Doyle nods to himself, for good or ill, paths are the time to trust yourself. So with confidence that probably wasn’t earned yet, tells the system to put 15 points into Communities of Myriad Heritages.

{15 points applied to Communities of Myriad Heritages I...

5/15 - You have earned +20 Destiny, Beings that are created or born within communities that identify themselves as being in and around your location and all monster patterns gain +2 Strength

10/15 - You have earned +2 Karma/Level, Communities that identify themselves as being in and around your Location have boosted Luck depending on how much they identify with your location

15/15 - Path Complete, The more varied the communities that identify themselves as being in and around your Location the more chances there are at gaining otherworldly heritages}

Doyle sighs to himself as he notices the vague wording on what the path effects. About the only clear cut bit that isn’t for himself is tacked onto his monsters, and even that is a little wonky. It is easy enough for him to guess that this represents an innate boost like with the one cow path. Though this bonus has the potential to be a whole lot more sweeping in its coverage. So much so that he feels the need to ask Ally what is up with the path.

Ally had a similar reaction to Doyle, though after thinking about it and a few searches she groans. ‘This is a very powerful path which luckily will not be traced back to you. What it represents is that intangible something people connect to places where you believe certain groups are just better at something because of the location. Maybe one country is believed to have mostly smart people or another is seen as a warrior nation with a bunch of strong men.

‘They aren’t always right. Sometimes it is just that the people living in those places are raised a certain way. Other times, people will just be born with better stats. This boost is one of those known unknowns.

‘You would think that if being born near a place gave everyone born there plus two Strength, it would be obvious. That, however, is where the vague condition to get the bonus comes into play. For this bonus to apply, the parents have to genuinely be a part of the community and that community has to view itself as being connected to your location.

‘So that place up river wouldn’t get this bonus as they see themselves as separate. While on the other hand, a settlement even farther away might actually get it because they see all the locally connected settlements as being one location. This can even extend to the entire planet and sometimes local satellites, both natural and not.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘So it is possible that eventually every human born on the planet will get a two point head start on Strength?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Maybe? It all depends on intention. A team of scientists setting up an enclave literally right next to your dungeon might not benefit from it because they see themselves as separate. All the while, a family of illegal immigrants from another planet who end up on the opposite side of the planet could end up benefiting from the bonus if they believe they are connected and their settlement believes the same.

‘Honestly, for your bonus to cover the planet you would need to end up being a World Wonder. Which before you ask, differ from Heritage sites. A heritage site is simply a location that marks important events in history. A World Wonder defines the world. If I had to compare it to anything, I would say that World Wonders are to locations what Artifacts are to magic items. Strange things that like to break the rules.’

Doyle laughs, ‘And what are Artifacts? Though more seriously, I guess it is a good thing that I don’t have to worry about this particular bonus being linked back to me. It seems that with every few paths I end up stumbling upon something that threatens to reveal what I am.’

Ally, ‘That’s because you are, at least to a certain extent. While paths are personalized, there is only so much they can do. Besides, your path is at odds with how things usually go. Naturally awakened dungeon cores will tend towards being less human and so less likely to get paths that benefit everyone. On the other hand, having lived as a human there is a certain amount of society built into you.

‘Even at your most introverted, you still had a job that involved going out and interacting with others in a positive manner whether you wanted to or not. That means that when you get paths, they are more likely to provide wide spread minor buffs instead of a major self buff. So even if you didn’t want this, it is a little too late.

‘Besides, you’ve already built both your boss floors into communities. It doesn’t matter if you tried to be completely anti-social. With those in place, you’ve already started down this path with no chance to turn back.’

Doyle grumbles about this a little before turning back to the list of paths. After all, he had a good few points left to spend. Though what he sees, surprises him.

{Points: 90

Class: Dungeon Core III 100/100, Awakened Dungeon Core II 10/10

Location [1/2 I]: Kobold Community II 30/30, Communities of Myriad Heritages I 15/15

Completed: Goat Supremacy 20/20, Energy Well I 3/3, Commanding Subordinates 12/12, Ageless Queens 15/15, Earth’s First Home of the Limit Breakers I 1/1, Biomes Aplenty 5/5, Potion Dispensary 10/10, Elemental Animals 5/5, Cows for Milk 12/12, Vegetation Variety 20/20, Divine Border 1/1, Know Your Enemies 10/10, Pathfinder, [UNIQUE] 1/1, Community Driven 10/10, Monster Rancher 50/50, Community Builder 30/30, Extra Accommodations 75/75, Energy Well II 6/6

Started [1/3]: [TRINITY] 21/1000

Available: Awakened Dungeon Core III 10/100, Awakened Spatial Dungeon core I 0/1, Dungeon Core of Awakened Intent I 0/1, Traditional Kobold Community I 0/1, Heritage Kobold Community I 0/1, Vine Warper 0/15, Kin Slayer 0/100, Voidborn 0/250, Axe Sharpener 0/5, Expansionist 0/30, Fire’s Flying 0/7, Deal Broker 0/10, All the Potions 0/60, Boss Builder 0/50, Engraver 0/5, Godly Negotiator 0/500, Heavenly Gate 0/350, Clan Head 0/25, Five Cornered Square Initiate 0/100, Raising The Floor 0/100, Into The Infinite 0/60, Floors Within Floors 0/10, Phrenic Friend 0/120, PsiBane I 0/200, PsiBoon I 0/200, Deep Rules 0/500, Time Will Wait 0/500, Monster Rancher II 0/100, Energy Well III 0/18}

Doyle had completely forgotten about how location paths worked and so had not been expecting to see the kobold community paths still on the list. In fact, he was surprised that it listed how many rank one paths he had and could have. That second one in particular would be useful once he had higher rank location paths.

For now, though, it pointed out that he could take the heritage path for the kobolds. A decision which was almost made even before he finished reading the available paths. Though he did wait to finish reading before telling the system to buy the path.

{15 points applied to Heritage Kobold Community I...

5/15 - You have earned +2 Wisdom/Level, Kobolds get +2 Wisdom/Level, Kobolds within your Dungeon’s Territory are more likely to form communities and those communities are more likely to be controlled by kobolds with higher mind stats instead of body stats

10/15 - You have earned 5 classic Kobold Trap Patterns, Kobolds get +2 Agility/Level, Kobold communities within your Dungeon’s Territory are more likely to develop rules and traditions which have shown good results

15/15 - Path Complete, Extraplanar Kobold Heritage stone Monument placed within fifth floor Kobold Community, Kobolds from a similar lineage as the ones in your Dungeon are more likely to appear on any world where you are present, Kobolds on any world where you are present are born with +1 to all mental stats}

{Kobold Pitfall Pattern gained at lv13

Kobold Murder Hole Pattern gained at lv13

Kobold Rock Fall Pattern gained at lv13

Kobold Trip Wire Pattern gained at lv13

Kobold Dart Trap Pattern gained at lv13

Kobold pitfall, kobold murder hole, kobold rock fall, kobold trip wire, and kobold dart trap patterns merged into Kobold Trap Patterns lv14}

Doyle saw right off the bat a major head scratcher of a capstone reward and so focuses on everything else first. Though it looks like this path wasn’t going to be helping Wolf’s Rest like the previous location path did. Not only are kobolds going to be more common, they’re going to be smarter as well. That last one was honestly going to be a bit of a toss up.

Either the kobolds would be smart enough to not cause too much trouble for the town or they were going to be smart enough to cause a ton of problems. Maybe both, only time will tell. Though the fact that communities within his territory, which he had been spreading out since it wasn’t connected to Energy Well anymore, would be more organized would help.

Some might see that as a potential negative as well. After all, since they are more organized and more likely to be led by a smart kobold, the communities would be more able to hide themselves. Doyle however sees it as a negative for any overly troublesome community that forms nearby. After all, he very much doubts they would be able to avoid Jim tracking down their home location and since they’re all in one place, they’re easier to take care of all at once.

Though with that Doyle is left with the capstone, maybe quite literally as he hasn’t seen it yet, the Extraplanar Kobold Heritage stone Monument. A monument that the system has already graciously placed on the fifth floor. So, not wanting to take any chances, he calls in Ally before poking at anything or even looking at the thing.

Ally, upon hearing what he received is honestly quite shocked. While the system’s source lies outside this dimension and could in fact be called extraplanar itself, that does not mean it has access to extraplanar stuff. So sure, it could make replicas of things its creators have pulled from elsewhere, but they would not be listed as extraplanar.

Not wanting to delay it anymore and noticing that Doyle isn’t doing too well with this revelation, Ally pulls up a screen to display the fifth floor kobold settlement. Suffice it to say, the monument isn’t hard to find. Right in the center of the settlement where the boss’ throne had been was a large stone structure.

The monument looked like a mix between a step pyramid and an obelisk. Though the steps are smaller than Doyle is used to seeing to make up for the kobolds being shorter than humans on average. The pyramid part actually isn’t all that big, just four layers, so while it does rise above the other buildings, it isn’t by much. On the other hand, the obelisk at the top makes up for it by rising nearly to the ceiling.

More impressive, though, is what is carved on the monument. A parade of kobold forms and a written language that mimicked marks you could make with a claw. The forms were varied and strange. There were, of course normal kobolds, but beyond that it went off in all directions. Frilled kobolds, crested kobolds, winged kobolds, kobolds with the lower body of a snake, furred dog-like kobolds, kobolds with spikes all over their bodies, kobolds with fire billowing off their bodies, and so many more.

In fact, the farther up you went, the stranger the kobolds got until you got the obelisk’s capstone. Upon that capstone was only ever one kobold, though the image would change seemingly at random and yet despite each image being crystal clear, they would appear blurred to any viewer. Maybe if Doyle hadn’t met Moota or Jess, he wouldn’t have realized what they represented. Each image that appeared on that capstone was a representation of a Kobold Deity.

Doyle was feeling really nervous about that up until Ally started laughing. She wiped a tear from her eye before explaining, ‘That capstone really gave me a fright. Good thing it isn’t actually connected to any of those deities being depicted. Like, maybe our kobolds will be able to more easily reach out and worship one deity or another, but that is it.

‘This monument was crafted by mortal hands without godly interference and was meant only to record, not connect. Almost a shame as I can tell they put more than 90% of the work into that capstone, carving hyper realistic and highly meaningful images of their gods. However, since this was purely a mortal work it looks like one or more of the depicted deities decided they wanted some privacy and so now you can only see a blur.’

Akhier

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