Eternal Hivemind – Chapter 51

Akhier

They both stare at his paths for a moment more and then Doyle asks, ‘so any opinions on this? I have 51 points to spend.’

Ally stretches out before looking back at the list. ‘Hmm, your class path is never a terrible choice. The cost skyrockets crazy quick of course, but the bonuses come often and fit what your core competency is. If anything ten or so points into it so you can start on it wouldn’t be out of place. At this point you likely aren’t going almost 100 points lying around. The fact you hit fifty is only because you did the entire floor all at once.’

Doyle rolls back and forth as he thinks on it. ‘Eugh, this is one of those things where there is never enough. Though ten points into DC three wouldn’t be too restrictive. Especially if it is going to keep giving me bonuses every couple points.’

Ally shakes her head, ‘not quite that easy. You get the bonuses at breakpoints equal to whatever number follows the path. So with your next class path being dungeon core three, you get stuff every third point. Total points mind you so at 12, not 13. Also, you always get a completion bonus so you do get something at 100.’

Doyle nods his core, ‘fair enough. Though knowing that I will put 11 points in because one more point hits a breakpoint. Besides that, the command path seems good either way it goes. Commanding Subordinates could either mean my kobolds get something for being in command of the goats or I get a bonus for giving my monsters commands. And to be honest? I would prefer that first one because the goats themselves already have a bonus so stacking that wouldn’t be out of place.’

Ally tilts her head to the side, ‘wait, your goats get a bonus from the kobolds? I don’t remember that.’

Doyle nods again, ‘yeah. Got it as part of the capstone bonus for goat supremacy. They get a bonus to agility if being commanded by another. Excellent bonus too when it comes to my kobolds because it adds half the kobolds wisdom. That means that all those goatherds on the second floor almost doubles their charges agility from six to ten. I figure the chance that my kobolds can buff them even more is worth the twelve points in it.’

‘Huh’, Ally takes a look at the large number of goats on the second floor. ‘I can see that being quite the boost. That bonus completely slipped my mind there and with it even the unarmored goats will be a threat if not handled carefully.’

Doyle laughs, ‘that’s an understatement. But yeah, after those 23 points I still have 28 to spend. Though I guess we can knock that down by 15 because the ants thing is also a reasonable gamble. After that though I have 13 points and none of the low-cost paths really attract my attention at the moment.’

Ally shrugs, ‘well, the three points you can just throw right into your class path. For the ten remaining you probably should choose between expansionist and the veggy one. Though I would like to hear why you are skipping the biomes aplenty path.’

Doyle takes a moment to get his thoughts in order but can’t come up with anything. ‘I don’t have a specific reason? I could waffle on about how this early in I don’t want to mix it up too much. But already on the second floor I have introduced a forest area. The path didn’t come from nowhere after all. This more comes down to a gut feeling than anything else I guess.’

Ally waves her hand lazily in the air, ‘good enough for me. Sometimes the best path is the one you’re comfortable with. Paths are a very personal experience and enough people have ended up in a critical situation after not following a hunch on what to do. Of course if there is a good reason to do something don’t just let a nebulous desire get in the way but we don’t really have anything else going on at the moment. We can let the situation develop some and see what happens. Now how about we spend those points?’

Doyle sighs, ‘well if I am going to be following gut feelings I guess that means throwing the points into the veg path. Not only does it feel right, but honestly? I don’t really need all that much more space for the moment. Plus feeding the masses is like my day job, so there is that. [System, how about 14 points into Dungeon Core three, 12 points to Commanding Subordinates, 15 in Ageless Queens, and ten points for Vegetation Variety.]’

{14 points applied to Dungeon Core III path...

12/100 - You have earned +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +1 Presence

15/100 - You have earned +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +1 Presence

18/100 - You have earned +3 Stat Points

21/100 - You have earned +1 Stat/Level of your choice

24/100 - You have earned +1 Destiny, +1 Karma, +1 Luck

12 points applied to Commanding Subordinates...

3/12 - You have earned +1 Wisdom/Level

6/12 - You have earned +3 Karma, Correction applied to your monsters understanding of your orders

9/12 - You have earned +1 Intelligence/Level

12/12 - Path complete, You have earned +1 Karma/Level, Monsters capable of commanding others receive: +3 Karma, +3 Wisdom, and +1 Intelligence/Level; Monsters being commanded by other receive +1 to all stats and an additional bonus to their highest stat equal to a third of whichever is higher of their commanders Wisdom or Karma capped to to their base stats total

15 points applied to Ageless Queens...

5/15 - You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, One ant queen of choice no longer has a max lifespan

10/15 - You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, One ant queen on each floor will be mentally joined to the previously chosen queen to form a true hivemind, Previously chosen queen receives +1 to their currently lowest mental stat for each other queen in the hivemind

15/15 - Path complete, You have earned +1 Destiny/Level, The ageless ant queen has an adjusted chance to become a roaming boss which increases with age and other queens in the hivemind

10 points applied to Vegetation Variety...

1/20 - Normal edible plants now have a chance to grow randomly in your dungeon

3/20 - Plants in your dungeon that go without being harvest can now go to seed

6/20 - Plant based monsters now automatically change to match their surroundings

10/20 - You have earned +5 Constitution, Higher chance of gaining plant patterns from their derivatives}

It takes the both of them a good bit of time to process what it all did, especially that second one. Doyle finishes some mental math and pretends to whistle, ‘commanding subordinates was well worth the points. Like crazy worth the points. Not only did it give me stats per level but the swing on my goats is amazing. Just the bonus to the kobold’s wisdom boosted the goats agility bonus by one but the across the board plus one and an additional four to con is amazing. That’s a 11 point improvement!’

Ally shakes her head, ‘that is so powerful, though you have to be careful. All of those stat bonuses come from the goats being ordered around by the kobolds. It won’t take long for the adventurers who make it to the second floor to start targeting them down. I am more impressed by that per a level bonus stat you get to choose in your class path. Bonus points aren’t that rare. You’ve gotten a few of them already. This is different though. Not unheard of, but even the people who get the choice generally have a limited selection such as only body stats or only finesse stats. What do you figure would be best to put it in?’

Doyle’s core dims, ‘If I hadn’t gotten that plus five to my con I might have put it there but as it is destiny is interesting. The ant path gave me plus three a level for the entire thing. [System, give me destiny’s description please.]’

{Destiny: The power of one’s soul. The System restricts info on this stat for those with a soul stat total less than 1000. Those with a greater destiny have an easier time advancing. This takes on an even greater meaning for dungeons. Like a land with a great destiny will more easily develop heros, destiny will allow a dungeon’s monsters to more easily develop beyond their starting point.}

Doyle brightens right up after reading the description. ‘Well I can see why the ageless queens path would give me destiny per level. Though I don’t think I want to put my free per a level into it since I already have three. I will however put the three regular stat points there. [System, place my three stat points into destiny please.] It seems like one of those good in the long run stats but a few extras early on won’t hurt.’

‘Now for the free per a level bonus there are really only two stats to choose from, strength and luck. Mostly because they are the only stats I don’t have a per a level bonus for yet. I already know what strength does for me, but I haven’t looked at luck. [System, show me the description for luck please.]’

{Luck: A soul’s specialty is connections. The System restricts info on this stat for those with a soul stat total less than 1000. Even reality itself will bend for those connected to it but what about a dungeon who is their own reality? Dungeons must put up with invaders with luck stats of their own, and the best counter is their own luck.}

‘Huh’, Doyle tilts to the side. ‘Well I guess that decides it. [System, put my free stat per a level into luck please.’

Ally nods, ‘most definitely. You can improve your strength later. There won’t be a later if some lucky villain comes along wanting to kill you.’

Doyle sighs, ‘it makes me want to take back all the free points I have used so far and put them in luck. Chance is a nasty thing when your opponents stack it against you. Though thinking about the ant path, that brings one bit of that to mind. What is up with the roaming boss thing?’

Ally with a wide smile explains that, ‘it is a powerful tool! First, as with a normal floor bound boss, they are sapient. More important though is that unlike every other monster they can travel between floors. That has a couple of special circumstances attached to it. You can move the boss to your lowest floor and level it up there. Then move your now max level boss to an earlier floor to take care of any pests.’

‘Not advisable to be too obvious about that one mind you. People tend to get jumpy if they realize you can have a level 100 boss on the first floor. Beyond that though you might wonder which floor has to pay for the bosses upkeep? The answer is none of them! They can be very expensive to respawn but you can balance that out by not letting them die.’

‘Also one little twist to the ant queen you choose as the prime queen. Even if the ant isn’t technically able to order other monsters around like a kobold can, it does technically give orders to the other ants and so qualifies for the commander bonus. Sadly the system doesn’t count that as being given orders for some reason and so won’t get the across the board bonus of being commanded.’

‘I am looking forward to getting ant based monsters. A nest of them on each floor being controlled by a central intelligence will be amazing. In fact, depending on what future paths you get for ants, they might overtake your goats. Only your kobolds might have a chance of keeping up if you guide them down the path of intelligence. Though that reminds me, make sure your kobolds have a leader so they can get the extra stats from being commanded by others.’

Akhier

Also if you want to read more, my Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/dragonheartednovels ) has two free chapters, two more chapters for only a dollar, and even more beyond that for the early access tiers.