Dungeon Life-Chapter Four-Hundred Thirteen

The party is mostly pretty calm, but as the sun sets and the booze starts flowing, the atmosphere shifts from feeling like a large family reunion to something closer to a college party. Tempers occasionally flare, but between my scions and my priests and priestesses, things are kept friendly without getting too friendly. People have their own homes for that sort of thing, and the idea of what might happen to a kid conceived around here…

Yeah, chosen one or one to doom everyone. Either way, I’m trying to avoid that if at all possible, thank you. I’m probably paranoid, but with having Fate affinity, I’m not going to tempt it. I have enough to worry about. Like the Betrayer.

Rezlar’s vision seemed pretty clear that it’s starting to notice us here in Fourdock, and there seem to be two potential routes for it to attack: by sea, or from the depths. And if it comes from the sea, Hullbreak needs to be ready. Now, while my dinosaurs have plenty of saltwater variants, I don’t know if Hullbreak has taken a look at making a spawner for them just yet.

I’m pretty sure he should have pretty open options, thanks to how old he is, as opposed to me who had to buy a couple denizens off of Southwood to get access to a few other spawners, but I’m not against selling him a compy swarm, at least in theory.

While I want him to have access to dinos, I don’t know how useful compies would be for him. His affinity might change them into something aquatic, but I honestly don’t know. Zorro and Goldilocks didn’t change too much once I got them, but Fate’s pretty subtle about things. I would imagine water would be pretty obvious about making things aquatic.

Though even that assumes he wouldn’t want something airborne like his seagulls. Pterodons and such would probably work pretty well out on the ocean, maybe? I have no idea how they’d work, but with water affinity, I’m sure they’ll figure something out.

I’ll also need to make sure my own defenses are up to snuff, in case we get attacked from the volcanic area. While I don’t exactly expect an army to descend at any moment, we certainly have the Betrayer’s attention, and waiting until it’s here would be a good way to lose. So now’s a good time to refocus on some of my other projects that have been languishing since the former Earl showed up.

One is the composite armor. It worked great against the forces of the Maw, but the entire design has a major glaring weakness: longevity. While the pieces are as stable as anything else while sitting on a rack, or even while training, the different layers tend to delaminate over the course of a long fight. It saved a lot of lives against the Maw, but that was basically just one battle. If we end up getting sieged or something, the composite armor won’t be viable.

And if we get sieged, the Hold needs to be finished, too. That’s gonna be Coda’s top priority for the foreseeable future, and I can tell he’s eager to get back to it, even while he literally hangs out at the party. Thing, Queen, and Jello are going to probably be putting their heads together for the armor, and Honey will certainly be paying attention and offering her input, too. Oh, and can’t forget Poppy! With the Tree finished, she has all sorts of different plant projects growing, and a tree for perfect resin is absolutely on the list.

It’ll be a difficult thing to get just right. It needs to be liquid enough to properly soak through things to bind all the layers together, but it also needs to dry hard enough to contribute to the strength, too. Queen is investigating epoxies, but I don’t know enough to really help her try to design some. I just know they react together to create a good resin, and having two different chemicals makes it easy to store and keep. I couldn’t tell her the first thing about the actual chemistry involved. Either way, she’s got a lot of her own experiments to work with, too.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

It makes me wonder if I should try to make a new weapon, but I don’t know what I could really introduce. The compound bows are great, and I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more people taking them up, but they’re designed for more open spaces. Tunnels aren’t going to work too well. While a carbine rifle should work well in tighter spaces, I don’t think it’ll be worth investigating, especially not if we’re against the clock. I haven’t even introduced the concept of guns yet, so no way are we going to be able to jump straight to carbines. Besides, that’s what melee fighters are for. I’ve seen my delvers in action, and I don’t think they’re behind at all when it comes to dealing with things in close combat.

In fact… I might have been accidentally improving on that already, come to think of it. With Freddie’s Legion Paladin and Pul’s new Enlightened Ninja, I’m already on the path to revolutionize melee combat. I might be able to introduce some new metalworking techniques, but that’d be it. I’d love to find a magical way to process titanium, for example, but that feels like a can of worms waiting to be opened. I’m probably better off playing with orichalcum, mythril, and the damanascus.

Though thinking of those three reminds me: I want to redesign the lava labyrinth into something straight out of an Echer print. I gaze longingly at the very rough sketches I came up with, and Coda improved, before reluctantly putting them aside for now. It’ll be awesome once it’s done, but I need Coda for it, and I need him to finish the Hold first. Safety comes before cool toys, no matter how cool the toy is.

Still, some cool toys increase safety, too. What else can I do…

Before I can get too deep into thinking, I feel Aranya trying to get my attention.

Hmm?

She smiles and glances down at my core, before returning to just people watching. “So diligent, Lord Thedeim. You should take a break. The party is for You, after all.”

I chuckle at myself for that. I did say I’m not very good at parties, didn’t I?

She titters and takes a drink from her glass, opting for tea instead of alcohol. “You did. But I still think it’s good to take the time to appreciate the fruits of Your labor.”

I can feel the reply that wants to immediately come, but I push it down and decide to take her advice. Sure, there’s definitely a threat on the horizon, but I’m pretty sure it's nowhere near looming just yet. There’s that temptation to borrow today on the promise of a better tomorrow, and those looming threats make great arguments… but you can’t let them win out all the time.

A song flashes through my mind, and the music of Slash and Doppler cuts off for a moment as it washes over them. And without me saying anything, they start to play. Doppler sings, though he has to change up the lyrics a bit to make them make sense. Still, the message is clear: success isn’t in things. A legacy isn’t forged in gold.

It’s people. Cold wealth means nothing, but the laughter, the tears, the life around is beautiful. The song might be literally about a dad and his son, but the lesson applies to all relationships. Sure, life is vital to protect, but don’t let it pass you by while you protect it. When the song ends, there’s more than a few sniffles as people process the emotion of the song, and even my High Priestess has to wipe her eyes before she can speak.

“A beautiful song with an invaluable lesson…”

I chuckle and pretend to nod. Yeah, and one that’s all too easy to forget about. It’s good to want to give the ones you love the best, but it’s so easy to forget what the best things actually are. It’s not the fancy things, but connections. R̃𝘢ΝОꞖЕ𝙨

I very deliberately step back from my mental notes, and let my awareness wash through the party. I don’t know how many people notice it, but I can tell more than a few do. I’ve been trying to keep them at a certain distance, thinking I was doing right by them with it.

But the cats are already in the cradle, and they don’t need a silver spoon. Little boy blue doesn’t need the man to be away in the moon. They need a connection… and I think I do, too. The music returns with something a bit more upbeat, and I do my best to pay attention to everyone. I’m bad at it, and I even end up taking a lot of notes, but I know they can feel the effort.

I’m not perfect, but I can improve. They don’t need perfection. We all just need a connection.