The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1)
Page 5
Core Selection Menu
Dungeon Classification:
Constructs
Core Size:
1
Available Mana:
7/10
Ambient Mana Absorption:
.01/hour
Available Raw Material (RM):
0/100
Convert Raw Material to Mana?
N/A
Constructs Creation Options:
2
Monster Seed Schematics:
1
There were two new things on her Menu that either weren’t there before or were overlooked: Constructs Creation Options and Monster Seed Schematics. Figuring that was what she wanted, Sandra focused on the Constructs Creation Options, and another screen – greenish this time – popped up in place of the Core Selection Menu.
Constructs Creation Options
Name:
Mana Cost:
Clockwork Spider
5
Small Animated Shears
10
There were only two options available for her, and only one of them that Sandra could afford with her present Mana total. She supposed that she could always “eat” a little more of the nearby cave wall, but she didn’t want to wait to convert it to more Mana. Therefore, she mentally selected the Clockwork Spider option.
Select Monster Seed
Name:
Quantity:
Min. Mana:
Max. Mana:
Tiny Copper Orb
1
5
10
Now with just the one option, Sandra chose the Tiny Copper Orb and every screen disappeared from her view. That was fortunate, because otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to see the transformation of the small monster “seed”; even though the screens were semi-transparent, she didn’t want to miss even a moment of what was to be her first creation.
A large, transparent, multi-colored fog about half the size of Winxa immediately surrounded the copper bead. At the same time, Sandra felt a small “tug” at her consciousness and as she watched, a forceful stream of nearly-invisible energy flowed out from her and entered the multi-colored fog. The Mana she had provided the swirling cloud appeared to thicken it in certain places, while at the same time it condensed down into an eight-legged form with a large central body.
Within seconds, much faster than she had anticipated, a Clockwork Spider sat staring at her from the middle of the cave floor. Well, staring wasn’t quite right, as the two multi-faceted “eyes” on the front of its face appeared as if it weren’t really looking at anything in general.
Her spider was huge, though – much larger than she thought she could create with just a tiny little copper bead. Its body was almost completely encased in a dark-colored metal shell, with slits along the sides where the eight leg bases were attached. Inside those slits, Sandra could see and hear small clockwork gears turning and whirring, somehow magically running through the Mana she had provided it. The spider’s legs appeared to be made of a mixture of wood and metal; from their base near the bottom of its body, they shot upwards before coming back down to the floor, creating an inverted V shape.
It didn’t look highly maneuverable, but her Clockwork Spider certainly seemed deadly. Each of its legs were tipped in a sharp spike, which looked like they could do some damage against anything it came across. In addition, it had a large mouth with razor sharp fangs just waiting to bite someone.
Not that she cared about all that – because she had just crafted her first dungeon monster!
Ok, so it wasn’t much in the way of “crafting”, but she had used her abilities to create something; and unlike the basic healing ointments she had made in the past, her new creation was an impressive machine made from different elements and essentially enchanted to run by itself! Sandra was inordinately proud of herself.
Isn’t it beautiful? And it’s so massive – I didn’t think I’d be able to make something this large already!
Winxa was busy admiring the Clockwork Spider as well, though she laughed out loud at Sandra’s exclamation. “How…how large do you think this spider is?” the Dungeon Fairy asked in between laughing fits.
The former merchant was confused. What do you mean? Based in comparison to you, It must be at least four feet tall at the highest point of its legs, and nearly that wide.”
“Ah, I see what the problem is. Sorry to burst your bubble, Sandra, but you’re having an issue with your perspective,” Winxa said once she got ahold of her amusement, though she still smiled at the Dungeon Core. “How tall do you think I am?” she finally asked.
Well, I first thought you were a giant Fairy, because you’ve got to be at least six feet tall. The myths always described Fairies as being tiny, but I suppose Dungeon Fairies are an exception because you have to deal with Cores all day long.
“Your myths are surprisingly correct, though I will admit that us Dungeon Fairies are larger than our more common cousins found in the wild. In fact, we’re about 50% bigger than they are; whereas most Forest Fairies are only about two inches tall, the Dungeon variety frequently tops a whopping three inches. And I’m about average for my race, as I’m just barely over three inches tall. Hopefully that will help put things into perspective for you. Better yet, you should try looking through your spider’s eyes.”
Three…inches? But that would mean…
Sandra instinctively connected with her new Clockwork Spider and tried to look through its eyes. She was bombarded with multiple views again, but it only took her a moment to acclimate herself to the multi-faceted eyes of her dungeon monster. When she was able to focus, she saw a very small, white-glowing crystal floating in the middle of the cave. Comparing it to the Dungeon Fairy that she could see out of the corner of one of the Clockwork Spider’s eyes, she estimated that it was just barely larger than Winxa’s head.
Is that…me? I’m so…little…
“Yes, that’s you alright. Don’t worry, though, as you get stronger and accumulate more Mana, you’ll grow larger. When you’re larger, you’ll be able to hold more Mana, absorb more Raw Materials, and consequently make stronger Dungeon Monsters. Think of yourself as a newborn baby right now; you need to feed to grow healthy and strong, so by the time you’re an ‘adult’, you’ll be able to do almost anything you want to.”
How do I get stronger and larger? Sandra asked, curious despite the strangeness of looking at her new form. She had to admit that it was a surprise that “vile and destructive” Dungeon Cores were actually quite pretty when it came down to it – like an enchanted diamond she had seen before at a different merchant’s stall. Though, without being modest, she thought she looked even better.
“At first, it’s quite easy; all you need to do is fill up your Mana Capacity and…somehow…use every unit of it to upgrade your Core Size,” Winxa started confidently, before apparently realizing she didn’t know the exact process. “I’ve never had to lead a Dungeon Core through the process, since it was ingrained knowledge granted to the Core through the contract,” the Fairy admitted.
“Anyway, I’m sure it will be self-explanatory when you get to that point, which, like I said, is pretty quick at these lower sizes. Once you get larger, the amount of Mana to upgrade your Core increases, of course, until it gets to a point where it’s difficult to completely fill up your Capacity without wanting to spend most of it. Most dungeons struggle to balance growth with the need for creating more dungeon monsters to get more, which is why a lot of them resort to attacking nearby wildlife and sentients to get that extra boost in order to increase their size.”
Sandra could understand that. Just being able to create her own dungeon monsters was like a miracle to her, and all she wanted to do was keep making them for some reason. She figured it was some innate “need” inside of a Core that made them want to keep producing more and expanding their reach, but fortunately she wasn’t dominated by that need. While She could feel it strongly, she could also ignore it pretty easily.
Now that she had reevaluated her size with a new perspective, the newborn Dungeon Core realized she was barely a tiny speck in the middle of some sort of underground structure. In fact, if Winxa was being truthful about her height (and Sandra had very little reason to doubt her), then her “cave” was probably no more than a foot or a foot-and-a-half in diameter where she had eaten away at the wall.
“Well, now comes a lot of boring digging, some more digging, and then you sprinkle in some dungeon/Core development. Let me go over a few things to get you started and then you can get to it.
“First, while I don’t have an exact location of where you are in relation to the land aboveground, I can tell you that you are at least 300 feet from the surface – possibly more. It is standard, even in your special case, for new Dungeon Cores to be far underground to keep them safe while they are developing, otherwise they could be destroyed by something as innocuous as a bunny.”
Winxa must’ve sensed some sort of incredulity in Sandra’s mind, because she added, “And I’m not kidding. While you look like an ‘enchanted diamond’ like I heard you thinking earlier, you’re actually more like fragile glass than one of the hardest gemstones around. If a cute little bunny rabbit were to kick you with its hind legs, you could shatter and then that would be it.
“Which brings me to my second tidbit of information: protect your Core! It’s not extremely vital right now, but you’re going to want to have some sort of defenses in place once you break free to the surface. And I know I mentioned that it’s doubtful that any of the sentient races might be around here, but keep in mind that wild animals abound everywhere – and remember what I said about bunny rabbits,” the Dungeon Fairy added, with a small smile on her face.
Ok, that makes sense, but how—
“Don’t worry, by the time you need to set up some traps around this place, I’ll be back to help guide you through that part.”
Wait, are you leaving—
“Yes, but it’s only because I want to look into your situation and try to find out more about what’s going on with you. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine while I’m gone, and I’ll be back in no time.
“Ok, where was I…oh, yeah. Third, I want to show you how to create more Monster ‘seeds’ so that you can have more than one monster at a time, as well as increasing the size and strength of your current options. As you no doubt can see, the Tiny Copper Orb I gave you was essentially ‘consumed’ by the creation of your spider here.”
Her Dungeon Fairy seemed to be flitting from subject to subject, as if something had gotten into Winxa’s head that was forcing her to speed through all of the information she was supposed to impart. Instead of interrupting, however, Sandra just let her go because she was actually interested to see what she could figure out on her own. Years of watching crafters of all types perform their little miracles made her itch to create something herself, and as a Dungeon Core she didn’t have to worry about crippled and deformed hands preventing it.
“So, you’re going to create another Tiny Copper Orb, but to do that you’re going to need more Raw Material and Mana. Do you see why Mana is so important now?” Winxa asked, a smile still on her face. “Now, the amount of ambient Mana that you can absorb around your Core is probably still quite low, and that will only increase by a tiny amount even if you increase your Core Size. But,” she said while holding up a finger like she was trying to make a point, before pointing at her Clockwork Spider, “you have an additional means of gathering it up. Go ahead and take control of your dungeon monster and have it walk around your little room here.”
Since she was already lightly connected to Spider while she was looking through its eyes, Sandra delved inside again. Once she was firmly inside her construct, she tried to directly move each of its legs to walk…but nothing happened. Not even a twitch.
What’s going on? Why can’t I get it to move?
“Uh…try to just direct it where you want it to go instead of trying to move it yourself. Your…hmm…‘minds’ aren’t quite compatible, so you aren’t able to control it directly. With a more humanoid-looking monster, you’d most likely have more control,” Winxa explained.
Sandra did what the Dungeon Fairy recommended, stepping back from trying to do it herself and just sent her thoughts toward her monster. Almost before she finished the thought, her Clockwork Spider began to move. Each time one of its legs moved forward and struck the ground, a small *tink* noise sounded from it striking the mostly stone surface of the cave floor. Definitely not going to sneak up on anybody.
Without much room to roam, the newborn Dungeon Core directed her construct to move around the room, taking care to avoid running into the Fairy when it made a full circuit. Judging by the way it ponderously made its way around the cave, Sandra doubted it had the flexibility to do everything a “normal” spider could do. That didn’t matter too much to her, though, because she was just fascinated to see how its clockwork mechanisms enabled it to get around in the first place.
Little-by-little, Sandra noticed that she was starting to feel something being funneled into her from the Spider. It wasn’t visible or tangible, but she could nevertheless sense the ambient Mana from the air being absorbed and sent directly toward her. A quick look at her Core Selection Menu showed her Available Mana – which used to be at 2 after creating the construct – was slowly ticking upwards. It slowed even more after about five minutes, but it managed to tick over to 5 before it stopped completely.
As if she could sense it – which Sandra thought was entirely possible because she still didn’t know much about Dungeon Fairies – Winxa said, “The ambient Mana in here is just about depleted now, so I’m hoping that you have at least five Mana available.” With a quick affirmation from Sandra, she continued. “Now, I want you to extend your senses out and ‘eat’ some of the wall again until you have at least 50 units of Raw Material available. And don’t worry about the room collapsing, or the walls caving in; your natural presence alone will automatically stabilize anything that you have direct access to. This is especially important once you start expanding your dungeon, because otherwise you might have issues keeping your construction intact.”
Sandra paused in the act of ‘eating’ more of the nearby cave wall. I didn’t even think of that! She had watched carpenters and stonemasons plying their trade to construct buildings before, but nothing in her previous life had prepared her for a life underground and the dangers therein. Fortunately, it didn’t seem that she had to worry about burying and damaging herself from a cave-in.
She quickly absorbed the Raw Material from the nearest wall until she had 61 units – more than was needed, but she had been…hungry. Either way, she apparently now had what she needed to create another monster seed. Without prompting, Sandra opened her Core Selection Menu again and focused on the Monster Seed Schematics option. I think I’m getting the hang of this.
Monster Seed Origination
Name:
Raw Material Cost:
Mana Cost:
Min. Mana:
Max. Mana:
Tiny Copper Orb
50
5
5
10
Easy enough to understand. Sandra mentally selected the Tiny Copper Orb and she felt the same siphon of Mana from her core like she had when she made the Clockwork Spider, but this time it was accompanied by some Raw Material. All of it flowed towards a spot on the floor, which soon showed a small misty fog that quickly compressed into an orb-like shape. Less than ten seconds after she had chosen to create the “seed”, it was done.
The Tiny Copper Orb looked identical to the previous one; the only difference between the two that Sandra could identify was…that she had made it!
“Very nice, Sandra! I should’ve known that you’d figure this out pretty quickly, especially based on your previous hobby. You’ll be able to find more types of seeds as you explore and expand, which will give you access to even more powerful monst
ers. And that’s about all I can teach you right now until you get a little bigger and stronger. You should be safe in here for quite a while, so you shouldn’t have to worry about any danger to your core for…probably months or more. Now, like I said, I’ll be back – so don’t have too much fun without me!”
Wait! What do I do now?!
Winxa was already opening another hole in the middle of the air with a negligent wave of her hand, but she took the time to turn back to the new Dungeon Core. “Why, expand and grow – what else would you want to do?”
With that, Sandra’s Dungeon Fairy – the only source of information and socialization – walked through the circular portal and left her all alone.
Well, that sucks.
Chapter 8
Left to her own devices and without anyone to tell her what to do for the first time in her life – or “afterlife”, as it were – Sandra was frozen in indecision. Always before, she had a definitive plan that she followed; if it wasn’t traveling around the land of Muriel selling merchandise, it was tracking down an elusive crafter that she wished to learn from. It was familiar and safe, and yet a bit confining at the same time.
And now she was free.
Sandra now had no obligations to anyone, not even to herself; she didn’t need to earn money to make a living, she didn’t need to sell weapons or other items to feed herself and her father – in fact, she didn’t even need to eat anymore. Or, at least, she assumed she didn’t need to eat; Winxa didn’t really explain much other than the basics to her.
So, with her newfound freedom from responsibility and time on her hands, Sandra was ready to do…what? She honestly didn’t know. The merchant life she had led before was really no more than a job to her, it was more of a means to an end. She stuck with her father because the two of them were all the family they had in the world and she loved him, but she didn’t love the profession he had chosen to pursue.