{Wind Wolf (lv4) pattern goes from lv4 to lv6

Stone Wolf (lv4) pattern acquired at lv4

Lesser Shadow Wolf (lv9) pattern acquired at lv2

Wolf patterns consolidated into Wolf Patterns at lv8

Dungeon Wolf pattern derived from Wolf Patterns at lv5

Level Gained!

Level goes from 1 to 2, Strength goes from 20 to 21, Agility goes from 21 to 23, Constitution goes from 22 to 24, Intelligence goes from 18 to 20, Wisdom goes from 20 to 27, Perception goes from 14 to 15, Destiny goes from 21 to 25, Karma goes from 27 to 30, Luck goes from 19 to 21}

{Stone Wolf (Lv4)

S[8] A[3] C[18] I[3] W[3] P[5]

Skills: Teamwork lv5, Steadfast lv3

Cost: World Energy[75]}

{Lesser Shadow Wolf (Lv9)

S[5] A[23] C[6] I[4] W[10] P[10]

Skills: Teamwork lv5, Bite lv3, Shadow Phasing lv1

Cost: World Energy[500]}

{Dungeon Wolf

S[5] A[7] C[3] I[3] W[5] P[8]

Skills: Teamwork lv5, Bite lv3

Cost: World Energy[50]}

Ally whistles, ‘24 point increase! Your stat growth is getting to the level of a promising child from a world level group. Admittedly, the points are more spread out than they usually have. Those kids tend to go for at least 15 or 16 points in their main stat.’

Doyle tears his attention away from all the new wolves he has gotten. ‘So, what’s a world level group? On one hand, I assume that means an organization that has global reach. On the other hand, that is going by my background, which is based on a civilization which was is limited to a single planet in the first place.’

Ally laughs, ‘A little of column A, a little of column B. It isn’t good enough to just be all over a world. That isn’t hard with magic around. Rather, you need to be recognized by the system as a major power on said world. It basically represents that if you want something that is on your world, you can likely get it.’

‘What is important about this is that their direct descendants will have training such that gains like yours would be fairly common. I expect you to smash past them though as you level slowly and they only count as children if they are below a certain age and under level ten.’

Doyle nods, ‘That makes sense. Now, though, I have to ask. Do you think I should start work on my next level right away or wait?’

Ally gestures out towards the people taking care of the wounded. ‘The founders out there will want to know if the wolves are well and truly dead. I would wait to change anything until they can do that. Though speaking of wolves, look at the lesser shadow wolf! It doesn’t have the best stat line for that level of monster, but the shadow phasing makes up for it many times over! The simple ability to move through shadows will be so powerful in our dungeon if only because we can design places in a way to provide the perfect shadows. Sad that we won’t get it for a few more floors.’

Doyle sighs, ‘The price is a little up there as well. I guess it is to be expected from a monster which starts at level nine. Though that brings up the whole stats thing. I remember you saying something about ten being the baseline stat based on the human average. And the fact that most level two monsters will have a stat at 11. With that in mind, when I look at the wolves it seems a little odd.’

‘The stone and wind wolves are both level four to start and cost the same. On the other hand, the wind wolf’s main stat is only at 15 while the stone wolf goes all the way to 18. Since the skills can affect this, I guess it might come from that, but it still seems weird.’

Ally shrugs, ‘There isn’t really a guideline for monster stats. The only reason for level two having a stat of 11 is because that is the one point anyone has been able to really pin it down. While an 11 in a stat isn’t a feat that is beyond humanity, even without the system and magic, you can get some high stats just through training. Rather, it is the point where you end up on the good side of the bell curve of unassisted human ability.’

‘However, even then, it isn’t all that cut and dry. After all, how in the world does a wolf only have 5 strength? Humans are an endurance based race that developed to chase their prey to death. Or rather, that is how it is here on your planet. While this universe you live in tends to develop a lot of humans, they don’t all develop like they do here. The whole “ten is average” thing is one of those interesting results you get when you average stuff. After all, the average of ten people where nine have five points of strength and the tenth has 55 is still ten.’

‘Humanity is just so diverse that despite the crazy examples of how high a stat can be, there are just as many shockingly low examples to counterbalance each other. It doesn’t help that this number just comes from the optimal stats of a person when they become an adult. Technically, humans on your planet should have a constitution nearing 20 when they reach adulthood. None of you are endurance hunting anymore, so it rarely happens, but that’s life.’

Doyle shakes his core, ‘That makes it sound like the whole ten thing is more of a gimmick than actually useful.’

Ally laughs, ‘You aren’t entirely wrong there. However, it is a good watershed moment. Getting to ten in every stat is generally seen as important out in the wider world. That is actually what most people use their stat points on when they get them. Focus on per level bonuses for the main stats while putting the loose points into those that don’t matter as much. Of course, reality isn’t like your world’s roleplaying games. There are no dump stats.’

Doyle nods, ‘That never made sense, anyway. Especially with how some things are connected to one another. What good is being super strong if you can’t hit anything?’

Ally smirks, ‘Exactly! Though there are still those who feel they can get away with aggressive specialization. Particularly if they decide to go with a specific set of stats. The most popular of course being the so-called body cultivators. They throw all their focus on only getting points in their three body stats.’

‘This is popular because early on it works. In fact, not only does it work, it works extremely well! A true body cultivator would be able to steamroll your dungeon by themselves. Of course, they soon stall out. Being able to bash every normal monster will get you levels quickly but without mental stats you will soon find yourself charmed and without any soul you’ll find curses sting all the more. That aside, we should go and watch the founders for a bit. I’ve monitored them while we went over all of this and they’ve gotten to an important thing.’

Doyle turns his attention to a gathering of the 27 people who stayed behind. Ace is at the front of the group and all around them are the butchered remains of the wolves they had killed. Stretched out over stone frames are pelt after pelt, all in the process of tanning.

Ace clears his throat, “So we lived. Just look around and you can see that. We now have enough food to last us for a while and technically don’t have a reason to dive anytime soon. Problem is that this isn’t the end. There are a lot of loose threads out there still. Jan and her cronies have control of most of the normal people from here. Even before that, we had those small time thugs escape by the river. Besides, anyone who thinks those wolves will be the only ones to come here has their head in the sand.”

“Now, more than ever, we need to get stronger. We need to dive into the dungeon over and over to train ourselves. However, we need to be smart about it. Levels mean nothing without the skills and paths to back it up. I don’t want a single one of you to be diving into the dungeon more than once a day. If you’re just bored, stick to the inner circle and train any skills that need to be powered.”

“Besides that, even the wolves might not be finished. We need a large group of people to delve into the dungeon and make sure they have all died and we need to do it now. If the dungeon killed even just those first ten wind wolves, it likely has enough to gain a new floor. Who knows what kind of floor it will make if there are still wolves at large. Now who wants to go in? I plan to delve in and want at least two other founders with me and a total of 12 people. Anyone want to volunteer before some of you get voluntold?”

The gathered people laugh at the last bit before they settle in to decide who will go. Doctor bows out right away and points out a couple of people to not be allowed to go. “They still need healing and I’m the one who can do it.” With that announcement, Doctor grabs the two people and drags them back to the medical area.

After that, the first person to volunteer is actually Kelly. As she puts it, she, “wanted to study how the dungeon is reacting to the wolves invading”.

With another founder signing up for the delve, the rest of the people all start to volunteer and soon Ace has enough people to delve the dungeon. He even had to turn down a few. “Thank you all for wanting to join me in this delve, but we need people out here even more! We are at our weakest right now and it is the perfect time for something to swoop in and take advantage of us. There is a reason I restricted the number of founders who could join me.”

That settled, Ace and the other 11 people entered the dungeon. With twice the number of people than a normal party, the first floor loses all challenge. The only difficulty comes from the logistics of getting so many people through the hallways in time to join the fight. In the Kobold room, they don’t even need a plan. Instead, they just pour into the room. With two magic users to counter the kobold mages and a third to dish out some crowd control, the melee fighters easily clean up the enemies.

Without pause for loot or to harvest the plants, they enter directly into the second floor. Through the entrance and into the second room, one of the mages lays down a cloud of dust. From behind one of the far boulders, the group hears coughing. The other two mages in the group fire off some explosive magic, taking out the two kobolds that had been hiding there.

Ace advances on the boulder and, after finding them dead he sighs, “We can’t be sure yet, but it seems likely that the wolves have all died. If the dungeon has a third floor, they might be there instead. Even with the mobs respawned, we still need to clear the floor so don’t let your guard down!”

Of course, there aren’t anyone actual threats for their group on this floor either. In fact, the forest room is even easier for them to fight in as it gives them enough space to properly spread out. With all the enemies dead they check on the last room on the floor. Seeing the core there Ace lets out a long sigh, “Okay people, we’re done here! The wolves are all dead. We should get out of here so the dungeon can process whatever gains it might have made.”

Akhier

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