The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (online e reader TXT) 📖

her negative characteristic.  The traps she moved around, as well as the new Life-based ones also made a huge difference; based on their “complexity”, which was quite high, they were worth more than the 1 CIP she was getting before – some were worth up to 9 CIPs, in fact.

That all led to acquiring more than enough Points to earn her new Core Improvement Level – and the subsequent CIPs that she could spend.  Just like it had been figuratively painful to spend her entire month’s work on eliminating her negative Characteristic reducing her earned CIPs, it was similarly difficult to use everything she had accumulated to eliminate the other obstacle holding her back.  It was her last chance to get the most out of her CIPs via conversion, however, so there really wasn’t a choice.  Therefore, she converted all 1,400 Core Improvement Points she had into 350 Special Characteristic Points; added to the 200 she already had left over from the previous month and the 25 she earned from her Level-up, she had the 550 required to eliminate the reduction in her creature’s Levels Characteristics.

Again, as soon as she paid to get rid of the Characteristic, Tacca felt suddenly freer, as if some invisible chains slipped off her Core that had been holding her back.  It was an almost euphoric feeling, as if an invisible wall that had been in front of her journey as a Dungeon Core was now gone – and she could run forward without anything blocking her way.

She thought a lot about what she had gone through for the sake of having the Characteristic that had provided her all the Variants available for her creatures; she had to admit that she originally had second thoughts about her choices – and how they would hold her back for too long – but now she was glad she did it at the beginning instead of waiting.  While it was extremely difficult at first and certainly limited what she was able to accomplish, she didn’t think she’d have had the same success if she hadn’t had access to all of the different Canines she did.  That, and judging by the way it was so difficult to convince herself to convert her CIPs to SCPs, she didn’t think she’d have been able to do it once she had a dungeon up and running smoothly.  The temptation to increase her Control Limit, or purchase another creature, or unlock another Trap Specialization was just too tempting – and the dream of getting a chance to experiment with the All Variants Characteristic would’ve been just that: A dream.

I did it, Shale!  I’m free! 

“Nice job, Tacca!  I knew you could do it!” her Dungeon Assistant exclaimed happily.  They both knew that this was an important achievement, because now the possibilities for her were practically endless.  “Now, let’s see if it worked.”

Tacca didn’t hesitate before she imagined creating a simple Root Fox in her Core Room; she was currently in the process of restocking her dungeon, so she had a few points in her Control Limit to use for the moment.  Instead of just creating a “normal” Fox, though, she pushed more Dungeon Force into the form.  Fortunately, she didn’t have to guess how much to push into it; as she stared at the small silhouette where her Force was flowing, the feedback coming from it let her know each time it increased in creature Level.  Finally, when she determined that it was Level 5, she stopped the flow and let it fully form.

Root Fox

This Root Fox Variant specializes in hiding amongst the exposed roots of trees and attacking unwary passersby.  Because of its close ties to the forest, this Fox has tough bark-like skin and fur, granting it a higher defense than normal.

 

Cost (Level 1 --> 5): 5 DF --> 13 DF

Control Requirement (Level 1 --> 5): 1 --> 3

Creation Time (Level 1 --> 5): 3 Minutes --> 5 Minutes

Physical Attack: 1 --> 2

Ranged Attack: 0 --> 0

Physical Defense: 2 --> 4

Ranged Defense: 1 --> 2

Elemental Resistance: +25% Nature

Specials: Bonus physical defense due to hard, bark-like skin and fur

Pack Hunter: Bonus to physical attack if in conjunction with others in the Canine family

It worked!  She was fairly confident that it would, but it was nice to have confirmation.  She shared the resulting screen with Shale, and he smiled along with her internal jubilation.

“Nice!  But…why isn’t it more powerful?  I would think that even a Level 5 Root Fox would be much more deadly.  It’s obviously a little bigger than its Level 1 counterpart, and the bark-like fur appears a little more sturdy, but the stats don’t really reflect a significant change.”

What?  Ah, I understand your confusion.  You probably learned at DAPS how increasing Levels in creatures has quite an effect on them; however, you probably only really concentrated on the deadlier, more popular creatures.  For instance, the Forest Wolf—  Tacca started absorbing the Root Fox and used a few of her available Control Limit points to create a Level 5 Forest Wolf, and showed it to Shale to compare it to one of the Level 1 Wolves still in her dungeon up above.

Forest Wolf

This Forest Wolf Variant specializes in hunting in packs, using its mottled green and brown fur to camouflage within a forest with ease.  Has the special ability to completely freeze every part of its form, which can make it practically indistinguishable from the surrounding foliage.  While its Physical Defense is relatively low, its powerful jaws and bite force can enact significant damage upon a target.  

 

Cost (Level 1 --> 5): 20 DF --> 80 DF

Control Requirement (Level 1 --> 5): 5 --> 17

Creation Time (Level 1 --> 5): 5 Minutes --> 13 Minutes

Physical Attack: 4 --> 10

Ranged Attack: 0 --> 0

Physical Defense: 1 --> 2

Ranged Defense: