James, while sipping what appeared to be hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. Part of James was growing jealous at her ability to eat and drink. He didn''t realize he would miss such things.


    "We will see in 12 hours." James paused as he looked around the group, and found himself grinning. The nearest set of mobs to the group, was a group that consisted of a sacrificial lamb, and a flock of dickens. James highly doubted the mobs would kill Z''s group. But that didn''t mean the fight wouldn''t be highly amusing.


    "For now, you''re going to want to watch this fight." James couldn''t help but chuckle in anticipation, as he watched The Knights Who Go Ni advance on the mobs. They were definitely not prepared for what was in store. He cast a sidelong glance at Rue, who was gingerly sipping on her drink. Neither was she.

 26 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26


    "Am I seeing things?" Oak had pulled up short from the mobs, as the group all paused. "Or did the dickens get bigger?"


    "That''s what she said." Rue broke into a fit of giggles, and James found himself chuckling and blushing at the same time. Alright, so she hadn''t been the most helpful during the tutorial, he found her company was definitely preferred over the silence of loneliness. He was all too used to that in the real world.


    "Yeah, they definitely got bigger. If I had to guess, I''d say they are now African Dickens, instead of European Dickens." The entire party, and Rue, broke into laughter. Whatever Z was referencing, was apparently funny. James made a mental note to look it up later.Z stepped up next to Oak, and slapped him on the back. "Maybe try not to get pecked to death." He pushed the poor tank forward, as Oak shot Z a pained look.


    "Why do I always have to be the tank?"


    "Well, you actually have a class that can play the tank role.Plus the most hp, and the highest defense¡­you kinda did this to yourself buddy." Z shrugged his shoulder as he spoke, and the others nodded in agreement. "My highest stat is dexterity after all. Do you really think I could be a tank if all I did was dodge?" The rest of the group chuckled as Oak started muttering under his breath.


    "You all owe me a round of drinks." Oak, finally resigned to his fate, grumbled as he stepped forward, raising his shield.


    "We aren''t stopping for drinks till Old Man Jenkins is dead. So yeah, I''m sure we will have plenty of copper to buy ya drinks by then, especially as you keep us safe." The rest of the group broke out in laughter as the ranged dps member took up their stances, preparing to launch their attacks.


    "I hate you all so much." He took another step closer, and all five dickens turned to look at him, stopping their mindless pecking of the ground. The dicken closest to Oak cocked its head to the side, and let out a questioning cluck.


    "You guys are going to kill that lamb first, right?" Oak was of course referencing the sacrificial lamb that was absentmindedly chewing on some grass at the back of the dicken flock. Oak hadn''t drawn near enough to it to draw its agro.


    "Eh, we can try." Z was glancing from the dickens, who were still staring at Oak, to the lamb. "Though it might be easier to-"


    "Moooooooooooooooooooo" The unmistakable cry of a mad cow caused the group to flinch, and James watched, amused, as Oak''s face drained of color. Well, all the color save for the blood still splashed across his face. The group had forgotten to clean him up in their excitement to continue farming.


    "New plan." Z started running to the side, as he bow leveled at the first dicken. His arrow flew true and smashed into the dickens chest. The dicken let out an angry cluck, and scratched at the ground, its eyes narrowing as it viewed Z. The rest of the flock began ruffling its feathers.


    "You keep the Mad Cow busy, and we will clear these mobs." James could tell Oak wanted to complain, but he shook his head, resolve crossing his face as he turned towards the sound of the Mad Cow. The beast was steaming, heading full speed towards Oak and his group. With one last sigh, the warrior ran towards it, a battle cry ripping from his mouth. James was torn between which fight he wanted to watch more. The one on one against a mad cow, or the new and improved dickens and lamb. The dickens and lamb won by a small margin.


    "Bet you 10 resource points he solo''s that cow." Rue was grinning as her eyes flicked towards Oak, who had just slammed into the mad cow. The warrior was level three, James wasn''t sure he could take on a Mad Cow all by himself.


    "You''re on." James accepted the bet mainly because he was curious what exactly Rue would do with resource points. It was also only an hour worth of resources, and James had just hit climbed over 100 again. He could risk 10.


    "Try to restrain some of these." Z cried out as he let another arrow fly. It grazed the lead dicken''s wing, and James could guess it hadn''t done much damage. That was two strikes on the front dicken. Z needed to be careful.


    "On it." Faust started chanting, his hands moving in an intricate design, and a few seconds later, vines shot up beneath the flock of dickens that had been chasing Z. The fines snagged three of dickens, who promptly began pecking and slashing at the accosting vines. Their larger beaks and claws were going to make quick work of that snare.


    "Thanks." Z paused as the lead dicken neared him, and he and Elm both launched arrows at the dicken. Just as the arrows neared, the dicken spread its wings and its powerful legs launched it off the ground. The arrows both sailed underneath the dicken, barely grazing it. That was four.


    "What the-"


    "Cluck?" Rue replaced Z''s comment with her own as the dicken, followed by the remaining un-snared dicken, both took flight. James broke out in laughter, both from her comment, and the anticipation. He knew what was going to come next.


    Just as the two dickens soared over Z, two eggs dropped onto the poor archer. The eggs both smashed into his face, and open mouth. They exploded in yolk and fire, doing 5 damage a piece to the archer, and leaving behind scrambled eggs across his face. Devastating and tasty.


    "You chose gren-eggs?" Rue was laughing hysterically as they watched Z turn and blindly launch another arrow. It sprouted out of the first dickens chest, dealing a good amount of damage James could tell, but just falling short of killing the dicken. On top of that, it activated Flock Together. Poor Z.


    "Hey Z." Med Ic''s hands were glowing as he looked at his leader, and a golden light surrounded the archer, healing him from his damage. To James''s amusement, the scrambled eggs remained for the archer to wipe off himself.


    "What?" The leader was glaring at the dickens, who were all glaring back. The other three had nearly freed themselves, and their eyes were fixated on him. Above his head, a glowing feather showed he had their agro.


    "Guess you do get to be a dodge tank." The rest of the group broke out in laughter, as Z''s face paled. Cursing, he broke out in a run, launching arrows blindly towards the dickens as the entire flock took flight, chasing after him. With their attention solely focused on Z, Faust and Elm were taking turns launching attacks into the flock. Wisely, they targeted the lead dicken first, as it was the most damaged. Once they brought it down, the other dickens lost their buff, and they became much easier to kill.


    "Good job-" Z had paused to catch his breath, as he turned to watch the group picking off the dickens. Faust had landed another snare on the 2 foot poultry, making them even easier to take down. "-baaaaa".


    "Seriously?" Z sighed as he turned in time to see the sacrificial lamb, which he had accidently agro''d head-butted him. The attack made him stumble back towards the snared dickens, who started pecking excitedly in his direction. They were just shy of being able to reach him.


    The glowing sheep erupted, sending blood and wool flying everywhere. Z was drenched in blood, activating the dot, and absorbed the entire blast from the sacrificial lamb. Because the lamb was level 2, baa baa boom did 10 damage before defense was applied.


    "God that hurt." Z was standing slowly as he looked at his character sheet, paying no heed to the dickens that were fighting to get to him. He likely figured he was safe. He wasn''t.


    The wool that had been blasted into the sky, large clumps of it, were slowly raining down around him.


    "Are these new drops?" Z held a hand out to a piece of wool as it was falling, his eyes looking at it with wonder. The moment his hand touched the wool, it detonated. The archer cursed just as the rest of the wool continued to fall around him. If James had to guess, at least 10 clumps of wool landed on the poor archer. At 3 x lvl damage, that meant the archer had just been blasted by over 60 points of damage. Needless to say, his form disappeared, mid curse, into an orb.


    At the same time, the other clumps of wool landed on the three trapped dickens, activating tiny explosions, creating a cloud of feathers as the dickens all died.


    "What the Cluck?" Oak''s voice was laughing as he neared the group. The warrior was bleeding from multiple wounds, and obviously injured, yet he had somehow survived his encounter with the Mad Cow. The others were glancing down at their own screens, and if James had to guess, they had just gotten an achievement.


    "What the Cluck. Defeat three or more dickens using another mob. Reward, 100xp." The others started grinning as they all broke out in a cheer, before they glanced at Z''s orb. "Think he gets the experience, or did he lose it?" Faust''s comment made the group wince, and James excitedly pulled up his character sheet. A moment later, he let out a sigh. It didn''t seem like he had gotten a 100xp boost. He guessed since the dicken deaths came after Z''s death, he didn''t have the experience to lose when he died. Lame.


    "Well, if he did lose the experience, he''s going to be really mad at me." Oak was grinning as the others turned at him. "Check out my character." Curious, James pulled up Oak''s character sheet, scanning through the warriors stats. To his surprise, the warrior was now level 4. That was strange, they should have all been level three. Also, just before the warriors name, in glowing black letters, was the word "Matador."


    "Matador?" Elm''s words echoed James''s question, and Oak broke into a grin.


    "It was an achievement I got for soloing the Mad Cow." James flipped quickly to Oak''s achievement tab. Sure enough, Oak had three achievements unlocked. James scanned them quickly. Try hard and What the Cluck? He knew about already. The third achievement, made him laugh. Rodeo Clown- Defeat a Mad Cow or higher tiered demonic farm animal.


    "It gave you 200 experience, and a title?" James''s attention was pulled away from his laughter, and he glanced at Rue.


    "Are titles in DCO beneficial?" He had come across both types of titles. Some gave benefits to players, whereas others were just a means to show off.


    "Aren''t you inquisitive?" Rue offered him a sly grin. "Should I really share the information with you, or make you wait and see?" Wow she turned that around on him quickly. James was once again back at her mercy, or was he?


    "Well, either you tell me now, or I''m sure Oak and the others will mention it in a second." It was a gamble, but James figured his AI would rather be the one to tell him things, instead of learning from adventurers. That was after all part of purpose she served.


    "Fiiinnnneee." She crossed her arms as her face took on a pout. James knew it was fake, but it was still extremely cute. Even with her attitude, times like these made the 16 year old perfectly happy with his AI choice. Who didn''t want to a cute pixie companion?


    "Titles are beneficial in DCO, and can only be unlocked via certain achievements." James''s opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the pixie''s hand. "In Oak''s instance, his ''Matador'' title will give him a 10% increase in damage to Mad Cows and their evolutions, and a 10% decrease in damage from mad cows and their evolutions." The pixie had once again read his mind, or at least predicted what he was going to ask. Was she psychic? Or was he just that predictable?


    "And, one last question?" He glanced from Rue, the group of adventurers, who appeared to have decided to rest after looting the bodies, while they waited for Z to return. The guild leader had respawned at the entrance to the floor, but had his 5 minute cooldown to wait until he could rejoin his friends.


    "What''s that?" Rue cocked her head to the side a small grin playing across her face.


    "Did you enjoy my rank up choices?" James couldn''t hide the amusement from his voice, and Rue''s grin spread as she let out a chuckle.


    "They were eggcelent."

 27 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27


    "Here we go." James had figured out that not only could he set his instance''s screen to alert when adventurers were fighting his boss or specific mobs, he could also set up an alert to let him know when certain adventurers had entered his dungeon.


    As such, James had set an alarm to alert him whenever Z and his guild entered an instance. Because of this, he had spent the last 12 hours splitting his attention from watching more demonic farm shenanigans, planning out his dungeon layout, achievement hunting, and watching Z''s group.


    The achievement hunting had been renewed courtesy of watching Z''s group. Before James had started just passively collecting his achievements, having too much fun watching the events in his dungeon, while also suffering slightly from a lack of sleep. In fact, he had almost forgotten to start new research when his loot research completed, having only remembered when Rue asked him about it.


    He had made a mental note to apply some loot and trap related to his changes soon, waiting though for the first time his boss was slain. For that reason, with a level of mob research started, James patiently began hunting achievements as Z and his group did the same. Achievements after all seemed to be a quick way to level, at least early on.


    By the time Z and his group had hit level 6 and returned to the dungeon with their upgraded gear, James had managed to complete over a dozen achievements, many thanks to foolish adventurers, and his higher leveled mobs. These achievements had helped him nearly fill his resources back up, and pushed him past the 20,000xp mark, meaning he had another rank up available.


    "You better hope they actually succeed." Rue had summoned her bowl of popcorn again, as James pulled up the instance with Z''s group. "You have a lot of work you''ve been putting off for this."


    She was right, he needed to rank up, apply upgrades to his mobs, all of which he had at least 2 upgrade points for, and begin modifying loot percentages. His mob research would also be done soon, and James was sure that would give him even more to do. He had to give it to the developers, they definitely made sure a dungeon would have plenty to do.


    "I''m sure they will." James was glancing over Z''s group, noticing they had all returned with noticeably new gear. Oak had a new iron shield, and his sword seemed a little heftier. He had also seemed to purchase himself new armor, replacing the heavy leather he had covered himself in previously. Now he was wearing leather armor that seemed to be studded with metal pieces. A definite improvement for the reluctant tank.


    Z and Elm both had matching bows, new cloaks and leather armor, as well as what appeared to be quivers full of arrows that appeared to have dicken feathers on them. James was curious how effective those arrows would be, and was surprised when Z killed a sacrificial lamb with a single dicken arrow. They were definitely ready.


    Faust and Med Ic appeared to have changed the least, and while their robes seemed to be of a slightly finer material, James knew magic classes would likely require higher levels to begin purchasing their beneficial gear. Generally mages and clerics utilized various forms of amulets and charms to improve their abilities and powers, and those types of items just weren''t going to be available this early on. It would take a while for crafters to begin being able to make such items, and James knew precious gems and metals were going to be impossible to come by currently, simply because he hadn''t put them in his mining area yet.


    "Wanna make a bet?" Rue was grinning at James as the group approached Old Man Jenkins. The boss was relaxing against a couple hay bales, his hat pulled low as he puffed on his pipe.


    "More resources?" When he lost his first bet to her, 10 resources had magically been pulled from his available resources, and James was curious just what the pixie would do with them. He had to admit, part of him was nervous about giving her more resources. But at the same time, he was a gamer, and gambling was part of his nature.


    "But of course." The pixie flashed him a grin and a wink, as she nodded towards the group. "20 resources says Z dies again." So far, Z had one more death than the rest of his group, thanks to his surprise death by the sacrificial lamb. It was a fact the group had enjoyed mentioning every dive to the leader, much to his dismay.


    "Deal." James was certain the archer wouldn''t fall this time. He knew the guild leader would do everything he could to avoid further embarrassment. He was also slightly curious what would happen if he won the bet. Rue only had 10 resources that he knew of. Could the AI just generate resources on a whim?


    "You sure we are doing this?" Oak, continuing to appear to hate his roll, was looking from Z to Old Man Jenkins. The boss currently was puffing away at his pipe, barely paying them any heed.


    "Yup, there are a few groups that just hit level 5. You know they are going to be pushing for instance first." Z grinned as he raised a finger towards the sky, making what appeared to be a finger gun with his hand. "I''m not gonna throw away my shot."


    "Really man, Hamilton? Again?" Faust and the others groaned as Z shrugged and grinned at them sheepishly.


    "Hey, that soundtrack is still amazing."


    "It came out in like what, 2017?" The rest of the group started to spread out as Oak spoke.


    "And? How long ago did Monty Python come out? Classics are classics man."


    "He has a point." Rue was smiling knowingly as the guild leader finished his comment and took up a position near Elm, nocking a dicken arrow in his new bow. James added Hamilton and Monty Python to his ever growing list of things to research when he woke up. He didn''t like not getting the references this group appeared to be making.


    "We start on your taunt Oak." Z drew his arrow back, and Elm did the same. Faust stood ready to cast a spell, and Oak nodded, taking a deep breath.


    "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!" As Oak yelled these completely meaningless words, a wave of force seemed to roll out from him, smashing into Old Man Jenkins.


    The boss let out a roar as he stood, his eyes narrowing on Oak. Without warning, a flaming pitchfork was in his hand. If James had to guess, the taunt had worked.


    "Let''s do this." Arrows ripped free from bow strings and smashed into Old Man Jenkins, digging deep into the boss''s flesh. To his credit, even with all of his roaring, he managed to keep his pipe in his mouth, even puffing out bits of smoke between roars. As more arrows sunk into him, the archers doing their best dps, magical bolts smashed into his chest.


    James could tell all of these attacks were having more of an effect than they had when the group was level three, and he had to wonder just what kind of increases the party had gained with their new equipment. Old Man Jenkins had 25 armor and magical armor defense points, meaning he blocked a flat 25 points of each type of damage, per attack.


    "Looks like they upgraded." Rue''s comment pulled James from his mulling, and shaking his head, he pulled up Z''s character sheet real quick. He didn''t need to ponder such things, when the game would let him simply look up these stats on his own.


    Z


    Level 6 Archer


    1550 xp


    645 xp to next level


    HP: 55


    AP: 55


    Currency: 47 copper 6 silver 0 gold 0 platinum


    James glanced quickly at Z''s health, noting he had appeared to gain 5hp per level, raising from his 30 at level 1, to 55 at level 6. James tabbed over to the next screen, looking at Z''s stats. There were a range of numbers, all showing differing amounts for different stats, such as constitution, charisma, strength, and dexterity. James knew such stats had effects on everything Z''s character would be able to do, and as he scanned the sheet, he found the stats he was looking at below.


    Atk: 25+5+1


    M. Atk: 0


    Def: 10 + 10


    M. Def: 0


    Focusing on the bonuses to Z''s Atk stat, he found that the bow the archer was using was giving him a +5 to his attacks, and the dicken arrows were giving him a +1. Assuming Z and Elm were running the same archer build so far, that meant each of their attacks was dealing 31 damage per arrow. Given that Old Man Jenkins defense absorbed 25 points per arrow, each attack was doing 6 points of damage to the boss. It wasn''t much, but James knew those arrows, combined with the magical attacks from Faust, would dig away at the boss''s 550hp.


    "E-I" Had James been in his human body, he would have jumped at the boss''s sudden booming voice. As it was nearly closed the instance screen in his panicked hurry to close Z''s character sheet. He wanted to turn his full attention back to the fight.


    "Group up!" Z''s voice cried out and the party moved together, their eyes glancing at their feet. They were looking for the telltale pentagram to show who the target was.


    "E-I," the glowing pentagram appeared underneath Med Ic. That was going to hurt.


    "O." Even as the donkey''s hooves appeared from the ground, Med Ic was knocked to the side, Oak taking his place. The warrior leveled his shield, allowing the piece of metal to absorb the kick, even as he was sent flying backwards.


    "Scatter." The guild leader''s voice once again echoed a command, and the three DPS members pulled back, resuming their attack on Old Man Jenkins, while Med Ic ran to Oak, his hands already glowing with healing light. The warrior was quickly back on his feet, rushing back towards the enraged boss.


    "Oh, they are good." Rue''s voice was filled with actual admiration as she watched the fight take place. Her eyes were darting around the group, and it seemed she was so focused she had forgotten about her popcorn.


    "Well, they are probably mythic raiders." James had been a mythic raider in Warcraft Universe, a title applied to those who would enter the hardest raids and dungeons the day they were released, and who would continue to fight through them until they could clear it. Almost all instance first players were mythic raiders, and James had figured Z and his group were of the same caliber.


    Even though they seemed light hearted, even as they joked and messed around, he could tell as he watched them fight now, that when they were serious, they were a force to be reckoned with. Old Man Jenkins had caught them by surprise at level three with his flaming pitchfork, but the group had likely used the knowledge of that attack, as well as he ability to attract mobs to aid him, as they planned for their next battle with him. In fact, the group had cleared all the mobs from around Old Man Jenkins before they began their battle with him. Very impressive.


    "I guess this means I''m going to lose my bet." Rue''s voice took on a pouting tone as she watched the fight. Oak had again taunted the boss, and the archers had resorted to launching two arrows at once into him, likely doing their best to burn him down while he was taunted. Faust''s magic missiles were even larger in size, and James figured the archer skill, and larger missiles, were their level 5 skills. He had to wonder what Med Ic had gotten at level 5, a better heal?


    "Guess that will teach you to vote against Z''s group, eh?" James was in a good mood. Yeah his boss was finally being brought down, but this was just the first form of Old Man Jenkins. James had two upgrade points to modify his boss with, as well as another level to give him. The group would find their next fight with Old Man Jenkins to be much different.


    "No, it makes me want to vote against his group even more." The pixie''s eyes were filled with mischievous fire, and James guessed he and the pixie would be placing many bets against Z''s group in the future. Hopefully his faith in the group didn''t backfire on him later.


    "Just a little more!" Z''s voice pulled James and Rue back to the fight, as Old Man Jenkins fell to his knees, his eyes blazing with hatred as another arrow landed into his chest. The fire had gone out of his pipe, and his clothes were covered in various tears and blast marks. Countless arrows peppered his form, and as he leaned forward, barely catching himself one the ground, James knew it was over.


    "Plea-" The sound was faint, and even as Old Man Jenkins seemed to speak, Oak''s sword was swinging down on the boss''s neck, finishing him off. It all happened so quickly, James had to wonder if he had imagined it.


    "Huzzah!" The group erupted in cheers as the boss fell to the ground, and James noticed a message bar appear in front of him.


    Attention: The [Guild] Knights Who Go Ni, have defeated Tier 1 Boss- Old Man Jenkins.


    "That makes two!" The group was continuing to cheer as they all pulled up their screens, their emotions were infectious, and James couldn''t help but cheer for them as well. They had tried so hard, he was glad they finally reached their goal.


    "Aren''t you Tier-ered?" Elm let out a laugh as he stared at his screen, and if James had to guess, that was the name the developers had given the achievement for clearing the boss first in the instance. If he had to guess, they had also earned an achievement just for beating the boss.


    "Hey, you''ve read Dungeon Core and Litrpg before, you know we are bound to just encounter a lot of puns and bad jokes." Z''s face was covered in a massive smile, as he made a motion towards his screen. "Besides, those two achievements, and slaying the boss, leveled us up to 7." More cheers accompanied his revelation.


    "Now, how about we grab our loot and get ready to head back. I''m guessing this five minute timer is our limit to either get out of the dungeon ourselves, or we will be forcibly teleported out." As he spoke, he glanced at his screen, grinning as he collected his loot. James listened intently, but none of them let out an exclamation, and if he had to guess, none of them had received a piece of the unique set loot. Ah well, maybe next time.


    "Pay up." Having figured the group was done for now, given they were about to be booted from the dungeon for an hour, James had time to do a little upgrading himself. But first, he could use the extra 20 resources Rue had just lost to him.


    "Fiiiinnneeeee." Rue waved her hand, and as James glanced at his character sheet, noted his resources had jumped to 980 of 1100. He had gained 120 more resources during the 12 hours of waiting for Z''s group to challenge Old Man Jenkins, putting him at 220, well 210 after losing his bet with Rue. Then, his achievements had bumped him to 960, and with his 20 from Rue, he was sitting happy at 980. He had a lot of plans for upgrading his dungeon, and he was going to use every bit of resources he had to do it. After all, as a dungeon core he was supposed to be constantly upgrading and evolving for the adventurers. He grinned as he went to work, at this rate, he felt he might be able to reach Tier 2 before his night of immersion was complete.

 28 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28


    "Come on, you''re so close." Rue''s voice was distant, and it took James a minute to focus on her. The days had come and gone, and they were nearing the end of the seventh day of the adventurers being in the dungeon. That meant, counting his initial 24 hours in during his ''tutorial'' James was nearing his 200-hour mark, and the completion of Sleep is For the Weak. He glanced weakly at his character sheet, his eye struggling to stay open. The 10000xp reward from the achievement would put him into Tier 2. He just needed to stay awake a little longer.


    "This is hell." He grumbled as he shook his orb, trying to wake himself. Whoever designed this achievement, was a jerk. James had marathoned games before in immersion, but he was usually constantly doing things. As much as he was fascinated with his role of being a dungeon core, there was only so much amusement to be had, meaning there was a lot of down time.


    "Will this help?" Rue waved a hand, and a large mug of coffee appeared in front of him. He could literally see the steam rising from it, and ironically, there was a little eye formed on the top out of cream. It was a kind gesture, and he really could use a caffeine boost right about now, there was only one problem.


    "And how am I supposed to drink that?" He wasn''t sure if the AI was purposefully messing with him, or if her character hadn''t thought of that fact. The pixie shrugged, and took the coffee in her hands, gingerly taking a sip.


    "Well, if you''re not going to have it, I will." She had bags under her eyes, as she had spent the last two days awake with him, at his request. If it wasn''t for her company, he would have failed the achievement on the sixth day. His willpower was wavering.


    "You do that." James was browsing slowly through his tabs, trying to push past the mental fog hanging over him. Had he done everything he could? Was he maximizing his resources and time?


    "Ah crap."


    "What is it?" Rue glanced over his shoulder, her cute form pressing close to him. For a second, he felt the drowsiness lift, though another fog quickly fought to take over.


    "I forgot to start another research project." He had been so good about starting brand new research the moment another finished. Mainly because he knew ever little second counted, and because he was interested in what research would unlock next. So far, he had 2 levels in Enhanced Research, 2 levels in Loot, 2 levels in traps, 2 levels in mobs, and 2 levels in boss research. After James had finished his first level of mob research, he had chosen to wait 24 hours for a 2nd level in Enhanced research, utilizing that 2% decrease to research times to speed his progress a little. It seemed every time he reached a new level in research, the amount of time required doubled. Any and every reduction in time would be helpful.


    His last research had been his boss mob level 2 research, and it ended roughly 10 hours ago. He had just wasted 10 hours of research time. Ugh.


    "Well, at least you caught it now. What are you going to research next?" Rue was being unusually kind right now, and James was certain it was because the AI could tell he was nearing his limit. He assumed messing with someone that was sleep deprived wasn''t as amusing for the pixie as when she was picking on him when he was rested.


    "Hmmm." James read blearily over the options, before decided to pump another level into Enhanced research. It would take a little over 47 hours for that research, but it would be worth it. In fact, James made a mental note, which was probably his fifth or sixth page of mental notes, to just research enhanced research up to level 5, before working on the others. Time was of the essence after all.


    "I''ll do another Enha-" A yawn broke out, and he fought to stifle it "nced research again." He made the choice and closed the window, just as a flashing light from his instance tab caught his attention.


    "They''re back." James felt a little more energy rush into his form, as he pulled up the instance tab. Sure enough, a party of five had just walked in, all comically wearing an entire set of demonic farmer gear. The Knights of Ni had returned for one last dive.


    "Going to place another bet?" Rue rubbed her hands together greedily as the group walked in, and James had to grin. His pixie was insatiable, she had a larger gambling problem than he felt he did, and he was a gamer.


    "What is it this time?" They had been placing bets every time the group came in, and James had a feeling Rue was taking advantage of his sleep deprived state to make as many resources as she could. So far, she had won over 100 resources off him, and he had only won 20.


    "100 resources," Rue eyed the group, almost inspecting them, before she grinned. "I bet they make a comment about a holy weapon. Perhaps a grenade." Her eyes were sparkling, energy flowing into her. He wasn''t sure if she was excited about the group, or the caffeine was taking effect.


    "Deal." James had no idea what she was referencing, but there was no way that would come up. He was really looking forward to an easy 100 resources. It would help him touch up his floor even more. The floor was really coming along, though he knew it would still be a while before it was perfected. Through various achievements, he had earned a lot of resources, enabling him to put up various small structures, enlarge his corn and wheat fields, and even implement a resource storage unit, which looked like a grain silo, next to his barn. As a Tier 1, Rank 9 Dungeon, with one storage unit, he could now hold 2000 resources. He had a little over 100 left currently and was sure with the extra 100 he won from Rue, he could finally add in the tractor he wanted to for aesthetic purposes. 200 resources for a big green tractor.


    "You''re going to have to wait a little longer on your tractor." Rue was laughing as they both turned their focus on Z''s group, who were casually walking through the dungeon, apparently unworried about his mobs, as they should be. His mobs were level 9, and he had upgraded them to be quite fierce. However, Z''s group were all level 12, and the full set of demonic farmer gear gave them a 50% increase in damage to demonic farm animals, and a 50% damage reduction from them.


    With a complete set, they also gained a buff strikingly similar to birds of a feather, meaning the group was currently buffing themselves quite nicely. James had decreased the drop rate of the set pieces when he realized how strong the full set could be, but Z''s group had the money to buy pieces from other players.


    Many parties still struggled against them, and he was gaining a steady stream of experience. The third day, the number of players trying to enter his dungeon greatly increased, so a lot of people''s leveling seemed to slow. However, Z''s group was always entering as soon as they could, and James had noticed they appeared to be paying other players to jump in the line that had formed for players waiting to enter the dungeon. It seemed Z and the others knew money talked, and that a lot of the casuals were more than willing to give up their chance in the dungeon for easy money.


    James had overhead from a few groups that there was already a full-blown gambling hall in town, as well as quite the fast-growing skills market. One of the hottest commodities was apparently a whiskey player made from his demonic wheat, they were calling it fireball whiskey, and it seemed people were paying v coin to get their hands on the demonic wheat.


    "Alright guys, one more time, and we should hit level 13." Z was addressing the group as they headed through the floor, easily cutting down mobs. At level 10, the group had gained new skills, and Z and Elm were able to launch up to three arrows at a time now. On top of that, Faust had seemed to gain an ability that allowed him to have magic missiles float around him, seeking enemies on their own whenever they got too close.


    "Not bad for the first night of immersion." Oak chuckled as a sacrificial lamb detonated, creating a chain reaction that destroyed all the dickens around it. James had upgraded his lambs even more, so there were even more explosions per sacrificial lamb death. There was also delayed explosions, so that healers could get caught unsuspecting as they went to heal their friends.


    "My lambs are so baaaaaaaad." James chuckled tiredly to himself as he saw the second set of explosions go off.


    "You''re getting delusional from a lack of sleep." Rue was shaking her head as the group continued, their eyes set on Old Man Jenkins. The boss now stood 12 foot in height, and his horns curled out in an impressive, terrifying manor. His pitchfork had also been upgraded, with the prongs having barbs now, and a constant ring of flames around them.


    "Oy, you ready for a good spanking?" Oak called out to Old Man Jenkins, and the boss turned, eyes narrowing. A set of wings sprouted from behind his shoulders, spreading wide. James had been having a lot of fun upgrading his boss.


    "I didn''t know you swung that way Oak. You know what comes after the spanking." Z had his arrows knocked, though he and Elm were both moving far away from Oak. The warrior broke out in laughter, as he raised his shield, a new shield he had gotten at level 10 that gave him +10 to his defense.


    "Eh, I''m tired man. My jokes are getting a bit stale."


    "We''re all getting tired." Med Ic had his hand around his neck, where a simple holy charm sat. It seemed people in town had begun utilizing Dicken claws to create voodoo-esq charms. Apparently, they could work as holy charms for priests and clerics, who knew.


    "Well, you guys knew we would be going full force in the game. Can''t stay on top if we rest. Sleep is for the weak after all." James groaned at Z''s statement, along with the rest of the group.


    "You''re lucky we''ve made enough that we don''t have to work in the real world, otherwise this would really suck." The group was all nodding. "I''m just going to pass out all day man. I feel sorry for anyone that has work or school when they wake up."


    "Me too." James grumbled. He was going to have such a hard time at school when he woke. Hopefully he could keep himself awake checking out the reddit on the game. He was interested in seeing what players thought of the first night of the game. He also still had to look up Monty Python.


    "How much time do they have?" James was watching as the group prepared to face off against Old Man Jenkins. Thanks to his upgrades, his boss was a lot more formidable, which made sense considering he was level 14. With the boss mob research boosting his stats by 2%, and James upgrade points, Old Man Jenkins had a bunch of new abilities, and greatly increased stats.


    "Ten minutes till the seventh day ends, and the adventurers will be returned to their respective areas for the last hour of immersion." Rue had informed James that DCO would not allow adventurers to take part during the first and last hour of immersion, meaning they were limited to 7 of their 9 hours of immersion in the game. This way, players that got on late, or got up early, wouldn''t miss out. It also allowed for players to wrap up anything they needed to in immersion, as well as decompress, relax, and prepare for the next day. It also allowed the dungeon core to work on the dungeon without any players fighting mobs or being instanced. James could appreciate that, though he was certain he was going to use the next 24 hours to sleep. He was exhausted.


    "They should be able to get this." The last time they fought against Old Man Jenkins, the group had actually wipe, giving James a huge boost in experience. They had fought him near the corn field and missed a group of dickens and swiners as they approached the group. Mid fight the swiners had rushed towards the group, and in the confusion, the dickens had taken flight. They dropped their gren-eggs, which James had upgraded to have a poisonous cloud effect to them, onto the group, leaving behind a green cloud. That cloud, James had found, combined with the swiner debuff, quickly weakening the group and resulting in their death. It had also earned James an Achievement called Green Eggs and Ham. The developers probably though they were so funny.


    "Alright, well let''s see how they do."

 29 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29


    "I have no idea how you won that bet." James grumbled as his 100 resources were taken from him by his pixie. As she predicted, the group made a holy hand grenade comment. More specifically, Med Ic had made a comment about preparing to launch a holy hand grenade. He then proceeded to count one, two, five, three, and launched a golden orb at Old Man Jenkins, which had finished the boss off.


    "Well, their group is a bit predictable." Rue was grinning as she flicked her wrist, and it seemed she was checking her own screen. She had to have close to 200 resources from him, tricksy pixie.


    "But-"


    "And at level 10, clerics get a holy blast, which serves as their first actual offensive ability. I figured Med Ic would give the skill a try, especially since he was wearing one of those chicken talon holy symbols. They give him +5 to his magical attack after all."


    James had to stare hard at his pixie, as his sleep deprived mind tried to follow what had happened. Had his easy going AI, who just made crude jokes and gave him a hard time, really put that much thought into her bet? She was a lot more devious than he had thought.


    "Alright, well I will win the next time." The gamer in him refused to lose to her anymore, and he was sure when his mind wasn''t sleep deprived, he would be able to think things through just like she had. He just wondered how many more references she was getting that he wasn''t. James needed to figure out what things these players were referencing. His generation of gamers had their own jokes, and he was aware of some older memes from the early 2000s, but anything before that, he was sadly out of his league on. He was guessing the Knights Who Go Ni were an older group of gamers, cracking jokes from their childhood while they played.


    "Inconceivable." Rue stuck her tongue out at James, before she broke into a fit of giggles. He smiled softly to himself, she had started out a bit intense, but now that he was used to her personality, he found it made him smile.


    "Oh, look, it''s time." Rue motioned to a timer she had pulled up, and sure enough, there were just a few seconds left. As the clock struck 0, a bright light washed over everything, and suddenly all of the adventurers were gone. It was just Rue, James, and the demonic farm. At the same time, an achievement appeared before James''s orb.


    Achievement Unlocked- Sleep is For the Weak- Stay Awake for 200 hours. Are you hallucinating yet? Maybe talking to a pixie or fairy that is really a figment of your imagination? Go you!


    Rewards- 10,000xp 1000 resources 5 dungeon tokens


    "Huh, that seemed a bit snarkier than usual." James glanced at the achievement once more, finding the strength to grin as he patted himself on the back. He had done it. It had been hard, but he had done it. Another screen popped up after he closed the achievement.


    Tier Up!


    Congratulations you are now a Tier 2 Dungeon!


    Resource base max increased to 2000 (does not include structures


    Tier 1 Mobs have all been promoted to level 10


    Boss mob has been promoted to level 15


    +1 upgrade points for mobs


    Mob points for Tier 1 now 200


    Tier 2 instances unlocked


    New research options available


    New loot options unlocked


    You are now able to create a Tier 2 floor


    You are now able to summon Tier 2 mobs


    You have been awarded 5 gold


    You have been awarded 5 dungeon tokens


    James felt overwhelmed as he read through the list, and closed it out, pulling up his character sheet, to see what else had changed. He was most curious to see how the experience had changed. James knew games had a tendency to increase experience costs at certain milestones. He had even heard Z and his group complaining about the experience jump once they reached level 10. Apparently from level 1 to 10, the cost per level had increased by 100. So from level 8 to 9 it had cost them 900xp, and 9 to 10 cost them 1000xp. But when they hit level 10, it cost them 1500xp for the next level, and 2000xp to get to 12. The only reason they had managed to hit level 12, was because they unlocked an impressive amount of achievements while they farmed mobs. James sighed as he pulled up his character sheet, dreading what he would see.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    102,361 xp


    17,639 xp to next rank


    197,639 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 1013 of 2100


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 18


    "Well, that''s not too bad." James commented as he looked over his sheet. His experience from Tier 2 to Tier 3 doubled in cost, but he figured that wouldn''t be hard to manage. He also noted his required experience per rank doubled, meaning his floor would be a little slower to evolve than it had been, but he was okay with that fact. He felt his first floor had been evolving at such a rapid place, he and players hadn''t really been able to enjoy it fully. He hoped he would be able to spend more time on his later floors.


    "Good job Glyax." Rue had settled atop his orb, and was staring down at his screen. She stifled a yawn as she scanned over his information.


    "Not bad for the first night of immersion, huh?" James had to wonder how many dungeons had managed to reach tier 2 at the end of the first night. Was it a normal task, or was he ahead? Was that a sign of his dungeon being too hard? James didn''t think so, especially since a lot of his experience jumps had come from achievements. He had made sure to check his achievements tab before applying upgrades on his mobs, so that he could further optimize his achievement hunting. Needless to say, it had paid off.


    "No, you did really well Glyax. I''m proud of you." Rue looked around his dungeon, and then down at him, her tired eyes sparkling. "So, I know you''re tired."


    "Uh huh." James was exhausted. He was really tempted to spend this last hour of real world in immersion sleeping. It would feel like 24 hours straight of rest, and give him a little edge heading back into the real world.


    "But, you want to start on your second tier?" Her voice was hesitant, hopefully, but James could tell she was really excited for it. So was he. But he was also scared. In his tired state, how would he react if he got some crazy mob type? James was imagining mobs made out of candy. He was certain the developers would have put something like that in the game.


    "We can at least create a room to summon a mob in." James pulled up his dungeon creator, and glanced around his first floor. How did he go about creating a second floor? Did he create stairs leading down to a doorway, connecting to the second part of his dungeon? Was it a portal system? How did they developers implement it into the game?


    "Need some help?" Rue had picked up on the awkward silence, and pointed towards the bottom right of the Dungeon Creator screen. There, a new button had appeared, titled Dungeon Ascension. How had he missed that?


    "Do I just select it? Is it going to create a new level underneath the floor? Or how exactly does this work?"


    "By choosing Dungeon Ascension, it gives you access to an entire second floor. You can choose to physically attach it to your dungeon, either below or above your current floor, or you can create a portal that will teleport players to the next level. Either way is free, but you will of course then be required to form your own design to it, and apply influence to it at the cost of resources.


    "So, will it still be underground?" If he created a portal system, would that mean he could completely change the environment? Would it create a new instance that served as an environment for his mobs? Then again, he had no idea what his mobs would be. Maybe sticking with a cave environment was best for now.


    "How about you choose the option and see for yourself silly." Rue pointed towards the option, and James mentally selected it. The moment he did, a range of floor types spread out before him, ranging from underground tunnel system, to jungle, to even ocean floor. James''s sleep addled mind couldn''t even begin to comprehend the opportunities this offered to him.


    "So, selecting one of these will create a brand new floor type for me to begin modifying."


    "Correct."


    "And I get to choose where the portal is located on the floors?" James already planned to put the portal in the barn of his first floor, as every group of players he had observed walked into it. He wasn''t too worried about players that were under leveled taking it. If they did, they would quickly regret their life choices, and it would mean more experience for him.


    "That is correct."


    "Alright, well, let''s change things up." James flipped through the list, and decided to choose the open plains option. It was an outside level, complete with what James could assume was fresh air and the blazing sun, a bright contrast from his first floor. He figured no mater his mob type, even if it were water mobs, he would be able to adjust the floor to his liking. It all just came down to resources, after all.


    "I like it." Rue was grinning as he selected the option, and the moment he did, the area around them disappeared, and he was suddenly floating over an empty expanse of savannah. On his screen, he could see the option to place his portal. He decided to wait on that, until he figured out his mob type, and developed his floor more.


    "Now, let''s see what mobs we get, before I call it a night." James spent 10 resources to build a small area with his influence, so that he would be able to summon his tier 2 mob. He knew he would come back and to a lot of level design for his second floor before he opened it up, but for now, he was too tired to do much thinking.


    "Would you like the honors again Rue?" He pulled up his Mob Generator screen, and was staring at his Tier 2 mob row, which was full of question marks. At the bottom, the famous words Generate Random Mob.


    "Gladly." Rue smiled to him, happiness practically oozing off of her, as she hit the button. James silently started praying that he wouldn''t have a water floor, or candy mobs. Now that he knew the types of things the developers were putting in, he was really scared of what he might get stuck with.


    "Come on, something cool." James was whispering as he watched the area of land that had his influence on it. As before, it took a few seconds, before a form magically appeared before him. James let out his breathe, which had been holding, and found himself cheering as he pulled up his Mob Generator, once again looking at the Tier 2 portion.


    On the ground before him, a form he knew very well from movies. One of the most well-known creatures he felt, and definitely a mob he could love. The name under tier-2, labeling the type, explained the mechanical, industrial look to the creature.


    Steampunk Dinosaurs was his new mob type, and James had to admit, it had to be one of the coolest options he could think of. Scanning across the list, he quickly narrowed in on the mob that had been randomly summoned. Velocity Raptor, a mechanical, gear and steam powered, velociraptor.


    "I think we can work with this." James''s voice was tired, yet excited. Rue was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at his screen, to the little raptor, who was letting out a very distinct cry as it looked around. Poor little guy seemed lonely.


    "Yes, but first, you need to get some rest Glyax." The pixie was looking at his orb, and James was certain there was concern in her eyes, while her voice was soft, tender. "You did a great job this immersion. I look forward to working with you further."


    She was right, and James mentally summoned his user interface, pulling up his home screen. "Till next time?" James''s attention hovered on his home screen, watching his pixie.


    "I''ll be waiting." Rue''s grinning face was the last thing he saw, as he teleported back to his home room, the empty white waiting space. James found himself grinning as he closed his eyes, willing himself to drift into the dark embrace of sleep, knowing when he next opened his eyes, he would be waking from immersion, and preparing once again for the real world. James already couldn''t wait for the day to be over. He had a dungeon to build.

 30 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30


    James opened his eyes as he felt the warm gel releasing him, the neural connection with his immersion pod breaking. Blinking his eyes a few times, he got groggily out of bed, stretching as he did. After spending a night of immersion as a floating orb, having limbs again felt strange. He grinned as he flexed his hands, before heading about his daily routine, preparing for the day ahead.


    After he showered and got dressed, James grabbed his AR glasses, grinning as he slid them on and they powered up. He could see the time at the top left screen, showing him he had a little over an hour and a half till 9am, when school started. Before he left his room, he grabbed his special earpiece that had come with his AR glasses, figuring he would need it for the day. The earpiece fit nicely inside of his left ear, and was practically invisible. If he was going to be watching movies during school, he didn''t want to get caught.


    By the time he left his house, having made himself pancakes and bacon for breakfast, the sun was already making its way in the sky, and James couldn''t help but enjoy the feeling of it on his skin. His grogginess had fled, and the excitement of what was to come was filling him with energy. He couldn''t stop grinning as he walked towards the train station, barely able to stop himself from pulling up his internet browser on his AR glasses while he walked. The moment James sat down on the train, his patience broke.


    AR glasses had advanced eye tracking, which would enable users to control everything they wanted to with their eyes, including sending text messages. However, once James sat down, he opted for a faster approach. No matter how fast his eyes were, typing and utilizing a mouse was faster .James set his hands just above his legs, lifting his wrist slightly. The motion activated the bracelets that James wore on his wrists, sending out beams of light that were nearly invisible to the naked eye.


    These lights formed a typing surface, and to anyone with AR glasses on, it would appear James had a keyboard in his lap. As he began typing, his fingers passed through the portions of light, and these disturbances were what the system tracked as his keystrokes, allowing him to type in his AR field of view.


    As much as he wanted to hop right to the reddit forums, in order to see what people were saying about DCO, James had made a list of things he needed to do. First, one of his most striking tasks, was to figure out what Monty Python was. He pulled up Amazon, the one stop online shop for any and all services, and began searching. It didn''t take long, for James to have digital copies of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python''s Life of Brian, and Monty Python''s The Meaning of Life. He couldn''t'' believe people were referencing these movies, considering they were form the 1970s and 1980s. James was eager to find out what made them so memorable.


    Just as James finished making his purchase, preparing to search next for the name Old Man Jenkins, he noticed a message icon appear at the bottom of his vision. Normally, the only messages he got were from his parents, but they had told him they would be unable to reach out to him for the next week, because of some top secret event going on at work. As such, James was curious just who was sending him a message.


    Because he already had his keyboard and mouse light fields activated, James quickly moved his right hand down, dragging a mouse cursor over the icon, and clicked on it. The moment he did, a message appeared.


    From: Rue


    Subject: Don''t start slacking on me


    Hey Glyax, I''m not sure what you''re up to in the real world, but just wanted to make sure you didn''t start slacking on your duties. Time is still ticking in DCO, and you''ve got plenty you can do while you''re logged out. Do your best to check in frequently whenever you have computer access, so that you can utilize your resources and manage your dungeon. Being the dungeon core is a full time job, after all. Besides, you are off to such a great start. Don''t let me down.


    <3


    Rue


    James read the message again, blinking as he did. He knew some people created virtual AI to send them messages through the day, usually cute female avatars they called Waifu''s, but James hadn''t thought DCO would have a similar feature. The more he thought about it though, it made sense. Because a dungeon core was a singular player, James was certain it wouldn''t be hard for the developers to put in a piece of code that allowed the AI to contact the core in the real world. James grinned as he sifted through his app screen, selecting DCO. He could only imagine having constant access to his account all day through his AR glasses was going to allow him to get so much done for his dungeon. He could hardly wait.


    Before he pulled open the app though, interested in what the interface would look like, he figured he should respond to Rue. She may be an AI, but he felt it was proper. After all, she seemed extremely realistic to him, and he was growing fond of the pixie. He clicked the reply button, and typed up a quick response.


    Rue,


    Obviously I have no intention of slacking off. I plan on becoming the best dungeon ever, even if my pixie is forgetful, and didn''t mention I could still play dungeonville during the day. :P. I will do what I can through the day, and look forward to seeing how the adventurer''s react when they see our new floor.


    Glyax


    Grinning to himself, he hit send, and pulled up the DCO app screen. It opened up onto a dark screen, showing him his character sheet. It took him a moment to comprehend what he was looking at. When he had gone back to his home screen, with 1 hour left in immersion, he had 1013 resources. Now, he had 1498 resources. James realized that his hours in the real world must still correlate to 24 hours in game, meaning he would need to constantly be spending his resources through the day, if he didn''t want to waste any time.


    James looked at the tabs, and saw Dungeon Creator listed in the app. As he pulled it up, he quickly scrolled through the options. He didn''t have a good idea yet of how he wanted to design his second floor, but he knew he was planning to spend some Dungeon Tokens when he did. He had 18 after all. As such, he selected another Resource Storage unit, clicking on the 1000 cost object. The moment he did, a small x1 appeared on it. If James had to guess, he could make purchases in the app, and then when he logged into the game in immersion, would be able to use those items. At least, he hopped that was the case, as he looked down at his character sheet, seeing his resources were now at 498 of 2200.


    Next, with excitement growing, James opened his research tab, figuring if his hypothesis was correct, his tier 3 research, which was set to take a little over 47 hours, should be complete. Sure enough, he was greeted with a completed Rank 3 enhanced research, as well as a few new research options. He had forgotten hitting Tier 2 gave him more research options. Scolding himself, he selected to rank up his enhanced research again, noting it would take just over 93 hours in game time, meaning roughly four hours of real world time. Just as he was going to close his research window, he paused. The options hadn''t greyed out like they normally did, and after a moment, James remembered he was now able to research two items at a time, as a Tier 2 dungeon. Chuckling to himself, he activated loot research again. James was confident he would be able to get most of his research projects to rank 5 at this rate, before his next dive.


    Scanning through the app hurriedly, he was tempted to see about his mobs, when the train announced they were nearing his stop. Sighing, James lowered his wrist, putting away his keyboard and mouse, and excited out of his DCO app. He activated notifications for the app, so that he would be notified when his research was complete. Then, he started his walk towards school, deciding he would check out the reddit pages once he got there. He was anxious to see what people were saying about his dungeon.

 31 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31


    James got to school with about 20 minutes remaining before classes started. Normally he would simply read a book, or if he had a late night raiding, take a quick nap in his classroom, while the other students trailed in. As such, he made his way quickly to his classroom, doing his best not to stop every time he heard someone mention DCO. It seemed like everyone had something to say about his game, and James wanted to hear it all.


    He was grinning by the time he sat down in his classroom, pulling up his keyboard once again. The last group he passed on his way into class, was recounting being ambushed by a flock of dickens while taunted by a scapegoat. James had seen such instances happen multiple times, and it was always funny. He was glad the group recounting the story was smiling as they told the tale, a good sign he felt.


    With his keyboard and mouse pulled up, James opened his internet browser, heading over to reddit. While Google was the universal search engine on the internet, reddit was the unofficial hub for any and all information. If you wanted to find a group of people talking about something, anything, there was likely a subreddit for it.


    James typed the url in quickly, adding in r/DCO, as he was no stranger to reddit, and was certain that would be the URL. Sure enough, a page pulled up, proclaiming itself to be the main reddit page for Dungeon Core Online. James glanced at the stats on the page, and nearly gasped when he saw the amount of users currently browsing the site. The number was in the millions, and growing. He vaguely recalled the strange man''s voice, and the mention of DCO being a social experiment. What could possibly be going on?


    Putting his conspiracy theories aside, James navigated his way through the links, narrowing it down from continent to country to state, to city. Someone had been very busy creating this subreddit. Grinning, he finally pulled up his small city, and began browsing through the topics.


    Pinned- DCO Hints, Tricks, and Tips


    Who are the Knights Who Go Ni?


    Demonic Farm Animals?


    Looking for a group


    Praise the Sun!!!!!!


    Looking for a good dicken


    James scanned over the pinned, curious to see what the hints, tips, and tricks could be, but first clicked on Demonic Farm Animals? He really wanted to see what the majority thought of his mobs.


    Demonic Farm Animals?


    */Kap- Okay, is anybody else wondering what the devs were on? Mad Cows, sheep suicide bombers, and demonic poultry. Seriously WTF!!!


    **/masterace6 ¨C Obviously they''re insinuating that the fast food industry (looking at you McDonalds!) is ran by the devil, and that every bite is a taste of hell.


    ***/Smitty79012- You mean like in the Devil''s a part timer?


    ****/LadyStryker- You really think the devs watched that ancient anime?


    *****/Smitty79012- they could have¡­.


    **/Redikai- The suicide sheep were definitely the worst of them all. Every single time I''ve died it''s always somehow their fault. I barely leveled up because they killed me so many times. Do they target certain people or something?


    ***/ElKami- Did you try petting them? They look so fluffy


    **/Kap- the debuffs these mobs have too. Like seriously, people have probably died more to debuffs than actual combat.


    James wanted to respond to them, he really did, but he paused, knowing he wasn''t supposed to interact with players. Did that count on the reddit page? Was he able to post as long as he didn''t'' give away his secret? He figured he would run it by Rue before he did anything, better safe than sorry after all.


    He backed out of that topic, and glanced as he saw a new topic. Other towns Mobs! Interested, James pulled it up.


    Other Towns'' Mobs!


    */Skarface- Alright, I just scrolled through some of the other cities pages, and I want to know, did we just get some bad luck? Freaking someone from /Tokyo reported their dungeon is a fire dungeon, with baby dragons. Baby Dragons! What do we get, dickens, we get dickens. SMH


    **/Melman- Don''t complain, this is probably the only time you''ll get close to a dicken


    James had to laugh. No matter what the day and age, dick jokes were still funny, and the internet was still full of trolls. He closed the reddit quickly, knowing that complaining on a thread was the easiest way for people to start flaming somebody. He felt sorry for Skarface, whoever he was.


    Before James could open another link, he heard voices nearing the door to his classroom, voices he immediately recognized. Dwight and his group of friends.


    "Come on D, I said I was sorry." One of Dwight''s cronies was pleading, and Dwight turned to face the poor guy, stopping directly outside James''s classroom.


    "Sorry doesn''t excuse the fact that we died four times because of you. What type of tank-" D''s eyes narrowed as he looked past his crony, directly at James.


    "Hey, Specks," Dwight made a motion with his hand, signaling for James to come out in the hall, away from the safety of the classroom. The senior couldn''t pick on James when he was in a classroom with a teacher present. Though James knew his teacher was currently using his AR glasses for an online poker match, but hey, he wasn''t one to judge.


    "What''s up Dwight?" James called back, making himself comfortable at his desk, and making it evident he wasn''t about to leave the classroom. He wasn''t dumb.


    "You played DCO last night, right?" Dwight had a fake smile across his face, but James could see the bully''s eye twitching.


    "Yup. Had a lot of fun, even brought down the boss a couple times." James was lying through his teeth, but there was no way Dwight would know that. Besides, James knew more about his dungeon than anyone else. It was his dungeon, after all.


    "Oh, so you must be pretty familiar with the floor, huh?" Dwight''s expression softened for a moment, and a sinister smile crossed his face.


    "You could say that."


    "So, you want to be a pal, and share some secrets? I know people are looking for treasure chests for good loot, have you found any?" Dwight was practically licking his lips, and James knew the senior was playing the game simply for the promise of money. James also knew Dwight and his group usually only played FPS and sports games, meaning they likely had no idea what they were doing in the game.


    "Well, I know of one." As James spoke, he noticed his teacher''s ears perk up, and the instructor was suddenly watching James closely. Of course his teacher was playing DCO as well. Who wasn''t? James motioned for Dwight to come into the classroom. He didn''t want his teacher to overhear what he was about to tell Dwight. He liked his teacher after all.


    Dwight looked around for a second, before shrugging his shoulders and walking into the classroom. He drew closer to James, and set a hand on James''s shoulder, smiling. "So what you got man?"


    James offered him the best smile he could, while his mind was working overtime. His dungeon currently didn''t have any treasure chests, but he did have the ability to make them. He also had the ability to set a bunch of nasty traps with those traps, and was certain he was nearing mimic levels. Now, he could take the high road, and tell Dwight a location that he could put an actual chest in, and help the senior out. That could even get the senior off his back for a little while. However, James had power right now, and he was going to use it. He was tired of Dwight picking on him.


    "Alright, so you know where the barn is, right?" James was whispering, and Dwight drew close, nodding his head. "So, if you go to the upper level, and search behind the hay bales, there is actually a secret chest there."


    "Did it have good loot?"


    "Eh, a single gold coin, but I feel that''s definitely worth it right now." James offered Dwight a knowing smile, as the senior stood back, grinning from ear to ear.


    "Thanks Specs." Dwight turned to walk away, victory evident on his face. James couldn''t help but chuckle darkly, as he made a note to himself. Dwight was in for a surprise when his group got to that chest.

 32 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32


    The rest of the day passed in a blur, partially due to the time James spent browsing the online forums and managing his DCO app, and partially because the Monty Python movies were hilarious. He actually nearly burst out laughing in class multiple times, drawing the attention of his teacher. James had a new appreciation for the comedy Z and his group had been throwing about.


    By the time he finished the movies, class was done for the day, and so James made his way home. He was taking a break from reading peoples comments about his dungeon, as well as checking on other instances forums, and was instead brainstorming ideas for his second floor. He was definitely leaning towards a post-apocalyptic city- feel with his steampunk dinosaurs. He had made this decision after running a quick search on steampunk movies and video games, noticing a dark gritty feel to the environments, and loving the ancient yet modern components that seemed prevalent in the genre.


    Given the range of his dinosaur mobs, he decided if he created a run-down city for his dinosaurs to roam about, with open expanses for the larger dinosaurs to prey on, he could have a lot of fun with it. He silently felt he needed to thank the God Eater and Zoids franchises as he began imagining his battles. Now he just needed to run his idea by Rue when he logged in. Just as he thought of the pixie, a message notification appeared on his AR glasses. Speak of the devil.


    From: Rue


    Subject: Day One Patch


    Just wanted to give you the heads up to check out the DCO site for patch notes. Developers are implementing a patch, so a few things will have changed when you log back in. Also, what the hell are you doing with all of these storage units?


    <3


    Rue


    James had to grin as he finished reading his pixie''s message, her final line making him chuckle. While he had been methodical with his research, resulting in rank 5 enhanced research, loot, traps, and was currently working on level 5 boss mob and mob research, he had been a little less attentive to his resource expenditures. Because he planned to use a few dungeon tokens for his dungeon upgrades, he had been purchasing resource storage. Since the morning, he had bought a total of 4 storage units, bringing his maximum resource count to 2500.


    Rue,


    Seriously, a day one patch? Why am I not surprised. Alright, I will go check out the notes, I look forward to diving back in. And don''t worry about my storage, I have plans that I''m sure you will like.


    Cheers,


    Glyax


    He sent his reply to the pixie, and promptly pulled up his browser, heading to the forums. Sure enough, at the very top of the forums, was a big alert about the patch notes. Checking the time, James couldn''t believe they were just now announcing the notes. There was only an hour till his immersion would begin. As he thought about it, James wondered if the developers had noticed issues with instances that had already started their second night of immersion, and decided to implement a hot fix. It was actually a pretty common practice in the gaming world.


    DCO Patch Notes 1.1


    Greetings brave adventurers! First, we would like to humbly thank the millions upon millions of players who chose to dive into the game on the first night of its release. We understand many of you have made the choice to give DCO a go, pulling you away from already established characters and relationships in other games. For that, we thank you.


    We have noticed that some dungeons have been scaling much faster than others, which may discourage players from diving into the dungeon, simply due to a difference in levels. We have noticed this, and are adding a new feature for the moment, to give players a way to grow, without having to dive into the dungeon. This way, players can gain experience and level up until they are comfortable facing the monsters in the dungeon, and embarking on greater challenges with greater risks.


    This Hot Patch will be implementing level 1-10 mobs outside of the dungeon, which will roam around the dungeon continent. They will be comprised of basic beasts, both on land and sea, and can be slain for experience and basic crafting materials. We have further plans for this feature, which will be introduced at the end of the first month of DCO, with our 2.0 upgrade.


    We are also lifting the restriction on in game browser usage, which will enable players to utilize their UI in order to browse the internet, and contact each other. Use of the in game party finder tools, as well as world chat, are still encouraged, but we understand some players would prefer to have access to the outside world while playing DCO. We wish to listen to you, our players, and make this experience the best possible.


    Minor bug fixes have also been made, and we hope players continue to enjoy DCO. Now, happy hunting, and good luck adventurers!


    James read through the developer notes one last time, and couldn''t help but feel a little guilty. He was sure his dungeon was one of the ones growing rapidly, and he realized his enhanced mobs were probably scaring some adventurers away. He could understand why the developers would implement mobs outside of the dungeon, at least low level mobs. Not only could players now level in a safer environment, away from roaming flocks of dickens, they could also farm to their hearts content without having to wait for an instance to free up.


    As for the use of interfaces within the game, James had to grin. While the notes mentioned that was a quality of life improvement for adventurers, he was certain it was aimed more at the dungeon cores. Now, he would be able to read, watch videos, and keep track of forum posts, all while upgrading his dungeon. He definitely felt this improvement would be a much welcomed surprise for himself and the other dungeon cores.


    Grinning to himself, James prepared himself for immersion. He had less than an hour before he could begin his immersion, and so he took his time, enjoying his time in the shower, before choosing to grab a small nighttime snack. By the time he made his way to his pod, time seemed to have slowed, and he still had five minutes before immersion could begin. He laid down and closed his eyes, but time seemed to just creak by. Frustrated, James started counting sacrificial lambs'' in his mind, willing himself to relax, while he eagerly waited for immersion. By the time he got to 143 explosions, James felt the warm gel creeping over his body, and the next thing he knew, he was back in his home screen. A second later, James transported himself to DCO.

 33 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33


    "About time you''re back." James was greeted by Rue''s face once again, the pixie nearly pressed up against his floating orb. She drifted backwards with her wings, a small smile on her face. "I missed you Glyax."


    James couldn''t help but smile at the reception, her mood had definitely changed since they first met, for the better. Whereas before she had come across as condescending and borderline abusive, he could feel her emotions had warmed towards him, and he was quickly growing attached to the pixie. James had to wonder what the AI''s were like for the other dungeons, and if he had just gotten lucky with his.


    "So, what have you been up to while I''ve been gone?" James was pulling up his screens as he chatted with the pixie, quickly browsing through all of the data. He was nearly empty on resources, just as he planned, with his maximum sitting at 2500. James figured the first thing he did, while he waited for his level 5 mob research to complete, was to begin building his new floor. He already had a vision that would work with the tier 2 mobs at his disposal, now he just needed to bring it to life.


    "Were you even listening to me?" Rue''s voice had raised a pitch, and the pixie was staring at him, her hands on her hips. Oops, James had zoned out after asking her about her time while he was in the real world. That wasn''t going to end well for him.


    "Umm." James glanced from the screens, to the pixie, to the screens again. "You''re so pretty." He panicked, and those were the first words out of his mouth. He really needed to work on his interaction with the pixie.


    Rue stared at him hard, before a soft smile crept up to her face, her head shaking. "You''re an idiot." The pixie sighed and glanced at the screens he had up. "So, what''s the plan, oh wonderful dungeon core?"


    "For now? How about we build up floor two. Afterwards, we can go about assigning mobs." James pulled up his dungeon creator tab and selected his tier two floor. Suddenly they were once again teleported to the empty expanse, the bright sun bathing them in its warm glow. Before he selected his resources, preparing to spend a few of his precious tokens, a thought crossed his mind.


    "Hey Rue." The pixie turned at his words, her face questioning.


    "Yes Glyax?"


    "Can you remind me to put a trapped treasure chest on my first floor, in the barn?" He had nearly forgotten his conversation with Dwight earlier in the day. James definitely wanted to set up that trapped chest. By using his alert settings for his instance, he would be able to receive a notification whenever a group neared the chest. Meaning he would be possibly learn what Dwight''s in game name was. Revenge was going to be sweet.


    "You want a trapped chest, or a mimic?" Rue was glancing over his orb, taking in all of the screens he had up. She was staring at his research table.


    "I don''t have mimics."


    "Yet." Rue pointed at his current research. Rank 5 mob research would finish in a few hours, while rank 5 boss mob research still had over 15 hours remaining.


    "When your rank 5 mob research is finished, you will unlock mimics, because you also have rank 5 loot and rank 5 traps completed." The pixie crossed her arms, grinning at him. "That''s the secret requirement for mimics."


    "Oh really? What other things have secret requirements I can unlock?" If James had eyebrows as a floating orb, he would have one raised right then.


    "That''s for me to know, and you to find out." The pixie started laughing as she did a backflip in the air, grinning at James. "I''m not that easy, that I''ll tell you all my secrets after a single night of immersion together." She finished her statement with a wink, and James''s mind once again broke for a moment. He silently thanked and cursed the developer that had come up with her character. Whoever it was, definitely loved anime.


    "Well then, guess I''ll just keep my plans a surprise as well." James grinned to himself. Two could play this game. Though he had to wonder if being passive aggressive against an AI pixie was the mature thing to do. Shaking that thought, he turned back to his task at hand. He had a floor to create, and 24 hours to make it the best floor he could.


    The first thing James did, was burn a dungeon token to fill his resources to their full 2500. That left him with 17 of the tokens, and James was willing to use 7 more for his task, which would leave him with 10 tokens. That meant he had a total of 20,000 resources to spend for his floor. The adventurers, and Rue, were going to be so impressed by this floor.


    James started by drawing out a massive expanse, 900 x 900 yards, and added his influence into it. This task cost him 1800 resource points, but it was worth it. What he had planned, was going to be grand. He would be the best dungeon out there.


    Next, James flipped through the dungeon creator, till he got to the buildings section. He could choose from a wide variety of individual buildings, all with varying costs. The cheapest were single story houses, costing him 100-200 resources a piece, whereas large buildings, such as skyscrapers, were in the 2000 and up range. James glanced at them, imagining the city scape he wanted to build, with broken buildings and cracked roads. He was imagining a town in the wake of a war, forgotten, partially reclaimed by the land. Suddenly, 20000 resources didn''t seem like enough.


    "Well, here goes nothing." James whispered as he started his task. He still had 700 resources from the first token, and after looking at the buildings, decided he needed to take a new approach. If he were going to create the city he wanted, he needed to understand its layout first. The easiest way to do this, was to begin making roads.


    "Whatcha doing?" Rue was watching as he went into the roads portion of the Dungeon Creator tab and began drawing out his roads. While he had doubled the size of the space of his dungeon, he intended to leave a lot of it as open expanse, with his mock town at the center of the instance.


    "Playing Sim City 9000." The Sim City games had been along for a long time, and the latest, 9000, was so sophisticated city planners even used it for their actual work. James had gotten bored of creating cities in the game rather quickly, mainly because he hated the politics that went into planning a city. Luckily, when you were making a city for steampunk dinosaurs, there were no politics.


    "Are you doing civilized dinosaurs? Doesn''t that feel like a 1990s sitcom?" James glanced at his pixie, with no idea what she was on about. Who would make a show about dinosaurs living in a city? That sounded ridiculous.


    "No, I''m doing a post-apocalyptic city." Damn, she got him to share part of his plan. Tricky pixie.


    "Ohhh, I like that." Rue landed gently atop his orb, her eyes filled with excitement. "So, what are you waiting for?"


    "For my pixie to stop interrupting me." James started chuckling as he began drawing out his roads, planning his city. He realized it wouldn''t be the true size of a city, but he just needed to simulate a downtown area. He wanted to give his smaller dinosaur mobs the ability to ambush adventurers from various alley ways, while leaving the town center, as well as the outskirts of the town, for his larger mobs. Thanks to his mob research, he was now able to give his mobs set spawn points, as well as basic commands, such as areas to patrol, or how they aggroed on adventurers. He really planned to take advantage of this new power on his second floor.


    "Fiiiiinnnnnne, I''ll keep quiet." Her eyes were mischievous as she looked down at him.


    "Really?"


    "Probably not." She started chuckling as she waved her hand, a bowl of popcorn appearing before her. "But I''ll do my best."


    "This is all a game to you, isn''t it?" James activated another token, refiling his resources as he continued drawing out his roads and alley ways.


    "Well duh. DCO is a game, after all." Rue shot him a wink, before pulling out a handful of popcorn, popping a piece into her mouth. "Now, get to work. I want to see how you summon your mobs, as well as what your boss and mini boss are like."


    James had forgotten that he got access to a mini boss on his second dungeon floor. Filled with new excitement over what that might entail, while also a bet hesitant about RNG for his boss mob, James put his full attention to his task at hand. Worst case scenario, he would have at least 10 dungeon tokens left, to reroll for his boss mob. James already knew what he wanted for a boss, and he was willing to gamble to get it.

 34 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34


    "It feels a bit, empty." James had just finished burning through his final 2500 points from dungeon token use, and his floor was as complete as it could get for now. Burnt out husks of cars littered the area, and the city was crumbling and desolate as he had planned. He had even found effects he could add for very few resources, so now his floor had smoke rising from various places, as if the very ground seemed to burn from a long-forgotten attack. Just how he wanted it. In his mind, the town was the ruins of a war that eradicated most of the humans, leaving behind only the steampunk automatons that they had created. No one would know his story for his floor, but he liked having one. It made a little more sense, in his mind, than a demonic farm inside of a cave.


    "Well yeah, that''s what happens after the apocalypse." James closed out of his dungeon creator, and pulled up his mob generator, preparing to populate the floor. "How much time do we have?"


    Rue waved her hand, and a timer once again appeared. James was really glad the developers had devoted an hour of real world time to the front and back of the full 9 hours of immersion, it gave him time to really prepare his floor for his adventurers.


    "You''ve managed to waste, er, use up just over 4 hours of time so far, with your city planning." James nodded and glanced at his research, just under 30 minutes for his research to complete, before he could make mimics. He was excited, but he knew that would be one of the last tasks he did for the day. For now, steampunk dinosaurs.


    "So, my first floor now has 200 mob points worth of mobs, and a boss." James was glancing at his mob generator screen. "But, it looks like I start with 400 points worth of mobs for floor two?" This time around, James had absorbed his velocity raptor before he began crafting his second floor, so he currently had no mobs roaming about.


    "Mhmm, each floor you are going to get more points. On top of that, your mobs will start at higher levels, obviously." James was nodded as he checked at his mob costs. It was finally time for him to summon his mobs, and even though he had spent the entire day thinking about it, he was still undecided on how exactly it was going to happen.


    He knew he really wanted to abuse his velocity raptors. They were the second cheapest mob for this floor, and reading through their skills, he knew they would be power house mobs. He pulled up the information on them, just to check them over one last time, before he committed to anything.


    Velocity Raptor (7) lvl 15


    Type: Clockwork Raptor


    HP: 60


    MP: 30


    Atk: 50


    Def: 25


    Unique Traits


    Steam Powered Pack: Velocity raptors gain 100% increase to their stats as long as they are in a pack of 3 or more.


    ?D/?T: Velocity Raptors have 125% increased movement and attack speed while above 50% health.


    James wasn''t sure if he should grin, or groan as he read over the skills one last time. Whoever had come up with the abilities on the Velocity Raptors, had to have been a nerd. Who else would put in the equation for velocity as a unique skill. Though, the fact James recognized that as the correct equation, wasn''t saying much for him either. Ugh.


    He quickly breezed through the rest of the dinosaurs at his disposal, starting to run calculations in his mind as he did. The mobs available to him, in order of cost, were Archeao-repairers, which cost him 6 mob points apiece, and were a smaller flying mob. The creature didn''t really do much in the way of damage but had the ability to repair any steampunk dinosaurs on the floor, making them extremely troublesome in James''s mind for adventurers. Especially because he had noticed some groups did not run wit ranged DPS. Flying mobs would be the end of them.


    Next, costing 7 points, was of course the velocity raptors. After them, for 8 points, were tricera-cogs, massive herbivore type dinosaurs, with spiked horns that appeared to be able to be launched at enemies. Add that into the frill around their heads, which appeared to be heavily armored, and he could tell it was a dangerous tank mob. Then, there was the steamosaurus at 9 points, a modification to the stegosaurus from what James could tell. It was a unique mob, in that it appeared to have two different forms it was capable of utilizing. James figured that mob would take more than one group by surprise.


    The last two mobs for James each cost 10 points. One, was a Spy-nosaurus, a massive carnivore that the developers appeared to have decided to give a cloaking ability to. That didn''t seem fair, but James was already eagerly waiting to see the first adventurer group to come upon one of them. Then, there was the Break-i-asarus. Seriously, James had to wonder if the developers started getting lazy on their mob names at one point. Surely someone, somewhere, could have come up with something a little more amusing. Regardless, the break-i-asarus was a massive mob, that appeared to have the ability to land a widespread stun to adventurers, while also simply having a massive amount of life. This mob was definitely going to exist outside of town.


    With 400 points, James started summoning his dinos as he saw fit. Outside of the town, various distances away from the city, James summoned 5 break-i-asarus, for a total of 50 points. Inside the town, near various open expanses, James summoned 5 spy-nosaurus, for another 0 points. With 300 points remaining, James went to town on, literally, on his next mob. At 7 apiece, and needing to be in groups of three or more, James summoned packs of velocity raptors all through town. These mobs, standing at roughly 3 feet a piece, would be able to easily ambush and sneak up on adventurers. He summoned 7 packs of 3 inside of town, spending 147 points. He planned to add more packs outside of the city, as they could ambush players from within the savanna grass.


    With 153 points remaining, James summoned a mixture of tricera-cogs and steamosaursus outside of the town, but assigned them the ability to freely room inside and outside of the city. He could only imagine how problematic an encounter with one would be inside of the city, where players could be ambushed by velocity raptors at the same time. It was going to be glorious.


    Finally, James summoned a total of 10 Archeao-repairers, using the last 60 points at his disposal, and finishing off his initial mob preparation. He couldn''t help but grinning as he watched the magnificent dinosaurs moving about.


    "They spent so much time wondering if they could, they didn''t stop to think if they should." Rue''s voice pulled James from his admiration of his work, and he turned to her, feeling himself grin.


    She was quoting the Jurassic Universe movies, or more specifically, the Jurassic Park remake that had come out a few years ago. Apparently, Disney was on a mission to remake as many movies as they could, every decade. Ironically, it was working, because they continued to make money off what was essentially a pretty version of a movie that came out decades before hand. James figured if you could make money just improving how something looked but keeping the story and even the script nearly the same, well hey, more power to em. In his heart though, he wanted to try and be as unique as he could with what he created, which is why he was doing his best with his dungeon, and why he silently enjoyed his Random choice. No one was going to be able to predict what would come next for him.


    "Speaking of what we could and should do." James turned to his pixie, felling his excitement rise. "How about we get to making our boss and mini boss?" Rue had explained to him that developers wanted mini bosses to have synergy with bosses. Therefore, when James rolled for his boss, after he selected it, he would be given a new roll specifically for mobs that could synergize with it, for his mini boss. Honestly, James didn''t care too much for what his mini boss was. He had one mission, and that was to get the boss he knew had to exist for this mob type. And he had 10 dungeon tokens to spend chasing his dream.


    A grin spread across Rue''s face, and she waved her hand, summoning the infamous slot machines. James started praying to the RNGesus, before he nodded to his pixie. A second later, the whimsical music began, and James waited anxiously to see what he would get.

 35 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35


    "I hate this game." James was glaring at the slot machine, which had finally landed on what he wanted. He had spent 8 dungeon tokens on rerolls to get what he needed, each time growing more and more annoyed. Part of him couldn''t believe the developers had created so many absurd options, but the other part of him knew they had done it to encourage the use of dungeon tokens. James had been worried he would need to actually spend V coin on his rerolls, if he ran out of dungeon tokens. He would have hated that fact.


    "Aw, it wasn''t that bad." James shot his pixie a glare as she spoke.


    "Not that bad? The last three options were Giant Egg, a freaking water dinosaur, and a giant meteorite." Alright, the last option had made James chuckle to himself. Had he not been wasting so many tokens, and had he not already had his heart set on a certain dinosaur, he may have chosen that option.


    "Well, are you going to reroll?" Rue''s hand was waiting hungrily by the lever, and James quickly shook his orb.


    "Nope, I got what I wanted." He selected the option, a massive T-rex. The moment he did, a second machine appeared, the mini boss roll."


    "Oh, good choice." The first slot machine faded from existence, and James''s pixie, whom he was certain had a gambling addiction, immediately rushed to the second machine. Before he could even give the go ahead, she pulled the lever. James stared, half interested, at the options as they appeared. He really didn''t care too much for what he got, and he wasn''t going to waste any more tokens, not now at least.


    "Reroll, or keep?" Rue was glancing at the options, and James read them over.


    Terror-dactyl


    Geargantuam-Saurus


    B.L.U.


    James''s mood went from uncaring, to caring in a second. The joke, the reference, it was just too good to pass up. Also, he was curious what the acronym stood for. "I''m selecting B.L.U."


    As he selected the option, it became available in his Boss Mob Creator screen. Selecting it, he sighed as he read the name. If James had learned anything about the games developers, it was that they would sacrifice logic, for their puns, at any instance. B.L.U.''s name stood for Ballistically Locomotive Ultra-raptor. From the looks of it in his screen, it was a six-foot-tall modified version of a velocity raptor, because why not.


    The difference though, was that B.L.U. appeared to have steam powered engines on either of its legs, which themselves appeared to be a mixture of skates, and tank treads. Its tail also appeared to be a mixture of a tail, and a chainsaw. Meanwhile, the mini-boss had Gatling guns where its claws should have been on its arms. B.L.U. was a fast-moving hybrid fighting machine.


    "Good choice." Rue looked over the mob appreciatively, and James couldn''t help but grin as he summoned it. He assigned it a free roaming profile around the town, figuring a wandering mini-boss could be fun. He also noted that while his normal mobs were level 15 on the floor, his mini boss was already level 20. To his surprise, he saw he had 5 upgrade points to spend on the mini boss but decided to wait. His floor was going to be hard enough as is, he didn''t want to scare adventurers away. At least, not just yet.


    "So, what about your boss mob?" James currently had his boss mob''s screen pulled up, admiring the massive monster. He was curious how the developers were going to develop a steampunk T-rex, and he was not disappointed. The monster was a mass of gears, and wires, with massive cannons on its little arms. Its body was covered in armor plating, giving it a good amount of defense. James was certain his boss would come with quite a few nifty skills to, and grinned as he saw he had 10 upgrade points for it. He resisted the urge to assign any, though he did glance across the upgrade trees. He couldn''t wait to upgrade this boss. The adventurers were in for a rude awakening when he did. James was certain this boss would gain him a lot of experience.


    "I have a special place for this guy." James directed his pixie''s attention to the center of town, where he created what almost appeared to be a coliseum formed from fallen buildings. There were large enough gaps under the buildings for adventuring parties to enter, as well as velocity raptors. Once inside, it was like a gladiator arena, with vehicles spread about for cover. This was his boss''s arena, this was where his T-Rex would reside.


    "Oh, that''s fancy." Rue let out an appreciative whistle, and James couldn''t help but agree. This was probably his best idea so far.


    "Are you not entertained?" He chuckled as he summoned his boss, a massive, 20-foot monster. The dinosaur roamed about the arena, taking note of the confines, before letting out a large cry. The roar seemed to echo throughout the entire floor, and James felt the nonexistent hairs rise on his neck. The mechanical roar sent chills through his body. He loved this boss.


    "So, do I get to name him?" Rue had a mischievous grin on her face, and James shook his orb quickly. He had found the Old Man Jenkins name was a reference to an old version of the show Scooby Doo. He was not about to let her give his glorious boss a horrible name like that.


    "Nope, this one is all mine." He already had a name planned out anyways. "This is going to be my Terminus Rex." As he said the name, he entered it into his boss mob''s sheet.


    Tier 2 Boss Mob


    Steampunk Dino King ¨C Terminus Rex


    HP- 2000


    MP-1000


    ATK- 250


    DEF- 200


    Unique Abilities


    King of All- Emits a roar every time it loses 20% of its HP. This roar has the chance to stun adventurers for 10 seconds, and cause a debuff that decreases adventurer stats by 15%


    Big Head- Utilizes its large mouth to completely consume an adventurer, trapping the adventurer in its mouth for 20 seconds, and dealing 25% of their health in damage.


    Little Arms- Utilizes cannons on its arms to launch small grenades. Grenades will detonate on contact with adventurers, or after 10 seconds. Grenades will deal 150 damage in a 5-yard radius, and 50 damage in a 15-yard radius.


    "This floor is going to be awesome." James couldn''t hold in his excitement as he took a step back, looking at the nearly completed form of his second floor. He knew there was a lot more he wanted to do this floor, and he knew he needed to keep upgrading his first floor as well. However, considering the amount of time he had been playing DCO, he was feeling really proud of his work. He was curious how other dungeon cores were doing.


    "Mhmmm. You''re doing a good job." Rue was pouring herself a drink, and James could guess it was liquor. "Cheers." The pixie cried out as she downed the entire drink. Great, his pixie was about to get drunk, and he still had to assign loot, as well as set up his mimics and treasure chests. Oh well, maybe drunk he could get her to share a few more secrets with him. At the very least, he was sure drunk she would provide him with good entertainment. Grinning, he pulled up his mobs again, and began assigning loot. So much still to do, and 17 hours to do it. James planned on sleeping the last 8 hours of the day, there was no need for him to deprive himself this time. That meant he had 9 hours left. Better get to work.

 36 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36


    "You''re like, so good at this." Rue was hanging on his orb, staring at the screens he was quickly flipping through. She had a drink loosely held in her hand, and raised the glass to her lips, glaring as she realized it was empty.


    "Well, I do pride myself as a gamer." For the last two hours, James had been scanning through all of his loot options for his new mobs. Because he had level 5 loot researched, not only could he now see and modify the percentages for loot to drop, but he had also unlocked all the special common drops, and had a good amount of uncommon options unlocked. Because of this, the first thing he did before assigning loot, was see all the new options he had because of this new mob type.


    "I''m so glad you''re my dungeon core." Rue waved her hand and started pouring another drink, spilling some of the liquor in front of James. He would be lying if she wasn''t cute as a drunk, but right now, she was also being rather annoying.


    "Mhmm." James really wasn''t paying her much heed, because he had more important things to do. He pulled up a screen, glancing at his research. Boss mob rank 5 would be finishing in a little over 6 hours, and James had started a new type of research for his dungeon, which had unlocked when he hit tier 2. He was curious what the research, titled Events, would give to him. His mind had a suspicion, but he didn''t want to get his hopes up.


    "Like, I was hesitant when fa" before Rue could finish her sentence, she simply disappeared. Her form disappeared so fast, the glass she had been holding remained suspended in midair for a moment. James immediately stopped what he was doing, glancing around. What had just happened?"


    "Rue?" Where had his pixie gone? What was she about to say? "Rue?" There was no sign of the pixie anywhere.


    "Your AI will be returned in a few hours, after she has been, corrected." James had heard the voice before, it was the same voice that had greeted him when he first logged into DCO.


    "What do you mean?" So she was a bit of a drunk, James had definitely seen worse coding in AI before. Besides, her drinking really wasn''t causing him problems. He had even been looking forward to questioning her about DCO after he finished his tasks at hand. There was a reason people viewed liquor as a charisma boost in some games, after all.


    "A downside of our AI companions in DCO, is the amount of knowledge they have access to. Needless to say, your AI was getting dangerously close to sharing information you do not need to know at this time. She will be corrected to ensure that does not happen again." The voice sounded bored explaining all of this to James. Something about the tone, the way the person spoke, rubbed James the wrong way. His mind was warning him not to trust this fellow.


    "Will she be okay?"


    "Oh yes. You likely won''t be able to notice any change in her. Like I said, we are just ensuring you do not gain access to information you do not need." Telling a gamer there was additional information and secrets, and then mentioning they didn''t need to know those things, was a terrible idea. Gamers, out of sheer nature, wanted to know all they could. Mainly so they could exploit such secrets. James was no exception, and he mentally began questioning what the developers could be hiding.


    "Promise?" James was not done with this quest, he silently vowed to do as much digging as he could when he had free time, but judging by how quickly Rue had been removed, he knew he needed to be careful. Apparently, he was being observed. A fact he did not enjoy.


    "Do not worry, your dear Rue will be returned to you." A timer appeared above James, counting down from 4 hours. "We will have her back to you in 4 hours. In that time, why don''t you finish what you are doing? I''m sure you will have fun setting up your chests and the loot in them, and don''t forget your mimic trap in the barn. I''m sure that Dwight fellow is in for a big surprise." The voice began chuckling darkly as it faded away.


    "How did he¡­" James trailed off as realization hit. It seemed he wasn''t just being monitored in game, but also outside of the game. It made sense, if Rue could send him personal messages while he was logged out, the developers very likely had a way to get into his AR glasses, giving them access to see and hear everything he did.


    James fought off the level of panic that began to fill him, as he tried to go back to his task. There was nothing he could do about it right now, and he couldn''t just quit the game. He was the dungeon core after all, and he really wanted to make the best dungeon he could, and give his players the greatest adventure ever. After everything he had overheard from players, and read on the forums, everyone was having too much fun for him to quit.


    He pulled his loot tables back up, going over all the items one more time. Maybe he couldn''t do anything about the surveillance, maybe this game had more going on in it than James knew. Regardless, for now, James knew his goal, his task, was to become great for his town, and for Rue. The rest, he would figure out over time.

 37 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37


    Achievement Unlocked- The Chest is a Lie- Place a mimic on a floor


    Reward- 1500xp 500 resources 1 dungeon token


    "Well, that''s nifty." James had just built his first mimic, in the exact place he had told Dwight to look. The mimic looked exactly like a chest, with no distinguishable feature at all. Some games liked to have slight difference between regular chests and mimics, not DCO. James had to wonder if they attacked it, would it attack back? Or did the adventurers have to open it, before it activated? Regardless, James couldn''t help but chuckle as he looked at it. Dwight deserved exactly what was coming for him.


    "Now, what type of-" James pulled up the information on the mimic, seeing what loot was available to it. However, all that showed up on its loot table was ???, apparently, either his loot level wasn''t high enough to interact with the mimic, or it had a randomized drop thanks to its status as a special loot instance on his floor. Either way, the added mystery just made him even more excited for it. He also had to grin at the mimic''s level.


    Every mob on his first floor was level 10, with Old Man Jenkins being level 15. The mimic was level 20, putting it at the same level as B.L.U., his miniboss on his second floor. That mean, it was highly unlikely a group would be able to take down the mimic, unless they had already spent some time on floor 2. James was even more curious now, what type of loot that mimic would drop.


    He sighed, resigning himself to the fact he wouldn''t know, and turned towards the clock the voice had summoned for him. There were still 2 hours before Rue was returned to him. For some reason, he felt her absence even more fully now, than when she was resting. He felt extremely lonely, and slightly vulnerable. James had gotten extremely comfortable and used to her presence, after all.


    "No time to mope." James whispered to himself, as he hovered away from the barn, grinning at the glowing portal in the middle of it. The barn now had two traps for players, a mimic, and a portal to a brand new floor, that very few teams were likely able to travel to. The portal would take them to the ''entrance'' of his second floor. That entrance was a single, dusty road, heading through the savanna, towards his crumbling city. All along it, James had built up old rusting cars. He was surprised to find he could assign a mining quality to these vehicles, so players would be able to harvest various materials for crafting from them. James was sure players would begin hiring adventurers to collect these materials.


    "So, we''ve got a mimic." James began looking around his first floor, deciding it was time to begin setting up treasure chests throughout the map. If he was going to have mimics, it was only right to have regular chests as well. He found with regular treasure chests, he could choose his own type of loot to assign to the chests, ranging from every item his mobs and boss could drop on the floor, as well as generic loot that James was sure could be found on any level. This included basic items such as health and mana potions, and regular pieces of gear like weapons and armor. James decided for the most part, he would use his chests to drop these generic items for the players.


    Every chest he also gave a 1% chance to have piece of Demonic Farmer gear. While the gear would be nearly useless on his second floor, save for the group boost to stats, he was certain a lot of players could still take advantage of the gear on his first floor. Beside, James could already predict what the high level gamers would do the moment they realized the set gear wasn''t going to be helpful on the second floor. He felt sorry for all the low level players they would be ''helping'' as they sold off the useless gear to the unsuspecting noobs.


    Some of his chests he put in difficult locations, such as inside a Dicken Coop, or partially buried near the orchard. A few chests he put in fairly obvious locations, so that players would take notice of them, and begin searching. These easy chests would just drop some coins and a health potion or two. The harder to find chests would have the more valuable items James decided. He also chose some of them would be trapped, and even added a few more mimics across the floor. James really loved mimics, and he was certain he would net a good amount of experience thanks to those new mobs. He was curious what the other special loot instance mobs would be like.


    After he finished playing hide and seek with treasure chests on his first floor, James headed back to his second floor, to do the same. Floor 1 chests looked like generic fantasy chests, floor 2 looked like military storage chests. James was going to do his best to keep his floor themes darn it. He was going to use his random mob type to his advantage when he could. Especially because now he could make each floor almost feel like exploring a new game. James was sure on later floors he might even change up his dungeon floor layout, to try and keep his adventurers on their toes.


    The chests on his second floor James also trapped differently than his first floor. On the first floor, the chests he had trapped would summon wooden spikes underneath the adventurer opening the chest. For his second floor, the chests would release a toxic smoke. James felt it was only fitting. As he finished his last mimic location, within a crumbling building labeled "library", James stepped back, noting he had 1 hour remaining before Rue returned to him. He also had a few hours before Boss Mob rank 5 research finished. James debated resting, but he really wanted to be awake when Rue returned to him.


    "What to do, what to do." James started muttering, as he flipped through his screens. He had drained most of resources setting up his treasure chests and mimics, but he also had earned another dungeon token from his mimic achievement. He glanced at his floors, knowing he wouldn''t get enough resources to fully improve the floors to the level he wanted. As he flipped through his screens, he slowed as he noticed a tab he had been neglecting. Traps. He hadn''t glanced at that screen since he first unlocked it, and he was interested what level 5 traps would give him.


    The pitfall traps were his level 1 traps, costing 50 resources. Next, he had basic spike traps, poison traps, boulder traps, and, explosive traps? Each had a basic resource cost, but also an upgradable cost. James was curious if he could continue upgrading traps over time, making them more and more formidable. Looking at his first floor, an idea started formulating in his mind. Maybe he could save some resources while setting up some of these traps.


    James dumped his dungeon token into his resources, immediately filling his resources back up to 2500. From there, he decided to summon a basic pitfall trap within his cornfield. The trap shimmered into life, and sunk into the ground, becoming practically invisible. The corn even remained atop of it. James hovered over the trap, noting currently it was just an 8 foot hole. He had an upgrade option to put spikes inside of it for an additional 50 resources.


    "Or" James quickly unsummoned one of his mobs on his dungeon, and then focusing within the pitfall, resummoned it. To his joy, a sacrificial lamb popped into existence inside of the trap, letting out a startled baaaa as it looked around its surroundings. Adventurers had gotten good about killing those lambs before they got close enough to be in their explosion range. Now though, any adventurer unlucky enough to drop into that trap, was in for a baaaaaad day.


    James gleefully began summoning pitfall traps across his first floor, changing his mob counts just to fuel his newfound trap enthusiasm. By the time he finished, he had 10 pitfall traps spread about the floor, each with a sacrificial lamb in it. The rest of his mobs for his first floor consisted of 60 dickens, 10 more sacrificial lambs, 10 swiners, 10 scapegoats, and 6 Mad Cows. His dickens were in flocks of 6, because adventurers had begun learning to take down a single dicken, to cancel the buff. By adding in one more, James figured adventurers were likely to not only fail to clear their buff quickly, but risked activating Flock Together before they could. He loved watching his dickens overwhelm adventurers.


    With thirty minutes remaining before Rue returned, James took himself away from his first floor, deciding to set up some basic traps within his town on his second floor. He decided against pitfall traps, deciding instead to set up falling traps, deciding falling debris made sense as a trap within a desolate town. He also could imagine how the surprises would cost a few groups some members, especially if they were being hunted by velocity raptors. James couldn''t help but start grinning as he went to work. Rue was going to be so proud of him. And, James pulled up his character sheet.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    103,861 xp


    16,139 xp to next rank


    196,139 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 2000 of 2500


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 2


    He had a lot of experience to go till he hit Rank 2. And he really wanted to hit Rank 2. The more mobs he could summon on his second floor, the better.

 38 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38


    "And that-" Just as James finished placing his final trap on his second floor, his immediate vision suddenly went dark.


    "Guess who." A voice accompanied his newfound blindness, and James couldn''t help but smile. It had been four very long, very quiet hours.


    "Rue." At his exclamation the pixie uncovered his eye and hovered in front of him, beaming.


    "Did you miss me?" She looked no worse for wear, and James had to wonder just what had been done to her. Rue definitely didn''t seem too upset.


    "Actually, I got a lot done while you were gone, it was nice." He didn''t get to mess with his pixie too much. As much as he cared for her and enjoyed her presence, he wasn''t going to let her know.


    "Oh, well then." Rue''s smile faded, and she looked around slowly, taking in the various screens he had up, glancing at the precarious debris trap they were next to.


    "I guess you don''t need me then." Her wings dropped down to her sides, and it looked like she was on the verge of tears. Suddenly, James felt like dick.


    "No, Rue. Don''t cry." He longed to reach out to her, to embrace her, and wipe away her tears. But he didn''t have any-


    "What the." Two glowing tentacles stretched out from his orb, and tentatively he tried to move them, flailing them about as he would his arms.


    "I''ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going." Rue''s face was suddenly back to smirking, all signs of her tears gone. In fact, she was laughing, and James realized she had been doing her puppy dog act just to mess with him. Touch¨¦ pixie, touch¨¦.


    "Really, that''s all you have to say right now?" James stopped waving them around frantically, and brought them closer to his eye to observe. He was doing his best to fight images of himself as a beholder from taking shape in his mind. If he could randomly grow tentacles now, who knew what else might happen.


    The pixie shrugged, before breaking out into more laughter. "What? Did you really expect something else from me?" I could have made a mention about you getting longer at the sight of me." She let the comment hang in the air as she drifted closer to him, gently reaching out towards one of his tentacles. As her hand touched the glowing limb, James felt himself shudder. He could feel with these tentacles.


    "It feels so-"


    "Don''t" James cut her off before she could continue, and the pixie smiled ruefully as she hovered away, crossing her arm. "I''m starting to feel like I''m in one of those cheesy smut games." James called them cheesy, but he had played more than one in secret during immersion. He was a teenager in high school after all.


    "Aw, I''m sure we both know people actually enjoy those games." She waved her hand and a drink appeared in front of her, but as she looked at it, her grin faltered. "Ah man."


    "What is it Rue?" James floated over to her, and as he looked at her drink, he saw a dark liquid, with steam rising from it.


    "They switched my alcohol with hot chocolate, and they didn''t even default it to have marshmallows." The pixie let out a sigh as she waved her hand, and a few mini marshmallows appeared floating in her drink.


    "So, is that all they did? Cut you off from your liquor?" Tentacles aside, she had brought him back to his initial concern for his AI. He didn''t like how the mysterious voice acted, and he was loathe to think they did something to his only ally in this game.


    "Yeah, they gave me a talking to, sobered me up, and apparently have put a stop to my drinking." She took a sip from her drink, and grinned. "Though, I really do enjoy hot chocolate too."


    "Well, I''m glad you''re alright Rue. I was worried about you." James looked at his pixie, who was staring at him strangely, before her face broke into a huge smile.


    "Aww. My dungeon core is going soft on me." She snorted at her own joke, and James simply shook his orb. Yup, she definitely seemed like his old pixie.


    "So," James waved his tentacles at the monitors "want to see what I''ve been up to?"James had a few hours left before he was going to bed, and he was excited to show off his improvements to Rue. He was also watching his research tick down. Boss mob rank 5 was almost complete. He had to wonder what that tier would unlock.


    "Sure, you show me yours, I''ll show you mine?" Rue was laughing again, and James stared hard at her.


    "What-" James was cut off by Rue waving her hand, a screen appearing before her. With a grin, she typed something into the screen, before closing it.


    "I didn''t get to mention, before I was so rudely removed." She floated over to James, her hand tracing lazily along his tentacle. "But, if you haven''t noticed, the developers unlocked a few special features specifically for dungeon cores with that hot fix."


    "Such as?" James was doing his best to keep his voice under control. Going from having no sensation of touch, to suddenly having two sensitive tentacles, was a bit overwhelming. He was pretty sure Rue was well aware of that.


    "Well, for one, the ability to grow tentacles to allow you to better interact with your interfaces." So, that explained why he was able to grow tentacles suddenly. "And for another, the ability for AIs to unlock a special chat for dungeon cores who have reached Tier 2."


    "What type of chat?" James figured she had just enabled it, but he was curious how to access it, and what exactly it was.


    "Well, a special dungeon core chat, for all the dungeon cores, of course." She waved her hand, and two screens appeared. The first appeared to be a massive chat room, with a room occupants list on the top right. Currently, there were about 30 users in, and James saw the newest message was an auto generated one, welcoming him to chat. The second screen looked like a typical forum page, with threads, all related to dungeon cores listed on the page.


    "Hey Rue," James was already working on entering a message into the chat room, responding to the welcomes he was already receiving.


    "Yes Glyax."


    "Make sure to pull me away from this when there are 8 hours left in the first day. I have a feeling I''m about to get distracted with these new chats." And with that, he dove in, pulling up all the forum topics, doing his best to select all the titles that appeared interesting. What type of knowledge was being shared? What type of information could he gain from his fellow dungeon cores? Knowledge was power after all, and the developers had just given him access to a lot of knowledge. Now he just needed to figure out how best to turn it into power that he could use.

 39 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39


    "Bet ya-"


    "Nope." James cut Rue off before she could state her bet. They were watching the countdown timer, and there was less than a minute for the adventurers to arrive.


    "But, you didn''t even let me finish."


    "You were going to bet Z and the gang were the first guys to enter the dungeon this time around." James glared at his Pixie. He was on to her shenanigans. She wasn''t going to get any more easy bets from him.


    "You don''t know that." The way she looked at him, confirmed his suspicion. That was exactly what she was going to bet.


    "Oh yeah, then what do you want to place a bet on?" He was fine gambling resources, just not on something he had no chance of winning. She had gotten him for a good amount of resources when he was sleep deprived.


    "Ummmm." Rue watched the timer, there were only a few seconds remaining.


    "Well?"


    "Never mind." She huffed and turned her back to him, acting like she was watching the entrance of the dungeon instead. From their vantage point, they could easily see the path leading from the forest to the dungeon entrance, as well as make out the town that had been considerably growing during the last night of immersion.


    "Called it." James pumped a tentacle in the air in victory, as he watched a bright light wash over the landscape. The adventurers had returned.


    James rubbed his tentacles together excitedly. He couldn''t wait for another night of immersion with the adventurers. James had to wonder how far he could climb.


    From what he could glean from the dungeon core forums, those dungeons that had reached tier 2 in a single night were the oddities. The part they all had in common was their love for hunting achievements, meaning the group was also some of the more inquisitive types of players.


    Because of this, the forums had been filled with explanations of dungeon layouts, trap brainstorming, secret achievements, and secret features. The last two had drawn James''s attention the most, and he had spent the last few hours of his time, before his 8 hours of rest, browsing those threads.


    James thought he had been handling his dungeon nicely, but some of the dungeon cores on the forums had taken a whole different approach. They had rushed a lot of their research using dungeon tokens, leaving their floors a lot barer than James''s. However, this had allowed them to unlock more tiers of research than James, and they had shared the combinations they had discovered.


    Mimics, James knew, came from rank 5 research in mobs, loot, and traps. What James had learned though, was that rank 5 in events, mobs, and loot would summon random floor specific loot mobs. These mobs were specific to mob type, but when they summoned on a floor, would make a large amount of noise, and reward any adventurers lucky enough to kill them with good rewards and experience. James had already started researching events, before he read this fact. But now that he knew what waited for him at rank 5, he wished he had some more dungeon tokens. His event research had hit rank 1 while he was asleep, and it now had just under 23 hours before it would hit rank 2.


    He had also learned that rank 5 in boss mob, event, and instance would lead to the creation of random ''world'' boss generation. These bosses would spawn randomly, at a higher level than even the boss mob on the floor, and generally took adventurers teaming up and working together to bring them down. James was no stranger to such events, and after reading this fact, had dumped his second research option into instance research. Rank 1 research for that had been started before he went to bed, meaning he had about an hour remaining on it.


    Someone else had mentioned that rank 5 in loot and mobs gave you access to a secret loot option, which they had stumbled across. Luckily, they detailed how to find the secret option, and James had quickly not only found the option, but activated it. The option gave mobs the ability to drop smaller, juvenile versions of themselves as the occasional loot, though frustratingly, it didn''t seem like dungeon cores could manipulate the drop percentage just yet.


    The dungeon that had discovered this feature went on to explain players who got such drops were able to have them follow them around, and even train them up. It seemed the developers had put in essentially a form of Pok¨¦mon into the game for players to enjoy, likely given the fact that Pok¨¦mon was still going strong, even though it was created in the 1990s. Heck, Pok¨¦mon Alpha and Omega launched last year, and James still played it on his AR glasses when he was in class. James was already looking forward to players facing off against each other with baby farm animals. He was also certain higher level groups were about to make a lot of money selling steampunk dinosaur pets to other players.


    "Here they come." Rue pulled James from his thoughts, he had been in the middle of envisioning a dicken chick taking on tiny mad calf. For some reason the thought made him really chuckle.


    "Hooray. Food." James grinned to himself as he watched a mass of adventurers make their way towards dungeon entrance. At the front of the pack, James was able to make out his favorite group, The Knights Who Go Ni. He would have lost that bet.


    "Oh, I bet you the Knights go through the portal first." Rue was rubbing her hands together, eying the groups of players. James pulled up his screen, making sure he had his alert set for his mimic. He planned to watch the Knights on their quest, but wanted to make sure he didn''t miss Dwight''s group.


    "What''s the amount this time?" James had a little over 100 resources remaining following all his trapping. He was fine betting some of it away, since his next task was to build a few more resource storage units. He wanted to see what those 3000 cost energy pylons could do next.


    "50 resources?" Rue was watching as Z''s group stepped into the dungeon entrance, initiating the first instance window. The stream of adventurers steadily began entering behind them.


    "Sounds good to me." Five hours of resources lost wouldn''t hurt him too bad if he lost the bet. And, James had a feeling he wasn''t about to lose this bet. Z''s group were all veteran gamers. They knew death would cost them their experience, and the group was close to level 13. They had failed to level up fighting Old Man Jenkins the last time, and James knew it would probably take them one more boss fight with him to hit level 13, meaning they were likely to stick around and avoid risking death by going through a strange portal. Other groups though, less hardcore players, would be likely to hop right on through that portal. James could hardly wait.


    "Alright. So, let''s watch them, and see how quickly they get me my resources." Rue summoned her chair and bowl of popcorn and got comfortable. Grinning at his pixie''s antics, James enlarged the instance with Z''s group in it. The players all seemed in fine form, and were already in the midst of cracking jokes. They walked into his first level without a care in the world, confident in their abilities, and why wouldn''t they be? Before they logged out, they had brought Old Man Jenkins down again. They had nothing to fear. Or so they thought. The danger of being the first ones to enter James''s dungeon firs, following his last 24 hours of improvements was that they were in for a world of surprises.


    The first surprise was a testament to the fact that James was a gamer and troll himself. He had put a pitfall trap a few feet from the entrance to the first floor, meaning, any group that casually walked through on their way to the barn, would fall into it. As such, after all of 20 seconds of being in the dungeon, Oak was in a pit, cussing up a storm, while his team struggled to pull him out, fighting their fits of laughter.


    Around the trap, the rest of the adventurers began slowly making their way past the Knights Who Go Ni, eying the trap, and Oak, who was covered in lamb''s blood, with trepidation. A sacrificial lamb was strong enough, thanks to James''s upgrades, to kill practically any adventurer currently on the floor if they were caught in the explosions, and all the adventurers knew that. That meant these new traps would be a death sentence for anyone who fell in one. The only reason Oak had survived was because he and his group had a full set of Demonic Farm gear, giving them the 50% decrease in damage from Tier 1 Demonic Farm animals. Z''s group was the only group James knew of that had the full set.


    "Oh, you are so evil." Rue grinned at him in between bites of popcorn, and James found himself grinning in return. He had his character sheet up, and was already watching his experience slowly climb as more instances were created, and more and more players stepped into his first pitfall trap. He really enjoyed being a dungeon core.

 40 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40


    "Seriously, where did these traps come from?" Oak had once again been on the receiving end of a pitfall trap, as the group charged at a flock of dickens. James felt slightly sorry for the poor warrior. That was his third trap of the dungeon run. Luckily, he could survive the traps, the other poor players who found the traps usually died and had to wait 5 minutes to return, leaving their parties down a player, and scared to move forward.


    "Would you say, that these weren''t expected?" Z had a grin on his face as he lifted Oak from the hole, while Med Ic''s hands were glowing, healing the warriors wounds.


    "I would say they weren''t expected indeed." Oak''s scowl turned to a grin, and James found himself grinning as well.


    "You know what else nobody expects, right?" Elm was joining in on the joke, as he launched a couple of arrows into the dicken, killing it .The flock was down to 4 now, losing their buff, and becoming even easier for the veteran adventurers.


    "The Spanish Inquisition." James called out even as Rue, and the Knights Who Go Ni, all called out. For a second Rue and James were quiet, staring at each other as the Knights started to laugh. Then, he and Rue broke out in laughter as well. The pixie''s surprised look turned to a knowing smile.


    "It seems you were catching up on your Monty Python."


    "Well, you used the Knight''s jokes against me in a bet, I couldn''t leave myself in the dark." On top of watching the three Monty Python Movies James had downloaded, he also proceeded to look up some of their more notable skits. Apparently the internet remembered all, and people were still willing to chat about them and share such things.


    "Indeed, I guess I''ll have to change up my tactics." Rue looked down at the group, and a grin started to form across her face. An evil, knowing grin. "I can guess a few other movies that group is bound to quote." Uh oh. James had been given a soft ball with the Monty Python references, but what else might the group be referencing? Was James going to need to pull pop culture references from the 80s and 90s to keep up with his pixie''s bets? James pulled up another window, preparing a google search just in case. He might not know the movie when they referenced it, but he could sure as hell look it up and add it to his play list.


    "I feel like I''m going to be exposed to a lot more old movies and shows thanks to our bets and the Knights."


    "Consider it a free education. Trust me, you will thank me later. You''ve really been missing out." Rue waved her hand, and a hot chocolate appeared in her hand. The pixie stared at it hard for a moment, before summoning marshmallows for it.


    "Did you forget about your liquor ban?"


    "They''re going to rue the day they emplaced prohibition on me." The pixie chuckled as she took a sip. James glanced around nervously, half expecting her to disappear again. After nothing happened, he let out a sigh, and turned his attention back to the group. They had finished off the dickens, and were heading towards a half buried chest. James almost felt sorry for Oak.


    The warrior took a step towards the chest, grinning at the others, before he lifted the lid. The moment he did, wooden spikes shot up from the ground into him, digging in deep. The poor warrior cried out in surprise, and started cussing up a storm. Once again, his friends just stood and laughed.


    "That''s it." Oak growled as he freed himself from the spikes, heading away from the group.


    "Someone else gets to open these durned chests."


    "Ah come on, you''re the punching bag for a reason." Z was gasping for breath as he fought to stop laughing. He was trying, and failing, to regain his composure.


    "I''m the tank, I''ve resigned myself to that. I''m not the trap dummy." Oak looked at the group, and James could tell his anger was already fading. You couldn''t become top level adventurers in MMOs if you didn''t have a good sense of humor, after all.


    "Well, who do you suppose should open the traps then?" Z was glancing at the rest of the group, and James could see the point Z was trying to make. You wouldn''t have your healer risk getting damaged by a trap, and the other three were all DPS players, with lower defense and hp than the warrior. Logically, Oak was the only choice.


    "Don''t you guys get a ranger subclass at level 20? I read in the notes that class has a detect traps option."


    "Subclass?" James turned towards Rue, and the pixie nodded. James had to admit, he had been so caught up reading the dungeon core forums and working on his pop culture knowledge, he hadn''t had much time to learn much of the game from the player point of view. James opened another window, quickly heading towards the DCO home page. As a gamer, he had a terrible habit of jumping around countless internet windows.


    "From level 1 through 19, players have just their regular class, such as warrior, archer, cleric, etc. When they hit level 20, and every 10 levels after, they are able to pick up a subclass. With these subclasses, they gain access to additional skill tress, and special boosts to their character stats. Some subclass combinations can actually unlock secret classes as well."


    "Gotcha, so it''s just a way for them to broaden and create their own individual characters, via a way of multiclassing." James had seen that in a few games, and had to admit he liked the idea. It felt much more DnD, and pure, than a lot of the games he played now. Most claimed you had complete optimization, but you were usually trapped in a set class, and at max level it was likely every player of that class was running some variation of the same skill set and gear. This subclass option for the players, combined with the potential to unlock secret classes, was extremely intriguing. For a moment, James was kind of jealous he wasn''t playing a character in DCO. He could only imagine what he could have become as a summoner.


    "Well, I had planned on becoming an arcane archer." Elm looked to Z, and James saw the archer was pleading the team leader. Time to see what type of leader Z was.


    "I," Z paused as he looked at his team, before his shoulders dropped slightly. "Ah, why not. I''ll take ranger at 20." His comment brought a smile to everyone''s faces, and the tension James had started to feel around the group lifted. "Besides, I think rangers can get an animal companion. If I get a black panther, you guys have to call me Drizzt, at least for a day."


    "Psh, you''ll never be as cool as Drizzt." Faust cut in, and the group let out a light laugh. James turned to Rue, seeing if she got the reference. For once, it seemed like the pixie had no idea what was being talked about. James ran a quick google search for the name, and found it was from an old book series. He quickly added it to his to read list, before turning back to his instance screen. Just as he was about to listen in on their next conversation, a flashing light from one of his other instance screens caught his attention. His alarm was going off, a group was near his mimic. Oh yes.

 41 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41


    "It''s them." James had instantly enlarged the screen that was flashing, and after pulling up the players'' information, he knew without a doubt, it was Dwight and his friends.


    "It''s who?" Rue glanced from James to the group, and he realized he hadn''t mentioned why he wanted to set up a mimic in that specific location. It seemed while the strange voice had known, his pixie did not.


    "Ah. Some bullies from school." James glanced sheepishly at Rue, before he turned his attention back to the group. The bullies were all FPS and sports game gamers, they weren''t used to MMOs. That was evident immediately in their team composition. Four of the five players were orc warriors, with three armed heavily with massive swords, and the forth sporting a shield. Likely that fourth was their designated tank, the one that Dwight had been yelling at during school.


    They had literally gone with the largest, most brutish class and character type they could find. Their fifth, wasn''t much better. While most teams tried for the tried and true method of a tank, healer, and three dps, it seemed Dwight''s team had gone for 4 melee DPS/Tank hybrids, and a, James couldn''t believe his eyes, an orc bard? James had a slight suspicion whoever of that group of muscle bound bullies had chosen bard, had thought it was barbarian.


    "So, you set up this mimic just to get revenge on them?" James could see from the corner of his eye Rue was watching him carefully. Was she going to scold him? He knew it was petty, but he finally had the power to get back at them, he wasn''t going to let this opportunity pass him by.


    "I know Rue, I should be better than-" He stopped as Rue rose her hand, a devilish grin crossing the pixie''s face.


    "Oh no. I''m totally okay with this." She hovered over to his orb and leaned on top of him, watching the group. "I would have been disappointed in you if you didn''t use the powers you have for instances like this as well." She traced a finger lightly along his tentacles. "It''s nice to know you''ve got a," she paused as her finger lightly traveled back up. "a bad side."


    For a moment, James had no idea what to do. His mind was literally blank. She had just broken his teenage loner mind. Movement on the screen brought him back to his senses, as the character that James was certain was Dwight, given his username was D-Man, moved closer to the chest.


    "You sure about this D?" The bard, username Rick-Roll''d, was glancing at the chest, and the leader. Judging by the name that had to be Rick. James was certain that the senior had grabbed Bard thinking it was a barbarian. Oh this was going to be good.


    "Hey man, the chest is here, just like Specs said." Dwight motioned towards the chest, and the others all nodded. "He said it had a gold coin in it. We can get that coin, and rule the freaking town. No more need coming into this dungeon and fighting these stupid mobs."


    "I was actually starting to enjoy-" The tank stopped talking as Dwight shot him a glare.


    "We each still have our building tokens. If we combine them, we can create a massive building. Then, with the gold coin, we can hire a few adventurers to go into the dungeon for us, and bring back a bunch of materials. Meanwhile, we set up a fight club, and a brothel. Bam, easy money." Dwight''s eyes were glowing with excitement.


    "Oh, he is such a tool." Rue looked down at James, and offered him a sad smile. "You really have to deal with this guy daily?"


    "Sadly, yes." James couldn''t wait for Dwight and his friends to graduate. However, the school year had just started, so his dream wouldn''t happen for a long time. However, now that he knew their usernames, he could at least do his best to pay them back for the real world, whenever they stepped foot in his dungeon.


    "I''m so going to help you get some revenge." Rue''s eyes held her dangerous, mischievous look to them. Sometimes, his pixie''s intensity scared him. Right now, he was all for it.


    "Well, let''s see what happens here first." Dwight''s group members were all level 6, meaning they had done okay the first night of immersion, and could probably take on small packs of level 10 mobs. However, if they had been smart, they would have stayed outside of the dungeon, and fought the new mobs the developers had added in, until they were level 10. Even then, they wouldn''t have been ready for the mimic. It was level 20 after all.


    "Alright, well here''s to boobs and booze and the good life." Dwight''s group cheered as he said the words, and he reached his massive orc hand towards the chest. James held his breath as he watched the bully slowly begin to lift the lid.


    "Here it comes." Rue''s voice was giddy with excitement, and just as the chest began to open, all hell broke loose. From within the chest two arms shot out, wrapping instantly around Dwight. Even as the bully screamed, a high pitched squeal that James would never forget, the bully was pulled into the dark abyss of the mimic''s mouth. Legs unfurled from beneath the chest, and the monstrous treasure chest rose, standing nearly 7 feet, Dwight''s body kicking and screaming while half consumed in the mimics mouth. A second later, Dwight''s form turned into a ball of light, and James grinned as he gained some experience.


    "What the he-" The tank was grabbed before he could finish, his sentence turning into a scream of terror as the mimic lifted the orc''s body with ease, and flung him back towards the group. Bodies smashed against bodies, and James watched as the group''s life bars sunk down below half. The mimic opened its mouth wide, a tongue flopping comically from the dark abyss, and let out an eerie cackle. Mimics in DCO were terrifying.


    "Let''s avenge Dwight." Rick seemed to be the only to have regained his composure, and James nearly lost it as the bard pulled out his instrument. Watching an orc, staring fearfully at a giant mimic, holding a lute awkwardly in his massive hands, was just too much. James also figured Rick and his group had no idea how terrifying mimics really were, and that they should simply be running away. Good ol bullies, never knowing when to back down.


    "Easiest party wipe, ever." James grinned, and sure enough, the battle was over in less than 30 seconds. Even as Rick plucked the first string of his lute, the mimic''s arm shot out, elongating and growing unnaturally, to wrap around the musical instrument. It ripped the lute from Rick''s hands, and then smashed the musical instrument against the bard''s head, causing him to flash away into a ball of light. Then, as the rest of the group turned to run, the mimic''s tongue shot out, wrapping around the tank again, smashing him into the others, and literally beating the remaining members to death with their tank. It was slightly ironic.


    Achievement Unlocked- Everybody Loves Large Chests- Wipe a party of adventurers with a single mimic


    Reward: 2000xp 1000 resources, 1 dungeon token, 1 upgrade point to mimics


    "I can upgrade mimics?" James was grinning after he read the achievement and turned towards Rue, his chest walking slowly back to where it had originally been set up, before it resumed its harmless appearance. He had known mimics were formidable, but he had no idea he would be able to upgrade them like normal mobs.


    "Mhmm. You have the ability to upgrade all your special loot mobs, just like regular mobs. The spiffy thing with them though, is their upgrades will carry over across every floor." James focused on his mimic, pulling up its information, and his grin widened even more. There weren''t nearly as many skills available for his mimic as there were other mobs, and James figured that was because the only way he knew of to get the upgrade points for these special mobs, was by achievements. That being said, the options he could choose, were all nearly impossible to resist.


    Calming himself, James selected the option he felt was the most fitting for his current stage as a dungeon. The skill Mischievous Mimic gave his mimics the ability to randomly swap spots with a regular chest. That meant, every treasure chest on his floors now, had the potential to randomly become a mimic. That would keep adventurers on their toes. Oh how he loved being a dungeon core. James silently hoped Z''s group would come across a mimic. If any group could fell one of these monsters, it was them, and James was really curious what the mob would drop. On the other hand, if Z''s group fell, well, James wouldn''t mind the extra experience. James was hoping he could hit Tier 2 Rank 2 by the end of the day, after all.

 42 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42


    "I get more instances?" James had just finished creating a post on the Dungeon Core forum, letting other cores know what he had just found out about mimics, as well as the achievement for wiping a party with a mimic. He figured it was only fair to share his discovery with the group and knew the better relationship he gained with those gamers, the more secrets they would learn together. During that time, his rank 1 instance research had finished. To his surprise, the moment it did, more instances began to populate, surprising both him, and the adventurers.


    "Mhmm. Each rank in instance research will increase the number of instances you can create by 5. It also increases the number of players that can populate an instance to 25." So, instance research not only was a way for him to unlock some really spiffy special mobs, but also to increase the number of instances, and therefore adventures, in his dungeon. More instances meant more experience, James was all for that.


    "So, in theory, I can have an unlimited number of instances." James had gotten used to having 10 instances with 20 adventurers in each, for a total of 200 players at a time. This upgrade had just increased it so that now a total of 375 players could enter the first floor of his dungeon at a time. What''s more, Rue had mentioned when someone entered his second floor, it would create a new instance of its own. So, did that mean he now had access to 15 tier 2 instances as well? While it would be a while before there were enough able-bodied adventurers to take on his second floor, James couldn''t wait.


    "In theory. The developers did give dungeon cores the option to manually set their limits on floor instances, both in how many are created, and how many adventurers can be in an instance at once. You obviously don''t want a floor being overrun with more adventurers than you have mobs."


    She had a good point, and James was glad the developers had implemented such a feature. He had played more than a few games where popular areas became oversaturated, usually making it less fun for lower leveled, casual players. The last thing James wanted in DCO was for players to stop having fun. Well, everyone but Dwight and his team. They were currently still on their penalty, and James had already set a dungeon alarm, to let him know if they reentered his floor after their hour penalty was up. He had more plans for them.


    "I love this game." James whispered, grinning as he watched the instances continue to grow. Outside of his dungeon, he could see large groups of players rushing towards the dungeon entrance. Word had likely been spread that it was letting in more players. As he scanned the crowd, he couldn''t help but laugh. Somebody had created what appeared to be a little shop at the entrance to his dungeon.


    "What is that?" He turned his focus to it and had to fight back a laugh. At the top of the shop, the name The Dicken Shack was spelled out in bright letters. Sure enough, it looked like the shop was selling fried and baked dicken. Leave it to players to create a fast food restaurant at the front of a dungeon. Sheesh.


    "How''d they make that shop so quick?" It definitely hadn''t been there when they first all started entering less than an hour ago.


    "Remember those building tokens that mimic bait group mentioned?" James grinned, the fight replaying in his mind.


    "How could I forget? I wish I could watch that fight again."


    "You can." Rue commented nonchalantly, before continuing. "Anyways, every player that loads into DCO, gets 1 building token. A building token can create a single story, single roomed building. Essentially, it gives players the ability to make themselves a tiny home." That makes sense. Because of the duration players were in the game, they would need places to relax and sleep. A lot of games had started implementing camping sets and other options into games, mainly because inns tended to fill up way too quickly.


    "So that person used their token to create their house right outside of the dungeon, and turned it into a business?" That was actually pretty smart. Cooked dicken had healing properties, and oddly enough, carried a small buff if your entire party consumed some together. From James had seen, it was a 5% increase to atk and def for all party members in parties of 5 or more.


    "Yup. And, as," Rue grinned, "D-Man, mentioned, you can combine building tokens in order to create larger structures." She pointed towards the trees, where a massive structure towered over the rest of the town. It had grown quite a bit since players started playing DCO, but nothing matched the size of the massive building. "That is an Adventurer''s Hall. It''s a special building that takes 50 building tokens to create. However, because they were the ones to build it, now all quests, and job postings, will go through that building. Whoever teamed up to make that, likely isn''t worrying about coin anymore."


    James nodded as he looked at the building. If he had to guess, that was a corporation or group of city officials that created the building. In almost every game, people raced to establish control on that level. Whoever controlled the jobs, controlled the wealth. Even if they were only taking a 10% cut of everything off players who accepted quests and job offerings, they would be making a pretty penny. Though, James was curious what type of quests existed currently. Did they auto populate based on the dungeon''s mob types?


    "You mentioned quests Rue? How do those come about?"


    "Worried your second floor might be given away?" That was exactly what he was worried about. If quests populated the moment his floor was made, then they would know the mob type had changed. Where would the fun be in that?


    "Don''t worry, quests don''t populate until the boss of a floor has been defeated. So, until the Terminus Rex falls, adventurers won''t know what is on your second floor, save for from word of mouth." Ah, that made James a little more relaxed. He had an alarm set up for the portal and was still waiting for a group to pass through, so he could win the bet. Z''s group had just finished off Old Man Jenkins again, but they hadn''t passed by the barn, so it seemed they didn''t know about the portal. As such, they had waited their five minutes, and been teleported out of the dungeon. James knew they would be back in an hour though, so he really needed some other unlucky group to stumble through.


    "Good to know." James turned his attention away from the town, back to a random instance. He noticed a group in this new instance had teamed up with another party, to try and bring down Old Man Jenkins. Smart.


    "So, what type of quests do they have? Are they auto generated based on mob and dungeon types?"


    "Mhmm. The developers have a lot of generic ones in the game, such as Kill X number of creatures, return with X types of items. They left the generic quests simple, to enable the coding to be quick and easy. Which makes sense, given how many mob types there are." Rue chuckled darkly as she winked at James. Oh, he was well aware of the fact he was likely to keep getting crazy floor types. Oh well, it kept things interesting.


    "Are there unique quests too then?" Most games had quests that could be time sensitive, or unique, based on specific triggers.


    "You have played a lot of MMOs, haven''t you?" Rue looked James up and down, and he wasn''t sure if she was implying that as a compliment. Oh well, he was going to take it as one.


    "Yeah. Let''s just say, in a few games, I''m kinda a big deal." He crossed his tentacles smugly in front of his orb, though in hindsight, that action probably looked a lot less cool than he had hoped it would.


    "Keep telling yourself that Glyax." She smirked at him and turned back to the dungeon. "Anyways, unique quests trigger after players have discovered secrets that each mob type and floor will have in it. Some of these secret quests can be triggered at any times, others are hinted at, or completely hidden, until you create the mob circumstances required, or hit certain research levels."


    Oh, so he had a part to play in what quests unlocked? That was cool. "Got any examples of those for me Rue?"


    "Psh, the big deal can''t figure them out on his own?" Her smirk grew. James had brought that one on himself.


    "Oh, going to be difficult today Rue?" James couldn''t help chuckle as the pixie stuck her tongue out at him, before she started laughing too.


    "Don''t you know it''s frowned upon for a lady to be too easy?" She shot him a wink and bit the bottom part of her lip seductively. For someone talking about not being too easy, she was sending mixed signals that James just couldn''t handle. If he had a nose, he was sure it would be bleeding.


    "You are such trouble." He commented. The group of 10 adventurers were doing surprisingly well against Old Man Jenkins. The boss was level 15, and what he could tell, the players ranged from level 8 to 11. However, they were doing good at communicating, and appeared to be taking advantage of their larger numbers to not only keep the boss constantly moving and changing aggro targets, but also keeping mobs clear of the fight. He was certain they would win.


    "You know you enjoy it." Rue grinned and turned to watch the fight, before she waved her hand. A screen pulled up in front of her, and she drew James''s attention to it. "Now, just because I''m nice. You want to rewatch the mimic fight?" Sure enough, the screen appeared to be a recording, paused right before Dwight''s group opened the mimic.


    "Wait. This game has recordings?" James had seen some games where you could record instances and gameplay. He silently cursed himself for not thinking to check for a feature such as that.


    "The developers built in a records section in the game, which holds recordings for the past 24 hours of in game play. If you know the instance number, you can pull up certain instances, and watch everything that happened in them." She touched the screen and moved her hand across it, causing the video to zoom out. She then twisted it around, and zoomed back in, so they had a clear look at Dwight''s face. "The developers secretly unlocked it with the hot fix, and it was part of the reason they added in the tentacle feature." She hit play, and they got to watch Dwight''s full expression as the mimic ate him again. Oh, James was going to love this feature.


    "Can we," he paused, as he chuckled darkly to himself. "Can we upload these to the dungeon core forum?"


    "Why else do you think I''m showing you this feature?" Rue winked and waved her hand, closing the video. "Us enjoying the bullies'' demise was fine and all, but sharing it to the rest of the dungeon cores to watch and enjoy as well? I''m all for public humiliation." James found himself like his pixie even more, as he pulled up his forum post, dropping Dwight''s video clip into it. The other dungeon cores were going to love this.

 43 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43


    "Annnd, that''ll be 50 resources Rue." James was smiling smugly to himself as he watched a group of adventurers walk boldly through his portal. His pixie shot him a glare, before waving her hand, and James watched his resources climb by 50. He now had 168 resources out of 2500. It wasn''t much, but he enjoyed the increase, nevertheless. Beating the pixie in a bet had its own satisfaction.


    "I''ll get those back." Rue replied gloomily, as she turned her attention back to the screens. The moment the group had stepped through the portal, and new instance window had appeared. James quickly enlarged it, and they watched, with bated breath, as the group took a look around.


    The group they were observing consisted, as was normal for his dungeon, of five players. They had an orc knight named Skar as their tank and a human priestess, Olivia, for their healer. Their dps consisted of a troll archer, a dwarf warrior, and a gnome thief. As he pulled up the rest of their information, he shook his head. While they were definitely not inexperienced players, they should have known better than to take the portal. They ranged between level 10 and 11, meaning they had spent a lot of time in the dungeon the day before, considering the top adventurers, the Knights Who Go Ni, had just hit level 13.


    "You really think we should be here?" The gnome, named Gno-more, was twirling a dagger nervously in his hand, as he glanced around at the others. His short stature meant he stood roughly at waist height for the priestess, with the dwarf only standing a little taller. A stark contrast next to the hulking orc knight, covered iron plate mail, and the troll archer.


    "The Knight''s just hit level 13 and are locked out for another twenty minutes." Skar had his shield and sword drawn, and was talking down, literally, towards his gnomish companion. "If we want to get ahead, we need a higher level to train. The first floor is starting to fill with more casual players, and they''re interrupting our farming."


    "Yeah, but-" Gno-more looked at his companions, and then out down the dirt road, lined with the husks of countless cars. Funnily enough, the savannah grass that spread out across James''s second floor was taller than the gnome and dwarf, meaning their visibility was greatly impaired.


    "No buts." Skar turned towards the road, and James knew he was looking at the desolate city that existed in the center. Off in the distance, James could see a few of his dinosaur mobs roaming about, though he was sure it would be difficult for the adventurers to make the creatures out just yet. "We''ll just proceed carefully and take on solo mobs. There have got to be a few roaming about." He glanced at his shorter companions and pointed his sword towards the city. "We can check out the city, since it may suit you better than fighting in this tall grass."


    "Ya''ll just had to choose short races." The troll, named Troll''d, let out a sigh as he unslung his bow. James noted he had a full quiver of dicken feathered arrows at his side, speaking again to the amount of time the group had spent in his dungeon. James also had to chuckle at the troll''s name. All the competitive gamers either made legitimate, role playing esq names, or joke names. There was never an in-between.


    "Oy, you got an issue with dwarfs?" The dwarf fighter drew his axe as he eyed Troll''d, who merely shook his head, grinning through his tusked mouth.


    "Nah, I got no problems with dwarfs. In fact, I think dwarf women are just the right height." He shot the dwarf a wink, before the troll was promptly slapped in the back of his head by Olivia''s staff. The rest of the group broke into laughter.


    "You better not be looking at other girls." Her eyes narrowed, though her mouth was smirking as the archer rubbed the back of his head.


    "Of course not hun. You''re the only girl for me." He offered her a small smile and the priestess nodded, turning back to the group.


    "That''s what I thought." As she spoke, James couldn''t help but notice everyone else roll their eyes. If he had to guess, the troll and priestess were a couple, if not in real life, at least in the game. It was a common enough thing, though it sometimes had dangers for party dynamics. Hopefully these players were veteran enough not to make such rookie mistakes though.


    "So, we going to go check out that city?" Troll''d had turned his attention back to Skar, and the orc nodded in affirmation. He turned and began walking down the road. The two short races stayed in the middle of the pack, with the priestess, while the troll hung back, bow at the ready. They were definitely veteran players. Heck, they even stopped at each car, investigating them, and likely scavenging what they could from them. James knew the cars offered up basic crafting materials and metals, that hadn''t been available on his first floor, including steel, rubber, and mechanical parts. James was really excited to see what players eventually began crafting out of his second-floor materials. Especially his steampunk mobs'' materials.


    "Wanna bet who will die first?" Rue was sitting casually in a chair, watching the screen intently. He could tell his pixie was eager to win some more resources. Lucky for her, James was in a gambling mood.


    "Alright. I''m going to bet the dwarf dies first."


    "Manly the Dwarf?" Rue looked from the party, to James, feigning surprise. James nodded his orb. He was assuming the dwarven player had decided to mimic the old fairy tale Snow White, where the dwarfs had names that described their traits. Manly the Dwarf was what he named himself. James mentally shook his head, freaking gamers.


    "Yeah. Definitely going to be him."


    "Ugh, that was going to be my bet." Rue scanned the group, before an evil grin crossed her face. "Fine, I''m going to say Olivia dies first."


    "Why would you bet the healer-" James paused in his statement, as his mind replayed what he knew of the group. "Shit." The healer and the troll were a thing. Rue was banking on that fact, to assume they would do something stupid. Normally healers, at least good ones, were the last to die. But James could see Olivia or Troll''d doing something stupid and getting themselves killed. Hopefully Manly lived up to his name and tried to keep the priestess safe. It seemed they were both playing on assumed character flaws for their bet. When had they started putting so much thought into their betting?


    "No changing our bets now." Rue''s comment came just as the group neared the city. The haze of smoke and dust that filled the air kept the massive steampunk dinosaurs that roamed the plains outside of the city a haze, keeping the adventurers from being able to make out what they were. James was sure to the players who could see the forms, their minds were scrambling for some strange demonic animal. Oh, were they in for a surprise.


    "Alright, Gno-more, going to need you to start checking for traps." The knight stood aside, letting the thief take the lead. The thief looked down at his screen, and after making motions, indicating he had selected an option, began walking forward. If James had to guess, the gnome had just activated a trap detecting skill.


    "Well, that''s no fun." James had been hoping his new traps would be able to at least weaken the group, but as they moved forward, the thief appeared quite capable at avoiding his new traps. The saving grace was that James hadn''t seen many thief players milling about. That was also evidenced by the fact he was still slowly gaining experience from his first-floor pitfall traps.


    "So, the dungeon has demonic farm animals, right?" Troll''d was speaking casually as they walked forward, Gno-more helping navigated the empty streets. So far, they hadn''t come across any mobs, but James knew that was going to change soon.


    "No shit sherlock." Skar had his shield at the ready, his eyes scanning everywhere. James had to give it to them, they were cautious. They knew they shouldn''t be in the location but were taking the risk for the reward of higher experience and loot, in order to try and catch up to the Knights.


    "So, what type of farm animals exist in a deserted city?" The troll made a good point. James had to give him that much.


    At his comment, the entire party paused, turning to look at the troll. Manly the Dwarf opened his mouth to answer, his hand raised, before he lowered it. Everyone was so caught up in thought, trying to find the answer that they didn''t realize they had stopped in probably the worst possible location, a crossroad.


    The smoke in the air seemed to part in an unnatural fashion, as a cloaked Spy-nosaurus lunged at the group. The Spy-nosaurus, James had found, used an artificial fin on its back to produce a strange smoke that allowed it to blend in completely to the environment. The moment the mob connected with its target, Gno-more its cloaking ability faded away. Teeth and gears clanked together as the dinosaur raised its head, crunching down hard on the trapped thief. It wasn''t enough to kill the poor gnome, but it was doing a good amount of damage.


    To their credit, the group didn''t panic. They didn''t react as fast as James thought they should have, but they also didn''t break down in terror and run. After the initial shock started to wear away, they began to fight back. Gno-more was throwing what appeared to be little bombs at the dinosaur''s back fin, even while his life was being chunked by the monster. Olivia had her staff raised, and was chanting out a healing spell, slowing Gno-more''s demise, but unable to completely stop it.


    "I can''t out heal the damage." The priestess said between chants, and James guessed her heal was on cooldown.


    "Get him free." Skar called out, and as he spoke, Troll''d drew a couple of arrows. With practiced ease, the troll launched dicken feathered arrows at the dinosaur. The arrows impacted against the monster''s throat, causing it to roar and loosen its hold on the thief. The moment it did, Skar and Manly rushed forward. Skar smashed his shield into the monster''s metal chest, while Manly took up position, swinging his axe at the Spy-nosarur''s leg like he would a tree.


    "Let him go." Manly chanted as his axe bit into the dinosaur''s leg, over and over. After a moment, the thief, with a sliver of life, managed to pry himself free. James glanced at his mob''s health, noticing the party was doing a good a job of whittling away at its health. Because it was such a higher level than the group though, they had to contend with its increased defense and attack stats. They would definitely gain a lot of experience fighting these mobs, but it wasn''t going to be easy on them.


    "Oh, they are an impressive team." Rue commented as Gno-more was freed, and James nodded in agreement.


    "True, but they are a bit unlucky." James pointed with his tentacle towards one of the side streets leading towards them. A group of velocity raptors was heading swiftly towards the party, likely attracted to the location due to noise of the fight. Because of their trait ?D/?T, they were moving fast.


    "Fighting in an abandoned, unknown city, probably not the best idea." Rue was nodding her head, grinning. "If they didn''t have the smaller guys, they would have been able to pick off one of the taller mobs out in the savanna in relative safety."


    James had to agree with Rue. If he had been playing, he would have stayed in the savanna, at least until his level had grown a little more. The abandoned city just seemed like the perfect place to be ambushed by mobs. Even when he explored dungeons and ruins, he did his best not to put himself in a position where he would aggro a lot of mobs. Though, to be fair, he, and probably every other gamer out there, had gotten themselves killed more than once when exploring new areas, especially if there were new mobs with abilities they didn''t know.


    "Well, look at it this way." James watched as the velocity raptors drew nearer. They were preparing to exit and alley into the street behind the party, meaning they would have direct line of sight to the priestess, darn it. "They''re going to gain experience of a few of the mobs in the area, and I''m going to gain actual experience, from killing them, it''s a win-win."


    "Well, a win-win-lose." Rue had noticed the same fact he did and was grinning as the raptors broke out into the street. The leader of the pack let out a metallic cry of excitement, before the group rushed towards the adventurers. "It looks like I''m going to win the bet." As she spoke, the first raptor leapt towards Olivia, its metallic claws extending to cut deeply into her. James winced as she burst into an orb of light. Not only were the raptors stats boosted by Steam Powered Pack, the blasted mob had landed a critical strike on Olivia.


    "Well, you know what they say." James sighed as he watched his 50 resources disappear, going back to Rue. The pixie was grinning, both from her winning of the bet, and the chaos brought upon the group as their healer fell. The raptors were already heading towards Troll''d, who was doing his best to launch arrows into them, but it was pointless. The moment their healer died, their party''s fate had been sealed. "You can''t win them all."

 44 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44


    "Halfway there." Following Skar''s party wipe, James had pulled up his character sheet, glancing at his data. He had been curious to see just how much experience he had, and how close he was getting to his next rank.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 1 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    109,861 xp


    10,139 xp to next rank


    190,139 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 119 of 2500


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 2


    Other than the experience he had gained from achievements, James realized his experience gain had started to slow. Adventurers were spreading the words of the traps, and people had begun to get into the flow of things, at least on the first floor. James was certain his experience gain would continue to slow, until more players actually managed to make it to his second floor. If he had to guess, he might not even be able to hit Rank 2 before the first day with adventurers in immersion completed. Ah well, he figured he couldn''t expect to continue growing as fast as he had for his first floor. After all, in most MMOs, progression began to slow as higher levels were achieved, and James was sure DCO wouldn''t be any different.


    "Good job Glyax." The way Rue responded caused James to glance her way, and he realized she wasn''t really paying attention to him anymore. Instead, she was staring at a screen of her own, though James couldn''t tell what she was looking at. As he floated silently towards her, she waved her hand, and the screen disappeared.


    "What was that?"


    "You''ll find out eventually." The pixie shot him a grin, and motioned behind him. "Besides, shouldn''t you be paying more attention to your alerts?" Sure enough, one of his alerts was going off, and as James enlarged the instance screen, he couldn''t help but smile. Z and his group were back. What''s more, the group was making a straight line towards the barn, and if James had to guess, they had not only gotten word of the portal, but were planning to go through it. Since they had just reached level 13, they didn''t even have any experience to lose. A perfect time to investigate a new floor.


    "Betcha they kill at least three mobs." James figured if he made the bets before Rue did, he had a higher chance of winning. He also knew, if he hadn''t made the bet right there, she would have. She loved betting against him, and James was curious what exactly she was trying to hoard resources for.


    "Hmmm. How many resources?" The pixie was checking over the group, and her question caught James off guard. Usually she accepted bets almost instantly.


    "Uh." James glanced at his character sheet and grinned. He was pretty confident Z and his group could defeat three mobs. Especially if the mobs were a single pack of velocity raptors. "100 resources."


    Rue looked him over, and James could tell she was thinking hard about something. After a moment, she raised her hand, holding up a single finger. "Fine, but-" She shot James an evil grin. "Velocity raptor packs count as a single mob."


    "Oh, you caught on heh?" James chuckled, and nodded his orb to her. "Fine."


    "You''re not as tricky as you seem Glyax." Rue smiled smugly, and they both turned back to Z and his group. After watching Skar''s group get decimated, James was really looking forward to seeing how the Knights would do. He was also curious how much experience they would get for felling one of the mobs. Curious, James pulled up Z''s character sheet, to check the archer''s level information.


    Z


    Level 13 Archer


    9750 xp


    1750 xp to next level


    HP: 90+23


    AP: 90+23


    Currency: 89 copper 30 silver 1 gold 0 platinum


    As he focused on the increase in health for the archer, he saw the extras 23 points in the stats were coming from the buff of the Demonic Farmer gear set. The set gave wearers a 5% increase in their stats, plus an additional 5% for each member in their party wearing a full set, up to a 25% increase. Because every single member of the party was wearing 6 pieces of the armor that meant every member was getting a 25% increase to all of their stats.


    The saving grace keeping this gear from being too op, was that it was a basic set of low level armor, meaning its regular boost to defense was minimal, and it didn''t'' offer magical defense. Second, the gear looked goofy, making Z''s party look like a bunch of farmers armed with various weapons. No matter how good the buff, James was certain players were going to shed that armor as soon as they could. Grinning, he tabbed over to Z''s stats, curious to see just how strong the archer was, so he could get a good gauge of how the group would do against his new mobs.


    Atk: 60+10+1+15


    M.Atk: 0


    Def: 24+20+6


    M.Def: 5+1


    It seemed Z''s basic attack had raised to 60 as he levels, and his level 10 bow was giving him a +10 to his damage. He was also still getting +1 for using dicken arrows, and was getting an additional 15 points courtesy of his set bonus. After doing some quick math in his head, James realized the bonus appeared to apply 25% based off of the initial stat, without counting in added bonuses. James figured that was another way the developers had decided to attempt to keep the gear from becoming too game breaking. Still, at level 13, Z had a total attack of 86, and a defense of 50.


    With stats like that, Z and his group would be able to take on the basic mobs on his second floor, though they did not have damage output yet to even scratch his Terminus Rex. James was okay with that though, because the boss, at level 25, was 12 levels higher than Z and his team. They still had a lot of grinding to do, and would likely need to upgrade their gear, before they were ready for the boss.


    The more he thought about, and ran numbers though, James suddenly felt his nonexistent mouth going dry. He may have overestimated Z and the Knight''s chances against his steampunk dinosaurs, especially given James had forgotten to take into account his mob''s abilities when he made the bet. He glanced over at Rue, who shot him a knowing grin, as if she could tell what he had just realized.


    "Ready for this boys?" Z was standing in front of the portal, and the others all nodded, grinning eagerly. The gamers were ready for their next challenge. So far, only Skar''s group had gone through the portal, and James knew they hadn''t spread word about the mobs yet. In fact, they were currently still waiting for their countdown timer to end, to let them back into the second floor. Interestingly enough, when they had died, they had been kicked back into the first floor, but were still in their unique instance. Because of this, they were currently farming mobs on the first floor, with it all to themselves.


    "Let''s do this." Oak stepped past Z, and stepped through the portal, the others quickly on his heels. As they ported through, James watched the numbers on the instance screen change. It went from 25/25 max, to 20/25. At the same time, James saw flashing appear on the instance that held Skar and his team. Their instance number, which had originally been set at 5/25, increased to 10/25. That meant eventually high level players would likely be in their own instances, leaving lower leveled instances to be populated with newer players. James had to admit, that seemed like a nice touch.


    James turned his attention back to the Knight''s, watching as they all appeared in his desolate savannah, taking in their location. Oak looked back at his team, a grin on his face, even as they looked around, puzzled.


    "Well guys, I don''t think we''re in Kansas anymore." The others all grinned, and drew their weapons. While Skar''s group had been hesitant to move forward, needing some additional discussion before making a decision, Z''s group acted almost instantly. Following his statement, Oak turned and began walking down the dirt path, and the others followed. James could almost feel their excitement, and Rue''s, as they moved closer to the city. Every step they took closer to the city, James felt a sinking feeling in his chest.


    Rue had figured it out, even before he did. In that city, against his roaming dinosaurs, the Knights didn''t stand much of a chance. At least, not without a good plan. And, given the fact they didn''t really have any experience to lose, James doubted they had a good plan. This was just an adventure for them, they had nothing to lose. James, however, did.

 45 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45


    "So, I''m guessing the mobs changed?" Z and the others had stopped near the entrance to the city, and were looking down the main road. Across from them, eyeing the group, was a single tricera-cog.


    "I mean, I don''t live in the country, but I would take a guess triceratops aren''t a common farm animal." Faust''s comment drew laughter from the group, as Oak sighed and stepped forward. The warrior may have resigned himself to his tank role, but James could guess he was not looking forward to tanking the tricera-cog.


    "What about tricera-cogs?" Z stressed the last part of the mob, and the group started laughing.


    "Yeah, pretty sure they don''t have those either." Faust shook his head, taking up a stance, preparing to cast his spells. Med Ic took up a position next to him, eying the mob.


    "So, do we agro him out of the city, and fight him out here?" Elm had his bow drawn, and was glancing from Z to Oak to the mob.


    "Oh, please don''t fight him in the city." James really didn''t want to lose this bet. And he was sure if they fought the mob in the city, they would get ambushed, much like Skar''s group had. But, if they pulled the mob out into the plains, they stood a good chance of winning, which would bring James one step closer to winning his bet.


    "You a little worried there Glyax?" Rue had a bowl of popcorn in her lap, and she grabbed a handful as she smirked at James. "Afraid you''re going to lose the bet?"


    "Afraid? No. Z''s group is the best group in the dungeon. They''ll be fine." James winced as he said those words.


    "Famous last words." Rue chuckled as she ate her popcorn, turning back to the fight at hand. James had a sinking feeling he had just jinxed himself.


    "Alright. It doesn''t look like the mob has a ranged attack. So let''s just pull agro from here, and see how much damage we can do before it engages Oak."


    "Sounds like a good plan." James whispered as he pulled up his mob''s information, curious just how much damage Z''s group could do.


    Tricera-cog (8) lvl 15


    Type: Steam Powered three horn


    HP: 500


    MP: 50


    Atk: 50


    Def: 60


    Unique Traits


    Tri-gun- Tricera-cogs can launch their three horns at enemies. The 2 large horns deal 50 + lvl damage and ignore 15% of defenses. The smaller horn deals 40 + lvl damage and ignores 5% of defenses.


    Steam-powered- When charging enemies, tricera-cogs gain +50% movement speed. When moving at top speed, the next attack deals 125% damage, and ignores 25% of armor.


    Armor Plated- Tricera-cogs take 20% less damage from physical attacks. (After def is applied)


    "Well shit." James looked at Z''s group, and couldn''t help but sigh. Which developer had decided to make a hybrid tank mob? Like seriously? Based off of Z''s stats, the archer, with his 86 atk, would be able to do 26 points of damage per shot on the mob, which would then be mitigate by another 20%, meaning every shot would only do 21 points of damage. By James''s quick math, that meant it would take close to 25 shots to bring the mob down. How fast could the tricera-cog reach Oak and his team? How much damage could that mob do?


    "Let''s do this." Z''s cry pulled James from his mulling, and arrows flew quickly from Z and Elm''s bows. The arrows flew rapidly and smashed into the metal that was the Tricera-cog. James saw the mobs health drop a little, and the armor plating on it appeared to become dented. James wondered if they would be able to knock the plating off of the mob with enough attacks, to expose the cogs that spun within. He had seen similar mechanics in other games against armored mobs. Do enough to break the hard outer shell, to get at the squishy vulnerable bits on the inside.


    The tricera-cog let out a roar after the arrows impacted, and before Z and Elm could launch another volley, the mob lowered its head, launching its three spikes forward with surprising speed. The larger spikes, propelled from a burst of steam, flew rapidly past Oak, catching Elm and Z both in the shoulder, knocking them backwards. The third, smaller spike, smashed into Oak''s shield, denting it and making the warrior grunt in surprise.


    "Seriously, who gave that thing a ranged attack?" Oak growled as he peeked over his shield. Elm and Z were getting back up, having been knocked down by the impact of the larger spikes. James could tell they were both taken off guard by the attack. The horn had done 22 damage to Z, taking him from 113 life to 91. If not for the buffs he and his group were getting from their set gear, it would have been even more damage.


    "Uh, I think it was just getting started." Oak''s words drew Elm and Z''s attention, as the tricea-cog had three new horns. The mob shook its head angrily from side to side, and pawed at the ground angrily. As it did, steam began to rise all around its body


    "Here comes the pain train." Rue giggled at her own comment, and sure enough, the tricera-cog lowered its head and began rushing towards the group. Steam and fire shot from its sides as its armor plating lifted slightly away from its body, and James could see the gears working in overtime to propel the beast forward at impossible speeds. The very ground shook as it rumbled along the street, directly towards Oak.


    "Dodge." James pleaded as his mob neared the warrior, but true to his role as the tank, Oak stood fast. Just before the mob connected with him, his shield began to glow, and he braced his feet. James knew he was activating a tank ability, likely to mitigate damage. The poor warrior might as well have been trying to stop a train with his hand. The tricera-cog smashed into his shield, and he was sent flying backwards, surprise evident in his face as he crashed down onto the ground.


    "For a tank, you get sent flying a lot." Z was laughing as he jogged away from the tricera-cog, working to flank the dinosaur. Elm was doing the same on its other side, and together they began launching arrows into its side. James knew they were trying not only to bring the mob down, but also to draw its agro. This was because when the tricera-cog had launched Oak away it had given it direct line of sight to Faust and Med Ic. The cleric had run the moment he realized this, rushing to Oak''s aid, his hands glowing. Faust however, stood still, waving his hands in an intricate pattern, continuing to chant. If James had to guess, the mage was stuck standing still until he cast his spell.


    "You going to join us any time soon Faust?" Z launched another arrow into the tricera-cog, this time managing to score a hit near its eye. The dinosaur let out a mechanical roar of rage, and spun swiftly in Z''s direction, its tail barely missing the immobile Faust. A moment later, the mage began to glow, and a cluster of magic missiles appeared behind the mage. As one, the missiles all launched themselves at the tricera-cog, smashing into the clockwork mob, causing it to roar in pain with each impact. As he watched the mobs health decrease by a good chunk with each missile, James realized the mobs had a high physical defense, but didn''t have much in the way of magic defense. There was hope for Z and his group. There was hope for James and his bet.


    "You guys have a terrible habit of starting the attack before my spell is cast." Faust let out a sigh as the tricera-cog fell to the ground, defeated, and they began to loot its body.


    "Well, you just need to learn to cast faster." Z joked as he looked at his inventory screen. James was curious just what loot had dropped from the tricera-cog. He knew they had likely received at least 50 copper from it, and more than likely had gotten some of its armor plating. Other options for the mob involved gears, oil, and the ability to gather one of its horns.


    "Hey guys, check this out." Oak was staring hard at his screen, which James hated he couldn''t see, and the warrior''s face was breaking out into a huge grin. With a swipe of his hand, he activated whatever it was he was staring at, and a moment later, a small, baby tricera-cog appeared by his side. The little mechanical mob let out an adorable roar as it stomped the ground playfully.


    "Did you just get a pet drop?" Z glanced from Oak to the mob, and then back at Oak.


    "Yeah I did." Oak knelt down and patted the mob on its head as he grinned at the others. "Judging from the information on the drop, he''s currently a lvl 10 pet mob, and, get this guys, he can assist us in battles."


    James already knew that from when he implemented the pets as mob drops. They could be trained, level up, and battle against other players pets. They also granted slight buffs to their owners while summoned, and could aid in battle. Some, like the baby sacrificial lambs, even had special abilities that could do a decent amount of damage, though they had long cool downs. James had specifically double checked the lamb drops, because he didn''t want players running around with an infinitely self-detonating pet. That seemed a little too op.


    "Man, now I want one." Elm walked up to Oak''s side and looked at the little pet, before he turned to the others.


    "So, mechanical dinosaurs for this floors mobs?"


    "Eh, I would say more steampunk. I mean come on, did you see how that mob looked when it charged at us?" Z''s comment caused Oak to grimace, and the warrior cast a sideways glance at his shield.


    "Mechanical, steampunk. Same thing right?" Elm was staring at Z, who shook his head.


    "You make me sad sometimes Elm." Z commented, before he smiled and looked at the others. "Any who. The first floor had five different mob types, and a boss. If we figure this floor is similar, there are at least 4 other mobs for us to find." Z made a motion as he checked his screen, before continuing. "That Tricera-cog gave us 29 experience points each. Considering we only get 10 experience points from killing mad cows again, I''d definitely say it is worth it for us to keep going on this floor.


    The others all seemed to check their screens, before nodding at Z, smiles on their faces. Z continued. "If the rest of the mobs are like this, we should be able to gain some levels a lot faster than by simply farming the first floor. However, I''m sure as you guys can guess, this floor is also going to be a bit more dangerous."


    "As long as we avoid the boss, we should be fine." Faust''s comment caused the others to nod, and James watched as they all turned back to the city.


    "So, shall we keep exploring this city, and see what the dungeon has in store for us?" Z''s comment was met with a resounding set of huzzahs, and James heard Rue cheering them on next to him. The pixie could see the exactly same thing he could on the screen. The pixie knew stepping into that city was going to signal the party''s doom, and cause James to lose the bet. All he could do was sigh as the group entered the city, chatting together happily, unaware of the doom that waited for them. This was going to be painful for James to watch.

 46 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46


    "Seriously, is every floor going to have pack mobs?" Oak was grunting as he swung at a velocity raptor, forcing the little mob back. The other two members of the pack were trying to flank Oak, as the warrior had activated his taunt immediately after the mobs had appeared.


    Z''s group had made it one street into town, before the pack of velocity raptors had attacked them. It seemed the mobs were attracted to the sound of battle, and James could see other packs making their way through his city towards the group as well. They were smart, agile, and deadly. James regretted putting so many into his city.


    "Well, you know the way this works. Kill one, and the others should get weaker." Z let two arrows fly into the lead velocity raptor, taking its health down below half, stealing its increased movement speed from it. The other raptors called out in rage, but began to back up, eying the party cautiously. Seriously, had the developers added additional intelligence to these mobs?


    "Oh, I think getting them below half slows em down." Oak took a step forward and swung at the leader, causing it to leap back. The movement was noticeably slower than its previous leaps. "Yup, definitely slower." Oak and the others cheered, even as Elm and Z launched two more arrows into the leader. Their combined attack did enough damage to kill the leader, stealing the other two of their buff. The fight just got a lot easier for Z''s party.


    "Yes." James cheered, shooting a grin at Rue. The velocity raptor packs may only count as one mob, but with the leader down, the team was going to be able to quickly finish this pack off. Then, it was just one more mob or pack, and James would win the bet.


    "You know they''re not going to make it." Rue was grinning devilishly, and she pointed back at the screen. James turned, and his laughter quickly died. He had been so caught up on the battle against the velocity raptor pack, that he had forgotten what was lurking for the party. There was no way James was going to win this bet.


    "I hate you." James grumbled, and even as Z''s group finished off the other two raptors, he couldn''t'' find himself joining in their celebration.


    "76 more experience for that pack guys." Z was all smiles as he looked over the items he received. He made a motion with his hand, and James saw a new dagger appear at his side. The archer had never actually used a dagger from what James had seen, but he had been wearing a basic iron one. Now, he had what appeared to be a gear covered, bent hilt attached at his side. James knew what the dagger was. It was a special drop from velocity raptors, as their retractable bladed claws could be dropped as a dagger weapon. The blade resided within the hilt, and James watched as Z drew the hilt and pressed a button on the back of it. The moment he did, the gears on the side spun, and the wicked curved blade extended from it. It was a dangerous steampunk cross between a karambit and a switchblade. James loved the steampunk weapons this floor could drop.


    "Dude, that is awesome." Oak was looking down at the dagger, as he checked his own inventory. The warrior frowned, and James guessed he had not received one of the clockwork blades.


    "Trade ya it for your pet." Z grinned down at the baby tricera-cog, which opened its mouth and let out a cute yawn.


    "No way. Cera is mine." Oak knelt down and patted his pet on the head. During the fight, the little pet had been launching spikes at the velocity raptors, they attack only did a few points of damage, and only after the velocity raptor''s stats had been reduced with the loss of their buff, but it was both adorable, and helpful.


    "Cera? Like, Land Before Time?" Faust''s face a mixture of disbelief, and humor.


    "Shut up man. I enjoyed those movies." Oak looked away as the group broke out into laughter. James looked to Rue for the reference, but the pixie simply shrugged her shoulders back at him. It seemed whatever they were referencing, the pixie hadn''t seen. Interesting.


    "Anyways, should we get-" Z''s comment drew short as a metallic roar ripped through the city, causing all of the Knight''s to jump.


    "What the hell was that?" Oak had his shield and sword drawn and at the ready, as he glanced around nervously.


    "Whatever that was, maybe we shouldn''t fight it in the city streets?" Med Ic was glancing back towards the entrance to the city, and the others started to nod in agreement. The velocity raptor pack had ambushed the Knight''s from an alleyway, nearly killing Med Ic before Oak taunted them. The healer likely didn''t want a similar instance to occur, especially if they were fighting whatever had made that roar. Sadly, their decision time was up.


    "Say goodbye to those resources." Rue was leaning forward in her seat, staring intently at the instance. Coming around one of the corner streets, giving it a clear view of the party, was B.L.U. flanked on either side by a pack of velocity raptors. Z''s team was doomed.


    "Run." Z''s voice shook the party from their surprise, and as one they all turned and fled back towards the entrance. Even though they had a good couple of blocks between them and the mobs, the velocity raptors, and B.L.U. had a much higher movement speed than the adventurers.


    "Z, they''re gaining on us." The warrior had the slowest movement speed, and James could tell the tank was painfully aware of the fact. "I''ll hold em off, you guys get out of here." Z and the rest of the party didn''t even try to stop Oak, as the warrior turned, his shield raised, preparing to take on the approaching mobs.


    It was a good plan. If Oak died but the others escaped, he would be able to rejoin them after his five-minute timer was up. If the entire party wiped, they would be sent back to the first floor, with an hour penalty before they could attempt the second floor again. If they didn''t wipe, James also didn''t lose the bet. He was all for this plan.


    "You can do it Oak." James cheered on the warrior, but a moment later, his hope dissipated. The two Gatling guns on the mini boss''s arms began to spin, and even as it advanced on the tank, bullets began flying towards the warrior.


    "I hate being a tank." Oak grunted as the bullets slammed into his shield. James pulled up B.L.U''s stats, curious just how much damage those Gatling guns did. After a second of searching, he found what he was looking for.


    Clever Girl- B.L.U. can use guns! Bullets deal .25% of targets hp per hit. B.L.U. can fire 400 rounds per minute per gun. B.L.U. has a 1-minute cooldown after 400 rounds have been fired from a gun.


    "Oh great, a percent shred attack." James watched as bullets flew into Oak''s shield, slowly cutting away at the warrior''s health. The only saving grace was that because the mini-boss was moving rapidly towards the tank, the bullets were not all hitting their target. Moving, it seemed, made the guns less accurate. However, only 50% of the bullets needed to hit the warrior, to kill him. Though James wondered how much hp the warrior could naturally regain per minute. Maybe he could the onslaught long enough to keep the others alive?


    "They''re not going to make it." Rue motioned towards the Knight''s. They were almost to the exit of the city, but the velocity raptor packs had split away from B.L.U., rushing down alley ways, away from the tank that had tried to block their advance. That meant while Oak was doing his best to hold off the much larger mini-boss, the small velocity raptors had nearly reached their targets.


    "Ugh, seriously. Why are they this smart?" None of his other basic mobs actually hunted like this. They all simply followed the basic commands he gave them and were pretty linear in their attack patterns. These raptors though, acted with as much intelligence as a sentient mob would. Had the developers really decided to make them smart mobs? Was this some cruel joke by the developers, to pay homage to the Jurassic Universe? James silently cursed the developers, and Rue, as the velocity raptors broke out of their alley way, right next to Z''s group.


    "Last stand." Z yelled out as he dove forward, narrowly dodging a leaping velocity raptor. As one, the Knight''s spread out and began launching attacks at the pack. It was four level 13 adventurers, against 6 level 15 velocity raptors. The action was intense, and James wasn''t sure if he wanted to watch the Knight''s fight, or see Oak against B.L.U.


    "Holy hand grenade." Med Ic called out, lobbing his holy blast into a group of three raptors. He had positioned himself in front of Faust who was frantically waving his hands, chanting. Z and Elm were launching arrow after arrow at the raptors, while trying to draw the pack away from their magic users. James could tell they were used to trying to kite mobs, but the velocity raptors were much faster than normal mobs, making it much more difficult on the archers.


    "They might do it." James whispered as he saw two of the velocity raptors faulter, vines wrapping around the mob''s feet. The moment they were trapped, Z and Elm began launching their attacks into the mobs, while Faust started casting another spell. However, the brilliant raptors caught on quickly, and while two of them rushed to help the trapped mobs, the other two started moving around the group, their eyes focused on Faust.


    "Faust." Z saw the raptors flanking his party and rushed forward towards the mage even as one of the two raptors leapt towards him. The party leader smashed into the raptor, dropping his bow in the process as he drew his dagger, driving the blade in the creature over and over. Adventurer and mob dropped to the ground, as both struggled to free themselves from the other.


    "Hurry up Faust." Elm was firing two arrows at once into the velocity raptors and had managed to bring one of the trapped ones down. However, the other one had been freed, and they were rushing at the group of magic users. Med Ic''s hands were glowing as he was frantically healing Z, while using his own body to shield Faust. The group was doing their best to not die, and James admired that. Also, if they killed two more velocity raptors, that would count as a pack, and James would win his bet.


    "Who are these people?" Rue was staring incredulously at the party as they struggled against the mobs, doing their best to stay alive.


    "They are the Knight''s Who Go Ni." James said, his voice filled with excitement and admiration. Z had just freed himself from the raptor and had regained his bow. Elm was working on another raptor, and they were using their bodies to protect Faust. Judging by the cast time, James knew the mage was working to summon his magic missile barrage. The spell was bound to bring down at least two more of the raptors. There was hope.


    A cry from up the street caused James to wince, and he watched as B.L.U''s chainsaw like tail cut into Oak, causing the warrior to instantly turn into an orb of light. Without pausing, the mini-boss, who had simply rotated its torso to cut through the warrior, rushed towards the velocity raptor pack, and the Knights. Z glanced at approaching mini boss and let out a curse. He knew their time was running out.


    "No no no no no." James had his tentacles over his eye, as he watched the fight playing out. They were so close, just a few more seconds. The mini guns on B.L.U.''s arms were smoking, still on cooldown. There was no way the giant mob would be able to interrupt Faust in his casting. And with Z and the others keeping the velocity raptors at bay, there was still hope. At least, that was what he thought. One of the raptors let out a caw like sound, and a moment later, three of them leapt onto Med Ic, instantly killing him. Even as the cleric fell, two more of the raptors leapt at Elm. The archer was already damaged, and the attack brought him screaming, to the ground, before he burst into an orb of light.


    "You really need to learn to cast faster." Z swung his bow like a baseball bat at one of the raptors that leapt at him, a grin on his face, before he burst apart, leaving the mage.


    "Not my fault." Faust grumbled, and even as the raptors leapt towards him, his magic missiles appeared all around him.


    "Ye-" Even as James cried out in victory, his eyes went wide. The danger of spells that automatically targeted enemies, was that they usually weren''t selective. They would go for the closest targets. In this instance, the moment the missiles began to appear behind Faust, it was the three full health velocity raptors that were jumping towards him. As such, the five missiles all launched into he full health mobs. Three of the missiles brought down one of the raptors, while the other two missiles launched, one a piece, into the mobs. That meant, when the raptors landed on him, killing him and creating a party wipe, only two of the needed 3 velocity raptors to count as a pack, had been killed. That meant, James had lost the bet, by a single raptor.


    "Oh, better luck next time." Rue''s eyes were filled with joy, though her knuckles were white. She had been just as engrossed in the battle as he had been, and she knew she had come dangerously close to losing 100 resources to the bet. The Knight''s Who Go Ni were definitely not a group to under estimate, and James knew they would only continue to get stronger. He couldn''t wait to see what happened then.

 47 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47


    "So, how many resources does that make." James was grumbling as he watched the Knight''s respawn on the first floor of their instance. He looked dismally at his resources, he only had 20 left. Sure, he gained resources back quickly enough, but he had been looking forward to winning that bet. It would have put him over 200 resources, and with that, he had planned to put in a new sign on his second floor, and a few more car husks. The sign, he had decided, would read "Welcome to Jurassic City." He figured the extra confusion would be amusing for adventurers, and he was sure sooner or later, word was going to get out about his mobs.


    "Enough." Rue had a huge grin on her face, and she drew James''s attention to his first floor. Rue summoned her own screen, and with a grin selected an option. A moment later what appeared to be a shrine appeared, right next to his first trap at the start of the dungeon. The shrine depicted¡­.well, it looked almost exactly like Rue, her arms out in an offering gesture, her wings spread wide, a kind smile on her face. Alright, everything but the kind look in her eyes looked like her. James knew just how devious his pixie was.


    "What, is that?" Seriously? What the hell was that? And did this break the rules? Wasn''t this communicating with the players?


    "That, oh mighty Glyax, is a shrine to the Goddess of Luck." Rue stuck her tongue out as James as he stared at the shrine.


    "To the Goddess of Luck." He said the words a second time and shook his orb. Just what was the pixie going on about?


    "In the game''s lore, there are gods and goddess that can offer different blessings to players. They are lost deities, whose shrines can magically appear to aid adventurers."


    "Note to self, learn the game''s lore." Seriously, he had been so busy building his dungeons, upgrading mobs and generally just trolling adventurers, he hadn''t actually looked at game lore. Hell, James hadn''t realized there was much game lore. And, as the Dungeon Core, he hadn''t actually thought to look it up. Usually world lore was more situated in games that had expansive worlds, not a game where adventurers just had a massive, every growing dungeon to keep crawling through.


    "Oh yeah, the developers put a lot of time into game lore. You should really stop slacking and check it out." Rue waved her hand, and a book the size of an encyclopedia appeared in her hand.


    "Really? That''s all the game''s lore?"


    Rue glanced at the encyclopedia and grinned. "Nope, this is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, hardback edition. I''ve been reading it before bed. You want to talk about a book with a lot of lore." She waved her hand, and a new book, a much smaller book appeared. James had to grin, it looked almost the size of a Dungeon Master manual from DnD.


    "This is the lore of the game. There are also developer made videos detailing historical facts on the world, as well as the history of each race, if you were interested in it." She waved her hand, and the book disappeared.


    "Honestly though, much of that lore is just for the players that love that kind of stuff. The only aspect I found interesting, was the gods and goddesses." Rue grinned, motioning back to her shrine.


    "They aren''t detailed in their appearances, and the lore says they can take on any form. So, heck, why not have the Goddess of Luck look like a pixie?" She grinned, and all James could do was shrug his tentacles.


    "Alright, so you got yourself a shrine. Not conceited at all." Had she really just been placing bets, so she could make people worship her. The more James thought about it, the more it made sense. She did seem to think highly about herself.


    Rue shot James a venom filled look, before motioning towards the bottom of the shrine. On it, a lever, and a slot for what looked to be a coin. Underneath the slot, what appeared to be a poem.


    Those who wish to improve their fate


    The goddess''s hunger you must sate


    An offering of coin to test your luck


    To receive a blessing, in the form of a buff


    Alright, so maybe poem was a stretch. As James read the words over, he glanced at the pixie, had she come up with that poem? By the way she grinned, he guessed she had.


    "So, they can put coins in the slot and pull the lever, and then they get a buff?"


    "Mhmm." Rue was smiling and did a light flip in the air. "Depending on the coin the put in, and their luck, they can get a buff that increases their percentages for rare items to drop, and also even the chance to receive and extra piece of loot."


    "Well, that''s neat." James knew adventurers would definitely want to take advantage of that, though he had to feel Rue was giving them a chance to go around his hard thought out loot drop chances. However, every game he had played usually had an item that increased loot drop chances, so he could understand the mechanic.


    "I thought so too."


    "So, do I get the coins? Since its my dungeon?" If this was a way for him to make some extra coin on the side, he was all for it. Though, he still had no idea what to do with his 5 gold coins he currently had. So far, no one on the Dungeon Core forums knew either. Strange.


    "Nope, I get the coins, and they turn into resources for me."


    "You can turn coins into resources?" James glanced from the shrine, to the pixie. Did that mean there was a way for him to turn his coins into resources? What was the conversion rate?


    "Yup, why do you think I kept betting with you so much? I needed the resources to make my shrine, so that I could start gaining more resources." She crossed her arms and smiled smugly. "Dungeon Pixies can make shrines on each floor, but we need resources to do it."


    "You could have just asked." Seriously, James would have helped her. He wasn''t that stingy on his resources.


    "Nope, I''m a strong, independent dungeon pixie." Her eyes flashed mischievously, "besides, you suck at making bets, so it was easy to win resources off of you."


    "Freaking pixie." James grumbled under his breath. Rue''s eyes narrowed, and James knew she heard him.


    "Any who Rue," time to change the subject, "am I able to convert my coins into resources? You never told me what I could do with my 5 gold coins."


    The fire in the pixie''s eyes died down, and she let out a slight chuckle. "No, your coins will come into play when the up-" She stopped speaking and smiled sheepishly. "Oops."


    "Oops?" Had she just been about to say update? James knew the game developers promised a big update after the first month of playing. What would he be able to use his coins for then? And was that knowledge supposed to be a secret? James looked hard at his pixie, waiting for her to disappear again. After nothing happened, he let out a sigh. If it was a secret, it wasn''t as big as whatever she was going to tell him when she had been drunk. Interesting.


    "Mhmm. The details of the big update are a secret. Just know you might want to gain as much coin as you can before then." The way she said those words, the way she smiled, made James''s mouth go dry. He could guess the answer to his next question.


    "And, what''s the easiest way for me to gain coins?" Rue''s eyes sparkled as he said the words, and her lips curved up in a devilish smile.


    "Well, I can trade you some coins for resources whenever you want." There it was. She had figured out another way to keep James from just giving her resources to help her with her shrines.


    "Alright," James let out a heavy sigh, but he could understand. Getting freebies in games usually took away some of the fun, and his AI seemed to have a love for games and challenges, just like he did. So, Rue had come up with another way to get resources from James, without receiving charity. And, she had done it in a way that would, in theory, benefit James come the big update at the end of the month. Finally, a win-win for the both of them.


    "We can also still place bets with coins and resources." Rue offered as an aside, glancing down at his dungeon.


    "We''ll see." Alright, maybe his pixie had a slight addiction to gambling as well. In James''s eyes, that just made her seem even more like a normal gamer, and thought made him even more comfortable around her. Why couldn''t he meet someone like her in real life?

 48 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48


    "Think they''ll venture into the city today?" It was day three of immersion, and James watched as Z and the Knight''s once again made their way through the first floor, heading casually for the barn. Other groups of adventurers in the instance cast glances at the party as they moved about, many eyeing the knights with envy. Not only were the Knight''s wearing their full Demonic Farmer sets, each of them was wielding a weapon crafted with materials from the second floor, and each had a steampunk dinosaur pet.


    After their party wipe, the Knights proceeded to kill all the mobs they could on the first floor, before hoping back into the second floor. Skar''s team, after cursing Z and his group for stealing some of their mobs, had stormed back to the second floor and the city, and promptly gotten wiped by another pack of mobs. Unlike Skar''s group, Z''s group decided to avoid the city, and check out the area around it. In doing so, they had found James''s Break-i-asarus and Steamosaurusus for farming. These were the mobs they proceeded to hunt every time they dove, for the past two days.


    During that time, James had managed to at least hit Tier 2 Rank 2, and was making his way slowly towards Rank 3. Because of his level up, the mobs on his second floor jumped from level 15 to 16, while B.L.U. became level 21, and the Terminus Rex, still undiscovered, had grown to level 26. James was really hoping Z''s group would find his final boss, but he figured they believed B.L.U. was the actual boss of the floor, since it was a roaming mob, just like Old Man Jenkins. Oh how they were in for a surprise.


    Along with his rank up, James had held off on upgrading his second floor mobs, as only a handful of parties had managed to make it to the second floor, and actually survive against the mobs. So far, no groups, other than Skar''s made the mistake of entering the city more than once, as between the Spy-nosaurusus and the velocity raptors, they could not make it out alive. The groups that farmed outside the city, as well as purposefully returned to their new floor one to clear the floor, had started to climb in experience and level much faster than those still struggling through James''s first floor.


    The way James saw it, the mobs outside of the city, the ones that ranged from level 1-10 that the developers had put in, was the training area. Once parties were confident with those mobs, they made their way to James''s dungeon, and fought against the horror that was his demonic farm. From there though, most players had been advised to farm the farm until they were at least level 15, giving them a fair warning about going through the portal to the second floor.


    Many players were paying heed to this warning, and spending a lot of time in the demonic farm. James figured this wasn''t just for the experience gain, but also because of the draw of not only quests, but the pet drops on the floor. It seemed a lot of players had taken up pet battling, and there was apparently an extremely high demand for these mobs. What''s more, some people had found Old Man Jenkins had the chance to drop a miniature version of himself. Needless to say, there was a lot of boss farming going on, on top of mob slaying.


    Because of the popularity of these pet drops, Rue''s shrine had been getting a lot of attention as well. It had been found, and immediately posted on the forums for James''s players, that the shrine had different tiers, which could grant different percentage increases to loot chance. Now, while players didn''t know what percentages James had set for his loot, the percent increases the shrine gave were shown to the player who inserted a coin and pulled the lever.


    The shrine varied its bonus chance dependent on the type of coin inserted, which James had to admit, was a rather crafty ploy by Rue. If a copper coin was inserted, players had a chance to gain a 1-5% increase to loot drops. A silver coin gave a 5-10% chance, and so far, no one had attempted to drop a gold coin at the shrine, but James could guess it would increases their chance by 10-15%. Granted, an increase of 10-15% of an item with only a 1% chance to drop wasn''t much, gamers would still pay, especially on later floors, and especially because the buff seemed to increase in duration dependent on the coin offered. Copper coins granted a 30 minute buff, silver coins granted 1hour. So the more coin you dropped, the better and longer chance you got for farming.


    "Well, they look like they might be ready." Rue was glancing at her screen, and James could guess she was counting. According to the pixie, 1 copper coin translated to .01 resources, so it took 100 copper coins, or 1 silver, for her to make a single resource. At first James had balked at the conversion, before he remembered just how many adventurers came through his dungeon every hour or two. Currently James, with Rank 2 Instance research, was able to have 20 instances with 30 adventurers in it for just tier 1, as well as 20 tier 2 instances with the same max. While there was only ever 1 or 2 tier 2 instances created, James''s tier 1 instances were always full. That meant over 600 adventurers at a time, and almost every single one of them was willing to cough up a copper to the shrine of the Goddess of Luck.


    "I mean, they''ve been going non-stop. Likely they wanted to make sure they could bring B.L.U. down on a single try." James''s comment earned him a nod from Rue, and the pixie waved her hand, closing her screen, to watch the group. The Knights had farmed longer and harder than James had thought they would, and on their last dive, the group had grown to level 20. The next closest group was Skar''s group, as they were all close to level 18 last James had checked. However, the other groups James saw strolling around his tier 2 instances were all ranging from level 15 to 17. They were all experienced players from what James could see, but something about Z''s group just helped them stay ahead. James guessed it was their bond and experience, as he could tell they had likely been gaming together long before immersion became a thing. Their bond was something that went deeper, and it allowed them to survive situations and push themselves harder than any of the other teams did.


    "Well, I wish them the best of luck." Rue grinned as she watched the group near the portal, each of them offering each other a nod, before walking through. For a second their faces changed from carefree, to determined, and James felt excitement fill him. The past few days had started to grow boring for him, as everyone started to get into a routine, and his growth had slowed. He spent a lot of his time either watching movies with Rue, or chatting on the Dungeon Core forum. James needed something to pull him from his lull, and that something, he knew, was a high risk dive from a group. Based off of what he just saw, he was certain he was about to get just that.


    "Should we stream their dive?" James glanced at the instance information just as Z''s group arrived on his second floor. On the second day of his current immersion session, Dungeon Cores had started live streaming instances from their dungeons on the forums. The fact you could live stream instances had immediately led to an increase in not only activity on the forums, but a mass of streaming videos. From these, James and Rue could observe other dungeon''s floors, their mobs, and their adventurers. During these live stream sessions, a chat window was available, so they could all comment in real time on the video they were watching. James had wanted to set up a live stream, and share his adventurers as well, but he just hadn''t found the right time. He didn''t want to share people just farming his mobs, and he hadn''t found a group he wanted to share fighting his mobs. Other than Dwight''s mimic video, which did happen to have a record number of views, James hadn''t shared that much about his dungeon and its mobs. However, glancing at Z''s group, James felt excitement growing. Maybe this could be the first epic moment he shared. Maybe this would be the video he would be proud of live streaming to the other dungeon cores.


    "Why not." And with that, Rue waved her hand, and a new window appeared to the side of the instance window they were watching. A chat bar appeared on the side of it, where dungeon cores could interact, while an exact copy of the instance James was watching appeared in the window. Z''s group was now being live streamed to any and all Dungeon Cores who wanted to watch. James smiled smugly as he watched the numbers slowly climb for viewer count. He hoped Z and the others didn''t mind an audience. He also hoped they wouldn''t let him down.

 49 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49


    "Alright guys, let''s go over the plan one last time." Z''s group had stopped near the entrance to Jurassic City, and everyone was gathered around in a circle. The thing James really liked about the Knights, was that they actually did plan things out when they were trying to be serious.


    "We''ve got this." Oak was grinning as he leaned against his new shield. He had upgraded from the smaller iron shield he had been using, to a new monstrosity, courtesy of farming the second floor. The shield mimic''d a tricera-cog''s spiked armored fan that it had on hits head, and even had three spikes that James knew Oak could launch forward. The spikes had chains attached to them, and gears on the shield allowed him to retract them.


    "Yeah, but I''m sure the city itself is going to have a few more surprises." Z''s eyes were smiling, but his voice held the slightest hint of pressure. He was the leader, and it was important that they did as he planned.


    "Well, good thing you went ranger." Elm laughed as he spoke and drew his bow. He and Z had both upgraded to what appeared to be compound bows crafted from the gears and alloys harvested on the second floor. James was sure those weapons alone greatly increased the archer''s abilities. If that wasn''t enough though, he noted each archer had arrows that appeared to be a combination of materials from both floors. The arrows were still fletched with dicken feathers, but the shaft of the arrow and the tip were formed of metal instead of wood. The heavier arrows would have presented a problem to a regular bow, but James guessed the new bows had the increased power needed for such deadly missiles.


    "Yeah, speaking of, where''s your companion?" Faust''s quip caused the entire party to break out into laughter, while Z winced.


    "I hate you guys." Z whispered as he held his fingers up to his lips and let out a shrill whistle. A moment later, a form appeared by his side.


    "What, is that?" James looked at the strange creature but had no idea what the mob was. As he glanced at Rue, his pixie shrugged her shoulders. She didn''t know either. However, the chat window next to her, was blowing up at the mob''s appearance.


    Luca- Is that a freaking honey badger?


    Firebreather- Seriously, did that guy subclass and get a honey badger?


    ProQQ73- Man, he needs to take his pet''s attitude¡­ HONEY BADGER DON''T CARE


    Chat was rapidly moving down, which made sense, given James had roughly 70 percent of the dungeon cores logged into chat watching his live stream. Apparently, everyone was at a lull for their dungeons, just grinding out experience with their adventurers, so they had time to watch a group try to take on his miniboss. From what he could gather, having level 20 adventurers was unusual at this time. Only about 20 percent of all the dungeon cores did, with the top dungeon cores mentioning they had level 25 players. James wasn''t sure if that was good or bad for them, given it likely meant they would start struggling to get good experience. But hey, who was he to judge?


    "Seems there is a joke there that the Knight''s get, as well as some of the dungeon cores, but I''m at a loss." James turned away from chat, and back to the group. It appeared their laughter had died down, and they were finally ready to make their way into the city.


    "Alright, so your honey badger is going to detect traps, as well as those Spys, right?" Oak looked like he was fighting to keep a straight face as he looked down at the angry looking creature. Z offered him a nod and motioned for the warrior to enter the city. James had noticed on the regular DCO reddit for his dungeon, that players had given his mobs nicknames for his second floor. His spy-nosaurusus were now known as Spys. The other nicknames for his mobs were raptors for velocity raptors, Tri''s for his tricera-cogs, Breakers for his Break-i-asarus, though others wanted to call them long necks, steamers for his steamosaurusus, and fixers for his Archeaeo-repairerers.


    James grinned as he remembered the first battle those mobs had come into play. A group had been whittling away at a breaker, when all of a sudden two of the clockwork bird-like dinosaurs began fluttering around the breaker, using their talons to adjust cogs, and repair the mobs. The group had to turn their focus on the little mobs and kill them, before they could bring the breaker down.


    "Well then, this should be a cinch." Oak drew his sword and started forward, while the honey badger began darting around the party. James remembered Z had to go ranger to get the ability to detect traps, and he had to admit, it was good Z had. Before long, the honey badger was growling and staring in the direction of a Spy, alerting the group to the mob''s presence.


    "I think he''s found something." Z was grinning at the others and nodded in the direction the honey badger was pointing. "Would you like to show us one of your new abilities Faust?"


    The mage offered Z a nod and took a step forward. He rose his hand high, as is grasping at something, and pulled it back. A second later, the air around his hand began to crackle, and a bolt of lighting appeared in it. The mage whipped his hand forward, releasing the lighting bolt, and the magical weapon streaked impossibly fast towards the Spy. The moment it impacted with the poor mob, lightning arced all along the dinosaur''s metallic body, dispelling its cloak and causing it to cry out in pain and rage.


    "Oh, so he choose lightning mage as his first subclass." Rue was nodding approvingly, and James glanced at the mage. During the past few days, James had been reading up on the various subclasses that could be offered. For mages at level 20, lightning mage was one of the options, and it gave them the ability to cast lightning-based attacks, with shorter cooldowns and higher damage output, at the cost of a large amount of mp required per attack. James figured Faust was tired of having to sit around waiting for his spells to finish casting and was likely gambling on the higher damage output to defeat enemies before he ran out of mana. It wasn''t a bad strategy.


    James glanced at his Spy, checking just how much damage that attack did.


    Spy-nosaurus (10) lvl 16


    Type: Clockwork Ambusher


    HP: 350 out of 500


    MP: 50


    Atk: 100


    Def: 50


    Unique Traits


    Steamy Complexion: Spy-nosaurus emit a gaseous mixture that allows them to remain cloaked until they attack or are attacked


    Surprise!: Spy-Nosaurus have a 75% to land a critical strike on their first attack if they are cloaked.


    So, Faust''s lighting attack had managed to do 150 damage with a single bolt. However, if James had to guess, the mage could only launch two or three of those, before he would need to recharge his mana. It also didn''t help that the adventurers were 4 levels higher than these basic mobs, and that James''s steampunk dinosaurs didn''t have magic resistance, at least, not yet. James had been browsing his upgrades for his second-floor mobs, and he had a few surprises in for adventurers after he gained another few ranks. He couldn''t have magic users walking all over his floor, after all.


    A flash of light caught James''s attention as he turned back to the instance, and he saw Elm launching arrow after arrow into the Spy. As the archer drew each arrow back, they became enshrouded in blue light, and as he let them fly the air around them seemed to crackle. Upon impact, they burst into small explosions, causing even more damage than Z''s attacks. Elm had chosen to become an arcane archer, which allowed him to spend mp to enchant his arrows. James could tell Elm was using the most basic, an enchantment that gave his arrows a flat magical burst of damage upon impact.


    "Well, that was anti-climactic." James whispered as he watched his Spy fall to the ground, defeated. The group of veteran players had made short work of the mob, but it was to be expected. They were 4 levels higher than his basic mobs, had all gained their subclass, and were armed with level 20 weapons. Heck, James was certain they would have no problem taking on B.L.U. Regardless, he, and the other dungeon cores, were watching, and as the party began moving further into the city, James could feel his excitement rise. His city had many surprises, and he couldn''t wait for the Knights to encounter them all.

 50 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50


    "Well, if I had to guess, I think we''re good for the boss on this floor." Z was glancing at his party as they finished taking down a Tri. So far, they had come across two Spys, three velocity raptor packs, and the Tri. Each battle had lasted less than a minute, and James had noticed Z''s pet was doing a really good job of alerting them to nearby enemies. With that and its ability to detect traps, the group had been making short work of his city.


    "This just isn''t fair." James grumbled as he watched them finish looting the mob and began down another street. He glanced around the city, checking where all of the mobs were, and seeing what they would run into next. If they continued on their way, they would encounter a treasure chest, as well as a third Spy in the next few minutes. His city still had four velocity raptor packs, three Spys, plus the ability for the five steamers and five remaining Tri''s to wander in. Not to mention, B.L.U. and the Terminus.


    "Well, you are the one who didn''t upgrade your mobs. Nor did you use your extra 20 mob points." Rue smirked at James as he turned away from her scolding, throwing his tentacles up in the air.


    "I didn''t expect this to happen." James pulled up his character sheet, noting he was finally nearing his next rank. When he hit rank 3, he would have 40 mob points to spend on his floor, and two upgrade points for all of his mobs. Add that to their increase in levels, and they should begin scaling nicely.


    "Besides, the Knights are just better than everyone else." He grumbled as he watched the Knights march cheerily along, cracking jokes and playing with their pets as they did. It seemed they were getting too used to the honey badger detecting threats for them, that their guard was down. Though, given how easily they were defeating mobs, James didn''t blame them.


    "Oh, and in your gaming days, you didn''t waltz into areas that were supposed to be hard, and clear them out?" Rue raised and eyebrow as she watched James. "I though you were supposed to be some high and mighty legendary player."


    "That''s different." She had a point. James had been an elite gamer, and there were many times he entered areas that challenge many others and was able to clear them on his own. However, new content had always proved a challenge, at least in the beginning. Though, he would then do just as the Knights did, and farm until he was overpowered for the area, before conquering it. So, really, he was just getting angry at the Knights for actually being good. He was becoming a hypocrite.


    "Part of being a successful dungeon, is knowing how to craft your dungeon around your adventurers. You can''t always build just based on what the top players are doing Glyax. There are thousands more who are unable to even make it to the second floor yet. It wouldn''t be fair to overpower your second floor just because of the Knights." The pixie''s tone was scolding, but her eyes were full of mischief.


    "What are you thinking then, Rue?" She had an idea, he just knew it.


    "Nope, I''ll tell you after this is all done." She turned back to the instance, summoning some hot chocolate. "I''m enjoying watching this, and so is your audience." Sure enough, chat was going on and on about his floor, and the Knight''s weapons, as well as their strange farmer garb. James forgot he hadn''t told any of the other dungeon cores he had chosen random as his mob type. He made a mental note to create a forum topic about it after the Knights finished their dive.


    "You''re such a tease." James''s mirth had returned to his voice, as he turned back to the Knights, watching as they hesitantly approached a chest. It wasn''t trapped, but they still sent the honey badger to check it out. The little guy sniffed it questioningly and slashed at it once. After nothing happened, he turned back to Z and let out an appraising snarl. At its signal, Oak walked up and opened the chest, and the group began checking the loot from the chest.


    "You haven''t seen anything yet." Rue winked as she sipped her hot chocolate, causing James to simply shake his head, though he could still feel heat rising in his body. Once again, he was glad he was just a floating orb with tentacles, it hid the otherwise visible flushes and effects his durned pixie had on him when she made comments like that. Worst and yet best AI design ever, in James''s mind.


    "Alright, well then, where are they heading now?" The Knights, having finished with their treasure, had decided to take one of the alley ways instead of staying on the main street they had been on. James had trapped his alleyways, but he figured with Z''s pet, those wouldn''t be a problem. What caught his attention though, was the alleyway they had decided to take, headed deeper into the city, and directly into the lair of the Terminus.


    James zoomed the instance out a little, for the people watching via live stream, just to confirm his suspicion. Sure enough, the alleyway led directly into the coliseum formed from fallen skyscrapers, where the Terminus lurked. In fact, there were no other cutoffs from the alley, so the group was bound to end up in the arena. Glancing at the Terminus, James wondered if his boss mob would be able to take on the Knights. On the instance, all people could make out was the Knights making their way through a narrow alleyway towards a strange, large coliseum filled with sand and rusted, broken cars. The Terminus was asleep in the hidden overhang James had created for it. This meant, both the other dungeon cores, and Z''s group once they reached the coliseum, would not be immediately aware of the boss mob''s presence.


    "Wanna place a bet?" Rue''s eyes sparkled as she set her hot chocolate down on a table, she had summoned in front of her. She waved her hand and a pile of coins appeared before her.


    "Not this time." James was planning on beginning to trade her resources for coins, to start stockpiling for the update. However, right now, he didn''t want to worry about a bet. Instead, he wanted to see what was going to happen. Especially because on his second floor, with the boss getting its own designated area, James had been able to implement a new feature to his floor. The moment the Knights exited the alleyway, stepping into the dusty arena, all of the entrances and exits into the arena sealed themselves. It wasn''t a trap, so it couldn''t be detected. Instead, it was a feature he had been able to activate for five resources per entrance. Until the boss was defeated, or the party wiped, no one would be able to enter or exit the arena.


    He glanced at chat and could see walls of text flying by. People were beginning to speculate about what his boss mob would be, and what the chances were for the adventurers. The other dungeon core players knew tier 2 floors could have a miniboss and boss, and they knew the boss on his dungeon, based on the level of his basic mobs, was level 26. So, there was a lot of active discussion and excitement building in the chat. It matched James''s emotions, and he tore himself away from the chat, resisting giving them answers about his boss mob. He decided they could discover it at the same time as the Knights. Oh this was going to be good.

 51 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51


    "So, uh, what''s this area?" Oak was walking hesitantly into the arena, with the others following. They were all on high alert as they looked around, and Z''s honey badger was sniffing the air hesitantly. It was definitely showing it was unsettled, but the group could not see by what.


    "Is it a PvP arena?" Med Ic offered up, as the cleric glanced around the area, noting its high walls formed from the fallen sky scrapers.


    "Nah, if that was the case, there would be seats. People love to watch PvP matches after all." Elm motioned towards the walls, showing there was no possible area for people to watch from. Whatever happened in the Terminus Pit, stayed in the Terminus Pit. But they couldn''t know that just yet.


    "Well, I don''t see B.L.U. anywhere, so let''s turn" Z looked toward the entrance they had walked through and paused. The leader of the Knights had just noticed the entryway was blocked off. "That''s not good." He whispered silently, and suddenly the group grew tense. They knew what closed off areas meant, either a boss fight or a massive trap.


    "It''s a traaaaaaaaap." Oak called out, causing the others to chuckle, but their guard stayed up. Slowly the group advanced to the middle of the arena, investigating the fallen cars, looking for clues. The only area that didn''t appear to be blocked off, was the massive overhang, clad in shadows, where the Terminus rested.


    "Z, how about you send your little buddy into that deep dark area, and see what happens?" Oak motioned towards the Terminus''s layer with his sword. It was obvious the tank had no wish to enter that area.


    "You know, he serves more purposes than just investigating things." Z grumbled, but he motioned towards the darkness, and diligently, his honey badger ran towards it.


    However, as the honey badger neared the darkness, it suddenly stopped and let out an angry snarl. The badger kept its eyes focused on the darkness, staring into the darkness, as it hopped back a few times, before snapping forward once. From within the darkness, two red orbs came to life, fixing upon the honey badger.


    "Hey look, the darkness is staring back at them." Rue commented offhandedly, before chuckling. James paid her no mind as he watched the scene unfurl. It was time. The king had awoken.


    "Maybe we should get ready." Z commented as he headed towards one of the wrecked car husks, drawing an arrow back as he did. "Spread out and prepare to fight."


    The others obeyed his command, with Elm taking cover by another car, and Faust and Med Ic seeking cover even further back. The mage had a longer range, and James knew Med Ic had a longer range heal on target spell that he could cast on Oak. Speaking of the warrior, he let out a sigh, and took up a position behind the honey badger, but in front of the darkness. Whatever was about to emerge, the tank was in position to taunt it.


    "Let''s go B.L.U. It''s round two." He taunted into the darkness, and James couldn''t help but chuckle. The group still thought they were facing his level 21 mini boss. Oh boy.


    "They''re so going to die." Rue whispered excitedly, as she poured what appeared to be chocolate candies into her hand. Was she eating Milk Duds? Seriously. James was suddenly very jealous of her ability to snack in game. The developers had given him tentacles, but no mouth.


    "Well, they might stand a chance." He pulled up the Terminus''s information as it began to stir within its home, preparing to step into the arena.


    Tier 2 Boss Mob


    Steampunk Dino King Terminus Rex


    Lvl 26


    HP- 2500


    MP-1500


    ATK- 250


    DEF- 200


    Unique Abilities


    King of All- Emits a roar every time it loses 20% of its HP. This roar has the chance to stun adventurers for 10 seconds, and cause a debuff that decreases adventurer stats by 15%


    Big Head - Utilizes its large mouth to completely consume an adventurer, trapping the adventurer in its mouth for 20 seconds, and dealing 25% of their health in damage. 1min CD


    Little Arms - Utilizes cannons on its arms to launch small grenades in bursts of three. Grenades will detonate on contact with solid objects, or after 5 seconds. Grenades will deal 150 damage in a 5-yard radius, and 50 damage in a 15-yard radius. Damage from explosions penetrates 20% of armor. 30 second CD per arm after three grenades have been fired


    "Oh man this boss is a beast." James hadn''t paid much attention to the Terminus since he had created it. He had forgotten just how fearsome it was. James decided to check Z''s stats, just to see what type of chance they stood.


    Z


    Level 20 Archer


    Sub: Ranger


    26,792 xp


    3108 xp to next level


    HP: 185 (120+30+35)


    AP: 170 (120+30+20)


    Currency: 31 copper 59 silver 6 gold 0 platinum


    Atk: 184 (95+30+10+24+25


    MAtk: 0


    Def: 80 (36+20+9+15)


    MDef: 0


    "Yeah, they''re doomed." James closed out of Z''s stats shaking his head. It seemed Z was getting boosts to his stats from his sub class. However, even with these bonus''s, and the new bow and arrow increases, the archer couldn''t even do damage to his boss with basic attacks, though he knew the archer class had abilities that could guarantee armor penetration of certain amounts. The ranger class also utilized its pet for skills, meaning the honey badger, ironically enough, likely would be able to damage the Terminus, if in small amounts. It Z was the same level as the Terminus, James was sure his basic attacks would be able to do small amounts of damage too.


    On top of that, the Terminus''s attack rating meant it had the ability to nearly one shot the archer, though James doubted the Terminus would ever get close enough to the veteran DPS. However, a direct hit from Little Arms would deal 70 damage after Z''s armor rating was applied, which was still a decent chunk of damage. James just hoped the group would put on a good show.


    "Oh, where''s your faith in your favorite group?" Rue raised an eyebrow at James and motioned towards the chat room. The chat was going off the charts, and James noticed he now had 90% of all dungeon cores online watching his stream. It seemed word got out that a boss fight was about to take place, and everyone was tuning in. Heck, the Terminus hadn''t even-


    -A loud roar caused James and Rue to jump up, and it seemed as if visible sound waves rolled out from the dark lair of the Terminus, washing over the adventurers, causing them all to stiffen.


    "Uh, guys, I don''t think that''s B.L.U." Oak said as he regained his composure, and James watched as the warrior took a hesitant step back. The only one who had stood its ground against the roar was the honey badger. Who was viciously growling back at the darkness. The glowing eyes seemed to flash brightly, and the Terminus took its first step towards the exit of its lair. Its massive form caused a slight tremor in the arena, followed by another as it took another step.


    "You don''t say." Faust said dryly, as the mage started casting a spell. Based on the hand movements, the mage was preparing his multi-magic missile spell. James knew for this fight; the mage was going to be key.


    "Alright guys. We''ve fought many unknown bosses before. Just play it safe and lets figure out how this thing fights." Z was calling out commands, and the others were all nodding. The archer looked at Oak, and offered him a small, sad smile. "Guess you''re going to be soaking up a lot of damage my friend."


    "I hate you." Oak grumbled, as he readied himself. His entire body began to glow, and James glanced at his sheet. It seemed he had chosen the Shielder subclass for Warriors. From what James had read, the class had an ability that could mitigate damage, applied after defense, by 50%. However, while this ability was active, the tank''s damage output was decreased by 90%. In short, Oak could stay alive and tank longer, but he was going to offer absolutely no damage to this fight. James had to feel for the poor guy, sometimes being a tank was not fun.


    "Don''t worry man, Badgy will help you out." Z grinned as his honey badger let out another snarl. The little critter was fierce, and James wasn''t sure if it was simply foolhardy, or really didn''t seem to care that it was facing a boss.


    "You named your honey badger Badgy?" Oak made a face towards Z, and turned back, his eyes focusing on the darkness. The form of the Terminus was finally beginning to appear from the darkness, in all of its glory.


    "At least I didn''t name my pet after a kids movie about dinosaurs." Z retorted, drawing his bow back. James watched as Elm pulled back his own bow, his arrows glowing. The arcane archer was going to out damage the Ranger this fight.


    "Hey, leave Cera out of this." Oak hollered back, and his little Tricera-cog pet let out a roar of its own. For a second, the tension in the air was lifted with their joking.


    Only for a second though, as a moment later, the Terminus stepped fully into the light of the arena, and let out another thunderous roar, as if challenging the adventurers.


    "Why is it always a T-Rex." Oak grumbled, hold his shield out. He let out a roar of his own, and James saw him activate his taunt. Waves of energy rolled off of the warrior as his taunt hit the Terminus, and the Steampunk T-Rex turned its red eyes onto him, seeming to narrow. Gears spun along its legs, its mechanical tail lashed, and without warning, the beast rushed towards Oak, completely ignoring Badgy, who took the opportunity to latch onto the Terminus''s tail, its claws finding purchase along the metal plates.


    "Here come''s another instance first." Z cried out as he let his arrow fly. The compound bow sent the metal missile flying lightning fast into the Terminus, smashing against its head. The arrow penetrated maybe half an inch, but the Terminus didn''t even flinch.


    "Of course, it has a high defense." Z muttered as he pulled back another arrow. Elm let his own arrow fly, and the magically enchanted arrow smashed into the other side of the Terminus''s face. The boss mob didn''t slow its charge towards Oak, but the burst of magical damage did make its eyes wince. Yep, the boss had a high defense, but no magical defense, just yet.


    "Good thing I have magical arrows." Elm laughed as he launched another arrow. The arrow once again blasted into the Terminus, but the boss didn''t slow its charge. Eyes narrowed against the pain, it neared Oak, rearing back as if to strike the warrior. Oak rose his shield at the ready, his body glowing with his damage mitigating ability, as he winced against the upcoming attack.


    However, as the Terminus reared back, gears along its mouth began to spin, and steam erupted from around its mouth as its jaw seemed to unhinge. With lighting speed, the Terminus chomped down on Oak, completely engulfing the warrior.


    "What the-" Oak started to yell even as he was swallowed, and for a moment, the entire party just froze. James knew the Terminus had just used its Big Head ability, meaning for the next 20 seconds, Oak was out of the fight, and was going to lose 25% of his health. James was curious how that ability would act against Oak''s damage mitigating abilities, but the thought was quickly pushed from his mind, as the battle was still raging.


    Mouth closed, due to it being currently filled with an adventurer, the Terminus turned its red eyes toward Elm. The arcane archer let fly another arrow, doing another small burst of damage, before cursing. He had so far done the most damage, meaning he had just drawn aggro.


    "Kinda glad I can''t out damage you right now." Z called out to Elm, even as Elm drew back another arrow.


    "Hey Z." Elm let his arrow fly, and pulled back another, his eyes fixed on the Terminus. "Do those look like cannons on its arms?"


    Even as Elm spoke, the Terminus angled its little arms, equipped with grenade launching cannons, towards Elm.


    "Definitely look like cannons." Z called back to Elm, as he started moving in a large arc away from the Terminus. Faust and Med Ic were doing the same, moving away from Elm, whom had the full attention of the boss.


    "Of course it has cannons." Elm drew back his arrow and started running just as the Terminus let a burst of grenades fly from its left arm. Thunk, thunk, thunk. Three grenades launched from the cannon, flying towards the car Elm had just been beside. Even as the archer moved away, the grenades impacted and burst into explosions. The archer had managed to get out of the 5 meter kill radius of the weapons but was still in the 15-meter radius of them.


    "That had to hurt." James knew the arcane archer had over 50 armor, but the 20% that ignored defense still took a small chunk from the archer''s hp. What''s more, James knew the Terminus had another three round volley it could launch.


    "Better keep running." James whispered, noticing that Elm had paused near another car, his eyes glancing down at his screen briefly, likely checking how much damage he had taken.


    Thunk, thunk, thunk. The sound betrayed the attack, and the archer''s eyes opened wide as he leapt away. However, this time, the three bursts hit on the other side of the car, and Elm was protected from their blast. A quick look at the Terminus''s right arm showed why the rounds had been so off. Badgy was dangling from the Terminus''s right arm, his sharp claws digging into the cannons, pulling the arm down. The little honey badger had likely just saved Elm''s life.


    "Hey Z. I think I love your badger." Elm called out, and the party started laughing, even as they continued to move around the boss, doing their best to stay away from it, and out of the line of sight for its cannons.


    "Man, I''m really glad I didn''t get a beaver now." Z called back, causing even more laughter, as he launched another arrow into the Terminus. The arrow smashed into one of the gears on the mob''s leg, and James, as well as the adventurers, saw the mob wince.


    "Oy, I think I found a weak spot." Z drew back his bow and let another arrow fly. The impact smashed into the cog on the Terminus''s leg, and again the mob winced. Sure enough, it seemed the Terminus had designated weak points, that he knew the adventurers were going to abuse.


    "Sweet." Elm began flanking the other side, and Faust hesitantly was moving closer, his magic missiles hovering behind him. The mage was doing his best to get in range of the spells, while also conserving his mana as he observed the fight. He was their burst damage, and James knew he was looking for a good opportunity. Finding a weak spot on a mob was likely a really good one.


    "Time''s up." Rue commented just as Faust got in range for his magic missiles, and sure enough, it seemed it had been 20 seconds for Big Head. The Terminus''s Jaw unhinged as steam rushed around its maw, and out tumbled a cursing Oak, covered in oil and grease.


    "I hate being a tank." He cursed, dusting himself off as he looked up at the Terminus. The Terminus, appearing just as unamused as him, spun rapidly, its tail sweeping towards Oak. The tank didn''t have the time to roll out of the way or dodge, so instead he planed his feet, his shield glowing. The Terminus tail smashed into his shield, impaling the tail on the spikes. Oak was lifted off the ground, but the warrior clung fast to his shield. Because the spikes were caught on the boss''s tail, the warrior was too.


    "That''s a first." James chuckled as he watched the Terminus complete its tail swipe, the mob noticing the warrior clinging tightly to the shield that was stuck on its tail. A moment later, just as one would see in a cartoon, the Terminus began smashing its tail into anything it could, trying to free itself of the warrior.


    "Do something." Oak called out, while hanging on for the ride. James could see his life bar slowly depleting, even as Med Ic was casting his healing spells on the warrior. The boss just had an extremely high damage output.


    "Let''s try this." Faust raised his hand in the air even as he rushed forward, and just as he released his lightning bolt, he entered the range of his magic missiles. All the spells flew straight towards the Terminus and smashed nearly at the same time into one of the cogs on the boss''s right leg. James saw its health plummet, just below the 75% mark.


    "That was a poor life choice." James commented, and sure enough, the attack activated the Terminus''s final ability. The boss raised its head to the sky and let out an ear shattering roar. Sonic waves rolled away from the dinosaur, catching Faust, Elm, and Oak. Z and Med Ic, who were behind cars, luckily did not get hit by the attack.


    "I can''t move." Faust cried out in panic as a red glow surrounded him. A similar red glow surrounded Elm and Oak, and James guessed that glow denoted the debuff. Their stats were now decreased by 15%. That was not good for them.


    "I''m guessing that had a stun and it looks like a debuff." Med Ic called out. The cleric clutched his holy dicken claw pendant around his neck and began chanting. His body began glowing, and a similar glow enveloped his allies. As the light subsided, the red glow surrounding the three subsided. It seemed Med Ic had a party cleanse.


    "I can only cast that once every three minutes." He called out to his team. "Make sure you are behind cover the next time he roars."


    "Got it, thanks." Faust replied even as he ran back towards cover. Elm and Z continued their attacks on the Terminus, even as it whipped towards the retreating Faust.


    Thunk thunk thunk. Three more grenades were launched, the 30 second cooldown on the left arm having subsided. Once again though, the weapons landed short, though this time the lesser blast still hit Faust. It seemed Badgy was doing his best to keep the boss from using its long-range attack. Smart little guy.


    "If this is all there is, I think we can handle the-" Z''s words were cut short by Med Ic''s scream. James turned his attention to where the healer had been standing, and his eyes went wide. B.L.U. had apparently just entered the arena and leapt down on the poor healer. James could see Med Ic''s hp was nearly gone from the attack, but instead of finishing off the healer, B.L.U. was rushing towards the Terminus.


    "What is going on?" James hated to look away, but he glanced towards Rue, who was watching wide eyed, as the fight took place.


    "You''re rank 5 in boss mob and mob research, right?" She wasn''t looking away, and James turned back to watch, even as he saw the chat on the stream blowing up.


    "Yeah." B.L.U. continued to rush past the adventurers towards the Terminus, and James could see Z rushing towards Med Ic, a potion in his hand.


    "And, what''s your even research sitting at?" James growled at Rue''s question but pulled up his research screen.


    "Rank three seems to have finished." He quickly selected it and started Rank four, noting his rank three instance research was nearing completion too.


    "So, you''re going to like this." Even as Rue spoke and James closed his research window, he saw B.L.U. leap at the Terminus. As it did, it spun in midair, landing atop the boss mob. James could just make out gears beginning to twist and shift, before both forms started to glow. Suddenly, Oak was flung free, as the tail his shield had been stuck to took on a strange glow and seemed to begin moving strangely.


    "What''s going on?" Oak called out, and all five of the Knights stood and stared, dumbstruck, as the boss and mini bosses glowing forms seemed to merge into one. A flash of bright light caused James to look away, and as the flight faded and he turned back, he couldn''t believe what he saw.


    Where the Terminus and B.L.U. had been, stood a new, ferocious looking monster. It appeared to be part T-Rex, part Raptor, with long clawed forearms and massively strong rear legs. Its tail was lined with a chainsaw type sword, just as B.L.U.''s had been. On its shoulders were two large miniguns, set on swiveling turrets. Its long clawed arms had a set of what looked like harpoons on them. Its red eyes glowed now not only with rage, but a strange intelligence, and steam seemed to be flowing from all around its body, partially obscuring it.


    James started to pull up its information but was only able to see its name and level before he was forced to close the window, to watch the action.


    Secret Boss


    The Perfect Cognivore


    Lvl 50


    "Secret boss?" James whispered to Rue as the new monster let out a mighty roar. With lightning fast speed, it turned towards Oak, its clawed arm shooting out and grabbing the poor warrior. A second later, its mouth opened, and it dropped oak, shield and all, into its mouth.


    "Mhmm. At level 5 boss mob, mob, and level 3 event research, floors have secret boss''s activated. For Tier 2 floors, if the miniboss isn''t slain before fighting the boss-"


    "Then the miniboss can combine with the boss and create a secret boss?" James was watching in awe as the overpowered boss turned its eyes towards Med Ic. He couldn''t help but notice the Secret Boss''s stomach was visible, as if it were made of a strange clear glass. Within it, he could see Oak fighting to break out from within, while what appeared to be acid slowly rained down on him. The boss seemed to be trying to digest the adventurer.


    "Well, they might have been able to beat the Terminus." James started as he watched the mini guns on its back swivel, each one targeting one of the archers. A second later, the guns opened fire, tearing through the cars the adventurers were hiding behind, causing them to burst almost instantly into orbs of light. The boss was after all, 25 level higher than them. "But this is going to be a party wipe."


    "You don''t say." Rue said sarcastically as The Perfect Cognivore leveled its arms towards Med Ic and Faust. Four harpoons launched towards each adventurer, and even as the missiles found the targets, the two players burst into death orbs, leaving just Oak remaining. James almost felt sorry for him as he saw the tank''s health slowly ticking down. While the others had been one hit killed, it seemed he was only taking a percent damage over time. It took almost a minute before he finally was killed as well, sending all five back to the first floor to respawn.


    "Well, I think everyone learned something new today." James whispered as he glanced down at the secret boss. With its prey gone, its form started to glow again, and a moment later, it separated back into the boss and miniboss.


    "Mhmm." Rue was grinning from the fight, as she motioned over towards the stream instance. "It seems everyone learned something." James could see 95% of all dungeon cores online were in his stream, and chat was moving so fast he was having a hard time reading everything. It seemed in that instance, with his secret boss crashing the fight against the Terminus, James''s steampunk dinosaur floor had just become legendary.

 52 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52


    "Are you all set?" Rue was looking at James, who was currently sitting floating in front of a large screen, his tentacle hovering over an option.


    "I think so?" He still wasn''t sure what to expect, or even if this was a good idea. Following the epic conclusion of the battle, his stream chat had blown up. Text was flying so fast that James didn''t have time to even read all of it. Rue, noticing his predicament, had quickly instructed him on what to do next. He simply went with her suggestion, his mind still replaying the fight he had just witnessed, and not really comprehending what she was suggesting.


    "You''ll be fine. Trust me." She offered him a smile, and for once, her eyes didn''t hold a single hint of their mischievous light. James couldn''t help but wonder if that was a good or a bad thing. Were those the eyes of someone that actually cared for him? Was he starting to truly care for her? She was an AI, but that wasn''t that strange nowadays, was it? James shook his orb and cleared those thoughts from his mind, his tentacles floating in front of him. If ever there was a time to not fall for an AI, James figured playing in a game where he was a giant freaking orb with tentacles, was the proper time. No matter how cute the AI pixie was.


    "If this goes badly, you owe me." James sighed and selected the option, instantly posting his thread on the forum for dungeon cores.


    Rue had convinced him that all of the other cores would want to know what was going on, and just what James had done with his dungeon. Because of how fast the chat was going, he couldn''t possibly respond to everything. So, the pixie had recommended he create an Ask Me Anything, or AMA, thread. These were threads James was familiar with, as people usually used them as a way to interact with fans. Even though James had built up his own following, he was still a loner in the Warcraft Universe. As such, James had never really done anything like an AMA, and yet, now here he was.


    Glyax''s Dungeon AMA


    He stared at the name of his thread, and for a second almost hit the delete option. What were people going to ask him? Rue had made him post in his stream chat that he would be making an AMA, and then after a few minutes, he had closed the stream. Then, he had started to create his thread.


    Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out my stream! It seemed like everyone enjoyed the fight, and chat was blowing up so much that I really couldn''t respond to or even read what everyone was posting. As such, I figured I should make this AMA, to give you all a chance to ask away. I''ll do my best to answer whatever questions you guys have.


    Cheers


    Glyax


    Cheers? Really? James shook his head as he checked out his message again. He definitely felt he preferred to be the silent, secretive legendary Warlock Glyax, to the uncertain, eager to answer questions, Dungeon Core named Glyax. Why had he let Rue put him up to this?


    Dungeon Type?


    */TM- Is your dungeon type really Steampunk Dinosaurs???? How many times did you reroll for that mob type?


    **/Baller84- NO, his dungeon type is freaking candy monsters? Of course they have to be Steampunk Dinosaurs. Sheesh, what a pointless question. But really, I do wanna know how many times you rerolled man? It took me 6 V Coin to get fire mobs.


    James stared at the message as it came in. He could already see notifications of others typing their own messages, and he figured he should respond to the first question, before it became too flood, or before TM got flamed some more. Oh was Baller84 in for a surprise.


    ***/Glyax- Actually, my dungeon type is Random, and I didn''t reroll at all for it. I choose random over Fire and Earth dungeon types.


    The moment he answered this question, a new thread appeared. It seemed people were preparing their questions but waiting to create threads based on his answers. Now that he had answered one, it was leading the AMA down its own path.


    Random Dungeon Type?


    */DahManWithTheHat- How does random dungeon work? Is your first floor different from your second? Can you bring versions of your first-floor mobs to your second floor?


    James had found out through the forums, that all of the dungeons that had a single theme for their mob types, in other words, every dungeon other than his, was able to bring enhanced versions of their mobs to their second floor. This allowed them to carry over their enhancements on these mobs, and even led to some even more difficult mobs for players to deal with. When James had asked Rue about this, she simply informed him he would be unable to cross his floors with his mobs. She did reassure him though, that he wasn''t missing out on mobs.


    Apparently, his velocity raptors were an evolved version of a tier 1 mob for steampunk dinosaurs. However, it''s first 10 points were predetermined because he didn''t have their Tier 1 version unlocked. When James started to protest, Rue told him he would be able to completely adjust all 20 of their skill points once he reached Tier 3. It was a while away, but James begrudgingly had agreed to wait. That didn''t stop his mind from racing about possible monsters he could be missing out on. In his mind, he was imagining a massive, ostrich sized dicken pack chasing down adventurers. He had even wondered if those giant dickens could have been used as mounts. He felt like he had seen such things before.


    **/Glyax- I have to start creating my floor, and then summon a random mob on it. That generates the mob type that I have for the entire floor. My first floor is actually Demonic Farm Animals. And no, I can''t bring my farm animals onto my second floor. ?


    ***/Baller84- Dude that sucks! I can''t believe you passed up on Fire mobs either man. Sure, first floor was kinda lame with lava lizards, but my boss on my second floor is a 15-foot fire elemental man! And according to my AI, I''ll have dragons as basic mobs by floor 5.


    ****/TM- Both your floors sound cooler than mine¡­ I got stuck with water mobs. I don''t have the V Coin to spend to reroll yet¡­. It was a choice between Water Mobs, dolls, or insects¡­fml


    James was about to respond to TM, before he noticed more questions popping up.


    Dungeon Floors with Random?


    */Stormy- So, do you get to at least choose between three options on each floor? Or is it completely random? Because, I rerolled about 9 times to get the floor type I wanted (Ice dungeon for me! My second-floor boss is an Ice Giant!) and let me tell you, there are a lot of baaaaaaaaaaaad choices the developers seem to have just thrown in.


    James didn''t doubt it¡­ especially after he was landed with demonic farm animals. One of his biggest fears was what would happen if he got some even more outlandish dungeon mob type. Like, what would he do? How would he keep his adventurers engaged if he got something like stuffed animals for a mob type? Who wants to kill giant stuffed animals?


    **/Glyax- Personally? I think a fire floor would be great. Or maybe something nightmarish? I''m definitely not looking forward to landing any more of these troll type floors, and I would really rather avoid water levels¡­ Sorry TM.


    ***/TyrHarder- Good point there man. Only thing good about these troll floors, is being able to watch some of these streams. I do not envy that one guy that is stuck with Lego mobs. Like seriously, no adventurer wants to step on that many Legos, bwahahahaha


    James had to grin at the next comment. He had seen a lot of dungeon cores that got stuck with some extremely bizarre mob types, and sure enough, had watched more than a few of those streams. He gave the dungeon cores credit, they were trying, but you could tell the adventurers were not having fun, and James doubted they would continue playing much longer. Profit was one thing, but if no one wanted to dive into your dungeon, they weren''t going to be making any money, and would likely go back to playing what ever games they were beforehand. James wondered if that was all part of the ''social experiment'' that had been mentioned to him.


    This Isn''t Even My Final Form!!!!!


    James eyed the newest question''s title hesitantly, before clicking on it. He knew these types of forums usually devolved into trolling, but he was curious.


    */BeastMode26- What was that mob transformation??? Is it a skill? What are your research levels at???


    Surprisingly, it was a legitimate question. James had already confirmed with Rue about what enabled the transformation, so he was already prepared to answer-


    **/ExodiaOP- Obviously he used his polymorph card, not his research levels. You just gotta believe in the heart of the cards, duh.


    And, there was a bit of trolling. Alright, now that that was out of the way¡­


    ***/Glyax- According to my AI, it was a special ''event'' that unlocked because of my research levels. Level 5 boss mob and Level 3 event research leads to the ability for secret bosses on your second floor.


    ****/ForTheHorde!- And at level 10 boss mob, your mom is summoned as a possible Boss!!!!!!


    "Added, this is going downhill fast." James looked at Rue, who had a hand over her mouth as she fought back laughter. Sure enough, in the time James had taken to answer the above questions, even more threads had been formed. Scanning them, James could see that for every legitimate question, two or three probable troll questions were being asked. For example, the next four questions were.


    Why would you choose Random over Fire or Earth Mobs? What type of Noob are you????


    What are your first-floor mobs like?


    Why haven''t you given the Knights a shrubbery???


    Where did you get your dungeon floor layout inspiration from?


    Alright, so two of the next four seemed like legitimate questions, while one was a blatant troll, and the other was simply a Monty Python reference. James could appreciate that, and grinned as he opened up the first of the two legitimate questions.


    What are your first-floor mobs like?


    */SmugledPuggle- You mentioned your first floor was demonic farm animals? Like, what type of animals? What are your mobs like, and what''s the boss like on that floor?


    **/Glyax- My first floor has 5 different mobs. I have Dickens (demonic chickens), Sacrificial Lambs, Swiners, Scapegoats, and Mad Cows. My boss is a Demonic Farmer named Old Man Jenkins¡­.


    Glyax let out a sigh as he stared at his response. Even typing it out made it seem silly. His first floor had a lot in humor value, but little for cool factor. The only saving grace was that it was his first floor, and gamers usually treated the first floor as the newbie level anyways. So, having goofy mobs to level against as you learned the game was fine. His second floor though, at least had a lot in cool factor.


    James was just about to close the thread and move onto the question about his dungeon floor layout, when a response made him literally face palm¡­err, face tentacle.


    ***/Voz- Dickens? Scapegoats? Sacrificial Lambs? Mad Cows? What¡­the¡­Hell???? You can''t be serious???


    ****/Ninja1234- Bwahahahaha. Does Old Man Jenkins give the adventurers a good Dicken??????


    James could hear Rue laughing even as he turned to look at the Pixie. She had made many such jokes since his first floor had been created, and even adventurers made similar comments from time to time. The moment those comments started on his AMA, the floodgates were opened, and he watched as more and more such jokes started to drown out legitimate questions.


    Sighing, James started poking through the trolls, deciding he would do his best to answer legitimate questions, but also watching the countdown timer he had set up. His AMA was set to go for an hour, and really didn''t plan to spend any more time on this than necessary. He had better things to do than get trolled by other dungeon cores. Besides, at the end of the hour, he was sure The Knights Who Go Ni were going to go B.L.U. hunting, and he couldn''t wait to watch them succeed.

 53 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53


    "Seems no one was able to hit Tier 3 this immersion." James said, looking over the Dungeon Core chat briefly.


    "Well," Rue said, "did you really expect them to?"


    "Not really."


    It was the last hour of the final day immersion for adventurers, while James knew he still had a whole day to tweak his dungeon without adventurers present, before he too would be logged out. He glanced at his character screen, sighing.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 4 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    176,378 xp


    3,622 xp to next rank


    123,622 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 119 of 2500


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 6


    He was just short of hitting Rank 5, a fact that did not sit well with him. The gamer in him loved competition, and more than anything, he loved being on the top. From what he could tell on the forums, he was definitely in the top rankings for dungeon cores, but he wasn''t the best.


    The best dungeon core, run by someone with the username Blank, was a Tier 2 Rank 7 dungeon. The next highest was a Tier 2 Rank 5 dungeon, and then James, sitting at Tier 2 Rank 4. He was hoping a group would wipe and push him to the next rank within the next hour, so he could at least be tied for second.


    James had no idea how Blank had managed to climb so much higher than everyone else, especially given the fact their dungeon mob type appeared to be¡­.candy. Like, was it really that dangerous of a mob?


    "Anyone look like they might wipe?" He really wanted that next Rank.


    Even as he spoke, his eyes were drawn to a flashing instance. He knew the alert wasn''t for the Knights or Skar''s group. Both had finished their dives less than an hour ago, and James knew from listening on their conversations, that they were going to call it for this immersion session.


    Each member of the Knight''s had managed to reach level 24, though they had failed to defeat the Terminus. This was because following their fight, James had not only applied his upgrade points to his boss and mini boss, giving them nasty new surprises, he had also gained Rank 3, putting his boss at level 27, and his miniboss at level 22.


    That wasn''t to say the Knight''s hadn''t had a few successes. They had managed to slay B.L.U. multiple times, gaining them not only a nice chunk of experience and an achievement, titled Raptor Tamer, but Oak had gotten one of B.L.U.''s rare drops. This drop was a smaller version of B.L.U.''s chainsaw tail, turned into a longsword. James had to admit, Oak had begun looking quite formidable with his Tricera-cog shield and Chainsword, though the Demonic Farmer gear the group still wore definitely detracted from their cool factors.


    Skar''s group, on the other hand, managed to reach level 21, gaining the group their first access to their subclasses. James had to admit, he enjoyed watching both teams grow immensely, and was really looking forward to not only their battles with the Terminus, but also their growth on his later floors. He was also looking forward to when the groups replaced their ridiculous looking demonic farm gear, as Skar''s team was now also sporting a full set of it. Seriously, that gear just looked silly in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.


    "Is that-"


    "-yes." The group that had set James''s alert off was none other than Dwight''s group.


    The ill equipped, poorly planned team of bullies had made frequent ventures into James''s dungeon, but rarely made groundbreaking success. James found great satisfaction in watching them struggle, and on more than one occasion, at least two of their party fell in combat, earning him some extra experience.


    It was this tendency of theirs, that had James excited now. The clock was ticking down, and he couldn''t help but watch as the group made their way through his first floor, heading directly towards his second floor.


    "Oh, this will be good." He had to give the group credit, for all their blundering, they had all managed to reach level 13, doubling their levels since their run in with the mimic. In fact, they fell right in the middle of the pack of adventurers, with most players averaging level 10-15 from what James could see. These players still kept to his first floor, while the more hardcore groups, averaging level 19-21, were spending a good amount of time on his second floor.


    Instead of slaying mobs on the first floor though, Dwight''s group seemed to be on a mission. Led by their designated tank, KingSlayr, they made their way directly towards the barn and the portal to the second floor.


    "Hey look, he''s got a new title." James said. "Tasty."


    Rue eyed James as she focused on the tank, and he knew she was pulling up the tank''s information.Grinning she let out a small laugh. "Tasty."


    Sure enough, KingSlayr had a title called Tasty.


    "I know, you want to know what it does." Rue really knew how James thought. "Let''s see. Tasty, be eaten by a mimic five times. This title means mimics find the adventurer to be especially tasty. As such, they will take more time to consume their prey. Adventurers with this title will take 15% less damage from mimics. Mimics will break their camouflage to attack a Tasty Adventurer if the adventurer passes within 2 meters of the mimic."


    "So, you''re telling me. He essentially got a buff against mimics, because of how many times he has been killed by them?"


    "Crazy, right?" Rue replied.


    "Honestly, I''m not surprised. I swear the developers must have been challenging each other for the craziest things they could add into this game."


    James really couldn''t help but chuckle the more he thought about it. This title was just the latest in a string of crazy shenanigans the developers had put into the game. Even the last few achievements James had earned over the past few days, which helped him reach Rank 4, had all been ridiculous. At this point, he had to wonder if they had gotten bored creating ''real'' dungeon types and achievements in the game. James could bet dungeon cores who rerolled for actual mob types were missing out on the humor factor he found himself enjoying.


    "Are you sure about this?" KingSlayr stood in front of the portal as he spoke, eyeing Dwight''s Orc, D-Man, questioningly.


    "Of course," Dwight said, "everyone says the Breakers exist on the outskirts of the town, away from any other mobs. Plus, we gain extra experience because the mob will be higher level than us."


    Rue had explained to James that players gained extra experience, up to 100% more, if they were lower level than the mobs they were facing. It explained why the Knight''s and Skar''s group had been able to climb their levels as quickly as they did, before they out leveled his second-floor mobs.


    Conversely, Rue had added that adventurers would gain 50% less experience from mobs they were 10 levels higher than, a penalty Rue claimed the developers had put in to keep high ranked players from stealing mobs from lower players. Having done just what she implied the developers were trying to stop on more than one occasion, usually when rare drop hunting or trying to rapid farm easy experience, James had to admit it was a good idea.


    "Yeah, but we could always try to fight Old Man Jenkins." The tank glanced out of the barn, where James could make out the form of his boss. He was pretty sure Dwight''s group still hadn''t brought down the Demonic Farmer.


    "No." Dwight said. "I will not be one of the only people at school to not have killed one of the second-floor mobs."


    "Besides," Dwight continued, "you can bet that nerd Specs has made it to the second floor. We cannot let him do better than us."


    "Don''t be a girl about this man." Rick-Roll''d, aka Rick, said, drawing his lute from his back. "It''s one mob, all you gotta do is keep it distracted, and we will do the rest."


    "These guys are such tools." Rue shot James a look, before they both broke into laughter.


    It was impossible not to, given that Rick''s orc character had drawn his lute, and was holding it down like an old Rockstar would, strumming furiously on the instrument. The action was not only ridiculous to watch, but the sounds he was producing were anything but pleasant.


    "I''m pretty sure he''s going to give them a debuff if he actually plays like that." James said, eliciting more laughter from Rue.


    "We can only hope."


    With that, and with the orc group''s conversation seeming to have ended, James found himself smiling. Not a smile from humor, but a smile of satisfaction. He had wanted to reach Rank 5 before the adventurers were logged out. The five orcs, walking through the portal, under leveled and unprepared for his second floor, had all but guaranteed he would hit his goal.


    "I can''t believe Dwight might actually help me out." James said as the last orc passed through the portal. Who would have thought the bully would actually prove useful to James? Maybe he shouldn''t'' try to troll the bully''s group so much they quit. They were, after all, free experience.

 54 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54


    "What the hell is that?" Dwight and his teammates had been traveling for about fifteen minutes through the grass of the wastelands, making their way deeper into James''s second floor. As they had discussed, they avoided the city, their goal the largest mob on the floor, larger even than the Terminus. The break-i-asarus.


    The break-i-asarus, aka breaker, cost James a total of 10 points to summon, and was his most expensive mob alongside the Spy''s. Unlike the Spy, the breaker specialized in defense, and did little in the form of actual damage, using instead its large health pool and high defense. Its main attacks included a massive tail sweep, and an aoe stun, which involved the clockwork beast rearing up on its hind legs, putting it over thirty feet in height, before crashing back down.


    Z''s group could fell one of these level 18 mobs easily. Skar''s group suffered little damage but took some time to chew away at the mobs defense. Dwight''s group, well as far as James could see, they didn''t have a chance. There was no way a party of level 13 players, which consisted of four orc warriors and one bard, would be able to even put a scratch on the mob. James had been confident his mob could survive, but realized the group would likely either flee, or just not take enough damage before time ended. He had started to worry he wasn''t going to get the party wipe he wanted.


    At least now, he no longer had that worry.


    "I think that''s a steamer D." KingSlayr was out in front, his shield raised uncertainly as he observed the massive mob. The steamer cost James 9 points and was a hybrid mob. It was slow moving, with a decent armor plating, but also was able to put out a good amount of damage. Not only that, it had a special skill. A very special skill, that ensured D''s group was going to wipe if they were dumb enough to attack it. And if James knew D''s group, they were just that dumb.


    Steamosaurus (9) lvl 18


    Type: Gear''d Up Dino


    HP: 500


    MP: 50


    Atk: 50


    Def: 50


    Unique Traits


    Adaptive Gears- Steamosaurusus can switch between three special modes (Panzer, Jaeger, Schneider), depending on the situation. Each mode will apply buffs and debuffs appropriately. A three second stun is applied to all adventurers within 5 meters of a steamer as it activates a mode.


    Siege Mode Panzer- Steamosaurus who have aggroed onto adventurers will enter Panzer mode when the target is greater than 40 meters away. While in Panzer mode, mobility drops by 90%. Atk and Def increase by 60%


    Gains access to the Steam Cannon- Utilize the power of steam to launch a spiked cannon ball towards enemies. Cannon ball will do 50 + lvl damage to enemies within 2 meters of impact, and 10 + lvl damage to enemies within 5 meters of impact. Cannon balls will critical for an additional 150% damage on direct impact. Can fire a round every five seconds.


    Gains Armor Plating- Steamosaurusus take 20% less damage from physical attacks. (After def is applied)


    Hunter Mode Jaeger- Steamosaurus will enter Jaeger mode when the target is between 10-40 meters of it. While in Jaeger mode, there are no buffs to Atk, def, or mobility.


    Gains access to spike barrage- Steamosaurusus can launch the spikes from their tail at enemies. Spikes will do 30 + lvl damage and ignore 5% of defenses. Six spikes can be launched each attack. 20 second cooldown.


    Gains access to plate mines- Steamosaurus can launch explosive plates from its back to the area around it, setting up a mine field. Plates will detonate when an adventurer is within 1 meter of them. Plate mines will do 70 damage + level in a radius of 3 meters. Plate mines will disappear after 1 minute.


    Proximity Mode Schneider- Steamosaurusus enter Schneider mode when their target is within 10 meters of them. Steamosaurus will gain a 50% increase to movement speed, gain 75% in attack power, and lose 50% of defense.


    Gains access to chain blades- Chain blades deal 100 + lvl damage per strike, and cause 15 seconds of bleed. Bleed damage deals .2% of max hp per second.


    Gains access to explosive armor- Plates around the Steamosaurus become explosive, dealing 80 + Atk damage to enemies on contact. Attacks that impact with explosive plates deal 60% less damage but destroy the plate. Destroyed plates return after 1 minute.


    "Obviously that''s a steamer. I can see that with my own eyes." D hit KingSlayr in the back of the head with his sword. "I want to know why it is here, and not a breaker."


    "According to the forums, a couple different mobs seem to roam outside of the city." Rick had his lute out and was eyeing the mob hungrily. So far, the steamer had not taken note of them.


    "What else do the forums say?" Dwight asked.


    "Man, I don''t know. I just know people listed them on the rankings under breaker''s and spys." The bard pointed his lute off into the distance, where the hulking form of a breaker could be seen. The Steamosaurus was in their way.


    "Well then, let''s kill this thing quick, and take on that breaker. We have less than 30 minutes before we get kicked from the game." Dwight pointed his sword at the innocent steamer, who was minding its own business, munching absentmindedly on a piece of scrap metal.


    "Buff us Rick, and let''s do this."


    Rick strummed down on his lute, and James instinctively flinched. However, the sound that came from it was surprisingly not bad. If James had to guess, Rick was utilizing bard skills to make his playing actually decent. What sounded like a mixture between hard rock and classical music flowed from the instrument, and all five members began to glow red.


    "Attack buff applied. I''ll keep strumming while ya''ll get running." The way Rick grinned at that, James figured he was quite proud of his rhyme.


    "Ohhh, are we going to see Schneider mode?" Rue had her bowl of popcorn in her lap, and her eyes were filled with excitement as the four orcs charged towards the steamer. Usually, groups choose to either bring steamers down quickly from long range with magic spells or choose to activate jaeger mode. No groups had attacked a steamer in full on, close range, melee. Mainly because most of the groups on the second floor actually knew how to kite and engage mobs.


    "Seems that way." The orcs closed the distance between them and the mob surprisingly fast. When they got within 12 meters of it, they all let out fearsome growls, causing their muscles to bulge and their bodies to glow an even darker red. James knew this was a bloodlust skill for orcs in particular, which increased their damage output by 20% for 1 minute. It had a 30-minute cooldown though, and James doubted they realized they wouldn''t be able to use it again if they made it to the breaker.


    "They just blew their CD, noobs." James laughed at the pixies comment, agreeing with her fully. Any experienced MMO player knew better than to burn their CDs, especially when they had a larger target they needed to face.


    "This is going to end so badly for them."


    Even though they made noobish mistakes, it did seem they at least charged in with some sort of a plan. Just as the group reached the steamer, the three DPS warriors slowed just enough to allow KingSlayr, the tank, to get ahead of them. From there, the warrior slammed his shield into the steamer with a loud grunt. James could see his shield was glowing and knew he had just tried to taunt the mob.


    It would have been the smart move, if not for a few factors. First, no matter how large the orc, trying to shield slam a dinosaur that was nearly 15 foot in length, 9 foot in height, and made of metal, was never a good idea. Second, by aggroing the steamer at such a close range, they had activated Schneider mode. Which, from what James could read, was about to be the worst nightmare for a group of lightly armored warrior DPS players.


    Upon impact, the steamer dropped the piece of scrap it had been chewing on and let out ear shattering roar. The roar rolled off in visible waves from the beast, washing over Dwight and the other three orcs with him. Only RickRoll''d wasn''t affected by the stun, as he had stayed 15 meters away from the beast, jamming out to the music in his own head.


    As Dwight and the others stood frozen in their stunned shape, the steamer began its transformation. The spikes at the end of its tail shifted along the length of it and locked into a track that existed along it. The moment they locked in, gears along the tail began churning, and a sound like a chainsaw revving could be heard. A split second later, its entire tail became a rapidly churning chainsaw like appendage.


    If that wasn''t fearsome enough, the armor plating covering much of the steamers body dropped off, and blades dropped free from behind the plates, protruding for about three feet from each of the steamer''s legs. Each blade had rapidly moving chainsaw teeth running along the edge of the blade, threatening to completely destroy anything they touched.


    The final bit of the transformation involved the massive plates that lined the back of the steamer to shift and move all along its body, laying flat against its metallic form, offering bits of protection in the form of massive plates. Not only would those plates protect it, James knew any adventurer that struck one of those was in for a nasty surprise.


    The transformation took exactly three seconds, meaning Dwight''s group was freed from their stun even as the transformation ended. Oblivious of what had just happened, Dwight started laughing.


    "Its armor is gone, hit it with all you''ve got."


    To make his point, he lunged at the steamer, his sword driving into its exposed side. Thanks to its transformation, the mob now only had 25 defense, meaning the under-leveled, poorly equipped warrior, with his double attack buffs, was able to do an okay amount of damage. Like, instead of 0, James saw Dwight managed to do a whopping 60. That level 13 orc deserved a medal.


    "Bets on how long this fight lasts?" Rue''s question came even as she munched on a few pieces of popcorn, and James couldn''t help but laugh.


    "10 seconds, maybe, for those four. And I''d say maybe a total of 30 for Rick?"


    Just as James finished his sentence, one of the other orc warriors, named TotalPwner, swung his blade down at the steamer. It was a heavy strike, his sword glowing with energy, meaning he had utilized a skill. Unfortunately for him, the steamer shifted even as the sword impacted, causing the blade to hit one of its explosive armor plates. The damage from TotalPwner''s attack was instantly mitigated by 60%, as an explosion responded to his attack. As the dust cleared, the orc managed to start sputtering a curse, before a Chainsword cut into him, and he erupted into a floating orb.


    "What the hell King? Ain''t you supposed to be tanking." Dwight''s cry caused the tank to flinch, and the poor orc looked at the leader of the party just as the steamer swung its massive tail towards him.


    "I''m-" was all he got out before the tail crashed into him. The tank instantly died.


    "Seriously?" Dwight cursed under his breath, disengaging from the steamer just in time to avoid being severed in half. The remaining orc with him turned to him, and after they made eye contact, they both turned to flee. Rick had already started running away.


    "Oh no you don''t." James spoke on behalf of the steamer, as the mob let out an enraged bellow and chased after the orcs. Dwight, ever the sorry excuse for a person, actually tripped the other orc, pushing him in the way of the steamer in an attempt to slow the charging mob.


    "Screw you Dwight." The orc, B@DA$Z, called before the steamer smashed into him, ending his life and filling James with even more experience. He was so close to leveling, he just needed Dwight and Rick, especially because everyone else, it seemed, had started to leave his dungeon instances. If these two didn''t go down, he would have to wait until the next day to hit Rank 5.


    "Get back here and give me a speed buff Rick." Dwight called after the fleeing bard, who sure enough appeared to be glowing a slight blue, having given himself a speed buff as he turned to run. The orc flipped Dwight the finger as he started laughing.


    "Nah man, I ain''t losing this experience."


    "You''re going to-" Dwight''s threat was cut off as the Steamer cut through him. The mob''s eyes narrowed on the fleeing bard, the last member of the party that had attacked him. The bard''s music was now the only thing capable of drawing its aggro. A fact James was sure Rick didn''t realize.


    The steamer let out a roar, activating its next change. Rick was over 40 meters away and was slowing down. James was sure the bard figured there was no way the mob, with its blades, would be able to reach him. He was safe. He swiped his hand in front of him, making a motion James recognized as calling up his player screen. With a grin the bard pressed an option, and his body began to glow white. He had just chosen to log out, and action that James knew would take 10 seconds in a dungeon. The developers were not about to give players a way to immediately avoid death blows, after all.


    "Yup, he''s dumb." Rue pulled out a silver coin and tossed it towards James. He managed to catch it in midair with one of his tentacles, willing the tentacle to expand to create a baseball mitt. He had been spending some time playing around with his tentacles and had decided they were quite versatile.


    The three second transformation ended, leaving a steamer that was covered from head to toe in thick metal plates. The mob was so heavy that it literally began to sink into the ground. Its tail had lifted all the way over its back, nestling atop it like a giant artillery cannon. It almost looked like a monstrous hybrid between a tank, and a long-range artillery gun.


    Steam blasted from the exhaust points all around the steamer, billowing out from underneath, as its cannon fired. Sure, the bard was roughly 50 meters away. Sure, the cannonball was only about a foot and a half in size. However, a stationary target was extremely easy to hit, and James''s mouth, had he had one, would have been hurting from the size of the smile that grew on his face.


    He watched as the spiked projectile blasted through the air, flying in a deadly ballistic arc directly onto the unsuspecting bard, who had been looking down at his status screen, likely laughing about escaping death. On impact, Rick''s character burst into an orb of light, and the cannon ball left a small crater where the orc had stood. Eagerly, James opened his character screen. He had done it. He had wiped Dwight''s party, surely-


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 4 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    179,999 xp


    1 xp to next rank


    120,001 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 119 of 2500


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 6


    "You''ve got to be kidding me." James groaned. Just as he closed his character screen, a loud chime and a bright flash crossed his vision.


    Achievement Unlocked.

 55 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55


    James had no idea what to say. Was this another joke by the developers? Was someone pulling his tentacle?


    "Glyax?" Rue hovered in front of him as she waved a hand across his floating eye. "Glyax?"


    "Wha?" He blinked as her waving hand messed with his vision, drawing his focus away from the achievement notification. It floated in front of him, untouched since he opened it. He had been hoping for his last experience point, to hit rank, since Dwight''s party had been the last one in his dungeon. However, it seemed the developers had a different plan in mind.


    Achievement Unlocked- There Can Only Be One-


    Reward ¨C Title: Highlander


    Highlander-???


    "Are you okay?" Rue glanced at his achievement screen, before looking back at him.


    "Yeah, just¡­ I was expecting something a little better than just a title." He stared at the screen, making sure he hadn''t missed anything.


    "I didn''t think dungeon cores could get titles." Rue muttered under her breath.


    "What was that?" Her comment pulled him further out of his stupor. There was something the dungeon pixie didn''t know?


    "Nothing. So, what''s the title do?" She flashed him a smile, but James could see her eyes held quite a bit of curiosity in them, as well as, was that, concern?


    "No idea." James didn''t even know how to equip titles, but he figured he might as well find out.


    "Let''s" He closed the achievement and found himself staring at another message.


    Equip Title: Highlander Y/Y?


    "Well, that''s just great." He was growing really suspicious about this achievement. While the other achievements had all come across as sarcastic jokes or poor puns, this one seemed different. It didn''t match what the developers had been doing with the game, and logically, it didn''t make sense. Titles were meant to give players special buffs or traits, while also allowing them to show off a title they had earned. Many games had such mechanics.


    A title for a dungeon core, that no other players could see, seemed pointless. What''s more, none of the other dungeon cores had mentioned titles, not even Blank. With how many dungeon cores there were in chat, James figured there should at least be one or two mentions of such things.


    He tried to exit out of the window, but it wouldn''t. It stayed frozen directly in front of his field of view. He waved a tentacle, trying to summon more windows, but they wouldn''t. Instead, the prompt just flashed brighter each time. It seemed he didn''t have a choice.


    "Fine." James grumbled as he selected one of his two options. Just to be spiteful, he selected the right Y, where the no option would have normally been. It was pointless, but it made him feel better.


    Congratulations! You have accepted the title of Highlander!


    Another window appeared, and before James could select it, it auto opened.


    Huzzah to you, that you are so misfortunate to be the first dungeon core to miss leveling up by a single experience point. Now, I have no idea what point of the game we are in, and I just hope it''s enough to stick it to those asshats who decided to fire me. Sheesh, all I wanted to do was put mimic toilets as an option in the town, was that so wrong? Who doesn''t think the option of mimics disguised as toilets wouldn''t be a great hit? Adventurers are always the most vulnerable when they are going to the restroom after all. But nooooooo, Xander and his self-righteous group thought it was a dumb idea, so I decided to just break in and add them myself. Of course, Blake had to walk in on me doing it, and boom, I''m kicked out. Well, now I have the last laugh. Why wouldn''t I put in a back door. They want to have their little social experiment, they want to play games, well I''m going to play games¡­. Chances are they are going to remove this line of code the moment they find out about it, and my backdoor was a one-time thing. But hey, it''s going to be impossible for them to remove it from you, so ha.


    -Steve


    P.S. Please, please put at least one toilet mimic in the game. Do it for your buddy Steve.


    After a few moments, just enough time for James and Rue to read the message and share confused glances, the message flashed a brilliant white, and literally erupted. In its place, a screen, similar to an achievement screen.


    Highlander: You are the only one. None will come to take your title, so wear it with pride. Upon becoming a highlander, you have gained:


    +1 to all mob stats. +1 to all boss mob stats. +1 upgrade point for each mob. +1 resource, -1 Hour removed from research projects, +1 rank to each level of research, +1 unique+ transformation for mimics


    From now on, as the Highlander, you will gain 1% more experience per kill. You will also gain 1 additional resource per hour. You will also passively gain 1 experience point for every 24 hours of in game time.


    "Well, that just happened." James had no idea what had just happened, but it had just happened. He had suddenly gone from being 1 experience away from Rank 5 as a Tier 2 dungeon, to receiving a crazy amount of rewards. And, in some crazy way, whoever this Steve was, had just given him his Rank 5 experience, all he had to do was wait 24 hours.


    "I have a bad feeling about this." Rue''s normally chipper voice was greatly subdued, and James felt irritated the pixie wasn''t as excited as he was. They had literally just gained so much from this one achievement. Considering all of his research levels were at or near rank 5 before, the plus 1 to each level alone was worth hundreds of play time hours. Not to mention, a free upgrade point for all of his mobs, bosses included. James was skeptical, he was suspicious, but he was also not going to let an opportunity like this pass him by. Steve was going to get a toilet shaped mimic, that was for sure.


    "What could possibly go-" Before James could finish his statement, the entire world disappeared into a white emptiness, save for his form, and Rue.


    "You just had to ask." Rue''s wings were down to her side, and she was staring at the ground. James, curious what had caused the pixie to do a complete 180 in her attitude, glanced around. At first, all he could make out was the vast, empty whiteness. However, slowly, a form began to appear before him, a single figure, clad entirely in dark robes. If this was an anime or a video game, this would be the clich¨¦ bad guy. Oh wait, it was a game. James kicked himself mentally, and decided if this was the bad guy trope, he would at least play along.


    "Who are you? What do you want?" He was grinning internally as he shouted out to the figure, causing Rue to flinch. Sure, he was just a dungeon core, but James enjoyed playing the hero part. And besides, as the dungeon core, he was the most valuable piece of the game, after all. As long as he didn''t break his NDA, he had nothing to fear, right?


    The dark cloaked figure raised hands glad in dark gloves up to his hood, and slowly removed it. James watched intently, expecting some horrifying visage or scarred figure. What he saw instead, was rather¡­underwhelming.


    "I understand we haven''t met face to face before." The face before him was that of an older man, likely in his fifty''s or sixty''s. He had calm, green eyes that looked at James''s form from behind wide rimmed glasses. His hair had streaks of silver running through it, and it was tied back in a pony tail. He definitely didn''t look like a villain. However, James had heard the voice before.


    "You." This was the voice that had greeted him the first time he logged into DCO. This was the voice that had taken Rue away and banned her from liquor. James actually didn''t mind that latter part, but he didn''t like the fact this person could steal away his pixie on a whim. It meant he was one of the developers, and he held a lot more power than James ever could.


    The man waved his hand, and a chair appeared beneath him. It was similar to the way Rue interacted with the world, an instantaneous, undeniable power that James did not have. Another flick of his wrist, and suddenly there was a table in front of him, with three cups of some sort of drink on it. Two more chairs appeared, and the man motioned towards James and Rue.


    "Please, join me, it seems we have a few matters of business to discuss." He flicked his wrist again, and suddenly James''s body was his own. Not his avatar, not his floating dungeon core form, but his own. In fact, he was still wearing his clothes he had worn to school the previous day, given the fact he hadn''t changed out of them before he logged in. That fact, his direct appearance in the game, was more than a little unnerving. He felt his throat tighten with unease as he walked towards the chair. Beside him, a human sized Rue walked, her eyes remaining downcast as she shuffled towards the offered chair.


    Whoever this man was, James had a feeling his unease, Rue''s fear, were justified. Just what had Steve gotten them into?

 56 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56


    "Now, I''m sure you are wondering why I have called you here today." The man across from James offered him a grin and a chuckle, as if he had just made some sort of joke.


    James glanced at Rue, but the human sized pixie simply sat staring at the drink in front of her. James glanced back at the man sitting across from him, completely uncertain of what was going on. Just who was this man? What exactly was going on?


    "This generation will just never get my jokes." The man let out a sigh after a moment of silence and turned his attention to Rue.


    "Come now Rue, you should have gotten it." The pixie didn''t respond.


    "Fine, what if," the man waved his hand, and a bottle appeared above Rue''s drink. At the same time, James noticed the liquid within the drink changed, taking on the dark, chocolatey appearance of her hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. The bottle above the drink, labeled Baily''s, was gently poured into the beverage.


    "There, to take the edge off." The man''s actions may have been to ''take the edge off'' but his voice took on a dangerous edge of its own. Reluctantly, Rue picked up the drink and took a sip, though her eyes now held a fiery anger.


    "What do you want." James''s voice held more venom than he expected, causing Rue to jump, and the man''s eyes to narrow. James really didn''t like the effect this guy was having on his pixie, and he could feel his anger rising.


    "Come now James, is that anyway to talk to me?"


    "I don''t know you" James had never seen this man before in his life, assuming he was using his actual appearance.


    "Ah, but you should at least know of me." The man flashed an evil smile as he took a sip from his drink. The liquid was of amber color, with a few ice cubes floating within. Whiskey.


    "My name is Xander Raymondson, otherwise known as X-Ray."


    X-Ray was a name James knew of. X-Ray was a name every gamer knew of. He had been THE top gamer of the world, unbeatable in any and every game he ever played. In fact, he had grown so bored of playing games, he went on to become a game developer himself. He was the head of the team that created DCO, and James had a feeling, he was the Xander Steve had referred to. Damnit Steve.


    "So" James''s mouth was suddenly dry, and he reached for his drink, which shared the same amber color as Xander''s. However, while he was expecting the taste of hard liquor, he instead found his glass was full of apple juice. Xander was messing with, treating him like a child. James''s anger returned.


    "What do you want with us?"


    "First, I would appreciate it if you speak to me with proper respect." Xander took another sip, eyes narrowing as he looked James up and down. "Second, I would like to discuss how we move forward from Steve''s, transgression." He said the last word as if it were something foul, a rotten piece of food he had eaten.


    "How is what Steve did our problem?" James''s response came before his mind could reel it in, and only as Xander''s eyes narrow, did James think to add, "Sir?"


    "Was that so hard?" Xander sat back, playing with his glass of whiskey, smirking as James took another drink of apple juice. Meanwhile, Rue had downed her first drink, and was pouring herself another. James had a feeling they were going to be dealing with a drunk pixie very soon.


    "Now, what Steve did is very much your problem. First, technically he gave you an unfair advantage. I''m sure you know pretty much everyone in the gaming community would consider that cheating."


    Xander had a point. And at his comment, James could start to see the issues that could arise. DCO was a game that had real world impacts. So, if the very core of that game was cheating, even in a small sense, that could start to create some really large problems. Uh oh.


    "I see you are starting to follow." Xander took another sip and waved a hand. Countless papers appeared before him, and he glanced down at them, leafing through them nonchalantly.


    "Now, luckily for you, the level of cheating is minimal." Xander grabbed one of the papers, looking it over. "However, based on what this data tells me, I cannot just remove all the benefits he gave you. Unless I completely deleted you." Xander offered him a smile. "Is that alright with you?"


    James felt his body go cold. It was just day two of DCO in real life, but that was close to two weeks'' worth of game time. James did not want to lose all that, the gamer in him refused to accept that. Especially since he was so close to the top.


    Besides, what would happen to his players? What would happen to his town, to all the people who had stopped playing their normal games, to seek out the financial and adventure opportunities that DCO offered them? There was no way he would let Xander delete him.


    "That''s not an option."


    Xander looked at him and sighed. "Well, I tried." Xander waved his hands, and the papers disappeared.


    "That''s it?" Rue''s sudden outburst caused James to jump. The pixie''s eyes were already starting to take on their glassy glaze, and James could tell the liquor was hitting her. She was such a light weight. "Since when have you asked for anyone''s permission."


    Xander''s eyes narrowed at the pixie, who quickly took another drink. She needed a little more liquid courage, it seemed, before she would directly confront him.


    "Normally, I would have just reset the dungeon core, and written it off as a glitch, you are right." Xander''s face took on a strained appearance, as his fingers drummed on the table. "However, you know just as well as I do, that this particular instance, is out of my control."


    James glanced between Xander and Rue, feeling completely out of the loop. What was going on, and just how well did the pixie and the game developer know each other? Had Xander developed the AI? Was that why she was so scared of him?


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about." Rue''s face was taking on a flushed look, and she took another long drink.


    Of everyone in the room, James was pretty sure he was the only one that didn''t know what was going on, and he didn''t like that fact. However, he was smart enough to realize, whatever was going on between Rue and Xander, was something he should probably not be a part of.


    "So," he knew better, but that didn''t mean he listened to himself. "What exactly is going on? How is this out of your control? You created DCO, didn''t you?"


    The man before him lowered his glass to the table, and clasped his hands in front of him, staring at James for a long moment.


    "I did."


    "So-" If it was his game, how was this outside of his control?


    "¡ªBut I didn''t do it alone." Xander unclasped his hands and rubbed his temple, as if massaging out an oncoming headache.


    "So, who helped you?"


    Xander''s mouth opened and closed, and it seemed he was trying to figure out the best way to answer. However, in that time, it seemed someone else had decided to answer James''s question, and before Xander could reply, Rue''s voice broke the silence.


    "My father."

 57 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57


    Silence followed Rue''s statement, and James was certain they could hear the gears turning in his head. Rue''s father? That made sense, she seemed extremely realistic as an AI. The person behind her creation had to have been a rather skilled developer. But then again, was she really an AI? What if she was human? But, what would that mean? Were the other cores aided by humans as well? That would go against what Xander had told James in the beginning, wouldn''t it?


    The thoughts rushed through James''s mind faster than he could process them, and all he could do was take a drink of his apple juice, his hand trembling slightly, while he glanced between the two. He could really go for a glass of whiskey right about now.


    "Did I break him?" Rue''s voice was slurred, and the pixie, back to her usually drunken nature, lightly poked James on the cheek. Her antics pulled him from the torrent of thoughts, and he shook his head, bringing himself back to reality.


    "What do you mean, your father?" James looked deep into the Pixie''s liquor addled eyes. She was a really cute drunk, and she was really close. For a second, James felt his mind slip again, before he brought his mind back to the topic at hand. Now was not the time for his teenage hormones to get the better of him, even if Rue was-


    The pixie leaned closer and opened her mouth slightly, a grin on her face. James wasn''t sure if she was about to whisper an answer to him, or something else, but a second later, a small wall appeared between the two. Had Xander just cock blocked James?


    "How about we continue our conversation?" Xander''s eyes narrowed as James turned back towards the developer. Though there was now a literal wall between James and Rue, he was sure the pixie was glaring as well.


    "How about you-" Rue''s response started, and then suddenly stopped, behind angry muffled screaming.


    "You''ve said enough for now Rue." Xander''s eyes flashed with amusement, and James bet the sadistic man had just gagged his pixie. This man definitely had a complex about him. No wonder Steve had rebelled so much against the man. However, James silently wished Steve hadn''t caused him the trouble. Why couldn''t'' Blank have gotten the advantage? Then Xander would have reset that dungeon, and James would have been tied for the top dungeon core around.


    "Do you enjoy picking on helpless little girls?" James was back in his white knight mode, and his voice held unbridled anger as he narrowed his eyes. Alright, his hormones were still slightly in control.


    "First." Xander waved a hand, and the wall between James and Rue disappeared, showing an angry Rue, with sure enough, a cloth wrapped around her mouth, her eyes filled with rage. "I am doing the two of you a favor. If I let her continue to speak, she may share secrets that would result in you getting removed completely, no matter what protections are in place, and your memory being wiped."


    At that, Rue''s struggling stopped, even as James felt a shiver of fear pass through him. There was the threat of memory altercation again. What was going on?


    "Second, Rue should know if she were to spread these secrets, what would happen to her." The pixie''s shoulder''s slumped, and it seemed she was starting to sober up quite quickly.


    "Third, I will explain what I feel is necessary to you and discuss our way forward. After which, I''m thinking I will call it a day for your time in DCO. I can''t remove what Steve gave you, but I can eject you from the game for the last 24 hours of in game time. A minor time penalty that still pales in comparison to what Steve gave you."


    James opened his mouth to argue the point, but immediately thought better and closed his mouth. He was certain someone such as Xander could come up with much more unique and cruel ways to mess with James and Rue, and he really didn''t want that. No gamer wanted to have to be constantly weary of a god-like figure messing with them, that just wasn''t any fun, and James was really enjoying DCO.


    "Fine." James replied. "What can you tell me? Who is Rue''s father?" James paused just a moment, just long enough to see irritation cross Xander''s face, before adding. "Sir." James was a gamer too. Even though he didn''t have the power Xander did, that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to be belligerent in any way he could, especially after watching Xander practically abuse his pixie.


    "You know James, I see a bit of myself in you." Xander''s face took on a smirk, and he took another drink. "Had you been around when I was your age, we might have been friends, perhaps."


    "Doubtful."


    "Hmm, alright, rivals." Another drink. "And I would have relished beating you to the ground, in every game we played in."


    Xander set his drink down and waved his hand dismissively. "But, that is neither here nor there, and I have to get back to playing my own game very soon. So, let us be quick about this."


    A piece of paper appeared before James, along with a pen.


    "Sign this, it is another Non-disclosure agreement. Essentially, what I am about to tell you is between you, me, and Rue. If you even so much as make a peep about this to any one, trust me, not even your parents will be able to protect you."


    James had no idea what his parents had to do with any of this, as they never mentioned what they worked on for the government. However, as he picked up the pen to sign, his eyes widened as he saw two cosignatories below where he was signing, one for his mom, and one for his dad.


    "What-" James finished signing even as he began to continue his question. The moment the ink was on the page though, Xander cut him off.


    "Did you not know James? Your parents are a part of this experiment as well. The entire government is a part of this experiment. And, the best part of all of this." Xander''s eyes flashed with joy. "The people playing have no idea."

 58 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58


    "What exactly is going on?" James sat back, drink in hand, watching the developer before him. The man''s eyes were filled with amusement, and James had a sickening feeling that Xander considered life itself, and the lives of everyone around him, as merely part of a larger game. Was he one of the ones who believed reality was merely a simulation?


    "We live in an exciting time James." Xander waved a hand to fill up his drink, before taking a long sip. "Technology is the most advanced it has ever been, and mankind is constantly moving forward."


    James sat quietly and took a drink, waiting for Xander to continue. He was sure the developer was the type that enjoyed long, monolog-


    "-However, technology can only do so much, and mankind has discovered a few truths that they cannot fight against. First, you cannot cure mortality. Second, there is no magic in the world."


    Xander took another sip, letting the words hang in the air. One would think what Xander had just told James was common sense, but James knew many people still clung to religious beliefs, even when science disproved such things at every turn. People would do whatever they could to lessen the harshness of reality. Hell, that was part of why immersion technology was as popular as it was.


    "Now, what if I told you both of those truths, those laws, could be broken?" Xander said the words slowly, his eyes watching James expectantly.


    "That''s not-"


    "Possible? You are correct, in a sense. The human body is finite, from the moment of conception, our time is limited. But what if there were a way to advance further, a way to free ourselves from the shackles of our flesh?"


    "Then, we could live forever?"


    "Exactly." The developer had a large grin on his face as he took a drink. Where was he going with this? What did James''s parents have to do with all of this? What did Rue have to do with all of this?


    "Now, obviously mankind has been seeking for a way to free itself from the cruel fate of time since our evolution. However, now, we are the brink of a breakthrough."


    "What does this have to do with DCO?" James really wasn''t sure what Xander was rambling on about. These were not matters a 17 year old really cared about. James really just wanted his life to go back to being simple, where all he had to worry about was whether Dwight was going to beat him up when he showed up at school, and how he would repay the bully in DCO. Simple things.


    "Well, DCO as a whole, is a part of an experiment to see about the possibility of allowing humans to live forever, within a game." Xander smirked. "It would be ironic, no? We already exist within a simulation, so why not create a simulation within the simulation to exist within?"


    If Xander wanted James to respond, he had no idea how to. The concept just seemed to farfetched. And what did DCO have to do with that anyways?


    "I see you''re not quite catching on." He sighed. "DCO is an experiment, to see if we can create a completely new, self-governing society within a video game, and fully engage players within it. We are talking about a never-ending existence, and as such, one where there needs to constantly be a way to engage the players within the game and keep pushing them forward."


    "Which is why you have the Dungeon Core''s as players?"


    "Exactly. There is no finite level of existence within DCO. And with a player as a core, the world can constantly be evolving, expanding, and changing. However, if players were to realize the controlling functions of the world were a human, just like them, obviously we would run into some problems."


    "Such as?"


    "Well, bribery, lamenting, anger, worship. You know, all the problems society ran into with religion back in the day. If players simply see the dungeon as a constantly growing and changing thing, regulated by perhaps an advanced AI, they are fine to accept it. Interestingly enough though, the perception of being at the whim of another human always brings along its own emotional baggage. Which I would like to avoid."


    "Alright. So what? Players are just going to stay within DCO forever? We still need to exit our immersion pods, we still need to eat, and sleep." There were reasons the government regulated the hours of immersion. James knew all too well about the mass number of humans who had died refusing to leave immersion.


    "Yes, because you are trapped in your bodies."


    "Yeah, well if history has taught us anything, we can''t transfer our consciousness from out bodies." James remembered someone attempted that once, a man named Elon Musk. All it had done, was create a widespread virus, that still caused the occasional issue. It seemed he had tried to upload himself to the internet, but in the process, his body had failed, and the ''data'' that had been transferred had burst apart immediately.


    "I''m sure you are referring to my dear friend Elon, yes?" The developer had a grin on his face. "He was on the right path, the technology was just too young at the time. You see, he was trying to copy consciousness. I am talking about full on transfer, one way, into a digital avatar. Essentially, a permanent immersion."


    James shook his head at the thought. He knew a lot of people would gladly leave the real world if they could exist in immersion forever. James even fantasized about that idea as well. But even at 17, he knew there was no way that would work. There were too many factors.


    "Let''s say I accept that DCO is some sort of weird experiment for you, in a search for immortality." James sighed and glanced from the developer to Rue. "What exactly do my parents, and Rue, have to do with it?"

 59 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59


    "How well do you know your parents James?" Xander''s question made James pause. He had spent a lot of time with them when he was younger. He knew his father loved video games, while his mother enjoyed reading and writing. Both passed their passions on to James and spent a lot of time taking him around to experience a great deal of things when they could.


    However, he also knew they were brilliant scientists, who spent countless hours working on projects at home. Before they had gotten their job with the government, an entire section of James''s old house had been blocked off to him. All he knew of their work from that time, was it had something to do with robotics. Then, one day, he remembered two men in black suits appearing at his old house, apparently to offer his parents a job related to their study.


    They had accepted, and suddenly James was moved to a new city, his current city, and his parents were rarely ever home. He didn''t resent them for it though, because he knew they loved their work, and with immersion, he had plenty of time to enjoy life in his own way. James was pretty sure many of his peers would even be jealous about the amount of freedom he had. And, even without his fortune made from gaming, his parents had offered to provide him with the best of whatever he wanted. Really, wasn''t that every teenagers dream?


    "I know they wouldn''t like to associate with a pompous ass like you." James mumbled under his breath. However, based on the snort from Rue, and Xander''s narrowing eyes, his mumble had come out a little louder than expected.


    "Out of my respect for their work, I''m going to act like I didn''t hear that." Xander narrowed his eyes. "Just this once."


    "Sorry." James wasn''t sorry, but he knew adults liked it when people apologized to them.


    "Now, both of your parents are brilliant inventors, specializing in advanced robotics." James already knew that.


    "And?"


    "And their work with robotics has the potential to give mankind immortal bodies. Bodies that will not need to eat or drink, bodies that will not age. Bodies that can easily be modified and adapted to handle any type of situation."


    "What''s that have to do with this? You were just talking about transferring our conscious into a game forever. What need then would there be for robotics?"


    Xander waved a hand at James''s question, dismissing it. "None of that is important to you right now. The information on DCO is all I plan to tell you, honestly. I am just doing a kindness at this point, to answer briefly your question about Rue and your parents. The other information regarding those two, well honestly, that''s not my right to share."


    "Go on then." James was really growing tired of speaking with Xander. In the back of his mind, he couldn''t'' help but chuckle. Steve was definitely going to be getting a toilet mimic, just to spite Xander.


    "Right. Well first, Rue''s father is a part of the team that is working with your parents. They are inventors, Rue''s father, obviously, deals with programming and AI development." So, Rue was an advanced AI. James had to guess her father had to be the best in his field, given how lifelike Rue seemed. James had never seen an AI quite like her.


    "Because our works and experiments are coinciding, and were both funded by the government, they were granted a small amount of say in the DCO experiment." Xander let out an irritated sigh. "Mainly, they demanded you be chosen to be a dungeon Core, and Rue be selected to be your AI companion."


    So, his parents were the reason he was a core. James made a mental note to thank them the next time he saw them. While he was certain he could have had a lot of fun playing as an adventurer, being a core was offering him a unique experience he had never had before. His parents had always been keen to give him such experiences growing up. Adding in Rue as his companion, was just the icing on the cake, in James''s mind.


    "And, because of them, you cannot treat me like the rest of the cores?" The conversation had come full circle, and it was all making sense now. Why Xander acted so coldly to him, why Xander was so angry about the entire situation. James and Rue were already a singular part of Xander''s experiment that he didn''t have control over. Something someone like Xander would definitely hate. But now, by a turn of strange luck, James and Rue had just gotten Steve''s parting gift. That meant now Steve, whom James was certain Xander hated, got to have a say in a small part of the experiment, because Xander couldn''t erase James from the system.


    "Exactly." Xander let out a small sigh. "Like I said, had it been anyone else, this would have been easy to fix."


    "So, what are we going to do now?"


    "Ideally, we come to a small agreement. I continue to simply monitor the experiment as I see fit, and you keep these secrets and knowledge to yourself." Xander smirked. "The whole reason I told you all of this, and had you sign the non-disclosure, was so that when you slip up, I have permission to remove you from my experiment, permanently." Xander let out a dark laugh, which sent a chill down James''s spine. The developer had just given himself a level of control over James that he really didn''t want.


    "What type of agreement?" James really had no choice but to ask.


    "First, obviously you cannot disclose any of what I have told you. Second, you must continue to wear your AR glasses full time, so I can personally monitor you and ensure you are following the first part of the agreement." Another chill rushed through James. That explained how Xander knew what James had said to Dwight and the others. Just how little privacy was there in the world? Was the government spying on everyone as in depth? Or was it just because Xander had taken an exception to James?


    "Anything else?" The first part of the agreement was obvious, and the second, well James had no reason not to accept it. Augmented reality was part of what made reality bearable at times.


    "You must build a monument to me, as the All-seeing God, Yarx, on your third floor." James blinked at Xander''s third statement. He had read some of the games'' lore, especially after Rue made a shrine to herself as the Goddess of Luck. Slowly, realization crossed his mind.


    "Yarx, as in, X-Ray backwards?" Of course, Xander wrote himself in as the highest god in the game. Why wouldn''t the conceited, self-centered developer do that. It was just the type of Easter Egg gamers would find amusing. Little did they know just how much power Xander currently had. He really did make it seem like he was all-seeing.


    "Exactly. Rue has her own shrine, so I demand one of my own as well in your instance."


    "Fine." James hated the fact that Xander was going to be profiting in some way from his dungeon. However, he was in no position to argue with the developer. Xander held all the cards, currently James held none.


    "I''m glad you are sensible." The grin on Xander''s face was the same one James knew countless gamers had seen when Xander defeated them. "With that all decided, how about we call it a day?"


    The developer snapped his fingers, and a moment later, James was in his pod, awake.

 60 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60


    It took James a few minutes to regain his composure following the forced logout. Waking from immersion was generally a peaceful experience, a slow transition, as if waking easily from a long, restful night of dreaming. Forced logouts were sudden, jerking, and hard on the mind, akin to waking from a nightmare. Which, given the conversation with Xander, and all that James had just learned, was fitting.


    James laid in his immersion pod for a few moments, letting the warm gel like substance retract back into the pod. After a minute or two, the lid opened up, releasing him from his pod.


    "Whelp, might as well get ready." He glanced at the clock near his bed, noting it was just a little after 6am. Given the fact that normally, immersion ended at 7am, James did indeed have an extra hour to himself. He begrudgingly shrugged off the clothes he had fallen asleep in, tossing them into his laundry hamper. The hamper had been nearing full, and as his clothes landed in it, the machine recognized it was at capacity.


    Instantly, the lid on the hamper closed, and the entire metal container sunk into the ground. Technology had greatly advanced, and as Xander had mentioned, James''s parents were brilliant when it came to robotics. As such, there was practically a robot for nearly every task in his house, that he didn''t wish to do. The laundry hamper was what one would consider ''smart tech.'' It recognized when the laundry was full, and would instantly begin washing and drying it. The whole process would take a little over an hour, after which, the clothes would be returned, completely clean, dry, and folded, placed back in his dressers and closets according to the type of clothes that were washed. Technology definitely made life easier.


    With his laundry going, James began his morning routine. He of course didn''t take Xander at his word, and had checked his computer to see if he could access his DCO app. Unfortunately, a message had appeared, showing he was banned from the app, with a countdown timer showing he would have to wait until after 7am, to hop back on. Frustrating, but expected.


    After he finished showering, he grabbed a pair of clothes, simple jeans and a t-shirt, and went about grabbing breakfast. Since he had the extra time, James decided he was going to cook himself Belgium waffles instead of his normal pancakes. He still intended to fry up some bacon as well.


    The process of making the batter from scratch took longer, but James actually secretly enjoyed cooking. Well, at least, he did now. He may have spent over 300 hours of in game time honing his cooking skills just to get a legendary piece of gear, just so he could get the achievement for it. After that much time working on cooking skills, James had found he actually enjoyed it.


    After preparing his batter, James glanced at the time. He still had about 15 minutes before he could even log back onto DCO through the app, plenty of time to cook his waffles and enjoy his breakfast.


    He did just that, choosing not to grab his AR glasses just yet. Normally, he would have been browsing the web as he ate, or watching a show, but James was finding the realization of the amount of surveillance ability technology gave Xander, and the government, a bit perturbing, to say the least. As he ate, he couldn''t help but feel like he was being watched. Chances were, he was. How had he not thought about such things in the past? James supposed because of how prominent technology was, how integral it was in life, people just choose not to focus on such things. What did thinking about such matters achieve, after all? You couldn''t escape technology.


    Once his breakfast was done, he let out a sigh, and walked back to his room. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his AR glasses, and slid them on. He had been so proud of these glasses, had loved the freedom they put at his fingertips. Now, he knew they partially a prison. But he would not let Xander take the fun out of his life. Xander may have an unfair amount of power in DCO, but James would not let him take over James life.


    "Now, let''s see just what Steve managed to give us." James spoke aloud, knowing now that Xander could hear everything. He was going to poke Xander at any chance he had.


    James opened up the DCO app, quickly running through all the information before him.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 4 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    179,999 xp


    1 xp to next rank


    120,001 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 120 of 2500


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 6


    It seemed when Xander forced James out of the game, it was a complete force out, meaning James needed to wait till 8, to hit Rank 5. That was fine, since James still had a few other things to check on.


    Dungeon Research


    James pulled up his research tab, nearly licking his lips in anticipation. He was remembering what the achievement for Highlander had detailed, and was rather excited for the results. If he was correct¡­


    Enhanced Research ¨C Rank 6


    Boss Mob ¨C Rank 6


    Mob ¨C Rank 6


    Loot ¨C Rank 6


    Trap ¨C Rank 6


    Event ¨C Rank 5 ¨C 179hr 37m 12s till next rank


    Instance ¨C Rank 4 ¨C 9hr 48m 39s till next rank


    He couldn''t help but grin as he glance over his research stats. Just before he had gained Steve''s achievement, James had finished Rank 4 research on Event, and had started it towards Rank 5, a task that would take 182 hours and 24 minutes to reach rank 5, his enhanced research time taking 5 percent off the normal 192 hours it would take to reach rank 5. However, courtesy of Steve''s achievement, all of his research ranks had instantly been increased by 1 level. On top of that, since Event and Instance had already been started, it seemed they were still ticking away towards their next research level, regardless of the fact he had just magically gained a level.


    Meaning he would have Rank 6 Event research and Rank 5, maybe even Rank 6, instance research by the time he logged back into DCO after day. Even though Steve had just caused James a world of inconveniences, the gamer in him couldn''t help but appreciate the achievement. He really was looking forward to logging back in with all his new research levels, and his new Rank 5 stats. James was going to be busy.


    Once James had finished glancing at his research options, he hovered over the Mob feature on the app. James had a mob point to assign to ever single one of his mobs, as well as a boss mob point for his bosses and mini boss. He really wanted to assign all of those points immediately but decided he would wait. The moment he got his rank 5 level, he would back into their skills with another skill point. He could wait an hour to assign those points all at the same time. He was all for efficiency if he could manage it.


    Having finished scanning the app, James glanced at the time again. He really wasn''t used to having so much free time before he headed to school. He figured he could catch an earlier train, and get to the school ahead of time, but he was not looking forward to giving Dwight any extra time with which the bully could harass James. Speaking of¡­ James made a mental note to see about protecting himself from the bully.


    Setting that plan aside and choosing to spend more time at his house before heading into class, James flipped up his wrists and summoned his virtual keyboard. He realized there was something he had been neglecting to check, what with all the time he had been spending on the Dungeon Core Chat.


    He quickly used his AR mouse and keyboard to navigate to his bookmarks, pulling up the Reddit page for his town''s DCO instance. James felt his eyes go wide as he started to scan the list of topics, as the very first one, posted less than an hour ago, was already the most active on the page. The poster? Z, from the Knights Who Go Ni. The topic? The Terminus Rex.

 61 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61


    Recruiting: Floor 2 Boss Mob Raid


    */Z- Greetings fellow adventurers, it is I, Z, of the Knights Who Go Ni. I am reaching out to all of you, to see if any of you brave souls would perhaps be interested in joining in on a grand quest! What quest you say? Well, it sadly isn''t for the Holy Grail.


    Instead, we have a foe in mind, a foe so terrible, we have nicknamed it the Blasted Beast of Arrrggghhhh, otherwise known as, the Terminus Rex.


    As you all know, my guild tried previously to bring this beast down, yet due ''reasons'' we failed. We are confident that when we log back in, we shall be victorious, but would like to guarantee that 100%.


    This means, we need a few more friends to join in our jolly adventurers!


    What we are looking for-


    Solo adventurers, or a group of adventurers (we think 5 total would be nice) who are at least level 20 (because we want you to have your subclasses) and who are familiar with the second floor, and have floor 2 gear, are welcome to comment below.


    Till the morrow, I look forward to a jolly good time of adventuring with some of you!


    **/Birds!- Whelp, there goes another server first


    ***/Nostre- C''mon noob, you wouldn''t have made it there, besides, that boss is tough, have you seen the screenshots they shared?


    ***/Birds!- Psh, it''s only the second floor.


    ***/MechaKnight2854- Well, I doubt either of you will make it, go back to the farm


    **/Troll''d- Hey, my guildmates and I just hit level 21, can we join?


    ***/Z- Hey, you''re that Troll Hunter I''ve seen with the funny little gnome thief right?


    ****/Troll''d- That''s us.


    *****/Z- meet us at the Tipsy Dicken? That''s where we are going to be meeting before the raid, we can decide if your team works then.


    ******/Troll''d- I''ll let the guys know!


    The list of conversations within Z''s thread went on and on, James had just found the portion with Skar''s group the most interesting to him. If what he was reading was correct, then Z and Skar''s parties were going to be forming a 10-man raid party to take on the Terminus.


    "Chat''s going to love this." He whispered to himself as he cracked his knuckles, a pointless motion considering there was no one around him.


    The Knight''s fight against his level 27 Terminus had been epic. The level 24 adventurers had put up a great fight, showing off their teamwork and abilities to a whole new level. However, the upgrades James had given his Terminus had won out in the end. Especially since the Terminus had also been level 27 when they fought it the second time, meaning it''s stats had improved nicely.


    Excitement filling him, James pulled his DCO app back up. While he was going to put off upgrading all of his mobs en-masse for when he hit Tier 2 Rank 5, he figured he could at least upgrade Terminus. How could he not, now that he knew Z was planning on forming a raid party to take down the boss.


    It took him a little longer to get to his mob page and his boss mob''s information than usually, as he wasn''t as used to using the app as he was to utilizing the UI in game. Mainly because he had a day''s worth of use put into the app, whereas he had spent 13 days in game fooling around with his commands and interfaces. Ah well, he got there in the end, and it wasn''t like the few seconds were going to cost him anything.


    Tier 2 Boss Mob


    Steampunk Dino King ¨C Terminus Rex


    Lvl 28


    HP- 2421


    MP-1211


    ATK- 319


    DEF- 243


    Unique Abilities


    King of All- Emits a roar every time it loses 20% of its HP. This roar has the chance to stun adventurers for 10 seconds, and cause a debuff that decreases adventurer stats by 15%


    Big Head- Utilizes its large mouth to completely consume an adventurer, trapping the adventurer in its mouth for 20 seconds, and dealing 25% of their health in damage.


    Little Arms- Utilizes cannons on its arms to launch small grenades. Grenades will detonate on contact with adventurers, or after 10 seconds. Grenades will deal 150 damage in a 5-yard radius, and 50 damage in a 15-yard radius.


    James scanned over the basic information on his Terminus, noticing exactly 1 point had been added to each of the stats, just as Steve''s achievement had stated. He knew in under an hour, when he hit Rank 5, his boss''s stats would all increase by another .05% of the base to the stats, which he had found was the normal increase rate on his boss mobs as they leveled. Additionally, his mobs were all getting a 6% of their base increase to their stats, courtesy of his level 6 Boss Mob research. While his mobs had level caps, limiting their natural growth, James had already figured out that as long as he had time, he could keep giving his mobs even greater stat growth.


    He would have to think long and hard about that as he continued to grow. If he got his research too high, even his first floor mobs would be a bit too strong. However, that was a problem for a future him, and he was sure Xander and his precious team would figure something out if that became too much of a problem. Speaking of the developer, James made a mental note to remember to make a tribute to him when he logged back in. The developer had demanded it, but in his high and mighty state, had never actually dictated where or how James make the shrine to the god Y-rax. James was going to have fun with that.


    Chuckling, he flicked to the next part of the Terminus''s page, pulling up the traits. Unlike in DCO, where all of the information was available to him, in the app, it was broken down, almost like a playing card. Or, more so, like a pokedex entry, considering he even had a graph showing the strengths and weakness of his boss mob, and how far in each area the boss had stats in. This page also showed the fruits of the past three skill points James had put into the Terminus.


    Unique Traits


    Armor Plating- The Terminus Rex takes 20% less damage from physical attacks. (After Def is applied.)


    That trait had been a given. Making a boss with a high damage output, such as the terminus, tankier, seemed like a great idea. Then again, James didn''t have to sit on the receiving end of that damage. Ha.


    Leather Insulation- The Terminus Rex gains leather insulation throughout, decreasing incoming magic damage by 10%.


    Leather insulation was the only option James had to give his boss magic defense. While he hated it only offered a 10% decrease, he figured beggars couldn''t be choosers, especially on his second floor. He just really hoped his third floor would offer mages a little more of a challenge. Mainly because, the stronger mages got, the better chance they would have at one-shoting mobs, even of higher level, if they didn''t have good magical defenses.


    Terminal Fire- The Terminus Rex upgrades its inner core, creating a passive aura of intense heat that damages enemies within 3 yards for .5% current hp per second. Additionally, the inner core will detonate five seconds after defeat, dealing 2x Damage as fire damage in a 5 yard radius, and afflicting all players within a 25 yard radius with dino-aids.


    Alright, so maybe that last trait hadn''t quite been necessary. In fact, James had originally been debating between a trait called Try-Rex, which gave his boss increased melee attack range, or Godzilla?!!!!, which would have given the terminus a new long range attack, and apparently spiked plating on its back.


    Both had seemed great, but the moment James had read Dino-aids, his decision had been made. He had originally thought he developers were just trying to find ways to mess with players. Now that he had met the lead developer, and knew it was X-Ray, he was positive half of the developer team had to be full of trolls. Elite gamers loved a few things, one of which was trolling other players in any way possible. Which is why James was baffled that Xander had kicked Steve off the team. He was sure there was more to it than either Xander or Steve let on, but that wasn''t James''s problem.


    Now, James had a skill point to use upgrading his- he stopped as he looked at the screen, noticing the notification, the 1 that should have been there for the upgrade, wasn''t. He glanced back at Steve''s achievement, reading through it one last time, before letting out a sigh. Steve''s achievement had given all his mobs a free skill point, not his boss mobs.


    He let out a groan and prepared to close the window, before a little flash of light flickered onto the screen, and the 1 appeared. Apparently, he had been so caught up in reddit, and reminiscing about his Terminus and how awesome it''s abilities had been, that he had lost track of time.


    That also meant, he needed to get heading to class, otherwise he may end up being late. And, while the education system really was more of a social construct than useful, showing up late was not on his agenda.


    However, he already knew what he was going to add to his Terminus, who was now level 29. There was a skill, that while sounding ridiculous, he was certain would help out, especially now that he knew a raid was coming. Raw power was great, but what you really needed in a fight, especially against multiple organized enemies, was wits of your own. He clicked the skill, reading over it, before closing the window and heading out the door, on his way to the train station. The text was still playing in his mind as he hopped on the train.


    Like a Sir- Someone has given the Terminus a Top Hat, with a brain: While the Terminus is wearing this top hat, it''s intelligence is greatly increased, enabling more complex attack patterns, as well as advanced features during boss fights. It also looks quite proper.


    Unlocks philoso-dino skill tree for dinosaur related mobs on the same floor as the Terminus.

 62 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62


    The train ride was, if anything, a little more animated than James was used to. People spoke in hushed, excited tones throughout, either in person, or through AR calls. Those always made James chuckle a little, as a person would simply be sitting, seeming to stare off usually blankly in a single direction, while they listened to a voice being transmitted from elsewhere into their mind via an ear bud.


    James never received AR calls, a fact he was actually glad of. He couldn''t imagine standing around where everyone could hear your conversation with another person. He preferred sending messages via his AR text features when he could, in the rare circumstances he had to communicate with someone. The train ride was one of those circumstances.


    Rue,


    Just wanted to make sure you were alright following everything that happened. Wanted to let you know, Steve''s achievement worked, we did it, I am now a Tier 2, Rank 5 Dungeon Core, though I''m sure you already knew that. Any who, I gave the Terminus the Like a Sir passive, like we discussed earlier. I know you wanted Godzilla?!, but trust me, Like a Sir will be so much better. Did you want me to assign all my mob skill points now, or wait for when I log back in? Finally, I''ve got some exciting news! It seems The Knights Who Go Ni are going to team up with Skar''s group, to try and take on the Terminus. Definitely looking forward to that. Any ways, that''s all for now, chat with you later.


    Glyax


    He scanned over the message really quickly before he sent it. Should he keep signing his messages Glyax to Rue? She obviously knew his name was James. He wasn''t quite sure what to make of that whole situation, especially the link between her, her father, and James''s parents. That was all way above his head, and he promptly decided, not truly worth devoting too much thought to. There wasn''t much he could do about the situation, and he was sure part of the reason Xander had shared all that information with James, was to try and get inside of his head. You didn''t become the top gamer of a generation without playing mind games. However, James was a top gamer in his own right, and he could tell what Xander was trying, and it wasn''t going to work.


    At least, as James sent the message to Rue, closing out of his messenger just as the train reached his stop, that''s what he told himself. He knew deep down he was going to spend more than a little time during the day in class replaying the conversation over and over in his head. Part of that, would most definitely be trying to puzzle out what exactly was going on. The other part though, would be spent trying to figure out ways to poke Xander, now that he knew he had some levels of protection from the wanna be all-powerful developer.


    "Oy Specs." James was pulled from his pondering by a loud voice, the sound of it making him wince.


    "We''ve been waiting for you." A second voice, and James slowly turned his face in the direction of the voices. Dwight, and his party of orcs, er, friends, were making their way towards James from the direction of the school. Uh oh.


    "Hey guys, how''d it go last night?" He offered them a fake smile and a wave, his eyes darting around. He knew exactly how it had gone for them. And unfortunately, he could already guess who the bullies were about to blame for their misfortune. Of course, they were completely right in their assumptions.


    Dwight walked up and put his arm around James''s shoulder and neck, pulling him in roughly as the bully eyed their surroundings.


    "Oh, just great. We went to that chest you told us about."


    James swallowed hard as he felt Dwight''s grip tighten. "Any luck?" He managed to get out.


    "It was a mimic." The grip was painful now.


    James was scared, but he inadvertently let out a slight chuckle before he could stop himself. That video was still racking up views. It was probably one of the funniest things James had seen in a while, Dwight''s orcish face twisted in fear right before he got eaten. Priceless. The chuckle died as Dwight''s arm flexed, cutting off the blood circulation to James''s brain for a split second before loosening. That moment of pain, followed by the rush of blood, made something in James tick.


    He was always so in control, but right now, after all he had been through, James could feel himself growing angry. First, Xander, now, Dwight. Apparently, the two of them together just put a little more pressure on James''s cool than he realized.


    "I''m, I''m sorry to hear that. I''ve been seeing a lot of chatting about mimics on reddit, I think they were just added last night." He wasn''t lying, there was an entire thread, titled It''s a Traaaaappppp, that was trying to pinpoint where the mimics were located. However, the conclusion the internet had come to, the correct conclusion, was that they were random. People were simply going to have to gamble with RNG when it came to whether or not a chest was safe.


    "Funny, that you managed to get to the chest and get a gold coin, while we get eaten by a mimic."


    James pushed against the grip from the bully, working to free himself. "Do you think I had something to do with it?" James did his best to act insulted and confused at the same time. He wasn''t sure how his face was twisting, but judging by Dwight''s surprised look on his face, James had to guess he was accomplishing something. Well, it was either his face, or the strange tone his voice was taking.


    "Well,"


    James cut Dwight off before the bully could continue, having finally freed himself.


    "Seriously, how the hell would I be able to know if it is a mimic or not? Just because you''re unlucky doesn''t mean you take it out on me. I told you what I knew. It''s not my fault you and your Orc buddies there got gobbled up by a freaking mimic. You do know, sucking at a video game, bad luck, those aren''t caused by other players, that shits your problem."


    This really wasn''t like James, but after being bullied by Dwight and his friends for so long, not to mention everything that had just happened to him, well, he may have finally hit his limit. That, and the injustice of it all. Why were bullies allowed to get away with their actions? Especially given the fact that everything was freaking recorded. Did no one care about-


    James''s train of thought was cut short as a fist smashed into the side of his jaw. The sudden jarring caused his brain to bounce wildly about his head, as his world wavered and flickered. His balance was lost, and he hit the ground. Hard. He heard muffled cries and shouts, but the world was cast in strange dark figures, and James closed his eyes against them, fighting the nausea that was welling up within his body. As he did so, the world seemed to fade to darkness, as he slipped out of consciousness.

 63 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63


    James opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the pain of the light piercing his eyes, as well as the pain that throbbed on his head. As his memories rushed back into him, he slowly took account of everything that had gone on and tried to make sense of where he was.


    After mouthing off to Dwight, the bully had hit him with a sucker punch. Dwight''s size was not just for show, and that punch had packed a lot of power in it, sending James on an unplanned date with the ground. The force of head meeting stone had knocked him unconscious, that much was certain. Now, as he opened his eyes once again against the light, prepared for the accompanying pain, his mind caught up.


    He was lying on a soft bed, in a rather plain, white walled room. The room was rather devoid of anything else, save a few medical machines, and an empty chair near the bed he was laying in. He had walked past the room a few times during his time in school but had never actually been in it before today. James was in the school''s medical room.


    "I see you''re finally awake." A voice pulled his attention towards the doorway, and James moved his head to look at the origin of the voice. He wished he hadn''t as the movement drew another wave of pain through him.


    "Unfortunately." James groaned, easing himself into a sitting position. The voice belonged to an older man, perhaps in his 60s, who was dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt. He had on a set of AR glasses, and appeared to be glancing at something in his hand. James instinctively tried to trigger his own, only to realize that his glasses were no longer on his head.


    "Where are my-" Before he could continue, the man offered him a smile and pointed towards a table next to the bed. Atop it sat James''s glasses, and his earbud.


    "Those were rather nice, I figured you didn''t want to be sleeping with them on." The man continued to grin as he sat in the chair beside the bed, waiting patiently for James to put on his own AR glasses. Once James had, the man directed his attention to an AR screen he had projected in his hand.


    "Now, I have some good news, and some bad news for you." He pointed at the screen, which showed a complete scan of James''s brain. There were areas that were highlighted, though James couldn''t quite make out the words on the screen. Likely privacy features the man had activated on it.


    "Good news first." James needed some good news, he had just been sucker punched and knocked unconscious by Dwight. He could go for something to cheer him up before he heard more bad news.


    "Well, while you have a slight concussion, the swelling in your brain is dying down, and you are going to be alright." He flicked the screen, pulling up what appeared to be a recording. "Additionally, since we have direct footage of the assault on you, we have placed the young man who attacked you on a suspension." The screen was showing footage from James''s viewpoint, capturing the entire attack, and the moment Dwight swung at him, the bully''s face a mask of anger. The world then rocked back and forth, before settling on the ground, to show an adult running towards James as Dwight and his friends took off running away. The footage was from his AR glasses.


    That was good news. Finally, James wouldn''t have to worry about Dwight picking on him anymore. Of course, there was still Rick and the others, but Dwight had been the biggest issue. However, James was curious, and slightly perturbed, that they had the footage from his AR glasses. He was certain no one other than himself could access his pair, and what''s more, he definitely hadn''t been recording¡­


    "One of the teachers on his way into work received an unsolicited feed, with a message denoting a student was in trouble. He rushed over, listening to the conversation that led up to the confrontation, and reached you just after the bully landed that first punch. It''s a good thing too. Judging by that look, the bully had a lot more planned for you than just a single punch."


    It had to be Xander, or whoever Xander had assigned to watch over James during the day, to make sure he wasn''t breaking the NDA. James grimaced at the thought. The developer had just saved James from what probably would have been an even more painful encounter and solved one of his bully problems. However, James wasn''t about to excuse the developer''s own bullying actions. But, at the very least, James figured he could put the shrine to Yarx somewhere other than in the mouth of a toilet mimic, like he had been planning. Perhaps, atop the toilet mimic instead. One good deed, after all, didn''t simply wash away all that Xander had done.


    "Alright, so what''s the bad news?" James wasn''t going to have long term damage, and Dwight was gone from his life for now. What could the bad news possibly be?


    "Well, for one, your jaw is going to hurt something fierce for probably the next week." James moved his mouth up and down slowly. What did he mean? James couldn''t feel any pain at all.


    "But it feels-"


    "- I applied a temporary pain blocker on your mouth. I couldn''t apply one to your head, because I don''t like applying such chemicals directly near the brain itself. When the blocker wears off in about an hour, you''ll feel the pain. And, I can promise you tomorrow it is going to hurt even more, what with the swelling and bruising."


    James lifted his hand to his jaw and could feel a patch directly atop his jawbone. He knew what pain blockers were, special patches that directly injected nanites to block the pain signals being sent throughout the neurons from returning to the brain, completely blocking out any discomfort or pain. However, as the man mentioned, such methods had a limited amount of time. Apparently, it was actually counterproductive to completely eliminate feelings of pain for the body, as it allowed people to use and abuse the injured part of the body, slowing the repair process. So, when the blocker faded, James was certain he would be in for a world of hurt, which would likely limit any vocal activities he partook in. Which was fine, because he rarely spoke aloud outside of the virtual world anyways. Eating and drinking though, was going to suck.


    "Anything else?" James asked, noticing it seemed like the man before him still had more to say, but had paused as James processed what he had been told.


    "Well, I''ll be sending you home today. I managed to contact your parents, and they agreed on allowing me to escort you home. It seems they are out of the city currently for work, meaning there was no one to take you home." The man raised an eyebrow, and James felt his eyes harden for a moment. He was 17, he could take care of himself, and he could definitely make his own way home. He was also certain the man was thinking ill thoughts of his parents, which James couldn''t stand.


    James''s thoughts must have shown partially upon his face, as the man raised his hands, palms outwards, towards James, in an almost apologetic manner.


    "Don''t get me wrong James. Your parents explained the situation to me, and I see no issues with that. Also, I get it, you''re 17, you can take care of yourself. However, as a caretaker, it wouldn''t be right for me to send you home, on your own, after receiving head trauma like you did. I am simply going to take you home, so that I can ensure nothing unexpected happens to you before you make it to your house."


    James felt his facial features relax, and he nodded at the man, offering his approval and acceptance of the situation. "Thanks." He mumbled, pausing as he searched his slightly throbbing mind. What was the name of the schools assigned medical staff again? "Zack?" He said the name with the slightest question in it.


    The man offered him a smile and nodded. He stood, extending a hand to James, offering to help him to his feet.


    "No problem James. Now, how about we get you home?" James nodded and started to follow the man, who had begun making his way out of the office into the halls of the school.


    "Oh, and you can call me Z."

 64 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64


    James followed Z silently as the man led him from the medical office towards the parking lot. Generally, public transportation was all everyone used now a days, which is why it was so easy for James to simply ride the bullet train to and from his house. However, it appeared as if Z was one of the old school type, who preferred private transportation.


    "I hope you will excuse me for the mess in my car." Z''s voice broke the silence between the two as he motioned towards a car, one of maybe seven in the entire parking lot. He was motioning towards the passenger side door of a car that was currently plugged up to one of the charging stations. All cars were electric and utilized solar charging ports to replenish their batteries.


    The car was not what James was expecting, and yet, in his mind, he realized it was also exactly what he was expecting. If, of course, this Z was the same Z from DCO. A thought he was starting to fully accept the more he saw.


    It was an all-black, save for a white line running along the lower part of the body, four door car the likes of which James had never seen before. Every modern car he had seen had the same, slim, ergonomic and environment friendly shape, with crisp rounded edges. This, this was on a different level. The front and rear were practically squared, with a hard, somewhat rectangular body and top to it. That being said, it had the faintest amounts of curves and sleekness to it, giving off the image of muscle, power. This, from what little James knew of cars and their pasts, was a muscle car.


    "Like my ride?" Z was grinning as he stepped up to the passenger side door, his hand caressing its side in a loving fashion for a moment, before moving down to the handle. James knew Z was activating the car''s security system, which would recognize Z''s chip''s proximity, and unlock the vehicle.


    "What, is it?" James murmured as he stepped forward, looking past Z to the interior. It was covered in all black leather, drawing another surprised look from James. Leather had been phased out over 30 years ago, to be replaced with synthetic materials and fibers. But James was certain what he was looking at, was actual leather.


    "This, James, is Baby. She''s a 1967 Chevy Impala that I have had since I was about 19." He held the door open, allowing James to slide in as he headed over to the other side. The ''mess'' Z had referred to, was an odd amount of what appeared to be playing cards, various types of dice, and a collection of what looked to be old school dungeon manuals and character sheets. He was 99% sure this was indeed the Z from DCO.


    "But that means your car is almost 100 years old."


    "You can do basic math, that''s good." Z shot James a smirk as he started the car. Its engine let out a rumbling growl that was completely opposite of the silent electric cars James had seen before. The sound cut off James''s retort, but his face revealed he did not appreciate the comment.


    Z took not of his reaction and offered him a wider smile. "I wasn''t being a dick James. Sometimes mild concussions can lead to confusion and disrupt your mental functions, such as problem solving, including the ability to do basic math. So, the fact you were able to make that observation so quickly, is a good sign."


    He let out a laugh, a laugh James had heard countless times over the last two nights, confirming 100% James''s suspicions. He was being driven home by Z, the very adventurer who was putting together a raid to bring down the Terminus. The very adventurer Rue had practically created a virtual fan club for.


    "But, yes, Baby is almost 100 years old. When I originally got her, it was from my father, who had purchased her later in his life, because of his love of the show ''Supernatural''." He glanced at James to see if that got a reaction. James had never heard of the show, but he had a feeling he knew what he was going to be watching the rest of the day.


    "My father bought the car off an old collector, and lovingly restored it. When he passed away, I was left the car." For the slightest moment, Z''s face took on a slight hint of sorrow, and James realized why. Z mentioned he received the car when he was 19, that meant his father had passed away when he was 19. "I''ve kept her taken care of ever since, especially since I too loved Supernatural, though I had to admit it was time to let the season end at 15 seasons. It just got a little too drawn out there. Now firefly, I wish they had gotten another season. That show, was amazing." His eyes were half fixed on the road, half fixed in the past, and James wasn''t sure if Z reminiscing while driving him home was the smartest idea. Then again, because so few people used private vehicles anymore, the road was practically empty.


    "Firefly?" Another show James had never heard of. If it only had one season though, he was adding that to the top of the to watch list for the day. Supernatural would have to wait. He would probably start streaming episodes while he played DCO, since there was bound to be some down time while he was waiting on experience.


    Speaking of DCO. He had a momentary urge to pull up DCO, to check his resources and research, but stopped. Even though it was impossible for Z to see what he pulled up on his glasses, he was still hesitant to do it in the man''s presence. Especially now that James knew who the guy was.


    "A great show, with an amazing fanbase, that sadly only got one season. They just don''t make shows and movies like they used to. I blame the Snowflake movement of the 2010s, and the censorship period of 2023-2025." His face was grim as he spoke. "Should have learned from prohibition, but noooo."


    He made a turn and continued on the road, heading in the general direction of James''s house. He was sure Z had gotten his address from his parents and was using his AR glasses to plot the exact course he needed to take to bring James home.


    James knew about the Censorship period, everyone did. Following turmoil in the late 2010s and early 2020s, mass censorship was applied to almost all forms of media. Anything that could possibly be construed as even a tiny bit offensive, was censored. This led to a major decrease in large scale movies, games, and any form of media being produced. At the same time, it led to some of the most creative efforts ever seen to avoid and skirt the censorship rules. The Censorship Period of 2023-2025 had given the world the Bear Truths movie series, which followed a detective teddy bear, McStuffin, who found himself in unlikely, unfortunate situations, where only he could save the world. The movies were full of over the top amounts of stuffing, fluffy carnage, and strings of hysterical variations of cursing, all of which just skirted under the ''safe line'' set by the censors in place.


    "But, enough about the past." Z shot a grin towards James. "What do you think about DCO?" Z''s question caught James completely by surprise and pulled him immediately away from him replaying a scene from Bear Truths 4: Stuff This.


    "I, uh, umm." James was at a loss for words. Where had that question come from? Why had Z suddenly switched to DCO. Had James revealed secrets while he was unconscious? Was that even possible?


    "Relax James, deep breaths." Z offered him a friendly smile and continued driving. "I''m just guessing you''re a big gamer, given the level of your tech. As such, I''m curious if I''ve run into you DCO."


    "Oh, right." James shook his head, a movement that immediately reminded him of why he shouldn''t be shaking his head.


    "I er." James had never expected to have to talk about DCO, especially not with Z. He would have to tread carefully, because he really wouldn''t want to breach the NDA. The pain and fogginess in his mind, therefore, was not being helpful.


    "I get it, you don''t want to chat about it." Z offered him a knowing grin. "I know how that is, keeping your online profile separate from your real self is important to some."


    Z leaned back and laughed. "I, on the other hand, don''t really care who knows who I am." He waved a hand in a grandiose manner. "On DCO, I am Z, leader of The Knights Who Go Ni." James nodded, though he had already figured that out.


    "Oh?" James spoke slowly. Z was offering him a way to avoid directly talking about himself and a link DCO. That was fine, and, it gave James a way to listen to Z''s plans for the upcoming night of gaming. "So, you''re planning on taking down the Terminus in a raid?"


    Z''s eyebrow arched, and a cocky smile appeared on the face. Typical Z. "Yeah I am, want to hear about it?"


    James started to nod, before remembering the pain such an action would bring. He smiled and made the slightest nod towards Z, and for the next hour of the drive, Z happily shared all of his plans with James.

 65 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65


    The rest of James''s day was spent watching firefly, followed by watching the movie for the show, called Serenity. He gladly took it easy, like Z had suggested, and did his best not to move around too much. The throbbing in his head died down, but any sudden movements made it spring back. What really got him though, was his jaw. Sure enough, when the pain blocker wore off, James''s jaw erupted with pain. Eating was practically out of the question, so he reluctantly took to drinking water and a supplement drink, called Soylent Blue, through a straw. Pleasant, not in the least. James was pretty sure Soylent Blue tasted about as good as rotting flesh, but it had all the nutrients in it needed for the body.


    In between episodes and pained consumption, James was also gleefully plugging away at Dungeon Simulator, errr, the DCO app. By the end of the day, James had earned 3960 resources, having gained 11 resources per hour of in game time, instead of his 10, thanks to Steve''s achievement. When he hit rank 5, his max resources had become 2500. So, he had waited till he had 2500, and bought the next level of resource storage. While the first cost 1000, and only increased his maximum by 100, the 2500 option increased his maximum storage by 300. It seemed with the higher cost, came an increase in efficiency, which James was all about. As such, he now had 2800 maximum storage, and 1584 resources to play with when he logged in. Though, he planned on likely just saving up, and continuing to increase his maximum storage amount more. He was planning ahead for his third floor, and really wanted to take advantage of his dungeon tokens when the time came.


    The other benefits of the day were his research growths. Courtesy of Steve''s achievement, James now had Rank 6 Event Research completed, as well as Rank 5 Instance research completed. James had started Rank 6 for Instance research the moment it was done, and it now had roughly 90 hours remaining on the research. It would have been less, but the whole getting knocked unconscious bit of his day had cost him some precious hours. Luckily, Steve had saved James even more hours with the loopholes of the achievement. Since all of his other research levels were already rank 6, James had decided to begin researching Rank 7 in Enhanced Research. He figured getting that as close to level 10, before he hit Tier 3 as a dungeon, would be in his best interest. That 10% reduced research time would be greatly beneficial, especially since he figured he would also be working on new research options when he hit Tier 3, since Tier 2 had given him 2 new options.


    Rue had gotten back to James''s message early in the day, and so he had been waiting to upgrade his mobs for when he logged back in, so the pixie could help contribute to his options. He had plans for some of his mobs, but a few of the others, mainly his first-floor mobs, he really didn''t have plans for. He had thought them maxed out the moment he hit Tier 2, so honestly, the extra point for each of them was more likely going to be used for shenanigans, rather than actually making them much stronger. At least, that was his game plan, and he was sure Rue had a similar plan in mind.


    As such, James found himself grinning as he set himself into his immersion pod, preparing to hop once again into DCO. Given how his day had gone, he really was looking forward to spending the whole night immersed. Not to mention, thanks to Z, James now had a few really good bets to place, that he was guaranteed to win. If you were going to place a bet against someone claiming to be the Goddess of Luck, it definitely helped to already know the outcome.


    Closing his eyes, James''s grin grew even further, but turned into a grimace even as his mind was pulled into the virtual world. He was not looking forward to waking up with his bruised jaw.


    "Glyax!" James''s thoughts of his jaw quickly disappeared as a winged figure wrapped its arms around his blobby self. He was back to his floating eyeball shape, and Rue had thrown herself at him, her thin arms clutched around him. He quickly grew two tentacles to hug her back, trying to avert where his eyeball was placed. Since his whole body was a singular orb, and Rue had wrapped her arms around him¡­. Well, needless to say, she definitely knew how to greet him. Ha.


    "Did you miss me?" James was reluctantly releasing his grip on Rue, pushing the pixie back, while he tried to regain his composure. She had managed, in perfect Rue fashion, to throw his train of thought off the moment he arrived. Durned pixie.


    "Mhmm." She nodded her head, and waived a hand, summoning her classic hot chocolate, while placing her other hand along her hip. "Do you know how boring it gets without you here? Like, I can only go on so many dicken races before I get bored."


    Dicken races? "I''m sorry, what?" He was pretty sure she had just said dicken races. What in the world were those?


    "Oh, right¡­ erm." She glanced around sheepishly, before offering him a wide grin. "I may have tweaked your first floor a little bit."


    "YOU What?" That was, what, no, wait? She could do that? She had done that? She had messed with his floor? Thoughts raced through his head, and it was all he could do to try and calm his breathing as he quickly pulled up his screen, flicking to his first floor and bringing he and Rue to it.


    "Well, I have been stockpiling resources. And, I couldn''t resist, especially after you hit Rank 5 in Events. Though, I do need your help to really make it shine¡­" She trailed off as James took in his first floor, not believing what he was seeing. He knew the AI had the ability to interact with all of his options, hell, she had been the one to guide him through everything in the tutorial. But, he didn''t think she had retained that control. Had she messed with anything else while he was gone?


    "Rue, you can''t just mess with the dungeon while I''m-" James paused even as he spoke, anger fading. Alright, so maybe, just this once, he could forgive the pixie. Besides, she had used her own resources for this¡­


    Sprawling around his first floor, starting near the entrance to the dungeon, was what looked to be a massive cleared track. It zigged and zagged all along the floor, creating what appeared to be a race track. Simple wooden fences lined either side of it, with gates near the entrance providing a way for players to simply bypass it. Standing idly near the gate, was, what appeared to be, a small version of Old Man Jenkins.


    "Is that an¡­NPC?" James hadn''t heard anything about NPCs in DCO. He thought everything was supposed to player run?


    "Yup. At rank 5 event research, NPCs are unlocked. I only activated them on your first floor, so that I could create Dicken racing¡­" She smiled sheepishly at him, motioning next to the NPC, where five dickens clucked about. Because of the upgrades James had given them, including a second upgrade in Growth Hormone, his dicken''s were four foot in height. Large enough for the pixie to ride, but he was having a hard time picturing players riding on them.


    "You do realize the dicken''s aren''t large enough for players, right?" James shook his head, his excitement fading for dicken racing. It had been a great idea, but there was no way-


    "Well, I need your help to make my dream a reality." She offered him her greatest sad puppy eyes look, even managing to make her eyes start to water. "If you use your last dicken upgrade point on Growth Hormone again¡­"


    Even as Rue trailed off, James was already in the dicken upgrade screen. After all the work she had put into making Dicken racing a thing, how could he not oblige? He dropped the glowing skill point into Growth Hormone.


    Growth Hormone (Max)- +25 to HP, +5 all other Stats, Dickens grow to 6 foot in height.


    No sooner had he confirmed the upgrade, a flash of light crossed his vision, and two more screens popped up.


    Secret Achievement Unlocked


    James had been partially expecting an achievement of some sort, for maxing out a skill. Though, he hadn''t known until just now that 3 was the max for Growth Hormone. The only reason he hadn''t made his dicken''s larger than 4 feet before, was because he had been focusing on giving them more¡­interesting abilities. Such as¡­. Giving his Gren-eggs? The ability to hatch baby dickens upon explosion, which did a small amount of damage over time as they angrily pecked at any and everything near them. They were adorable, and rather destructive. Excitedly, he opened the achievement up.


    Secret Achievement- My Other Ride''s a Dicken ¨C Fully max out Growth Hormone for Dickens


    Reward- Unique Passive- Mount This!- Unlocked for Dickens, New loot option for Dickens unlocked


    James shook his head, fighting a grin, as he pulled up information on the new passive.


    Unique Passive- Mount This!- Dicken''s can now be ridden by adventurers.


    Whelp, he had just made Dicken racing possible on his first floor. He couldn''t stop chuckling as he pulled up the dicken loot table next. He had a suspicion Rue had known exactly what she was doing by creating the racetrack, and pushing James to apply that final upgrade point to the dickens. Tricksy Pixie.


    As he pulled up the loot table, he couldn''t help but smile even more to himself. There it was, a single new loot option. Dicken Reins.


    Dicken Reins- Allows the user to summon a dicken from the demonic realm to bind permanently to themselves. 1 in 6666 chance to summon an infernal dicken. Single use item, account bound.


    And, with that, James''s dungeon now had mounts for players. He was already imagining players riding around on dickens into battle. Oh man how he loved DCO, and he hadn''t even been back in the game for 15 minutes yet. He still had over 23 hours of fun shenanigans to go, before the adventurers even arrived again. Time to get to work.

 66 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66


    "So, how exactly does this work?" James had decided he was going to use the time before the adventurers returned, to upgrade his mobs, and tweak his floors a little. Initially, he had been certain this was going to be an easy task. After all, all he had to do really was apply a single mob point to each mob, and then drop down his new resource storage unit on his second floor. Oh, and add in a few new tricks for the raid party that was coming. Simple, right?


    But then, Rue, in her normal fashion, had gone and thrown him for a loop. Now that he had NPCs unlocked, he was going to use them. At least, for his first floor for sure. Rue had shown him the option in his menu to activate the NPC''s, it was under a tab labeled Event Activities. Clicking the tab took him to a screen that appeared to list the different floors, with his first and second floor being available, the others having a locked out icon on them. His first floor, was lit up, with the word enabled glowing. His second floor was greyed out, showing disabled. Simple game programming. The developers had really taken some short cuts on the dungeon core side of things, hadn''t they.


    Selecting his first floor, James saw two options available, but he could guess there were going to be more later on. While the developers were lazy, he also knew they had plenty of secrets for cores to discover. The first, NPC''s, had been selected. The other option, which James was doing his best to resist selecting, said World Boss. He was definitely coming back to that one as soon as he could.


    "Select the NPC, then simply add a new NPC option. Select the task you want from it, and it will be automatically summoned, and modified, to fit your floor type. Easy, right?"


    "Yup, so easy a caveman, or a pixie, could do it." His dry reply made Rue spit out her hot chocolate mid drink, as her eyes narrowed. He waved at her with a tentacle, chuckling to himself.


    Currently, the NPC screen had a single NPC summoned, with its job description listed as Gambling- Race- PvP, PvE. From what James could tell, the developers had put in a blanket of categories, which had a string of options underneath. Upon summoning, the AI would assume the predesigned role, adapting to the floor type of the dungeon. Probably a lot simpler for dungeons of a single type.


    He couldn''t help but grin as he imagined his NPCs. What would they be like on his second floor? The ones on the demonic farm seemed like human sized demons or devils. Would he have talking dinosaurs on his second floor? Sentient cavemen? His tentacle twitched with the urge to check, but he calmed himself. He didn''t want to overwhelm the adventurers with too many new things at once. Plus, he needed ways to keep things interesting for them, no need to give them everything right away. Besides, from what he could tell, he was the first dungeon to unlock NPCs. Either that, or no one else who had was chatting about it on the forums. He was going to keep this one a secret for now, and reveal it during his live stream. He was all about that dungeon envy.


    "If it''s so easy, why haven''t you done anything yet?" Rue''s comment pulled him from his evil mastermind moment, drawing him back to the real world¡­.er¡­game world.


    "Right, well, I''m just trying to figure out what type of NPCs would work best." A part Rue hadn''t mentioned, that James''s trained gamer eyes immediately noticed, was there was a cap on how many NPCs he could summon. For his first floor, it looked like he had the option of 5 NPCs. He was curious if that number increased with his event research, his dungeon rank, or was set based on the floor. However, that was a question he could have answered at a later date.


    "Well, whatever you do isn''t going to be as cool as Dicken Racing." Rue let out a chuckle as she took a sip, her eyes glancing back down at her race track with pride. She had a point, he had no idea how he would upstage that. But, he also knew gamers liked a variety of things, and he was going to do just that.


    "Hmmmm."


    NPC-


    Quest, Aid, Recruit, Gambling, Training


    The options definitely all seemed promising. Gambling was self-explanatory, likely giving all sorts of games and options for adventurers to waste coin on, for the chance to win various unique rewards. Wait a second¡­.


    "Rue." The tone in his voice caused the pixie to jump, and the way she looked at him, he knew she knew she was in trouble.


    "Yes oh mighty Glyax?" She hovered closer to him, smiling innocently as she reached out towards one of his tentacles. She was going for the distraction method. Not this time!


    "How much do players have to pay for a dicken race?"


    "Depends¡­" Typical Rue.


    "Depends on?"


    "The difficulty and rewards." That made sense, it was common in games for varying prize levels to be associated with different entry costs. Usually the most expensive option would offer an extremely unique item only obtainable through that option, though either was extremely difficult to complete, or needed to be completed multiple times.


    "You don''t say." He replied dryly, causing her to smirk. She had her hand lightly teasing a tentacle, sending a tickling sensation through his orb. It really was distracting, but he had a mission.


    "And, what happens to the money the NPC receives?"


    "Uh¡­"


    "Because in theory, it should come to me, right?" The pixie''s quick glance told him he had been right in his suspicion. She had been about to siphon more coin from the adventurers. Man she was greedy.


    "Well¡­it was my idea¡­ so I figured-" She trailed off, her eyes glancing from James, to the racetrack, and back.


    Her eyes flashed and she grinned at him, suddenly regaining her composure, as she drew even closer to James. "How about we make a deal?"


    "What type of deal?" He started to narrow his eye, but doing so, with Rue''s close proximity, meant his narrowed point of focus was focused on a very distracting part of the pixie, causing his blood to rush. She was definitely doing her best to break his focus, and it was working.


    "For dicken racing, we split the profits?"


    "What type of-"


    "-70/30" Her response cut him off, and she leaned forward towards him, smiling sweetly, knowing full damn well what that would do.


    "I get 70?"


    "No silly." Her voice was soft, quiet, full of mirth and seduction. "Since I built the track with my own resources, don''t you think I should get more of the benefit?" She placed a finger on his orb, tracing it down. "Or do you expect me to just sit here and spend my hard earned resources on you for free?" She appeared to pout. "That wouldn''t be very manly of the mighty Glyax. In fact, that would be like something oh, I don''t know, X-Ray would do."


    That hit a nerve, and she knew it. James dropped his tentacles to his side, in complete defeat. Not only was she toying with his durned teenage impulses and desires, but now she went in for the kill shot, attacking his ego. Xander would most definitely have instantly switched all the profit back to himself. Xander was not the type to share, he needed complete control over everything. And Rue knew James would do whatever he could to not be like that bastard.


    "Damnit, I hate you Rue." He sighed, and looked into her eyes, eyes which shown ruefully, she knew exactly what she was doing.


    "Psh, you love me." She started laughing, and James had to admit it, she was probably right. He cared more for this AI than he had ever cared for someone else his age. At least, her appearance made her seem his age? Had she been developed and placed with him to fill the gap of social interaction he was lacking? He shook his head, letting the thought drop, as he turned back to Rue.


    "Tell you what, I''ll split it with you, 80/20, just because you did help me out with discovering that secret achievement, and you made the course yourself."


    Rue let out a squeal and started to wrap him in a hug, but he stopped her.


    "But, you have to promise me you''ll ask me before you do these type of things again. Just so I know what''s going on. Plus, you should probably share these cool secret ideas with me whenever we are nearing them. Don''t ya want the dungeon to be awesome?"


    Rue grinned at him, shooting him a mysterious wink. "Deal. Though you do know there are some things I''m not allowed to tell you about."


    If James had two eyes, he would have winked back, because he could guess where she was getting. "Yeah, don''t want to anger the all seeing god. But, it sure could be convenient if a goddess of luck were around to help me stumble in the right direction."


    "That it would." Rue said with a chuckle, before flying down to her dicken track. The pixie was full of energy from her win, and while he was hard at work upgrading his floor, she was more than welcome to have a little fun. She had earned it after all.


    "Thank you Rue." He whispered to her, watching her form grow to human size as she mounted the dicken, the NPC mounting another one, as the race began. He really had lucked out with her.

 67 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67


    James sighed as he floated away, looking down at his hard work. After Rue had left him, he had done his best to fully realize what the best options would be for his NPCs on his floor. He figured, since he was allowed five NPCs, and there were five NPC types, it would be logical to make one of each.


    That had been the easy part.


    It seemed the developers had added in quite a few options to toy around with for the NPCs, and the implications of adding in the NPCs, and their categories, made the choice extremely difficult. James had spent more time than he would like to admit, in fact, trying to decide what type of Training NPC he wanted to add into the floor. Especially given his final choice.


    "Shit." James mumbled as he glanced at the time. Apparently, planning out his NPCs, summoning them, and setting everything up, had sucked away nearly 5 hours of his day. Sure, that may not seem too terrible, but he already knew he was likely going to spend a good amount of time on the other option, World Boss, before he even got around to upgrading his second floor in preparation for Z''s raid group.


    "All finished?" Rue''s voice yanked him from his mulling''s and made him let out a slight scream. She had literally just been down¡­


    Slowly, James glanced down at the racetrack, where a human sized Rue form was riding around, and then turned to look at the Rue behind him. Her eyes shown with amusement, full of typical Rue mischief.


    "The hell?"


    He shot a glance once more down to Rue''s human sized doppelganger, and back to her. Was his brain injury coming back to him in game? That shouldn''t be possible¡­ plus, Z had assured him he was alright to dive into the game tonight. Though, he would have anyways¡­


    "Oh, I got bored of racing around the time you finished working on your Training NPC." She yawned and stretched her arms, as if waking from a cat nap. "Nice choice by the way." She let out a melodic laugh.


    "Thanks." James said slowly, his mind still trying to figure out what was going on. You would think, after two weeks of in game time, he would have been getting used to her. But noooo, now she went and pulled another new stunt. James was starting to wonder if she was purposefully acting out, following Xander''s last chat with the duo.


    "You''re welcome." She beamed. "Though, do you really think they are going to use it?"


    "Oh, trust me, they will." James knew gamers. James knew MMO gamers. That was why his training NPC had been so tough. Since he had only planned to make a single training related NPC, he had realized, looking at the options, there was going to be trouble. There were training NPCs for classes and stats. Limiting himself to just one, meant he would be alienating a large part of the player base, regardless of what he chose.


    There was, however, a single option that every player in DCO could take part of. Pet training. He had already seen players battling their pets against one another''s in the dungeon, and he could guess they were doing the same outside. The pets not only brought skills and abilities to the table, albeit small ones, for PvE events, but also allowed players a PvP aspect, in the form of Pok¨¦mon esq battles. Putting in a pet trainer, therefore, meant he would have a trainer every player could use. It also meant James may have upped the cost of the trainer''s tiers a little more. He wasn''t about to turn down such an easy way to profit.


    "Whatever you say, oh mighty Glyax." She shot him a wink, which disappeared mid yawn.


    "So, are you going to explain what''s going on?" Had she been sleeping? She was definitely acting like she had been napping.


    "What do you mean?" She grinned, the grin growing wider as he sighed and pointed a tentacle down to the Rue that was racing around the track.


    "I''m pretty sure you don''t have a twin."


    Her eyes flashed mischievously. "Are you into twins? I could totally have a twin." She snapped her fingers, and the Rue on the dicken disappeared, and a new one reappeared beside her, sharing her trademark mischievous smile.


    "What do you say Glyax? Is this better?" The two spoke in unison, each gliding towards either side of him, fingers playing gently with his tentacles. His mind nearly broke right there.


    "No¡­.nope. Come on Rue, we have work to do." He fought the urges of his teenage mind, pulling his tentacles away from the duo, doing his best to harden his voice.


    The mirror images cast him a disappointed look, before laughing merrily, as the doppelganger disappeared from sight.


    "Fine, maybe later." The pixie floated back in front of James and summoned her hot chocolate. Thank the gods she couldn''t drink as well¡­ James would have been a goner.


    "So?"


    "So?" She took a sip, and then reacted as if just remembering their conversation. Yup, she was definitely acting out today. "Oh, right. Well, after I got bored of dicken racing, I had thought about joining you. However, you seemed to be really deep in thought, and were mentioning something about Pok¨¦mon and IVs to yourself. I didn''t want to distract you, so I made a clone of myself, to keep racing. Then, I went invisible, and took a nap." She waved a hand, and completely disappeared from his sight, leaving a floating cup of hot chocolate where she had been. A moment later, she reappeared.


    "Of course, you can go invisible and make copies of yourself¡­" James muttered to himself. Her father had given the AI literally every freaking tool and ability that they could possibly think of, hadn''t they? He must really like Anime¡­.


    "I can do a lot of things." She purred, but James held up a tentacle to stop her.


    "I''m sure you can Rue. But not right now." The pixie pouted, crossing her arms.


    "Why not."


    "Because, we have some important tasks to do, and I''m running out of time." He pulled up his screen, moving over to the World Boss tab.


    "The only other new feature you have is World Boss. And you have 19 hours left. Eleven if you plan to sleep. That means we have some time to goof off." James remembered she was stuck in the game while he was out and about in the real world. She must really have gotten lonely without him. Part of him wanted to goof off with her, but that could come a little later. World Bosses, and foiling Z''s raid in an epic manner, came first.


    "Trust me Rue, I''ve got plans for things we can do together a little later on." Namely, Supernatural binge watching, but hey, he was sure they could think of others. "But, for right now, I really need to focus."


    "Fine." She started to float away, dejectedly, like a child pouting. His heart nearly broke. Nearly.


    "You want to help with my World Boss?" He called after her, his tentacle hovering over the button. He was sure he could craft the World Boss all by himself. But he really did feel bad for the pixie. For every 9 days'' worth of immersion time, she spent 15 days of immersion time alone. It couldn''t hurt to have her help, and besides, she had been quite valuable in the past, even if distracting. And, what''s more, she was his only ally against Xander and the tyrannical dev team. Plus, apparently James''s parents and her father knew each other, so he saw no reason why they couldn''t work together.


    Besides, what''s the worst that could happen?

 68 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68


    The worst, it would seem, was the creation of a world boss that simply had James staring blankly, dumbfounded, at the floating screen.


    What¡­the actual¡­Cluck?


    When James had selected the world boss option, he been greeted with a simple screen, extremely similar to his Boss Mob creation tab. Rue, feeling helpful, had explained to James the basic mechanics of how the World Boss would work. Though, he was no stranger to such a concept.


    According to the pixie, World Boss''s unlocked when a dungeon had Event Research, Instance Research, and Boss Research all at level 5. The Event and Boss research levels made sense, but he had questioned the pixie about the instance requirement. Her response had been rather short, and yet helpful. The more players allowed in an instance, the higher chance they can take down the World Boss mob. It also meant a higher amount of food¡­er experience, for James when the World Boss struck.


    James had accepted her explanation, noting that his instances, at Rank 5 instance research, could now hold 45 players if he wanted, across his 35 instances. That meant, if both of his floors were filled to max, his dungeon could support 3150 adventurers, if he let the max amount into each floor. He wasn''t sure how hard the World Boss was going to be, but he also didn''t want to have his floors flooded with players. Crowding was a big problem in MMOs, and he didn''t want that to be an issue. If that meant players wouldn''t be able to bring down the world boss on the first try, so be it. More experience for him, and hey, it encouraged player growth and strategizing¡­right?


    James had adjusted his maximum number of players in an instance down to 30, where he had been keeping it. This still allowed for 2100 players in his dungeon at one time, if they completely spread out across his first and second floors. Hell, if they just stuck to his first floor, that was still 1050 slots, which was still a lot higher than the initial 200 he had started with, just two days ago. At this rate, James was going to be able to accommodate the entire server of players in his dungeon in no time. He would need it though, because he was certain his experience was going to be a lot harder to come by, the stronger the adventurers became.


    After his discussion about what exactly unlocked the World Boss option, and a quick chat confirming his feelings towards his floors and their capacities, something he was sure he would keep playing with a later date, it had been time to create his World Boss.


    At that moment, Rue''s eyes had flashed with excitement, and the blasted slot machine had once again appeared.


    "Seriously?" James groaned. Of course, it was RNGesus, why wouldn''t it be? James had found a new way to make currency, and the developers were of course going to try and capitalize on that. He had a feeling this durned ''experiment'' as Xander called it, was paying for itself and then some. Bastards.


    Sighing, James made a motion with his tentacles towards Rue, and the pixie, eyes burning with excitement, had pulled the lever. He watched as the machine played its musical tones, flashing lights and all, before it stopped. Whereas he usually received three options to choose from, sadly, it seemed the developers had chosen to only allow one option per spin for the World Boss.


    "No." James had simply said at the option. Rue had nearly fallen to the ground with laughter before he could even fully read the selection.


    Big Gre''ed Tractor


    The name was as far as he got, before he was looking at the cost for a reroll. There was no way in hell he was having a giant piece of farm equipment as a world boss. Seriously.


    At that moment, he also felt his irritation with the developers rise. Not only had they made it so the World Boss generator only gave one selection at a time, they had upped the requirements for a reroll. He was sure that was in part due to the fact by the time a Dungeon Core reached this level, they would already have their NPCs up and running, and be generating a stream of currency. That, or they would have dungeon tokens to throw at the machine. Though, he was also certain his random dungeon nature, and ridiculous floor type, was hurting him as well.


    However, thanks to Steve, James was certain he was the only dungeon core with the World Boss option, simply because there wasn''t enough time yet for other dungeons to have fully gotten all three of the research options required to level 5. So, while that was a plus for him style wise, it also meant he didn''t have a stream of currency running back into him yet.


    He did, however, have a small fortune of V coin he had gained through his hard efforts, and while he had initially decided he wasn''t going to tap into it for DCO, opting normally to simply use Dungeon Tokens for rerolls, this, the world boss, had finally made him break.


    "Reroll." He said, okaying the screen that appeared in front of him, and selecting the V coin option. It would cost him 5 Dungeon tokens to reroll once, or 5 V Coins. A single Dungeon Token converted into a V coin currently, so the conversion was at least fair. However, Dungeon Tokens were much more useful to him as resource generation tools. So, he spent some V coins.


    How many became a problem.


    "Again." He grumbled, watching the slot machine whirl once more. It was the 7th time he was rerolling. That meant 35 V coins, gone in the span of what, three minutes? Needless to say, he wasn''t amused. V Coin''s translated to real world currency, based on an ever-fluctuating virtual economy¡­and while it didn''t hurt his horde of the virtual currency, it was still irritating. Currently, V coins translated to 10 dollars in the real world. He had just spent 350 dollars rerolling a stupid world boss¡­ probably not the best choice, but he was committed now.


    "A-" he started, but paused. He had been about to reroll once more, when he finally decided this option, at least, could work. Plus, he really didn''t think it was wise to spend this much on a single boss. He may have gotten a little carried away. Surely the Lamb God that appeared on the third roll wouldn''t have been terrible. He had just hated its name¡­ Baaaaaaaaab, the Blood God.


    "You like this one?" Rue, dried tears from laughter coating her cheeks, was grinning manically. He was certain the pixie was running on a lack of oxygen, based on how much she had been laughing.


    "It''ll have to do." He let out a sigh, and the pixie clapped her hands in delight. He selected the option and pulled up the information on it.


    Charles the Dicken


    Dicken Based World Boss


    Lvl 20


    HP- 10000


    MP- 10000


    ATK- 60


    DEF- 30


    Unique Abilities


    Great Eggspectations- Charles the Dicken likes to make a spectacular appearance. He will fall from a demonic portal in the sky, in a giant Egg. The Egg will sit for 5 minutes, before hatching and Charles emerges. While the egg is active, it has 5000hp, and 200 Def. If the egg is destroyed, Charles will emerge with ? his stats.


    A Clucky Carol- When Charles emerges from his egg, he will let out a loud cluck. This cluck will instantly enrage all Dickens on the floor and give them +30% to their base stats. Dickens will begin to aggro the nearest adventurers


    Fowl Twist- Every 1000 HP Charles the Dicken loses, causes him to gain 6 more ATK, but loses 3 Def


    James read over the abilities once more, simply shaking his head. This, this was the worst that could happen, he supposed. He was out 35 V coins, and now had a giant dicken as his world boss. What really irked him, was he could see the image of the dicken, but couldn''t actually summon the world boss. Instead, it gave him a timer option, where he could manage its appearance rate. He decided to set it to appear once per every hour. Because it was the first world boss he had, he wanted to make it relevant. He was certain in his later floors, he would spread out the spawn times of world boss events, to make them even rarer, and to encourage longer dives by groups.


    He also realized he couldn''t adjust Charles the Dicken''s loot table, which Rue told him was because his loot research was still too low. He grumbled at that fact. How high did it need to be for this option? It was currently at 6, that should have been enough in his opinion. But it was fine. He would just have to wait for a group to fell the giant dicken, so he could hear what they got. He had a feeling, based off of what he knew of MMOs, that Charles would have to drop at least a pet or mount version of himself. He just had to.


    "So, what''s next?" Rue took him from his internal grumbling over the World Boss efforts, and he finished confirming the summon time, sighing as he closed out of the screen. He had been able to set an alarm for his instances, to trigger whenever Charles the Dicken randomly appeared, so at least he would get to watch the very first World Boss fight, well, he and every other dungeon core. There was no way he wasn''t streaming that fight.


    "Well, now that that''s done¡­ I figure it''s time I let you in on what I found out while I was logged out." And with that, James went into a brief detail about his meeting with Z, and the upcoming Raid. Of course, he kept a few details from the pixie. He was going to win a few bets from this raid. There was no doubt in his mind about that.

 69 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69


    The rest of the first day was spent modifying his second floor, which James and Rue managed to finish with roughly 9 hours left to spare. So, no binge watching Supernatural for them, but at least James did manage to get a little rest in.


    As such, by the time his alarm was going off, waking him from his sleep, there were just a few minutes remaining until the adventurers would be logging in.


    "Bout time you''re awake." Rue was sitting comfortably in a chair, sipping easily on her hot chocolate. She shot him a wicked smile while motioning down towards the dungeon entrance. The timer showed just three minutes till it was game time.


    "Since when do you ever wake up before me?" Seriously, the pixie had a habit of oversleeping in his opinion. If she was up before him, it was because she had something planned. And as much as James liked dicken racing, he generally didn''t like his pixie''s plans. They usually cost him resources.


    She took a sip of her hot chocolate, as she motioned towards the screen in front of her. On it, she had frozen a scene, complete with closed captions. Though James didn''t need to read them to know what was being said in the scene.


    "Really Rue? Really?" She had apparently been watching Firefly, since he had mentioned it to her. More specifically, the scene she had stopped it on was from the Firefly movie, Serenity.


    "I am a leaf on the wind." Were the words on the screen, one of the main character''s last words in the movie. James could feel a moment of sadness well up in him. He really liked Wash''s character.


    The pixie grinned and took a sip innocently. "I have no idea what you could be implying." She waved her hand, making the screen disappear, turning to watch the dungeon entrance with James.


    It was the third real world day in DCO, meaning players would be starting their 15th day worth of game time. The first week, obviously, took them some getting used to. The last log in, they had seemed to have started to figure out their game plans. This third day, James knew they were going to be sinking easily into their routines. That was the glory of games in immersion, it was so easy to slide into them, and adapt them as real life. It was why there was a limit on the amount of immersion you could partake in. Often times, people wouldn''t leave otherwise.


    James pulled up his profile, choosing to give it a once over, just before the adventurers logged in. He liked knowing exactly what he was going in with each day, so that he could gauge his own progress.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 5 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    180,014 xp


    19,986 xp to next rank


    119,986 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 371 of 2800


    Currency: 0 copper 0 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 7


    He grinned as he went over his stats. The last day, he had managed to grow 5 ranks. That meant, if he kept pace, he would be able to hit Tier 3 before this night of immersion was done. While there was still much, he felt he needed to do on his floors, especially with the new unlocks, James was also eager to see what Tier 3 would bring him. Eager, and anxious, who knew what type of floor his third floor would be. Though, as long as it wasn''t a water level, he figured he would be happy.


    "When did you get another dungeon token?" Rue was glancing over his orb, taking in his character sheet, and her comment drew his attention.


    "Wha-" He scanned it, and sure enough, he had 7 tokens now. When he had logged out, he had 6 tokens total. Where had that new token come from? He pulled up his notifications window, scrolling through it quickly. Usually, he ignored the window, because it simply accounted how many resources he was gaining per hour, or laid out in detail the amount of experience he gained from adventurers, etc. A lot of hard data, that just didn''t appeal to him.


    Besides, achievements, and important notifications, always came with a fanfare of lights and a popup window, so James had really gotten used to not looking at his detailed notifications. However, now he was curious.


    As he scrolled through the list, he found what he was looking for. A single line, easy to miss. In fact, if it weren''t for the fact the only notifications currently were all for resource generation, he would have missed it completely.


    22:00:00- 11 Resources Generated. Congratulations! 1 Dungeon Token found during resource mining.


    There it was, a single line, a simple fact that he had nearly forgotten when Rue was explaining Dungeon Tokens to him. A conversation that was only 2 days old but felt like forever ago.


    "Seems I got lucky with my resource generation." James responded, flashing a smile towards the pixie as he did. "Maybe you actually are a Goddess of Luck."


    The pixie blushed, quickly hiding it with another sip of her hot chocolate.


    "You really should be careful with all this flattery Glyax. Don''t want to give me the wrong idea." She shot him a mischievous wink, instantly throwing him off his game. He knew she was an AI, but he would be lying if he didn''t find her attractive, especially after seeing her during the meeting with Xander. Shaking such ideas from his head, he glanced at the entrance to the dungeon.


    During their conversation, the timer had rolled over, and players had begun to populate DCO. While the first two days, there had been a mad rush from the town to the dungeon''s entrance, James knew it was unlikely that trend would continue. Players would be meeting up instead, catching up and joking with their friends, and preparing themselves fully before diving into the dungeon.


    Generally, hardcore players would still be rushing to the dungeon''s entrance, but James knew that wouldn''t be the case either. That was because Z and his guild were holding their meeting, preparing for the raid on the Terminus Rex. James grinned to himself in anticipation for that fight. He and Rue had planned a few tricky surprises for Z''s Raid party, and if they only got Skar''s group to join, James doubted they would be able to take the Terminus down. Though, he was all for a good show, and maybe they could pull it off.


    However, James knew he would have to wait for that fight a little longer, though he couldn''t help but fight his own grin. There were players making their way casually towards the dungeon entrance, and he recognized a few. The leaders of the groups were the shopkeepers of The Dicken Shack. The group had the owner of the shop, as well as his own personal group of workers, who simply farmed up a bunchy of dicken meat, and shared the profits from sales. It wasn''t a bad business plan, and he was certain they were making a decent amount of gold.


    The other players approaching were all in the high single digit levels, or low teens. These were players who couldn''t hope to be a part of the raid with Z''s group, and so were just going back to their normal grind. Of course, they would all be purchasing food from The Dicken Shack before diving, and that was fine. They were going to need those extra buffs, especially now that the dickens had undergone their latest evolution.


    He really loved this game.

 70 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70


    "What the hell is this" Z''s tone was echoed across the face of all the other adventurers with him, as they walked into James''s dungeon.


    His alarms had alerted him to the appearance of Z and his group, so he had instantly switched from the tab he had been watching, to Z''s instance. Of course, doing so had cost him the latest bet with Rue, giving the pixie a simple 5 extra resources, however, it was worth it. Besides, he and the pixie were about even on their morning betting on the Dicken Races, and he had a bigger bet in mind coming up, with a much larger payout.


    "Gotta give it to the game devs, this game just keeps delivering." Skar spoke up as he stepped besides Z, taking in the scene before them. It seemed, just as Z had planned, Skar''s group had joined the Knights for the raid on the Terminus. Even though their raid party now had 10 members, they weren''t actually the first ones in the instance though. Instead, as they walked in, they were greeted with the sight of a party of five taking turns dicken racing.


    Another party of five, could be seen a little past the dicken track, where James''s pet trainer was located. The two parties had completely forgone clearing the floor, in exchange for the new activities. From what James had seen over the last hour, almost all groups had done exactly that. Like proper gamers, they were instantly, uh¡­flocking, to the newest activities on the floor. That, and James had seen more than a few groups shy away from the now giant dicken flocks running about his floor. He was watching the reddit page actively, just waiting for someone to find out the new dicken mobs could drop mounts. Part of him almost missed being on the adventurer end of things. Almost.


    Z''s eleven character brought a youthful hand up to his face, scratching at his chin. James couldn''t help but imagine Z''s actual form making the motion, and he had to grin. Z was very much himself, both in and out of the game, a fact that James really enjoyed about him.


    "Yes, but this likely means our raid just got a bit more difficult." He continued to scratch at his chin as he glanced around the party, his eyes scanning over his members. James could guess he was inspecting their stats as well, likely trying to get a gauge of their success rate. Was the risk worth the reward?


    Skar smashed his fist into his shield, a move that likely was meant to be inspiring. However, the Orc Knight was dressed as a demonic farmer, so he looked goofy instead. He also lacked the upgraded gear that Oak had, so besides the Knight''s actual tank, Skar seemed like a beginner.


    "We''ve still got this." His teammates all let out a cheer, while the Knight''s glanced back and forth. Well, almost all of the knights. The afore mentioned tank, Oak, was glancing down at his pet dinosaur, Cera, and the pet trainer. James could tell what Oak was thinking.


    After a moment, Z''s face showed he made up his mind, and he let out a grin. "Alright, well let''s go storm the castle, shall we?" His comment caused a frown to cross Oak''s face, and James could tell the knight was about to speak. However, Z silenced him with a hand.


    "Don''t worry Oak. We will have plenty of time to IV train our pets after the raid. Besides, if we wipe on terminus, we will be stuck on floor 1 for an hour anyways. Plenty of time. But for now, let''s get this raid done, and earn ourselves another first." His grin seemed to reassure Oak, and the rest of the Knights let out a cheer, along with Skar''s group.


    Just as they all passed the dicken track, exchanging pleasantries with the group utilizing the NPC, the entire floor seemed to grow dark.


    "Oh¡­shall we start the stream earlier?" Rue''s eyes widened as she looked over the instance, and she suddenly had a box of popcorn in front of her. James could have sworn she didn''t even wave her hand this time. It just appeared. Could she control these things mentally at will?


    "I think so." James whispered. He had already had the stream option pulled up, and had been waiting to start the stream after Z and his group stepped onto his second floor. James hadn''t wanted to share all of his secrets just yet, and he knew the chat would likely explode with questions over all of the new additions to his second floor, which would detract from his raid. The last thing he wanted was for people to be commenting about things other than his epic boss fight. He had put a lot of work into it, after all.


    "You''re going to be so popular." Rue''s eyes fluttered in a sarcastic, dreamy manner, and James couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Don''t worry. When I''m famous, I''ll still talk to you." His chuckle continued as the pixie stuck her tongue out at him, and he activated his stream.


    20 Players take on a Massive Dicken


    He really couldn''t stop laughing as he posted the stream. Especially after Rue began choking on a piece of popcorn, the poor pixie gasping for air as she saw his title. Almost instantly, the view count shot up. Oh yes, he spoke internet really well. And, following his popularity from Dwight''s mimic fail, and the Knight''s initial battle with the Terminus, well, the views just kept climbing.


    As they did, comments began racing through the chat bar at lightning speed, even as the air on his floor began to crackle. James wanted to read the comments, he was certain he saw something in there questioning what color the dicken was, but he pulled his eyes away. While he was certain, given the alarm on the instance, this was his World Boss summon, it just so happened to be the first time it had activated.


    Alright¡­ maybe that wasn''t quite right. James had found out he had the power to instantly activate and deactivate his world boss feature as well. He may have gone in and modified it, so that the first time it appeared would be with Z''s group. He did this for two reasons. One, he wanted a group to beat his boss the first time, and the only group he could think of that had that power, was Z''s raid party. Second, he wanted them to have a little more xp before facing the Terminus¡­because then when they died, well, he would get more experience. Maybe that was a little dirty¡­but hey, he needed to close the gap with Blank.


    Regardless of his motives, he couldn''t help but chuckle. Besides, he was certain beating the world boss would give the Knight''s another world first, so they wouldn''t be too bitter about losing their raid, right? Besides, judging from the growing numbers of views, this was probably his best idea to date. An idea that he hadn''t shared with Rue, which was probably for the best, since he bet her the Knight''s would be the first ones to defeat his world boss. Oops.


    Demonic energy crackled about like lightning, and a massive glowing red pentagram appeared on the ceiling above. All the adventurers on the floor, as well as everyone in James stream, watched as a massive, black egg descended from the pentagram, stopping to rest in the open expanse between Z''s group, and the barn.


    For a long moment, no one did anything. Even the chat went quiet. Then, chat and the instance erupted in the same statement.


    "World Boss." Z screamed out, drawing his bow instantly and firing arrows at the massive egg. "Burn it down." And with that, the very first World Boss battle of DCO began.

 71 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71


    Chaos is not what James would use to describe what he was watching. Because really, it didn''t seem like it was pure chaos. However, it was definitely close. Unlike Z and Skar''s groups, the other 10 adventurers in the instance were actually rather low level. A quick scan of their stats showed they were between levels 8 and 10, meaning they really should have been taking the time to level up¡­not dicken around with dicken racing and pet training. However, James couldn''t fault them for that, new stuff was new, after all.


    What James could fault them for though, was how they reacted when the giant egg, a massive imitation chicken egg scorched black from the fires of hell, appeared. A few stared at it dumbly. One, in the middle of a dicken race, actually fell off the mount. A few others screamed and beelined for the exit. Only three of the 10, through bravery or stupidity, decided to join the Knight''s raid party in attacking the egg. Of course, the three, all under level 10, had no chance in hell of even scratching the egg shell, with its massive, for the first floor, 200 defense.


    Z and the others, however, had more than a chance of scrambling that egg.


    Z


    Level 24 Archer Sub: Ranger


    42,842 Total xp Earned


    1,542 current xp held


    2,658 xp to next level


    HP: 196 (145+36+15)


    AP: 191(145+36+10)


    Atk: 115+30+10+29+45 (ranger subclass) *229*


    Atk: 0


    Def: 44+20+11+18(ranger subclass) *93*


    Every member of the Knight''s Who Go Ni was level 24. Their stats were all boosted still by their demonic farm set, plus they had augmented their weapons with enhances from James''s second floor. Considering the World Boss for his first floor was only level 20, it was clear they had the advantage. Besides them, Skar''s party, while lower in rank, was similarly equipped. James wasn''t surprised though, because Z had mentioned he was going to personally see to outfitting any players deemed worthy of joining in on the raid. Like a good raid leader, Z was setting his raid up for success. Besides, Z had mentioned to James that he really didn''t care about the in-game currency. He had no need for it and was just playing for fun. A man after James''s heart.


    Following Z''s orders to burn the World Boss down, the group spread out, and was doing just that. Z, Elm, and Troll''d were all stacked together, unleashing ranged DPS at a good rate.


    "More DOTS" Z called out to the party as he unleashed another arrow. His honey badger had appeared by his side the moment the battle started and was currently racing towards the egg. James couldn''t tell if the little guy normally salivated as much as he was, or if the honey badger planned to eat the egg. He really needed to look up more on that strange creature.


    "Your mom needs more DOTS." Troll''d called back to Z as he let fly a barrage of arrows. The Troll Archer had chosen Hunter as his secondary class, and James was watching him make good use of his extra abilities. Hunter''s were single target DPS monsters, with skills that multiplied the number of arrows they let loose per shot. That meant, for every arrow he was releasing, three magically appeared behind it, all flying rapidly towards the egg shell. However, each additional arrow had a decreased amount of damage, so given the high defense of the egg, the third and fourth arrow were barely touching it.


    "I don''t think the Troll knows what DOTS are." Faust was laughing as he released a spell, sending a crackling cloud towards the egg. That spell was exactly what Z had been calling for, the lightning mage''s Damage Over Time Spell, Lightning Storm. James of course, had researched each of the subclasses of his favorite party, and so he knew just how terrifying that spell was. It was an area of effect spell that lasted for 10 seconds, dealing magical damage in random lightning strikes to any target underneath the cloud. Considering the size of the egg, it was clear what target was going to get hit by all of the strikes.


    "Do you guys think I can poison it?" Gno-more, Skar''s gnome thief, was besides the egg, slashing with dual velocity raptor daggers into the shell. Beside him, his pet, a miniature velocity raptor, was doing its best to crack the egg. The poor little guy was having no effect.


    "I mean¡­as long as it doesn''t make it go rotten." Oak''s comment trailed off as he glanced around. It was as if he could feel everyone around him face palm at his bad pun.


    "Good enough for me." Gno-more''s dagger''s glowed green, and James watched him renew his barrage of attacks. Atop the stat bar for the egg, James saw a small, cliched symbol appear. It was a green skull, with a number 3 next to it. The egg had been poisoned. It seemed the gnome had chosen assassin as his sub class, granting him a large boost to his single target DPS capabilities as well. While Z''s group seemed to have chosen their classes carefully, making sure their party was rounded out, Skar''s group had gone full on boss slaying comp. Their crowd control and AOE abilities were limited, but they could sure as hell mess up a single target foe.


    "Impressive, but I don''t think it''s going to be enough." James muttered to himself, pulling up the Egg''s stats, and highlighting them across the stream. People watching couldn''t normally see the information on the mobs or players, unless James pulled the screens up and shared them with them. Given how enthralled chat was, he figured he would share the World Boss''s information for them, to keep them entertained.


    Charles the Dicken (Egg Form)


    4min 21 seconds remaining


    Dicken Based World Boss


    Lvl 20


    HP- 4491


    MP- 0


    ATK- 0


    DEF- 200


    Unique Abilities


    Great Eggspectations- Charles the Dicken likes to make a spectacular appearance. He will fall from a demonic portal in the sky, in a giant Egg. The Egg will sit for 5 minutes, before hatching and Charles emerges. While the egg is active, it has 5000hp, and 200 Def. If the egg is destroyed, Charles will emerge with ? his stats.


    It had almost been a minute since the egg appeared, and the 10-man raid party had been doing a good amount of damage. However, this was a World Boss, and they weren''t that far over its level. Plus, there were some cooldowns and items Z and the others were saving for the Terminus fight, which was limiting part of their combat ability.


    That being said, James still had no doubt in his mind that once the egg hatched, the fight would become even more entertaining. Especially because as James watched the battle unfold, he couldn''t help but notice not a single Dicken on the floor had been killed yet. That meant, when Charles emerged in his full glory, the floor was in for a nasty surprise. James sat back, grinning to himself knowingly, as he watched the group continue trying to burn down the egg. James was sure they had figured out they didn''t have the DPS to break the egg before the timer ran out, but like true gamers, that didn''t mean they were going to give up. Instead, they threw everything they could, save the kitchen sink, and their important cooldowns, at that egg. It was a valiant effort, and they actually had it down to its last 1,000 hp when the timer ran out.


    Cracks appeared all along the egg, glowing red, before suddenly, the black shell burst outwards, hitting all the players with a 5 second stun, revealing Charles the Dicken, a massive, all black, Demonic Rooster. The boss leaned its head back and opened a fanged beak, and let out a terrifyingly deep, guttural, Cock-a-doodle-do. And then, part two of the battle began.

 72 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72


    For five long seconds, the players were stunned, and so was everyone else in the stream. There was utter silence on the chat, and even Rue was quiet as everyone watched Charles the Dicken emerge, 20 foot of demonic black feathers and fury. His eyes glowed a deep crimson, and fangs protruded past his beak. Atop his head, flames roared where normally a roosters comb would be, and two horns sprouted on either side. He was terrifying.


    What was more terrifying though, was the effect his cry caused.


    A Clucky Carol- When Charles emerges from his egg, he will let out a loud cluck. This cluck will instantly enrage all Dickens on the floor and give them +30% to their base stats. Dickens will begin to aggro the nearest adventurers


    Even while everyone else was stunned, James shook himself free of the stupor to pull up his dicken''s stats. It was easy to find one, given the fact they were now 6 ft in height. Well, that and the fact they were all now engulfed flames similar to those atop Charles''s head.


    Dicken (1) Level 10


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 152* (55+25+55+17)


    MP: 29* (10+5+10+4)


    Atk: 28* (10+5+10+3)


    Def: 17* (5+5+5+2)


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all base stats when in groups of 5.


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


    Upgrades:


    Growth Hormone (Max)- +25 to hp, +5 to all other stats. Dickens grow to 6 foot in height


    Demonic Mutation- Gain access to demonic skills


    Gren-eggs??? (2) - Dickens gain the ability to lay¡­.eggs? Dickens can temporarily take flight and drop explosive eggs on enemies. Dicken eggs do 5 + lvl fire damage in a 2 yard radius. Upgraded versions allow one enhancement level per upgrade.


    Upgrade: Eggro (2)- Exploded dicken eggs release a baby dicken chick, which will aggro the nearest adventure, pecking them for 1 point of damage per second for 5 seconds. Upgraded versions increase the amount of dicken chicks hatched per egg.


    H5 N-fernal 1- Dicken strikes 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


    Embryotic Mutation- Dicken chicks have been marked as carriers of H5 N-fernal 1. Dicken chicks will now apply 0.5 stacks per two strikes on enemies.


    Active Buff:


    A Clucky Carol: The dickens have been visited by the ghost of dickens past, present, and future. They are now receiving +30% to all base stats, and have entered an enraged state. Will attack the nearest players. 4m 55s remaining on buff.


    Okay, so maybe his dickens had gotten a little out of hand. That fact became evident as the first flock of dickens attacked the three low level adventurers who had remained to fight the world boss with Z and his gang. They had pulled away from the egg after realizing they couldn''t do any damage to its outer shell, which put them dangerously close to a flock of dickens, which zeroed in on the poor players. Normally, when his dickens, at normal chicken size, had overcome players, it was hilarious. Now, watching ostrich sized, flaming monsters tear into the players¡­James felt slightly sick, though he was also laughing hysterically.


    Of course, the antics only caught Z and the others off guard for so long, and even as the poor under leveled players were decimated, Z regained his bearings enough to take stock of the fight, and deliver some well timed orders.


    "Oak, mass taunt. Faust, AOE over Oak, Elm, start burning down dickens to drop their party buff." As he called out his orders, his members began carrying out their tasks.


    "Med-Ic, I need you to prepare a mass dispel, you know those giant dickens are about to flood us with debuffs."


    The healer nodded and began chanting, even as the others played their part. Z had rightly gauged the threat of the enraged dicken mobs as being the highest priority. Something MMO veterans regularly understood. You never ignored the boss adds in a fight, it was the easiest way to get your party split and wiped.


    "What about-" Even as Skar started to call out, Z was already barking the next set of orders.


    "Skar, take the boss''s aggro and keep him busy. Gno-more, start stacking debuffs if you can on the boss. Troll''d, do what hunter''s do best."


    The troll hunter grinned at this, and James watched his quiver shimmer as he changed the type of ammo he was using.


    "But, stick to your dicken arrows." Z''s comment came a split second later, as if the veteran player knew the hunter was going to be over eager. James knew the parties had stocked up on items for the Terminus, which would have included higher leveled ammo for the archers. Of course Troll''d, in his excitement, would have wanted to use those, to increase his dps.


    "Manly, take on the dickens around your party, but make sure to only focus one at a time, keep their groups under 5." Z took a breath, glancing at the last member of the party. "Olivia, keep Skar alive."


    The cleric, whose hands had been glowing as she buffed Troll''d, her boyfriend, flinched and she turned to Skar. The death knight had already summoned a wall of bones around himself, and his shield and mace were glowing with dark energy. James knew the death knight could drain hp from enemies he engaged, but the abilities he used also drained his own hp instead of his MP pool. A good death knight was fearsome, and with a proper healer, could be practically invincible. James was interested to see just how good Skar and Olivia were. Especially given the healer''s habit of favoring her boyfriend. Relationships could really kill party dynamics at times.


    With the orders issued, the fight went from chaos to control in under a minute. With practiced ease, and the increased damage buff given to all 10 high level players from their demonic farm gear, they not only were able to burn through the buffed dickens, but also managed to keep their own incoming damage to a minimum. That increased damage reduction against tier 1 mobs from the set really paid off.


    After the group managed to clear all 20 dickens on the floor, it was time for Charles the Dicken to be burned down.


    Honestly, the fight became quite anticlimactic after that, mainly because this was a raid party of the top players on the server, and because Charles the Dicken was only a level 20 World Boss. Sure he had a high health pool, and wicked abilities when it came to synergizing with the floor, but the high level players were just too well prepared and versed in the way James''s first floor worked.


    Of course, he expected that. They were together to take on the Terminus after all. If they couldn''t take on a level 20 mob, even if it was a World Boss, they didn''t stand a chance against the new and improved level 29 Terminus Rex. This battle had simply been an appetizer for the main course that was going to be the Terminus Fight.


    And, judging by the excitement going on in chat as Charles was slain, his Fowl Twist not being enough to allow him to bring down even one of the raid members, James knew he had given the people just what they wanted. They had a taste of this raid party, a taste of what they could do. Now, they wanted to see how they would stand against the king, the Steampunk Dinosaur monstrosity that remained undefeated. Perhaps today, that would change. But first, as Charles let out a final pathetic cluck, there was one more activity for the chat, and the raid party, to undergo.


    The moment Charles had been slain, his body erupted in flames, and a large egg-shaped chest appeared. However, at the same time, every player glanced at an invisible screen, and James could tell they had all received some sort of achievement. A moment later, they all began to erupt in laughter. James, of course, wanted in on the joke, so he pulled up Z''s information, and quickly scrolled to the adventurer''s achievement page.


    B.B.C. (Bigger Blacker Cock)- Successfully defeated Charles the Dicken. Reward: 750 xp, 1x Infernal Dicken Egg.


    "What''s in the egg?" James, Rue, and the chat all questioned as they stared down at Z and the raid party. Never mind the chest, which James was certain also could contain some interesting loot. What was in the likely once per character egg? What secrets, what wonderous loot, could such an object have?


    "Can we-" Oak already had the egg in his hand, and James was staring at the miniature version of Charles the Dicken''s egg.


    "Open it." James whispered, but to his dismay, Z shook his head. Every member of the raid party let out a sigh. They had expected it, but they were still dismayed.


    "Let''s grab the loot from the chest, and head to the second floor." The elven Ranger flashed them all a smile. "I know, it may have some eggcelent loot. But first, let''s take on the boss we came for. Besides, I''m sure the egg won''t spoil." Z laughed at his own joke as everyone else, including chat, let out a groan. Partly from the pun, partly because Z was now making his audience, which he of course was unaware of, wait to see what was in the egg. That was just cruel.

 73 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73


    "You cheated." Rue was glaring at James as Z and his party made their way to the second-floor portal. She was, of course, referring to the fact he had placed a bet with her regarding who would be the first party to defeat Charles, a bet which he had won.


    "How would I have cheated?" He looked at her, shrugging his tentacles innocently. As a floating eye with tentacles, that was really the best he could do to express himself.


    Rue raised a finger, as if to speak, before setting it down again. Of course, she could point out he triggered the boss to summon for Z''s group, but that wasn''t technically cheating. No other groups were strong enough to take down Charles, and James had only given Z''s raid party the opportunity. For all he knew, they could have wiped.


    The pixie glanced from James to the party, before sighing and waving her hand. James grinned as 200 resources flooded into his resource pool. Nothing wrong with making some quick resources, especially since he was planning on stockpiling a few more resource storage units, if he could, before his third floor came into existence. He had a feeling he was going to want to have a lot on hand for his customization. After all, he had gamers to impress.


    "Besides Rue, it''s not like that hurt you." James chuckled at the pixie, motioning down towards the first floor. While it was empty save for Z''s group, considering the other adventurers had all wiped from Charles, Rue''s eyes drifted exactly where James had intended.


    The shrine to Rue, the Shrine to the Goddess of luck, was glowing radiantly, something that had never happened before. That was because Z and the raid party, in preparation of their battle against the Terminus, had all donated 1 gold coin to the statue. That meant Rue had just gained 10 gold, meaning the pixie had made 100 resources right there. So technically, she had only lost 100 resources on the bet, and James knew she wasn''t hurting for coin, thanks to dicken racing and the shrine. Hell, he was pretty sure she was generating more resources than he was currently, something he needed to find out how to mimic.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about." The pixie huffed at him, and nodded towards the group, who was now near the portal. For a second, they paused, and James could see they were all eying a chest that was sitting nestled in the corner.


    "Mimic?" Rue and Troll''d both asked the same question, though of course Troll''d couldn''t hear James''s response.


    "Yup." He was grinning. There still weren''t many chances a mimic was actually slain. They were, after all, level 20. That meant it was rare to see what they dropped. So far, only a few groups, including the two standing there as a raid party, had purposefully sought them out and killed them.


    "Dark souls it?" Elm had an arrow nocked, and Faust''s hands were already glowing. Skar''s party stared at the two and glanced at Z, who was grinning.


    "But of course. Luckily, the game went with Dark Souls 1 logic, and not 2. I always hated losing loot from attacking chests." Z grinned and knocked an arrow as well. The moment Faust''s spell, a simple lightning bolt, struck the mimic, Z and Elm both unleashed their attacks. By the time the massive tongue and limbs broke free of the faux wooden shell, Oak was already blocking its path, and the other 9 members were all unleashing a deadly barrage on it. The poor mimic fell without getting a single taste of adventurer.


    "Did anyone else just earn an achievement?" Z''s bow was back at his side, and he had his trademark smirk on his face. The rest of the party all glanced at their screens, forcing James to once again pull their information up, to share with the world.


    Not Tasty- Defeat a Mimic in under 5 seconds. Reward: Title- Not Tasty, 500xp.


    That wasn''t good. James had purposefully thrown Charles at the group, which had netted them each an achievement worth 750xp. Now the mimic had given them another 500. That was 1250 without even including the experience they gained from the mobs. Which, thankfully, was being split 10 ways. But still, James was curious now just how much experience he would get from the party upon their death. If they leveled before they reached the Terminus, well that was a lot less beneficial for James. He had to beat Blank, after all.


    Of course, there was a chance the raid party was going to bring down the Terminus, mainly because James wasn''t that much of a dick. Sure, he knew Z''s plans, and if he was, say, someone like X-Ray, he would have done everything he could to stop the party and reap all the rewards. However, James just couldn''t bring himself to do that. For one, Z seemed like a great guy, and that would be a dick move. For two, if James did something like that, it would potentially push players away from his dungeon, and he didn''t want that.


    At the very least though, James was certain a few of the players were going to wipe. Statistically, it probably meant Skar''s group was going to wipe, and they were the ones James was most worried about. Because they were lower level, they had to gain less experience to reach the next level. The world boss achievement had been a necessary evil. The mimic achievement had been unexpected and was going to bring them dangerously close to likely leveling before the Terminus, damnit. Especially because James knew of at least one likely achievement they were going to get, before they reached the Terminus.


    "Wanna place a bet they track down B.L.U first?" James hated the words as he said them. Z''s group had defeated B.L.U. before, and already got the dual achievements for beating both B.L.U., titled Blasted Raptor, as well as for beating a mini boss, titled This Isn''t the Boss you Were Looking For. James had done the math, those achievements combined would grant Skar''s group another 750 experience per player. Netting their experience gain this dive to over 2,000, without counting in creature xp.


    The required experience from level 21 to reach 22 was 3600. The only saving grace currently was that Skar''s group had just barely reached 21 before the end of the last immersion, meaning they hadn''t made much ground towards their next level. But still, James had a feeling it was going to be close. Oh well, nothing he could do except wait and watch. He had done all the preparation he could, and even though he was nervous, he was grinning. Sure, he hadn''t pulled and X-Ray and gone full on dick, but he had of course, made some preparations.


    "I''m sure they will, but why not, I''ll bite. 50 resources." Rue flashed James a smile and turned back to the instance. 50 resources was nothing to her, but of course, the bet was kind of a no brainer. Z''s group knew what happened if you didn''t kill B.L.U. before facing the Terminus. There was no way they would engage the Terminus without slaying B.L.U.


    "Think they''re ready for the second floor?" The raid party was stepping, one by one, through the portal. As the did, the new instance was created, and their party began appearing within it. This was not going to be the same 2nd level they were used to. Oh no. This was no longer the age of mindless steampunk dinos. The world and mobs had evolved, they were stronger, they were faster, but more importantly, they were smarter.

 74 Chapter 74

    hapter 74


    From the moment Z''s group entered the second floor, James could sense the mood around them change. Sure, the world boss fight had required them to be serious for a moment, but still on the first floor they had been at ease, relaxed. Now that they were on the second floor though, the raid had begun. Of course, even if they were being more serious, gamers were still gamers.


    "Hey Gno-more, can you go scout out that burned out truck?" Troll''d was chuckling as he pointed his long bony finger towards a rusted truck, buried in waist high grass. Of course, the gnome, and the dwarf, couldn''t see past the tall grass.


    "You know I''m at the perfect height to make Olivia sad, right?" The gnome assassin grinned as the cleric and ranger''s faces flashed with confusion for a brief moment.


    "She means she''s gonna hit ya where it hurts." Manly chuckled as he socked Troll''d in the gut, just above the waist, making the Troll gasp. "A little lower than here."


    The rest of the party started chuckling, and James saw Z and the Knight''s grinning as well, though their eyes were also scanning the wasteland, taking note of possible threats.


    According to Z, his game plan was to enter the abandoned city, search for B.L.U., and once the miniboss was taken down, move on to the Terminus. He even had a set formation planned out for his party, to keep them protected from roaming Velocity raptor packs, and Spy''s. The raid party was also going to dispatch any threats they saw near the city, that could potentially roam inside of its limits, aka triceracogs, and steamosaurusus.


    A solid plan, really, and with 10 players, all above level 20, it was bound to work. Of course, the only flaw in the plan, was that James, aka the dungeon, knew the plan. That meant, he had changed up a few things.


    "Is that movement?" Z''s fist raised up as his elven eyes scanned the expanse of overgrown grass. Sure enough, it seemed like some of the stalks of grass were moving in the windless wasteland. Definitely not a good sign. Of course, even if Z hadn''t spotted the grass, the growling honey badger at his side noticed something was up.


    "Do you think it''s a new mob?" Elm was glancing in the general direction of the moving stalks, trying to discern what the disturbance could possibly be. Even though they could notice the grass moving, the only way to see what was actually within it, would be to get right up on it. That was the danger of the savannah like grass, the perfect grass for a predator hunting its prey. And right now, Z''s group was the prey.


    "We haven''t seen a floor develop a brand-new mob since its start, just upgrade them." Z''s bow as drawn, and his party was taking up a formation. Oak, Manly, and Skar were grouped up, staring into the grass, preparing to tank whatever enemy may be emerging. Gno-more stood still, daggers drawn, and the assassin''s form began to slightly fade away. A passive cloaking ability assassins had if they remained stationary for a few seconds. Their next attack out of stealth within 5 seconds would do guaranteed critical damage.


    "Well, we need to be careful. This dungeon has definitely thrown quite a few surprises at us since we started. And if good ''ol Clucky Chucky was any indicator, the dungeon has changed a lot since our last dive.


    "Clucky Chucky?" James shook his head. As cool as Z was, that was a terrible play on the World Boss''s name. The pun gods had to be shaking their heads in shame for Z and his party. If not, well the entire chat was.


    "Whatever it is-" Faust started to speak but was cut off as a trio of grenades came flying at the group. A moment later, another trio of grenades launched out, from another patch of grass about 10 meters away from the first. Then, as if on que, four more sets of three grenades launched towards Z''s group.


    "Get to the city!" Z called out as grenades began raining down upon the group. James watched, grinning, as the party moved towards the city. There was movement in the grass as figures raced to keep up with the party, lobbing grenades as they went. These were just one of the new surprises for Z''s group. These were Philoso-raptors.


    As the raid party made its way into the city, James pulled up the information on his new mob for the stream''s chat, giving them a brief look at what this new evolution was, and what had just happened. Because, while the adventurers had managed to make it to the city, their health bars all showed a decent chunk of health removed. And by decent, most, other than the tank, had lost almost 50% of their hp in the barrage.


    Philoso-Raptor (7) lvl 19


    Velocity Raptor subspecies


    Type: Clockwork Raptor,


    HP: 202* (101+101)


    MP: 202* (101+101)


    Atk: 202* (101+101)


    Def: 82* (41+41)


    Unique Traits


    Steam Powered Pack: Velocity raptors gain 100% increase to their stats as long as they are in a pack of 3 or more.


    ?D/?T: Velocity Raptors have 125% increased movement and attack speed while above 50% health.


    Knowledge Bombs- Philoso-raptors launch multiple grenades (up to 3) at their target, dealing 50 + lvl damage per grenade in a 1-yard radius, and 20 + lvl damage in a 3 yard radius. Ignores 10% of defense, uses 20 mp per grenade.


    Spect-acular aiming- Philoso-raptors gain enhanced accuracy through the use of a modified spectacle, which allows them to see thermal signatures. Allows them to target enemies without needing a clear line of sight.


    Unique Passive


    Philososuar- The boss on this floor has gained enhanced intelligence, and through SCIENCE, has spread this increased knowledge and cognitive ability to its minions. This dinosaur has been changed by this upgrade, increasing both its intelligence, and capabilities.


    Upgrades monster from Velocity Raptor to Philoso-Raptor.


    Philoso-Raptors retain all Velocity Raptor skills


    Philoso-Raptors gain access to the Philoso-dino skill tree


    Know Thy Enemy-Philosoraptors will stalk any targets they identify with their thermal imaging at a distance of 100 meters. Upon locating any enemy, the pack will summon additional packs, waiting for the perfect chance to strike


    Alright, maybe his Philoso-raptors were a little unfair. The moment James had begun looking over the philoso-dino options for his mobs, he couldn''t resist. Of course, he knew better than to turn all of his velocity raptors into Philoso-raptors. He wanted instead a nice mix of close range and distance attacks, as it would better allow his mobs to engage adventurers. He also, knew he needed to enhance his pack sizes, so that simply defeating a single unit wouldn''t negate their buff.


    The end results, therefore, was James spending his extra mob points to increase the size of his raptor packs. As a Tier 2 Rank 5 dungeon, James had a total of 480 mob points for his second floor. When he had initially created the floor, he had used all 400 points, and created 7 velocity raptor packs of three apiece.


    Now, normally he hadn''t planned on upping the mob count until after the boss was defeated. But with the raid party coming, he couldn''t resist. He didn''t want this floor to be a walk in the park for them, he wanted the veteran players to feel a challenge, because he knew, as a gamer, that is what he would want too. He also just secretly wanted some easy experience.


    So, with his 80 points, James had first added a fourth raptor to each pack. That cost him 49 points and left him with 31 points for additional mobs. At first, James had wanted to just make another pack of raptors, which would give him 8 raptor packs of 4 raptors a piece and leave him with 3 points. However, James felt that would first be a bit unimaginative, and second, he didn''t like having left over points.


    In the end, James had gone and added another Spy into his main city, a Steamer that could roam, and two more Repairers, for the total cost of 31 points. His second floor was now utilizing all 480 points, and James couldn''t be more pleased. His floor consisted of, in total, of 12 archeao-repairers, 28 velocity/philoso-rapotrs, 6 triceracogs, 6 Steamosaurus, 5 break-i-asarus, and 6 Spy-nosaurus. His raptor packs consisted of 2 velocity raptors and 2 Philoso-raptors, giving each pack an even spread.


    As such, when the raid party had been on their way into town, they had been ambushed by three raptor packs, of the seven that roamed the floor. The velocity raptors had stayed close, resisting the urge to launch themselves at the adventurers, while the Philoso-raptors had launched their barrage. With the pack buff and the splash damage, they had managed to chew through a good bit of Z''s party''s hp without even being spotted. They were cold, calculating, and extremely efficient. Honestly, now that James thought about it, they may be a little too OP for right now. But he couldn''t change the floor while Z''s group was in it, so he just decided to sit back and enjoy the show.

 75 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75


    "Guys, I found a-" was all James, and the party, and the core chat, heard before a sudden gurgling splash and scream, followed by silence. Well, not exactly silence, there was running and cursing from the raid party, and a loud dinging notification on James''s screen showing he had just received another achievement.


    "What the hell?" James mumbled as he pulled up the achievement. He hadn''t been watching the party as intently as he should have, as they were currently making their way through the abandoned city, killing off the groups of mobs they found. Currently, the honey badger was tracking down a Spy, which James had been looking over, that was hiding alongside an alleyway. He had also zoomed out a bit, in order to give the core chat a better view of the city, and the mobs roaming around within it. Ideally, everyone was looking forward to the B.L.U. versus raid party fight, and James had been curious how close the group was to stumbling across the boss.


    Of course, that meant he hadn''t been watching the whole party, and as a result, he must have missed something. That something, was easily explained when he opened the achievement.


    Achievement Unlocked ¨C Caught Em With Their Pants Down ¨C Successfully kill an adventurer with a toilet mimic. Reward- 2,000 xp, 500 resources, 1 Dungeon Token


    "You didn''t." Rue was staring at James, mouth agape. She teetered on the verge of confusion and laughter, and James couldn''t help but let out a dark laugh. Oh yes, he had. Originally, he had planned on putting X-Ray''s ''shrine'' on the third floor as a giant toilet, surrounded by toilet mimics, because screw him. However, after the developer''s likely intervention that saved James an extra bit of pummeling, he had decided against it.


    Of course, that didn''t mean he changed his mind about using the toilet mimics. Oh no, those were still prime for the using, and his second floor was a great place to install some, choice plumbing. It was a post-apocalyptic city, of course it would make sense for there to be abandoned, decrepit toilets in some of the buildings. As such, James had spent some resources to place about a dozen or so toilets throughout the city in some of the buildings. Then, he had activated his special mob types, selected his glorious toilet mimics, and placed them in a single one. Thanks to their ability, Mischievous Mimic, the toilet mimic he spawned was randomly swapping places with other toilets.


    Because of this, when Gno-more had gone searching the houses, away from the party, as rogues tend to do, the poor adventurer had stumbled upon his brand new toilet mimic in all of its porcelain glory. And, as it seemed the mimics on the floor were prone to do, it was much higher level than the ordinary mob, meaning it made a quick, tasty snack, of the poor assassin.


    "I mean, did you really think I wouldn''t?" James waved his tentacles in the air in a shrug and turned back to chat. Yup, once again, his dungeon''s antics were causing quite the stir.


    AllMightyHammer- Did that, did he just get an achievement involving a toilet mimic?


    Lllllllaaaammmmmaaaa- That''s just shitty, why''d it have to be the rogue?


    Blaster2000- Dude, it''s always the rogue. Freaking never trust one to stick with the party


    ZyneKill3r- Forget that man, TOILET MIMIC, wtf????!!!!!


    TyrHarder- Legit, we want the replay


    NoobSlayer42- Yeah, why wasn''t Glyax watching the freaking toilet? Screw the Raptor, I wanna see someone get eaten by a toilet


    QQMOOORREE- Screw all of that, I want Glyax''s dungeon. How''s he get all this cool shit? My flame mobs seem boring now, fml.


    Yup, James had originally started to gain some of his fame from his mimic shenanigans, and it seemed that trend was going to continue. Of course, he fully intended to replay this footage later on, so that he could capture the sweet moment Gno-More got flushed. Thanks to the rogue''s death, and the achievement, James had just netted a nice 4700 xp. Not bad for a single death. It also meant the party would need to stick around for a few minutes, until the assassin was revived. At least it was the rogue that died, since the gnome probably had the best chance of making it all the way back to the town without being picked off by the raptor packs still roaming around in the grass. Some had entered the city, but a few, were still waiting patiently for more prey.


    "What the hell is going-" Skar''s cry brought James from his musings back to the house where Gno-more had been slain. Sure enough, a glowing orb was sitting just in front of an innocent looking, broken down toilet. Inside of the room, the other 9 party members, slightly cramped in the room, stared, dumbstruck. The honey badger at Z''s side was growling something fierce at the toilet.


    "Did Gno-More shit himself to death?" Troll''d chuckled for a moment at his joke, before being elbowed by Olivia. The rest of the group took in the room, all eyes returning to look at the toilet.


    "I think." Z started to draw back his bow, before stopping, staring at the toilet, lost in thought. "I think that toilet might be a mimic." Hearing it out loud just made the whole situation even more ridiculous. Here they were, a raid party, heading to fight a giant steampunk T-rex, and yet they were staring, dumbfounded, at a toilet.


    "Well, there is always the test." Oak was grinning again, as he opened his mouth once more. That grin, James had come to find, usually meant the warrior was about to do something the rest of the party would view as stupid. "TELL ME WHY!" There was silence from the entire room for a moment, before.


    "Ain''t nothin but a heartache." Med Ic''s mumbled singsong came out, causing the rest of Z''s party to start singing along to a song James had never heard. Neither had Skar''s party it seemed, as they were staring at Z''s group like they had lost their mind. After a few moments of terrible singing, Manly the dwarf cleared his throat, stepping closer to Gno-More''s orb, axes raised.


    "I''m sure your terrible singing is going to debuff it, but I figure my axes will do a better job killin'' it" He started to take another step forward, readying himself, before Gno-More''s voice piped up from the orb.


    "Don''t do it." The rogue-orb shouted. "Thing is freaking level 38. It one shot me." The rogue''s statement caused everyone to stiffen, and Manly, in a very unmanly fashion, stumbled backwards, away from the porcelain predator. It was, of course, true. James had noticed mimics seemed to be double the level of the mobs on a floor. Since his current mobs were level 19, the mimic was, in fact, level 38. That also meant when he hit Tier 3, the mimic on his second floor would be level 50, while his boss would only be level 35. Mimics, it seemed, would continue to be extremely rare, deadly monsters, that players would have to come back for once they were higher leveled. It also meant James would continue to be gaining experience for a long time from the crafty shapeshifters.


    "Er," Z cleared his throat, glancing around at the party. "How about we go back to hunting down B.L.U., while Gno-More respawns?" The rest of the raid party nodded and began heading out the door. As they exited, Z stayed behind for a moment, staring down at the poor rogue''s orb.


    "How about next time, you don''t split the party." His voice was stern, his humor gone. "We are here with a purpose. After the Terminus is dead, you can explore all you want. Till then, stick with the group, and stick to the plan." Z turned to leave, pausing only once to glance over his shoulder. "Your party has the chance to become great, don''t hold them back because of selfish desire."


    With that, the elven ranger stepped out the building, rejoining the raid party, which would remain short for a few more minutes until Gno-More respawned. For a brief second, James had seen a different side of Z, the side that revealed just how Z and his group had gotten where they were in DCO. Sure, they made poor jokes, they laughed, they goofed off, but when it came down to it, they all relied on each other, which allowed them to work together to overcome any and all obstacle. There was no room in Z''s party for selfish players. Making Z, and the Knight''s, the exact opposite of X-Ray. James liked the ranger even more now.

 76 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76


    Once Gno-more was able to catch back up to the group, which to James, Rue, and the streams humor, took the assassin three tries, the rest of the raid went rather smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it could in a post-apocalyptic city that seemed to have countless falling dangers, more so than there had been before. And the occasional explosive trap that may have seemed like innocent gas leaks or electrical outages. James had obviously prepared for this. Not to wipe the party, but to whittle them down a little. It was only fair if they were going to be taking on the Terminus with a raid party, after all.


    As such, by the time B.L.U was taken down, without dropping another Chainsword, to Skar''s dismay, the party was showing some signs of wear and tear. The Knights, of course, were playing it cool, but James could sense the air around them was tense. They could tell the floor had gotten much more difficult, and they were uneasy about it. As the raid leader, Z was surely feeling the weight of the party''s success on his shoulder, though the elven ranger showed it little. James, after having watched this particular adventurer for two weeks'' worth of immersion, could notice it though. His smile didn''t quite reach as high as it normally did, and his eyes seemed more focused, more intent, than normal.


    "Man, what''s the drop rate on that thing?" Skar was kicking B.L.U.''s tail, angrily staring down at it. The Chainsword was one of B.L.U.''s rarest drops, the only drop rarer being a pet version of B.L.U. So, it was easy to point out that Oak had gotten extremely lucky getting his sword. And, it also meant Skar''s party was going to have a lot more farming to do if they wanted that very same weapon, because James doubted Oak would part with it. Between Oak''s shield and Chainsword, the tank was wearing probably the most expensive set of gear out of any player in the game so far. Which was only fitting since he was also one of the few off tanks that was successful.


    "You''ll get one eventually, I''m sure." Oak was glancing over his gear, as the party waited for everyone''s health to respawn. They had run into B.L.U. near the makeshift coliseum''s entrance, and following the fight, had made the decision to do a quick rest, and completely heal up. Z had even broken out a campfire and was hard at work cooking up some dicken meat for the team, to give them the additional buffs for the Terminus fight.


    "Probably when it''s obsolete." Troll''d grinned at Skar, and the Death Knight shot the troll a scowl. When James had said everyone seemed worn, he meant everyone but Troll''d. That freaking hunter seemed unfazed by anything, and James was starting to wonder just how dense he was. Either that, or he really was just a giant troll. Knowing gamers, James guessed it could be the second part.


    "Keep that up and I might forget to tank for you. Then we can see who is obsolete." Skar''s comment made the troll wince, and everyone let out a chuckle. Gamers, especially those who raided in MMOs, were resilient. Give them a chance to catch their breath and rest up before a boss, and they could usually reset themselves. That was exactly what the group was doing now. James was growing impatient.


    "Come on already." James muttered as he watched the party. Scanning over their information, he could see they were all back to full health, and Z was handing out the dicken meat to everyone. As they ate the tasty looking meal, James realized part of his frustration was actually jealousy. The meal looked delicious, and yet he was stuck unable to taste it. He would have to look into remedying that. If he could grow tentacle, maybe he could grow a mouth later¡­.


    "So eager to watch the Terminus fall?" Speaking of jealous¡­ Rue was munching on more popcorn, a twinkle in her eyes as she glanced from James to the party.


    "I''m just excited for the fight." James responded back, diverting his eye from the popcorn. He was unusually hungry this immersion session, and if he had to guess, it was in part due to his inability to eat much during the day. People always warned not to go to bed hungry, as it often led to some ridiculous gorging sessions while immersed. Mainly because when you were immersed, there were still some functions that could override the immersion experience. One of those, was hunger. A body''s primeval need for food simply could grow too overpowering, and as such, you would spend your entire time immersed feeling hungry. In James''s case, these hunger pangs that were starting, were not a good sign. It was only a matter of time before he became hangry.


    "Liar." Rue chuckled and tossed a piece of popcorn at him, which bounced off his glowing form and simply disappeared. "You''re starving."


    "And? It''s not like we can do anything about that." James grumbled, turning back towards the party. They were finally standing, checking over their gear, and going over Z''s battle plan once more. It was a pretty simple plan, aided by the fact that Z and his team had already fought the Terminus before. Because of that, they felt confident in its attack patterns. Of course, they didn''t know about the Terminus''s latest upgrade.


    "Maybe not right now¡­" Rue trailed off deep into thought, as James stared at her. For a long moment, she said nothing, and only seemed to open and close her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but uncertain about it. After another minute, she shook her head, and turned back on her mischievous smile. "Never mind.


    Oh great, she was back to being not helpful. Durned pixie.


    "You''re so weird." James muttered back to her, though he was watching the raid party with growing excitement. They had established their formation, with Oak and Skar in the front, followed by Gno-more and Manly. Behind them, Z, Troll''d and Elm stood with their bows drawn, nocked with the metal arrows James knew came from the second floor. At the rear of the party, Med Ic, Olivia, and Faust stood, looks of determination across their faces.


    Z had assigned each of the healers to one of the tanks, with their task being to keep the tanks alive. The DPS was to fan out and take cover behind the cars, doing their best to hit the Terminus''s weak points, and wear down its health as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Faust was to prepare his strongest lightning spells, and blast the Terminus whenever he had the chance, while avoiding drawing aggro and getting attacked.


    It was a solid plan, and the raid party, all 10 members, plus their menagerie of pets, plus the honey badger, strolled into the Coliseum looking exactly like a conquering party. As they walked in, Oak raised his hand, signaling the party to stop just as the doors closed behind them, locking them into the boss zone. Then, the warrior raised his Chainsword to the sky, in some strange form of salute. For a brief second, everyone looked at him strangely, before the members of the Knight''s all grinned and did a similar salute.


    "We, who are about to die, salute you." And with those words, they lowered their weapons again, their eyes once again focused on the Terminus''s lair, though their faces bore grins, from some sort of inside joke. Skar''s group just looked confused, but they were ready, and once again, they began to take up their positions. Once everyone was situated, Skar and Oak took up places near the Terminus''s lair. The honey badger rushed into the lair, and let out a fearsome, especially given its small stature, growl. That honey badger really didn''t care!


    In response, twin red lights began to glow from deep within, and the very earth trembled as the Terminus rose from its slumber, its eyes focusing on the honey badger.


    "I humbly accept your challenge, good sir." A deep, mechanical voice said from within the lair. "Prepare to die."

 77 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77


    "Did the boss just talk?" Was everyone''s immediate question, as the Terminus began moving slowly towards the exit form his lair. The honey badger, to the little creature''s credit, continued to hold its ground, growling at the monstrous boss.


    "I think the upgrade may have downplayed just how smart the boss would become." James whispered, watching, waiting, to see how the fight would go. Obviously talking bosses was not a new thing in MMOs. Many final bosses in raids even had monologues which actually helped further the storyline. Heck, even Old Man Jenkins seemed to form slight words and phrases when people were fighting him.


    However, the last thing James, and likely anyone else, expected, was for the Terminus, a monstrous mass of steel, leather, gears, and death, to start talking. What''s more, the fact he spoke like a villain from a Sherlock Holmes film was just a bit too much.


    Rue flashed James a smirk. "You don''t say." The pixie waived her hand, making her popcorn disappear, only to be replaced with a box of sour gummy worms. She took one out and chewed on it blissfully, making a wave of hunger wash through James. Damned Pixie.


    "The moment you activated that skill on the Terminus, it unlocked a specially generated AI for the boss monster. While all of your mobs generally have basic programming coded into them with simple AI, boss monsters have the opportunity to evolve even more. Old Man Jenkins has been slowly evolving, and with the latest upgrades in your research levels, should have reached a level of sentience which will open up new tiers of activities on the first floor."


    She grabbed another gummy worm, savoring the moment of explanation as James kept darting his attention from her to the Terminus. The T-Rex was almost to the end of the tunnel, while the entire raid party was glancing around nervously. They had heard the voice from within and were now feeling a little less confident. Especially because the Terminus was taking his sweet time leaving his lair, whereas he normally came charging out.


    "As for the Terminus, by force upgrading him, you fully unlocked his AI, and he is now at his peak intellectual capability." Big words for the pixie. For a second James was wondering if he had upgraded her intellectual capability. "So now, you literally have a boss that is a proper sir." She shoved a few more gummy worms in her mouth as she finished. Nope, it was definitely still his normal Rue.


    "Alright, well, what exactly does that mean for the fight¡­" James trailed off as he heard multiple thunks erupt from within the lair. The Terminus was a few feet away from the honey badger, and had paused, choosing instead to raise his little arms, and launch a trio of his grenades from one arm.


    The sudden grenades flying from within the layer definitely caught the adventurer''s by surprise, and James couldn''t help but chuckle as the tanks, and melee members let out slight curses and back-peddled away from the projectiles. Z had likely informed Skar''s group of the AOE range on those specific weapons, and of the damage they could inflict even at maximum range.


    At the same time though, James watched the red eyes of the Terminus flash, and it was almost as if there was a deep intelligence in the crimson light. A deep, evil, cunning mind. Without warning, the Terminus shot its head forward, clamping down completely on the poor honey badger before the growling mammal even had time to react. As if on que, the Terminus''s inner core seemed to roar to life, and James could tell its Unique Trait, Terminal Fire, had been activated along with Big Head.


    Big head was going to keep the honey badger out of the fight for 20 seconds and take away a quarter of its health bar during the entire time. At the same time, by activating Terminal Fire, an additional .5% of the honey badger''s current HP was going to be chunked every second. It was a brutal combination, which was going to result in even faster HP drain of the poor, proud creature. It also went to show the Terminus was definitely on a whole new playing field, and that maybe, just maybe, James had made this a little too difficult.


    But, then again, was he really to blame? He was just like the players in the aspect of he was still learning, and how could he have predicted the outcome of these new upgrades? This was just one of those moments in a game where the newest skills and equipment just happened to work together a little better than planned. James just hoped it wouldn''t keep the Knight''s away for too long, if, no when, they party wiped. Because as James watched the Terminus sit there lazily devouring the honey badger, he was certain the Terminus was going to win.


    "This is going to be a massacre." James whispered as he, and chat, waited. There was actually a timer someone had placed into the Core Chat for his livestream, counting down both the CD on the Terminus''s right arm grenade launcher, as well as how long the honey badger was trapped in Big Head for. The first timer was labeled More Cowbell: 19s, and the second was Om Nom Nomasaur: 8s. On top of those¡­witty chat titles, there were now active bets going on in the chatroom, with the Dungeon Cores actually setting up V coin bets with each other. While dungeon core players couldn''t interact with each other''s instances, nothing said they couldn''t personally send each other V-coins through their accounts. Currently, it seemed most of the bets were for who would die first in the fight, if they would defeat the Terminus, and how long before the party wiped. Skimming the string of bets, James could tell they were all on the same page, the raid was doomed.


    "It could always be worse." Rue, the ever-helpful pixie, grinned as she ate another of her sour treats. James was certain she was purposefully eating them slowly when she spoke to him, knowing he was hungry. He could feel that hangry sensation rise within him, before he pushed it down a split second later.


    "Yeah, and how could it be worse?" His irritation came out in his voice, yet all that seemed to do was encourage the pixie, whose smirk grew even wider.


    Rue raised two fingers, preparing to count them down. "Well, first, you could have upgraded the Terminus with the Godzilla??!! trait, which would have allowed him to really do some massive damage to the tanks." She lowered a finger. That was a good point, another long-range attack, which the intelligent boss could do from within his lair, seemed even more dangerous now.


    "And the second way?"


    "The boss could be purposefully stalling if he wanted, to allow for the 10-minute cool-down on the mini boss to finish."


    James''s entire body went cold as the pixie''s smirk grew to fully encompass her face. B.L.U. could respawn? As if reading his mind, the pixie flicked her wrist, pulling up a new timer. A timer only he and she could see.


    Mini Boss *B.L.U.* - 1 of 2 remaining (1spawn per 5 players)


    Respawn- 3m 28s


    Of course, that made sense. Just like the mobs could respawn, James didn''t see why the mini boss couldn''t respawn. After all, unlike the boss mob, players didn''t get a time limit to advance to a new floor or leave the dungeon when they killed the mini boss, which meant it could be killed multiple times by the same party. And, while mobs could respawn once per player in an instance, the once per 5 players in an instance made sense as well. As seemed to be the norm, a 5-player dungeon party was ideal, so the developers figured the majority of players would be in 5-man parties for the floor. It wouldn''t be right then, to just have the mini-boss spawn once, eliminating the opportunities of later parties in the same instance to defeat the mini-boss. What concerned James, was if what Rue mentioned was true, his boss might be aware of that timeline as well. And if the Ultimate Cognivore was released again, it was over for the raid party. And probably for James''s stream. No one wanted to sit here and watch a boss turtle for 3 1/2 minutes just to one shot the party.


    James really needed the raid to do something, and fast. If they had any hope of winning, and if James had any hope of keeping his streams popular, they needed to act.


    As if Z could sense his wishes, the elven ranger raised his bow, one of his second-floor arrows nocked. "Alright boys. The moment he releases Badgy, you all know what to do." He drew back his arrow, and the rest of the ranged DPS all prepared their own attacks. Just as Om Nom Nomasaur hit 0, and the Terminus''s mouth opened wide to release the trapped, and pissed off honey badger, the entire fight changed.

 78 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78


    Z''s arrow was the first to smash against the Terminus, followed almost instantly by a glowing arrow from Elm, a barrage of arrows from Troll''d, and a single lightning bolt from Faust. The attacks smashed against the Terminus''s armor plating, and for a second the flash of light fully illuminated the monstrous boss within his lair. In that second, as the beast opened its mouth, James and Rue could see the honey badger, pissed off beyond belief, leap not away from the boss, but back onto it, clinging tightly to the monster''s maw, trying to bite at its armor plating near its throat.


    "That badger really doesn''t give a damn." Rue''s comment made James chuckle, as he watched the little animal go to town on the Terminus. Curious, James pulled up the boss''s information.


    Tier 2 Boss Mob


    Steampunk Dino King ¨C Terminus Rex


    Lvl 29


    HP- 2417


    MP-1400


    ATK- 350


    DEF- 280


    King of All- Emits a roar every time it loses 20% of its HP. This roar has the chance to stun adventurers for 10 seconds, and cause a debuff that decreases adventurer stats by 15%


    Big Head - Utilizes its large mouth to completely consume an adventurer, trapping the adventurer in its mouth for 20 seconds, and dealing 25% of their health in damage. 1min CD


    Little Arms - Utilizes cannons on its arms to launch small grenades in bursts of three. Grenades will detonate on contact with adventurers, or after 10 seconds. Grenades will deal 150 damage in a 5-yard radius, and 50 damage in a 15-yard radius. Damage from explosions penetrates 20% of armor. 30 second CD per arm after three grenades have been fired


    Unique Traits


    Armor Plating- The Terminus Rex takes 20% less damage from physical attacks. (After Def is applied.)


    Leather Insulation- The Terminus Rex gains leather insulation throughout, decreasing incoming magic damage by 10%.


    Terminal Fire- The Terminus Rex upgrades its inner core, creating a passive aura of intense heat that damages enemies within 3 yards for .5% current hp per second. Additionally, the inner core will detonate five seconds after defeat, dealing 2x Damage as fire damage in a 5 yard radius, and afflicting all players within a 25 yard radius with dino-aids.


    Like a Sir- Someone has given the Terminus a Top Hat, with a brain: While the Terminus is wearing this top hat, it''s intelligence is greatly increased, enabling more complex attack patterns, as well as advanced features during boss fights. It also looks quite proper.


    *Unlocks philoso-dino skill tree for dinosaur related mobs on the same floor as the Terminus.


    James was impressed, actually, as he checked the Terminus''s health. From what he could tell, the group had managed to do almost 400 damage to the boss in that single opening attack. The biggest reason, of course, was the fact that the Terminus still didn''t have much magic resistance. As much as James wanted to give his boss even great magic resist, he had chosen not to. It was, after all, only the second floor. However, as he eyed Faust''s lightning bolt ability, James had to admit, the mage was a tad over powered against his boss.


    Lighting Bolt- 10 x overall level + 3 x Lightning Mage level damage- channel time, 5 seconds. Cost, 20mp. Cooldown, 5 seconds. Magic users in DCO, James had found, didn''t have flat damage applied based on their attack stats. Instead, all of the spells seemed to scale off of the users level. That meant, while a physical class such as a ranger would see constant increases by upgrading their gear, mages would not. At least, not yet. James was certain there would be items that would increase spell damage by percentages, as there always were in games. It also evened things out, in James''s mind. The mages needed new gear to increase their survivability but grew in magic strength mainly by leveling up. This mean their high damage output couldn''t jump as astronomically, as say, a ranger who was wearing gear that completely increased his attack power by 50%. Of course, against a boss with a high physical defense, that increase in attack power did little to help.


    "Right, it seems I may have underestimated the lot of you." The Terminus''s metallic voice pulled James away from his musings, and back to the fight. As the boss spoke, it took a step out of its lair, revealing its entire form to the party assembled in the coliseum, and of course, revealing its many new upgrades.


    The most obvious change was the top hat sitting atop its metallic head. Of course, the hat was made of metal as well, but it was a rich, dark metallic color, making it seem very much like a classic top hat from an old era movie. The other changes included thicker plating around its body, which helped cover the previously available critical gear points that Z and his group had discovered. The least obvious, was the layer of leather that was now underneath the metal plating, which provided the 10% magic resist to his boss. It wasn''t much, but it was all he could really justify adding at this time.


    Oh, and there was the fact that Terminus was now glowing slightly, a deep orange seeming to radiate from within its very core. That was, of course, the radioactive core that James had upgraded his boss with. That passive burn was too nice of a bonus not to pass up, and James couldn''t wait to watch the second part of that ability go off. Of course, the group would need to defeat the boss first.


    "Stick to the plan." Z called out, breaking his tanks out of their stupor as they looked at the boss. It was Skar''s groups first time ever seeing the Terminus, and it was definitely a sight to behold. However, even Oak had been frozen in place, his eyes going over the boss once again, and James was sure the tank was remembering his last unfortunate encounter with the Terminus. Getting eaten was one thing, but what the Perfect Cognivore did to him was just downright dirty.


    "Oh ho ho, you know what they say about plans of mice and men." The boss chuckled deeply as it turned its head towards Z, its eyes narrowing dangerously. It leveled one of its arms towards the archer, and James watched a grenade chamber itself in the weapon.


    Z was moving even as the boss spoke, ducking behind a car, preparing for the attack.


    "They often go awry." As the Terminus finished his saying, a monocle dropped over his left eye from his top hat, and his left arm lifted almost instantly, launching a trio of grenades flying directly into Faust. The mage, mid channel for his magic missile barrage, didn''t even get a chance to dodge. The sudden attack, so completely unexpected, so outside the realm of what should have been a scripted boss mechanic fight, left everyone completely speechless. Faust''s body burst into an orb of light before anyone could even call out.


    "Alright guys." Z called out, peeking around his cover at the boss, who was definitely grinning. "New plan."


    The Terminus let out a chuckled and turned his eyes back down to the group of tanks, who were approaching warily.


    "And what would that be Z?" Skar''s voice held a tinge of doubt in it as the Terminus''s red eyes seemed to glow with amusement. Sure they had done almost 20% of its life in their opening attack. But the Terminus had just eliminated their highest damage dealer in a split second.


    "Survive."

 79 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79


    "Bwahahahaha, I do say, good shot old chap." The Terminus was chuckling evil as he glanced at Z, who had just hit the boss''s monocle with a piercing arrow. The projectile ignored 50% of the Terminus''s base defense and hit for 71 damage. What''s more, it cracked the monocle, which James was certain the Terminus had been using to better target the adventurers.


    Since Z''s newest plan, to survive, was enacted, the raid party had been doing its best to keep the Terminus occupied as the whittled down its life. The Knights, even down one member, were doing admirably. They were veterans of MMOs, they knew how to act without needed to call out their commands. Especially since James figured they didn''t want to give anything away to the Terminus.


    Skar''s group, on the other hand, were a lot less organized, but were aiding in the best ways they could. Because of the difference in coordination, the Terminus seemed to be paying more attention to taking out the higher leveled Knight''s first, though the boss was not missing opportunities to pick away at any member that was foolish enough to leave themselves open to an attack.


    So far, the boss was sitting at a little over 1700 health, and the raid party was down to 8 members. That was because Manly the Dwarf had gotten himself caught in the Terminus''s stun when it dropped below 80%. To his credit, the dwarf had tried his best to survive. The moment he was stunned, the Terminus had swung its mighty tail down at the dwarf, intending to crush the axe duelist in a single blow. However, while manly was stunned, there was still a cooldown the dwarf could activate, and he did.


    The skill, simply called Rage, had a 10 minute cooldown, and only lasted for 30 seconds. During that time, the user''s attack power was doubled, while his defense was halved. However, while rage was active, the user couldn''t be dropped below 1hp, and he gained 5% life steal for all of his attacks. The ability also came with a cleanse. It was the type of cooldown usually saved for either the final burn phase on a boss, or one of those, oh shit moments.


    So, as the tail came crashing down on the poor stunned dwarf, the adventurer realized it was an oh shit moment, and burned his cooldown. His dwarven form instantly became engulfed in glowing red energy, and either unintentionally, or as a part of the skill, the dwarf let out a ferocious roar. Then the angry dwarf rushed towards the Terminus, hacking and slashing away at the metal plating with his twin axes. Even with his attack doubled, the Terminus still had quite a high defense. That meant each axe swing, which took a little over a second for the dwarf to make, was doing a little over 30 damage. Which, 60 damage every 3 seconds, for 30 seconds, would still have equaled nearly 600 damage to the boss, if the boss had been standing still and taking it.


    Instead, Manly got in about 6 hits, before the Boss swung his tail in a wide, rapid sweep, and sent the dwarf flying across the room. By the time manly hit the ground, and began running back towards the Terminus, his rage had failed, and even before he could get healed, a grenade ended his life.


    Of course, Manly''s actions had probably saved the tanks, who both had also been caught in the Terminus''s stun. However, while Manly drew aggro, the healers had been able to use simple cleanse spells to remove the debuff and return the tanks to the fight. Needless to say, it was a war of attrition, and both sides were taking damage.


    "Now I must say, your form is impeccable." The Terminus laughed as he stomped the ground, attempting to send Skar and Oak flying. The tanks stood their ground though, their shields glowing with energy as they pumped up their defenses. The tremor also sent Gno-more scattering backwards away from the boss. The assassin had been attempting to sneak up on the boss, in order to launch a flurry of attacks. The assassin class had the ability to ignore 50% of an enemy''s defense if the strikes were deemed as sneak attacks. However, Gno-more had yet to be able to apply any attacks on the boss, who always seemed aware of when the gnome was near.


    James, and it seemed Z, had figured out why. The monocle, though cracked, still had a flash of data streaming across it, and as James zoomed in on the accessory, he could see the data was providing an overlay map of the area around the boss. It seemed the top hat it was wearing, was also acting as a radar, feeding the information to the boss on enemy locations in real time. So, not only was it aiding in targeting, it was also giving the boss quite the unfair advantage on the battlefield.


    "And yours is sloppy." Z called out, lining up another shot. The arrow flew true, smacking into the boss''s monocle, this time shattering the accessory. The damage however, also dropped the boss below the 60% range, activating his AOE roar. And, Z''s shot had caused him to leave cover, making him vulnerable to the stun this time as well.


    "A fair trade, in my eyes." The Terminus leveled his grenade launcher at the ranger, showing its teeth in an evil grin. "My advantage for yours." The grenades launched in rapid succession, and even though badgy, who had been steadily damaging the boss from its back, did its best to yank the boss''s arm off course, the grenades still found their mark. The damage, one direct impact and two with splash damage, caused Z to burst into a white orb. The boss was now below 60%, but the party was down to 7. And, with Z''s death, Badgy poofed out of existence.


    "Badgy, nooooo." Rue cried out as the honey badger disappeared, and James saw his core chat was mimicking the pixie as well. That little badger had won everyone''s hearts between the last two streams. And, its valiant attempt to save Z''s life merely cemented its place in the memories of all who were watching the fight.


    The Knights, of course, were calling out in angst over Z''s death. With Z down, they had lost another of their DPS, and were now predominantly going to be relying on Elm and his magical arrows to pull down the boss''s life. What''s more, James could still see the mini boss respawn timer, which was now sitting at 2 minutes. The raid had 2 minutes to go, before the Terminus had its ally respawn, and the party wiped. It was like working against a rage timer in a raid, but so much more terrible.


    "Do it now." Z''s disembodied voice called out to the party, and James felt his heart leap in his chest. Of course part of him was looking forward to gaining even more experience from the party. Hell, with the death of Z, Manly, and Faust, James had already earned over 6,000 experience. However, as Z called out, James remembered the contingency plan he had enacted for the party.


    "Order 66, got it." Oak and Skar both exchanged looks and grimaced, before they rushed the Terminus, one on either side of him. By the glow on their bodies, James could tell they were both blowing their cooldowns. Oak''s, as a shielder, increased his defense by 100% for 30 seconds, and reflected 30% of all damage he took back to the abuser. That meant that not only was he reflecting physical damage from the Terminus''s stomps and tail swipes, but he was also reflecting the burn damage.


    Skar, as a Death Knight, had an even more interesting cooldown. His class created an energy field around itself of swirling bones and dark power. The shield was proportionate to his hp, and the more damage he took during the time it was active, would build the shield. As long as his hp did not to drop to 0, when the 30seconds were up, he would regain 50% of all health lost, and deal an additional 50% of true damage to any enemy within 10ft of him.


    James had looked up the reference when Z had mentioned it to him, and knew it was from the Star Wars universe. Order 66 was the contingency order given to turn the clone troopers on the Jedi and eliminate them. Z, in his own witty way, had thought the order and seeming betrayal was an amusing code word for his own contingency plan. In it, his tanks were to blow their cooldowns to buy the healers time to cast their resurrection spells. He viewed it as a betrayal because it pulled the healers off the tanks for the 20 second channel time on the resurrection spells. However, if the tanks could survive the onslaught for 20 seconds, then the healers would be able to return to them and blow their big healing spells, and everything would work out. At least, in theory.


    "Good show chaps." The Terminus started to scan the battlefield, the AI within it suspicious of what was going on. However, before its eyes could focus on the healers, and piece together the game plan, the Terminus let out a roar of anger. Using the destruction of the monocle as a que, Gno-more had rushed back at the boss, using this instance to activate his own cooldown.


    The assassin''s cooldown made two shadowy copies of the gnome, and all three ran atop the boss''s back, until they were near its head. Then, all three, the real and the two doubles, began stabbing frantically into the boss. The shadowy forms each had 1/3rd of the assassins'' attack power, but they did their damage as true damage, completely ignoring defense. Gno-more, meanwhile, was using his piercing daggers to punch through part of the boss''s defense, allowing him to work down the monster''s health as well. On top of that, Gno-more had applied his poison to his weapons, dealing poison stacks with his attacks. Each stack of poison did 5 damage per stack per second with a duration of 10 seconds, and James knew the game allowed for 5 stacks of poison to be applied at any given time. That meant poison alone was going to do 25 damage a second, meaning 250 damage over 10 seconds. Like James had thought earlier, Skar''s group was meant to take down single target foes extremely quickly.


    The DPS burn was doing its work, and with the Terminus occupied on the tanks, unable to shrug the assassin and its shadow doubles off of its back, James could see the fight was turning in the favor of Z and his raid party. However, the DPS was a bit too efficient, and 15 seconds into everyone''s 30 second cooldown burns, the boss hit its next benchmark. As the boss dropped below 1120, it let out another roar. This roar stunned both tanks, sent Gno-more and its doubles flying, and caught Troll''d in the stun as well. Luckily, both the healers where still behind cover, having bunkered down as they prepared their resurrections.


    "At first, you had my interest." The boss shook his massive frame as his eyes narrowed. The cooldown on his grenades had finished, and with a wide sweep of his tail he caught both stunned tanks, and sent them flying into his lair. As both crashed to the ground the Terminus launched all three grenades into the lair, completely wiping both tanks from existence. So what if the damage reflected to the boss, he was beyond caring. The AI was pissed.


    "And now, we have your attention?" Z''s cocky voice called out, and where his orb had been, the ranger was once again standing, his bow raised as Badgy sprang back into existence.


    "Quite right." The Terminus growled, and its massive form began rushing towards Z. Its eyes flared red, and James knew the Terminus had a personal problem with the ranger and his badger. They had, after all, been the ones to break its monocle, and Z was the obvious leader of the group.


    "Nothing personal." The Terminus was almost to Z, who was standing his ground, launching piercing arrow after piercing arrow in the boss. The arrows were doing just under 100 damage per arrow, and with the boss on his final 1/3rd of his life, they were bringing it ever closer to destruction.


    "Same." Z grinned as the Terminus reached the ranger and chomped down, eating the raid leader.


    "It''s just business." Z was laughing smugly within the mouth of the Terminus, the type of laugh that signaled the ranger knew something the boss didn''t.


    "And we are in the business of killing." Faust''s voice seemed to crackle with power, as his eyes glowed white. A massive storm cloud darkened the entire arena.


    "Oh, bloody hell." The Terminus mumbled around Z''s form. "Well done." And then, a massive thunderbolt leapt from the sky, crashing into the boss''s form, sending electricity dancing all along its body. The mage''s cooldown, thunderstorm, had a 10-minute cooldown as well. It completely drained the mage''s MP pool, and did 4x MP consumed damage to a single target, and 1xMP damage to every target within 50feet of the first target. Faust, having just been revived, was at full MP, a whopping 245 when he activated his cooldown. That meant the lightning bolt did 980 damage in an instance. Sure, it wasn''t as much damage as if Faust had been launching lightning bolt after lightning bolt. However, the mage''s cooldown had a 5 second prep time, and then launched the attack instantly. So, when it came to a single target burst spell, that cooldown took the cake. Even with the Terminus''s 10% reduction, the damage was still more than its remaining hp.


    "They did it." Rue''s cry was one of surprise and excitement, and James could already see chat was going to be a nightmare to slog through. The amount of comments, the amount of views and likes and notifications people were saving screenshots and clips from it, was overwhelming. However, James simply turned his head and motioned back to the Terminus''s fallen body, his grin widening. Sure, they had defeated the boss, but as Z stepped out of its maw, as Faust and Med Ic and Olivia all moved closer to the body, likely to loot it, the Terminus''s body suddenly began to glow.


    "What the-" Was all they got off before the body detonated in a bright flash, wiping the members from existence, instantly turning them into floating orbs, even as the coliseum''s doors opened up, signaling the fight had ended.


    "Whelp, at least I get to loot it." A single voice said, moving out of the Terminus''s layer, holding a hand up, a hand covered in blisters. Gno-more had ducked into the lair when the Terminus had fallen, likely checking to see if a loot box would appear where the boss had been sleeping. As such, the assassin had managed to escape the blast, but still seemed to be afflicted by Dino-aids. Sure enough, James could see the assassin''s life was cut in half, and seemed to have a bar blocking it from healing any higher. The assassin''s stats also seemed to be cut in half. You definitely didn''t want to catch dino aids.


    And so the assassin of the group became not only the first to be killed by a toilet mimic, but also the first to catch dino aids, and to loot the Terminus. His reward, some high-level crafting pieces, some gold, and a top hat that looked quite proper.

 80 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80


    "What is this?" James was looking at the achievement screen that flashed up following the Terminus fight. He had been ignoring the screen, watching, along with the stream, to see what Gno-More would do next. The assassin had donned his top hat, grinning mischievously. As James inspected it, he found out why. Apparently, the top hat was a secret part of the boss gear James knew about on the floor. The gear, similar to the demonic farmer set, had various set bonus''s which could be applied based on the number of pieces the wearer had. The top hat, it seemed, had the unique trait to decrease the number of set pieces needed to be worn by one. Therefore, Gno-more was now a farming assassin in a top hat. After that though, Gno-more simply sat down and waited for his countdown timer to remove him from the dungeon, much to everyone''s displeasure. Chat, and James, still wanted to know what was in the World Boss egg.


    The moment Gno-more teleported out, along with the glowing orbs of the somewhat successful raid party, James had once again ended his stream, promising his viewers that he would set up another AMA on the forums shortly. He was certain the latest stream put him at the most popular dungeon core on the server, even though BLANK was still the number one dungeon. Oddly enough, BLANK refused to actually interact with anyone, or share any screenshots, streams, etc from their dungeon. It was actually slowly driving James insane.


    "Maybe it''s a try-hard achievement?" Rue had put away her sour gummy worms and was now playing aimlessly with a lock of hair as she grinned at James. "Or, maybe a consolation prize? ''You almost did it buddy." She let out a mocking laugh.


    "Ha ha, you''re so funny." He replied, shrugging off her comment to turn to the screen. Her sarcasm was on point at least, a sore point for a lot of gamers. Somewhere along in history, everyone started getting awards for literally everything. They even had freaking participation trophies and awards. It lessened the impact of some achievements, since many seemed insignificant, as everyone could and did get them. However, that was the one thing James liked about the MMOs he played. Sure, there were some gimmie achievements, but everything else you actually had to work for, had to accomplish. And that, plus the sweet rewards at the end, made the effort worth it.


    He opened up the achievement, another quip on his tongue, before he paused. Seriously?


    Achievement Unlocked- Plague Inc- Successfully infect a player with a permanent and spreadable(per instance) disease


    Reward- 3000xp, 750 resources, Access to disease menu


    "Ummm." James was at a loss for words. Like, he was totally on board with the extra experience and resources. But what the hell was the disease menu?


    "Oh." Rue went quiet as she scanned over the achievement. James watched her eyes, losing himself for a moment to them as the pixie completely ignored him.


    "Honestly I''d prefer if you stared a little lower." Her eyes shot to him, making him jerk away. "A giant eyeball staring intently into your eyes is just a bit creepy." She grinned at him as she floated away lazily. He did not miss the deliberate way she moved as she drifted away. Not at all.


    "I mean, isn''t a floating orb with an eyeball and tentacles creepy already?" He wiggled his tentacles around for a moment, making her grin and laugh. After a moment, she regained her composure, and turned back to the achievement.


    "So, I''ve got some good news, and some bad news for you."


    "Oh, what''s the good news?" James figured he would just continue to ride the high that was his current mass of experience and resource gains, before letting her down him with the bad news.


    "Good news is, the plague menu is going to let you get a lot more experience, depending on how you use it." That was definitely good news.


    "And, what''s the bad news?"


    "You are now an infectious, diseased, floating eyeball with tentacles." She floated further away from James, laughing all the time. "I don''t know if I can stick around with someone giving out diseases to players."


    James whipped his tentacles towards the pixie, doing his best to snare her. However, the agile tease that she was meant she easily avoided all of his attempts. After a few more minutes, which were honestly needed to further relax and decompress from the raid, James and a chuckling Rue turned back to the achievement screen.


    "Is there actually any bad news?" He asked, his tentacle hovering above the exit option. He had every intention of opening the disease menu next but wanted to make sure he wasn''t missing anything.


    "Eh, not really. The disease menu allows you craft various diseases or viruses that you can release into instances, which may randomly effect players. You can use resources to generate carriers and delivery means for these options and add them into traps. In order to modify and evolve your diseases, you need to meet certain criteria, and spend additional resources on them."


    It seemed pretty straight forward, and James had played games similar to what she was describing in the past. Honestly, it seemed like the makers of DCO had done their fair share of¡­acquisition, when it came to implementing mini games and features into their own game. James had to wonder if any games in existence had escaped DCO''s plans. He had a feeling none were safe.


    "Alright, well now that that-" As James spook he closed the window, only to have another one appear. This one James couldn''t help but grin at. Now, he had an extremely difficult choice to make. Should he keep his fanbase waiting, or push this notification aside until after he completed his AMA. Reluctantly, he decided on the latter. Rule number one of building a following was to deliver one what you promised. And he had promised them an AMA, and as such, he needed to deliver. Sighing, James pushed the Rank Up! window away, and headed to the forums.

 81 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81


    James stared hard at the screen before him, his tentacle hovering over the submit button. As much as he loved the attention he was getting, this part of the process still had him uneasy. If there was anything years of gaming had taught him, forum topics almost always went off topic quickly. And, based upon how his dungeon already seemed to be a massive random joke at times¡­ he was certain his AMA was about to digress rather quickly as well. Oh well. He had promised them an AMA after all. Plus, the sooner he got this out of the way, the sooner he could complete his Rank Up.


    "Is that really the best title you could think of?" Rue was glancing at his forum post, her disappointment evident. "After your hilarious stream name, this, this is the best you can do?" The heavy sigh that followed as she folded her arms drove her point home.


    "Look." James rubbed a tentacle across his orb. She was right, his heart wasn''t in it right now. The excitement of the stream, the epic raid battle, all of that had been energizing. Now though, this AMA almost felt like work, and it was keeping him from things he actually wanted to do. "I''m doing the best I can here."


    The pixie shook her head. "I call bullshit." She waved her hand, and the title of the AMA, Glyax''s Random Dungeon AMA, disappeared.


    "But-"


    "No buts." Her eyes narrowed. "You either do this right, or you let me take over. I''m sure the dungeons would love to have a chat with me." The way she grinned implied she would love having a chat with them too. James''s mind, and jealousy, told him he did not want his pixie interacting on his behalf with all the other dungeon cores. Who knew what trouble she would get the two of them into¡­ or how many dungeon cores would begin pestering him if they thought he was a girl. Especially a flirty girl.


    "Fiiiiinnnneeeee." James selected the now blank title and closed his eye. What would be an appropriate name for his AMA? What would really work for his dungeon? What would work for him?


    [Insert Randomly Generated Witty Title Here] AMA- Now with Glyax


    "Better?" It wasn''t much better in James''s eye, but it was really the best he could think of right now. Even he needed a mental break every now and then. Besides, it definitely fit with a meme that floated around on the internet still. And, considering his dungeon was literally randomly generated¡­


    "Not really, but I''ll let it pass." Rue floated over to the publish button and pushed it. The moment she did, the post appeared on the forum, and almost instantly, questions began flowing in. Just how many people had been waiting for this post? How many people¡­


    */TM - First


    */Stormy - First


    */ExodiaOP- First


    **/ExodiaOP- Damnit


    */FelWeatherFriend- Where did your T-Rex get that Top Hat?


    */HBirdy- Does Charles The Dicken have any more works, er, skills, planned?


    */SMugledPuggle- What is Olivia''s number? She''s hot!


    */Dimitri69 - Can you milk a mad cow?- and¡­. There we go. There''s the trolling.


    The list continued on faster than James could keep up, and so he decided, for the next hour, he would diligently do his best to answer as many of the questions as he could. Then, when that hour was up, he would let them continue amongst themselves, while he got back to work. Some of the other cores seemed to be growing relaxed, but James still had a mission, he wanted to get the top spot. But first¡­work.


    "Let''s see¡­" he knew he didn''t need to respond to every topic, but there were ones he felt would be wrong not to, and some that just seemed like fun to respond to.


    */FelWeatherFriend- Where did your T-Rex get that Top Hat?


    **/Glyax- There was an upgrade listed for the Terminus titled Like A Sir. It increased his intelligence, and apparently gave him a top hat. It is also the reason why I have Philosoraptors now, as well as their monocle upgrades.


    ***/FelWeatherFriend- Are there any other possible accessory related upgrades for your dinos?


    ****/Glyax- A couple. Though a few I don''t quite get. There is an upgrade for my Break-i-asarus called Tree Stars, which appears to give it a ranged attack¡­.but I''m not sure how I feel about that.


    *****/Shadoweaver- You need to unlock those Mother f***ng tree stars Gly, trust me.


    "And, onto the next one." James closed out of that thread, as it then began devolving into pictures of a dinosaur eating a leaf that did look like a star, and various other memes and comments. He didn''t have time for that. He briefly informed HBirdy that he wasn''t quite sure how to upgrade his world boss just yet, but would keep him informed, and at the same time, explained to BMAN, that world bosses unlocked when his Event, Instance, and Boss research levels all hit 5. He had been slightly hesitant to reveal his research levels to the other dungeon cores, but no one seemed to notice his seemed higher than should be possible at the moment.


    */Some BS Deity - Have you had tea with Sir Rexington Yet?


    "Is¡­is that even possible?" James motioned towards the question and watched as Rue read it over. After a pause, the pixie, to his surprise, shook her head yes.


    "Mhmm. Because of the level of AI that exists within the Terminus, you and I can interact with him in your original dungeon layout. Same with your Demonic Farmer once his intelligence peaks and his AI becomes fully sentient. As well as the other future bosses, and even some NPCs, as you develop. The game developers wanted to establish a form of social interaction outside of just the core/pixie trope or forum chats, for all dungeon cores. Something about helping maintain the sanity of the core players and making them not feel isolated within the game.


    Huh. James quickly responded, adding a new task to his ever-growing mental checklist of things to do.


    **/Glyax- We have not yet, as it seems he had a prior engagement with a raid party. We will plan one later.


    ***/Some BS Deity- Don''t forget the Hatter when you do!

 82 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82


    James loved ranking up. Honestly, it was probably one of his favorite parts of the game, other than, of course, watching adventurers get eaten by mimics. That just never got old.


    As was normal for rank ups, James watched as his tier 2 mobs, including the bosses, all leveled up. As a Tier 2 Rank 6 dungeon, his basic mobs on his second floor were now level 20, B.L.U. was level 25, and the Terminus had reached level 30. Given the fact Z''s team was only level 24, it was still going to be a while before the adventurers were easily farming his second floor. Even longer if James left the second floor as it was, but he felt that just wouldn''t be right.


    For this reason alone, James resisted the urge to upgrade all of his tier 2 mobs with the skill points that unlocked for each of them. Sure, it would mean more death and destruction, but James needed adventurers to venture into the second floor, and at least feel like they had a chance. Otherwise, they would all just stick to the first floor and grind out as much as they could, which would severely limit the amount of experience James was gaining. And that just wouldn''t do. He wanted to hit Tier 3 this immersion, and he knew it was possible.


    Along with resisting the urge to upgrade his mobs, James looked at the primary version of his second floor and began tweaking it once more. The first thing he did, was decrease the amount of Philosoraptors roaming around the map. He didn''t completely eliminate them, but he decreased the packs to a 3 and 1 split, so three velocity raptors and 1 Philosoraptors per pack.


    James also moved the packs around a bit for their starting points. Of course, they would continue to have the ability to roam, as they seemed to really enjoy doing, but they would at least start further away from the other packs, meaning less likelihoods of the barrages like what the raid party faced.


    Finally, when it came to his second floor, James used his additional 20 points to add in another two breakers. These mobs proved as good training enemies for the parties, in James''s opinion, as they were not only massive and tough to damage, but there was always the opportunity for a roaming raptor pack to join in the fight as well. Add in the archeao-repairers that would do fly by healing, and adventurers would need to work on their teamwork and tactics to bring these mobs down. Of course, since they were the highest cost basic mob on the floor, the experience reward would help players attempt to level faster and give James a potential larger experience reward if or when they fell.


    And, even with the nerfs to his floor, he was sure he would still average one or two deaths from each party that stepped foot on his second floor. Decent odds in his mind, and also odds that weren''t so overwhelming players would outright avoid his floor. He found himself grinning with anticipation as he rubbed his tentacles together. He saved his changes and closed out of the optimization tools for his second floor.


    With his mobs taken care of for his second floor, the next task with his rank up was to take a quick note of all his gains.


    Glyax Tier 2 Rank 6 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    210,060 xp


    9,940 xp to next rank


    89,940 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 1649 of 2900


    Currency: 84 copper 19 silver 5 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 9


    He did a double take as he took in how much experience he had actually gained from the party wipe. Because Skar''s party members hadn''t managed to level up before the Terminus fight, James netted all of the extra experience from the achievements they had been gaining. He also netted the experience the survivors had received from defeating the terminus before they died to the Terminal Core. Unlucky for them, considering those who were dead when the Terminus had fallen got to keep the experience they gained from the fight, as well as the achievement experience, they likely received. James couldn''t help but feel sorry for Z and the Knights, if at least just a little. Talk about bad luck. He had a hard time believing Z would be entertained by that turn of events. Oh well.


    With his experience gain, and seeing he was already over halfway towards his next Rank, James couldn''t help but feel giddy. He didn''t care how good Blank was, there was no way-


    Incoming PM Request from BLANK


    A window popped up in from of James, pulling him from his victorious mullings. Confused, he glanced at Rue, who it seemed was playing...some sort of card game against a holographic projection of the Terminus? For a second the two of the AI just stared at James, before the Terminus tipped his hat, somehow, towards James, and flickered away.


    "Don''t judge me." Rue said haughtily, before she turned her attention to the notification in front of James. He hadn''t been under the impression dungeon cores could send and receive private messages while logged in. Even more concerning, why would Blank be messaging him? He had never seen a single post from the mysterious top dungeon.


    "What do you think Blank wants?" The pixie shrugged her shoulders at his question and motioned towards the accept button.


    "Won''t find out till you open it."


    "You don''t say." James sighed and moved his tentacle towards the option. For some reason, a sense of dread filled him as he accepted the message. The dread was confirmed as he read through the message. Oh no.

 83 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83


    From: BLANK


    Subject: Beginning of the End


    Glyax. First, BLANK would like to congratulate you on a truly spectacular boss fight. Your streams have been extremely entertaining, and it is obvious you have been putting a lot of work into your dungeon. BLANK can appreciate, and respect that. However, while your hard work has been evident, and you have been pushing yourself to keep up, there are a few things that¡­don''t quite add up.


    The lesser of the two evils is probably the rate at which you have been¡­discovering new things. Obviously, DCO is full of secrets and opportunities, however you seem to be stumbling across them at an impressive, almost unnatural rate. This, BLANK can only deduce, is in part due to either outside assistance, or the possibility of insider help. However, because you share this information readily on the forums and through your streams, the knowledge you are gaining from unfair or questionable means, can be forgiven.


    The greater evil though, has to do with your research levels. Let''s be honest, even if you were spending all of your dungeon tokens on research, your levels still couldn''t hit what they have. Therefore, it is painfully obvious that you have received an unfair edge. Other''s may never notice this, but know that BLANK has, and in the spirit of fair and equal gaming, has deemed you must be punished for your actions. You may think cheating is okay, but know that your ranking, your status just below BLANK, will be short lived. For the next immersion, BLANK will personally knock you down a notch.


    BLANK does not lose.


    James scanned the note once more, staring blankly at the words floating before him. BLANK had figured him out. Or at least, BLANK figured part of it out. James wasn''t cheating, he had not sought out the unfair advantage he received, the boost to his research levels thanks to his title. However, because of his NDA, he couldn''t possibly tell anyone that. Which meant he would have to suffer BLANK and any other dungeon core that realized he had an unfair advantage, of accusing him as cheating. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but he wasn''t going to punish himself for it.


    Of course, what really scared him, was the last part of the message. BLANK was threatening to punish him. BLANK was threatening to knock him down. But how? Not even Xander had been able to really¡­


    "Xander!" James called out loudly as he pulled his eyes away from the message. He knew the lead developer was likely monitoring his instance of DCO in some way, so it had to be possible to grab his attention by calling for him.


    And, if there was some way BLANK would be able to interact with James, Xander would have known. Plus, James felt the message from BLANK would be of some interest to Xander, given how much the developer seemed to care about his ''experiment''. James also wanted to make sure Xander saw that James had not broken the NDA, so that neither he nor Rue got punished. He was sure the developer would be looking for any excuse to get rid of James and his pixie.


    Silence followed James''s cry, and he floated there for a moment more, looking blankly around. After a moment, he realized Rue was being uncharacteristically quiet. As he glanced at the pixie, he saw her complexion was a shade lighter than normal, and her eyes were staring down at James''s first floor. As he shifted his eyes down, he saw her original shrine, once shimmering and bright, had turned entirely black. On its surface, the smiling Rue was now grimacing, a look of pain evident across it.


    "Seems for fitting for any shrine in the image of our dear Rue here, to be depicted as a Goddess of Bad Luck, wouldn''t you agree James." Xander''s voice held a dark chuckle as it drifted through the air. "After all, it seems she just continues to bring you misfortune." A figure appeared beside the statue, clad in long, crimson, wizard robes. James knew it was Xander, but instead of his actual visage, this time he appeared as a wise, old man. The image the game offered up of Yarx.


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    "I didn''t call you here to deface her shrine." James''s voice held a dangerous hint of venom to it. He grew irritated when Rue messed with his dungeon, and he actually liked her. So, the fact Xander, whom he really, really disliked, was messing with his dungeon, really bothered him.


    "No, I suppose you didn''t." The developer waved a hand, and the shrine returned to normal. "Though truly, Rue has brought you once again misfortune." The wizard disappeared and reappeared directly beside James.


    "I don''t know what you-"


    A recording began playing, cutting James off. "Yeah, don''t want to anger the all-seeing god. But it sure could be convenient if a goddess of luck were around to help me stumble in the right direction." James cringed as the recording ended. Alright, probably not one of James''s best statements.


    "You aren''t dumb James. And I applaud you for utilizing every means possible to move ahead in DCO. That is what a true gamer would do." Xander looked at Rue, and actually offered her what appeared to be a genuine smile.


    "And honestly, Dicken racing was truly inspired." The developer chuckled, and this time it was light, hearty, completely different from the X-Ray James knew of. "I miss the simple days of Chocobo racing."


    "Then-"


    "Then why did I deface her shrine, and call her a Goddess of Bad luck?" Xander waved a hand, which James noticed was covered in an array of expensive jewelry. Pompous much? "Because quite honestly James, without her, and her father''s connection to your parents, none of this would be going on. Hell, I''m sure you would be a top player like Z and his gang if it wasn''t for your becoming a dungeon core."


    "If only I were that lucky." Xander let out a heavy sigh. "But no, instead, that blasted pixie has brought this fate upon you, and now I have to put out even more fires." His snarky tone had returned.


    "Maybe I should have let those bullies beat you up a bit more. You''re welcome, by the way."


    So, it had been Xander that reported the assault to his school officials. James wasn''t quite sure how to take that but realized now wasn''t the time to try and process it. He had more pressing matters to deal with. There had been a reason he had called on Xander, after all.


    "I¡­er¡­ thank you for that." James mumbled, managing to push his pride away for a moment to thank the developer.


    "You''re welcome." The old man visage smiled smugly and folded his arms. "Now, as much fun as it is messing with your troublesome pixie." He narrowed his eyes at Rue, who was quietly doing her best to not be noticed. "I''m assuming you called for me because of that letter?" He motioned towards the screen, that still held BLANK''s message.


    "Yes."


    Xander sighed, shaking his head. "If you thought pissing me off was bad." His eyes took on an evil glint. "You''re going to really regret making BLANK mad."

 84 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84


    "And, who exactly is BLANK?" The way Xander phrased his statement, made James feel like the lead developer knew exactly who BLANK was. That didn''t help James at all though. He had never heard of any gamer named BLANK before, across any game he played. And James had played a lot of games.


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    "BLANK are the only gamers to rival my ability. In fact, they are the only ones who could probably best me." Xander''s eyes filled with something James doubted he would ever see from the man. Pride, for something other than his own ability?


    "They, as in plural?" That didn''t make sense. Dungeon Core''s were run by a singular player and an AI. Xander had been quite specific about that.


    "Oh yes, as in plural."


    "But-"


    "Don''t worry, it is two players James, and no AI. They both log in together, and they log out together. When they are offline, they only manage the game through the DCO app, unlike every other dungeon core, which has an AI constantly active in the game."


    If that were the case, the fact those two had reached Tier 2 Rank 7 was even more impressive. Just how good were these two?


    "Who are they?"


    Xander''s grin widened. "They''re my children."


    James''s mind stopped when Xander said that. His what? Xander had kids? Someone actually got past his egotistical, self-serving¡­


    "Well, my adopted children." Ah, there it was.


    "You adopted children?" James still couldn''t believe that fact. Xander did not seem the kid type.


    "As I peaked in the gaming world, I was growing bored. There were no more challenges for me. So, I decided I would create my own perfect nemesis. A gamer that could present me with the ultimate challenge. Of course, developing an AI to do just that seemed, less genuine. So, I went on a mission, and eventually found not one, but two children, who had the potential I was looking for."


    Xander spread his arms wide. "They were both far ahead of their peers, outcasts as a result of their unique intellectual skills and traits. I took them in and began to teach them all I could. As they grew, their bond with each other became stronger than any you could imagine. They trust each other 100% and can work together to overcome any and every challenge. Suffice to say, they have bested me at nearly every game we''ve played."


    "And¡­now they''re in DCO as a dungeon core?" James really didn''t like where this was going. He had been relieved to hear Xander wasn''t able to mess with his experiment in a way that would instantly eliminate James and Rue. However, it seemed Xander still had a trump card.


    "Obviously if I was forced to make a special case for you and Rue on behalf of your parents, I was going to take the liberty to add one more factor to my experiment." He grinned. "Besides, I wanted to see what would happen if I were a dungeon core, but obviously, for my experiments sake, could not take on both roles."


    "So, you put in your children, the two who can best you, the self-proclaimed greatest gamer, into your experiment." Xander''s eye twitched when James added the self-proclaimed portion, but otherwise the developer did not give in to his comment.


    "Precisely." Xander''s grin widened. "And, you''ve gone and done me a tremendous favor by making them mad."


    "But I didn''t do anything." Of all the people, Xander knew James had purposefully cheated. Well, other than obviously having Rue nudging him along with guiding knowledge, but hey, that was what having an AI was for, right? Or had she been giving him additional secrets that maybe she shouldn''t have. A quick glance at Rue, his devilish, tricksie pixie, confirmed that one. She had totally been sharing information with him she probably shouldn''t have.


    "Oh, you''re right about that. You just got unlucky when you received Steve''s achievement." The old man leaned down. "But BLANK doesn''t know that." James could see the victorious glint in the developer''s eyes. He was really enjoying this.


    "Well, couldn''t you tell them? I mean, they are your kids." Seriously, would it be that hard for Xander to tell his kids James hadn''t cheated. After all, if anyone had access to extra knowledge, it had to be¡­


    "I could." Xander moved away from James and turned his back to James, his arms clasped behind himself. "But that would be less fun."


    "Less fun? What the hell does that even mean? Besides, how are they even going to knock me down a notch? Why am I even getting scared? Dungeon''s can''t interact with each other to that degree any ways." Could they? James hadn''t seen anything of that nature. Which meant James really had nothing to worry about. He had been afraid Xander would try to punish him, implying he had broken the NDA. But he obviously hadn''t, and the only ones who knew James had received some sort of edge was Xander''s kids, who were an exception themselves, so everything should be¡­


    "Actually." Xander turned, clapping his hands together in joy. As he did, a window appeared across James''s screen


    DCO DUNGEON CORE ALERT- BLANK has officially reached Tier 3 Rank 1. As such, dungeon gates will become operable on the next immersion. Patch notes will be provided with the update, which will begin upon logout. The update will go live at 00:00:01 of day 2 of BLANKs time zone (PST).


    "Starting tomorrow, they can."


    Dungeon Gates? A new update? Blank just jumped from Tier 2 Rank 7 to Tier 3 Rank 1? What the hell was going on?


    "What is going on?"


    "I guess you will have to read the patch notes." Xander chuckled darkly as his form began to fade away. "But trust me, tomorrow you''re going to rue the day you crossed BLANK." The last thing James saw of Xander was the smirk on his face at his painful pun.


    James turned to look at his pixie, who was trembling slightly, out of rage, fear, or disgust, James wasn''t sure.


    "What are we going to do Rue?"


    The pixie turned looked at him, and her eyes narrowed. The wave of emotions crossing over her face solidified into a single one. Determination. She was serious. For the very first time, Rue was dead serious.


    "We are going to win."

 85 Chapter 85

    hapter 85


    "Are you sure this is going to work?" James was looking over everything once more, glancing nervously between the countdown timer, and his status screen.


    Ever since Blank''s message, and Xander''s visit, James and Rue had been hard at work. He had been working tirelessly since that announcement, doing everything he could, to close the gap. James had no idea what BLANK was going to do, what the hell those dungeon gates even were, but he knew he needed to be prepared. BLANK apparently was Xander''s trump card. The developer''s way to influence indirectly his own experiment, and a way to get rid of James and Rue once and for all. Well, they weren''t going to go down that easily.


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    "It''s the only possible way they could have jumped like that." Rue was sitting beside him, her eyes serious and focused. Gone was the carefree pixie. In its place, was a pissed off and determined pixie. James had to admit; he really enjoyed this side of her too. Though he was not keen to get on her bad side. If he considered all the work, he had been doing the past few days as hard work, what Rue had been doing was even more impressive. She had been not only helping him scan all of the forums and keep track of all the important data, she was also actively going over every little detail and aspect available to James and helping him formulate the perfect plan. Or at least, as perfect as they could find.


    "Well, we are only going to get one shot at this, and it is dangerous." There was less than 1 day left in immersion, and currently James had only managed to climb to Rank 8. And that was barely. As the players grew, they became wiser. They were less likely to take foolish risks to lose large amounts of experience, and well, the reddit page also proved problematic. As gamers normally do, they post about everything. That meant the surprises James normally banked on for early experience gains from the adventurers were gone. People had posted maps, mob spawn areas, stats, everything. People were even working on breaking down percentages and planning out the perfect builds to try and take down various mobs and bosses. They were, after all, gamers.


    That was all fine and well normally, because it made things challenging for James, and required him to adapt and play around them. But when he needed to gain levels fast, to face the unknown from BLANK, he didn''t need players being cautious and efficient. He needed mass wipes, and he needed them now.


    "Worse case scenario, everyone stops diving into your dungeon." Rue glanced at him and offered a serious smile. "But at least you''ll be Tier 3, and somewhat ready for BLANK." What really worried James about this upcoming patch, was that Rue, an AI for the game, didn''t even seem to know what was coming. And yet, BLANK had it figured out. If that wasn''t an unfair advantage, James didn''t know what was. Bunch of hypocrites.


    "And, I''m sure a new floor will bring adventurers right on back." So far, the adventurers were still grinding out in preparation for second floor boss. During the past few days, even with his last 2 level ups, James hadn''t updated his mobs. He needed adventurers to grow as well, so that they had an ample supply of experience when he and Rue enacted the final part of their plan. Honestly, James kind of hated himself for not thinking of this plan sooner. Sure, it was a shitty thing to do, but it was about to net him more experience than he could possibly have ever imagined, even playing as he had been.


    "Oh, what if you get a water level?" Rue''s eyes held her mischievous look for a moment, and James felt himself mentally blanche.


    "Okay, that would doom us." No one, absolutely no one, liked water dungeons. A water floor as his third floor would see so many people leave DCO, it wouldn''t even matter what BLANK did to him. Hell, from what he could tell, only one person had accepted a water theme for their dungeon element, and they were still at Tier 1.


    "Probably, unless you know, it was something cool, with pirates and ship battles, and¡­" Rue started to trail off, before she shook her head to refocus herself.


    "Okay, that would be cool." People hated exploring underwater dungeons. But a pirate themed floor, where players got their own pirate ships? James had a feeling he could get behind that. But maybe not for his third floor.


    "Ah well, we can focus on that later." An alert had just popped up on James''s screen. He had set the alert to show him when all of his¡­new level 1 instances were filled. Less than an hour earlier, he had manually increased the number of instances he could have, as well as their capacities, to max. At Rank 6 Instance research, that meant 40 instances for floor 1 and 40 for floor 2, both with a max amount of 50 players per. Obviously, his floor 2 instances weren''t maxed, but that didn''t matter. What did matter, was the 2,000 players currently occupying his first floor.


    "Here goes nothing." James muttered, once again glancing over everything. He had his skill points available for his mobs still. He had an open slot of research ready, waiting for whatever new research options opened when he hit Tier 3, and his second research slot, for Event Research 6, had just under 8 hours to go, which was fine, because in 2 hours, players would once again be logged out of DCO, and he would be able to go about preparing for BLANKs attack in his final day in the game before he was logged out.


    The plan James and Rue had concocted, was to essential do a mass game wipe, of the entire first floor. After browsing his options, James had found his world boss had the ability to be manually summoned across multiple instances if he wanted to. James was sure it was an option to try and do promotional or time-based events, especially since he was certain at later levels of research, he could greatly modify the loot table for his world bosses. It was honestly a nifty little tool, which used correctly, could bring in even more adventurers and excitement into a dungeon.


    Misused, as James was about to do, and he was sure BLANK had done previously, it could be used to essentially wipe every player in an instance, depending on the boss. Of course, doing so would be seen as bad taste, and if it occurred multiple times, players would likely just stop playing. Gamers didn''t like broken or unfair mechanics, after all. James was sure the only reason BLANK had done their wipe on the first day of the current immersion session, was to give themselves and edge for whatever the research options would be when they hit Tier 3. James would be behind in that instance, he knew that, but he was certain he would be able to at least catch up with Xander''s kids on level basis. BLANK was a Tier 3 Rank 2 dungeon currently. If James managed to kill even half of the players across all of his instances, he was bound to gain upwards of at least 100,000xp. Which would put him nicely right in the same range as BLANK.


    With one last breath, James looked at the prompt on his screen, the command he had been waiting to activate until his alarm had gone off. His alarm had been specific, he needed all 40 instances to be his new instances. Just in preparation for this wipe, James had created a new version of his first floor. One where every last mob point, had gone into summoning dickens. Now that all 40 instances each currently had 50 adventurers, and 200 dickens, there was only one last thing to do. One final nail in the coffin of 2,000 adventurers.


    Summon Tier 1 World Boss across all (40) instances? Y/N


    "Release the Dicken!" Rue exclaimed gleefully, and James did exactly that.

 86 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86


    Glyax Tier 3 Rank 3 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    383,274 xp


    6,726 xp to next Rank


    216,726 xp to next Tier


    Resources: 733 of 4,900


    Currency: 36 copper 59 silver 7 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 22


    "I, I think it worked." James was staring at the screen, disbelief flooding through him. The plan had worked, the proof was in the screen before him. Well, that, and the echoes of cries of anguish, pain, surprise, and crazed Leeroy Jenkins screams¡­all of which had resulted in massive amounts of players dying in a very small amount of time.


    "I''d say." Rue had gone from laughing hysterically as the swarms of dickens nonstop descended upon the adventurers, to rather sullen and quiet. Something about sending a total of 8,000 dickens against 2,000 adventurers just didn''t feel right. Especially when those dickens all got to respawn 50 times each¡­.while the adventurers did not.


    It had been an epic fight at first. Adventurers forming large war bands, roaming around, slaughtering the demonic chickens where they dared spawn. But, as the combat wore on, the never-ending tide of 6 foot monsters started to wear down the adventurers, even as many began to level. That much experience being thrown their way, it was highly unlikely they wouldn''t. So caught up were they in the farming fest though, many made a grave mistake. They waited 5 minutes before trying to leave.


    That had of course, been the normal course of action players had been taking when Charles''s giant egg appeared. Players would either kill all the mobs and try to engage the world boss at the 5-minute mark, or they would simply leave the instance. Most knew they didn''t have the damage at their lower levels to take on the level 20 World Boss, and they were okay with it. They would get their farming done, and be gone before he spawned, thus keeping their precious experience safe. This time though, there was just too much chaos, and so, when Charles brook free of his egg, enraging and buffing the dickens even more, it was as if his caw was the cry of death. Nearly 70% of all the players in the instance had died as they piled over each other trying to escape.


    "I don''t think I want to do that ever again." James whispered softly as the images flashed through his mind again. It just felt wrong, dirty even. He had to wonder how the players felt over that. Were they happy with it, did they think it was just a special bonus event for them? Surely some did, since James was pretty sure every player that took part in his slaughter had gained at least 1 level before they died. Some he was pretty sure gained at least 2. He wasn''t sure, but he had just mass murdered a crap ton of players, in the spawn of less than 10 minutes. He wasn''t a monster like Xander or BLANK, he wouldn''t abuse that system, no matter how good the rewards.


    "It was the only way." Rue lightly touched his orb, pulling his focus back towards the screen, the rewards of their dirty deeds.


    "I suppose." James pulled himself from his mullings and turned back to the screen. It was important. They had only done the massacre in order to gain level ground against BLANK. They needed to, in order to win.


    "Let''s not let their sacrifices go to waste." Rue''s eyes flashed, and James could tell the pixie was shaking herself free of the regret a lot faster than he was. Likely due to her being an AI. Damned pixie. "Besides, it''s not like you killed anyone permanently. You never feel this way for slaughtering countless mobs in other games, do you?"


    "Did you just compare all the players to mobs?" James rose his eyeball at the pixie. Had she really just-


    "Come on. That''s what they are to you as a dungeon core, aren''t they? Enemies that you have to kill, to gain experience, that respawn and keep coming back."


    Okay. The pixie had a point. In a like, mass murderer, serial killer kind of way. But it was still a valid point. Her father had to be a slightly twisted man. Like, this was some serious twisted anime bullshit level of thinking. But James could get behind it. If he went with that thinking, the majority of the players who were constantly coming into his dungeon were mobish. The only reason he felt remorsefully was because he had just so unfairly massacred so many of them just to grow stronger. But he had done that in video games himself countless times as well.


    "Alright, enough of this depressed crap." James slapped his orb with his tentacles, looking back at his stat screen. The plan had worked. With less than 25 hours left in immersion, he had broken into Tier 3, and reached Rank 3. He now had access to another floor, had increased his resources, and, more importantly, unlocked new research. His goals had been met, and now, he needed to get back to work. BLANK still had an advantage, and he needed to close it.


    "Research first." James said aloud as he navigated his screens. He and Rue had agreed the first thing they would need to do was start he new research. Just as before, gaining a new tier had unlocked new research options.


    Core Defense


    Core Offense


    Avatar


    "Ummmm." That was unexpected. James really didn''t know what he had been expecting, but he had definitely not expected this.


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    "Oh, so that''s what''s going on." Rue, it seemed, did know what was going on. While James was confused about the options, it seemed they had sparked something within Rue.


    "Care to fill me in?"


    The pixie chuckled darkly. "They''re going to start the Dungeon Wars." Yeah, that didn''t sound ominous at all.


    "Which are?" Seriously, they were on a time crunch here.


    "I don''t know much about them, they really only gave me access to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 notes, as well as some of the research trees¡­and I could only get some of the later data before I was¡­caught." The way the pixie''s eye twitched implied she had likely been punished for that. Though, James was surprised they still allowed the AI to keep that information. Oh well, he wasn''t complaining.


    "Dungeon Wars are a way for towns to interact with each other directly." The pixie let out a sigh. "This makes so much more sense."


    "Umm," it made sense to her, but James was still a bit in the dark, and the clock was ticking. "Are you telling me you know what''s going on? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    "Oh." The pixie smiled sheepishly. "I may have been so pissed off at Xander, that it spaced my mind. The most important part was getting to this level." She rubbed her hands together. "Now, we can have some fun in preparation."


    "Alright, sooooo, explanation?" James had gotten tired of the pixie spacing out, and spent a dungeon toke, bringing him down to 21, on his research. He finished up Event Research 6, and now, with his two free research slots, and his third new one for reaching Tier 3, started all three of the research options. Before Rue could answer, he immediately dumped 3 more dungeon tokens, one into each of the research options, to complete it, giving him Level 1 in all three, before immediately starting them again, watching their countdown timers begin to tick down from 24 hours.


    "Well first, you should-" The pixie focused on his screen and saw what he was doing. "Nevermind."


    "Yeah, nevermind." James said smugly. He was debating on spending another 6 dungeon tokens to finish level 2 on his research. He decided to hold off for at least the next 12 hours. Especially because he now had a few additional pop ups to deal with. He needed to familiarize himself with everything that was going on as quickly as possible, to be best prepared for BLANK.


    "So, what are Dungeon Wars?" He asked Rue as he closed out of his research tab. He set an alarm for 12 hours, so that he would know exactly when he had to choose about dumping 3 more tokens.


    "Ah, now you want to listen?" James narrowed his eye at the pixie as she spoke, and she stuck her tongue out at him. His serious and focused pixie had quickly reverted to playful pixie, since they had reached the crux of their plan already.


    "I hate you so much sometimes Rue." James grumbled. She was keeping him from his new pop ups, but he really needed to know what Dungeon Wars were, before he could go much further. And currently, his advantage, Rue, was all he had against BLANK. So, he needed her. Besides, she rarely ever steered him astray¡­unintentionally.


    "You love me." Rue laughed and dodged a tentacle he whipped her way. "Now''s not the time to get upset Glyax." She chirped playfully. "Dungeon Wars are serious." Yup, she was back to her old self. Ugh.


    "Well, can you tell me about them?"


    "Only if you say please." She crossed her arms and smirked.


    "Pleeeeaassssssssseeeee."


    "See was that so hard. Alright, I will tell you what I know about Dungeon Wars."

 87 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87


    "So, tell me what you know about DCO so far." James hadn''t been expecting a question from Rue. Especially since the pixie had just said she would tell him about dungeon wars. However, he knew from what was nearly a month in immersion with her to just go along with it. Otherwise, they were going to be getting nowhere.


    "Other than it being a secret experiment of some sort by the government and the asshat Xander?" James shared in the smirk the comment brought to Rue''s face. After all, there really wasn''t much the developer could do to them right now. Considering he was knowingly pitting his overpowered gamer kids against James and Rue. Jackass.


    "Yes, other than that." Rue sat back in a summoned chair, lightly sipping a hot cocoa.


    "Well, DCO splits the player base into instances limited at 10,000 players or less. In my case, that is my town. In other cases, like large cities, they are sectioned off into grids or blocks for the player base. That means a large city can have multiple instances for all of its players."


    "Go on."


    "Hmm. Because of how DCO is structured, the game has the potential to effect the real-world economy for each instance''s base." James had already seen as much in his town''s reddit. Players were trading gold and equipment for V coins, and the conglomerate that had built the Adventurer''s Hall had also begun setting up an exchange. Some players had taken to simply accepting gathering or training type quests from that exchange and were making a decent amount of V Coin from what James could tell. What some players lacked in skill, they made up for in money, it would seem.


    "That is correct." Rue took a sip. "However, it goes deeper than that."


    "How so?"


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    "From what I''ve found out. The developers intended on ways to open instances to each other, allowing the economies of the towns to become linked to other towns and cities. As such, it would almost become an incentive for players of an instance to excel, and push deeper into their dungeon, in order to capitalize on the goods and services they can provide to any adventurer''s visiting their instance from another."


    "So, I''m guessing like rare or unique items from one instance could fetch a high price from other players in other instances." It made sense. James knew just how competitive and lucrative the rare item market could become. And given what he had seen of all the different types of dungeons out there, he was sure there was going to be a flood of unique items to fill the market.


    "Mhmm." She set her mug down in front of her. "However, that is only part of the interaction between dungeon cores."


    "Is the other related to Dungeon Wars?" It really wasn''t a large leap to guess where this was going.


    "Yup. On top of the obvious market that could open by allowing players access to other instances, the developers offered in another mechanic, which as a gamer I am sure you know the allure of. Player vs Player content." Oh yeah, James was quite familiar with that.


    "So, are they going to allow players to use these, Dungeon Gates, to invade other instances and kill their players?"


    "Yes, and no. There are two different types of Dungeon Gates, as far as I know. The first, allows players to travel between instances, and interact with the town outside of the dungeon. Meaning they can go to the different shops, visit the adventurer''s hall, and so on. The other type of gate is built within a dungeon, and teleports adventurers to another dungeon. Once inside, the players can kill mobs and players native to that instance, gaining the experience those players had saved up when they die."


    Well, that wasn''t good. Usually PvP was just a test of skill, and players reveled in it because it offered challenges facing normal mobs wouldn''t. Occasionally the experience gain would be higher, and there might be the bonus of looting some of the other players gear¡­but being able to steal all their experience? A group of hardcore PvP players could essentially start to completely demoralize a player base. An instance full of PvP players just invading instance after instance would soon greatly leap in player levels¡­


    "So, the players have the opportunity to start jumping up in levels. Where is the benefit for the core those players belong to?" James could tell what the downfall would be for any dungeon constantly getting invaded. If the PvP players were taking all the experience, well, then James wouldn''t be getting any, which would greatly slow his growth, and harm his instance overall. Damaging that, would then lead to players deciding to stop playing, and the economic growth potential for his town through DCO would fall as well. That was not ideal. James was really enjoying playing DCO.


    "Ah, that''s the thing. When dungeon gates are opened between instances, each dungeon gains a percentage of the experience their adventurers are gaining from enemy players and mobs." So, invading other dungeon core instances would offer James another stream of experience, and potentially a much larger stream. He could see why this could be problematic. Especially if BLANK was planning on bringing him down the moment this system went live. This wasn''t good.


    "So, is that what Dungeon Wars are going to be? Just instance after instance invading each other, sending their players in to try and bring down the others? If so, what is with these new research options?"


    Rue flew over to him, settling behind him as her hands lightly drifted along his tentacles. "Well, that''s where the true fun begins." As she spoke, the research trees opened up, showing the countdowns. Beside them, she pulled up the different window''s he had seen. She pushed aside the Core Offense and Core Defense options and selected the Avatar option.


    "You get to actively participate in Dungeon Wars yourself."

 88 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88


    "I get to what?" James was pretty sure she had just said he would get to participate in Dungeon Wars. But that didn''t make sense. That went against the whole ''you cannot tell anyone you are the dungeon core'' clause of being a dungeon core. It was like fight club; you just didn''t talk about it.


    "You get to take part in dungeon wars." She selected the option to continue to the next screen, and before his eyes, a new tab and display opened. Avatar Creation.


    "But I thought we couldn''t interact directly with our players."


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    "You don''t." Rue smiled sweetly at him, motioning towards the screen before him. "Your avatar does."


    "Yeah, just saying that doesn''t really clear anything up for me Rue." James crossed his tentacles, mimicking the pixie when she would get moody with him. "You''re not being very helpful."


    Rue''s eyes flared with annoyance, before they softened, and she smiled evilly. "Oh, I''m sorry, for a moment I thought I was talking with an actual intelligent person. Allow me to dumb it down for you, oh mighty Glyax." She stuck her tongue out at him but continued.


    "You are not allowed to share your identity as a dungeon core to anyone. Players are not to know the dungeons are run by another human. As far as they are concerned, dungeons are generated based on coding, and an advanced AI, such as me." Uh huh, she sure was advanced all right. An advanced pain in the butt sometimes.


    "Then how do I- "


    "The Avatar is explained away as an advanced AI meant to aid adventurers against outside threats, and to also bolster and assist adventurers when they assault other dungeon cores. In fact, avatars are a major part of dungeon wars, considering they are the only thing that can actively damage a dungeon''s core." Wait. What? That was new.


    "Ummmm, what?" He was pretty sure she just said dungeon cores could get damaged. James did not like that idea.


    "It''s not permanent or anything." She waved a hand, like it wasn''t important. "During dungeon wars, the invading force cannot be thrown back unless the invading avatar and portal are destroyed. Conversely, the portal for the invading army stays open, and allows for players to invade, until the dungeon core of the world they have been invading is destroyed."


    "Being destroyed sounds like a terrible life choice." James muttered. He really didn''t like where this was going.


    "Mmmm, I suppose." The pixie''s disregard for James''s safety was a bit concerning.


    "What happens if my core is destroyed? What even is my core" He was pretty sure it would be damn near impossible for players to invade worlds and destroy the floating orbs that were the dungeon cores.


    "Oh, right." Rue facepalmed and waived her hand once more. The world around James flashed by in a rush, and suddenly, it seemed they were at the center of the world. A massive crystal floated easily before him, pulsing with glowing light. From it, tentacles of energy pulsed tens of hundreds of feet into the air, digging deep into the rock formations. James had to admit; it was an awesome sight.


    "This, is the dungeon core." She waved an arm in an extravagant manner towards it. "From it, you gain all your abilities, and control of the instance. The dungeon core fuels the very land and is also where your resources are generated." Beside the core, a strange machine sat, with three tendril-like pipes flowing into it. From what James could see, the generator had multiple rotating parts, which seemed to be grinding away at something hard within. Underneath those parts, James could see flickers of light, as if something, a fire perhaps, were burning, consuming whatever the rotating parts ground up. From there, a single tube flowed back into the core, and James figured that was what delivered the resources to him.


    "This, is awesome." James turned and looked away from the core, to the Pixie. "But, if we are at the center of the instance, how exactly would invaders even reach the core?"


    "Through a special gate." Rue waived her hand, and they were again back in the air, looking down upon the main instance of his dungeon.


    "Annnd, where is this special gate?"


    "Oh. It isn''t located anywhere silly." She laughed lightly and pulled up his avatar screen again. "Avatar''s have the ability to summon the gate, once they have consumed a certain amount of adventurer orbs along the way." Was that really how DCO had planned it? A massive battlegroundish all-out battle royal, with each side killing each other and feeding the orbs to their avatar, in order to unlock a special portal or destroy the enemy portal? James had seen similar mechanics in the past, but for the scale of DCO, James was having a hard time wrapping his head around it all.


    "Tell you what Glyax." Rue patted his orb gently, pointing him kindly back towards the Avatar screen. "How about you work on creating your avatar while your research finishes up and take some time to process what I''ve told you. We can go into more details once you finish." She offered him an encouraging smile, before she waived her hand, and a hologram appeared in front of her.


    "Alright T, I''ve got time for another game or two, while he builds his avatar." Sure enough, the other end of the hologram showed the Terminus, his fearsome face grinning¡­evilly? James really wasn''t sure if that was an evil look, or just how the second-floor boss appeared. He supposed no matter what, a monstrous steampunk T-rex would look evil, even with a top hat on.


    "Jolly good Rue. Shall we play standard this time around? Or perhaps commander? I remember you were working on a Sliver deck. Fearsome little buggers, sliver''s can be." Magic. They were playing Magic. Of course, they were. James sighed, drowning the two of them out, as he cleared his mind, and went to work.

 89 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89


    Avatar creation was not easy. Of course, James hadn''t really expected it to be. Honestly, he hadn''t known what to expect. Overall though, he spent a lot more time on Avatar creation than he had thought he would.


    The first step of Avatar creation hadn''t even been related to avatar creation. That had been the part where he ignored Rue and Sir Rexus, as the Terminus preferred to be called, while they began their games. After a moment of failed concentration, James had simply floated further away from the group, until he could no longer hear them arguing about what was going on the stack where, or something of the sorts. James had never gotten that into magic, he preferred hearthstone.


    Once he had his peace and quiet, James had been able to look over his Avatar creation screen fully. He noticed the main tab simply pulled up an empty screen, with a platform showing where he was sure, some sort of model could stand. Currently, it was blank, with a message stating No Avatar Selected floating in the space. To the right of that message, hovered a brightly lit, inviting prompt. Create Avatar Now?


    "Just give me a second." James said to no one in particular, as he continued to scan the rest of the screen, as well as the additional tabs that popped up. It seemed, on top of the simple avatar generation option, he had tabs for weapons, armor, skills, upgrades, and one tab labeled cosmetics.


    "Why wouldn''t they have cosmetics?" He grumbled again to himself. Of course, they would. Xander may go on and on about how DCO was a huge government experiment or whatnot, but the game developer obviously still wanted to make money. James was sure cosmetics would cost some sort of currency to add on to the avatar. Gamers always loved unique cosmetics. And James was no exception. He may have spent a decent amount of gold, and some V Coin, in order to uniquely adjust his Warlock in the Warcraft Universe.


    For the briefest moment, James had a longing to log on and see his character again, before he chased that away, partly with focus, and partly because at that moment, he felt another pang of hunger. He still had just under a day left in immersion, which meant another 23ish hours left of suffering from these darned hunger pangs. Hopefully, he would be able to consume more than just Soylent when he woke up.


    "Focus." James shook his orb and turned back to the options. Sadly, all the additional tabs were greyed out, meaning the first thing he needed to do, was obviously, create his avatar.


    "Here goes nothing." James mumbled, and he selected the glowing option. Honestly, he had no idea what to expect, and Rue had been less than helpful. All he really knew was he would be able to use his Avatar in the upcoming Dungeon Wars. Though, that was probably all that really mattered.


    For once, selecting the option did not generate the infamous slot machine of choices that James had become accustomed to. Instead, it prompted what appeared to be a normal character creation screen? The first prompt, male or female.


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    "Male." James said, and as he selected the option, a shadowy male outline appeared in the empty space. Next up, Race. James scanned through the list of races; they were all the same as what players had access to. James toyed around with all of them, before making up his mind. He had been torn between human, and elf. The deciding factor for him, had been that in almost all the novels he read, the main characters, upon being brought into a virtual world, opted for human. He was tired of that trope, so chose elf for himself. Also, well, he liked the Knights Who Go Ni, and they were all elves.


    For the next, perhaps hour? James lost himself to literally just character creation. The Avatar creation screen gave him countless options of customization, from hair and eye color, to the various shapes, lengths, widths of all of his features. He knew time was important, but for that hour, he once again lost himself to his gamer side, and did his darndest to make his Avatar perfect. Well that, and he actually did just lose track of time.


    Once he had his features completed, he selected accept, and was planning on going on to his new tabs. To his surprise though, that was not the case.


    "Select class?" The new screen before him surprised him. Was an avatar exactly like an adventurer would be? Was this a way of letting the Dungeon Cores enjoy the game from both ends? James could definitely see the allure, and the dangers, of that. Cores could lose themselves to invading others just to dive in their dungeons. And if they neglected their own dungeons, what could possibly happen? James had to wonder just how many aspects there were to DCO? Just how many game elements had Xander put into it?


    Luckily for James, choosing a class was rather easy. Not only had he done a bunch of research prior to the game beginning, at which point he had decided upon a class already. He had also already seen every class in action in some way shape or form, meaning he knew their pros and cons. Of course, the Avatar itself had some grey area, especially with leveling, and if he would be able to choose subclasses for it as well, but those were problems for the later James. Right now, he knew what he wanted.


    Class Selected: Summoner


    It was the pet class he had been eying early on. James figured if he was going to be an avatar on the battlefield, he would want to have as many strong allies as he could. And while he was certain adventurers could be helpful, Avatar summoned pets probably would be even more helpful. Plus, James had some ideas on possible multi-class options for summoners that could be terrifying. At least, in his mind.


    Avatar 1 of 1 has been created. Additional Avatar options can be unlocked every 5th level of Avatar Research.


    Flashed across James''s screen, and his Avatar glowed momentarily, before completely solidifying on the screen before him. As it did, and the prompt disappeared, the tabs ungrayed, showing they were now options for James to select. Finally, and expectedly, a popup appeared.


    Achievement Unlocked ¨C D¨¦j¨¤ vu ¨C Create your Avatar


    Reward- 5,000xp 1000 resources, Access to Avatar optimization options, Access to Dungeon Wars, Access to Avatar Training Grounds


    Well that was neat. James definitely needed the resources, considering he had an entire third floor he still needed to develop. As for the other options, well James had already figured he would gain access to the optimization options. He had not realized though, that creating an Avatar was necessary for Dungeon Wars. Would he have been able to avoid BLANK, if he never created his Avatar? Ah well, that line of thinking was pointless now. He glanced at the final part, the Avatar Training Grounds, and grinned. He was eager to open that window, but figured he should arm and armor his Avatar, before he tested it out.


    Currently, his Avatar was a simple elf, green eyes starring blankly ahead, silver hair tied back in a long ponytail behind him. He was clad in simple robes, and both his hands seemed to glow with slight hints of energy. On each wrist, magical runes formed what appeared to be bracelets, though James knew those runes depicted a summoner. They were bound to their magic, and their magic was what allowed them to summon and bind elementals and magical creatures to themselves.


    "Alright, let''s see the beginner gear." James smirked as he hovered over the weapons option. He was really curious what DCO would incorporate for the gear for Avatars. Was it generic across the board for all avatars? James doubted it. No, knowing his luck, it was going to be linked to the dungeon. And James had a feeling his random dungeon type was once again going to throw him for a loop. As he saw the weapon options appear, all he could do was sigh. He knew it.

 90 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90


    "I must say Glyax, that''s definitely¡­. A look?" Rue was staring at him up and down with eyes red and tearing from laughter. James had summoned his pixie to his side after he finally finished adding equipment to his avatar. Sadly, while he had unlocked the skills and upgrade tab for his Avatar, he didn''t have any options for either just yet. His upgrade tab, it seemed, required upgrade points, which he needed to ask Rue about. The skills tab had options descending in Rows and Columns, like a normal skill tree would for regular characters. Each row though, corresponded to his research level, and sadly, the level one Row had a single option, which was already selected and glowing.


    Summon- Allows the summoner to summon a mob equal to or less than the level of the summoner, from a list of available summon options.


    When James had hovered over the option, hoping to see what his mob options were, he sadly didn''t get any information. He also wasn''t sure what his level as a summoner would be. Honestly, the Summon skill read exactly the same as it did for players, but obviously, as a dungeon core, James hadn''t leveled in quite the same way as they did.


    "Trust me, this was the best they had." He grumbled, glaring at her. And, he was actually glaring. It was nice to be back in a humanoid body, if for the sole purpose of being able to actually use expressions.


    They were standing in an empty dirt arena, with various test dummies arrayed all around them. The Avatar Training Grounds were extremely similar to essentially every other game''s test zone or training ground. An empty space to practice your skills and get used to the controls. Of course, being that this was virtual reality, the controls were easy for the most part. It came down to getting used to the UI and learning all the important nuances incorporated into the game. For instance, someone, somewhere, decided spell casters would almost always need to use hand gestures in order to cast their spells. Thankfully, most games used the same gestures, but still, it felt a bit silly, especially when you should just be able to cast spells with your thoughts, in James''s opinion.


    "Uh huh." Rue nodded, before breaking out into another fit of laughter. She had once again looked him up and down and couldn''t help herself. Damned Pixie.


    "Well, at Avatar Research Level 3, I get access to my second floor''s gear." That had been what James had found out when it came to the weapons and armor options for his Avatar. What he had access to, from the generic lists of gear he could choose from, were based on his dungeon floors, and his research levels. At level 1 and 2 of Avatar research, all he had access to, was gear from the first floor of his dungeon.


    Of course, for dungeons that were a single type, that simply meant upgraded stats, and probably visual effects, for their gear as they increased their levels. For James¡­that meant demonic farmer gear for level 1 and 2, and steampunk dinosaur gear for level 3 and 4. James shuddered to think about what would happen at research level 5. He still had to get around to creating his third floor, before immersion ended. But first, he really felt he needed to get a hang of his Avatar.


    "Well, on the plus side, you should have that no problem before the fight against BLANK." Rue held her hand over her mouth as she stifled another laugh. "Because right now, I don''t think BLANK would take you seriously."


    "Thanks, brat." His elf, whom he had spent so much time making, was currently standing there in the very demonic farmer gear that they had laughed about all of his adventurers wearing. Compared to the generic robes the game had started his avatar in, the increases seemed minor, and the gear didn''t carry with it set bonus that it did for the players. However, slight increases were better than no increases, and as Rue said, he would be getting rid of it soon. But, for testing out his Avatar, it would do. Honestly, he probably should have just kept on his robes for the test run¡­but hey, hindsight was 20/20.


    "So, what all can you do, or mighty farmer? You going to summon up some corn bread and chicken for us?" At the mention of food, James''s elven stomach grumbled, causing him to wince. Damned Pixie.


    "I swear¡­ if I summon a-" James held out his hands in front of him and closed his eyes. Doing so was needed for summoners to summon their pets, he knew that much. What surprised him, was as he closed his eyes and focused on summoning, a list of information appeared in front of his mind.


    Summoner level 5 (Avatar Research Level x 5)


    Summon Options


    Dicken- 1 point- lvl 1 mob


    Sacrificial Lamb ¨C 2 points, lvl 2 mob


    Swiner- 3 points, lvl 3 mob


    Scapegoat- 4 points, lvl 4 mob


    Mad Cow- 5 points, lvl 5 mob


    "Seriously?" James had known it. He had seen it coming. Of course, why wouldn''t it be? Summoners in DCO were able to summon from a list of mobs from a general selection, which ranged in elemental types and abilities. However, James figured the creators of DCO had tweaked the Avatar classes to keep them from being too op, and to keep them on theme with the dungeons they were representing. Which, as James was guessing, meant even as a summoner, he would be limited in what he could summon. Sadly, that meant he was stuck being able to only summon his mobs. And at low levels, that meant¡­ his demonic farm animals again. He would never escape his dickens, would he? Though, on the plus side, he also knew the best ways to utilize every single one of his mobs, giving him a slight advantage.


    James selected his Dicken and was prompted with another window.


    Summon 1x Dicken? Y/N


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    He selected yes and felt his mana flow through his body. The runes on his wrists burned, and as he opened his eyes, he saw a small summoning circle appear on the ground before him. A moment later, a regular sized dicken appeared. Ah, it seemed his summons as an Avatar would not get the upgrades the dickens in his dungeon did. That was a bummer. James focused on his dicken, and his eyes widened as its stats pulled up.


    Dicken Lvl 1 Summon


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 60


    MP:60


    Atk: 6


    Def: 6


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all stats when in groups of 5.


    Flock together: If dickens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the aggro of all dickens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.


    Active Buff


    *Avatar Summon* - All stats increased to reflect Avatar Level Threats (Base stats x (5+Research Level)


    This, James could definitely take advantage of. It seemed while his summons didn''t have his dungeon''s improvements, so no roided out dickens, they were still getting stat boosts. And, while currently he could only summon one mob at a time, James had seen a level 2 skill for his summoner class that he knew now he immediately wanted. It was called mass summon, and it was normally a lvl 10 summoner ability, which allowed a summoner to summon multiple mobs. There were of course limitations to it, but James was certain with it, he would be able to summon what he needed. Grinning, James turned Rue as he mentally sent his dicken to attack the dummy. The poultry let out a cluck, the same James and Rue had heard countless times, and then raced forward to obey.


    "I think BLANK is going to regret choosing to face us."


    Rue yawned and glanced at the dicken that was attacking the dummy. "You going to give them a good dicken?"


    "You know it." James laughed at the joke. It was tired, and overused, but still fun. He kept smiling as he closed his eyes, and mentally dismissed the dicken. As the creature faded away, the runes on his wrists grew cool, and a tingling he hadn''t realized had been there the entire time he had the dicken summoned, disappeared.


    "Now, how about we prepare our third floor, while we wait for the research to finish?" They were 6 hours into the final day of immersion. His research levels for Avatar, Core Defense, and Core Offense lvl 2 completions all had 18 hours remaining, meaning it would be pointless to use a dungeon token on them now, as he would still have to wait 6 more hours. That meant, the logical step, was to build his third floor.


    "Oh, dungeon building is always my favorite." Rue grinned at him and cracked her knuckles. "Can I spin the wheel again?"


    "You know, you have a gambling problem." James chuckled as he mentally closed the avatar training grounds window, which removed him from his avatar''s body, and returned him to his floating orb. "But I suppose I''ll continue to enable that."

 91 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91


    "Greetings old chap, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The Terminus was glancing up at James and Rue from within his lair. James had taken Rue down to their second-floor main instance, in order to begin his dungeon ascension process. Ever since the first Terminus fight, James had known where he wanted the third-floor portal to be.


    "Mind if I put the third-floor portal in your lair?" Originally, James had planned to just put the portal there. However, given the intelligence of his second-floor boss mob, who seemed capable of beating Rue at multiple games¡­on second thought, that maybe wasn''t as impressive as James had been thinking. Regardless, because his second-floor boss was sentient, he figured he should at least ask the boss if it was alright. That was only proper, after all.


    "Not at all good sir. In fact, I feel such a decision will lead to even more brash and foolish morsels appearing at my doorstep." The Terminus let out a dark chuckle and began to rise within the lair, motioning to the very back. "I eagerly await their return. More delectable treats for me, and additional experience for you. Why, tis a glorious plan indeed. Most agreeable." James felt shivers run down his spine, and he was pretty sure the Terminus was trying to rub its hands together in a very old-school movie villain kind of way.


    "I appreciate that Sir Rexus." James selected his Dungeon Ascension tab, and summoned the portal in the back of the lair. "And be prepared for the next time the adventurers arrive. I believe we may be receiving unwelcomed guests soon."


    "Ah yes, Dungeon Wars." The second floor boss showed James a toothy grin. "I do hope you will release me from the arena when the time comes. I can promise you, good sir, I will strike terror in your enemies the likes of which they will never recover from. Especially if my dear boy B.L.U. is allowed to join me."


    James nodded towards the boss as he floated towards the third floor portal. Of course he didn''t quite know how Dungeon Wars were going to work. But if he could unleash the Perfect Cognivore on the invading adventurers, well, that might just give him an upper hand. After all, even though BLANK had hit Tier 3 before James, he highly doubted any adventurers would be close to the level needed to take down that secret boss. Of course, based on how Xander spoke of the duo, he was sure they had their own tricks prepared. But, James was glad to know he could count on Sir Rexus.


    "I will definitely keep that in mind. I look forward to seeing the Perfect Cognivore once more in action."


    "Indeed, a wise choice." Rexus let out a mixture of a growl and a¡­purr? Which caused the lair to shake softly. It was time to leave.


    "You''re the best Rexy." Rue waved and winked at the boss, before flying quickly ahead of James to the portal.


    "Have you decided on your starting landscape?"


    James had. He really had been proactive with his down time, and had spent a lot, and he meant a lot, of time thinking about how he wanted his third floor. Obviously, the mob type was undetermined, and he partially hated, yet loved, that fact. However, what he could control, was the landscape.


    Currently, his first floor was underground, yet for all intents and purposes, was a massive farm. His players had access to all the various crops, plus the farm animals for crafting purposes. He was also planning on putting in some mining locations within his first floor, to help the local blacksmiths. He had come across various mineral options, and because of the demonic nature of the first floor, had found he was able to place in infernal variants of metals.


    His second floor, conversely, was a sparsely populated, expansive wasteland. Resource wise, it offered up predominately scrap metal, and various springs, gears, and other post apocolytpic type items. Not bad for some crafting jobs, and definitely helpful in various ways. Especially the leather and precious metals that players could receive from the fallen steampunk dinos.


    That being said, the theme for his first two floors, even though their mobs were vastly different, was that they were both open expanses. He wanted to change that up, but was also hesitant to change it too much. Creating a floor in a winding cavern underground with multiple floors, just seemed too dangerous still given his mob types. He also couldn''t create a dungeon in a mountain range just yet, because the resource cost of modifying such a landscape, especially if the mobs didn''t make sense, wasn''t worth it.


    So, what James had decided upon, was a Marshland setting. It was again, still a rather flat type of floor. However, the marshlands had large overgrown trees that made the area darker and more mysterious. It also had a wide variety of various plant options that James could see as being used for potions and poisons for the adventurers. And, because of the nature of swampy areas, James would have a lot of opportunities to play with various traps, and environmental hazards. It seemed like a nice change for his players, that would keep them actively engaged. Unless of course he applied poison to the entire area¡­.but he wouldn''t do that.


    With that thought, he pulled up his floor options, and selected the marshland. The moment he made his selection, he saw another instance tab pull up for his third floor. The main instance for it. Of course, he and Rue could just instantly hop to the instance, but where would the fun be in that. Instead, he nodded towards the pixie, motioning towards the portal.


    "Ladies first."


    The pixie, in proper Rue fashion, did a slight curtsey while sticking her tongue out at him, and stepped through the portal. James quickly followed, so that he wouldn''t miss her reaction. He loved surprising the pixie, and he was sure she would approve of his floor choice. And, if she didn''t, well, he would only have to listen to her complain about it until he got to the fourth floor. Which would simply mean even more motivation to reach Tier 4. Ha. As if he needed more motivation. He loved the game, loved constantly improving and gaining new mobs, skills, research options. All of it. Even without his urge to show up the dick Xander and his annoying duo BLANK, James would be pushing himself to reach new heights in the game. In reality, all BLANK and Xander had done to him was give him a boss fight of his own to overcome. And James loved winning boss fights.


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    He could feel his fire burning within as he went through the portal himself. He was excited. Excited for Dungeon Wars, excited to bring down BLANK. But right now, as he exited the portal and saw Rue, fluttering too and fro amongst the large trees and the bubbling swampy terrain, James had a completely different excitement. It was time to meet his third-floor mobs.

 92 Chapter 91

    Chapter 92


    It had taken longer than James expected for Rue to calm down enough to prepare to summon his third-floor mobs. The pixie had been awash with questions regarding his floor choice, and to his surprise, as he explained everything to her, she actually seemed impressed for a moment.


    "You actually do put a lot more thought into this than I expected." Rue nodded appraisingly at James, making him blush. She didn''t give him actual compliments very often, and even if this one came across as slightly insulting, it was still a compliment.


    "Well, one of us has to be the brains." Of course, he wasn''t going to respond in kind. It was only fair, after all.


    "Annnd, that is definitely not you." Rue stuck out her tongue at him and summoned a slice of pizza in front of him. James nearly winced from the hunger pangs. "I mean¡­ you didn''t even really eat before you logged in. I''ve had to deal with hangry Glyax all week."


    "Hey, that''s not-" She silenced him with a hand as she took a slow bite of the pizza. James could still see steam rising from it. He made a mental note to see if he could summon food while he was in his Avatar. He missed the taste of food, and immersion food always tasted so good.


    "So." She said between bites. "You going to keep me waiting?" She winked at him as the pizza disappeared. "It''s not nice to keep a lady waiting." She leaned forward and pouted slightly. Okay, she was just being cruel now.


    "Yeah, good thing you''re not a lady." Rue rocked backwards, feigning pain, before she offered him a wicked grin.


    "No, I''m so much more. But you''ll never know." She winked as she said the final words, and bit lightly at her lower lip. James needed to divert, and quick. He was losing himself.


    "Annnd, that''s my cue." He waved a tentacle, and his tier 3 monster list appeared. As always, it was empty, save for the glowing, words Generate Random Mob.


    "Good boy." She blew him a kiss and selected the option. He had already spent a small amount of resources to spread his influence over a patch of soggy, moss covered ground in the middle of the marsh. As fine a place as any to summon his brand new, third floor mobs.


    "Come on¡­." He silently urged as he and Rue waited the painful moments while the RNGesus ran in the background. After what felt like an eternity, a form began to appear.


    "What the dicken is that?"


    The first time he had ever summoned a mob, it had been a tiny demonic chicken. The 1 cost, level 1 mob that started it all. The second time, it had been a 7-point mob for his second floor, his velocity raptor. Both mobs had turned out to be terrifying, but from the looks of them and their sizes, they hadn''t been impressive.


    The third-floor mob that appeared before him, had one thing going for it. It was massive. Or at least, he was pretty sure it was. Whatever it was before him, seemed actually like a 20ft, brightly colored¡­traffic cone?


    "Oh¡­I know this one." Rue''s voice was hiding laughter. He had spent enough time with her to know when she was fighting back her laughter. She knew what this was, and she was about to break out in tears. That was never a good sign for him.


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    "What-" James started to pull up the stat window on whatever the mob was before him, but even as he raised a tentacle, the¡­traffic cone shape, began to move. It unraveled, slowly. Well, actually, it uncoiled. And James couldn''t believe what he was looking at.


    "Is that a¡­snake?" It looked goofy. It really did, but as it unraveled itself, it definitely did appear to be a giant snake. A giant snake in a marshland totally worked. Or at least, it should have. However, his mind had finally processed what the giant snake was made out of.


    "It is. Though, doesn''t it appear to be a bit, stuffed?" Rue started laughing before James could even groan. She was absolutely right. The massive, multicolored snake seemed to be made completely out of cloth. It was a stuffed snake; the type kids would have in their rooms. As it finished uncoiling and looked up at him, he could make out eyes that were formed from a hard plastic, and as it opened its mouth, the tongue that sprang forward to lick his orb, was soft to touch. However, at least its fangs seemed to be made of the same dark plastic as its eyes. At least there was that.


    "Alright. What''s the mob type." James internally was raging. Here he was, with a damp, dark marshland for his floor¡­and his first mob for the floor was a freaking neon stuffed snake. He hadn''t even looked at its name yet. He needed to know how badly RNG had just-


    Stuffed Animals. He stared hard at those words under tier three mobs, doing his best to control his breathing. This was not what he wanted. This was not a mob type that he had envisioned for his third floor. Alright, so demonic farm animals had been unlucky, but he had dealt with it. Steampunk Dinosaurs had been cool, and he was lucky for that mob type. However, it seemed RNGesus could give and take away, and it had just dealt him another blow. Stuffed animals in a marshland. His adventurers were going to get a massive laugh out of this.


    "So, what''s this big guy''s name?" Rue had started petting the blasted stuffed snake, which was snuggling up against her, flitting its tongue across her face like a puppy would. James let out a heavy sigh and motioned for her to come over as he set his focus on the mob. At least he had been correct, the mob before him was the strongest of the 5 he could summon on the tier 3 floor.


    "That is a Giant-" Ugh. James sighed. "-plaython." He pulled up the detailed information on it as he said the name. Seriously? James had to wonder if Steve had been responsible for some of these Random classes.


    Giant Plaython (15) Lvl 33


    Type: Stuffed Serpent


    HP: 2100 (650 out of 650 fluff)


    MP: 350


    Atk: 275


    Def: 275


    Unique Abilities


    Adaptive Patches- Giant Plaython''s can adjust the colors of their patchwork skin to blend in with any environment of their choice


    Struggle Snuggles- Giant Plaython''s are constrictors! Giant Plaython''s can wrap their form around an adventurer, using its massive stuffed body to squeeze the adventurer. This attack does 1% of a player''s max hp in damage per second.


    Ssssssssssssssssleepy- Giant Plaython''s are extremely soft to touch. Any enemy caught in Struggle Snuggles will begin gaining stacks of exhaustion, per 5 seconds constrained. At 10 stacks, the player will fall asleep for 1 minute.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Alright, so James had to admit, the Giant Plaython wasn''t terrible. It was definitely a mob that James could see as serving a fun challenge for adventurers and was fitting of tier 3 status. That being said, as James read through the rest of the list, he couldn''t help but let out a groan. He was going to be the laughingstock of the adventurers when they spawned again. From lowest to highest, the mobs were:


    Jolly Dolly (11)


    Teddy Knight (12)


    Snuggle-Woof (13)


    Funky Monkey (14)


    Giant Plaython (15)


    James took a deep breath before he hovered over the first one. He was really going to need to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come.

 92 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92


    It had taken longer than James expected for Rue to calm down enough to prepare to summon his third-floor mobs. The pixie had been awash with questions regarding his floor choice, and to his surprise, as he explained everything to her, she actually seemed impressed for a moment.


    "You actually do put a lot more thought into this than I expected." Rue nodded appraisingly at James, making him blush. She didn''t give him actual compliments very often, and even if this one came across as slightly insulting, it was still a compliment.


    "Well, one of us has to be the brains." Of course, he wasn''t going to respond in kind. It was only fair, after all.


    "Annnd, that is definitely not you." Rue stuck out her tongue at him and summoned a slice of pizza in front of him. James nearly winced from the hunger pangs. "I mean¡­ you didn''t even really eat before you logged in. I''ve had to deal with hangry Glyax all week."


    "Hey, that''s not-" She silenced him with a hand as she took a slow bite of the pizza. James could still see steam rising from it. He made a mental note to see if he could summon food while he was in his Avatar. He missed the taste of food, and immersion food always tasted so good.


    "So." She said between bites. "You going to keep me waiting?" She winked at him as the pizza disappeared. "It''s not nice to keep a lady waiting." She leaned forward and pouted slightly. Okay, she was just being cruel now.


    "Yeah, good thing you''re not a lady." Rue rocked backwards, feigning pain, before she offered him a wicked grin.


    "No, I''m so much more. But you''ll never know." She winked as she said the final words, and bit lightly at her lower lip. James needed to divert, and quick. He was losing himself.


    "Annnd, that''s my cue." He waved a tentacle, and his tier 3 monster list appeared. As always, it was empty, save for the glowing, words Generate Random Mob.


    "Good boy." She blew him a kiss and selected the option. He had already spent a small amount of resources to spread his influence over a patch of soggy, moss covered ground in the middle of the marsh. As fine a place as any to summon his brand new, third floor mobs.


    "Come on¡­." He silently urged as he and Rue waited the painful moments while the RNGesus ran in the background. After what felt like an eternity, a form began to appear.


    "What the dicken is that?"


    The first time he had ever summoned a mob, it had been a tiny demonic chicken. The 1 cost, level 1 mob that started it all. The second time, it had been a 7-point mob for his second floor, his velocity raptor. Both mobs had turned out to be terrifying, but from the looks of them and their sizes, they hadn''t been impressive.


    The third-floor mob that appeared before him, had one thing going for it. It was massive. Or at least, he was pretty sure it was. Whatever it was before him, seemed actually like a 20ft, brightly colored¡­traffic cone?


    "Oh¡­I know this one." Rue''s voice was hiding laughter. He had spent enough time with her to know when she was fighting back her laughter. She knew what this was, and she was about to break out in tears. That was never a good sign for him.


    "What-" James started to pull up the stat window on whatever the mob was before him, but even as he raised a tentacle, the¡­traffic cone shape, began to move. It unraveled, slowly. Well, actually, it uncoiled. And James couldn''t believe what he was looking at.


    "Is that a¡­snake?" It looked goofy. It really did, but as it unraveled itself, it definitely did appear to be a giant snake. A giant snake in a marshland totally worked. Or at least, it should have. However, his mind had finally processed what the giant snake was made out of.


    "It is. Though, doesn''t it appear to be a bit, stuffed?" Rue started laughing before James could even groan. She was absolutely right. The massive, multicolored snake seemed to be made completely out of cloth. It was a stuffed snake; the type kids would have in their rooms. As it finished uncoiling and looked up at him, he could make out eyes that were formed from a hard plastic, and as it opened its mouth, the tongue that sprang forward to lick his orb, was soft to touch. However, at least its fangs seemed to be made of the same dark plastic as its eyes. At least there was that.


    "Alright. What''s the mob type." James internally was raging. Here he was, with a damp, dark marshland for his floor¡­and his first mob for the floor was a freaking neon stuffed snake. He hadn''t even looked at its name yet. He needed to know how badly RNG had just-


    Stuffed Animals. He stared hard at those words under tier three mobs, doing his best to control his breathing. This was not what he wanted. This was not a mob type that he had envisioned for his third floor. Alright, so demonic farm animals had been unlucky, but he had dealt with it. Steampunk Dinosaurs had been cool, and he was lucky for that mob type. However, it seemed RNGesus could give and take away, and it had just dealt him another blow. Stuffed animals in a marshland. His adventurers were going to get a massive laugh out of this.


    "So, what''s this big guy''s name?" Rue had started petting the blasted stuffed snake, which was snuggling up against her, flitting its tongue across her face like a puppy would. James let out a heavy sigh and motioned for her to come over as he set his focus on the mob. At least he had been correct, the mob before him was the strongest of the 5 he could summon on the tier 3 floor.


    "That is a Giant-" Ugh. James sighed. "-plaython." He pulled up the detailed information on it as he said the name. Seriously? James had to wonder if Steve had been responsible for some of these Random classes.


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    Giant Plaython (15) Lvl 33


    Type: Stuffed Serpent


    HP: 2100 (650 out of 650 fluff)


    MP: 350


    Atk: 275


    Def: 275


    Unique Abilities


    Adaptive Patches- Giant Plaython''s can adjust the colors of their patchwork skin to blend in with any environment of their choice


    Struggle Snuggles- Giant Plaython''s are constrictors! Giant Plaython''s can wrap their form around an adventurer, using its massive stuffed body to squeeze the adventurer. This attack does 1% of a player''s max hp in damage per second.


    Ssssssssssssssssleepy- Giant Plaython''s are extremely soft to touch. Any enemy caught in Struggle Snuggles will begin gaining stacks of exhaustion, per 5 seconds constrained. At 10 stacks, the player will fall asleep for 1 minute.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Alright, so James had to admit, the Giant Plaython wasn''t terrible. It was definitely a mob that James could see as serving a fun challenge for adventurers and was fitting of tier 3 status. That being said, as James read through the rest of the list, he couldn''t help but let out a groan. He was going to be the laughingstock of the adventurers when they spawned again. From lowest to highest, the mobs were:


    Jolly Dolly (11)


    Teddy Knight (12)


    Snuggle-Woof (13)


    Funky Monkey (14)


    Giant Plaython (15)


    James took a deep breath before he hovered over the first one. He was really going to need to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come.

 93 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93


    "Whatcha planning on doing with your new mobs?" Rue was hovering, annoyingly, over James''s orb as he stared at the screens in front of him. He had opened up all of the mobs stats, looked over all of their skills, and left their screens up. However, from there, he had frozen up. Was this really to be his third floor?


    "I don''t know yet." James said sternly. He kept glancing across them all, and then down at his marshlands. He had already dismissed the first Giant Plaython, leaving the marshland dead and desolate, which was partly how he was feeling currently. Damn RNG.


    "Well, you''ve got 800 mob points to spend." Rue seemed extremely amused with his mobs, and while part of James did find them funny, he didn''t really need funny right now. He was hoping for something cool¡­not freaking stuffed animals.


    "Yeah, I know, I can read."


    "Oh, can you?" Rue leaned over his orb and pulled up a timer in front of him. The clock was slowly ticking down. 15hr 47m 12s remaining till immersion ended. Fifteen hours left, if he didn''t choose to sleep, to set up his third floor, and get prepared for whatever BLANK was going to throw his way in Dungeon Wars.


    For the first time, James could feel the pressure getting to him. He needed to not only set up his floor in a way that would work for these¡­.unique mobs, but also a way that would keep him competitive. Plus, a way that would still draw in adventurers. Plus, he still had to see what the boss mob situation would be for floor three, and look into his research options. He already knew when his research hit 12 hours, he would be using a dungeon token on all three options, in order to see what level 2 of each option gave him, so he could have some in game time to play around with those. He still needed to figure out what Core Offense and Core Defense research even did.


    "Then why are you stalling?" Rue''s words, along with the timer, pulled him out of his stupor, and into a hangry rage.


    "Maybe because this whole situation is bullshit." James really wasn''t one to lose his cool. He prided himself on that fact. But between everything that had been going on, with Dwight knocking him unconscious, to dealing with Xander, and now the threat from BLANK, plus the hunger pangs he had been dealing with for seven days straight in immersion, he finally lost it.


    "First, I''m constantly bullied in the real world. Second, the world I usually escape to, has now become a responsibility. I''m responsible for the entire freaking world everyone in my town is playing in right now. Don''t you think that is a bit much?" James spun around, tentacles flailing, as he glared at Rue.


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    "Then, just as everything in that game is settling, and I am getting into a groove and having fun, the lead developer decides he has a personal problem with me and puts even more restrictions and threats on me." Rue was starring at him. He could tell she wanted to speak, but he had caught her off guard.


    "Add into that his spoiled, shitty children deciding they don''t like me because I somehow, not even by my own choice, got an advantage in the game, so now they want to destroy me." James took a deep breath, "and then, when I get to my third floor, when I think I''ve got everything figured out, when I''m in a great freaking mood because we get to build a brand-new floor-"


    James pointed a tentacle at one of the screens, summoning a mob. "I get stuck with stuffed, freaking, animals. In a marshland." The mob he had summoned appeared before them, standing gingerly atop the simple plot of land. It was one of those eerie stuffed toy dolls that little children played with, with a pully string coming out the back, to make it talk. The doll stood silently, staring out with blank, lifelike doll eyes, at the surrounding area.


    "What the hell am I even supposed to do with that!"


    Rue. Didn''t say a word. The pixie looked down at the doll, and then back to James. Silently, she glided towards him, growing slightly larger as she did. The moment she reached his orb, she wrapped him in an embrace, continuing to remain quiet as she gently began to stroke the top of his orb. For a moment rage flashed through him, fueled not only by his hunger, but by his frustrations, and the whole bullshit of the situation before him. He raised his tentacles to push the pixie away but faltered.


    "You''re not alone in this James." Rue cooed, using his real name. "We will get through this." His tentacles waivered, and instead of pushing the pixie away, he wrapped his tentacles around her, returning her embrace. Emotion rushed through him, grief, frustration, anger, exhaustion. He couldn''t speak, he didn''t have the words to express what he was feeling. Honestly, he had never let his emotions break out, he always kept them close to his heart. He needed to always seem okay, so that his parents wouldn''t feel the need to leave their work, and care for him. He was strong, he was independent. But right then, he realized even so, he needed someone else in his life. Someone else to help share his burdens.


    Was that why his parents insisted he be paired with Rue? Were he and Rue meant to help and support each other?


    "I-" His voice broke as he fought against himself. "I-" it cracked, and he knew if he had been in human form, he would be bawling his eyes out. "I''m so sorry Rue."


    The pixie pushed his orb slowly away from herself and offered James a smile. "For what? You haven''t done anything wrong, dummy."


    James instinctively used a tentacle to wipe away a nonexistent tear, and looked up at the pixie. She was always so immature, so frustrating, hell, she was drunk. But he could tell there was a completely different side to her. A side that really cared, a side that was calm, and gently, and supportive. How had he missed that before?


    "Thank you." James whispered, turning back down to his mob, which was still standing there glancing around.


    "But seriously, what are we going to do?" As he spoke, regaining his composure, the mob, a Jolly Dolly, looked up at James and Rue. The doll grabbed at its string behind its back and tugged at it.


    "Come Play with Me." The voice was that of a small girl, perhaps five years old. Sure, it may have been cute in a regular setting. But hearing that voice, in a dark, empty marshland, sent shivers down James''s spine. Maybe, just maybe, he could make this work.


    "I would say it is time for you to touch up on your inner Stephen King." The pixie shot a look between James, and the creepy dolly. "Or R.L. Stine, your choice."


    "I think I may be able to do just that." Both were well known to James. How couldn''t they be? The Stephen King stories were still be turned into movies, and there were even survival games in immersion based around his stories. James had never been more scared in his life than the time he decided to try The Shining Experience as part of an online challenge. And of course, R.L. Stine''s Goosebumps had their own creepy and wacky universes in immersion.


    Between his exposure to both, he figured he could make it work. Especially if he added in some of the newer online horror twists, he had seen played out. And, as he eyed the line up once more, perhaps he could even give homage to McStuffin. Now that his mental block was gone, his excitement returned tenfold. This was going to be good.

 94 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94


    Now that James had gotten over his mental breakdown, it was time to get to work. He reabsorbed the surprisingly helpful Jolly Dolly and prepared for what he needed to do.


    The first step to building his third floor, was obviously spreading his influence. He currently had 1812 resources to use, out of a total of 4900. Sadly, he had used 1800 resources the last time, on his second floor, to make a 900x900 yard expanse. If he wanted to continue growing the dungeon, well he needed to make an expanse even larger.


    "Should I double the size of the second floor?" He had, after all, doubled the size of his first floor when he designed the layout of his second floor. His first floor was 450 x 450, his second was 900 x 900, so should his third be 1800 x 1800? It was simply math, but James knew doing just that would quickly make his dungeon skyrocket in size, and he was pretty sure he couldn''t keep up with those resource costs.


    "Eh, do you really need it to be that large?" Rue was glancing at the expanse, that went on all around them. From what James had found of these pre-generated floors, they would go on infinitely if he had the resources to continue spreading his influence. If he got to the current edge, it just autogenerated more of the same environment. And, when he finalized the instance, the space created invisible boundaries, which kept both mobs, and players, confined in the area.


    James, back in a good mood, couldn''t let the pixie''s phrasing go unnoticed. "Oh, are you implying size doesn''t matter?"


    The pixie shot him a devilish grin and traced a finger along a tentacle. "I''m just saying, bigger doesn''t instantly mean better." She moved closer to him as she spoke, continuing to trace her finger as her hand drew close to the full tentacle. "It all depends on how you use it." She gave him a quick, playful squeeze, and flew away laughing.


    James broke¡­


    The tentacles weren''t erogenous zones, in fact, they acted as arms would. So, had he been in human form, she would have just been tracing her fingers up his arm, and then gently squeezing say his bicep, or shoulder. Such an action would have been innocent enough, though still have sexual undertones. However, given the phallic nature of tentacles, it literally seemed to James like a scene out of an anime. Hell, if this was an anime, he was sure his nose would be bleeding currently. And the damned pixie knew exactly what she was doing.


    "Don''t get too worked up Glyax. I''m not THAT into tentacle monsters." She flashed her wicked smile and wink and flew laughing away. "But I''ll give you a moment to cool off. I''m sure I can find a way to entertain myself while I wait." And with that, she was gone.


    James took a few deep breaths, doing all he could to calm himself. His current form really was a blessing and a curse. Sure, it was great she couldn''t see his facial expressions or tells when it came to nervousness, embarrassment, etc. But seriously, floating tentacle monster? Whoever the hell came up with this, had some explaining to do. As James sat there and thought about the developer, he decided actually, there wasn''t any explanation needed. Xander was just a lonely pro gamer with a thing for anime and some dark fetishes. Totally made sense. Creep.


    Chuckling to himself, James turned back to his task at hand. The more he thought on it, the more he liked the plan he was formulating. And, luckily for him, he once again had a decent amount of Dungeon Tokens to play with for his floor development.


    First, James decided to be economic, and utilize all of his current resources. Rue was right, he didn''t need to double the size of his floor. In fact, he didn''t need to increase the size of this floor just yet. He could always do so at a later time. As such, he decided to use his 1800 resources, and simply recreate a 900 x 900 square yard expanse like he had last time. Given the fact that everything was marshlands, it actually made the size seem irrelevant. No one could really tell how large a marsh was, when they were in the middle of it, surrounded by swamp, trees, and monsters, after all.


    With that done, James was able to really get to work. He popped a dungeon token and filled his resources back up to 4900. Given some¡­er, inspiration, James finally had a plan for all of his mobs, and a vision on how to best utilize the swampy area to make it work.


    Starting with his lowest cost mob, James began to build small huts and pathways within the trees of the marshland. Small structures, and the creaking, wooden bridges James was making, normally were rather low cost. In fact, they still were, but James spent nearly an hour working through his resources to connect essentially the entire canopy of the trees in some way or another with these huts and pathways.


    The reason for this, was to utilize the Jolly Dollies in probably the creepiest, most effective way possible. Their voices and visage in this setting, already seemed like something out of a Stephen King novel. Combine with that, the fact that James knew there was an old, supposedly haunted island of dolls in the real world, and James''s imagination had started to flow. Then, the final aspect, those creepy pull strings on the back of the dollies, combined with one of their abilities, put the final, er, nail in the coffin, so to speak. Japan, was once again, his final inspiration for this aspect and utilization of the mob.


    For the next mob, his Teddy Knights, James had to get a little more creative. Mainly because the Teddy Knights were multipurpose mobs. The first he had really come across. Though, considering they were knights, it seemed rather fitting. When given the option to summon them, they had an ability, Bear-Essentials- which allowed him to choose what type of knight he wished to summon. There were Basic Knights, Mounted Knights, and Light Knights.


    The basic knights were just that. A Teddy Bear, covered in shiny cloth armor, wielding a plastic sword and shield. Mounted Knights shared the same armor, but had a lance instead of a sword, and the ability to ride on another mob as a mount. Interestingly, that ability didn''t'' really specify what type of mob, so James had some ideas for that. The third, Light Knights, were just Paladins. Like, seriously, once again, the developers had tried to be funny, and it was rather lame. Instead of shiny silver cloth, Light Knights had gold cloth armor, and wielded gold swords and shields. The most amusing part of that, was their ''holy symbol'' was a lightbulb emblazoned on their shields. That part did make James laugh.


    Each of the types of knights had pros and cons, and James knew they were going to most likely make up the majority of his fighting mob force on the third floor. As such, he needed to know how to fully utilize them, so once he summoned of each, he moved on to his next mob.


    So, with the Teddy Knights on hold, James summoned a Snuggle-Woof. This mob was literally what looked to be a cross between a stuffed wolf or stuffed husky. It was covered in stringy, soft looking ''fur'' of greys and whites, and had bright blue plastic eyes. James was pretty sure it was more husky than wolf, but it really didn''t'' matter. The things stood about four feet in height, making them larger than a dog should ever be.


    These mobs were, of course, his pack tactic mobs. Just like Dickens, and Velocity Raptors, the Sunggle-Woofs got a buff for being in a pack. Their pack size, sat right in the middle of the other two mentioned mobs, at 4 mobs for the buff. What James wanted to test though, wasn''t their skills, but the Mounted Knight''s skill. After he summoned the Snuggle-Woof, he directed it over to the Mounted Knight. To James''s amusement and delight, the Knight placed a leather saddle on the back of the Snuggle-Woof and climbed aboard. The first test was a success.


    Grinning to himself, he moved on to the second to last mob. The Funky Monkeys. These, these were something that had to have some explanation to them. They were lanky, strange looking monkey like mobs, with two bongo drums on their back, as well as¡­. Well, what looked like a cape. Their description of their skills made even less sense when James read them over, which was why he really needed to summon them to see what they did.


    Funky Monkey (14) Lvl 33


    Type: Screaming Monkey


    HP: 1150 (375 out of 375 fluff)


    MP: 1800


    Atk: 160


    Def: 90


    Unique Abilities


    It''s a bird, it''s a plane, it''s a¡­monkey? ¨C Funky Monkey''s aren''t your normal monkey. Using the power of their awesome attire, they are able to fly. Can you dig it? (note, monkeys normally don''t fly. As such, Funky Monkey''s may occasionally scream in surprise, terror, or joy when they are in flight. Something Something, stun an enemy for 5 seconds with a 30% chance)


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    Get Funky- Funky Monkey''s are totally rad. Watch them break out their beats and move their ally''s feat! Ah yeah!


    Slap Happy- You thought Funky Monkeys couldn''t jive? You were wrong. Watch out for their wacky reach, man.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Seriously, there was something, er, funky with that monkey''s description. Of course, the fact the mob summoned with not only bongos and a cape, but also black sunglasses on and a freaking Hawaiian style t-shirt, just made it all even worse. So, James needed to test out the mob. First, he directed the mob to fly. To his surprise, it ran up the nearest tree, and leapt off. The moment it did, two things happened.


    First, the cape behind it, which had before just been fluttering about, seemed to solidify, creating almost a glider like aspect to it. Second, the monkey began letting out the most earsplitting, obnoxious scream, ever. And, sure enough, James could see the faint visible lines of sound waves moving out from the monkey, similar to the Terminus''s roar. So, it was an on hit effect from the scream. Okay.


    Next, after the monkey landed, James ordered it to activate Get Funky. The monkey pulled its bongo drums off its back and started to play them. The beat was rather smooth, and somewhat catchy, and James had to applaud the development team for that musical treat. As the monkey played, its body began to glow slightly, and the mobs in the area began to glow as well. As James inspected them, he saw a new buff added to them.


    Active Buff


    Footloose- This mob has been inspired by some sick beats. The power of music flows through it, making its movements even more spectacular. This mob has a 25% chance to dodge attacks.


    As James scrolled back over to his monkey, who continued to jam out, he could see the MP was slowly going down. It seemed, his third floor, literally had a monkey bard. He ordered it to stop playing, and made the monkey activate its final skill. The monkey turned towards the groups of mobs, and set its gaze on the Basic Teddy, which James had directed it to attack. A moment later, the Monkey made a slapping motion. It''s hand literally stretched out from its body, connected by a giant rubber tube of sorts, and flew towards the bear. Even as that attack flew, the monkey made another slapping motion with its other hand, and that too went flying. Within a few seconds, the Basic Teddy was being bombarded by bungie like slaps from the monkey. It was silly. It was awesome.


    With that test, James had one last thing to see, before he could fully customize his floor to make use of these wonderful, ridiculous, gloriously terrifying mobs. He summoned his Giant Plaython and sent it over to his Mounted Knight. The Teddy looked up at the 20ft long Giant Plaython, whose head was larger than the 5-foot teddy bear, and glanced at James. A moment later, the bear seemed to internally sigh, and motioned at the Giant Plaython. The serpent lowered its head, and the teddy pulled out a pair of reigns, and another saddle. A moment later, James had a teddy knight, lance in hand, riding atop a Giant Plaython. Oh yes. A second later¡­


    Achievement Unlocked.


    Oh yes.

 95 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95


    The achievement, was, for all intents and purposes, unnecessarily awesome. Like, in James''s mind, the achievement was right up there with his mimic achievements for pure hilarity. James was pretty sure Steve, or at least some of Steve''s friends, if he had any, were behind some of these achievements.


    Achievement Unlocked ¨C They See Me Slitheryn, They Snaken ¨C Successfully mount a serpentine mob with a humanoid mob.


    Reward ¨C 5,000 xp, 500 resources, 1 dungeon token, unique appearance option for serpentine mobs.


    The xp, was not only nice, but also pushed James into Rank 4 for his dungeon. He now had over 393,000 total experience and was just over 200,000 experience towards Tier 4. It seemed far away, but he knew just how fast experience could be gained now. He also had no doubt the Dungeon Wars might be impacting that. He grinned as he checked the leader board, noting that BLANK was only at Tier 5. He wasn''t far behind, and their only real advantage, was the extra time they had had with the research options. But that gap could still be closed using dungeon tokens, and the fact he had an entire day in the real world before Dungeon Wars started.


    The second part of the achievement was what really made him chuckle. Of course, he opened up his Giant Plaython''s screen the moment he saw that achievement, to see what exactly had just been unlocked for his mob. To his amusement, he now had the option to give his serpentine mobs sunglasses. Of course, he put those on immediately.


    "Now then, what next." James had been derailed slightly by the achievement, but now that he had enough time to chuckle, he knew he needed to get back to work. Of course, that meant deciding on which task he would begin next. Would he build the layout of his floor, summon his mobs en masse, or summon his boss mob? The choices all were important, but what James finally decided on, was the layout of his floor. Mainly because he had just wasted a couple hundred resource points by gaining his achievement without having empty space in his resources. Building his treetop bridges and huts had only cost him about 750 resources. Straw huts and wooden bridges were literally dirt cheap in this game.


    The other reason he selected this task first, was because he figured he should set up his entire dungeon floor, before he populated it fully with his mobs. Also, after he had those two tasks completed, he figured he would be able to spend the rest of his immersion truly working on his boss mob and finalizing his third floor. There was a method to his madness at times, though sometimes he didn''t realize it himself. Ah well, time to work.


    First, James knew he needed to create walkways throughout the entire marshland. Part of the reason for this, was well, stuffed animals and swampy marshes didn''t seem to go together all that well. He had already seen some of his mobs becoming drenched and soiled with the swampy water, it was not a pretty sight. Also, for his Teddy Knights and Funky monkey''s particularly, he didn''t want them to be impeded by trying to fight in waist deep water in some areas. That just seemed counterproductive.


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    Of course, offering set path options for adventurers also offered benefits to James and his mobs. First, he was sure most adventurers would rather walk atop wooden bridges and paths, rather than trudge around in swamplands. That gave James the freedom to easily plan traps around the more logical travel options for adventurers. It also would allow him to better set up ambushes, and dictate where they explored, and how they explored. And, if they wanted to go off the path, well that just allowed him even more options. Huzzah quicksand. Which James had already found in his trap options for the area. He was totally going to use that.


    So, with that in mind, James went to work. He broke out his terrain editor, adjusting the height of some of the swampy mounds of earth and moss, creating areas that would be just large enough for say, a group of adventurers and a group of Teddy Knights to fight each other on. James then began connecting all these expanses with rickety old wooden walkways. His floor was looking more and more like a creepy, old school horror flick. He was wishing he had a swamp monster or creature from a lagoon to finish the scene. Or, even a stuffed alligator. That would have been nice.


    Without those options though, James just did what he had learned to do with his first two floors. He adapted, and he overcame. He flew rapidly all over his expanse while countless screens floated around him. He had nearly every tab of his editor tool open and was quickly hopping from one to another as he came across areas he wished to improve. He had become much more efficient from building his last two floors, and his mind just filled him with ideas.


    Some areas, he made darker, deepening the water, and adding in fallen, rotting logs and vines. Others, he made shallower, splashing in different options here and there as he went. Of course, the areas that had the rotting logs, logically then, would be potentially creating toxic gas. So, he put gas traps under the surface, poisonous traps, that when tripped, would explode outward, showring unlucky adventurers in a toxic mess.


    Both shallow and deep areas received quicksand options, of course, and James was ecstatic to find he was given basic zoology options for his environment. This meant, of course, that first, he was going to get his darned crocodiles! Of course, because they weren''t actual mobs, they weren''t going to pose much of a threat to adventurers, though James was pleased to see he could adjust their levels slightly. He had a range of 1-10 for the crocodiles, and as he scrolled through their levels, he noticed it effected their size and age. He may have gotten a little excited at this, and spent almost an hour zooming about, populating his swamp with his own massive crocodile farm.


    After that, the other options just sort of made sense, and were flung about in a joyous, almost chaotic manner. From what James could tell, the wildlife options for his marshlands had been pulled from an Amazonian esq list, meaning his area now was filled with poisonous frogs, piranhas, wolf-fish, catfish, crocodiles, and regular anacondas! He almost went into the entomology section of the biology but figured he didn''t want to make his swamp that miserable, and no one wanted to be constantly bugged by mosquitos, ha.


    Once his floor was filled with its infrastructure, including a few rotting huts, shacks, and er, outhouses, for reasons, James decided it was time to finish filling his floor with actual mobs. After all, his wildlife, while impressive, and exciting he was sure for not only himself, but adventurers, weren''t going to pose much of a threat. Unless of course, there were going to be side quests and events when research was high enough, for fishing-based quests or what not. James was sure there could be achievements earned by players for catching the largest fish, etc. He may have spent an unhealthy amount of time in a few games running around on similar such quests. But then again, why wouldn''t he? He had spent over 50 hours getting a legendary fishing rod, after all.


    James grinned to himself over that memory, as he closed his terrain windows and opened up his mob generator screen. He had 890 mob points to play with, which may have felt like a lot, but James knew it would go quickly. Especially when his cheapest mob cost 11 points. He was silently envious for a moment of the regular, single type dungeons. They were able to bring their lower leveled mobs from their other floors onto their higher floors, including their upgrades. James could only imagine a floor with both his dickens, and velocity raptors, running amuck. Ah well. He figured his random variety was an equal trade off¡­ to some degree.


    Now, what James was envisioning for his third floor, was parties of mobs. Previously, his floors had been a bit separate, with his mobs keeping to themselves and their own types. That worked of course, especially given the levels of his mobs, and the levels of the adventurers fighting them. However, James knew the stronger the adventurers got, and the more sub classes they unlocked, the more capable they would become. Therefore, he planned to keep this third floor challenging, mixing it up for the adventurers who could make it here. After all, if they did, it meant they had brought the Terminus to its knees, and were likely level 30 or higher, or in a large raid party.


    Because of that, James wanted roaming bands of mobs for the adventurers. However, with his three variants of Teddy Knights, along with the other mobs, his options had expanded more than he expected, which was making this more difficult than it normally was.


    Sighing, James decided to start with the lowest cost monsters first and work his way up. The Jolly Dolly''s, at least, were easy. This mob he fully planned to just spawn in the treetops, and have running to and fro, tormenting, taunting, and harassing adventurers, as well as you know, damaging them, and scaring them. To do this efficiently, James summoned 20 of these mobs, and started them all spaced out in intervals around the floor. Nowhere would be safe from the Jolly Dollies.


    That, took 220 mob points from him, leaving him with 670 for his roaming bands. Of course, not all of his mobs would be in roaming war parties. He was still planning to have the occasional single, or small party mob encounter. With that in mind, James decided he should summon those as well, to see what he ended up being left with.


    First, James decided he wanted 5 Giant Playthons spread out throughout the floor, to ambush any adventurers that decided to explore the swamp off the wooden paths. Of course, their massive frames, even with their camouflage, would cause the water to ripple in an ominous manner, meaning adventurers would always have some unseen horror they were worried about. James liked that thought.


    The 5 Giant Playthons cost him 75 points, knocking his total down to 595. These points always went so darned fast, ugh. He was tempted to summon a few packs of Snuggle-Woof''s, but after looking over their skills, decided early on, that just wouldn''t be right. Multiple packs of those running about, just seemed a bit unfair. So, James only summoned one pack of four. He just couldn''t resist. The pack cost him an additional 52 points. 543 to go.


    Luckily, at this point, James knew it was time to put together his mob parties. Mainly because Funky Monkeys were literally bards, they were pointless without other mobs around them. And, as he had previously decided, his Teddy Knight''s were going to be his main force on this floor. All shall fear his teddys!


    So, he went about making various combinations of teddy forces, setting them up in different areas all around his floor. James made one set that consisted of 3 Mounted Teddy''s, riding atop 3 Snuggle-Woofs, a Funky Monkey, and a Light Knight. That group cost him 101 points. He made another group that consisted of just three Teddy Knights, and two Light Knights. That group cost him 60 points. Then, he did a group that was a single Mounted Teddy, riding atop a Giant Plaython, with two teddy knights, and two light knights in tow, for a total of 75 points. He now had only 307 points remaining.


    He looked over his mobs, trying to come up with a few more combinations that wouldn''t be too op, but would offer the adventurers a decent challenge. James decided on two more sets of Mounted Knights atop Giant Playthons but gave each of these riders only a single light knight, and funky monkey, as parts of the party. After all, that meant the party had a tank, some dps, a healer, and a support character. That was totally balanced¡­and cost him 53 each party, for a total of 106 points. 201 left.


    "Have you tried mounting your Funky Monkeys?" Rue''s voice yanked James from his musing, causing him to jump and curse as he spun around. The pixie literally had materialized out of nowhere. He was sure of it.


    "Wha-"


    "Shhhh." Rue''s face was alight with humor as she tried to calm him. Seriously, she had just given him a heart attack. What had she been up to? Where had she gone, where had she come from. And what did she mean?


    "What do you mean, mount the Monkeys?" Seriously, that just seemed like an¡­Suddenly, the gears in James''s mind started turning. The monkeys could fly¡­


    "They wouldn''t¡­." James mumbled as he summoned a Mounted Knight and a Funky Monkey. He then directed the former to, er, mount the latter.


    "Oh, they would." Rue was grinning her mischievous smile. Of course, James knew the outcome before he even saw it happen with his own eyes. If Rue had suggested it, then it was after all, going to be a viable option in the game. Darned AI. Sure enough, the Mounted Knight hopped atop the Funky Monkey''s shoulders, and leveled its lance and shield. It was comical and ridiculous.


    "Fly." James ordered the monkey, and the mob nodded in understanding. It swung its hands towards a branch, latching on and flinging itself into the sky. The moment it reached a peak height, the cape on its back straightened, creating a glider. From its back, the Mounted Knight held on tight, its lance extended in a deadly manner as the two mobs soared around. God he loved Rue.


    "All right, well, I guess I know what I''m going to spend the rest of my points on¡­" James couldn''t keep his voice composed as he ran the numbers in his head real quick. He had 201 points left. A Funky Monkey and Mounted Knight cost 26 points. If he set them up in groups of 2 Funky Monkeys and 2 mounted knights, that would be 52 points per pack. Sooo, he could summon 3 packs of flying mobs, spending 156 points, and leaving him with 45 remaining. Gah, if he had 3 more mob points, he could summon a roaming band of four light knights, because who wouldn''t want to fight four paladins? Sighing at the incomplete math, but not willing to undo all his great plans so far, James decided to settle. A small band involving a snuggle woof, a mounted knight, and a light knight, for 37 points.


    "Sweet, time for your boss mob?" Rue was looking over his shoulder once again, her eyes noting he had just hit 8 remaining mob points. He looked over his overall tally of mobs once more. All in all, his floor now had 20 Jolly Dollies, 26 Teddy Knights of various types, 8 Snuggle Woofs, 9 Funky Monkeys, and 8 Giant Playthons.


    "Yup, time for my boss mob." James closed his mob screen and opened up his boss mob screen. It was time to¡­ James froze as he looked at the option before him. What was this? Tier 3 seemed to have even more surprises for him, and he really liked these surprises.

 96 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96


    "Talk to me Rue. What am I seeing right here?" His mind was trying to process it, but every time it started to, it blanked. There was the normal Boss tab, there was the mini boss tab, and then, there was a third, brand new boss tab. Staged Boss


    "I mean, it''s pretty obvious, isn''t it?" The pixie was being herself. Go figure.


    "You-"


    "At tier three, you are able to choose between three different options for bosses. You can either create two boss mobs, one boss mob with two mini bosses, or build a boss that has stages." She eyed the three options hungrily. "Obviously, you should choose to build the boss mob and two mini bosses¡­ that leads to the largest selection." The way she licked her lips as she spoke, confirmed her gambling addiction. Maybe James really should stop fueling that? Or at least cut it down a bit? Was there a gambler''s anonymous for AI? Now that he thought about it¡­


    "Rue."


    "I get to pull the lever? Yes! Best dungeon core-" Her hand was nearly to the option before he stopped her.


    "No. Not that. Have you been betting with Sir Rexus in your games?" Rue''s hand faltered, and her eye twitched.


    "Ummmm," Oh yeah, she was guilty.


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    "How much have you lost?" From what James overheard of their games as he worked, Sir Rexus was a lot better at the games than Rue was. The AI that ran the Steampunk T-Rex was astonishingly intelligent after all, probably a direct a result of the upgrade James had given him. The pixie, therefore, more often than not was losing. Which James was fine with¡­since he often lost against her.


    "It''s not important." She grumbled, turning back to the boss mob options. "Now, can we get back to-"


    "Rue." This was both amusing to James, and also sad. The pixie definitely had a problem. Maybe he needed to cut back on how much he allowed her to gamble on. That decision helped solidify his mindset for his third-floor boss option, even though he had already mostly decided. He was all for new and exciting things, after all.


    "I don''t want to talk about it." The pixie crossed her arms and began pouting. Okay, she definitely needed a gambling time out. Too bad he couldn''t censor that like the developers had censored her drinking. Oh well.


    "Alright, well then. We are definitely going to choose the third boss option." Rue looked sadly away from the single boss option and looked at the stages. "So, can you be a dear and fill me in on what to expect?"


    "Fine." Rue waved her hand at the third option, and a single slot machine appeared before the two of them.


    "Staged bosses are bosses that have multiple stages to their fight." Thank you, captain, obvious.


    "Go on."


    "When you select that option, you will be given choices between various staged type bosses. Some have multiple phases and will change their abilities and stats when certain triggers are met, usually based on the percentage of life the boss has left. Others, can be made up of multiple bosses that will interact with each other in unique ways."


    "Like the Perfect Cognivore?" If something like that happened on his third floor, as just the boss, well, adventurers wouldn''t be finding the fourth floor any time soon. Especially considering they still had a long way to go to beat that secret boss, who interestingly enough, stayed at level 50 when combined, even though the Terminus and B.L.U. were level 35 and 30 respectively. Regardless, a level 50 boss was far outside of anyone''s capabilities right now, and likely would be until at least the fourth floor was unlocked.


    "Not quite." Rue was relaxing, James knew she enjoyed explaining things to him. She just also enjoyed teasing him, which was where their normal issues came from. "The Perfect Cognivore is a secret boss and combines two bosses in order to create a brand new mob that has a much higher level and stats, dependent on the floor the boss originates on, and the base level of the boss for that floor." Well, that explained his level. The Terminus started at level 25, so the secret boss must just double the level of that. Or, at least that was as much as James could figure at this moment.


    "Alright, so how does the multi-boss staged boss option work?"


    "Depends on the type of boss." Rue said matter of factly. "Some start as a single boss, and as it is damaged will break apart into smaller, different bosses. Some will support each other and interact with each other in special ways. And others will buff the other greatly upon death." Rue looked down at him, grinning. "Aren''t you a big bad gamer Glyax. Haven''t you fought such bosses before?"


    He had, of course, fought countless bosses that had abilities like what she described. They were great, and they were also terrible, to fight. Mainly because they broke the norm of the cut and paste boss battles and made things interesting. However, they almost always guaranteed multiple wipes before a successful victory, because of their various stages and triggers. In essence, a staged boss was going to be perfect for ensuring James continued to gain experience at a fast rate, to help him continue to grow. BLANK might be okay resorting to mass wipes often for experience bursts, but James knew he couldn''t continue to use that tactic. If there was one thing, he feared more than his confrontation with BLANK, it was pissing off his players and having them leave his game. It didn''t matter if he was high rank, if everyone stopped playing, after all.


    "Any expectations for what the staged boss options for stuffed animals are going to be?" James eyed the lever nervously, while Rue licked her lips in anticipation, her finger twitching.


    "Nope, maybe you should spend some tokens to er, see all the options?" Her hand twitched again, and James gently reached for it with a tentacle. He sighed, he hated what he was about to say.


    "How about I pull the lever once, and we just choose one of the three options?" He could feel the pixie fight his grip for a moment, before she gave in.


    "Fine, go ahead and pull it." The amount of longing and sorrow in her voice nearly made him lose his resolve. However, this was for her own good.


    "Alright, here goes nothing." He pulled the lever, and silently prayed to the Goddess of Luck that he wouldn''t regret this life choice.

 97 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97


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    "You sure you don''t want to reroll?" Rue was glancing anxiously from James, to the three options displayed before them. Honestly, part of him did want to reroll, mainly because he was curious what other options there were. However, he could at least work with the options that were laid out before him.


    "Nope, like I said. We are going to choose one of these three." He gave Rue as stern a look as a floating eyeball could and began reading over the three options in front of him.


    Just like normal boss mob options, the boss options in front of him had no actual names, just generic descriptors of them. What James did find interesting though, was that one of the bosses had three smaller boss¡­pets? It seemed, that did have names. James felt it was slightly reminiscent to his second floor, where he got to name the Terminus, but B.L.U. came with a pre-decided name. It seemed¡­strange, to say the least.


    Naming matters aside, the three options before James were about as unique and different from each other as he could have hoped. Of course, the fact James could even see any information about their stages was also a stroke of luck. The previous boss options, he had just been able to see what it was. He couldn''t really look at their abilities or skills until he selected on and summoned it. At least the developers weren''t going full on asshole for staged bosses. And, thankfully, being able to at least get an idea of what the boss fights would be like, helped him choose what he wanted.


    The first staged boss option was a massive teddy bear. Now, when James said massive, it truly was massive. The freaking bear seemed like it would be as large, if not larger, than Charles the Dicken. The short description detailing the bear, showed that every time it lost a quarter of its life, it would split apart, doubling the amount of teddy bosses players would be fighting. These split pieces would be smaller, have less of the stuffing buff, but likely do more damage, or have increased attack speed. James wasn''t too sure, as he didn''t get that level of detail, sadly, from the boss mod creator screen.


    The second boss, on the other hand, was a toy box. From within the toy box, random smaller mobs would be summoned. If James had to guess, he was sure that boss would have a high defense when it was closed up, meaning adventurers would have to defeat the mobs it spawned, and then dps it whenever it opened back up to spawn more monsters. Definitely an interesting fight, especially with the random feature for what it could summon. James was, after all, pretty committed to the random life.


    "You can''t choose the toy box." Rue interrupted James musings as he continued to eye the toy box. He had after all, already skimmed all three, and was deeply contemplating choosing that toy box option. Rue''s comment though, pulled him from his musings.


    "Why? The toy box seems like a lot of fun." It really did. Especially because James figured nothing could be better in a random dungeon than a random boss.


    Rue hesitated, before she spoke, and James could tell she hated herself as she did. "I¡­won''t be able to control my betting if you choose the toy box." Ah. That was an extremely valid point. James could already envision the number of bets being made on what type of mobs would be spawned for adventurers to face. Especially after they unlocked the boss and saw its skills, he was sure they would be given a list of available options. That toy box would literally be a gambling gold mine. And Rue, to her credit, was well aware of her problem.


    "So, do you want the giant bear, or¡­" He trailed off as he looked at the third option. The one option that had smaller, named mobs with it.


    "Well, you''re trying to make this floor creepy, just like you right?"


    "Ye-wait!"


    "Ha." Rue''s face lit up as she broke into laughter for a moment. Once she composed herself, she pointed at the two options. "What''s going to be creeper Glyax? A giant teddy bear that bursts into smaller ones? On a floor already filled with stuffed bears." Her hand shifted from the massive teddy to the third option. "Or a creepy old lady with a trio of stuffed animal companions."


    Rue had a point; the third option definitely would be creepier. He had just been so caught up in the toy box, that he hadn''t put much thought into the other two. The third option was an old, old looking lady. Like, she seemed like perhaps the old witch from an old folktale, the kind that would kidnap and eat children. Each of her hands held long, slender needles, and at her feet, were three, named, stuffed animal mobs. One, was a tiger, one was a turtle, and one was a rabbit.


    "Definitely the old lady." James said with agreement, and after a quick glance to Rue, he selected his third-floor boss option, allowing the giant teddy, and the toy box, to slip through his grasp. The moment he selected his boss mob, he pulled up the Grandma''s window. Now the real fun could begin. Mainly because, one of the most exciting parts of DCO, well actually any MMO type game, was skills. Upgrading skills, modifying skills, selecting skills. That unique, extra level of personalization was always a huge draw for James. That was why he had been a little sad he wouldn''t be able to take advantage of the game''s unique multi-classing skill trees and modifying.


    Obviously, with his Avatar unlocked, James had a feeling he could actually still get to play with that system, so that sense of disappointment was gone. However, even if he couldn''t, the number of mobs, and boss mobs, he got to customize and upgrade and tweak with skill points, made up for it tenfold. While regular mobs were fun, boss mobs always seemed to have the most unique, entertaining, and versatile range of upgrades and skills to choose from. And, while his first and second floor he had to wait patiently to upgrade his boss mobs until he leveled and gained skill points, and obviously, gave the players a chance to face the vanilla version of the boss, James had completely different opinions for his third floor boss mob. He had 4 skill points to spend after all on her, and while he might not use all 4, he definitely planned on using at least one or two. Rue had her gambling problem, and James had his own guilty pleasures.

 98 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98


    Tier 3 Staged Boss Mob


    Female Toy Seamstress ¨C Unnamed


    Lvl 43


    HP- 6800


    MP- 2200


    ATK- 690


    DEF- 560


    Unique Abilities


    The Sound of Silence- The Seamstress prefers to work in silence. When she emerges, magical threads will attempt to sew shut the mouths of adventurers who are currently engaged in combat with her. If successful, adventurers who have had their mouths sewn shut will be silenced for 1minute


    Quick Stitch Fix- The Seamstress is a master of her craft. When one of her pets is brought below 50% of its life, she will appear to repair it. It will take her 1 minute to repair her pet''s injuries.


    Thread of Fate- Each time the seamstress appears, she will connect a single, red thread to one adventurer at random. If 5 or more adventurers have a red thread attached to them, half their hp will be drained, and the seamstress will create a fourth animal companion.


    Unique Passive


    Not What it Seams!- This old, frail looking grandma is not what she seems. The moment she is attacked, she will unleash one of her three creations, only reappearing to stitch her precious pets back together, and release additional ones as the fight goes on.


    The Puppet Show- The moment combat is initiated with the seamstress, walls of thread will be erected, creating an enclosed sphere 100 yards in diameter. These threads are magically enhanced and can only be destroyed by the seamstress''s needles.


    James read through his new boss''s abilities once more, grinning all the more as he finished. Not only were her stats impressive, as was to be expected of a boss over level 40, but her abilities seemed like they were going to be extremely difficult for adventurers to deal with. Especially her silence, and her ability to heal her mobs.


    Essentially, from what James could gather, the fight would play out in stages, with players needing to burn her pets hp down to below 50%, and then dps the boss for a minute when she appeared to fix it. That of course, would become more difficult as more of her mobs were added to the fray, making the boss fight essentially a war of attrition.


    He especially liked the fact she created her own arena, it saved him having to create a large area on his map for her to have set aside to herself. However, he did plan on giving her a home of her own, just like he had the Terminus. Now that he knew bosses could gain AI of their own, it only seemed right. He couldn''t very well leave the creepy old grandma to just roam around in the swamps¡­He didn''t want that kind of karma coming back to him once her AI fully developed.


    The part of the boss he was most curious about though, was her thread of fate. Nowhere on the information page did tell him what exactly would be summoned, only that she would create a new mob. It also didn''t say what the percentage was on adventurers for her to choose from. Just that it had to be at least 5. James was sure it would be a while before he got to see that skill in action, but he could hardly wait. If there was one thing everyone loved, it was secret boss interactions. Mainly because such things usually led to rare drops. And every MMO player loved rare drops.


    Now that James had read over the boss''s stats, he noticed three additional tabs on her screen. Each of these tabs had the image of one of her three pets on it, and James nearly tentacle palmed his orb. The three pets were named, of course they were going to have their own unique tabs, skills, and traits. James stopped his tentacle from going to the seamstress''s skill up tree and pulled up all three of the pets'' information. He supposed it was important that he knew what they could do, before he buffed his boss, after all.


    Lvl 38


    Tigerrrr


    Type: Stuffed Tiger


    HP: 3100 (900 out of 900 fluff)


    MP: 500


    Atk: 650


    Def: 390


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Puuurrrrfect Strike- Tigerrrr has a 50% +.10 lvl chance to land a critical strike. Critical strikes from Tigerrrr deal 150% damage.


    Cat Like Reflexes- Tigerrrr has a 20% chance to dodge attacks. If Tigerrrr dodges a melee attack, Tigerrrr has a 15% chance to counterattack.


    Magik Wabbit Lvl 38


    Type: Stuffed Bunny


    HP: 1800 (460 out of 460 fluff)


    MP: 2000


    Atk: 420


    Def: 270


    Unique Abilities


    For my next trick- The Magik Wabbit will cycle through magical spells. Each spell consumes 5% of the Magik Wabbit''s MP and will deal damage according to the amount of MP spent, and the level of the Magik Wabbit.


    Now you See Me, Now You Don''t- The Magik Wabbit can go invisible for 10 seconds at the cost of 10% of its MP. During this time, the Magik Wabbit cannot be targeted. The invisibility will end after 10 seconds, or whenever the Magik Wabbit casts another spell


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed with Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


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    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Lucky Rabbits Foot- The Magik Wabbit is extremely lucky. It has a 40% chance to gain the casting cost of its spell back if its spell hits an enemy.


    Leonardo Lvl 38


    Type: Stuffed Turtle


    HP: 5000 (1600 out of 1600 fluff)


    MP: 1000


    Atk: 330


    Def: 650


    Unique Abilities


    Turtle Turtle Turtle- If Leonardo receives massive damage (more than 20% of his max life) in less than 30 seconds, he will retreat inside of his shell. During this time, he takes 50% less damage from all attacks, and the effects of Shell Shocked are increased from 1% to 10%. He will emerge from hiding if he doesn''t take damage for 10 seconds.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Shell Shocked- Leonardo reflects 1% of all damage back to its opponents.


    As he skimmed over the abilities of his boss''s mobs again and again, he could start to see just how awesome his new boss was going to be. The fact that she added in an additional one of these mobs per time she emerged, just made that fight all the more interesting. There was Tigerrrr, who was the first mob James had ever seen that didn''t actually have a unique ability. However, its unique traits made up for it, as that mob was just a versatile attacked, with the chance to land some devastating critical hits. The Magik Wabbit, was squishy, but James knew the barrage of random spells would keep adventurers on edge and keep them from being able to really plan around that mobs attacks. The wabbit would get even more dangerous, when he was joined with one of the other two mobs. And then, there was Leonardo. That turtle was a tank mob. And, James could already guess a lot of players would end up taking a bunch of damage from him before they realized how he worked.


    Add in to that the fact they mobs would constantly get healed, and James could tell this boss was going to be one hell of a battle for players. Part of him said he should wait to upgrade the boss, until the players got at least one or two chances at her. That part of him, the kind, thoughtful, part, was squashed by the competitive gamer part of him. Besides, in the player''s eyes, the first time they fought the boss, would be the vanilla version of her. They didn''t need to know that she had been upgraded.


    James quickly pulled up her skill tree, and grinned, noting his four skill points for her. He was also pleasantly surprised to see he had 4 skill points for each of her mobs as well. Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.


    "You know, that''s kind of a dick thing to do." Rue was once again over his shoulder, watching as he dumped two skill points into his boss mob, and all four skill points into each of her pets.


    "I know." Rue was right, what he was doing would be considered a dick move, but he had been kind up until now. And, if he was going to blame it on anything, he would just say his hangry nature, and the threat of BLANK, had made him go a little tougher on this third floor. But honestly, powering up the pet mobs wasn''t going to be that drastic of a change in the fight. Besides, the two skills he had selected, Threadbare and Needle in a Haystack, weren''t all that op. Had he chosen Kung Fu Granny, that would have been a dick move. These, these weren''t all that crazy.


    "So, the last thing to do, before we finish the floor, is to give her a name, and a place to live, right?" James already had an idea of what type of place he was going to give her. But he had no idea what to name her. "Any ideas on a name Rue?"

 99 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99


    "You don''t think this might, oh, I don''t know. Be a bit too on the nose?" James was starring at the entry for the name for the third-floor boss. He and Rue had been discussing it for almost an hour now, and what she had finally convinced him to use, still had him a bit hesitant. After all, he wasn''t supposed to give the players any hints that he himself was a player. And well¡­he felt this could tip them off.


    "Nope, it should be totally fine." She stuck her tongue out at him. "After all, didn''t an AI come up with the name? What makes you think this name would be a hint that you''re a player? It doesn''t scream ''HEY LOOK I AM PEOPLE'', it says ''hey look, the dungeon is connected somehow and not completely random!"


    The name, that he was starring at, that had caused so much debate, was Grandma Jenkins.


    "I suppose." James hovered over the icon to accept the choice. From what he understood of the situation, bosses could and would develop their own AI over time, based on the floor they were on, the amount of engagements they had, his research levels, and of course any skills James might unlock for them. From what he could tell, Old Man Jenkins was nearly complete with his AI development, with Rue assuring him the first-floor mob would become fully sentient next immersion. The Terminus, obviously, was already fully sentient, to an advanced degree. His third-floor boss, according to Rue, would start with a basic AI already, and develop further over the next immersion or two.


    All that was fine and dandy, and James was all for sentient bosses. What he was uncertain of, was how the hell his first-floor boss, and third floor boss, were supposed to be linked. Because obviously, by naming his third-floor boss Grandma Jenkins, everyone, every single player, was likely to draw an instant connection to the two. And well, call James unimaginative, but he wasn''t making that connection just yet. Of course, to be fair, he had been through a lot this immersion, and his hunger pangs were still rather intense.


    "Trust me." The pixie leaned in and pushed the accept button for him. "What''s the worst that could happen?"


    "You know-" James started, before a pixie finger was held up towards his invisible mouth, shushing him. "It''ll be fine Glyax."


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    "It better be." He grumbled. He was sure it would¡­he just really wanted to know how the hell everything was going to work out. Of course, James had different things to worry about than just the connection between his first floor and third floor bosses. But because he was committed to this lifestyle now, it meant he needed to figure out that connection. Because now, he was locked into trying to make further connections on his other floors.


    Maybe he could make every odd numbered floor be connected to the Jenkins family? Oh, and maybe he could¡­ James shook his orb, clearing his thoughts. Okay, maybe Rue had a point. Maybe this was a good idea. However, right now, he had a different priority.


    "So, shall we give Grandma Jenkins a home, and then move on to preparing for BLANK some more?" James was already hovering towards the chosen location. Based on the entry point into his swamp like level, a single portal that opened onto an old looking dock, as if players just took a boat into the bayou, James figured gamer logic would put the boss deep into his swamp. And so, because James was only a slight dick, he decided he would set up Grandma Jenkin''s home at the very back of his floor.


    "You''ve got just under 2 hours to go until you can pop another token to finish your lvl 2 research for Dungeon Wars. Why not set her up with a cozy little cottage, and then do some more decorating." Rue waived her hand and a couch appeared near her. She plopped herself across it, spreading out like a cat almost, and flicked her wrist again. A TV showed up in front of her.


    "Alright, fine. What are you going to be doing?" Even as he asked, the pixie shot him one of her famous grins.


    "I''m going to start on Supernatural."


    "But we were going to watch that together!" Seriously, he had mentioned it to Rue along with Firefly, and had hoped the two of them could watch it together in their spare time. It was no fair if she-


    "Fiiiinnneeee." The pixie flicked her wrist again, and a new show appeared on the screen. "You''ve already seen this right?" The image on the screen showed a teddy bear dressed in a white tank top and torn jeans, with an explosion of stuffing behind him. The first Bear Truths movie


    "Of course, I have." All the Bear Truths movies were so good. But the first one, was still his favorite of the series. In it, McStuffin finds himself faced off against a group of evil, stuffed squirrels, who try and take over a hotel in order to steal a secret stash of nuts held at the top. McStuffin, who happened to be heading there to meet with his ex-wife, ends up having to save everyone, and thwart the squirrels. It was apparently inspired by an even older movie, though James hadn''t gotten around to see that one. All he knew, is the masses loved it, and the people behind the Censorship movement, hated it.


    "I figured, you know, given the theme of the floor, I could watch this while you went to work." Rue had a bowl of popcorn in her hands, making James''s nonexistent stomach growl. "So, go on, get to work." As she hit play, Christmas music started playing on the screen. He chuckled as he floated away from the pixie, heading to the very back of his floor.


    Once he arrived, he starred hard for a moment, debating on how he would go about this. Did he want to make the house for Grandma Jenkins like a witch''s shack, hidden, dark, and desolate? Or inviting, warm, and welcoming? A place you would want to visit after¡­


    Who was he kidding? Only one of those options really seemed appropriate in this moment.


    He opened his customization screen and cursed. Building all of the infrastructure on the floor, even though it had all been cheap, decrepit and run-down buildings, had utilized nearly all of his 4900 resources. Of course, that was also because James was thorough, and when he had been working on that task¡­he may have been watching his resources and calculating everything down, so that he could make the floor fit his horror movie theme, within his given resource constraints.


    What that meant, was that he now had only about 200 resources of his 4900 remaining. Which wasn''t going to be enough for what he wanted. Damnit. Sighing, James dumped one of his dungeon tokens into his resources, fully filling it up, and leaving him back at 20. At least the token he had received from They See Me Slitheryn, They Snaken, was going to good use.


    With full resources, and about 2 hours to work with, James knew exactly what he was going to do. First, he cleared out a lot of the trees around the area, creating a hole in the massive canopy, which allowed a glorious, nearly blinding beam of light to filter through. Once James''s eyeball adjusted itself to the bright, outside light, he grinned. It was almost like a giant spotlight, illuminating the very area where his boss''s home would be.


    He raised a chunk of ground from the swampland, making it the size of the illuminated area fully, and began to build. The house he was building, was going to be a well-lit, colorful, inviting home for Grandma Jenkins, complete with wrap around porch, and a rocking chair for the boss. Of course, because the boss was about 8 foot in height, the house was, well, built to scale for her.


    Once he had the house built, burning through about 1500 resources in order to fully furnish it, and add in details all around it, including flower beds, and even a pretty little fountain, he attached the land the boss''s home was on, to one of the many rickety walkways that existed in the floor. Adventurers, likely weary and worn from their time in the swamp, would find Grandma Jenkin''s home, a literally light in the darkness, and probably feel relieved, thinking this were some safe spot for them. James rubbed his tentacles excitedly at the thought, oh he was sure more than a few would meet their fate before even realizing what was going on. Good.


    Grinning to himself, James checked his timers and status screen. Apparently, he had only spent about an hour completely creating the home for Grandma Jenkins, which put his research levels at 12hr 54min 28s remaining. He still had 54 minutes before he could pop his tokens and see what level 2 Dungeon Wars research was all about.


    He rubbed his tentacles together, and summoned Grandma Jenkins at her new house. The old boss shot James a toothy, warm smile, and headed directly towards the rocking chair. The moment she sat down, she pulled out a piece of cloth, and began sewing something into it. Well, even with a basic AI, she played the part of the old grandma.


    "Guess that about wraps it up here." James grinned to himself and turned back to where he had left Rue. "Maybe if I hurry, I can watch the machine gun scene." Just as he began floating towards Rue, a sound, like someone clearing their throat, came from behind him.


    "Aren''t you forgetting a little something, James?"

 100 100

    Chapter 100


    "Xander." James knew who it was before he even turned around. Sure enough, the developer was there, floating lazily in the air in his dark cloaked avatar.


    "How''s it going James. Enjoying your last peaceful day within DCO?" The fact that Xander referred to DCO as peaceful, would have made James chuckle under any other circumstance. After all, James had just slaughtered thousands of players with dickens less than 2 days ago in DCO. That was anything but peaceful.


    "I was, until you showed up." James waved a tentacle at the developer dismissively, as if he were trying to close out of a screen. "Don''t you have anything better to do? Maybe you should be helping BLANK prepare for their first loss."


    Xander''s lips pursed together for a moment, before he smiled evilly, a light chuckle echoing out. "There are many things I could be doing rather than gracing you with my presence, boy. However, we had a deal, and I simply wished to remind you of that fact, before you say, forgot." Xander waived a hand, and a massive statue of himself appeared before James.


    "I do believe you were supposed to establish a shrine to the great, all powerful god, Yarx, on your third floor." Honestly, James had forgotten. He had lost himself once again to his floor creation, his mind wiping away thoughts of BLANK, and Xander, and all the behind the scenes. He had been able to, for a short while, lose himself to the game. But alas, now the prick was back, and unsurprisingly, still acting true to form.


    "Ah, right, how could I forget." As James spoke, the shrine disappeared once more, and Xander nodded slightly.


    "Right, well as long as you hold to your end of the deal, everything should be fine." Xander looked around the floor, glancing into the trees where some of James''s Jolly Dolly''s had decided to watch the duo.


    "Though, really now, I wish the floor was a bit more, fitting of a shrine in my visage." The developer paused, as if in thought, and then shook his head. "Ah well, as long as the shrine is in place before you log out, all will be fine." Xander''s eyes narrowed. "However, I do wish to remind you, I am not one you would want to anger. So, think carefully about where you plan to place my shrine."


    The threat hung in the air around them, and James figured the developer had realized the folly of his wording previously. Even though Xander had been the one to save James from a further beating from Dwight, the developer was still an asshat. And the whole BLANK situation, had just earned the shrine of Yarx its spot back in a toilet. But, alas, James figured it would probably be a dumb idea to do that now. Oh well, he could still figure something out.


    "Is that all?" James crossed his tentacles, refusing to be cowed by the developer, who was definitely trying his hardest to look all powerful and intimidating.


    "Hmph. For now. After Dungeon Wars start, I am sure your attitude towards me will change. You''ll be begging me to call BLANK off of you." Xander grinned. "I will not." The developer turned to leave, his form fading. However, before he could completely dissipate, James, his anger getting the better of him, called out.


    "You want to make a bet on that?" Ugh, he had really been hanging around Rue way too long.


    "And what would you have to offer me?" Xander''s form solidified, and the developer''s eyes took on an evil gleam. "Perhaps, you willingly stepping away from your role as a dungeon core?"


    "I-" James hadn''t really thought about what he had to offer in a bet. Nor really the type of bet he was going to make. "I-"


    "Depends on what we get if we win." Rue was suddenly at James''s side, her eyes gleaming with mischief as she looked at the developer. Shit.


    "Oh ho ho. I told you this pixie was going to get you in trouble." Xander folded his arms into his robes. "How about we place a bet on whose core gets destroyed first in Dungeon Wars. If BLANK wins, you step away from DCO, permanently. Furthermore, you will obviously still be held to your previous NDA''s, meaning you will never be able to speak with anyone about what you know of DCO, or of my experiment." James didn''t like where this was going. He really, really didn''t think it was safe to place such a bet.


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    "And IF," the way Xander emphasized the word, James could tell he wasn''t even viewing it as a possibility, "BLANK''s core is destroyed first, I will promise to never interfere with you again. Hell, I''ll make the deal even sweeter. If you win, I will let you choose a new person to oversee your instance of DCO, taking my place over you." Alright. That, that was definitely something James could get behind. Xander, was a dick. Xander, was the sole thing that was tarnishing the joy James had playing DCO. If he never had to worry about the developer ever again. That would be amazing.


    "Anyone?" James saw the familiar flash across Rue''s eyes as she asked her question. She had an idea.


    "Anyone you would like."


    "Deal." The pixie motioned towards Xander, and a wooden desk appeared before them. On it, a blank piece of parchment, with a quill.


    "Rue, don''t you think-" The pixie raised a finger, silencing him.


    "Trust me, James." She used his real name. She never used his real name. All he could do was nod and stare at her blankly, as his mind tried to process the situation.


    "Well then, let''s make this bet official, shall we." Xander picked up the quill and pressed it to the parchment. It was, of course, an unneeded action, but James knew he was doing it for dramatic effect. A moment later, a dark crimson flash appeared on the parchment, and suddenly it was filled with words.


    "My legal team, has of course, drafted that document to be legally binding. Everything, the terms, and conditions, have been written in accordance to the legal precedents established by the Peoples Legislative Office of Technology in 2049. Because of the NDA''s you have already signed, this document really was quite easy for the team to make. And, once you lose, I can finally remove you without fear of repercussions from above." Xander clapped his hands together in joy, even as his signature appeared on the form. "You have no idea how happy this makes me."


    "I''m sure." James skimmed over the document as he picked up the quill with his tentacle. Once again it was a pointless task, as every person digitally created a signature that would legally act as their binding confirmation when they completed their first immersion. The P.L.O.T. had done all it could to ensure there were rules and guidelines within immersion, in order to make sure the virtual world did not become a completely rampant and abused system. Obviously, in James''s eyes, they hadn''t done a good job.


    He sighed and signed the document. He was hesitant, and scared. This bet had the risk of costing him everything. Sure, James could do without DCO in his life. It would suck, because he really enjoyed being a dungeon core, but he would survive. What he didn''t want to lose, was his time with Rue. However, she was a part of DCO, and if he lost this bet¡­


    "I''ll be going then James." Xander grabbed the parchment greedily the moment James''s signature appeared on it, and like a child that had just won its first competition, let out a gleeful laugh. "I was wrong about that pixie James. She really has brought me the best of luck today." He chuckled and disappeared, contract in hand.


    "I really hope you know what you are doing." James muttered, suddenly feeling a lot more tired than he had expected. Funny how much heavier games felt when there were real world stakes on the line. "If I lose, I lose everything, including you."


    Rue wrapped her arms around his form, resting her chin atop his core as she did. "I believe in you James." Her voice was soft, full of warmth, kindness, perhaps even something more? "I know you will win, especially with me on the line."

 101 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101


    Trying to figure out where to put the shrine of Yarx was a lot more difficult than James would care to admit. First off, his mind was no longer on dungeon building. It was on the threat of losing Rue. However, the pixie had to know what she was doing, and her faith in him, though he felt was unwarranted, still bolstered his confidence¡­a little. After all, he didn''t know much about BLANK, but he was still scared of them. They were the top dungeon for a reason.


    "Gah, I can''t believe this." James muttered as he floated about, looking all around his swamp for a place for this damned shrine. Seriously, he needed to find a place, and quick. He had about 40 minutes to set up a place for the shrine, before he got back to the most important task at hand. Preparing to win against BLANK. He would not lose Rue. And, she had already mentioned to him the literal best person to replace Xander with. James was already anxiously awaiting that moment.


    "It''ll be fine." Rue was hovering above, her eyes scanning the expansive swamp as well. For all her confidence earlier, James could tell she was slightly worried. It was much easier to seem strong and confident in the moment. Once the trigger has been pulled though, that is when self-doubt always creeps in.


    "Uh huh." James glanced around. Honestly, he was half tempted to set up a crescent moon of outhouse toilet mimics, with Xander''s statue in the middle, before calling it a day. Because, honestly, now that the bet had been made with Xander, the developer really couldn''t do any worse to him.


    "You know what Rue, screw it." That was it, that was the plan he was going to go with. Xander literally had nothing worse he could do to James at this moment. James''s very existence as a core had just been bet in a legal document. Xander couldn''t interfere now. Xander couldn''t make his life hell anymore, until the conclusion of the Dungeon War against BLANK. So, screw the developer, James was going to put the shrine in a literal shitty place.


    "Did you figure out a spot for the shrine?"


    "Yup." James floated over to the middle of his map, a zone of raised land he had decided could serve as a momentary resting spot for adventures. From there, he pulled up his dungeon editor, and began creating a worn, rickety path from the rest area, deeper into a part of the swamp. There was an especially dense set of trees, that James decided would be the perfect spot for what he had in mind.


    Once he reached that spot, an area where the swamp waters were especially deep, James created an almost circular space of walkways, leaving a massive empty space in the middle. Then, from the crescent of wooden planks, James improvised, his vision for what he was building evolving as he literally worked on it. His moment of adolescent rage was turning to one of pure brilliance. Or at least, in his mind it was.


    He created a total of seven pathways from around the circular zone, each one going into a dark expanse of the swamp, far enough away that the end of each was hidden in the murky darkness. At the end of six of them, James set up shacks, almost exactly like outhouses. Inside three of them, James placed his chest option for the floor, old, almost rotted, waterlogged chests. Inside the other three, well James turned those into literal outhouses. Because, and this might have been his adolescent rage and frustration speaking, but toilet mimics, and chest mimics, both in outhouse esq buildings, just seemed hilariously dark and creepy in this floor.


    Of course, James wasn''t planning to release too many mimics on the floor, though he was going to disperse a few more of these shacks across the floor. One of his dungeon building flaws he had started to observe was a lack of actual loot boxes and chests on his floors. So, now was a good time to remedy that, at least on his new floor. He would retroactively go back and edit the other floors when he had a little more time.


    Once he established the six swag shacks, as he decided he was going to call them, he went to the last pathway. This path, in the middle of the other six, James decided he would build another shrine to Rue on. Because, well, screw Xander. If there had to be a shrine for Yarx on this floor, then Rue was getting a second damned shrine. After he established her shrine, he cleared out the canopy the tiniest bit, allowing a single beam of light to fall upon her visage. It was beautiful.


    "You''re too kind for me." Rue muttered as she floated over to the shrine of herself, her hand running gently across it. James grinned and turned back towards the center of his pathway, where the dark, murky waters waited. It was time.


    First, James added quicksand below the water, which was already nearly five foot in depth. Any player trying to get close to the statue, would have to get creative. Then, James summoned the statue, but held off on placing it in. Just because he had to place this statue on the floor, didn''t mean James couldn''t make it fit his horror theme.


    He tilted the shrine slightly, and let it gently sink down into the water, leaving only the torso, head, and an outstretched arm above water. Then, once the shrine was in place, James applied a small amount of moss and grime to the statue, making it appear as if it were a lost, ancient shrine to Yarx. Honestly, James didn''t think it was a terrible placement or usage of the shrine, and if players really wanted to, they could still receive the shrine''s blessing. James had just made it a little more difficult than receiving Rue''s blessing.


    "What''s the shrine even do?" Rue asked, having returned from her admiration of her own shrine, to glance at James''s work.


    "Um, I have no idea." He really didn''t. He''d been so pissed about having to put a shrine devoted to Xander in his dungeon, that he hadn''t actually looked up what it did. He obviously knew Rue''s shrine increased rare item drop percentages, as was befitting a Goddess of Luck. James also know some of the other deities'' shrines gave temporary increases to stats, healed wounds, or removed debuffs. However, the shrine of Yarx had actually been locked, until Xander mentioned it to him. Weird.


    James pulled up the information on the shrine before him, suddenly extremely curious. What type of buff could-?


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    "Oh¡­wow."


    Shrine of Yarx (Unique Shrine)


    Shares the gift of all-seeing with any who donate to the God above Gods.


    Copper Coin- Reveals the location of all enemies within 100 feet of players, lasts for 30 minutes per copper coin


    Silver Coin- Reveals the location of all traps and mimics within 100 feet of players, last for 30 minutes per silver coin


    Gold Coin- Reveals the location of all treasure chests and hidden items within 100 feet of players, lasts for 30 minutes per gold coin


    Platinum Coin- Reveals the location of everything, with detailed information for 30 minutes


    James read over the buffs the shrine offered one more time, and as much as he hated it, knew he needed to make the shrine at least somewhat accessible to players. As much as he hated it, as much as he despised Xander¡­he couldn''t keep such a buff away from his players¡­ that would be a dick move.


    With a sigh, he created a small, worn walkway towards the center of the dark waters, leading directly towards the shrine. It stopped about two feet away from the shrine, close enough that players would be able to interact with it, if they wished. Sure, James was going to miss out on the currency collected from the shrine, but really, as a gamer, as a player, he would be pissed if something like that existed but was nearly impossible to get to.


    Of course, because of the boon that shrine gave, he was also not going to make it as easy as walking up and touching it to get to it. Oh no¡­that would be most unwise.


    "How much time until our research is done Rue?"


    "12 minutes remaining." The pixie, who as James glanced over, was currently¡­fishing, in his swamp, glanced up and grinned at him. Alright, he was pretty sure she was doing her darndest now to see what random things she could do to get a reaction from him.


    "Awesome, lemme know when it is time." He didn''t even wait for her response as he began pulling up windows, flying to and fro as quickly as he could. He had some traps and other things to set up, courtesy of this new shrine, and no time to waste.

 102 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102


    "Here goes nothing." James muttered as he opened up his research tab. True to her word, Rue had given him a warning when he was nearing his 12-hour mark on his research. She, of course, had done it in a rather inappropriate private message kind of way, but hey, that was Rue, the pixie he had come to know and¡­


    "Well then, get to it." She pulled him from his thoughts, motioning towards the timers. "The clock, is literally ticking."


    He shot her a glare and dumped three dungeon tokens into the researches, finishing all three as he did, and leaving him with 17 tokens remaining. Upon doing so, Tier 2 was finished for Core Defense, Core Offense, and Avatar research. He immediacy selected all three and started their progress towards tier three. 47hr 59min 59s.


    "Should I mass dump again?" He asked Rue as he glanced at the timers. He had enough dungeon tokens, after all, to do it. It would take 4 tokens per research option, sure, but that would give him rank 3 of each, and allow him to start rank 4.


    "I mean, if you wanted to be wasteful." Rue stuck her tongue out at him. "But I thought you were supposed to be a great gamer Glyax. Come on, do the math."


    "Fine." James growled, and he pulled up a calculator, quickly punching in the numbers. There were 12 hours left of immersion time. Then, he had 15 hours of time in the real world, before he could enter immersion again. Considering 1 hour of real-world time counted as 24 hours of game time, there was 372 hours'' worth of game time available, before he could next log into DCO. And, it was going to take 48 hours to hit rank 3, 96 to hit rank 4, and 192 to hit rank 5, so adding all of that together¡­oh.. it came to 336 hours of time. So, he would actually be at rank 5 of for each of those research options, 36 hours into his research for rank 6, which would take a total of 384 hours to complete. Fair enough.


    "You know Rue, you surprise me at times." He commented as he closed his calculator, looking the pixie over approvingly. "You act all air headed and carefree at times, but you really do plan a lot of these things out, don''t you?"


    "Well, one of us has to be the smart one." The pixie started laughing as she spoke and shot him one of her grins. "Besides, you neglect me a lot, so I have a lot of time to think about these things."


    "I don''t neglect you." James whipped a tentacle at the pixie as he spoke, which she easily dodged.


    "And did I mention you''re abusive?" She laughed and flew further away, summoning a bag of candy as she did. "Back foul beast, back." She threw candy at him as she spoke, causing his stomach to once again growl. Damned pixie.


    "Very funny." James grumbled, his mood shifting rapidly due to his hunger pangs. Seriously, he needed to just end this immersion, so he could deal with his darned hunger. But first, he really needed to know what exactly Core Offense and Defense did, and at least check out the upgrades to his Avatar. He was sure he could investigate the upgrades even more when he logged back in, as he was certain, given that dungeon wars involved players invading other dungeons, he would be safe the first 24 hours of game time. Or at least¡­ that was his hope. Otherwise, he was really going to have a bad day.


    "I know I am." Rue chuckled and floated back down, gingerly landing atop his core, looking down at him smugly. "Now then, oh floating orb. I''m sure you have something you wish to ask of me?"


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    James looked up, doing his best to focus purely on the pixie''s face, as he reeled in his mind. The sooner he figured out what these research options did, the sooner he could go to sleep, and wake up in the real world. Apparently, all the stresses of the last few days of immersed time, along with his hangriness, was really starting to take its toll.


    "You know damned well what I am about to ask." He snaked a tentacle towards the pixie''s leg, which she deftly dodged. "I need to know about these other two research options." Her dodge led her backwards, where his other tentacle waited, and he grinned internally as he tickled the back of her leg, causing her to lose her balance momentarily, falling off his orb. Normally, he would have offered to catch her, but she had wings, so she righted herself almost instantly after, though her face was now red as she glared at him.


    "You''re such trouble."


    "Says you." Seriously, who did she think she was, calling him trouble? Had she met herself? "Anyways, back to work Rue. We will have more time to have fun after we beat BLANK."


    "That''s the first time you''ve said that without prompting." She nodded approvingly at him. "I like it."


    "Well, I have to win, to keep you."


    "Ah, you''re going to make me blush." Her comment was said in a mocking tone, but James was sure he could see a faint bit of color on her cheeks. Ha, success.


    "Right, well, let''s get to it Rue." At his prompting, Rue waived her hand, a portal appearing before the two of them.


    "After you then, Glyax." She motioned towards the portal, and James, obediently, floated towards it. He wasn''t sure where exactly the portal was going to take him, or what it had to do with his research, but he had come to trust the pixie. Besides, as carefree as she acted, he knew she was deadly serious about beating BLANK, and wouldn''t do anything to hurt their chances of winning.


    With that thought in mind, James passed through the portal into the unknown. A moment later, as he reappeared in a new location, his eye grew wide. What was going on?

 103 Chapter 103

    Chapter 103


    "Care to explain?" They were once again in the heart of the instance, starring at James''s dungeon''s actual core. The last time they had visited, James had been awestruck. This time though, he was more surprised, and confused, than anything. All around the area, it appeared little¡­mechanical¡­things? Were moving to and fro, building¡­something. The closest thing James had to describe them as, were futuristic little robot rover type things.


    "Those are your probes. They are essentially tiny builders that you gain access to thanks to your Core Offense, and Core Defense research." And there it was, Rue explaining things matter of factly, like James should have already known these things.


    "But, last time we were here, I already had level 1 complete. Why weren''t they here then?"


    "Ah, from what I have gathered, the research for Dungeon Wars unlocks tiered types of rewards and options. These little guys, as well as your new Offense and Defense tabs, unlock at level 2."


    His new what? James pulled up his menu, and sure enough there was a new tab, Core Improvements. When he clicked on it, two additional tabs appeared, the afore mentioned tabs Rue had just spoken of. It was times like these he leaned more towards the belief she was an actual AI, otherwise, how would she know all these things before he did.


    "So, what unlocked at level 1 of the research?"


    "Mmmm, just a passive buff for adventurers partaking in Dungeon Wars. The odd ranks for offense and defense increase the buff percent, while the even ones unlock new features."


    "And the buff does?"


    "Ah. Gives your adventurers +1% to their stats when they are invading or defending. I''m sure you can guess which research option effects which of those. At rank 3, that stat boost becomes 3%, and at rank 5, it becomes 5%, and so on."


    Alright, so he had a way to passively increase the abilities of his adventurers during dungeon wars. That was actually really important and useful information. He couldn''t possibly fathom why Rue would have not mentioned that¡­other than the fact it was Rue. And she usually failed to mention things she didn''t deem were important.


    "Thanks for that." James had no idea what the adventurers were going to be like from BLANKs dungeon. What he did know though, was what his adventures were already capable of. Having a way to buff their stats definitely was a plus.


    Considering he would have rank 5 done for all three of his dungeon war research options before the start of dungeon wars, that meant his adventurers would have a +5% to all their stats, that was definitely going to be great. Especially considering most of his player base, who were still either farming his¡­er farm, or had just moved to his second floor, were wearing gear that also already boosted their stats. James was starting to feel like BLANK may have made a mistake in challenging him, maybe the cocky duo had-


    A cold chill raced through him as that thought crossed his mind. James had of course, been live streaming his top players. BLANK knew exactly what James''s players were like, and also had a good amount of knowledge on the unique items that existed in James''s dungeon. The duo also had advanced knowledge of dungeon wars, which meant they had to know what the research options would do. And yet, they had still boldly challenged him. So, either they were extremely overconfident in their own abilities, or they had even more confidence in their adventurers. Shit, James really hoped it was the first option.


    "You alright there Gly?" Rue tapped on his floating orb, pulling him away from his internal struggles. Right. He needed to focus. He had to take care of whatever it was he had just unlocked and get some sleep. There was little he could do now otherwise to prepare.


    "Yeah, sorry. Go on."


    The pixie eyed him strangely, but nodded, and began her explanation.


    "Right, any who. At level 2 of your offense and defense research, you unlock probes. Three for offense, and three of defense." She motioned towards the little probes, and James could see there were slight differences that split the two into groups. One group had little swords on their backs, while the others, had shields. Typical gaming notations for offense and defense. Once again, Xander''s group was showing its lazy side.


    "Alright, so what do they do?"


    "Well, you use them, to build things." She gave him a look that literally said, no duh.


    "Right. Like what?" He could always just open up the tab, he supposed, but he was curious if the pixie had any further information for him. She usually did, he just had to fish for it.


    "No idea." Alright, well that wasn''t helpful. "I know about the probes, and I know about the tiered upgrades, with the even ones giving you more probes, and more building options. I also know using more probes on a single building option will decrease the build time appropriately. However, I have no idea what it is you can build."


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    "So, I can click on this option, and you won''t get mad?" That was the part he had been trying to avoid. Sometimes the pixie got offended if he jumped ahead. He was trying to give her her moment of usefulness. Not to say she wasn''t usually useful, but yeah¡­she was complicated.


    "Well, we aren''t going to get any further otherwise." She chuckled and floated over to the screen. "So yeah, let''s do this. Offense first. Come on lasers." She gleefully smashed her hand against the Core Offense build screen, pulling up a new window with a list of build options for him. And while there wasn''t a laser option directly in front of James, there was something just as outlandish.


    "Seriously?!" They both said the exact same word, but James''s inflections did not have the same amount of excitement as Rue''s did. James had a feeling he wasn''t going to get to sleep any time soon. This was going to be a lot of work.

 104 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104


    "It''s a laser."


    "No, it-"


    "It is a freaking laser." This conversation had been going on for at least five minutes, as James and Rue looked over the Core Offense build screen. Technically, it wasn''t a laser. And James refused to admit to Rue that it was a laser. However, the pixie wasn''t quite wrong either.


    "What''s it called Rue?" James had already had this argument with her to.


    "That doesn''t-"


    "What''s it called."


    The pixie huffed as she responded. "Core Cannon."


    "That''s right. It''s a cannon, not a laser." Semantics, that''s all it was. Based on the description of the blasted build option, for all intents and purposes, it could be a freaking laser.


    Core Cannon- 1000 bp


    Build Time- 1000hr/p


    Creates a massive cannon capable of launching a devastating attack, once per Dungeon War, per level of Cannon. This energy attack inflicts massive damage to all players in the line of fire. If a portal is opened to the enemies Core, this attack will also greatly damage the opponent''s core.


    So, yeah. It was a cannon, but James was already envisioning the thing firing, and he was positive it was going to fire out a massive energy beam¡­just like a laser. But he couldn''t let Rue win this conversation. At least not now.


    "I''m still going to call it a laser." The pixie mumbled halfheartedly, and James only nodded, going once over the list the two had been observing.


    Sadly, this was the point in which Rue''s advanced information stopped. James had a feeling the AI wouldn''t be updated with further information on Dungeon Wars, as well as the research options and all the other aspects, until the patch was applied that released the dungeon wars. It made sense, and also highlighted who the real cheaters were. James had to wonder just how much advanced knowledge BLANK had. At the very least, it was unfair, but there was no changing that now.


    "So, what exactly do you think we should build?" The rest of the screen seemed pretty straight forward, and James was able to discern what everything was just by looking it over. He had a couple different build options right now, all with differing build times, as well as BP costs. BP, stood for Build Points, which was what would actually pop up as James focused on the acronym.


    Of course, he didn''t know much more about that resource just yet, but he could definitely try and draw some conclusions based off of what he was seeing. Two little boxes rested at the bottom of the build screen. On the left-hand side was one labeled BP, and it showed 1,000. On the right-hand side, was another box, this one labeled Deployed Cost and it had a 0/1,000. If James had to guess, this particular aspect of Dungeon Wars was essentially like a Real Time Strategy game. He had resources, he had objects he could build, with real time build times, and he had a limited pool on what he could deploy.


    All of this, of course, meant a few things. First, that BLANK had an advantage in that they probably knew how to get more BP, and how to increase their deployed cost. They also probably had a better understanding of the pros and cons of these different options. That of course, wasn''t fair, but James couldn''t lament on that fact. The other things were things James could at least focus on as a gamer. First, he knew he needed to prioritize his build times, and make sure he utilized his BP and probes to their best ability. Second, he really needed to figure out how to gain more BP and increases his deployed cost limit. Whatever role these objects were going to play, he needed to make sure he could utilize them to their fullest.


    "How about the Core Cannon?" Rue''s suggestion was the exact opposite of James''s plan. But he had to admit, it didn''t'' come as a surprise.


    "Wha-"


    "It''s the only logical choice James." She gave him one of her more serious looks, which caused his retort to die before he even started.


    "Go on." He was intrigued. Why the hell would she say the 1,000BP cost cannon was the most logical choice? The other options included siege weapons, ballista, smaller cannons, catapults. Those things seemed a lot more-


    "Well, you and I both have no idea what all of this is for, right?"


    "Correct."


    "And, I''m sure we can both figure that jackass Xander has a least let it ''slip'' to BLANK what all of these options do, so that they could best utilize and optimize their build for the Dungeon War."


    Rue had a point. That was exactly the mindset James had on the situation, and why he was trying to figure out the most logical way to utilize his own BP.


    "All the more reason to-"


    "Shh, I''m not done." Rue shot him a glare, and then grinned at him. "So, with all these unknowns, what would you be doing?"


    "Trying to figure out the best way to optimize my build, and maximize the usefulness of whatever resources I had, to better stand a chance against BLANK."


    "Precisely. That''s the predictable answer."


    "Which is why-"


    "You shouldn''t do it." She motioned back towards the cannon option. "If you were BLANK, and you had just challenged an opponent that you admitted was likely skilled, though still under your own abilities, what would you plan for them to do?"


    Realization started to settle on James. BLANK was cold and calculating. BLANK had the advantage with regards to this part of the Dungeon War process. BLANK knew all these things, so they were likely doing exactly what Rue was now, and working to predict how James, how anyone in James''s situation, would respond. With everything that was on the line, the logical step, the step BLANK would be planning for, would be to build up various pieces of equipment, and hope to fully utilize them when the patch came through. What they wouldn''t expect¡­


    "Alright, so we''re building a freaking cannon-"


    "-laser."


    "Cannon." James said the word with finality, as he selected the build option. He grinned as he assigned all three of his current probes to it. True to the formula, a timer popped up on the screen, as the three probes began to go to work. Core Cannon- 329 hr, 59min, 59s. From what Rue had told him, he would be getting more probes, and build options for Dungeon Wars, at his 4th level of research as well. So, when he logged in next, he should, in theory, have a completed cannon, and some probes with which to build things for his offense. And, hopefully, since the patch notes should be out by then, he would be able to build one or two more objects that would help during his war with BLANK.


    "Might as well do the same for defense, right?" James wasn''t a stranger to games. If there was going to be a massive attack option, then of course there had to be a massive defense option. Sure enough, as he switched to the Core Defense tab, he saw a similar window, with 1,000 BP listed on it as well, and a 0/1000 deployed limit. He was thankful for that, as he realized now that he had automatically assumed the two would be separate. If they had shared resources and deployment costs, well he would have just fully committed himself to offense. Which, in some instances, wasn''t a terrible thing. Against the unknown, against BLANK, he liked having options though.


    "Go for it." Rue nodded approvingly, and James selected the Core Deflector Shield, option on the tab. It, just like the cannon, cost 1000bp, and had a 1000hr build time. Now, James had both his offense and defense probes working away, and about 11 hours of immersion left.


    "Guess the only thing left to check on real quick, before I head to bed and log out, is my Summoner, yeah?"


    Rue stifled a yawn of her own, and as she did she flicked her wrist. What appeared to be a glowing, monocle of sorts appeared over her eye, along with what appeared to be flashes of langue moving by. Because it was inverted, and tiny, James wasn''t able to see what exactly the pixie was looking at. A moment later, the monocle over her eye disappeared, and she looked at James, grinning.


    "Good news James."


    "What the hell was that?" He had no idea what was going on. That was definitely the first time he had seen that little trick of hers. What was that, and what did it show her?


    "That? That''s just an AI tool. It lets me check the logs real quick, to see any updates or changes that are applied or available. It''s based off of a log of information readily available and released to AI in the game, to allow us to better assist our cores."


    "Annnd?" James had to admit, that was pretty cool. However, he also had to wonder why he had never seen the pixie use it until now. Did she use it when he wasn''t watching? And why had she pulled it up now?


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    "And, while I don''t have any access to further information on Dungeon Wars, based off of what I just saw, I can assure you that you would be safe to get some rest and logout now. Nothing spiffy happens for your Avatar at level 2 research."


    "Are you sure?" He had the time, there was no reason not to go check on his avatar.


    "Positive." The pixie yawned again, waving her hand at him.


    "Besides, don''t you think it would be more entertaining to check it over when your research is at level 5? What do you have to gain, by checking on it right now?"


    She had another good point. Though James had to wonder why exactly she was suddenly trying to hurry him along. The moment he went to bed, it would feel like the night would just rush by, and he would wake back up. But the pixie, well she was stuck in here, so there wasn''t anything to gain for her by him going to bed.


    Unless, of course, she was either tired herself, or she wanted to mess around with the dungeon some more. The latter was probably it, James realized. She probably wanted to goof off and modify his dungeon a bit, and the sooner he went to bed, the sooner she could start. Damned pixie.


    "But-"


    "Trust me Glyax. You need to get some rest, and need to wake up, relax, and eat some food. I want a fully rested, not hangry, Glyax back here when we prepare for Dungeon Wars." For a moment, it seemed as if her eyes actually held a hint of concern in them. She was probably right, he was already aware of the fact his mind wasn''t running as efficiently as it normally did, and his current, famished state, was definitely having a negative impact. Plus, if he went to sleep now, that would meet the micro napping timeline utilized in immersion that ensured he would wake up feeling fully rested.


    "Alright. You win this time." James could feel himself wanting to yawn as the pixie covered her mouth once more. He was pretty sure she was doing that just to make him feel tired as well. And, it was working.


    "However." James began slowly closing out of his screens, his eyes flashing over everything, his mind racing to make sure he had everything taken care of. He suddenly realized how actually tired he was. The strain, the stress of the upcoming war, was hard on him mentally. And he couldn''t help but appreciate the fact Rue seemed to be looking out for him.


    "Don''t do anything too crazy while I''m gone, Rue." James shot her a look, and the pixie simply glanced away, whistling. Alright, she may have cared about his wellbeing, but she also was planning something, he knew it.


    "I have no idea what you''re talking about." She looked at wrist, and a small watch appeared on it. "Oh, look at the time, goodnight Glyax. Sleep well." And with that, she disappeared, leaving him alone in the room with his own core, while his drones went to work. Yup, she was definitely up to something, but whatever it was, could wait till next immersion.


    "Goodnight Rue." James said quietly to the room, softly. As he closed his eye, preparing to go to sleep, which he knew would make it feel like his immersion instantly ended, a single thought crossed his mind. He would not lose Rue, or any of this, to Xander. BLANK, could not win.

 105 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105


    When James opened his eyes, the immersion pod already retracting the gel within, releasing his connection to the world, he couldn''t help but yawn. An action, of course, which then shot immense pain through his body, a very rude reminder of his extremely bruised jaw. That pain caused him to jerk upright out of the pod, the rapid movement then doing little to alleviate the pain and causing his head to throb slightly as well. Right, mild concussion and bruised jaw. James immediately wished he was back in immersion.


    Looking around slowly, James let his eyes adjust to the room for a moment, as the pain faded away. He knew it was 7am without having to check, as that was the standard time for immersion to end. The only reason he had ended immersion at 6am the day before, was from Xander''s forceful boot of him. Which hadn''t really cost him all that much, so he was alright with it.


    Gingerly, James got himself out of his pod, figuring perhaps a hot shower and a few pain killers might be what he needed to really start the day. Of course, the grumbling of his stomach reminded him that he probably needed to eat something before he took those pills. Pain killers on an empty stomach generally didn''t go well. And James did not want to be throwing up with his jaw as it was. Well, to be fair, throwing up generally wasn''t on the agenda.


    James started to smile at the thought, before stopping, his jaw starting to remind him of his folly. Seriously, this injury was going to be such a¡­pain. Ha¡­ouch. Deciding it would be unwise to continue that punny train of thought, James got out of his pod and headed to the shower, deciding to take a nice warm shower to wake up, and sooth his jaw.


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    Once his shower was completed, James put on his clothes for the day, a simple pair of jeans and a simple graphic t-shirt of one of his favorite anime, Steampunk Ninja. On it, the main character stood, surrounded by a horde of zombie like monsters known as abominations. The main character, a ninja with a steampunk styled robotic arm, had lightning arcing all around her, as she prepared to take on all the enemies at once. That fight had been epic.


    Finally, clothed, James grabbed his AR glasses and ear piece, and began walking into the kitchen as he put them on. He couldn''t waste too much time this morning, since he did have- A blinking message bubble with the number 2 beside it caught his attention, pulling him from his thoughts. As he clicked on it, he saw he had two separate messages. One from Z, and one from Rue.


    "What''s Z want?" James mumbled past his bruised Jaw, the slight action still causing pain to scream from the injury. Of course, he would need to work his jaw slowly through the day, in order to help reduce the swelling. Ugh. He clicked on the message, wondering if Z was going to bring him another pain patch or two or four or¡­. At least one would be nice¡­


    From: Z


    Subject: Good News, and Great News!


    First off, I''m betting your jaw is still killing you today? Sorry in advance, I can''t give ya any more pain patches man. Those things can be addicting, don''t need ya going all Zydrate on me after all. Ha. Any ways, first off, good news for you, I spoke with your parents, and the principle, and you''ve been cleared to stay home the rest of the week to get better. Obviously, with your concussion, please let me know if you have any strange symptoms, and I will head on over there instantly. You seem like a bright kid; I want to keep it that way.


    Second, during that talk, I was informed that Dwight, upon further review, has been expelled from the school. Because of his age, his attack on you is being classified as an assault. Your parents are pressing charges against him, so it is likely he will be going away for a bit. From someone who grew up with bullies, I figured you might take heart at hearing this news. It''s always a relief to see bullies actually receive justice for once.


    Any who, like I said, let me know if you need anything. I told your parents I would keep an eye on you, so that they could focus on their work. Whatever it is they are doing; I get the feeling it is rather important. But it''s obvious they care for you.


    So yeah, hope all is well with you, and like I said, reach out if you need anything


    ~Z


    P.S. Did you take part in the Great Dickening?????? That thing sounded AWESOME!!!!


    James stared at the message from Z, rereading it a few times, unable to comprehend at first what he was seeing. Not only did he get to stay home from school for the next two days, before the weekend, but now he would never have to deal with Dwight again. Seriously, that was awesome news. A part of him did feel slightly bad for Dwight, as that idiot had just ensured his life was ruined, but hey, actions have consequences. It also meant that once the case concluded on Dwight, if the bully did go to jail, James wouldn''t see him online. That was one of the biggest things about incarceration, there was 0 immersion. That fact had actually seen crime rates go down over the years, because of how great of an escape immersion was, the fear of losing it was a strong tool to dissuade people from breaking the laws. That and of course, psychologically, the freedom people had while immersed, would generally allow them to handle what ever vices they had, and kept them tame in the real world. It was messed up, but it generally worked.


    Pushing that thought from his mind, James reread the final part of Z''s message. What exactly was he referring to? Before he sent Z a message back, James closed it out. He may be curious about the Great Dickening, but he was even more curious about what Rue had to say.


    From: Rue


    Subject: OMFG


    Go check out the forums lol. Seriously, this is freaking great.


    <3 Rue


    Also, remember to eat, so I don''t have to deal with hangry Glyax! Probably something better than Soylent Blue too, I hear that stuff tastes like dead people. Bleh. Might I recommend hot chocolate? A little baileys added in will help with the pain as well.


    Also, Also, you should watch an old anime called No Game No Life. Trust me, I found it while I was searching for information on BLANK.


    Alright. So now, James had new questions, but, thanks to Z, he at least had the whole day to solve them. First, he figured he would go check out the forums, to see what the hell Rue was talking about. After that, James would message Z about the Great Dickening, and then, he supposed he would put off watching Supernatural, to check out No Game No Life, whatever that was. Because if it had something he could use against BLANK, well, then he was going to watch it. Anything and everything would help, after all.


    "Alright, let''s see what the forums have for us today." He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, put his hands in place to summon his keyboard, and looked up, his AR glasses seeming to project a massive computer screen in front of him. Desktop mode was awesome. He moved his digital mouse to his saved tabs and pulled up the forums for DCO. He had made a bookmark directly to the DCO forums for his town.


    "Guess I don''t have to message Z." James chuckled slightly, wincing as he moved to select the very first threat on the forum.


    The Great Dickening *Edited to update the name, because Great Dickening is so much better than Fowl Feathered Ends*

 106 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106


    The Great Dickening *Edited to update the name, because Great Dickening is so much better than Fowl Feathered Ends*


    */SilverMoon- Okay, seriously, WHAT WAS THAT last night? Was that an event? Do you guys think we are going to continue to get events like that every immersion? Was it a once a week thing, or once an immersion thing? Kind of like an end of immersion final bang for players? I for one, am hoping that''s what it is. That fighting was chaotic, but honestly some of the best fun I''ve had for a world event like that. And oh my god, the moment Charles Emerged and all the dickens got that buff. Holy hell it was terrifying. So glad I got two levels in from Dicken slaying before he hatched. AOE spells for the win! What about you guys? How''d it go for all of you?


    **/Jensen123- Honestly, I''m going to have nightmares. Like, yeah, my party was able to gain a level during the dicken waves, but all that squaking, the flying eggs, the explosions, the baby dickens running about. It was pure chaos! But seriously, I would do it again¡­I would just want to be a little more prepared.


    ***/Zannan- I''ve been looking at the other forums for the other dungeons. From what I can see, this seems to be an occurrence that only happens in the hire dungeons. It seems the stronger the dungeon becomes, the more unique things become available.


    ****/Redikai- Stronger dungeons? Is there a way for us to check our instances dungeon level? And what makes it grow stronger?


    *****/Zannan- Eh, not sure what makes it stronger, but it seems the amount of floor and the levels of the mobs are a good indicator. Some dungeons seem to only have one floor, and in those all of the boss mobs for the first floor were under level 15, from what I''ve read. So, keep up the good work guys. Apparently we''re making our dungeon awesome!


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    ******/FallenEagle295- Demonic Farm animals and Steampunk Dinosaurs¡­. I would say our dungeon is on drugs.


    *******/Chaos09- Whatever it''s on, I want some. Can''t wait for floor three!


    James scrolled through a few more rows of the comments regarding chuckling painfully as he did. From what he could see, the common consensus was that whatever that mass wipe event was, it was awesome. It seemed a lot of players were comparing it to a horde mode-esq event, where players just had to survive against waves and waves of the same enemy for a certain amount of time. Of course, no group had managed to bring down Charles the Dicken and all of the dickens. This was due to the fact that some of the higher level players were still spread across floor 2 instances when the battle occurred, or were resting in town. Because James waited so long to do the event, he missed a lot of the higher level players. Which of course had been his plan, he needed the lower levels, because they were the ones most likely to wipe, and give him the experience he needed.


    Of course, it seemed a lot of his prey had instead loved the event. Sure, they died, a terrible, terrible death of demonic squaking chickens and exploding eggs¡­ but they had leveled. From what he could see, almost every group that actually managed to organize themselves at the start of the onslaught, had gained one, if not two, levels, before wiping. That meant the average player level for James''s players had gone up.


    Apparently, mass wipe events, if done properly, could benefit not only the dungeon, but also the player base. James was definitely planning to implement one of these every immersion now, as it seemed the players loved that event. He also realized the reason Z was asking if he had taken a part in it, was because Z''s group had been out of the dungeon when it happened. That had to really eat at the pro. Maybe James would throw him a bone, and make sure to start the next one when the Knight''s were in an instance. After all, they could do with a little extra leveling, considering how floor three was going to be.


    The final part of the forums that made James chuckle, was the fact that they happened to name the event the very name of one of his very first achievements. It seemed the name had been a suggestion from a player in the chat, someone going by the username SMcCloud4242 had suggested it to the original poster. Oddly enough though, that was the only post history James could see for SMcCloud4242, and James wondered what the player was in DCO. Whoever it was, James couldn''t help but wonder if they realized how on the nose their humor was when compared to the developers.


    After browsing the subreddit forums for his dungeon a little while longer, while angrily sipping his Soylent Blue, James realized he had been neglecting something. Something that could prove important in the upcoming battle. He of course had very few leads on BLANK and the dungeon that was challenging him. However, he nearly facepalmed himself as he realized he had missed possibly one of the biggest troves of information available to him. He had no idea what the anime Rue had recommended to him would cover, but before that, James had a little more homework to do.


    He of course had no idea of knowing what town would represent BLANKs city. The dungeon core that was BLANK never actually shared any video, or information, on the core chat or forums. In fact, all anyone knew about BLANK, was that the dungeon had candy as its mob type. However, that was going to be enough. Mainly because when Xander had released the update informing all the cores of the upcoming Dungeon War update, the developer had given them one more piece of information regarding BLANK. BLANKs timezone was PST. So, if James ran a search for candy mob dungeons in the PST timezone, then there was a good chance he was going to be able to find the subreddit related to BLANKs dungeon.


    The pro gamers may have kept their mouth shut about their dungeon, likely trying to keep a competitive edge against all the other dungeons, and slowly learning any and all tricks they could that they hadn''t been able to glean from their father, but there was one thing they had no control over. And that, was the fact that most MMO gamers, loved chatting and sharing information on forums. And, as Zannan''s comments on James''s dungeon''s subreddit had reminded him, anyone could view the subreddits for the other instances. Needless to say, James copied the url and sent it to Rue as soon as he found what he was looking for. BLANKs Dungeon''s subreddit.

 107 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107


    The internet had to be the gift of the gods. At least, at this moment in time, that was what James was thinking. He had already known most cores had shied away from any of the goofier dungeon types, and as far as he knew, he was the only person that had chosen the risk of being random. Therefore, the number of dungeons that were listed as having candy mobs, was narrowed down to just a handful. And, the icing on the cake, was that there was only one of those dungeons that existed in PST.


    Unsurprising, it was for a large town in California, the home of many of the large game developers. It made sense, that Xander''s kids lived there.


    Eagerly, James lost himself scrolling through the forums. It was great, it really was. The players there had not only listed out mobs and all the information gathered on them, but they also listed details about each floor of the dungeon, and a breakdown of drops, and estimated percentages for the various gear.


    From what James could find, the players situated in the very heart of game developer territory, were rather in depth and methodical. James had a feeling that the player base in BLANKs dungeon likely consisted of more than a few game developers, or aspiring game developers. Along with probably pro gamers of various levels. Of course, DCO was a game in and of itself, and had many unique features, so even if the player base for BLANKs town were pros in different games, it didn''t mean they instantly had the edge in this battle.


    Actually, from what James could find, it actually might prove to be in his favor. While there was a plethora of knowledge to be gained from the subreddit, he was also noticing quite a trend. First, it seemed some of the players were pissed about the mob types. It seemed many were getting quite bored of fighting candy monsters, the novelty of which had apparently worn off after the first floor. Second, it seemed a lot of them were extremely pissed off at BLANK. Of course, they didn''t know BLANK existed, but the players were pissed at the dungeon. It seemed BLANK''s mass wipe event had not been as well received as James''s. And for good reason.


    While James had created a massive world boss, mob swarm type event, that players were likening to a horde event, it seemed BLANK had gone with a more¡­. Xander-esq method. It seemed BLANK had actually been crafting its dungeon in very much a Xander-esq method, choosing to completely optimize its mobs to create highly destructive, efficient, deadly sweets. Which was making the difficulty spike in a way that players weren''t liking. BLANK''s methods reminded James completely of Xander. They didn''t care if their players were having fun, all that mattered to them was they were the top dungeon. BLANK didn''t seem to care at all about the fact that, without its adventurers, it wouldn''t be able to grow as fast.


    So, with BLANKs mobs already being rather efficient at killing adventurers, it made sense the dungeon was growing at a faster rate than James''s had been. What sky-rocketed BLANK into Tier 3, was a mass wipe of dick proportions. James''s mass wipe had been limited to his first-floor instance. BLANK apparently had simply mass summoned world bosses across every single one of its instances, on both floors, in front of the exit to their candied dungeon. Because unlike James''s dungeon, BLANKs actually was a sprawling candy dungeon. Meaning when the world bosses spawned in front of the dungeon exit... every player within the instance was doomed. Moral of the story, BLANK was a duo of dicks, just like their father. And they apparently had terrible people skills.


    The more James read about BLANK''s dungeon and how the dungeon seemed to be acting, the more he couldn''t help but feel his confidence growing. He still had no idea how dungeon wars would work, of course, but from what he could see, while BLANK had fully optimized its mobs and dungeon layout to be as deadly as possible, it''s player base, on the other hand, was not.


    The players moaned about rare equipment drop rates, and it seemed BLANKs player base was not leveling as efficiently as James''s players were. While BLANK had a handful of elite players, who had reached the 30s, the spread into the 20s and 10s was extremely uneven. James, on the other hand, had a rather nice spread, which his top players, the Knight''s, Skar''s party, and a few others all managing to break 30 this last immersion, and a lot of other players in the 20s and 10s. The Great Dickening had actually helped catapult quite a few teams to level 20, unlocking their first subclass option. This meant, from a player vs player standpoint, James had the advantage.


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    Of course, he knew not to underestimate BLANK. While James had the advantage player wise, he had no doubt BLANK had the advantage mob wise. First off, BLANK was a single mob type dungeon. That meant it benefitted from the fact that it could use its lower tiered mobs in its higher tiered floors. This, in turn, meant those could reach higher levels, and be upgraded further on than what James could do with his mobs. A price James had sadly had to pay, unknowingly at first, when he choose his random mobs.


    Second, BLANK had been optimizing their research. While James did have an unfair advantage in the fact that he jumped a rank of research when he got Steve''s achievement, it hadn''t been as great a boon as one would think. And, the fact that James had shared his research levels, and the combinations that unlocked various special events or features, meant that BLANK had all that knowledge too. Though of course, them being Xander''s kids meant they already knew it. As such, it seemed they too had a secret boss mob combination for their second floor, which would likely be able to go toe to toe versus the terminus.


    Finally, BLANK had the advantage on him of time. They had reached Tier 3 a couple days ahead of him, meaning they were able to start their research sooner than he was. Even with his 7th level of enhanced research, it didn''t mean he would be able to catch them. He had no doubt BLANK had at least level 5 of enhanced research, if not level 6, as they knew which things to prioritize, while James had gone wide with his research. It also meant when it came to the Dungeon Wars related research features, they would be at least a level ahead of him, if not 2, depending on how many dungeon tokens they had at their disposal.


    That gave them an edge he knew he couldn''t underestimate. While their players may not be as leveled as his, James had no doubt that a big part of the dungeon wars would also be decided by the actual dungeon cores. Otherwise, he was certain the siblings wouldn''t have challenged him so readily. In their eyes, with the knowledge they had, James was sure they, and Xander, believed they would be able to defeat him easily. So, he had no doubt they knew more than he did about the Dungeon wars, and believed what they brought to their side of the war, with their research levels and tools at their disposal, would easily be enough to win the war.


    Of course, BLANK''s attitude also meant they were likely underestimating James, and they were definitely underestimating his adventurers. The more he read, the more he believed that to be the case. After a good two hours of research on BLANKs forums, James decided to move on with the rest of his day and pulled up his search bar. It was time to see what the anime Rue had recommend to him was. What else could it give him with regards to Xander''s kids? That was an important question, though the one James was really waiting for, and the reason he was searching for things to occupy his time with throughout the day was, what exactly would Dungeon Wars entail, and when would the darned patch notes be released.

 108 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108


    James hated BLANK. Well, actually, he loved BLANK. That is, the actual BLANK. Because of this fact, he hated BLANK, the imposter duo that he had to deal with in the real world. Of course, at the same time, he was kind of glad they weren''t more like the duo from the anime Rue had mentioned he should watch. If they had been like the actual duo, whom he was positive BLANK had stolen their name from, he would actually be quite screwed. After all, BLANK never lost.


    Xander''s kids though, were just using the name because of some illusions of grandeur. Though, there was always the possibility Xander had given them the username and introduced them to the anime. He had to have at least seen or heard of it himself, everything was too coincidental not to. In fact, James was pretty sure Xander''s whole quest for two children who could become his equals in gaming, stemmed from his knowledge of that anime.


    The fact the developer had taken and tarnished something as amazing as No Game No Life, and pulled it through the mud, made James even more determined to win the bet. Even if, you know, his whole existence as a dungeon core wasn''t on the line. In fact, James couldn''t wait to log back in, so he could see just exactly what else he could do to ensure his victory over BLANK.


    His rage over BLANK was still boiling as he began watching the second season of the anime. He was really looking forward to seeing what would happen, considering the cliff they had left him on in season 1, when he received a pop-up notification. The notification flashed across his vision, appearing, rather invasively, over the large, augmented screen he was watching the anime on. Another perk of his AR glasses.


    "Who is-" He paused his complaint as another notification popped up. Two messages, in the span of seconds? James really wasn''t used to even receiving multiple messages through the day. In fact, other than the occasional message from Rue over the past two days, he was generally what one could consider a hermit. As he saw who the messages were from, as well as their subject lines, he found himself grinning, painfully. Damned Dwight.


    From Rue: The patch notes are out!


    From Z: MM: They dropped new patch notes! Are you seeing this? Dungeon Wars!!!!!!


    Based off of how rapidly both messages came in, James could guess that neither his pixie, nor Z, had actually had a chance to read the patch notes. In fact, he was pretty sure they would have just been released, and so Rue had directly messaged him about it, the moment she got a note about it. He figured, at least, the AI would get a note whenever such things released.


    As for Z, if he had to guess, the gamer had an RSS feed set up, to notify him the moment information released. Normally, James just hung out in forums, so he could see the moment information like this dropped¡­which is why he didn''t have an RSS feed set up. Because he had been binge watching anime though, he obviously wasn''t watching the forums. Oops.


    What surprised him more about Z''s message, was the MM notification. It seemed Z had sent this message out as a mass message, which is what MM stood for. When and why the gamer had added James to a MM feed from the guild leader, he had no idea. Though, judging by Z''s altruistic character, and his-


    Another message appeared, followed by another. Within seconds, James had four more messages on his screen.


    From AKnight: MM: RA: Dungeon Wars!!!!!


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    From Brook A.: MM: RA: Do you think we''ll get new mobs?


    From M. Miller: MM: RA: Chat at our favorite pub to go over these tonight?


    And then, five seconds later.


    From T.M. : MM: RA: STOP HITTING REPLY ALL. I ACTUALLY HAVE TO GET SOME WORK DONE BEFORE TONIGHT.


    If James had to guess, Z had added him into a group message with the people who were probably the other four Knights. From the way Z was, he figured the old man just liked being able to share any and all DCO information with whoever would listen. Which obviously meant his guildmates, and James guessed himself. Since he had shown interest in Z''s raid earlier.


    What was annoying though, was the constant string of flashing messages, all along the same lines as the ones that had popped up initially. It seemed they were all trolling now, just to mess with whoever T.M. was. If James had to guess, it was a toss-up between Oak, or Med Ic. They seemed like the two most responsible members of the group, the two who might actually have a day job to deal with.


    After a few more moments of chuckling at the Knight''s antics, James decided to mute the conversation entirely, and move himself over to the forums as well. Season two of NGNL would have to sadly wait, as Dungeon Wars was the most important thing right now. Especially since there was still about 6 more hours till he could immerse himself once again. He figured he could read up on Dungeon Wars, contact Rue, and have the pixie start whatever preparations needed to be made, and then he could hop back into watching anime.


    After all, until he could immerse himself again, there wasn''t much he could do from the real world, unfortunately. Though, at least Rue could. So, he knew she would be able to make sure he started his next research when it was ready, and she could tweak whatever needed tweaking, beforehand. That, at least, had to be an advantage BLANK did not have. Since there shouldn''t be a way for them to have as much in game interaction while logged out, as he and the others with AI did.


    With that thought, James grinned and pulled up the forums. He had a war to prepare for, and unfortunately for BLANK, he had an AI, that he could trust to get some in game items taken care of. In his eyes, the battlefield had just been leveled.

 109 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109


    DCO Patch Notes 1.2- Introducing Dungeon Wars!


    Was the forum title boldly glowing on DCO''s forum homepage. Already, James could see it had a growing amount of comments, as well as quite the view count. Which, considering judging by the timestamp, the update post had just gone live less than 5 minutes ago, was impressive. James figured the mass automatic interest and excitement on the forum post, was a testament to just how popular DCO had already become, after just three days of in game time.


    "Let''s just see what exactly I''ve gotten myself into." James mumbled around his sore mouth as he selected the forum topic. He grimaced at the pain in his jaw but had been spending the day trying to ice it, and lightly massage it. His breakfast and lunch of Soylent had been disgusting. He was going to get his jaw better enough to at least eat something, even if it was ramen, before his next immersion session.


    DCO Patch Notes 1.2


    We already have Dungeons. We already have Dragons. How about we add in some Dungeon Wars?


    James let out an audible sigh after that first line, before continuing. Seriously? That was the best they came up with? Had they let go of all their actually creative members? He wouldn''t put it past the fun sucker that was Xander.


    Greetings, once again brave adventurers. Let us first once again thank all of you for joining us on this grand adventure. As of this moment, DCO is the top played game in immersion across the world, and for that, we thank you. Never did we believe we would hit a milestone like this one, and so quickly. If not for all of you brave, adventurous souls, none of this would be possible.


    Now, into the fun stuff.


    As everyone knows, the dungeons within DCO will continue to grow in strength and size, as the game progresses. Now, we could be like some game developers, and leave that as the big hook. But we feel we owe it to all of you, the players, to have a little something more.


    Already, DCO has interactive environments, an ever changing and growing threat, and massive amounts of configuration and character growth. However, there is one thing that DCO has been lacking for the past couple of days, something that we''ve seen people mentioning quite a few times.


    PvP.


    Of course, what game doesn''t have PvP? What type of MMO can expect to survive purely on PvE? Obviously, we feel DCO could, but when we started developing our game, when our small, humble team-


    James had to snort at that line. The action causing another moment of pain. If there was one thing the DCO team wasn''t, it was humble.


    - first dreamt up this monstrous endeavor, we knew PvP would be key for longevity. The game, after all, needs to be able to please every type of gamer out there, not just one group, no matter how large.


    Because of this, and because of the growth we''ve seen within the game over the past few days, we have decided to do an early release of our next content. That''s right, we are going to give you all a little something extra, that we hadn''t initially planned to share this early on. We are going to give you all Dungeon Wars!!!!


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    The added exclamation marks really showed just how hard the development team, likely the control freak Xander, was trying to come across as excited. Though, James knew this was all feigned. And James knew the trigger for the Dungeon Wars wasn''t the players, but the core growth instead. Ugh. Just another moment for Xander to make himself seem benevolent to the people. Poser.


    Now, we, as fellow gamers, know all of you have got to be excited for this new feature. This new opportunity; the introduction of PvP. Sadly, we cannot give it to everyone right now. That would be most unfair. And the thing we don''t want to create in our game, is the chance that any one instance have such an unfair advantage, that the game no longer becomes fun to play. We want our player base to love and enjoy every moment, to want to stay with us, indefinitely. We want you to stay with us, and we will do all we can to make that happen.


    As such, we will be releasing Dungeon Wars content in two waves. Wave one, will see the opening of Core Gates, which will allow players in instances to visit other dungeons, and interact with their players, and even dive their dungeons. This will open up trading across instances, and the opportunities for players to give all sorts of dungeons a go and gain unique gear they might not otherwise have the ability to.


    The second wave will introduce the actual PvP aspect. Dungeon Wars are just that, wars between dungeons. We could, of course, give all of you a very lengthy and wordy list of details with regards to exactly what that pertains to-


    Yes! That was exactly what James needed


    -Or, we could put on a show for all of you.


    What?


    While we mentioned we don''t want any instances unfairly getting taken advantage of, or being overpowered when PvP is released, we do have two instances that our data shows have been excelling beyond our estimates. Two instances, in fact, have unlocked level 3 dungeons. A rather impressive feat, and one we feel should be rewarded.


    As such, these two instances will have Dungeon Wars unlocked for them on the upcoming immersion, and their war will be broadcast to the inns of all other instances! So, if your curious about what exactly dungeon wars is, sit back, relax, and have a drink, while you watch from the safety of your own DCO instance.


    And for the two instances taking part in this reveal, every player will be receiving a copy of the exact details with regards to Dungeon Wars, so that they can prepare for the war. This information will be directly PM''d to each player upon immersion, giving players a full 24 hours to go through the new information, before they can enter their instance fully, and prepare for their grand adventure.


    The stage is set, and we, the development team of DCO, will be joining all of our player base, all tens of millions of you, in watching these two instances take to the front lines, and showcase just what a Dungeon War is.


    May Yarx guide all of you on your adventurers and endeavors! Until next time, continue conquering your dungeons, for greater glory and wealth! And remember, our 2.0 upgrade will be released after our first month of gameplay! So, give it your all till then. Because who knows what those instances at the top, may receive, when the update is released!


    "Son of a bitch." The pain in his mouth was nothing to the fire in his body. That son of a bitch Xander. The developer knew his kids had information on Dungeon Wars. He knew James didn''t. And, if he was going to do what James thought he was going to do. Ugh. Well, two could play that way.


    Fuming, James pulled up his PMs, and sent a message. Xander could try and dick him around, but James wasn''t about to let the developer get away with such an underhanded scheme. Besides, James had a way to get the information he needed, even if the developer wouldn''t give it to him. And, even better, thanks to Dwight, James had an actual good excuse, to keep from even getting close to breaking the NDA. If No Game No Life had taught James anything, it was that there was always a way to come out on top, no matter what the situation. That was the true potential of being a gamer, of being a human. And James was going to take that to heart and make Sora and Shiro proud.

 110 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110


    From Z: Patch Notes


    Hey man, I totally understand. Here''s the notes, get caught up, and hit us up when you do log in. The Knight''s will just be doing some farming runs till the Dungeon War Kicks off, you''re welcome to join us.


    ~Z


    P.S. Also, I don''t blame you for wanting to grab some food before immersion. Immersing while hungry is the worst.


    James grinned to himself as he started downloading the attachment Z had sent him via the private message. He glanced at the timer in front of him as well. He hadn''t completely lied to the Knight, in order to get what he needed.


    Following the message about Dungeon Wars, James had drafted up a message to send to Z. However, he had paused before sending it, realizing he still needed to abide by his NDA. He couldn''t tell the doctor anything that would raise suspicion. As such, he had done what any other craft teenage gamer did, he lied. Er, twisted the truth.


    The message James ended up sending Z, was sent 10 minutes prior to immersion. In it, James had explained to the Knight that he had fallen asleep while binge watching Firefly and had just woken up. He sent Z a message asking if the leader of the Knights Who Go Ni could forward him a downloadable version of the Dungeon Wars notes, so that he could go over them while he was making himself something to eat. Because he didn''t want to go into immersion hungry.


    Not necessarily a lie, that last part. He had decided to make himself some quick food. Also, as much as it pained him, he needed to be out of immersion in order to send that message. PMs sent while in game had a different marker on them than ones sent outside of immersion. So, to be sincere, he had to send, and receive the messages, while out of immersion. The plan then, was to grab his quick bite to eat, skim through the download, and then open it and go over it with Rue while immersed. At most, the extra 10 minutes out of immersion was costing him about 4 hours of game time. He could afford that. He had to be able to.


    Besides, BLANKs dungeon wouldn''t be logging in for another hour, meaning James actually had 2 hours total before the dungeon wars would kick off. Meaning 48 hours of in game time. That should be enough time for him to get prepared, fix whatever he needed to, and create a battle plan. Because, if he couldn''t at the end of 48 hours, well, then it was really going to be his final immersion in DCO, and there was no way he was going to allow that.


    A moment later, two audible dings went off. The first, was his pop tarts finishing. He had decided the S''more''s pop tarts, toasted lightly to make them soft and gooey, would be easy to eat with his bruised jaw. The second ding was his AR glasses informing him the information on the Dungeon Wars had been downloaded. He quickly sent the document to Rue and grabbed the still hot pastries from the toaster.


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    With pastries in one hand, and a glass in the other, he walked towards his room, barely able to keep his excitement down as he ate his snack. Of course, the pain in his jaw was actually aiding a little in keeping his nerves down. It seemed pain did have a purpose, it could help you stay grounded in the now, in reality. It was a rather painful reminder of mortality as well.


    By the time he reached his bedroom, half his first pop tart was done. He set his drink, a cold glass of milk, the perfect pairing for S''more''s pop tarts, on his night stand, and began changing out of his clothes. Granted, he didn''t need to, but he hadn''t actually changed all day, and even though he wasn''t going out in public, spending a second full night of immersion in the same set of clothes seemed a bit, uncivilized. Besides, he could put on comfier clothes, so that in the morning, he could lounge about.


    Of course, the lounge about plan was only if he won the bet. If he lost the bet, it would probably be sulk about in a realm of sorrow and depression. But hey, lounging clothes served for both purposes in that instance. Once out of his old clothes, and in his comfy ones, he leaned against the nightstand. He had one more pastry to go, and half a glass of milk.


    Slowly, he worked on the last pastry. He checked his messages and saw the notes had successfully been sent to Rue. James had opened them, planning to skim through them, but closed it almost immediately. It would be more logical for him to just hurry up and eat and read the notes in immersion. That was the most time efficient way of going about it.


    With only the final half of his pop tart remaining, and his milk down to a quarter, he let out a heavy sigh. He was definitely stalling, and he knew it. His nerves were going crazy, his adrenaline was pumping. If it wasn''t for the fact immersion essentially forced a body to sleep, he was sure he wouldn''t be able to fall asleep on his own.


    This moment, this single moment in time, as he chewed on his final bite, and washed it down with the final droplets of cold milk, was the last moment he would have like this. He was on the edge; he was facing victory or defeat. The moment he laid in that pod, the moment he immersed himself, it would be game on. Whatever happened tonight, whatever happened in the next 9 hours, would decide his fate in DCO. Not only that, it would decide his fate moving forward.


    He swallowed the final bite, set the glass down halfheartedly on the nightstand, and walked towards his immersion pod. This was it. It was now or never. There was no running away. He laid down on the pod, felt the warmth of it flow over him. It did little to chase away the cold chill filling him. No matter what, he would win. And with that, his eyes closed, and darkness met him. It was time.

 111 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111


    "What are you wearing?" James opened his eye to his beloved DCO and was suddenly taken back by what he saw. Rue, his fun loving, good natured, sarcastic and playful pixie, had changed her wardrobe. Maybe it was an upgrade? He wasn''t exactly sure.


    The pixie had changed out her typical, somewhat revealing and teasy pixie garb. In its place, she was wearing, well, essentially, battle armor. James didn''t know any other way to put it. She was clad, from the neck down, in shimmering, form fitting, silver armor. Surprisingly, she had gone for an almost practically set of armor, much different from the clich¨¦ fantasy RPG armor, that was just essentially a metal bra and panties. James was really not sure how he felt about that¡­ part of him kind of wanted to see the pixie in that type of armor.


    Focus. James shook his head, chasing the image away. Later. After this war, he could daydream and fantasize. For now, though, it was all business.


    "Obviously it''s my war gear." The pixie stuck her tongue out at him and waived her hand. Instantly, a flash of light covered James. After a brief moment, as the light paused, James noticed his tentacles had changed. With a grin, he pulled up an image of himself. His orb was now clad in a dark red metallic looking armor, and his tentacles were covered in what appeared to be a multitude of metallic scale armor pieces, with various spikes sprouting from them. Honestly, if he had seen himself as a monster in a game, he would be intimidated. Though, obviously, all the flashy armor for himself, and Rue, was just that, flashy, and unnecessary.


    "Was that really-" Rue cut him off as he spoke and waived her hand again. This time, the document he sent her opened up in front of the two of them. She flew over to him, her armored wings seeming to make a slight hum as she neared him and sat atop his core.


    "It''s thematical." She commented, as she turned towards the document. With a waive of her hand, she pulled up a second one, grinning. "Also, it seems Xander can''t be too much of a dick to us. Since this whole event is being broadcast to the world."


    James had forgotten that point. And he glanced around panicked for a moment. That was right, the Dungeon War was going to be broadcast to every DCO player in the world. That meant, Xander wouldn''t be able to interfere. It also meant, win or lose, the outcome would not be able to b debated. This was as much a showcase of the new feature, as it was a broadcast of the very even that would define James''s life.


    "No pressure, eh?" He mumbled, but his eye widened as he saw what exactly the second set of notes was.


    Dungeon War Guide for Dungeon Cores.


    "Did we really?" He didn''t even have to finish his sentence. The other guide, the one Z had sent him, was the guide for players. But it looked like, Xander, for once, hadn''t completely decided to screw James over. He figured the developer was extremely confident in BLANK, and James had an inkling that if Xander had decided to cheat and withhold information from James, the duo might actually be pissed off. Elite gamers, after all, hated cheating. If they were going to win, it was because they were better. So, that competitiveness, that arrogant drive, actually seemed to have played out in James favor.


    Of course, James also now had the notes on how the Dungeon Wars would work for players as well. Something he was sure BLANK already knew. Something he was positive Xander had planned to withhold from him, in one last attempt to slight him, minorly of course. But, in war, knowledge was power, and James had not been about to let the duo get such an advantage. Especially because while James was sure BLANK intended to utilize their own skills to overpower James and his dungeon and its players, James actually relied on his own players. James''s biggest advantage, he was sure of it, was his players. So, he needed to know what the dungeon war would be like for them.


    "Which one should we go over first?" As he spoke, James was pulling up his research timers as well, in order to double check everything was moving forward as it should be. All three of his dungeon war related research options were at level 5, and they were steadily working towards level 6. Of course, the level 6 research took a total of 384 hours, so even with the roughly 27 hours cut off thanks to James''s enhanced research level 7, he still had 357 hours to go. He had started it before his immersion though, a little over an hour and a half before he immersed. The research timer, therefore, glowed before him, showing 316hr 49min 22s. Sadly, level 5 was the highest he was going to reach for his dungeon war research this time. Hopefully, it was enough.


    "Well, I can give you the spark notes of the player guide." Rue grinned as she spoke, and James found himself nodding instantly. Of course, she had already read through probably both. She was after all just as focused on winning as he was. The usually laid-back pixie became scarily productive when she was focused. After all, dicken racing was created in a day.


    "That works."


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    "Okay, so long story short. Essentially, this dungeon war, from what I can tell, is going to be a full war." That was terminology James didn''t understand, but luckily, his pixie had his back. "It seems dungeon wars have two different modes. Skirmishes, which last three days, or Full Wars. Based off of the description of both, I am pretty sure BLANK is going to have us engage in a Full war."


    "How come?" The pixie glared at his interruption but choose to respond.


    "Full wars last five days in immersion. They are essentially a skirmish, with an additional day of invasions, and a final battle. Full Wars are the only option that can lead to a full core destruction." Her voice grew dark. "Trust me when I say, full core destruction is not a good thing."


    James nodded, he was sure the pros and cons of both skirmishes and full wars had been listed in the notes, as well as what happened for victors and losers. He was certain, from the way Rue made it sound, that having your core destroyed probably was extremely terrible for the dungeon, and likely the entire town. Which, considering the outside economic impact, could be really bad. Already the V coin markets had begun to bustle, and fluctuate, especially with the release of the notes about cross dungeon interaction. The outside world was about to become extremely tied to DCO.


    "Alright, so how are the wars going to work?" That was what he really needed to know. That was what he needed to master.

 112 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112


    "For players, Dungeon Wars are simple." Rue waived her hand, pulling up a visual image of all three of his floors. "Each floor is going to get a gate assigned to it near its entrance. These gates unlock every two hours, and parties of up to 10 players are able to take the gate into the enemy dungeon''s territory. Once there, they are able to fight both the enemy dungeon''s players, as well as their mobs. Defeating mobs and players gives them core essence, which, if they return through the portal, they give to the dungeon core of their home instance.


    "And what does-


    "I will get to core essence in a moment. Don''t interrupt." The stern look on the pixie, who was clad in full battle armor, actually made her look quite terrifying. Enough so, that James shut up immediately.


    "If the invaders are killed, then any essence they have gathered is instead absorbed by the dungeon they had invaded." Oh, so that was potentially dangerous. "The incentive, for players to bring back large quantities of core essence, is that not only does it help in the dungeon wars, but they are rewarded with experience, and loot." The pixie held up a finger, before he could even interrupt her. "Yes, you will have to create the loot, after we finish this conversation."


    Great, another thing to do before the war starts. He was of course excited, but also, growing nervous. Time was ticking down, there was less than 20 hours before his players entered his instance again, and BLANKs players would log into their home instances. 24 hours after that, war.


    "The number of invasions, is limited, obviously, by multiple factors." Rue held up a finger. "First, time. The gates open every 2 hours, meaning there can be 12 invasions from each side, per day, per gate." She motioned to her next finger. "Second, the number of floors, would dictate the amount of gates opened at a time. Because both BLANK, and our dungeon, have three floors, that means there are 3 gates opened at a time." A third finger was raised. "And finally, there is a cap on gates per day. Because each instance has 10,000 players, up to 10,000 players can take part in the war per day. Once all the players have participated for the day, no more gates will open, until the next day. Additionally, players can only use the gates once per day."


    That final rule, actually surprised James. Apparently, the developers were trying to put some rules in place, to make the PvP at least somewhat balanced. He supposed it made sense, especially if defeat could really harm a town''s economy.


    "So, players can only choose to invade the enemy dungeon once per day." James was already thinking. "But, obviously, the floor they choose to invade, is going to really effect how their dive goes."


    "Correct. When a player invades with a gate, they are transported to, and limited to, that floor. They don''t get to dive into the first floor and fight their way to the third. So, while they could invade the first floor, and completely wipe it out, the amount of essence they bring back, would be lower."


    "So, a risk reward system." James knew his players. There were some who would play it safe and invade the first floor only. There were some, such as Z, who would probably try for the second or third floor. He just hoped their risky behavior wouldn''t backfire, and net BLANK more essence. Because that, could be really bad.


    "Exactly." Rue took a breath, before continuing. "The other aspect of the daily invasions, is that when players invade, it is a completely random instance that they are put in. However, the moment that instance is invaded, the dungeon core, as well as players, will be alerted."


    "Meaning-"


    "Meaning, the players who are able, will likely try to hop in and stop the invaders."


    "Oh." That could be bad. James knew power gamers. He could totally see PvP players sitting near the dungeon instance, patiently waiting to be notified of an enemy invasion. The moment it happened; they would rush to join the instance with the invading force and hunt the players down. Of course, that would be great if it was James''s players doing it. However, from what he read online; he was going to bet that would be a tactic more likely employed by BLANK''s players. They didn''t seem to enjoy the PVE aspects of BLANKs dungeon, because BLANK was terrible at caring about the players. So, those power gamers, were likely chomping at the bit to take their aggression out on the first players to invade them. It was going to turn bloody fast.


    "So, is that it for the dungeon wars on a players side? And what do we get to do? When do our avatars come into play? What about our-"


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    "- I''m not done yet." Rue''s response was curt, and James silenced himself. He knew she was doing her best to explain it all to him, but there was just so much he wanted to know. Albeit, this was still going to be faster than him reading the documents. Of course, he still planned to do that, if he had the time.


    "For a Full War, players will be invading and getting invaded for the first, second, and fourth days of the war. For the third and the fifth, they will be able to take part in a battle of a different kind." The pixie''s eyes lit up, and James could feel the excitement rising. This, he was sure, was where he and she would come into play.


    "On the third and fifth days, a special gate is opened, which will teleport players to a unique instance all of its own. This instance is called the Fields of Battle," terribly unoriginal, "and it is here, where players will fight alongside their dungeon''s avatars, against the other dungeon. These battles can last the full 24 hours, and are essentially a massive, battle royal. The instance can hold all 20,000 players, the population of both instances combined. During this battle, players who die in battle, become core essence, and if they are not revived within a minute through magical means, they are removed from the battlefield for the remainder of that battle." That sounded rather harsh. But James could guess it was a way to prevent the weak, or overpowered players, from becoming too big of a factor in dungeon essence generation.


    "While the dungeon essence is created, players can choose to pick it up, and bring it to the avatar''s shrine." Oh, James was going to get a shrine. Neat. "After a certain point, the avatar comes to life. After that point, additional essence can awaken extra avatars, or unlock¡­special upgrades for the battle. Furthermore, once one side has collected enough essence, they can summon a portal to the enemy''s core." James was really liking where this was going. Of course, the need for his players to bring him to life was a bit upsetting. But he wasn''t too worried. Also, had she mentioned additional avatars? What did that mean? James was eager to find out all of these things, and his anticipation, and excitement, had reached their peak.


    "Does that mean we can have multiple avatars?"


    "Yes." Rue was grinning. Honestly, it was the widest he had ever seen the pixie''s grin become. She was obviously thinking what he was.


    "So, an avatar for me, and an avatar for you?" The pixie nodded excitedly. Oh, this was good. This was too good. He closed the player instructions. He had enough information for now, there were things he needed to do, things he needed to prepare, before the war. Also, he was sure his own set of instructions, would further explain what his BP was for, how to generate more, and he could already guess, what the various other build options were for. It all made sense now. The build options unlocked for his probes to build via his Core Defense and Core Offense research, would be placed on the Fields of Battle.


    There was something much more important than that now. At least, slightly important. Especially because he had already assigned some additional objects to be built, while he had been out of immersion, after his Core Cannon and Core Deflector Shield research had been completed.


    "Shall we go make an avatar for you now?" Seriously, if the pixie was going to be able to join him on the battlefield as an avatar, it made so much more possible. It also made BLANK even more dangerous. He was certain the two of them would perfectly match each other. He was pretty sure one would be some sort of dps, while the other would be a tank healer. In his mind, through his MMO experience, a Paladin with a Ranger class would be perfect. Especially if the ranger was able to get a melee dps pet. As such, James was going to have to choose Rue''s class around-


    The pixie''s impossible grin grew even wider, as she waived her hand, a portal appearing before the duo. "I already did."

 113 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113


    If he didn''t know any better, if he didn''t know how much Rue loved to win, and how much she hated Xander, James would have sworn she was purposefully trying to ruin their chances against BLANK. Why else would she do what she was doing? Why else would she choose what she had? It made no sense¡­absolutely no logical sense.


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    "You can''t be serious." They were in the Avatar testing grounds, and Rue had selected her avatar to show James. He had initially been excited. Having a second avatar on the battlefield could really help turn the tides. There were various combinations that could essentially two-man entire dungeons, or at least, hold their own quite well in PVE and PVP. In the WoW Universe, that had been a thing multiple times. And, he was certain BLANK would utilize the dual avatar system to their greatest advantage.


    James had planned, therefore, to do the same. Sure, his summoner class was a great solo player option, given the utility such a class could normally bring. But, with Rue having the option to create an Avatar as well, there were just so many possibilities. He could play as the magic DPS and summon a variety of pets to handle the differing situations and tactics being thrown at them, while Rue could be a Paladin, a holy healing tank that could keep him safe, and heal the both of them. And, if she didn''t want to be a Paladin, a cleric could work as well, or maybe a druid. There were just so many options, and yet¡­here they were.


    "I''m extremely serious." Normally, Rue was cute when she said that. But then again, she wasn''t normally a seven-foot-tall beast kin. "I love this class." Her eyes seemed to take on a defiant pout, as she crossed her muscled, furred arms in front of herself. The beast kin were a class offered in DCO, that allowed player to take on humanoid beast forms. There were many options, ranging from wolf like beast kin, aka werewolves, to lions, and tigers, and bears¡­oh my. Honestly, they really hadn''t been too picky on what types of mammals players could make out of beastkin, and the game had also given birdfolk, and reptilians playable options as well. Though, there were very few players that James had seen running around as part eagles, or part crocodile. The werewolf beastkin though, and catlike ones, were really popular.


    "But-" James looked here up and down. She had gone with a beast-kin that seemed to take after a white tiger, a large feline that had gone extinct roughly 20 years ago. It was a large, catlike form, extremely muscled, with white fur and black stripes across its body. Her eyes were a sky blue, with black markings forming around the white fur, to make them even more intense. Honestly, it wasn''t the fact she was a beast kin that threw him off¡­ even though he wasn''t sure how he felt about his counterpart being a massive cat lady, while he was a frail elf.


    No, the main point of contention, was the class she had chosen. Obviously, the ideal situation, would be for her to be a tank healing class. Well, she had gotten the tank part down¡­but in the worst possible way for the party.


    "A barbarian?" That was the class she had chosen. Literally a massive damage dealing class, that could aggro large amounts of enemies upon itself, and take reduced damage while it did it. It served in the tank role, but everyone, every single gamer in the world, knew a barbarian would only be good if there were a designated way to heal said barbarian.


    "Well, actually." Rue grinned, a terrifying thing when her face was a humanoid tiger face. "I''m a barbarian berserker."


    "Oh right, how could I forget." James let out an irritated sigh. For her subclass, there was the chance for her to redeem herself. She could have selected a subclass of barbarian that might actually have an ability to heal itself, or at least, tank better. Given how DCO''s multiclass system worked, after all, the possibilities were endless. But nooooooo, Rue had chosen berserker. If barbarians were bludgeons for punishment, berserkers were their perverse cousins that purposefully walked around with freaking Legos in their boots.


    "Look, Rue, I love you." He was speaking so fast his mind couldn''t process. How was he supposed to fix this? "But come on. We have one shot at this. We have two avatar options, and you went and locked in yours as a barbarian berserker? Why couldn''t you have been a Paladin? Or a Death Knight? Something that would at least be able to heal us?"


    "Because I wanted to personally be able to tear BLANK limb from limb." She let out a deep purr like growl as she spoke, and James could feel the reverberations though the air, sending chills down his tentacles. Sure, Rue''s new class specialized in bloodlust, but part of that had been all her. She really was rather terrifying.


    "And what happens when you run out of life?" The beastkin shrugged her shoulders, as if it weren''t a big deal.


    "I trust you won''t let me die." James was speechless. Rue, in her infinite, impulsive, ways, had just backed James into a rather unfortunate corner. There it was. She had gone and created her character, a fearsome, beastkin barbarian berserker, with the sole goal of cutting down their enemy and all who stood in their way. And, she had complete trust in James that he would be able to support her. He, as a summoner, was expected to now play the role of team healer too?


    "And how exactly, am I supposed to keep you alive?" Seriously, summoners weren''t generally a healing class. They were a utility class. They didn''t excel at healing, or attack, or defense, but often had great utility in all aspects. Great for soloing, and with his mob options, James had figured out how he could optimize his mobs and make him great at DPS. He had really been looking forward to selecting high summoner as his subclass option. It wasn''t very creative, but it gave him access to a few skills he really liked, especially the ability to use mana to enhance his mobs. But that was now out the window.


    "Mmmm." Rue looked him up and down, and then revealed a toothy grin. "By unlocking a secret class."

 114 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114


    "You''re certain this is going to work?" James had his avatar screen up, and had a tentacle hesitantly hovering on his choice. From what he knew of Avatars, they were just like player characters. The moment you applied your upgrade, the moment you choose your class, or subclass, it was permanent. There were no do overs, there was no going back.


    "Pawsitive." Rue held up one of her feline paws as she spoke, grinning at her own joke. All James could do was groan. He was half certain Rue had simply chosen the beastkin class so she could make additional, terrible, puns. Of course, their race did have a racial bloodlust feature that would complement the barbarian berserker subclass quite nicely, as well as higher physical traits, and dexterity. So maybe, she had only partially chosen the class to troll with, and partially chosen it because it made sense.


    That being said, what they were about to do, made absolutely no sense.


    "Nowhere in the notes, or forums, has anyone mentioned this." James knew there were secret classes in DCO, classes that could only be unlocked when certain parameters were met. Of course, that was because the makers of DCO had announced such things. And, because he had already seen one such secret class unlocked, when the Knights Who Go Ni hit level 30. But that had been through the combination of two subclasses, not through what Rue had just instructed him to do.


    "That''s because it''s secret." She let out an annoyed sigh. "Come on, we both know I''ve got just as much at stake here as you do. I will not risk us losing to BLANK." Her eyes narrowed. "In fact, I''m quite looking forward to Xander losing that bet." She licked one of her massive canines. James was really hoping she would turn back into pixie Rue soon. Beastkin Rue was really starting to scare him.


    "If you say so." When he hit level 4 in Avatar research, his avatar technically became level 20. As such, it was eligible for an upgrade. Of course, the logical course in the upgrades, was to select from one of the variety of subclasses the game automatically provided for him. These including things such as high summoner, which could enhance the stats of summoned mobs, and monster tamer, which could temporarily befriend additional mobs, and add them to a roster of monsters that could be summoned.


    However, James had been instructed to ignore all of those, and instead choose a new class as his upgrade option. That seemed extremely counter intuitive. In his mind, that meant he would be tossing aside his class as a summoner and selecting a new class entirely. Sure, that would give players the ability to change their class, if they really wanted to, but at the cost of a subclass upgrade. And, considering those subclass upgrades where what provided players with unique skills and customization, well James really didn''t want to miss out on that. Especially to be a healer.


    But Rue had assured him over and over, that this was one of the ways to unlock secret classes. According to her, if you chose a new class type, depending on what you chose, you would create a brand-new class. That class could have skills from both of the previous classes, and lead to even more unique sub class options later on in the game. According to Rue, there was actually a unique class, that was only available once a player selected each of the starting classes as an upgrade. Which, of course, would mean the player would have to be extremely high leveled to accomplish that feat. Considering how many base classes there were in the game.


    That was not what they were after. What they were after, was a hybrid monster summoning and healing class. Something Rue called a Spiritualist. Apparently, it was a secret class that could only be gained by selecting a summoner class, and then a cleric class. The spiritualist, according to Rue, could not only summon mobs, but link to them to other players. In doing so, the summoned mob could share its life force with the person it was linked to, and also apply various buffs. The spiritualist, also apparently would be able to cast a variety of healing spells, depending on the skill upgrades. James currently had two upgrade points. The first, he had already used, as it unlocked Mass summon for himself, which allowed him to summon additional mobs, as long as their summon amount was less than his total level. The second skill point, he had saved, wanting to wait and see what was available from the high summoner tree. If there hadn''t been anything, he had wanted there, he had intended to use it on the enhanced summoner option for the summoner class, which would allow him to summon higher leveled versions of his mobs.


    "Here goes nothing." James whispered, and he silently sent a prayer to the Goddess of Luck, ironically Rue, as he confirmed his option. For a moment, it seemed as if the world froze, and he wasn''t sure it was imagined, or actually a moment of stopped time in the game. Then, he watched as his avatar began to glow, and the class under its name faded, switched to cleric, and then faded again, even as his character was completely enveloped in a golden light. The avatar was surrounded in bright, blinding energy, completely hidden from view, and James watched as the class under its level completely disappeared. Then, an alert box appeared in his vision.


    Secret Class Unlocked ¨C Would you like to unlock this class? Y/N (Note, if you select No, your class will be reverted back to its latest upgrade *Cleric*)


    Grinning, he selected the yes option. Once again, Rue had come through. He wasn''t sure where all of her knowledge came from, though he supposed an AI for the game would know the secret features within it. Of course, that meant BLANK probably knew a few secrets themselves, since they were after all privy to Xander''s ear, and likely data. However, seeing as it was AI provided data, he didn''t feel bad. Every other player had an AI as well, they just needed to bond with it in order to likely gain the same levels of information that James had received.


    The moment he selected yes, the bright light covering his avatar grew even more intense, and a class title spelled itself out underneath his Avatar''s level. Just as Rue had told him, it now read Spiritualist.


    As soon as it was done being spelled out, the light faded, and he was able to take in his avatar. Whereas before, his elven summoner had two bracelet like bands of runes circling around his wrists, now, his avatar''s entire left arm was covered in glowing, swirling runes, from wrist to shoulder, almost like the full sleeve tattoos James had seen in certain movies. These new runes glowed a silvery hue and seemed to be constantly changing. On top of that, it seemed as if James''s whole avatar now had a faint silver aura about it. If anything, this change had definitely made his elf look cooler.


    "Told ya it would work." A very smug Rue commented as James looked over his avatar. Her comment drew his attention away from the Avatar, which he still needed to upgrade, rearm, and test out. In doing so, James noticed another notification hanging in the air, and his grin widened. Man, he loved this game.


    Achievement Unlocked - Mom Always Said I was Special- Unlock a Secret Class


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    Reward- 1 skill point for your new class, 1 cosmetic upgrade

 115 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115


    Like every good gamer, James focused on the most important aspect of his new class first and foremost. Which was totally why he had chosen to stay on task and wasn''t looking at the cosmetic upgrades instead. Totally¡­not¡­what¡­he¡­was¡­doing¡­right¡­now¡­wings!


    "Ohhh, I like those ones." Rue was standing approvingly over his orb, still in her Avatar form, as he flipped through the options for his avatar creation. The new secret class had been a success, of course, and with the achievement, he now had two skill points to spend on it, instead of just one. He had already decided he would likely use one of the skill points to upgrade enhanced summon. His other skill point was up in the air though.


    "Really? Because I like these better." James flipped a tentacle across the screen, changing what they were viewing. He wasn''t about to spend any real money on DCO, especially considering the fact that this may be his last day in immersion, and the fact that each upgrade cost at least 1 V token. Which, he really didn''t feel like spending.


    That being said, he was all for using his new cosmetic upgrade point, to purchase a free one. Because if he was going to fight in a war for his very existence, and it was going to be broadcast to all the other players in DCO, well then, he was going to look amazing.


    "Eh, do you really think those fit the theme here? After all, you''re a healer." Rue had a point, and James let out a sigh. They had both agreed that his cosmetic upgrade should be in the form of something flashy. Something that would draw attention and scream out defiance. Also, something that would make him look really cool.


    The final decision, amongst all of the options, had been to choose wings. Mainly because, well, wings were one of the cosmetic items everyone always loved. And also, because while there were some really cool cosmetic armor sets, they were sets. Meaning he would have to pay to finish them, and he wasn''t about that lifestyle¡­.at least not yet.


    Rue had been pushing him towards these golden, almost divine looking wings. James had been eying the fiery dragon wings, because, well, fire dragons were awesome.


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    "Hmmm, well technically, my title is Spiritualist." Speaking of which, he still needed to look over what his new class could do. Which meant they needed to finish this decision quickly, no matter how tempting it was to continue scrolling through the options.


    "I know what your title is." She narrowed her blue, feline eyes. "But still, fiery dragon wings on an elf that is healing people doesn''t seem fitting."


    She had a point. If he was a straight summoner, or had gone a war mage path, fiery dragon wings would have been awesome. Actually, there weren''t many things fiery dragon wings didn''t go with¡­other than healer classes. Ugh.


    "I suppose we can-" James was flipping back to the celestial wings, when his tentacle paused. He had just caught sight of one last set of wings. One that he couldn''t believe he had missed.


    "-how about these Rue?" The wings were skeletal, bone like wings. But when he selected the preview of them, they became so much more. From the back of his elf avatar the skeletal wings stretched out, and around them, white, ghostlike energy formed the outline of tattered, broken wings.


    "Alright. Those scream spiritualist." Rue shot him an approving grin, which coupled with her fangs, just didn''t give him the easy, happy feeling her normal grins did. Regardless, he was really glad they had found a cosmetic set that they could agree on. Especially because the clock was still ticking, and he had to get back to work.


    "Done, one set of skeletal wings coming right up." He grinned as he selected the option, noting his free token disappearing even as the cosmetic lit up, showing he now owned it.


    Attach to Avatar? Y/N?


    James didn''t even hesitate in hitting the yes option, smiling as the wings appeared once again on his avatar. He was certain he was going to have fun looking those over once he took on his avatar form. The preview window was one thing, but actually having them, and feeling them, was going to be a completely different experience. He was also curious if they offered any sort of perk. Sometimes, though rare, cosmetics would offer unique features, although always negligible. Otherwise, people would complain over unfair advantages that needed to be unlocked via money. Even in the 2050s, when people could essentially earn their entire living expense online, people cried out over unfair advantages in video games.


    "Now, how about we-" Before James could finish, an achievement window popped up. Honestly, James was starting to wonder just how many achievements he was going to unlock that day? He wasn''t complaining, but he really did need to get to work.


    Achievement Unlocked ¨C Fashion Forward- Attach a cosmetic upgrade to your Avatar


    Reward- 1 cosmetic upgrade


    "That''s just cruel." James really needed to get to work. But the game had just given him another free cosmetic upgrade. Like, if there wasn''t the sake of his entire dungeon and existence in DCO on the line, he would be loving this feature, and the string of upgrades. Not to say he still wasn''t, but he really did have other things to do. So, if the game could just chill out with trying to tempt him to spend money, while making his Avatar look amazing, that would be great.


    "Can I use it?" Rue pulled him from his lamenting even as he pulled the decoration option up. He looked her avatar over, in all of its glory, and shrugged. Honestly, while having his avatar alone look amazing, especially with two cosmetics, would be great, having him and Rue both look awesome on the Fields of Battle, would probably win him some more style points. Besides, if she used the token, he could at least go over his Avatar''s new skills, figure out what to upgrade, and test it out.


    After which, he still needed to check out his Core Room, and read over his notes for the dungeon wars. His construction had completed for his Cannon and Shield, but he needed to see what else was going on with those probes. All he knew so far; was he had unlocked more probes with his research. However, it didn''t seem like he had gained any more BP since before he logged out, meaning he had spent all 1000 of his Offense and Defense BPs, respectively, on his cannon and shield. If that was all he had, well, his side of the fields of battle were going to be extremely empty. And he didn''t like that idea.


    "Sure, thing Rue." James signaled for the pixie to have her fun, while he turned back to his avatar. With a grin, both at her excited smile as she pulled up her own upgrade window, and at the fact of stepping into his avatar body once again, James selected the option to enter it. The moment he did, a light swirled around his floating orb, and a strange sensation flooded over his body. James remembered, at the last second, to ''close'' his eye as the feeling rushed over him. A split second later, an uncomfortable feeling rushed through him, as if hundreds of thousands of insects were swarming all over him. After a few more seconds, the feeling faded, and only then, did James open his eyes.


    Gone were his tentacles, and his floating body. In their place, he had a real body, complete with all of the sensations and feelings that came along with it. This was one of his favorite aspects of having an Avatar form. The fact that with it, he could have a real body within the virtual world again. Something that he had realized he had sorely been missing.


    "Right, time to get to work." He said aloud, grinning as he did. He waved his right hand before him, pulling up his skill tree, and began reading. So much to do, so little time.


    A NOTE FROM GLYAX

 116 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116


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    The spiritualist was a unique class, in every way. Not only was it a secret class that had be unlocked through specific means. But the more James read through its skill tree, the more he realized just how special it was.


    Along with that, James was learning just how awesome this new class was going to prove, not only for him and Rue, but also his adventurers, as they fought against BLANKs forces. The main reason for this, was that spiritualists had a very unique way of healing. It wasn''t like the cleric, wave the hand, chant a spell, and someone is instantly healed trick. Instead, the spiritualist seemed to use summoned bonds to essentially extend a person''s health pool, by linking them to the summoned spirit.


    Of course, Rue had mentioned to him those aspects of it, but in Rue''s typical way. Meaning she hadn''t really provided him with the full details of the situation. Furthermore, and this was just James speculating, he had a feeling Rue had a terrible habit of not actually reading all of the words with regards to the things she learned. As she seemed to skim and skip over a lot of important details.


    The first, being, that the spiritualist, even on the skill tree, had no way to directly heal a player. The second being that the spiritualist would lose control of the mob it summoned, once it had linked it to another player. From what James could tell though, even when it was linked, and he didn''t have control over it, the mob would still count against his summoning total. Both of those, were rather important points in his book. As it was going to require him to develop new strategies for his plans. Especially if he was going to utilize this new class to its fullest potential.


    On the plus side, as James scanned the skill list for both summoner, and spiritualist, he saw that his choice on what to select with his remaining two skill points was going to be easy. First, he unlocked the Enhanced Summon option from the summoner class.


    Enhanced Summon: The Summoner has learned to better harness their powers and bring forth greater variants of the creatures they summon. Mobs summoned using Enhanced summon are called forth at twice their normal summon level, while costing the summoner only one and a half as many points to summon. (I.E. A lvl 1 mob will summon at level 2 and cost the summoner 1.5 points to summon).


    As a summoner, this skill was just too good to pass up. With Mass summon, James was able to summon mobs for a total of mob points equal to his maximum level. Currently, at level 5 Avatar Research, James''s Avatar was level 25. That meant if he really wanted to, he could summon a total of 25 dickens, normally, as those would cost him 1 point per dicken, as they summoned at level 1. With his enhanced summon, he could now summon almost 17 of the dickens, but each of them would be level 2. And, because his avatar summons had the multiplication added to their stats, for being avatar summons, those level 2 dickens were going to pack a punch.


    Just to check, James closed his eyes, mentally choosing what he wanted to summon. He could have done it on the screen, but he figured he needed to learn how to do this in the quickest method possible. What he had learned so far, being a dungeon core, was that he could actually mentally impact effect the game and send his commands. It was just easier, and felt more natural, to physically interact with the environment.


    After a brief moment, he managed to clear his mind to the point of sending the command he wanted. He opened his eyes, and pointed with his glowing arm, its runes circling all the way up his left arm, to an empty spot in the training area. A moment later, a single glowing form appeared, clucking as it did so, in typical dicken fashion.


    Dicken Lvl 2 Summon


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 150


    MP:100


    Atk: 20


    Def: 10


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all stats when in groups of 5.


    Flock together: If dickens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the aggro of all dickens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.


    Active Buff


    *Avatar Summon* - All stats increased to reflect Avatar Level Threats (Base stats x (5+Research Level)


    "And, now if I do this¡­" James was happy with the stats, really, he was. Especially based on how his spiritualist class worked. But he just wanted to double check, for planning sake, what would happen with his next trick. The runes on his left arm glowed again, and four more dickens appeared. Instantly, the stats on the dicken he was investigating changed.


    Dicken Lvl 2 Summon


    Type: Demonic Poultry


    HP: 300* (150+150)


    MP:200* (100+100)


    Atk: 40* (20+20)


    Def: 20* (10+10)


    Unique Traits


    Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all stats when in groups of 5.


    Flock together: If dickens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the aggro of all dickens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.


    Active Buff


    *Avatar Summon* - All stats increased to reflect Avatar Level Threats (Base stats x (5+Research Level)


    Just as he figured, the dickens, once again, were showing that a low-level mob, especially one that buffed itself in groups, could become ridiculous in the right situations. James wasn''t saying he was going to abuse this mob. But he wasn''t also planning not to. Grinning, he motioned in front of himself, pulling up his menu screen once again.


    From there, he went to his skill tree, and instead of selecting an additional skill from the summoner class, flipped to the spiritualist class. There, he had a single option to choose. Doing so, would open the skill tree up, giving him three more options for later, which he had already been eying. But, the first skill was what was really calling to him, especially in this given instant.


    Spiritual Fortitude- While a summoned monster has greater than 50% of its maximum health, damage dealt to the adventurer the monster is bound to, is reduced by 25%.


    James selected that skill immediately, applying the upgrade. He couldn''t help but smile evilly as he thought about just how great that skill was going to be. With his current abilities, James knew he could summon up to 16 dickens if he wanted to, or a variety of mobs ranging from his first floor, to his third floor. Their levels would be boosted, their stats, multiplied. This meant he could create a variable force of destruction to terrify players during the Dungeon Wars.


    What his enemies didn''t know though, was how to focus down the appropriate targets. In most MMOs, people, especially those who specialized in PvP, would often choose to just nuke, or deal a high amount of damage, to the player, often ignoring any summoned pet or mob. This mentality, of course, was that the player often proved to be the greater threat.


    With his Spiritual Fortitude skill, that meant, while they were blowing their attacks on the player, they would actually be doing less damage than intended. The other thing that he was certain no adventurer would realize, especially early on, was that because of the way the spiritualist class worked, the damage a player took, after their defense and buffs was applied, was sent to the summoned mob. Essentially, these summoned mobs were not only damage reducers now with spiritual fortitude, but they were walking extra health reserves for players.


    And while James didn''t have spells that would allow him to heal players, what he did have, were spells to heal his pets. He could buff their attacks, increase their defense, or heal them. In fact, he actually had multiple ways to heal them. One was a mass heal, that could heal all of his pets in a certain radius but had a long cool down. Others were heal over time spells, or single target heals.


    The more James read over his skill list, and looked down at his mobs, the more he realized just how unique, and perfect for this situation, this class was. While Rue''s actions likely were slightly selfish, considering she really seemed to like that berserker class, she had given James the perfect class to affect the fields of battle with. She had given him a class that not only maximized his offensive contribution to the battlefield, but essentially would allow him to keep a handful of his favorite, personally selected players, alive.


    And as he had already decided, if there was anything that was going to win dungeon wars for James, it wasn''t going to be his or Rue''s individual skill. It was going to be the fact that his players, his adventurers, were going to blow BLANKs away. And now, if say, the Knight''s Who Go Ni were all armed with their own pet dickens, that James was constantly healing and buffing¡­ well, he had seen what the Knights could do already. And he was extremely aware of what his dickens could do. By their powers combined, he almost felt dirty for what BLANK''s players were about to face.


    "Alright, now that that''s out of the way." He dismissed his mobs, anticipation swelling within. He was actually extremely excited for the Dungeon Wars to start, but knew he had a few more tasks to take care of. With a glance, he saw Rue was still shopping for her own cosmetic upgrade, which was all fine and dandy in his book. After all, James still needed to improve his armor. With research level 5, James now had access to not only his first floor''s armor sets, but also his second and third. And while their buffs and stats were nothing compared to how armor stats actually worked for adventurers, the improvements still mattered. Well, that and James honestly didn''t want to walk around on the Fields of Battle as a Demonic Farmer.

 117 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117


    Choosing the armor for his Avatar didn''t take him all that much longer. Mainly because, there weren''t really that many options to choose from, and because, the stat increases for the armor weren''t all that impressive.


    When it was all said and done, he had opted for a hybrid between his second floor and third floor item sets. The second-floor set was just too cool to pass up. And while the buffs weren''t all that great, what his third floor offered him, he just couldn''t pass up.


    As such, by the time Rue had finished selecting her cosmetic upgrade, which, to James''s amusement, was an aura that seemed to surround her entire form in icy wind, fitting given her black striped white fur, James had his Avatar gear set up.


    "That''s what you''re wearing into battle?" Rue was looking his avatar up and down, nodding approvingly. She had opted to equip her barbarian berserker with the post-apocalyptic steampunk dinosaur armor, which made her look even more fearsome. The part of her attire James really liked, was the fact that her Battle Axe, because why wouldn''t Rue have a giant battle axe, seemed to be made from the blades of the Steamosaurus''s, panzer form.


    "Yeah, not all of us can just go for post-apocalyptic raider." James grinned, still enjoying how good it felt to actually be in a real body. It might be elven, but it was close enough to human to not matter. Besides, anything beat flying eyeball with tentacles.


    Rue purred in response, a deep sound that seemed to reverberate throughout her body, as she hefted her battle axe. "All the better to terrify our enemies with."


    "Well, you''re definitely terrifying." In fact, James was feeling a bit underwhelming besides her. She was, after all, a seven-foot-tall, humanoid esq white tiger beastkin. He, was standing roughly five foot six, was built extremely slimly, and looked more delicate that fierce. As a spiritualist, he didn''t even have a weapon to choose from.


    Instead, He had chosen the steampunk leather armor set, and put on a cloak from his third floor. It was made from Giant Plaython skin¡­.er¡­cloth? And had the unique ability to constantly shift colors to try and blend in with the environment. Nifty, yes, extremely helpful, not really. He also, happened to be sporting the top hat that the Terminus Dropped, because, why not.


    "Right, so what''s next, oh wise and powerful Glyax?" Rue was grinning, scarily, as she eyed him. He wasn''t sure if it was her animal features, but he almost felt like she was sizing him up, as a snack.


    "Er, I need to check on the Core Room, and see what all is going on there." After all, the Avatar''s were extremely important, but they had done all they could with them for now. He would likely come back a little later, to experiment with his skill sets, but that was later. For now, he needed to use the slight time advantage he had on BLANK, to ensure everything was set up.


    "Alright, to the Core Room," Rue pointed a finger in front of them, and a portal appeared. Without another word, she leapt through. As her form passed into the portal, it seemed to blur in a strange way. As James followed her, he realized why.


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    The moment he passed through the portal, he was forcibly changed from his avatar form, back to his dungeon core form. Ugh. James had really been hoping he could stay in his avatar form. It was just much more comfortable for him, and now that he knew he had a physical humanoid form he could access ;the floating eyeball was getting old, quick.


    Maybe in an update? If he had that long, he would definitely see about making it allowable for him to use his Avatar. Of course, he also didn''t see why he couldn''t just hang out in the Avatar training area and manage all of his monitors from there. That way, he could stay in a humanoid form, and keep doing his dungeon functions. That was, obviously, reliant on him winning this dungeon war. Which, he completely intended to do.


    "Ohhh, look, it IS a laser." Rue was back in fairy form and was flapping her wings excitedly as she hovered over to his actual core. Atop it, in a semitransparent form, was a massive, weapon. The core canon was after all, complete.


    It sat atop the core and seemed to almost be linked to the massive core via multiple legs, that almost seemed to punch into the core. From there, various wires and tubes snaked around it. Underneath the core, there was now another attachment as well, which seemed almost to be a giant, furnace, connected to the bottom of the core. Above it, in simple letters, it read Essence deposit.


    "I hate to admit it, but it really does." James had been expecting a cannon. It was called a core cannon. But it literally looked like a freaking laser. Like, clich¨¦ laser, straight out of a spy movie, where the big evil bad guy would strap a laser to the moon, or maybe a shark''s head, or something. What James was most concerned about though, was how exactly that laser was going to work against his opponents.


    As he prepared to open the dungeon core wars notes he received, he noted what appeared to five new generators around his core as well. Lines connected each of the generators together, and they moved into the middle of the floor, directly underneath the core, and connected in various crisscrossing ways. The center, where they met, had another furnace, exactly like the one connected to the bottom of the core. On it, again labeled simply, was Essence Deposit. James decided to ignore the fact that the core shield was set up underneath it like a pentagram, and simply took note that both items would require essence, in some way shape or form.


    How, was the next question. He really needed to know how this aspect of dungeon wars was going to come in to play. So, without another wasted moment, he got to reading.

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    Chapter 118


    James skimmed over the first page and a half of information, noting that much of what was being shared from the developers to the dungeon cores, was the same as what had been shared to the players. The dungeon wars had an option for three- or five-day wars. The dungeon wars were a way for players to get unique war related gear. The dungeon wars were a way for dungeons to gain more experience and interact with each other and their players in a special way.


    The things that caught his attention, that neither Rue, nor Xander, had mentioned were the fact that dungeon wars were supposed to be optional. They were supposed to be voted upon by players, and if enough votes occurred, the dungeon would be able to send out or receive war challenges, and that the dungeons could then choose terms for their war. Apparently, they were much more civil and gentlemanly than Xander and BLANK were treating them. Of course, it was a video game, and James knew just how hard-core people could get with regards to those. He had been there himself, multiple times, when chasing world first achievements.


    It''s just, he wasn''t as into the PvP scene as BLANK, and Xander, were. He wasn''t an FPS player, he wasn''t a MOBA player. James was an MMO player, and he loved the challenges that MMOs offered, outside of just PvP related things. This was, of course, why James had been going about his dungeon war preparations differently than others probably would. He was going to go at this the way he knew best, as a PvE event. His players were going to be like his guildmates, BLANK and their players, well, those were just a dungeon boss, and its mobs.


    These thoughts flowed around through his mind, but promptly stopped, as he got to the section he had been looking for. From what he was reading, it seemed day three was going to be, quite interesting for his players. Oops.


    Dungeon Wars- Core Offense and Defense


    A Tier 3 dungeon gains access to both the Core Offense and Core Defense research trees. Based upon your research levels in both trees, your dungeon will be able to build new and improved items, which can be utilized during your dungeon war. These objects will be able to be utilized during day 3, and day 5 of wars, on the Fields of Battle, and require Build Points (BP) to make. Furthermore, you are only able to deploy a certain limit of offense and defense related objects, which is determined by your Deployed limit. Each dungeon, upon unlocking level one of these research options, starts with 1000 BP for Offense and Defense, respectively, and can deploy 1000BP worth of items in both categories as well.


    Build Point maximums, as well as maximum deployment allowed, are reliant on a Dungeon''s War level. Every dungeon will begin dungeon wars at a Dungeon War Level of 0. Victory in Dungeon War''s grants experience, dependent upon each Dungeon''s War level. Losing a Dungeon War will result in a loss of dungeon war experience, also dependent upon each Dungeon''s War level. Dungeon War Levels are used to ensure dungeons face against opponents at an equal or similar level to them, though dungeons may still challenge other dungeons of higher or lower level.


    As a dungeon levels up its War Level, its maximum BP, as well as its deployment cost, will increase, by an appropriate degree, per level. For instance, from level 0 to level 1, a dungeon''s maximum BP, as well as deployment cost, will both increase by 200. From level 1 to 2, each will increase by 400. The higher the dungeon''s level, the more tools and equipment it can deploy, to create even more challenging battles.


    Once a dungeon has utilized all of its BP, it is unable to generate more, until a war has started. During day 1 and 2 of a war, dungeons will be passively gaining BP, at a rate of 10+ (Dungeon War Level X 2) per hour in both offense and defense. On day 3 and 5, a dungeon can gain BP actively by destroying or stealing its opponent''s equipment and turning it into BP for itself. Additionally, a dungeon can use its BP to repair any resources it has actively deployed, by assigning probes to repair the object. Probes have a repair speed of 1/2bp per minute, per probe. So, one probe will repair .5BP per minute on an object, while two probes together can repair 1BP worth of damage per minute.


    While dungeons cannot deploy more than their maximum amount in either the offense or defense trees, they can utilize more of their deployed limit in one or the other, if they so wish. Meaning, while a Dungeon with a level 0 Dungeon War level has 1000 Offense and Defense BP, that dungeon can choose to use all 2000 points in either Offense, or defense. So, feel free to experiment for which style best fits your dungeon.


    Additionally, while equipment can be freely built and moved about on days 1,2, and 4 of dungeon wars, new equipment cannot be deployed, and equipment cannot be removed, from the Fields of Battle, on days 3 and 5. Whatever a dungeon has committed to battle, is what the dungeon must utilize, come the days of those battles. Be prepared, be creative, and be victorious.


    "So," James was doing some quick math in his head, since he now knew what numbers he would be working with. It irritated him, that the company behind DCO, aka Xander, had essentially forced him and BLANK to compete in this dungeon war, though James also realized his own actions had led to it. BLANK had taunted him, and James, had responded. Had he not done as they did and jumped in rankings so quickly to climb into being a Tier 3 dungeon, well, he may have been safe from BLANK for a day or two irl, which would have given his players even more time to grow and explore.


    That being said, James knew there was no use worry about that fact, and instead needed to focus on the now. With a glance at his clock, he knew he still had a little over a day and a half, of immersion, before BLANKs players were in, and the war began. That was the advantage James had, of being in a different time zone than BLANK. It also meant James''s players would get one day of adventuring and preparation, whereas BLANK''s players were going to log in and be in the war, the moment they start their immersion. James figured that was why the wars had the first two days as an invasion period, so that there wasn''t an overwhelming advantage to waging war against other time zones. Especially because in the future, dungeons would have plenty of time to prepare themselves for a war.


    With his quick math done, James knew that from day one and two of the war, he would earn a total of 480 BP in both offense and defense. That meant, he could spread it evenly, or utilize a total of 960 points in a single option. The difficulty was that with the number of probes he had, he would really have to be picky with what he was building, to ensure that it started in time to even be done and ready to deploy before day 3 started. He figured, based on what he could tell of BLANK, and its player base, that they would be coming at him hard on day 3. Likely intending to do as much damage and demoralize him as much as they can. That meant, he was going to need to be defensive. Luckily enough for him, he already had a giant freaking shield for his core. And, logically, he could use the other 960 points to at least build up some walls, and barricades, for his players.


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    Of course. As Rue had pointed out to him, being logical was not the correct way to overcome BLANK. Instead, James already had a plan forming. One that would most likely throw BLANK off their groove and help him keep the advantage he felt he had. After all, if he was going to view this as a PvE event, it didn''t'' make sense for him, or his players, to completely turtle it up. No, there were mobs and a boss to slay, and he was going to do just that. James mentally started scanning over his build options, placing notes on what he wanted to do, and how he was going to do it. After wards, he figured it would be wise to get some sleep in game, and then, hop into training as his avatar, while his adventures joined back in, and began exploring. It was going to be his, and theirs, last day of freedom, before the war started.

 119 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119


    "It seems they are rushing to get to your third floor." Rue''s comment pulled James from his concentration, which resulted in one of his sacrificial lambs falling into the pit he had been guiding it over. The moment it fell, it exploded. The pit, after all, was filled with spikes. James was in the process of seeing just how much control he could have over his pet mobs, and had enacted an obstacle course, to test each of his mobs out on.


    Of course, the obstacle course had taken him a couple hours to create in the Avatar training area, so, he was only on his second mob for training, even though day 2 of immersion had started about an hour ago.


    "Probably wanting to level up and gain as much gear as they can, before the war." James wiped the sweat off his brow with his glowing left arm, marveling for a second at the patterns of swirling energy on it. He had started to notice that as he summoned mobs, the strange runes would start to shift and change, though he had only experimented slightly with that feature of his class. He was almost 100 percent positive it was just an aesthetic change put into the game, however, the gamer in him screamed that there was a chance it was something secret, and he needed to find out what.


    "How do you think they are going to do against the Terminus?" Rue''s comments, were of course, in relation to the new and improved Knight''s Who Go Ni, as well as Skar''s group, which had finally seemed to create a guild of their own. Before, while they had all played with each other, James had found it interesting that they weren''t actually a guild. This time around, it seemed that had changed. Now, next to all of their names, a guild tag appeared. Boss Slayers seemed to be their guild name, rather unoriginal in James''s eyes but fitting since they did gain world first alongside the Knight''s, when they defeated the Terminus. Of course, what amused James, was the tag shortened to BS, which he was certain had been intentional on their part. After all, their archer''s name was Troll''d.


    "I''m pretty sure they''ll win, again." This wasn''t going to be the, second, or even third time, that they''d faced Terminus and won, after all. Last immersion, the Knight''s had all climbed into level 30, gaining them all another subclass to choose from. James knew the subclasses offered quite the power boost, and seeing what they had chosen the day before, when they all reached 30, had cemented in their strengths even more. In fact, that had been the first time James had seen a secret class get unlocked.


    It had all started out normal enough. They had defeated the Terminus, and in doing so, their party had leveled up to level 30. James and Rue had silently cheered for all of them, especially because, by the way their faces lit up, it seemed they had gained another achievement for hitting level 30. This had to have been their fifth or sixth time defeating the Terminus, since the original raid that brought the boss down, and they were getting used to him. Even his advanced AI, could only change up how the lumbering T-rex could fight, in so many different ways. Add in the fact that Skar''s gang accompanied them almost every time, and well, Sir Rexus just didn''t stand much of a chance.


    When they all next entered the dungeon though, James had eagerly inspected all of them, wanting to see what options they had taken. After all, he had done his research on all of their classes and knew what the logical choices would be for each one to take. And while they were often eccentric, they played in a very professional, well thought out way. After all, they were veteran gamers, James knew that for sure now.


    Z, at level 30, was now classified as a Beast Master. That was a Ranger subclass, which fit Z in more ways than James was sure the old man would care to admit. Mainly because, while everyone had initially mocked him for Badgy, that badger was actually quite loved by the group. As a Beast Master, Z had the ability to further buff Badgy, and enhance the pet to help the team even more. It also gave him the ability to summon an additional full-time pet, from a different tree.


    For Rangers, James had found, the pet that was summoned was random. James knew the frustration of that. For Beast Masters, they could choose to summon a random mob, from one of four tree choices. The first, was offense, the second was defense, the third was balanced, and the fourth, was wild. A wild pet had higher stats than the others would and could be from any of the other three trees. However, wild pets, were just that. They had more willpower than the regular pets and would act in the way they best saw fit, rather than how the Beast Master ordered it to.


    Z, of course, had gone wild. Because, why wouldn''t he? The result, to everyone, including Z''s, amusement, was a giant eagle. And giant was the appropriate word. The eagle was large enough it seemed it could pick up Z if it wanted to. It definitely could pick up Badgy, as James had noted, on more than one occasion, Z ordering the wild eagle to pick up Badgy and carry the badger towards a boss or mini boss. Of course, sometimes the eagle did just that. Other times, it let out a loud squawk, and promptly did its own thing. At the very least, the eagle was quite a powerful ally.


    Next, had been Elm. He, also, had chosen the path James had expected for him. Previously, he had been an Arcane Archer. The subclass that best suited an Arcane archer, was to simply continue down the magical path. There was a subclass for Arcane Archer, called Elemental Archer, which did just that. It essentially allowed the user to modify which types of magical arrows were used and giving those arrows unique damage types and conditions depending on the option. It was a versatile class, that would give Elm the opportunity to always have an answer, to whatever problem he saw. From there, James figured he would go the sniper route, which would increase the range, and damage, that he could do with his attacks. But level 40 was still a ways off for the group.


    Faust had continued his pursuit of even more magical attacks and damage. His first subclass had of course been choosing to become a lightning mage. From there, he seemed to have choose the war mage subclass, making him a Lightning War Mage. War Mages were able to amplify their magical spells more, and also had a neat feat that allowed them to decrease their casting time on spells, by increasing the amount of MP they spent on it. Meaning he could get more powerful spells off more quickly, if he had the mana for it.


    The healer, Med Ic, obviously continued to play his role well, and was now a High Cleric of the Light. The light obviously being the optimal healing class for clerics, and being a high cleric just meaning he got even more healing spells. It also had a neat mass revive cooldown, as well as some really strong mass heals. The obvious choice for the party''s healer class, given their tendencies to race headfirst into every challenge, always going for their instance first achievements.


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    Finally, came Oak. The warrior turned Shielder. Oak, the reluctant tank, who hated his role, but did it, for the greater good of the party. Well, he had apparently gotten fed up with that, because there was no other way James could think of, that he would have stumbled across his secret class, otherwise.


    Now, normally, the logical progression from Warrior, to Shielder, was a class called a juggernaut. A massive, super tanky class, that could essentially become a mobile, walking fortress of armor and pain. It was a great class, with strong damage mitigation skills, and a large boost to hp max, and defense.


    However, Oak didn''t seem to have wanted to be a juggernaut. A shame, because James actually had been looking forward to seeing Oak as one. That, and the title was just awesome. Instead, as Oak had stepped into the instance, his appearance, his class, had caused James, and Rue, to just stare in silence. Oak, apparently, had decided he was done being just a straight tank, because he was not a Juggernaut. Granted, he still had his Tricera-cog shield. And was still wielding B.L.U.''s Chainsword. But now, around his entire form, magical energy seemed to crackle, and his elven eyes glowed with magical power. The class seemed more a name, than a title, as it simply had the world Indra listed , which James learned later, as the group discussed Oak''s class, was a secret class.


    With all five of them above level 30, and with the explosive, and amazing, defensive capabilities of Oak''s new class, the party could likely take on Terminus and have no problems. However, they had opted to keep training alongside Skar''s group, which was why, as James saw the party once again moving together towards his second-floor boss, he couldn''t help but grin. The fight would likely be over quickly, and Skar''s group was probably going to hit level 30 from it. But that just meant, they were going to all be quite confident of their abilities, as they moved to his third floor. And James was really looking forward to them seeing his third floor.

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    Chapter 120


    "Till next time then, good chaps." The Terminus called out as his hp hit zero, and his massive form toppled to the ground. " ''Tis always a blast." The light from his eyes faded, and James and Rue watched as the group of adventurers all turned and ran. For anyone new to the dungeon, they would likely be confused at the odd occurrence. But, for veterans of the second floor, and the Terminus boss fight, this was standard practice. After all, no one wanted dino-aids.


    All 10 members of the raid team cleared the 25 yard radius before the core detonated, ensuring they were safe from dino-aids yet again. James was mildly disappointed, as while he hadn''t spent much time looking over his disease menu, he had found out he could at least increase how diseases spread. He had, of course, upgrade dino-aids once, quickly, to give it an increased chance to spread via proximity with players, and had been hoping to see what would happen if it spread around.


    So far, he knew that dino-aids was a permanent, per instance, debuff that players could receive when the Terminus detonated. It halved all of their stats and had to be either cleansed by a high-level spell or faded away when players left a dungeon. James was still curious if it carried over to other floors, and what else he could do with it. He planned to give his disease menu a good look before the war started but wanted to see Z''s group explore his third floor first. After all, who knew how many more times he could watch them do their dungeon dives.


    "Right, the timer''s not starting, which means there is a new floor." Z had regrouped with his party around the Terminus''s scrapped body. Everyone was looting the boss, and checking their own stat windows, likely checking their experience gains, and seeing what they had gotten from the boss.


    James was having a hard time taking them seriously, as they were all wearing the top hats that the Terminus dropped. Because, of course they were. It was too good of an item to pass up, considering it decreased the amount of set gear they needed, in order to get their set bonuses for the floor. Granted, Z''s party and Skar''s had both managed to farm the floor enough during the last instance, that they were both set up pretty well gear wise.


    Just like the Demonic Farmer, the Terminus had a percent chance to drop pieces of loot, and set gear, each time he was defeated. Obviously, all of the players knew that, and as such, that had been a big part of the grind on the second floor for the higher leveled players in the dungeon. In addition to that, B.L.U. also dropped set gear for players, and you could actually mix or match the pieces, in order to get the same buff. So, while players may not have a matching set, they could still get the buff for having 6 pieces of gear. The incentive, for having a complete matching set, other than just being cosmetic, was that B.L.U.''s gear, and the Terminus''s gear, was actually geared for different types of players. B.L.U.s gear was lighter, offering lower protection, but also giving a buff to magic and ranged players for their attack damage. Conversely, the Terminus''s gear was bulkier, providing a higher defense stat and a boost to hp, for tanky and melee type classes.


    Because of the fact that Z and Skar''s parties had been clearing the dungeon together since the middle of the last instance, they had managed to defeat both bosses enough times, that they had traded around and ensured each member was now wearing the appropriate gear for their respective classes. For the lighter armored classes, and magic users, their gear consisted of tight, padded leather armor, with various scraps of metal thrown as protective plates. The armor was well insulated, offering resistance to magical and elemental attacks, and increased their ranged and magical attack damage by an additional 3%.


    What James liked about the B.L.U. set, was that it had metal spikes almost like a spine, that ran down the back, and the gloves of the set had the steampunk raptor-like claws built into it. The boots, as well, had the same claws. The helmet, James knew, was molded to look like a raptor head as well, but everyone seemed to really enjoy their top hats.


    The Terminus gear consisted of leather armor, that was then insulated, and covered with metal plates. It was large, and intimidating, and bulky. To augment the armor, there were various gears placed along the joints, as well as what appeared to be steam powered pistons, that almost seemed to aid the adventurers in their movement, as otherwise it would seem ridiculous for them to be wearing such armor. It gave the wearers a very visual sense of being a tank. Add to that, the Chainsword from B.L.U., as well as the triceracog shield, and tank players really were intimidating.


    There was also a player James had noticed, that was running around dual wielding Chainswords, who had opted to wear the full B.L.U. armor as well. To James''s amusement, that player wore the helmet too, which just made him all the more ascetically terrifying. That was one of the things James always loved about MMOs. Players could always craft their character however they wanted.


    "Any suggestions on multiclass options, before we head to the third floor?" Skar was looking at his character screen, his face deep in thought. Around him, his party members were all doing the same. As James had figured, they had all leveled up, hitting that level 30 mark, and earning themselves a new class option.


    James lazily scanned Z''s stats for a moment, curious how the Knight''s Who Go Ni were doing level wise.


    Z


    LvL 32 Beast Master*


    *(Archer-Ranger-Beast Master)*


    86109 Total xp Earned


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    3409 current xp held


    3391 xp to next level


    HP: 320 (184+46+65+25)


    AP: 255 (184+46+60+20)


    Atk: 354 (155+30+10+39+75+40+5)


    Atk: 0


    Def: 159 (64+30+16+30+19)


    Def: 25 (20+5) *-15% from magical and elemental attacks before M. Def is applied*


    It seemed that each subclass granted players an increase in stats for the next 10 levels, and then were replaced by the next subclass. As such, it seemed Z was getting an additional 65 hp from his ranger subclass, and another 25 from his Beastmaster subclass. Which was fitting, considering James knew the extra hp would come in handy against his latest and greatest mobs. He was also pleased to see that Z''s attack had continued to grow. The good news for the adventurers, was that they could, in theory handle the basic, un-upgraded mobs on James''s third floor. The bad news was, they wouldn''t even be able to scratch his boss with their basic attacks. Of course, that''s what skills and ingenuity were for.


    The other members of Z''s party, James already knew, were similarly boosted. In fact, Oak''s HP was now over 500, and his defense was ridiculous at just over 300. The guy was the embodiment of a tank, and that was before his passive skills came in to play when it came to damage mitigation. His Indra class, James had discovered, gave him a constant passive damage reduction of 20%, after the damage had gone against his armor. It was called Thunder God''s Aura. That same aura gave all of his attacks an additional 3% of magic, thunder damage. Secret classes were definitely the way to go, if you could find them.


    "Well, there''s obviously the logical choices," Z motioned towards most of his party, all of whom had gone through the logicalish upgrade. His eagle let out a loud squawk overhead in agreement. "Or, of course, you can try for something¡­unique." He pointed towards the constantly glowing Oak. The Indra beamed back at the party, and made a flexing motion, looking ridiculous as he did.


    "Right." Skar looked at his party, then at his screen, and then looked over at Oak once again. "I''m going to have to go with the-"


    "Screw it, I''m going to gamble." Gno-More called out, selecting an option on his screen. Everyone froze the moment he did and held their breaths. Once you chose your subclass, you couldn''t undo your choice.

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    Chapter 121


    "Probably best for the rest of us, to choose a class that makes a bit of sense." Skar spoke as he selected his option, and the rest of his members nodded in agreement. Gno-more had been successful in his gamble, but at what cost. Even now, Rue was still laughing hysterically.


    "Most likely the best choice, given the upcoming war." Z nodded in agreement, and turned towards the Terminus''s lair, where they could see a faint bit of light flickering in the darkness. That light was from the portal to James''s third floor.


    "Yeah, who knows what would happen otherwise." Troll''d strode past Gno-more, bending down slightly to pat the gnome on the top hat. "Wouldn''t want to completely mess up how I had been building my character." The troll shot a smirk at Gno-more and kept walking.


    "Aye, probably one of your worst decisions man." Manly walked by the gnome, hefting both his axes high. "And you''ve made a lot of poor choices."


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    Gno-more, had tried for a secret class. And, to his credit, he had gotten a secret class. The new class was called an Acupuncturist. And James had no idea what it did. From what the gnome had mentioned, before going silent, mainly due to everyone''s jokes, was that he had opted to try and make an even deadlier assassin. In doing so, he had chosen the alchemist subclass, hoping to create a class that specialized in stealth, and alchemical, dangerous potions. Which, James had to admit, did sound cool.


    The result, however, seemed underwhelming, and James was sure they would need to wait and see just how the former assassin''s new class played out for him. It was probably a good idea, for everyone else, to take that as a warning to not try for an unknown class, at least, not yet. Besides, they could afford to be patient, it wasn''t like they wouldn''t keep leveling up and gaining new class options.


    As such, the raid party, having leveled up, and looted the boss, moved into the Terminus''s lair, excited for their next new adventure. James scanned over the members as they moved forward, making mental notes of their class options. Troll''d had chosen to become a Monster Hunter, which, was exactly what it sounded like. An advanced class option that specialized in hunting and taking down large prey, meaning his DPS had not only increased, but he also gained trap abilities.


    Olivia had become a High Cleric of the Light, just like Med Ic. Manly the Dwarf, had moved on from being an Axe Duelist, to an Axe Champion. James knew from reading over class details that the Axe Champion became even more skilled in the use of axes, and also gained a few unique skills to augment his damage. It also allowed him to summon a third, magical axe, which would fight alongside him. A neat, trick, in James''s opinion.


    Finally, there was Skar. The Orc leader of the Boss Slayers Guild had chosen to upgrade himself from being a Death Knight, to a Dread Knight. That class had all the defensive traits of the death knight but added in a few new tricks. The first, was that dread knights could make themselves completely invulnerable by going ethereal, for a few moments at least. They also had a new siphon ability to use, as well as a passive aura, that actually impacted any foes around the Dread Knight. It was the perfect class for the tank of the guild.


    "What''s the plan Z?" Skar asked as everyone gathered around the portal. While both Skar and Z were guild leaders, everyone usually deferred decisions to Z. It was simple to see why. Z just gave off an aura, he made everyone around him feel better, he put them all at ease. At the same time, it was obvious he knew what he was doing, and he always remained calm. That made him the perfect leader, in the group''s eyes.


    "The plan." Z held a hand up to his chin. "Is to make a plan." He grinned as he spoke, drawing groans from all 9 adventurers standing around him.


    "That''s not a plan." Manly coughed.


    Z flashed him a smile, and just shrugged towards the portal. "We''ve got an entire day worth of diving, before the war started. The biggest hurdle, was getting you guys to level 30, which we''ve accomplished." He looked at his pets, his smile widening even more. His eagle, which he had named Turk, was holding Badgy between its massive talons.


    "How about we just run in there, and see what happens?" As he spoke, he nodded towards Turk, and the eagle flew through the portal. "Then, when we come back, we can have an actual plan." He started to step towards the portal, smile widening even more. "Might as well have some fun, after all, before we start this war."


    After he finished speaking, his form disappeared, and he reappeared on a different screen for James to monitor. The very first third floor instance for his dungeon. James couldn''t help but smile. It was a big moment, and he was really glad it was Z''s party, and Skar''s that were going to give his third floor its first run through. Of course, he was also already looking forward to the experience he was about to gain.


    "I swear, sometimes I cannot believe you guys are the top ranked guild." Skar groaned as he shook his head, looking at the portal, even as Oak began walking through.


    The Indra gave Skar a grin and disappeared. Immediately after him, Faust''s form disappeared, and then, Elm''s. All that was left, was Skar''s guild, and Med Ic. The healer looked at them all and motioned towards the portal.


    "It is things like this, that make us the top ranked guild." He walked closer to the portal, turning his back on them as he did. "Life, whether it be in a game, or in real life, is too short, not to enjoy, after all." Those words lingered as he stepped through the portal, joining his guild mates in the new instance. It was a good thing too, considering as James glanced at his new instance, he could see things were already getting interesting. He may have, after all, adjusted his mob layout just a bit. He didn''t like that players had so much free time, unthreatened by mobs, when they spawned into his second floor.


    "He has a point." Troll''d smiled, the two tusks sprouting from his mouth lifting wide. He unslung his bow and grabbed Olivia around the waist. Without warning, he threw the cleric, his girlfriend, through the portal, and followed after. Skar, simply let out a sigh, and motioned for the rest of his members to follow. As James had mentioned before, everyone seemed to follow Z and the Knight''s Who Go Ni.

 122 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122


    As James had already noted, chaos ensued the moment Z, and his party, had begun to arrive on the third floor. That was because while all of his mobs, except for the boss, were set to roam, he had made a special exception for one set of mobs. These mobs spawned directly over the portal to the third floor, and were actually tasked with defending it, and an area of about 50 feet around it. That meant, any time adventurers came through the portal, they were in for a surprise.


    The mobs he was watching, currently having a lot of fun with the underprepared adventurers, were of course Jolly Dollies. Five of the adorably terrifying dollies were up in the trees, running along their platforms, laughing in high pitched, child like voices.


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    When Z had entered into the dungeon, two of them had actually managed to lasso their pull strings around his arms, ensnaring him and lifting him completely off of the wooden platforms in the swamp, pulling him closer to them. That, was of course, accompanied by them whispering terrifyingly "Come play with us."


    James had figured he was about to get some easy experience right then and there, as their attack had left Z completely defenseless, but luckily for the adventurer, it seemed Turk was in a good mood.


    The eagle, who had been circling around the area, Badgy in tow, had let out a loud screech when he saw Z tangled and caught, and had swiftly flown higher into the sky. The dense trees meant the eagle couldn''t make much use of its flying abilities, but he was able to get high enough to drop Badgy onto the wooden pathway that the dollies were standing on. In that moment, James got to watch a bunch of animated dolls running about, giggling as they were chased by a snarling badger.


    That decision by Turk had given Z enough time to break free from his hold, and he was able to regain his composure by the time Oak entered the third floor. As the rest of the Knight''s came through the portal, the scene on James''s third floor simply continued to grow even more ridiculous.


    Badgy, to his credit, had been doing all he could against the dollies. However, one of them had managed to get the pull portion of their string around the poor beast''s neck and was now riding atop him while laughing maniacally. Two others were constantly throwing their makeshift lasso''s towards Turk, who as a result, was unable to get closer to attack. The two remaining Jolly Dollies were simply scampering about and laughing eerily. Every time Z and Elm tried to shoot them, they would simply duck behind a tree branch, or into one of the little huts James had made for them.


    "Man, no one said we would be freaking fighting dolls. I still have nightmares from Anabelle." Oak had his shield up and was watching the bridges above him. The group had moved a few feet away from the portal, to allow more room for Skar''s party to join, and as such, were now getting onto the narrower, more rickety portions of the walkway James had created.


    "Well, would you rather dollies trying to kill you from above, or a snake in your boot right about now?" Z was laughing as he launched another arrow, though a sudden enraged scream from Turk made him wince. James knew Z had a way to track his pet''s health, and currently, it wasn''t looking good for them.


    "Don''t even joke about those man." Oak moved further away from the portal on the bridge, his eyes still watching above. "I freaking hate snakes."


    "Oh really?" James whispered allowed, and his comment drew a string of giggles from Rue. The pixie, he noticed, was currently eating what he was certain, was a dicken strip. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the bucket in front of her, with DS emblazoned on the side. She was eating dicken strips from the Dicken Shack.


    "You uh, going to share?" He was curious just how the dicken shack strips tasted and was really curious if they tasted just like chicken. It was rare to get anything fried now a days, which was why such cooking was still extremely popular in immersion. As such, James suddenly found he had an extreme longing for some fried dicken.


    "If you had a way to eat it, sure." She grabbed another strip, grinning. "But since you don''t." She bit into it, closing her eyes slightly and letting out an exaggerated moan. "I''ll just keep enjoying my fried dicken."


    "I hate you." He grumbled back, before turning back to his task at hand. The group, with the combined efforts of all three ranged classes, and Faust, had managed to bring down two of the dollies, leaving just the three that were harassing Z''s pets. They may have won the battle, but he still had the entire war to throw their way.


    With a chuckle, he selected the closest mob that fit what he was looking for and gave it a simple command. One of the joys he had found in being a dungeon core within DCO, was that he could manually command his mobs in instances. He may have abused that ability once or twice before, such as when he swarmed Dwight''s group with a flock of dicken and a mad cow, but more or less, he rarely used it.


    Oak''s explanation that he hated snakes though, was just too much. Z, after all, had mentioned he wanted to have fun with this dive into the third floor, before they came back later with a plan. Well, if Z and friends were going to have fun, James was too. After all, this was a great moment to destress, and enjoy one of the finer points to being a dungeon core in DCO. That point being the constant and often hilarious interactions of adventurers and his crazy mobs.


    As he watched the raid party finally bring down the remaining three Jolly Dollies, earning a cheer, and more than a few confused looks from the members as they looted the mobs, James couldn''t help but smile. With his overhead view of the floor, he could see deep into the swamp around the party. And what he saw, was more than a little exciting.


    When he had decided to select his mob, he had been specifically looking for a Giant Plaython. After all, he had 5 Giant Playthons roaming around on his floor, and he had wanted to simply have one appear and attack Oak. It would have been one level 34 mob versus a 10-man group, it wouldn''t have been much.


    However, the closest Giant Plaython to the entrance, wasn''t a loner. Instead, it was one of his packs that he had devised. And well, he couldn''t very well just give the plaython a single order. Instead, the entire group of mobs, had made their way rapidly towards the portal entrance.


    Because of that, just as the party finished looting the Jolly Dollies, and began to regroup, a commotion caused them all to freeze. Partially due to the sudden movement that was suddenly noticeable in the swamp land, moving rapidly towards them. The other reason being that there was suddenly a loud, haunting, terrified scream, seeming to come from somewhere in the darkness.


    "Now, the first real encounter begins." James said aloud, watching in excitement as a Giant Plaython, with a Mounted Knight on its back, rushed towards the party. In the air, a funky monkey flew towards them, letting out its obnoxious cry. Further in the back, running as fast as his fluffy legs could carry him, a lone lite knight made its way toward the party as well. This was going to be the first, of many awesome fights for this dive. He could just feel it.

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    Chapter 123


    Apparently, Oak hadn''t been kidding about being terrified of snakes. The mighty Indra, meant to be the stalwart, indomitable tank for The Knight''s Who Go Ni, had screamed like a girl and jumped probably 10 feet in the air when the Giant Plaython came into view. Which, had it not been for the quick thinking of the rest of the raid party, would have been the end for their third-floor escapades.


    Luckily for everyone involved, they weren''t complete noobs, and knew how to react in most situations. Besides, if there was one thing James had come to appreciate about these two guilds, it was how quickly they could adapt. That, and they were getting used to the ridiculousness that was James''s dungeon.


    As such, the moment the Giant Plaython came into view, teddy knight riding on its back, the party had looked to Oak to intercept. When he was deemed, incapacitated, Skar took the lead, placing himself in the path of the rapidly approaching stuffed foes. At the same time, both clerics, uncertain of what the new foes would bring, began casting a variety of buff spells. Med Ic even cast a cleanse spell, as the veteran healer had noticed the Funky Monkey''s cry had stunned himself and two other party members.


    James had been hoping that stun would go unnoticed the first time around, since the monkey, still on its approach, appeared prepared to let out another manic cry. However, as great healers in MMOs tend to do, it seemed Med Ic was constantly monitoring his teams'' stats, meaning he saw the debuff appear on himself and the others effected as it happened. Even if the others didn''t, because honestly, if a giant flying monkey was screaming as a group of stuffed animals attacked, more than a few players might not realize they were actually stunned by a game mechanic, and not just the sheer craziness of the situation.


    When the mobs and parties clashed, it was a battle of hilariously epic proportion. Honestly, it was a fight that James hadn''t been sure how he would feel about. But, watching it take place, he was really, really glad he had these new mobs. Especially because, with the creepy atmosphere set by the swamp, it just played into an even more horror-esq battle.


    The first enemies to the party were the Giant Plaython and the mounted teddy knight. As Skar had stepped up to face the new enemies, his entire form had begun to glow darkly, and James watched as Skar promptly activated one of his brand-new Dread Knight skills. Dark energy, accompanied by a dreadful wail, flowed off of him, and it crashed into the Giant Plaython and teddy knight. The skill, which James had read about, was called Dread Wail, and it had a 50% chance to cause 5 seconds of fear on enemies.


    With a flip of the coin on his skill, James was curious what exactly would happen. To his utter amusement, the result was pure comedy. The fear, it seemed, managed to affect the giant Plaython, but not the teddy knight. However, that didn''t really matter. Because just as horses did in movies, the Giant Plaython immediately stopped its sudden approach, and reared back, letting out a massive hiss in Skar''s direction, which, elicited another scream of terror from Oak, as he tried to regain his composure.


    Now, unlike in the movies, the brave teddy knight didn''t manage to hold on. Of course, how could he, when a 20foot snake stops in full momentum, it probably creates a bit more force than a horse stopping. The end result, then, was the teddy knight being sent flying over the Giant Plaython, essentially launching himself, lance and all, towards the raid party.


    To everyone''s credit, almost everyone got away from the flying projectile that was the teddy knight. Well, everyone who wanted to get away, did. Troll''d, Faust, and Elm had spread out, and began launching their attacks at the stopped giant plaython, knowing full well when the fear faded, it was likely going to present a huge problem. Z was on the lookout for the approaching flying monkey, his eyes locked onto the form of it as it rapidly approached, while Turk was carrying Badgy overhead, likely looking for an enemy to drop the badger on.


    That left Manly, and Gno-more, the two melee members of the group, with nothing to do. Until they noticed a flying teddy knight coming straight towards the party. The two looked at each, grinned, and prepared themselves. The poor Teddy Knight didn''t stand a chance.


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    To its credit, the mob had leveled its lance in a direction as if to try and skewer one of the adventures as it flew through. It was quite impressive, actually, and James couldn''t help but admire the knight''s determination. The stuffed mob had noticed Oak was still unmoving, his eyes locked on the massive creature of his nightmares and had adjusted his lance appropriately. While the Teddy Knight didn''t have much control over its flung projectile direction, it was using a lance that was close to 10ft in length, and it seemed he intended to use that to take Oak down with him.


    Normally, if Oak was paying attention, and not likely reliving some traumatic past, the Teddy''s attack would be completely harmless. James had watched the Indra blast away melee attacks with defense bolts of electricity, which actually seemed to have a chance to stun the attacker. But it was looking grim for him, as the bear continued its approach.


    Of course, Oak wasn''t alone. James watched, in surprise and awe, as Gno-More''s hands glowed for a moment, and two¡­needles? Appeared in his hands. With all the accuracy and ease expected of an assassin, Gno-More threw the glowing needles at the approaching bear mob. The needles flew true, and sunk within about three inches of each other, into the teddy knight''s right shoulder. The needles glowed for a brief second, and then James watched as, curiously, the teddy knight''s lance fell from his grasp, and his arm went completely limp.


    "What in the world?" James glanced at Rue, who was watching the entire fight unfold before them as well, her food left forgotten on the table in front of her. She shrugged and turned back to the fight, and he sighed and did the same. They would be chatting more about Gno-more a little later. But the fight, as it unfolded, needed their full attention.


    With the lance dropped from the teddy knight, it no longer had a way to reach Oak with an attack. Instead, it used its shield in its other arm to create a wall between itself and the ground, so that when it landed on the wooden bridge, the shield absorbed the impact, and the bear, impressively, flipped back up to its feet.


    "Think I should Axe him for directions?" Manly the Dwarf called out to Gno-More, as he rushed the bear. The mob raised its shield and turned to intercept the dwarf, but a split second later, dropped that piece of defense as well. Two more needles were sticking out of its left shoulder, and that arm too, went limp.


    "I say we should get straight to the point." Gno-more stuck his tongue out at Manly and started laughing, two more needles in his hand.


    "You''re such a prick." Manly responded, even as he swung both of his axes at the defenseless teddy knight. Both weapons glowed brightly, and James knew they were about to do a lot more damage than normal. As an axe champion, Manly the Dwarf now had access to a unique passive, that added 10% true damage to all of his axe attacks. On top of that, if he was using an axe, he got an additional 50 damage to each axe, per level in his axe champion class. Meaning, if those axes connected, the bear was in for a world of hurt.


    Needless to say, the poor knight, with two useless arms, flung unceremoniously off of its trusted mount, did not have a way to defend himself. So, Manly''s axes both cut deeply into the poor bear, ripping fluffing out as the axes cut through its cloth stitched armor. Even more unfortunate for the poor mob, was that both those axes did slashing damage, meaning each of Manly''s already enhanced attacks, were doing an additional 10% damage to the poor bear. All in all, the knight didn''t last long.


    Of course, that didn''t mean the fight was over for the rest of the party. Oh no, not by a long shot. Because even as they finished the single teddy knight, and turned to focus on the Giant Plaython, who''s fear had now faded, reinforcements were already on their way. Because, not only was the funky monkey now in range, but the lite knight was finally near enough to the Giant Plaython to begin buffing it with its teddy Paladin magic. And, on top of that, James had ordered one more set of mobs to aid the group attacking the raid party.


    If the Knights and Boss Slayers were going to create a 10man raid party to explore his third floor, well it only made sense for James to increase the number of mobs being thrown at them at any given time. Besides, he was really enjoying the brutal carnage as stitching was torn and stuffing was being flung about. Especially because it seemed the fluffing, which was soaked with swamp water, was starting to actually inhibit the adventurers. Huzzah for accidental debuffs.

 124 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124


    "This floor is ridiculous." Troll''d was speaking to no one, and everyone, as the group made their way down the creaking wooden path that James had created. They had, of course, survived the swarm of mobs James had thrown their way. Though, that was to say, they didn''t have the easiest time with it. The mobs were all level 33, putting them just a level higher than the Knights, and three levels higher than the Boss Slayers. As far as basic mobs were concerned, that meant they weren''t enough to completely overwhelm the group of seasoned veterans.


    Besides, it wasn''t like the mobs had ridiculous buffs to their skills¡­ at least, not yet. James still had mob points to upgrade his third-floor mobs with, he just hadn''t yet. Because, it was always fun to see what the mobs could do first, before he truly started messing with them. He had already eyed a few improvements that not only were going to make his mobs even more effective but were sure to get a few chuckles from some of the adventurers, especially Z''s group and anyone with an understand of old school movies. Because, based on some of the upgrades he had seen, the developers had definitely been pulling ideas from their past. James was really glad he had been enlightened by the Knights.


    With the reinforcements joining the fray, the fight had taken the raid party a good 10 to 15 minutes to actually clear. James had been pleased to see the lite knight did a great job at supporting the Giant Plaython, giving it a glowing buff that actually made a glowing needle appear around the Plaython, stitching its wounds shut as soon as it had them. Meanwhile, the funky monkey had attempted to buff the plaython as well, doing its best to give the snake a speed buff with Get Funky. However, it seemed Turk, the Eagle, was having none of that, and so Z''s pet dropped a badger on the monkey''s drum session. Which led to the monkey going slap happy as it attacked both Turk and Badgy.


    The group of mobs James had sent as support had been a mounted knight on a snuggle-woof, with a lite knight in tow. As much as James had wanted to send in the cavalry with the group that had three snuggle woofs, 3 mounted knights, a light knight, and a funky monkey, that group of mobs had sadly been too far away.


    Regardless, just as the raid party had gotten the giant plaython down to about half life, the reinforcements had arrived, adding more chaos to the mix. The snuggle woof and mounted knight had blasted through the side, catching Troll''d and Faust completely by surprise. Meanwhile, the additional lite knight added its own healing ability to the giant plaython. The mobs obviously knew that massive snake was their path to victory, and they were doing all they could to keep it alive.


    The turning point, oddly enough, in the fight, had been when the giant plaython had gotten close enough to Oak to use its struggle snuggles on the immobilized, terrified, poor poor Indra. The snake''s massive, soaking wet form wrapped tightly around Oak, even as the others did their best to burn down its hp. As it constricted around the Indra, James could see Oak''s eyes go white with sheer terror, as swamp water and soggy patches wrapped around him and began to tighten.


    The Giant Plaython, James was sure, had thought it had just snagged an easy target. However, apparently the stuffed snake had never heard what people said about cornered animals being the most dangerous.


    In a moment of sheer terror and panic, Oak unleased everything. And James meant that literally. The Indra utilized all of his cooldowns and blew all of his skills in a single instance. Normally, people didn''t even do that during boss fights. So, when the level 32 Indra did that against the level 33 mob, well, it turned the tide in an instant.


    What James had learned from the first time Oak had faced off against the Terminus as an Indra, was that the class had given him a cooldown that differed greatly from his other ones. Of course, Oak still had his massive damage reduction cooldown which greatly decreased the amount of damage he took. However, the Indra cooldown, was an explosive eruption of energy, that transformed Oak from an elf, into an 8-foot-tall being of electricity, which grew two additional arms. These two arms each held a curved dagger made of pure energy, and they were brutal.


    So, immediately after Oak''s form disappeared within the soggy and likely smelly patches of cloth and stuffing that was the Giant Plaython, Oak immediately reappeared, in his Super Saiyan form, as he called it. The electrically charged, glowing energy form of Oak let out a scream of both terror and rage, and began wailing on the Giant Plaython, even as the mob did its best to try and tighten its hold on him.


    Of course, because Oak had blown all of his cooldowns, he was taking 50% less damage, and as the shielder cooldown dictated, his regular attacks were doing 90% less damage. Oak didn''t care though, because in his "super Saiyan" form, his energy daggers didn''t do regular damage. In fact, they didn''t actually take any of his stats into consideration when he attacked. Instead, the energy daggers drained .5% of the enemies maximum hp per strike. And, from what James had observed, Oak was able to get about 20 hits in with his daggers while he was in the glowing cooldown form, as it lasted for only 30 seconds. Meaning, that with both cooldowns active at the same time, he was taking 50% less damage, dealing 10% of the enemy''s life in damage, and healing for that amount as well. It was a bit broken. Of course, the Indra form had a 15-minute cooldown compared to the 10-minute cooldown for his shielder ability, so there was a reason for that.


    From there, the group had rallied around Oak''s sudden action, and used that moment to overwhelm the Giant Plaython. Even while the mob had 2100 maximum HP, and 650 fluff, it had already been at half its fluff and about half its life when it had attacked Oak. So, when all of a sudden Oak took another 10% of its life from it, and it had three archers, an axe champion, a mage, and a gnome with daggers turning on it too, well, it didn''t stand a chance. Of course, the raid party had managed such a burst because Skar had been holding off the snuggle-woof and mounted knight thanks to the combined healing given to him from Med Ic and Olivia. Long story short, James needed to throw more mobs at them next time.


    "I don''t know man, I kind of like it." Elm looked back at the Troll and shot him a wink, motioning towards Oak, who was walking, shakily, in the middle of the party. Skar had taken the lead as tank, as Oak still needed some time to get over his phobia apparently. From what James had heard Z and the others say, this wasn''t the first time Oak had broken down when he encountered snakes in a game, but they assured everyone that he eventually came to terms with it for the game.


    "It''s not often we get him to shut up." Oak shot Elm a nasty look as the elven elemental archer continued to pick on the Indra. "Heck, with a phobia like his, maybe he should put on a snake costume, and call himself ''SnakeMan''"


    "I hate you." Oak grumbled, but it was hard for anyone to take him seriously, as he was constantly scanning the entire area for more Giant Playthons and jumping at every sound from the swamp.


    "Hey Rue," James commented as the party made their way deeper. They were making decent time, and he could tell they were nearing the area with the shrines. From there, he was sure they would have no problem farming the rest of the mobs on the floor, though he was also hoping they would take on the boss. Mainly because he wanted to see how the boss did, and totally not because he was looking at the tasty experience they had right now.


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    "Mhmm?" The pixie looked up at him, her mouth full of milk duds. Seriously, did she just raid the movie theater concession stand for her treats?


    "Remind me to use some resources to add in some actual snakes to this map." The pixie nearly choked on her candy as she started laughing, even as she nodded to let him know she would.


    He was always looking for ways to step up his floor, and if he could mess with Oak a little at the same time, he figured why not. It wasn''t at all because he was secretly jealous of Oak''s awesome secret class and was trying to find a way to keep him from being too overpowered on his third floor. Definitely not that.

 125 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125


    "Anyone know who the hell Yarx is?" Z asked.


    The party, after a few more skirmishes, and another tryst with some Jolly Dollies, had finally made it to the shrine to Yarx. Of course, it was sunken into the mud, and not exactly the most accessible, though James had made it possible to get to, should the adventurers want to. As such, they were all standing around the circle that led to the shrine, eyeing it suspiciously. James wasn''t 100 percent sure how such objects appeared to the players, but if it was similar to other MMOs he had played in immersion, the name for the shrine likely hung-over head for them.


    Of course, that was all that it would show, and they would actually have to present an offering to the shrine, in order to see what the buff was that it gave them. And, unlike Rue''s shrine, this one didn''t have any mention or even a poem regarding what it did.


    "He is the All-Seeing God and sits at the top of the pantheon for deities in DCO." Everyone, including James, paused at the response. It didn''t come from Z, or Skar, or any of the more serious players. In fact, it came from Manly the Dwarf. Literally the last person James would have expected to care about lore, other than maybe Troll''d.


    "He, err¡­ thanks?" Z, just like everyone else literally standing around the statue, seemed more than a little surprised. After all, no one would expect a player named Manly the Dwarf to actually care about lore in an MMO. James had figured he was the type of player that just wanted to run around killing things with an axe, which he did do quite well.


    "No problem." Manly added as he pulled out a flask. Engraved on the side of it, was a hammer and anvil, the symbol of the dwarven deity of battle, Brolaf. Alright, so maybe Manly was more than just a little into lore.


    "When did you become a lore hound?" Troll''d bent over to nudge the dwarf, who simply took a long swig from his flask, before calmly putting it away.


    "Eh, I got drunk to the point my character passed out during the first 24 hours of DCO. So, because he was technically incapacitated, I had a lot of time back in my starting area to waste. I figured I would check out the dwarven deities, and then just kind of got dragged into it. There''s pretty much a deity for everything." Manly shrugged, while everyone else just stared hard at him.


    Alright, so maybe that did make sense. Manly had started out as just someone that wanted to do dwarven drinking and fighting things, and had managed to get himself black out drunk, and thus kicked from his incapacitated form, during the first day of immersion. That was one of the few blessings of immersion. While you could get yourself drunk, if, for some reason whatever you had done to yourself in a game resulted in you falling unconscious, you were returned to your starting zone for immersion. You would be unable to relog into your character until it had finally regained consciousness, of course, but you weren''t overly penalized. It wasn''t like they just counted your character as asleep and yanked 8 hours from you.


    Of course, you couldn''t escape all the downsides of your actions. Usually the hangover you felt when you did return to consciousness in game was extremely brutal, which was why a lot of clerics actually hung out around taverns in MMOs. They could make some quick coin offering to cure hangovers.


    "Maybe we should check out the deities a little later on." Z looked at his members, who all shrugged. While they were definitely veteran MMO players, they likely originally viewed the pantheon as just neat background information. And, while it was interesting, it didn''t have any direct tie ins to the game yet, from what James could tell, meaning players were less likely to actually care about it.


    "Seems like a lot of work." Oak grumbled, glancing around at the different paths that led away from the shrine. "Where do you think these other paths lead?" He was, of course, referring to the seven paths that led away from the shrine. The six paths to the swag shacks, and the one to Rue''s shrine. James was really hoping they would go investigate all of those. So far, they hadn''t stopped at any of the outhouses, which had been disappointing. There was a total of three mimics on his third floor, spread across 17 different swag shacks. The outhouses that weren''t mimics, actually acted as treasure chests. So, they were missing out. Of course, one of the six outhouses that circled around the shrine, was actually a mimic. And James really wanted some experience.


    "Why don''t you go look? If you are brave enough to go it alone." Gno-more grinned at Oak as the Indra shot him an angry look. "Of course, you might want to watch out for snakes."


    "How about we check out this shrine, and then go check them all out together?" Z was already walking towards the Shrine of Yarx as he spoke, his eyes glancing around the area. He stepped lightly onto the small, narrow path that led towards the shrine, eying the murky swamp water around the shrine hesitantly. James could tell Z was nervous, but at the same time, Rue''s shrine was extremely easy to approach on the first floor. So, James figured Z was having an internal conflict about how careful he needed to be in his approach to the shrine.


    After a moment, the Beast Master let out a deep breath. "YOLO." He said aloud, and he boldly strode towards the shrine.


    "YOLO?" James asked Rue as Z made his way closer to the shrine.


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    "It stands for ''You Only Live Once.''" She responded, her eyes practically sparkling with anticipation and glee. She knew, just as he did, what was about to happen.


    "Oh, well that''s fitting." He chuckled, just as Z reached the end of the path. He had, of course, put traps in place on his third floor. Especially in front of the Shrine of Yarx. The buffs it gave were too good to just let players snag easily. And, that meant Z had just put himself in line for one of James''s newest traps. "Should have prayed to the Goddess of Luck first." James whispered as the trap sprang to life.


    It was actually a multi part trap, meant to essentially guarantee at least one player was killed each time they approached the shrine, until they figured out it was trapped. The first part of the trap to spring, was that when the adventurer neared the end of the path, the planks they were standing on would actually drop away, causing the player to drop quickly into the murky swamp waters. Instead of solid ground under the water, there was quicksand, which would swiftly begin pulling the adventurer down and under.


    At the same time, the circular path the players were standing on around the shrine, would begin to creak and crack as well, with pieces of boards dropping and falling left and right all over, making the path even more treacherous. Then, as that chaos was breaking out, the shrine of Yarx would actually tip over, falling on top of the adventurer that was trapped in the quicksand. James knew adventurers would have a decent amount of life going into he third floor. But he figured giant statue falling on their heads, coupled with a quicksand trap and drowning, would quickly equal death.


    He also found it poetic that the last thing they saw, before they were turned into a glowing orb, was Xander''s face. It was a nice little way to make people secretly begin to hate Xander as much as James did. Huzzah trap.


    As planned, the trap went off successfully, and Z suddenly went from the land of the living, to the land of the floating orb. Of course, his own comment was only slightly ironic, as the party was able to regain their footing, and Med Ic was able to perform a resurrection for Z before he was sent all the way back to the start of the zone. Unfortunately for Z, his death meant the Shrine to Yarx had just cost him all of his experience, and he had been close to level 33. James felt slightly bad about that, given the fact that dungeon wars was right around the corner, but he figured he needed to make himself stronger as well. Besides, Z and his party were sure to continue grinding experience before the war started in full swing.


    Achievement Unlocked ¨C DIEvine Judgement ¨C Kill an adventurer utilizing a holy shrine


    Reward- 5000xp, 1000 resources, +1 upgrade to all shrines*


    *(increases duration, and effect rates of shrine boosts and buffs by 1% per shrine upgrade level.)


    "Praise Yarx," James jokingly exclaimed as he read the achievement, even as Z was cursing him below in the instance. Between Z''s death experience, and the achievement, James was now just under 10k experience from becoming a Tier 3 Rank 5 Dungeon. Which, given his normal rate of experience gain daily in immersion, meant he was without a doubt going to hit Rank 6 before day one of the dungeon war started. Meaning, James was about to have a total of 5 extra skill points for all of his tier 3 mobs. With those upgrades, and from what he knew of BLANKs adventurers thanks to their forums, they were not going to be able to profit at all from his third floor.

 126 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126


    "That buff was totally worth your death." Oak called out to Z as the party approached another one of the swag shacks that surrounded the Shrine of Yarx. Initially, Z had gone up to the shrine and offered it a copper coin, after he was revived, of course. With the gift of the copper coin, the coin revealed to him all of the enemies within 100feet of the players. The buff, James knew, lasted for at least 30 minutes per copper coin, though was a little longer, thanks to the upgrade to the shrine he had just unlocked.


    From what Z said about the buff, it seemed the enemies showed up as red dots on the map the players had as part of their visual display. That part made sense to James, as most MMOs now utilized a visual display for players, that usually showcased your health bar, magic bar, and level in the top left, with a mini map on the top right. That map, depending on the game, showed terrain, quest points, and enemies. Considering they needed the buff from Yarx to show where the enemies were, James had to guess that the map for DCO just showed terrain.


    After Z donated his copper coin, the others convinced him to drop in a silver coin, just to see what happened. When he did, his eyes had immediately grown larger. The Beastmaster made a motion, which James had gotten used to as the motion to pull up their virtual map. From there, Z seemed to excitedly scan it, before he turned and grinned at the players. The silver coin, after all, revealed the location of traps and mimics to players.


    Which was a bit of a letdown in James''s eye. He had really been looking forward to a toilet mimic attack this dive. The mimics on his first floor were level 25, and players had started defeating them, and were receiving some rather unique achievements and gear from them. The ones on his second floor were level 50 though, meaning so far, no group had downed a toilet mimic. James''s third floor mimics were level 75, and he really wanted to see what happened when a player tried to kill one of those bad boys. He was imagining a scene from an old cheesy horror movie, where the player just got sucked down into the toilet hole within the outhouse, never to be seen again.


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    With the realization that the shrine gave different buffs depending on the coin spent, Z had immediately dropped in a gold coin, which unlocked the location of the treasure chests and hidden items on the floor, within 100 feet of the players. Which meant they had seen which of his swag shacks, as he liked to call them, was actually secretly a treasure chest. For his third floor, the outhouses either served as outhouses, treasure chests, or mimics. James was trying to shine a light on a crappy situation for players, after all.


    "I suppose. Though next time someone else has to front the platinum cost." Z looked directly at Oak; the message clear. The Indra had been the one to push Z into donating a Platinum coin to the shrine, telling the guild leader that it was his duty to potentially unlock the best buff for his party. Of course, James knew Z would have done it for his group anyways. That was just the kind of guy Z was. But with Oak giving him a hard time, James also knew the Beastmaster was going to make his friend pay, literally, next time.


    "Definitely worth it." Oak laughed as he stepped up to the outhouse and opened it up. Sure enough, where normally a hole for a toilet space would have been, instead there was a slightly molded, worn, chest. Eagerly, Oak opened up the chest, and as he did, a slight glow came from within it.


    Chests in DCO worked much like they did in the other MMOs James had played. When they opened, they would emit a faint light, signaling to other players that there was a chest nearby. From within, each player that interacted with the chest, could receive a number of items, preset by James, from the chest.


    For his treasure chests, James had decided to set their item drop chances based on rarity and difficulty. His first floor, being the easiest, had the chest only dropping a single item per person, ranging from a few gold pieces, considering what he had told Dwight, to a piece of set gear, or a unique item. After all, as his loot research had increased, his ability to modify and adapt loot had also gone up.


    His second floor, being more difficult, had chests dropping up to two items per player, with a higher chance of gold, and rarer items. Set gear, of course, was almost always the rarest item a chest could drop. There were also unique items from the floor, that couldn''t be found in chests. He had allowed some of the simpler mob pets to be potential chest drops, but boss and mini boss mob pets where not.


    As Oak finished looked at his loot, and the others did the same, the Indra''s face said immediately that he was not happy with what he had gotten.


    "So, anyone want to trade with me real quick?" His face was pale again, and he was looking frantically around the group.


    "Depends," Manly was the first to respond, the axe champion leaning forward easily on one of his axes as he eyed Oak up and down. "Watcha got to trade."


    "Er," Oak looked down at the dwarf, his mind likely racing. James was pretty sure he knew what Oak had gotten, but he couldn''t confirm just yet. Though, James knew exactly what types of items could be dropped in the chest, and there was only one thing he could think of that would cause Oak to act like that.


    "It''s, uh, a third-floor pet." Yup, it was exactly what James thought it was.


    "Aye, I could do for a new pet." Manly''s eyes were gleaming as he waived a hand, pulling up his menu, and selecting an option. A split second later, Oak made a similar motion, opening up his trade menu. He frowned for a moment as he looked at the screen, before he simply shook his head, and hit another invisible button.


    By the smile on Manly''s face, the trade had gone in the dwarf''s favor. Or, at least in the dwarf''s opinion it had.


    "Pleasure doing business with ya." Manly grinned as he went back into his options. A moment later, his pet, which had been a little triceracog, disappeared. In its place, a Giant Plaython pet appeared. Well, giant wasn''t actually the correct word, as it was only about three feet in length, much smaller than its 20-foot counterpart. However, it was a third-floor pet mob, meaning once it was trained properly, it was going to be stronger than Manly''s triceracog had been. James also knew, that many of the players had begun collecting and training up different pet mobs, to swap out depending on the situation. The triceracog was a tanky pet mob, while the Giant Plaython was an attack type.


    "Do you have to have him out right now?" Oak looked down with distaste at the pet mob, as he slowly backed away from it. "Like, seriously?"


    "Mister Snek needs to level up." The dwarf replied as he turned back to Z. The guild leader of the Knights was the only one who had offered up coin to the shrine, after all. Meaning he was currently leading them through the swamp.


    "Where to next boss man?" As Manly spoke, the others all turned their eyes from their inventories, back to Z. So far, other than the pet mob, James wasn''t too sure what they had been getting from the chests. He knew the biggest reason for that, was that they didn''t want to ruin their set gear bonuses, with any of the lesser gear options or items that could be in the chest. He was still waiting for them to begin getting some of the weapon and gear drops from the floor though. He had really enjoyed messing with, er designing, some of those weapons.


    "Well, I say we pick off some of the smaller mob groups and see if we can''t get the Knight''s a level, before we head to the boss." Z looked at his invisible map and offered the party a grin. "After all, might as well finish this dive with a heroic go at the boss."

 127 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127


    True to form, Z successfully led the knights from roaming group of mobs, to roaming group of mobs. With the map from the shrine, he expertly led the raid party past all of the traps and managed to hit all of James''s chests and hidden treasures along the way. Of course, the hidden treasures weren''t something James had control over currently. It was an option he had unlocked when his loot and even research had reached level 6 but hadn''t had much time to play with it. What with the whole dungeon wars and threat to existence on the line.


    However, he had found that he was no able to add in map pieces as drops for his mobs, and items that could be found in his treasure chest. These map pieces, when combined, would randomly generate a location on the map, that would have a little hidden cache within it. Frustratingly, James wasn''t able to modify the treasure they got from those just yet, meaning what adventurers found in those cache''s was currently dependent on DCO''s predetermined loot table.


    It seemed, that with the platinum level donation to the Shrine of Yarx, the need for those treasure chests was eliminated. In its stead, Z apparently was able to spot where the caches were and led the group to a few. To James and Rue''s amusement, none of the hidden treasures the groups had found were in desirable places, with two being hidden in the middle of the swamp, requiring the adventurers to leave the wooden path, and wade through gaseous swamp water. The third, was actually under one of the massive trees, in its root system. That one had required Gno-more to actually swim underneath the swampy water, into what appeared suddenly to be a hollowed-out hovel of sorts. Within, was the treasure the party had sought.


    The hidden loot system definitely seemed like a good incentive for players, especially if they didn''t have the ability from Yarx eliminating the need for the map pieces. Without that buff, players would have to kill off dozens if not hundreds of mobs, in order to collect all the treasure pieces and find the loot. This meant it wouldn''t be something they could farm on ever dive into the dungeon, but something that would build up over time.


    James could also already see that mechanic being used by groups, to form treasure raiding parties, that just consisted of a lot of people with completed maps, running around to find all of their respective treasures on the map. Treasure trains, these were called, and James knew a lot of people who had hopped on those in past games. Mainly because, those were the events that often led to unique and epic leveled items.


    Of course, currently James was only a tier 3 dungeon, so he wasn''t quite sure what the highest rarity of these items could be. He knew that as he unlocked more loot options in research, he was able to modify and create even better loot options. James also knew, from talking with Rue, that he was potentially able to create unique, legendary leveled loot, at lower levels. Of course, players would out level such loot in a short amount of time, which was why he hadn''t decided to create any just yet.


    However, he was sure once his players growth started to slow down, he would start dropping more powerful gear, that they could utilize for a longer time within immersion. After all, one of his biggest pet peeves in games, had been finding extremely powerful low-level gear, that he wanted to use for a long time as he leveled. The result was usually leaving on the gear, even though it dropped his stats and actually may have slightly hurt him while he leveled, just because the bonus or skill it offered was too unique or cool to pass up.


    So far though, there was a single thing that James was grateful for about the Shrine of Yarx''s buff. It only lasted for 30 minutes, meaning Z and the party couldn''t spend their entire three hours running around and abusing the extremely useful map reveal from the buff. Z seemed to have realized this fact as well, as the guild leader had been slowly and steadily moving the party deeper into the swamp, drawing ever closer to the home of the third floor''s mysterious, and awesome, boss.


    "How much time do they have left?" James asked Rue as he watched the party engage another group of mobs in battle. This time, the group was his 4-mob pack of snuggle woofs. It was actually the first time they had come across a full pack of snuggle woofs, and James could tell right away, the party wasn''t as prepared for those mobs as they thought they had been.


    "Hmmm, about 4 minutes left." Rue had started a timer the moment Z had begun dropping coins into the Shrine of Yarx, as they both knew the duration of the buff. This way, they would be able to tell when the buff dropped, and when the party would once again be roaming blind. After all, the moment their all-seeing buff was dropped, James could start sending mobs towards the group without drawing suspicion. Currently, he hadn''t been, because he figured Z would find it a bit odd if all of a sudden, all the mobs on the map began moving towards him and his friends.


    "So, just this pack, and then they will probably move towards the boss?" Knowing how skilled Z and his friends were, James guessed the leader of the Knights Who Go Ni had already marked Grandma Jenkin''s location on his map, so that even when the buff dropped, he would still know where to go. That was the benefit of having a stationary boss location, after all. You didn''t have to worry about it moving.


    James was curious what Z had thought, when he saw the location of the boss, and noticed there wasn''t a roaming mini boss on the level. This was, after all, the first floor James had that didn''t have a roaming boss of some sort. Variety was the spice of life, and James''s dungeon had plenty of that.


    "If they make it." Rue motioned back towards the party, a smirk on her face. Sure enough, it seemed the party had finally met their match in mobs. The snuggle-woofs weren''t the strongest mobs on the floor, but they were the self-buffing mobs for the third floor. That meant, in a pack, they instantly became the most dangerous of his mobs. Not only that, but the snuggle-woofs, were much more agile than the party seemed to expect.


    Snuggle-Woof Lvl 33


    Type: Furry


    HP: 2550 (1700+950) (690 (460+230)) out of 690 fluff)


    MP: 1725 (1150+575)


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    Atk: 368(245+123)


    Def: 270 (180+90)Unique Abilities


    Alpha and Omega- A pack needs a leader. When snuggle-woofs are in a pack of 4 or more, one of them becomes an Alpha Snuggle-Woof. The stats of the Alpha get doubled and increase by an additional 5% every time one of the other pack members is slain. The final snuggle-woof is the Omega. This snuggle-woof gets a sharp spike in its defense and will attempt to flee. If it is able to escape from its foes, it will heal, and take on the mantle of Alpha. At which point, it will return, to try and avenge its fallen pack.


    Call of the Wild- Snuggle-Woofs can let out a piercing howl, which has a 30% chance to decrease an enemy''s defense by 25% for 30 seconds. This debuff has an increased chance to hit, as more snuggle-woofs join in. If 4 or more snuggle-woofs utilize Call of the Wild, all enemies within 50 feet will have their defense decreased by 30% for 1 minute.


    Packtics- Snuggle-woofs in a pack are stronger than when they are alone. As a pack, regular snuggle-woofs gain a 50% increase to all of their stats. If the snuggle-woofs started in a pack, and they lose a member, this increase is decreased by 10%, per woof eliminated.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    "I mean¡­" James trailed off as the Alpha of the pack cocked its head back to let out a howl. The alpha, was easily discernable from the others, as not only was it larger than the rest of the pack, but it had a glowing, almost flamelike aura round itself. James was reminded of animes in which the main characters had so much power it appeared as a visible aura around it. That was exactly what the alpha snuggle woof seemed to be doing. It also had a horn on its head, which James was slightly confused about, but figured it was a design option the developers had put in, so he wasn''t going to question it. He figured it would play into the snuggle-woofs later abilities, any ways, as he had noticed there were some, unique, upgrade options for those mobs further down their skill tree.


    As one, the other three snuggle-woofs leaned back on their haunches and let out an eerie, mournful howl. Visible waves of energy rolled off of the beasts and onto the raid party. The adventurers looked around, their faces showing uncertainty, and a few of the party members actually stepped further away from the woofs. Even as Med Ic began to glow, preparing a mass debuff removal spell, the snuggle-woofs turned, and the nearest one leapt towards him.


    Swamp water and mud flew through the air as the snuggle-woof''s body freed itself from the swamp, and the massive beast crashed down on the poor cleric. With the increased attack ability, and the debuff applied to Med Ic, he didn''t stand a chance.


    One down, 9 more to go. "Maybe they won''t make it."

 128 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128


    "Well, now they''re really screwed." The group had managed to finally defeat the snuggle-woofs, though it had cost them not only most of their cool downs, but also a few consumables. On top of that, only two of the Knight''s had actually survived the encounter, allowing them to level up, while everyone else had fallen. James, of course, was fine with that, as they, combined with the deaths from Skar''s party, had given him the experience he had been waiting on. Grinning, he glanced for a moment at his character information. He was halfway there.


    Glyax Tier 3 Rank 5 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    420,069 xp


    29,931xp to next Rank


    179,931 to next Tier


    Resources: 1386 of 4,900


    Currency: 89 copper 17 silver 11 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 20


    Of course, the player deaths and his subsequent level up, meant that his mobs had once again leveled as well. This meant all of his base mobs on his third floor were now level 34. The worst part of that though, was that the boss mob, whom they still intended to face, had leveled as well. A quick glance confirmed James''s fears, as Grandma Jenkins was now level 44, and her pets, were each level 39. If before it had been impossible for the raid party to defeat the boss, now, it was just laughable. All James could hope, out of the fight, was that everyone at least survived a single round, so he could see some of Grandma Jenkins''s mechanics. After all, he was extremely excited to see what his third-floor boss was capable of.


    Currently, all of the Boss Slayer''s were level 30, though four of them had fallen in the fight against the snuggle-woofs, meaning they had lost all the experience they had gained since coming to the third floor. Of the Knights, only Elm and Oak had survived the snuggle woofs, which had allowed both of those members to level up to level 33, while Z, Faust, and Med Ic now had to start their experience gain over towards that level. It was a slight blow, but still one that James knew they parties would be able to overcome. After all, they still had at least three more dives into the dungeon for the day, before the dungeon wars would start.


    With the rate at which they were able to farm floors, and the fact they could not only easily handle this second floor, meaning they could farm it for full experience, but also now knew all the tricks of his third floor, James was sure they would be able to all level at least one or two more times, before the next day. This setback then, wasn''t too much of a drawback for anyone, and the experience gain had been important for James. Now, he had four skill points to apply to his mobs once they drew closer to the start of the war. James was also pretty sure he would be hitting Rank 6 before the war started, considering how hard the players seemed to be going at his dungeon that day. Already he had hit max instances, and players seemed to be lining up to eagerly dive into his dungeon. It seemed they were all doing the best they could to prepare themselves for the dungeon war.


    "I mean, they didn''t even have a thread of hope before that fight." Rue raised an eyebrow towards James and grinned. All he could do was groan in response. Of course, she would choose now to break out a cheesy pun.


    "That''s not the¡­point." Alright, so he wasn''t above cheesy puns either. Besides, they had a few minutes to spare, as the raid party was making their way extremely slowly towards Grandma Jenkins''s location. James knew they were biding their time, to allow for their cooldowns to at least refresh. Considering the outcome of the snuggle-woof fight, and the amount of lost experience, they really had nothing to lose challenging her now. Which meant they were going to go all for it.


    "You reap what you sew." Rue stuck her tongue out at him and motioned towards the party. There had been one other additional outcome to the fight, that at least had Z in good spirits. The Beastmaster had gotten a unique drop from the Alpha Snuggle-woof, one which James hadn''t even known was an option. He really needed to get back to his loot research.


    At Z''s side, a miniature Alpha Snuggle-woof trotted alongside him. That made two of the 10 members now with third floor pets, though the Alpha Snuggle-woof was without a doubt the better of the two. He was practically the size of an actual dog, maybe standing about three feet high if you held your hand to his ears. Z had promptly given him the name Dagr, and then started talking to him in a cutesy manner, bragging about how good of a boy his doggo was. It was obvious, that a few of the other members of the raid party were jealous of his mob drop. James could already foresee what the favorite pet drop was going to be for his third floor.


    "That one, really doesn''t work." Like, James got the reference Rue was trying to use, but it didn''t quite fit. At least, in his mind it didn''t. The pixie just stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the party. They had made their way to the single clearing that was Grandma Jenkins''s home.


    "What do you think the boss is going to be?" Olivia asked as the group paused, their eyes scanning the location. James had actually been really surprised by her during the last fight. The Boss Slayer''s cleric had managed to get an extremely quick resurrection off on Med Ic and managed to then launch a cleanse on Oak and Skar, allowing the two to return to tanking without worrying about the 30% defense debuff. By her quick thinking, she had managed to prevent what James had been certain was going to be a party wipe.


    "Please tell me it isn''t her." Faust pointed towards the front of the house, where Grandma Jenkins sat, quietly knitting what appeared to be a scarf, as she rocked gently in a large wooden rocking chair. Of course, that was exactly who the boss was.


    "I''m pretty sure this is the right location." Z made the motions indicating he was once again checking his map, before looking at the shack. "The boss was definitely listed as being here."


    "So, we have to fight an old, innocent grandma?" Troll''d looked like he wasn''t sure if he was going to laugh, or cry. "Like, what''s she going to do? Kill us with kindness? Bake us poisonous cookies and pies? Because honestly, I''d gladly die from eating too many sweets." He licked his tusked mouth to further prove his point, drawing a small amount of laughter from his party members.


    That was the other thing that made these two groups stand out from most. Even though they had just nearly party wiped, and a few of them had lost good chunks of experience, they were still having fun. No matter what challenge got thrown at them, they always came back laughing, wanting more. It was parties like these two, that really made James''s life as a Dungeon Core extremely enjoyable. Well, them and the groups that stumbled across his mimics. His video of Dwight getting eaten by a mimic had been viewed by over 100,000 dungeon cores. He only wished there was a way for him to share it to players as well.


    "Maybe she''s not the actual boss." Z looked back at Troll''d. "Maybe she has a hidden dog named Courage, that actually comes out to defend her when we move to the house." Z''s comment got chuckles from his party members, and Rue, but Skar''s party, and James, just stared at him blankly. Guess that was another reference from way before James''s time. Though he was starting to wonder just how much old school pop culture Rue had been exposed to. She definitely seemed to act similar to his age, but she had knowledge that seemed to be from an older generation.


    "What''s he referencing?" James''s comment caused the pixie to let out a sigh, as she shook her head.


    "You''ve got so much to learn." She flicked her wrist, pulling up a small screen in front of the two of them, just above the screen they were watching the dungeon dive on. "It''s a television show that was popular with kids and teens in the 90s and early 2000s." She played a quick trailer for him, as the raid party debated how they were going to go about inspecting the property. They were definitely hesitant of the old lady on the porch but weren''t certain if she was actually the boss or not.


    James was sure they would quickly realize that fact, once they got a little closer to her. After all, the moment they saw her name, he was sure it would click in their heads. After all, there was no way it could be a coincidence.


    "Right, well, might as well go see what all of this is about." Z motioned towards Oak, indicating for the Indra to take the lead. The party fanned out and took up their positions, preparing for any and all outcomes. As they neared the house, Grandma Jenkins looked up from the porch, and offered the group a sweet, smile.


    "Oh, look at all of you." She let out in a kind, elderly voice. "Are you all lost? Do you need help?" She stopped rocking and stood up shakily from her rocking chair. As she did, she set down the project she had been working on, resting her knitting needles atop the table by her chair.


    "Er," Oak paused and glanced back at the party. This was the first time a boss had spoken to them the very first time they had encountered it. Their proximity to her, also meant they could finally read her name. A fact that their reactions were betraying. Sure enough, they were connecting the dots.


    Normally, James knew his boss''s AI wouldn''t be extremely advanced. However, as his research levels had increased, and as they progressed on the floors, Rue had informed him that the mobs on the floors, especially the bosses, would become intelligent and sentient much quicker. After all, Old Man Jenkins had finally grown enough sentience that he actually was assigning a quest to players, asking them to help him get his farm back in line. Doing so, got them a unique item from him, and eliminated the need for them to kill him. Of course, so far, most players still killed him after they completed the quest. After all, they were eager to gain as much experience as they could.


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    The Terminus, obviously, had enhanced intellect courtesy of the Like a Sir upgrade James had applied to it. When James had summoned Grandma Jenkins, she had been assigned a basic AI, which was quite simple. She could hold an alright conversation but wasn''t much for complicated matters. James had needed that to change. Mainly because, if he was going to make the Jenkins a thing, he wanted Grandma Jenkins to really be the start of it. Besides, they were already coaching Old Man Jenkins on the story they were building but had just decided they could play his ignorance off as amnesia. A story he was starting to take to and tell adventurers already.


    So, as he had done with the Terminus, James had used a boss mob upgrade point on Grandma Jenkins, enhancing her intellect. The upgrade for her had been labeled Respect Your Elders, and had given her a fancy pair of glasses, that really seemed to enhance her aura. As with his second-floor boss, her AI had immediately developed from that. After that, Rue had begun discussing their plan with their upcoming bosses with her, and the story they were going to slowly build over the floors.


    So far, James and Rue had decided, dependent obviously on him winning the Dungeon Wars, to make every odd leveled boss a humanoid boss. They would then give the boss a name, but always put in the name Jenkins somewhere in there. From there, they would tell the story of a family that had become trapped within the dungeon, flung across all the floors. Some would have more tragic backstories than others, but it would all link back to the final member of the Jenkins family. The sole reason why they had all become trapped in the dungeon in the first place. A member of the family by the name of Leeroy.


    Of course, Leeroy''s actual introduction into the game would likely be a long ways away, as James wasn''t aware of a level cap on dungeons or players yet, meaning he had many floors to go. Currently, they were going to play that Old Man Jenkins was married to Grandma Jenkins, and yet he had amnesia from being attacked when he was first sucked into the dungeon.


    Grandma Jenkins, on the other hand, had found herself in the swamp, armed only with her skills as a seamstress, and magical knitting and sewing needles. With those, she created the monsters of the floor. The Teddy Knights helped her build her humble abode, and the others kept her safe, and secure, in this strange new world. Which, obviously meant, she wouldn''t take kindly to any adventurers who made their way to her, as that meant they murdered her creations on their way there.


    "Tell me children." Grandma Jenkins looked sweetly down at all of the adventurers, who were looking extremely uncertain about the entire situation. James knew, if he was in their shoes, he would be too. This was definitely one of the weirdest things that had to be going on in DCO right now. "Have any of you come across my husband?" She glanced from player to player, eying them up and down.


    It was lucky, for their party, that they were no longer wearing their demonic farm gear. That had been one of the joke triggers they had agreed upon with the boss. Once again, the boss AI''s for DCO seemed to give off quite malicious aura''s when it came to the adventurers. Of course, James figured that had to mainly be part of the fact that their existence, after all, was to continually fight, and be killed, by adventurers. That would be enough to make anyone dislike the given situation.


    "Uhhhh," The party, still had no way to respond. At least, most of them didn''t.


    "What''s he look like?" Skar had advanced from his place with the party, to move closer to Grandma Jenkins. He eyed her warily, and kept his shield up, but at least had the sense to respond to her. In return, she smiled sweetly down at him.


    "Oh, well, you would know him if you saw him. An unfortunate magical accident years ago caused him to get sucked into a demonic realm. Before he completely disappeared, I saw him even growing horns." She let out a sigh, shaking her head. "That man of mine. I swear, he''s the reason our grandson Leeroy turned out like he did."


    Skar looked back at the party, and then towards Grandma Jenkins. Judging by the way his hand tightened on his shield and sword, he, like the others, had confirmed she was, indeed, going to be the boss they had to face.


    Grandma Jenkins''s smile turned from sweet, to evil, as she looked at their reactions. "Ah, I see you must have run into him." Behind her, the knitting needles she had set down began to glow.


    "Maybe once or twice." Skar responded, and as he did, the party launched their attacks. They had sensed her obvious change in attitude, and they weren''t about to let her get the first strike. Of course, it was a solid plan in theory, and they executed it nicely. Magic and arrows and two glowing needles all flew towards Grandma Jenkins. That action though, initiated combat with her, and activated the first of her Unique passives.


    Even as the attacks hit her, taking the tiniest about of health from her, given the fact her defense was currently too high for much of their damage to even seep through, her form began to fade away. At the same time, the knitting needles flew high into the sky, and a dome of thread erupted around the party, trapping them within. The Puppet Show had been activated, meaning they now had no chance but to fight for their lives.


    "Well, that''s just unfortunate." James whispered as Grandma Jenkins''s form completely disappeared. In its place, an adorable rabbit, wearing a bow tie, with a top hat. The party stared at the strange bunny for a split second, starring hard at it as it took off its hat, and offered them a bow. The moment it reached its hand into its hat, the boss fight truly began.

 129 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129


    Calling what happened next a fight wouldn''t be entirely correct. To their credit, the raid party definitely tried their best. However, it wasn''t enough. It never would have been enough either. James had done the math and he knew they didn''t stand a chance.


    To be fair they actually did manage to do alright against the Magik Wabbit. That mob had the lowest defense and life amongst Grandma Jenkins''s three pets, which gave the raid party a false sense of confidence. After all, while the Magik Wabbit''s spells were quite powerful it had the same weaknesses every other caster class did. It was squishy and needed mana for its spells.


    Therefore, it wasn''t long before the 10-man strong group of adventurer was able to whittle the bunny boss mob down to half of its HP. At that point, the fight began to tip out of the favor, and fast. Because the moment the Magik Wabbit hit 50 percent of its health, Grandma Jenkins second ability and another of her unique passives activated.


    It began with her ability, Quick Stitch Fix. Because the pet was brought down to 50 percent of its HP, Grandma Jenkins reappeared to fix her dear pet. This skill took 1 minute to fully heal the pet, leaving her vulnerable at this time. Of course, the game mechanics played around that fact, as she brought an additional pet with her when she reappeared as well. This additional pet was randomly chosen from her other two mobs, though James knew either option would spell trouble for the raid party.


    So, when Grandma Jenkins appeared, Not What it Seams! activated. Even as the raid party watched as Grandma Jenkins appeared besides the Magik Wabbit, sewing needles in hand, to begin stitching her mob, a second form seemed to leap free from her very shadow. The second mob to join the fray, Tigerrrr, was here. At the same time 10 sewing needles flew from Grandma Jenkins towards all of the adventurers, while an 11th carrying a single red thread flew towards Olivia.


    The 10 sewing needles rushed towards the adventurers and attempted to sew their mouths shut. Judging by the look of pure horror on the adventurers faces as they tried their best to stop the needles, it was not a pleasant experience. Luckily Med Ic was quick to think, and his form began to glow with a soft golden light even as the needles rushed at him and his friends. He burned his mass cleanse cooldown, which burned all of the silencing threads away. The red thread however, to everyone''s surprise remained, and it wrapped itself around Olivia''s left arm until the needle punched into her chest, right where her heart was.


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    The healer called out in surprise, grasping at the thread as she tried to pull it away, but after a moment, she seemed to realize it had not caused her any damage. What''s more, the thread didn''t seem to cause any debuff on her. However, the moment it attached itself to Olivia, James and the others saw a single red counter appear next to Grandma Jenkin''s name. James knew what the counter was for, the adventurers did not. Though, anyone who had ever played an MMO knew anything that seemed like a stack when it came to boss mobs, was bad news, and needed to be avoided.


    James was extremely curious to see what the Thread of Fate would actually summon, but as Tigerrrr joined the fray, he knew he wouldn''t get to see it through to all five threads. Mainly because he watched the fuzzy tiger pounce on Med Ic the moment after the healer used his mass cleanse. The feline boss''s paw flashed for a moment with light, signaling it was about to land a critical hit, before its claws slashed completely through the High Cleric, leaving a floating orb it its place.


    If that wasn''t enough, it seemed the Magik Wabbit could still attack while he was being healed, as a lightning bolt crackled from the top hat he carried, smashing directly into Gno-more, who had two of his glowing needles in hand, prepared to throw at the feline that had one shot Med Ic. The electrical energy smashed through his small form and arched thematically for a moment between the two needles he was carrying, before he too poofed into a floating orb. Two adventurers down, eight to go.


    Z and Skar tried their best to reorganize their team members, as veteran MMO players are keen to do. Oak rushed towards the Tigerrrr and unleashed a taunt of electrical energy of his own, even as he yelled something strange about a hundred-acre woods, which James did not understand. Meanwhile Skar positioned himself in front of Olivia, watching to protect the healer as she tried to resurrect Med Ic and get the second healer back in the fight. Z ordered the rest of the players to all converge on the Magik Wabbit, hoping to kill the bunny before it got fully healed.


    James had to admit, it was definitely a solid plan. The bunny''s biggest advantage was its ability to go invisible and its high movement speed. However, it seemed that while it was being healed it could not move too far from Grandma Jenkins, nor could it go invisible. It could still sling spells from its hat though, which it did as arrows, axes, and magical attacks rained down upon it. The exchange was definitely impressive to watch, even though James already knew the outcome. The adventurers were level 33 and below. Grandma Jenkins was level 44, and her pets were level 39. There were some obstacles in a game that just couldn''t be overcome by pure skill.


    Oak quickly found that the Tigerrrr was able to do a lot more damage to the Indra than he expected, and he activated both of his massive cooldowns in order to try and go toe to toe with the boss pet mob. Unfortunately for him, because his Indra cooldown increased the number of attacks he could make on the tiger boss, that also meant the boss''s unique trait Cat Like Reflexes had increased chances to trigger. Which was bad news for Skar.


    By the time everyone had exhausted their cooldowns and attacks, Oak was nearly dead, Med Ic was resurrected, and half the other party members were below half-life from the magical attacks of the Magik Wabbit. However, they had managed to get it down to less than a fifth of its life. Unfortunately for them, the minute of healing passed, and James watched as Grandma Jenkins finished one last stitch on her pet bunny, before it glowed suddenly with a golden light, and its health reached full again.


    With her rabbit healed, Grandma Jenkins once again faded away, laughing evilly as she did, leaving the adventurers alone and disheartened with a fully healed Magik Wabbit and a barely damaged Tigerrrr. They didn''t survive to see her summoned again, as the Magik Wabbit had regained all his MP as well when he was healed, and between his magical barrage and Tigerrr''s Puuurrrrfect Strike, the raid team was quickly turned into a crowd of glowing orbs.


    The moment Skar, who was the last adventurer standing, was slain, the thread walls that formed The Puppet Show faded away, and Grandma Jenkins walked casually past the floating orbs of light, back to her rocking chair. From there, she looked down at the orbs, which had a few more minutes before they would be returned back to the entrance to the third floor, with their time penalty applied.


    "Please don''t be strangers dearies. I do so love visitors." Her voice echoed out in the dull swamps in a way only a creepy old grandma''s voice could. Then she began to rock slowly back and forth, her wooden chair creaking ever so slightly, as she began to hum to herself. As the adventurers'' orbs disappeared, James just sat there, starring at the monster he had created. If he could get Grandma Jenkins summoned during the Dungeon Wars, he could only imagine the nightmare it would create on the battlefield. Not only that, he could already tell from Z''s eyes before the adventurer fell, that he intended to grow as strong as he could before the dungeon wars started. Mainly because if there was one thing James knew about Z and his guild, it was that they did not like finding a challenge they couldn''t overcome.

 130 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130


    From: BLANK


    Subject: The Time Has Come


    Glyax. We have noticed you have not shared your stream since logging back into DCO. If you believe this will enable you to surprise us with your third floor, know that it is a fruitless effort. No matter what your dungeon type would call forth for your third floor, your mobs and players will not be able to stop us. BLANK is coming for you, and by the end of this war, your core will be destroyed.


    IF, you foolishly believe you can withstand our might, we welcome your presence on the battlefield. Pray that your players summon your Avatar quickly, so we may clash in the Fields of Battle, so that BLANK can bring about your demise with our own hands. Enjoy these next two days, as our dungeons embark upon their war. For on the third day, we will defeat you, and on the fifth day, we will destroy you.


    BLANK does not lose.


    "Wow, they really are full of themselves." James closed the message he had received mere moments before and glanced at the timer. There were five minutes remaining, before the third day of the immersion cycle for James would begin, meaning the dungeon war would start.


    They were of course accurate in their assessment that James had purposefully not been streaming his third floor over the last 24 hours. As much as he loved his stream, he had decided to keep it down for the last 24 hours, in order to at least give himself a little secrecy. While it wouldn''t offer much of an advantage, since BLANK had already watched all of his previous streams, he was certain, he figured a little surprise never hurt anything. BLANK may know what his boss''s tricks were for his first and second floor, but at least Grandma Jenkins and his stuffed animals would be a surprise.


    The other reason he hadn''t streamed the last 24 hours, was because what he really didn''t want BLANK viewing, was the progress of his players. Sure, BLANK would see his players as they invaded and defended during the dungeon wars over the next two days, but James knew that type of observation would be different from how his players normally interacted. If, and it was a big if, James was expecting his players to have a pivotal role in the dungeon wars, they needed to at least be offered as much secrecy as they could, so that they could surprise BLANK.


    BLANKs message also confirmed what James had already assessed about BLANK. They were taking matters into their own hands and intended to waltz all over the battlefield in their avatars. Sure, they weren''t going to completely dismiss their players, they were probably going to treat the players as pawns or fodder and take it upon themselves to control the battlefield. A completely different playstyle than James intended to adopt. Especially considering James''s Avatar class required him to empower others, to help him win.


    "Just means it is going to be all the sweeter when we kill their avatar." Rue was back in her pixie battle armor, her eyes watching the countdown timer as it ticked down. They had done all they could during the last 24 hours, after they watched the raid party''s fight against Grandma Jenkins. James had prepared his loot rewards for his players for turning in essence and made a small list on possible options for building with his BP as he got them.


    After that, he had upgraded his third floor a little more, adding in more actual reptiles and amphibians, including anacondas and a few other snake species. From there, he had tried to fiddle around with his mob upgrades, before stopping himself. He figured it would be counter intuitive to make his floor harder on his own players, while they were trying their hardest to level before the dungeon wars.


    Because of that, and because James could feel his nerves getting to him, he had decided to sleep for the last eight hours before the dungeon wars truly began. The sleep within immersion offered him a sweet, blissful escape into darkness as the hours passed. When he awoke, he not only felt well rested, but energized in fact, for the upcoming war. That feeling had passed to dread as he saw he had a private message from BLANK waiting for him.


    It was clear Xander''s children were extremely confident. James was sure that was not only a result of being raised by Xander, but also likely their personalities in general. Afterall, some power gamers developed god complex''s over themselves, especially now. When you spent more time, in a sense, immersed in a world where you constantly beat down other people and stood above them, well it was easy to let that go to your head. Which of course meant a lot of the pro gamers, which he was certain BLANK was, lacked humility.


    James was guilty of that as well at times, and he knew that. However, likely due to his experiences with Dwight in the real world, he had humbled himself, and come to understand that even though everything within the games felt real, they were still just games. There was a real world, and in it, there were always consequences, and others better than you. Evil people existed, and they could and would do terrible things for no reason. Because of that, James liked to do what he could in games to help others, rather than become like the people he tormented.


    However, as had been evident when he first encountered Xander, when the developer had threatened Rue, James still had a superman complex at times. Obviously, his AI had the same complex too, which was why they were now about to embark on a challenge that literally would decide their future within DCO. The more he thought on it, as he glanced at the timer, and back to Rue, the more he could feel his nerves going wild. The next 5 days in this virtual world, a mere 5 hours outside in the real world, would decide his fate. As the minutes ticked by, he pulled up his message menu.


    To: BLANK


    Subject: Deus Ex Machina


    You pride yourselves as being brilliant, undefeatable gamers. You accuse me of cheating the system, of somehow gaining an unfair edge, which has allowed me to take the spot as the second highest ranked dungeon in DCO. But let me set a few things straight.


    First, I did not cheat. Obviously, you have a great understanding of DCO. You know how vast this game is, don''t you think there may be ways for others to get advantages, such as I did, without cheating? Besides, why the hell would I cheat in a game that I am already doing great in?


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    Second, if anyone should be called out for cheating, it should be you two. I know who you are, I know all about you. Don''t you think your father gives you an unfair advantage? Honestly, the reason I didn''t call you out on that before, was because I was afraid. Afraid of your father, afraid of what he could do to me. But, let''s just say, for reasons, I''m no longer afraid.


    Third. You should be ashamed over using that username. I''ve seen the show, I''ve read the light novels. You don''t deserve that name. Sora and Shiro are so much better than you two ever could wish to be. You''re just arrogant little pricks.


    Finally, I look forward to this dungeon war. I look forward to seeing your faces as my dungeon, my players, and my mobs take you down. It is time you learn that gaming is about more than just being the singular best. There is so much more to life than overwhelming sheer power or skill. Maybe my dungeon can teach you that. If not, then it doesn''t matter. But at least I can say I tried. If I win, hopefully you and your family will finally leave me alone.


    Aschente


    Glyax


    Rue grinned at James as he finished his message. From her eyes and smile, he could tell she approved of his message. He clicked send and watched as the last few seconds before the dungeon war counted down. It was time.

 131 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131


    Server Alert: A Dungeon War has been started! This war will last a total of five days. For the next two days, players from the enemy dungeon will be able to invade your dungeon. Likewise, you will be able to invade the enemy dungeon. Do your best to survive the onslaught and overcome your foe! To the victors, the great spoils of war will be revealed.


    The message flowed across James''s screen the moment the timer hit 0. Likewise, he could see all of his players pause and look down at their own message screens, likely seeing the same message flow across.


    At the same time, a single message in red appeared in front of him.


    Core Live Stream Active. It seemed that not only was the dungeon war going to be live streamed to all of the other players, but the core aspect of it was going to forcibly be streamed to the rest of the Dungeon Cores as well. That was fine, because even though it meant BLANK could see what he was doing, it meant he could watch them as well.


    James excitedly pulled up his Core chat menu, pulling up the main page. There, in bold letters, it exclaimed the start of the very first ever dungeon war. Below the exclamation two screenshots where shown. The first was of James''s dungeon, as he would recognize the fearsome view of the Terminus anywhere. The other screenshot showed a giant¡­gummy bear? If he had to guess, the screenshots were of boss mobs for each dungeon. However, did BLANK really have a gummy bear as a boss mob? That seemed, a bit out of character.


    Both screenshots had a watch option, with a little red dot showing they were currently live streaming. Excitedly, James rub his tentacles together before he clicked on the stream for BLANK. He could not wait to finally see-


    Error: Dungeon War participants are unable to watch the core live stream. James stared at the message for a moment, before he let out a sigh. It made sense. If they wanted the dungeon war to be fair, or at least, as a fair as could be in the given circumstances, it wouldn''t be right for the participants to be able to spy on each other.


    Instead, James would have to just watch his dungeon as BLANKs players invaded his dungeon, and hopefully he could watch as his own players invaded BLANK''s dungeon. A part of James was actually glad he and BLANK wouldn''t be able to watch each other''s streams of their actions. It meant BLANK wouldn''t be able to see what James had planned for his third- and fifth-day placements. It also meant his Avatar information, and anything else he looked at or did during the next two days, would remain a secret from BLANK. Something that James was actually quite thankful for.


    Server Announcement: Invasion Gates will become active in 5 minutes! Another message flitted across his stream, and James looked anxiously at Rue. The war had just started, and already the first invasion gates were about to go live. He knew they would activate every 2 hours and would create a gate on each floor. His players would be able to take parties of up to 10 through the gates, to invade the enemy dungeon. Likewise, the enemy dungeon could invade his instances with parties of 10. The instance invaders arrived in would be completely random though, so it was a toss-up on which adventurers would be available to defend against the invasion.


    James did a quick scan of his dungeon, checking the instances he currently had up. His instances were maxed out, with players steadily grinding away. According to Rue, many of his players had actually stayed awake during the past 24 hours, grinding out as many levels as they could and upgrading their gear. Apparently, from what Rue had overheard, some enterprising merchants had even begun cutting deals or adjusting prices in order to sell their wares even quicker. Needless to say, the upcoming war was driving the economy already.


    He ran a name search, seeing if Z or Skar''s parties were in the dungeon, and was dismayed to see that neither party was currently in an instance. However, there was still a single instance for his third floor up, which was currently inhabited by members from the largest guild on James''s server. Fifteen members, ranging from level 27 to 31 walked cautiously through the swamp land, fighting off stuffed animals. What the guild lacked in terms of top-level players like Z and Skar''s groups had, they made up with numbers of above average players.


    The guild, called Stryke Force, had roughly 100 players, ranging from level 25 to 31. Their leader was a Paladin named Stryker123, who did a good job of keeping his players alive and worked tirelessly to try and level all of them equally. His lieutenants often dove into James''s dungeon with their lower leveled players, in an effort to power level them and help them grow at an appropriate rate. James had to admit, he respected what the guild was doing. Not only because they also offered to help outsiders level if they needed, but also because their leadership really seemed to care about all the members of their guild. James knew of other guilds within his instance that were, less than friendly towards outsiders. There were even apparently a few guild feuds going on in town, from what he had overhead from other adventurers, that normally caused problems.


    Luckily, those seemed to have been put on hold for the upcoming dungeon war. Because the outside threat to their home, their dungeon, was more important than the feuds. As James scanned his third-floor instance, he also couldn''t help but grin as he saw two other figures making their way through the swamp land, apart from Stryke Force.


    The two were a unique group, that James had started to take note of during his full day of immersion as a dungeon core. While many players began forming parties of five or more to clear his floor, these two stuck together as only a duo. Not only did that fact interest James, but their classes had also caught his attention as well. Initially, the two had entered his dungeon as a necromancer named Axel42 and a summoner named FlashFyre. Obviously, James had been interested to see a summoner, but the necromancer had also proved to be quite the interesting class.


    Needless to say, James had been excited to watch them grow, and he was proud to see the two of them making their way around his third floor. While having less members was more dangerous normally, it also meant they could level faster, as they were only splitting their experience across the two of them. Additionally, they were both pet classes, which had allowed them to overcome foes in rather interesting ways. If he had to guess, given they were both only level 29, and unable to take on the Terminus by themselves, they had tagged along with Stryke Force till the third floor, then separated from the group to do their own leveling.


    James glanced at the timer that had started the moment he had received his last announcement. There was only 1 minute to go, before the invasion gates opened up. Already, players across his other instance were grouping together, or finishing off the battles they were partaking in, to prepare. He could feel the anticipation rising as the groups all mingled, the air cackling with energy.


    On the third-floor instance, James saw the duo turn away from their path, and begin making their way back towards the portal that was the entrance to the third floor. The members of Stryke force did the same, meaning all 17 players on his third-floor instance were going to the same destination. James knew the players would be able to invade BLANKs third floor, just as BLANK would have players able to invade James''s third floor. He just had to wonder which adventurers would brave the candy dungeon, and what the players from BLANKs dungeon would be like.


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    3s


    2s


    1s


    Server Announcement: Invasion Gates have opened- Enemy forces have invaded the dungeon!

 132 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132


    The moment the announcement occurred a bright red portal appeared next to the portal that was the entrance to his third floor. It swirled with a chaotic energy, very obviously different from the normal portals players took. James watched, half expecting players to burst through the portals, as Stryke force and Axel''s duo made their way to the portal. They had been given a five minute warning to the portal, and all turned back towards the entrance to the floor. However, both parties had been a little further away, so they still had some time to travel.


    While they were making their way back to the portal, James began scanning his other instances. Surely, given the fact that portals would be being created across all of his instances and floors, someone, somewhere, was already getting invaded. James was pretty certain given the nature of BLANK''s player base, that there had been more than a few that would have been actively waiting around within close proximity of their floors portal, in hopes that the invasion gates would spawn in the same location.


    Sure enough, James noticed a few of his low level instances were flashing red. Considering they normally did not do that, he was pretty sure those were the instances that had invasions ongoing currently. Well, that and the large red 10/10 above it that he guessed denoted the players that were invading his floor already.


    "Right, let''s see what this is about." He said, excitement flowing as he pulled up the first instance that caught his eye. It was an instance for his first floor, and showed it currently had 10 invaders, along with 37(10*)/50 for the base player count. Ever since James had unleased Charles the Dicken on the adventurers in the mass world boss wipe, he had left his instances at max. Meaning 2,000 players could currently be on his first floor alone.


    "What type of players do you think-" Rue started as he pulled up the instance in question, before she paused, her lips pursed. When he pulled up the instance, he had done so in a zoomed-out form. From there, they were able to make out the extremely familiar open world expanse that was his first floor. He was also able to see a mass of players standing around the front entrance to his dungeon. The invasion gate that existed for this instance was no longer swirling a chaotic red, but instead was a solid black. He figured that meant the (10*) he saw for his instance count was that 10 of his players had already invaded the enemy dungeon as well.


    His thought was confirmed as he saw an additional screen option for the instance. Even as he scanned the floor, wondering just where the invaders were, he grabbed the additional instance with a tentacle and pulled the window up. Right beside the instance window he was currently viewing, another one popped up, showing 10 of his players, evident by their mismatching demonic gear, completely out of place in a new dungeon.


    As much as he wanted to look at that instance, commotion suddenly broke out on his instance with the invaders, pulling his attention back to that screen. The chaos that had caught his attention, was a massive fireball erupting over the cluster of players. Off in the distance, James could make out a party of five players rushing towards the invasion gate. These players were definitely not from his dungeon. These players were definitely not here to play nice.


    The party in question moved rapidly towards the larger mass of players, completely undaunted by the overwhelming number of players they were facing. As James pulled up their information, he understood why. All five of the players were in the high 20s, whereas James''s players in this instance ranged from level 10 to 20. Most of his higher-level players were currently on the second floor, as most players decided to transition to training on his second floor just as they hit level 20. Afterall, their growth usually slowed quite a bit on the first floor, considering Old Man Jenkins capped out at level 15.


    As such, the fireball that erupted over the mass of James''s players managed to wipe out a good amount of the lower leveled players, who just didn''t have the defenses needed to survive an attack like that. The others turned towards their attackers, but their reflexes and responses showed they were strangers to PvP. The invaders were not.


    After the initial fireball, meant as an AOE attack to take out the weaker players and apply a good amount of damage across the board, the mage of the party slowed his approach, allowing the two tankier members to step forward, placing themselves in the way of any and all attacks. One of the tanks, covered from head to toe in what appeared to be armor fashioned after a¡­gummy bear, let out a loud roar towards the crowd of adventurers. From his form, waves of visible energy flowed towards James''s players. The move was a taunt, and James saw a few react quick enough to avoid. Those that didn''t, began attacking the tank with everything they had.


    Of course, the man knew that was coming. He was a tank, and that was his job. With a dark smile on his face, he lifted his shield, a bright, multicolored circular shield that seemed to be fashioned after a jawbreaker. The shield and his form glowed once more. James checked the man''s stats, and confirmed he was a shielder. The skill he was activating, was his cooldown that was going to greatly reduce the damage he took. It was something James had watched Oak do multiple times.


    The man beside him began glowing as well, and James watched as a glowing eyeball appeared on the center of the man''s shield, which was also formed from candy, though shaped like a tower shield, instead of the circular shield his ally was using. The eyeball on his shield seemed to blink for a moment, as light encapsulated both himself, and his friend. It seemed that man was playing as a Paladin, and had used his own cooldown, which linked himself to an ally. As long as they were linked, until the cooldown ended, he and the ally he was linked to would share the damage that was received. Meaning they would both essentially be taking half damage from the attacks. At the same time, the golden light would begin healing them both at a rate of 1% of the Paladin''s hp per second.


    Behind the two tanks, one of the remaining players drew two curved daggers, and disappeared. Of course, a group of PvP players, as that was what James was certain these five were, would have an assassin. The class was great at picking off squishy healers and mages, making them extremely valuable when it came to facing off against other players. As without a healer to support a party, it could quickly fall. The other player was the party''s healer, made evident by the way he was watching the tanks, and keeping himself far enough back to avoid being targeted.


    The mage, in the meantime, was in the middle of casting another spell. The fireball had been his opening attack, after which he had begun casting a defensive spell. It seemed the player had chosen to go pyromancer, instead of lightning mage, as his form now had six small fireballs circling around him. James recognized the spell as flame shield, a spell that created fiery orbs which would attack any enemies within 20 feet of the mage. The pyromancer, having completed that spell, was beginning a third.


    At this time, thankfully, James''s players seemed to have come to their senses. Even though they were lower leveled than the five invaders, they at least had numbers. Those that hadn''t become taunted began shouting out orders to the others, and the groups began trying to spread out, in order to launch a counterattack of their own. While seven players had been killed instantly by the fireball, there were still 30 players remaining. Thirty versus five definitely seemed doable, even with the level gap.


    "Come on, you guys can do this." James urged on his players. It seemed evident to him that the players from BLANKs dungeon that had invaded, had purposefully gone for the first floor invasion. While it meant less dungeon essence for them, it also meant they had a higher chance of succeeding. And, with this being the very first invasion opportunity for the players, it was likely the safest and smartest bet. Plus, James knew PvP players always enjoyed killing off low leveled players. Sure there was a thrill that could be gained from fighting a player your same level, or even overcoming a higher leveled player. However, a lot of PvP players also enjoyed the godlike feel of just wiping out masses of lower leveled players.


    "What''s going on over there?" Rue motioned towards the corn field on James''s instance, far away from the fight going on at the entrance to the dungeon. James hated to pull himself away from the fight, but the strange flashes of light and explosions drew his attention. As he looked, he couldn''t help but stare in disbelief.


    The other five invaders were currently in his cornfield, making their way towards the barn. However, the going was slow, as James''s cornfield was not only set up with pitfall traps and sacrificial lambs, but it also usually housed at least five dickens. The giant demonic chickens were still smaller than the extremely tall stalks of corn, meaning their forms only appeared as rapidly shifting and swaying movements within the field. Judging by the cursing, followed by the additional explosions, James realized something else about the invasion. It seemed invaders were placed randomly within the floor, likely teleported as a party to a random location.


    The first party of five, therefore, had likely been teleported close enough that they could make out the mass of players, who had obviously been watching the invasion gate for the invaders to come through. Seeing the players massed around the gate, the five invaders had rushed them, intent on killing them as quickly as they could. The other five players had been teleported into James''s cornfield. And while they were a lot higher leveled than James''s players were, they were also in completely unfamiliar territory. Meaning they had no idea the chaos that was James''s demonic farm.


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    "Oh, this just go so much better." James whispered as he saw an explosion erupt back near the entrance. His window panned back over there, just in time to see the assassin, who had been making his way behind towards a cluster of low ranked players, staring in disbelief at the mass of blood and wool that surrounded him now. The cluster of James''s players had put themselves near one of his pitfall traps, using it to guard themselves from behind. The assassin of course didn''t know about the trap, and as a result, had fallen into it. Which meant he got to experience the warm embrace of James''s sacrificial lamb, as it exploded all over him.


    Of course, the mobs were only level 10. They didn''t have the damage to truly bring down players in their high 20s. However, environmental hazards, and the pure chaos factor, at least could help James''s players out. Case in point, the moment the pitfall trap activated, and the assassin was covered in sacrificial lamb, the players standing around the rim of the pit began immediately attacking him. Assassins were great DPS classes, with the ability to dish out a high amount of damage, quickly. Their stealth also made the invaluable against other players. However, because of those aspects, assassins had lower HP pools, and lower defenses.


    Meaning when, say, suddenly their stealth fails them as a result of falling atop a literal living land mine, which didn''t detonate once, but multiple times, they became easy targets. Especially when that landmine also covered them with a DoT blood effect that not only hurt them, but also slowed them. James couldn''t help but be happy he had decided to give his Sacrificial Lambs the Wool Socks upgrade for Blood for the Blood God. It gave the DoT effect a 50% slow for 10 seconds as the wool from the lamb clung to tightly to the player it covered.


    Needless to say, the assassin''s expression shifted quickly from surprise and anger to confusion and terror as a multitude of attacks rained down upon him. Slowed from the Wool Socks, he had no way to dodge, and was quickly turned into a glowing orb. One down, nine to go. Unfortunately, at that time, the mage finished casting his spell, and another large fireball ripped into James''s adventurers, wiping out another chunk of them. Dungeon Wars had begun in full blast.

 133 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133


    Even though James''s mobs, his environment, and his players were doing all they could, he was certain the instance was going to go to the invaders. At least, if the invaders were smart. After all, the players who were being killed would only have to wait outside of the dungeon entrance for a small amount of time, during their death penalty, until they could run back in and rejoin the fight. That meant invaders would need to get in, gain as much essence as they could, and leave.


    A quick scan also showed him that even more of his instances now had invaders within them, and also many had players of his own that had invaded the enemy dungeon. A quick check outside of his dungeon, also showed an increase of players waiting outside, likely in an effort to join in the dungeon wars as fast as possible. Without a doubt, the dungeon wars were garnering a lot of attention.


    Having no ability to watch the dungeon wars from the live streams, therefore, was a bit annoying. He was really curious to see just what was going on in BLANKs world, and what all the wars would have in store. James was also curious what exactly the live streams would show. Was the stream being manipulated to only show BLANK''s forces destroying and thwarting James''s? Or did the streams just flash between points of excitement, like old TV shows following multiple police or rescue units did that were claimed to have multiple live streams showing at once? Either way, James knew he wouldn''t truly know unless someone told him, or after the war. That being said, he had the next best thing.


    "Shall we check on our own brave adventurers?" James motioned a tentacle at the flashing screen he had pulled up. As much as he was tempted to go straight to the third floor instance, he knew that one would likely be a bust. From what he had learned about BLANK from the forums, the siblings had made their floors extremely difficult, meaning James''s players likely had no chance of making it far in BLANKs third floor. That aside, he was certain his groups could probably fair well across the first and second floor. And he just so happened to already have a window up following a group across the first floor.


    "Hell yeah, Candyland." Rue called out in confirmation, a baggy of sour gummy worms in her hand. She was definitely looking forward to the sweets-based dungeon. James was too, if not for the mob type. He was more so curious how exactly BLANK had crafted their dungeon. Afterall, the possibilities were endless.


    "Alrighty then." Without another word, he selected the window that contained the group of brave adventurers that had dove into the first floor of BLANKs dungeon. As he had figured, the group he saw consisted of five players, meaning the portals teleported parties to random portions of the floor. That meant you never knew if you were going to invade right next to an enemy or a boss, or in a random area, such as a corn field.


    "Well, this is not what I was expecting." As he took in the scenery around the adventurers, who were proceeding cautiously through the floor, he didn''t really know what he was looking at. From what he had read online, James had been expecting a dark, terrifyingly difficult dungeon. What he was looking at instead, was completely different.


    The dungeon seemed to be a hybrid of open expanses and narrow tunnels jutting about. From what he could see, the group of adventurers he was following were in a massive, brightly lit clearing. A glance at the screen showed him his other adventurers were somewhere else in the dungeon, though he didn''t warp to them. He was too interested in the scene he was viewing.


    The party was standing atop a colorful pathway, that seemed to be lined with cotton candy fences, and tiled over with a hard-circular candy, similar to smarties. It seemed the area had trees that appeared to be made of candy canes, with branches outstretched coated with fluffy cotton candy as well. Other trees stood tall with lollipop style leaves and branches. Through the middle of the floor, running from one area to the other, a massive river of chocolate flowed.


    "Which way should we go?" The highest leveled member of the group asked his party. James looked over his stats real quick, noting he was a level 16 warlock. The class specialized in summoning demons and using magic, both of which could be valuable for the party. In fact, the warlock had a medium sized pit devil walking beside him, which was used as a tank mob. The other members of the party contained a knight, a warrior, a priest, and a fighter.


    "Should we follow the candy road?" The knight motioned down the pathway, which seemed to lead towards a dark tunnel. The mouth of the tunnel appeared to have colorful boulders outside, which James guessed were jawbreakers. Their color scheme just fit too perfectly with the shields he had seen the invaders using.


    "I suppose." The warlock looked around at his party, as his eyes scanned the expanse. In order to follow the pathway, they needed to walk across a gingerbread bridge that spanned over the chocolate river. "Keep your eyes out for any players or mobs." The warlock ordered.


    "One gold coin says the mobs are made of candy." The fighter chuckled as he drew both of his swords. James guessed he was planning on becoming a blade dancer or duelist once he hit level 20, considering his choice of swords. Both were curved scimitars, though the blades had streaks of red running through the metal. It seemed he had upgraded them with infernal iron that could be found on James''s first floor.


    "I''m looking out for oompa Loompas." The priest mentioned, drawing a strange look from the rest of his party. He opened his mouth to explain but shook his head. "You guys make me feel so old sometimes."


    James, also seemed to miss the reference, and he glanced at Rue, wondering if she had any explanation. It seemed she did, considering the wide grin she flashed him at his look.


    "I''ve got another riddle for you." She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him but didn''t provide him with a further explanation. He was sure he could look the answer up online when he had some down time. After all, he could find anything on the internet.


    The party took on a pretty safe marching order, with the knight in the front, followed by the fighter, warlock, priest, and then the warrior taking up the rear with the demon companion. Around the party, their dicken pets frolicked too and fro, clucking angrily at each other as they inspected the extremely edible surroundings.


    As they neared the bridge, James thought he saw a flash of color from underneath. However, it didn''t seem anyone, including Rue, had noticed it. Figuring he may just be seeing things, James held his comment and watched the party. They made it halfway across the bridge, before James once again saw movement. This time, he was certain he saw something, and the look on Rue''s face said she saw it too. Unfortunately, it didn''t seem like any of the adventurers had noticed it.


    "Whelp, this may get interesting." James whispered, seconds before the battle began.


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 134 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134


    The flash of color James had seen underneath the bridge, was indeed, a mob. Or, to be more precise, what appeared to be a boss mob. That was all it could be, considering the massive size of the thing, and the effectiveness with which it was taking on James''s adventurers.


    As the adventurers reached the middle of the bridge, eight gummy tentacles seemed to unfurl from underneath the bridge. They struck the top of the bridge, lashing out at the adventurers, even as the chocolate dripped ominously off of the color appendages. Out of habit, James attempted to pull up the information on the mob. However, all he was able to pull up, frustratingly, was its name, level, and type. It seemed he was not going to be able to glean all of the information from the mob as he had hoped. Ah well.


    Tier 1 Boss Mob


    Sourpus


    Type: Sour Gummy Octopus


    Lvl 15


    "Sour¡­pus?" The name, actually caught James off guard. BLANK came off as cold, calculating, cruel. Did they really put in a pun as their creature name? He knew they wouldn''t have choices over their regular mobs, but the fact they had given the octopus that name definitely threw him off.


    "Eh, I''ll give them a B for effort." Rue said as she took a bite out of, fittingly, a sour gummy creature. It seemed she had changed her bag from gummy worms, to octopus, to fit the fight.


    "Like, I could think of at least five more names that would be much better than that."


    "I''m sure you could." James commented, though he was struggling to come up with a good one. Speaking of struggling, James watched as his adventures scrambled about. The boss had definitely caught them off guard, and James realized BLANK had likely layered their entire first floor with the chocolaty river, to allow their boss free roam of the floor.


    It was similar to how James had structured his own floor, though they had gone with a hybrid design. Their first level definitely still seemed like a dungeon, with its different paths and rooms, but that chocolaty river meant you could never be safe from the boss mob. James had to wonder how many players had gone to the chocolaty river for a taste, and been pulled in. The thought was rather terrifying.


    "Get away from the river." The warlock called out, running across the bridge as he did. A gummy tentacle crashed down right where he had been standing a moment before, and James watched as little sparkling bits flew off of the tentacle. The sparkling bits, which on the candy would have been the sour pieces, flew through the air for a moment, before they burst apart in small explosions.


    "What the hell?" James exclaimed even as the adventurers cried out in surprise and fear. One of the adventurers, the warrior, who had been near one of the exploding sour pieces, stared blankly ahead, his hands searching about the air. It seemed the sour explosions temporarily blinded the poor man.


    "Carl." The warlock called, and even as a tentacle flew toward the stunned warrior, the devil rushed towards him. The devil crashed into the warrior, sending him stumbling off the bridge, back onto the dry candyland. Unfortunately for the devil, that meant he was now in the tentacles path. The tentacle made contact with the demon, and swiftly pulled him off the bridge, and into the chocolatey depths.


    "Nooo." The warlock cried in distress, his eyes scanning the chocolatey surface for his pet. Warlock pets were unique in DCO. You had to summon them as level one imps, and then as they fought alongside you, they gained experience and leveled up. It seemed the warlock''s pet, Carl, had to at least be level 10, to become a devil. Meaning the warlock was going to have to start over again with a level 1 imp, if the devil died.


    Of course, saving the warrior had been the better play, if they were to defeat a boss mob. But James felt a tinge of pain for his adventurer. Losing a level 10 pet, especially when you were only level 16, had to be upsetting.


    Chocolate swirled around where the tentacle had pulled the devil down, and a moment later, James watched in horror as the devil was lifted back out of the water, along with the sour octopus''s entire head. The octopus dipped its bulbous candy head back, revealing a very hard and deadly looking beak. Slowly, it dropped the devil towards its mouth, which seemed to grow unnaturally wide.


    "Oh no, Carl." James whispered, feeling for not only the warlock, but the devil in that instance. The poor devil was trying, unsuccessfully, to break free of the gummy grasp, and even as the warlock began casting a spell, was swallowed whole by the octopus. The devil was sucked into the candied bulbous mass, and James could just make out his struggling shape within the gummy insides of the boss. That was terrifying.


    "That was unexpected." Rue commented. As terrifying as the scene was, there was something comedic about the whole fight. After all, five adventurers are clad in a mismatch of demonic gear and farm related clothing, were battling a giant gummy octopus that was swimming around in a river of chocolate. And, that octopus had just eaten a devil.


    "I''ll save you Carl." Rue added, and she took a bite out of the head of the gummy octopus she was holding in her hand. Classic Rue.


    "I don''t think that''s going to help." James commented, even as he stifled a laugh of his own. While this battle, and all of the others ongoing were extremely important with regards to how much dungeon essence he would be gaining in preparation of the third day of the dungeon wars, he couldn''t help but be amused. Not only that, he was thoroughly excited to continue watching as the battles unfolded across his and BLANKs dungeon. Part of the fun, and sometimes pain for him, as a dungeon was seeing the different types of mobs he ended up with. Therefore, it was really exciting to see what strange and unique mobs BLANK had come up with, even if he was certain they had upgraded the mobs to the point of being ridiculously op.


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    Case in point, the Octopus, having consumed its devil meal and taken note of all the adventurers now off of the bridge, and starring at it in horror, reared up out of the water, and launched a thick chocolatey substance directly at them. Four of them scrambled back in time to avoid getting splashed. The warlock however, stood in horror, as his mind tried to process his mob had just gotten eaten. As such, the black fluid splashed over him, completely covering him from head to toe. A split second later, it seemed to harden, creating a chocolatey statute from the warlock. Yeah, that boss seemed totally balanced.

 135 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135


    "Maybe another group is doing better?" Rue offered up as James stared hard at the Warlock''s chocolatey frame. It seemed the warlock, luckily, hadn''t been killed by that chocolatey stream. But he was petrified, turned into a chocolate statue. Meaning he was as good as dead, unless they healed him, and quickly. And, considering James had just watched their priest slip and fall into the chocolate river, he wasn''t counting on it. Then again, these players were still relatively low leveled when it came to James''s dungeon players, meaning they weren''t as experienced as other groups, and were still bound to make mistakes. He was just upset they had been one of the first groups to dive into BLANKs dungeon. Amateurs.


    "But, but, but. Caarrrrl." Rue stifled a laugh as James glanced in her direction. The pixie shrugged and waived a hand at James. "Fine. Do you think they have a Candy Mountain?"


    James scanned what he could see of the first floor, noting that the entire first floor seemed relatively flat, with only simple hills. Nothing that looked like a mountain.


    "Nope. I don''t think the first floor has a candy mountain. Why?"


    Rue simply stared at him for a long, silent moment, before she shook her head, disappointment on her face. "How do you not know these things." She shook her head some more. "Seriously, you''re missing out on so much."


    "What?" If he was missing out on some sort of humor, he was eager to know what. She had introduced him to a lot of old jokes and references already, he was also willing to learn more. Though he was also curious what the man who had created her had been thinking, giving the AI such an ancient sense of humor and references. Sure, there were many from the older generations playing games, Z and his group being a great example, but still, James was certain none of his peers would get Rue''s references either.


    "I''ll show you later." She sighed and turned back towards the screen they were watching. "So, if this party is a bust," As she spoke, they saw what looked like red, candied fish jump out of the water and land on the priest as he tried to swim back to shore. The fish had a strange blue pattern on its side, with a golden cross emblazoned upon it. James was just able to catch the name of the mob, as it pulled the priest further into the chocolatey river. Swedish Fish. That mob definitely felt like an attempt at humor, but a poor, dad joke leveled one. Though James had figured that with as many mob options as there were across all the dungeons, not all of them could be grade A humor.


    "Whatever you say." James turned away from the fight, scanning the group of instances. The other party that was in this instance was also rather low leveled, meaning he doubted they were going to be of much interest. A quick glance showed they were actually being hunted by a group of players from BLANKs dungeon, so yeah, definitely not worth watching. That being said, James had plenty of other instances to check out. If there was one thing he was finding, it was that his players were going all out in their invasions.


    "This looks promising." He pulled up an instance that showed it was taking place on the second floor of BLANKs dungeon. The party he noticed, was made of up players ranging from level 27 to 30. Meaning they were definitely a lot more prepared for what they were going to face. However, James also knew a second level instance meant that BLANKs basic mobs were going to be level 25, with a mini boss at level 30, and the final boss at level 35.


    "Which group is that?" Rue scanned over the team as James did, seeing if they recognized any of the players. With 10,000 players, it was hard to remember all of them. However, some of the higher leveled groups could stand out. The party they were watching though, did not. James was happy to note though, that while they were a generic healer, tank, and triple dps group, their classes were at least a little more varied.


    The biggest difference was that this party had a druid as a healer. Druids could not only turn into beast forms, which could make them quite formidable, but they also had natural healing aspects. From the looks of it, this druid had doubled down on his healing abilities, as he had chosen Forest Druid as his level 20 sub class. As a forest druid he could summon healing trees which could connect to his party members with their roots, giving them a constant heal over time affect.


    The other level 20 members were all pretty common options, a death knight for the tank, a fire mage for the magic dps, and a berserker for the close-up melee dps. Their level 30 player made James pause. It was a class he hadn''t seen before, and one that he didn''t even know existed.


    "What exactly is a gunslinger?" He looked the man up and down, noting that his armor currently was the typical ranged set he noted from player who had been farming his second floor. He had on the B.L.U. armor set, which would have made him blend in with any other ranged dps out there. James noticed the Gunslinger even was sporting the monocle that his philoso-raptors used, which he knew increased their accuracy, and the top hat, because why not.


    "Ohhh, that." Rue looked down at the gunslinger, whose username James finally learned was MercerEffect. "It''s a special class that is unlocked when you try and combine arcane archer with the alchemist class." She pointed at his hips, where he had two crossbows. Then, she motioned towards his back, where he had what looked to be a tier 2 steampunk composite bow. "Watch what happens when he draws his weapons." Rue shot him a knowing wink, as James turned all of his attention on the party. They had obviously just made their way into BLANKs dungeon and were taking in the sights around them.


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    James did a quick scan of the area as well. The second floor, much like the first, was extremely colorful and almost welcoming. As before, everything was covered and made out of candy. There were even multiple rivers of chocolate flowing around the floor. The difference on the second floor, was that they actually seemed to be in a much larger, more open area. James would have almost thought that BLANK had gone full on open area dungeon floor, if not for the five different pathways he could see spanning out around the area.


    "Keep your eyes peeled." The Gunslinger said, his voice holding a slight twang to it, which reminded James instantly of the classic cowboy speak from western movies.


    "What exactly are we looking for?" The Druid, named Caddy, asked. He had chosen an elf for his race, which James felt was extremely fitting for a forest druid.


    "Well, obviously we''re looking out for players. The gunslinger spit towards the ground, grinning as he eyed his party. "I say we hold the high ground, take as many as we can, and then return back to our dungeon and reap some of those sweet sweet rewards."


    "And you expect them to just come out here and charge us?" The death knight, Gorg, who James saw was a rather large orc, looked doubtful.


    "Of course, because we''re about to make quite the ruckus." MercerEffect nodded towards the party''s mage, who shot him a grin. "How would you like to do this?"


    The mage, Ydna, closed her eyes as flames spiraled around her. A large smile crept across her face as she channeled her arcane powers, and James had to wonder what she was doing. Whatever it was, it seemed like the party had a plan. And James was extremely excited to see what exactly it was.

 136 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136


    James had heard over his life that the best laid plans often would go awry. That did not seem to be the case for MercerEffect and his party. In fact, if anything, his plans seemed to be going exactly as he had planned.


    First, Ydna''s fire attack had been a fire blast, which sent a massive flame, similar to a star, flying off into the distance, only to detonate into a massive radius on impact. The spell caused the very room to shake, and some of the candy, including the cotton candy trees, actually melted away at the intense heat.


    Additionally, her attack seemed to instantly aggro a rather large group of chocolatey mobs. Granted, James noticed the mobs seemed rather worse for wear following the fiery attack, and figured intense heat, aka fire, might be a weakness for monsters made out of chocolate. Regardless, the mobs, which seemed to be jumping, conical type chocolate mounds, with giant¡­lips, began hopping rapidly towards the hill, where the party stood.


    The mobs were called Hurtsy Kisses, and unfortunately for the chocolate-based mobs, they weren''t allowed an opportunity to get close. What surprised James the most about that fact though, was how the party kept them at bay. Obviously, it would have been extremely easy for Ydna to cast another fire blast, and likely melt them completely away. However, she held off on casting another offensive spell, though James could tell she was preparing something.


    Instead, MercerEffect reached behind his back, and drew his bow. However, the moment the weapon moved from his back, James watched in awe as the weapon shifted and changed. It morphed away from the form of a compound bow, and became an antique, single action rifle. The gunslinger held the weapon up against his shoulder, his monocled eye looking down the sight, and fired. The sound of the gunshot rang out through the dungeon, and a split second later, one of the Hurtsy Kisses burst into chocolaty pieces.


    James did note that as the mob burst apart, any area splashed by its chocolate chunks detonated into an additional explosion, much like James''s sacrificial lambs. It was obvious BLANK had upgraded those mobs to cause a lot of damage in a small area, meaning they were especially dangerous to melee players and tanks.


    One by one, MercerEffect easily dispatched the mobs, easily pulling back on the bolt, releasing a steaming shell with each shot. While he had to make that action to reload, James did note he didn''t actually have to load the weapon with bullets, which had to be a nice perk.


    After dispatching the mobs, he simply put the rifle back behind his back, where it once again transformed into a composite bow. It seemed, his class allowed him to manipulate or transform his weapons into more, efficient or deadly, perhaps, types. After all, the range with which he dispatched those mobs exceeded the range on a bow, even for an archer that had gone the sniper class.


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    With the candy threat they had aggroed defeated, before it could even become a threat, the party simply scanned the rest of the room. From their vantage atop the hill in the middle, they had a clear line of sight to every entrance into and out of the room. Furthermore, they could clearly see the other mobs milling about, which they hadn''t drawn the aggro for just yet.


    In the moment of silence, while they waited for their adversaries to come to them, James had been able to scan the mobs that moved about. The first he noticed, were large, boulder like mobs, completely covered in a completely colorful hard outer shell. Da Breakers, they were simply called, and it seemed the earth around them shook slightly as they walked. They were definitely not a mob you would want to try and take on as a melee class.


    James also noted small groups of gummy bears waddling to and fro, usually in packs of three of more. What he noticed about them though, was that it seemed as if they had strange magical energy swirling within them, that seemed to take on the color of the bear with which it was in. These mobs, which James figured had a ranged or magical attack, were called Gloomi Umi Bears.


    Sadly, James didn''t get to see any of those mobs in action, as the gunslinger''s group seemed less interested in killing mobs, and more interested in something a little more, valuable. After all, from what James had read in the notes players had been given regarding dungeon wars, they could gain more dungeon essence from killing players when they invaded, than mobs. And that seemed to be exactly what MercerEffect had come here to do.


    After a few more minutes, during which the berserker of the party, a female devilkin named Pester, had managed to cook up some dicken for the party, the enemy players began to appear. James noticed the players at the same time as MercerEffect did, who seemed to be extremely used to using his philoso-raptor monocle to increase his field of view.


    A group of three level 24 players were making their way through one of the pathways, looking about cautiously as they did. If James had to guess, they had lost two of their members in the dungeon before the dungeon wars started, and just hadn''t had time to regroup. After all, if you didn''t revive your party members in time, they were sent back to the start of the dungeon. And James guessed making your way by yourself through BLANKs dungeon was not an easy feat.


    "Time to teach these candy lovers what true terror is." MercerEffect said as he once again drew his rifle. The berserker simply shook her head as she chewed on a dicken leg, seeming uncaring about the enemies. Granted, they were currently close to 200 yards away, meaning the melee adventurers had zero chance of reaching the players. Even the mage was limited, as the fire blast, which was a Pyromancer''s farthest ranged spell, could only reach out to 100 yards. That didn''t seem to affect the gunslinger though.


    With practiced ease, and a devilish grin, the human gunslinger launched three rounds in rapid succession towards the party of adventurers. The players, covered in colorful candy armor, looked startled at the sound, their eyes turning towards the hill in the middle of the field, before the bullets found their mark. Candy shards blasted apart as the bullets tore into the players, and James watched as one of the players burst instantly into a glowing orb. That had been the party''s mage. The other two, melee class players, looked at each other, and let out a yell in defiance, charging towards the hill as quickly as they could. However, another few shots brought them down with ease. James was curious just how long this plan was going to keep up. How much essence could MercerEffect and his party bring James?

 137 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137


    "Gimmie the odds." James was watching as the latest wave of adventurers made their way into the candy room where James''s adventurers were making a rather heroic last stand. Currently, they had taken down four complete parties of adventurers. Most of their success, James knew, could be pinpointed on the level 30 member of the party, Mercer Effect. It seemed, as a gunslinger, he had a rather unfair advantage, in that he could range things he shouldn''t be able to. That, and the fact he was expertly taking out the healers and mages of groups, leaving just their close ranged members to try and rush the well defended hill. So far, no one had made it close enough for the berserker or dread knight to even be of use. Currently, they, and the druid, were playing cards.


    "Uh, 10 to 1, us." Rue and James had taken to making joke bets on BLANKs adventurers. James was sure BLANKs dungeons had a plethora of players, many of whom had to be skilled, judging by how difficult James knew BLANK had made their dungeon. Parties on the second floor were all at least level 20, and they moved about with the caution that they needed to survive. The fact that the dungeon''s mobs were still hostile towards not only the invaders, but also the resident adventurers, also gave James''s players a favorable advantage.


    After all, they were safe atop a hill, not drawing mob aggro, and just shooting at targets trying to approach them. BLANKs players, who were trying to fend off the adventurers, had to rush past dangerous mobs, avoid drawing aggro, and dodge any traps that might be in their way, all in a hope of being able to fight the party of five adventurers before they died.


    "I like those-" Just as James started accepting the odds, he noticed something. The party that had begun to charge towards the hill suddenly stopped. All around them, for a split second, the very dungeon seemed to go quiet. Then, a second later, a very loud, thunderous sound began to echo around the room. The sound was so powerful, that it seemed to make the very earth shake, and James saw the trees began to drop their sour lemon candies from the vibrations.


    Whatever was coming was big. Whatever was coming was dangerous. Whatever was coming had BLANKs adventurers terrified. The group of adventurers glanced at the hill, where the gunslinger was watching, and turned instantly away, running deeper into the dungeon.


    "This doesn''t bode well for us." James heard MercerEffect say, as he looked around at his party. The three playing cards had put their game away, and had their weapons drawn. Ydna appeared to be looking over her player screen, scrolling through what James had to guess was either her inventory, or her skills screen.


    "You don''t say." The berserker said as she flexed her arms, muscles bulging. She was dual wielding B.L.U. chainswords. Something that shouldn''t be possible but was allowed by her berserker class. The class was able to dual wield larger weapons, at the cost of their own defense. As a result, she was able to deal out a lot of damage but was going to take damage as well. Of course, the class naturally had a high hp pool, as well as some rather unique effects based completely around the berserker''s health pool. Long story short, James knew it was a rather formidable class.


    "Right, well, stick to the plan?" The gunslinger looked at his party members, and they all nodded in agreement. As they did, the earth shook once more, and James saw part of the candy floor begin to crack. The party, James, and Rue all turned towards one of the tunnels, where the sound appeared to be originating from.


    "We try to take down whatever is coming, and the moment it looks grim, you and Ydna use your port stones to return back to our dungeon and turn in your essence. The rest of us will escape after you two are clear." The death knight, Gorg, actually seemed excited. "It''s about time I actually get to have a little fun."


    "Hey, tomorrow we can invade the first floor. That should be fun for all of us." MercerEffect shot Gorg a wink and leveled his rifle towards the entrance that they were focused on. "I was just curious how long this type of a plan would work for us."


    "You just wanted to test out your new broken class." Ydna grinned at MercerEffect as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don''t even try to hide it."


    "Prove it." He said.


    Ydna simply laughed and closed her eyes. "Just make sure you actually escape in time. You''ve got the most essence out of all of us right now."


    "GIVE THEM BACK." A voice bellowed out from the tunnel they were looking towards, and James watched as a group of ten adventurers made a mad dash out of the tunnel. Immediately, James noted a big difference in these players. First, a quick glance showed all these players were between level 29 and 31. Second, they didn''t seem to be running towards the hill in an attempt at attacking the adventurers on the hill. Instead, it seemed as if they were dragging along something.


    That something, became instantly clear a moment later. The members were pulling large nets, within which, James saw what appeared to be were gumdrop buttons. Each gumdrop button was held in a single net that required five adventurers to pull. A quick scan of the gumdrop buttons showed that they were classified as a level 30 mini boss but were currently at 0 health. Which was strange, because normally, when a mob was killed, it disappeared.


    "NOT MY GUMDROP BUTTONS." The voice roared again. Just as the adventurers got roughly 10 feet away from the entrance, earning them a few seconds to be shot by MercerEffect, a massive form crawled out of the cave entrance.


    Tier 2 Boss Mob


    Gingy


    Type: Gingerbread Man


    Lvl 35


    "Oh, oh no." James could guess what BLANKs players were doing. It was something he had seen happen on more than a few occasions within his own dungeon. Something he had in fact discussed with his floor two boss mob specifically in the case of an invasion from enemy players. It seemed BLANKs players had a similar idea, even if the boss mob seemed to lack the intelligence that the Terminus had which would have allowed for the type of planning James had done.


    "Secret boss?" Rue looked the gingerbread man up and down as she spoke. Now that he was standing up, he must have been at least twenty-five, if not 30, feet in height. The gumdrops, on the other hand, were only five or six feet in size, though obviously heavy judging by the strain the adventurers where showing in pulling them.


    "Secret boss." James said, fighting between excitement, and fear. He was really looking forward to seeing what happened when BLANKs secret boss was made. However, he knew that was going to spell instant death for whichever of the adventurers where still around when it happened. Judging by their reactions, they were just as aware of the danger as James was.


    "Change of plans." MercerEffect returned his rifle to his back, turning it once again into a bow. "How about we head on back together?" The rest of his party, who had been eagerly eying the adventurers before Gingy had appeared, all nodded in agreement.


    "I''d rather not be killed by a giant cookie." Pester looked at the others as she sheathed her swords in a X across her back. "Something about being beaten down by a sweet treat seems a bit, ridiculous."


    "Agreed." Caddy pulled out a crystal as he spoke, which the others all did as well. At this time, BLANKs adventurers had dropped their nets, their eyes focusing on the party at the top of the hill. It was apparent the Gunslinger''s party was about to leave, meaning their plan was for not. The ranged members of the group dragging the gumdrops began preparing their spells, but it was too late. Just as their spells and attacks arched towards MercerEffect''s group, the party members threw the crystals they were holding towards the ground. An instant later, they disappeared.


    "Well, maybe we can still watch the-" James turned his attention back to the boss, who had reached the two gumdrops. James could feel the excitement swelling within him as the boss mob reached towards the gumdrops, while BLANKs adventures all turned and began running as fast as they could away from the boss. However, an instant later, the window he was watching closed out, stealing from him the chance to see BLANKs secret boss.


    "Seems we can only spy on the instance as long as our players are in there." Rue was playing with a gingerbread man as she spoke, having ripped both of its legs off as if to taunt it.


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    "You don''t say." James mumbled. However, a moment later a window popped up, and his disappointment quickly left.


    Achievement Unlocked

 138 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138


    "Let''s see what I''ve earned." James excitedly clicked on the window, his favorite notification of all in DCO. Achievements, in any game, were always welcome. Who wouldn''t want rewards for simply playing the game? And as a dungeon core, James had noticed a lot of times he got achievements based off of things he couldn''t quite control. Instead, he was being rewarded for setting up the situation which could trigger the event for the achievement. Judging by the rewards, it seemed that was the case here as well. It also seemed that Dungeon Wars were going to introduce a whole new set of achievements for him, and BLANK, to earn. And he was pretty sure BLANK knew what most, if not all, of the dungeon war achievements were.


    Zero Deaths!- Have a party of adventures successfully invade an enemy dungeon, and return without a single loss during Dungeon Wars


    Reward- 1500xp, 500 resources, 50 dungeon essence


    I''m Doing My Part Too!- Watch a party successfully complete an invasion


    Reward- 500xp, 10 resources, 10 dungeon essence


    Food For Thought (1)- collect a total of 100 dungeon essence (scaling achievement)


    Reward- 500xp, 10 dungeon essence, 1 Dungeon Token


    Food For Thought (2)- collect a total of 500 dungeon essence (scaling achievement)


    Reward- 1000xp, 20 dungeon essence, 1 Dungeon Token


    "Well that''s neat." James scanned the three achievements. The first two were courtesy of MercerEffects'' team, that much was certain. It seemed that not only had they been the first to return from the invasion so far, but they had been unique in that they hadn''t lost a single member. In short, James had gotten lucky with that achievement. Afterall, there wasn''t much he could do to ensure a party survived without a single casualty once they invaded a dungeon.


    Of course, it was also an achievement that would likely be gained by any dungeon in a dungeon war within the first two days of conflict. Party members tried their best not to die, and James knew with the opportunity for all 10,000 players to invade every day, there was no doubt in his mind that one team would return successfully without any deaths.


    The second achievement was also a gimmie. In the span of two days before the full-scale battle on the third day, what dungeon core wouldn''t watch an invasion, at least once? Like, seriously, what else would the dungeon be doing during that time. On the other hand¡­James could imagine BLANK wouldn''t care to watch their players invade another dungeon. But the reward wasn''t really groundbreaking, so even if they didn''t, he doubted 10 dungeon essence would really give him an advantage in the war.


    That thought was further solidified with the third achievement. MercerEffect and his team were the first to return, and upon return, their dungeon essence had immediately been transferred over to James. James had noticed that when a small message scrolled across his screen where global announcements usually appeared. It had simply informed him that dungeon essence had been acquired. It wasn''t hard to put two and two together though. From what James remembered on the rules for Dungeon Wars for players, when they returned to the dungeon the dungeon essence was converted to experience for the players. There were also loot options available once they earned certain amounts of dungeon essence. James had enjoyed crafting that loot for them.


    Aside from the progress on the loot, James was curious about the core essence that had been returned to him. Glancing at his total, he saw currently he had 570 essence. The number was also slowly ticking up, as invaders who had killed players or mobs fell in his dungeon. Any invader who fell in his dungeon after earning essence, after all, dropped it for James to instantly absorb. Meaning invaders could actually benefit the enemy dungeon if they were careless.


    Of course, while that seemed like a decent amount of essence gained so far, James could only imagine what the costs would be for his Avatar summon and the other options while they were on the Fields of Battle. So far, he couldn''t see what those costs were. So, he just had to sit patiently and watch as his essence points slowly increased, and hope that his players did a good enough job of earning him points that when the time for the fight on the Fields of Battle came, he and Rue would be able to take the fight to BLANK in their Avatars.


    "Not a bad start to the carnage." Rue commented over James''s hovering eyeball, her eyes watching his essence tick up another 50 points. The small jumps, James was guessing, where when invaders fell. He was eagerly watching the essence counter now, curious to see how it would jump when another party returned triumphantly to his dungeon.


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    "I suppose." James glanced from the essence counter, to the countless flashing instance windows. Even as he spoke with Rue, he started adjusting his settings on his instances, turning the flashing off for instances with invasions, and setting parameters for his notifications on the windows. Those parameters being, if the Knights or Boss Slayers entered his dungeon, and if MercerEffect and his team entered as well. After how they had done in BLANKs dungeon, James had added a special notification for that group as well.


    The other parameters he established were for if he had a party of level 30 players invade the enemy dungeon, and if the enemy dungeon had level 30 players enter into James''s dungeon. Those players would be who James was most interested in, at least for this first day. He figured the second day he would loosen the parameters so he could watch the level 20 players and see if he could start formulating a plan for the Fields of Battle.


    "Say Rue." James finished his settings, and closed the window, turning his giant eyeball towards the pixie. "Do you know how the essence is broken down?" James hadn''t seen a chart listed on the player notes, nor in the core notes. Which made it rather difficult for him to gauge what types of numbers he would be looking at or expecting for day three.


    "Mhmm." Rue grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Which usually meant she had come across the information in a way that wasn''t generally allowed. Though, considering BLANKs connection and their access to similar ill-gotten information, James was totally fine with it now.


    "Mind breaking it down for me while we wait?"


    "Of course, oh Mighty Glyax." She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled, settling in comfortably atop his floating form. James pulled up a single flashing instance at the same time, one that had apparently still met his new, stricter criteria. The instance, his single third floor instance up, the one he had seen with Stryke Force. The window wasn''t an invasion one though. Instead, it was showing at least one level 30 from BLANKs dungeon had invaded his third floor.


    Rue''s eye arced as he pulled up the instance. "Really Gly, I haven''t even started my explanation and you''re zoning me out?"


    "Sorry Rue," James mumbled. He really was interested in what she had to say. He needed to know the breakdown. At the same time though, he was really curious to see what a level 30 or higher player from BLANKs dungeon as capable of. "How about-" James paused as the instance spread out before him. The swamps were alight with fire and energy, while howls and piercing screams filled the air. There, in the swamps, five brightly colored adventurers walked, leaving death in their wake.


    "Oh shit." A quick glance showed these five players were the best of BLANKs dungeon. Power gamers groomed in a dungeon run by a set of power gamers. James''s top guild, The Knights Who Go Ni, had managed to climb to level 37 by the time invasions had started. The party of power gamers making short work of the mobs on James third floor, were nearly all at least level 35. Which was impressive in and of itself, because James''s players had a whole extra 24hours of immersion. What concerned James was two of the members of that five-man party were level 39 and their leader¡­ was level 40.

 139 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139


    SoulDemon


    Level 40


    Phantom Blade


    Normally when James saw a party leader, it was usually the tank, the healer, or a ranged dps. This time around though, the party''s obvious leader, was a melee class. Not only that, he seemed to be a melee dps that almost didn''t even need his other party members. Of course, when you were level 40 and had access to up to three subclasses worth of boosts and skills, well it kind of helped boost your power.


    James had never heard of a Phantom Blade. It didn''t pull up on the normal skill tress that''s the developers had released within DCO, meaning this class was a unique or secret class. Which also meant, he also had an even greater edge on the other players. Because from what James knew of secret and unique classes, they often came with really strong abilities, except for maybe acupuncturist, James had yet to see Gno-More do much with that class.


    "Oh, I bet he feels special." Rue was watching the carnage take place in the swamp as well, her earlier indignation about James cutting her off gone. The party of 5 was walking calmly through the swamp, not even attempting to make their way onto the wooden paths and were killing everything in their paths.


    This was likely in part due to the fact that one of the level 39s was a Trapper, a subclass chosen at level 30 by someone who was already a rogue. The trapper had a passive that could alert them to any trap that was a lower level than they were. The way the game treated traps was that they were equal to the level of the highest basic mob per level. Mimics, of course, were treated as their appropriate level. Which meant the traps James had on his third floor were all currently level 34, while his mimics were level 75. So, other than the mimics, the Trap expert was guaranteed to be able to locate and disable any and every trap the party came across.


    The group''s other level 39 player was their tank. He was currently walking in the middle of the party, with a massive wall of shields floating around him, and his party. The ability, shield wall, had a 30foot radius, and created magical shields that would constantly fly around the tank and protect anything within it from attacks with a 50% chance. The class able to use such an ability, was called a Centurion. Of course, the shields that were summoned by the ability took on the same shape and color as the shield the user was wearing, meaning the Centurion, whose name was SpinToWin, had half a dozen rainbow colored jawbreaker shields floating around the group.


    Between SpinToWin''s defensive ability and the detection skills of the trapper named Crikey, they didn''t have to worry about triggering any traps or getting ambushed. Which meant the other two members of the party, a Chaotic Sorcerer and High Cleric of Light, had nothing to fear. The Chaotic Sorcerer was simply launching colorful and crazy looking spells left and right, while the High Cleric kept an eye on his party members'' health bars and statuses to cleanse any debuff or stun the Funky Monkey''s or any of James''s other mobs could launch.


    Meanwhile, SoulDemon moved soundlessly atop the freaking swamp waters. His form seemed to almost lose its substance as he moved, making his image, while still extremely colorful, fade in and out. If you looked at him the few times he paused, it was almost as if there were merely a memory of some form there, as he nearly became completely invisible. In his hands, he wielded a dagger and sword, both made out of a white and red striped candy James figured was a candy cane. However, the weapons also seemed to fade, and at the faintest movement or gust of air, they blurred and seemed to dissipate.


    In and of itself, the level 40 player looked pretty awesome, even decked out in the candied armor like he was. But as James watched him take down mob after mob, James realized he would be extremely problematic to face on the battlefield. First, because it seemed he had an innate dodge ability, meaning attacks made towards him actually seemed to have a chance to completely pass through his phantom form. Second, whenever he did make attacks, his weapons seemed to completely bypass any and all armor or attempts to block. Meaning he was dealing true damage, which was a tank''s biggest nightmare.


    Of course, the most terrifying thing about this party, was what James slowly came to realize as he watched them. The two level 35 members were not actually a part of their normal party. No, the way the Centurion, Trapper, and Phantom Blade interacted showed they were used to pairing together. The other two had just been dragged along for the purpose of the invasion. Which meant these three had been climbing as fast as they could, within BLANKs overly difficult dungeon. By only having the three of them, they gained experience at a faster rate, which was why they could climb faster than any others, and why James was certain they were the exception, not the norm, for BLANKs dungeon. A very good thing, because if there had been many more players like this, James would have been growing concerned for his players.


    That being said, he was still growing rather concerned for a certain group of players hanging out on his third floor. Stryke Force had sent ten members through the invasion gate, leaving five players behind, along with the dynamic duo of Axel42 and FlashFyre. They were currently preparing to defend the floor from the invaders, as it seemed Stryker123, the level 31 Paladin leader of Stryke Force, had given a platinum coin to the shrine of Yarx. He could see the enemies that were the invaders on his map approaching, and he was working to establish a defensive line to try and bring them down.


    "Say Rue." James watched the group establishing themselves, trying to set up a proper ambush for the five invaders laying waste to James''s third floor.


    "Say Glyax." She replied, already smiling. James knew the AI had spent enough time with him to know what he was thinking.


    "Think we should give them a BLANK style welcome?" James was already working to take control of the instance. Obviously, normally his dungeon floors controlled themselves with the AIs and programs set in place, as well as whatever unique style instructions James opted for with regards to his mobs. However, he still always retained the ability to personally control any instance he set his eyes on. It just took a lot of focus, turning the game away from a free for all simulation and more like a real time strategy game.


    "It would be rude of us not too." Rue chuckled darkly, her eyes flashing with excitement. "Otherwise, these guys are going to start spreading terrible rumors that you''re just an easy knockoff of what a true dungeon should be." Her words were meant in jest, but they did kind of sting. James was in no way shape or form a pushover. Granted, he wanted players to enjoy his dungeon, so had avoided making things too ridiculously powerful, though he had added in some trollish upgrades on more than one occasion.


    Also, while James did have a modicum of difficulty to his floor, he knew BLANKs dungeon would always be able to be more overpowered and difficult to his own. That was because there was a downside to the random dungeon style of mobs. He was stuck with only the ability to summon tier level specific mobs. Which meant he could only upgrade them a certain amount of times, before he ran out of upgrade points for them.


    Dungeons that had a single element, not only unlocked new mobs every tier, but could also bring over their lower leveled versions of their mobs, and them on the higher floors. This gave them access to even more upgrades and abilities. James could only imagine how fearsome his dickens would be if he could give them tier 2 and tier 3 upgrades.


    "Right, well then. Let''s see just how good these guys are." And with that, James switched from playing Dungeon Simulator to Dungeon Craft 2057.


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 140 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140


    "You''ve got to be kidding me." Stryker123 and his group of players had finally gotten to see BLANKs group of players advancing towards them in the swamp. SoulDemon and his party hadn''t slowed their advance, even as James tossed small packs of Snuggle-Woofs and Funky Monkeys at them to try and slow them down. His plan had been to stall the party and allow his adventurers as much time as he could to prepare their defenses. He had bought them maybe four minutes¡­


    "Well, they are definitely efficient." For the first time, Rue wasn''t eating a snack or drinking a drink. She was watching the battlefield intently, completely focused on what was going on. James had taken their forms into the overhead view of the instance, so that they could not only watch everything unfold around them, but so that he could have better control of the situation below.


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    "Agreed." The moment the mob aggro had picked up on the party, the Chaotic Sorcerer''s spells had gotten¡­more and less chaotic at the same time. That is to say, he seemed to be manipulating the spells he cast with more intent, allowing them to do the maximum amount of damage or crowd control as was needed for the situation. That was the unique trait of a Chaotic Sorcerer. Their spells could be tweaked by the player to apply additional effects, such as increased damage, more damage over time, crowd control, or even healing.


    Chaotic Sorcerers could also adjust the look and shape of the elemental spells they were launching. Earlier, the level 35 Chaotic Sorcerer, BurningJazzHands, was just launching blue fire and bright pink lightning around at mobs. When he got serious, his spells became a myriad of dazzling colors, and packed a lot of additional effects and damage. Meaning he had switched from just throwing around whatever, to casting prepared tweaked spells that he had likely hand crafted for a variety of situations.


    SoulDemon, on the other hand, began actively darting too and fro around the group, choosing to engage any and every mob that appeared before anyone else could react. His appearance seemed to fade even more, creating nearly a complete form of camouflage. James''s mobs just didn''t seem to be able to see him, until he had already made his first attack. By the time they reacted, he was darting away, fading back into shadows, as the sorcerer''s spells went to work.


    Any time a group of mobs collapsed on the party with a decent size of numbers, SoulDemon would begin dancing in and out of SpinToWin''s protective wall of shields, while Crikey launched a bunch of what appeared to be bear traps and trip wires. Any mobs that made the mistake of drawing too close to the wall of shields, would suddenly find themselves electrocuted and stunned by trip wires, or in severe pain and held in place by the bear traps. At which point, SoulDemon would unleash a combo of rapid attacks and skills to bring the closer mobs down, with the sorcerer cleaning up the ones in the back.


    Needless to say, James was certain they were gaining a whole lot of dungeon essence for BLANK, which James really didn''t want them to take back.


    "Man, I''m not even level thirty yet." Axel42 let out a heavy sigh, his eyes meeting FlashFyre''s as he spoke.


    The female necromancer laughed at him. "That''s because you stubbornly wanted to try and take down Old Man Jenkins with just the two of us."


    "Yeah, in hindsight, probably not my best decision." James noticed the Summoner hadn''t summoned any of his mobs yet. Having gotten to play around with the class himself, James was even more familiar with Axel42''s class now than he had been. He was certain the Summoner had been waiting to see what enemies they were up against, before he summoned his mobs.


    "You don''t say." FlashFyre, unlike Axel, had already amassed her set of mobs. Or, more appropriately, she had risen them from the grave. The necromancer had the ability to raise the dead. Funnily enough, by the game mechanics of DCO, things that shouldn''t have skeletons, did. This meant necromancers could summon skeletal mobs from anything they killed, once. They couldn''t summon skeletal mobs from the bodies of their dead mobs.


    Of course, not only could necromancers create skeletons, but the stronger they got, they could create zombies, golems, ghosts, etc. At level 20, they had the opportunity to choose what path of necromancer they wanted to be. Some paths allowed for them to summon zombies or ghosts or other undead creatures. Others, such as the path FlashFyre had chosen, allowed them to enhance the type of undead mob of their choice.


    FlashFyre had chosen the Path of Bones, allowing her to create stronger versions of her skeletal mobs. It also allowed her to combine skeletal mobs to create larger skeletons, uncreatively called Greater Skeletons. At level 29, she had the ability to control 10 regular skeletons, 5 skeletal mages, and 1 Greater Skeleton. When she hit level 30, she would be able to choose a new path, or could further go down the path of Bones.


    "You''ve got to admit, it was still awesome." The runes around Axel42''s wrists began to glow, as it seemed he had finally chosen what he was going to summon. "Though, I really wish I was level 30 right now." He let out a sigh and shook his head, two pentagrams glowing before him.


    "Maybe if we hadn''t gotten eaten by that mimic yesterday." FlashFyre shot him another look, which he just shrugged to in response. Apparently, they had come across quite a few misfortunes, and from the sounds of it, usually because of him.


    "I can''t help that I had to go bathroom alright. How was I supposed to know the toilet was going to be a mimic? Like, seriously, who does that?" The pentagrams before him continued to swirl, growing in size as they did. A moment later, two massive forms appeared before him.


    "Nice." James mumbled. He knew Axel42 was level 29, and had chosen, to James''s amusement, Monster Summoner as his level 20 subclass. That allowed him the ability to summon any mob he had killed, if he had slain it enough times. Essentially, depending upon the mob, he would earn a percentages towards completion, every time it fell. From what James knew, the amount needed to be defeated varied by the type and tier of the mob. Though, it seemed Axel42 had been doing his homework when it came to getting his percentages completed, because now in James''s swamp, a Steamosaurous and a Break-i-asarus both stood. Somewhere the steampunk dinosaurs were never meant to be.


    "Something something, fossil fuels." Rue said jokingly as the two mobs came into being. The Breaker was actually so large that its feet sunk deeply into the soft swampy mud, while its massive form broke through the trees around them. The Breaker let out a loud metallic roar in protest, and actually smashed down one of the massive trees with its tail, causing a trio of jolly dollies to let out a string of angry giggles as they ran towards the next tree. Conversely, the Steamer seemed perfectly content as it sunk a little further into the ground. It was already shifting into Siege Mode Panzer, preparing for a long-range assault. Axel42 had chosen his mobs very well.


    While a few of the members of Stryke Force eyed the arrival of the two steampunk mobs with more than a little annoyance, given the mobs massive size and destruction of the area around them, Stryker123 simply nodded in approval towards Axel. The summoner shrugged at a few who were shooting curses towards him, as he made his way to stand next to the portal to the second floor. FlashFyre did the same, putting the two of them the furthest away from danger, while their literal army of mobs now occupied more of the battlefield than anyone else. Which was exactly what it meant to be a pet class.


    The appearance of the dinosaur mobs actually caused BLANKs adventurers to pause their advance as well. SoulDemon eyed the two new additions to the battlefield with cautious apprehension, before his eyes moved down and began scanning the group of adventurers standing in his way. It was clear BLANKs adventurers intended to capture the point that was the portal to the floor, probably intending to camp out and take down any adventurers that came to challenge them, while farming mobs at the same time. An extremely efficient strategy, in James''s mind.


    SoulDemon looked back at his party, his eyes shifting from the healer, and the sorcerer. It was apparent the level 40 player was wondering if he could count on the two for whatever it was he had planned. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind.


    "I''ll take the players, the rest of you deal with the mobs." As he spoke, he sheathed his candy cane dagger, and drew out another candy cane sword. Then, he crossed both the swords across his chest, making an X, as he closed his eyes. As he stood there, silently, his form completely disappeared. A moment later, two glowing orbs appeared where his eyes should have been.


    "Let''s teach these scrubs the difference in our skill levels." His ethereal voice said with a cold chuckle. "I''ll show them what it means to get good."

 141 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141


    After watching two minutes of SoulDemon''s carnage on the battlefield against the adventurers, James had come to one simple conclusion. Phantom Blade''s were a bullshit class. Like seriously, the level 40 player seemed purely made to be a PvP player. And it was extremely detrimental to Stryke Force, Axel42, and FlashFyre, for a number of reasons.


    First, in the swamp, which was already barely lit by torchlight and dim sunlight fighting to pass through the dense canopy of trees, the two glowing eyes were barely noticeable. In fact, the few times James had looked away from the Phantom Blade as he made his approach on the adventurers, and then engaged them, James had lost track of him. Literally, if you didn''t focus on the two glowing bits of red light that were SoulDemon''s eyes, you would think they were just flickering reflections of shields or weapons.


    Second, he was fast. Like, assassin fast. His already invisible form was darting in and out so fast that the defensive contingent of Stryke Force actually seemed confused when his attacks started coming. It actually took them a few moments to realize they were, indeed, under attack. And those few seconds had been precious. Already, one of the players had been reduced to a glowing orb, that was going to have to wait to respawn. Which was something that the players couldn''t truly afford right now.


    Third, and the most important fact, was whatever type of ability SoulDemon was using in that form, James was pretty sure it gave him an even larger evade window. James had been watching the fight, and it didn''t seem like anyone had managed to even scratch the Phantom Blade. Of course, James was pretty sure SoulDemon was using his class''s cooldown skill. There was no way that OP form wasn''t his class cooldown. In fact, James was sure he was burning through a couple cooldowns. Those, combined with his already large level advantage, was allowing him to single handedly deal decisive blows to the adventurers.


    '' As for the other members from BLANKs team, they were at least not working as a one-man army. This was thanks to the fact that they didn''t seem to have the destructive power that SoulDemon did, and that their classes, save for the sorcerer, didn''t specialize in long range combat. Granted, James had watched Crikey threw out a hell of a lot of traps around SpinToWin''s defensive perimeter, so anyone coming up on the party was in for a good dozen or so nasty surprises. However, they were at least advancing a lot slower.


    The Steamosaurus was doing an awesome job launching long range attacks, and even though it was only a level 29 player''s summon, it was doing a small amount of damage to the higher leveled players. What''s more, SpinToWin''s spinning shield wall didn''t seem able to completely block the splash damage, meaning a few points of damage was making it through to the players. Though, chip damage wasn''t going to be decisive in this battle, especially with their healer, CheapHealz, keeping up a heal over time spell on the four of them.


    That was where FlashFyre''s army came in handy. The skeletal mages were launching long range attacks of their own, and because of their magical nature, they were causing more damage to the party than the physical attacks from the Steamer. With the magical and explosive barrage, BLANKs other adventurers advance had slowed to a crawl. Meaning they were buying James the time he needed to assemble his fluffy friends.


    "Oh, look, the sorcerer is doing something." Rue''s comment pulled James''s attention back to the group of BLANKs adventurers. He had been watching SoulDemon taking on all five of Stryke Force''s players at the same time, while Axel42 and Flashfyre watched cautiously from the portal. He was wondering if the duo was thinking about abandoning the fight. It was probably the best move for them, as they were extremely close to level 30. However, if they fled the fight now, James wasn''t sure his mob reinforcements would be able to turn the tide. He needed them to stay, at least a little longer.


    "What is he-" James''s question paused in his mouth. The sorcerer''s eyes were glowing a bright white, and all around him rainbow colors swirled. Great, just great. He was blowing his cooldown. Chaotic Sorcerers'' had a cooldown that enhanced the elemental damage of all of their spells by 50 percent and added on additional random status effects with a 15 percent chance per spell. On top of that, for the next 30 seconds, his spells wouldn''t cost him any mana. Normally this skill was saved for boss mobs in dungeons, during the massive burst burn phase. James figured BurningJazzHands figured this fight constituted the boss fight he would experience on this floor. Which was probably accurate.


    Burning his cooldown also spelled trouble for the mob army assembled before him. The tankiest of the two mobs were also the largest, the Breaker and the Greater Skeleton. While they had the highest amount of hit points and defensive stats, because they were the physically largest mobs, they were also going to be hit with a larger amount of the barrage of spells that was about to rain down upon them. And even a large health pool couldn''t protect you from a sudden blast of arcane might.


    The only saving grace, as James watched yellows and purples and oranges and neon colors of all kinds fly towards the mob army, was that Axel42 and FlashFyre were competent pet class users. After summoning their mobs, they had spread them out, to keep them from falling prey to any large aoe or dps burst spells. So, while James watched the breaker and Giant Skeleton bite the dust, BurningJazzHands 30 seconds of crazy dps only managed to bring down a few of the skeletal warriors and two of the skeletal mages. So, it sucked for James''s players, but wasn''t the end of the world.


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    "Right, well, at least he burned that now." James mumbled, turning his attention quickly back to his other task. Sure, he wanted to help the adventurers as soon as possible, but he also needed to make sure it was the most efficient and effective aid he could send. If he pulled the trigger on his ambush too soon, then there was a chance it would be ineffective.


    Which was why he had been carefully gathering up every single mob that existed on his third floor. He had tried to send Grandma Jenkins as well, but she was on the other side of the level, and apparently had an extremely slow walking speed. Of course, James should have seen that coming. She was after all, a very old lady who spent most of her days sitting on a rocking chair. Oops.


    Now however, the mobs that he realistically could gather in the proper amount of time had arrived. High above in the trees, James had managed to assemble 17 jolly dollies. On the ground, he had gathered together a combined force of 6 giant playthons, 8 of his 10 total snuggle woofs, 3 funky monkeys, and a grand total of 12 of his teddy bear mobs. Six of those were mounted knights, 3 were light knights, and 3 were regular old teddy knights.


    With these mobs assembled, he prepared to unleash his attack. As he had learned from his experience playing real time strategy games such as StarCraft X, he knew just sending in all your units at the same time was often a foolish move. He needed to group them appropriately, and send them in waves that would best disrupt, and then destroy, the enemy. The only positive that James could see right now about the situation, was that SoulDemon had split himself from the party. And you should never split yourself from the party. Especially in a dungeon.

 142 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142


    "Here comes the first wave." James exclaimed excitedly as he sent the first group of mobs rushing towards the two warring groups of adventurers. His initial strike force was meant to catch the large group of BLANKs party members off guard. They were currently focused on bringing down the summoned mobs from the two-pet class adventurers and were solely focused on that task. Of course, James figured that was partly hubris, granted how easily they had walked through his swampland so far, and how easily they had been dispatching mobs.


    James also figured they felt relatively safe, given the number of traps that Crikey had laid around their position, and the ever-swirling protective wall of shields that SpinToWin had up. Attacking such a fortified group, especially with melee type units, was usually extremely ill advised. But James didn''t care. Because that was exactly what he planned to do.


    Phase one of operation Get Stuffed, the name James and Rue had given to this aid mission, was to clear out all the traps. To do that, James assigned Four of his Giant Playthons, each with a mounted knight, to rush the adventurers. With their massive size and health pool, James expected the Giant Playthons to actually pave the way for his later units. The mounted knights on top, with their long reaching lances, were also the most capable to reach in past the wall of spinning shields.


    He really didn''t expect this wave of mobs to do that much damage to the adventurers. After all, there were four of them, two of which were level 39, and James was just sending in eight level 34 mobs to attack them. Not something that would bring them down. But this was just the start of the games. The opening attack, the quick zealot rush before he followed up with dragoons! Er...snuggle-woofs.


    As expected, the mobs, when they clashed with the party, didn''t have much impact. However, they did exactly what James had wanted them to, and then some. The massive size of the Giant Playthons made them quite formidable within the swamps. The fact they were stuffed animals in a giant swamp, made them doubly so. Their massive forms sucked in the swampy water, making them even more dense and stuffed. Plus, it gave them an added effect that James hadn''t even planned on. Apparently, swamp soaked Playthons smelled terrible.


    As the four Giant Playthons worked in unison to surround the party, going in a circle pattern counter to the circling wall of shields, the mounted knights tried their best to land attacks. Of course, not only were they contending with the fact that the centurion class''s swirling shields were blocking attacks, but their mounts weren''t exactly having an easy time circling their foes.


    One of the giant Playthons had three large bear traps stuck its side. Another had snagged itself on some type of jagged spike strip Crikey had planted. Ripping itself free of the trap had torn a massive whole in the poor mob, spilling out stuffing like crazy. Crikey also seemed to have thrown down a few traps that operated very much like mines and claymores. One of the Giant Playthons was barely able to move having taken a rather large explosive blast to its upper part of its body.


    Their close proximity to the party members also put themselves in grave risk of attacks from the chaotic sorcerer. Not only that, but Axel42 and FlashFyre''s mobs had continued launching their attacks, raining damage and devastation in a wide birth around the party. Meaning James''s mobs were also taking the splash damage. A loud cheer as two of the Playthons went down, coming from the direction of the gate, told James that the duo had leveled up to level 30. Which meant now, they were likely to stick around for the rest of the fight. Which was perfect.


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    "Do I have to do everything myself?" SoulDemon yelled out as he watched his party members getting surrounded. He had finished a third adventurer, leaving him dueling just Stryker123 and a rather tanky cleric by the name of Nyx. The cleric had chosen not the option of light, but instead was a cleric of war. Essentially, he was like a paladin, but minus the damage ability and with stronger healing ability. Which was why he and Stryker123 were the last two standing against SoulDemon. The only thing going for Stryker123 and Nyx was the fact that SoulDemon''s cooldown skills had worn off.


    "Well, you''re the one that split the freaking party mate." Crickey called out even as he fiddled with a new trap in his hand. He tossed the object towards the nearest Giant Plaython, one of the two remaining, and the trap lit up with a rapid set of flashing lights. The Giant Plaython stopped dead in its tracks, apparently stunned by the ball, as it flew closer to the mob. The moment it impacted the Giant Plaython''s large stuffed head, the flashing ball exploded, taking the mob with it. The poor mounted knight was flung backwards by the attack, and actually splashed down into the swamp atop the spike trap.


    Crikey let out a loud cheer, and made a motion with his hand, pulling up his own window. "On the other hand, achievements for days in here guys. Just got one called UnBearable. Ha"


    SoulDemon unleashed a set of rapid attacks towards Stryker123, causing the paladin to take multiple quick steps backwards, unable to block the phantom attacks with his large shield. Just before the phantom blade was able to land an attack on the paladin, Nyx came through with a glowing mace. The weapon smashed down near the phantom blade and sent out a burst of light, causing SoulDemon to curse out loud and jump back. It seemed his phantom state increased physical dodge, but magical aoe damage was still a danger to him.


    "And we will hunt them all down later. For now, I thought we were going to farm some PvP achievements." SoulDemon growled in Nyx''s direction as the cleric began chanting, preparing another smite. The two were trying their best against SoulDemon, but James could see the two members of Stryke Force were low on mana and running out of life. "After all, I''m sure the PvP achievements are worth more experience."


    "He makes a good point." James mumbled to Rue. Considering the fact that Dungeon Wars unlocked at Tier 3, that meant the achievements players were going to get from them would have to be level appropriate. Which meant this dungeon war was going to be a good experience farm not only for James and BLANK, but also their players. James figured given SoulDemon and his friends'' levels, they had probably gone achievement hunting quite often within BLANKs dungeon, on top of working a small three-man team. Meaning they were even more skilled than James had initially given them credit for. That was fine though, because it just meant James had to up his plan


    "You going to ask them out on a date next?" Rue stuck her tongue out at James but nodded in agreement. "But yeah, they are good players, I''ll give them that."


    "However, you and I both know, being good isn''t enough to survive in a dungeon." James grinned as he turned back to his assembled mobs. He had initially planned to launch these mobs out in three more waves. One consisting of snuggle woofs, one consisting of jolly dollies, and then the final one with his remaining teddy knights and giant Playthons, all buffed by the crazy and awesome funky monkeys. His further evaluation of the top players from BLANKs dungeon though, made him change his mind. Especially because he got the sense Crikey and SpinToWin weren''t far off from level 40. And James really wanted that sweet experience from their deaths.

 143 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143


    "Fly my pretties." Rue cackled as James launched all of his mobs for the final attack. As if sensing the pixie''s command, the funky monkey''s let out their horrible, terrible, somewhat comedic screams. Unfortunately, while the cries seemed to stun both Crikey and BurningJazzHands from BLANKs dungeon, Stryker123 also seemed to get stunned. Which was the exact opposite of what James had been planning. The moment the stun debuff appeared, SoulDemon launched another flashy combo, which finished off the valiant leader.


    "Damnit Monkeys." James cursed. He had totally spaced the dangers of using his mobs to aid players during the dungeon wars. Area of effect abilities and spells were bound to hit not just enemies but allies as well. On the plus side, at least when James was directly controlling mobs in an instance, he didn''t have to worry about his players accidently drawing aggro. There was nothing worse than someone accidently pulling mob aggro during a PvP event.


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    Achievement Unlocked.


    James stared at the popup hesitantly. The timing of it was just too perfect. Sure, it was a new achievement, but he was pretty certain it was also going to be a slap in the face. Still, he figured he could afford a few seconds to look at it, as his mobs rushed to join the battle.


    Achievement Unlocked- Et Tu? ¨C Aid invasion forces in the death of your own players


    Reward- 1 Dungeon Token


    James shook his head and closed the window. He wasn''t about to complain about a free dungeon token. Besides, Stryker123 was almost dead to begin with. However, he couldn''t help but feel bad. He was trying his best to help the adventurers, not hinder them. At least the achievement hadn''t awarded him with any experience, then he would have really felt like a dick.


    "Here comes the best part." Rue watched gleefully as the mobs zeroed in on their respective targets. James had sent the bulk of his mobs towards the tank formation, mainly because he would need to continue to break through their defenses and disrupt their healing. However, that didn''t mean he hadn''t figured out a way to deal with SouldDemon. The fact that Stryker123 had fallen, actually made the task of bringing down the Phantom Blade a little easier. And perhaps even more awesome.


    "Do you get the feeling the dungeon is trying to get rid of us?" CheapHealz asked as he and the rest of BLANKs members that were in their defensive circle turned to look at James''s army of mobs. Eight snuggle woofs were rushing towards them, one of them larger than the others, a fluffy horn on its head. With eight of the pack mobs together, they were guaranteed to keep their attack buff for a much longer time. Which spelled danger for the invaders.


    However, that wasn''t the true terror of the attack force. Just as James had in RTS games, he incorporated a mixture of ground and air troops in this attack. On the back of the flying monkeys his two remaining mounted knights clung tightly with their lances leveled towards the ground. The great flying mob duo that had been the brainchild of Rue offered James quite the advantage during this fight. Mainly because the adventurers couldn''t possibly block all of the incoming attacks and debuffs being launched at them.


    To secure the kill, James sent his remaining two giant Playthons to ensure the adventurers didn''t have an opening to escape. The serpents also created a barricade meant to keep SoulDemon from regrouping with his party if he wanted too. Another benefit James had in the current battle, was that he knew, for the most part, what the classes could do. Sure, he had little knowledge on the Phantom Blade class, but after watching Soul Demon, he had figured some of its tricks out. The most important James had though, was the range of the healing spells that a High Cleric of Light had. And unfortunately for the Phantom Blade, he was out of range. You really should never split the party.


    "Soul, we need you." SpinToWin called out to his party leader. SoulDemon glanced back and saw the incoming mob army bearing down on his partners, and silently cussed. With reckless abandon he tore into Nyx, bringing the weary cleric down in a split second. A moment later, SoulDemon was left staring at the only two members remaining on James''s side, Axel42 and FlashFyre.


    "Seriously?" SoulDemon had the exact same comment that James had. Rue however, had started clapping and cheering. The moment the Phantom Blade had finished off the Cleric, FlashFyre had grabbed Axel42 and pulled him in for a long kiss. The surprised Summoner stood there dumbstruck for a moment, before he wrapped his arms around the necromancer, and really started to get into it.


    The distraction, which FlashFyre had apparently fully intended, had its effect. In that moment of pause as SoulDemon tried to rationalize what the hell was going on, FlashFyre''s skeletal mages launched a barrage of attacks on the Phantom Blade.


    "Oh, I like her." Rue nodded approvingly; her eyes full of mischief. "A girl after my own heart." James had to admit, it was a clever plan. He was pretty sure he would have been just as surprised if he was in SoulDemon''s shoes. After all, the last thing you expected when you raided anything, an enemy dungeon, or were battling it out in a large PvP map, was to find two players making out. Totally not the scene for that.


    "Sorry." FlashFyre shot Phantom Blade a knowing wink as she pulled away from Axel42. The summoner blinked a few times, looking around, before he realized what had just happened. Taking in the scene, the summoner seemed to quickly give his own mob an order, as his Steamosaurus turned its guns on the Phantom Blade as well. Of course, by the time he did that, SoulDemon had recovered his senses as well.


    "I''m going to enjoy this." The phantom blade said darkly, his eyes burning with fury at FlashFyre. In response, the necromancer shrugged and took another step closer to the portal to leave the level. She really was playing dirty. James was starting to like the duo even more.


    "Can''t let you hurt my girlfriend." Axel42 responded to the Phantom Blade. The summoner placed himself in front of FlashFyre, as if trying to protect her from SoulDemon. Granted, James was pretty sure the Necromancer didn''t need any protecting.


    "Seriously? A white knight?" SoulDemon shook his head. "Freaking casuals." Without warning he dashed forward. His form became a blur as he approached the two, likely intending to kill them in a single strike, before either could port away. With them dead, the attacking summoned mobs would fade away as well, and he would be able to go help his teammates finish off all the mobs James had sent after them. It was the logical play. Of course, there was one small flaw in the plan. SoulDemon didn''t look up.


    Even as his form blurred, James''s Jolly Dollies burst into action. He had ordered all 17 of the jolly dollies to begin launching their attacks the moment SoulDemon moved from his spot. FlashFyre''s distraction attempt had bought the dollies the last few moments they needed to get themselves fully in position.


    As such, when SoulDemon dashed forward, 17 different jolly dolly hooks were launched from above the treetops. While the adventurer was moving at an enhanced speed, which was going to give him an advantage against the players, it didn''t have the same effect on the jolly dollies.


    "Thank you aim assist." James cheered as he watched the hooks hit their marks. Of course, this wasn''t just the normal aim assist that the game had given the mobs. The latest skill he had upgraded on the jolly dollies, knowing full well that adventurers were just going to keep getting stronger and faster as they leveled up, was a skill simply called Jessie. James had no idea where the skill name had come from, but it had given the jolly dollies access to an improved aim assist for their snaring skill. The improved aim also upgraded the animation for their skill. Instead of just chucking their pull strings with the rings down at adventurers, or dropping them down and yanking them up quickly, they twirled the strings around their heads like a lasso, before launching at the prefect time.


    The end result was that SoulDemon found himself snared by half a dozen different doll hooks. The dollies all pulled up and moved about in different directions, as the level 40 player struggled violently against the strings, doing his best to try and break free, the ranged attacks on him continued. His efforts were also in vain, courtesy of an additional buff, Braided Wire, James had chosen for his dollies. He had added that upgrade after watching Z and his party cut through the dollies'' strings on more than one occasion. With the upgrade, the strings gained rather high defense rating, making them ridiculously hard to cut. Of course, the dollies were still rather weak and squishy, so if one party member was caught, all the others had to do was kill the dolly to free their friends. The only problem was, SoulDemon had split himself away from the party, putting him at mercy the disturbing and nightmarish little dollies.


    "You''ve got to be shitting me." SoulDemon called out as more attacks launched into him. He was being drawn and quartered by creepy little dolls, while skeletons launched magical attacks at him, and a steampunk stegosaurus blasted him with a back mounted artillery cannon. Needless to say, it was probably the most bizarre thing anyone, on either side of the fight, had seen. Meanwhile, his party was being pounced to death by 8 fluffy wolf/Siberian husky looking animals, two brightly colored stuffed animal snakes, and flying monkeys, with bongo drums, who had teddy bears riding their backs. Even as the fight came to conclusion, James was pulling up the recording for this instance. He had just found his next viral video. What''s more, he was really hoping this battle had been broadcast to everyone tuning into the dungeon wars. It was just too good.


    Level Up!


    Achievement Unlocked.


    Achievement Unlocked.


    As SoulDemon and his party burst apart, leaving James''s dungeon and rewarding him with a rush of experience, two different achievement messages popped up.


    Achievement Unlocked- Cock Blocked (1) ¨C Defeat a group of invaders in possession of over 100 essence


    Reward- 500xp, 100 resources, 1 dungeon token


    Achievement Unlocked- Jolly Good- Kill an adventurer who has been damaged by 5 or more Jolly Dollies


    Reward- 2000xp, 300 resources, 1 Jolly Dolly Upgrade Point.


    Alright, now it was too good.


    "Well Rue," James closed the achievement windows and looked at the pixie. So far, he was having a blast with the dungeon wars. However, he they had just started, and he was sure the novelty would wear off sooner or later. That being said, since he planned to wait till the end of the first day to look over his earned essence, to get a better idea of how much he would have come the first face to face battle on the Fields of Battle, he had some time to spare. And, with all the achievements he was gaining, he figured he should spend some resources. "I''m thinking it''s time to build some more traps." Traps were going to be vital against invaders. Not only that, he needed to better trap the Shrine of Yarx, at least during dungeon wars. He couldn''t let invaders benefit from that stupid shrine. Not now.

 144 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144


    Glyax Tier 3 Rank 6 Dungeon


    Mob Type: Random


    456,912 xp


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    23,088xp to next Rank


    143,088 to next Tier


    Resources: 305 of 5,000


    Currency: 13 copper 58 silver 26 gold 0 platinum


    Dungeon Tokens: 27


    Dungeon Essence: 14,018


    "How do you think we did?" James was looking over his information from the previous day''s dungeon wars. Well, it was still technically the first day of the dungeon war. He had set his alarm to wake him up when there was just five hours remaining till the next rollover, so that he could get a good gauge of how much essence he would have earned by the time day three hit.


    "I would definitely say BLANK is in for a big surprise." Rue grinned devilishly at him as she flexed her small pixie frame. He was certain that type of a pose would be much more terrifying in her Beastkin Berserker avatar. But currently, it was simply comical.


    "Think we should try to step up our involvement on day two?" Other than when SoulDemon and his party had invaded, James had kept his direct influence out of the dungeon war as much as possible. Mainly because he was curious to see how his adventurers would do during the first day, and also because he just couldn''t split his attention that many ways. When you had a 10,000 adventurers diving into your dungeon, well no human would be able to manage all of that. After all, that would have been 1,000 instances that James would have needed to manage. He may have had the ability to make the tentacles to deal with even more screens, but he didn''t have the eyes or brain capacity to do it. He wasn''t a freaking beholder.


    "Hmmmm." Rue looked over the screen, her eyes darting over the information. He could tell she was thinking about something. The pixie had a certain look she got when she was truly plotting something.


    "I would say you should focus on just bringing down any groups that have overwhelming power, but not interfere too much for now." She waived her hand at the stats. "After all, not even I know what the costs will be for summoning our avatars, bosses, and other aspects during the field of battle."


    "So, shouldn''t we try to farm more essence?" The more invaders they killed, the more essence they would gain. Additionally, the achievements that had been pouring in from Dungeon Wars had really been helping him boost his dungeon. James had not only continued earning the stackable Dungeon War specific quests, but the influx of players, both his and BLANKs, had allowed for him to unlock multiple mob specific achievements. Which was always nice, as those gave him additional upgrade options for his mobs.


    Speaking of, one of the latest he had gained, had really made him chuckle. Normally, the mob specific achievements allowed him to merely gain an additional upgrade point for his mobs. However, this achievement had given him a unique upgrade, similar to Steve''s unique transformation for his mimic. The mobs in question, were his Teddy Bear mobs. An achievement called Bad Fur Day had given him the additional transmogrification option for his Teddy Bears, allowing him to transform any teddy knights into stuffed squirrels instead. Which he had of course done to half of his teddies on his third floor instantly. James was secretly trying to figure out how to recreate some scenes from McStuffin''s adventurers now that he had teddies and squirrels¡­


    "That''s probably what BLANK is going to do." Rue said dryly. After James had finished adding in additional traps to his third floor, and upgrading his mobs, he and Rue had decided to watch a few more invasions into BLANKs dungeon. What they had witnessed was much different than the earlier invasions. BLANK was very obviously taking an active role in the dungeon invasions now. James''s parties barely had any time in BLANK''s dungeon before they were swarmed by the enemy boss mobs, or world boss mobs. Honestly, James had already heard some grumbling from his players regarding invading BLANKs dungeon.


    "Yeah, good point." While BLANK was definitely reaping the benefits of slaughtering James''s adventurers, there was one thing James had noticed. Killing adventurers was one thing but killing invaders who had already killed some mobs or other players, was even more lucrative. It was a high risk, high reward type of situation. Whenever an invader who was holding on to a bunch of essence died, James gained not only the experience from them, but also all the essence as well. Of course, there was always the risk of the player leaving before they could be killed, which would result in the loss of all the essence. It seemed BLANK was going for the guaranteed essence of killing the adventurers as soon as possible, and as such, keeping James from even the chance of earning some essence from those invasions.


    Conversely, James had made quite a decent amount of essence off of BLANKs invaders who had gotten too greedy. That, or those who had just seemed to be having too much fun. Other than a few groups like SoulDemon''s, most of the invaders James had seen from BLANKs dungeon had really just run around laughing and having a good time. It was almost as if the thought of James''s dungeon and all its random, chaotic uniqueness, was intoxicating. They were taking risks to see just what other mobs lay about, and what other items they could get the mobs to drop. Quite a few had actually wiped by allowing the Terminus and B.L.U. to combine, because they were interested in seeing what would happen.


    In essence, BLANK''s overly increased difficulty had been depriving a lot of their players from the main part of the game, the crazy, joyful fun that was usually an MMO. As such, even though Dungeon Wars were important to the players, they had been also letting themselves relax and have fun. That was, rather uniquely rewarding in James''s eyes. It also validated to him that he must be doing something right. And hopefully, it was going to pay off.


    "So, shall we just upgrade some mobs, and see how day two plays out as well?" They had already adjusted their traps across all three floors. Something that James had been torn on. He needed them to ensure invaders had a lower chance of surviving to return to BLANKs dungeon, but that also meant his own players may fall in the traps as well. Granted, that was great for experience, and there was a good chance he was going to hit Tier 4 at the end of this Dungeon War. However, it wouldn''t matter if it cost him too much in the form of essence, and he lost the Dungeon War.


    "Probably for the best." Rue let out a heavy sigh and turned away from him. "Wake me up if anything interesting happens." She summoned the tent that she sometimes slept in and flew lazily inside. Once she was past the tent flap, she waived her hand again. Just as the flap closed, James was able to catch a glimpse inside. Her clothes had changed with that hand waive, and James was more than a little interested in seeing what she was wearing again.


    "Uh, alright then." James stared hard at the tent, his blood rushing through his body. He was excited and nervous for dungeon wars. However, there really wasn''t much he could do during the second day, other than ensure overpowered groups were dealt with in an appropriate matter. The really important day was going to be day three. That being said, while time had already begun moving slow ever since the dungeon wars started, now it seemed to come to a standstill.


    James had a little over 24 hours to go, until he and Rue stepped onto the fields of battle, alongside all of his adventurers, to face off against BLANK. Meaning James had 24 hours of sitting around and twiddling his tentacles. And now Rue had just completely teased him with that stunt. A huge part of him wanted to go over to the tent and push the flap, which she hadn''t zipped up, aside. The other part of him realized he was just a floating eyeball with tentacles. Not only that, he wasn''t sure how she would react if he just barged in on her. Usually barging in on a scantily clad sleeping woman was frowned upon. And even if she was an AI, doing that just seemed inappropriate. Though, he was certain she was doing this solely to mess with or test him. Damned Pixie.


    Angrily, James turned away from the tent, and pulled up his second floor. He needed to get his mind off of Rue, and there was something, he realized, that he could still do. There were, after all, other aspects of being a dungeon core that he had been neglecting recently. Mainly, world bosses. BLANK had summoned its world bosses'' multiple times against James invaders, it was only fair if James returned the favor. Besides, because of Rue''s antics, James really needed something to distract himself. Plus, he was certain the knowledge he created the world bosses without her would drive her insane. In other words, equal payback.

 145 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145


    James had always been told growing up that there was a price for aggression. Sure, he wasn''t a terribly angry person, and he felt he usually controlled his temper quite well. Plus, the only time he had actually seen a ''price'' for anger was with Dwight getting suspended after knocking James out. That really didn''t seem a steep price for the bully to pay, and James knew the only reason the bully had even gotten in trouble, was because Xander, for some reason, had turned the video data from James''s AR glasses over to the authorities.


    However, James had now learned a new price for aggression. And, also learned that perhaps being passive aggressive was even more costly than actively being aggressive. The current price being 25 dungeon tokens, and 30 V coins spent to get just one World Boss mob for his second floor that he finally approved of. In other words, James only had 2 dungeon tokens remaining, and had spent essentially an additional 300 dollars, to get this world boss. All because he had been upset at Rue teasing him the way she had. Hell, he was pretty sure that damned greedy pixie would have shown her sleeping outfit if he offered her up the equivalent of 550 dollars.


    "At least this is worth it." James grumbled as he looked over the world boss he had finally selected. It may have taken a lot of rerolls, but at least he finally got one that worked for his floor. If this was to be his last night of immersion, he figured the cost could at least be worth it. He was going to go out with a bang. Literally.


    M.I.N.E. (Militarized Industrial Nuclear Explorer) Craft


    Steampunk Object World Boss


    Lvl 40


    HP- 50000


    MP- 50000


    ATK - 0


    DEF - 500


    Unique Passive


    Increased Velocity- For every minute of its descent, the M.I.N.E. Craft gains an additional 100 DEF but loses 1,000 HP


    Iron Sky- Every minute of its descent, the M.I.N.E. Craft will have (1+Min) x Min pieces break off. The M.I.N.E. Craft will lose 15 HP per piece removed in this manner.


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    Collateral Damage- pieces from the Debris Field will descend at an increased rate in a random pattern. Pieces of debris have 15 HP, a 70% chance to dodge, and do 500 damage in a 20-foot radius.


    ALIENS!- As the M.I.N.E. Craft approaches, strange alien creatures will take the opportunity to attack any and all creatures on the floor. On contact, aliens will detonate and destroy everything within a five-foot radius. Aliens have 1 HP and are noticeable by their distinct hissing.


    Extinction x2 ¨C After 10 minutes the M.I.N.E. craft will impact. Upon impact, everything in the instance will be destroyed, and all constructs and terrain will be destroyed to create a nuclear wasteland.


    Fallout- Any players who return to the instance will be exposed to radiation. Any mobs that generate into a nuclear wasteland following the M.I.N.E. Craft''s explosion will arrive with a unique mutation.


    SKYNET ¨C In the event of the uncontrolled descent of a M.I.N.E. Craft, defensive turrets will deploy in order to provide ground forces the opportunity to destroy the craft before it impacts. IF the M.I.N.E. Craft impacts, it will result in a World Ending Event.


    Part of what James liked about the world boss for his second floor, was the irony of the whole situation. His second floor was inhabited by Steampunk Dinosaurs. It would only be poetic if they were killed in a massive catastrophic even from a piece of metal falling from the sky. The other part of course, was the joke that Minecraft ruined the world. He may have gotten himself unhealthily absorbed in a Minecraft game for a few months when he was younger. After all, it was one of the few games that you could play both in and out of immersion. However, it was one of the few games that had changed very little during its entire existence, and one that had never had a sequel released, just constant upgrades. There were some people who had servers on MineCraft that had been up for nearly 50 years now.


    There had even been a massive criminal case a few years ago when some players had hacked their way into one of the oldest MineCraft servers and loaded the entire server with TnT, which they trigged to detonate by summoning a single ghast in the map. When the owner logged back in, the ghast attacked him with a fire blast, and set off the TnT. The entire server was destroyed. The P.L.O.T. had since created extremely strict guidelines and protections against hacking into other servers and had led to the establishment of national immersion treasures. You could actually appeal for not only increased protection for your private servers, but also earn a general income based upon your unique server and invention, if it had the ability to appeal to the masses, consisted of 10,000 or more active users on a single instance, or constituted over a year of real time, daily effort.


    "Time for a history lesson." James chuckled as he hit the submit button on his new world boss mob. While normally players avoided his dungeon at night, opting instead to hang out in town with their friends, or to sleep in game during the night hours, dungeon wars seemed to have changed that. Players were still coming and going within his dungeon. Not only that, because he had taken so long choosing his second floor boss mob, mainly due to his growing frustration and a twenty minute long argument with himself over spending V Coins to continue rerolling, or be stuck with a giant purple and green steampunk Dinosaur, the second day of Dungeon Wars had begun.


    With the second day started, players who had already done their day 1 invasions, were now able to begin their second day efforts. And while some of James''s normal players were resting up, likely wanting to go at day 2 with the same type of vigor and passion as they had on day 1, or debating even stepping into BLANKs candy fueled nightmare, it seemed BLANKs players had a different opinion.


    And when James implied BLANKs players¡­he meant two sets in particular. James couldn''t help but grin as the now familiar message popped across his screen, indicating his dungeon had been invaded. He already knew that, and the flashing light on the instance wasn''t needed. That was because he had learned during day 1, that you could set up alerts for enemy players as well during dungeon wars. As such, James had set up an alert of SoulDemon and his party. And, they were currently making their way into James''s second floor, likely intending to farm it for much longer than they had gotten in on the first day. After all, they were good enough players to know that while the third-floor mobs had been able to bring them down, there was a strong chance nothing on the second floor could even harm them.


    Of course, that excluded the level 50 mimics, and the level 50 Boss Mob that was the Perfect Cognivore. And, obviously unknown to even them, the M.I.N.E. Craft had a pretty good chance to bring them down as well. Because while James was certain the ground weapons that deployed when the M.I.N.E. Craft appeared would be helpful in bringing down the world boss mob, he doubted the dungeon mobs, nor his players, would choose to kill the boss mob over the invaders. Or, more certainly, SoulDemon and his party would probably insist on killing players and mobs over the world boss.

 146 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146


    "This dungeon is ridiculous." Spin to win was watching as grenades rained down against his swirling shields from the thick grass that covered James''s second floor. It seemed the strongest of BLANKs players hadn''t been idle following their less than elegant defeat at the hands of James''s dollies. All three of the main group had broken past level 40, meaning Crikey and SpinToWin now had a new class. CheapHealz and BurningJazzHands meanwhile, were each level 37. They had not been idle at all.


    "It''s still weaker than our Candy Dungeon." SoulDemon was wading through the sea of grass, killing every Philosoraptor he came upon with ease. He paused after the latest batch, looking down at the steampunk creatures. "Though, these items can probably be combined with our candied ones to create much stronger gear."


    James stared hard at the Phantom Blade as he watched SoulDemon flip through his inventory list. While James had no idea what he was looking at, he could only wonder what the player was thinking. So far, James''s players had only been crafting gear according to what was dropped on a particular floor. How had no one thought to combine the materials across multiple floors? Come to think of it, why hadn''t James thought about that¡­


    "Hey Ru-" James stopped himself. The pixie was still asleep, and he was still upset with her. So, instead of asking her to take a note for him, he set up a quick personal message to send to her. He delayed the send time for another 10 hours, so that she would receive it when she was likely awake, and he was freed up. He doubted his attention would be needed much in his dungeon after the next 10 hours. After all, his main adventurers will have been in and likely doing their invasions by then, and if not, James was certain all of the gung-ho players from BLANKs dungeon will have completed their day 2 invasions by then. Meaning it would a perfect time for him to see about crafting some new items. Hell, maybe he could make some unique gear before the battle started on the fields of battle even.


    "Well keep your eyes out for that mini boss." The group had slowly been making their way closer to James''s massive city scape, while systematically killing every single mob they saw. SpinToWin had chosen to continue his tanky path and was now classified as a Phalanx. It was an upgrade from Centurion, that increased the size of the swirling shields he could summon. Not only that, the number of them increased, creating a nearly impenetrable wall of shields that he could focus in various areas around the party as needed. His defense stats had also increased, and he had changed out his candied sword for a spear instead. The shaft of the spear seemed to be carved out of a¡­popsicle stick, and the bladed portion was made from a hard, colored, clear like substance. After observing BLANKs dungeon, James was guessing it was formed from Jolly Rancher candy.


    "You mean the one with that awesome chainsword for a tail?" Normally, James would be concerned that SoulDemon''s team had that information already. However, two things prevented James from being surprised. First, 10,000 people had invaded his dungeon. That meant 10,000 players had begun spreading and sharing all the information they had on the other dungeon. James''s players had been doing the same thing. He had confirmed by checking out the player reddit during some of his down time the day before.


    Second, James happened to know, firsthand, that SoulDemon''s team had learned about the chainsword weapons from Z''s team. The Knights Who Go Ni had invaded the third floor of BLANKs dungeon the day before. Because they had invaded the third, and hardest, of BLANKs floor, only a few players from BLANKs player pool had been able to join the instance to stop the invasion. Those players, of course, had been SoulDemon''s team.


    The fight between the two groups had been epic. At the time, only SoulDemon had been above level 40, making the fight really rather interesting. While BLANKs players had the level advantage on three of their players, all five of the knights were level 37 when they invaded. Not to mention, all five of the knights had their teamwork down. SoulDemon and his party were really centered just on SoulDemon, SpinToWin, and Crikey. The two level 35s at the time had actually made some mistakes that nearly cost them the win.


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    During the fight, both parties had come to acknowledge the other''s skill, and they had actually been chatting, mid battle, about each other''s gear. In particular, SpinToWin had been calling out to Oak while they parties were battling. Oak had been happy to share details, even as he was fighting for his life against SoulDemon. Indra versus Phantom Blade had been a truly awe-inspiring fight to watch. Sadly, the fight had come to a rather swift end before it a true conclusion could be decided. BLANK had dropped some upgraded ''Da Breakers'' from the ceiling of his dungeon on top of Med Ic and Faust. Essentially, BLANK had dropped the candy mob version of a boulder on top of The Knights Who Go NI''s squishy party members. With both down, it had been a quick battle for SoulDemon and his party to clean up.


    Though, just as James watched Z get brought down, he was pretty sure he saw more Da Breaker''s drop down on SoulDemon''s party, killing them and likely snagging any extra experience they had earned from them for BLANK as well. Xander''s kids had been doing their best to keep their level advantage after all. While James had managed to hit Tier 3 Rank 6, last he checked, BLANK had hit Tier 3 Rank 8. Ugh.


    "Yes, that one." SoulDemon finished another pack of Philosoraptor as they finally reached the entrance to James''s steampunk town. "We need to kill it before it can combine with the Terminus. After that, we can take on the boss and free farm some." The others nodded and they began walking casually into the Steampunk City.


    "Think the others will be able to keep the players at bay?" Crikey, whose class had upgraded to Expert Trapper, asked as he set a tripwire trap at the entrance to the town. His subclass option increased the lifespan of his traps, the number of traps he could set, and their power. James had to admit, between Crikey, SpinToWin, and SoulDemon, that trio was definitely a threat to be worried about. He would be keeping an eye out for them on the Fields of Battle.


    "They know what they''re doing. Besides, I doubt we have to worry about anyone that gets past them." SoulDemon paused as he eyed the path they were walking on. A sound could be heard from one of the other alleyways, a grinding sound James knew all too well. B.L.U. was approaching rapidly, along with his pack of velocity raptors and philosoraptors. Of course, James had been the ones to send them towards the party. This was all part of James''s evil plan. Which had been developed the moment he heard about SoulDemon''s party''s plan.


    They had invaded alongside another party of five, which consisted of two healers, a paladin, and two assassins. They were going to set up near the entrance to the floor, and just murder every party that stepped in to stop the invaders. Kind of a dick move, but something James had expected. At the same time, SoulDemon and his party were going to take down the mini boss and main boss and farm the mobs up for core essence and materials. After 30 minutes, they would retreat back to BLANKs dungeon and trade in the essence for Dungeon War gear. It was a solid plan.


    Of course, James had also learned that players couldn''t leave a floor during the dungeon war while they were engaged with a boss mob. MercerEffect''s team had been lucky, as they had bailed the moment the boss mob showed up, without attacking it. Some other teams James had seen had been less fortunate, finding that while they were engaged with a boss mob, they could not leave a floor. Which James had to admit, was a nice mechanic thrown in. It meant people couldn''t try and challenge a boss, and then just use their ability to leave the instance and head back to their dungeon as an escape route to conserve their experience and dungeon essence.


    As such, James had purposefully sent B.L.U. towards SoulDemon and his party. While James had debated summoning the Terminus and having him combine with B.L.U., he was sure SpinToWin would draw the aggro in order to let his party members escape from the massive secret boss and teleport out. And since SoulDemon had the majority of their dungeon essence, he was the one James really needed to shut down.


    So, he was baiting them. He was going to let them kill B.L.U., and then star the battle with the Terminus. The moment the boss fight started; James was going to summon his world boss. Between the world boss, and the Terminus, well the invaders were going to be stuck between a literal incoming rock, and a hard place, being the Terminus coliseum. Worst case scenario, SoulDemon and his party beat the Terminus and retreated. Best case scenario, they got wiped. Either way, James got to see his M.I.N.E. Craft in action. So, it was still a win for him. And, while he was certain he would pay for it later, he was going to make sure not to wake Rue for this fight. Sure, he would show her the recording later, but after all, the saying ''You snooze, you lose,'' existed for a reason.

 147 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147


    "I''ve been expecting you." The Terminus''s voice growled as his massive form stepped out of his hole. Just as James had expected, SoulDemon''s party had destroyed B.L.U. and rushed quickly towards the coliseum. It seemed some of the previous adventurers from BLANKs dungeon had actually worked together to map out James''s second floor. Which was how SoulDemon''s party knew exactly where to go so quickly, and also how the party of player killers camping the adventurer portal knew where to go. It was the type of thing James expected though. Knowledge was power, and maps were key to any plan. He would really be disappointed if his players weren''t doing the same thing.


    "It¡­can talk?" BurningJazzHands was starring hard at the emerging Terminus even as SpinToWin''s shield wall activated around the party. SoulDemon was already moving in a wide circle away from the party, while Crikey was fiddling with a few of his traps.


    "I can indeed good sir." The Terminus tipped his head partially down towards the party. It seemed formal, but James could tell the Terminus was using the move to keep a glowing eye on SoulDemon. The PhantomBlade was doing his best to stay quiet, likely attempting to enter a blind spot of the boss. Of course, the Terminus wasn''t just a regular boss, and had increased intelligence for a reason. He may be at a disadvantage level wise, but he still had a wickedly brilliant AI controlling his form.


    "Now then," The Terminus lifted his head back up, even as he quickly turned one of his little arms towards SoulDemon. Thunk, thunk, thunk. In rapid succession three grenades launched in a deadly arc towards the man. It was apparent that SoulDemon was caught by surprise. Everyone was. However, this was obviously not the Phatnom Blade''s first rodeo, nor boss fight. He reacted with blinding speed with the one ability that would keep him completely safe. He burned his ethereal cool down. His body faded from existence, leaving just his glowing eyes. While in that state, James also knew he had enhanced speed, which he was taking advantage of.


    "Put him down." SoulDemon called out as the two glowing eyes of his moved rapidly towards the Terminus. He closed the gap in a mere instance, the phantom images of his blades slashing rapidly against the Terminus''s massive armored leg.


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    "You heard the man." SpinToWin glanced from Crikey to BurningJazzHands and shrugged. He was a straight up tank. His job was to keep the others alive. They were the DPS.


    "Right." Crikey was still fiddling with his traps, intermittently glancing up at the Terminus''s massive form as it fought against SoulDemon. "I''m going to need a bigger trap." The man muttered as he tossed the two he had been looking at onto the ground.


    "Jazzy?" SpinToWin nudged the sorcerer, who was still staring dumbfounded at the massive steampunk T-rex. The terminus was currently smashing large areas of the arena with his tail, while launching the occasional grenade near his feet. It looked like he was rampaging, in order to try and damage the phantom blade. But James knew otherwise. James had toyed with the Terminus''s Little Arms skill a little when dungeon wars started. Normally, the grenades just had a variety of impact types, including impact detonation, a bouncing timed version, a sticky version, and a shrapnel version. James had modified that with an upgraded called Spliced Evolution. The upgrade allowed the Terminus to actively modify the grenades he had in his weapon, to fit his needs. While they were on cooldown, the Terminus could actually change the rounds that were loading in, to have a variety of differing effects.


    Which was why, as the next set of three blasted into the ground, a blue gas began to settle around his feet. Blue gas, of course, was the MMO standard for a sleeping effect.


    "Cleanse." SoulDemon called out the moment the gas appeared, and on command the party''s healer began chanting his spell. James knew the Terminus was just going to keep cycling effects that applied status debuffs against the Phantom Blade, until the ethereal cooldown wore off. After all, while he barely had a chance to hit someone without a form, he could still stack debuffs. Annnd, there was still the AOE burn from the Terminus''s Terminal Fire. He was a level 35 Boss, he was going to put up a fight.


    Of course, James was still certain the Terminus would be brought down in no time. His health was steadily getting chipped away from SoulDemon''s attacks, and BurningJazzHands was finally starting to release his rainbow cooldown worth of spells as well. Between the two of them, they were going to be able to lay a lot of damage into the Terminus. And as long as SpinToWin''s defensive skills kept the majority of the party safe, CheapHealz would be able to keep SoulDemon healed and debuff free.


    "You almost done with that?" SpinToWin glanced down at Crikey, who had still been working on his new and improved trap. It looked like a crazy mixture between a pitfall trap, a bear trap, and a net trap all combined into one. James watched in surprise and astonishment as the trap minimized the moment Crikey picked it up. With a grin, he tossed it forward a good 20 feet away from the party, towards the center of the room. When the trap hit the ground, it deployed once more, before disappearing completely.


    "Just need to bait it." Crikey muttered, and he flipped through his menu screen for a moment. A second later, a scapegoat pet appeared at his side. "I love the pets this dungeon drops. Totally worth the 50 gold I paid for this guy"


    "Crikey." SoulDemon''s voice cut the trapper off. It seemed the Phantom Blade was not appreciative of their lax behavior while he was mid fight with the boss. Especially because the Terminus was not only launching an ever changing volley of attacks on SoulDemon, but James''s boss was mocking the PhantomBlade the entire time.


    Crikey sent his scapegoat pet walking slowly towards the middle of the room, until it was standing directly in the middle of where Crikeyh''s trap had been placed.


    "Oy, dinobot." Crikey''s call was obviously meant to get the Terminus''s attention, but the boss simply ignored him. The Terminus was likely intending on killing the foolish melee dps, before he would switch to the party. After all, the Terminus knew the cleric would run out of mana sooner or later.


    "If that was a taunt, it was terrible." SpinToWin whispered to Crikey, who stuck his tongue out at him in return. It seemed the two of them were a little more laid back than Soul Demon. Of course, their skills allowed them to be.


    "Right, let me try this one." Crikey grinned and looked at his goat. "Come get a free snack you ugly boss."


    "Really now? You should work on your trap placement. They are a bit, obvious and predictable." The Terminus let out a dark chuckle and swung his tail down towards SoulDemon. The Phantom Blade''s cooldown faded just at that instant, and he was sent flying backwards. Luckily, he had managed to block the attack. Unluckily, it still did a lot of damage.


    "Then why are you walking towards it?" Crikey called out. As he did, his scapegoat pet let out a loud bleeting sound, and James watched the Terminus''s head spin towards the goat and lock on. Of course, the scapegoat pet had a taunt skill. And while it was a rather short one, and pointless generally considering the Terminus could kill it with a single melee attack. It still did what Crikey needed. James watched the Terminus, his posh, intelligent, impressive second floor boss, loss all since of intelligence as it rushed, headfirst, towards a scapegoat standing in the middle of a trap.


    "Alright, I''ve had enough of that." James mumbled, pulling up a menu of his own. It was time to put the second part of his plan into motion.

 148 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148


    Attention: Unauthorized Craft Detected on a collision course. Skynet protocol 4765 activated. Deploying manned defensive turrets. All able citizens, please began defensive procedures. I repeat, Unauthorized Craft Detected on a collision course. Skynet protocol 4765 activated.


    The sudden blaring of alarms sounded throughout James''s entire floor as a female voice echoed over the battlefield. The alarm took everyone, including James, completely by surprise. So much so, that everyone paused for a brief moment of their dino abuse, to glance around. James had deployed the M.I.N.E. Craft the moment the Terminus had stepped into the trap, hoping to buy his boss some time. Especially as he had no idea how long his Terminus would be stuck in the trap. On the plus side, the Terminus did eat the Scapegoat pet, meaning Crikey wouldn''t be able to summon it again for 5 minutes.


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    "What the hell is that?" Crikey looked up as he tossed an electrical trap near the thrashing Terminus. While SoulDemon had begun physically attacking the trapped Terminus, and BurningJazzHands was launching purple infernos on him, Crikey had just started placing traps around the poor boss. Meaning even when he broke free of the one, he was going to step on more. Trapper really was a dick class.


    What the trapper was referencing, of course, was the massive, oddly square shape that suddenly appeared high above them. It was descending slowly towards the ground, glowing slightly as flames began to shoot out around it. The object, of course, was James''s M.I.N.E. Craft. His second-floor world boss.


    "Just another thing for us to kill." SoulDemon seemed unconcerned as he continued attack the Terminus. James''s boss was now under half life and was losing life quickly. The fight was sadly going to be over soon, and he doubted the Terminus was going to be able to do much more damage to the party. Darn it.


    "You''re sacrifice will not be in vain." James muttered to his poor boss mob. He really hated to see the Terminus, his proper, gentlemanly boss, get brought down like some rabid beast. Of course, James also felt a little guilty as that thought crossed his mind. That was exactly how he and other brought down giant dinosaur type monsters when he played the Monster Hunter games. In hindsight, maybe the players were the monsters in those games? Oh well.


    "You sure we can bring it down?" SpinToWin was eying the approaching world boss mob apprehensively as it neared. He was likely looking over its stats, and James knew those stats were intimidating, to say the least.


    "Might as well try." SoulDemon grunted as he cut deeply into the Terminus''s skull. He had managed to blast away a part of the Terminus''s protective plate armor, and was hacking through the leather insulation, revealing some of the spinning gears that constituted as vulnerable spots on the boss.


    "Worst case scenario, we port back with all our essence before it impacts." SoulDemon really seemed unconcerned with James''s world boss, which was exactly how he wanted it to be.


    "I suppose." SpinToWin looked down at the Terminus, whose eyes had turned up towards the sky, going wide at the approaching object.


    "Flee you fools." The Terminus whispered. "Else you will meet the same end as my breather." The Terminus let out a dark chuckle, and the light in his eyes faded away. James knew what was coming next. The party, it seemed, did not. He supposed people had talked about where the Terminus was, but no one had actually mentioned what happened when it died. After all, none of the invaders had actually killed the Terminus before SoulDemon''s party.


    Oh yes. "Alright, well let''s loot this thing, and start trying to bring that thing down." The party gathered around the corpse of the Terminus, which was still partially buried in Crikey''s pit. As they gathered the loot, they took their time to scroll through their menus, likely not only inspecting what they had received, but also the achievement they got for killing the boss. After all, James had heard the players from his dungeon who had brought down the SourPus from BLANKs dungeon, that they received the achievement for killing the boss. It seemed the Dungeon Cores weren''t the only one''s raking in achievements during dungeon wars.


    Three, two, one. James grinned as the Terminus''s body glowed brightly, before Terminal Fire detonated. The party was too close, there was no way they would be able to escape the blast. James watched gleefully as fire erupted from the Terminus''s body, blasting apart rock and dirt that had covered his buried body. Bits of Terminus went flying, as well as destroyed pieces of Crikey''s trap, in all directions.


    "HA." James cheered loudly. He had been expecting the M.I.N.E. Craft to be the downfall of BLANKs invading team. But he had completely forgotten about just how destructive the Terminus''s final ability was. There was no way-


    "The hell was that?" Crikey was coughing up a storm as the dust settled around the party. They were all still standing, covered in dirt, ash, and bits of various traps. How? James narrowed his attention on them. While he couldn''t pull up all their information, he could at least see their health bars. He gasped in disbelief as he eyed all of their health bars, they were all in the red, with a single sliver of HP left. Somehow, they had all survived with 1hp.


    "Probably the reason the boss was telling us to run." SoulDemon looked from the hole that had held the Terminus, back to CheapHealz. "Give us a mass heal, and let''s look for those defensive turrets the announcement mentioned." SoulDemon made a motion as he pulled up his menu screen once more, his face going dark for a moment.


    "Figures they''re a single use item." He groaned. The Phantom Blade held out his hand, looking at one of his fingers. "Ah well, at least I don''t have to wear that stupid ring pop anymore."


    SpinToWin looked at his own hand, a grin on his face. "I don''t know man, candy rings kind of fit our armor theme." He glanced at the others, all of whom had now glanced at their hands, which were ring free. The hell were they talking about?


    James hopped over to his other screen, scanning the five individuals that were brutal ganking any party that stepped through the portal. There, on all five of their hands, were rings that seemed to be a large chunk of glowing candy atop a silver band.


    "Oh well. It''s not like they were hard to get. They only cost 100 core essence. Easy enough to farm. And the fact they prevent reset you to 1 hp when you take mass damage makes it worth it. I just wish we could carry more than one at a time."


    So that was it. James was going to have to spend a little more time with his dungeon war loot rewards. The system was rather unique, in that he had to combine various items from his dungeon, in order to craft the special gear. He had of course decided his players would likely prefer special PvP armor, or nifty exclusives, in order to incentive his players to participate. James hadn''t thought to try and create items like those rings. Of course, he had seen many like it through the games he had played, and the berserker class actually had a similar skill already. But it seemed BLANK had not only created that type of item, they had made them cheap enough that all of their players were likely running around with them. Sure, it wouldn''t be too helpful against players during the battles on the FoB, but it would protect their players, at least momentarily, against any surprise insta-wipe attacks that James threw at them¡­such as the Terminus''s Terminal Fire, and his M.I.N.E. Craft.


    As much as James hated to admit it, BLANK was definitely good. Though he wasn''t sure how much of this was their own gamer intuition, and secrets they had gleaned from their father''s notes on the game. Either way, James knew what he was going to be doing after he watched the conclusion of this battle. After all, he wasn''t about to give up. Plus, there was a downside to rings like what BLANK had given their players. They instilled a since of false confidence in players. And James was hoping he could use that to his advantage.

 149 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149


    "I don''t think we''re going to be able to bring this thing down." BurningJazzHands was sitting in the seat of a massive anti-aircraft artillery weapon. It was launching deadly blasts towards the M.I.N.E. Craft, which was still continuing to descend. It had been descending for about five minutes now, and BLANKs party had only managed to take away a quarter of its life. At that rate, they weren''t going to be able to burn through it, no matter how hard they tried.


    "Maybe if we had the others help?" CheapHealz was sitting a similar cannon, launching attack after attack at the falling craft. The party had come across a clearing with two cannons near each other, and promptly manned them. The reason BurningJazzHands and CheapHealz were manning the guns, was because it seemed level didn''t apply to the weapons. They did a set amount of damage per shot, regardless of who was sitting in them. There were similar cannons across the map, some of which were currently being armed by Philoso raptors. One was actually being manned by an Archeao-repairer, which really amused James.


    His other mobs had quickly headed towards the other turrets, but James had decided to manually step in for this fight. After all, he wanted the invaders dead, and he wasn''t certain they would die, if the M.I.N.E. Craft was destroyed. However, he also didn''t want them to feel like it was impossible, so he allowed some of the mobs to man the turrets. James was actually sending a few more towards some turrets, in order to increase the DPS as well. He needed BLANKs players to feel like they were going to make it, to keep them around longer.


    "Well, if it gets too close, we can just leave." SoulDemon grunted as he cut into another mob. James had instructed a small group of his mobs to attack the party as they worked on the boss mob. That kept them engaged in his floor, and he was hoping would throw off their timing. All he needed was for them to make a single mistake, in order to bring them down. Really, all he needed was for SoulDemon to go down. But the Phantom Blade was extremely formidable. Even with his stats cut in half by Dino Aids. Normally, Dino Aids could be cleansed by a high-level cleanse spell. However, James had mutated it with an ability called Antimagical Resistance.


    The upgrade gave Dino Aids a percent chance to resistant being cleansed. The more magical healing a player had received during the instance, the more resistant Dino Aids became. And since SoulDemon had been the soul adventurer of the party gaining massive amounts of magical healing during the fight¡­his version of Dino Aids was practically immune to healing. Which was great, because even after CheapHealz used his high-level cleanse on the party, curing the others of Dino Aids, SoulDemon''s version had transferred back over to them after a mere minute, giving them the upgraded, magically resistant, version. James had made another note that he sent to Rue on a delayed timeline, to remind him to make Dino Aids deadlier. Halved stats were great, but he was pretty certain there were some stacks or dots he could apply to it as well with his disease menu. He was going to create the perfect, deadly disease, and take down a lot of BLANK players with it. Huzzah virtual bio-warfare.


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    "Good thing these dinosaurs aren''t coming too quickly." SpinToWin added as his shields blocked a long-range artillery blast from a siege version of a Steamer. James currently had two of them posted up a good ways away, to rain down attacks on the party. Meanwhile, he was sending in triceracogs and the occasional velocity raptor pack to keep the party busy. His coup de grace was going B.L.U. who had respawned. James was certain the party had to be aware of mob respawn rates. And they were good enough that they had probably figured B.L.U. was up and running. That was made evident by the mass number of traps Crikey was laying all over the place.


    However, James had B.L.U. waiting patiently about two hundred yards away from the party, hiding within the abandoned city, alongside three Philoso raptors. If it sounded like the party was planning on leaving, James was going to have them rush the party, in order to try and freeze their escape just enough to kill SoulDemon. He may be cautious, but James was no stranger to gaming strategy. And he had the advantage, in that he could see everything that was going on, and the fact that no one knew what exactly a core could do. After all, as far as players were concerned, the dungeons were simply run by an advanced AI.


    "Incoming." CheapHealz called out even as another explosive round impacted against SpinToWin''s spinning shields. Another set of debris had broken off of the M.I.N.E. Craft. It had just hit the six-minute mark on its descent, meaning it released a total of 42 pieces of debris. Both CheapHealz and BurningJazzHands turned their weapons onto the debris field, working to blast away any of the flying pieces as they rapidly began their descent.


    The defensive turrets summoned by SKYNET actually seemed to have a single target, and burst option, which the players had discovered within the first minute of using the weapon. The moment the collateral pieces broke apart, the players switched to the burst option, launching large shells towards the falling debris. These shells would break apart when they reached a certain proximity of the pieces of debris, sending a bunch of shrapnel in all sorts off direction. Because of the lower hp of the debris, if any of these shrapnel pieces impacted, the debris was destroyed. It was almost like some advanced version of the archaic missile defense game James had seen in a virtual museum.


    While they were working to keep the debris at bay, the other three members continued their efforts at perimeter defense. James realized the three of them were able to create essentially the perfect defensive zone. SpinToWin could keep them safe from ranged attack, Crikey could set up traps to slow and disable attackers, and SoulDemon could defeat anything that got too close. Which was likely how they went through BLANKs dungeon. They turtled their way through the dungeon, James had no doubt about it. Which was probably why SoulDemon seemed to enjoy running out in James''s dungeon so much, to engage enemies from a distance. James''s dungeon let him have fun.


    "Sorry about this man." James whispered to the Phantom Blade as he made the realization. Like, he really did love the fact people seemed to be enjoying his dungeon. And if not for the stakes resting on this dungeon war, he was certain he wouldn''t be resorting to the tactics he was. But he had to make sure BLANK was crippled in some way for the war, and the most obvious way was to decrease the amount of essence the enemy dungeon was gaining. And sadly, for SoulDemon and his party, they were the most efficient at gaining essence, meaning they needed to be destroyed.


    "I''m starting to think we should pull back." SoulDemon said after another minute of fighting. The M.I.N.E. craft had been descending for a total of 7 minutes now and was getting dangerously close. Flames danced all around it, and it glowed a bright orange from the intense heat that was gathering around it. With 3 minutes remaining, they still had about 30% of its HP to take care of, as the increase in its defense every minute for the past 7 was making it even harder to burn through.


    "About time." SpinToWin said, his face covered with sweat. James could only imagine how stressful the situation was getting. The world boss was drawing nearer, the attacks hadn''t let up on the party, and more and more debris kept falling. All of that while they were weakened with dino aids and holding a dangerously high amount of essence. James had to admit, this was the right call.


    And, unbeknownst to SoulDemon. It was the perfect time to make the call. Considering James had just watched B.L.U. get blown up by a green alien about thirty seconds ago. It seemed the world boss''s ability ALIENS! hadn''t lied when it said the random alien attacks would target ANY and ALL creatures on the floor. Sadly, it seemed the only two spawned at random intervals every minute. And so far, they had only spawned against James''s own mobs. Which was¡­frustrating.


    "Alright, well then lets-" SoulDemon''s hand froze as he pulled out a crystal. The same type of crystal MercerEffect''s team had used to head back to their dungeon. His eyes went wide with shock, just as a form materialized from a beam of green light, directly in between the group.


    Hisssssssssssssss.

 150 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150


    Did James feel bad about one of the aliens randomly spawning and killing SoulDemon, SpinToWin, and Crikey at the exact same time as they prepared to teleport out of his dungeon? Maybe a little. Did he feel bad about that random creepy green alien causing BLANK to miss out on the influence that trio of players had collected? Not in the slightest. In fact, not only had he gained a good amount of essence from their deaths, his experience had spiked as well. If Dungeon Wars kept up this pace, there was a good chance he and BLANK would both be Tier 4 by the time the wars finished. Which gave James even more incentive, even though he didn''t need it, to win.


    What''s more, at the death of the trio, CheapHealz and Crikey quickly fell as well. The barrage from the Steamer''s was rather deadly, after all, when not being blocked by a swirling wall of overpowered shields. After their deaths, all that remained was watching his world boss slowly descend upon the rest of BLANKs invaders. Who, to their credit, had been continuously taking down any and all adventurers that attempted to join the instance. They seemed rather unworried about the incoming world boss, likely because of the rings they were wearing. Which, James knew all too well, would protect them from lethal damage, at least once.


    Of course, how could those five players know that when his world boss touched down, it did a lot more than just kill everything on the field? Players coming from a dungeon like BLANKs could not be ready for the nuclear holocaust that awaited them. Nor could they be prepared for the nasty effects of radiation. James, of course, had a slight idea, but when it actually happened, he had to admit, he was more than a little surprised.


    First, James watched as the M.I.N.E. Craft neared its impact time. When there was only thirty seconds remaining before impact, the intercom system all around the map began to let out a loud, long siren. The sound was low, mournful, as if it were already aware of the death that was about to befall the instance.


    At the sound of the siren, BLANK''s players, and the adventurers they were engaged with, all paused to look at the massive, square shaped mining craft. The craft was on a direct collision course with the very center of James''s second floor, meaning the center of his town, the Terminus''s coliseum. The flames burning hungrily all around the craft seemed to fan out, and as it neared, they began licking across to the tops of buildings, rapidly striking out at any mobs that were too close to the craft. James saw one of his toilet mimics actually jump out of the second story window to avoid the flames, though he knew the mimic didn''t have much of a chance.


    With 10 seconds remaining, BLANKs players started to look a little panicked. They, and the players from James''s dungeon they were fighting, obviously knew that world boss colliding was a bad idea. However, because they were engaged with enemy forces, BLANKs players couldn''t teleport out. James''s adventurers likely knew that and were planning to take the invaders out with them in an act of heroism. One that was actually about to earn them a little something extra the next time they arrived. James already had their usernames saved.


    At 5 seconds, BLANKs players began activating cooldowns and spells. The Paladin activated his holy aura, a radiant bubble of protection that would slowly heal any allies within it, and decrease the damage they took for 30 seconds, and most importantly, allowed casters to continue casting, even if they took damage. Both healers began preparing massive heals, which had longer cast times that meant they should complete shortly after the meteor impacted. And the Assassin, well the assassin prepared to take down anything and everything that came at the group.


    They were, to their credit, as prepared for what happened next as they could possibly hope to be. The M.I.N.E. Craft smashed into the coliseum, and for a moment, the world seemed to stand still. Then, everything seemed to flash, as a bright light erupted from the center of the mining craft. That was, of course, its nuclear core. A massive mushroom cloud erupted from the center of James''s abandoned town, as wind and fire flattened the city.


    Energy from the impact roiled outwards as waves of destruction, literally turning everything, they touched into ash. James saw his mobs disintegrate, leaving momentary images of themselves stuck against the walls, before the walls themselves fell apart. BLANKs players and James all stared, dumbstruck, into the bright flash. How could they not? Of course, staring into the bright light was usually a metaphor for death, and this time around, it was no different.


    For a split second, James saw everyone receive a blindness debuff, as the bright flash stole from them their very sight. A moment later, the approaching death from the explosion caused five of them to disappear. James''s players simply vanished into 5 glowing orbs, which quickly retreated back to his first-floor instance, to wait out their death timer.


    BLANKs players, of course, had their candy rings, which prevented them from dying, even from James''s world ending event. He saw as the candy rings on their hands split apart, showering them in a dusting of sugar, which shimmered for a second as it held their life at 1hp.


    "We did-" Was all they managed to get out, before a slew of debuffs clouded over statuses. A second later, they too poofed away as death claimed them. And judging from the looks on their faces as they died, it was not a pleasant one.


    Which, James had totally expected. Radiation was not something you wanted to be exposed to. He already knew how devastating dino-aids was. He was certain radiation had even worse effects. One of which, he assumed, was some sort of nasty DoT effect. Otherwise, BLANKs players would have been fine. Of course, he hadn''t known if they would take damage from the radiation ability, but it was kind of a no brainer. Radiation and Fire damage types, in every game, usually caused some sort of damage.


    Their deaths had also granted him another nice little boost of experience, coupled with even more dungeon essence. James felt even less dirty about their deaths. Mainly because they had been camping the entrance to his floor and just beating up any players that joined in. The downside of the portals to floors was that it took players a few seconds to orient themselves as they passed through a portal. Those vital seconds allowed the assassin of the invaders to deal quite a bit of damage. It was cheap, and James did not feel sorry for BLANKs players. At least SoulDemon and his party actively tried and used their overwhelming skills and levels to succeed. These invaders were just cheap PKers.


    Achievement Unlocked


    Achievement Unlocked


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    And there was the screen James had been waiting for. He glanced at it expectantly, as he clicked on the glowing screens. James had already earned his Food For Thought achievement at 15,000 dungeon essence earned. And even though the player farming party of BLANKs had been quite successful, he highly doubted they had given him enough dungeon essence to bounce into the 20k mark.


    He left his window with his instance up as well, as he was rather excited to see what happened in the aftermath of the M.I.N.E. Craft explosion. Because players from James''s dungeon had been in there when it was destroyed, the instance was currently still active. After all, that instance was bound to those players, even if they were currently waiting to respawn. Meaning James was going to see what weird types of mutations occurred with his new irradiated mobs. And in the nuclear wasteland that was now that particular instance. Literally, the mushroom clouds still lingered in the air, and everything was either on fire, turned disintegrated, turned into glass, or slightly smoldering.


    As We Know It- Utilize a World Boss to bring about the end of the world (instance)


    Reward- 1,500xp, 500 resources, 1 Dungeon Token


    Gamma World- Kill a party utilizing radiation


    Reward- Unlocks radiation tree for disease menu, unlocks radiation mutations for disease menu, +1 radiation skill point.


    While the first achievement was definitely welcome, especially the extra dungeon token. The second achievement was the figurative icing on the cake. From what James had learned during his time with his disease menu, was that it was rather frustrating unlocking additional trees. It seemed he got 1 free disease skill point at the same speed as he did mob points. Meaning as a Tier 3 Rank 6 dungeon, he had 24 skill points to use on his diseases. However, some of the trees on his disease menu were flat out locked, while others had skills that required more than 1 skill point to unlock. Which made sense, there was no way the game would just give him everything right away. Part of the fun, after all, was unlocking new things.


    What had frustrated him though, was the game treated his Terminal Fire skill as fire damage, even with it applying dino-aids. Which meant up until the detonation of the M.I.N.E. Craft, James had been unable to access the radiation tier, which had been locked. Now that it was unlocked though, James was extremely excited to see just what he could play with in it. Before he could go down the path of mad scientist creating crazy new diseases though, one last achievement popped up on his screen.


    UNNatural Selection- Have a mob generate that has mutated


    Reward- 1 Mob Skin* Effect- Unnatural Green Glow


    *Mob Skins can be applied to any mobs you choose.


    After reading the achievement James''s eye immediately flew back to the instance. There, wandering about the wasteland, was the first mob to have spawned following the M.I.N.E. Craft''s detonation. It didn''t make much sense, given that the mobs on his second floor were literally mechanical. There was no way they should be able to evolve or mutate from radiation. However, it seemed the game''s mechanics thought otherwise. How else would James explain away the breakiosaurus that had suddenly appeared, glowing green, with a Spy-Nosaurus head, fully functioning, at the end of its tail. Things on James''s second floor just got weird. And with radiation unlocked on his disease menu, James could only imagine what else he could do.

 151 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151


    "So, are you sure turtling is the best option here?" It was nearing the end of day 2 of the Dungeon Wars, and James was once again accompanied by Rue, as they prepared for the next big event. That being, of course, the journey to the Fields of Battle, and their first face to face opportunity against BLANK.


    "Probably the safest." Rue was once again dressed in her battle armor as she hovered near James. Of course, it had taken a good part of the day for her to calm down over his nighttime shenanigans, and the creation of the M.I.N.E. Craft. He supposed her anger had been quelled mostly by the fact that he had taken screenshots of all the crazy mutated mobs that appeared, and filled her in on his latest and greats modifications.


    With the radiation aspect unlocked, he was able to create traps that were essentially barrels of toxic waste. Those barrels could release a toxic field of a varying radius, which could apply radiation effects to any and all living creatures that entered that effect field. Meaning he now had a way to actively mutate his mobs on his floors, and also apply radiation effects to players. Because, who would expect nuclear waste to be floating at the bottom of the swamp? James had to chuckle about that. Who said history lessons were pointless?


    "Any idea how to layout these walls?" He had the instance up for his side of the Fields of Battle. As previously advertised, it literally looked like an vast, empty expanse, lightly covered with grass and other terrain features. It was like one of those picturesque battlefields that everyone put into movies. Extremely impractical, and in no way shape or form realistic, considering the amount of infrastructure that existed on the planet, and yet, a necessity it seemed for any and all large-scale battles, no mater the media.


    James currently had access to view his half of the FoB, though annoyingly he couldn''t see what BLANK was up to on their side. Which made sense. IT would be a bit unfair if either dungeon could actively watch what the other core was preparing for their dungeon war. Instead, this was almost like a stratego type set up. James got to prepare his battlefield, and then watch as BLANKs forces tried to make their way to the very heart of his side of the field, where they could open the portal to his core.


    "And then I''m guess day 5 we are going to go all out offensively?" James had earned a total of 960 BP. He had been utilizing his BP as he earned them, in order to prepare aspects for both offense and defense. It made sense, after all, because he couldn''t use offense specific BP for defensive items, and vice versa. However, he could deploy up to a maximum of 2,000 BP worth of objects on his FoB side, made up of both offense and defense pieces, in any order.


    James had initially planned on just deploying his Core Cannon and Core Shield for both aspects. Rue however, had strongly advised against that. Mainly because of the risk of the objects getting damaged in the initial assault of day three. If they were somehow overwhelmed and the objects were destroyed, James wouldn''t have time to build new ones before day 5 of the Dungeon Wars. Instead, they were going with strategy.


    Day three would be used to observe how the third and fifth days of Dungeon Wars worked and give his adventurers a chance to learn as well. This would also allow him to interact with the players as his Avatar and help better create a favorable offensive situation for Day 5.


    It also meant he wouldn''t reveal his full hand to BLANK. If all he deployed on day 3 was defensive options, there was the hope BLANK would think he was just scared, or trying to play defensive. Of course, given BLANKs gaming skills, James doubted that. But, you never know, when you''re facing a player like BLANK, just how they would think. Part of James really did believe the extremely confident twins were fully expecting James to cower in fear of them. And he was happy to play into that mindset of theirs. It would make his deployment of his Core Cannon on day 5 all the sweeter.


    "The best defensive is a great offense." Rue gave him a thumbs up and summoned a small battle axe in her hand. It was just like one of the axes she wielded in her berserker barbarian avatar. She was extremely excited for this portion of the dungeon wars. James didn''t have the heart to tell her she had that saying backwards.


    "Right, well then here goes nothing." James pulled up his deployment menu and got to work. The first thing he did was activate his core shield. The massive piece of equipment whirled to life, and a force field surrounded his core completely. James wasn''t sure if BLANKs forces would be able to make it this far on day three. However, in the off chance that they did, they would have to go through his core shield. And James had no doubt that was no small feat.


    Next, he decided to deploy the offensive portions he had created. Given the fact his probes only created objects at 1BP cost per hour, he was unfortunately unable to create all 480 BP worth of offensive structures. The same could be said, frustratingly enough, for his defensive portions. However, he had at least been somewhat creative in what he had made.


    The first offensive features that James had made, were catapults. These cost him a total of 10 BP per catapult. They were capable of launching any object weighing roughly under 200lbs up to 800 yards. Meaning they could launch rather large objects, extremely far. James had quickly created 10 of these massive siege engines, for a combined total of 100BP, and set them about 100 yards from the portal area to his core. He figured players were going to spawn during the 3rd day battle around that area anyways. Considering the fact, it felt like the appropriate area for a spawn.


    James figured catapults could serve not only as an offensive weapon, but a defensive one, making them extremely valuable. Dependent of course, on how well players were able to utile them. James had played a few games where players seemed rather inept at utilizing siege weapons such as catapults. Though, sometimes that was more of an issue with the design of the catapult system in the game, than the player themselves. James was hoping Xander and his company had done a good job on these catapults.


    Next, James had ordered another rather spiffy offensive tool. And by spiffy, he meant extremely kick ass. For a total of 20 BP per, James was able to structures called Mech Stations. From what he could glean from them, players could utilize Mech stations to create a large mechanical suite for them to pilot. What''s more, it seemed that up to five players could utilize a mech station at a time, and the more players that used one, the more intricate and massive the mech became.


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    He wasn''t quite sure how that mechanic would play out, especially considering those particular stations seemed to require the players to utilize core essence in order to activate, but he had his hopes. After all, he knew his player base was going to be key in helping him overcome BLANK. Plus, his players, in mechs, charging at BLANKs forces, just sounded way too cool to pass up.


    Finally, with the other 60 BP he could use, time wise, in preparation of day three, James had made a total of 60 cannons. Cannons were dirt cheap, costing him only 1 BP per. They had an effective range of up to 1500 yards, though they seemed to really drop off in accuracy pretty quickly. Currently, James only had the option to create basic cannons. However, he had observed that it seemed many of the objects he could create for Dungeon Wars, just like everything else, had improvements and upgrades that could be applied, as he leveled up in Dungeon Wars. Which would be great, as long as he won.


    With his offensive pieces set, James ordered 3 of his offensive probes to begin working on some additional offensive objects, while he set the other two aside. While building was slow, he needed his two remaining probes to act as repair bots. After all, he was certain his structures were going to take damage, and he wanted to make sure he could repair them as quickly as possible. He would rather repair them, than have to build them again. And he had no idea if during Dungeon Wars, objects that were destroyed, stayed destroyed.


    Defensive pieces had been a little more difficult for him to choose from. As he had previously observed, a lot of the options just included walls, barricades, and basic traps. However, just as with the mech station, it seemed the developers had thrown in a few bits and pieces to tempt dungeon cores, and to keep the wars unique and enjoyable.


    One such piece for defensive options, was in the armored transport depot. Just like the mech facility, this item cost him 20 BP to craft, and allowed up to five players at a time to utilize some essence in order to create an armored vehicle to bring them to the battlefield. While that sounded neat and all, James had to pass on it. Just like he had to pass on the other object that piqued his interest.


    That object was the photon turret. These turrets cost him 50 BP per, and created a circle turret with a small range of only 50 yards. Anything that came within range of it though, was automatically attacked. James had been really tempted to throw some of those up to protect his catapults, but he paused on those. He figured with 10,000 players on the battlefield, building a total of 5 turrets wouldn''t really be that efficient. Forty for a total of 2,000 BP might make a difference, especially if he just created a massive defensive line of them. But 5, was pretty meh.


    As such, he resigned himself to creating a line of walls alongside his line of cannons, to allow his players to take cover behind when utilizing the ranged offensive weapons. He also created a handful of pitfall traps, which cost 1BP per 10ft x 10ft x 10ft trap, around his territory. The traps apparently would not trigger if his players passed over them, which was nice. He positioned about 50 of those sporadically around on the battlefield, sad that he didn''t have the ability to put any of his sacrificial lambs in them. Though, apparently at War Level 2, he would be able to line them with spikes for no additional cost.


    With walls and traps in place, James again set aside 2 of his probes for repair purposes and set the others to work on creating even more wall sections and traps. After all, they would still come in handy on day 5 of his dungeon war, and he was certain after observing day 3, he could come up with a few more¡­creative ways, to utilize them, in an offensive manner. After all, it was amazing what one could do when applying their creativity in full force.


    "Aright, are you ready for this Rue?" James glanced at the clock, noting there was less than an hour to go before the clock rolled over to Day 3 of Dungeon Wars. From outside his dungeon, he could see the masses of adventurers forming up, preparing for the war. They had all begun gathering outside of his dungeon entrance, likely uncertain on if they would just be teleported to the FoB or would have to enter the dungeon. James wasn''t quite sure on the mechanics for that but figured it would just be a mass teleport. He found it quite interesting that the Dungeon War mechanic seemed to actually encourage players to forgo sleep, in order to be active at all times of immersion. It definitely made his life as a dungeon core much more exciting.


    The pixie flexed her muscles and grinned at James, twirling her axe dangerously. "Let''s just say I''ve got a little pent up frustration to take out." The way she smiled at James, made him suddenly feel extremely sorry for BLANKs forces.

 152 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152


    System Announcement


    Attention Players! In five minutes, you will be teleported to the Fields of Battle! As you are all aware, your glorious exploits on the Fields of Battle are currently being broadcast around the world, as the first set of Dungeon Wars to take place in Dungeon Core Online! Because of that, we have kept some information under lock and key, in order to continue to build excitement, and ensure everyone, viewers and players alike, have the most fun with the experience.


    Because of that, we are utilizing this announcement to share with you information that will be vital for putting on an amazing battle in the Fields of Battle, as well as to ensure the maximization of both sides efficiently and enjoyment.


    First! As both sides have learned over the past two days, there is a new currency, called dungeon essence, which has been able to be gained. Both sides have done an excellent job gathering this essence and turning it into their respective dungeons. We hope players have been extremely pleased with the items which have been available through the essence shop. The more essence players unlock, and the stronger their Dungeon War Level becomes, the greater the rewards that can be gained!


    Second, the essence gains do not stop at the essence shop! The essence players have gathered during the Dungeon war can be used while on the Fields of Battle! All of the essence earned during Dungeon Wars has been combined into an essence pool, which players will have access to during their time on the fields of battle. This pool of essence will be evenly distributed to players, who will then have a variety of options which they can put their essence towards. These options include:


    Using Special Buildings: The Dungeon AI may have generated unique buildings that allow players to use dungeon essence for a variety of unique upgrades or benefits. Players can use their essence points in order to interact with these buildings.


    Summoning Allies: Dungeon essence can be used by players to summon allies from the dungeon! Players may utilize their essence points to summon mobs from the dungeon, to serve as their companion, for the duration of their time on the fields of battle, or until their companion dies! The cost for these mobs is dependent on the cost of the mob!


    Special Summons: Players can pool their essence together at a variety of unique summoning alters on the Fields of Battle. These alters are located at the spawn area. Once the spawn threshold on essence has been met, players are able to spawn powerful allies to fight alongside their player base against the enemy dungeon. These powerful allies include bosses, as well as Dungeon Avatars, which are powerful embodiments of the dungeon, who will bring a unique set of powerful skills and abilities to the Fields of Battle!


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    Players are able to gift their core essence to friends and allies, as you will discover the spread of essence may not be enough to individual create a desired effect to occur. That being said, players should feel free, and are highly encouraged, to fully utilize their essence points as best they see fit. While it is only day 3 of the dungeon wars, battles on the Fields of Battle can be extremely intense! Any and all damage to each dungeon''s core on day 3, will be carried over to day 5! As will all unspent essence!


    Furthermore, while on the Fields of Battle, players can still gain essence! Just like the first two days of dungeon wars, slaying enemies will grant players dungeon essence. However, they must return to their spawn area, and present this essence to the core room, in order to be awarded for earning that essence.


    If a player falls on the Fields of Battle while carrying unspent essence, any player, from either side, may gain that essence for themselves! Be smart, be wise, and most of all, have fun!


    From myself, Xander, and on behalf of the development team and all viewers tuning in to watch this historic battle, I wish both sides the best of luck! And I truly look forward to watching your efforts, your battles, unfold!


    Now, prepare yourselves, for the Fields of Battle!


    "He sure is full of himself." James muttered as he finished reading the announcement that had just gone out. While it had been a helpful announcement, James could tell why Xander had made it. The notes that had been released to players had been woefully lacking any speceficis when it came to how to utilize essence during the dungeon wars, especially when it came to the Fields of Battle.


    James was pretty certain this was all a ploy by Xander in order to encourage both sides to spend as much essence as they could. Especially with the call of encouragement to players to try new things and spend all the essence they could. What else could be more unique, and a more efficient treat, than summoning the Dungeon Avatars to the battlefield? James was pretty sure Xander had extreme faith that the moment BLANK''s avatars were summoned, their victory would be assured. Of course, James was really looking forward to proving him wrong.


    "I would be worried if he wasn''t." Rue pointed out, as they watched the timer slowly counting down. There was one minute remaining till they would be teleported to the fields of battle. James had been in the middle of triple checking all of his preparations, while a feeling of excitement and anxiety rushed over him. As a gamer, he was extremely excited to see the chaos that would be a 10,000 vs 10,000 player free for all. However, with what was on the line, he couldn''t'' help but feel a little anxious.


    However, he pushed that anxiety aside, and turned his focus to the task at hand. He and Rue were going to win this. They were not going to let Xander get the best of them, and that also meant, James wasn''t going to let that prick get into his head. He was going to have fun during this dungeon war. And there was nothing Xander could do about it.


    "True." James added, as the seconds seemed to slow down. Honestly, the waiting was the worst. It was a pain he knew all too well though. After all, he was all too familiar with the waiting game, not only for new content or raids in WoW Universe, but also when it came to watching anime and reading web serials. That ever present, gnawing wait for the next chapter, or the next episode, was painful. And as he watched the seconds tick by, he could feel himself becoming even more anxious and excited. It was finally here. A white light enveloped everyone, including himself and Rue as the clock hit 0. A moment later, they were on the Fields of Battle.

 153 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153


    "Well that''s strange." As James and Rue reappeared on the Fields of Battle, he couldn''t help but pull up his window. Sure, he was used to teleporting around throughout different instances and floors of his dungeon. However, he could always move about freely between such things as he did. Now though, as he flipped through his windows, he found he couldn''t actually leave the fields of battle.


    "What?" Rue was glancing down below them, at the scene unfolding on the battlefield. They had been teleported high in the sky above the spawn area for their players, meaning suddenly, every player in James''s instance of DCO was now crowded below them. Needless to say, things were a bit chaotic.


    "We''re stuck in here, at least till this is done." James confirmed this fact once more, before he closed out most of his windows. It didn''t really bother him, considering his main focus had been on the fields of battle for the third day of Dungeon Wars anyways. However, he had been curious if he would be able to hop back and forth, especially once players started dying on either side, and dungeon dives began anew. Sadly, it seemed he would just be stuck to managing those dives via his monitors, and not in person. Ah well.


    "Would you really want to be anywhere else?" Rue''s comment made James grin. No, no he would not. He had been anxious for day three of the wars to start, just so he could see what exactly he was up against. How he and his players performed today, and on day 5, would determine whether or not he would be able to continue on in his role as a dungeon core. He intended to win.


    "Fair." He motioned down at the mass horde of players below them. Judging from what he knew prior to their teleportation, each player now had a total of 3 dungeon essence points to spin, considering Xander''s note mentioned essence was split amongst all players equally. It seemed, at least for the war, that his players had managed to average about 15,000 essence per day, which was why they started day three with just a little over 30,000 essence. Now though, James was able to finally see just how much everything cost.


    "What do you think they''ll summon first?" That was really the most important bit of the dungeon wars. As every player, as well as James, Rue, and BLANK knew, the players were the ones with the true power for dungeon wars. It was up to them to actually choose how to spend their essence, and what exactly they would summon as a result.


    Before day 3 had started, James had zero access to see what exactly the costs were for the variety of summonable options. He just knew there were buildings that required essence, and that players would need to use essence in order to summon the various boss mobs, core avatars, etc. More or less, he hadn''t known much. Now though, he could finally look at the different costs.


    Mob Summon


    Dicken- 1


    Sacrificial Lamb ¨C 2


    Swiner - 3


    Scape Goat- 4


    Mad Cow- 5


    ¡­.


    Boss Summon


    Old Man Jenkins- 500


    B.L.U.- 1000


    Terminus- 1500


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    Grandma Jenkins- 2500


    World Boss


    Charles the Dicken - 2000


    M.I.N.E. Craft *limited*- 4000


    Avatar Summon


    Core - 5000


    Fairy - 5000


    *World Boss Skill limited- abilities modified to fit dungeon war parameters on FoB*


    "Obviously they''re going to go for a good ol dicken first." Rue broke into laughter as she said it¡­but James was pretty sure she was correct. Granted, he had no idea of the mobs actually scaled with the level of the player that summoned them. If they did, that would be awesome. If not, he was sure the game had some way to modify and scale them. Regardless, an army of 10,000 dickens was pretty terrifying to imagine¡­especially if they did carry over their buffs.


    Granted, a few aoe fire type spells from BLANKs players would decimate the dicken army, though, in a tasty way. For a second, James couldn''t help picturing 10,000 fried dickens on the battlefield. Ha.


    What worried James the most though, was that he and Rue''s entrance onto the battlefield required, at minimum, every 1 in 6 of his players to putting their points towards the Avatar summon option. It also required 1/3rd of all of the gained essence, in order for both him and Rue to be summoned. Something he had really been hoping for. After all, he really, really wanted to personally be a part of the process of taking down BLANK.


    "Let''s just hope they decide to bring us into play as well." James shifted his focus across the summoning ground. Players had slowly begun to form up and gain a little bit of organization. Partially from people yelling out orders, and partially from others utilizing their private message features in order to organize themselves.


    Incoming PM from Z


    Speaking of private messages. James quickly popped open the message, curious as to what Z wanted. The leader of the Knight''s had sent a message to James''s personal profile. Which was fitting, considering no one, obviously per Xander''s game rules, knew James was a dungeon core. If they did, well then Xander wouldn''t have needed this little bet to get rid of James.


    From Z


    Topic: Dungeon Wars


    Hey man, hope you''re feeling better. Seems everything''s a bit crazy here, definitely seems the teleportation into this spawn area was extremely random. Already gathering the Knights up with the Boss Slayers in order to do some hunting of the enemy players. Figured I''d give you a shoutout if you wanted to join us. If not, it''s fine. Just be careful out there. The enemy team has some really strong players. If you come across someone named SoulDemon, run the other way man. Dude''s a beast.


    Any who, best of luck, and just lemme know if you want to join us. Otherwise, happy hunting, and let''s win this thing.


    Huzzah Dungeon Wars


    Z


    James couldn''t help but grin at Z''s message. Sure enough, the leader of the Knight''s was already preparing to take on the enemy forces. At the same time, the man, true to his real-life role of medic, ha, was looking out for James, giving him a warning about SoulDemon. Seriously, Z and his players were just too awesome. Part of James really wished he were able to join them in their shenanigans. The mighty warlock Glyax would likely fit in quite well with them, even if he normally played solo. That being said, there wasn''t anything saying James couldn''t drop a possible hint towards Z and the others, to enable just that type of a scenario. Especially because what James had in mind wouldn''t actually break any rules. After all, it was just a suggestion¡­

 154 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154


    It had been roughly an hours since the battle on the FoB had begun, and about an hour since James had sent Z his message. So far, it seemed to have been working, though much slower than James would have preferred.


    "Ah, come on." He growled as he watched the essence bars continue to slowly fill. Within the spawn area on the FoB for his side, there were essentially large terminal type statues that depicted the various summoning options. They glowed faintly, and by focusing on them, James could actually see how much essence had been put into them. The more essence in one, the more it glowed.


    So far, he had watched countless players come and go. Most went immediately toward the mob summoning option, and as Rue had predicted, summoned a dicken for themselves. While the joke got old quick, James had noticed that the dickens that were summoned onto the fields of battle via the summon option at least seemed to have all of James''s upgrades to them, as well as seemed to scale to the level of the player summoning them. Meaning they were not a wasted summon¡­and also meaning that most of James players were forming a dicken calvary of mounted players¡­. Seriously, it seemed his crazy dungeon floor options was creating a massive instance of trolls.


    After summoning their gallant mounts, players generally quickly went over to the larger totems, seeming to consider their options for their remaining 2 essence points. After all, they had to split their valuable essence across either summoning boss mobs, world bosses, or dungeon avatars. And while they knew what the first two options were, the avatars were a very expensive mystery. Plus, with all the dickens running around, there was on option that seemed to instantly gain an essence from the players¡­Charles the Dicken.


    Currently, the Charles the Dicken summon option had 1653 of 2000 needed essence to summon. While it was guaranteed he was going to be summoned soon, the players were at least being cautious. So far, it seemed both sides were still hesitant about the actual battle on the FoB. Other than some tentative launching of ranged attacks from the siege weapons, there hadn''t been any actual clashes. Instead, players seemed to be taking their time grouping, and preparing their strategies. Which was probably for the better. James could only imagine how chaotic the scene below him was going to become, once the battle kicked off in full force.


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    Next to Charles, all of James''s bosses were steadily gaining the needed essence to be summoned. Old Man Jenkins was actually just a few essence away from being summoned. Shortly behind him, B.L.U. and the Terminus were working their way up. Grandma Jenkins was lagging behind, probably because of her cost, and the fact not many of James''s players knew what she was capable of. Which was also likely why his M.I.N.E. Craft had barely any essence in it. Well, that, and the note that it was being limited. Not even James knew what exactly was being limited on it, though he could guess. However, no player was going to waste resources on something that was already being claimed to be nerfed in some way shape or form.


    From there, it came down to the Avatar. 5,000 essence just to summon one of the two dungeon avatar options. Currently his players had dedicated about 3,000 essence towards the Core Avatar option. Annoyingly, the fairy option had 3685 points. James figured that came from the gamers wondering what exactly the fairy avatar would look like. He couldn''t'' blame them though. It happened constantly in games, player curiosity outweighing logic. Besides, this was just the third day of the dungeon war. They had the fifth day to strategize. For now, players probably wanted to see what the dungeon fairy would look like. Especially considering that even according to DCO, all dungeon core instances were run by a core AI, as well as a fairy AI, in order to keep with the theme, set forth by the early Dungeon Core Novels. And, while many of those had annoying fairies¡­they all, with only a few exceptions, were usually scantily clad, attractive fairies¡­if they were humanoid of course.


    "Ha." Rue was grinning as she watched another group of players step up towards the Avatar Summon totem. A second later, 5 more points of essence went into her option. She, just like James, had caught on to what was happening. And the blood crazed pixie was squirming with excitement. She wanted to join the battle just as much, if not more, than James did.


    "I can''t believe you''re going to get summoned before me." James grumbled, watching another group head towards the pillar. Once again, Rue''s points jumped, though this time, one of the players had given James a single point.


    "It''s because I''m the lovable fairy. You''re just the clueless core." She stuck her tongue out at him, before darting away as he swung at her with a tentacle. Freaking pixie.


    "You do know the stereotype you''re playing into, right?" James regretted saying it the moment the words left his¡­err¡­mouth?


    Rue grinned and waived a hand, removing her battle armor to reveal herself as a barely clothed fairy. She looked up at him, her lower lip quivering slightly. "I''m, I''m just here to help and do my best." Her voice was soft, eager. Yup, she knew exactly what stereotype she was playing into. As James sent another tentacle flying towards her, she reequipped her armor, fire appearing in her eyes.


    "I''m going to play up the battle raging fairy." She said as she easily dodged his attack. "You''ve still got to think up your cover story, for when you get summoned."


    That was something that they had both just learned. Shortly after James sent his message to Z, he had received a Private Message from Xander. Seeing that message had made James nauseous. He had been worried that the developer had somehow learned of his message to Z and was going to use it try and kick James from the game even sooner.


    Surprisingly though, the message didn''t mention anything of the sorts. In fact, it was addressed to both James, and BLANK. In it, Xander had simply reminded both sides that their existence as human players was to be kept a secret at all times, and that they should develop a persona for themselves while they were on the battlefield. Additionally, they needed to create titles befitting of their dungeon for their Avatars, for if and when they were summoned.


    It had honestly been quite the rather formal, proper message from Xander. In fact, James had almost wondered if Xander had actually been the one to send it. However, the PS at the bottom, mentioning to BLANK to ensure they completely wiped the floor with James, confirmed it was in fact the asinine developer.


    Rue, who was actually an AI, had been rather quick to come up with her perceived persona for her avatar, as well as the name. And James had to admit, it was quite fitting for the form and class she had decided upon.


    The White Beast of Chaos. Considering her beastkin form, that of a massive humanoid white tiger, and the berserker barbarian class options. Well, it fit. And he already knew she was going to be rather animalistic on the battlefield. James was pretty sure Rue was really looking forward to roleplaying a ruthless, bloodthirsty barbarian. Considering how she acted sometimes, he had to wonder if she was actually going to be roleplaying, or simply revealing her true colors, and teeth.


    James, on the other hand, was having a hard time trying to figure out what exactly he wanted to portray himself as. He really hadn''t thought about it. And the fact he needed to create a believable personification for the avatar, as well as a fitting title, made him worried a bit. He couldn''t play off of his Glyax title. Otherwise, he was certain some of the players would recognize his username. After all, the Warlock Glyax wasn''t just some random player in WoW Universe. So, his favorite username was out the window. What''s more, he needed to come up with something that would make sense for his dungeon.


    Easier said than done. After all, he was a random dungeon. Nothing in it made sense. It was literally built upon random, chaotic shenanigans. Someone would have to be mad in order to try and create a persona that would fit¡­. Oh. And like that, James had his idea. Now, he just needed to flesh it out. Which was fitting, because just as another group of players headed towards the avatar portion of the starting area, the entire battlefield shook violently.


    In the distance, a loud, booming voice echoed. One that James had heard before.


    "My Gumdrop Buttons!" He turned to look off towards BLANKs portion of the Fields of Battle. Currently, James could only see his half of the FoB, and any areas populated by his players. Everything else was covered in a strange fog, likely to keep him from trying to spy on the enemy side before he was summoned.


    However, a form was moving rapidly through the mist. A massive, gigantic form. Its footprints were what was causing the very ground to shake. Moments later, James, Rue, and the small group of players from James''s side that were patrolling the middle of the battlefield all stared in wonder, and fear. A group of BLANKs players burst into line of sight of James''s players, dragging behind them a group of gumdrop buttons. Behind them, the massive gingerbread boss mob. Oh no.

 157 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157


    "Would muffins really be considered candy?" James couldn''t help but ask. It was literally one of the only thoughts that flowed through his mind, amongst the other streams of thought trying to process what in the name of DCO he was watching. A portal had opened above the secret boss, the same color as the light brown energy flowing from his fist, and a moment later, a portly humanoid figure, with a muffin for a head, appeared. The rest of his body was human in appearance, and he was clothed as James figured a stereotypical baker should be, complete with the large white hat, atop his muffin head.


    "Eh," Rue waived a hand, making the bag of gumdrops disappear from her clutches, replaced with a muffin. She took a bite out of it, chewing thoughtfully, before she turned her attention back to James. "Honestly, I wouldn''t be surprised if there was an upgrade that allowed the secret boss to summon something outside of the realm of just candy. Probably has to do with the realm of sweet treats instead." She shrugged. "You should know by now not to question things in DCO."


    She had a very good point. No matter how much James read about DCO, and how much he tried to learn through the forums, the core chat, and just looking at all his own unlocked features, there was no telling what DCO would throw at him next. The game just seemed to be endlessly evolving and changing. He could only imagine how much time must have gone into creating it.


    Following the summoning of The Muffin Man, the secret boss battle began once again anew. The Perfect Cognivore, utilizing his cloaking ability, was launching harpoon attacks all around The Candy Man and his new summon. However, the Muffin Man definitely seemed to be a trump card for BLANKs secret boss.


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    While the Candy Man was taking the brunt of the attacks from James''s boss, The Muffin Man actually summoned a massive oven, and began baking up treats. Every minute, the oven would ding, and 13 muffin mobs would leap out. James had watched half a dozen batches already appear, and run off around the duo, before burrowing into the ground.


    Meanwhile, The Candy Man had reclaimed his candy cane axe, and was simply watching, intently, for the next sign of the attack from the Perfect Cognivore. An army of gumdrop slimes hopped along in all directions as well, seeking out their target. The moment they caught The Cognivore, James had a feeling his secret boss would not be able to escape unscathed. And the damned Candy Man, seemed to have an extremely high armor rating. James figured BLANK had really buffed his Secret Boss''s traits, in order to make him nigh impossible to bring down with both physical and magical attacks. It was highly possible the whole point of the massive boss was to create a gumdrop army to overwhelm adventurers. It wouldn''t be the first time James had encountered a boss that did just that.


    "Struggle all you want chap." The Perfect Cognivore''s voice growled from behind The Candy Man, followed by two harpoons. "Your efforts will just make my victory sweeter."


    James facepalmed with his tentacles, while Rue broke out in laughter. While the Terminus generally avoided puns, James knew his pixie had been trying to get the AI to adopt them. She told the second-floor boss AI that it was a necessary staple of a Dungeon Core, that puns were important, harkening back to the glory days of Divine Dungeons. This was apparently the result of her goading.


    The Candy Man grinned, sweetly, into the space around him. As he did, the oven once again dinged, and another baker''s dozen of muffins leapt out of the oven, rushing off onto the battlefield. A split second later, a loud eruption suddenly shook the earth, and James starred in awe and horror to see The Perfect Cognivore, suddenly visible, standing in a crater, covered in muffin remains.


    "Too many sweets can lead to cavities." The Candy Man said, as he chuckled. His bolos followed his laugher, flying rapidly towards The Perfect Cognivore. James''s secret boss swatted at the weapon with his massive, Chainsword tail. However, the revving weapon failed to cut the taffy, instead getting junked up by the gummy candy. The weight of the three jawbreakers pulled The Perfect Cognivore''s tail violently towards the ground, trapping him in place.


    "This does appear to be a sticky situation." The Perfect Cognivore growled in response, even as he struggled against the bolos holding him trapped. His eyes darted around the battlefield, likely looking for any sign of additional muffin mines. Unfortunately for him, there didn''t seem to be a visible indicator of where those muffins had sunk into the ground. Not even a single muffin top.


    "Time for your just desserts." The Candy Man grinned with his frosted mouth as he neared the struggling Perfect Cognivore. Another ding signaled the release of even more muffins. This batch ran and created a circle around the Perfect Cognivore, trapping the area completely around him in additional mines. It was extremely similar to the style of trapping Crikey used, and James had to wonder if BLANKs top players had seen the Muffin Man before.


    "I do like to enjoy my dessert as an appetizer." The Perfect Cognivore replied, his eyes darting between the Muffin Man, the army of gumdrop slimes, and The Candy Man. No matter how you looked at the situation, James knew his secret boss was in a bad place. And if he fell now, James wasn''t sure his players would be able to bring down The Candy Man. At least, not without a lot of losses on his side.


    "Do something." James whispered, urging his players to react. After all, there was an extremely large crowd of players¡­ James did a double take as he looked at the battlefield around the Perfect Cognivore. Following the cinnamon cloud from The Candy Man, many of James''s players had backed away from the two giant bosses fighting, likely figuring it was best to stay out of the range of destruction of the two massive figures. However, probably a hundred or so players had stayed relatively close to the battlefield, watching and cheering on the Perfect Cognivore, completely uncaring of their safety.


    Or at least, James had been certain there had been that many. Now, all he saw were floating orbs¡­meaning they had died. However, neither The Candy Man, nor The Muffin man had taken any actions other than those to bring down the Perfect Cognivore. How then, had his players-


    James saw it a moment later, as shadows seemed to shift and move back into the foggy area that depicted the BLANK owned territory that James couldn''t see. While many of the shadows disappeared instantly, one paused for a moment, watching the chaos unfold. The figure took a glance from the Perfect Cognivore, back to The Candy Man, before he turned and faded out of view. SoulDemon. BLANKs players, probably assassins, rogues, and of course the PhantomBlade, had used the Secret Boss battle to gank James''s players, catching them completely unaware. In doing so, James was down roughly a hundred players, and BLANK had just gained probably a decent chunk of Core Essence. That was not good.


    "Rue, we''ve got a problem." James turned towards the pixie; his tone serious. If something didn''t happen soon to even the battlefield, James wasn''t sure how well this day of the Dungeon War was going to go. And while he was sure his players wouldn''t make the same mistake on the 5th day of the war, he had been hoping they wouldn''t completely throw the third day. But if The Candy Man and Muffin man continued, combined with probably BLANKs avatars¡­it was looking grim for his dungeon.


    "So do they." Rue chuckled as she pointed back towards the Secret Boss Battle. The Perfect Cognivore''s entire body was glowing faintly with a golden light, while his eyes narrowed on The Candy Man. BLANKs secret boss was standing above him, his candy axe raised high for his killing blow. The boss, it seemed, shared in BLANKs arrogance.


    "Is that-"


    "It is." Rue''s confirmation caused a rush of excitement to flow through James. He had been so worried about the loss of his players, that he had forgotten his Perfect Cognivore had one last set of skills to use. A special set of skills that had been honed to do massive amounts of damage, and to kill its target, no matter what it could be. An attack so devastating, so powerful, that nothing would be able to survive it, not even The Candy Man. Because, in preparation for BLANK, and whatever the min maxing, power gaming duo would devise, James had given The Perfect Cognivore a last ditch, trump card of his own.


    James was suddenly extremely happy there were no longer any players from his side close to the secret boss battles. However, he was extremely hopeful that some of BLANKs players were still lurking in the fog of war on the map. Because the Perfect Cognivore was about to go nuclear, courtesy of his final unlocked skill, Apocalypse Now. And when he did, everything around him, meaning the Candy Man, the Muffin Man, the gumdrop army, and hopefully those damned muffin mines, were going to be exposed not only to massive damage, but also, radiation.

 158 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158


    What happened next was brilliant, blinding, and all together terrifying. James made a mental note to remove the upgrade from his Secret Boss whenever dungeon wars weren''t active. He doubted any players would ever go against the Secret Boss if he left that skill active.


    Even as The Candy Man''s axe came swinging down, The Perfect Cognivore suddenly detached from his tail, and barreled into BLANK''s secret boss. The Perfect Cognivore dug his clawed hands into the enemy''s gumdrop armor, and at point blank released all eight of his harpoons. That close, and with the pressure driving them forward, they broke into the gingerbread cookie body of the secret boss and latched on tight.


    The Perfect Cognivore used his massive, powerful steampunk legs, and the momentum of the moment, to shove his trapped foe and himself past the muffin mines and closer to The Muffin Man. All the while, James''s Secret boss continued to glow brighter. That was, of course, something James was used to. After all, the core within the Terminus normally detonated.


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    However, the Perfect Cognivore''s version was a bit more¡­destructive. When the Terminus detonated, it was after he died, with the core just becoming unstable and erupting. Now, the Perfect Cognivore was purposefully overloading his own nuclear reactor, preparing it for eruption. As the energy continued to grow within James''s secret boss, James could see the armor plating around the Perfect Cognivore actually closing in on the boss, condensing inward, to create a pressurized chamber for the reactor. Now not only was there going to be a nuclear blast, but it was going to be amplified 10-fold from what James had previously seen.


    A split second later, the light, which had been momentarily hidden as The Perfect Cognivore''s armor completely closed in and encompassed it, leaked out from his form. The metal plating cover James''s Secret Boss glowed brightly from the heat, and James watched as the Perfect Cognivore''s face took on a cruel grin.


    "Lights out chap." The Perfect Cognivore said, just before he erupted in a massive nuclear explosion. James looked away just in time to avoid starring directly into the bright flash of light, though even with his orb turned away from the explosion, and his giant eyeball closed and covered by his tentacles, it was as if he could see clearly. So bright was the explosion, that he would have believed he were staring into the sun. He waited, counting, for 10 seconds, before the light finally faded.


    As it did, James willed himself to turn back around, and take in the battlefield. Where the Secret Bosses had battled, nothing remained. Instead, a massive crater had formed, blackened and scorches, and almost seeming to have turned, in some parts, into a glass like substance. Looking down into the crater, James realized that his assessment that nothing remained, had been wrong.


    In the very center, a mass of glowing, radiating, molten metal seemed to rest. It pulsed with unnatural light, and James could feel his vision blurring as his eyeball burned just from looking at it.


    He had heard of a similar such substance that had existed in the real world, created from the devastating nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A mass of a substance known as corium, which was created during the nuclear meltdown. It had been named The Elephants foot, and was a mass of extremely hot, extremely dangerous and radioactive material, that existed and remained deadly for over 50 years after the accident.


    Now, DCO was a video game world, meaning normally things like radiation poisoning wouldn''t be a thing. So, in theory, players would be able to likely get close to that mass of remaining molten material in the center of that crater, if they wanted to. Of course, DCO also wasn''t a normal game. And James had not only unlocked radiation for his disease menu, courtesy ironically, of BLANKs players and his M.I.N.E. Craft, but had played around with it quite a bit.


    Something that James was really hoping he would get to see soon. Movement along the edge of his vision, was saying he was going to get a good view of it, sooner rather than later.


    "Look at that Rue." He whispered, motioning towards the fog of war. His players had already begun running back towards his spawn area the moment the Perfect Cognivore had begun glowing. And by running, James meant they had full on sprinted, atop their dicken mounts, away from the battlefield. However, James had been hoping some of BLANKs players would stick around to watch the fight. After all, only a few of them had seen what happened when the Terminus was defeated.


    Sure enough, as James watched the fog of war, he saw a handful of BLANK players stumble out. They were waving their hands about wildly as a sickly, irradiated glow encompassed their bodies. Their status bars showed that they were currently blinded, deafened, dazed, and irradiated.


    The first three statuses were a deadly combination, if there were any enemy players around. However, it was the final one, that was actually going to be their downfall. Especially if the unlocked portions of his disease menu did exactly what he thought they would.


    Irradiation (Unique Disease)


    Disease Effects


    Antimagical Resistance (5disease points (DP))- This disease has an increased chance to resist being cleansed, dependent on the amount of magical healing a player has received. For every magical spell applied to a player, the disease has an additional 1x (DP) chance to resist being cleansed.


    Proximity Illness (4DP)- This disease has an increased chance to spread to players nearby. This illness has a 5xDP percent chance to spread to players within 5xDP feet of a player. The disease will attempt to effect players in proximity once every minute, until a player either dies, or is cleansed


    Unique Effects


    Radiation (1 radiation point)


    Mutation level 1 (5DP)- Players will undergo a random mutation within 30 seconds of being exposed to radiation. Additional mutations will be applied every 10 minutes, unless a player is cleansed.


    Mutation level 2 (10DP)- Players who undergo mutations will lose complete control over themselves. Until they die, or are healed, they will be treated as a drunk character, resulting in their temporary inability to control their character.


    In essence, James had figured, as he dumped all 24 of his disease points into crafting this disease, and his single radiation point to even use this tree, that he would be able to create a disease that could turn BLANKs players against themselves. In DCO, and actually many immersion games, whenever a player became so drunk that they would normally become extremely sick or ''black out'' they were instead returned to their own waiting area. From there, individuals were welcome to play other games, relax, or in Manly The Dwarf''s instance, learn the lore of the game.


    Once the detrimental effect had run its course, players would receive a notification allowing them to hop right on back into whatever game they had been playing. Seeing that he could essentially apply that effect to BLANKs players with his irradiated disease, well, it was a no brainer. Even if it had cost him 10 of his 24 disease points to do. James had no idea what the mutations would be, but if his steampunk dino mobs'' mutations were anything to go off of, James was about to see an extremely interesting battle take place.


    James had also taken care to confirm with Rue he was reading the disease menu correctly, before he even applied this tactic to the battlefield. Because obviously, while irradiating BLANKs forces, causing them to mutate and lose control of themselves sounded great, he had been worried about it effecting his players. However, according to the disease menu, effects of diseases would only be applied to enemies of his dungeon. Which, theoretically, in the case of dungeon wars and the fields of battle, meant BLANKs forces, not James''s. Huzzah loopholes. Granted, if James had access to a disease menu, there was a chance BLANK did as well. However, James figured there was no way BLANK would have access to something as neat as radiation.


    What was the worst BLANK could do? Create a disease that put James''s players in a sugar coma? That was laughable, especially as James watched one of BLANK''s player''s eyes roll back in his head, as another head sprouted from his torso. Yup, that player was definitely no longer in control. A split second later, an adventurer dual wielding daggers grew two additional arms from outside of his back. Two more mutated as well, one growing an additional leg, the other having his body seem to grow larger and more muscular. At the same time, all of their eyes turned completely white, and their cries of confusion and anger turned into animalistic moans.


    Achievement Unlocked


    Even as James went to click on the achievement, he watched one last player stumble out of the fog of war. His eyes rolled back in his head, and James watched as the glow around his body seemed to flash. A moment later, his flesh went from glowing yet healthy, to rotten and saggy. His mouth gaped open, as he turned back towards the fog of war. Instead of an inaudible moan, he let out a single, long drawn out word.


    "Braaaaaaiiiiinnnnnnnnsssssss."


    Achievement Unlocked


    Oh, this had to be good.

 159 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159


    Chernobyl? Cherno-Yes!- Mutate a player utilizing radiation


    Reward- 5,000xp, +1 radiation skill point


    Zombieland- Create a zombie


    Reward- 5,000xp, unlock undead skin for humanoid mobs


    Rank Up!


    And just like that, the gap between James and Blank closed even more. Because of those two achievements, James not only now had an additional radiation point to spend, which he was totally going to do, but he also had just ranked up. With that rank up, James was now a Rank 3 Tier 7 dungeon, while BLANK was still Rank 3 Tier 8. Part of James wondered if he would actually be able to take the top dungeon spot during this dungeon war.


    "Ha." James took his moment of triumph in stride as he closed out all three windows that he had opened. Or at least, as best in stride as he could. That rank up meant he now had an additional skill point to spend on his tier three mobs and boss mob. And considering it looked like the players were back near the spawn zone, working to summon additional aid to the battlefield, he needed to act fast.


    Already, he could see a group of players moving toward the boss totems, likely intent on summoning another boss mob to join the fray. Interestingly enough, it seemed that in theory, players could summon the same boss multiple times. That fact was evident to James, considering there was currently a 6-hour cooldown for the Terminus, and a 4 1/2hr cooldown for B.L.U. So, players could either spend their essence now, or save it, and try to use the Perfect Cognivore against BLANKs players once again.


    "What do you think they''re going to do?" James whispered to Rue, even as he began pulling up the different upgrade windows for Grandma Jenkins. Thanks to his increase, he had a skill point to spend on Grandma Jenkins. And if she was going to be used in the war, which he was pretty certain she was, he needed to upgrade her, to best suit the battle to come. If only he had an idea of what to expect. One thing he hadn''t seen in the past two days, was BLANKs third floor boss.


    "BLANK? Or your players?" Rue wasn''t paying attention to James, or the players below. Instead, she was staring into the distance, where they had watched the zombie tumble into the fog of war. James had a feeling she was just as curious as he was with regards to that specific development. Could the zombies spread? Had he unleashed a zombie outbreak? It was definitely an exciting thought. Though one completely outside of his control now.


    "Yes." James replied sarcastically. He could tell her attention had been momentarily pulled away. Of course, sarcasm was always the right answer when it came to vagueness or loss of interest. At least, that was what he was learning from Rue, sarcasm, and sexual teasing, were the best ways to get someone''s attention. Great life lessons¡­.


    "Smartass." Rue turned her attention back to him, shaking her head with a devilish grin. See, totally works.


    "Better than being a dumbass." James finished his upgrade for Grandma Jenkins. It had been a toss-up, but he had decided to go with a skill up called What Big Teeth You Have. It upgraded the attack power of Grandma Jenkin''s mobs passively by 15percent, and another 5percet whenever Grandma Jenkins was on the field with them. Additionally, it seemed the mobs would get another 5percent increase in damage against any adventurer who was wearing red or had been touched by the thread of fate.


    The other upgrade, which James had passed on, had been What Big Eyes You Have. Which would have increased the hit percent for the mobs by 15percent, with similar increases as What Big Teeth You Have. As of yet, James really hadn''t seen many times when mobs missed adventurers. So, he figured the extra dps would make up for any missed attacks.


    "If they''re smart, I would say BLANKs players are either going to summon more boss mobs, or an Avatar. Then, if I were them, I would begin launching small attacks against the players, in order to slowly whittle down the enemy forces." Rue was glancing once again towards the fog of war, which James noticed seemed to be slowly moving towards them. What irritated him, was he was pretty sure only he and Rue could see it moving. He doubted his players knew that the enemy was slowly advancing on them.


    That wasn''t to say James''s players weren''t doing similar events. However, they did seem to be going about it in a different way. The vast majority of James''s players were still in the spawn area, seeming to be setting up into different groups, guilds gathering all their members, and then a large group that seemed to be trying to organize something even larger.


    If James had to guess, the large group in the center of the spawn area, with players holding what appeared to be leaflets, handing them out and shouting out orders to everyone, were probably the founders of the Adventurer''s Guild. Those players, from what James could garner, were attempting to form multi-guild forces, to prepare to fight off BLANKs forces.


    Which would be fine and all, if the people that founded the Adventurer''s Guild actually knew what they were doing. However, a quick glance at their stats, told James they had absolutely no idea what was going on. Most of them were under level 10. As he and Rue had guessed¡­they had rushed to the town and used all of their building tokens in order to establish the guild, so they could just passively make money in the game. They were worse than casuals¡­.they were just bureaucratic players. And, as it seemed they were realizing, players, dungeon divers, PvPers, were not going to listen to town builders when it came to war.


    "That''s what I''m worried about Rue." James saw a group of players break away from the masses. It was a squad of about 10 players, all of them in the low 20s. So, about average players for James''s dungeon. What was different though, was it seemed each of them had used all of their essence to summon dickens. So, 10 players, with a total of 30 dickens flocking about them. Which, again, wasn''t a terrible thing, considering the dickens scaled to match the level of the player that summoned them¡­So, 30 dickens that were in the level 20s range¡­with their stats doubled.


    "I''m afraid BLANKs players are going to get the advantage early, which will put us at a big disadvantage, before we even get the chance to join the fight." That was the thing he realized about the third and fifth day of the dungeon war. It was a 24-hour period, with 10,000 players from both sides fighting, for a combined total of roughly 20,000 individuals. That was huge.


    The fact the essence was split evenly amongst all the players early on, was rather dangerous. It meant players, like the bureaucrats, were given valuable essence points, that James needed players to spend on summoning him and Rue. Furthermore, the scope of the battles on day 3 and 5, meant there was a ton of essence to be earned, by either side.


    The easiest way to earn essence for yourself, and your dungeon, was to kill a large number of players, quickly. Obviously, BLANKs players had tried to do that by summoning their secret boss. Fortunately, James''s secret boss was summoned in turn, and the two countered each other. However, James had still lost more players in the exchange than BLANK had. Meaning BLANK was up on essence, at least for essence earned right now. He had no idea how much essence BLANK had started day three with.


    If James''s players didn''t hurry up and act quickly, he was really worried that BLANKs forces would launch some new attack of their own. One that would give them an even larger lead. Especially because there was another danger at play in day three and day five of the dungeon wars. If a player was defeated on the FoB, and didn''t get revived, then they were removed from the FoB. Meaning, the more players BLANKs forces killed early on, the larger a number advantage they would have against James''s players. Which was something James needed his players to avoid, at all costs.


    Rue flew over to James''s floating orb and placed a calming hand atop his floating eye. At the same time, she motioned down towards the party he had been watching. It had grown, now from 10 players, to 50. What''s more, it seemed even more players were joining them by the second. James watched, in horror and awe, as he saw a trio of players approaching the swarming group of dickens.


    It seemed that as they approached, everyone around them turned their attention to the trio. Two of the players, James recognized easily. Granted, it would have been impossible for him not to, considering how much they normally stood out. It was the duo, FlashFyre and Axel42, the pet class players. They had their own group of dickens following them, though of course Axel42 seemed to have summoned even more using his summoner skills, while FlashFyre had a horde of skeletons following her.


    It was the figure in the middle of them, and what he was riding, that made James pause. The figure was clad in heavy armor, making his already large, dragonkin frame, even larger. He held one Chainsword in his large hand, while another one rested behind his shoulders, placed between the two, red wings that sprouted from his back. While his visage wasn''t that surprising, it was his mount that really sold everything. Instead of the normal dicken, that everyone was riding, this dragonkin, this¡­ James paused to pull up his info.


    Trogdor


    Level 27 Barbarian Warlord


    This Trogdor, was riding atop an infernal dicken. The 1 in 6,666 rare drop chance mob. Just how many dickens had Trogdor slain?


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 160 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160


    "They''re really going to do this." Rue''s voice was a mixture of humor, and anticipation. As the masses of players had continued to form up, with Trogdor, Axel42, and FlashFyre at the front, something else had been occurring as well.


    That something else, was the fact that more essence was flowing into summoning Charles The Dicken. James of course had realized what they were planning. The, somewhat elegant speech from Trogdor, followed by him wasting his 15minute breath attack cooldown for emphasis, had cemented the realization.


    Apparently, the dragonkin, because of his extremely rare infernal dicken mount, had been offered up, er chosen, as tribute, in order to lead what they were calling the dicken assault. The plan, masterminded by Stryker123 and the members of StrykeForce, was to have an assault group of over 100 players, meaning over 300 dickens, rush into the enemy area, accompanied by Charles the Dicken. With the World Boss''s A Clucky Carol buffing the dickens even more, the mass of mobs was going to be extremely dangerous to BLANKs forces.


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    Their goal was to not only sow chaos amongst the enemy forces, but also harvest a bunch of essence in the safest, quickest way possible. While the mobs were expendable, it seemed the players had figured the mobs they summoned would transfer the essence they gained from killing adventures, back to the players. This theory had been apparently ''confirmed'' by Axle42 and FlashFyre, who claimed they gained experience and essence whenever their summoned pets killed invaders or mobs when they invaded BLANKs dungeon.


    By that logic, since apparently the summoned dickens players got by using essence seemed to be treated as pets for the players, they figured the same would hold true. And, even if it didn''t, from what James heard of the chatter, they were pretty confident they would be able to harvest the essence, if it dropped as essence orbs, in the chaos of the dicken waves. Then, as the mass of dickens died down, the players were going to retreat back to their friendly lines, with even more essence than before, to summon more mobs, as well as work on summoning additional bosses, and avatars.


    The last part was what James was most excited for. He was fine with his players summoning bosses. Obviously, they were powerful allies, and necessary for dungeon wars. However, James was really starting to get an itch. He wanted to join the battle. He wanted to be down there, fighting alongside his players, fighting alongside other adventurers, as he had in WU. Being a dungeon core was great and all¡­but James wanted to be a player too, at least for a little while. At least long enough to wipe BLANKs smug face in it.


    "It seems the Great Dickening was rather¡­impactful, on a lot of them." James chuckled as the final bit of essence was dumped into the summoning totem. A massive, 20-foot egg, appeared from a glowing pentagram ahead of the spawn area, clearing out a good chunk of trees and forest in the process. At the same time, a massive timer appeared above it, slowly counting down.


    "Prepare the Dicken Brigade." Trogdor''s gruff, dragonkin voice boomed over the masses. His infernal dicken stood roughly 2 feet taller than regular dicken mounts. Additionally, the infernal dicken was devoid of feathers. Instead, its black skin appeared molten, with coursing red lines of demonic energy, and a constant set of flames burning over its entire body. In short, the infernal dicken looked badass. Which, made the 7ft tall red dragonkin covered in steampunk heavy armor, look badass as well. James would totally have decided to follow that guy into battle.


    "I can''t believe you had us join your brother''s Dicken Brigade." James heard FlashFyre make the comment to Axel42, who simply grinned and shook his head.


    "It''s not like we had anything else planned for this." Axel42 glanced at Trogdor and offered the dragonkin a smile and a thumbs up. "Besides," Axel42 said, his voice softer, "if we take part of the Dicken Brigade, we have an excuse not to bring him along on our dives."


    FlashFyre looked from Axel42 to Trogdor and shook her head. Her skin was pale, with blue lines of energy coursing over it in strange runes. In stark contrast, her eyes glowed with a bright blue light, and her hair, probably a callout to her name, was a bright, fiery red. "Fair." She looked towards her skeletal army. Having hit level 30, FlashFyre had again upgraded her necromancer skills, further down the path of bones it seemed. The dead giveaway, ha, was that all of her skeletal mobs now glowed lightly, and the bones that made of their forms were thicker. The higher she got on the path of bones, the stronger, more durable her mobs would become. Well, that and the fact she now had 2 greater skeletons, instead of just one.


    James wasn''t quite sure what the dynamic was going on, but it seemed as if Axel42 and FlashFyre were, if he had to guess, a couple. And, judging from that last statement, it seemed Axel42 was related to Trogdor. It wasn''t uncommon for family members and friends to share each other''s usernames, so that they could find each other in game. James just was curious why the duo seemed intent on avoiding Trogdor. As a Barbarian Warlord, he would provide the trio with an extremely powerful tank class. Furthermore, Warlords had the ability to buff their allies with battle cries. That ability would carry over to ally''s mobs as well, meaning Trogdor would be able to increase the potency of Axel42 and FlashFyre''s mobs.


    Of course, as James glanced from the duo, to Rue, he knew exactly why the two wanted to stay away from Trogdor. If there was one thing James knew about gaming, it was that gaming with friends was great. Past that though, the more time James spent with Rue, the more he realized there was something even better. Gaming with someone you cared about, really made it great. No matter what the situation, no matter the ups, the downs, the challenge they faced, gaming alongside Rue was something James never wanted to lose.


    In fact, the more he thought about it, that was really the biggest issue he had with everything happening to him right now. Not only was Xander a huge douche and BLANK a bunch of arrogant assholes¡­ but they were interrupting his game time with Rue. They were encroaching on him just trying to play the damned game and enjoy his time with Rue. Even more so, they had now threatened to take it away. And, just like the duo down there, he didn''t want anyone, or anything, getting in his way of that.


    James looked at the time above Charles the Dicken''s giant egg, watching the countdown tick away slowly. A new fire was burning within James, as he watched the timer expectantly. He needed this Dicken Charge to take place. He needed his players to kill some of BLANKs, so that he, and Rue, could join the fray. Being a dungeon core alongside his AI was great, but even more so, James wanted to step onto the battlefield beside her, and show BLANK just who they were messing with.

 161 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161


    The charge of the Dicken Brigade was¡­amazing. That was all James could consider it. Truly, it had to have been one of the most inspired, crazy, hilarious, and effective things he had seen in his years of gaming. Not only were the dickens ridiculously buffed by Charles, even if the World Boss was only level 20, but the visual, of watching that many crazed, angry, demonic chickens running through the forest, seeking out BLANKs players, was just awesome.


    On top of that, surprise in and of itself, took down more than a few of BLANKs players. Unfortunately, the charge of the Dicken Brigade also didn''t last as long as James had wanted. However, while it was short lived, it still served its purpose. Well, actually, it served a few purposes.


    First off, it drove a decent chunk of the fog of war away from James''s field of view. The charge by the Dicken Brigade, which was roughly 400 dickens, meaning about 120 players strong, made it past the midpoint of the battlefield, and about another 200 yards into BLANKs side of the map, before it was stopped.


    During the charge, led by Charles the Dicken, with Trogdor and his infernal dicken quick on the world boss''s claws¡­er¡­heels, they managed to pick off over a dozen of BLANKs players, mostly rogue and thief classes, who had been working their way slowly towards James''s spawn area. It seemed that BLANK''s players were sending out scouts, to slowly map out and plan around James''s setup. The scary part was a few of the scouts had gotten near two of James''s siege weapons. Meaning he was certain those were likely going to be targeted, before they could ever get fully used.


    Of course, that information was paid for quite nicely by the essence James''s players received from the mad rush of the Dicken Brigade. Because of the effects of Charles the Dicken''s ability, the dickens that were part of the Dicken Brigade attacked any enemy they came across. It was like watching a hungry swarm of locust overcome the land. No sooner was an enemy sighted, than the player fell to the ground and was trampled to death by the dickens. James had thought the Great Dickening was going to be a single, isolated incident in his dungeon. However, it seemed his players wanted to share that Dickening with any and everyone¡­ He was certain this was going to become a tactic commonly used by his players in dungeon wars in the future¡­if they got that far.


    As James noted, it was effective early on. However, as they blasted their way past the irradiated remains of the Perfect Cognivore, and into BLANKs portion of the battlefield, it became evident BLANK had definitely planned against James. While BLANKs players might not have been prepared for the crazy antics by James''s players, BLANK had been.


    It started when Charles the Dicken stepped into a pitfall trap. These traps, as James had noted, were rather inexpensive. As such, it seemed BLANK, who James had no doubt had fully utilized all 2,000 of their BP across their field, and not wasted a lot of points on a Core Shield or Cannon, had spread such traps liberally around their side of the battlefield.


    And by liberally, James meant it seemed like they had created a mass of trenches for any invading players to stumble across. What''s more, there were walls set up all along their side of the field, creating choke points, funneling players, or in this case, dickens, into easily defendable portions. These portions had BLANKs players stationed alongside cannons, with towers provided for their ranged players to get a better scope of the battlefield.


    Behind BLANKs defensive line, which saw dickens getting funneled into kill zones, cut down by cannons and AOE spells alike, James got a good glimpse of rows and rows of siege weapons. James watched as the Dicken Brigade continued onward, seeming oblivious, uncaring of Charles the Dicken, who was soaking up loads of damage, his health pool quickly diminishing. The dickens rushed to their death, taking cannon fire and spells from all sides, arrows raining down upon them from an organized defensive group of BLANKs players. They continued onward, pecking and clucking and cawing, leaping through the air, launching gren-eggs of their own. It was pure chaos. And, in that chaos, even though BLANK had obviously prepared for it, BLANKs players hadn''t.


    Even as dickens fell left and right, so too did BLANKs players. James couldn''t help but grin, cheering Trogdor on as he rode across a bridge, surrounded on all sides by dickens. His body glowed as he hefted his Chainsword wide in the air, blowing his battlemaster cooldown to buff the nearest 10 allies around him. All 10 dickens surrounding him, already buffed by their own dicken buff, and Charles the dicken, grew even larger. Their stats buffed once again, they tore deep into the enemy line, wiping out BLANKs players.


    Of course, that chaos still wasn''t enough to overcome the players. They may not have been ready for the dicken brigade, but they were definitely used to facing extremely difficult and dangerous opponents. What''s more, the ones dying were the lower leveled players. The stronger players, James noticed, stayed back, watching the chaos unfold. They used their lower leveled players as fodder, to ensure they could best take control of the battlefield.


    And take control they did. Even as Trogdor and his dicken entourage turned about for another charge, a single lightning bolt crashed into the Dragonkin from above. The blast instantly turned him into an orb of light, while consecutive bolts of lightning channeled off of him, arcing onto the mobs that had surrounded him, killing them as well. James scanned the field, looking for the figure that had cast the bolt of lightning. It had come from a player that had to be at least level 30, though James figured, from the power behind the bolt, they were higher level.


    Not only that, but he was fairly certain whoever had launched the attack, had burned a cooldown, in order to boost the power of the attack. After all, Trogdor had been an off-tank class, he had a good amount of hit points, as well as defensive stats. Even if his magic resistance wasn''t obnoxiously high, it was still high enough that, combined with his health pool, he shouldn''t have been able to be one shot so easily.


    "Trogdor." A random player from James''s side called out, and a party of four players, atop their dickens, rushed across the bridge towards the orb that was the dragonkin. A quick scan of the players showed that one of them was a healer, meaning it was possible those four were the dragonkin''s normal party members. And, amidst the chaos, they intended to get their friend back up.


    Of course, BLANK''s players weren''t having any of that. Spells and ranged attacks rained down upon the players. The enemy forces, at least the higher leveled ones among them, were masterfully singling out players with their abilities, while the weaker players in the defensive area worked on Charles the Dicken, and the dicken mobs. However, while it was a skilled tactic, James could tell the battle, at the very least, was likely going to end in a draw.


    He came to this conclusion, as he watched as a level 37 lightning mage, who he was pretty sure had been the one to bring down Trogdor, let out a cry of surprise, which had brough James attention to him. The mage, it seemed, had been making a retreat, though he was running, instead of teleporting, as his mana was likely still recovering from his massive devastating spells. An arrow was protruding from his knee, which was likely what had brought him down.


    The source of the arrow, James found was almost poetic. While dickens and players fought one another, there was another set of forces on the battlefield, that were doing quite a bit of damage. James was of course, referring to the forces of FlashFyre and Axel42. The necromancer and summoner had moved forward with the players. However, they hadn''t stopped when they reached Trogdor''s fallen orb. Instead, FlashFyre seemed to have moved her pets forward, towards a hill atop which the mage seemed to have been standing.


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    Beside her, Axel42 had canceled out his dicken mobs, and instead summoned two break-i-asarus. The massive, steampunk dinosaurs let out their metallic roars, causing some of BLANK''s players to pause in surprise and concern. The purpose of the breaker''s James realized, was to provide cover for Axel42, FlashFyre, and the players that had rushed to Trogdor''s aid. Because of the massive size of the dinosaurs, all the ranged attacks flying towards the party was actually being intercepted by them. Axel42 had summoned his mobs simply to be meat shields. And it was working.


    James watched as more arrows rained down upon the poor mage. His magical power was vast, considering his level, but he was still squishy. And, it seemed he hadn''t expected to be attacked by skeletal archers. After all, with all of the dickens flooding the battlefield, it was rather hard to make out the skeletal archers amongst the pack. Furthermore, James had to guess the chaos on the battlefield had been more than a little distracting.


    "Get him up, and let''s go." Axel42 called out to the players who had rushed to the fallen dragonkin''s orb. The healer''s hands began glowing, as he started channeling a resurrection spell. It was a powerful, full revival spell, that took 30 seconds to cast. During that time, they would have to keep any and all damage off of the healer, otherwise the spellcaster would be interrupted.


    A task, that was going to prove difficult, considering they were sitting right in the middle of the enemy''s fortified position. Already, more dickens lay dead, than alive. And while BLANKs forces had suffered a good amount of causalities, there were still enough to man the weapons BLANK had so kindly provided them with. Furthermore, as had been the plan, many of James''s players had already pulled back. This had been meant as a shock and awe, lightning fast attack. They were to cause as many casualties as possible, and then pull back, to use the essence they gained to further increase their advantage on the battlefield.


    Trogdor''s heroics, followed by those of his friends, and brother it seemed, had put them in unnecessary danger. To put it in gamer terms, Trogdor had gone full stupid, and Axel42 and the others had been dragged into harm''s way, because of it. James figured that had to be another reason why Axel42 and FlashFyre didn''t want to dungeon dive with the Barbarian. Though, to be fair, players that chose barbarians often were a bit more on the reckless, impulsive side. James couldn''t help but cast a sidelong glance at Rue as that thought crossed his mind. After all, the pixie had chosen not only barbarian, but barbarian berserker as her avatar class.


    "I don''t think so, white knight." A voice said from the battlefield, and James winced in anticipation, even as his eyes shot towards Axel42. Even as the voice spoke, James saw the glowing of two red eyes moving rapidly towards the summoner. A candy cane sword drove deep into Axel42''s mount, killing the dicken instantly. A second one drove into Axel42''s chest, punching completely through.


    The form of SoulDemon shimmered for a moment before Axel42, as the Phantom Blade''s cold voice growled. "Revenge is sweet."

 162 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162


    "Axel." James cried out in response to SoulDemon''s attack at the same time FlashFyre did. The necromancer had just finished off the high-level wizard she had been hunting and turned back in time to watch Axel get stabbed. James couldn''t help but feel for her. She and the summoner obviously had a thing, and her summoner had just been run through. To Axel''s credit though, that attack hadn''t one shot him. Why hadn''t it one shot him?


    "Bah." Axel42 looked down at SoulDemon, who''s red eyes glowed with hatred, even as a faint hint of surprise flashed in them as well. SoulDemon was level 43 now, whereas Axel was only level 34. The PhantomBlade, using his cooldown, and given his high attack power, and the fact James was sure that attack would have landed as a critical, given SoulDemon had attacked with a surprise attack, meant Axel42 had taken a lot of damage. And, he was a summoner, he was supposed to be squishy.


    "What just happened?" James glanced around the battlefield, his eyes darting around quickly as he tried to process what was going on. How in the- he paused as realization flowed into him. There was a skill, on the summoner tree, for those above level 30, that made sense. A passive ability that would explain how Axel42 had avoided getting one-shot by the PhantomBlade.


    The skill, called Summoner''s Bond, was a passive skill Summoner''s could unlock past level 30. It allowed a summoner to gain differing stat increases, dependent upon the types of mobs they had summoned. The increases were dependent upon how many summoner points worth of mobs you currently had summoned, as well as the type of the mob. There was also a cap on it, though the more skill points a player put into the passive, the larger a bonus they could receive. Considering Axel42 was still standing, James figured the summoner had to have leveled it up at least three times.


    "You''ve underestimated my power." Axel42 grinned as his skin, which was already a darker tone, with glowing red runes around it, began to blacken. His slightly pointed teeth grew into large fangs, as horns began to sprout from his head. His white hair, tied back in a ponytail, began to float ominously behind him, and two leathery wings sprouted from his back. At the same time, his form nearly doubled in size, as demonic energy flowed around him.


    "It seems Axel42 has released his final form." Rue chuckled as they watched. To SoulDemon''s credit, the Phantom Blade recovered quickly enough, beginning to launch a flurry of attacks into Axel42''s demonic form. The form, granted to Axel42 as a cooldown related to his race of devilkin, gave him an increased health pool, enhanced attack and defensive stats, and a small amount of damage reduction for a given duration. The amount of the increase, as well as the duration, scaled based on the player''s level. At level 1, it lasted for 10 seconds, with only a 5% increase to stats. At level 10 it jumped to 20 seconds, and a 10% increase to stats, at level 30, it jumped to 30 seconds, and a 15% increase in stats.


    That boost in stats, combined with the boost of stats Axel42 was likely receiving from his Summoner''s Bond, meant what should have been a squishy magic class, had now become a temporary tank. Oh, and there was also the fact that in his demon form, Axel42''s attacks had a life steal effect to them as well. So, even as SoulDemon began laying into Axel42, the demonkin summoner began launching attacks of his own, using two velocity-raptor daggers he had summoned in his hands.


    "You cannot defeat me." SoulDemon hissed, and James, as well as probably Axel42, were well aware of that fact. First off, SoulDemon''s class was designed purely around damage output. Even with Axel''s stat boosts, the Phantom Blade had the advantage on DPS. On top of that, SoulDemon''s cooldown was still up, meaning he had a large increase to his dodge chance. So, for every 4 attacks Axel42 was making, only 1 was making contact, meaning he was not draining enough life to keep the attacks going.


    "No, I can''t." Axel42 grinned, flashing his fangs. "Luckily, I''m not alone." The devilkin chuckled deeply as a golden light flowed over his form. His wounds, bleeding a dark ichor, instantly began closing.


    "You think they did that on purpose?" Rue motioned behind SoulDemon. The source of the golden, healing light was instantly evident, and James was beginning to wonder just how much of this the duo had planned for usefulness, versus shits and giggles. FlashFyre, the necromancer, had used her cooldown as an Angelkin, to take on a celestial, angelic form. Her burning red hair had changed to golden, and now flowed freely behind her as she keep herself floating gently above the ground with her feathery white wings. Above her head, a golden halo glowed. The necromancer was an angel, who could heal while she was in her angelic form. The summoner was a demon, who could tank while he was in his demon form. Videogame logic. The duo was definitely meta gaming it up.


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    "Nah, they just spun the wheel and lucked out with a random chance on their races." James responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Of course, they had planned this out, much in the same way as The Knights Who Go Ni had planned out their race, merely so they could have the increased move speed to get world first at finding his dungeon. Rue glared at him but turned back towards the battle without saying another word. James was pretty sure she was bottling her anger to take it out on the enemy. Otherwise he was certain she would have lashed out at him over that sarcastic comment.


    SoulDemon glanced backwards towards FlashFyre, who was now using her mana pool to pump healing spells directly into Axel, keeping him alive. All the while, Trogdor''s party was hard at work trying to revive their fallen friend. James knew they just had a few more seconds to go before the Dragonkin was revived, and then he was certain everyone was going to flee. Which was good, because James was really itching for his players to make it out alive. If James was thinking about it correctly, if he assigned the right mob to Axel42 with his spiritualist ability, it could combine with Axel''s Summoner''s Bond trait, and boost his stats even more, while providing him with the additional health pool and damage reduction that came from James''s skills. James really wanted Axel42 alive for when James was summoned as an Avatar.


    "You really think I would have run into this situation if I was worried about losing?" SoulDemon''s voice grew deep, as red runes began to glow across his skin. Of course, he was a devilkin too. Why wouldn''t he be. The one thing that drew players towards the kin classes, was that for the most part, during character creation, they could completely alter how much their human form showed of their related kin type. Meaning you could have a beastkin, like Rue''s avatar, that looked completely human. Or, the more popular style James saw, was beastkin that looked completely human, save for perhaps cat ears and a tail. It was only when they blew their cooldowns to take on their full beastkin form, that their body underwent its complete transformation.


    SoulDemon, it seemed, had purposefully made his character look completely human for its normal form. Likely as a way to try and ensure he always had the upper hand whenever he went against other players. After all, a big part of PvP was knowing your enemy''s strengths, weakness, and skill sets. So, keeping what you could about your class or race hidden, gave you an advantage in those situations.


    SoulDemon''s form took on that of a greater Demon, growing larger even than Axel42''s demonic form. Which made sense, since the Phantom Blade was level 43. It also meant his stat increase was greater than Axel42s. Meaning the summoner, even with the healing he was receiving from FlashFyre, was doomed.


    "I don''t really care about winning or losing." Axel42 shrugged even as his attacks continued. "I''m just here to have fun." He leapt away from SoulDemon, and an instant later a wave of fire rushed towards the Phantom Blade. Trogdor was back in the fight.


    "Well, I hope you, and all of your dungeon''s players, have fun losing then." SoulDemon folded his wings in front of him, allowing the leathery appendages to block the flames. It didn''t'' negate the damage, but it was likely a way to reduce damage as a devilkin in demon form.


    "After all, we''ve already ensured your doom is at hand." The earth shook, and SoulDemon let out a wide grin. "You see." He lifted himself off the ground with his wings, his weapons sheathed. Which was completely unlike the Phantom Blade. "Our dungeon is a lot deadlier than yours." The earth shook again, and James couldn''t help but feel a sense of dread wash over him. Whatever was coming, James had a bad feeling about it.

 164 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164


    The colored light attack was just the start of the chaos that followed the appearance of The Candied King. Each beam of light that flew from the tootsie pop, one beam for each color of the rainbow, blasted into a skeleton, with a different effect, though the same end result. For instance, the red light caused the skeleton it hit to burst into flames. The blue light caused the skeleton it hit to turn to ice. Either way, the skeleton died¡­again.


    "Run." FlashFyre''s voice held a hint of terror as the necromancer saw her skeletons burst into undeath. Without waiting for confirmation, she turned and fled, along with Axel42. A split second later, the rest of the party members all began to run as well.


    "Flee in terror all you want." BLANKs Avatar called out, taking a massive step from the forest as it did. A moment later, another blast of color flew from its massive scepter, decimating another 7 skeletal mobs. The greater skeleton and two breakers made as if to bar the way, but the Avatar simply slammed them aside with its massive shield, seeming unconcerned by them.


    Which made perfect sense. After all, James knew, though his players didn''t, that the Avatar''s were meant to be extremely powerful¡­considering they were, Avatars. A level 30 Avatar was going to be a lot stronger than summoned mobs from level 30, or even level 40, players. James was pretty sure the Avatar''s were likely closer in strength to world bosses, or maybe even raid bosses. Either way, The Candied King was not going to be even slowed down for a moment by the mobs left to stop him.


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    "There is no escape from our divine light." BLANKs Avatar raised the scepter, pointing it towards one of the players of Trogdor''s supposed party. The tootsie pop stopped shifting colors, changing instead to a golden light. A bright flash appeared, and suddenly the player froze in place, a golden cage around him. BLANKs Avatar let out a chuckle as it continued its advance. Unluckily for James''s players, something towering 30ft had a much larger stride than those under 6ft.


    "What is that thing." James wondered as he pulled up the Avatar''s information once again. Normally ,when James pulled up player information, even BLANKs players, he could at least see their class. However, the Avatar simply said Avatar. Meaning James wasn''t going to learn anything about the skills of his opponent.


    All he could tell, was that it was an elemental. Elemental was a race James had seen some sorcerers and wizards take. Elementals were a race geared towards being a caster, as they passively had a small increase to their mana pool, as well as their mana regain rate. The other unique feature elementals had was a slight increase in any elemental damage added to a spell. It was slight, obviously, but as did all the other race bonus''s, it scaled every 10 levels. Meaning the Avatar Research Level 6 BLANK over there, was benefitting from a level 30 race bonus.


    However, Elementals were a squishier race than some of the other magical options, which was why they weren''t as common as one would expect. They had a lower natural defense and health pool, as well as lower physical attributes. Which meant the obvious heavy armor that the Avatar was wearing, did not make sense.


    "I''m guessing it''s a secret class." Rue was analyzing the Avatar just as much as James was, while their players got picked off one by one. BLANK seemed to be enjoying utilizing that golden light to cage the players as they ran. So far, four of the seven players had been caged. Only Trogdor, FlashFyre, and Axel42 were free. However, BLANK was drawing up to the first player it had caged, the Avatar''s eyes glowing evilly.


    "That''s not good." James muttered, wincing slightly as The Candied King stepped on the poor adventurer, causing him to instantly burst into a glowing orb. That was just wrong. Like, seriously, at least kill the poor adventurers in an honorable manner. Stepping on them was just messed up.


    "Nope." Rue continued looking over the Avatar, her eyes narrowing as she watched the scepter glow. It was still glowing golden, and another flash shot out towards the fleeing adventurers. It was headed directly towards FlashFyre, but just before it could hit her, Trogdor leapt into the path of it.


    The Dragonkin was instantly snared in a glowing cage, while FlashFyre stumbled, but managed to keep going.


    "Thanks, little man." FlashFyre called back as she continued fleeing. Axel42 glanced back at his caged brother. The dragonkin made eye contact with Axel42 and flashed him a reptilian thumbs up. A moment later, he turned towards the approaching Avatar, watching as The Candied King stepped on another of James''s players. Like, seriously, that was extremely disrespectful.


    "Your efforts are futile before our might." BLANKs Avatar called out again. James was really getting tired of hearing that voice. Also, he wasn''t sure if somehow both of BLANKs players were controlling that Avatar, or if they were simply roleplaying their Avatar. Roleplaying the plural would make sense, as James knew old Royalty used to do just that. Leave it up to BLANK to style themselves off of old royalty.


    "What''s that?" Rue pointed out to James as they watched BLANK stomp on another player. There was just one more before the Avatar made its way to Trogdor, and the scepter was glowing again with a golden light. James was pretty sure the spell BLANK kept using was a Paladin spell, which would make sense given the heavy armor. However, the colorful rainbow-colored blast the Avatar had used earlier was not a Paladin spell. It was a sorcerer spell. Which helped James out a little. He knew Rue had some knowledge regarding secret classes, so if he mentioned his two suspected classes of the Avatar to her, there was a chance the pixie might know what exactly BLANK had made. And if they knew what BLANK was, he could better prepare for the other skills or abilities the Avatar might possess.


    However, what the pixie was pointing to, made James''s question flee his tongue. In their panicked run away from The Candied King, Axel42 and FlashFyre had strayed from the path they had initially taken during the dicken charge. They were still heading towards James''s side of the FoB, but in a more roundabout way. That way, apparently, matched the direction the super mutants and zombie from BLANKs dungeon had been ambling upon, during their apparent search for living things to attack.


    "That, has got to be the most convenient stroke of luck I''ve seen in a while." James whispered. The tootsie pop scepter glowed golden, and the light launched itself towards FlashFyre once more. Just as it neared her, the necromancer dove towards the first super mutant she could see. The momentum from her dive forward brought her past the super mutant just before the golden light could touch her. As a result, the spell, which James was 99percent sure was called Inquisition''s Cage, was a long-range Paladin binding spell. However, because of the enhance range, it targeted the first living enemy creature in its path. It was essentially a snare that could be lobbed at enemies who were either running away, or approaching too quickly, as a way to control crowds of mobs.


    James wasn''t sure if FlashFyre knew that about the spell, but by pushing herself past the Super Mutant, who James knew was now counted as an enemy to not only FlashFyre and James''s adventurers, but also BLANKs forces, the poor mindless mutant got caught in the spell instead of the fleeing necromancer. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she continued her sprint, with Axel42 half a dozen feet ahead of her. The super mutants and zombie that had been ambling towards them were quickly passed and turned mindlessly to move after the fleeing prey.


    "They''re going to make it." James whispered excitedly. With the super mutants and zombie following after Axel42 and FlashFyre, BLANK''s avatar no longer had a way to snare them. Judging by the flash of annoyance across the Avatar''s face, James knew BLANK had realized that as well.


    "Very well fools." The scepter disappeared from BLANKs hand just as the Avatar finished stepping on the fourth adventurer. With a couple of swift steps, BLANK was standing before the snared Trogdor, who was flipping off the Avatar defiantly.


    "Allow me to show you the true power you stand before." BLANKs call echoed out and held such a cruel venom in it that James and his players winced. The Avatar reached down and picked up Trogdor, who, to his credit, did his best to stab and bite BLANK. Of course, it was pointless, given the Avatar''s defensive ratings, and health pool, which James guessed were massive, if he were on a World Boss level.


    "Put me down you son of a ¨C" Was all Trogdor got out of his mouth, before his entire body began to glow with a golden light. James watched as the dragonkin was reduced to a glowing orb, which began to grow even larger and brighter withing BLANK''s hand. The Avatar grinned evilly and pulled back his arm. The Avatar reared back, like he was getting ready to throw a baseball, before he flung the glowing orb that was Trogdor towards the fleeing adventurers, super mutants, and zombie. The orb continued to glow brightly as it soared through the air.


    "Behold, the Inquisitor''s Holy Hand Grenade." The Candied King chuckled darkly as the orb impacted just in front of Axel42. On impact, Trogdor''s glowing orb burst apart into a brilliant blast of golden light. James could see the radiant energy erupt outwards, and his heart sunk as everything, Axel42, FlashFyre, the super mutants, and sadly the zombie, were reduced to nothingness. The Avatar grinned, before turning back towards BLANK''s side of the FoB. A moment later, the massive form disappeared into the fog of war, and out of James''s line of sight.


    "Did he just¡­" James shook his head, trying to process what had just happened. Either BLANK knew about Monty Python, and had made the same type of joke James had heard Med Ic make, or the Avatar really had a skill called Inquisitor''s Holy Hand Grenade. Either was possible, but either way, it just felt wrong to James. BLANK was not allowed to make jokes like that. And while James had to admit the Avatar seemed formidable indeed, James was still fairly certain he and his players could bring BLANK down.


    Avatar Core Summoning Activated- Summoning Core Avatar in 00m 59s *


    * No name currently assigned to Core Avatar


    "Shit." James silently cursed as the window appeared before him. He still hadn''t come up with his character concept for his Avatar, and now he had less than a minute. Luckily, he had been brainstorming it before, and while he wasn''t 100 percent happy with it, he figured it was the best he could do. Besides, he didn''t have much of a choice now, considering he was about to be summoned. Without a second to spare, James finished putting in his title, before a bright light completely engulfed him, and was suddenly no longer a floating orb in the sky.


    Rejoice Players: The Mad Mage of Chaos has been summoned.

 165 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165


    Just like that, James was in the game. No longer was he a floating orb. No, he was finally a player. Finally had a physical form. Finally, one of the adventurers¡­


    Errr. More or less. Looking around, he couldn''t help but notice a few things right away. First, just like BLANK''s avatar, James''s was massive. If he had to guess, his character was roughly 25feet tall, making him tower over the adventurers at his feet. Second, his Giant Plaython cloak looked slightly ridiculous, with its patchwork bright colors, as it floated in the wind. It totally clashed with his steampunk leather armor that covered his form snugly. Furthermore, as James reached up gently, he remembered he had opted to have on the Top Hat that was dropped on his second floor. It had seemed like such a great idea at the time¡­ now, James was extremely self-conscious. Plus, his whole outfit, and his elven form, silver hair tied back in a ponytail, did not match with his skeletal glowing wings. Those, also amplified by the size of his Avatar, stretched out nearly 15 feet in both directions. Mentally, James tried to fold them back, and thankfully, they did. Now they just floated, nestled behind him, just outside of his cloak. It was a little less obnoxious, but still, he was a dumpster fire in appearance right now. The exact opposite of the put together, matching, The Candied King, Avatar that BLANK had.


    After James finished looking over himself, he looked down, realizing the mass of players was still staring at him. No one was speaking, and all their attention was on him. Honestly, all of the attention actually made him a little anxious. He had gotten so used to doing things behind the scenes, and only interacting with Rue, that now, he found himself staring dumbstruck down at the people that had summoned him. What was he supposed to do? Should he talk to them? Should he coach them, command them? What?


    "Are you just going to stand there like an idiot?" Rue''s voice pulled his attention towards the sky, where he could see her small pixie form clear as day. He looked around rapidly, but no one seemed to notice the pixie. James had to wonder if he was only able to see her because of their connection as core and pixie.


    "Well, what else should I do?" The question came out before he could stop it. With a silent groan, his eyes darted down at the players. Sure enough, many had stepped back, and all were looking at him now with a look of confusion, not awe. Great. Just great.


    "Obviously you need to convince them to summon me. Then we can go kick that self-righteous asshole in the teeth." Rue flashed her teeth as she grinned evilly. While James agreed summoning her was important, he doubted they would be able to turn the tide of the battle that quickly.


    Currently, only about an hour had passed of day three, meaning there was 23 hours left on the fields of battle. Both sides were still pretty full, player wise. Additionally, both sides were down their second-floor bosses, and had summoned one of their avatars. James didn''t know what else BLANKs dungeon had been doing with their essence, but he knew his players had blown through a decent amount summoning their dickens. Summoning Charles had used even more essence, meaning his players would need to start killing BLANKs, if they were going to keep the war going all day.


    From what James was learning of the situation, it was as much a war of attrition as it was one of pure strength. After all, no matter how large the boss monster, or how strong the avatar, a mass of 10,000 adventurers, many of whom had some form of true or piercing damage, could bring down the creature. The battles on the FoB were going to be won much more off of tactics and combined skills, rather than individual might. Of course, James already knew BLANK planned to completely carry their side to victory.


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    "Sure, I''ll get right on that." James muttered to Rue, before he turned his attention back down to the adventurers surrounding him. How exactly was he going to make this work? He was suddenly realizing how appropriate the name he had chosen for his Avatar was fitting. To the adventurers, their massive Avatar, meant to represent the dungeon core, was talking to the sky. Brilliant move James.


    "Er." James cleared his throat, looking down at the adventurers. This was a whole new level of role play. And he was not a fan right now. Like seriously, the fact he couldn''t give himself away as being an actual human player was frustrating enough. Now, he had set himself up to be a freaking Mad Mage of Chaos. What the hell had he gotten himself into.


    "Take me to your leader." He blurted out. It was the first thing that came to mind. Seriously, James had not thought this all through. It sounded great on paper; it had seemed like it would be a breeze. But roleplaying a mad mage, who needed to help organize a mass of players in order to bring down BLANKs dungeon, was going to be a bigger challenge than James had anticipated. Even worse, James knew the clock was ticking, and he doubted BLANKs forces were just sitting around waiting for something to happen.


    Now that BLANK had summoned their first Avatar, James could only imagine what they were setting up on their end. The only thing he was certain of was that Xander''s kids were definitely going to begin this war in earnest, and soon. After all, with their¡­cheery disposition, James was certain they fully intended to not only crush him, but they were likely planning to completely crush and abuse his players as well. They likely reveled in stomping other players and destroying their will to play. Those types of players, those elitists, pissed James off to no end.


    He didn''t have an issue with people being great at games. He himself was extremely powerful in WU. However, just because he was better than other players, didn''t mean he rubbed it in their faces. He wasn''t a bully. He would help those in need and would teach and guide others. Players like BLANK though, who seemed to believe the only option in gaming was to either be better than everyone else, or be a loser who shouldn''t play the games, rubbed James the wrong way.


    In essence, in that moment, as James stood their looking down at the adventurers, countless thoughts racing through his mind, one thing solidified itself. No matter what, even if the worst case happened and he lost, he was going to make sure he protected his adventurers. He was not going to let BLANK stomp on them¡­ Or at least¡­ stomp on any more of them. Since BLANK had literally stepped on a few of his players already...oops.

 166 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166


    "You''re not by any chance, secretly the Doctor, are you?" A voice called up to James, and the crowd parted slightly to reveal an elf James knew all too well. Z, and the Knights, stood before him, grins on their faces as they looked up at him. James had no idea what they were talking about.


    "Did anyone see a Blue Phonebooth anywhere?" Z glanced around his party, and they all shrugged, though their grins remained. "Damn." Z looked back up towards James. "Do you have a sonic screwdriver?"


    James just stared blankly back down at the group; his mind completely blank. What in the world was Z referencing this time?


    "He''s a whovian." Rue''s voice whispered into James''s ear, causing James to flinch. The sudden reaction caused Z and his party, along with all of the other adventurers around them, to suddenly step away, their eyes looking at James warily. He was called a Mad Mage, after all. He didn''t blame them for being slightly worried about him. Hell, at this point in time, James was worried about himself.


    "Tell them to hurry up and summon your fairy''s avatar. Tell them she is deadlier than a weeping angel."


    James shot his pixie a glare. She simply responded with a smirk and motioned down towards the adventurers. Rue often knew the references Z and his party made. So sure, why not. James would entertain them. What was the worst that could happen?


    "If you summon my fairy, she is deadlier than a Weeping Angel¡­" James trailed off as he spoke. Z looked up at him dumbstruck, as did the others. After a few moments, the leader of the Knight''s started clapping his hands, a huge grin on his face.


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    "Yes." He said, "I knew it." He let out a cheer, spinning to look at the rest of his party, and the adventurers around him. "I knew these achievements meant the developers were men of culture! They put in AI with pop culture references even. This is awesome." He let out another cheer, before he turned back to the very confused James.


    "Tell me, Mad Mage of Chaos." Z''s tone was light, but James knew he was being as serious as he could, given the situation. "What do you know of our current situation?"


    Typical Z. One of the things James admired about him, was how quickly he could take control of the situation. It had gone from one of confusion, with James asking to speak to the leader of the adventurers, to Z turning it around and getting straight to the point. What''s more, James was thankful of him for that.


    "Don''t forget to act Mad." Rue whispered. "And I mean Mad, not Mad, obviously." Yup, Rue was going to be extremely annoying until she was summoned, James could just tell.


    "I-" James paused, getting his thoughts together. The whole world was watching, and he needed to roleplay a mad mage. Right¡­he''s got this.


    "Our current enemy is one of candied forces." James looked down at the adventurers, trying his best to roleplay a mad mage. "They have been attacking all of you, invading my dungeon for the past few days, bringing with them their sweet ways." He growled. "I''m sick of their sugary selves. If they remain, they''re bound to give us diabetes and cavities." Was that mad enough? Or was he playing into it too much? James glanced at Rue, who simply gave him a thumbs up as she slurped on what appeared to be a slushie. Right. Rue was an AI, and she acted like that¡­ James would be fine.


    "It is as you say¡­" Z looked him up and down once more, in a way that made James feel like Z was doing his best to analyze his Avatar form. Recalling what he could from when he analyzed BLANKs Avatar, he realized Z, and all of the adventurers for that matter, likely had no idea what James could do. Only that his name was The Mad Mage of Chaos, and he was a level 25 Avatar. "Max? Can I call you Max? I mean, you''re a Mad Mage¡­ but when I see the word Mad, and I think of Chaos¡­ I think Mad Max."


    "Uh" James hadn''t expected that. Where the hell had that come from? Whatever, James decided he was just going to go with it. Now was the time for roleplaying his Mad Mage of Chaos character, not thinking and worrying too much. Though, an idea crossed his mind as Z said that.


    "How about you call me by my last name?" James grinned, looking down at Z. "Jenkins." By doing that, he figured he could link himself to his boss mobs, and the running story he was slowly developing for his dungeon. After all, the humanoid bosses so far had been of the Jenkins family. It would make sense for the Dungeon Core''s Avatar to be a Jenkins as well, right? Totally made sense to James.


    "You''re first name isn''t Leeroy, is it?" This time it wasn''t Z who spoke, but instead Oak. The Indra looked James up and down, before he shook his head. "Nah, you''re definitely a caster of some sorts. You don''t strike me as a Leeroy. "


    James simply flashed a grin down at Oak. Of course, they would get the Jenkins references. And James knew exactly what they meant when they referenced good ol Leeroy Jenkins.


    "Perhaps we should get back to the more important matters at hand." Med Ic spoke up, causing Z and Oak, who both looked like they had more jokes to crack, to wince slightly. Right, James''s strongest party of adventurers was also one of his least serious at times.


    "Yes, the war on diabetus¡­er...candy." Z grinned while everyone else laughed. James heard more than a few groans coming from the adventurers around them, and he couldn''t help but notice some of the players had begun moving off on their own. The appearance of the Avatar had been interesting enough, but James figured the novelty was wearing off now for some of them.


    "Tell us, Jenkins. What exactly do you bring to the fight?" Z made a grand show of swinging his arms wide, motioning towards all of the adventurers around him. "How can you, in all your might, help us defeat the sugary invaders."


    "I''m so glad you asked." James smiled as he pointed his hand towards the ground in front of him. Immediately the players all around him moved aside. After all, when a Mad Mage begins casting spells, you usually don''t want to be anywhere nearby. "Allow me to demonstrate my grand power." For effect, he decided to let out a crazed cackle as glowing runes of red appeared on the ground. This was going to be fun.

 168 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168


    Chaos erupted around James as all of the players began rushing to and fro. Some had half set up camps already made, preparing for the long haul for day 3 of Dungeon Wars. Hell, the Dicken Shack had apparently set up a tent, providing food with buffs for the players. Apparently, everyone had thought the spawn zone safe. So had James. But now, the enemy was approaching them, and fast.


    "How''s it looking?" James asked Rue as he glanced around nervously at his players. The object in the sky had drawn a little closer, but James knew it was still outside of the range for any of his players attacks. What worried him, was what awaited them in the area between them, and the massive creature. He had a sinking feeling that BLANKs players wouldn''t be sending just a lone monster towards them again, no matter how impressive that monster.


    And it was impressive. Now that it had drawn a little closer, James was able to make out some of its features. First and foremost¡­it was a freaking dragon. Just another reason for James to hate BLANK, the bastards had a dragon. James wanted a dragon¡­ Next, as with all of BLANK''s mobs, the creature in the sky definitely appeared to be made out of candy. Or at least, a wide variety of candy.


    The webbing on the wings, as far as James could see, were made out of taffy, which seemed to billow and flex with each flap of the massive wings. The actual wings themselves seemed almost crystalline, making James guess they were some sort of jolly rancher or hard sugary candy. From what he could tell of the body, it seemed to be armored with bits of jawbreaker, while its joints revealed underneath an almost nougat type of material.


    It''s eyes, if James had to speculate, were made out of differing types of chocolate, considering their white and dark brown contrast. And, as it opened its mouth to let out a massive roar, James could see its teether were orange and white striped, candy corn. As it roared, James mentally tried to pull up its information. To his dismay, he wasn''t able to gather any more information than he had previously. That is, he could still only see BLANK''s mobs'' names, type, and level.


    Candy Crush-ur


    Sweet Tooth Dragon World Boss


    Level 40


    "Hey, uh, Mad Mage." A voice pulled James from his analysis of the giant candy dragon. He looked down to see Z and the Knights Who Go Ni all looking up at him. While many of the other players had scrambled in a panicked attempt to prepare for the battle, the Knights had stood fast.


    James stared blankly down at Z for a moment, before he remembered the role play he was supposed to be keeping up. No matter what the situation, it was imperative that he remember he was the Mad Mage of Chaos.


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    "What is it elf?" James, glanced to Rue as he spoke, who pointed underneath the giant world boss and shook her head. As he feared, BLANKs players had advanced, and moved the fog of war with them. Meaning Rue couldn''t scout out what was waiting for them, if they tried to get within range of the dragon.


    "Random, crazy thought." Z grinned his trademark grin, and James couldn''t help but turn all of his attention onto the man. Part of him screamed that he needed to do something, and fast, to help his players take down that world boss. However, he also knew just how capable Z was, and was extremely interested in hearing what the man had to say.


    "What is it?" James asked.


    "Well, I''m sure you know the dungeon has used Sacrificial Lambs as traps before, yeah?"


    "Yes, it''s quite amusing watching adventurers blow up from the lambs." That was how a mad mage would respond, yeah?


    "Do you think you could summon some of them¡­and load them into the catapults over there?" Z motioned towards two of the catapults that James had summoned. They were clearly visible, and as best as he could tell, outside of the range of the dragon, and anything BLANK may have sent towards them.


    "You want to launch my sacrificial lambs with the catapults¡­" James trailed off as his mind processed that fact. Sure, they did explosive damage when they died. But everything out there would barely take much damage from that detonation. Though, with James being able to summon them, they would be able to ignore the essence cost needed to keep summoning ammunition for the catapults. However, James really wasn''t seeing where-


    "Oh." His mind concluded at that moment, and he began moving rapidly towards the catapults. Given his massive size, the movement drew the attention of not only his adventurers, but also the dragon. After all, a 25-foot-tall avatar, mismatched in crazy gear, and with enormous glowing skeletal wings, was not subtle. However, he didn''t need to be for what was going to happen next. Also, James made a mental note to really step up his game. If he was going to be the Mad Mage of Chaos, he really needed to start taking more opportunities to be creative. Because, as he reminded himself while he moved, BLANK was likely expecting him to make logical decisions, like what they would do. In order to win, he needed to be unpredictable. He needed to fight in a way that no one would see coming. He needed to launch explosive sheep from a catapult at a giant candy dragon.

 169 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169


    Really, the scene was ridiculous. It was mad, it was crazy¡­it perfectly fit with what his Avatar was meant to be going for. It fit with the random nature of his dungeon in every way, and it just felt right. That, and it totally reminded James of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail which involved launching animals¡­he had to resist summoning a mad cow to launch, the pun of cow-tapult already on his tongue.


    "Fire!" Z called out the order as Oak and Elm both activated their catapults. As one, both siege weapons released, accompanied by a long, comical "Baaaaaaaaaaaa" As two sacrificial lambs were sent flying through the air. James and the group of adventurers watched as the sheep soared towards the Candy Dragon, who was roughly half a mile away from them now. A moment later, both sheep smashed into the dragon. Even though they were summoned by James, meaning their size had been greatly increased, they still seemed rather small as the punched into the mighty beast.


    On impact, two red and white bursts erupted against the dragon, as blood and wool went flying. The candy dragon was coated in the sacrificial lamb''s blood, which also dripped onto the ground below. James secretly hoped that rain of blood landed on some of the player''s that he knew had to be waiting below the dragon. It might not be much, but a DoT was still a DoT.


    "Reload." Z ordered, a wide grin on his face. Because of how cheap sacrificial lambs were, even with James using his enhanced summon feature, he had two additional sacrificial lambs waiting and ready to be loaded onto the catapult already. James also still had his dicken linked to Z. Apparently, the moment he linked a mob to a player, he lost the ability to unsummon it. Something he figured should have been mentioned in the skill description. Though, he wasn''t too upset, as Z was definitely someone he wanted to have a dicken assigned to.


    James mentally commanded his two sacrificial lambs towards the catapults, while he pointed his hand at the ground, preparing to summon two more. When the lambs died, he was refunded half of his mob points instantly. Then it seemed the additional mob points would creep back into his pool. A feature he guessed that was meant to keep summoners from just spamming their summon options. Something that James begrudgingly figured made sense. Otherwise, a player with a few mana potions and the right mobs would be able to just completely overrun an area with a mob of mobs.


    With the two already launched sacrificial lambs, the two loaded onto the catapult, the two he had just summoned, and the one dicken assigned to Z, James did a quick check on how many more mobs he could summon. Each of the sacrificial lambs, because he had used enhanced summon, cost him 3 points, against his normal 25 max. The dicken, which he had just done a regular summon on, cost him 1 point. The two dickens that had died had refunded back to him 3 points to his limit, but 3 points had still been deducted with a cooldown timer.


    13/22* (25) Available summoner limit


    *Summoner points are deducted temporarily when a summoned mob is killed. Summoner points return at a rate of 1 mob point per 30seconds.


    The reduction to his summoner limit seemed fair, considering again he could justify the reason for such a limit on a class like a summoner. That being said, it meant he wasn''t going to be able to keep up the barrage, as he would be burning through summoner points faster than they recovered. Though, James also knew he and the knights weren''t intending to continue their little game of sheep lobbing. The purpose of the attacks was to stack DoTs onto the dragon as they possibly could. They were hopefully the attacks would actually draw the aggro of the world boss, and force it to come closer. Doing so, would let the rest of James''s adventurers begin launching attacks of their own. From the safety of their immediate summoned area, which James doubted BLANKs players were going to be bold enough to attack just yet.


    "Fire." Z called out again, and again two more sacrificial lambs were sent flying. James ordered his next batch of sheep towards the catapult, but before he could begin summoning two more, he paused. Partially because he was stalling for a little time in between summons, to let his mob points refresh. But also because he just really wanted to watch the two wooly projectiles fly towards their targets. Seriously, James had to wonder if the man who developed the sacrificial lambs as a mob type ever fathomed this would be how they would be used.


    James found a grin forming on his face, but it faded an instantly later as he watched the massive dragon let out a fearsome roar of rage as the two sheep exploded against it. The Candy Crush-ur was coated quite heavily in sacrificial lamb blood now, and James could guess the DoT would slowly be doing its job. And, since it was a world boss mob, he had figured there wasn''t going to be a way for it to remove the DoT. Which¡­as James watched, he realized was a rookie mistake.


    The Candy Crush-ur shook its entire body mid-air, and James watched as pieces of jawbreaker armor flaked off of the dragon, as if it were molting. Any part of it that had the sacrificial lamb blood on it simply fell away in a thin layer, leaving it a moment later completely devoid of the blood, and the DoT.


    "Fire." The final two sacrificial lambs were sent flying towards the Candy Dragon. Sure it had cleansed itself, but skills such as that usually had a cooldown. Even if it was only a 10 second CD, that was still some extra damage they could apply to the dragon.


    This time though, the World Boss seemed to be done with letting itself get hit by flying sheep. With a mighty flap of its taffy wings, the creature brought its body even higher into the sky, causing the sheep to miss their mark and fly harmlessly past it, crashing down somewhere in the distance. They still exploded on impact, which James knew for certain, considering he watched as his mob points got refunded and hit with their limiter at the same time.


    1/17* (25) Available Summoner Limit


    "Whelp, it was fun while it lasted." Z commented, drawing grins from the rest of his party. James nodded in agreement, before he turned his focus back to the dragon. It was no longer hovering. It was flying towards them, and fast. And, James couldn''t help but notice the dragon seemed to have a single focus as it flew. The dragon was starring directly at him. Maybe launching exploding sheep at it hadn''t been the greatest idea. Maybe they had overstepped their bounds and really pissed the dragon off.


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    Or, perhaps BLANK had given the dragon new orders. James figured the duo had obviously originally sent the beast out in order to try and draw them into the woods, where James was certain BLANKs forces were waiting to ambush them, on top of whatever damage the world boss could do. However, now that that plan seemed to be unlikely, considering none of James''s players were moving an inch closer to the forest than necessary, especially after James issued a warning to them, BLANK had improvised.


    If James was going to be a nuisance as an Avatar, then BLANK was just going to have him brought down, and quickly. He may be an Avatar, but he was only level 25. The Candy Crush-ur was a level 40 World Boss. It didn''t take much gaming experience to figure who would normally win in that fight.


    "Hey elf." An idea pushed past the fear he was feeling as the dragon drew ever closer. He really wasn''t looking forward to that creature attacking him. But he also had a bunch of tricks of his own to use against BLANK. Not to mention, if he could bring down their world boss without having to have his players summon a world boss of their own, well then he figured his team would be on top there. Plus, James had the utmost faith in his players. Especially the Knights. And, James had another mad plan formed.


    "I''m not gonna like this am I." The elf glanced from James, to the approaching dragon, and back to James.


    "Probably not. But in return, how about the dungeon build you a shrubbery after the war is all said and done?"

 170 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170


    The way Z''s guild had lit up at his mention of a shrubbery really made James glad he''d watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He was also extremely happy that it seemed AI were able to make pop culture references. After all, Rue made them all the time, so he figured it was fine for him to make them as well. Artificial Intelligence was still intelligence, and he knew the developers had already put a lot of pop culture and references into the game.


    The Knight''s learning of their potential for a shrubbery, and automatically going in character, had readily agreed to James''s request. He needed them to stall that dragon. Because they were his strongest adventurers, he was leaving it up to them to keep the dragon from getting too close for comfort, and ultimately keeping it away from James. In the meantime, James needed to wait roughly three minutes for what he had in mind. Because he had a brilliant, mad thought on how to bring that dragon down, and make it a lot easier for his players to kill it.


    "Oy, Boss Slayers, let''s go kill a dragon." Oak''s voice echoed out as his guild ran towards their destination. James happened to know those two guilds got along quite well, and he also knew Skar and Oak had a friendly rivalry going on at times with regards to their tanking ability. The other members of both parties had also seemed to get along quite well.


    "Do you guys have a plan?" Skar called back. He was standing with his party in a group of players, all watching the dragon as it rapidly approached. James was guessing it was going to be within range of attacking in less than 10 seconds.


    "Yeah, we just need some essence." The Knights were yelling as they ran, adventurers parting from in their way as they ran. Already, James could see some of his mages preparing their spells. They were going to do what they could to blast that dragon before it got too close.


    "How much?" The Boss Slayers began following the Knights as they spoke. All the while, James was doing his best not to seem too cowardly as he moved further away from the World Boss that was approaching. The beast was still locked onto him, and he could practically feel its bloodlust. James had played the Monster Hunter games before. He knew exactly what it felt like to have a dragon chasing you down¡­ it was not a pleasant experience.


    "The Mad Mage says we''re going to need 10 essence each, for the five of us." Oak continued as they neared their destination. The had been rushing towards the mech station. As, James had decided to tell them what exactly that thing did. The Mech station allowed players to create a mech suit for themselves, at the cost of 10 essence currently, per player. If 5 players each used 10 essence on it, from the details James had from when he built it, an even larger mech, copiloted by all 5, could be summoned. Apparently, the station had upgrade features allowing even stronger and more expensive mechs to be created. But currently, James had only the first form of it.


    "So are we supposed to help fight a dragon? Or gather essence for you guys?" Skar was glancing at Oak, as the Dread knight eyed the mech station.


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    "Oh, we have no problem gathering the essence. We want you guys to stall the dragon while we do it though." Oak grinned even as a group of players came up to Z. From the corner of his eye, James saw them make a motion like they were pulling up their menu, and he guessed they were trading their essence to Z. He wasn''t sure what exactly they were trading for the essence, or even who the players were, but Z had assured James he would be able to get the essence rather quickly.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me." Skar let out a sigh, as he looked at his party. The five of them had been doing quite a good job at leveling, but they weren''t level 40 yet. Skar was the closest to 40, at level 38, along with Gno-More and Olivia. Manly and Troll''d were level 37, which James guessed had come from an unfortunately timed wipe.


    "Nah, completely serious buddy." Oak offered him a grin, before he stepped into the mech facility. The rest of the knights, save for Z, did the same, as Z continued accepting trades from a line of players. James really was curious what Z was trading the players for, or just what type of message the man had sent out.


    "You owe us for this." Skar grumbled, turning back towards his party. "Guess we get to try and bring down a dragon." He shrugged and let out a sigh. "Let''s-" Skar''s voice was drowned out as the dragon let out another massive roar. The sound of it sent chills down James''s spine, and he winced as the beast''s eyes narrowed on him past its open maw.


    The dragon closed its mouth for a moment, and James watched its chest enlarge, as if it were drawing in a large amount of air. A second later, its mouth opened again. James expected a breath weapon, a stream of fire perhaps, or a blast of perhaps icy cold? Instead, three solid objects burst forth from the dragon''s mouth, flying rapidly towards James. He had been doing his best to make some distance between himself and the creature, but its focus had been solely set on him. Sure, it was in range of James''s players now, and was taking a mass of attacks, but they weren''t doing much damage to the beast. Mainly because it was a level 40 world boss, and because there was a mass of James''s players that didn''t have skills that could reach the beast.


    Even his ranged DPS players only had a limited option of attacks on a dragon that high up in the sky, and those attacks usually either did a small amount of damage, or had long casting times. Either way, the World Boss was likely confident in its ability to kill James before it took too much damage. And if not, James could guess BLANKs players, and probably BLANK, still had even more to their attack prepared. He was getting increasingly worried that the chaos from The Candy Crush-ur was going to allow BLANKs players to launch a surprise attack on James''s, which could be devastating.


    However, James had to deal with the situation at hand as best he could. Which meant he needed to stay alive for 2 ? more minutes. It also, unfortunately, meant while he was waiting for his summoner points to refresh for what he had planned, he couldn''t summon more mobs. The downside of a pet class was that they generally were rather useless, when they didn''t have their main mechanic, their pets, out and about.


    "Protect the Mad Mage!" James heard the voice of Stryker123 call out just as the three objects neared him. The closer they got, the more they reminded him of warheads, a candy known to be extremely sour. One of the approaching ones was red, one was green, and the furthest back one was blue. Blue, James happened to know, was one of the sourest of the options, up there with the black cheery warheads.


    The three candies crashed into James as golden light engulfed his avatar. Stryker123, along with most of the members of the Stryke Force guild, were at James''s feet, casting both defensive and offensives skills at the same time. Stryker123 had activated his Paladin aura, and James could see his own status screen bursting to life with buffs. Increased hp, increased defense, increased resistance, a couple different types of Heal over time spells, etc. His status bar lit up with the amount of effects Stryke Force was placing on him. Part of him burst with pride and appreciation over the adventurer''s sudden reaction to the situation.


    Which burst apart a moment later as three consecutive eruptions occurred. James saw his health-bar flash violently, as a good chunk of his hp was suddenly wiped away, even with all of the buffs and damage mitigating skills placed upon him. At the same time, he saw countless orbs of light suddenly appear all around him, as over three dozen players simply died. Right, a level 40 world boss was likely to do devastating damage. And considering a lot of the Stryke Force players were under level 30¡­ Well, James vowed to make sure their deaths weren''t in vain. And on the plus side¡­at least BLANK couldn''t get their essence from over here.


    James opened his mouth to thank Stryker123, who was still standing, though badly damaged. In doing so though, James inhaled the strange, powdery substance floating in the air following the eruption of the warheads. A sudden rush of overwhelming sour flavor assaulted his tongue, causing him to keel over as a coughing fit began. His eyes closed as his face puckered, while the sour dust attacked his lungs. James managed to open his eyes just enough to glance at his status screen.


    Sour Pucker- Debuff- 29s, blind, silence, stun


    His eyes closed again as another wave of sour flavor washed over him. Great, just great he thought to himself. The dragon had launched literally warheads filled with explosive sour flavor towards him. And now he was a sitting duck.


    "Mass Cleanse"


    "Mass Revive"


    "Mass Blessing"


    A string of spells were called out all around, and suddenly his debuff was gone, and his health was full. Even better, the orbs on the ground were gone, replaced with the players who had been one shot. James players were cornered. They had been attacked by a world boss on their turf, but they weren''t about to lose as a result of that. After all, the massive number of players in the area preparing to attack the dragon meant there was no possible way for it take them all on. Even if only a fraction of James''s 10,000 players could get within range, due to the sheer lack of physical space. It was like a human stepping on a fire ant hill. BLANKs world boss was about to be swarmed.


    "Holy Hand Grenade." BLANKs voice erupted across the battlefield even as James saw the dragon preparing another breath attack. Skar''s group was rushing to engage the dragon, with Troll''d launching a barrage attacks at the world boss, but the dragon''s altitude was keeping Skar from being able to draw aggro. In fact, that was likely why BLANK had sent the boss after James. It was practically impossible for any of the tanks to draw its aggro, and the AI in the boss was too smart to be pulled off of its target.


    And now, James heard screams erupt as the closely packed players, who were launching attacks at the world boss, were suddenly blasted apart by the devastating attack from BLANKs level 30 Avatar. The Candied King had revealed himself, still extremely far away, but his long-ranged attack still had managed to kill half a dozen of James players. To make matters worse, it seemed BLANK had decided to end this as quickly as they possibly could.


    "Shit." James groaned. BLANK had gained an upper hand, and James''s players were in a panic. Something, anything, needed to happen, otherwise BLANK was going to use the chaos in order to overwhelm his forces and seize an extremely quick victory. And there was only one thing James could think of that was more chaotic than everything going on around him.


    "Summon my fairy. Then summon everything else! Prepare to fight for your lives!"

 171 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171


    Chaos. James thought he understood the meaning of the word. Especially given how random his dungeon was and how much RNGesus played into everything that went into his very existence in DCO. Now though, with what was unfolding before him, James realized he barely understood what chaos was.


    Chaos was watching The Candied King throwing the souls of its own players towards James''s group of players, blasting apart dozens of players at a time. Chaos was watching his own adventurers rushing to and fro, forming a bustling mass as they began dumping their essence, working to summon anything and everything available to them at this moment, in order to turn back the enemy forces. Chaos, was watching the true beginning of the dungeon war, and the battle that would involve all 10,000 of James''s players.


    Avatar Core Summoning Activated- Summoning Fairy Avatar in 00m 59s


    James saw the notification pop up for a moment, just as he checked his own summon timer. He was waiting, impatiently, to get the points he needed, to activate his own plan. He still had roughly a minute and a half left till he would have the summon points he needed though. On the plus side, the players, his city, had listened to him. They had rushed to summon Rue, even though it cost a whopping 5k essence. Now, he just needed them to survive.


    He had moved as far away from The Candy Crush-ur as he could, but the dragon continued its assault on him. James could see it was suffering wear and tear from the attacks of James''s players, but still, the level 40 boss, combined with the limited amount of attacks that could reach it, was still doing its best to bring James down. That, coupled with The Candied King''s long-range Holy Hand Grenade attack, were slowly taking down James''s forces. There may be an extremely large number of players, but those that could get in range to attack the dragon, those that could get in range to really help at all, was limited. Their sheer number of players, was actually a hinderance in this aspect. Especially when BLANK and the dragon''s attacks were AOE attacks, killing large groups of players left and right.


    That wasn''t James''s biggest concern though. Looking in the distance, where he could see The Candied King''s massive form, he saw another large form appear. This one was very similar to the Candied King, though it wore a candied helm that covered its face completely. The second form, which James was guessing was BLANKs second Avatar, was wielding a massive, rounded jawbreaker shield in one hand, with a javelin in the other. At its side, James could just make out a sheath with a sword in it. The weapon set up, the shape of the helm, and the billowing red cloak that hung from its shoulders, reminded James of something. But he wasn''t quite sure what. Regardless, he was worried about that Avatar, and slightly confused as to why it wasn''t attacking yet. Though, James was guessing BLANK was just planning to deal as much AOE damage as possible, before moving in for the kill. Typical siege type tactics.


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    "We need to summon-" Before James could finish his next sentence, sirens erupted from the ground, letting out a loud wail. At the same time, a mechanical female voice erupted across the battlefield, stating a message James had already heard before.


    Attention: Unauthorized Craft Detected on a collision course. Skynet protocol 4765 activated. Deploying manned defensive turrets. All able citizens, please began defensive procedures. I repeat, Unauthorized Craft Detected on a collision course. Skynet protocol 4765 activated.


    James''s players had summoned their second world boss. Meaning they had just blown through another 4k essence, in a race to try and bring down the attackers. It was likely that even in the chaos erupting around them, his players felt their best chance at survival, was to fight fire with fire. James hadn''t given them much other choice. Considering the defenses he had provided them, the few weapons he had given them, weren''t really equipped to deal with what was assaulting them.


    The sky opened up above them, and the M.I.N.E. Craft appeared in all of its glory. Based on the trajectory of it, it was angled, and appeared to be on a collision course with what James figured had to be BLANKs spawn area. Regardless, the flight path was going to bring it not only over James''s area, but also the battlefield before them, meaning the M.I.N.E. Crafts additional attacks, its falling debris, everything was going to attack the enemy dungeons'' forces. For a world boss that seemed inanimate, and lacked any actual AI control that James could fathom, he was extremely appreciative that the developers had coded that world boss in such a way that it would assist players as best it could.


    There was also a, perhaps unexpected, additional benefit of the appearance of James''s second world boss. As had happened on his second floor, James watched as the defensive anti air turrets began sprouting up across the battlefield. He figured they were going to be appearing all over the map, as was the mechanic, but the fact that they were appearing here and now, was something James hadn''t expected, but was greatly appreciative for.


    His players also appeared extremely happy with the turn of events. James watched as players rushed towards the nearest turrets, letting out loud cheers as they turned the turrets towards the candy dragon. If there was one thing James''s players were extremely good at, it was taking chaos in stride, and turning it towards their advantage. After all, they had spent nearly a month of immersion time dealing with chaos on a daily basis.


    James checked his timers again as his players began launching anti-aircraft artillery towards The Candy Crush-ur. Explosions erupted around the candied dragon, making it let out a massive roar of rage and annoyance as it turned its attention away from James, to the infuriating weapons. At the same time, James saw The Candied King stomp the ground. A moment later, the avatar was flinging another holy hand grenade towards James''s forces. The attack hit with precision, blasting apart one of the anti-air turrets. Alright, so BLANK seemed to adapt quite quickly too.


    1/22* (25) Available Summoner Limit


    James cursed audibly, causing a mass of players around him to flinch and move away quickly. He still had 1 minute until he could do what he was planning. There was also just about 20 seconds left until Rue was summoned. The summoning of James''s second floor World Boss had definitely helped prolong James''s survival, but already he could see anti-air attacks being launched from the distance, towards his own world boss. This battle was nowhere near finished. Nor had the tides been turned yet in James''s favor. He needed a miracle. He needed something that was going to allow his forces to overwhelm BLANKs, or at least drive them back.


    A loud, mechanical, beastlike roar pulled James from his musings, and turned his attention to his mech station. There, he watched as the station began to glow, and five lionlike mechs erupted from it, each letting out a roar of its own. Then, a voice, amplified it seemed as if from a speaker, came from the black one.


    "Alright guys. I never thought I would get to say this, but it seems this game continues to just give and give." The voice paused as the speaker, who was definitely Z, fought back laughter. The others were laughing as well. "Go Voltron Force."

 172 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172


    True to what James had read about the mech station, the robots that had been created for the Knight''s combined, creating a large, 30-foot-tall humanoid mech. To their credit as well, though James wasn''t certain if it was a game mechanic, or they were just somehow that used to playing games together, they piloted their new, single mech quite well.


    Without skipping a beat, the moment it was formed, they drew forth a large sword, and turned towards the candy dragon. A moment later, they were in the air, flying recklessly straight towards the candy beast.


    "Well, there goes that threat." James mumbled. As much as he wanted to watch the epic mech versus candy dragon fight, he still had other things to deal with. Mainly, the fact that movement around BLANK was catching his eye, as the form standing beside The Candy King made a gesture, as if commanding additional forces forward.


    James couldn''t see the units moving through the trees on their way towards James area, but he could see as a massive Gummy Bear, standing taller than even the Candied King, began making its way forward. Its entire body was made from Gummy Bear, and the sunlight passed through its translucent green body. Its eyes seemed to flash with hate and an intent to kill, as it let out a terrifying, strange, roar. Then, it began its advance.


    To make matters worse, as the ginormous gummy bear, which James was guessing was the mysterious third floor boss James had heard mentioned briefly before, he saw a rabbit, perhaps ten feet in height, hop past The Candied King and into the woods. It moved extremely quickly, but James was certain he saw it carrying a wicker basket, and it was apparently wearing a bowtie¡­ Or at least¡­ that''s what James thought he saw.


    "I''m coming." Rue purred in his ear. James whipped his head towards her, just in time to watch the fairy''s body disappear.


    Rejoice Players: The White Beast of Chaos has been summoned.


    At James''s side, Rue''s massive white tiger beastkin avatar appeared. Players let out screams of terror and confusion, quickly scrambling away as her form solidified. James had seen her avatar before, when they were testing their desired forms out in the practice area. However, standing next to her now, on the fields of chaos, she seemed even more terrifying and glorious.


    She stood equal height with James, though her bulky steampunk dinosaur armor, which covered much of her muscled, white furred body, made her form seem even more imposing. Add onto that the gigantic steampunk battle axe she had selected as her preferred weapon, which was crafted from a Steamosaurus''s chain blades that extended in its Schneider form. The massive weapon was covered in various plates of metal, giving it a massive amount of heft. The double heads of the weapon were composed of the chain blades, and as Rue let out a wild, beastlike roar, she activated the weapon. The chain blades both roared to life as black steam erupted from the head of the weapon. Rue was ready.


    "Are you ready for battle?" She growled besides James, her eyes laser focused on the approaching enemy, the massive gummy bear. It was a third-floor boss, and considering BLANK was a Tier 3 Rank 8 dungeon, the boss was level 47. James, and Rue, on the other hand, were only level 25. On the other hand, they were Avatars, with a cost of 5k essence each, while the third-floor boss only cost 2.5k essence. James was guessing Avatars got a larger stat boost than the world bosses and floor bosses did. Meaning perhaps Rue and he could take on the Gummy Bear. Plus, James knew if they took on the enemy boss, they weren''t going to do it alone. They had all of their players, all ready to follow the Avatar''s into battle.


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    "Just give me about another 30 seconds." James mumbled back to Rue. He had 23 of his 25 summoner points back. However, 1 was still being used for the dicken that was linked to Z. And James needed 23 points total free in order to summon what he was wanting to summon. He also decided, given the situation, he was going to pair his summon to Rue. If ever there was going to be an epic pairing needed, this was going to be it. Plus, he wanted Rue to stay alive as long as she could¡­and he didn''t quite trust her to be the most, focused on self-preservation type berserker there was. After all, that kind of went counter the fighting style of a berserker.


    "Fine." She growled, and turned towards a random group of adventurers. "Hurry up and Summon the Jenkins! Then, we shall feast on our enemies!" Adventurers all around them cheered. Or at least, James was pretty sure they cheered. The chaos flowing around them, the countless sounds of battle, the explosions, roars both mechanical and bestial, and the tremors of the shaking earth from the approaching Gummy Bear, all kind of made it hard for James to focus. It was complete and utter chaos.


    "Those of you with essence remaining, summon your dickens! Prepare to charge! The moment of glory is nearly upon us!" Rue let out another roar, as players rushed about. James winced as more and more dickens began appearing across the battlefield. The summoning of them seemed a tad reckless and wasteful. Especially considering they weren''t sure how much essence they would be able to gain back in the upcoming fight.


    James shook his head as the thought crossed his mind. Those were rational, careful gamer thoughts. James needed to embrace the chaos. He needed to embrace the unexpected. Afterall, he needed to at least respect the claims Xander had made about BLANK, and the claims BLANK made about themselves. If they were really as good as they claimed, rational thoughts and behavior wouldn''t bring them down. Instead, he needed chaos.


    "Oh dearie me. Do you see this mister Jenkins?" An elderly voice came from the chaos, as Grandma Jenkins appeared. At her side, Old Man Jenkins came into being as well. The players were even faster to listen to Rue''s commands, than they had been of James. Then again, his AI did always seem to be rather good about ordering people about. She could be extremely bossy at times.


    "I, must lead my farm, my flock, to their aid." Old Man Jenkins''s voice crackled and fluctuated, causing his voice to take on a demonic tone. However, James saw the farmer''s eyes soften for a moment as he looked at Grandma Jenkins. The Ais for his bosses, after all, had been filled in on their story they were meant to live up to. "Shall we¡­clean up this mess? As we always did Leeroy''s?"


    Grandma Jenkins smiled warmly back at him, and nodded as she placed a warm hand upon the demonic farmer''s face. "It''s your fault Leeroy turned out like he did, you old codger."


    James grinned at the exchange, and then grinned even more as his eyes glanced upward, pulling down his quick menu and showing his stats. His Summoner points had just ticked once again. He now had 1/24 (25*). He could finally summon what he wanted to. They could finally kick off their counterattack.

 173 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173


    "I really hope this doesn''t throw off Oak." James mumbled to himself as he pointed towards the ground. It was time. The players were already thrumming with excitement, intermingled with more dickens than James had ever seen. The dickens nearest to Old Man Jenkins were the most terrifying, considering they were benefiting from the Boss Mob''s aura. James was silently wishing he still had Charles the Dicken for this moment, but there was no use crying over that cracked egg.


    So, without another moment to waste, especially because the Giant Gummy bear was getting dangerously close, James began his summoning process. What he was summoning, by using his enhanced summon, was going to be the strongest monster he could bring to the battlefield. Not only in reference to its stats, but also, its sheer size. Those aspects alone were likely to make BLANKs players give pause. On top of that, the fact that very few of BLANKs players had actually made it to James''s third floor, meant they were in for an even greater surprise.


    "Why would it." Rue paused as she watched the summoning circle at James''s feet, before her eyes flashed with joy. The ever-quick AI had picked up what James was planning on summoning. She flashed her fangs towards him. "I''m totally riding it into battle."


    "I wouldn''t expect any less from you." James smiled back at her, waiting for his summoning magic to finish the task. The stronger the mob, the longer it took for him to summon. An annoying fact, but again one of the restrictions put in place on Summoner''s to keep them from just mass summoning an endless army of mobs. With this summon, James was going to be limited to just summoning one more mob, a Dicken, if he wanted to. Otherwise, he would have to wait for this creature to fall. How quickly his role in this war went from Active to passive.


    After a few more moments, the form began to slowly take shape. It appeared, rapidly coming from the summoning circle, coiling endlessly as row upon row of patchwork cloth piled upon itself. Once the creature''s massive form, which James had to guess was nearly 100ft in length, had fully emerged from the summoning circle, James couldn''t help but let out a low whistle. He had done it. He had summoned an enhanced variant of a Giant Plaython. Combine that with the size increase for the mobs he summoned as an avatar, and the normally 20ft snake was now 100 feet of stuffed fury.


    Giant Plaython summon level 30 (all stats doubled)


    Type: Stuffed Serpent


    HP: 30000 (10000 out of 10000 fluff)


    MP: 4000


    Atk: 4000


    Def: 4000


    Unique Abilities


    Adaptive Patches- Giant Plaython''s can adjust the colors of their patchwork skin to blend in with any environment of their choice


    Struggle Snuggles- Giant Plaython''s are constrictors! Giant Plaython''s can wrap their form around an adventurer, using its massive stuffed body to squeeze the adventurer. This attack does 1% of a player''s max hp in damage per second.


    Ssssssssssssssssleepy - Giant Plaython''s are extremely soft to touch. Any enemy caught in Struggle Snuggles will begin gaining stacks of exhaustion, per 5 seconds constrained. At 10 stacks, the player will fall asleep for 1 minute.


    Unique Traits


    Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:


    40% less damage from magical attacks


    30% less damage from blunt attacks


    20% more damage from piercing attacks


    10% more damage from slashing attacks


    Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.


    Active Buff


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    *Avatar Summon* - All stats increased to reflect Avatar Level Threats (Base stats x (5+Research Level)


    "I shall name him Monty Python." Rue flexed her muscled legs and leapt atop the creature with grace definitely befitting her feline nature. James, after he managed to close his mouth, which was hanging open after looking at the stats of the creature before him, quickly began the process to link Rue and the Giant Plaython together. With that HP pool, combined with the damage mitigation traits from the Spiritualist class, and the damage mitigation that the mob naturally had¡­Rue was going to be practically unkillable. Plus, there was no way in hell BLANK had predicted this.


    The runes on his arm flashed, and then the runes appeared on Rue, just as they had on Z. They perfectly matched the swirling runic color that glowed against the Giant Playthons massive¡­neck, though James didn''t envy the developer that had to figure out just where to place that type of an object on it. Then, Rue and her massive Plaython, which was appropriately also the variant wearing the sunglasses, turned to face the giant Gummy Bear.


    "Brave adventurers who live in Chaos." She held her battle axe aloft, the gears on it spinning wildly as black smoke billowed from the weapon. "I hope all of you are prepared for the sugary carnage that is about to begin." The Giant Plaython she was linked to rose its head up a little higher, as it began uncoiling itself.


    All around her, adventurers were cheering. They had their weapons raised, some glowing with demonic light, others billowing black smoke. A few had weapons from James''s third floor, stuffed weapons that just seemed ridiculous, though were extremely deadly. James also couldn''t help but notice that while many, James wasn''t sure how many, but many players had summoned dickens. It was honestly quite ridiculous how many of the feathered fowls flocked freely about.


    What was even more ridiculous though, was the small group of players that seemed to have summoned a pack of Snuggle Woofs, and a few others that James was certain had summoned Velocity Raptors. Needless to say, all around him, his players, his adventurers, his city, was gathered and ready to take on BLANK. Sure, in their eyes, they were just playing a game, just taking part in the dungeon wars. Something that would potentially affect them and their economy, yes, but likely in a very short-term way. For James though, this battle was like life or death for him. And even though they didn''t know it, the fact they were all here, standing with him against BLANK, was more than he could emotionally handle.


    Rue gave him a knowing nod, even as James felt his eyes tear up. He looked quickly away, but couldn''t help letting some of them fall down, large drops of salty tears that splashed to the ground, drenching a few players that were standing beneath him.


    "Now, my fellow warriors, let us defeat this foolish dungeon. They shall not experience the sweet taste of victory today! Not of I have anything to say about it! Because I am the White Beast of Chaos, and I have an extremely strong sweet tooth." And with that, Rue urged her massive Plaython forward, and James adventures all rushed with her as well. Whatever was waiting in the forest, whatever was approaching, unless it was BLANKs entire set of players, was about to have an extremely bad day.

 174 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174


    "It''s splitting again!" James called out as he simultaneously cast a healing spell onto ''Monty Python''. All around him, players, mobs, and bosses waged war against each other. It was pure, utter, chaos. James wasn''t sure what viewers of the Dungeon Wars feed were seeing, but he was pretty sure everyone had to be asking the same questions. What the hell was going on.


    At first, the rush into the forest, while chaotic and unexpected, had at least made sense, to probably James, Rue, and his players, if not viewers. They were heading, full force, into the unknown, to attack BLANK and whatever forces they had brought to¡­bear¡­ against James''s Random Dungeon. Upon contact with the enemy though, everything that made sense had been blown out the window.


    The Giant Bear, called the Gummi Bearhemoth, was the third-floor boss mob for BLANK''s dungeon. Because of BLANKs own dungeon level, the Gummi Bearhemoth was a couple of levels above James''s own third floor boss mob, Grandma Jenkins. Of course, with the Avatars from both side on the field, and essentially all of James''s players rushing towards war, those few levels didn''t make much of a difference. At least, stat wise they didn''t.


    Unfortunately, those extra levels also meant BLANK had more upgrade points to put into their boss mob. True to BLANK''s nature, they had upgraded their third-floor boss in the cruelest, most difficult manners possible. Needless to say, the massive Bearhemoth had not only excellent defensive stats, including magical defenses, but its health pool seemed to be ridiculous as well. That wasn''t the biggest issue with the third-floor boss though. No, the worst part, was that it seemed to split apart once it took a certain amount of damage, making smaller versions of itself.


    "Devour them all." Rue shouted from atop ''Monty Python'' as the snake rushed towards the bear. This was the third time it had split, meaning instead of one, 40ft tall bear, they now had a total of eight 10 ft tall gummi bears to fight. Worst of all, it seemed that the smaller they got, the faster they became, making them even more dangerous. They also had a slew of other abilities, but James really didn''t have the time to focus on them.


    "Round them up and smother them." James yelled back. He watched his spell wash over the Plaython, healing its massive health pool by a tad. It was really a good thing it had as much HP as it did. Not only did the durned gummi bears seem to have a caustic debuff and DOT effect for anything that the gummi bears covered with their own gummi flesh, but the forest was full of more than just one surprise waiting for James and his army. BLANK, had brought an army of its own. An army of mobs.


    True to form, BLANK did not seem to be wanting to take any chance of their players messing up the Dungeon Wars. Sure, there were plenty of BLANKs players mixed within the forest. However, breaking into the fog of war, they discovered a veritable army of BLANKs mobs waiting for them, along with every boss mob that BLANK had remaining as well. Day three, a day meant to last for a whole 24 hours of battle, was currently devolving into one large, bloody massacre.


    If James had to guess, BLANK, upon being summoned, and after chasing down Axel42, had returned back to their own spawn area, and had a little talk with their players. Given how overpowered and ruthless the dungeon had been, James had no doubt it was rather easy for BLANK to incorporate their actual personalities into their Avatars. And, if the Avatar for the extremely deadly dungeon was demanding players use their essence to summon certain mobs, in order to ensure victory, well James figured many of the players had been more than happy to oblige. After all, in the end, all that likely mattered for many of them was they won the dungeon war, so they could reap all the benefits. If the Avatar and mobs were going to do a lot of the hard work for them, that was just a plus.


    James''s forces had their own mob army though, consisting predominately of overpowered dickens, which was the only reason why the battle was currently locked in what appeared to be a stalemate. Their charge into the forest had met an indomitable wall of tough Da Breakers, speckled with a groups of tanks and healers from BLANK''s players. Behind them, Snickerers, a third-floor mob from BLANKs dungeon with traits similar to his own Funky Monkey''s, launched debuffs into James''s forces. Past that, BLANK had summoned more of the skittlers and Gloomi Umi Bears, mobs from BLANKs first floor, that were benefitting from upgraded versions all the way through BLANKs third floor. One of the differences between James''s random mob type, and a set mob type. BLANK could keep upgrading their mobs, James couldn''t.


    Spread out amongst all of these mobs, which were doing their best to thrash James''s forces, were BLANK''s players. Or at least, a helluva lot of them. James could see more further in the forest, as well as forces near BLANK''s Avatars, which meant there were players that were staying back and letting their summoned mobs do the fighting for them. BLANK was also still killing off their own players, in order to launch Holy Hand Grenades into James''s forces. His army, it seemed, had rushed headfirst into quite the defensive setup.


    "We can in a minute. Still waiting to finish the latest group." While BLANK had been prepared for at least some sort of offensive action form James, they had been unable to predict just how crazy of an attack James and his adventurers could actually make. The 100ft Giant Plaython was abusing its Ssssssssssssssssleepy skill, quickly encircling large groups of enemies with its massive form, while its head and the portion with Rue were doing work on the Gummi Bearhemoth. Combined with Struggle Snuggles, a sizable number of adventurers and mobs alike had fallen to the giant constrictor. Its skill and size of course made it a massive target, which was also why James was constantly pumping healing spells into the damned thing. It was all he could do to keep the thing above its 50% health mark, though it was a losing battle. Eventually, the Giant Plaython was going to drop below the threshold, which would mean the damage Rue was taking would stop being decreased by 25%.


    That was what James as the most worried about. Especially because while the Giant Plaython had ridiculous stats right now, James and Rue''s defense stats, and their HP, weren''t quite as impressive. Which was why the Giant Plaython had been taking even more damage than it should have been. While the attacks against it were like small ticks of damage, anything massive that hit Rue was getting transferred to the Giant Plaython. And if there was one other target players seemed to be enjoying attacking, other than the Giant Plaython, it was Rue.


    She was, likely intentionally and unintentionally, drawing all of the attention. Part of that was because she was a 25ft white tiger beastkin riding atop a 100ft Giant Plaython. Part of it was likely the massive, icy aura that circled around her, completely useless considering it was just a cosmetic piece, but still alarming, especially for those who didn''t know it was cosmetic. And finally, because she insisted on letting out extremely loud roars, and screaming insults and vulgarities, as she went to town in a classic berserker fashion with her massive axe.


    Between her and the Giant Plaython, James was feeling pretty invisible. Of course, he had summoned himself a dicken with his final available point, and linked it to himself, just in case he did take any massive damage. Better safe than sorry, after all.


    "We need to finish this bear off, so we can advance our forces." James called out as he glanced around. His players had blasted past the defensive line, though they''d suffered a decent number of casualties. Healers had been blowing their cooldowns left and right, but there were just so many players that it didn''t seem to matter. As long as you were within the bulk of the army, there was a good chance you were going to get revived if you went down.


    The same could be said of BLANK''s forces though, which was why combat had quickly shifted pace. Now, players were banding together into packs, with their mobs on either side fighting each other while the players did their best to bring down the healers from the other side. If you could nuke the healer, you could take out the rest of the party. It was basic MMO PvP tactics, just on a massive scale. The real question James had currently, was which army had more healers? And which army could protect their healers the best. Because that was going to play a huge factor in determining who walked out of this forest alive.


    "You act like-"


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    "-Incoming." Z''s voice cut off Rue, and James looked hesitantly towards the sky, wondering what exactly the leader could be yelling about.

 175 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175


    In most games, and movies, and books, people always talk about slaying dragons. They mention felling the massive beasts, bringing them down in some epic manor, and that''s that. In video games, most of the time once you kill it, the creature just disappears, or the scene fades to black. Even if it doesn''t, nothing really happens after you slay it.


    In DCO, that was not the case. DCO seemed to take monster deaths as literal and realistic as possible. Case in point, James watched in horror and surprise as The Candy Crush-Ur fell from the sky, wings torn to pieces, armor shattered and cracked, to smash hard into the ground. Trees splintered apart, the earth shook, and dozens, if not hundreds, of players from both side were instantly turned into glowing orbs as it literally crushed them all. Even in death, the world boss from BLANK''s dungeon lived up to its name.


    "Our bad." Z called out as his Voltron mech, made up of all five Knights Who Go Ni, descended onto the battlefield. They waived their hand sheepishly towards James, and it was all he could do to shake his head in disbelief. It was a given that the Knights, combined with the anti-air guns provided by the M.I.N.E. Craft''s appearance would bring the dragon down. Just, really, on the middle of their forces?


    "Make up for it by killing the enemy." James called out even as he applied a quick heal to Z''s dicken. The faithful bird had done its best to stay as close to the man as possible, even flapping its wings frantically to try and get closer while the robot had been in the sky. Now, it was standing proudly besides Voltron, glaring at anything that came near. The dicken was injured, but thankfully still alive.


    "Will do-" Z was cut off as an orb, glowing with a myriad of colors, crashed into Voltron. It erupted with rainbows of light, and blasted the mech apart instantly. Thankfully, the Knight''s weren''t killed in the hit, though all of them, other than Z, had taken a massive blow to their life. The Dicken, which had been caught in the blast, as well as soaked the damage for Z, let out a surprised bawk before it disappeared. James didn''t even have to guess where that attack had come from.


    "Aw, did that attack leave a sour taste in your mouth?" The Candied King called out, even as it held its glowing scepter high. Energy was flowing into it, causing lights to flicker within. The Avatar was channeling another one of those blasts, and while James didn''t know how long it took to channel, he also could tell it was going to do a crazy amount of damage when it launched. They needed to interrupt it, and fast.


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    "I''ll show you sour." James muttered as he looked to Rue. The mass of mobs that had been caught by the Giant Plaython had just vanished, and the berserker had managed to cut down the Bearhemoth even more. James figured the third-floor boss had been shrunk enough that his players would be able to take care of what remained. They needed to stop The Candied King from launching any more of those attacks.


    "Go commit Regicide, dear beast."


    "With pleasure." Rue purred, and she turned the Giant Plaython away from the gummies, and towards The Candied King. He was still a distance away, choosing to continue attacking the battlefield from a distance with his ridiculous long-range attacks, but that didn''t matter to Rue. When you were riding atop a 100ft Giant Plaython, you could cover a good amount of distance quite quickly.


    "We''ll help finish off those bears, if you want." Z waived for his party to rush towards the bears, even as Med Ic''s healing spell completed around the party. They all let out a cry of excitement and joy as they rushed forward, a group of other players besides them as well. James, on the other hand, needed to get closer to The Candied King as well, otherwise he wouldn''t be able to continue healing the Giant Plaython. And he really didn''t need Rue going down.


    "Come with me, help me keep the beast alive." James began running past the bears, glancing around the battlefield as he did. There was massive thread dome erected in one corner of the map, the result of Grandma Jenkins entering the battle. The moment a group of adventurers had stepped within range of her, the dome had erected. James knew it wouldn''t fall until all the adventurers were killed, or Grandma Jenkins fell. He was just curious how many adventurers she had managed to capture within the dome. He was also pretty sure Old Man Jenkins, and a good dozen dickens, had been within the dome as well.


    "We can do that too." Z grinned up towards James, and did his best to keep up. While James was a giant compared to him, his party did consist of elves, who had increased movement speed within the forest. Meaning they were much nimbler than some of the other races. With their rush towards The Candied King, and The Candied Queen, a group of players began following him as well. It seemed Rue''s reckless charge had blasted another hole in BLANKs forces, considering all of the players jumping out of the way of the massive Giant Plaython and crazed berserker. That path of broken trees was what James and his players were running through as well.


    "For the White Beast of Chaos! For the Mad Mage." Z yelled as his party, and what seemed to be almost a hundred other players, formed up near James. He had an honor guard, it seemed, of brave warriors following him into death. Logically, rushing The Candied King and Queen was probably not the best idea. The closer they got to the enemy Avatars, the denser it seemed BLANK''s players were. However, if they let BLANK continue launching their powerful long-range attacks, they were bound to lose as well. No, James needed to make them suffer enough here and now to cause them to pull back. He needed to capitalize on the chaos that was the battlefield, and it was now or never. He just really hoped they could pull it off.


    "Check." James heard Rue''s roar, and he looked at her form just in time to see her leap ferociously from the back of the Giant Plaython. Her axe was raised high over her head, and her entire body seemed to bristle and glow with a white energy. As her form approached The Candied King, who was still working on casting his next attack, Rue''s form took on its more beastlike appearance, as she burned her Beastkin passive. For a short amount of time, her physical stats, including her attack speed and strength, would be increased. Additionally, James saw her eyes flash and begin glowing red, a berserker cooldown that greatly increased her damage output, at the cost of her defense. While that skill was up though, she also couldn''t be reduced to 0 HP. Of course¡­the same couldn''t be said for poor ''Monty Python'' who would be taking a lot more damage now every time Rue got hit.


    "Crazy fairy." James muttered as he paused, preparing to cast a powerful HoT spell on ''Monty Python.'' If Rue was about to go all in, James needed to make sure he was supporting her the best he could.


    "Checkmate." A female voice responded to Rue''s cry, and with amazing speed, The Candied Queen was in front of the Candied King, her massive jawbreaker shield raised to intercept Rue''s oncoming axe, her spear at the ready by her side, angled dangerously towards Rue. James immediately changed what spell he was casting. This was about to hurt.

 176 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176


    The Candied Queen''s shield expertly intercepted Rue''s axe. However, Rue''s weapon glowed an angry red as it smashed into the Jawbreaker shield, and James saw the massive piece of armor crack. The Berserker Class in DCO had the ability to greatly affect the durability of any armor or protective pieces of equipment they attacked. Rue''s stats, combined with her double cooldown use, had amplified that ability. As The Candied Queen absorbed the impact of the attack, her poor shield began to crumble. James figured she would only be able to absorb one more attack from Rue, before that shield completely shattered.


    BLANK''s second avatar likely didn''t seem to worry about the state of their shield as much though, considering the spear they held glowed with a golden light of its own, and James watched the weapon get thrust with deadly precision into Rue''s chest. The spear pierced through her chest, ripping through the armor and jutting out of her back. James wasn''t sure what skill had been used, but he had no doubt that attack had not only increased armor penetration, but also served as an instant critical. After all, hitting most things in vital spots, such as the heart or neck, resulted in a critical.


    James was only partially watching the momentary exchange, as his true focus was on the Giant Plaython''s health bar. The moment The Candied Queen''s attack had hit Rue, the Giant Plaython''s life had shot down, dangerously low. Rue''s decreased defense stat, combined with the critical strike, and the likely extremely high attack stat of the level 30 Avatar, had done a massive amount of damage. James, luckily, had predicted that, and had begun casting his strongest healing spell for the Giant Plaython. It was actually a cooldown of his Spiritualist Class, a mass, full heal of all the summoned mobs he had out, in exchange for 75% of his mana. A skill he wouldn''t be able to use for another 20 minutes, but that didn''t matter. He couldn''t afford to lose Rue to BLANK.


    Silvery light flowed around him, as beams of silver light encircled the Giant Plaython, his Dicken, and Z''s Dicken. All the mobs instantly healed back to their max health, and James couldn''t help but smirk at BLANKs Avatars. Sure, Rue had failed to one shot The Candied King, which James was positive was what she had been intending to do. However, they had also failed to One Shot Rue. So now, it was a battle between Avatars, a battle between Giants, on the Fields of Battle.


    "It seems you come with your own little surprises." The Candied King chuckled darkly from behind The Candied Queen. His scepter was full of glowing colors now, and he pointed it past Rue, towards where Grandma Jenkins'' massive thread fortress was. "However, allow me to once again level the playing field." The orb of glowing light shot forward with impossible speed, and impacted against the massive dome.


    James watched the rainbowed energy erupt, sending colorful beams of death all over, killing his players at an impossible rate. What was even more impressive though, was the attack actually seemed to have blasted a hole in the thread dome.


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    "One more blast, and your boss mobs will fall." The Candied King raised his scepter high as he stepped further away from Rue. The Candied Queen immediately took up position in front of him, blocking Rue from advancing. All around them, BLANKs forces readied themselves. "Your players, your forces, will fall before my glorious might." The scepter began glowing again, channeling the energies and preparing the attack. From what James could tell, The Candied King specialized in long range magical attacks, but was able to also wear and utilize heavy armor. He also used Paladin skills, and James had to wonder what the cross was.


    Meanwhile, considering the Candied Queen had not only completely absorbed an attack from an enraged beastkin berserker, but also had done enough damage to normally one shot a foe like Rue, James was guessing that class specialized on close range offense and defense. James couldn''t help but feel a wash of frustration flow through him. BLANK had done what he had originally been planning.


    Cries of fear, accompanied by a loud roar from far behind him, pulled his thoughts away from his momentary cursing of Rue and her impulsive nature. Looking back, he could see something dark red bulging against the side of the threaded dome, as the dome itself seemed to be unravelling. James had seen that red color before, and recognized it as the same color as the Red Thread of Fate. Which meant¡­Grandma Jenkins'' secret ability had been triggered.


    "Are your sugar levels a bit too high? I think you''re going mad." James called back. He wasn''t the best at trash talking in games, but he felt that one had to be good. He may have been trying to rehearse witty comebacks and lines to use against BLANKs Avatars with Rue earlier¡­


    "After all, it seems your players have triggered my bosses'' unique skill." He glanced back once more, narrowing his eyes as he tried to focus on the creature breaking free of the thread dome. It appeared to be a massive dragon made completely of the tightly woven red threads, with smaller red threads trailing down below, linked, James figured, to the poor souls that had been bound by the Red Thread of Fate. It was impressive, but what he really wanted to know, was the name of the creature.


    As the dragon spread its wings wide, and completely freed itself of the dome arena, James was finally able to read the creatures name.


    "Behold, Candied King. Exodia, the Red Dragon of Fate." As James silently cheered his dragon, he noticed, for a brief second The Candied King''s normal poker face break. However, in that split second, he couldn''t tell what look crossed BLANK''s Avatar''s face. Was it humor, was it fear, was it surprise? It happened so quick, and there was so much going on around him as his forces and BLANK''s still went toe to toe, that he honestly couldn''t tell.


    "Kings and Queens decide their own fate." The Candied King replied, his scepter still glowing. He looked towards The Candied Queen, who was exchanging blows with Rue. Somehow, The Candied Queen still had her shield, and James watched as Rue swung another massive strike toward the Candied Queen, BLANKs avatar deftly moved aside, thrusting back towards the beastkin and landing a glancing blow against her fur clad side. The Candied Queen seemed to be using her combat skills to keep from having to actually block Rue''s large, ferocious attacks. If James had to guess, she was going to hold onto that shattered, damaged shield, just in case it was needed. Until then, James could tell The Candied Queen was likely the better fighter for one on one fighting.


    "And before my Candied Queen, with the skills of the legendary Spartans, your feral, mad beast is nothing." The Candied Queen made to thrust at Rue, forcing Rue to leap backwards. However, the thrust was a feint, and even as Rue''s form leapt away, the Candied Queen shifted her grasp on her spear. In the same instant, she pivoted, throwing her spear with deadly accuracy at a new target. It was all James could do to watch the spear fly swiftly towards him, faster than his mind could even react. Oh shit.

 177 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177


    "Clucky. Nooo." James cried out as the dicken that was paired to him let out a surprised cluck, before it simply poofed out of existence. James grimaced as he pulled the spear from his chest, the wound completely gone as the missile was removed. He had made the cardinal error of being a squishy caster. He had let himself stay in one spot for too long, and in doing so, had taken a spear to the chest. And, because of his lapse in judgement, Clucky had paid the ultimate price.


    Alright, he may have been being melodramatic. Even after his mass heal of his three summoned mobs, they were all still taking damage. After all, everywhere around him there was fighting, and it had been all he could do to keep the life of his mobs above their 50% mark. His lapse in judgement had simply allowed The Candied Queen to land a critical hit on James''s Avatar. And because his Avatar was a caster class, it naturally had a lower health pool, and defense stats, than other classes. Meaning the physical attack, from an Avatar that was already higher level than James''s, given BLANKs theorized rank 6 in Avatar research, meant the damage was enough to kill of his lifeline. James was on his own, at least, for another 30 seconds, until his mob point returned, and he could summon another dicken.


    "Ignore the mobs, burn the Avatars." The Candied King called out, even as he stomped once more on the ground. He wasn''t going for his large damaging spell anymore. Nope, he had resorted back to killing off his own players for more of his holy hand grenades. Seriously, how come BLANKs players were even agreeing to that?


    James shot a quick glance down to the players, who were huddled behind the Avatar''s feet. That quick glance told him all he needed to know. Those players were still in their teens. Hell, it seemed some of them hadn''t even hit level 10 yet. Around them, higher leveled players seemed to be keeping them in line. They were literally sacrificing their low-level players as ammunition for the dungeon Avatar. James''s distaste for BLANK grew even more, something he hadn''t realized could happen. It was one thing to sacrifice a dicken or a summoned mob. But killing off your own players. That just went too far.


    However, James knew he had a bigger problem to focus on. The attack from the Candied Queen seemed to have confirmed to BLANK just how James''s class was working. Trying to burn down the mobs'' defenses, especially Monty Python, was a pointless, fruitless task. It was easier to attack the Avatar''s themselves, as any damage they took was transferred back into the mob they were linked to. And Rue definitely had a much lower defense stat than the mobs did. To be fair, BLANK would have been more successful using AOE spells if it was just a bunch of dicken summons, like James had originally planned. But against Monty Python, it definitely made more sense for them to just try and burn Rue down.


    Rue, during this situation, seemed completely uncaring about her mount. Monty Python had encircled her and The Candied Queen following the spear throw, and was also doing its best to keep any other enemies from reaching Rue, while also launching its own attacks at the outsiders. The AI was apparently well aware of the fact it could withstand a whole lot more damage than Rue could, and was doing its best to keep her safe. James had to wonder if his AI had somehow influenced the AI that was protecting her, or if this was just one of those dumb luck situations. Either way, it was at least helping a little.


    "Dodge." Oak''s voice called out as The Candied King launched a holy hand grenade in their direction. The Avatar was now fully focused on killing James, even though the Candied King''s eyes were occasionally darting towards the rear of the battlefield, where Exodia was raining down death and destruction on BLANK''s forces. Even more red threads attached to the dragon now, showing it was draining more and more of BLANKs players. It seemed that skill from Grandma Jenkins triggered even after her Puppet Show had fallen. Seriously, she was proving to be extremely valuable in this fight.


    James''s instincts kicked in at Oak''s command, and he dove to his right even as a holy hand grenade impacted the ground near him. James''s massive frame smashed against some trees as he rolled, and he did his best to come up on his feet as gracefully as he could. Sheepishly, he realized he had landed on a few unlucky players, including some of his own. Luckily, none of his seemed to have died.


    "Seriously, for someone squishy you do stand around a lot." Oak grumbled. He had his shield raised, and James realized he had tanked the entire holy hand grenade himself. Which was good, considering James knew just how much damage that attack could do once it detonated. Still, James had to know how had the man managed it? Sure, The Knights Who Go Ni had grown to level 40, meaning they, like SoulDemon and his gang, now had access to a total of three additional multiclass options. But James hadn''t checked yet what The Knights had chosen.


    "Not used to walking." James grumbled as he stood up. He checked over Oak as he did, wondering just what had happened.


    Oak


    Level 40 Fortress Indra


    "Fortress Indra?" James mumbled, shaking his head. He could tell The Candied King was just as confused as he was about the fact that Oak was still standing. On top of that, Oak seemed to have taken practically no damage from the attack. Obviously, Oak had blown a cooldown, but James wanted to know which one.


    "What do you normally do, fly?" Z was moving towards Oak''s side, his eyes focused on The Candied King and the battle ahead of them. "Or do you just ride a dicken?" As Z spoke, his dicken, which was still alive, unlike James''s, let out a cluck like a chuckle¡­ or a cluckle. Damned bird.


    "I could always throw you at the Candied King." Was James''s reply as he began moving towards the two adventurers. He really didn''t intend to throw them¡­though the more he thought about, it could actually be a good idea. Did DCO have falling damage? If not¡­.


    "Errrr, we can do a much better job of protecting you from here." Z retorted, motioning into the tree line at a group of approaching players. A group James recognized all too well. He was wondering when they would show up.


    "You do your best job, doing whatever it is you do. We will keep you alive." The leader of the Knight''s Who Go Ni flashed James his trademark smile, even as he motioned for James to fall back slightly. James was already doing that, as he could see The Candied King readying another one of his Holy Hand Grenades. James knew he needed to figure out some way to stop the Avatar from using his players as a sacrificial pool. At the same time, he needed to stay alive, so he could keep Rue alive.


    The berserker was still going toe to toe with The Candied Queen. Rue''s axe was swinging with intense speed and strength at the Spartan, who in turn was deftly dodging and parrying attacks with her candied sword. From what James could remember of history, combined with the fact The Candied King had made a comment about Spartans, sparked the knowledge in him that the candied short sword was called a Xiphos. A weapon Spartans had been known to be extremely proficient with, which excelled at close quarters combat, and precision thrusts and slashes. In fact, the smaller size of The Candied Queen''s Weapon was what was giving her an advantage it seemed against Rue and her massive battle axe.


    James knew he needed to get a heal off on Monty Python soon, as well as needed to do something about The Candied King''s crowd of fodder. He also figured he may need to reevaluate the battlefield, and figure out a way to help push back the enemy forces. After all, BLANKs army was on their doorstep, and if they were going to overcome this battle, they needed to forced BLANK to retreat, so everyone could regroup, and make use of the essence they were likely earning.


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    A glance back towards the forest, and the group approaching, also reminded him of one other thing. He needed to first and foremost make sure he stayed alive. Something he was confident Z and his party could do. James was putting his faith in the Knights to bring down Soul Demon''s party.

 178 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178


    The chaos of the battlefield that James had initially been reveling in, was now causing him no small level of frustration. As close ranged physical Avatar''s clashed, as James dodged explosive Holy Hand Grenades, and as The Knight''s Who Go Ni faced off against Soul Demon and his party of level 40+ players, James was doing his darndest to find Skar and the Boss Slayers. He had an idea, and he needed their help for it. Well, more appropriately, he needed Gno-More''s help.


    Oddly enough, it wasn''t his own players that finally helped him find the Boss Slayers, but instead a random cry from one of BLANKs players. Something about being blinded from needles to their eyes. Followed by another cry regarding a needle to a kneecap. Gno-more, it seemed, was really starting to live up to his Acupuncturist class, especially when combined with his assassin skills and cooldowns. Which was great, because James was really looking forward to his new plan.


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    "Boss Slayers" He called out as he neared the small batch of combat. Skar had swirling bits of green and grey energy flowing around him, a dread aura that effectively drained life and energy from enemy players. He was holding off two of BLANKs players as Manly and Gno-more went to town on a few others. One of the enemy players had two needles stuck in their eyes, and a blind status flashing on their health bar. Another had a needle in the back of his knee, with a movement impair icon on his health bar. The blinded player was the enemy party''s healer, while the incapacitated one was a tank. Manly and Gno-More were now dealing with a squishy mage, and a ranger. Neither of which had much of a chance.


    "Do you need something?" Skar grunted as he blocked an attack from one of his two opponents. The players from BLANKs side were a few levels lower than Skar and his party, but two on one was still a tough task. Especially because James could tell Skar and the others were growing tired. James wasn''t sure how long the battle had been ranging on, minutes, hours, but either way, the mass amount of destruction, chaos, and combat was definitely growing exhausting. Even James was feeling his mind grow fuzzy. He could really do with a nap. But first, they needed to win this battle, as a first step towards winning the war.


    "The Candied King is throwing his players at us."


    Skar looked around, at the fighting going on all around them, and shrugged, as if to say, ''no shit.''. James shook his head and sighed.


    "No, literally. Those Holy Hand Grenades are the death orbs of his players. He''s got a group of low leveled players at his feet being used as cannon fodder."


    "Man. Why would you fight for a Dungeon that just sees you as fodder." Troll''d nocked and arrow and let it fly. The missile whizzed past the players his party was engaged with, and struck another player further on in the forest, who had been sneaking up on a different party of James''s. Even as that player fell, Troll''d was preparing another arrow, for another unsuspecting target.


    "I mean, your deaths do usually help us grow stronger." James responded without thinking, drawing a concerned look from the Monster Hunter. From the response, James realized Troll''d hadn''t process who it was he was speaking to.


    "Right." The Troll player cleared his throat. "How can we help you oh mighty Mad Mage?"


    James offered him a sheepish smile. He was going to like this. "Do you know, does DCO have falling damage?"


    "Uh, not that I know of." Troll''d let another arrow fly. "I don''t think anyone has really tried yet though. Why¡­."


    James nodded, his mind running through the options. If there wasn''t any falling damage, this would work out great. If there was¡­ well, he could at least mitigate it. Most MMOs that did incorporate falling damage actually did it as a percentage based on your health, not as a flat rate. Obviously, that meant the formula, at the greatest amount, would equal only 100% of something''s max HP. So, if James was able to, say, create something to absorb that full 100%...the player falling would take no damage. This was totally going to work.


    "I need your help to take out those players." Killing the players outright would at least limit how many more attacks The Candied King could make. After all, death orbs only stuck around for a small amount of time, and James was guessing the Candied King''s attack had a 20 to 30 second cooldown, judging by the frequency with which he was launching them. That, or he was being extremely particular about how he was aiming.


    "What''s the plan?" Skar asked as he cut down one of the players in front of him. The other one wasn''t looking so good, and James could tell Skar''s deathly aura had nearly drained all of that player''s health. That was why Death Knights and Dread Knights made such great tanks. Especially for PvP. Their health pool could be sustained quite easily, at the detriment of their opponents.


    "I was hoping we could throw your Gnome at the enemy Avatar. When he lands, he goes to town killing off as many of those players as he can?" It wasn''t the best idea. And it was technically a suicide mission¡­.buuuut, it was the only thing James could think of.


    "You want to throw Gno-more behind enemy lines?" Troll''d glanced from Skar, to Gno-more, and then looked back at James. "Like, seriously pick him up, and throw him?"


    "Pretty much." James shrugged. "I mean, at least this way I''m not killing him before throwing him."


    "Because that''s so much better than what they''re doing." Troll''d shook his head. His bow glowed for a second, and a shot fired much larger and faster towards an enemy player. The attack crit on the player, causing him to burst instantly into a glowing orb.


    Honestly, James had wanted to throw the entire party, or at least something else towards BLANK. Unfortunately, he didn''t have the summoner points to make any Sacrificial Lambs, and his catapult wouldn''t reach anyways. However, Gno-More''s small size meant that James''s 25ft Avatar would be able to throw the player quite easily, and quite far. Plus, he didn''t have to be too accurate, because he knew Gno-More''s class had skills that would allow him to get up close and personal with the enemy players in no time.


    "Sometimes you have to do some crazy things, in order to win."


    "What do you think Skar?" The party had finished off the rest of the players that were fighting them, and Skar let his aura drop for a moment. Gno-more was walking closer to James as they all spoke, the gnome''s face an expressionless mask. Whatever he was thinking, James had no idea.


    "It''s up to Gno-more. But if it will help end this battle¡­ It might be worth it. Besides, it could probably work?" The last part was said more as a question than a statement. Honestly, James was with them, he had no idea if this would work. And he didn''t like the idea of being like BLANK and throwing his players around like they were simply a resource. But if Gno-More could pull this off, well it could be huge.


    "If, if you think it''ll be helpful to our entire side." Gno-more looked up at James, his face set. "Then I''m down to try it." He offered a grin towards the rest of his party. "Anyone want to take any bets on if I can blind The Candied King before I hit the ground?" Two needles flashed into existence in his hands as he twirled them.


    "I will give you an entire day''s worth of gold if you can do that." Manly the Dwarf slapped Gno-more on the back, letting out a heavy chuckle.


    "Same." Troll''d said, offering the gnome a smile. James knew they often bickered, and argued and poked fun at each other. But it was obvious they were a close party, and cared about each other. James really felt slightly dirty about doing this, but again, had no choice.


    "Right, well then." James pointed towards the ground, a summon circle appearing. He had resisted summoning a dicken for himself as he had formulated this plan. Figuring instead he would link the dicken to Gno-more. That way, if there were falling damage, the dicken would take the damage, not Gno-More. Plus, it also meant James could keep essentially healing Gno-more while the acupuncturist did his job. Probably not as much as he would be healing Monty Python, whom James had been constantly stopping to cast healing spells on. Currently, James hadn''t found the limit to the range on his heal spells, and he wondered if the distance was amplified as a part of him being an Avatar, just as the stats on the summoned mobs was amplified. Either that, or it was like some MMOs he had played, where pet classes could simply heal any of their pets from any given range. Which would be a bit OP in his opinion, but something he wouldn''t complain about here and now. He needed any advantage he could get.


    With his dicken summoned, and linked instantly to Gno-More, James crouched down, holding out a palm for Gno-More. To his credit, the acupuncturist didn''t even hesitate. He had made up his mind, he was resolved to do this, in order to help not just his party, but the entire instance, in this dungeon war. Honestly, James had to admit, Gno-more seemed to have really taken Z''s words to him earlier to heart.


    "Don''t let my dicken die while I''m away." Gno-more called down to his party as James stood back up, Gnome in hand. "And remember the bet." The gnome had his two needles at the ready, his eyes fixated on The Candied King. Appropriately, the Avatar was looking back towards James, a glowing orb in his hand, preparing another attack. James could see the boss''s eyes narrow as BLANK tried to focus on what James was doing. Then, even as The Candied King pulled back his hand, James pulled his own back as well. A moment later, they both let their attacks fly. The Candied King lobbing another Holy Hand Grenade towards James, James sending a high-speed Gnome through the air, directly at The Candied King. A glint of light on metal flashed as Gno-more, mid-flight, threw his two needles at the Candied King. The Avatar''s hands clutched instantly at his eyes.


    "Damn. He actually did it." Manly muttered, even as the group rushed out of the way of the incoming attack from the Candied King. James''s mirth was short lived though, as the dicken he had summoned to keep Gno-More poofed out of existence.


    "Guess there is falling damage. Who knew?" He chuckled uneasily, praying to the Goddess of Luck that Gno-More would be able to complete the main part of his task. It was up to the little gnome now.

 179 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179


    "Fall back." James heard the words, and they broke through the fog that was once again clouding over his mind. He shook his head, trying to focus, but was finding it hard to do. Everything had been going to plan. The Candied King had been blinded, Gno-more had been doing a good job of killing off all the low players at the Avatar''s feet, and The Knights, who had been holding their own against the higher leveled SoulDemon, had begun to turn the tide in the fight when James had brought the rest of the Boss Slayers to their aid. Everything had been going in their favor.


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    But then, suddenly, Monty Python''s health had taken a massive hit. A second later, another chunk of his life dropped. Then, another, and another. Lightning fast, Monty Python''s health was cut down, and the massive Plaython disappeared. Even before James could register that, he heard a terrible, fearsome roar from Rue. His focus turned to her just in time to see her swinger her might axe down, rage apparent on her face. The attack was so fast, so violent, that it forced The Candied Queen to raise her shield to block. The candied shield shattered, but it did its job, and absorbed the blow.


    The Candied Queen''s glowing candy cane Xiphos responded to Rue''s attack with lightning fast set of attacks. The weapon glowed with a crimson light, and for every strike, it seemed as if shadowy figures, dressed in Spartan Armor, appeared behind The Candied Queen, stabbing into Rue with faintly glowing spears of their own. Rue roared against the attacks, and lunged towards the Candied Queen, her mouth open, fangs reaching for the enemy''s throat. Just before she reached though, her health hit 0, and her Avatar faded from existence.


    The White Beast of Chaos has been Slain.


    Popped up as a notification on James screen, and he pushed it aside instantly. He could feel rage welling up within him. BLANK had just killed Rue. He was going to make those bastards pay. His vision began to blur as he took a step towards the two enemy Avatars, his emotions taking over. The Candied King, his vision returned from Gno-More''s blinding skill, shot James a grin even as he motioned for his forces to retreat.


    "We Never Lose." He shot back, before he turned and began running away. The Candied Queen mimicked his hasty retreat, and James watched as many of BLANKs remaining mob forces turned back to retreat as well. Their players fared less well as they began their retreat, as running from a bunch of enemy players, especially in a wooded environment with enemies all around you, was quite difficult.


    Needless to say, the more agile classes were able to get away, as were those who had skills to slow enemies around them, those who could increase their move speed, or those with cooldowns that let them survive their fleeing.


    "Don''t." Rue''s voice stopped James even as he began to pursue the fleeing BLANK. Already James could see groups of his players rushing excitedly after BLANKs forces, launching any and every type of attack they could. Roguish classes burned cooldowns they had been saving to catch any stragglers, and James suddenly realized, as BLANK ran away, the danger of chasing them. During the war, there had been an extremely long period of time that BLANK and their forces had been deep in James''s territory. Meaning James and his players no longer knew what existed in the distance, what existed down the path BLANK was running.


    The startled cries alerted James, and his players, as to what had happened. Sure, BLANK had fled, and those who couldn''t escape had been killed. But at the same time, BLANK, with the aid of their mobs, and some of their players, had set up traps. Chasing after them as they retreated was resulting in James''s players getting killed by ambush style mobs and player packs. To chase after them further, would just increase their casualties.


    "Regroup." James called out, looking up at Rue as he did. The pixie was back to her normal size and appearance, though she was still clad in her pixie battle armor. She had a plastic bottle in her hands, and she raised it up towards her mouth and squeezed. The liquid that flowed into her mouth was blue, and James figured she was drinking some sort of electrolyte drink. Something that was rather stereotypical for fight movies and scenes.


    "Seriously, that Spartan class is dangerous." She said after she took a long swallow, her eyes lingering on the fading image of The Candied Queen. "That cooldown was complete and utter bullshit."


    "I told you to be careful." James whispered to Rue. His emotions had calmed at seeing her and hearing her voice. When she had died, his mind had simply blanked. For a moment, he thought he had lost her. He had completely forgotten this was a game, and that she would come back. He shivered as the feelings resurfaced for a moment. With them, his resolve to win doubled.


    "Yeah, well." She pointed a finger accusingly at him. "Maybe you should have done a better job keeping Monty alive."


    "Hey now, you know you could actually help the healer by not taking damage." James was well aware of all the players around him cleaning up any enemy forces, and going about respawning players they could. Many of them were glancing at each other, and then up towards James with concerned looks on their faces. He didn''t blame them, he was currently staring up at the sky and holding a conversation.


    "How about I help the healer next time by killing the enemy faster, so they can''t hurt me?" Rue offered up, flashing a smile as she took another drink. She was acting carefree, but James could see the fires burning in her eyes. She was pissed that she had lost.


    "Sounds like a plan." James looked back across the battlefield. The forest was filled with large craters, burning, broken, and shattered trees, and a lot of flickering orbs from both sides. James wasn''t sure what the numbers were, but whatever they were, there had to have been a large number of casualties on both sides. Which meant both sides had just gained even more essence to pump back into the war.


    James didn''t know when BLANK and their forces would return. He also didn''t care. A full-on war on the battlefield like that wouldn''t make sense to continue. Exodia from Grandma Jenkins had helped turn the tide, but that just meant she was likely going to be targeted early on if they clashed again. Plus, the next time, depending on how quickly another attack was launched, would see them engaging without Rue, without either of their world bosses, and just with Grandma Jenkins. As Old Man Jenkins had fallen in the battle. BLANK, on the other hand, didn''t have any of their bosses left, but they had a 1st floor world boss still, and both their Avatars.


    He didn''t like the idea of a clash like that. From a pure numbers standpoint, he would lose. From a level standpoint, he would lose, considering BLANKs Avatars had a level of research on him, which meant they also had another multiclass buff. Which meant, James was going to need to figure out how to tip the tide of battle into his favor. First though, he needed to do something to help boost the energy and moral of his forces. His players were tired, he was tired. They needed to rest, regroup, and prepare for something that could take BLANK by surprise, and bring them down. Even more than that, they needed to avenge Rue, and bring down one of, if not both of, BLANKs Avatars. And, most important of all, he and his players needed the experience from this. Because while everything that happened on this day was important, James knew the most important part of the battle was yet to come. For it was truly on Day 5 that he needed his players to overwhelm BLANK, and bring him victory.


    That thought helped push some of the drowsiness from his mind, and he felt a little more energized as he began making his way back towards the respawn area. Day three was not the important fight. It was the time for him to test out plans. The time for him, and all of his players, to get used to what it would be like in Dungeon Wars. It was the time for random, crazy shenanigans. And if there was one thing he was good at, it was exactly that.

 180 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180


    Boss Summon


    Old Man Jenkins- 2hr 28min 13sec


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    B.L.U.- 2hr 09min 51sec


    Terminus- 3hr 39min 51sec


    Grandma Jenkins- Active


    World Boss


    Charles the Dicken ¨C6hr 13min 28sec


    M.I.N.E. Craft *limited*- 12hr 40min 09sec


    Avatar Summon


    Core ¨C Active


    Fairy - 17hr 16min 54sec


    *World Boss Skill limited- abilities modified to fit dungeon war parameters on FoB*


    Looking at the cooldowns on the available summons, James knew it was unlikely they would be able to wait for any new pieces to rejoin the board. At least, for now. A quick look at his in-game clock showed they had been in the fields of battle for just under 6 hours, meaning there were still 18 hours to go. On the plus side, that meant, if possible, Rue could still be summoned, for a final 30ish minute free for all. On the downside, that meant, well, they were down to just 1 Avatar for a little over 17 hours. And, if James went down between now and then, he wasn''t going to be able to rejoin for day 3.


    The same could be said of BLANK though. Judging by the respawn timers, other than second floor boss and miniboss, BLANK was going to be sans bosses for quite a bit of time. That was at least a blessing, following the massive clash on the battlefield, which James was still trying to determine all of the damages from. It seemed like in that battle, which was less than 2 hours of clashing, both sides had suffered heavy casualties. If he had to guess, at least a couple thousand players on both sides had fallen. Sure, it had been a large army versus army style battle, but in the forest, it had quickly devolved into small groups of mass combat.


    Unfortunately, while that meant James''s side had just gained a lot of essence, which he fully intended to take advantage of, so had BLANKs side. And that was bad, really bad. BLANK didn''t care about their players. They didn''t even expect their players to be all that useful. Instead, James knew the duo fully planned to utilize their overpowered mobs to win this conflict. All they needed their players for was to use the essence to summon the mobs. The dungeon and its creatures would do the rest.


    James on the other hand, was putting a lot of faith into his players. Not only did he have a higher average level of players, from what he had seen, but his players were definitely a lot more diversified, unique, and just, all in all, better players in his mind. Mainly because they had grown having to adapt to a variety of changing mobs and scenarios. BLANK''s players, on the other hand, had grown just by probably learning and using any and every cheese tactic they could against BLANK''s mobs, in order to claw their way up the level tree.


    The latter was definitely true, as James had seen players from BLANK''s dungeon on their reddit thread discussing the ''easiest'' places to farm experience in BLANKs dungeon. Easy of course being rather vague, as it seemed it was still a dangerous tactic. Mostly, players from BLANK''s dungeon spent most of their time outside of the dungeon farming against the random animal mobs that the developers had put in the game, until they were nearly level 15. Given that experience gained against mobs was decreased for every level you had over them, that grind got a lot slower the closer they got to 15.


    After 15, the players would hesitantly enter the dungeon, in larger sized parties, and would take on the slower moving mobs of the first floor with distance attacks and aoe slows. It was slow, grindy, and from the consensus James had seen on the forums, altogether rather unenjoyable for many players. James had actually been doubtful BLANK would be able to keep up at its growth rate, given the lack of fun its players were having. Dungeon Wars however, seemed to have changed that. Because of the lack of fun players had within BLANK''s dungeon, the opportunity to invade other dungeons, and fight against things not from their own dungeon, reenergized BLANK''s players.


    James had a feeling that BLANK''s player base would be the kind that reveled in dungeon wars, looking forward to every immersion not for the chance to run through their own growing dungeon, but for the opportunities to wage war against others, and to explore and ravage the dungeons they invaded. It was sick, twisted, and effective. All in all¡­ it fit BLANK perfectly.


    That being said, James was really hoping BLANK''s players enjoyment in the dungeon war, especially right now on the Fields of Battle, could prove to work counter BLANK''s plans. James didn''t know what else players on BLANK''s side could use their essence points for, whether it be things like his own Mech Factory, or what, but he wondered if the players would be completely willing to just use all their gained essence on summoning mobs for the Candied King and Queen.


    Of course, the more James thought about that plan, the more he realized how foolish of a thought process that was. He was doubtful BLANK had given the players any other options to spend their essence on, other than to summon mobs, bosses, and the likes. BLANK had 0 faith in their players. They would force the players'' hands and make them have to do what BLANK wanted. Bunch of arrogant spoiled control freaks.


    "No use worrying about how shitty those two are." James mumbled to himself, as he looked his players up and down. Seriously, you wouldn''t know that they had just been part of a crazy large battle of epic proportions. Because of the nature of the game, as they were healed, cleansed of their debuffs, etc, their amor, the clothes, everything had once again taken on its pristine, game like appearance. The only indicator of what had just occurred, other than, you know, the massive damage to the forest, was the look in the players'' eyes. Many of them were visibly tired. James needed to change that.


    "My dear brave adventurers." He started, looking them all over. Once they had returned to camp, following BLANK''s attack, everyone had gathered around him, as if waiting for what he would say next. Many had pulled out the dark red bottles James recognized as Fireball whiskey, while others had started fires, preparing to cook whatever food they had while they recouped after the fight. Most amusing to James, was that upon their return, he had seen about 5 different fires already running, where a handful of players where working on cooking up countless dickens. A makeshift sign had been erected near the fires The Dicken Shack. It seemed the owners of that particular restaurant had opted to stay out of the fighting, and instead stay back to prepare meals for the players return. For a price, it seemed.


    "We have managed to push back the vile Candied Royalty and their minions." James continued, trying to figure out how best to play this up. "While normally their colorful outfits, bizarre forms and armor, and pleasantly chaotic candied attacks would be welcomed by my chaotic nature." He paused, looking out over the players.


    "The fact that they have not only trampled across all of you, but also felled my pixie''s Avatar, the White Beast of Chaos, cannot go without punishment." Cheers went up around the players, some muffled as players tried to cheer past mouthfuls of dicken.


    "I propose then that we return the favor. Let us show them what true chaos is like. Let us show them just how dangerous madness is." James was eyeing his summoner points as he spoke. He had finally just filled his points back up, showing him at a clear 25/25, considering Z''s dicken had been slain during the Knight''s fight against SoulDemon. A dicken in exchange for killing SoulDemon, SpinToWin, and CheapHealz was worth it. Sadly Crikey and BurningJazzHands had managed to escape.


    James pointed towards the ground, and a circle began to glow. On his way back to camp, and idea had begun to grow within his mind. One that he couldn''t help but feel would change the tide of the battle.


    "Grab a drink, eat some dicken, and then, let us return the favor. Let us lay waste to the Candied King and Queen, and feast on their sweet remains." As those words left his mouth, James couldn''t help but wince. Maybe that was a little too dark. However, the cheers that erupted from his players gave him hope. As he watched his summon appear before him, he couldn''t help but grin. This, was going to be epic.

 181 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181


    "I''m pretty sure everyone watching this thinks we are crazy." Rue laughed as she flicked her wrist, pulling up a rapidly moving wall of text before her eyes. Curiously, the wall was following her even as the pixie flew after James, who was moving extremely quickly. It had been maybe an hour since the end of the battle. His players were rested, and they had done as he asked. Now, they were rushing towards BLANKs portion of the map. It may have been early still in day 3, but he didn''t care. They were going to make BLANK pay. And, if everything went according to plan, they would catch the siblings and their players completely off guard.


    "Actually, I know they think we are crazy." Her eyes scanned the screen. James knew it was the chat bar for the livestream he had going from his point of view. While the developers of DCO were live streaming the dungeon wars to all the players, he and BLANK were streaming their own point of view for the dungeon wars as well. And from what James could tell, while he had no access to BLANKs stream, James could tell he had the majority of dungeon core views. Probably because he was, you know, actually interesting and amusing to watch.


    "Well, crazy is our thing." He was currently riding on the back of Monty Python, his giant, 23-point Giant Plaython that he had summoned, once more, for battle. He linked it to himself, which meant he was now unkillable, as long as he kept Monty alive. And, while Rue had put herself dangerously in harm''s way, James had no reason to. He and his players had devised something even more useful for Monty Python. Something that would ensure not only his safety, or at least, keep him from having to deal with dangerous melee attacks, but also bring a lot more chaos and destruction to the battle against BLANK. Honestly, he hated himself for not thinking about it earlier.


    Monty Python was nearly 100 feet in length, and when he reared his massive head up and back, was 25 foot high. That was impressive, but wasn''t the aspect of the mob that James was abusing right now. Instead, it was the fact that the Giant Plaython''s stuff body had a diameter of close to 10 feet at most of its points, tapering off obviously towards the tail. Conveniently, that meant the mob''s back was a great place for players to stand upon. And, to add to that, James may have abused his poor summons''s stuffed animal aspects. As in¡­he totally had.


    On his way back from the war, James had taken note of his wall of, well, walls, with the cannons positioned protectively behind them. He had made 60 cannons for his players, and set them up in a formation that was meant to be used in a defensive setting. During the attack from BLANK, he, and pretty much everyone else, had completely forgone those cannons, and rushed into the battlefield. Which was only sensible, given the size of the attack. Sixty Cannons was kind of paltry when dealing with long range attacks from thousands of spellcasters, ranged mobs, and so on. Not to mention, the decreased accuracy for the longer ranged shots on the cannons made them kind of dangerous to his players as well as BLANK''s.


    Now, these cannons that James had placed on his Fields of Battle were reminiscent to him of cannons he had seen in movies and games that originated on pirate ships. Or, something that seemed like a stereotypical cannon used in a castle or fantasy games. That is to say, it was extremely simple, with a large rounded backend, and a long barrel. His cannons were roughly, if he had to measure them, 6 foot in length, and Rue informed him they were modeled after the what she called an ''18pounder''. Which apparently had to do with the size of the cannonball it could fire.


    Normally, cannons of this sort, from what James knew of them, were loaded from the front, and then fired by lighting a fuse. Because DCO was a video game, it seemed the game developers had gone with video game logic. That being that a single player could man the cannon, aim it, and then pull a string on it to fire it. The cannon would then reload itself after a minute, and could again be fired. They were easy to use, had the ability to swivel slightly from atop the stands they were on, which gave players essentially a zone of about 30 degrees to either side to fire with.


    So, seeing he had forgotten to use that resource, and living up to the crazy, chaotic nature that James was trying to embody, and with the help from Grandma Jenkins, and his players, he had gone about creating something he never thought he would have. Something that, had he not been 100% sure he was immersed, and thus not dreaming, he would have thought was a dream. Actually, James wasn''t sure he would ever have dreamed up something as crazy as this.


    Now, Across the back of Monty Python, all 60 cannons sat, 30 facing off to one side, the other 30 on the other, as if the Giant Plaython were a pirate ship. The cannons had been embedded into James''s mob. The players had helped James cut his poor snake open, over and over again. Once the cuts were made, James would place the cannon into the mob, and then Grandma Jenkins would sew it up. Their work was quick and efficient, with James only pausing occasionally to heal the poor mob. It was really a good thing the Giant Plaython did not have an intelligent AI in it, otherwise he was sure this would have resulted in some rather strong objections.


    Once they had completed the task of arming Monty Python with cannons across its entire back, he had broken up the wooden walls he had created on the Fields of Battle, and once again emplaced those all along Monty Python''s back. All in all¡­they had completely fortified Monty Python to be a massive, 100foot long moving piece of artillery. They had also been careful to break up enough of the walls during this task, to ensure Monty Python could still move rather agilely, though James doubted the mob would be able to fully utilize its struggle snuggles anymore. Considering the fact they had traded out Struggle Snuggles for a massive fortified snake with cannons mounted all along its back, James figured it was a fair trade.


    And that wasn''t all. Monty Python had all 60 cannons, and now, as they rushed towards BLANK''s part of the map, and BLANK''s spawn area, all 60 of those cannons were armed by players. Alongside those players, each cannon team had mages, archers, or other ranged players, who would be launching long range attacks from the safety of the mobile fortress. Additionally, healers paced to and fro in the protected area, prepared to cleanse the players of any debuffs, and to keep them healed and healthy.


    The rest of James''s players, had gone to work in different ways. The Knights Who Go Ni had immediately rushed back to the Mech Station, and had activated it in order to once again summon Voltron. Much to the dismay of other players, it seemed the Mech Station could only create one such massive combining mech for players. It was a unique option apparently, which could only be used one at a time, per mech station. Which just meant James was going to have to build more mech stations later on.


    Still, players were able to spend essence at the station to create generic mechs for themselves, ones that looked like the cannon fodder zaku mechs James had seen in Gundam animes. Even still, groups of melee players had invested essence into James''s armored transport depot. Unlike the mech station, this one didn''t have special, high cost versions. But still, there were now quite a few armored, motorized vehicles being driven at high speeds towards BLANKs side. Within each sat probably a dozen or so players who were planning to get dropped in the middle of battlefield, up close and personal, where they wanted to be.


    Finally, trailing just behind Monty Python and the vehicles, came the remainder of James''s players, and of course, Grandma Jenkins. Players, upon realizing they couldn''t summon Voltrons for themselves, or who didn''t want to invest in the armored personnel characters, had had a free for all when it came to summon James''s mobs. Literally, looking out at the massive force moving towards BLANK''s starting zone, James could see every possible mob type had been summoned. The crowd favorites, of course, had been dickens, velocity raptors, and snuggle woofs. But still, there were Giant Playthons, breakers, steamers, and even funky monkeys.


    That latter was the best part¡­.as it seemed some players had spent a little too much time on James''s third floor, and gotten the idea to mount the funky monkeys. Troll''d from Skar''s group, was one in particular, and the troll appeared to be leading his flying brigade of mounted funky monkeys¡­.the mobs releasing their terrifying screams mid-air, while the players atop them, mostly ranged players, including MercerEffect, the deadly gunslinger James had observed. With the funky monkey''s, the players would be able to launch their attacks from the relative safety of the sky, with the monkey''s debilitating cries actually helping paralyze any targets they might be aiming for.


    All in all¡­it was crazy. It was ridiculous. It was something James was sure no one would have expected unless they were heavily using drugs, and even then, this scenario still seemed unlikely. With all of those factors, James was certain BLANK would have no way to prepare for this. And that was exactly what James was hoping for.


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 182 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182


    The siege snake made the trip towards BLANK''s spawn zone extremely quick, and efficient. Mainly because its massive size and health pool was able to soak up all the traps BLANK had left behind. The going got even easier as they made their way onto the trail left by Charles the Dicken and the dicken brigade, as a lot of those traps had already been triggered, and hadn''t had time yet to be repaired. Furthermore, it seemed that BLANK''s players had all headed back to the spawn area, likely to spend the essence they had earned. Meaning the guarded positions that BLANK had built, the choke points, were not manned as they made their advance.


    That wasn''t to say they didn''t stumble across players here and there. However, any player, even small bands of players, that they came across was quickly silenced. James was riding atop a 100foot snake, that even armed and armored as it was, could move quite swiftly. Likewise, the forces flanking the sides of his massive siege snake were all rather¡­mobile. Which meant that as they broke out of the clearing in the woods, chasing the fog of war away, they were able to see all of BLANK''s players, all jumbled together, going to work summoning mobs, or taking a breather from the battle.


    In the middle, James could see BLANK''s two avatars, giving orders to players and working to arrange mobs. Just as he had guessed, the duo was doing all they could to bring their mobs to bear against James and his players. They didn''t care about their players, BLANK just was using them for their essence. With that being the case, James decided he should at least free BLANK''s players of their tyranny. And the only way he could see of doing that, was to kill them, which would return them to their dungeon, free from the fields of battle, and essentially from the dungeon war, until day 4 started.


    \"Cannons on the starboard side, prepare to fire.\" James yelled at the top of his lungs, even as he mentally directed Monty Python to hug the edge of the forest as it broke free of the trees. The snake banked hard to the left, and made itself run parallel to the trees. It also made its right side''s cannons line up nicely with the massive array of enemy players before them. \"Fire.\"


    The sound of 30 cannons echoed through the air, launching masses of deadly metal flying directly towards BLANKs forces. There were so many targets, that not a single one missed. As the cannons completed firing, Monty Python turned upon itself, almost like the little worm from an old arcade style game James had once played. It raced along its own length, completely reversing the direction it was going, and in doing so, freeing up the guns on its left, or port, side. The moment its own body was free of the line of sight on the cannons, James gave the order once again. \"Fire.\"


    More metal rained down on the players, and James siege snake continued its maneuver, twisting, endlessly upon itself to continue ensuring the sides with the readied cannons would be able to fire.


    At the same time, the funky monkeys began letting out their obnoxious, terrifying screams, as mounted aerial players began launching attack after attack onto BLANK''s surprised players. Even the two Avatars stared, their faces a mask of disbelief and confusion, at the forest. Then, their eyes narrowed in rage, even as Voltron, piloted by the Knights Who Go Ni, rushed forth, leading the army of mobile suit adventurers.


    \"Summon the Jolly Roger.\" The Candied King called out, motioning towards the World Boss Summon Totem. Players rushed left and right at his feet, scrambling to do as he ordered. Even as they moved to act, he was speaking again. \"Use your essence to summon Da Breakers for defense, and Skittlers for offensive attacks. Once you''ve used your essence, if you''re above level 20, go take on the enemy. Those of you under 20, shall be my weapons.\"


    More players moved about, as the mass number of mobs that had already been summoned by BLANKs forces, predominately the extremely tough, tanky Da Breakers, moved forward to make a defensive line. Already players were beginning to prepare their own spells, and James watched lighting and fireballs fly towards his mobile suit forces. Of course, the mech suits not only increased player''s speed and strength stats, but they also had their own armor, resistances, and health pools. Meaning the players that had used essence on those suits had made quite the good investment.


    \"My Queen, if you would.\" James heard The Candied King say. The Candied Queen turned and made eye contact with James, flashing a deadly smile. Then, her focus turned towards James''s mech force, particularly, The Knights Who Go NI, aka, Voltron. With blinding speed, The Candied Queen drew back her hand, her candy spear appearing in it. The weapon glowed brightly, before she released it, like a lightning bolt, directly towards BLANK. A move that James was more than a little familiar with.


    This time though, the weapon did not find its mark. The Voltron, piloted by the most skilled, in James''s opinion, players of his dungeon stopped dead in its tracks, before doing a barrel roll to the left side. The spear impacted into the ground where they had been a split second before, creating a shockwave that rolled out in all directions.


    He glimpsed the massive mech drawing out a dangerous looking sword, which it raised towards The Candied Queen. The enemy Avatar drew her own candy cane xiphos, though James was amused to note she had not replaced her shield just yet. He was curious how gear destruction worked for Avatars, but so far it seemed however DCO treated it, she was sans a shield for now. Which had to mean, at least in some small way, she was weaker.


    The Candied Queen had brought down Rue though, and was a level 30 Avatar. James wasn''t about to start placing any bets on the Voltron Mech, even though it was being piloted by 5 level 40 players. At the very least though, he was certain they could hold their own against her for a little time, until more of James''s players could converge on her. The plan, that he had given his players, was to overwhelm the enemy forces with their crazy attack, before BLANK had time to regroup. In doing so, they could use their sheer numbers and crazy weapon setups to take out the stronger Avatars. Removing those two from the battlefield would mean a victory for James''s side. Of that he was certain.


    A green smokey object forming behind The Candied King, in front of the World Boss Summon Totem, had James growing slightly concerned though. He knew it had to be BLANK''s first floor World Boss, as he knew from research that the World Boss feature only allowed dungeons to summon World Boss''s for floors below their strongest floor. Meaning as a Tier 3 dungeon, both he, and BLANK, could only summon world bosses for their first and second floor. Of course, BLANK was likely dangerously close to Tier 4, and if the enemy reached that level, James was worried BLANK would be able to bring a 3rd floor world boss to bare on day 5 of the dungeon war. That was a worry for a different time though.


    As he watched, the smokey green substance seemed to solidify, though even as it did, it remained somewhat translucent. It shone with a glossy, almost glasslike or plastic sheen, and took on the size of a massive, pirate ship. All along its sides, cannons, extremely similar to those that were on Monty Python the Siege Snake, appeared. A moment later, three flags dropped down from its Mast, revealing what appeared to be a candied skull, and two crossed¡­ jolly ranchers?


    That was what James''s mind was telling him they were at least, which also explained the color and composition of the ship. Jolly Ranchers were a hard candy that came in small, rectangular shapes, with a variety of flavors. Their one common factor, across the candy, was that they were extremely hard, and could also create a rather strong, sticky bond.


    It seemed BLANK had somehow landed a giant, candied pirate ship made out of Jolly Ranchers. Atop it, James could see large, human sized figures moving about. They seemed humanoid, but they were all translucent, and again, appeared to be made of jolly rancher. So, not only did BLANK have a giant jolly rancher pirate ship¡­ it was manned by jolly rancher pirates. As silly as Candy seemed to be for a mob type, James had to admit, BLANK had ended up with two awesome world bosses.


    \"They''re definitely whales.\" Rue commented from above him. The pixie had been extremely quiet, and he had almost forgotten she was there. However, even as he mentally commanded his siege snake to come about once more, yelling a command to his cannoneers to target the enemy pirate ship, her words made him smile. A whale was a term used for people who spent a lot of money, usually in games that were deemed as pay to win. James didn''t feel DCO was a pay to win game, however, the coolness factor of BLANKs world bosses definitely meant something. So, Rue''s comment definitely had merit.


    \"Well then, perhaps I should have paid better attention to Moby Dick.\" Schools still insisted on teaching old literature from 200 years ago in school, and many people, including James, hated it. He noticed more than a few of his adventurers were staring blankly at him. Right¡­they couldn''t hear or see Rue. Ah well, he supposed this just helped make his RP as a crazy mage even more appropriate.


    \"Well, hopefully unlike Ahab, you actually bring down the whale.\" Rue mentioned, her eyes sparkling. James stared up at her, trying to remember the rest of the story. He had only skimmed it, just enough to bullshit his way through the test. However, he was pretty sure it didn''t end well for ''ol Ahab. He shook his head, uncaring. It wasn''t important, and he had bigger fish to fry.


    \"Let''s go Pirate Hunting. After that, we take down the whales.\" He pointed directly at The Candied King as he said the last part, who in turn shot him a glare. James could only grin as he heard the sound of thirty cannons fire, launching their deadly projectiles towards the Jolly Roger. At the same time, the ship fired its own cannons, sending green orbs flying towards James and his Siege Snake. He knew this battle would be the one to decide the fate of day three on the Fields of Battle, and he was certain they would win.

 183 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183


    The Jolly Roger was formidable, but it couldn''t withstand the onslaught from James and the Siege Snake. The Jolly Roger was a first-floor world Boss, putting its level at 20. Under fire from 60 cannons, manned by players that were all in the 20s for level, the enemy world boss fell quickly.


    As the ship shattered apart, sending jolly rancher shards, from both the ship, and the skeletal jolly rancher pirates that had manned the ship, James turned his attention back to the rest of the battlefield. BLANKs forces weren''t doing good. In fact, as James watched wide eyed, he realized BLANKs forces were losing, badly.


    Part of that was because of the chaos the mech army and flying monkey air support was causing on the battlefield. Enemy players were doing their best to line up, to fight back, but there wasn''t anything for them to focus fire on. AOE spells were being launched, but no one was focusing their damage on single targets. AOE damage was easily healed by James''s own healers. And without BLANKs players targeting individual targets, which they would have then been able to burn down quite quickly, there wasn''t any slowing the mech army James had brough to the battlefield.


    Like a mechanized wall of death, Zaku''s, piloted by James''s players, waded into the enemy forces. Each of the Zaku''s was roughly 15 feet in height, massive humanoid mechs armed with various weapons. It seemed the weapons, and style of the Zaku''s was dependent on the level of the players manning them.


    For the level 10-19 players, it seemed they were in a very basic Zaku, and were armed with just a basic, massive metal axe. Levels 20-29 seemed to have a beam pistol, as well as a beam sword. Levels 30 and above were armed with a massive shield, a large cannon, and their choice it seemed of axe or sword. As for anyone under level 10, of which there were are few¡­ well they were in what appeared to be the even lower form of the Zaku¡­the Zaku tank. That is, they had a lower portion that was very tank like, including the tank tread setup for movement, while their upper portion was a smaller zaku form. They had small machine guns on their shoulders, which were firing less than effective rounds into enemy forces. Which was to be expected of low-level players in a massive, high level brawl. But hey, they were doing what they could. James already knew he was going to build more of those mech buildings when he could, and really was looking forward to upgrading the facility.


    Explosions rocked the battlefield as the Jolly Roger crashed into the ground. Another explosion followed shortly, as a group of Zaku''s burst apart in a golden glow. The biggest threat on the battlefield, at least currently, was The Candied King. Even as he tried to order more forces to the front line, his Da Breakers actually managing to slow the Zaku''s by a fraction, he was also killing his own players to launch his magical attacks at James''s forces. Every time one of his Holy Hand grenades impacted, half a dozen players from James''s side were reduced to nothing. It seemed that if a player was under level 25, they were just instakilled by that move. It really seemed to hurt.


    Luckily, James''s forces were taking out more of BLANKs forces than The Candied King could kill. Additionally, James had noticed Grandma Jenkins'' thread barrier had once again appeared on the battlefield. Given the strength of BLANKs players, or lack thereof when it came to high level players, he knew that Exodia would once again be joining the battlefield. And honestly, James was pretty sure only the two enemy Avatars could take down that massive beast. It was level 35, and a unique boss mechanic mob after all. It also seemed that every time a red thread had attached to a player, Exodia''s health, and attributes had all increased. In other words, Exodia was a gamechanger on a battlefield like this.


    \"You will not defeat us.\" The Candied King cried out defiantly, his scepter raised high. The colorful lights erupted from it, creating a path of death and destruction in its rainbowy wake. Alright, so his Holy Hand Grenade could kill half a dozen Zaku''s, but that color spray attack had just wiped out a dozen or so.


    \"You''ve lost this round, Candied King.\" James called back, standing high on his Siege Snake as it turned once more, allowing all thirty cannons to launch their deadly attacks. Da Breakers, players, and Skittlers were blasted apart, raining candy pieces down all of the players in the area. Da Breakers were predominately a defensive mob, though James knew they had a rather dangerous rolling attack, as well as some nasty aoe explosions similar to James''s sacrificial lambs when they died. The skittlers, on the other hand, were rainbow colored orbs which combined into groups of seven, either as a rainbow of colors, or seven of one color. They would then begin circling midair, and launching beams of energy appropriate to the color of the skittlers at the enemies.


    Luckily, while those had a high offensive power, as well as the ability to add some nasty debuffs and effects depending on the color of their beam, they were rather easy to kill. James was guessing they were one of BLANK''s low tiered mobs, that had a grouping bonus similar to his dickens. Combined, Skittlers and Da Breakers would have created quite the imposing line. But luckily for James and his players, BLANK hadn''t had the time, or ability, to convince his players to summon the army James was sure the duo had wanted to summon. Ah well, their loss.


    \"There''s no way you will defeat us! We''ve got the high ground.\" The Candied King called back, his scepter raised and glowing again. He pointed towards Voltron, which was locked in an epic battled against The Candied Queen. The two were clashing with unbelievable force, and James could see players on both side had given the two giants a wide berth, though the players also seemed to be doing their best to try and figure out how to aid their respective fighter. Some of the Candied Queen''s armor was showing damage, while Voltron had deep gashes that were sparking dangerously.


    James watched as a beam of light shot forth from The Candied King''s hand, the long range, single target Paladin imprisonment spell. If it hit Voltron, James knew that the Candied Queen would be able to make short work of the massive mech. It wouldn''t spell defeat for James''s side, but it would probably be a hit to his force''s morale. James also just didn''t want his favorite adventurers to go down in such an¡­un-epic way.


    Just as the beam of light neared Voltron, James saw a rapid movement, accompanied by a wild screaming sound, rocket towards Voltron. The two collided just before Voltron, who had been completely unaware of the incoming attack, so focused were The Knights Who Go Ni on the Candied Queen.


    James watched as a funky monkey fell to the ground, caught in the golden prison, while a voice hollered from above. \"Actually,\" MercerEffect''s voice was filled with humor as he spoke. \"That''s where you''re wrong. Let''s start over at the beginning.\" A split second later, James heard a rapid a quick succession of gunshots as the gunslinger unloaded multiple shots into a surprised Candied Queen.

 184 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184


    MercerEffect''s entrance into the fight, along with his stopping of The Candied King''s attack, turned the tide of the Avatar battle in the blink of an eye. Or more so¡­ the dozen or so shots he took, judging by how quickly he unloaded both his revolvers, into the Candied Queen''s eyes, caused her eyes to ''blink'' shut for quite a while. James had almost cheered the moment it had occurred, especially as the ''blinded'' status appeared over the Avatar''s information bar. However, The Candied Queen had taken down Rue, so he knew she wouldn''t be brought down that easily.


    Case in point, James wasn''t surprised when he saw her weapon glow, and the translucent, ghostlike visages of the Spartan like forces appeared around her. At the same time, a massive, glowing shield appeared in her hand, and even more ghostlike Spartans appeared. The ones associated with her sword were wielding deadly spears, while the ones that appeared with her shield, held massive, rounded shields of their own. She had just used not one, but two different cooldowns.


    \"You know. If you''re just going to stand and watch, I can get you some popcorn.\" Rue''s voice pulled James from his momentary stupor that had occurred as he watched the fight. He hadn''t seen when The Candied Queen had activated her cooldown against Rue, he had just seen how deadly it was once activated.


    Now though, he realized he had been starring, mouth slightly agape, at the female Avatar, even as the fight continued all around him. And, considering he was mentally controlling his Siege Snake, their movement had stopped. Oops. James shook his head, shooting a quick look towards Rue. The pixie was currently eating popcorn. James still had yet to actually eat anything in game with his Avatar, and he felt a slight hint of hunger rise up from within, his mouth watering slightly. He was really curious how good the food in game was¡­


    \"I''ll give you something to watch.\" James responded to his pixie. Of course, he was the only one who could actually see her, so to all 60 plus players on the Siege Snake, he was talking to thin air. Which was fine, since they were supposed to think he was mad anyways.


    \"Who here wants to help commit regicide?\" James commanded his siege snake forward, moving in a diagonal pattern to crisscross the battlefield. Originally he had planned to use the Siege Snake to just¡­ well, serve as a siege weapon. It was meant to launch long range attacks, supporting the battlefield and causing havoc and destruction in BLANK''s back ranks. However, he knew he needed to dispose of the Candied King if he wanted to ensure victory. With the King dead, James had no doubt the Candied Queen would fall as well. Besides, if she defeated Voltron, James would just have to use Monty Python and his Struggle Snuggles on her. And considering she just blew her extremely deadly cooldowns, James was pretty confident his Giant Plaython could win that fight.


    \"Pain train, coming through.\" Rue chuckled as the Siege Snake blasted through the enemy forces. Players from both sides leapt out of the way of the massive snake, which also had wooden wall pieces placed on the front of it, creating a plow of sorts. Da Breakers weren''t fast enough to move aside, so they were pushed apart and crushed, which unfortunately resulted in various explosions alongside the Siege Snake. The wooden wall sections held up against a lot of the explosions, and James mentally active a HoT effect onto Monty Python, to help soak any additional damage.


    The crazy, reckless, chaotic move of James''s was having a positive effect on the battlefield at least. Even as Monty Python weaved its way through the masses, James''s adventurers rained deadly barrages down upon any and all forces they could see. While the cannons were deadly from a distance, up close they packed an even greater punch. Cannonballs ripped through player and mob alike, leaving a trail of candy dust and player orbs in their wake.


    Zaku''s, players, mobs, any and all friendly things within range of James also rallied on him as they blasted into the back portion of BLANKs army. James saw batches of BLANK''s players fall after getting pounced on by Snuggle Woofs. A split second later, a group cried out as a flock of dickens rushed over them, pecking them to death. It was glorious, and utterly ridiculous.


    \"You dare challenge the King?\" The Candied King bellowed as James''s siege snake rushed towards him. The massive avatar stood up straighter, his massive shield glowing with a golden light. James knew that skill too, it was a Paladin one, which activated a temporary damage mitigation effect on the shield, from all ranged attacks. In essence, it was really hard to hurt Paladins from a distance.


    \"I''m here to kill the King. I''ll save your head for my Mad Beast.\" James called back, losing himself to the RP of the moment. It was extremely hard not to lose yourself to the moment, when thousands of players on both sides were currently engaged in a life or death free for all. Sure, dying wasn''t permanent to anyone, well, at least not to the players. James figured the mobs deaths probably seemed permanent to them, but he doubted they had ai that could process that. After all, advanced AI was only saved for actual¡­intelligent creations, and even then, those AI knew they would come back, and that death was temporary for them as well in this game.


    Still, in that moment, in that instance, James was certain not only he, but probably everyone out there, felt like they were fighting for their life. This was a game, yet in that moment, it was taking on a realism. All that mattered was defeating BLANK, and seizing victory for him and his players. And the quicker they killed the duo''s avatars, the more of his players he could save.


    \"I''ll teach you proper respect mage.\" BLANK''s Avatar''s eyes glowed as he focused on James. The siege snake had pulled up short of The Candied King, and James had been in the process of ordering the snake to encircle The Candied King, before the Avatar''s eyes had started to glow. \"You have made yourself an enemy of the Inquisition.\" Light flared from his eyes, and James knew BLANK was activating a cooldown. Still, he couldn''t pull his eyes away. Which, he figured, was probably part of the cooldown.


    \"Your death has been decreed by The High Inquisitor, The Candied King.\" The golden light rushed out from The Candied King, enveloping James. A moment later, he was no longer Monty Python. Instead, he found himself hanging upside down, his legs tied to a piece of wood that seemed to be set in a Y structure. Beneath him, logs were piled, and seemed primed to be lit. Alright, James was not a fan of this. Well shit.


    \"You may live in chaos, Mage.\" The Candied King said from above. Around them, a golden field of light extended, BLANK was using a Paladin Cooldown to create a damage mitigating area. Essentially, BLANK had probably burned through a good amount of skills and cooldowns, to enable this situation. If James had to guess, the ability that had placed James in his current predicament, was meant as an extremely powerful, single target skill. Which, James had to admit, seemed to be doing quite well. \"However, I doubt, even in your chaos, you could have expected to fall prey to the Inquisition.\" And with that, the logs underneath James sprang to life, and he suddenly found himself being burned alive.


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