Once the stone golem assault was broken the battle became relatively easy. After the cleanup of the forces in his own dungeon, Delilah led a good majority of the defenders that were left to join the assault. Stone Golem did not have any additional S tiers. He had likely pulled the two he had to deal with the Ether tearing dragon, only to have them die to take down the collapsing star fiend.

  That was not to say the remaining floors were easy. There were 5 additional giant monstrosities and about 100 A tiers on the last few floors. Stone golem threw everything he had left, but other than the defensive advantage his forces could not do much. Of course one big factor was the return of every single one of his ether tearing dragons, including the SS tier. With them basically popping in right on top of enemy A tiers, more than half of the A tiers were not able to contribute much. His opponent just did not have a response for them.

  Peter only lost a third of them throughout their two rampages. If not for their quickly depleting energy, they would have cleared out all the elites. Most that were killed were killed closer to the end when their own energy was already low, which meant their health was low. They were an odd existence, although certainly useful. That being said, Peter had just displayed them prominently in battle. Most of his future opponents would take that into account, as they would with everything else he had demonstrated. Peter could only keep adding to his arsenal to keep himself from being predictable.

  [You have destroyed Stone Golem's core. You have 6 double taps remaining. Would you like to use one to destroy an additional core Y/N 1:00]

  [You have used double tap. Stone Golem type core, year 8 has been eliminated.]

  Peter smiled upon his arrival back into the banquet room. Stone Golem had proven to have some frightening capabilities for someone who had not fought since the tutorial. Just getting 4 S tiers was impressive. Perhaps if he had more battle experience he could have put up a better fight. It was almost an odd feeling, having so many units left over after a battle. It was more than he had ever had.

  Even the easier fights such as his fight with Temperance the salamander core on year 3 or Dart frog on year 1 had drained his forces more than this. Peter guessed it just went to show how far he had come. A single elite core of his year, just was not his match any more, even with years worth of accumulated essence and access to good type cards.

  It was an extremely good thing since next year’s battle would be leagues more difficult. In the end Peter had only been forced to burn 2 resurrects, one for the collapsing star fiend, and the other for Berserker ape. He had 6 surviving A tiers from those he had summoned just prior to battle, along with over 1,100 B tiers. For C tiers, he had just under 2,800. Most were alternate realm or infantry units since the beast assault force had still taken heavy losses.

  It was all really great, except for one thing. Peter was wondering where he was going to store them all. Just from all the maelstroms he had things were already starting to get a bit cramped by the end of the year. It was the main reason why he was not making a lot more A tier unit maelstroms. He had not made many for several years, other than for the new year flavor of infantry and alternate realm units. Peter dismissed the thought for now. It was time to see what he had won.

  [Dungeon battle awards: Battle essence collected: 2,436,952

  Win Rewards: 5,000,000 essence, 50 support card packs, 1 support card unlock, 1 spare dungeon core, 15 Stone Golem type cards (X2 double tap, X3 Elimination).

  Rookie battle condition met, ‘win 8 dungeon battles as a rookie dungeon’: 4,500,000

  Rookie battle condition met, ‘kill 10,000 B tiers as a rookie core’: 1 S tier Design type card

  Rookie battle condition met, ‘kill 10 S tiers as a rookie core’: 5 User chose cards

  ]

  It was a pretty light year, for conditions met. Then again that was how it normally was on the even number battles. Peter could recall on year 4 only getting the ‘win 4 battles as a rookie’ condition. Thankfully, he had met two other thresholds. Killing 10,000 B tiers gave the same reward as the kill 1,000 A tiers had. Then there was the S tier reward. It was perhaps the best single condition reward that he had seen, but then he doubted many rookies if any had ever got it. Killing 10 S tiers as a rookie meant that you had likely taken out at least 2 other elites, more likely 3 or 4. It was a condition that could only be met by a true elite, so the prize was a step higher than he would have expected. Of course if someone took him out they would surpass it all in one go.

  Peter wondered for a moment why he had not hit the one for C tier. Surely, he had killed well over 100,000. If the pattern held true, that should be the condition. Then again killing 100,000 C tiers as a rookie was likely not a difficult threshold to meet as long as you battled enough. Perhaps it had a higher threshold, or perhaps C tiers were not worthwhile enough to warrant rewards.

  Regardless, this is what he had got. He had a decent amount of essence at 14.9 million, thanks to having 2.9 million left over from his battle preparation fund. That would allow him to build two of the cheaper S tier maestroms already. He would have to see how many epic cards he received in the 50 packs before he made plans, but likely he would want to push for another 2 SS tiers as a rookie. He had gotten 3 ‘user chose’ cards for summoning 3 as a rookie. If he could make 2 more in the next two years, it would likely mean 5 more ‘user chose’ cards, but first he needed to unlock his new card.

  Peter was getting close to hitting the support card cap of 20 cards. As long as he battled and won next year, he would before he even left the rookie division. Then he would be able to start replacing lower rarity cards one at a time. For now, however it would be he would just have to continue working his way up. Last year he had been far less excited since he only had been able to unlock an uncommon, but this time it was a rare card which was nothing to sneeze at. He rubbed his hands together as he excitedly used the card unlock.

  Missed Connection (R)

  Double Tap (R)

  Performance Enhancer (R)

  Missed connection was something new. It was not an example in the manual and he had not even heard of it before, but Peter knew it was the one that he would go with as soon as he read the description. It was a card that went with the choice function of his design card type or the choice support card that he did not have. How many times had he longingly looked at other options that he had been forced to pass over for something he needed. The missed connection would allow him to burn the same type cards a second time to get another choice as advertised. He would then be free to use increases or other upgrades on both separately. What’s more he was not limited to only grabbing one of the extra options, as long as he had more missed connections and the right type cards he could grab them all.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Double tap was seemingly the interface’s obligatory reoffering of something he had previously been offered. The performance enhancer was a consumable that enhanced everything. Something that was designed to bring an A rank up to a S(-) tier strength. If used on a stronger unit it might not provide more than a rank increase or so, but it would still be a large bump in strength for anything below SS tier. If someone like Glenda used it, it would allow her to have access to more mana and recover it faster. For a physical type it might give them more stamina, make them more resilient, or faster.

  It might not last for long, but it might not be a bad future pick. For someone who was battling often it would give the ability for a unit to hit above its weight class for a brief period. Fights between units of enemies at any tier did not last long. A couple boosted minutes, might be more than enough time for someone like Glenda to kill a handful of A tiers. Since rare support cards generally dealt with A tier, killing a few extra at that level instead of getting another of his own, might be more than worth it. Hopefully, he would get it as a reoffering later down the road… or perhaps even the epic version. For now though, he just had to go with a missed connection. There were a few missed connections that he still could not help but to think about, so help him there would not be anymore.

  Selection made, Peter excitedly moved to actually opening his presents. Unlike the last few years, where he opened 300 plus support packs, today he would only have 60. With each card unlocked or in the future replaced, more support packs might just be one of the best things a condition could reward him with. Opening the 60 packs all at once proved the point.

  It just figured that he was on a hot streak when he had so few packs to take advantage. He got 6 epics, 8 rares, and 10 uncommons including: 3 free maelstroms and one of each of the other epic types. The uncommon cards were even more lopsided with 4 replicators, 5 spawners, and 1 card type transfer, with no showing for the condensed ether option. For rares, he got 2 block challenges, 1 resurrect, 1 unique masterwork item, 2 tier up increases, and 2 of his new missed connections.

  As much as Peter would love to continue to dwell on his gains and where to go from here, there were things he needed to get done. Surprisingly Gabriel’s battle was still ongoing. The Fallen core’s S tier hedge warrior was currently on display mowing down demons using its steel crossbow. A welcome change since Peter was used to closing out the rookie battle session.

  All thoughts on the matter dropped as Peter arrived at the upper level. Most of the core’s eyes flitted to him. This time it was more than a passing curiosity. His growing band of S tiers including a pair of SS tiers had caught the notice of even the most dense cores. Peter only had a vague idea of what the equestrian core from the prior decadal group had done to warrant such attention, but he had likely surpassed it by tenfold. There was no doubt someone was arranging for a core from year group 41 or higher to crush him on year 11. Peter could only hope that it did not extend to year 12 or 13. Just focus on next year’s battle, Peter chided himself as he approached the table.

  Helen was at the table whispering conspiratorially with Elyra. Both’s eyes as well as Gretchen’s followed him as he made his way over. “Ha,” Helen laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. Her black lips parted in a toothy smile.

  “Sweety you just batted the beehive. You just couldn’t wait to do so literally next year,” her stare indicated how dumb she thought he was.

  “How did you get 2 double S’s…?” Elyra asked through gritted teeth.

  “Rewards and more rewards. I know a rookie having them is a bit of a surprise, but I have been in battle every year. Is it really so surprising?”

  The nightshade core shook her head again. “No, not really, not with what you have accomplished, but you got to understand something…” she trailed off as she thought about how to put it.

  “You got to have what, at least 18 support cards unlocked at this point, probably 1 or 2 more based on the group battles.”

  Peter shrugged a ‘So?’ in response. “Anyone can do the math. All the other cores should already know a lot of what I have.”

  “You don’t get it. Half the cores that reach the centennial division don’t even have 20 support cards unlocked, yet here you are posed to leave the rookie division having done so. Not only that, you have clearly shown the benefits of having received a litany of support packs and putting together a group of elites that would take most core’s a decade or three. Most intermediate dungeons don’t even spring for a double S tier. They would rather use the resources to have several S tiers. You did not just surpass some limit of what most cores expect from the best of rookies, you shattered it.”

  “I’m sure all the cores can imagine what goodies you might have gained, but it’s different when you are slapped across the face with it,” Gretchen added.

  “Correct, I’m sure where you’re from. They had some sort of idiom about it… My people called it ‘the show and the hidden dagger’. It is bad enough that you’ve been constantly on display showing your capabilities year to year, but even you cannot add enough over a year to throw off most of your next enemies' preparations.”

  Peter smiled sheepishly. He had not kept much in reserve, but he had managed to conceal another SS tier along with the S tier Seguin rose fairy. Not that he would let on. “What’s the alternative? If I did not show them this year. I would just have to next year. You can’t possibly expect me to be able to hide much when we are prepping to take on twice as many insect dungeons?”

  Helen sighed. I was over here trying to talk my little protégé off the idea, when my staff noticed the ether tearing dragon. Then you had to go and throw out another double S. I know you must feel like a big shot, beating helpless rookies into the ground, conversing with millennials… but even a bottom feeder core with a few decades on you will wipe you out when you move into your teen years. There is no way they will want a battle monger like you to get his feet under him. No way they will want you as a centennial.”

  Peter looked away at the front stage for a moment considering his response. Gabriel’s forces were pounding away at Bonefiend’s. From the looks of it, the battle was pretty much already decided in the fallen core’s favor. Ranks of wingless fallen angels marched in armor as bat like existences soared overhead. Honestly, the fallen core’s forces looked more like the demon core he was facing then the angels you might expect from looking at Gabriel.

  Gabriel was only a step behind Peter with the second most battle victories in the rookie division. Faced against another core that also had all his forces decimated the year before, it was clear his teammate had more than just an edge over the guy, millennial protégé or not. It was also possible that the demon faction had already given up on the core, so the uneven trades in his favor might have stopped putting the last demon rookie in dire straits.

  Peter decided there was no harm in saying his true feelings. “I plan to make things so costly and not worthwhile to make them think twice. After all, making an example of me for one year will already cost a core dearly, and give them nothing to show for it. How many resources will the millennial and centennial cores be willing to burn to encourage the idea?”

  After last year's conversation with the Void millennial, Peter knew the millennials resources were not infinite, and all the younger cores had more to worry about. All he had to do was to get to about year 20. After that he was fairly confident in his ability to continually grow his forces while warding off the older intermediate dungeons. Moving into the centennial division would be far less worrisome, at least in his mind. Those old monsters might have a lot of secrets, but look how far he had come in 8 years. After a hundred, hopefully he would be far more prepared for the transition than he would be for the next one. Still Helen had a point. Other cores were sure to realize his abnormal progression and would want to take him out while he was still crawling. Before he could really walk or run.

  “They don’t have to promise any. Normally, a bunch of cores in the faction or another will each chip in a bit of support, or often they promise to ensure a safe transition for a core to move into the centennial division.”

  That floored Peter, now that was a bit worrisome… He had really been hoping the idea of losing so many resources while attacking him would dissuade older cores, but if they were promised a smooth transition into the centennial division, even a core in the 90s would be willing to lose a lot to take him on. After all, a battle in the early one hundreds’ would be far more costly. “I’ll think of something,” Peter finally replied.

  “You better…” Helen warned.