CH9

Day 15

I sat on my bedroll, feeling like I was missing something. My class level was still 1 because I hadn't used my experience from selling the corn yet. Every 10 levels, a class will award a skill, and I had enough experience to reach level 5. Unused experience could be added to a class level at any time. That was one of the few advantages of production classes like farmers. As a farmer, I could only use the experience points on my farm. Where I leveled was very important. Fighter classes battling in a dungeon will get more useful skills than a fighter leveling with potions on a farm. After giving it some thought, I decided to try something.

Farming resources from dungeons was considered a right of passage for tamers. Well, I had a dungeon and I was somewhat aware of how dungeons not only worked but how they could be altered, especially young ones.

Skills were interesting tools their effects could be altered not only by level but the user's mindset and how their situation. I gained a level in plow when I killed a bird in the dungeon. My mindset then had been all over the place; I was more focused on getting the bird monster out of the way than anything else. I had managed to get rid of a powerful monster and planted a chainsaw.

Who's to say I'm done plowing or planting? I might be able to adjust the dungeon to produce the materials I wanted. To that end, I purchased a psychic stone, something normally used to help monsters develop psychic-based skills, three swords, two chainsaws, and a box of chickens. It only cost me around 8,000W, but it was fine. More ears of corn were on their way I could expect another harvest in two days. I also planned to catch some rabbits to shove into the dungeon for some variation.

"This is pure evil," Gwen said.

Gwen headbutted my side in her agitation. The fawn was really gaining weight and muscle with all the food she's been eating. The green shoots from treetops must be good for her. Not to mention her share of the peanuts I planted that vanished in only a day.

"Having wealth is a morally good thing. By adding chickens to dungeons, the dungeon will produce eggs on its own as drops that we can put in cartons and sell. I plan to fork over the Westons for a spatial egg container. That will create a reliable stream of income." I said.

"Dungeons are unpredictable. You could create spider chicken monsters instead of a free egg supply, and what's with the swords and chainsaws?"

"I want a chainsword, and the psychic stone is to increase the chances of psychic skills." I picked up the skills we found in the dungeon. "Fell Wind and Blitz Kick aren't exactly what I was searching for," I said.

The doe looked over the skills before absorbing both on the spot. "Why would you do that?"

"You didn't want them; you wanted to farm the dungeon for better skills instead," Gwen said.

I sucked in a breath and let it out. No good would come from starting a fight over nothing. I didn't want either skill and couldn't sell them anyway. Gwen could use both better than me being psychic and being a deer. If anything, she hastened my decision to give those to her. With my class, it wasn't like an active skill would be very useful anyway.

Gwen practiced kicking while I dumped my peanuts into the transporter and made 1000W out of them. While that really wasn't much, it would tide me over until the next corn harvest. I couldn't wait to see what would happen after I made the additions to the dungeon. Before I went to the dungeon, I checked my available skill trees.

Skill Trees: 

Embers of Fallen Heroes I 0/250

Black Rage II 0/100

Way of the Homestead 0/50

Alter of Change 0/50

Will To Power 0/50

Resistance is Elemental 0/50

Beginner Adventuring 0/25

Skill Points: 88

Beginner Adventuring was out no matter how much I wanted it. I wasn't exactly traveling yet and couldn't waste my points on it. Embers of Fallen Heroes sounded awesome and seemed to have come from Lingering Will, but it was too long. Black Rage II wasn't something I felt ready for. I had to decide between Way of the Homestead, Will To Power, and Resistance is Elemental. Once I finished one-off, I planned to add the rest of my points to Embers of Fallen Heroes. Altar of Change felt like something I didn't want to touch.

Seeing Will To Power made me feel like it was the right choice for my current build. It came from the Training skill, which was the key to fast skill leveling. I expected it would slow in gains with the rest of my skills after a while.

50 skill points went into the skill immediately filled it out.

Ping!

+5 Willpower 

Willpower 30 

+5 Agility 

Agility 10 

I managed to get some attributes but no new skills, which was disappointing.

Suddenly, my body felt so much lighter and easier to move. It was like I wore a weight my whole life, and suddenly, I could walk normally again. I felt like keeping up with the bird in the dungeon would be much easier.

"Maybe gain another 40 agility before trying that. I held it as still as I could the entire time, and we almost died." Gwen said.

That actually made a lot of sense.

I added the last 38 points to Embers of Fallen Heroes. The skill tree was massive, and it would take a long time to wear it down. I gained something every 10 points, which was a nice surprise.

Ping!

+2 Willpower 

Willpower 32

+2 Focus 

Focus 9

+3 Constitution 

Constitution 9

Lingering Will felt like it grew a large amount of my Willpower to my strength and then some. When I was logging and building the fence to hide the dungeon I gained near-constant levels in the skill. After it hit 20, those levels slowed to a crawl. I could feel it inside, and it was so different from when I first felt it.

Closing my eyes, I grasped the energy of Lingering Will; it was more a part of me than I imagined. The strength it poured into me was addictive, and greater attributes helped it grow even stronger.

Focus and Constitution added to that even as I felt my skin grow a little tougher more like boiled leather than leather skin. I was growing stronger at an appreciable rate, even if it felt random most of the time.

I eyed the steel blades normally reserved for an orc or demi oni. They were around the size I wanted for a chainsword. Getting the dungeon to produce them was going to be difficult. I wouldn't be able to sell them on the open market, and it wasn't like I had any connections to the black market.

"You really shouldn't obsess over it. Either it works, or it doesn't." Gwen said.

I sucked in a breath before loading the supplies in our wheelbarrow before taking the long walk with Gwen to the dungeon. Increased Agility really made the trip easier. I knew I was much slower than her, but I felt so much faster.

"You're about as quick as I was when I was just born, if a little slower."

"We'll see when I get a training method down to power up agility." 

Another three training-aligned skills could create a second skill block linked to my first. Other berserk-aligned skills and others aligned to my skill block could make a skill cube if I can find 4 skills to synergize with the others. 24 skills that all enhanced each other was something only powerhouses had access to. Monster Tamers who had a chance to become champions or elites were among those with extremely synergetic skills.

"You want to become an ever-growing rage monster," Gwen said.

"Yes," I said.

"We're here. I suppose you'll have to be satisfied corrupting a dungeon," Gwen said.

She kicked one of the trees with her new Blitz Kick skill, and the bunnies charged out, ready for battle. I snatched them from the air, and she bound them in rope with her psychic powers. Once we collected enough, we made our way into the dungeon.

It had been a while since we entered, and one of the mosquitoes charged at us. Its needle spun like a drill. I crushed it immediately as more flowed in before I started tossing the bunnies into the hardly changed first floor. The rabbits started panicking when spiders with chainsaws for fangs assaulted them.

Ping! 

Planting lvl10 

My planting skill was increasing with the bunnies I shoved into the dungeon it was great. I followed up by tossing more chainsaws in the stream and three swords. The mosquitoes fell to the spider webs when they went in for bunny blood. I popped open the crate and unleashed a flock of chicken monsters on the dungeon. The spiders tossed out silvery webs and dragged some chickens into their webs before they touched the ground.

One of the birds emerged squawking and flailing, chainsaw wings spinning and pirouetting. Spiders fled as the birds moved in flocks of their own, hunting the spiders. I threw my psychic stone and hit a big male monster bird up the side of the head. The hit knocked the bird to the ground, cracking its beak. The other males jumped on it, cutting into the monster with their chainsaw wings.

At that moment, I thought it was the best idea to level up. Greenlight exploded around me as I added all my experience from corn and peanut sales to my class level.

Atom Walker lvl5

Class: Farmer +3 END +2 VIT per LEVEL

Attributes

Physical: 

Vitality 12

Constitution 9

Endurance 19

Strength 12

Dexterity 3

Agility 10

Mental:

Perception 5

Willpower 32

Focus 9

Intelligence 5

 Wisdom 4

Charisma 4

Skills

Farming:

Plow lvl7

Plant lvl12

Harvest lvl18

Furrows lvl7

Fencing lvl20

MISC:

Berserk lvl26

Training lvl22 

Regeneration lvl21

Adapt lvl20

Lingering Will lvl21

Skill Points: 164

158 skill points used