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

by Jonathan Brooks

  * Echo is fine. She was bitten by a deadly venomous snake that came from the other dungeon and I had to pull her inside to bond and then heal her. I’m not sure how long she’s going to be out still but bonding with someone while they’re unconscious tends to send them into some sort of coma. My Repair Drone is keeping her alive right now, so that’s why she hasn’t been released yet. *

  “What are your plans with her?” Alanthia asked.

  * I didn’t really have any plans with her, other than to save her. But now that we’ve brokered an agreement here, I’d like to keep her near as a sort of Elven…liaison. It will make it easier to communicate with the village if there is a need in the future. *

  “I…understand. Speaking of the village, we need to get back if this lizard army is as close as you say,” Alanthia remarked hurriedly.

  Instead of having them travel back up through the dangerous parts of the dungeon – there weren’t any constructs, but the traps were technically still active – Sandra had them travel through her Home room so that they could reach her VATS to the surface. She still didn’t completely trust them, so she made sure to keep them “under guard” from her constructs as they passed through; they were anxious to get back to the village, however, and still consumed with wonder at the Energy Orbs they were carrying in their now-bronze-gear-tattooed hands from the Visitor Bond.

  Before they went too far, though, she instructed Porthel to grab a new sword from the “Armory” nearby, as his sword had been destroyed. Of course, she only had high-quality Steel swords for him instead of his Titanium one, but he was happy with it, nonetheless.

  “You…crafted all of these?” he asked in shock as he took in all of the weapons and random pieces of armor that she had been storing there.

  * Yes, it’s something I enjoy doing. I’m a crafter’s dungeon at heart, after all. *

  Porthel was silent as he selected one of the thinner, yet strong and durable, Steel longswords Sandra had lovingly crafted; she had to admit that it was one of her better ones, which just went to show that the Elf had a very discerning eye. “I will freely admit that I don’t fully trust you, being what you are, but…you’re also unlike any other dungeon I’ve ever seen or heard about. The verdict is still out on whether what you’re doing has alternative motives, and only time will tell. Regardless, I thank you for these gifts and for sparing our lives when you could’ve ended us quite easily,” he said sincerely, before his voice turned harsh. “Of course, if you are deceiving us about anything – including this lizard army that is purportedly heading for the village – then you can be assured we’ll be back.”

  * Fair enough. Let’s just consider this more of a business deal rather than…an alliance. If you hold to your end of the bargain, I’ll hold to mine. *

  He nodded in acceptance without saying anything more, before he joined the others in traveling up to the top of the dungeon using Sandra’s VATS rooms. They were barely fazed by the fact that they were being shot straight up with an Air-based trap, but they also had other things on their minds. Not to mention the “miracle” Energy Orbs they still held in their hands.

  Sandra’s Mechanical Jaguar Queen was still in the Assembly and Storage room; she hadn’t sent it against the Elves after it was obvious that it likely wouldn’t have been much good – and it was also set up there to ferry Felbar away if Sandra were to be destroyed. Since that didn’t look like it would happen, Felbar was moved back to safety – now in Violet’s bedroom down below – and the Jaguar was free; it was also more than strong and large enough to transport all of the Elves on its back to get to the village faster than they otherwise would’ve arrived.

  As they left, Sandra couldn’t help but be proud of what she had accomplished – with the help of Violet, of course. She had created something new through crafting that had never been seen before, and thoughts of how to improve upon it and expand its capabilities came to her in waves. Not only that, but she had survived when all had been almost lost, she had bonded the Elite Elves, and she had established a…business relationship with them.

  Father would be so proud.

  * * *

  Sandra was right about the capabilities of the Elven Elites against “normal” monsters. With the help of the villagers who had at least 20 minutes of warning before the reptile army arrived, they set up an impromptu defense that worked remarkably well.

  When they were originally sighted coming out of the trees (aided by torches lit at the forest’s edge and spaced all over the valley leading to the village, since it was still dark out), the smaller reptiles were keeping pace with the two Ancient Saurians; as soon as the village came within view, however, the smaller reptiles must have had orders to attack as soon as they could because they streamed forward, leaving the massive lizards behind. With forewarning of the attack, the villagers were easily able to use their bows at a distance – many with similar elemental energy manipulations as the Elite archer who had invaded Sandra’s dungeon, thereby making them deadlier – to wipe out more than half of them before they got within a hundred feet. The rest were taken out by the Elites, with fireblasts, shards of ice, dark Nether-y tendrils, sharp thorns, and even hardened slices of Air assaulting them from all sides. They only held back their energy use a little, because it started to refill from their Energy Orbs almost immediately. It was a little awkward for them to hold while they were attacking, she noticed, and she immediately thought about crafting some sort of necklace to hold it close to their skin. Maybe even enchant the necklace as well…and then add some gemstones with even more enchantments…

  She was lost in the crafting possibilities as she watched all the Elves wait for the massive lizards to get closer, as they were still quite a bit slower than the smaller reptiles had been. The Elites even passed around their Energy Orbs to the villagers to help restore some of their energy, though to Sandra it almost looked like they were reluctantly handing over their first-born children. By the time the Saurians were within range, most had been able to restore at least a small amount of their energy before the Elites collected the Orbs again.

  It was a time-consuming slaughter, but a slaughter, nonetheless. Arrows enhanced with elemental energy rained down on both Saurians, followed up by shards of ice, stone, hardened air, fireballs, poison gas, and all matter of manipulated elemental energy attacks from afar. Even the toughened skin of the massive lizards couldn’t stand up to that, and their wounds mounted until one fell while it was still 50 feet out from the village. The second must’ve activated whatever special ability it had to speed up, as it stumbled quickly forward, bleeding, burnt, poisoned, and barely alive.

  Porthel took the initiative and sped himself up, enhanced the strength and power behind his new Steel sword from Sandra, and proceeded to hack at its neck a couple of times while dodging attempted bites from the Saurian. It wasn’t long until even the less-powerful Steel sword was able to cut through its neck and it fell dead, only feet from reaching the village.

  * Nice job, Porthel. Congratulations are in order. Just don’t forget our agreement. *

  The Elite leader looked up into the night sky and somehow pinpointed her Shears watching from above. “Don’t worry, I’ve not forgotten. But I think we’re going to need more of these Energy Orbs; they are extremely valuable in a fight, and I can see these villagers eyeing ours.”

  * I will be crafting some more soon, especially since those that you have are finite. I’m not sure exactly how long they’ll last, but they will run out eventually. *

  The Elite leader looked surprised as he held up one of his Energy Orbs. “These will run out of energy? You didn’t tell us that!”

  * It’s all part of the package, I’m afraid. I guess I’m in the consumable trade now – I’ve got to keep you coming back for more, after all. *

  “You’re more devious than I gave you credit for. Though, even if that’s the worst of it, you’re still the strangest dungeon heart I’ve ever heard of.”

  * Thanks…I think. *

>   As the Elves celebrated that night, Violet went back to bed – she was still tired despite all of the activity – though the Gnome crafted another Spirit Energy Orb and even a Natural Energy Orb for herself by copying what Sandra had her create earlier, and then slept with them curled in her arms like two little babies. Sandra did the same for herself – not the sleeping, but the crafting – and found that the Orbs actually replenished the elemental energy in her Shapeshifter, which was extremely handy. Then she spent the next day replacing most of her constructs that had been destroyed, while also devising plans for the future.

  Sandra still hadn’t had any contact with the Dwarves (Kelerim as a half-Dwarf didn’t count), so that was something she’d need to do soon. She also had to figure out what was going on with the Orcs, and whether Kelerim had succeeded in finding his father. The Gnomes she had saved and had left her dungeon were probably still on the road, but eventually Gnomeria would learn about her existence.

  Most importantly, however, was the large influx of materials she had gained access to either through natural means or through her Transmutation Core-specific ability. With the ability to enchant now – though she really needed to practice – and those new materials, there was so much crafting to be done…

  Felbar and Echo woke up within an hour of each other approximately a day and a half after the Elite Elves had saved their village from destruction. Felbar was understandably confused, shocked, angry, and – at the same time – intrigued by the dungeon and the development of the Energy Orbs. Fortunately, Violet was there to calm him down and answer any of his most pertinent questions, though Sandra chipped in whatever information he requested when he started asking specifics.

  He may be a gruff, grizzled-looking warrior on the outside, but there’s obviously a shrewd mind underneath that exterior.

  She had to leave Violet to get him acquainted with the dungeon and get him some sustenance as well; he woke up just as hungry and thirsty as Kelerim had all those weeks ago. Echo didn’t have someone familiar there to get her accustomed to her surroundings and to explain everything the way Violet had for Felbar – so that job was left to her.

  Sandra briefly thought about using her Shapeshifter to become one of the Elite Elves, but with all of the other projects she had going on, she hadn’t quite yet had time to craft any clothes; she didn’t think that having one of them dressed in a sheet with a hole cut out would be the best first impression. That, and if her Shapeshifter ended up reverting back to its normal form while talking to the likely-confused Elf after she woke up, the strangeness and deception probably wouldn’t go over well. Besides, she still couldn’t actually “talk” out of the Shifted forms, so it was ultimately a poor idea.

  Therefore, when Echo woke up – inside a little room branching off from the growing room down below that Sandra made and moved her to, with just a Repair Drone nearby – Sandra was there to greet her…via her mind.

  * * *

  Echo struggled awake, a strange nightmare bombarding her mind with thoughts of strange metallic undead monsters and snakes – oh, how I hate snakes. Finally, she was able to open her eyes and did so abruptly, staring at a stone ceiling above her. It definitely didn’t look like an arborent, and her people rarely built with stone, so she must be—

  She quickly sat upright and saw she was in a small room, with an exit leading…somewhere – where that somewhere was, however, was a mystery. A moment after sitting up, she held her head in her hands as the room started to spin, the act of sitting up making her dizzy. She immediately noticed that she was practically starving and likely dehydrated; the lack of food and water probably had a big part in her dizziness.

  “Wha—? Where—?” she asked the room when she finally got a chance to look around, before scooting away (more like flailing because of how weak she was) from one of the white cylindrical monsters she recognized in the corner. She waited for a moment to see if it was going to attack her, but when it didn’t even move she started to relax a little…until a voice that sounded like it was in her head spoke to her—

  * Hello, Echo. I apologize for the sparse accommodations, but I haven’t had the chance to build you a bed quite yet. *

  “Who are you? Where are you? Am I a prisoner?” The questions just rolled off her tongue as she began to panic.

  * Oh, no – not at all. But quite a lot has happened since I had to heal you from that snake bite. Now, let me explain exactly who I am… *

  End of Book 2

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading The Crafter’s Defense!

  Sandra made a lot of improvements to her dungeon in this book, not the least of which being the creation of her AMANS above her dungeon. I wanted to be able to speed up her progress without making her too overpowered, which was what the increase in incoming Mana was able to achieve. Even with plentiful Mana, the one thing she didn’t have enough of was…time. Time until she was attacked by Elves, the time needed to upgrade, the time stolen away by her Classification advancement – they all hindered her in some way, but that also led to some interesting developments.

  In the third book, I’m planning on including more enchanting, more crafting, and the introduction of the Dwarves nearby. Eventually, Sandra would like to collaborate with all of the races to help defend themselves, but only time will tell if she ends up getting what she wants.

  Again, thank you for reading and I implore you to consider leaving a review – I love 4 and 5-star ones! Reviews make it more likely that others will pick up a good book and read it!

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  Books by Jonathan Brooks

  Glendaria Awakens Trilogy

  Dungeon Player (Audiobook available)

  Dungeon Crisis

  Dungeon Guild

  Glendaria Awakens Trilogy Compilation w/bonus material

  Uniworld Online Trilogy

  The Song Maiden (Audiobook available)

  The Song Mistress

  The Song Matron

  Uniworld Online Trilogy Compilation

  Station Cores Series

  The Station Core (Audiobook available)

  The Quizard Mountains (Audiobook available)

  The Guardian Guild (Audiobook available soon)

  The Kingdom Rises

  The Other Core

  Spirit Cores Series

  Core of Fear

  Dungeon World Series

  Dungeon World (Audiobook available)

  Dungeon World 2 (Audiobook available)

  Dungeon World 3 (Audiobook available soon)

  Dungeon Crafting

  The Crafter’s Dungeon (Audiobook available)

  The C
rafter’s Defense