Dungeon Oasis

I do hope that people delve my second floor again soon. The first floor is still where the majority of my mana comes from. However, the mana I get from just the first three rooms of the second floor alone completely surpasses what I get from a full clear of the first floor. Makes me almost giddy thinking about how much mana I will get on the third, fourth, or even tenth floor. I'm getting ahead of myself though. I still need to finish the third floor.

I wanted to use my new skills sense to observe the delvers but at level 5 and below the few skills they had were easy enough to observe without that skill. Still there were a few surprises. Such as when a dwarf used a skill called weighted tip to make his hammer hit with 5% more force than it otherwise would have.

Over the next week I save up enough mana to buy the world energy for one of the large rooms. Once again, I place it directly in line with the others. In this one I scatter several pit traps around the room in as random an arrangement as I can manage. I also place a level 13 skeleton party. This one consists of a fighter, roque, water mage, and healer. Beyond that I make the decision to leave this room baren aside from the grass.

After that I decide that there is one more monster type I need to get. Well, actually another skeleton type. I've noticed that the majority of the parties have a Tank. So, if they're going to imitate the delvers it makes sense that my skeleton parties would have a tank as well. So instead of saving up for the next room I instead save up to get the final skeleton variant. Well, maybe not the last variant but the last one I have any interest in getting for the moment.

The others such as the skeleton knight, peasant, noble, shop keeper, and so on don't interest me at the moment. Now that I have what I want to use I slowly get to work on the next room. Because of the nature of this room, I decide against traps. I fill the room with a meter of dirt. After that I plant several trees. Then I'm about to start adding water when I suddenly remember to raise the entrance to prevent the water from leaving. Now they need a slight ramp to actually get down into the rooms but that's easy enough to accomplish. After that I add enough water to conceal some skeletons. When that's done, I add 16 level 11 skeletons of various types. I intentionally limit them to level 11 because of the sheer number of them. Also, because if everything goes right, the skeletons will seem to appear suddenly all around them.

I already have the next room planned out just waiting for enough mana to actually create it when I am suddenly aware of Clyde's party fighting the first-floor boss again. The first-floor boss barely poses any challenge anymore. Although Chandra does at least manage to reach level 7 during the fight. They take their time harvesting everything they can as they make their way back up to where they were forced to retreat last time.

To my surprise Lily seems to have even picked up a foraging skill. I'm guessing it's because it's mainly her that is doing the harvesting while the others rest. Then again, she may have bought the skill somewhere. I'm still not entirely sure how skills work yet. I mean I can buy skills so I can't be certain that they can't. I can't imagine how that would work but if buying skill is possible, I'm sure I'll figure it out in time. In fact, why wait I have the ability to answer that question right now.

Opening the world points shop I go to the loot section and search for skill. I don't see anything that could be used to give people skills. So, I guess she actually did earn that foraging skill. It seems there is more to delvers acquiring skills than I previously thought. If that's the case, then what purpose do levels serve. For mobs it's just a generic stat boost. For delvers though I can't help but feel like there has to be more to it than that. I'm starting to think that comparing this world to a game of D&D was being a bit narrow minded. I make up my mind to ask Clyde about it later. For now, I don't want to interrupt their delve.

I was so focused on figuring out how levels and skills actually work for delvers that I almost missed them making it back to the wolves that ended their delve last time. This time they are ready for the wolves' tricks Chandra has a throwing knife ready while Darrel begins casting Ice spear before they even enter the room. Once again Clyde and Cole step forward to fight the two wolves directly ahead. This time however Darrel and Chandra look for and quickly find their targets. The two wolves don't even have time to react. Not wanting to waste his mana Cole opts to charge directly at the fifth wolf instead of using his taunt ability. The poor thing doesn't last long in a four vs one match.

There is a lot to be said for knowing what to expect. Unfortunately, from here on out they no longer have that benefit. They spend some time resting while Lily harvests the berries but soon enough it's time for them to continue. The lessons of the previous room aren't so easily forgotten though. Darrel and Chandra are ready to strike before they even make it to the next room. upon entering the next room Clyde and Cole, being in the lead, are immediately attacked by two skeleton rogues in the center of the room.

Meanwhile the real danger is off to either side. Darrel and Chandra were ready for something like this. Unfortunately, their attacks are blocked by the armor of the skeletal fighters. To make matters worse there are now arrows flying from two different directions. Seeing this Chandra uses her stealth ability to get past the fighters and target one of the archers. Cole realizing what's happening uses his taunt skill to get the attention of the other fighters. I'm not sure even he can stand up to four fighters and a rogue even if he is higher level than they are. Still, he stands a much better chance than Darrel would have against the four fighters and an archer.

In time I'm sure Darrel will have the ability to clear this entire floor by himself but for now it's all he can do to protect himself and Lily from the archer who now doesn't have to worry about friendly fire anymore.