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

by Jonathan Brooks

  With that being just about all the reassurances she was going to get, Sandra got started creating parts for the new Hauler. While she was at it, she spat out parts to make two more wagons; she figured if the Hauler worked the way it was supposed to, then she could link all three wagons together so that they could take as many supplies as they could.

  Sandra’s father always said that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression; she was just hoping that providing everything she possibly could would negate some of the bad that came from her first meeting with the Gnomes. And if it worked, she wasn’t above using the same “gifting” tactic with the other races.

  Chapter 30

  Fortunately for them all, everyone except for Violet knew the band or “track” system on the Haulers fairly well. They were frequently called upon to replace worn or broken segments of the track, so they were able to describe and partially draw what they looked like. It took a bit of trial and error, but they all breathed a sigh of relief when Sandra was finally able to make a piece that looked exactly like what they needed. The fact that it was made out of pure steel of dungeon-loot-quality meant that it was less likely to need repairs in the future; from her limited knowledge of their construction, Violet didn’t think the precious resource had ever been used for Hauler tracks. They were usually made from iron, which had a greater tendency to crack and break than steel would.

  The amount of steel in the tracks alone amounted to nearly a year’s worth of culling and harvesting the resource from the nearby forest. Unless they were desperate for more machines to haul things in the capital, Violet thought they would probably cannibalize this creation for its parts.

  For the most part, she stayed out of the conversation and arguments over how it was supposed to look and how it was put together, as she didn’t really work with Haulers like that. Instead of listening to them describe what the pins that would connect the track pieces together looked like in detail, she rested in the corner to recharge some of her Spirit elemental energy for the upcoming enchantments she was going to be creating later. She still had plenty of Natural energy left, but the feedback system was entirely Spirit-based; the more complex machines required multiple elements to get them to work properly, which usually meant at least two Master Enchanters working on it together – if they each had access to three or more different elements.

  That was rare, however, so the most common number that used to work on those feedback systems were four. That was the main reason her people were in trouble, actually; while there were some retired Master Enchanters still alive to teach what they knew, they couldn’t teach using a hands-on approach – because there weren’t even enough of them to create even a single War Machine. With some help from the Journeymen Enchanters they could get by, but it would take longer – and then they wouldn’t have time to teach. There was no simple solution other than to train as many that had the aptitude as they could and hope for the best.

  Which was why Violet had been both reluctant and eager to work with Sandra, if only for the chance of changing that. She wasn’t really looking forward to teaching and learning from the same entity that practically orchestrated the destruction of Glimmerton, but she resolved to see it through in the off chance that some good could come from it. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget what happened, but over time she thought she might be able to forgive her. Maybe…the verdict was still out on that one.

  And supplying all of the material she could see stacked up along the corner wall to them for free, as well as allowing them to return home, would go a long way toward that forgiveness.

  At some point during the construction of the Hauler, Violet fell asleep. The enchanting she had done on those strange “Repository” pillars had fairly wiped her out with the sheer size of the enchantments, as it took a lot more out of her than she was expecting. She hadn’t wanted to admit it at the time, but that last one nearly depleted every drop of Spirit elemental energy she had in her body. It would come back with rest, she knew, which was probably why she had been so tired – and had been able to sleep even through all of the arguments and loud noises as the machine was put together.

  When she woke up later, only the squeak of springs echoed through the room as some of the metal apes finished loading the transports with supplies. She was surprised to see that there were now three of the wagons that she had seen being constructed earlier, and all but the last were heavily laden with all types of precious materials. Violet got up and walked over to one of the full ones, using a little ladder permanently attached to the end to look inside.

  Bars of different types of metals, with steel in the greatest quantity, were evenly distributed on the wagon – along with a myriad of other materials from high-quality wooden boards to skeins of thread – and held in place by additional wooden boards that crossed the bed of the wagon. They were all loose and not packed in small crates like she usually saw, but that was fine; she just had to make sure that they were covered with something to prevent any from flying out later while on the move.

  * Don’t worry, I’m planning on sealing it all up once it’s all ready to go, as well as providing a place for everyone to sit. *

  Sandra’s voice in her head startled her for just a moment, but she recovered before she lost her grip on the side of the wagon and fell off. “This…is a lot. Are you sure we can just take all of this?” Now that she had a chance to see it all loaded up on the wagons, it was a literal treasure trove of material the likes of which she had never seen before.

  * Absolutely, it’s not really a hardship to create all of this for you, and I want you all to succeed. As contrary as it sounds coming from a Dungeon Core, I really do want you to thrive and fight back against the dungeons that are surrounding your people. If this all works out, I’m hoping this will establish a relationship between us that will benefit us both greatly. *

  That last statement gave Violet pause as she hopped down from the back of the wagon. “How would we benefit you, especially when you can do all—” she waved her hands at everything in the room— “this by yourself?”

  * For one, I would love to learn more about the way you enchant your machines, as it is almost entirely unfamiliar to me. I told you I have a passion for crafting, and learning as much as I can from various sources such as yourself feeds that passion. And, two, well…I’m hoping that – in the future – helping you now to get a handle on your dungeon monster problem will free you up to help the other races around here. It’s not just the Gnomes that are in danger of being wiped out over the next few decades or centuries; the Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves are threatened as well. *

  “Why should we help them when they didn’t help us?” Violet demanded, as her people’s prejudices against the nearby races were instilled into her from a young age. She was never told specifics of why they didn’t deal with the other races anymore, but it had obviously been significant enough to warrant instructions not to have any contact with any of them.

  * If they are abandoned to their fate, which will happen sooner or later if nothing is done to help them, then it won’t be long before the Cores there will turn their attention to your people. I’m not asking for anything now, especially since you are all still in danger of being wiped out yourselves, but I have a feeling every race will have to work together to stop themselves from being annihilated. *

  Violet was incredulous. Work together? Impossible. She didn’t think that was ever likely, but she was willing to humor the possibility if it allowed her people – and her friends that were in the dungeon with her – to survive. Thinking of those trapped in the dungeon along with her made her look around for any sight of them. “Where are Jortor and the others?” she asked, changing the subject.

  * They are asleep down below; they worked hard to help finish the Hauler while you were sleeping. *

  The mention of the entire point of her presence in the room made her feel guilty for sleeping while the others worked. However, one sight at the machine made h
er forget feeling guilty; instead, she felt pride at what her people had accomplished – because, as uniform and unadorned as it was, the Hauler was a work of art.

  The tracks along the box were brand-new pure shining steel, perfectly placed along the gears that would allow them to turn. The spikes that were usually attached to the outside of the tracks were reduced down to numerous nubs instead; there were more of them than usual, but they also appeared as if they would work even better – and likely not tear up the ground like Haulers usually did. The Pilot Carriage was a perfectly sealed wooden box with no seams that she could see, with a thick steel undercarriage that was connected to the track axles. There was a portion of the Carriage that was cut out, where someone could stand and turn the two steering wheels that were attached to the sides of the cut-out portion. The steering wheels themselves looked to be made of a solid piece of lightweight wood, which would help whoever was controlling it turn the wheels without getting too tired. There was also a heavy-duty-looking hitch connected to the steel undercarriage, which looked plenty sturdy enough to connect to the wagons it was slated to pull.

  Now all she had to do was make sure it worked.

  * Are you sure you’re up for this? Do you need to rest more to recharge your energy? *

  It still felt a little strange hearing a dungeon asking about her energy and well-being; it was quite different from the normal impression she got from dungeons being hungry, murderous entities. Everyone knew they were “alive” in a sense, but she didn’t think anyone knew the exact extent of their actual natures. If Sandra could be believed, of course.

  “I’m as recovered from earlier as I can be. Let me see what I can do,” she responded with only a little bit of false confidence. Violet knew what she was doing, at least in theory if not with much practice, so she was pretty sure she would succeed. How long it would take to achieve that success was another matter.

  All in all, she was going to have to create three different enchantments – for each steering wheel. Fortunately, they were much smaller enchantments than the Stasis Fields she had created that morning – or was it the day before by that point? – so they wouldn’t take as much energy to construct, but they were a bit more complex. One enchantment would go on the steering wheel, another on the gear below that would turn the tracks, and the last would connect the two together. The hardest part of all of it, however, was that she had to hold all three rune sequences together before she let it go, otherwise it would fail and fall apart.

  Violet mentally prepared herself by going over the runes she needed to form, which had been drilled into her repeatedly when she was younger. She had also had the opportunity to repair or strengthen many of the runes on the village’s War Machines, so the right pattern was fairly imprinted in her mind. Without giving herself a chance to psych herself out, she climbed up on the back of the Hauler and looked at the left steering wheel; using both hands this time, she willed her Spirit elemental energy out to two index fingertips – one on each hand – and started drawing the rune sequences she needed.

  She took her time, because she didn’t want to make a mistake. Strangely enough, she could almost feel a physical presence intently watching her work, and she stiffened up and stopped for a moment; soon enough, though, she realized that it was probably just Sandra learning from her – which was confirmed a moment later.

  * Sorry about that; I just learned that I can sort of “lean” on the Visitor Bond to connect to your movements a little more. It’s entirely observational, however, so there’s nothing to worry about. *

  Whenever someone said there was nothing to worry about, that usually meant that there was. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do at that point but to continue her enchantments; she had already gone that far, so she might as well finish. Three different-sized concentric circles made of her Spirit energy floated over the steering wheel, and from that point she added smaller runes inside the circles; one rune looked like a tight spiral, another looked like six horns stuck together at the same point, and a third looked like little lightning bolts. They all had technical names, of course, but that was how she always thought of them.

  The tight spiral – or “Rotational” – runes was fairly obvious in its purpose; it designated that a turning or rotation of the object being enchanted was a factor in its purpose. The six-horned – or “Adherence” – runes told the enchantment that it was to stay attached only to what was designated by the concentric circles she created earlier. Lastly, the little lightning bolt – or “Power” – runes were essential in the piloting process, as it designated how much power was needed to turn the steering wheels and have it mirrored by the gears below. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense for it to be a one-to-one ratio; the Hauler pilot would quickly grow tired if they had to make a full rotation of the wheel to get the gear to rotate a single time.

  Holding the rune sequence in place with her mind when it was finished, she jumped down and walked to the front left gear and started the process over again. The gear itself was almost as tall as she was, so it took a little longer to complete than the steering wheel, but she got it done, matching it up perfectly – though larger – to the one she did before. The strain of keeping both enchantment rune sequences was starting to make itself felt in her body, as her hands began to shake just a little.

  Clamping down on the shakes with a firm resolve, Violet drew the simple linking runes – a series of “Transference” runes that looked like sideways ladders filled with various basic symbols – connecting the two rune sequences together, running it along the outside of the Pilot Carriage. Her hands were beginning to shake a little more by the time she was done, but she managed to complete the final rune without making any mistakes. As soon as she finished, she allowed the entire enchantment to complete – and took a few steps back at the same time. She had never attempted to create anything that complex before – small-scale models didn’t count – and she worried that she hadn’t done it correctly.

  Incorrect runes could be harmless and just fade away if they weren’t complete; on the other hand, though, they could and did tend to explode with a release of elemental energy if something was set up wrong. Normally, smaller-scale enchantments would just sting or make your hand or whatever was touching the failed enchantment numb for a few minutes. Larger enchantments like what she just completed, however, could do significantly more damage to both herself and the Hauler if she had done it wrong.

  Violet waited…and waited…and waited… And nothing happened.

  Violet breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared as though the enchantment had been completed correctly; when there was no explosion or any other indication that something had gone wrong, the fatigue of holding the rune sequences for so long faded, only to be replaced by elation. I did it! Mom would be so proud… She had always been the one to encourage Violet in her studies, though it wasn’t like her father didn’t care – he was just rarely there. She couldn’t blame him, though, especially since he had been in charge of running the entire ELA.

  Looking at the nearly invisible Spirit energy lines running between the two rune circles, it appeared as though her shakiness towards the end of its creation hadn’t ruined it one bit. In short, it was perfect, and Violet was extraordinarily proud. Jumping back up to the Pilot’s area along the back of the Carriage, she turned the steering wheel quickly forwards and had to catch her balance as the Hauler jerked initially. She laughed to see how successful she had been and was eager to do the other side.

  * Nice job, Violet! That was work worthy of a master there! Your control while holding all of those runes suspended was excell—uh, what is it doing? *

  The Hauler had stopped when Violet stopped turning the steering wheel, but she could feel a tremendous build-up of energy for some reason. She looked at the runes on the wheel near her but couldn’t see anything wrong; jumping off the back, she traced the linking runes and saw that they all appeared normal as well. It was when she got to the gear hooked into the track tha
t she saw the runes she had placed there glowing brighter and brighter, pulsing like some sort of heartbeat. She was confused at first…before she saw the mistake.

  “Oh, no – I forgot to reverse the Power rune—”

  There was a brilliant flash of light and Violet felt herself being flung backwards at high speed…and then all was darkness.

  Chapter 31

  Sandra got the gist of what Violet was talking about before the entire rune sequence exploded with brilliant force, flinging her backwards until she hit the wall – hard. The Gnome woman slid down the wall to collapse in a broken puddle of arms and legs; she feared the worst, but after a quick check she saw that her little form was somehow still breathing. She acted quickly and brought three Repair Drones from across the hallway in the upper VATS chamber and immediately set them upon the Gnome for healing. One of her Ironclad Apes had to untangle her semi-jellied limbs so that they could be healed, unfortunately; Sandra was just glad that she was unconscious, because she couldn’t imagine being awake feeling the pain that was likely infusing her entire body.

  All in all, it took nearly 15 minutes of constant healing from three of her Repair Drones to repair all of the damage Violet had sustained – but she was alive. She didn’t wake up after she was completely healed, but for some reason it didn’t look like the same unconsciousness that Kelerim, Felbar, and Echo had or were still suffering from. It looked more like normal sleep, to be honest, so Sandra left her alone to sleep off the trauma of a near death as she surveyed the rest of the damage left by the explosion.