The first floor went much the same as Cub’s Den had gone, except Tess was behind Alice and Eyfura while the older women sprung the traps ahead. There were only goblins at this point, but they were disgusting enough to make her wish that there were kobolds as well.
Well, provided the kobolds were cleaner. Regardless, the goblins were short and stunted, with proportions that were just…off. They weren’t even consistently off, either. Sometimes one of their arms was much shorter than the other, their necks were of dramatically differing lengths, ears weren’t always quite aligned, and they often had large dents and bumps on their body.
Their clothes weren’t much better; they were ragged and dirty, covered in stains and only patchily covering their bodies. The bodies themselves were green and, like the clothes, covered with dirt and grime. And they stank, too. Tess was glad that she had opted to turn off Keen Nose when not actively using it, because even without it she could clearly smell them from yards away.
Fortunately, as the info sheet had said, they weren’t anything to write home about when it came to actual combat ability. They generally had a front line/back line thing going on, but since none of the front liners were able to notice Tess, she was able to slip in and take out the back liners with a single strike each. Mopping up the front liners was a little more difficult since they were moving more, but a few well-aimed blows would finish them off too.
The only real thing of note that happened on the first floor was when they reached the exit. They were about to go through, but Alice stopped them. “Tess, have you absorbed that core yet?”
Tess started. “Oh, right, I forgot. Sorry.” She took the core out of her bag, “Let me do that real quick.”
The core was far and away the largest she had ever absorbed, but she wasn’t hurting for empty slots, so she wasn’t worried about potentially needing to eject it later. There was still a slight moment of hesitation, but she powered through it and absorbed the core, watching as the core burst into a huge haze, swirled around her, then rushed in.
And, unlike the other cores she had absorbed, there was an instant rush of energy and power from it. It was clearly quite a few steps above even the boss cores she had absorbed, and the long list in front of her reflected that.
You have absorbed an Emperor Lion Core! Slots filled: 6/8 You have gained 5,700 EXP in Monster Breeder! Monster Breeder has leveled up! Monster Breeder has leveled up! For reaching level 10 in Monster Breeder, you have gained a new Skill!
Form of the Beast: Rarity: Phantasmal Type: Passive Description: You gain an additional slot for Attributes. This slot functions like the ones from Core Surgery, but any Attribute put in this slot is marked as Fundamental, greatly increasing its effects and potentially providing new ones. Every 10th level of Monster Breeder beyond level 10 grants an additional Fundamental slot. 0/1 Slots used. Absorb, Adapt, Become
Monster Breeder has leveled up! Monster Breeder has leveled up! Monster Breeder has leveled up! Monster Breeder has leveled up!
New core absorbed! Scanning for abilities… New Skills detected! Attempting to degrade and obtain Command of the Emperor… Congratulations, you have successfully obtained Heir’s Will! Attempting to degrade and obtain Emperor’s Armaments… Congratulations, you have successfully obtained Opulent Ordinance! Attempting to degrade and obtain Pollice Verso… Congratulations, you have obtained Writ of Execution! Attempting to degrade and obtain Impenetrable Pelt… Congratulations, you have obtained Unyielding Hide! Attempting to degrade and obtain Blood Sport… Congratulations, you have obtained Bloodwork!
Heir’s Will: Rarity: Epic Type: Active Description: Spend 50 Stamina to let loose a roar. Any enemy that can hear this roar has a 25% chance to be Terrified for 20 seconds, causing them to stop what they were doing and run away from you. Beast enemies instead have a 75% chance to be Terrified for 1 minute and have a further 25% chance to become Charmed for 1 minute, nullifying the effects of Terrified and causing them to treat you as an ally and their allies as enemies until they are no longer Charmed. This ability may only be used once every two minutes. Claim the respect you are due.
Opulent Ordinance: Rarity: Legendary Type: Passive Description: Your natural weapons deal 1.5x damage, and effects inflicted with them are 1.5x more effective (1.5x duration, 1.5x damage, 1.5x more likely to be inflicted, etc). Only the best.
Writ of Execution: Rarity: Legendary Type: Active Description: Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to mark an enemy with a Writ, causing them to take double damage from your allies for 10 seconds. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Unyielding Hide: Rarity: Legendary Type: Passive Description: Incoming physical damage is reduced by 25% while you are above 50% HP Contrary to popular belief, the best defense is a good defense.
Bloodwork: Rarity: Epic Type: Passive Description: Any slashing or piercing damage you inflict with natural weapons has a 10% chance to cause the enemy to bleed for 10 seconds, dealing 25% of the original damage every second. By imposing a blood tax, you have shown that death and taxes are not so different.
Displaying core information:
Emperor Lion Core: Level: 102 Estimated Power: 3,000 Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 6,000 Current Skills: Command of the Emperor Emperor’s Armaments Pollice Verso Impenetrable Pelt Blood Sport Current Attributes: Darkvision (Perfect) Enhanced Hearing (Perfect) Extendable Claws (Major) Iron Fur (Fundamental) Keen Nose Kemonomimi (Lion) (Fundamental) Saber Claws (Perfect) Saber Fangs (Perfect) Quadrupedal Adaption (Fundamental)
New Attributes discovered! Darkvision (Perfect): Allows for perfect sight in nonmagical darkness, even in the complete absence of light. Furthermore, makes the eyes adjust immediately and prevents being stunned, temporarily blinded, or otherwise injured by bright flashes of nonmagical light.
Enhanced Hearing (Perfect): Intensely enhances the user’s hearing without making them any more sensitive to loud sounds. Provides the ability to filter sounds by focusing on certain sounds, allowing the user to pick and choose what they wish to hear.
Extendable Claws (Major): Allows retraction and extension of the claws. Claws can be extended up to half the length of the limb with the hand or foot containing the claw and retracted to nothingness.
Iron Fur: Covers the creature in a thick layer of hard fur, decreasing physical damage by 5% and cold damage by 25%.
Saber Claws (Perfect): Immensely hardens and sharpens the nails of the creature’s hands and feet, turning them into claws. Doubles the damage of attacks made using the claws and increases the efficacy of bleed effects inflicted with them by 1.25x. Claw size may be adjusted prior to placing this Attribute on a core, with a maximum size of no larger than thrice the normal size and no smaller than half the normal size.
Saber fangs (Perfect): Immensely hardens and sharpens the creature’s teeth, giving them fangs. Doubles the damage of attacks made using the fangs and increases the efficacy of bleed effects inflicted with them by 1.25x. Tooth size may be adjusted prior to placing this Attribute on a core, with a maximum size of no larger than five times the normal size and no smaller than the normal size.
New Skills discovered! Command of the Emperor: Rarity: Legendary Type: Active Description: Spend 50 Stamina to let loose a roar. Any enemy that can hear this roar has a 50% chance to be Terrified for 30 seconds, causing them to stop what they were doing and run away from you. Beast enemies instead have a 100% chance to be Terrified for 1.5 minutes and have a further 50% chance to become Charmed for 1.5 minutes, nullifying the effects of Terrified and causing them to treat you as an ally and their allies as enemies until they are no longer Charmed. This ability may only be used once every two minutes. OBEY.
Emperor’s Armaments: Rarity: Mythical Type: Passive Description: Your natural weapons deal double damage, and status effects inflicted with them are twice as effective (double duration, double damage, twice as likely to be inflicted, etc). The emperor’s blades are sharper than any other.
Pollice Verso: Rarity: Mythical Type: Active Description: Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to mark an enemy for death, causing them to take triple damage from your allies and double damage from you for 30 seconds. Thumbs down.
Impenetrable Pelt: Rarity: Mythical Type: Passive Description: Incoming physical damage is reduced by 50% while you are above 25% HP Despite taking a hundred blows, the emperor remained unharmed
Blood Sport: Rarity: Legendary Type: Passive Description: Bleed effects that you inflict last twice as long. Any slashing or piercing damage you inflict with natural weapons has a 20% chance to cause the enemy to bleed for 15 seconds, dealing 25% of the original damage every second. A favorite of the masses.
