With the thought that he was going to have to make that first step eventually, he told the Dungeon Core, “Fine. Let’s do it.” And less than a day later, all the preparations were complete, and he was topside again – in the middle of the hot wasteland.
* * *
The sun was beating down on the back of Kelerim and he started to sweat in his full tanned Leather outfit. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but it was all he had; his cloth shirt had essentially been destroyed when Sandra had “bonded” with him and he had gotten a massive bronze-colored gear burned into his chest, and his pants had been practically threadbare before he ever left the village. Cloth, she couldn’t make; Leather, on the other hand, was plentiful.
Although it wasn’t the best for traveling during the heat of the day, it would offer a little bit of protection if he was attacked – either in the wasteland or in the village of Grongbak. He wasn’t too scared of being waylaid on his journey, though, because he was traveling with some powerful allies on his side. Not only that, but the Ironclad Apes moved quickly and tirelessly over the barren landscape, which sped up travel exponentially.
He felt a little foolish sitting on top of one of them, with his legs wrapped around its barrel-shaped torso, but if it meant he didn’t have to walk the entire way, then he was willing to look silly for the sake of expedience. Which made a big difference, because they approached the village’s outskirts even quicker than he expected.
It turned out that Sandra’s dungeon was much closer to the village than he had realized. During Kelerim’s exhausted and thirst-ridden wanderings, he thought that he had traveled tens of miles, but the reality was that it was just over two miles away. He had to admit that he didn’t have the best sense of direction, so it was more than possible that he had turned in circles while he had been out there before.
All of which meant that they arrived within an hour; it only took that long because he hadn’t been entirely sure of the right heading, so they had needed to search around for the village for a while before they found it. Fortunately, riding on the back of tireless runners made the distance seem insignificant when you didn’t have to run it yourself. They hadn’t seen anything on their way, or at least nothing thought them easy enough prey to bother them, so Kelerim was encouraged. Maybe this won’t be so bad.
About 500 feet away from the village and just out of sight behind a small hill, he jumped off the back of his Ape-based transport and crawled up the stone and dirt mound, looking at the village at the edge of his vision. He couldn’t see any of the guards on the wasteland side, but it was probably because nothing threatening ever came out of there; most of the danger they might encounter would come from the dungeons located a dozen miles out to the northeast and southwest. With the wasteland to the southeast and the relatively safer rest of Orcrim to the northwest, they only had to worry about two directions.
Fortunately, at least in his time there, the closest dungeons were small enough that they never saw any dungeon-based monsters near the village of Grongbak. After talking with Sandra and learning a little about how her “Area of Influence” increased and how “Upgrading Core Sizes” worked, he now knew that it could be just a matter of time before they expanded enough to reach it. Just like Sandra’s dungeon was now within range.
Kelerim felt a little bad about thinking that this whole thing was just an elaborate ploy by Sandra to kill everyone inside his old village just like a normal dungeon did; however, after looking at the situation, if that really was her objective, she could’ve explored the wasteland herself with her constructs, found the village, waited until dark, and then sent in a dozen of her Apes to slaughter everyone.
The fact that he was there and alive in the first place lent credence to her story, as well as her superior crafting knowledge and the appearance of her dungeon. It was unlike any other that he had ever heard of – and he doubted the world had ever heard of – and he was willing to take the risk of allying himself with her in her supposed “purpose”. He thought that it was a worthy endeavor and would potentially save many lives, but it was still a dangerous proposition overall.
And it all started right here.
One of the metal monkeys handed him the leather-wrapped bundle of steel swords, complete with sheaths, and he nervously walked toward the village. He looked down at his leather chestpiece and saw one of Sandra’s Animated Shears sticking out from his one pocket that he possessed. It was the only thing that looked “normal” enough not to cause a stir, so it would allow her to keep any eye on things. Plus, it could help defend him if it were necessary.
* Are you sure you want me to keep the Apes so far back? It will take at least a minute for them to reach the village if you’re in trouble. *
“Yes, it’s better to risk potential danger for myself at first than to incite the entire village at the appearance of your constructs. Don’t worry, at the first sign that things are going to go bad, I’m getting out of there,” Kelerim whispered to the Shears in his pocket.
She didn’t respond, but he wasn’t really expecting her to; they had discussed many times what was going to happen, though he was still nervous despite the planning. Walking back into the village as if nothing was different was going to be hard, but he steeled himself and tried to affect a casual walk as he crossed the distance to Grongbak. Sandra had told him that, from her experience as a Human while she was alive, the best way to blend in was to act like he belonged there.
Of course, it was hard to blend in when he was shorter than everyone, had hair all over his head and face, and his skin was a different color.
Nevertheless, he did what he could to walk into the village like he had every right to be there. The first villagers he saw did a double take when they saw him, but they didn’t run away to the guards, which was a promising sign. He heard some mutterings, but nothing alarming; they either didn’t know why he was chased off in the first place or didn’t care enough to worry why he was back. Regardless of the reason, their indifference worked in his favor.
Kelerim avoided his old smithy, because he didn’t want to meet the new Blacksmith – though he could hear the sound of a hammer ineffectually banging against metal and cursing coming from that direction even halfway across the village. He was also in luck, because when he looked around on his way to his destination, he didn’t see any members of Razochek’s warband, which meant that they were still out hunting.
The village didn’t really have a general store or anything as fancy as that, but there was a small hut where the supplies they received from the interior of Orcrim were kept and overseen for distribution. It was there that he went, as it was the most likely place to find the things on Sandra’s list, though it ran the risk of having a guard nearby. His luck held, though, because when he arrived there was just old Furbrea inside, sitting bored in her rickety chair in the corner.
“Kelerim, is that you? I was told you went crazy and ran out into the wasteland. I never thought I’d see you again,” the old Orcish woman said when she saw him enter. “And what are you wearing, boy? I didn’t take you for the Warrior type.”
He was thankful it was just her here, as her assistant was a nosy, snobbish young Orc who liked to throw his authority around – especially when it came to Kelerim. Being the Blacksmith didn’t come with a lot of extras, but he was usually allotted clothing and luxuries every once in a while; there were a few times he was stopped from getting what he needed by the assistant because of Kelerim’s parentage.
Furbrea was a different matter, altogether. While she didn’t exactly like him, she didn’t dislike him. In fact, she didn’t really like anybody, so he felt he was on equal footing when it came to dealing with her.
“Oh, you know how rumors start in a place like this. Actually, what happened was that I was sent away to try to work out a trade with some ‘foreign powers’ for better weapons, since I was the resident expert in their manufacture – and also due to my birth. I’ve just arrived and need to get back there, so I need to mak
e a small trade with you, if you have the time,” he lied smoothly, after having practiced countless times over the last few hours. It wasn’t a complete lie, so it helped sell the story.
The old Orc got up from her chair with a grunt, her towering form that was stooped from age still head and shoulders above him. The wrinkles on her face grew more pronounced as she concentrated and stared into his eyes, likely looking for the truth of his words in them. He started to sweat a little more as she kept looking at him, before turning away towards the table at the side of the room. He held in his sigh as she turned, as relief spread throughout his body, making him feel weak from the released tension he hadn’t realized was locking his body up tight.
“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got. Put it down here.”
Furbrea obviously saw the leather-wrapped bundle in his arms, so he immediately put it down and unwrapped it, displaying the pair of Masterwork-quality Steel swords in their sheaths. The Orc immediately inspected them, and he could see the surprise reflected in her face, which smoothed out her wrinkles and made her appear younger at the same time.
“Boy, these are magnificent! I could give you everything here and it still wouldn’t cover the cost of these – they’re made from steel, aren’t they? I remember seeing a steel sword in my youth, but it’s been a long time…where did you say you got these?” Furbrea asked as she slid out the other sword and tested the edge against her thumb – which immediately drew blood.
“Oh, I found a source not too far from here, but it isn’t in Orcrim. I’m really just here as an intermediary, as the source wouldn’t necessarily be welcome here. And all they really need are some basic supplies, as they are unavailable in their location; you know, as a sample of future trade deals. There will be many more such in the future,” Kelerim quickly told the old Orc woman. It wasn’t quite what he was originally going to say, but the words just spilled out of his mouth without thought to the consequences.
* Uh, Kelerim, what are you doing? This wasn’t part of the plan— *
“I can do that, boy. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll scrounge it up for you.”
Kelerim ignored Sandra, knowing that he would have to explain later his motivations to the Dungeon Core. In the meantime, he recited the things Sandra had wanted, which was still a ridiculously short list. Furbrea showed surprising swiftness as she gathered up small quantities of everything he asked for, before putting them in a cloth bag and tying it closed with a leather strap. In less than five minutes, she was done and started to hand the bag to Kelerim.
She hesitated, however. “Are you sure this all that you want? I can’t say I’ve ever liked you, but even I know this is a bad trade,” the old Orc asked with confusion.
“Absolutely. This will work as a representation of larger quantities that can be found here. Thank you so much, Furbrea – I appreciate this more than you know,” Kelerim responded, taking the proffered bag. The bag itself wasn’t large, so he tied it to his leather belt and walked out the door.
* Phew, I’m glad that worked, but you’ve got some explaining to do when you get back here— *
Sandra stopped talking in his head as he walked out the door and saw the same thing he did. Unbeknownst to both of them, the warband had come back to the village, out of view of her Ironclad Apes who were keeping watch.
Chapter 36
Luckily, none of them seemed to be looking for him or even in his direction, but the majority of the 40-strong warband were drifting toward the central cookfires, where they were likely hungry after traveling for the last few days. Kelerim shrunk back into the storage hut’s doorway, but he didn’t go back inside; while it might temporarily hide him from the eyes of the Warriors streaming through village, other than the promise of more swords coming her way, there was very little preventing Furbrea from pointing him out. Well, that, and when he tried to open the door again, it was locked from the inside.
* You better get moving – it won’t take them long to see you. Slink around the back of the building and head toward Orcrim; I’ll have my Apes meet you there. *
What followed was the most nerve-wracking experience in his life. He had been beaten, starved, and ridiculed before, but the anticipation of being spotted by the warband was like someone was holding a knife blade to the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure if he was just skilled at evading notice, or if it had been so long since anyone had seen him that they had forgotten what he looked like, but he managed to sneak around the back of the building and made it safely through the village unnoticed by everyone. Including the normal villagers, who were pre-occupied with the return of the warband to care about his presence.
He kept walking steadily out of the village and kept going toward Orcrim, as he fought against the urge to run. He knew from experience that running almost always garnered attention, even if he were running for innocuous reasons; he knew this, but he still almost did it anyway. He estimated that he was nearly a half-mile away before he heard a metallic grinding noise coming from behind him.
* You certainly move fast when you’re motivated. My Apes are almost there, hold for a moment while they catch up. *
Kelerim’s knees were weak as he stopped and turned around, and the tension he had been unconsciously holding in his shoulders eased as he saw the Apes coming. Once they arrived, he gladly jumped back up on the back of what looked like the same one he had ridden to the village, though they all looked so similar it was hard to tell.
* I’m taking the long way back, as I want to stay as far away from the village as possible. Hold on tight! *
Sandra was right – it took longer to get back to the dungeon than it had to get there in the first place, though he agreed that it was probably the best idea. They swung far wide, so far that he couldn’t even see the village anymore; passing through the greener lands of Orcrim only made the stark barrenness of the wasteland even more apparent when they finally arrived.
The Bearlings were out in force in front of their cave, unlike when they left – the beasts either hadn’t see them or hadn’t cared about them earlier. Fortunately, they didn’t make any move to attack, which probably meant they still remembered the futility of it from their previous assault. Sandra told him a little about what happened, and he was doubly thankful that the dungeon that he had inadvertently run into ended up being a friendly one.
Sandra was ecstatic when he finally arrived back “home” to his forge and small room located right next to it. He emptied the contents of the bag on the ground and it was immediately absorbed by the dungeon; he had seen both the absorption and creation of objects so many times over the last few weeks that it didn’t even faze him anymore. After a few minutes of silence, he could hear the excitement in the Dungeon Core’s tone when she spoke to him.
* Ooh, this is good. This is exactly what I needed— *
Kelerim smiled to hear the satisfaction in her voice, though he got a little worried when she abruptly cut off her communication. “Sandra, what’s wrong. Sandra?” he asked to the empty air of his forge. She didn’t respond, but it wasn’t the first time something had caught her attention and she left him hanging; as a result, he went down to the kitchen to see if she had prepared any food for him while he was gone. There wasn’t anything ready for him or even raw meat available for him to cook, so he picked up a stone cup from the table and got himself some cool, fresh water from the spigot.
His parched throat was instantly soothed as he started gulping the refreshing liquid, but he choked on it when Sandra’s voice came back.
* We’ve got a problem – you were followed. *
Well, that’s just great.
* * *
Sandra closed out the last of the notification screens she had received when she absorbed everything that Kelerim had brought back with him from his old village. She now had access to some new Seeds, though it was going to take a little while to unlock some of the larger sizes.
Monster Seed Origination (New)
Name:
R
aw Material Cost:
Mana Cost:
Min. Mana:
Max. Mana:
Tiny Salt Cube
20
5
5
10
Tiny Clay Cube
80
15
15
150
Tiny Nickel Orb
200
20
20
200
Tiny Silver Orb
3000
300
40
400
Tiny Gold Orb
4000
400
50
500
She also now had access to Flax Seed as a material, which she was hoping would eventually let her make linen. It didn’t qualify as a Monster Seed, and it appeared as if she was going to have to grow the Flax plant in order to harvest it for the fibers inside of its stalks, but she had plans on how to do that quickly – she had access to Nature elemental Mana, after all.
The biggest disappointment was the complete and utter failure of wood being absorbed for use as either a Seed or material. Sandra supposed she was going to need a tree of some sort that she could harvest; she realized that everything else that she had acquired access to she had either found in its raw state or created herself. The next time she sent out her Mechanical Wolf to scout, she thought she might see if her range extended to the forests that she could just barely see on the horizon to the northwest and southeast.
The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) Page 28