21 Chapter 21 (1/2)
Chapter 21
”What's the worst that can happen? It's not a souls game after all.” Oak's voice was echoing through the dungeon as he stared hard at Z. When the first sacrificial lamb detonated, it had set off the other two in the area as well, creating three consecutive explosions. Apparently, three explosions, coupled with the buff from Old Man Jenkins, had created enough damage to completely wipe Z's party. After the rain of popcorn had stopped, James had watched as 5 floating orbs slowly drifted away from where the group had been, all the way to the door that led to the first floor. The moment the orbs passed through the door, it slammed shut. A second later, the orbs materialized back into Z and his group.
”Hey, at least we found out at level one.” Z was holding his arms up in defeat, though he had a grin on his face. ”Just imagine the poor saps that learn when they are near like level 5 or 10.” When the group had respawned, they had all pulled up their character sheets, and while James couldn't see the screens they were viewing, he knew what they were about to see. A moment later, the group had started cussing up a storm, having found all of their experience had been taken away, leaving them back at 0 experience.
James had checked his character sheet the moment they started cursing, just to confirm what Rue had told him about experience gain. Sure enough, he had an extra 594 experience, putting him at 3094 total exp. He had gained 200 from his Baaha Blast achievement, and another 394 from the group. They had been so close to level two, it really was a shame…for them.
”You don't think word's going to get out?” Faust was glancing from Z to Oak, and both shook their heads in unison.
”Who's going to warn the other players?” Z's face was taking on a wicked grin as he looked at his group. Faust paused for a second, before a smile appeared on his face as well.
”You're right.” Faust's smile grew even larger. ”No one's going to warn the others about that mechanic, at least not early on. No reason helping the competition out just yet, right?” James was certain they were right that no one would share the dangers of dying to other players just yet. In MMOs, players were constantly racing to become the strongest, because the stronger you were, the better gear, and the more opportunities you had to take on and clear challenges before others. All the hardcore players, the ones who would likely end up making the mistake early on of trying to tackle too large an enemy, would want to keep the loss of experience a secret. They wouldn't want others getting a one up on them, and playing it safe early on. Though, James was sure once enough people had fallen and lost experience, word would finally get out. At that time though, the first few teams would likely have made up their experience loss and still climbed ahead of the others. That was the nature of these games, learn from your mistakes, and continue to grow.
”So, think we should dive back in, and try to make up for lost experience?” Z turned towards the others, who all let out a cheer. He turned to the door, and approached it slowly, likely worried about opening it up into another sacrificial lamb. The archer put his hand on the door, and tried to open it. However, instead of swinging outwards into the first floor of the dungeon, a red countdown timer appeared on the door. 00hr 59min 58sec
”What the?” Z and James both asked at the same time. While Z's party stared at the door, unable to answer, Rue turned to James. Unlike the group, James had a pixie to help answer his questions about game mechanics.
”That's a cooldown timer.” She smirked as she said it, looking down as Z tried once more to open the door. ”When a party either completes your entire dungeon, or is completely wiped out, they are placed on cooldown.”
”They get a cooldown for completing the dungeon too?” James could understand being penalized for wiping and entire dungeon floor. Heck he had played games where instances themselves had time limits, and when the limit was done, your team was done. He had also played games where you had to wait in a que in order to even start an event. Waiting was a pain, but the prizes were usually worth it.
”Mhmm.” Rue reached into her popcorn bowl, only to find it was empty. With a sigh she flicked her wrist, making it disappear. ”The developers didn't want players to simply rush into a floor after dying to keep trying to defeat a boss over and over. They also put in limitations against zerging floors, and free farming experience.” This was all news to James.
”So, what did they do?” He could understand setting restrictions to pace gameplay for characters but was interested to see just how they did it. Such restrictions could be a turn off for players, and James figured he needed to fully understand these, otherwise he could accidently chase away players.
”Well, first.” Rue held up a finger. ”The developers have limited the number of adventurers that can dive into a dungeon instance at 20 players.”
”A dungeon instance?” James had read about such things in some of the Dungeon Core novels he had read. One such book, Slime Dungeon, had unlocked the ability to create unique instances per team entering the dungeon, allowing for multiple groups to enter the dungeon at the same time, without running into other players.
”When players step foot into your dungeon entrance, they will be teleported into an instance of your dungeon. The developers set the default number of instances to a maximum of 10 instances, with each instance being able to support up to 20 players.” If James's math was correct, which he was confident it was, that meant up to 200 players could enter his dungeon at a time, spread out through the 10 instances.
”Can I interact with those instances?” He was curious if he would be able to not only watch these adventurers during their dives, but also influence the dungeon while they were in it? What if he was adding new mobs, or traps, while adventurers were diving?
”You can individually monitor and interact with each instance through the Instances tab.” Of course, there was an Instances tab. ”This tab will pull up individual windows of each instance. By focusing on one, you will be able to make that your main instance for the moment, which will allow you specifically effect that instance in various ways.”
”What if I wanted to implement a new trap?” At 50 resources for a trap, James would be loath to make an instance specific trap, even if it seemed funny at the moment.
”Jeez you ask a lot of questions.” Rue sighed and let her finger drop. ”Anything you do that would be permanent, is applied to the master layout for your dungeon via the Dungeon Creator. It will not affect instances in progress, but all new instances after you have implemented your changes will take effect.”
”Thanks Rue. What else did the developers implement?” James could tell he was angering the pixie, maybe he should let her finish her explanations without asking questions? However, he felt the more he knew now, the better prepared he would be later. The more you know, after all.
”You sure, no more questions?” The pixie stared at him hard, and he shook his orb side to side. ”Promise?”