BXBX NOVEL Chapter 160
As several of the dungeon cores started to chat amongst themselves about the prospect of prizes, Dark raised his hand, requesting for everyone to quiet down.
“First off let’s have a look at how each of you have done in regards to cumulative DP gain over the past month.” Dark waved his hand and a massive holographic screen appeared before Frost and his siblings. It showed their names and core numbers in order of DP gained. This would be the first measurement scale that Dark would use. A higher income of DP showed that a dungeon core could buy more from the menu and expand at a faster rate. Those with higher rankings could gain incentives encouraging the lower ranks to increase their own income, granting separate rewards in case one jumps several levels on the board
Frost looked for his name on the board, filled with confidence and a little arrogance he looked at the top 20 first going in ascending order.
“No, no, no, ah there I am.” Eventually he found his name, and it was quite high on the list, number 004. Obviously Yami and Aqua were first and second respectively, their cumulative DP was a fair few orders higher than 3rd place, which happened to be his natural nemesis Pyro. The fiery barbarian was not too pleased with this outcome. In his eyes he showed nothing remarkable, he was the third oldest and should be at the very least 3rd place. He was however quite surprised that just below him was Frost, and there wasn’t much DP difference. He looked toward this younger brother of his with renewed aggression.
In 5th place right behind him was Indra, followed by Sylph, Damascus Gaia and then the black dragon, number 017 who was called Bahamut. The higher ranked cores tended to be the older ones, number wise, well expect for Void and Chronos since they didn’t care too much about anything other than magic. Even Terra given his gentle nature who never killed was still in the top 30. His daily income was actually quite high due to the many monsters that willingly stayed in the dungeon under his control. A much longer investment that would easily see him shoot up the rankings by the next meeting.
However, one of the most surprising results was that of Gobuske, though timid and cowardly and his own personal strength being rather low, he was 19th on the list, surprising many. A few of the more arrogant and aggressive cores looked at him with hatred, wondering how a goblin based core could rank so high. Gobuske shivered from their glares, trying to hide in a fictional hole. Frost however looked towards his younger brother with a gentle and reassuring smile, helping him regain a little backbone. Gobuske was fond of Frost, he was one of the rare ones that didn’t look at him with inherent disdain plus the fact that he was one of the single digit cores garnered him a lot of respect.
Once everyone found their place, some happy with it, others sad and then those like Void and Chronos who didn’t care, Dark went on to bring up the possible prizes, all while nodding his head, impressed with the figures being shown.
“Very impressive, especially you Yami and Aqua, your DP levels far outstrip that of your younger siblings, good job.” Dark nodded and sent a thumbs up gesture to his eldest son and daughter.
.....
“My pleasure father.” Aqua spoke with confidence, performing a slight courtesy to Dark before sending a triumphant wink towards Frost translating roughly as ‘ take a look little Frost, isn’t your big sister awesome.’ Frost’s lips simply twitched in response before looking away.
Yami however still with a cool silent expression simply nodded his head in response, as though such an outcome was expected. Dark felt as though a frog was in his throat seeing his eldest son’s uninterested expression before muttering under his breath how his daughters were so much cuter. He then looked over towards Pyro. Though he worried about this child’s brain and his attitude towards other cores he was in fact quite impressive when it came to running his dungeon, given his ranking as third. All the dungeon cores present had the same amount of time in running their dungeons therefore Pyro achieved his third place through his own skill and effort.
Pyro’s method was quite tribal, he appreciated strength and wasn’t one to shirk from hard work to gain that strength. He hunted bandits as an adventurer to supplement his DP income and his monsters fought with great vigour against intruders, killing many. Pyro wasn’t afraid of being labelled as a dangerous monster lair, in fact he welcomed it. Greater foes meant greater pressure; he’d improve faster under such adversaries. His strength as a fighter was a fair chunk higher than Frost’s even without the elemental disadvantage because of such an attitude. Like him he constantly fought with his guardian until his body was broken and battered and usually took on many of the intruders himself. His monster loss was fairly high but so was his income, he found a good balance. Plus, while his fire monsters fought alongside their creator their strength was magnified, truly a powerful opponent.
“Pyro I’m quite impressed with your effort, just a tad more and you’ll be able to compete with Yami and Aqua, congratulations.” Pyro performed a full on military salute towards his father, pride gushing out of his eyes as he did so, he was praised by his father, making his struggles worthwhile.
Dark then congratulated the other top ten including Frost, but clearly the top three places, were the major topic.
“Those who placed 4th to 10th please step forward.” Frost and his siblings in the top ten walked ahead to receive their rewards, expectation in their eyes. Frost couldn’t help feel nervous, Indra elbowed him in the side, as though mocking.
Dark waved his hand and 7 treasure chests appeared in each of their hands, appearing like the ones that could be purchased from the dungeon menu.
“In there is a random low level reward for each of you, what you get will rely upon your own luck.” The group of seven looked at the chest in their hands, hesitating whether to open now or later. Indra however didn’t hesitate in slightest, opening up before Dark even hand a chance to finish speaking.
“Sweet a bottle of whiskey!” Indra loudly proclaimed his reward as he pulled it out of the chest, a big smile on his face. He loved hard spirits, whiskey in particular. The empire near him produced quite of a lot of spirits so he had access to such items. The bottle he won however was a B-rank whiskey, easily worth a few gold coins, a very nice prize indeed.
The others no longer held back after seeing Indra’s actions, opening up their chests and revealing the contents to all those watching. A few weren’t quite so lucky, gaining a small handful of silver or a useless magic device. Indra was the only one to get a really high end prize, the lucky bastard.
Frost won a 1st circle ice spell called freezing touch, usually 650DP in the dungeon menu. It allowed the caster to send a wave of freezing ice mana from their hands over a short distance. He hadn’t learned it yet, so it was a decent reward; he was happy with it. Those seven then stepped back into the audience, the real prizes were now coming, those for Yami, Aqua and Pyro.
“Yami, Aqua, Pyro can you please come to the front to receive your prizes.” Dark spoke with majesty, clearly putting emphasis on the difference between the top 3 and top ten. The other 90 cores, were left biting their lips out of jealousy wishing it was them up there, getting personally called on by Dark.
The three grand winners then made their way to the front, one modest and polite, another cold and indifferent and the last arrogant as he shoved his way through with a wide grin.
“You three have surpassed all your siblings in this regard and will be heavily rewarded.” Dark then with a gentle smile looked to Pyro. “Pyro for coming third I grant you this weapon, hopefully it suits your tastes.” With a wave of his hand, a magic crest appeared in front of Pyro and a massive two handed axe rose from the floor, scarlet in colour from tip to end. It looked glorious and of very high quality.
“This is a 4 star axe crafted using the highest of standards. The shaft is made from the bones of a volcanic drake, highly resistant to heat and impact while the blades are forged entirely out of Vulcan steel, a fine weapon, capable of enduring intense power and fire attributed chakra.” Dark explained the materials used to make the weapon, causing everyone in the room to be gobsmacked, even Yami, couldn’t help but eye this weapon with a tinge of greed.
That was a 4 star weapon, far stronger than what any of them currently had access too, whether that be in the dungeon menu or in Nova. Handing Pyro, a weapon like that was like adding wings to a tiger, his battle prowess would sky rocket.
“T...Thank you father, I shall treasure this weapon as though my life depended on it.” Pyro spoke with reverence and bowed at a ninety degree angle before walking back into the audience, clutching onto his weapon. Using his body to hide it from the gazes of his curious and jealous siblings. If he was any happier Pyro would have been skipping.