It took the town about twenty days before they managed to figure out the trick with the twelfth floor. While they did that, Doyle focused on rune-less arrays and formations. That might sound odd, after all, isn't the point of such things to use runes and such for magical effects?

This assumption is accurate enough. In fact, any array or formation master you meet will use them. It is just so much easier to get complex results. There are however some small things that people don't think of, which are rune-less or nearly so.

The best example of this that Ally managed to dig up, was the most basic heating and light arrays. With heating, not using a single rune and light using only a single light rune. Though saying the light array uses a single light rune isn't quite correct. Rather, any set of light arrays only needs a single light rune over the entire set. So, whether you had one light or one hundred connected together, you just need a single light rune.

In fact, as Doyle examined it, the light array was a simple modification of the heat array. If you just want heat, well, turning energy into heat just requires resistance. Sure, once hot enough, there would be some element of light released.

However, that wasn't what the light array did. Instead, the rune provided a framework to transform the heat itself into light. Or rather, the energy being pumped through the array was changed to prefer turning into light instead of heat. It was odd and didn't quite match anything he remembered from grade school physics, but then again, this was magic.

Though while this was interesting, it certainly wasn't the limit. The problem is that anything more complex tends to not be sapient sourced. Hell, even sentient creatures use runes, if simple. No, if you want a more complex array or formation that doesn't use runes, you're looking for natural treasures and locations. Not even those are all rune-less. In fact, the most basic set of runes in the universal rune script comes from natural arrays and formations.

Still, the simplest effects can come about with just lines. There are researchers that believe such simple arrays are actually runes in and of themselves. That isn't generally accepted and Doyle having dipped his fingers into things definitely doesn't agree. This is mainly because by their nature, a simple rune by itself is not magical.

On the other hand, the simple arrays are. If you draw a rune on a piece of paper with a normal pencil, it won't do anything, even if you channel power into it later. A heat array drawn in a similar manner would still produce heat when powered.

Now, this might sound strange as not that long ago, people started getting minor magical effects from simple rune amulets and tattoos. Except they aren't just drawn. Rather, those examples featured special conditions that changed things, especially the tattoos.

When it comes down to it, tattoos are the easiest way to get minor magical effects because of the inherent blood magic that tends to get mixed in. This "sacrifice" is enough to empower the rune from the start. That's the trick. To make a rune magical by itself, you need to have it start magical.

Which brings the spotlight back onto the amulets and such. Why would they be magical when the same rune drawn on a piece of paper isn't? Simple enough, the tradition of magical accessories, the fact it is meant to be on a person's body, and carving something has mystical significance.

Not that you can't draw a rune on a piece of paper and make it work. It is just that to do that; you need some extra set up. Stuff like mystical inks or special paper. And honestly? At that point, you're better off drawing a full array or making it into a spell scroll.

Anyway, arrays and formations will always work as long as you lay them out with enough precision, which is where the problems come in. After a certain point, they need sub-atomic precision, which is why you don't have some level ten fool setting up an array meant for someone deep into the four digits.

Except, there are ways to reduce the precision requirement. That of special materials, specific times, and using more power than required. A moon based array will be a lot simpler if you have an actual moon rock and activate the array during the full moon. Oh, and the more mystical nonsense you can throw at it, the better.

This information, graciously provided by Ally, gave Doyle the way forward. Natural arrays and formations are the peak of properly placed. The environment they find themselves in literally made for them to do their job and reduces the needed accuracy. That and the fact they only activate at the perfect time with some natural examples never activating as the moment is never right.

That all together means that Doyle simply needs to create the perfect environment for the array. After all, Doyle has more control over where he will be setting up his arrays than anyone as weak as he currently is. Sure, at the high end, an array master might take over an entire planet and terraform it to match their array, but that needs a certain level of power.

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So, with a little bit of extra space that he had on the thirteenth floor, Doyle spent the time perfecting a diorama of sorts. He had already made a magic circle that accelerated the growth of plants and so kept with it. After all, while somewhat complex, you could reduce it down to infusing a plant with magic. A thing that simple lines could certainly do.

The biggest difference is that Doyle was taking the harder path on this already hard path. See, while arrays and formations are separate traditions, they both come from the same source, rituals, and so can be combined. Now, this isn't some secret knowledge or anything. In fact, it is so well known that Ally was able to look it up on the universal web.

After all, when you squint, you could see those formation flags as an array of sorts. Just that when you combine them, it takes a lot more work to balance things. Most people don't bother as it doesn't provide too much of an advantage. Rather, the use most people get out of doing this is for extremely complex workings. Though even then, most people will just make use of sib-arrays and formations.

To need arrays and formations together? That's going to be something quite strange and niche. After all, most people don't bother learning both. So, to make such a thing will need at least two masters of their trades involved in the creation.

As Doyle is an immortal dungeon who will have nothing but time, the difficulty of learning both doesn't particularly matter. If anything, the extra flexibility will be useful for later floors. Not that he was particularly thinking about these implications, though over the past couple weeks, Ally had gone over things.

Doyle wasn't particularly happy upon finding this out. He would have preferred Ally had informed him about this ahead of time. Though he couldn't really blame her. Not only did all her training to be a dungeon fairy focus on this aspect, so had her personal experience. When dealing with an immortal life, you need to make sure your decisions don't lead you down a short path or you'd end up pretty bored later on. Ally had personally seen fae only a few thousand years old who looked beaten down by time simply because their hobbies were too limited and they'd lost a way forward.

At least Doyle was interested in both arrays and formations, so no harm, no foul. Though after a couple weeks of work, he certainly wasn't planning on dabbling with combining them all that much. Even though he was only using lines, the balance between array and formation was a nightmare.

Besides, not even a week in, Doyle had already figured out how to manage this with one or the other. The array version tended towards an adaptable effect at the cost of a specific area being affected. On the other hand, the formation version had a broader, less adaptable effect, but you could use more flags to make it effect a large area of any sort of shape. Sure, combining the two did allow you to have the best of both.

Except the effort needed to set it up wasn't worth it. In almost any situation, you'd be better off using multiple arrays. Even getting a formation to work with a few specialized arrays contained within its area would be easier. So yeah, not worth it for most people and Doyle would have dropped it if not for a bit of stubbornness taking over.

Then Ace and his party managed to finally figure out how to beat the twelfth floor. Well, "figured out" is a little strong of a way to describe it. Rather, Ace got a bit peeved at the dungeon and so went a little aggro with his magic. While uprooting the grass did basically nothing as it somehow regrows behind him really fast. Not even Doyle or Ally could figure out why it was growing so fast.

Anyway, what this did do is uproot a field of wheat and reveal the path behind it. Ace was less than pleased to find said path. Livid would probably be a better way to describe it as he realized the answer to the floor. Suffice it to say, rude words were said and a lot more grass uprooted.

Then they stepped onto the thirteenth floor. Ace was actually happy at first. After all, a mountain to climb with an obvious path? Like a prayer answered after the last floor. Except Susan had to go and find the kobold camp down below.

So of course they had to go check it out and after experience with the last boss floor, the team was more than capable of a stealthy climb down the cliff. Now, you would think that them getting to initiate the fight would make it simple enough. After all, they've been fighting kobolds more than enough.

The problem is that they haven't actually fought them in a few floors. Last time was on the ninth floor. That meant a ten level difference on a monster that Doyle had a decent amount of path investment in. Strength alone went from 47 to 87! They weren't quite twice as strong as last time, but it was like night and day. This was especially true for the kobold mages. One of the mind stats actually increased 100 points!

They tried, really they did. There were just way too many kobolds and their mage support was much too effective. Ace's team ended up retreating. At least the kobolds mostly stuck to their camp, which allows the team to climb the cliff and leave.

It was hilarious to Doyle. After all, the birds and golems were probably an easier fight than the kobolds. Though the lack of mages would have been a massive reduction in difficulty, no matter what. A healer alone was such a game changer that Ace was forced to reevaluate some previous decisions.

Ace still didn't have a healer on his team. It hadn't felt necessary, as while the wolves had been difficult, they didn't feel deadly. Not that he was against having a healer, he just was happy with his team. Now they would need to be broken up.

In fact, once back in his office, Ace decided to share the misery. They had been getting too comfortable in their teams. There needed to be a shake up and he needed to get some more healers in the inner circle. The question was where to get them? After all, he couldn't let just anyone in on their secrets.

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