Chapter 32 Buying stats and modifiers

The dungeon wasn’t a living thing, at least in terms of having a body. It was far more similar to a program with if-then reactions than a living, thinking entity. The dungeon couldn’t really feel excitement, but it felt something similar as it absorbed many new plants into its collection. Its main goal to grow often got in the way of what was possible to create, but many new colors were unlocked with the new flowers it absorbed.

Little did anyone know that something that hadn’t been done in over a thousand years was slowly being accomplished. Dungeon gardeners were once revered existences all across the planet, only a catastrophe specifically targeting them brought about their destruction. A monster stirred as the dungeon felt itself change; old rules established that hadn’t been followed in millennia were now in place again.

…

The bandits were dumb. You had to be in order to get the bandit class, but many of the bandits didn’t have the class; they were just idiots who thought they were invincible. Possibly the only class with a higher casualty rate than adventurers, bandits died in huge swaths. It was just unfortunate that bandits were a renewable resource.

No matter how many were killed, come hard times or easy times or any time passed at all, more would appear like clockwork. Because of how many were killed, and how easily they were killed, when one appeared who was smarter than the average bandit, bad things tended to occur. Thinking made the bandits a real threat. Like a goblin stampede, a bandit who was strong enough to control the other bandits, and smart enough to pick his fights, was considered a local disaster.

Most bandits would never follow through with a plan; the moment there was a chance at money, they’d immediately stab each other in the back. One of the biggest threats to a bandit was another bandit. The two guiding beacons for bandits were greed and fear. Only when a bandit was fearful enough would they listen to a person. That was what their own leader and the mayor/sheriff of the village did to them.

Very few bandits were beyond the starting rank of their class; they just didn’t live long enough to make it any higher. That’s what made the smart bandit who was beyond the starting rank so dangerous, he could think, plan, and was a real threat to anyone he put his eye on. So why, why did he choose an unknown farmer on the border? Perhaps... Perhaps because he didn't.

…

My next goal was to purchase the last level ten skills before adding positive modifiers to all of them. That was another way someone could waste their potential. Most people either didn’t add any modifiers or attempted to get the best they possibly could out of them. One story I read, a man rerolled a single modifier two hundred and forty times before he got a double positive he liked, only to die a few days later because of his low level in a dungeon.

Then, if I went the opposite way and didn’t modify any of my skills like most people did, I would be losing out on almost twenty small bonuses, closer to forty if I purchased all the skills I currently could. It only took me ten days to purchase the last two level ten skills, and I was averaging two modifier rolls every three days. I looked at the changes again.

Stats

Strength: 2.02 + .34 + .72 + .2 = 3.28

Perception: 1.72 + .5 + .28 + .41 = 2.91

Endurance: 2.11 + .31 + .50 + .33 + .25 = 3.50

Charm: 1.95 + .21 + .17 + 1.1 = 3.43

Intellect: 1.89 + .12 + .13 + .9 + .5 + .1 = 3.64

Agility: 1.96 +.8 + .37 + .2 = 3.33

Luck: 2.38 + .18 + .11 + .3 = 2.97

Lucky Farming- Increases yield, quality of crops, and experience with gathering jobs by 100%. Decreases the chance of low-quality crops, fatigue from farming, and time for plants to fully grow by 50%. Gives a 1% chance to pick a crop with 1 quality higher than normal.

Handy Tool user- Increases ability to use tools. Decreases fatigue from using tools. Decreases tool wear and increases comfort while using tools.

Smart Minor spell user- Increases the speed of acquiring new minor spells and reduces the cost of using those spells. Choose utility-based spell specialization. Gain .5 intellect boost.

Weird Jack of all- Gain minor proficiency with all weapons, armor, magical affinities, extra specializations, and jobs. Bonus is more effective the more weird the object.

Symbiotic Enduring Bond- Gain 10% of any sexual partner stats for a day after copulating. The bonus is doubled and permanent for you and your wife. The wife gains a skill that is helpful for farming.

Heirloom Quality over quantity- Increases crop rating by 1 while decreasing crop yield by 50%. Seeds tend to retain the quality of the produce.

Nerdy Harder and Faster- Reduces fatigue and time for plants to grow by an additional 10%. Gain .1 intellect boost.

Super Sweet Spot (tool)- Hitting a gathering node in the perfect spot reduces fatigue while dealing bonus damage and a higher chance to crit. Hitting the perfect spot five times in a row gives a super critical.

Bloody Magic specialization (utility)- Animation- Gain instinctive knowledge on the animation school of magic. Freshly bloodied golems have their stats boosted even further until the blood dries.

Cooperative Jack of Jacks- Increases the bonus to everything by 10%. Bonus is given to everyone on your farm.

Better Tool Specialization- Axe- Gain twice the benefits for using this tool. Improved effect of specialization.

Critical Pleasure bonus- Increases the pleasure your partners feel. Chance to crit, bringing partner to orgasm immediately.

Lasting Daily bonus- Increases the stats given by bond 1% every day in a row you have sex with that person, 50% cap. Bonus falls off after three days instead of one.

Perennial Golem growth medium- Can plant mushrooms, moss, or vine-type plants into a golem. Golems gain bonuses depending on what type of plant is added. Items planted will regrow after winter.

Strengthening Wicker quality- Crops grown on wicker golems now also have an increased quality by 50%. The potential bonus doubles if higher-quality fertilizer is used. Fertilizer used also increases the defense of the golem by an equal amount.

Big Family man- Wives gain an additional 10% stats through the symbiotic bond. Children born inherit 10% more stats. Every wife or child improves stats by 1%.

More Well rounded- Gives a permanent .25 bonus to all stats. Bonus is increased by .1 to all stats.

Sturdy STD Immunity- Gain immunity to sexually transmitted diseases. Gain .25 endurance boost.

Happy Weird Child rearing- Children brought up on your farm have their statistic adjustment set 10% higher, gain job experience 10% faster, and have their resource regeneration increased by 10%. Bonuses to resource regeneration increased if the child is happy. Increases experience gained the weirder the job.

It was a lot to look at. I had to reroll four negative skills, leaving me with a few uncommon, a double modifier, and even two rares. Or, at least, that's what I thought their rarities were. I wouldn't know for sure unless I had them checked, and I would only have them checked by one of my wives.