I was conflicted on what to think from... all that. On one hand, allies had just asked me to help them with their child, and from what I had been told it wasn't something I would be against. On the other hand, the whole thing stinks for some reason, I couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt off about the whole thing.
Any insight, System?
Is that a bad thing?
So, nothing too impactful then, good, good, I've never had to deal with kids all that much back on Earth, and even when I did it was my kid cousins who were generally already self-sufficient by the time I'd properly met them. I suppose it would be best to get things ready before she gets back. Coasting through the floors, I had the dryads set up a simple shack a short distance from the main grotto, it was somewhat ramshackle, but it would serve its purpose when the time came. Next, made standing orders with the kobolds to provide our future guests with food and drink, both of which were edible to humans (and adjacent) but were according to the system rather high in fiber for most non-herbivores.
With that sorted out, I could return to other projects. Now that my talk with them was over with, I could focus on my two main projects, my dungeon level, and Arthur. The level requirements were easy, thankfully, if expensive to get done with, using my remaining exotics alongside a chunk of mana.
Behind the TM's great tree a stairway formed, leading to my new floor 6. With 30 rooms available, I had an enormous amount of space to work with, a trend that would only grow as I grew. First though, I want to know my other picks before I go crazy, again, with designing something.
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So, in summary, smart machines get smarter, I get some extra monsters from here one, and my kind of steampunk, kind of smogpunk, works a bit better overall. Useful, on the whole, but not the most impactful at this point. Intelligent design's main draw was that my dumb creations could think better, something I didn't care about in those specific monsters, while it only lightly touched up on my smart ones. Opposing it was that I could have free monsters in the form of minor elementals that would pop up here and there each room, equal to the ones I had a whole room dedicated to.
Like I said, useful but not impactful, at least not now.
Moving onto the focus choice.
Seems mechanical focus had changed from just increasing the chance of machine choices, to making it certain I would get them. That was good, really good, but the real draw was the conversion ability I would get, the only downside was that I'd have to pay for it. Doing some quick math, assuming I got any mechanical monsters and trap in the future, a certainty thanks to my deals with Arthur and co. I would be paying hundreds to convert the different things they brought to me.
I shook my head; I can spiral once I've thought out the other two.
Checking the store, I did indeed find a puzzle room package, a simple pack that contained several pre-designed puzzles that I could install in a room to make it into a puzzle one. They ranged in difficulty and scale, but the theme of all of them was that they were all solvable, and they were all unpassable. The idea was that the room, once entered, would lock itself and prevent any escape that wasn't to leave the dungeon, and that those stuck inside would be forced to complete some trial or puzzle to leave, or else face a punishment. The combination of puzzle and reward, though, was to entice people into these puzzles so that they would get their rewards, increasing mana generation and increasing dungeon growth. With this, I could make points in the dungeon that no matter what, couldn't be smashed through all willy-nilly. The fact that I could choose how to reward them if I wanted to was essentially a bonus in this situation.
Moving on, there was the outrider. To be honest, I wasn't super certain I'd pick this, but given the utility and the fact that I could actually exert my presence outside of the dungeon more often, it definitely would have its moments. The big issue was that I had no real intention of letting any more monsters out of my dungeon any time soon, some ideas did come up, like if I got more dryad-esque monsters that could alter the environment, but otherwise I'd just stick to my hobgoblins for now.
Overall, I had my choices, always getting mechanical choices, and the ability to make things mechanical. A more streamlined method of gifting to people, and the chance of getting monsters that can leave and do stuff outside. What this meant in practice though would be more security, more trade incentives, and a greater outside presence.
What to do?
What to do?
