It was structurally similar to what they had just solved, the only differences being that the hallways seemed slightly larger and, instead of one room on the opposite side of the ring, there were two spaced evenly with the starting room.
From the distance—Ben guessed that the ring was roughly twice as long as the previous one—it looked like the same creatures guarded the boss rooms, but he couldn’t know for sure.
“Speed, this is all about speed.”
***
Ben wasn’t yet breathing heavily, but a thin sheen of sweat had formed on his brow as he picked up the three cores they had gotten for clearing the third ring of the dungeon. So far, the creatures had been the same, but clearing three bosses with a respawn timer of just four and a half minutes had been really tough, especially since the distance between them had grown—and so had the number of Clockwork Helpers.
The only way to do it had been to accept a couple of hits—so far only superficial—but he was worried for his mother, especially, should the theme continue as it had.
They stepped into the starting room of Level 4 and it was immediately clear that while the theme had stayed the same and the number of bosses had ramped up to four as expected, the bosses themselves had changed. He couldn’t make out any details from the distance—he guessed that the ring was by now close to a kilometer in circumference—but they did look significantly bigger than the ones they had fought so far.
“Boss, I think this is going to be a challenge,” Jamal said.
“Do we need to split up?” Anne asked.
Ben’s knee-jerk reaction was to say no as he couldn’t protect the others when he wasn’t around. His second reaction was to say yes and send the others in one direction while he went on his own down the other hallway.
Then he started to think.
So far, they had managed to clear the levels without any of the bosses respawning, but it had been close.
If the new bosses were much harder, but the timing stayed the same, they would struggle and, in a worst-case scenario, be stuck in an endless loop of doom where they would take more and more damage, get more and more exhausted, until they died.
But splitting up was also risky, particularly without knowing what the bosses could do.
“Let’s stick together until we have fought the first boss. Then we can make an informed decision whether it is feasible to stay together or not.”
The others nodded, and the race began.
It turned out that the minions in the hallways had also received an upgrade.
Clockwork Assistant. Energy-Born. Tier 1. Rare Challenge.
They were significantly faster than the Helpers they had faced so far and had more claws; fortunately, they were still squishy and could be taken out rapidly. Their respawn timer also stayed the same, but given that there were now forty of the creatures just before the first boss fight, it remained a massive challenge.
It took them two minutes to reach the first boss fight, but the price for that was Anne taking a cut on her forearm.
The boss was only slightly larger than the previous version, but it seemed to emit a transparent wave of energy in a fifty-centimeter field around it in ten-second intervals.
Temporal Director. Energy-Born. Tier 1. Epic Challenge.
So far, Ben had not used [Unyielding Retribution], but he felt that now was a good time. He waited for a moment until the golem-like creature hit Jamal’s shield, then he activated the perk and attacked with his full force, only to be stopped by the force field that the boss emitted.
It didn’t deal any damage, but while it was in effect, it seemed to stop attacks short.
Fortunately, [Unyielding Retribution] was still active, so with his next attack, now better timed, he almost tore the boss in two and the timer started.
Twelve and a half minutes.
That meant that they had two minutes per hallway and ninety seconds per boss fight.
Doable, but very harsh—unless he could use [Unyielding Retribution] in every fight, and he wasn’t sure whether the perk would count the floor as one encounter or several.
He had to make a judgement call without time to deliberate.
“Let’s split. Michael with me. The others, turn back and push in the other direction. Let’s go!”
His thought had been that this was not Michael’s type of fight, while Jamal could keep his mother safe and Anne could deal a lot of damage, as could Allison herself. This way he could go all out while Michael focused on keeping his back safe.
He took a deep breath and charged into the next hallway.
It turned out that he couldn’t activate [Unyielding Retribution] again, but he managed anyway.
It had been kind of liberating not having to stick to any order in the fighting. It had even helped him to ignore the incessant tick-tock all around him from the countdown of the dead monsters. He imagined that people with a very low Mind attribute would suffer even more from it.
The others had joined them as they fought the last boss and they had a few minutes left on the first boss’s countdown.
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He had taken a few injuries, but they already started healing as they walked back towards the starting room that held the hallway to the fifth level, and the four cores they received as loot for the level.
Level five brought no big surprises, except that the boss in the room on the other side of the ring seemed slightly larger than those in the other boss rooms on the level.
“Let’s split right away. That should give us sufficient time to be a bit more careful. So don’t take unnecessary risks. I will save my largest damage output until the third fight and can also use [Strength of the Protector] if you get there at the same time. Good luck!”
The enemies in the hallways were the same as on level four, as were the bosses in the first two fights. Both times, Ben managed to distract the boss while Michael added significant damage with [Backstab].
The third boss had four pocket-watch eyes, and the force field it emitted pulsed every five seconds.
Temporal Executive. Energy-Born. Tier 1. Legendary Challenge.
Ben started with a clear plan to use [Unyielding Retribution] as quickly as possible. He could see the others making progress through the transparent hallways, but they were still fighting their way along the corridor on their way to him.
The opportunity arose as he ducked under one wicked slice of the boss’s long claws. He activated his perk, but the boss blinked one of his eyes, freezing Ben before he could use it. The perk was still active, so he tried again, just to run into the creature’s force field. He tried again, just to be frozen another time, and another time… until the perk had faded and all the boss’s eyes had turned dull.
Overall, not the outcome that Ben had hoped for, but the boss had spent one of its most powerful tools, so now it became a question of endurance—and Ben had plenty.
Thirty seconds later, the others joined the fight.
Ben did not hesitate to use [Strength of the Protector], giving them all a boost.
Anne used [Flurry of Blows] and smashed the boss to pieces, despite some of the attacks getting caught in the force field.
Returning to the starting room, they found ten cores waiting for them—double what he had expected—and a notification to choose their loot for completing the dungeon.
Congratulations for clearing a Tier 1 dungeon with five levels. For this difficulty level, additional rewards are provided. Choose:
- 2,500 Credits
- Rare or Epic item
- Epic or Legendary raw materials or natural treasures in line with this dungeon’s theme
After some debate, they decided to take items – over the last months they had gotten the sense that the first time they cleared a dungeon the loot was better. They could then choose raw materials in the future.
Five rings materialized from a golden lattice. They were in the same silver material that the boss monsters had been made of. A thin wave was engraved around the inner band.
Ring of Momentary Hesitation. Energy-infused item. Tier 1. Epic. Freeze an opponent for a moment. Duration dependent on opponent’s Mind attribute. Single use.
A very powerful item indeed. It could turn a fight around. That it was single-use was, of course, regrettable but also understandable.
They were all happy with the loot and happy to be done with this dungeon. Definitely something that they didn’t want to do every day—but at the same time quite profitable.
Twenty Energy cores, plus the raw materials they would get in the future, were a significant amount and would help strengthen the Protectorate’s economy.
***
Ben sat with Barry and the professor—who preferred to be called Randal—in his office.
“We have scoured the books we have received from the systems whether there are any hints on why evolved local fauna would be disposed to bond with humans and in general tend to be more community oriented but haven’t found anything,” Randal said.
Barry grunted in agreement. “We have, however, identified a few people who have perks and an inclination to work with animals—beyond those that do the farming in our livestock dungeon. We are planning an excursion to the lake where you have spotted the lynx family. We will see what comes out of that.”
“Very good. Thank you.” With a grin, he added, “You have to be careful not to tell Anne, otherwise she will hijack the excursion!”
“We have now extended our cadre of fitness instructors, most with relevant perks, to four. Tracy is coordinating them. We have also integrated the SEALs and a few other recent arrivals into our martial-arts instructor group. One notable addition is another archer, so together with Nils we are now better positioned to make sure the militia is well trained.”
“Excellent. Any progress on foundational research regarding Energy?”
Randal shook his head. “Deepika would still be best suited to do that, however she is already splitting her time between teaching, her spatial workshop, physical training, and family. But Liz and Zack have moved towards more structured research, leaving a lot of the practical work in the greenhouses to others.”
“That makes sense. How are the younger students adapting to the rather unorthodox schooling they are getting?”
“It’s not that unorthodox. We have a disproportionate number of teachers, so they are well covered. The only thing that is suboptimal is the location. Using the auditorium is just not ideal for students of different age groups.”
“Understood. As discussed in the listening session, we will buy a school when we can.”
***
Adam and Madeleine, the economist, had joined Ben for a quick lunch between two dungeon runs.
“You had a couple of deep dive sessions with people. What are people thinking about the concept we presented?” he asked.
Adam tilted his head left and right. “People definitely understand the rationale and approve. They are also mostly aligned with what we suggested. There are a couple of concerns, however. One, some fear that the Protectors, meaning those running dungeons, will form a separate caste that will hoard all the wealth. Given that we haven’t yet defined the economics of buying dungeon slots as we will only introduce that later, it is not easy to refute. The second concern is about the lack of the kinds of jobs that people are used to. The transition from Marketing Manager to crafter is not an easy one; so far people just went with the flow, but the move towards a more traditional economy makes it feel more real, more permanent.”
Ben nodded between bites. “Makes sense. Not sure I can do much about the second point, but for the first concern, it might be worth it to point out that it is foundational to the Protectorate that all paths to personal growth are acceptable, this place is not just for fighters.”
“Sure, and people believe you. It’s just the difference between knowing something and still feeling worried. Also, a lot of our people are very recent additions. They don’t know you as well as some of those that have been around for months,” Adam replied.
Madeleine spoke up with a twinkle in her eyes. “There is one more point. In my old bank, we would have called you ‘asset rich, cash poor’. You own a whole city, but you don’t have a lot of liquidity for your Protector Fund. I would suggest you keep that in mind when you think about your next big investments. There are quite a few people who would be interested in going into business but need the initial funding to do so.”
“That is a good point, thank you, Madeleine. How much do we need, you think?”
“Mhh, as a rough estimate, I would guess eighty thousand Credits, most of it in the form of cores.”
“Eighty thousand?!? That’s enough to build a whole city!”
“I could be wrong, of course, but if you think about it, we will soon have one thousand people. Let’s assume two hundred of those are kids and otherwise out. Assuming 20% of the remaining population will create a business in a greenfield world where everyone can start from scratch does not strike me as completely unrealistic. Now, a lot of those will be fine without any major funding, but others, like the herb garden, burn through cores like there is no tomorrow. So I assumed one core per business, which comes to eighty thousand. That, of course, does not include the costs for the workshops or other infrastructure they might need.”
Ben looked at her despondently. He was hoping to build so many new things once they reached level 3 and they still needed to buy the add-on for the evolution chamber. It wasn’t like they didn’t make a lot of money with the dungeons but it always seemed to disappear at least as fast as they could make it. Even with windfalls like those from the Church or the Warriors, they struggled to build a buffer that would give them a leg up—and he hadn’t even spent a single core on a perk evolution yet.
They needed to find more resources for their economy—and Ben had an idea.