The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Kelerim, while not necessarily a weakling, was not.

  To be fair, he had obviously been malnourished before he even arrived at her dungeon, and the two weeks of unconsciousness only exacerbated the issues. However, with a steady diet of as much food as he wanted, his muscles started to fill out; she wished she had some variety to give him, but for the moment “meat” and water were the only things on the menu. Fortunately, the singular source of nourishment didn’t seem to negatively affect him, so she wasn’t too worried. Two weeks after he woke up, his muscles and stamina had already started to show improvement with his new diet and constant exercise.

  That first day, though, the weakened state of his body forced him to give up any pretense of work within a half hour. Luckily, she had already started hollowing out another small room that was located right off from Kelerim’s new smithy, with the thought that it would be his living quarters. She hadn’t actually started making any furniture inside the room yet, but he didn’t care – he ended up just collapsing on the floor in exhaustion and slept the night away.

  A bed was going to be hard to make, however; well, the bedframe would be easy, but the softest thing she could make was dirt, and that wasn’t much better than stone. The only material she had any type of access to was Raw Bearling Hide, which she had successfully been able to make into Leather for his new apron. She supposed it was the best alternative to bare stone, so she ended up making a thin mattress that was essentially just 5 layers of thick Leather piled on top of each other.

  Leathermaking was fairly easy, though time-consuming. And, unfortunately, she didn’t possess all the materials like salts which would help with the initial cleaning of it, but she could still do the best was able to. First, she had to boil the raw hide, which would both clean it of any leftover blood, dirt, or fats (which wasn’t really too much of an issue since it was created by Sandra), but it also made it softer and easier to remove the stiff hair attached to it. Then came lots of scraping, shaving, and trimming of the hides, which was then placed on a rack to dry.

  However, during the drying process, she needed to keep it supple, which required a liberal use of animal fat to prevent it from drying out and cracking – which she was conveniently able to procure from her Raw Bearling Meat. The resulting end product was probably a little smelly – and would eventually become slightly rancid if the fat was left to sit on it – but she didn’t have the necessary oils and other ingredients which would help protect the leather as well as make it last longer. After a few hours of tanning, she was able to scrape off most of the fat and stretch and shape it, which helped to loosen it up a little so that it was flexible.

  Once it was tanned completely, Sandra brought it to her Leatherworking shop and cut, molded, and shaped it into what she wanted. For the apron, a few simple cuts to the larger piece of Leather was all that was needed, and she turned the scraps into its string-like ties. Using an awl, she was able to make holes in the Leather, which allowed her to feed the ties through and secure into place.

  For other types of products like armor it was easier to use a pattern, which she didn’t have but could make if she wanted, but she didn’t work on any of that yet. In her free time away from teaching Kelerim, she concentrated on creating as many Steel weapons as she could, from swords to knives to war-axes. She also replaced her very first forge with a larger one which an Ironclad Ape could use, because foot-long swords probably wouldn’t be much use to the Orcs.

  Her plan to help the Orcs – at least initially – was to provide them with superior weapons compared to what they currently had. She was also thinking of supplying them with armor, though that was a little harder without an auto-fit Enchantment. In fact, she wished she could do any sort of Enchantment on her weapons, because that would exponentially increase the effectiveness of her crafting endeavors, but she was going to have to do without it for now.

  The one time she tried to have Kelerim learn an Enchantment ended up as a failure, because she couldn’t demonstrate what it was supposed to look like. His own inexperience with manipulating elemental energy didn’t help, as he could barely light a small spark and had no idea how to touch the Earth-based potential she knew was inside of him. Sandra couldn’t help him on that front, either, as she had never had experience handling any elemental energy other than in the form of Dungeon-based Mana, which Winxa had explained was entirely different.

  To hopefully rectify her Enchanting problem, she started working toward upgrading her Core Size with the goal of hitting Size 20 so that she could access the Advancement system. She had completely ignored it while she was building the VATS, as well as the whole new forges; most of her Mana went toward those two projects, as the traps in both were highly Mana-intensive and needed most of her maximum capacity to finish each room off. The trial-and-error period working with Air-traps for the VATS took almost an entire week of constantly draining her Mana, but it was worth it in the end.

  The issue with upgrading her Core Size was the time she was going to be “down”, which meant that she wouldn’t be able to do any cooking for Kelerim. Luckily, she discovered that he could use the oven and cooking surface, as well as the water spigot, as long as her Sentinel was nearby. She was able to leave a large quantity of raw meat for him to cook when he needed it, as well as a sizable collection of Copper, Bronze, Iron, and Steel bars for him to work as he wanted them.

  The other issue was one of security. While she “trusted” that Kelerim wasn’t there to hurt her, she couldn’t rely on her constructs protecting her if he wished her harm. To that end, she got rid of her original little spiked pit trap (which had been rendered ineffective because she had built a bridge over it for her Dungeon Monsters to traverse) and set up a deadly-yet-simple trap in its place.

  First, she built a wall of stone in the room, blocking off her sight from the entrance tunnel, but it also had the added benefit of blocking most of the heat from a giant wall of flames that would emerge from her new trap. She pumped almost her full capacity of Mana into it, which made a flame wall six inches thick spring up when it was triggered; it covered the entire entrance near the tunnel, so there was no way to bypass it. It was so hot, in fact, that her nearby constructs melted within a few seconds when she tested it out. Although it wouldn’t stay active for long, if anyone walked through it, she estimated it would be like walking through lava – only worse.

  Eventually – a week and a half after Kelerim started learning (re-learning would probably be the more accurate term) how to be a proper Blacksmith – she was ready to upgrade her Core Size. Winxa had been in and out between her Home room and her own Fairy world, but she made it plain she was uneasy with Sandra being left practically defenseless while she was upgrading.

  “It’s completely your choice, of course, but keep in mind that all it would take is one good thwack with a sword or knife and you’re a goner. I don’t know this Kelerim enough to trust him, so I will be here to keep you company while you’re undergoing the process.”

  Sandra wouldn’t have it any other way. She had already informed Kelerim that she was going to be unavailable for the next day and to not go exploring – since there were many traps still in place – so she thanked the Dungeon Fairy and used her filled-up Mana to complete the 8th and final stage needed to upgrade to Core Size 16.

  It was boring as usual, thankfully. It took a little bit over a day and a half, but fortunately that seemed to be the norm lately when she was upgrading. She was glad that the downtime wasn’t dramatically increasing as it had when she was new, otherwise it probably would’ve taken a week or more by that time. When she finally recovered from her upgrade, she looked inside and outside of her dungeon (where her Mechanical Wolf and Jaguar were roaming around), looking for any major issues. Kelerim was in his room sleeping on his Leather-padded bed, and everything else looked quiet. Even the Bearlings were still keeping their distance, for which she was thankful.

  When everything looked normal, she relaxed and finally looked at her upgr
ade notifications.

  Core Size Upgrade Stage complete!

  8/8 Completed

  Your Core has grown!

  Current Size: 16

  Mana Capacity increased!

  Ambient Mana Absorption increased!

  Raw Material Capacity increased!

  New Constructs option!

  Core Selection Menu

  Dungeon Classification:

  Constructs

  Core Size:

  16

  Available Mana:

  12/8011

  Ambient Mana Absorption:

  8/hour

  Available Raw Material (RM):

  8500/24079

  Convert Raw Material to Mana?

  8500 RM -- > 340 Mana

  Current Dungeon Monsters:

  654

  Constructs Creation Options:

  15

  Monster Seed Schematics:

  60 (4)

  Current Traps:

  27

  Trap Construction Options:

  All

  Core-specific Skills:

  4

  Current Visitors:

  2

  Constructs Creation Options

  Name:

  Mana Cost:

  ----------

  ------

  Automated Digger

  2500

  Repair Drone

  4000

  Ironclad Ape

  6000

  Steel Python

  8000

  Overall, there wasn’t anything Core-changing about the upgrade, but the extra capacity for her resources was nice. Not to mention that she unlocked another construct: a Steel Python. It took her almost a day after she upgraded to finally get the chance to see it, because she needed to create another Average Steel Orb, which was one of only two Monster Seeds she had capable of containing it – the other being the ultra-expensive Flake of Dragon Glass (which she could theoretically create now with her new upgrade). Added to that expense was the Mana cost of the Python itself, which was nearly her maximum, and it added up.

  When she finally had enough to create it, she was slightly disappointed at her first sight of it. She had been expecting a giant snake that might fill up half the room because of the sheer expense of it, but it was much smaller than that. At five feet long and six inches around, it was still large, but she didn’t think it was worth the cost; it was only when she had it move that she saw its worth.

  Because it was fast.

  It slithered across the room faster than any of her other constructs, as the smooth – and somehow flexible – steel skin along its outside allowed it to glide effortlessly over the stone. As an experiment, she had it wrap around one of her Tiny Automatons that were still wandering around her Home, and she watched it squeeze the little construct so hard it crumpled under the pressure. A quick strike of her Python’s razor-sharp fangs practically ripped the Automaton apart, before it dissolved and melted away, leaving behind a Tiny Copper Orb.

  Definitely effective, that was for sure. Although it was expensive, she could see the worth in having the Steel Python as a defender, not in the least because it would be much harder to destroy than anything else that she had access to. However, because it wasn’t as versatile as her Ironclad Ape – in terms of crafting ability – she left off with just the one. Before it left her room, she made sure to cancel her Fire wall trap; she saw no reason for it to be destroyed so soon after it was created.

  And now it was back to training her new apprentice – and eventually a little excursion for her new friend.

  Chapter 35

  “I really don’t think this is a good idea; I’ve told you already that if any of Razochek’s warband sees me, they’ll kill me. There has to be a better way,” Kelerim spoke toward the metal monkey next to him. He knew it wasn’t actually her inside the Ironclad Ape – and that he could just talk to the empty air and she would hear him – but it felt more “normal” to speak to something. Otherwise, he felt like he was losing his mind and talking to imaginary voices in his head.

  Oh, there was a voice in his head – but it certainly wasn’t imaginary.

  He had gotten to know Sandra over the last few weeks and he was enjoying himself for the first time in…well, forever. He had as much food as he wanted, he could craft without having to worry about quotas and deadlines, and he had someone who actually listened to him instead of looking down on his parentage. She was encouraging yet firm, and she demanded perfection – which was frustrating, but also motivational.

  Kelerim had needed to grit his teeth at first in anger after he had been told he was doing everything wrong, but he calmed himself with the knowledge that he was self-taught and didn’t actually know the best way. It turned out to be the right attitude, because when he learned something as simple as holding the hammer the right way, it made a world of difference. Within a day and a half – and after many other lessons drilled into him while watching the Ironclad Ape at work at the forge – he was able to make an Iron sword that was practically a masterpiece compared to the ones he used to churn out.

  He knew he still had a lot to learn, though, especially with other materials and weapon types. When Kelerim was the village Blacksmith, he had experimented with making knives, but as they weren’t in demand, he never had enough practice to make a good one. Sandra fixed his lack of knowledge and education, however, and he was soon churning out one decent one after another. They weren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but with a few fixes to their finishing and balance that she pointed out, he was able to make them much better.

  Copper was a medium he had used occasionally when he was out of iron, but it was typically only used for everyday items like cooking pots. Working with it was easier than iron – he thought at first – but it presented its own challenges with strength and form. He ended up remaking more than a few weapons because he couldn’t use the same techniques to produce a copper knife as an iron knife and ended up ruining them.

  And don’t even get him started on the difficulties of bronze and steel.

  Regardless of the initial steep learning curve, he was starting to get into a good rhythm; he figured that with the month’s learning and practice he had already experienced, he was probably already the best Blacksmith in Orcrim. And now Sandra wanted to send him out of the dungeon.

  * You’ll be fine, Kel. If what you told me of the approximate distance to your old village is true, my Area of Influence should reach all the way there. I’m sending six of my Ironclad Apes with you, so you should be more than safe. *

  Not only was she sending six of the dangerous looking metal monkeys, but they were also going to be bringing a few of what had to be Masterwork-quality steel swords that Sandra had made. He was in awe of them, actually; he hoped that he would be able to make one even remotely as beautiful as they looked one day, but he knew that day was probably a long day off. And what did she want for what he considered to be near-priceless works of art?

  Small quantities of freshly cut wood, various other metals, salt, cotton or flax seeds, and clay. There was more she wanted, but she kept the list short so that he could minimize his time inside the village.

  “And what do you think will happen when I walk into the village of Grongbak with six scary-looking Iron Apes at my back. If I get lucky and end up not scaring off the village folk, the few guards that are always around will still attack immediately. And killing Orcs is the opposite of what I’m guessing you’d like to achieve here,” he responded, regurgitating the same thing he had said numerous times.

  She was silent for a while and withdrew from his attention, which he had quickly learned was an indication she was thinking about something.

  * I hear your concerns, and I have to agree they are valid. However, if you don’t go, I’ll never be able to fully help as much as I would like. We’ve got to start somewhere if we’re ever to get you back and established in your own smithy. Hopefully, this will be a nice gesture of good-faith trading that wil
l make them rethink about the order to kill you.

  * And if you’re so concerned with my Apes being inside the village, I can try to keep them relatively hidden in the outskirts so that they won’t be seen with you. There’s more danger to you that way, so it would be up to you to decide if that’s the way you want to work this. *

  Kelerim thought about what she said and had to admit that she had a point. However, the one thing he was starting to rethink himself was ever going back to being just a Blacksmith in Orcrim, even if he was the best they ever had. He knew the Orcish people well enough that even if he could craft the same Masterwork Steel swords that Sandra could make, they would still look at him as something…inadequate. He never felt that way inside the dungeon working with Sandra, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to that day in and day out, even if it ended up helping the entire race.

  Sure, it was selfish, but he also knew what he wanted. And he wanted to stay in the dungeon and learn from Sandra.

  Perhaps they could make all the weapons and armor there and then deliver it to the Orcish people from the dungeon’s location. Kelerim liked that idea much more, but he had been hesitant to broach the subject just in case Sandra disagreed and kicked him out. He knew that she had mentioned providing some initial assistance in the form of large quantities of crafted items that she had made, but she was pushing for him to go back as a Master Blacksmith and take over the crafting duties inside Orcrim itself. As that was beginning to be the last thing on his mind, he knew it would be better if he just stayed inside the dungeon and helped craft there; to further that idea in his head, though, someone would have to initiate contact in the first place, and he was the only one really capable of doing it.