Resource Management
Once Silky started eating and speaking with the other girls, Gil pulled out his tablet to do some inventory. At some point in the last few days, the Ammen Vale Cleanup mission had finished. He wasn't sure if that had been because of Ireena's big gesture, or if she'd continued helping. Either way, it counted.
Halt the Ecological damage caused by the crash to Ammen Vale
Reward: 5 credits, The Dungeon (binding), Unlock Localization in shop
The Dungeon turned out to be a skyblock extension: an archway of black stone with an access panel. He experimented with the panel just long enough to figure out a few things. First, a better connection would directly lead to a better dungeon. More "treasures" and easier trials, though the core concept would stand. One floor for each tier, and at least one treasure available for each. The stronger the target, the more dangerous the guardians.
The trials were, essentially, the complications that made it harder to take down the guardians. An easy trial might just be an open arena, while a hard trial might give them a castle full of armed guards. The guardian was the same, but the set dressing could massively alter the difficulty.
5 credits: Localization: each iteration of this perk allows the user to disguise one retinue member as a local to whatever world you happen to be in. It will change their appearance and powers as little as possible, being a primarily cosmetic change, but will generally allow the target to avoid drawing excessive attention. The target can be switched at any time on the Skyblock.
Given the fact that Gil had recently acquired a horned 7 foot tall blue woman, he could see why this had been presented to him. Zena and Candress could pass as cosplayers or body modification enthusiasts in a modern or futuristic setting, but if he found himself in a world like Ancient Rome a white haired woman with glowing eyes would certainly turn heads.
He was thrilled to find another treat waiting for him in the box: a character card for someone named Levi; a teenaged former child soldier apparently. He had the addict tag, addiction defense, and skill with both handguns and modern era knife fighting. Poor sap, no wonder he was the reward for infiltrating the merchants. Gil wished he knew what was going on with Rose, but he couldn't communicate with her anyway. He just had to hope she was well.
He also had gotten something for "selling" Silky by swapping in Berelaine's appearance and capabilities. A gacha roll, which gave him a consumable:
Relationship Forgery, Lesser: One Target will gain false memories of you, in which you are someone they have known for a meaningful amount of time and have a generally positive relationship with. Exactly what they think your relationship is depends heavily on the kind of role they can imagine you playing in their life. A bouncy social butterfly might add you to her mile long list of shallow friendships, while a reclusive and arrogant mad scientist may believe you to be their halfwit assistant.
It seemed like a useful item, one that he might parlay into further advantage. It was a foot in the door, and for some people that would be all he needed. He tucked it in with the rest, figuring that he should probably start using them. After all, these things were intended to be used.
"Hell, might as well." He said, shrugging.
He rummaged in the box and found a small golden rectangle; in its face the words "do unto others" were etched in silver. He pointed it at Zena, who was lingering outside of the arcane sanctum. It was locked at the moment so it could recharge, but she seemed to enjoy torturing herself with magic's proximity. She was fully armed and armored, as she had been for the entire time she'd been on the skyblock.
The Golden Rule: for a limited time, the target will treat you as they would hope to be treated if roles were reversed. This extends even to traits they have no way of knowing, for example finding you as attractive as you find them or providing you with water unprompted if you are thirsty. This will be limited to what they would believe to be remotely plausible from your perspective. For example, a warlord may accept you into his service and spare your companions but is extremely unlikely to name you as his heir based on an initial meeting. They will stand by any decisions or actions they made while influenced, though they may come to regret them. The more in line with their own actual desires the behavior, the longer it will last. If they find it particularly agreeable it may become indefinite.
A spark of light ran down The Golden Rule, and the lustrous metal became a matte gray. The effect wasn't instantaneous or dramatic, as far as Gil could tell. Over the next few hours, while Gil practiced freezing and melting water, Zena abandoned the sanctum and removed her armor and padding, leaving behind only a fairly simple set of red underwear. It was something akin to a sports bra and short shorts, which she kept on as she lounged by the fire. She lazily glanced over at Gil when he left the sanctum, meeting his eye and arching a single delicate eyebrow. She didn't throw herself at him, not by a long shot, but she relaxed and talked to Keilnei. Simply put, she accepted the situation and decided to enjoy herself.
Honestly she seemed happier, which Gil hoped would lead to an extended tenure for this magic. If he were very lucky, she might even sleep with him on her own initiative. He wasn't exactly in the middle of a dry spell, of course. He mostly used the item to keep her in line next time they headed out on portal day.
••••••••••
Silky maintained Berelaine's dignified poise the majority of the time. She had a stately walk, perfect posture, and a soft voice. Gil asked Keilnei and Zena to train her in how to fight using the elven short sword, and the results were not at all what he expected. The idea of fighting for any purpose but to kill or terrify her opponent was foreign to her, so whenever they sparred she would lunge for her opponent with manic ferocity. They kept needing to interrupt training so that Keilnei could heal Candress, then later Zena.
Berelaine had not been a very large or physically strong woman by any stretch, but she was much more dangerous than she appeared. Gil had initially assumed it was only her willingness to commit to complete aggression, but she surprised her teachers with a deft disarm more than once. It seemed that Berelaine had known how to defend herself in close quarters at least as well as Zena, making her surprisingly dangerous.
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He still intended to provide Silky with additional training, but it seemed less necessary than he had initially thought. Besides, when she was outside of the sphere she was an additional mouth to feed. The vat of goat and turnip stew didn't last long with six physically active people drawing upon it. By the middle of the week, they had to alternate between Candress's conjured food and carefully rationed meals scraped together by Snow. As such, Gil decided it was time to find another source of resources. It was time to open The Dungeon.
Of course, he had a few options there. He checked everything he had on hand to see what counted as a magical connection. Most things that had once belonged to someone would work, but they were critically weak connections. He didn't want to be forced to fight an army, so he set most of them aside. As noted, a tier 1 woman with a knife and no self preservation could be a terrifying enemy, and a small army of them even worse.
He ended up split between two options: a blood stained chair once owned by a man named Takeshi Sato. Tier 2, with the criminal and combatant tags. He'd have two floors and guardians that Gil was fairly sure would be takeable. It seemed like a nice intro to the concept, since Gil's two best fighters were both stuck in other worlds.
The other was, oddly enough, Snow. She was counted as an "object of obsession" which let Gil put the Evil Queen in his sights. Queen Grimhilde was a whopping tier 5, a real powerhouse. She had tags that implied that she was more inclined to indirect conflict and hiding behind minions, but to be perfectly frank Gil would love to have someone on hand with the Divination, Crafter, and Witch tags even if she wasn't a heavyweight fighter.
He ended up choosing Sato, mostly because he wasn't at his best. If he had his two superheroines on hand he'd have been happy to flirt with danger, but it seemed wiser to pick a fight on unknown ground with someone a little less scary. He could always take Grimhilde out later. He doubted Snow would lose her special status any time soon.
The team hauled the chair out to the Dungeon Portal and Gil selected it as his dungeon seed. The archway filled with swirling purple sparks. Gil took a deep breath, gathered his team sans Snow, and stepped forward.