Martial Arts Encyclopedia - Chapter 9

Goals for the future (5)

At the Guild I read the literature detailing the Dungeon and its dangers, specifically the monsters of the upper floors. The main danger of the goblins and kobolds are their humanoid frame, which had a history of taking by surprise the adventurers that hesitate to fight against other mortals, be they humans, pallum, dwarves, elves, and other races. The secondary danger of those monsters is that they induce the novice adventurer into thinking that their disregard for their safety is a constant through the Dungeon.

The monsters on the upper floor fight like crazed berserkers, until they don’t and start strategizing against you. Between the third and fourth floor you might encounter one or two goblins with “cowardly” behavior, which stay away from the initial fight and sometimes even runs away from the adventurers they’re initially facing, only for that same group of adventurers to be ambushed by a large group of monsters as their escape route is cut off by the Dungeon spawning new monsters near the exits.

From the fifth floor onwards, all monsters already employ a more sophisticated strategy, even if a foolish adventurer that dove too deep wouldn’t notice until too late. They’re still not good fighters from a technical standpoint, and their strategy is still primitive, but things only get harder the further down your descent.

True environmental traps are rare on the upper floors, with the notable exception of Camouflage: when the Dungeon walls take a similar hue to recently spawned walls to catch adventurers off guard thinking they’re safe. In the past the upper floors also had Monster Houses, special rooms that were initially hidden but opened to a new area with some kind of bait for the adventurers, such as a Jack Bird, that then spawned countless monsters to overwhelm the adventurer. Today all such Monster Houses were identified and mapped, with certain Familias controlling those spots for easy magic stone harvesting.

Another rare but dangerous phenomena in the Dungeons is the appearance of Irregular Monsters, monsters of a certain species that are much stronger than their floor would indicate. Those Irregular Monsters are the product of a monster consuming the magic stones and Drop Items from others to grow in strength by developing a unique mutation that sets them apart from the others. Irregular Monsters are not an issue unique to the upper floors, but since most of the career Level Ones remain on the upper floors, they gain greater notoriety.

The final danger of the Dungeon is the spawning of a Juggernaut. A Juggernaut is a pitch-black monster that spawn in response to the dungeon being physically damaged, its strength being far greater than the typical for its floor and possessing rapid regeneration on top of that. The Juggernaut will attack any adventurer it comes across but will prioritize the one that caused damage to the Dungeon. Since destroying the magic crystal is the most reliable method to kill a Juggernaut, this kind of creature is considered troublesome by most Familias due to the great danger and lack of profits in facing one.

Tampering with the Dungeon, and thus producing a Juggernaut, is liable for the Guild to impose sanctions on the suspected Familia. Artificially producing an Irregular Monster on the upper floors is also liable for sanctions. 

I gather my notes on the Dungeon and switch to information about the Adventurers.

Adopted children of the gods, chosen ones, scions of the divine, and more recently adventurers, the mortals that received the Falna become far stronger than before, and by receiving an update on their Falna the mortal can continuously grow in strength. This process resembles the mysterious strength of heroes of old from before the descent of the gods, except it is more streamlined and accessible for the masses.

The daily struggles and challenges the adventurer overcome everyday grants Low Quality Excelia, while grand accomplishments and noteworthy challenges grants High Quality Excelia. Low Quality Excelia, LQE for short, almost exclusively fuels the growth of basic stats, while High Quality Excelia, HQE, is required to Level Up, earn Skills, and supposedly earn and rank up Development Abilities, though the latter is more complicated.

Once more I pause with my note taking, inhaling deeply before slowly exhaling. I pull my Encyclopedia and read a few passages until I find a particular entry regarding the different cultivation styles.

Immortal cultivation is the process to cultivate good health and longevity through absorbing the Heaven and Earth Qi and expelling impurities from the body to attain a higher level of existence. Martial cultivation is a similar process, though they focus on immortality through martial excellence to build their Inner Qi before they can absorb the Heaven and Earth Qi. In certain traditions you try to synchronize your inner Ki with certain aspects of the world’s Ki, and as you work hard in earnest to match this particular Ki you will eventually gain its characteristic, with the processes being partially or completely faith based. There are several other methods listed, some of them virtually identical to another while others are similar through analogy.

Of particular interest is Legend Cultivation. In this kind of system, the weight of one’s Legend determines the degree of power the practitioner possesses. Someone with low Legend is a Hero that deals with local issues and defeats minor monsters, while those with Legend halfway to completion can hold the sky on their shoulders, and finally those at the pinnacle of Legend are literal gods that embody universal concepts. The downside for this kind of cultivation is that just as the Demigod has supernatural power, the mortal perception of the Demigod actions shapes their Fate. Putting aside the role of Fate in the Demigod’s life and future, the way Legend advances is unique compared with other systems and reminds me of the Falna system.

Legend grows as the Hero completes Deeds, those Deeds being rated as short-term, long-term, and defining deeds. Once the legendary hero has completed all three Deed Tiers his Legend grows, and the difficulty and scope for the Deeds grow accordingly. Deeds are also based on the motivation, wishes, desires, and necessity of the legendary hero. The hero still trains and gains experience, becoming stronger and more skilled, but those mundane abilities and parameters can’t match the boost a higher Legend bestows, being more useful when dealing with peers and against challenges of adequate scale.

There are other abilities for the legendary hero, but they also follow a similar trend where Deeds has a higher weight in the hero's advancement, while experience and training serve a lesser role. Another interesting property of the Legend Cultivation is the narrow focus on Paths.

The Falna is an empty book the Adventurer writes their Legend, but this complete freedom of choice is the perfect source for decision paralysis. The legendary hero focusses their paths according to their Origin, their Role, and their Divine Aspect (which might be a divine parent, divine adoption, being a chosen one, a deity mortal incarnation, a philosophical alignment, or any other source), which shapes their respective Calling as a Hero.

Who am I? Where did I come from? What should I do? What kind of divine aspect do I embody? What kind of Hero do I wish to be? Having answered those questions, how to proceed from there?

Honestly, I doubt most adventurers in Orario consciously question themselves like that, but I think answering those questions might just be the edge necessary to prosper and become strong enough for the trails to come in three years.

That, and abusing the hell out of the Encyclopedia.

I gather all my notes and documents and give them to my advisor for safe keeping in my Familia’ safe at the Guild. It’s a simple service offered by the Guild, though most Familias don’t bother to store anything important inside, preferring their private safes inside their Headquarters.

Most of the time I see adventurers storing their lunch there. 

After a productive period of study, it is time to return to the grind. This time, I am going to focus on finding the Jack Bird while on the first floor. If I catch it, I get an easy million, if I don’t, I will find a large group of monsters to help start my day in the Dungeon, afterwards I should finish mapping the fourth floor and I can earnestly push through the fifth floor.

Quick, easy, a simple day of adventure.