FINAL CORE - Chapter 15

The history of the worship of the divine goes back for as long back as civilization itself does and even further before that.

From the witnessing of the first star, to the lighting of the first fire in honor of it, our ancestors have worshiped the divine, the creators of our domain, of our flesh and spirit.

The gods of the world come and go, ebbing in and out of existence, as would the tide beneath an ever-changing moon. As people worship a god, it gains power. As generations pass and the god falls into obscurity, it loses power.

And so it comes to be that new gods arise, taking the place of the old, as would the cycling generations of the living take over the places of their fathers and mothers.

However, some gods manage to persist in other forms. Their old name becomes obscure, so they take on a new name. Their old image becomes indistinct and not relevant for the current cultural boundaries that they find themselves inside of, so they take on a new image.

It is impossible to say who the oldest god is, but we know that they are real.

Our faith tells us so.

The era in which gods had shared the mortal world together with us is over. Brought to an end by the great ash. Now, only we remain. Now, only our voices remain, rising to the heavens in reverence of the entities who gave us life and direction.

They are not with us in body, but they remain with us in spirit.

This, I believe.

Let us keep the faith.

~Sister Victurio’s writings

_______________________________________________________

[Floor Six]

The lower viewing platform

An open faced area with no walls. Rather, the outside of the floor is lined with a ring of columns.

Capacity: {16} Monster-Points

1 TRAPS

Room Effect: Ambient air currents cause any intruders to occasionally lose their footing here

Monster-Point prices per monster

• F-Rank: 1
• D-Rank: 4
• C-Rank: 8
• B-Rank: 16
• A-Rank: 32
• S-Rank: 64
• SSS-Rank: 128

Isaiah looks around floor six of the tower. It has no walls. Instead, all around in all directions, the world is free to see, beyond several pillars, which hold the next upper floors aloft. Water runs through the floor in small, thin channels, each only a few fingers in width.

In the center of the room is a large monster, a golem, made out of hewn, quarried rocks. It has a white, stone body and holy water trickles down from its face, carved into the image of the weeping statues on the lower floors below.

[Weeping Golem]

• Class: Monster
• Element: Stone + {Holy}
• Type: Tank
• Category: Golem*
• Level: 06
• Rank: C
• HP: 50/50
• SOUL: 00/00

A giant, stone golem, hewn from white stone. Golems are masses of inert material, brought to life by powerful ambient magics. They are highly defensive creatures and tend to never roam far from where they were created. Golems are incredibly resilient to all forms of damage. 

 *Golems are highly resistant to all non-impact damage and magic (+75% DEF)

 {HOLY}: Regenerates HP at a rate of 1/Second while in contact with water

Isaiah looks at the priestess, sitting on the golem’s shoulder.

[Shadowy Priestess]

• Class: Spirit
• Element: HOLY
• Type: Humanoid
• Category: Spell-caster, healer
• Level: 06
• HP: 16/16
• SOUL: 44/44
• Rank: C

Shadowy priestesses are reminiscent of a humanoid species and can range from any breed. They wear nondescript religious iconography and aren’t actually real people. Rather, they are entities created by a magical force, taking the shape of something human and acting in the mannerisms of such a creature.

[Holy Barrier] : Creates a thin, prismatic, vertical barrier out of holy-magic over a span of 2m*3m that absorbs {20} damage from all sources.

[Heal] : Heals a friendly target for an amount equal to your INT + WIS

She isn’t a real human and counts as a monster, just like the monks on the floor below. It’s an interesting set-up. The golem will patrol the room, trying to bash people off of the tower and the priestess, sitting on its shoulder, will heal it and set up barriers to protect them both.

“This is good,” says Isaiah.

“Right?” asks Crystal. “I’m really getting into the flavor of the place,” says the uthra. “I can hardly wait till we unlock some more interesting design elements.” It buzzes around the priestess, who looks at it with a vague, indistinct gaze, before turning back to look where the golem is looking. “When is that going to be, by the way?”

“Soon,” replies Isaiah. “The first humans have arrived. They have seen us,” it explains, rising into the air. “They will be here soon and we will grow faster.”

“Neat,” replies Crystal. “I guess I’ll go help Green out then for now.”

Isaiah nods, watching it fly away.

____________________________________________________

An incursion is underway.

Isaiah watches through the eyes of a statue as a group of goblins, led by the large one from last time, fight their way through floors one and two. This time, they were prepared and had learned from the past. None of them died outside to the wisps or to the melusine and none of them died on floor one or two, which they had cleared out fairly quickly and efficiently.

The large one opens the treasure-chest at the end of the bridge.

This is the first time anyone has ever opened one, realizes Isaiah.

It pulls out a sword, which honestly looks like it was too big for the chest and swings it around. Nodding, it tosses the blade to another member of the group and then picks up its old weapon, before heading up to floor three.

The others follow.

Isaiah switches its view to floor three, following them as well.

Floor two - Intruders Remaining: 12

FLOOR TWO - CLEARED

____________________________________________________

Rorate sits in the chapel, staring down through the grate to the fight that had happened below.

Honestly, she isn’t really too sure what to do with herself. Life has really thrown her into something here and she still hasn’t really managed to get her balance.

Her? A priestess?

She looks down at her robe again, before looking around the ornate prayer hall inside of the tower.

…Maybe she really is still under the effects of the mushroom-brew? Or maybe it just kind of… zapped something in her mind and has caused her to become delirious? Maybe, in reality, she’s just laying out in the forest somewhere, drooling?

She shakes her head.

No.

This is real. The sensation of the hope she received upon meeting the creature, the divine entity known as Isaiah, was real.

It still is real.

She doesn’t know where her life is going and what it is meant to lead towards. But it has to be worth it.

It has to be something good.

Otherwise it just doesn’t make any sense.

A loud trampling comes from the stairwell as the goblins make their way upstairs. She sighs, getting up and dusting herself off.

A dozen or so green faces pop up around the corner and make their way into the chapel, looking around it, looking her way.

She supposes that she’s going to have to fight these goblins. Probably.

— Or should she run upstairs?

Nobody said anything about fighting. She’s just supposed to be praying. That’s what the entity had told her.

…Maybe this is a test?

Rorate thinks for a moment.

That makes sense, right?

This is a test of her faith, to see if she’ll follow through on her end of the bargain. After all the trouble it went through to save her, Isaiah wouldn’t let her die now, right?

Rorate smiles, feeling a warm sense of unfamiliar security come over here. The goblins shift nervously, still unsure as to what her plan or the plan of this new floor are. But Rorate just clenches her hands and turns around, showing them her back as she lowers her head to the altar before herself and continues to pray.

Water trickles noisily, running down the altar and dripping through the grates into the floors below. The goblins are quiet.

There is a snarling as they argue about something and then, they keep on moving, simply walking past her to head to the next floor above.

Rorate waits a moment, waiting until the sounds of all of the steps have vanished until she opens and eyes and lifts her head.

The goblins are all gone.

She survived.

Her hands clasp one another.

She passed the test, right?

She hopes so.

____________________________________________________

Floor three - Intruders Remaining: 12

FLOOR THREE - CLEARED

Isaiah watches as the goblins reach floor four. It’s kind of surprised that a fight didn’t break out on floor three.

This is the highest that anyone has ever gotten though and it is honestly somewhat excited about it.

It would be more exciting if a few of them would die. It needs the experience points to grow stronger, so that it can unlock new areas and mechanisms for the tower. But still.

The goblins stand on floor four, a great, half-spherical basin covered in floating stone platforms that drift apart every now and then.

One of the goblins heads to the water, looking down into it. The monster finds itself staring into the face of something beneath the surface.

— It doesn’t have time to react before the melusine snaps out of the pool, sinking her teeth into its neck and ripping it down into the water. The goblins panic, spreading out wide, as two of them are pelted off of the platform by stone arrows, launched from across the room.

Floor three - Intruders Remaining: 09

Ah.

____________________________________________________

Isaiah returns to its vision.

It does not need to watch this senseless violence.

The problem seems to have taken care of itself. Still, it’s impressive that the goblins got so far this time.

Floor three - Intruders Remaining: 07

Isaiah smiles, lifting its gaze up towards the sky.

Floor three - Intruders Remaining: 06

“Soon,” it says.

The tower rumbles beneath its feet, rising up another level closer towards the sky.

[New Area Added]

Floor {7}

The seventh floor of the tower dungeon. It is currently empty.

Capacity: {14} Monster-Points

1 TRAP

 (The next sub-boss/challenge room will be available in {9} floors!)

(The next boss arena will be available in {4} floors.)

 Floor four - Intruders Remaining: 00

[The incursion is over!]

• Killed Intruders: 07
• Fled Intruders: 06
• Dungeon Casualties: 13
• Average Level: 9
• Difficulty: Very Challenging

 +42 EXPERIENCE POINTS.

EXP: 75/75

EXP: 00/125

[Level Up!]

You are now a level {5} dungeon-core!

SOUL: 21/21

OBOLS: 000

PRESENCE: 1.20054 km

- [Expansion] -

Focuses on spreading the roots of your dungeon for as far as you can. The further a dungeon’s reach extends, the more resources you will be able to collect and the larger your dungeon will become.

 [Shortcuts] : Allows your workers to create shortcuts at various points in your dungeon. These can be used by inhabitants and workers to quickly move between areas.

However, they can also be used by intruders, if they clear the floor a shortcut is located on.

- [Holy] -

Focuses on your core attribute and imparting as much of this essence onto your dungeon as possible. Each attribute offers its own benefits and perks.

[Sanctuary] : As a place of healing and protection, all should feel safe and whole here. 

Allows the establishing of a safe room before every boss-floor of the dungeon.

Safe-rooms allow any intruders to heal and rest inside of them without worry of attack for as long as they wish.

In return, the tower will gain 25% of their MAX-SOUL for the full duration of their stay.

- [Bastion] -

Focuses on the physical and magical defenses of your dungeon. Allows access to sturdier walls, tricks and traps and mazes and mechanisms, as well as higher level monsters to defend your floors.

 [Traps] : Allows your worker minions to develop simple traps and snares in your dungeon, in order to hurt enemies before they can get too deep.