Peter could not help to laugh maniacally internally as he relooked at his other rewards. With potential access to 3 S tier cards and his rare tier up increase, he might have a real shot at an SS tier unit. The thought only lasted so long as he started thinking about the implications. A SS tier would be a real game changer, but… it would also draw attention. Peter did not believe for a minute that he would be able to keep it hidden. He would have to use it if he wanted to continue battling all the way through year 9, which by now he had pretty much already decided he would.
Best case he could avoid using it until year 11 where he was almost sure to face an older dungeon in battle. With his very survival on the line, he would have to use it. On year 11, he would likely face a dungeon from year 21… or 31 if he was unlucky. However if he came out showcasing a SS tier, he might wind up with even one of the older dungeons attacking him despite the lack of rewards for doing so. It was frustrating as hell, but then he confided in himself that even if he did use 3 S tier cards and a tier increase , a SS was not guaranteed. If anything he would be burning his opportunities in one go.
Peter would have sprung for it immediately if SS or even SSS tier were actually considered their own tiers, but seemingly to prevent his schemes the manual considered them just extensions of the S tier. One offs and maelstrom units would still only be B tier, albeit at the peak. Some of their abilities would be scaled down. It was bad because it meant he could not later use an epic maelstrom card to snag 120 free A tier units a year. Good because the millennials and other powerful dungeons could not do it either. Frustrating, but probably better that more established dungeons could not also do it.
An actual SS tier would be powerful. A good way for him to deal with difficult problems that would be difficult otherwise. His armageddon dragon proved that much. Its void beam had at most been delayed by mages on the opposite side, merely reducing the casualties the dragon could claim. Still multiple new S tiers would presumably be as or more helpful than a single SS tier.
Peter sighed as he turned his mind toward the other options. By no means were they bad, still it hurt to give up on the SS tier idea. That being said, Peter knew he would likely get another opportunity for an SS, in the next few years if he kept battling and more importantly winning.
Peter was the last to make it back up to his group's table. Thankfully they were at least all there. The intermediate dungeon battles were already under way.
“Good job beating that nasty bitch. I didn’t see much, but it must have been a hell of a fight,” Elyra said as he took his seat. She was clearly agitated… more than usual. If she had only caught the tail end then she only saw his bedraggled forces face off the scraps that Agatha could throw together. Her battle had likely taken up most of the time as well.
“Did everyone else win?” Peter asked.
Elyra’s ever present smirk was gone. She was clearly irritated. Clearly she hadn’t. Predator looked dodgy, deeply bothered by something that he was mentally wrestling with. Gretchen’s expression was neutral. Gabriel finally answered tepidly. “I’m the only other one that won…although Gretchen fought to a draw.” Gabriel said, trying not to look in Elyra’s direction.
“The guy had 3 S tiers, and as many A tiers as you would expect from an insect faction,” Elyra said defensively. She did not expand further. Peter nodded. If a demon faction member had really fielded 3 S tiers and at least 150 A tiers against her, it was not surprising that she had lost. It was perhaps more surprising that she had been able to last as long as she had indicated. Then again the girl had collected A tier original cards like candy with her lopsided trades. Peter would be surprised if she hadn’t fielded just as many.
“Well I can at least say that I culled Fire ant’s numbers as endless as they were. Doubt he would want to fight next year,” Predator said. He sighed before adding, “Discovered there is a condition for killing 100,000 units as a rooky dungeon. If you all haven’t got it yet, then you likely will have another battle or two. You get a S tier card.”
“A battle condition,” Elyra perked up. She was clearly interested, as were the other two.
“Helen’s guidance does not include conditions?” Peter asked raising an eyebrow at the demoness.
“You know I do; things for myself. She did not give me all the answers,” Elyra chided. Peter just smiled in return.
“So where does that put us,” Peter asked. He looked more at Gabriel who seemed to have a better head on his shoulders than most.
Gabriel thought it out. “Well you beat the spider, and Predator…’killed a bunch of Fire ants troops’, so I would think they will not be a factor next year unless Hive elects to battle. Elyra might have lost, but Bonefiend’s forces took a serious hit. I beat Bael rock and Gretchen fought pit fiend to a draw. I doubt they will make a move next year. The undead had an off year, so of the factions we have drawn blood with they should be the only ones in good position.”
“Which leaves Stone golem who doesn’t belong to any rookie group. Cobra from the reptile faction who has fought twice since the tutorial and won by a landslide each time, or Brine or starlight from the elemental faction. Although I would say we should avoid starting things with them if we don’t have to,” Peter concluded for him. Hopefully, the last part about not starting things with the elementals went without saying.
“So might be a good off year, for us to take a break,” Predator muttered.
“Or a good time to hit the insect dungeons since they have the hardest time recovering after a battle,” Elyra thought out loud drumming her fingers.
Peter thought about it for a moment before he decided. Eventually, he decided to notify them of his own condition for having participated in 5 battles as a rookie dungeon and the battles won as a rookie condition. The others had all taken 1 year free from battle, but they would all hit it next year if they battled. Only Gabriel should know about the ‘win 3 consecutive battles’ condition. The others were now pretty unlikely to be able to meet it, so there was no point of voicing it. Gabriel did not add it either, realizing the same. Still it was clear to them all that participating in more battles could be quite lucrative.
Eventually Peter left his group to make some trades. Once he happened to glance towards the undead section and caught a murderous glare from Tombstone. Yeah, that guy wanted him dead. Putrify and bones seemed to have the same desire. To think the undead faction of their year group was down and out would be a mistake. Putrify had not even lost once, only a draw against his first match up to Predator. He had then turned around and beat Predator the next year.
Peter felt a chill take over his previous unkillable mood. He was starting to feel like he was at the top of his year group, likely because he was up there, but he had to temper the thought. There were a good 5 or so dungeons that could easily rival him. Neither Stone golem nor Hive had fought since the tutorial. Sure they would not have all the benefits of winning, but they also had not expended any of his resources. That made someone like Hive especially dangerous.
They were not the only ones for him to worry about either. By all accounts Cobra had won his matchups quite easily. Of course that was because he picked easy opponents, but wasn’t that the idea. Minimize resource expenditure while still getting the rewards.
During his conversation with his group, his staff had been working and collected the final numbers. There were only 46 dungeons left in the rookie core group. That was within the range of a more cautious year group, but was quite a bit below the line for most year groups. With 4 more congregations to go, that number could easily drop into the 20’s or even the teens.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
And honestly the losses should seemingly be a bit higher. Unless fewer people out there were double tapping than he had been led to believe. Predator should have been eliminated if even one of his opponents had double tapped him. Which seemed unlikely, making Peter assume the core had obtained more than what he had gotten from winning. He had tried to do the math once, but had eventually given up. Still it was apparent that others had also likely unlocked the associated epic support card.
Then there were dungeons like Newt who had lost five times in total, including the tutorial battle. With zero wins, Peter knew exactly what specialization the guy almost had to have gone with. The nine life specialization allowed a core to start with 8 spare cores. Other than that all it did was unlock the spare core support card. Honestly it sounded like a terrible choice for a core to make. The Newt core would run out of proverbial tails to lose eventually with such a strategy.
That being said, Peter would positively laugh his ass off if Newt turned things around as long as it was not against him. If Peter had chosen that specialization he would have barely even fought the battles if they came. All his resources instead would go to his “future prep.” If he spent 15 million essence a year building maelstroms for 6 or 7 years it was possible to have a far bigger respawning army than Peter would be capable of. If Newt turned out to be a devious dark horse instead of some cowardly core, Peter would find it hilarious, but would also have to feel extremely weary of him.
Still Peter liked his strategy more. He was unlocking new support cards, meeting battle conditions, and would not have S tier units if he had gone with such an approach. What good was several hundred maelstroms if none of them were producing the far more expensive tier B’s. If Peter continued battling and winning he would likely be far better off than Newt, even if the core was hiding its true colors.
As always it was easy to make trades when he had plenty of essence to spend. He hit up Fellette’s beast core group for another round of 2 a piece. They were more than happy to trade 2 each since he had put the beasts on quite a display during his battle. It might be the last time for one of them. Pachyderm, 205, would soon be fighting for his own life, just as Garrett the tiger core had the year before. As the next oldest after the tiger core, the insect faction had challenged him next. It looked like they were intent on at least culling the top two beast cores. Hopefully it would stop there for Fellette’s sake.
This time however there was even more of an age disparity. Mantis had only been 30 years older than Garrett, the tiger core. Centipede, 315, was over a hundred years older. Not an insurmountable thing for a core to overcome, but definitely an uphill battle. The pachyderm core had various elephant humanoids and others supported with powerful magic.
The beast cores were just the beginning of his trades. Peter decided to make a trip to the other side of the banquet hall. Something he had been hesitant to do as he was figuring things out. He had stuck to an area that felt comfortable. Now he had a lot of essence to spend, and a lot of core types he would like to gain access to. He chanced a glance at Elm, the bark covered man sitting off in the corner. It was the only black listed dungeon he had not been able to approach. It looked like he would not get the chance today either.
His eyes briefly passed over Abyss who nodded his head slightly. Then Peter’s eyes locked on to his first target. It was time for him to meet his guide once again. Clockwork, his old guide, was the same as ever. He sat with two other cores from the golem faction, Gargoyle, 235 and Statue, 855. The gargoyle was a stone bat-like man complete with wings and grotesque mask-like face. Statue looked like ‘the David’ statue. A nude man made of marble. The eyelids of the marble man blinked, somehow making him…it the most unsettling of the three.
“Ahhhh, one of my proteges has finally come for a trade,” Clockwork stated with a business-like manner. Not a welcoming word or a ‘you have been doing a good job’. His guide really was an ass. Peter could understand weighing benefits, but for a dungeon almost 5 centuries old it was basically chump change even considering he sponsored someone new every 10 years.
“If you are interested in trading young core, we will trade 1 A tier for every 3 you offer,” Statue offered before turning back toward the others. As the gollum faction leader, his word was law. That was it. It seemed being an ass was synonymous with being a part of the golem faction. Perhaps Elyra should belong to this faction, since she still would only offer 1 of her cards for 2 of his, even when they were in the same group. Still Peter wanted to at least get their card types so he got 1 gargoyle and statue card. Clockwork did not seem to care that Peter did not try to obtain his. He still had Clockwork stock options, more than enough for his current needs.
Still there were more groups on this side that should be easy to trade with. Peter’s next target was the mineral centurions. They were right next to the golem centurion's, since the two groups were closely associated. This group was led by Diamond, 875, the oldest non millennial faction core type other than moon elf, 895. Her group of 4 centurions were just as stingy apparently.
“Diamond is one the hardest naturally occurring substances, not to mention its other uses, thus 10 for 1. That is only because your card might have some use,” Diamond said. She had been human once, now she was emulating the brilliant. A race that had gems embedded in their bodies. She displayed a giant diamond on her forehead. Her eyes were also jewels, which was the strangest part since he could look into their depths. Thankfully he could not see past the actual gem further into her skull, that would have been creepy and weird.
Peter had already bulked with a minor protest at the price once. He could tell she would not budge. She would either dismiss him all together which might prevent her underlings from trading with him, or she might raise the price if he tried. He reluctantly offered the trade. Diamond was like Dragon, Void, or Abyss. Her cards would give an increased chance at S tier, so he wanted it too bad.
Still his little nest egg of just under 10 million essence was dwindling after the trades with her retinue. Both Sludge, 245, and Steel, 415, accepted a trade for only 3, but Emerald, 535, asked for a 5 for 1. Peter begrudgingly accepted them all. In the back of his mind he could not wait to watch as each of them got culled.
Peter then made his way over to a table with the elites of his own faction. The concept core type was perhaps the most common, but only half actually belonged to the concept faction. The rest snuggled up and clung to one of the major factions. Core types like Predator or Hive that were great augmenters of specific factions.
The current leader of the pure concept faction was Guineveve, Psychic, 745. Psychic was a younger looking woman who was dressed like a Romani fortune teller. Like most of the older dungeon cores that worked to maintain their humanity, she was a real beauty. Perhaps they were able to take some aspect of their concept and use it to make themselves like they desired. Peter being the design core probably had it far easier, not that he used it for anything except his movie star perfect hair.
There were only 3 other cores present. Only three others had been able to survive. They represented all that remained of the concept cores in the centurion division, at least the ones that had not latched on to one of the other factions or were not somehow still independent like Nightshade. They were known as the 3 F’s: Fury, 235, Foresight, 305, and Force, 695. It did not seem like a lot for a faction that was picked by a ton of new rookie cores each decade, but there was also a slighly larger group in the intermediate faction as well.
Guineveve and the other 3 watched him approach. “A little bit early, young core. We normally have the factional meeting on year 10 for those who will enter the intermediate division.”
“I was hoping to trade,” Peter said tepidily. His experience with the other older cores had made him weary of the trades they would offer.
“I know… Most of the others of your group have already stopped by. I was wondering when you would get around to it. The little red demoness has got something marvelous with one of my cards. A tripplification with her own card and butterfly. Her second S tier if I’m not mistaken. Hopefully, she had a resurrect card for it...”
That was certainly news to Peter. He really wished he could see the others fight. Peter could only imagine how badass a psychic phase butterfly could be.
“Don’t worry we won’t fleece you like some of the other groups,” Guinevere looked notably at Diamond’s group. A standard trade, 2 for 2, from all of us. Take it as a welcome package.”
“Thank you,” Peter said, truly feeling that way. He would still be spending a lot of essence but at least he would receive something equivalent in value.
“No problem, we have quite enjoyed how battle hungry your group has been,” Fury said leaning forward. He basically was human, except for the red skin like Elyra’s. “Makes me wish I had cut loose a little more… Then again, I guess we will see how you guys do in the integration in a few years.”
Peter stayed and exchanged pleasantries for a few more minutes before departing. He decided that it was enough for this year. He was down to 5.3 million essence, but he had obtained 10 new type cards. Ones that should be extremely helpful. He could only hope that he got some good stock option rolls for them since he likely would not try to trade again except perhaps with the concept cores. He was currently sitting at 12 for card type transfers, since he had still yet to use one, meaning he would never truly be out of any type card he had previously used.
