Dungeon of Niflheim

417 Chapter 417: Speaking with father (2)

“Alright I’ll bite why won’t it be easy for Findlay to evolve even if I meet the required criteria?” Dark’s smile grew in response to Frost’s question.

“Let’s break this down step by step shall we. How do monsters normally evolve to their next archetype?” Dark fell back into old habits, granting only tid bits of information at a time. A tendency Frost wasn’t too fond of but since he was the one looking for answers he needed to play along.

“By fighting and devouring other monsters.”

“Correct. But do you know how rare it is for a monster to actually evolve to a superior rank naturally?” (This doesn’t include monsters like Kiba that become B-rank due to natural age growth.)

Frost frowned and shook his head; he had no idea.

“It’s quite rare even among the lower ranks. A typical G-rank has about a 1 in 20 chance of becoming an F-rank while an F-rank has about a 1 in 100 chance of becoming E-rank. The higher you go the tinier the possibility. The chances of a C-rank becoming B-rank are pretty much abysmal so you can understand the cheat that the dungeon menu system provides you and your siblings.”

Frost’s frown deepened before he nodded in understanding.

“I can get away with allowing easy transitions among the lower ranks but above C, no can do, too risky and balance breaking.”

“.....So what do I need to do then?” Frost was getting irritated with this back and forth.

.....

Dark’s smile continued to grow; he was enjoying his son’s agitation.

“I won’t tell you outright as that’d be too easy my son.”

Frost clenched his fists and held back from clicking his tongue.

‘Of course the old man wouldn’t make it that easy.’

“Well what can you tell me?”

“Hahaha” Dark couldn’t help but chuckle before releasing his next bit of information.

“For a monster to change its archetype and evolve to the next stage it fights to hone its skills and devours the essence of those it defeats, accumulating energy until it gathers enough to break through the limits of its current species. That fact remains regardless of the monster being natural or summoned.”

‘.... Energy huh.’ Frost started rubbing the bridge of his nose. Dark’s answer was quite vague, but he understood the logic.

All the energy that the monsters would normally absorb and feast upon is sucked up by the dungeon core. Though the dungeon is dense in mana that’s not quite the same as devouring life energy directly.

The mana fills them with strength and removes the need for sustenance while they are connected to the core, but they don’t hold a reserve or a build up of that energy. Therefore they can’t propel themselves through the vast restructuring of their body and life energy that comes with reaching B-rank. Frost needed to find someway to provide his monsters with energy and from the look on Dark’s smug face it likely wasn’t going to be that cheap nor that easy to do.

“I can’t use DP for this energy can I?”

Dark’s smile reached from ear to ear as he tapped his nose.

“Correct I’ve omitted that feature from the system, at least for now. Perhaps in the future I’ll allow you and your siblings to spend DP to bridge this gap but not right now. You’ll have to find other sources of energy.”

“So once a C-rank monster has accumulated enough experience, hones its skills and is provided with enough energy to break past the limit it’ll reach B-rank.” Frost stated hoping to get confirmation.

“Perhaps, not everything is as simple as black and white in fact most things in the world are quite grey. Failure can happen for who knows how many reasons hahahaha.” Dark laughed mischievously. His kids had had it too easy so far, never knowing failure, that was set to change once they progressed further along the path.

Frost felt his insides twist as he desperately wanted to reach through the virtual screen and slap his father’s smug face. How could he not know what his father was hinting at. Indirectly calling him spoiled and inexperienced in the true vicissitudes of the world.

Just because one was talented and blessed with enough resources didn’t mean they were guaranteed to reach the top. Dark was going to start introducing chance to his monsters just like in nature. Frost’s future planning would grow even more convoluted. But in essence he did have it easy and couldn’t really argue against his father’s reasoning, instead he should be thankful for it being so simple and easy until now.

With difficulty Frost focused on the logic and calmed down his wayward emotions, gradually returning back to a calm demeanour and a half-smile.

“.....Tsk how boring.” Dark clicked his tongue annoyed by his son’s swift control. He preferred seeing his normally cold and calm exterior son acting out based on his instinctual emotions, it satisfied his mischievous desires.

“Thank you for this information father as without it I’m sure I’d be placed in quite a quandary.” Frost genuinely thanked his father. With this information at hand he would no longer be so puzzled and stressed, blaming himself or worse his monsters for failures.

Dark was initially taken aback by Frost’s gratitude before his smile changed from mischievous to one of pride.

“Smart as usual....very impressive.” Dark was forced to praise his son’s intelligence and control; he took his underlying meaning to heart instead of lashing out. Not as fun a reaction but much more meaningful one.

“Thank you for the praise father.” Frost showed a slight smirk as he celebrated internally. Though he understood his father’s hidden meaning, the logic he spoke about and the fact that he answered his questions he loved nothing more than one upping his father. If Dark enjoyed seeing him lash out and looking pissed off he’d do the opposite depriving Dark of his mischievous enjoyment. Only someone like minded and as devious as Dark himself would behave in such a manner, turns out Maya had been a very thorough teacher in many regards.

“I guess that answers my questions in regards to when my power reaches the required levels but what about right now. How do I get Findlay to evolve to B-rank before my power increases?” Frost remembered that Dark said ‘Generally yes’ when he asked his question meaning Findlay evolving at his current strength wasn’t impossible.

Dark looked at Frost with narrowed eyes before letting out a sigh.

“Technically you can force it, ignoring the safety limitations I placed on the system but are you really sure? That Ice troll commander of yours will likely be stronger that you once he evolves, do you believe he’ll still willingly be constrained by you?” Dark set the safety limits for a reason; B-rank was a different level entirely from the rest.

With the change in life force beings notice the difference in strength between them and others even more clearly. A person wouldn’t care much for an ant no matter how many there were or how strong it was it was still an ant.

Findlay’s image flashed before Frost’s eyes and a nostalgic expression adorned his face. Maya mentioned something similar when he was about to name him. Back then after receiving the name Findlay, Findlay rose to become an ice troll commander with mid to upper C-rank strength, a fair amount above his own. Maya was by his side worried about the possibility of rebellion, but her worries were unfounded. Findlay fell to a half kneeling stance the moment his evolution was done and greeted Frost as his lord, like a knight swearing an oath to his king. There wasn’t the slightest thought of rebellion in his mind.

“I believe in Findlay father; he will not be a threat to me. Please tell me what I need to do.” Frost believed his rise to B-rank would be no different than his rise to C. He trusted Findlay whole heartedly.

Dark looked at his son and saw unwavering determination in his gaze, he sighed once again before replying.

“The methods stand the same as before, Findlay will need to hone his skills and accumulate enough energy to break the barrier however in order to circumvent the safety limitations he’ll need far more energy, perhaps more than his body can safely control plus he’ll need to grasp power that is beyond the capabilities of his current archetype. Only then will he have a chance to evolve while you’re still at your current level.”

Frost frowned; Dark’s requirement sounded anything but easy.

“Thank you father, I understand.” Frost closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly in thanks, he knew roughly what he needed to do.

“By the way if I was going down the dungeon expansion route how many floors would I need roughly?” Frost thought it’d be prudent to ask.

“Hmmm probably around 20 plus floors, maybe 25 minimum yeah that should be about right.” Dark answered nonchalantly after calculating with his fingers.

His answer caused Frost’s lips to twitch. He’d just reached ten floors, with only 8 of them outfitted. He was a very long way off for that option.