We stood in the center of the second floor, bathed in the soft, multicolored glow of the crystal display. It was hard not to just stare. Hundreds of velvet-lined shelves stretched across the massive room, holding beautifully natural and cut gemstones that pulsed with a quiet, living energy. After a few long days of brutal combat and heavy emotional revelations, this felt like stepping into a treasure vault from a fairy tale.
After letting us admire the glowing gems for a moment longer, the Piximon manager excitedly fluttered forward, his tiny pink wings buzzing like a hummingbird's. He began showing us around the aisles, pointing his spear at the displays and introducing one crystal gem after another.
"Look here, young heroes!" Piximon chirped, gesturing to a jagged crimson crystal that seemed to radiate pure heat. "This is a minor Flame Burst crystal. A excellent fire type area attack. And over here, a crystalline Aegis 1 shard, offering baseline spectral mitigation against special attacks..."
He moved to a third gem, a swirling sapphire sphere, rattling off words like co-axial sync rates and elemental dampening matrices. I exchanged a completely blank look with Wally. Kaldur frowned, crossing his arms, while Conner just glared at the blue stone as if he could intimidate it into making sense. Even our Digimon partners looked somewhat lost, shifting their weight awkwardly.
Piximon stopped mid-sentence. He lowered his spear, his eager smile softening into a more patient expression. "I can see from your faces none of you are following along or completely understanding what a lot of the terminology means."
Wally let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, little dude, you kind of lost us at special attack."
Piximon sighed, shaking his head gently. "I'll explain everything from the top for you, okay?"
The team and our partners all nodded in relief. While the Digimon certainly understood that the crystals granted new abilities, that was really the extent of their knowledge. They didn't know the exact mathematics behind it, and as Batman always taught me, battles are won in the math.
"Okay, let's start with the basics, and please save any questions until afterwards," Piximon instructed, floating up to eye level with us. "All Digimon, from Fresh to Mega level, can be classified into three categories known as Vaccine, Virus, and Data types. There are rumors about a fourth one, but I don't personally know anything about it, if it's real, mind you. Anyway, the one thing they all have in common is that they can equip these crystal gems, and the proper name for these miracle crystals are Ability Gems."
I tapped the side of my gauntlet, bringing up my wrist computer's holographic interface. I immediately started typing down everything Piximon was saying. If these gems were the key to surviving the Server Continent, I needed the data perfectly documented so we could go over it again later and build the optimal loadouts.
"These Ability Gems can only be found inside Dungeons or treasure chests," Piximon continued, gesturing to the massive collection. "All of the ones you see here were bought here by Digimon who have explored many different Dungeon and wilderness areas from across the Digital World. But they themselves didn't like or want at the time the specific ability inside said Gem, so they sold or traded it here. Just so you know, if you don't have enough coins for the one you want, that's where the trade option comes in. Of course, the only thing you can trade a Gem for is another Gem. Everyone understand so far?"
I stopped typing for a split second to nod, making sure the others were tracking. "We follow. Keep going."
"Okay, good. Now where was I? Oh yes, we currently have one hundred and thirty-five Ability Gems in stock right now but don't expect to see any game changing gems we only have low and a few medium level gems nothing to be impressed over sadly. I'll now explain just how Ability Gems are broken up into four different groups."
Piximon held up a single pink finger. "The first group is the attack and defense group. These are the most popular ones, because they allow you to use attack or defense abilities from any element, even ones you are normally completely incompatible with. They even come with hidden abilities, like giving status effects to your opponent, like confusion or sleep or increasing your stats after the attack hits the opponent."
My fingers flew across my holographic keyboard as I summarized his words. *Group 1: Offense/Defense. Grants cross-elemental access. Hidden status modifiers.*
"This group can be broken up even further," Piximon explained, "as the abilities can be classified as physical attacks, special attacks, physical defense, and special defense. The attributes of the abilities being fire, water, wind, earth, light, and darkness. There are non-elemental abilities as well."
He flew over to a display of contrasting gems, hovering between a bright white one and a deep purple one. "Now, certain attacks do more damage to certain types of Digimon, as all Digimon have a weakness to a certain element or even multiple ones. I hope I don't have to explain too much that the reverse is true of course, and some obviously have a high resistance to certain elements. Not to mention that it helps even more if that specific Digimon is weak to the type doing the attacking."
Piximon spun his spear in a circle, illustrating a cycle. "The three types of Vaccine, Virus, and Data are in a three-way deadlock, with one always suppressing another. Vaccine is strong against Virus, which is strong against Data, and Data is strong against Vaccine. So, if you have a Vaccine type Digimon use a light attack against a Virus Digimon that is weak to light, you can end up doing three times the damage you'd normally do depending on how weak to the element they are and how strong your special attack is!"
I blinked, my eyes widening behind my domino mask. A three-hundred percent damage multiplier? That was staggering. Kaldur shot me a glance, clearly recognizing the tactical value of that same multiplier. If we charted Etemon's type and elemental weaknesses, we could theoretically punch entirely above our weight class.
"The second group," Piximon said, holding up two fingers, "is the status abnormalities group. These are Gems that protect you from different status abnormalities. There are six different status effects you can either give or receive. It's not possible to protect against them all, so it's best to get protection from the one that can do the most damage to your fighting style."
He began pacing back and forth in the air. "Okay, now I'll explain the six abnormalities in order. They are Asleep, Frozen, and Paralyzed. These three render you, in different ways, unable to move at all. The best example is Gabumon's next level from Garurumon; its attack carries the Frozen abnormality effect. Alright, next is the Poisoned abnormality. I won't explain that, as no one here is stupid enough not to know what that one does from the name alone."
Wally snorted quietly, crossing his arms, while Gabumon looked quite proud of his future evolutionary capabilities when he can stay in that form permanently.
"Next is Confused," Piximon said, his tone growing grave. "It makes you unable to control yourself at all, making you attack allies or even yourself. And finally, the worst one and most hated but luckily the rarest: Sealed. It prevents you from using any abilities at all for a set amount of time."
I categorized the threats in my notes. Sealed sounded dangerously close to if not worse than the mechanics of Etemon's rumored De-digivolution network. If we could buy gems that countered Sealed or protected our baseline stats, it might save our lives in the desert.
"The third group is the stats group, the smallest one here," Piximon continued. "Now, this one needs a bit more info before I continue. Not every Digimon knows this stuff unless they want to be Explorers, the Digimon who look for treasure chests in the wild and clear Dungeons. But all Digimon have five stats, which are physical attack, physical defense, special attack, special defense, and speed they are important because the higher it is the stronger you are in that area."
Wally instantly perked up at the word *speed*, leaning closer to the shelves.
"And depending on your stats layout which may vary slightly from Digimon to Digimon but are usually the same for all Digimon of a specific species you can be divided into one of four classes," the manager added. "All-rounder, which is the most balanced overall with no real weakness. Mobility, specialized in speed and special attack. Attack types, who have the highest physical attack or special attack rarely both. And Defense types, who have the highest physical and special defense. Okay, info dump done. Anyway, stat Gems give boosts to certain stats, but never more than two at a time. Also even if your a All-rounder in one form you could be a Mobility in the next one."
He gestured to a small cluster of glowing green stones. "Now the fourth and final Gem group: the Support Gems. These ones allow you to use support abilities to temporarily boost one of your or your allies' five stats and lower one of your opponents. If you time it right, this can seriously change the balance of any battle you find yourself in. Okay, that is basically everything you need to know about Ability Gems."
Piximon took a deep breath, resting on his spear while our group quietly absorbed the massive influx of information. My mind was racing, building hypothetical loadouts. We had twelve hundred Dungeon Coins each. If I bought Tentomon a Support Gem to boost his special attack, and paired it with a Group 1 elemental attack gem that exploited Etemon's weakness...
Suddenly, Piximon gasped, his wings fluttering rapidly again. He had been going over his speech in his head and clearly realized he missed something important.
"Oh yes, two more things!" Piximon blurted out. "One, every Digimon, no matter the level, can only equip three Ability Gems at a time. Period. From what we understand, it's because we house the Gems in our souls, so we can't bear the weight of four without doing unrepairable damage."
Conner winced slightly, looking down at Patamon. The idea of tearing his partner's soul apart by over-equipping a crystal was enough to ensure none of us would ever test that limit.
"The second thing is every Digimon species has a Species Skill unique to them but like the stat knowledge most aren't aware because they don't need this information for their day to day lives," Piximon concluded. "Like the Agumon species has the Species Skill Sharp Claws, which improves Physical Attacks by seventy percent! Or Gatomon's which is Cat's Eye which has a thirty percent chance of giving Confusion to anyone she lands a hit on! So try to buy Gems that match the Species Skill to get the most power out of them. Another example of why is the MetalGreymon Species Skill Organic and Inorganic which raises damage dealt by fire attacks by one hundred percent, Fire resistance by fifty percent and has a fifty percent chance of ignoring the Asleep status abnormality"
Kaldur nodded slowly slightly amazed, looking at Agumon, who flexed his claws with a bright, toothy grin. "Seventy percent and a even stronger skill in his Ultimate-level... That changes everything. Thank you, Piximon. This information is invaluable."
I looked at the one hundred and thirty-five glowing gems surrounding us. We didn't just have money now. We had a strict, mathematical blueprint to survive.
***
I sat back on my massive marble throne, watching the holographic screens hovering in the center of my Divine Space. A slow, satisfied smile stretched across my face.
In my God form, the physical sensation of triumph was intoxicating. The ambient light of the artificial constellations above caught the edges of my lower body's golden armor, casting a warm glow over the tribal tattoos etched across my broad chest as I had decided to go topless to see if I could change my tattoo design but decided to leave it as is after trying a few different designs. My heightened cognitive speed allowed me to process the young heroes' reactions in agonizingly slow detail. I saw the exact moment Dick's mind grasped the variables of the Ability Gem system. I saw Wally's subtle shift in posture when the Mobility class was mentioned.
It was perfect.
When I designed the Dungeon God System's mechanics for the Digital World, I knew that simply letting the heroes punch their way through corrupted data wouldn't be enough. The DC universe was filled with prodigies. They were used to outsmarting villains, analyzing weaknesses, and relying on Batman and the other Leaguers training doctrines. I needed to force them out of their comfort zones and into the strict, unforgiving reality of an RPG min-maxing system.
If they tried to face Etemon relying purely on their heroic willpower or their baseline Digimon evolutions, they would die. The Dark Network's De-digivolution grid was already locked into the Server Continent's code. The moment they stepped onto that sand, their Champion forms would be violently stripped away. They would have four useless Rookies and four Ultimates on hard time limits, facing new Ultimate-level threats.
These Ability Gems weren't just a fun reward. They were a mandatory survival mechanic.
A translucent blue system screen materialized beside my throne.
[Notice: Hero party engagement with Ability Gem system confirmed. Dungeon Coin economy successfully stimulated. Statistical growth probability increased by 42%]
"They're taking the bait," I murmured, my voice echoing in the vast, empty temple. "Grayson is going to spend the next three hours minimum calculating the perfect three-gem loadout for his Digimon even though he doesn't have enough coins for six medium grade Gems."
It was fascinating to observe how quickly humans adapted when their lives, and the lives of the creatures they had bonded with, were placed on the line. Piximon—the shopkeeper variant, not the battle-hardened trainer I had nearly let die to test them—had delivered the exposition flawlessly. The strict limitation of three gems per soul forced them to make agonizing choices. Did they prioritize elemental advantage to achieve that three-hundred percent damage multiplier? Or did they buy the Status Abnormality gems to prevent Etemon from afflicting them with the Sealed status if he even knew it was rare to get hit with it?
There was no single perfect answer, and that was the beauty of it. Whatever they chose, they would leave themselves vulnerable in another area, generating the exact kind of desperate, edge-of-your-seat combat that maximized my divine energy harvesting.
I swiped the screen away and opened my secondary creation suite. The blueprints for the backup Gates floated in the air as intricate, wireframe labyrinths.
Watching the heroes interact with the Ability Gems gave me an excellent idea for the mortal world dungeons. I could introduce a similar, albeit darker, mechanic into the Gotham stealth labyrinth. If I scattered stat-boosting artifacts throughout the maze, the criminals and vigilantes of Earth would tear each other apart trying to stop each other from claiming them. The Justice League was currently bottlenecking my Happy Harbor gate, terrified of the unknown. But if word got out that absolute, quantifiable power could be harvested from these dungeons... human greed would do my work for me.
Batman couldn't hold back the entire criminal underworld if they believed they could literally buy a gem that doubled their physical strength or granted them immunity to physical trauma.
I closed my eyes, letting my divine senses brush against the edges of the Digital World. I could feel the cold, suffocating presence of Etemon's domain waiting across the ocean. I could feel Myotismon brooding in his dark fortress, studying the stolen Crest of Light. And I could feel Ikaris moving through the desert, finish setting up the exact traps I had commanded him to prepare, all before he returned to my temple to claim his promised place at my side.
"Spend wisely, little heroes," I whispered to the empty throne room, a dry amusement threading through my voice.