“Just saying, if master had one of those add feature support cards, he would have gladly made me a familiar that could fly,” Krista stated in a daring manner.
“Please, just how much of a birdbrain are you? The familiar helps with manna, you wouldn’t only need one that could fly. You would need one that supplies divine energy,” Delilah retorted.
“Obviously, I know that. I was just saying that boosting my capabilities would be far more beneficial than your own no matter how much you externally raise your level. Just how many resources has the master used to make you useful. My first battle I killed 46 A tiers, an S tier, and no telling how many weaker units.,” Krista said, her smile broadening.
“Easy to do when they all had extreme vulnerability to you. Plus you had the celestial steel sword. Like a fox in the henhouse, I don’t think it's something to brag about,” Delilah replied, showing her teeth.
It was a dark elf expression for ‘eager for a fight.’ Peter wondered if he should put a stop to it, but Krista did it herself. “Well at least I have something to brag about,” she said looking forward.
Delilah just ‘Tssssk’d,’ at the archangel. It was typical normal behavior between the two. Krista poked and prodded at the other, and Delilah responded accordingly all the while simmering to a full boil. Krista would always back off before then, but she liked walking the dark elf right up to the limit. Their little spat however had worked to bring the room to order.
Peter glanced around at everyone that was present. It was like bring your dog to work day. Now there were 8 people with a canine familiar. As expected Glenda had elected to keep the B (+) rank original, while all the others received the new A tiers. Peter could have forced Glenda to take a new A tier familiar, but that would have meant getting rid of her B tier pup. Even the somewhat emotionally detached Glenda would not be okay with her pet of several years going poof. All except the two gray skinned know it all mages it looked like all of them would soon be quite attached to their new pups. For Merlin and Einstein, the pups would likely become something more like lab assistants, appreciated more for their utility.
Then there were the others that had not received a new 200,000 essence pup although only a few people that seemingly seemed to feel slighted. Krista was actually likely not one of them. She just wanted to give Delilah a hard time as always.
The great Gnther however clearly felt left out. An addition to his saddle could be made for the familiar, so that it could ride along. Perhaps he was right, but Peter did not feel the need to make the addition. Plus the little sky gnome had an A tier Tempest fowl, that he used as a mount. He really should not get greedy.
Khan also looked grumpy. As any sentient with mana, he could use spells, but honestly his mana capacity was low even for a B tier. It was laughable to think that a familiar could add enough to justify the cost. Peter would rather use the resources to get another A tier mage. It was also possible that Khan was just grumpy, it was basically his normal expression. Perhaps he did not care either way. It did not matter, the guy should be more than happy, when Peter used the 1 pinnacle dungeon upgrade to make him a shadow garden.
Without another wasted moment, Peter started the meeting. “As always I am holding this meeting so that we can work out our priorities for the upcoming year. No, I don’t want to question whether taking on the insect cores is a good move.” Peter said, cutting off Khan who had opened his mouth to likely comment on the idiocy of taking on the insect faction.
“Well perhaps the biggest force multiplier that I can think of is high level scrolls,” Merlin cut in. “Those 75 level 1 dark wood trees have had two years of growth since the upgrade.”
“How much intermediate level material do we have to work with? And will harvesting them kill the trees?” Peter asked.
Merlin just looked at Khan. As the dungeon herbalist, he was the one that interacted with the earth trotter dryad the most. “You forget since it's in a dark wood realm, we can have up to tier 5 advanced level resources.”
“Okay,” Peter said, rolling his eyes. He of course knew as much. Just like Khan to be difficult.
“And high level scrolls are not the only thing that would be good to get. If only I had a shadow garden, I should be capable of growing more powerful resources. Some of which might even be needed in his scrolls,” Khan said, his eyes flitting to Merlin and Glenda’s section. The magic college had already been the biggest section of his staff. Now with Gannon the dark mage and Wren the wraith raiser, it was even larger.
“Oh my gosh, I was already going to make you one after the meeting. Just answer the damn question,” Peter said exasperated.
“A most logical decision,” The old ranger concluded. “Very well, I will start with the weakest and work my way up. We have tier 3 dark wood bark, but that is not necessarily specific to the 75 trees; there are a few cases that have popped up in other locations since even the level 0 trees can make up to tier 3.”
Peter could strangle the guy. Why had Peter not been made aware of it? Some of the others in the room were clearly interested as well. Bark might not be suitable for arrows, but surely the magic college could think up some use for it. Had the cagey old man kept the news to himself, so that it could be his private stockpile. Once again for the millionth time, Peter wondered whether he would have been better off with one of the other choices instead of summoning this guy.
Peter mentally weighed his usefulness versus problematic nature as Khan went on with how much of the bark could be collected before the tree was overly damaged. Peter’s frustration alleviated a bit when the old elf mentioned that he had been using it in their most powerful healing and stamina recovering potions. At least it had not just been sitting there unattended while the guy worked on finding a use for it.
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“There are also a few tier 3 leaves that have once again popped up across the wood, but are more focused on the level 1 trees. I’ve been calling them shadow leaves. I think they might be good for shadow based spells or concoctions although I haven’t found a suitable recipe to use them as of yet.”
“And you did not think to let the magic college know about them as well as the other resources?” Peter asked. His tone clearly exuded his frustration.
“Well they only started popping up in the trees recently, since the trees crossed the threshold from adolescence into adulthood,” Khan said defensively.
“Well from now on inform Boris of any new resources as soon as they are discovered,” Peter said, sighing. He should have ordered this before. “Better yet, anyone who discovers a new resource or starts a new project, is required to report it immediately. That's a hard order. I know you guys like to work on your projects and give a final presentation when they are complete, but at least all of you should have access to any such information.”
“Very well,” Khan said, continuing. “Exclusive to the dark wood trees we have seeds which are also tier 3. Some of the level 0 trees have begun to seed, but we haven’t discovered any tier 3 yet. Then there is the tier 4 wood in almost every one of the level 1 trees. Then there are 3 who have even developed a tier 5 dark wood heart. Although just know that harvesting either of those would most definitely kill the tree. You should also know that the amount of tier 4 wood is relatively small since it's based on growth since the trees were leveled. I would not expect more than half a foot of diameter of the tier 4 wood in any one tree. They have been growing less in the last few years than they had. The hearts however are about the size of a head, so not much to work with at all.”
Peter grimaced. He should have known that the resources based on the trees would show only with new growth. In that case he should have used saplings, which would likely have grown 2 to 3 feet in diameter within about the same time. That would be a lot more tier 4 wood on which to work with. Still as it was, harvesting one tree should make thousands of tier 4 arrows. It would just reduce his level 1 trees each time he did so. Extremely frustrating since he had so many available opportunities for future pinnacle dungeon upgrades.
Peter was half tempted to renegade on his promise for the shadow garden. He could get 75 new saplings started right. He of course would hear no end of it from Khan, but the guy honestly deserved such treatment after what all he had pulled.
“I got a suggestion,” Merlin spoke up. The room turned toward acknowledging the wizard. He was the most versatile unit Peter had, he had his hand in just about everything. Everything except what Khan had deliberately kept hidden. “I would like to examine the seeds from the level 1 trees. Based on what I have seen, I believe it is highly likely they could be used to produce more level 1 trees.”
That suggestion floored Peter as well as the rest of the room. It was so simple, why had they not considered it. Well… before 2 minutes ago, Peter had not even been aware they had seeds, and perhaps the rest hadn’t either. Khan really was the worst. Still if that was the case it would take away the reason for making another set of level 1 trees. They could slowly replace the entire dark wood with level 1 trees. Since the trees grew to the size they were at such an accelerated rate, he likely would not have to worry about the resource ever again. “Check it out,” Peter ordered.
Greg was the next to speak up for himself and Gearhead’s projects. “Over the last year, we have worked on a few things that should help to face the insect cores. The first is the rollable blind we had been working on. The other is more like a buggy. We have been working on a flamethrower attachment for both that utilizes enriched magnesium. We have two options. The rollable blind can serve as a makeshift wall funneling enemies as well as to protect the flamethrower turrets. The buggy will be far more mobile and could be taken on the offensive. Both should be more deadly and effective than flinging it at them with catapults. I would recommend we just fling big rocks to crush enemies while using the enriched magnesium closer to the action.”
The idea of flamethrowers was certainly intriguing. Peter did not mind this surprise. After all, flamethrowers would likely not have been very effective against the stone golem forces. Peter could only hope that Khan was taking notes. This was the proper way to surprise a boss, offering something right when it could be used effectively. Peter promised to come look at the blinds and buggies as soon as things were concluded.
The rest of the meeting was little different than any of the other periodic meetings they had throughout the year as they all dictated what they planned to work on. At the end Boris went over the numbers. Any one of the insect faction dungeons would field more units than any one of the allied dungeons. Each would also field more B and A tiers than Peter or his allies could match. Since the amount of cores against them were more than double the amount on his side, the numbers would be even further exasperated.
The only saving grace was in the S tier. With 9 dungeons and a few battle victories, it was not out of the realm of possibility for the insect dungeons to have some, but Boris’ high estimate was only 2 for the 8 insect dungeons. The crustacean core however might be able to field an S tier or two as well.
Peter considered what types of conditions the crustacean might have hit in their last battle. He had eliminated 4 cores, including 3 of his own allies, but it was only the final elimination for 2 of them. Unless the interface had credited him for the most work for another he should not have gotten the user chose card for eliminating 3 as a rookie. Then again, who knew perhaps there was a condition for killing an ally in a group battle. The interface did like to instigate conflict after all.
Regardless, Eli should not have more than 2 or 3 S tiers worse case. Only considering his S tiers alone, he would easily be fielding nearly triple of what the enemy dungeons could possibly bring to bear, and that was not even considering his 4 SS tiers. Gabriel could also double the amount they could bring. Elyra and Gretchen could both likely match their enemies as well. It was very possible the S tier advantage could win the battle for them.
Boris said as much. They needed the rest of the forces to fight to give the S tiers time to recover and make their mark on the battle repeatedly. It was quite possible some of his SS tiers would be unkillable by the enemy cores unless worn down extensively and not allowed to retreat. Then there were his S tier units like the mirror soldier with an attribute in the SS tier. Boris' recommendation was not really a surprise. They would have the elites wring themselves dry before retreating them back into the fold to recover over and over. The longer battle would not necessarily be in the insect cores favor.
After all, he had basically already proved the concept during the Weevil core’s invasion on his collection dungeon. The other core had brought 500 A tiers and Peter had only been able to match about a fourth of their number with his own elites. Of course he had used weaker B and C tiers to eek out an advantage, so it was not a perfect example. But that defense had also been organized on the spur of the moment. For the upcoming battle there would be nearly 5 more years worth of improving his dungeon’s capabilities and an organized defense.
On the other hand he honestly did not expect much from the insect cores. Agatha had been little more than a beast dungeon, sending waves of strong but dumb units forward to overwhelm his defenses. The only thing that had impressed him were the hex spiders which she likely no longer had unless she had held one back. Bottom line was, Peter could not help but to wonder whether he had been conservative when he had stated that he could take on 3 of the insect cores.
