There is No Epic Loot Here, Only Puns

14: Conviction

Delta sat quietly as Quiss stalked about the Pond room as Ruli snapped questions at him. She hugged her knees, lacking any sort of physical limbs it was mostly for the feeling really. Delta's mood could be summed up as somewhat... not good.

Ruli's words swam about in her head over and over but Delta just waited as Quiss argued with Francois. Delta wasn't sure if she felt so happy to have people so close now. Ruli's message seemed pretty blunt in what Delta would have to do. Not because she was manic but because people would come for her and if Ruli's tone had been any indication...

Delta didn't want to be a murderer, not even by proxy. Delta also didn't want a life of pain and misery.

The coin flipped endlessly in the air, one side being death for people, the other death for Delta.

It would spin for now but Delta felt her mood darken as she knew it wouldn't last forever.

The only upside was that her Mana was nearly full. That was pretty interesting, and she wondered how fast her mana regen would be if her dungeon was full of people.

She relayed this question to the two guests with Francois' help.

"It depends. A Mage like myself or a decent hunter like Ruli would provide ample mana due to her natural stores. We both possess a decent share, mine is naturally higher of course. An average farmer would give you but a fraction of that. It's natural evolution and competition between people and dungeons, you see? People become stronger over time and produce more mana. They grow bored of weak dungeons and move on to stronger dungeons where their strength is challenged and the dungeon that needs more mana receives stronger sources of mana to draw upon," Quiss sniffed. Ruli rolled her eyes.

"Don't let nerds like Quiss fool ya, we can't actually measure how much mana people have. Dungeons can be done with guessing and time... People? Just a general estimate. Still, the mage that can cast 20 fireballs compared to the guy that managed a 100 can also give you a decent idea instead of wasting time calculating stars, runes, souls and all that hubbub for a rough 'Mana Point' count," Ruli sniggered and Quiss hesitated and then agreed.

"Mana points are a flux system for the Calculators," Quiss said dryly and Delta was absorbing all of this with great interest.

"Kaklotors?" her goblin managed and Quiss' face became pained. Ruli snorted at the attempt butt Francois showed no signs of shame at his words.

"Calculators are, how do we say, obsessed with numbers. They can generally form in most professions that fit into the realm of dungeon adventurers but you see them with a lot of Clerics, Mages, and Rangers..." Quiss mumbled and Ruli eyed the goblin.

"Doesn't matter how good a weapon served you, doesn't matter how many times a shield got you through a dungeon, doesn't matter if your spell stone was a gift from a dear friend, Calcs will toss it all away at the slightest chance of more power. The shield that may be slightly better made or the enchanted sword that looks better? Calcs will talk shit and explain why it's 'logical' or 'just the sane thing to do' to just dump good pieces of gear that can still serve you. Its greed plain and simple," Ruli looked like she wanted to spit but held back out of respect.

"It's efficient, I cannot deny that, but its callous too. I admit that I have some bad habits in common with them but the nature of these people have become infamous to a degree that the name 'Calculators' is often in the same sentence as pretty foul curse words," Quiss paused and looked down at Francois.

"Is it fine? Its drooling," he asked not sounding at all concerned as Francois's eyes were blank as he stared at Quiss. Ruli wiped her own mouth and yawned.

"Nah, you just drone on," Ruli snipped at Quiss. Delta giggled and blinked in surprise as her bad mood ebbed away slightly as the two talked. Francois heard her and danced slightly.

"Drone! Drone!" he cackled and Quiss looked like he had just swallowed a lemon. Delta snorted and couldn't help the fits of giggles that kept coming. Ruli looked around as if feeling something.

Quiss looked annoyed.

"This is going to take too long. I cannot honestly help Dungeon Core Delta sometime in this life if her translator is at the reading level of one Haldi's cheeses. Actually thinking about it, Haldi's cheeses might be better from what I have seen." Quiss retorted exasperated. Francois sniffed, tasting the words and not liking them much.

"Well, as far as I know. There's no Gob shaman here," Ruli stretched and Delta paused and opened her menu.