Trash Mountain Dungeon

Another week passed after I chose the ratkin, and I can confidently say that it was somehow the best and worst decision I had made so far, and that wasn't even considering the oddness that was coming in from the outside either. When I selected the ratkin I had some expectation of difficulty, their page outright told me that I would have problems, but it truly didn't show me just how weird, and a bit funny, it would end up being. After creating the nodes for all three of the mainline rooms, adding two to the final double room, I was made busy by overlooking the room unlocks which was important mind you seeing as they would be part of my proper defenses only for one of the ratkin, a smaller one that was playing with some of the regular rats, that there were problems afoot. Also, it seems they can't see nor hear me, but can vaguely understand that I'm within the area and understand the intent behind my words if not the words themselves, though they do seem to hear me at the least.

To start with, for some reason the demon guy was, helping me, I think?

It wasn't obvious what his intentions were to be honest since he and some newer human lackeys of his were shoving as many of the large bodies onto the lift as they could, the metal groaning and scraping painfully loud as it climbed up and into my dungeon, the bodies quickly being absorbed into me. After two more trips though they stopped coming back, either finishing their job or simply stopping for the night, either way, I'm happy cause all those corpses unlocked a new monster for me, the [ogre bull]. From their description, the ogre bull is a domesticated species of bovine that is regularly used by ogres as an easy food source in rocky or mountainous terrain due to their borderline ability to consume rocks and other minerals with minimal need to eat actual plants. Their big benefit was that I could likely use the creatures as a food source for my rats despite the bulls being monsters themselves. I put the new addition to the back of my mind though, useful as they could be I was focused on my previous matters.

Returning my attention to the rats and briefly regretting my decision to pick them before me was a tangled mess of fur and teeth, ratkin bodies were strewn about, not dead, but severely bruised and out of breath, it was only until they realized that I had come back did they try to make themselves look normal, trying to casually walk around and kick at invisible rocks and discussing random topics, something about the weather before the other one asked what weather was, cheeky kids. From what I could best understand, the different nodes tried to determine who would be the leader of the ratkin and who would have the honor to speak with me, rapidly devolving into a brawl between the different groups. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, and the dungeon healed their injuries, but I did try my best to give them a proper reprimand for their actions, what if we were attacked while they were quarreling?

Sigh

With the rats back in line, I refocused on my attention to the room unlocks, there were multiple which was a first.

Ratkin Hamlet

A small collection of homes formed and welded together with scrap metal, with a basic fence to slow down challengers.

The hamlet will produce a small number of items and materials produced by the ratkin daily, this will provide mana with each successful thing produced.

It provides a small overall benefit to the ratkin of the node that is attached to this room.

Mana Production: 25 per hour

Mana Storage: +30

Objects produced:

Assorted ratkin objects: 80%

Ratkin weaponry: 15%

Ratkin Magical items or tomes: 5%

Creation Cost: 140 mana

It was pricey to be certain, but I still had more than enough to make it, especially with the wormhole still producing its gross but useful fuel. I made two of the hamlets, making them the two rooms along the mainline after the mines, and as they finished forming, I saw that they held six yurt-like metal homes with a central firepit and the aforementioned scrap metal fence that enclosed the entrance to the room. The inside of the homes was rather barren I'd say, only having an uncomfortable blanket on the ground and a square bin in the corner, probably for storage. But despite my opinions of them, the ratkin seemed to like them, eagerly claiming their own home and personalizing them which I imagine didn't last too long seeing as they only have two things to worry about, now all I had to do was look over the other unlock and go from there.

Rusted Checkpoint

The checkpoint is a defensive structure that grants the assigned monsters the proper tools and equipment to take up the position of defender.

The gear will be made with the highest level of non-exotic materials available while still being on a level with the floor the structure is on.

This structure contains a limited form of machine defenses, and this way can function automatically albeit at a reduced ability.

The checkpoint is also a living space and will produce a small number of objects and mana.

Provides a small bonus to assigned monsters.

Mana Production: 5 per hour

Mana Storage: +20

Objects Produced:

Assorted ratkin melee weapons: 70%

Ratkin machine weaponry: 20%

Ratkin magical weaponry: 9%

Assorted ratkin-based skill and class crystals: 1%

Creation Cost: 200 mana

Despite the cost and limited production, it was obvious what the benefit was, and it was something I knew I needed, stable defensive rooms that could stop attacks in their tracks assuming they got this far. Add to the fact that the room had two nodes, and thus 12 ratkin, but when I built the room the existing ratkin were covered in a bright glow around their bodies, and once it was gone, they were left in simple metal and cloth armor. It wasn’t anything special, limited as my knowledge of medieval armor is, but it was simple enough that I could intuit from the design that it was made with simple function in mind.

The armor was a chest piece with shoulder and thigh guards, with loose but non-obstructing sleeves covering the arms and the rest of the legs. It was there to protect the vitals and the areas nearest to the torso, the metal was unadorned while the cloth around the arms had a simple image of a circle within a gear, likely a reference to my focus. The weapons, on the other hand, were far more intricate than the clothing, of the 12 six had a simple round shield with metal bands and single-edged short swords with a gear replacing the pommel and parts of the guard. This was the same for the other weapons, the four spearmen had a strange mechanism at the joining point of the blade and shaft while the two bowmen had gears attached to the point where the string connects to the bow itself.

But moving past those questions the room itself was quiet the sight itself, and since the room was so large, the scrap metal wall that reached high into the room with two small, unprotected platforms, likely for the archers. Once they got over their new equipment, they were even more excited by their home/workspace, and moving into it properly it made sense as to why. While definitely an improvement in some ways, the checkpoint was a full building that encased the hallway to my core with one large room that was separated by moveable barriers, with the right side being dedicated toward day-to-day living activities such as sleeping, eating, and a small section with some entertainment that reminded me of bowling. To the left side, there was a mixed workspace/practice area set up, with one-half of it being a training area with simple stone dummies and targets while the other side had a simple workspace with equally simple tools to match.

Seeing it all come together, I still had one more room to fill in, a side room that extended from the first hamlet.

Hmm, what to do...?

Hey system, can I add a room to another one if they've already been placed, I was thinking that I could perhaps add the empty room to another to expand it, maybe one of the mines or the assembly room?

Such an action is possible, but the core will be required to pay double the cost of making the room and the structure within.

Cool, but before you do that what would happen if I were to add it to the checkpoint or maybe the mines and assembly line?

Would you like to pay 2 Dp to see this information?

Hmm, eehhh, sure.

-2 DP

Total: 0

And for a couple of minutes, it sat there thinking, either creating or searching for the answer before it finally popped back up with my answer.

If the structure [Ratkin Checkpoint] adds one more room, it will evolve into [Ratkin Barracks].

If the structure [Coldsteel/Heatsteel Mines] adds one more room they may evolve into either [Inferior Cold/Heat Rift] 3%, or, [Large Cold/Heatsteel Mines] 97%.

If the structure [Simple Assembly line] adds one more room they will evolve into [Advanced Assembly Line].

Not going to give me more than that?

Insufficient Dp to request that information.

But I paid two this time, shouldn't I get a bit more than just some names?

Due to various innate advantages held by the core it has been considered unfair to other dungeons to provide more information than what has been provided, future questions concerning fairness will be ignored unless reasonable.

Well, shit man, if I had known that I probably wouldn't have spent it then.

...

Be that way then, huh, but if the system won't tell me then I'll just have to guess for myself.

Starting with the easiest, the advanced assembly line is likely just a 'better' version of the simple one, I assume more production and storage while also making more advanced items. Likewise, the large mines were also, maybe, obviously just more, you know? The real question though was what exactly the rift and barracks would be like, the barracks I could infer being a more developed defensive structure with little amounts of production, perhaps with more equipment to choose from, and worse comes to worse I suppose I could try adding those ogre bulls I got earlier. But the rift could mean anything in this very magical world, it could be a magical portal to the land of chainsaw-murdering butterflies or perhaps a mystical mine that makes super rare and edgy-sounding materials. Of the options available the rift constituted a wildcard option that could give an incredible boon or just end up being an interesting but niche use structure.

For now, I could only choose one option but that doesn't make this a forever choice like with the canid, I could still make double or even triple room for the next floor if need be. Which brings the question, what do I feel like choosing?