NOVEL NEXT 99 - Archmund Does Excessive Math
Clerk 1: Stat total: 86
Clerk 2: Stat total: 38
Archmund did a little mental math. Clerk 3 had been around 45 points, and Clerk 1 had been 63 before. The difference between 86 and 63 was 23. About half of Clerk 3's stat total had been absorbed by Clerk 1.
He tapped Clerk 1 and told it to eat Clerk 2.
The consumption remained exactly as horrifying as before.
Clerk 1: Stat total: 105
Rory was vomiting into a potted plant, and Beatrice had a hand on his back.
"Sorry," Rory said. "That was a sickening sight."
"It's a pity his stomach wasn't strong enough to keep his composure!" Beatrice said.
"What have you even been eating?" Archmund muttered. He hadn't eaten anything since coming into the Dungeon except for coffee, relying pretty much entirely on magic from his Gems to stay alert.
"Far too much," Rory said, wiping his mouth.
Mary chuckled lightly, as if in pain. "It's funny. No words of wisdom, Heir Redmont? No sarcastic indignation, Heir Blackstone?"
"That is funny," Gelias said. "Very funny."
Archmund didn't see the humor in it.
"Could one of you get the door?" Archmund said absently. Rory and Beatrice practically tripped over themselves to be the first to it, while Gelias and Mary stayed where they were.
An additional four Undead Clerks marched into the room. He felt safe using a bit more now that his first test hadn't been deadly.
"Young master—"
"This is actually within normal expectations for them," Gelias said. "Redmont and Blackstone, that is. A bit formal, but normal. Wouldn't you agree, Granavale?"
"Honestly it's kind of weird," Archmund said, "I'm told that I can't override the free will over living people in the Dungeon, so I don't know why they're listening to me so closely. Do you think I scared them with that?"
"You're always scary," Mary said.
"Sorry," Archmund said. "You guys can act normal. I'm not going to bite your heads off."
The four other people plus Gemmy winced.
He supposed it had been a poor choice of words.
"That was absolutely disgusting," Beatrice said. "And since you've dragged in four more of them, I'm guessing you want to do it again?"
"That's right," Archmund said.
"Why?" Rory said.
"Do you know the average lifespan of a Dungeon?" Archmund said. "Ten years. Maybe twenty."
"The factors and causation aren't well-studied," Gelias said. "But that's about right."
"I wish I'd taken you to this place before, Gelias," Archmund said, as he pulled up the stat totals of the Undead Clerks. "You would've been able to feel the difference better than me."
He looked down at the tablet.
Clerk 1: Stat total: 105
Clerk 2: Stat total: 50
Clerk 3: Stat total: 36
Clerk 4: Stat total: 66
Clerk 5: Stat total: 44
"What are you talking about?" Beatrice said. "Are you saying you have magic sense already? Magic vision, even? To the point where Gelias is just an improvement on yours?"
"Not important," Archmund said. He told Clerk 1 to eat Clerk 4.
Rory turned to face the wall and plugged his ears.
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Clerk 1: Stat total: 138
"Overall, though? The current state of Dungeons isn't natural. They decay not because it's how they're doomed to go, but because a powerful spell is placed on them to keep them from becoming too dangerous to the world — a spell that weakens them, makes them safe enough to extract resources from, and that slowly strangles them."
As he spoke, Archmund visualized the organizational chart that he'd seen in the Second Tier, created from Gelias's linkages of magic. It had looked like a tree from one angle, but he supposed it could also be a strangler vine.
"I… I suppose that could be the case," Gelias said slowly. "And… you say you were here before this was happening to Granavale Dungeon?"
"I was, and now it definitely feels different. This place is going to die, not tomorrow or even in a year, but definitely by the time I'm the Lord Granavale. So I'm going to get as much out of it now as I possibly can."
He tapped on Clerk 1 and told it to eat Clerk 2.
"And how do you know this, Granavale?" Gelias said.
"I think the crown princess is obsessed with me."
He waited for them to react, but only got stunned silence.
"That was a joke. But I might be her only friend, so she told me something that should've been a state secret. Which I hope you'll also keep. Actually, please keep that secret. I don't want the Sacred Guard to cut off my neck."
As the Monster ate, he looked at Gelias, Rory, and Beatrice. "I hope you'll help me. I think we could all stand to gain a great deal from mutual enrichment."
Clerk 1: Stat total: 145
That was unexpectedly low.
A hat appeared on the Clerk's head.
Archmund tapped into Clerk 1:
Strength: 21
Dexterity: 19
Constitution: 21
Willpower: 21
Charisma: 19
Intelligence: 21
Luck: 21
He did a little mental math.
If he had to guess, it looked like strength and dexterity were capped at the level of Constitution, while charisma, intelligence, and luck were capped at the level of Willpower — though maybe luck was capped at the higher of either Constitution or Willpower. Maybe Monsters could naturally spawn with other stats exceeding Constitution and Willpower, but if they tried to Amalgamate with others, they could only control up to their own capabilities.
It was a little odd that the Monsters had a "willpower" stat where he had "wisdom", and he'd thought that Monsters had no meaningful will of their own, which was why he could override it — but he chalked it up to a translation error, the language of Omnio not perfectly mapping to his understanding of concepts in English.
The excess energy was vented out as Gemstone Gear aligned with their instincts.
He made it take its hat off, throwing it onto the desk. It was deformed and utterly useless. It superficially resembled the hats he'd seen earlier in the Dungeon, but this was more like extruded pine resin. Its interior fit the contours of the Monster's head perfectly, as if it was an extension of its body — which in a sense it was, and its exterior was all gnarled like an old tree trunk. Not very useful, and possibly having side effects. He would want to avoid the creation of Gear if possible, which was really no different from regular Monster hunting.
He could, in theory, meticulously examine each Monster before instructing it to eat or be eaten.
Or he could go for a factory production line and churn out as many Gems as possible.
His Ruby of Energy floated out from his bags —
It floated to hover straight above Clerk 1's head—
And an Infrared Lance speared down Clerk 1's spine. It fell apart, gored through, with no hope of recovery.
"Oh, Goddess," Rory muttered.
Beatrice retched.
A Gem appeared.
He walked over and picked it up.
It was perfectly round, and ever so slightly larger than all the Gems he currently held — his Octahedral Ruby of Energy and his Onyx Cube. Both of which he'd won from the Ghost of All Granavale.
"I wonder," Archmund said, "if there's a way of knowing how much this is worth."
He waited a second. Then he returned to his seat and sat down in it forcefully.
"I wonder," he said, loudly, more insistently, staring intently at his Gemstone Tablet," if there's a way of knowing how much this is worth, and what it can do."
"It looks like you're trying to assess how much a Gemstone is worth and what its Enchantment is!" said Gemmy. "Would you like some help with that?"
Archmund wanted to punch this stupid assistant. Instead he nodded, terrified of looking crazy.
A field popped up in his vision. Gemmy read it for him helpfully yet redundantly.
"An Unshaped Gem with no particular power. A Gemcutter could draw out a number of Lesser Enchantments from this raw material. Attunement to this Gem will result in a generic balancing of attributes, while Awakening will unlock Normal energy-projection-type abilities."
"Could I always do this?" he muttered.
"Nope!" Gemmy said. "This is a perk of conquering Dungeon Tier 2! You gain insights others don't!"
The Gem was very high quality. It was directly related to the stats he'd seen. He suspected that because of that, it wouldn't hold much of an Enchantment. But it would be very valuable the next time he could get the Princess or the Venato to appraise it.
"That communicator is very versatile," Gelias said. "It gives you a way to control Monsters?"
"As well as a map," Archmund said. He liked Gelias, somewhat as a kindred spirit, and thought it was fairly unlikely the elven boy would betray him. "I can see where Monsters are. I can see where they spawn from. And I can see if they're worth fighting."
"Fascinating," Gelias said. He sounded completely sincere.
His mind was awash with possibilities.
There were places in the Dungeon where the miasma was dense. Spawning pools, from whence the Monsters would come — the Grand Working of Princess Angelina forced stray miasma to gather in these places, presumably to make it easier his exact current goals.
Send a group of Monsters to a spawning pool.
Make them eat their fellows until they started spawning Gemstone Gear.
Have human handlers ready to execute them cleanly and elegantly, without resistance.
All he had to do was make sure they were strong enough to handle it on their own.
It was the perfect plan. He could stay here, keeping an eye on his Gemstone Tablet, keeping it secret, and looking through the stats of the Monsters to merge the ones that would lead to the best possible Gem, while they went and did the factory production line work. That would be the best of both worlds. He could get a lot of Gems that were good enough to sell to the Omnio for a pretty profit, while keeping the purest, best quality Gems for himself. Sure, they'd get some — he'd only be able to justify taking 20% of the Gems they made as a tax, but Mary would give him all of hers. So she should get the most fecund pools of darkness.
He zoomed out on his Gemstone Tablet.
"Alright," Archmund said. "I've given them instructions to grow through cannibalization. Could the four of you go supervise?"