“Before I leave, I want to make sure you know that, as much as I appreciate all that you’ve done…I am no one’s puppet,” Palzerk said with a deadly serious tone, speaking to the Dungeon Core as he prepared to fly back to Orcrim. “I make my own decisions, and if you are attempting to create someone that you can control, I will fight with all my considerable power to destroy you.”
Even though he was Bonded to her Core, the threat caused the shard in her mind to rear up as if it wanted to eliminate the Warband Leader. In fact, ever since it had come to the surface of her consciousness during the Dire Wolf attack, it hadn’t faded back into the small corner she had originally shoved it into. It was right at the forefront of her thoughts, but unless there was a direct threat to her or her people, it stayed relatively quiet; the only consolation was that the conversion of her self-image stopped after the immediate threat to Kelerim and Owchet was eliminated, but now she could feel it creeping in again.
* I don’t respond well to threats, Palzerk. *
She had responded tersely, trying to bring the anger from the shard under control. When she was a bit more composed, she went on.
* I understand how you feel, though, and I want to assure you that I have no designs to control you or what you do. I have no desire to dictate how you live your lives, nor to ask you to do anything that you wouldn’t be doing already. My only intentions are to provide you with the tools to survive, to thrive in this increasingly dangerous world we find ourselves in. *
He was silent for nearly a minute as he contemplated her words. “Why do you do this, then?”
* Why? Why not? *
She chuckled, because it was true; she had the ability to save these people, so there was no reason not to. That, and it was because of her unknowing actions that caused the acceleration of the current dangers, so she felt responsible for cleaning up her mess. She explained this to Palzerk, wanting to be as honest as possible with the future Warlord.
* Besides, if we can manage to save everyone, then I can get back to my first love. *
He looked confused. “And what would that be?”
* Why, crafting, of course. Speaking of that, you need to get going, and I need to get back to it. *
Palzerk nodded, before strapping himself into the harness of the High Peak Roc. Moments later, it was ready to go, and she sent it back to his Warband, though she didn’t use its Traveling Vortex Special Ability; she thought it would be better to save the Roc’s energy for the future. That, and it allowed the Warband Leader to practice controlling the massive bird, which was going to be important if he was going to have it nearby. She figured it might as well be of use, so she was going to allow the Roc to stay nearby to help whenever he needed it. Unless he moved out of her Area of Influence, she could always call it back if she needed its help.
I think that went well, don’t you think?
Winxa had been watching and listening in on all of the negotiations, and she nodded. “Yes, I do.” The Dungeon Fairy hesitated before expanding on that. “Again, you’ve done something that no other Dungeon Core has ever done before, but I can’t help but wonder and worry where it might end. I’m fairly confident that you were truthful about your intentions, about wanting safety because you want to be able to craft in peace, but how far will you go to create that peace, that safety? Are you going to want to Bond with every person in Orcrim? In Gnomeria? Every Elf, every Dwarf? That’s the only way to ensure that you’re relatively safe from potential attack from them, as well as being able to track them to follow up on potential threats from the other Cores, after all.”
Sandra was tempted to say yes, because that certainly would solve many of her problems. However, she immediately knew that was unrealistic – and unfair. It sounded too…authoritarian, too controlling of the population, and the thought didn’t sit well with her. Memories of the ways various people had reacted to the Bond’s mark on those she had Bonded, calling them slaves or being under her influence, came to her mind; while it was ridiculous, as she couldn’t control anything, such a sentiment was indicative of how the wider population would react. Using the things she created was fine, but such an intimate Bond was too much and would likely be suspicious; looking at it from their perspective, she couldn’t say that she wouldn’t feel the same if she were in their shoes.
No, that’s not what I want. In all seriousness, I really don’t know where it will stop, but I have to limit it somewhere. Just…not yet, not until I’m sure everything is as safe as it can get, and I can focus on my crafting. Sandra really didn’t know where she needed to stop, but it wasn’t any time soon; there were too many dangers to all of the races right now that she couldn’t let up with what she was doing. The benefits of her access with the Orcs was all well and good, but without knowing how the other races stood, she was going to have to use everything at her disposal to keep things from spiraling out of control. As to her own mind not spiraling out of control…. Ok, enough of that – I have the itch to do some crafting!
Now that she was adequately defended against the resurgence of the nearby Dungeon Cores – for the moment, at least – and she had her Mana influx steadily growing, there wasn’t anything preventing her from sinking her concentration into crafting again.
“What are you going to craft?” Winxa asked with excited interest, which helped to lighten up the mood after their serious talk. “I can’t imagine that there are many things you haven’t dabbled in one way or another; not that I’m an expert, but I have no idea what else you might be able to craft.”
There are a lot of different crafts that I haven’t even approached yet, though very few of them would help me out right now. I need to focus my efforts – even if I’m enjoying myself applying my knowledge to craft something new – on things that will eventually accomplish my goal of making the people under my care safe, eventually making them self-sufficient in their own defense. For instance, let’s look at what I’ve done here and around the wasteland.
I’ve created weapons of different types, melee-distance and even ranged, and even enchanted them for my Orc mercenaries to use to kill dungeon monsters. I’ve crafted armor that is also enchanted to help protect them even further, enhancing their capabilities to survive longer.
The War Machine and Deep Divers I’ve made for the Gnomes were excellent displays of my enchanting knowledge – to which I have to admit that I’m still learning – as well as my woodworking and blacksmithing skills.
I’ve helped to provide food, cloth for clothing, leather for various goods, and even glasswork to contain the alcohol brewed and distilled for the Dwarven villagers living in my dungeon. Not only that, but I’ve figured out a way to provide them a means of perpetual storage with the Stasis Boxes, and providing food and supplies to Grongbak – and even Avensglen, if they need it – is something that we, working together, are more than capable of achieving.
Quite a lot, granted, but apart from learning the secret to how the Dwarves produce their special armor for their Shieldmen – a grumble started coming from the Shard in her mind at Gerold’s absence, but she hushed it…and it shut up, amazingly – there isn’t much that I can’t reproduce in some fashion or other. I’ve applied some of the enchantments that the Gnomes prefer to use in their endeavors; I’ve created the Energy Orbs to help the Elves cast more spells; and I’ve applied all my knowledge to come as close as I can to duplicating what the Dwarves do with weapons and armor. But the one thing I haven’t been able to copy – yet – is what the Orcish people do with relation to their elemental energy.
Winxa seemed perplexed. “And by that, you mean…?”
Directly altering their bodies, of course. Everything I’ve done so far has been external, affecting things either directly or indirectly through the use of enchantments. The closest thing I have that directly affects a person’s body are my Repair Drones, and I remember Violet mentioning that they had Healing Amulets. But, for everything that I’ve crafted, I’ve yet to affect a person’s body like the Orcs seem to do naturally
– and I’m aiming to change that.
“And you know how to do that?
Sandra had to think over all of her knowledge, contemplating what she knew and what she currently had available as far as material. Yes, yes I do. If she’d had a face, she’d have been grinning from ear to ear.
Chapter 29
The problem with some enchantments, especially when they were directed toward manipulating something in the Human body (which was what her knowledge was based upon), was that they had limited usefulness. Not that they weren’t powerful in their own right, but there were only a few Enchanters back in Muriel that had created them. Those that did create them, sold them at exorbitant prices, which only some of the best Heroes could afford. Her father had managed to acquire only 1 item that had a Personal Enhancement Enchantment (PEE) on it over all of the years he had been a merchant, and he managed to sell it for nearly double what he paid for it.
Now, based on that, one would think that PEE Enchanters would hoard their secrets of enchanting so that no one could compete with them. Luckily for Sandra, that was in no way the case, mainly because there were very few that actually had the internal elemental energy to produce one of the enchantments that would last longer than a second or two. Therefore, the Master Enchanters (“Master” as far as Humans were concerned, though they couldn’t compare to the Gnomish Master Enchanters), were only too happy to teach her everything they knew.
In addition, getting into PEE took a large initial financial investment to produce a product with one of the enchantments on it; trying to use Wood, Iron, Steel, Titanium, or even Platinum, it wouldn’t work. Technically, the enchantment would form, but upon activation, it would last for less than a second – more of a blip than anything else. Naturally, as if it was intentionally restrictive for some reason, PEE worked best on Silver, Gold, and – best of them all, by a large magnitude – precious gemstones. Each of the materials were best for different types of PEEs, depending on what it was being used for.
Silver was best for PEEs that focused on regenerative healing, cleansing of toxins or poisons, and enhancing the senses such as sight, hearing, and smell. The Healing Amulet that the Gnomes used, for instance, was likely made from silver as a material, and the ones that the Human Heroes made were, as well. One of the “best” healing Personal Enhancement Enchantments she had seen when she was alive and learning about them had been one that could be discharged for a full 2 minutes of rapid healing, speeding up the body’s recovery rate by 10,000%.
For minor wounds, like scratches and shallow cuts, a few seconds was all that was needed to repair the damage; for more serious injuries, 15 to 60 seconds was needed to fully recover from the wounds or even knit broken bones together, depending on how bad they were injured. The healing process, as opposed to a spell of healing being cast, took a lot of resources from a person, however, so mortal injuries could end up killing them just as quickly if the healing PEE was used. It was for this reason that, unless they didn’t have some sort of healer in their group, most Heroes that could afford healing PEE kept it for emergencies, sometimes for years or decades at a time. It was a last-ditch effort if their healer was either dead or unconscious to save someone from succumbing to their wounds.
There were better enchantments that could be used for healing small scratches and surface wounds, anyway: Minor Mending. The Holy-based enchantment could be placed on cloth bandages (or clothing) and slowly healed injuries to the surface of the body. It wasn’t necessarily a “healing” enchantment, however, as it really just “mended” the skin; it didn’t use the natural regenerative abilities of the person it was used on, and didn’t push past the surface like the healing PEEs.
Gold was best used for enhancing physical attributes, such as increasing one’s strength, speed, or skin durability. An example of this would be the PEE Minor Muscle Strengthening, a rune sequence that could – when activated – increase the strength of a user’s muscles, allowing them to hit harder, jump higher or farther, and lift heavier objects.
There were 2 downsides to these types of PEEs compared to those created on Silver. For one, the duration of, say, the strengthening enchantment, might only last for a total of 30 seconds – on some of the better-made enchantments she’d seen before. That was great in a clutch when they absolutely needed to hit harder or jump over something, but again, it was usually only used in an emergency scenario.
Secondly, the enhancement had diminishing returns based on the original strength. Therefore, if someone who could only lift 50 lbs. over their head used the PEE, then they might be able to lift 100 lbs. during the enchantment’s effect. For someone who could lift 300 lbs., they might be able to lift 315 lbs. after the PEE’s activation. Essentially, it was less useful for those that already had bigger muscles, and the same went with speed enhancements, and so on.
Gemstones…well, those were for an entirely different type of PEE. While she was shown how to create a variety of different PEEs for gemstones over the years, she had only seen a single PEE used in the creation process. The reason for this was that precious gemstones were understandably rare, and unless they were cut and shaped with precision, they could explode when the enchantment was applied. As a result, the only one she saw personally being created was on a small flawless-looking yellow Citrine, a Minor Deflection Shield rune sequence that was expertly etched into the gemstone.
Minor Deflection Shield was an Air-based enchantment, and once activated, it created an invisible shield of hardened air just above the skin of the user. It would deflect most projectiles, such as arrows or crossbow bolts that impacted the shield, though not heavier and larger objects such as big, sharp rocks thrown at them; while not usually a concern when fighting against most dungeon monsters, she remembered that some Heroes liked to duel each other for fun or profit in controlled environments, and something like that would certainly come in handy.
That was what gemstones were primarily used for: personal shields of some kind or other. There was even a Minor Flame Shield that hovered just above the skin (or, if armor was in the way, above the armor), not harming the person but burning anything it came into contact with. There were shields for all of the elements that did different things, but there was one thing in common with all of them: Short durations.
Whereas the PEEs for the Silver and Gold-type of enchantments lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, the shields generated by gemstones lasted a bit longer – but not by too much. 5 minutes was the duration she had seen for the Citrine she had seen enchanted, and that was by one of the best Enchanters alive – among Humans, at least.
The issue with short durations for all PEEs wasn’t the material, but how much elemental energy could be pumped into the initial enchantment. There were limits to how much energy a person could hold, and she had to admit that Humans paled in comparison to what an Elf could contain within their bodies – though, to be fair, they lived much longer than Humans naturally, so they had more chance to develop themselves. Based on the Elites that had invaded her dungeon, she extrapolated that some of the oldest and most powerful Elves could probably pump 30 minutes’ worth of that Minor Deflection Shield PEE she had seen being created. Quite a bit of a difference, to be sure, but the fact of the matter was that they were still limited to minutes.
With a couple of energy orbs, however, Sandra thought she could extend that to hours or even days. On a larger enchantment, utilizing Energy Cubes, she thought that she could perhaps make something that lasted for weeks or months.
The potential was practically endless – so she might as well start experimenting now.
Sandra started in her endeavors by creating a large, thin, square sheet of Silver, approximately 2-feet square; it was a lot larger than she needed, as the enchantment rune sequences were designed to fit on small objects, but she wanted to make sure she perfected the practice before she went small-scale. Also, since this was something that she hadn’t attempted before, the Dungeon Core thought it was prudent to do it far enough awa
y from her Home that she didn’t have to worry about destroying anything important, and her upper workshop worked perfectly for that.
To do the enchantment sequence, she was going to need one of her Unstable Shapeshifters, which had primarily been stationed down in her lower Forge area near her Home room, where they could safely enchant Elemental Orbs to turn them into Energy Orbs. It was the best place she had found for them to work, since it was near her Home and treasury (where she was storing the complete Energy Orbs for now), and it wasn’t in the same room as her Core – so if something went wrong, she would likely be safe. Not that she expected anything to go wrong, as she had enchanted so many Energy Orbs by that time that she could truthfully call herself a Master at that particular enchantment, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Before she sent one of them up, however, she thought about the changes to her Advancement Creation Options. She had already seen some of the changes her monsters had undergone from the increase in her Advancement Level, but there was one that might come in handy right about now – if she understood what it meant. The Unstable Shapeshifter had changed into a Stabilized Shapeshifter, and it was time to see what that meant.
It didn’t take long to create one of them in her Home room, and at first she was slightly disappointed. All of her other constructs and Advancement-gained dungeon monsters had obvious changes, either growing smaller and sleeker, or larger and deadlier—but not the Stabilized Shapeshifter. If it was any larger or smaller than its predecessor, Sandra couldn’t tell, but its multicolored amorphous mass looked exactly the same as it had before. It was only when she concentrated on it and pulled up some information about it that she saw the difference.
Stabilized Shapeshifter
The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Page 29