Day 19
The colony of battle chickens led by Fu had expanded on their travel to the dungeon entrance. It was my fault after I killed the floor boss, Rong Da; I took a detour and killed 3 other mid-bosses. My path of destruction sent the masses of battle chickens to the four winds, and the hens naturally went to the largest collection of hens. At first, it was only a little over 200 that arrived at the location. Still, I took too long to return, and other hens and rabbits of varying ages arrived through the war-torn land of the first floor.
I stared tiredly at a crowd of over 1000 hens, a few roosters, and various chimera rabbits. Looking at them all made me feel tired.
Over 48 hours had passed since entering the dungeon, but in the outside world, my day hadn't ended.
In dungeons, time was relative. On the first floor, every hour was 20 minutes in the real world. I remember timing myself and comparing the results between runs. Some well-paid researchers theorized that in a locked dungeon, time can flow much faster. I think that's where the culture and population came from.
Basically, even if I'm depopulating the 1st floor within 12 hours, the floor will easily restore itself. The dungeon will have learned from this experience and alter the scenario accordingly.
A rooster approached me with hard eyes upon seeing my blood-stained and green-splattered undershirt.
"What in the ancestors are you?"
"Tired? Who are the leaders of the groups? If you want to leave, then get ready. All I have up are the walls, so don't expect much while everything is sorted." I said.
"So you're the prick who convinced our hens to meet in this place."
I sighed and looked around. "Is there anyone less dumb I can talk to?"
The rooster raised his leg to kick, only for another rooster to stop him. I stared up at an 8-foot-tall monster of a bird.
"Easy, friend, I know we're all hangry, but fighting the thing that killed all the leaders and Rong Da will get you killed. Fu, I'm going to take this guy to hang with some pretty birds while the two of you sort out our exodus." The massive rooster said.
I raised my hand, and a blue portal appeared, showing trees and a setting sun. Fu stared at the portal and then back at me.
"Show off,"
"All right, everyone through who is going," I said.
A rabbit looked at the chickens before walking through the portal.
"Why aren't you crossing?" A rooster shouted.
I sucked in a breath and let it out. The new Blood Manipulation skill had been worth the headache. I was so much better off showing up late and letting the crowd amass. There were no accommodations, and I was pushing it with 250. The walls were all I had going for us. Tomorrow would be a hard day of farm work to plant enough for a thousand battle chickens.
When I moved, dried blood clung to my shirt, making me feel sticky and uncomfortable. A bit of dried viscera fell out of my hair, and the rooster wasn't backing down.
"Stay here then. I'm sure the warlord that rises in this chaos needs more flesh for the meat grinder. You look like a strong rooster; maybe you'll survive, or he'll kill you for looking too closely at his hens. I don't need the trouble of taking care of you." I said.
"What can we expect on the other side? Is it any better than here?" The rooster asked.
"All I'm offering is the opportunity to build a life outside the dungeon. It will be hard, but an easy life isn't waiting for you here."
The big rooster who helped me out of the argument shoved the rooster through before going himself. Hens started following immediately after that in a flood.
Fu crawled up to my shoulder and rested there, not caring about the mess covering me.
"Big Jon is a good guy; he helped me when the others wanted to run away," Fu said.
"You did better than expected. There are over a thousand battle chickens." I said.
"Exactly 1683 plus 200 chimera rabbits. What are we about to walk into?" Fu asked.
"A walled farm covering 300 acres of land. I'm going to have to expand quickly if I want this to work. The number of birds is hard to fathom." I said.
The moment I had the money, I had to increase my holdings. The rank 3 monsters in the area would have to go or be used to feed my livestock further. No, these battle chickens weren't my equals; I had no bond with them. I could kill them out of hand and cook them over a fire without feeling a thing. Veronica was different; I felt like she could be worth the investment. I didn't know what her use could be, but I had telepathy and telekinesis skills she could learn. I checked my bag, and I stuffed it with the skill shards I found the most valuable. There were 20 skill shards alone for telepathy.
"You are a leader now, and I think you'll do good by them. We can always eat the ones that don't listen."
I patted my spider's head, feeling her nice soft black hair. "I have plans for all of you. Is it true monsters can gain attributes from devouring other monsters?" I asked.
"Not at all we gain the attribute from feeding that we consider the most valuable. I like to split my focus, no pun intended, between Focus, Intelligence, and charisma. Also, if the monsters are at least equal to my rank, the benefits are better." Fu said.
That was something I hadn't known about monsters. It changed how I viewed training methods entirely. Maybe conditioning makes a monster wish it was stronger, faster, or smarter. That desire was what altered how they gained attributes. It was such a diversion from what was known that I was stunned.
"I'll bite you if you don't answer me," Fu said.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.
"Don't apologize; leaders who apologize are eaten by their followers. Admit no wrong and do what you think is right. Most importantly always seem to be doing something that will benefit the people and let them know it. A silent leader is a leader doubted by their followers." Fu said.
"Fu, the battle chickens have all crossed my portal," I said.
"Yes," Fu said.
"It's our turn to go through," I said.
"Finally, what's the holdup."
"This is going to hurt," I said.
Before Fu could say anything, I stepped through.
Ping!
+4 Vitality, +8 Constitution, +6 Endurance,
+8 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +4 Agility,
+3 Perception, +14 Willpower, +7 Focus,
+4 Intelligence, +9 Wisdom, +6 Charisma
Skills
Farming:
Harvest lvl30, Furrows lvl15
Dungeon Farming:
Dungeon Manager lvl25
Misc:
Berserk lvl40, Training lvl50, Regeneration lvl43,
Adapt lvl50, Lingering Will lvl50, Gemini Waltz lvl50,
Gemini Blitz lvl30, Chainsword Mastery lvl25, Blitz Kick lvl20,
Counter lvl20, Crow Step lvl41, Final Blow lvl30,
Psy Bolt lvl11, Telepathy lvl21, Fell Slash lvl40,
Fell Wind lvl50, Cosmic Temp lvl25, First Strike lvl40,
Bond lvl25, Telekinesis (UC) lvl25, Fell Whirlwind (UC) lvl38,
Fell Mastery (R) lvl42, Psychic (R) lvl12.
Skill Points: 428
The portal snapped closed behind me while I experienced a taste of a dragon's fiery bowels. My bones creaked, shifting under my skin, ants bit my nerves, and my mind felt lost in a fog. I bit my tongue as I felt wave after wave of new information assault my senses as my meager intelligent attribute parsed through it all.
I experienced the pain slowly while my muscles expanded and relaxed harder and stronger than before. Muscle spasms happened faster than ever before, maximized by my growing list of skills. Strains that had ailed me within the dungeon seemed like distant memories as my skills leveled some all the way to level 50. They hit the threshold faster than I expected, and leveling them would be an incredible challenge.
A beautiful sunset and finally being out of danger eased some of my concerns. Battle chickens of all shapes and sizes had fanned out to explore their new homes. I didn't bother looking back at the dungeon; instead, I made my way back to my tent.
"Your clothes are falling off." I looked down to see tatters covering me. I ripped them the rest of the way and left them on the ground. Fu sighed and hopped off my shoulder inside the tent. "I will get to work making you a new set of clothes. Don't expect anything too fancy." Fu said.
I smiled and sat in my chair. The gains didn't feel real. A smile spread across my face. Feeling my power increase was addictive, and I had no plans of going into the dungeon for at least 20 days. I made the decision because it would take me a while to get used to my current power.
"You're back; there are a few more than I expected; we have the makings of a town with this many hens. Next spring, we could have 50,000 or more." Veronica said.
"Are you trying to work me to an early grave?" I asked.
She saw my smile and had no idea what it meant.
"No, I was just saying we have so much potential," Veronica said.
I crossed the room, and she shied away as I gently patted her back. She flinched in pain, so I eased up.
"How many physical attributes do you have, over 400? It feels like 450?" Veronica said.
I smirked a farmer would reach 500 attributes in Endurance and Vitality at lvl100. Most of my power came from skills. By the time I had the attributes of a rank 3, I would hit at their peak. That's what it meant to have lots of high-level skills; they were practically attributes by themselves.
On that note, I had over 400 skill points, but I planned to hold on to them for a few days while I got used to being the new me. I almost couldn't wait until Tony Graves returned. I had a plan to make his tamer skill useless.
I tossed my backpack on the ground, pulled a skill shard free, and handed it to Veronica. "Here you're now a manager in charge of ensuring those hens lay eggs where we can make use of them," I said.
Fu looked at me while working on a pair of underwear. "What do you have planned in the monkey head of yours?"
"I'm going to promote several battle chickens as my managers and give them skill shards and equipment. They are going to be my boots on the ground to make sure everything is running smoothly. The best part is they are also battle chickens so when their people have a need, they will empathize with them. This way, I will be able to stay on top of all the problems before they get worse." I said.
"I think that's a great idea," Veronica said.
She absorbed the shard, and her eyes widened as I felt a mental probe from her and gently connected.
Her mind was a jumbled mess of hormones, needs, and aspirations in that order. She wanted a house where she could raise her chicks like I needed air to breathe. The desire for shelter was a real wake-up call and might be a sign I wouldn't get much sleep.
"How much money will we make if we each lay 2 eggs. That's the average, from what I recall. We should also separate the harem hens since their eggs are fertilized." Veronica said.
I nodded along as she began pacing around my tent, tail feathers up next to her nest she happened to drag into my tent. I didn't mind at all; we did have a bond.
Bond Menu
Battle Chicken
Veronica Reputation 35/100 Friend
Maneater Spider
Fu Reputation 46/100 Best Friend
It wasn't the devotion between a tamer and their monster, but it felt genuine. Fu was an easy girl to become friends with; all I had to do was murder her mother.
Big Jon walked into the tent to see a pacing Veronica wearing clothes, me naked, and Fu quickly putting a wardrobe together.
"I guess this explains why you wanted so many hens."
Veronica saw the massive Cock and stared between us. "No, you don't understand; we're friends; we only sleep together."
The rooster clucked at Veronica's expense while the girl clawed at the ground in frustration.
"Jokes aside, our resources are sparse, and the hens have scattered to find places to roost. Finding their eggs in the morning will be a scavenger hunt. Some have stripped the stalks of corn and stockpiled it, trading corn for breeding with the hens."
"One problem at a time. The corn is for everyone; anyone caught hoarding it while it's in short supply will be punished. Big Jon, before I forget, this is Veronica; she speaks with my voice; oh, and here take this."
I tossed him a skill shard for telepathy.
"You wish for me to become a telepath."
"Congratulations, you have been promoted to manager. Find people you trust, bring them to me, and they'll be promoted as well. I'll give you 3 spots, so choose wisely." I said.
"So I have the authority to command my people to organize and sleep closer to this position."
"Do what you can to keep the situation under control. In the morning, I will do what I can to make everyone's living arrangements more comfortable and improve our food supply." I said.
I bit into a protein bar as the rooster bowed before leaving me in my tent.
"I don't want to go out there. You gave me this position, and I'm too nervous to face them. What if they think I'm weird? That rooster wasn't wearing anything." Veronica said.
"I shrugged, uncaring."
"He insinuated we were mating; that is unnatural. The Book of Phoenix states that no bird should lay with another species. The eggs lain would be abominations." Veronica said.
"Sounds like fun," I said
"Take this seriously," Veronica said.
I stood up from my comfortable cot and wrapped my arms around the big silly bird wearing a turtleneck of all things with no clothing underneath. Veronica struggled for a moment before calming down when I pulled her off her feet. When she raised her knees, I patted her back. She really was a needy bird.
"We aren't doing that, and even if we were, it wouldn't be abominable because we are two consenting adults with fully rational minds. After saying that, I don't think either of us knows each other well enough to even think about that. Let's handle one crisis at a time and see where that takes us." I said.
Big Jon was handling things with his new skill and telepathy, and he would pick out three other leaders, making my life all the easier. All I had to do was survive to get the leadership off the ground, and my egg farm would pay off my debts, and then I could start taking more land. Forget my little 300-acre lot; I wanted to be able to look in all directions and not see the end of my land.