The Alchemist at Hell's Gates

11

^^ Staff of the Muisak ^^

"Whoa..." Kenny whistled softly, examining the free form hologram with an impressed gaze. "I like the 3 Layers!!! Most Labyrinths are Single Floor, to allow for all the mechanisms to remain invisible, but this one accounts for the fact that these traps will likely not kill good players in one go; instead it focuses on separating the party and spreading them out as widely as possible... very, very not cool, from a player's point of view, but as an observer, I say Well Done!!!" He grinned and gave me a corny pose and a thumbs up while Hellen laughed at him.

"Thank you kindly; this blueprint is the result of 6 months of planning and development, though I've got to replace the mechanics of all the traps, because the rules for traps in this game are pretty strict... I can 'Animate Clockwork' and 'Set Elemental Traps', so hopefully I'll be able to make my Traps work with that... but should it be a Lvl 10 Dungeon or should I wait and make it a Lvl 15? Hmm..." I frowned, looking at the pages of the Guide that were for upgrading a dungeon.

You could upgrade a Gate the same way you could change classes, apparently, -paying 100 Gold Coins for every Level you were raising it by, until the next Bracket, where it was 500 Gold a Level,- so I could always make it Higher Leveled, but never Lower; I wanted to get the most out of it, which means it needs to be too low-leveled to interest higher leveled enemies... or simply profitable enough to warrant the danger? I grinned suddenly, realizing what I could do: Loot was decided by Monster Type and Level, as well as the Dungeon Master's preferences, which meant I could make my Slimes drop the Potions that made them; instead of just opening a Shop, -boring, normal, pedantic,- I would inject the market with Basic Potions and Magic Items as Loot!

"Wait, Kenny, you remember that thing you said, about Rare Items should only be used when you find them, not buy them?" I looked around the hologram at Kenny, who had returned to ogling the design portions of the Dungeon.

"I do remember saying something vaguely profound in an attempt to sound wise?" He grinned guiltily, unsure as to my point.

"What if I put Potions as Loot for my Slimes? Low level potions, of course, they're level 1-5, but... that way people would be able use them or sell them, their choice, and they wouldn't feel guilty about using them! And maybe my Mini-Bosses would carry a random higher-level potion, like a Potion of Vitality? Wouldn't that lower the Rarity of potions on this Server, and make them easier to buy?" I grinned happily at the concept.

"Won't that devalue your potions?" Hellen asked, waving a hand at the Hologram and making it shrink down to the size of the coffee table, instead of blocking our view.

"Oh, definitely; their prices will likely drop to about a quarter of what they are now, but while it will make the Basic Potions less valuable, there will be a substantially greater demand once there is a steady supply. In essence, it's much the same as spending money to make money." I explained.

"That's true... economically it makes sense, but wouldn't your dungeon be better off if it was a Lvl 15? There's three Floors, so you could put a Mini-Boss on the top two, then your main boss at the bottom, and a swamp for Herbs up top?" She suggested helpfully.

"I like it... and when I upgrade it to a Level 20 Dungeon, I can add monsters to the surface, as well as a Mini-Boss..." I was already designing the slimes necessary for my Dungeon while I talked; at Level 15, I didn't know what type of slimes I could get, but I would have every types from 1-15 roaming the halls of my Labyrinth, accompanied by the famous Minotaur, of course. Technically, Minotaurs were Lvl 5 Bosses, but with a Lvl 15 Dungeon, I was allowed two Mini-Bosses, which could each be a Boss Monster of half the level of the Dungeon, rounded down; this meant I could choose Boss Monsters of Level 7 or below, so it worked out in the end. For my Boss, I decided on giving a Minotaur a permanent Stat Boost to Level 15, plus a continuous Potion of the Berserker Buff, and then when it died it would drop a Key; a chest in the Boss Room would spawn when the key was obtained, and hold 1-4 Random Potions of Rarity-3 and Rarity-4, plus one permanent Potion of the Berserker.