The recent level gains have brought Cain to a nice round level 160. It's well past time to upgrade his base stats, so he opens his interface and looks everything over.
[Name] Cain
[Level] 160
[Class] Puppet Master
[Race] Ancient
[Stats]+130->30
[STR] 175->200
[DEX] 175->200
[CON] 175->200
[INT] 175->200
[HP] 1400->3200
[MP] 1750->4000
Growth Rate 8hp/CON 10mp/INT -> 16HP/CON, 20MP/INT
That's amazing, hitting 200 in their respective stats doubled his HP and MP growth rates, just like hitting 100 did. He's not sure how it will affect his physical damage modifiers, or agility, but he's got an incredible amount of base mana now. Not that he has a wealth of skills that need it.
Misha and Mythryll are also focused on their interfaces, upgrading their Skills instead of their stats.
With a smile Misha returns her focus to reality and calls for a Summon. This isn't one she gained from Cain, but a new Ability she finally had the points for. [Summoned Helper] an Epic Golem, upgraded from Greater by her [Greater Minions] skill. It looks like a baby Record Keeper, a bird kin with a feathery beaked head, clawed feet, blue and purple feathered wings and blue Cleric robes with Gold trim.
It's a bit shorter than she is, but taller than the Elves, and looks up at her with what passes for a smile, the flickering flames from the book in its hands going from black and blue to a gentle pink that just radiates a feeling of happiness.
The Demon makes a happy squawk, like a crow that just got a treat and gives Misha a bow. "Good to meet you too. My name is Misha and I look forward to working with you in the future."
The Demon gives another bow and moves to stand behind her, ready for any instructions it is given.
"I guess she's not talkative? That's alright though, we've got our share of chatterbox types already." Cain teases while Nemu, Laura and Evangeline flip him off at the same time.
Mythryll is finished now as well, and is wondering where the feathery Demon came from until she sees that it Shadows Misha like a lost puppy. It's really quite cute, like it just wants so much to impress her that it can't stand to be anywhere else.
The Elf went for a series of upgrades to her Shadow Damage bonuses and [Corrupted Forest Friends]. She calls them out now, getting four Greater Golem quality bears. They have got glowing red eyes, a dark mist surrounding them and a serious case of mange. The missing fur just makes them even scarier looking, but the feathery Demon seems to like them, coming over to pet their heads.
"They're still Greater Golems, and I couldn't get the last upgrade to their numbers yet, but they should be extremely durable with all the other upgrades finished. I got more upgrades to my Treants as well, both in numbers and in damage."
The bears are a good match for her Demonic Form with the black tree branch hair and Dryad like appearance, but Misha keeps that to herself, in case the Elf thinks the Demonic bears are ugly and takes it as an insult.
While they're busy admiring the new summons, Cain is still deciding what skill to upgrade next. They've all got to be done eventually, but he's got so many summons already that it's getting out of hand. Maybe he should order them to merge more often, instead of just flooding the area with bodies?
The obvious choice seems to be Supporters, so that's where Cain puts his skill points.
Looking at the waiting skills, he's a bit sad he didn't manage to keep the skill points from the quest reward. The reward he got was obviously way better, but still, it would have been nice to have those ten extra points.
With the final upgrade, Cain can now call 18 supporters, assuming he doesn't use Ancient Resistance to triple whatever species he's picked them from. At the current time, one is constantly reserved for the Spider Queen who inhabits the lower levels of the Guild Castle along with her daughter Aramia, but that still leaves him more than enough supporters to work with.
Everyone makes their way out of the dungeon to recover and enjoy the afternoon, having entirely lost track of time. The trials moved at a different time flow than the outside world, and only a few hours have passed since they entered the dungeon a second time, making it early evening in the outside world.
"How about a barbecue first? A quick snack might be just what we need to settle down after that unexpected turn of events."
At just that moment, Sora flies over to them, the Tengu twins from Sunnybrook in tow. "Did we hear barbecue? We'll whip up something amazing for you. These two just discovered a new sauce, created by the Elves of Sunnybrook, and it's great with roasted meat."
As if they'd ever say no to that. "Let's get it going then. Any word on how the first full day with a baby Demon Queen went?"
"She didn't set anyone on fire today. And she's growing really fast. Hilda says she looks like she's almost 3 years old already after her nap. By this time tomorrow she should look old enough to start school. The new Lieutenants are already making a lesson plan. Young Neffie is proving to be very intelligent, and almost as mischievous as I am."
Sora almost sounds proud of that fact, like a prank loving Demon Queen is a good thing. But then, in her eyes, maybe it is. One the other hand, the Tengu twins have almost mastered the art of blending into the background, the direct opposite of the flamboyant Lieutenant.
They've got a fire going in one of the outdoor pits in the park between the keep and the dungeon portals, getting the coals nice and hot for cooking. Despite the late hour, it's still very warm out here in the desert, and the kitchen is on the main floor.
"Did you guys switch out duty stations, or just come to visit?" Cain asks as they set up tables and chairs in the park.
"We've switched for now. Lickity and the kids are back in Sunnybrook, and Neffie is a menace to all forms of wings, so for the sake of our feathers we came here and sent some puppets to help out at the house."
"Symbia sent you fifty more dolls by the way. They've all got two sets of clothes and a set of armor with a sword. She said you'd need some soon." Maggie greets them, coming back from her inspection of the walls. The smell of roasting meat carries, and there isn't much to break up the monotony of her days lately.
So many bandits and small Guilds died in the attack that there's almost no hostile human presence in the desert, and the defenses scare away all the wildlife, so mostly the wall guards just sit in the shade and watch the sand blow around. Sora offered to trade her out so she could do something else, but the serious minded Orc has no intentions of leaving the walls entirely to the Tengu and the puppets, no matter how many guards she could call.
"That should work out well then. We've got plenty of staff for the houses now, it's just a matter of guards. Has Symbia had time to create more of her high level ones for the Castle?"
"The full compliment is standing by underground. The artists have finished the Keep and they're working on the first floor, but they're afraid of the friendly spiders, so they like to keep the guards around to keep the critters from sneaking up on them."
Cain can only imagine how many times that's happened to them already. The little ones are completely silent when running down a web, and don't talk, so you wouldn't get any sort of warning if they were sent to bring you a message.
Cain pulls the puppets from the Guild Bank, finding that they've all been dressed like Hilda, in a maid outfit with armor and a two handed sword. Unlike the Demon though, they don't have any magic of their own, and the sword is a long slender one and not the double sided heavy blade that the Succubus Royal Guards prefer. Still, they will make excellent multi purpose guards.
[Thanks everyone who helped equip the puppets. Fifty matching outfits and sets of equipment couldn't have been easy.] Cain sends in Guild chat.
[No problem Boss. We're training some new smiths and tailors here in Graska, and every successful attempt they made went to a Puppet. It saves on waste, since that stuff usually just gets torn apart or melted down to try again for more crafting skill.]
So that's what they're up to. Cain knew they wouldn't be idle for long, too many members prefer creation to killing monsters. Looking through the Guild Bank they've been busy too. There's all sorts of things in there, almost enough to fill up all 300 spaces it can currently hold.
[How are we on storage? I see the bank is almost full.]
[Carlos is sending out a ship in the next few days to the Eastern Continent to get rid of most of what's in the bank. We've got a bunch in the store rooms still, but we haven't had to start moving things to Fort Darklight Castle yet.]
It looks like things are starting to run smoothly on their own now. That's a load off Cain's mind. Now he can just focus on leveling up and adventuring.
