The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The next second, its Natural energy ticked up to 16,001. Then 16,002, and so on.

  It worked! She immediately had to tell Winxa what she had done, and the Dungeon Fairy appeared flabbergasted. “What?! I have to see this.” Making a portal in the middle of the air, Winxa disappeared; the next moment, another portal formed in the upper workshop and the Dungeon Fairy flew out.

  “Sandra – that is incredible! How in the world did you come up with something like this?”

  The Dungeon Core explained how it was a worthless enchantment back when she was Human, but now that she could power it with Energy Orbs, it was much more viable of an option. Sandra’s excitement was infectious, and Winxa was fluttering around as if she was unable to hover in place. “Don’t you understand what this means? To be able to double the energy that someone can hold and use will have repercussions felt the world over,” she said breathlessly, before she frowned. “Speaking of repercussions, what happens if someone takes the enchanted item away—while they’re still holding the extra energy?”

  Oh. I never thought of that. I…don’t know, actually, but we can find out. From previous experiments when using an Energy Orb as a monster seed, she knew that pumping extra energy into a Dungeon Monster had ended up making it explode, and she didn’t want to see the same thing happen here. She brought her Repair Drone close enough to react if something went wrong, but far enough away if there was an explosion. She then warned Winxa: I’d back up to the other side of the room, just in case.

  As soon as things were in place, Sandra lightly touched the mind of her Violet copy, enough to understand what was happening and control things, but hopefully not deep enough to experience something as painful as having her eyeballs explode again. Then she lifted the Shifter’s hand off of the Gold sheet.

  Unending pain seemed to suffuse the Shifter a few seconds after contact was lost, as the body felt as if it were burning up from the inside. Luckily for Sandra, she was prepared and had exited at the first sign of pain, so she wasn’t subjected to the agony that the Violet clone was visibly experiencing as it writhed on the floor of the workshop. Strangely, the Repair Drone nearby didn’t do a single thing to help – as if there weren’t really any injuries to repair. Perhaps there isn’t one; the energy burn going through the Shifter right now isn’t causing any permanent damage – but it sure looks painful.

  This was all happening with an extra 400 Natural energy that had accumulated while she had been explaining things to Winxa, as well; what would 16,000 extra energy look like? Would she have exploded? She didn’t want to test it out and lose her Stabilized Shapeshifter, so she could only speculate.

  The Energy Burn (as she was going to call it) only lasted about 10 seconds, but that was enough for her Shifter to appear physically exhausted. Another minute was enough for it to recover back to normal, but there seemed to be another side effect to what had happened. A brief glance showed that the Violet double now had 15,600 Natural energy, and it wasn’t going up even though it was still holding the Energy Orb. Wow. Not only did it hurt, but it literally burned out the excess energy from its normal maximum it could hold. Thinking about the situation, she realized that if she had allowed it to accumulate the extra 16,000 energy before taking the hand off the PEE, if it didn’t kill the Shifter, it would’ve permanently destroyed that amount of energy for the Monster.

  Shifting out of the form to the base was an easy procedure, and Sandra soon had it in Echo’s form.

  Stabilized Shapeshifter

  Current Form: Elf

  Current Elemental Energy:

  Air – 15800 energy

  Holy – 15800 energy

  Natural Ability:

  Stable Shapeshift: 0 energy

  Special Ability:

  Invisibility (10 Holy energy per minute)

  Speed Boost (15 Air energy per minute)

  Sure enough, there was a total of 400 energy missing, though it was evenly spread out between the Air and Holy energy that Echo’s form could manipulate.

  “That’s certainly a frightening drawback,” Winxa commented with wide eyes when Sandra told her about what happened. “The pain alone would probably be enough of a penalty to deter some people, but permanently losing access to some of their energy is horrible. I doubt that anyone would want to use something like this,” the Dungeon Fairy said sadly.

  While Sandra knew that was undoubtedly true for some, she knew it wouldn’t be true for all. I think you’d be surprised at what people will do to become more powerful; when they are faced with potential death every day, many of them would take any opportunity to survive that much longer. Imagine a Shieldman being able to withstand double the amount of damage to their armor, or an Elf being able to cast twice the amount of spells. This isn’t even considering what the Gnomes could do, with being able to pump more energy into an enchantment.

  “You have a point, I guess. But make sure that you give clear warnings before you start handing stuff like this out.”

  Oh, I certainly will.

  The experiments with gemstones were next, but they were going to have to wait for a little bit because of one simple reason: she just couldn’t create the faceted shapes she needed for each particular PEE. Each one needed them to be just slightly different depending on the enchantment, and that would require some work down below in one of her never-before-used crafting rooms.

  Unfortunately, the room was going to have to require some replacements; the shard in her mind had gutted some of the crafting stations to use as raw materials, and the gemcutting/silversmithing/goldsmithing station had been one of them. She couldn’t blame the shard too much, however, because the room truly hadn’t been used up to that point – but it was time to change all of that.

  Chapter 31

  A simple replacement of the implements of the craft, the trap that activated the small powered tools she had before, and the workstation would be easy enough to accomplish, but now that she had more knowledge of how to make it better, Sandra wanted to improve on some things. For one, she didn’t need a massive forge like she did with her Blacksmithing projects; a very small, table-top forge would work just as well. Second, she had many more choices in who or what Sandra wanted to use to craft with, and the smaller tools that were needed for such delicate work involving Silver, Gold, and gemstones would fit much better in an Elf’s hands as opposed to one of her Ape’s, for instance.

  That, and there was one Dungeon Monster she now had access to that she was curious about. The Goblin Crafter was the improved form of the Goblin Foreman, which was an improved form of the Goblin Worker. The original Worker had basically been a disaster when it came to trying to craft, because it felt more than a bit awkward to control the Goblin, and it had basically burnt up when approaching too near a forge. The Foreman had been useful when used in her Roc tunnel for defenses, but she hadn’t used it at all for anything else.

  The Goblin Crafter, on the other hand, might be something different – she just hoped it lived up to its name.

  Costing a total of 84 Mana for the cost of the Monster itself and its requisite Monster Seed, Sandra wasn’t too impressed when she first created it. The major difference between the Crafter and the others was its outfit; instead of threadbare rags covering its mottled-green skin, it had on a full leather apron and leggings, leaving its arms bare and scrawny-looking. Standing about 4 feet tall, it didn’t appear capable of much, let alone crafting.

  Controlling it herself was a little awkward at first, but by the time she brought it up to the Jewelry workstation (which was essentially a place where she could work all of the Silver, Gold, and gemstone materials), she had accustomed herself to its smaller stature. It wasn’t too unlike a Gnome, in fact, even though Sandra would never mention that in their presence.

  In the workstation, she had constructed a low stone table complete with small precious metal-working tools, including small saws, bench knives, snips, pliers, engravers, bead reamers, a dozen types of files, planishing hammers, ball-pe
in and cross-pein hammers, and a very small anvil. These were fortunately all easy to create using her Mana, because tools of different sorts were one of the few finished products she could make without having to craft them.

  Also on the stone table was a two-sided buffing wheel; one side was constructed of loose, unstitched cotton circles connected to a small central stone ring, similar to the finishing wheels she used to complete her Blacksmithing work, though this was a lot gentler on the softer metals being used. The other one was used for Lapidary work, otherwise known as gem-cutting, and it was a very hard stone with a fine grit to it that was strong enough to grind down diamonds. Both wheels were powered by a simple Earth-based trap that turned the wheels at high speeds when activated – which was as easy as putting a hand within a certain distance of it.

  She was going to have a dual-element trap inside the room, however, which was also connected with a Fire-based table-top forge constructed of Dragon Glass on the stone table, which could be activated to different temperatures depending on what was needed. Not only that, but she built in the ability to direct the heat to a specific spot, which was frequently necessary for jewelry-making. On the whole, it was only about 2 feet tall, wide, and deep, which was plenty large enough for its intended purpose.

  Now, there were two main variations of crafting when working with Silver and Gold: Casting or forming. Casting, which used clay molds similar in construction to the ones Sandra had used for her glassmaking, would allow a silver or goldsmith to pour the melted, liquid metal into the mold and then wait for it to cool and harden into the shape they wanted. They would then finish it off by removing any irregularities by filing and buffing the finished product, as well as add any decoration such as engravings.

  Forming, on the other hand, was taking a sheet of silver or gold and forming it into the shape they desired. Since the metals were much softer and therefore easier to work with, the various tools of the craft could bend and shape it into many different forms, though they had to be careful – which was where the forge came in. As the metals were hammered, bent, and shaped by the tools, they hardened as a result; frequent annealing, otherwise known as “heating it up to make it soft again”, was required, otherwise the metal might end up cracking and becoming weak.

  Right now, Sandra didn’t want to cast anything in clay molds, so she would use forming as her method of choice. Creating a thin sheet of silver on the stone worktable, she got to work with her Goblin Crafter—

  —and was immediately amazed at how fast it was. With quick, deft fingers, the Goblin almost seemed to anticipate exactly what Sandra wanted to do, picking up the snips and cutting a small band off of the Silver sheet. She paused for a moment after it was cut, marveling at how effortless it had been; with the change in speed and the adept way her fingers nearly seemed to move of their own volition, she figured she might be able to speed this whole process up. While she was still “physically” doing it herself, the Goblin Crafter was able to complete each step with abnormal swiftness.

  Using her tools, which were wielded effortlessly by the Dungeon Monster she was inhabiting, she gently bent the Silver strip around the anvil, using delicate tongs to place it in the forge for a few seconds for annealing every once in a while. When it was in the shape she wanted, a perfect circle, she used her Mana to cheat and connect the two ends together and create one flawless connection; normally, other steps and materials were used to join different pieces of Silver or Gold together, such as heated flux, but this created a much smoother join than any other method she could employ.

  When that was complete, she used a variety of coarse files to clear away any burrs in the metal, as well gently rounding the edges to create a smooth texture that would be comfortable against the skin. The next step was to buff the Silver metal itself, smoothing out any scratches and imperfections by holding it up against the buffing wheel. After a little work to finish that, it was done.

  In less than 3 minutes, Sandra had made a simple Silver ring. Such a thing was inconceivable to her before this, but the Goblin was able to perform the tasks at unbelievable swiftness, and it was only limited by her thoughts. Finally, a vessel that can keep up with the speed of my knowledge.

  Looking at the ring on the stone worktable, polished to a gleam and perfectly smooth, she thought at first that it wasn’t as satisfying to do something that fast. However, considering that she actually did do all of the steps involved in crafting the small piece of jewelry, Sandra still felt the same sense of accomplishment as if she had taken her time.

  The ring was exactly what she wanted to create as a first try, but it wouldn’t really work well for the PEEs she had planned for it. While it was big enough to place the enchantment on, there was no place for the Energy Orbs; Tiny Energy Orbs were small enough that they would fit on the band itself, though attaching them was something else entirely. Setting “heads” or “claws” – otherwise known as the prongs that normally hold gemstones in place – wouldn’t necessarily work, as over time the Energy Orbs would fall out. As the energy was spent from it, the Orb would shrink like a piece of ice left out in the sun.

  Therefore, she had to use the same sort of method she used for all of the other items that continuously used the energy from an Orb and enclose it entirely onto the band. She had already instructed one of her Shifters down below to bring in some Tiny Energy Orb pairings while she was working, and they were ready for her. Taking a Tiny Holy and Tiny Spirit Energy set, she used the Goblin Crafter to cut out a rectangular strip of Silver and placed it in the forge for a moment, softening it up enough that she could shape it first with tools and then with the Goblin’s fingers to wrap the metal around the paired Orbs. With some filing and buffing, she had a smooth, curved Silver pouch that contained the two Orbs and were ready to be attached to the ring.

  By cheating again with her Mana, she flawlessly attached the pocket to the ring, completing the initial step in the process – later she would enchant it with a Rapid Healing PEE and it would be finished! The only problem with it was that it was…ugly. It looked like the ring had some sort of growth on one side, which would also make it heavy on that end, meaning that it could theoretically twist off and become loose. She could always engrave it to add some decoration to improve its appearance, but that wouldn’t solve the main problem of it being lopsided.

  Shrugging was an interesting experience with a Goblin, because its physiology didn’t seem accustomed to doing that, but she managed as she put the ring to the side as she started on something else. An armband was next, which was essentially a flat piece of Silver that was bent to fit around an upper arm, leaving enough of a gap so that it could be flexed and secured in place. Easier to create than the ring, with much more room to fit the Orbs, she was done with it in no time. For this craft, however, she changed up her process of containing the Orb pair; this was done both for aesthetic and for practicality sakes.

  Using a mold crafted from stone, she carved 5 very small holes into the mold that would allow just the smallest amount of Silver through. Melting some Silver in a crucible made from Dragon Glass, she poured the liquid metal through the tiny holes, where they dropped down to fill up the long, thin crevices; when they cooled enough, she absorbed the stone and was left with 5 thin wires of Silver, which were fairly flexible. Using the wires, she cut them into pieces, before forming them into a mesh-like net, which she then attached to an oval platform she melded into the armband. The result was a “cage” of sorts to hold the Orbs, allowing them to be seen; this was important, especially if she ever made some Gold ones with the Energy Expansion PEE on it, as one would want to know if the Orbs were nearly out of energy.

  Overall, the design made it more pleasing to the eye (on the armband, at least), though with it being soft Silver, it was vulnerable to damage. It was the tradeoff for the great benefits they could impart, she supposed; the thought of trying to combine Silver and Steel together, such as having it inlaid on the bottom touching the skin came to mind, but her lessons w
hen she was a Human came to mind. She was always told that trying to mix the two so close to a particular enchantment would cause some issues, such as a massive decrease in their effectiveness, or them not working altogether.

  Sandra still wanted to try it at some point, but there was so much more to do! Using a sheet of thin Gold this time, she crafted a plain necklace out of different-sized, flat, circular plates attached together with Gold wires that she created in a similar manner as the Silver wires. A plate larger than the rest hung at the bottom, which seemed much more suited to holding a paired Orb set than any other piece of jewelry she had created up until then. For this necklace, however, she had other plans.

  Grinding a gemstone was much harder than she thought it would be. Even with the Goblin Crafter’s deft fingers, holding up a Ruby to the spinning wheel – with a crossbar and a piece of iron literally melded into the side of the gemstone for leverage – it was hard to achieve the correct angle she needed. It took nearly a half hour of constant practice, do-overs, and concentrated effort before she thought she had shaped the lump of Ruby into what she thought she needed. Whether or not it would work for the Minor Flame Shield she was planning to enchant it with was something else entirely. Regardless, she placed the cut Ruby on the necklace using a pronged set of “claws”, leaving it relatively exposed compared to the paired set of Tiny Fire and Spirit Energy Orbs in a cage next to it. It seemed a bit lopsided, but if it did what she hoped, then she could work on improving its appearance over time.