MischievousMuffin
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Incremental Torture - Chapter 26
🕑 Added 2024-06-14 11:26:32 +0000 UTC~ Evelyn POV ~
Strewn around her on the grass were cracked plates of chitin, half-melted scraps of rubbery leather and an assortment of monster parts in various states of disrepair. She had spent the better part of twelve hours doing her utmost to figure out how to work with her chosen materials, resulting in a single disappointing conclusion - she was utterly unsuited for crafting.
She had figured out how to manipulate the chitinous plates, even creating a rudimentary shield of sorts, held together by globs of monster fat she’d melted down and applied as a glue. Her heat source? A stroke of genius had inspired her to use her skill Flashfreeze Flamecharge, but only imbue the tiniest fraction of mana, resulting in the beginnings of a raging flame that she could use as a makeshift soldering torch. However, the shield had broken during her testing after just two punches. Her poor workmanship meant she was unable to reproduce the durability the centipede monster had in life.
It wasn’t wasted effort. If anything, it was invaluable experience that she would be able to carry onwards. If a better opportunity to try her hand at crafting arose, she wouldn’t be stumbling in blind, making a fool of herself and would instead know what amateur errors to avoid.
I bet Lily is already making all kinds of kooky trinkets. Or maybe not. I didn’t expect to take the path I have, but this tower has a strange way of showing you the desires that lie beneath the surface of your mind.
As the portal began to stutter and shrink, Evelyn grabbed a few chitin plates and bits of hide that were undamaged, storing them in her inventory before jumping through to the 12th Floor.
❰ Multi-Challenger Instance ❱
1/2 Challengers have arrived on the 12th Floor
Floor instance will not trigger until challenger requirements have been met
She was the first to arrive this time. There was no particular reasoning behind it, but Evelyn always felt more confident when she was the early challenger. It meant she had been quicker than her opponent at beating the previous floors. More skilled. Stronger.
For once, the environment was not a cavern. To her left, a rocky mountain range sprawled into the distance, with a valley carved down the middle, creating a path through which she could see a cliff with a towering castle built atop it. It was then she realised she was also standing on a cliff, so she turned around.
Looming over her was another castle, identical in structure to the one she had seen opposite but this one had a faint glimmer around it. Evelyn felt a connection to it somehow, and approached with caution. A message from the tower appeared when she arrived in front of the gate, which was shrouded in darkness, preventing her from looking inside.
Evelyn’s Castle
100/100 Health
?????
I suppose this is going to be part of this floor’s challenge. Judging from the fact there’s another castle connected to this one by the valley, it looks like some kind of siege warfare instance. The tower must want to test us beyond just our personal strength and skill. I wonder how exactly it’s going to work.
And it wasn’t just the valley and sprawling mountains. To her right lay a grassy plain, filled with hills and ditches. The ground was wet and muddy, a sodden mire that would hinder movement, and when combined with the uneven terrain, would make head on clashes a terrifying prospect. Evelyn couldn’t be certain, but it seemed as if she would be taking on the role of a strategist for this challenge, rather than diving into action herself.
Ugh. Being a general is not my forte. I’m far more suited to being on the frontlines, taking on my foes face to face. Here’s hoping I can still take a more involved role in the challenge to come.
There was a third type of battlefield running down the central path between the two castles, a sinister forest of withered and lifeless trees. A purplish-black miasma hung over the canopy in place of leaves, and Evelyn could just make out some gravestones littered among the trunks.
Creepy. Maybe this is when the first undead monsters start to appear. I can’t say I’m looking forward to that. I always hated zombie movies.
Around the castle was an empty field of grass, with some areas barren and dirty. With nothing to do until her opponent arrived, Evelyn sat down and took out her crafting materials to continue honing her skill. She had the idea of a piece of gear that would synergise with her unique skills and enhance her combat potential, but whether she could pull it off with her limited talents and an indeterminate amount of time remained to be seen.
Taking a chitin plate, Evelyn began the painstaking work of scraping dried ichor away and filing the edges to shape.
~~~
❰ Multi-Challenger Instance ❱
All Challengers have arrived on the 12th Floor, instance will now trigger
❰ Instance - Ambitious Generals ❱
Protect your castle from damage, while aiming to destroy your opponent’s castle. Develop your castle and recruit warriors to your cause. Monsters will spawn and assault your castle at regular intervals.
It had taken around six hours for her opponent to arrive, which was rather unusual. The tower often took very little time to fill the multi-challenger floors. Maybe this particular floor had stricter criteria when it came to deciding the matchups. It wasn’t an issue for Evelyn, however.
The delay had given her some time to work on her crafting, resulting in a brilliant outcome. She had managed to pull off the vision in her mind. It wasn’t quite how she’d pictured it, but the resulting weapon would be a perfect accompaniment to her up close and personal brawling style of battle. It may not see use on this floor, though, if her role was to be that of a general.
Evelyn had crafted a pair of gauntlets from the hard chitinous plates and the flexible, rubbery leather of her slain foes. Figuring out how to mould the plates to shape and bind them with the leathery hide in a way that maintained the durability of the materials had been a challenge, but it hadn’t deterred her. The inside of the gloves was comfortable and she was still able to move each individual finger, but that wasn’t all.
It had taken up most of her time, but she had filed and cut the plates into small sections, adorning her knuckles and fingers with studded plates that would pack a nasty punch for any foe, while the tough hide would keep her hands and wrists safe from any errant blades. The greatest achievement however, had been what followed her creation.
Congratulations, you have successfully crafted your first item! You have unlocked the crafting system, access it at any time from the menu.
Plated Brawling Gloves (Uncommon) - Durable and tough gauntlets created by hand from the hide of a Wolfsquid and the chitin of a centipede monster. Bolsters the damage of your strikes. +1 Power
The tower had recognised her efforts and her self-made weapon had received a name and rank. And it wasn’t just a common item, like the ones most people had been using so far, but a level beyond. Evelyn found the repetitive process of crafting to be stressful, especially when she made mistakes and damaged her materials. And yet, it was also fulfilling to see the fruits of her labour receive recognition. The gauntlets even boosted her attributes, giving her power a little boost. There was also the crafting system, but she would have to investigate that later. There was something far more pertinent to focus on.
In the valley, at the entrance to the dark forest and at the peak of the first grassy hill, three pairs of monsters had spontaneously appeared from the empty air and begun to march towards her opponent’s castle. They were small, humanoid monsters with greenish-blue skin and carried shoddy weapons. Evelyn felt they would pose little threat, but it was only the beginning.
Her monsters would be clashing with her foe’s, and whichever group won would advance onward towards their target. She turned to her castle, still unable to see inside, but the message the tower gave when she approached had changed.
Evelyn’s Castle
100/100 Health
Gold: 10 (1/min)
Magic: 0 (0/min)
Structures
Upgrades
Spells
Three menus had appeared, along with two forms of currency. Only one, her gold, would increase over time. At least for now. The goal of the challenge was to destroy the opposing castle, while also keeping her own secure, so the question on her mind was how to best approach it.
She could recruit soldiers and send them to reinforce the monsters, but if they were defeated, her limited gold would take time to recover. Not only that, but the monsters had been weak. Her unseen opponent would be able to obliterate any that made it beyond the central battlefields, so her gaze first drifted to the structures menu.
Structures
Gold Mine - 5 Gold
Yields 1 Gold/min
Palisade - 8 Gold
Simple wooden wall to defend your castle
Archer Tower - 12 Gold
Defensive fortification that shoots at approaching enemies
Barracks - 25 Gold
Allows the recruitment of soldiers to your cause
Arcane Well - 75 Gold
Yields 1 Magic/min
Of the five buildings available to Evelyn, there were only two which she could afford to purchase immediately. If she waited just a couple of minutes, the archer tower was also an option. From her experience with stars, she knew the importance of growing your income early, which meant there was only one choice.
She purchased two gold mines, and marvelled as gaping holes appeared in two of the dirty spaces surrounding her castle. It didn’t end there.
From nowhere, wooden fortifications appeared around cave entrances along with a railway and torches to light the area. Twenty seconds later, she heard the jingle of coins and watched as her gold increased from 0 to 3. Minecarts had appeared from within the structures and then returned on the minute mark, which she thought was a nifty touch from the tower.
With more money to work with, she then turned her attention to the upgrades menu. The options were plentiful, and cheap.
Upgrades
Monster Spawn Rate Lv.0 - 1 Gold
Increases the rate at which monsters spawn and assault the opposing castle
Monster Strength Lv.0 - 1 Gold
Increases the strength of the spawned monsters
Monster Weaponry Lv.0 - 2 Gold
Provides more variety and increased quality in your monsters’ weapons
Monster Armour Lv.0 - 3 Gold
Improves the quality of your monsters’ armour
Castle Health Lv.0 - 5 Gold
Increases the health of your castle
Tier 2 Castle - 1500 Gold
Unlocks more structures, upgrades and spells. Increases level cap on structures
This is like a game. It’s very simple, but I can imagine the complexity will increase as we upgrade our castles and monsters further. I also want to scout the other castle, but it feels like a big risk to leave mine undefended. I’ll just boost the spawn rate of my monsters for now, and see how things progress.
Despite all this, there was one thing that felt wrong. Couldn’t she just skip all the hassle by finding the other challenger and just killing them directly? It would save time, and furthermore, have the brilliant side effect of making all the tower’s effort in producing the challenge futile. A small victory, but it would feel incredible to get one over on the tower for a change.
It was then she heard the garbled screech of monsters and a boisterous laugh that echoed in the air and through the valley. The trees in the dark forest shook as something approached and Evelyn readied herself. Then everything fell silent. She took a deep breath. Branches shattered and splinters flew as something exploded through the trees and sailed into the sky and she felt an invisible force holding her in place.
“Found you!” Roared the thing which had leapt into the air, before it began to rocket towards her.
She found herself rooted to the ground, despite a desperate struggle with all her strength, and her enemy drew closer by the second.
