A moment later Peter flashed away from his core space. For the past 10 years, Peter along with the other rookie cores had all appeared at the bottom of the banquet chamber both when the congregation began and after dungeon battles. From now on, with his marker now set, he would appear up here with the other intermediate division concept cores. Something new he would just have to get used to. He would also have to get used to being on the left side of the banquet cavern since he had been on the other side for all of the previous decade. It was all thanks to joining the older concept cores in the intermediate division.

  There were now eight in the division, the four upcoming rookies including himself, and the four that remained in the intermediate division after last year’s dungeon battles. Nemesis as the oldest core at 90 was the unspoken leader of the group. He would age out of the group after the next decade, assuming he survived his last decade as an intermediate core.

  Annalee, the doll core, was the next oldest at 60, but it was unlikely that she would be the next group leader since she was peculiar. The role would instead likely fall to Wing, the more outspoken of the two 30 year old cores, so far she had been the least welcoming since she assumed that Peter and his group were too much trouble and would likely soon be gone. However she would likely come around assuming they survived the integration over the next few years.

  The last was the mirage core, who was some sort of wolfman… or a rubbery skinned alien… or a young man. Around his shifting visage was a small aura of distorting space, like heat waves rising from pavement on a hot day. It certainly took some getting used to, but he was a nice enough guy. In fact he was the most welcoming of the older cores.

  “Whoa where are the rookies,” Elyra said, standing so that she could see more of the lower floor.

  “Sit! You're embarrassing us,” Wing said, rolling her eyes. “The rookies will pop up in an hour. For now, the former rookies get a chance to integrate into the next division.” Wing added dismissively.

  “They are beyond your concern. What you should really be worried about is surviving the integration. Besides isn’t how well you did as a rookie more important to you right now,” Mirage suggested.

  Elyra’s eyes brightened, but Nemesis cut in demanding their attention before they could open their interfaces. “Wait! Let me explain a few things and then we can go line by line through the results, and then I can explain the rewards… Or just look through them on your own,” Nemesis said, sighing since Elyra's expression had glazed over clearly indicating that she was already scrolling through her results.

  “What? Who the hell could have beaten me?” Then, “Why are my scores so low?” she protested. Peter, Gabriel, and Gretchen looked over in amusement. They were all eager to see their results, but not so much that they could not wait a minute.

  “Your scores aren’t as bad as you think. If you would let Nemesis explain, you would know why,” Wing stated disapprovingly at the demoness. Elyra shot her a look of contempt, but she soon turned her attention to Nemesis as well.

  “Good… Like Wing said your scores likely are not as bad as you might think they are? For every category you are scored from 1 to 100, with 100 being the best result a rookie division survivor has ever managed. Obviously that also means that 1 percent is the worst someone has done in that particular category.”

  “That still doesn’t change my mind. I kicked ass, yet I have a lot of scores in the 20’s or 30’s. I only have a few even above 50,” Elyra protested.

  “That is perfectly normal for most new intermediate division cores. Just think of it like this. If a core survives till integration, then they likely are not complete trash although some pretty weak ones squeeze through in normal year groups other than yours, but even then the bar for the absolute low score of 1 is set decently high. As for the top 100 score, one of the many freaks of nature from the past millenia have run those scores up to the absolute limits. Along with other standout cores, they have really skewed the averages. The median of the group or the main pack is normally lower than 50. Honestly, if you are in your 40’s then you likely did pretty good and are better than the average core.”

  “If you got something in the single digits though… You still suck,” Wing said, looking Elyra up and down.

  “And what about something in the 90’s,” Elyra countered. “Would that make me a godsent talent?”

  Wing did not answer, but her expression was something along the lines of how the hell. Elyra victoriously shared a few lines.

  [Rookie graduation categories:

  Dungeon Battle Opponent difficulty: 94% rank 2

  Trade merchant: 91% rank 1

  ]

  “Huh…wow… I guess I should not be surprised by the first one based on the battles you guys underwent. It is based on the average difficulty of the battles you participated in as a rookie. Beat up a bunch of weaklings and you will not score very high, and since it's an average, more battles does not necessarily mean better. As far as the second condition. That condition specifically means that she traded a lot and that she usually got the better of the deal. The ranks are self explanatory. It is her rank among your year group,” Nemesis explained.

  Peter and the rest of the group were hardly surprised by the second condition. The demoness was known for her uneven trade stance. However the fact that she barely made it into the 90’s was certainly a bit alarming. It was a testament to how difficult it would be to get perfect marks in a category, freaks of nature indeed. Then there was the other condition. Peter could not help but to look at his own results as Nemesis continued to explain.

  “The interface only rates you for 10 categories, however only the top five should be the same each time. One of you would have to show me the others if you want an explanation for the rest. The best we can tell is that it is random from year to year…” he trailed off after seeing that the other three were now also busy scrolling through their results.

  [Rookie Graduation Categories:

  Collection dungeon essence Collection: 100% rank 1

  Collection dungeon layout: 40% rank 4

  Resource Collection: 68% rank 2

  Battle dungeon structure: 37% rank 4

  Dungeon Progression: 36% rank 6

  Unit type diversity: 74% rank 1

  Terra Exploration: 51% rank 1

  Dungeon battle opponent difficulty: 81% rank 4

  Trade Merchant: 38% rank 4

  Adventurer efficiency: 29 rank 7]

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Peter stared at the results. By all accounts he had made out like a bandit, even setting the top bar for the essence collection that Elyra had been coveting, and he was not the only one. Gretchen actually got 100% and rank 1 for the dungeon battle opponent difficulty category. Gabriel had taken the third rank in that category, but his score was the exact same percentage point as Peters’ at 81%.

  Apparently, both Gabriel and himself had watered down their extremely tough battles far too much. It was the damn dart frog, salamander, and ghost fights, Peter thought to himself. They had been important for him to build his foundation off of, but they had clearly been at a lower caliber than his other fights. They had only been difficult since it was early on, before his many maelstroms could start producing dividends greater than their costs. It was the same for Gabriel who had only not battled one of the years. Gretchen and Elyra had far fewer battles to water down the uncharacteristically difficult group battles they had all been a part of.

  Peter pushed it from mind. The real head scratcher was him setting the bar for essence collection, when Elyra had only come in second at 80%. He knew for a fact that she collected more each year, and her rank 1 dungeon progression rank eluded that he had not beaten her in expanding his collection dungeon out to maximize daily gains. At rank 6 out of 7 cores, dungeon progression was actually one of his worst categories. Then it occurred to him.

  It was Weevil’s invasion. All at once he had gained a lump sum of 50 million essence. That was about 3 years of collection for even the best of rookies. It was also something that was fairly rare, and if it did happen the unfortunate rookie likely buckled under the pressure of such an attack. The failed invasion had certainly given him a bit of a jump start after his defenses held. To think he would get another boon from what had been the most hair raising situation he had faced now.

  Peter and Gabriel broke out laughing as they started to compare their results. It was actually Gretchen who had done the best overall, with four rank 1’s to Peter’s 3. Not only had she nabbed a 100% and rank 1 for opponent difficulty, but she had also taken the top rank for battle dungeon structure, collection dungeon layout, and resource collection. She only had two categories under rank 3 which was Terra exploration at 5 and unit diversity at 7. Elyra on the other hand only took a rank 1 for trade merchant and dungeon progression, so much for her supposed advantage on getting good intel from her guide, Helen.

  Gabriel on the other hand did not get a single first rank, although he had often played second or third fiddle to those who had. The last top rank position had obviously been taken by either Cobra or one of the elemental cores. It was actually his worst category, adventurer efficiency. Nemesis’ explanation was not really all that clear, but it dealt in numbers of adventures, their makeup, deaths, etcetera…

  Basically it was how well a core’s dungeon was able to squeeze the most from an adventurer as possible essence wise or play to their strengths. If a lot of the adventurers were archers, having a bunch of mobs that were difficult to kill with arrows like golems would bring down your score. Peter was not too concerned about being at the bottom of the barrel on that one, as long as he could continue collecting essence, which based on the latest news before being pulled in might be a serious concern for him soon.

  “Sooooo… you have explained the categories. Now about the rewards?” Elyra posed. Peter had been wondering about it since the rewards were surprisingly absent from the notices.

  “Don’t worry, you will get them,” Nemesis promised. “The interface holds them until after the congregation. I guess it’s afraid that the new and exciting prospects would distract cores from the present.”

  “Well that's a load of crap,” Elyra said wilting.

  Peter and the rest could not help but to agree. It was not like there was some ranking board that would forever immortalize his scores or their ranks. After today they would not mean much more than perhaps a talking point.

  “Don’t worry we should be able to explain the gist of what rewards you will get since they are generally all pretty similar,” Wing added. “What do you think? Start with the worst and work your way up.”

  Nemesis raised his eyebrow. “Not sure I would say that any one of them is worse than the others…”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure it's how you use it,” Wing said, performing quotation marks while rolling her eyes. She turned toward them. “Obviously the worst of the rewards will be consumables although there are some exceptions. Crazy and exotic support cards that are difficult to get, but generally their use is limited to a single unit. The better things are the real game changers which will continue to pay out as long as you don’t get yourself elminated…. Which in your guy's case might not be too long, so hey maybe the consumables might be just as good in your case,” Wing concluded smirking.

  “Anyways, like Wing said… there are consumables. The crazy and exotic support cards she mentioned are just Legendary rank cards, which based on your results I’m sure you will likely all get a few. Now that you are in the intermediate division you will have a chance to obtain them through packs although most cores generally only get them when moving up a division.”

  Peter did not know much about legendary support cards. Some of the older cores had mentioned them a time or two, but when asked, they had all said something along the lines of ‘he just needed to focus on where he was at.’ The manual also only mentioned that they existed, but did not list them out like it did for those of a lower rarity. He did however know that he would not have to unlock them like he did for the other rarities. From now on his support packs would have a very minute chance of revealing one of them, which would also then be random.

  Although in accordance with what Nemesis had just said, they were still extremely rare. All intermediate cores could open at least 900 support packs while in the intermediate division just from buying their annual 10 each year. Most got additional packs through battle over the years, so it was telling that few ever got one from a pack. However, Peter was sure there was more to it. They might be awarded directly from a difficult battle, or perhaps by unlocking and upgrading his support cards his chances would increase, just like the greater rarity chances had steadily climbed year to year.

  “Anyways you will get some other consumables. Perhaps you will get a potion several levels above what you could hope to produce… No you won’t be able to study and replicate it. They might not be flashy, but an elite going from a near death state back to full health could easily turn the tide in a skirmish, or even a battle if used at a crucial moment.”

  “But the better rewards are those that add new facets to your dungeon,” Wing cut in. “For example, I got a world tree that gives me some great boons including a power boost for my units that use it to roost. Mirage here got a special rock, so basically, you guys could get anything.”

  “A Guidestone,” Mirage said, rolling his eyes. “ You have even had some units use it yourself. It's not my fault your units are generally too dumb to gain the peak benefits. But I will admit it certainly is special. Units can meditate on it and gain various boons. The time required depends on their intelligence level however,” he said, giving Wing a contemptuous look. She just scrunched up her nose.

  “Anyways, all my units are mirage combinations so I have a lot of units that can cast various illusionary copies, exist in both the physical and alternate realm, or a myriad of other possibilities,” Mirage said with a smile.

  The guide stone did indeed sound like a pretty good item. Something he would honestly love to have, however Peter had focused on the other aspect of what he had just said. He had given Wing an opportunity to use it? That meant she had sent units over to his dungeon. “You were able to allow her to use it?” Peter tried to clarify.

  “Of course, any unit can if I work out a deal with their owners, including yourselves. By the looks of it in your last battle, the three of you are already half way there. Do you still have the teleportation circles in each other’s dungeons?,” Mirage asked with a smile.

  Peter nodded.

  “Perfect, then you just need to work out a method to produce enough energy to activate them,” Mirage said, clasping his hands together.

  “They will likely at the very least have a few options among their rewards,” Wing dismissed the concern. She turned toward them, “But make sure you station guards. Good ones, especially if you allow this guy to connect,” Wing said, giving Mirage a side eye.

  “Also understand that those ruins are a weak point. Anyone could hack into them” Nemesis added coldly. “Not saying you should get rid of them. There are plenty of other weak points that a determined core could use to infiltrate,” Nemesis added.

  Gabriel and Gretchen looked confused, although Elyra’s eyes gleamed, obviously having been warned by Helen about the prospects of infiltration. Something she had not chosen to share with them.

  Peter kept his expression neutral. Void had already alluded to the infiltration game the older cores played during their conversation several years prior. The idea that an enemy unit could sneak in to steal or use limited resources was a bit concerning.. Wing had not so subtly indicated that even allies might take the chance to grab some gains. It was certainly something to think about, but for now the older cores continued their description of the rewards.

  “The final grouping of rewards would be floor changes. I’m sure you have all seen plenty of floors in higher division battles that don’t follow the normal rules. Floors with paths that do not have a route that is at least 30 by 30 feet wide. Floors who only have stairs leading up over certain points. Floors with no land based route at all,” Nemesis added the last glancing over at Wing. It was clear that she obviously had a floor that took advantage of her Wing core type.

  “With how well you all did, it is likely that you will all get the ability to combine some floors together to form super floors, although that doesn’t increase your limit,” Mirage added.

  “Play to your core type,” Annallee, the doll core added, with a creepy smile.

  “She has a five floor doll house…” Nemesis added with a clearly uncomfortable tone. Annallee just smiled wickedly in return. Peter and the other former rookies glanced at each other, each wondering what a super five floor dollhouse floor would look like, and why the other older cores were clearly disturbed by it.