"Is it just me, or is this dungeon giving an inordinate amount of experience? Seriously, I've gotten most of a level, I'm certain of it. I usually only get a single percent a run." Carlos says while they're enjoying lunch on the body of the fallen Granite Elemental.
"Doing dungeons with me gives an experience bonus. Just a small one, but it can really add up." Cain says around a mouthful of sandwich.
"Yeah, it adds up to a lot. Looks like I'll be leveling up sooner than I thought."
"Please don't mention leveling up. I think I've been traumatized. Doesn't the under level bonus get higher for every level under the dungeon you are too? Because this is insane. By the time we finish I'll be ready to pick a first advancement class at this rate." Symbia laughs.
"Have you got any skill books? What you know affects what you can choose. The more specialized you are, the more interesting your options. We learned this from Kone, who specialized in Summoning as a Druid, including some book skills, and got Beast Lord as a level 100 option." Cain asks, explaining his logic.
"All the books I could use are art based, and class specific, since I can't use any base class skill books. But I've got skills for rapid creation, increased realism and the like. I took smithy and Tailoring as life skills to make skeletons and clothes for my dolls."
That all seems sensible, but Cain isn't sure what it might lead to. For her sake Cain hopes it is something amazing. Being stuck as a mediocre non combat class must be a nightmare, even if she enjoys the method of leveling up.
"Everyone ready? Symbia, you're still a hundred levels below the dungeon, best get comfy, because there will be notifications." Even Cain has gotten multiple notifications this dungeon, but he's minimized them all to check later. With practice he can now do it with a thought, hiding them the instant they appear.
The Mountain Giants that come after the first boss are much more durable than the stone giants were and use earth magic, causing a large amount of area damage. So much that the copies of Su have to stop attacking and heal when the big spells land. Fortunately they're not immune to stun, only resistant, so the tanks interrupt most of them.
"You must never see an enemy spell cast in a dungeon your own level. I'd do some stuff for two dozen interrupt effects when tanking a raid." Carlos jokes from his spot in the middle of the back lines, holding Symbia.
"That's a big part of why running dungeons is so easy with him. That and the overwhelming numbers." Kone agrees.
"Up ahead we should, oh crap, Symbia passed out, I almost dropped her there." Carlos says about the Elf held on his large hip like a toddler, making the others laugh. Even the Lord of Decay makes an amused noise.
"She's level 100. It must be the class change." Cain says and Misha gasps.
"By the Dark Gods. Look at all that experience. That's all we needed, just higher level dungeons to power level in instead of cruising through ones our level." Misha cackles like a mad woman.
She's got a point. No matter the level, it takes roughly fifty dungeons your own level to level up. But experience between levels doubles every level, with a couple larger jumps. So experience from a dungeon a hundred levels above you is far more than just the under level bonus. Cain hasn't been watching the changes, but he's just sure he'll be level 120 or higher before they finish. Possibly much higher.
But first they need to finish. Process has ground to a crawl. The Mountain Giants have such high resistances that it's taking them 5 to 10 minutes to clear a group. It's got to be a form of level scaling. It's not something Cain has encountered before, but then, the entire Beginners Valley is barely the level gap he's fighting against in here, and he didn't go for the level 80 Demon Raid the moment he left the transfer village.
With the buffs he has, Cain should one shot everything here but bosses, but he's barely hurting these giants. Even with the merged summons. The damage definitely scales with huge level gaps.
Once again Cain curses the "no explanations, no second chances" system for not having a full explanation of the scaling system. Only a simple note that it exists.
"Carlos, do you know much about the damage scaling system? Even as tough as these things are, we should be doing more damage." Cain asks.
"I know it only applies to monsters. Damage to transfers and others with systems scales differently, as you might have noticed while fighting Lancelot. But a hundred levels above you, monsters take no damage. I'm sure someone graphed the curve, but that someone wasn't me. To us mere mortals it is mostly irrelevant, as a monster that strong would simply kill us."
Cain thinks of a couple different options for a non linear scaling system and decides he's glad they didn't go to the Lizardmen today.
Symbia returns to consciousness just as they get to the second boss. An enormous Diamond Elemental surrounded by six Granite Elementals the size of the last boss.
Forget that. Nope, not happening.
"How does anyone finish this? That's just ridiculous. It's been what, 6 hours since we started?" Cain complains.
"About that. Everyone just gets to where they can, then mines the ores and goes home to let it reset so they can come back next week. The regular dungeon is much less insane.
Cain would love to see what's beyond this boss, but it's likely to be a 5 hour fight, and his arms are already getting numb from exertion. Six hours of fighting giants in close combat is quite the workout, and he's gotten used to just casually flinging poison Arrows.
"Puppets, time to put in work." Cain smiles, pulling all the ones in mining gear from inventory. They're all wearing leather speedo type underwear, chaps and a leather vest with work boots and a pickaxe.
"Seriously Symbia, that's workwear?" Misha laughs as Cain sends them to mining out the area, with directions to pile any ore or precious items they find at twenty meter intervals, while avoiding any monsters they might come across, which will keep them out of the boss room.
"I'm sorry, it's the best I had for a pattern, I don't usually make construction worker dolls." She pouts, knowing what Misha means even though she can't see it as she fights to remove the rest of the notifications.
"How did you do on the class upgrade little Elf?" Carlos asks, bouncing her on his hip.
"It gave me a couple options, the expected Master Sculptor to replace Master Artist, but I also got Doll Witch. According to the description it gains bonuses to experience for sculpting and additional ability creating dolls, plus it comes with spells related to them, but I can't open the skill chart until I am finished these notifications."
"So you did pick the oddball class then?" Carlos laughs.
"To make better dolls, was there ever another option? Ah there. Finally finished the notifications, let's see what I've got." Symbia shifts to a more comfortable position on Carlos's hip and her eyes go vacant again as she looks through the skill menu.
"I have so many points right now it's ridiculous. Well over a hundred, thanks to that final push through the Mountain Giants. I had some saved before, because I only cared about Sculpture." That makes sense to everyone, she is very obsessive about her craft.
"First up I've got [Duplicate Doll] that creates a permanent doll exactly like one I've got near me. Max that out. Then [Artisan Sculptor] to increase my skill at making them by hand. [Doll Eyes] sounds weird, why would I want to see through the eyes of a Doll I've created? But it's needed for the next step. [Possessed Doll] puts my body in stasis in a pocket dimension while I possess a Doll I've created that's, uh, interesting? [Haunt] curses a dwelling with strange noises. [Eternal Loop] makes doors open to a random room. I think this class is much more witch than Doll Sculptor so far." Her sad tone makes everyone smile at the Elf.
"Look at it this way, you're a one woman horror movie. Bringing the dolls to life, chasing people around a house they can't escape. Does it get any combat skills?" Cain consoles the upset Sculptor.
"I can use Shaman type books now, which is pretty awesome. If I can afford the books I could turn dolls into Totems, or have them shoot lightning at people, like a built in taser." Even when asked about combat, she considers updating the dolls first.
"Now you're on to something. With a hundred points, you should be able to get almost the entire skill tree worth of abilities, right? I only got a hundred more points worth of skills when I went to the Barbarian Warlord path." Carlos says, making Cain consider his own class.
Maybe you're only ever intended to take one side of the skill tree before hitting level 300 and choosing something that might be even greater or that compliments your Puppet Master skills? Every 100 levels options come available, according to the books in the library, though you don't always want what you can pick from, so some people wait until they can do better.
"Yeah, I can get the everything, I think. Oh, there's an option for that. Fill all available options, there we go. Wow, the top skill here is awesome. Most of them after the basic haunting abilities make better, stronger, more detailed dolls, even mimicking real people, but the top few give them warrior options. Like a version of your puppets ability Cain, it lets me animate my dolls to first do tasks on their own, then without me near, and finally, create warrior dolls to curse and haunt a specific location. They can't wander around like yours, but I could build a treasure vault and fill it with booby traps, all the curses and skills are here, even to make the statues come alive and attack."
"Is there a limit?" Cain asks.
"Only by location. No more than a third of my level per square kilometer. But I could go into business creating treasure vaults once I get a few more levels. A Minimum level for the region treasure vault would just be lame. But someone would likely still want it."
"How strong are the warrior dolls?" Cain asks, thinking of creating a security force for the Guild Houses.
"It says [Lesser Golems] my level. How strong is that?"
"About the same as wandering desert monsters your level. Small creatures up to about sixty kilos." Carlos shrugs, making the Elf bounce again.
"That's great. And plenty strong against lower level transfers. Listen to me, talking all big, like I wasn't lower leveled this morning."
"Maybe start with two to guard your Guild House like hired sentries. Put them in armor and give them a sword and they'll keep out unwanted low level visitors." Misha suggests.
"Combat Maids. I vote combat maids." Kone laughs, making the Elf blush at some off track thought and Carlos smile at her reactions like he's making mental notes.
