I could concentrate on one single dungeon and attack it, wiping out everything they have inside so it isn’t a threat later; I have a feeling that kind of action would bring my unhinged passenger to the forefront, though.
What if I just destroy the other Cores and then deal with the fallout afterwards? Just thinking about what enhancements other nearby Cores would gain in the process made that consideration lose its appeal immediately.
Or…I can work entirely on defense, strengthening the constructs and Dungeon Monsters I already have inside the tunnels. They are clear right now, which means that I can do just about anything I want with them. But what is my end goal?
That was the biggest problem as she saw it. Sandra was fairly confident that she could eventually overcome all 4 of the other dungeons, given enough time and resources, as well as help from the nearby races – if those she sent out ever returned! Loud grumbling and raving could be heard in the back of her mind as she thought about the three groups she had sent back to their homelands to get help; none of them had returned by that point, and it wasn’t just the Core shard that was angry at the lack of progress. It had been a little over 2 weeks since they had left, and surely one of them could’ve made it back with at least some sort of progress report.
Before she could work herself up needlessly about them, Sandra wisely shut off thinking about Violet, Felbar, Echo, and Gerold and concentrated on the matter at hand: a solution to the overarching problem. She couldn’t very well defend indefinitely, because although her Core and the nearby population might be fine, there were bigger problems over a hundred miles in every direction. Dozens of Cores were taking advantage of these enhancements, and while most of them had not gained any benefit from the massacre of Orcs as the 4 nearest ones had, they would start to become a problem soon – if they weren’t already. Maybe not for her, but the Dwarven, Elven, Gnomish, and Orcish homelands would all be in danger.
In fact, as she had upgraded just a short time ago, a quick check of her newly expanded Area of Influence showed that it had extended by another 15 miles in every direction! Previously, she hadn’t been able to actually see any new dungeons, though she had overlapped their AOIs; now, she could see the void that indicated where the other new Dungeon Cores had made their dungeons, and she was relieved to see that they weren’t huge.
Large enough to defend themselves in case of external attack, of course, but not as large as the 4 surrounding the wasteland. How long that would last was hard to say; it depended upon how well-defended the nearby areas were with the people living there. Needless to say, since the Dwarves had all but retreated to their mountain strongholds, dungeons in Dwarven areas had already amassed the largest AOIs, as they had already been allowed to expand out of control.
Regardless, Sandra needed to stop solely defending and reacting to what the others were doing, and start initiating proactive steps to stop them. It would likely require another half-dozen upgrades to get to the point where she could see all of the Cores affected by the enhancements, but that would come, in time. The prospect of requiring so many additional upgrades frightened Sandra more than anything else, as recent upgrades had been more frightening than usual; she’d have to figure out what to do before that, though.
Unfortunately, she was running out of time, resources, and…ideas. Destroying the Cores was out of the question (as much as the Core shard mumbling in the background wished to do so), as it would only make things worse for everyone else. Without more help from external sources, the only thing Sandra could really do was defend, contain, and pray to the Creator that it would be enough. She only really had to hold on until the new Dungeon Cores – created shortly after the Reptile, Undead, Avian, and Unicorn dungeons were destroyed – reached Core Size 25, after all. Not so difficult, right?
Except, at another glance at the new Cores’ progress, she saw that they were nearly ready to emerge from their underground domains. Based on how quickly they were accumulating Mana from their dungeon alone – a maximum of 16,000 per hour, depending on their Core Size – they had likely already upgraded a dozen times or more. Once they broke free to the surface and sent their Dungeon Monsters roaming about, they would start to receive even more Mana to upgrade.
Which was, contrary to the other Cores attacking Sandra, exactly what she wanted them to do. At the moment, none of them had large enough AOIs to threaten nearby settlements, nor would they until later. The 2 near the Gnome homeland wouldn’t threaten anyone for a while, because the village had already been destroyed; the other pair near Grongbak, however, would need to be dealt with eventually, but at the moment they were safe. Which was why she wanted all of the new Cores to stay exempt from the culling of Monsters, because it would allow them to upgrade even faster.
Of course, given a week or two of unfettered expansion, even the new Cores would become a problem that would only add to Sandra’s responsibilities. Eventually, their AOIs would grow enough to reach her dungeon, and she could be looking at being attacked by 8 Cores at the same time. That wasn’t a pleasant thought, because she was having a hard enough time with half that number.
How am I going to keep up with that without extra help? The quick and short answer to that question was that she couldn’t. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t any help available; it just meant that she would be taking a risk in the long-term. Like my father always used to say: “A smart merchant plans for the future; a desperate merchant reacts in the moment.” And right now, I’m quite desperate!
It was time to talk to Kelerim.
Chapter 12
“Uh, no – it doesn’t work like that.”
* Well, why not? *
“Because they only respect strength, and that’s about the last thing that I represent.”
Sandra had to agree, as much as it probably pained Kelerim to admit that. Though he wasn’t a fighter, the Blacksmith had other skills, and he had improved over the last few days, even without her help. No longer an apprentice in his skillset, though nowhere near a master, he could create quality steel swords quite rapidly; while she had been “out of touch”, he had spent his hours making more and more swords to trade for mercenaries, and his practice and determination had definitely seen progress.
* So, just because he was your father, doesn’t that mean his position as Warlord will pass on to you now that he’s…gone? *
As much as she was glad Rothgar Bloodskull had died in her dungeon, ending his threat against her Core, the Orc leader still had been Kelerim’s father.
“No. Blood relation would only give me a chance to prove myself as his heir before outsiders started feuding over the remains of his estate and power. As soon as the news gets around about his death—” Kelerim continued, with only the slightest hitch to his voice— “the other Warlords will start fighting to take over territory and possessions – including the rest of his Warband.”
* Warband? I thought I killed them all when they attacked. *
The Blacksmith chuckled, as though the deaths of over 3,000 Orcs were of no consequence. “No, that was only a small portion of his greater Warband. He might have wanted to get revenge for the death of his son by destroying you, but he wasn’t about to abandon Orcrim and his responsibility by emptying his territory of Warband members. I don’t know exact numbers, but I think it’s safe to say that he left an additional 50,000 behind to protect his territory.”
50,000?! That was hard to believe, but then Sandra remembered that numbers had never been the Orcs’ problem. Arming 50,000 Orcs with substandard and poorly made weapons was probably the equivalent of 500 fully armored Dwarves or 50 Gnomish War Machines.
But 50,000 mercenaries were something else entirely. Of course, she didn’t need that many – nor could she equip that many, even if she did – but extra help was there for the taking. If she could figure out how to reach out and apply that help, that is. Naturally, this was why she’d spoken to Kelerim: to see if he could provide influence over them by virtue of his birthright.
Kelerim started to shake his head but stopped as he hammered down on the sword he was working on. Even when she first contacted him, he had kept on with his craft despite his joy at hearing she was back. His dedication making her inwardly smile. “I was going to say no, but there might be a way.” He didn’t say anything for a moment as he moved the weapon back to the forge to heat it up.
* Yes? *
“Sorry, just needed to finish that,” he said, stepping back from the intense warmth exuded by the forge. He watched the color of the metal change as it heated up. “Well, I may not be able to take over the Warband, but I can try to appoint a replacement. They would have to be able to prove themselves, but it is far preferable to everyone (including the other Warlords) to ensure stability in the Bloodskull territory. Loss of life isn’t that big of a deal, as you know, but a war over the scraps of his holdings and responsibility would be a large use of resources and time, disrupting their more essential work: culling monsters. As much as they are greedy for more territory, Warlords do care about their people; leaving villages undefended could result in losses to non-combatants that could’ve been avoided.”
That made sense to Sandra, even if she was opposed to the loss of life an internal war would create.
* How do you know so much about the politics of Warlords? *
Kelerim shrugged as he pulled the sword back out of the forge and brought it over to the anvil again, its color just about the perfect hue for the next step in the process. “I heard a lot from Warband members over the years while they were waiting for me to finish their orders, and before that I spent a lot of time begging for food scraps in places where important matters were decided. It was a risk to spend so much time near where the Warlords called home, but they always seemed to have the most edible remnants to spare.”
That was…sad. It was beneficial right now because it provided some insight into internal politics, but sad, nonetheless.
* Do you know of any potential Warlords you could appoint? *
Now he shook his head for real. “No, I’ve been away from those circles for too long, and I wouldn’t say that I’m the best judge of strength and character. I would suggest talking to Furbrea in Grongbak; if anyone near here would know, it would be her. Plus, I think you can trust her not to point you in the wrong direction.”
* That’s a good idea – thanks. *
Kelerim just smiled. “No problem. I’m glad you’re back, Sandra – now try to stay here, will you?”
* I will try, Kelerim. I will try. *
The problem with needing to talk to Furbrea was a relatively simple one – she couldn’t. Since the de facto leader of the village of Grongbak wasn’t Bonded to her, Sandra had no way to actually communicate with the old Orc; it was about time to change that, however, and to reveal a little more than she had originally planned. While the Dungeon Core had desired to keep the actions of the mercenaries she was “hiring” a bit of a secret, now there really wasn’t any other choice. Sandra needed to speak with her, and not through an intermediary.
Finding Owchet – one of her Orcish mercenaries – just waking up from his rest after an uneventful shift with the Elves, she used one of her floating Shears and focused on him.
* Owchet. I’m back; I heard it was you who kept things running while I was…unavailable. *
The mercenary barely twitched at the sudden voice in his head. “It was this one’s honor, Leader,” he said, thumping his fist against his chest. That was new. “What can this one help you with? More monsters to kill?”
* Not quite yet, but there will be soon; I estimate that in about 14 hours, you’ll have plenty of work to do. For now, though, I need your assistance. *
“This one is at your disposal, Leader.” The way he was speaking was a little strange, and while she had been respected by them before, none of the mercenaries had spoken that way. As she paused for a moment, she asked Winxa what it was all about.
“They learned how you reacted when…‘something’…happened to set you off, and this only strengthened the respect and honor they felt in helping you. Or, at least, that’s my impression,” Winxa responded, though she sounded a bit unsure. Sandra was glad she didn’t mention exactly what had made her start to lose control, because she didn’t want to take a chance that it would trigger a repeat takeover by the remnants of the Core shard in her mind.
Whatever it was, the Dungeon Core didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing, but she ignored it for the time being.
* Owchet, I need you to bring Furbrea to my dungeon so that I can ask her something. Very politely, if you can; there’s no need to force her. *
“This one doesn’t mean to question your order, but the village leader does not know what you are. Is this what you wish?”
* Yes, it is necessary at this point. *
“Your order will be done.” As Owchet moved across the village, leaving the barracks where half of her mercenaries slept at a time while the others were on shift, Sandra focused on what needed to come next. She was fairly confident that Furbrea would not refuse to come to the dungeon because the old Orc was curious about what was going on. Riding on the back of one of the Mechanical Jaguar Queens “stabled” near the village – located behind a small hillock for the easy travel of the mercenaries – might give her pause, but likely not enough to dissuade her.
Sandra’s goal was to retain many more mercenaries than what she was using right now, but to do that required a lot of resources. Not only to equip them, which would take a bit of work, Mana, and Raw Materials, but to pay for them as well. Not the usual payment of steel and scarce titanium swords, but some other incentives that would assist with the exchange of help.
It was time to take that gamble, that risk she was considering, and introduce the wider Orcish Warrior population to Energy Orbs. Desperation was rescinding her earlier hesitation in doing such a thing, as it might encourage even more infighting for the precious resource. The time for that hesitation was over, though, because things were already out of control; the consequences for their introduction would have to be borne at some point, and the circumstances were dire enough for it to be necessary right now.
There was no way she could afford those costs with her current Mana intake, however. Despite the nearly 15,000 Shears she still had floating around, as well as the thousands of Clockwork Tarantulas roaming around the wasteland, it wasn’t nearly enough to do what she needed to do. Therefore, it was time to upgrade her absorption rate again.
But how? The least expensive construct I have is still 20 Mana – the Powered Arachnid – but how many can I make? A little under 1,500 before running out of Mana because the Monster Seed is more expensive? That amount really won’t make that much of a difference, even if I pumped out another batch every hour; granted, it will help, but it isn’t the boost I was hoping for. Sandra couldn’t help but wish that she still had access to the less-expensive Animated Shears she had before increasing her Advancement Level, because then she could pump those out quite quickly.
Actually, maybe I still can…
She did have a new skill to look at, after all. Her Mana was already nearing the maximum of 47,748 after she upgraded, so a part of her mind was devoted to creating Powered Arachnids, using the few scant Raw Materials she had in reserve; she would make 10 of them and then send them outside, before waiting for her Mana to tick back up, where she would make some more. No reason to let the Mana go to waste while I play around with a better solution, because every bit will help.
With her hopes up that a solution could be found for her Mana absorption issue, Sandra concentrated on her Dungeon Monster Creation skill.
Dungeon Monster Creation
Dungeon Monster
Origination Material
Monster Seed(s)
Binding Agent
(Select or New)
(Select)
(Select)
(Select)
/> Potential Viability
0%
Initial Skill Mana Cost
0
Initial Raw Materials Cost
0
Dungeon Monster Mana Cost
0
New Dungeon Monster Name
N/A
The window didn’t really explain a lot, but Sandra understood how it worked for the most part. Theoretically, all she had to do was select some things and the Dungeon Monster Creation Skill would do the rest. Since she wanted something “cheaper” in terms of Mana Cost and Raw Materials, Sandra selected her Powered Arachnid and then the least expensive Monster Seed she had available: Tiny Salt Cube. At only 20 Raw Materials and 5 Mana, if that didn’t do something to bring down the cost, then she would have to experiment some more.
Dungeon Monster Creation
Dungeon Monster
Origination Material
Monster Seed(s)
Binding Agent
Powered Arachnid
None
Tiny Salt Cube
Fairy Tear
Potential Viability
20%
Initial Skill Mana Cost
1000
Initial Raw Materials Cost
100
Dungeon Monster Mana Cost
10
The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Page 13