The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The healing of a flesh-and-blood entity was surprisingly much faster than fixing up her constructs; Sandra thought it probably had something to do with needing to use all of the elements to heal her Dungeon Monsters as opposed to just two for the Gnome. Or even that the materials were so different that it was possible that metal took longer to create than blood, flesh, muscle, and bone. Regardless of the reason, the Gnomes all watched in awe as the leg visibly straightened and repaired itself, the pallor of his skin faded and returned to normal, and his body “re-inflated” a little as internal injuries were repaired and blood was returned to a healthy level. All of that took less than a minute, which made it all that much more miraculous.

  Unfortunately, Felbar didn’t wake up; it was possible that bonding and healing an unconscious individual caused them to stay unconscious for a while, but Sandra didn’t really have a good frame of reference. For all she knew, it was possible that the same would happen if they were conscious and healthy – the only one that she had done it on had been in the same state as the old Gnome had been.

  “How—?” Violet began to ask incredulously, before cutting herself off. “Never mind that – why isn’t he awake?” she asked instead.

  Sandra had no way of answering; she was hoping that Felbar would wake up and allow her to explain everything to him. Instead, she just pointed toward Violet and the Elemental Orbs in her hand.

  “What does that mean? What do these have to do with why he isn’t awake?” Violet asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for the healing you did on Felbar, but what is that on his chest? Is it some sort of slave mark?”

  What is it about slave marks here? Is that common in this part of the world? Sandra asked Winxa quickly, while she tried to figure out what to do.

  “It used to be – especially in the Orc lands – when their population was much greater. Now, though, everyone is working together to defend against the dungeons that they can’t afford the luxury of having slaves that may or may not help fight,” the Dungeon Fairy answered.

  Filing that information away, Sandra used the Golem to touch the gear tattoo on Felbar’s chest, followed by his mouth, and then to his temple. She was trying to convey that the bond would allow her to talk to his mind, but she wasn’t sure how successful she was at it.

  “This…will allow you to talk to us?” Violet said, pointing towards the bronze gear.

  I guess I was more successful than I thought. Sandra again waved her Golem’s arms up and down in affirmation.

  “Ok…then do it,” the small woman said.

  “What?! No, don’t do it, Violet – you don’t know what it will do to you!” said one of the other Gnomes, who tried to move her away from Felbar as if the gear on his chest was some sort of disease that could be spread. Violet shook him off and repeated her request for Sandra to do it.

  Before the Gnome woman could change her mind, Sandra initiated the Bond again and felt Mana and Raw Materials stream out of her. To her surprise, only 100 of the former and 500 of the latter was needed to complete the Visitor Bond; neither she nor Winxa had any explanation for the difference, though the Fairy mentioned that it might have something to do with the Gnome’s willingness and her lack of unconsciousness.

  The same light blinded everyone again and Sandra heard Violet scream out in pain; fortunately, it was over just as fast as it began, and she saw the Gnome woman blinking her eyes and trying to stare at her hands. The Natural and Spirit Elemental Orbs were gone – as Sandra had expected – but in their place were two bronze-colored gears on either palm. They were similar in appearance to the larger one on Felbar, but of course a bit smaller; on one, Sandra could see flecks of green; on the other, she saw flecks of yellow.

  The Repair Drone moved over to Violet and did its whole healing thing again, though this time with green and yellow energy streams pumping into her. The Gnome seemed to be frozen during the process, but it was only temporary; within seconds, the Drone was done, and it moved off after putting its arms away.

  “Thank you – I can see again,” Violet said absently, now able to see her palms and was staring at them in shock. “Wh—what was that? What are these things?”

  * Sorry about the pain – I haven’t created a bond with someone conscious before and didn’t know. *

  Violet looked around wildly at Sandra’s voice, though she recovered much faster from the shock of hearing a voice inside her head than Kelerim had. “Who are you? What did you do to me?”

  Sandra started by explaining that she was the dungeon and that she was there to help and not harm them all. She followed that up with what she thought was the reason Felbar was still unconscious, but that he would wake up eventually (she hoped). Then, with another few quick thoughts toward the woman, she described the bond that allowed her to speak to the Gnome and also explained that they were not “slave marks” or anything of the kind – and that they were free to leave at any time they wanted. However, she stressed the need to hurry and convince the others to agree to the bond as well.

  * I need you to convince the others of the need to perform the Visitor Bond as well, otherwise my hands are tied when it comes to changing the dungeon around while there is an ‘intruder’ inside. I was forced to do it for Felbar there without his permission to save his life, but I won’t do it for anyone unwilling. However, if they don’t agree, they’ll have to leave – at least temporarily; the other Dungeon Core’s reptile army is about an hour away, so there is time to escape if they want to. Escape to where, I honestly don’t know – it’ll be highly dangerous anywhere they go. *

  Sandra heard Violet start to explain what was going on to the other Gnomes, who had been staring at her essentially talking to herself; fortunately, instead of thinking she had lost her mind, they listened raptly to her words. Apparently, the Gnome woman held a greater position in their village than she had thought, as the others all agreed to the bond. Most of them still seemed reluctant, but they still gave their permission.

  Rather than doing them one at a time, Sandra did a mass bonding on the other seven, concentrating on each of them and holding the Dungeon Visitor Bond at the forefront of her mind. Just as Violet’s bonding had been, the Mana and Raw Materials were much less than Felbar’s and it only confirmed that being willing and conscious probably had a lot to do with the amount she needed to spend to form the Bond.

  And, just like Violet, they were all slightly blinded from the light, which was quickly fixed by Sandra’s Repair Drone going from one to another. Unlike Violet, however, they only had one bronze-colored gear on a single palm – depending on where they were holding the Elemental Orb that matched their affinity. Sandra spoke to each of them individually and then as a group, and by the time they had gotten over the strangeness of her voice in their heads, the inevitable question came up.

  “Why are you doing this? Better yet, what are you going to do with us?”

  * That’s a bit of a long explanation that we don’t have time for right now; I need to prepare for the small army of lizards, crocodiles, and giant turtles about to descend on my dungeon. Rest assured that I mean you no harm and in fact want to help – but I’ll have to explain it a little later. Right now, I need to get you all somewhere safe where you can rest and even get a little something to eat if you want. You do eat meat, don’t you?”

  “Well, yes – though it isn’t often that we have access to it—” Violet started, before Sandra cut her off.

  * Then let’s get you below and settled in and I’ll keep you all apprised of what’s going on with the reptile army heading here. *

  “But what about those massive lizards? Do you have something that can kill them too?” The Gnome woman pushed her questions out and practically forced Sandra to respond. The problem was, Sandra had no idea what she was going to do about them, but she still had at least a day before they arrived.

  * Honestly…I have no idea what to do against them. Let me worry about this initial wave first, and if we all survive, we’ll see w
hat we can do. *

  “What do you mean, ‘if we all survive’?” Violet asked.

  Wow…I wonder if I was this annoying when I was pestering the crafters to teach me what they knew back when I was Human? I bet that’s why they taught me in the end, just so that I would stop asking questions. Sandra tried to answer the rest of her questions as best she could, all the while itching to get back to preparation; she had trouble carrying on a conversation that required she listen and respond while doing something else at the same time. When she would recite what she was seeing and what was happening to Winxa back near her Core, it was usually just a one-way conversation – this was much more complicated.

  Fortunately, as soon as Sandra showed the Gnomes her VATS, they turned their attention to that instead. Freed up from having to answer difficult questions and only needing to lead them to where they needed to go, she could finally concentrate on more important matters.

  At least, she thought survival was pretty important.

  Chapter 20

  First, Sandra checked her Non-threat Visitors List to make sure that everyone was on there from the Bonding process, though she was sure it worked because she could feel her ability to manipulate things inside her dungeon as soon as it had completed.

  Non-threat Visitors List (Currently Present)

  Name

  Race

  Elemental Access

  Winxa Flamerider

  Dungeon Fairy

  Spirit

  Felbar Warmaster

  Gnome

  Fire, Spirit

  Violet Apprentice

  Gnome

  Natural, Spirit

  Jortor

  Gnome

  Nether

  Saryn

  Gnome

  Earth

  Lankas

  Gnome

  Air

  Kasdon

  Gnome

  Water

  Wilser

  Gnome

  Air

  Pomend

  Gnome

  Fire

  Junipar

  Gnome

  Holy

  Just as she thought, an additional nine names had been added to the list, though it was interesting to note that no one other than Felbar and Violet had surnames. Warmaster and Apprentice didn’t seem like the typical surnames passed on to other generations; instead, they almost sounded like earned titles instead of ones just given to them at birth. It was also fascinating to see that their elemental access ran the entire spectrum – only Fire and Air were repeated. She wasn’t sure if that meant something, but she was hopeful for potential applications in the future – if the Gnomes were willing to help her with her crafting, that was.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have time right now to continue those crafting pursuits; with another Dungeon Core’s army of reptiles on the way, she had to concentrate on defense instead. To that end, she also checked on her current resources to see what she was working with; if she was guessing accurately, the reptiles still had another 45 minutes before they would arrive, which would give her another 13,000 or so Mana, minus what she was going to spend on the Gnomes to feed them – which fortunately wasn’t much.

  Core Selection Menu

  Dungeon Classification:

  Constructs

  Core Size:

  19

  Available Mana:

  8215/15646

  Ambient Mana Absorption:

  10/hour

  Available Raw Material (RM):

  26250/41608

  Convert Raw Material to Mana?

  26250 RM -- > 1050 Mana

  Current Dungeon Monsters:

  14121

  Constructs Creation Options:

  17

  Monster Seed Schematics:

  133 (3)

  Current Traps:

  31

  Trap Construction Options:

  All

  Core-specific Skills:

  5

  Current Visitors:

  10

  Looking at the list, she realized that she had neglected to check out a few things with everything that had been going on with the preparations she was making in her dungeon right after her Core Size Upgrade, the attack on the Gnome village, and then bonding the survivors so that she could operate her dungeon properly. Speaking of them, they were all sitting down on the kitchen floor after enjoying their trip down the VATS – completely the opposite of a certain half-Dwarf/half-Orc – and eating some Bearling steaks her Golem had cooked for them. Felbar joined them, still unconscious, when her Ape brought him down and deposited him there, and the others kept him as comfortable as possible; remembering what had happened with Kelerim, she made sure a Repair Drone was nearby to help sustain him through his unconscious period.

  Sandra had told them that they could visit the forge in the next room (Kelerim’s old one), but to avoid going anywhere else for the moment. There weren’t too many dangerous spots in her workshops, but she didn’t want them accidentally trying to walk into her Home room while she was distracted; being burnt to a crisp from her Fire trap she had set up after just being saved didn’t sound like a good ending for one or more of them.

  Therefore, unless they started making trouble – she thought Violet was level-headed enough to keep them all in line – she ignored them for the most part. Sending her attention skyward, she instructed a thousand of her AMANS to spread out in the direction the reptiles were coming, just for extra coverage in case some of them split up and went somewhere else – or even to try to sneak in while she was distracted. She also checked on the Shears hovering far overhead of the other villages near the wastelands and was relieved to see that everything looked as normal as it was before.

  Sandra briefly wondered what had happened with Echo, the Elven woman watching her dungeon. She had lost track of her after she saw the woman running after her Repair Drones on their way to the Gnome lands; she had been visible for more than half of the way there, but then she disappeared with her special elemental ability. Since that last glimpse of her still following the Drones, Sandra hadn’t seen even an “echo” of her presence anywhere. She hoped that she hadn’t been caught up with the reptile army and had gotten out of their way.

  Putting that out of her mind, Sandra worked on finishing the things she had been putting off. First, something she thought would be easy enough to take care of, she had her Steel Python spit out the blue-colored rock it had picked up in the Gnome village. She thought that it was about time to see what the Ancient Saurian had left behind after it had died – so she ate it with her Dungeon Core powers immediately.

  New Monster Seed and Origination Material found!

  Sapphire

  While Sapphire can be directly used as a Monster Seed, it can also be used as a material for use in the dungeon or other purposes.

  You now have access to:

  Tiny Faceted Sapphire Sphere

  Origination Raw Material Cost: 12000

  Origination Mana Cost: 3500

  Monster Min. Mana: 3500

  Monster Max. Mana: 8500

  A Sapphire with those Mana and Raw Material costs was much better than she had expected; if she were to unlock the larger sizes, then in some ways it would be more affordable than her Large Steel Orb in terms of Raw Materials, and the Small size would actually give her an alternative to the Small Dragon Glass Sliver when it came to the maximum Mana she could use for a Monster Seed. She didn’t have the time or resources to spare to unlock it then and there, however, so it would have to be later.

  The second thing she had completely ignored until now – and which she was hoping would help with the defense of her dungeon – was the new construct option she had received as a result of upgrading her Core Size up to 19. She couldn’t even imagine what it could be, since her Iron-plated Behemoth had cost 10,000 Mana to create; if it costs even more and is even bigger, can I even contain it inside my dungeon?

  With strange trepidation and eagerness all rolled up into one, she
brought up her Constructs Creation Options menu.

  Constructs Creation Options

  Name:

  Mana Cost:

  ----------

  ----

  Ironclad Ape

  6000

  Steel Python

  8000

  Iron-plated Behemoth

  10000

  Gravitational Destruction Sphere*

  15000

  Uh…huh? Not only did “Gravitational Destruction Sphere” make absolutely no sense to her, but it also had a strange symbol next to it that she didn’t recognize. It almost looked like a star, but unlike anything she had ever seen before. The only one she could ask about it had no idea, either.

  “I’ve never heard of that before. There must be a reason for it to have that symbol; maybe you need to concentrate on it to see if it gives you any more information,” Winxa added with a shrug. It was an overly simple solution to her problem, so of course it worked.