Trash Mountain Dungeon

Three days had passed, and I was now ready to reach level 4, it seemed camp life hadn't been the greatest so far for my human, and some elf, allies. During the three days, I stood and watched as the camp underwent a rapid change from tents to wood and stone huts. Of course, they weren't great huts, but those huts went a long way for their safety and comfort on the mountain, that alone wouldn't have caused the agonizing lack of people over the last few days and was instead from a very unlikely source, the trash. From the bits and pieces, I was able to figure out that the mountain was once a dumping ground for a settlement of dwarves that used to inhabit the mountain before the ogres pushed them out a few generations ago. It seems as though those dwarves weren't the cleanest of people, but I didn't want to assume just because I read a lot of fantasy back home.

I learned this after a little mishap that was somewhere between an accident and a blessing, kinda. Yesterday, a group of small frog things with bulbous stone shells crawled into the front room, oohing and awing with each step. What had happened was that these critters, not the dungeon kind, had managed to sneak away from their handler and found their way into my dungeon, somehow managing to make their way to the spider room, and subsequently getting stuck in some of the webbing. I was actually going to kill them at first but one of the wizard ladies that accompanied Arthur whenever he came rushed in and blasted my poor spiders with some water cannon, begging forgiveness before unsticking the frog things and leaving. To be honest I was just confused but also thankful because she did attack my spiders, she fulfilled the final 'attack' that I needed to progress to core level 4, thankfully Arthur sent a messenger to clear up the situation over his friend's pets and a few other bits I was able to communicate through my merchant.

But back to the level up.

Congratulations!

The core has fulfilled the requirements to advance to level 4!

+1 floor limit

Added gross mana production to base production.

+300 mana storage

+1 level 3 perk choice

+1 focusing choice.

+1 level 4 monster choice

+10 DP for leveling up.

As always it was great to have these rewards, but let's get to the real meat of things, what ya got for me?

Level 3 perks:

Structural Efficiency 2: Grants mechanical structures and monsters improved efficiency and reduced upkeep. +2 mana production for all mechanical structures and -2 mana upkeep from mechanical monsters. Node upkeep is reduced by 2.

Metal Garden 1: Allows unique machine plant life to grow within the dungeon, these plants do not provide a direct benefit but possess special properties that may attract entities to the dungeon. Semi-edible. Tier 1 plants, for example, Grease Grass, Detonation Dandelion, and Thermoregulatory Grapevine.

Mechanical Monster Enhancement 1: Improves machine-type monsters overall and reduces their upkeep by 3. Upkeep can never fall under 1.

Eh, not the most interesting options, but they were all useful. Structural Efficiency was still an overall good choice, its benefits were broad and logical, and the mech monster enhancement was essentially just structural efficiency but only monsters. But the metal garden was the most interesting of the bunch, not amazingly mind you, but still. With how much I was talking and making deals with the people outside, making them more invested in me was a solid choice now, all I needed to do was figure out how I could sell these 'plants' to Arthur. Assumably they're if plants were machines, meaning metal and some kind of product or byproduct; what I'm thinking is that if the grease grass produces grease or can itself be made into grease somehow, then I could sell that alone. Since after all, grease can be used on far too many things to recount here, and I doubt these guys have a House Depot they can drop in and pick up some lube.

I wasn't sure what the others were capable of despite having rather fun names, but the grass alone could improve my bargaining power. They knew I controlled the dungeon and that I could make the dungeon grow in any number of ways, if they saw that I was willing and capable of creating things that would at least look as though it were for their benefit then I would gain not only goodwill but both the trust that I could be a critical ally of theirs and that by helping preserve my independence they would reap rewards. Still, I had to weigh that versus the more internally beneficial perks, structural efficiency and monster enhancement would lower my costs across the board and give me more leeway for costly monsters and rooms in the future. Although that does give me a few thoughts, the two common options provided a tangible but perhaps metal garden could be used in other ways.

My thought was that if there was a way to turn these 'plants' into usable things then there was the possibility that my ratkin would be able to use them just as any outsider would. After all, while grease can be used for various maintenance tasks, it is also a weapon in the right situation. If I'm right then the metal garden wasn't just a lure, but instead a full-on benefit to me and my monsters, all I needed to do was figure out how to get them to start.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves yet, we still have a few more things to look through before we finalize things.

Focusing 3:

Mechanical Focus 2: More machine options will appear, allowing rarer options to appear. Grants one level 2 mechanical monster.

Mechanical Structure Focus 1: Adjust machine structures to be more efficient, increasing their production by 1, increasing room bonus by 1%, and reducing upkeep by 1.

Material Quality Focus 1: Slightly improves all non-exotic materials produced by dungeon structures.

Again, not the most glamorous pickings, but they were still beneficial so whatever. Mechanical Focus 2 was another returning option from my level 3 level up and was offering the same thing, more machines, and a free monster; it didn't strictly improve anything, but it was an investment in the future with a side of candy to sweeten the deal. But the other two were new, the mechanical structure was offering better room structures, and based on the trend of these things, any subsequent versions I picked would offer increasingly higher numbers. on the other hand, though, material quality also brought value similar to the metal garden, a tangible thing that people would want and need. Actually, that could turn out pretty well if it works that way, first I would pick the garden and then choose material quality which would improve the resulting 'plants' by however much slightly is to the system.

Floating through the different rooms and floors, I could definitely make use of any of the offered choices, the only question was how I wanted to proceed. Sitting on one of the training dummies they set in the barracks courtyard, I watched as the strange ratkin that reinvented cooking fiddled with pieces of metal and cloth, which I found out was a cooking utensil, not a great one but it was a step forward. If this one found the passion to teach himself the foundations of cooking, then it wouldn't be that big of a stretch for another to learn some kind of alchemy. After all, cooking uses chemistry heavily, and chemistry was founded by alchemists back on Earth, all I needed to do was find a ratkin who could crack whatever code there was, and failing that I could have the cook try.

Hmmm

Now that I think of it, the vision of ratkin throwing around grease barrels or adventurers bartering for said barrels might be a ways off. As it stood, I had no way of knowing if I could create anything out of the machine plants let alone make use of them, add the fact that none of my monsters really have the tools or space to learn this sort of thing, and my dream for the metal garden seemed less likely. What I would need is a consistent source of glassware and information, both I could get from Arthur, but he was dealing with his situation right now so it's unlikely he could help, at least not without a price.

System, could I create glassware and the like if I wanted to, I don't have much but I have some DP to spare.

Positive, however, directly creating an object uses DP and thus it is advised to only do so if the core is confident it will see a return on the expenditure.

A fair point I guess, I can't remember how many beakers and vials I broke in chem 101, not that I ended up going with the degree in nuclear chem, but I'm rambling. The system's point about cost return was a valid one and if I wanted to help a ratkin learn science or alchemy then I should do it more cost-effectively, likely once Arthur is done setting himself out on my porch. I think I could help accelerate his plans, but I'd like to get these choices out of the way before I invest myself in them and whatever the requirements for level 5 are.

So, what to choose?